three more weeks.

Ah, as expected, Uganda has tightened its hold on me.

I am now to stay until the beginning of November. Which gives me just about three more weeks here.

Well, the adventure is just beginning, now isn't it?

But in all reality, three weeks is a long time. There are things for me to be doing, following up on these stories, meeting with people. But there is also a solid amount of free time. And quite a few ways for me to invest my time. Hmm ...

In other news, we did get stories back. We got some stories back! They are beautiful and fanciful, exactly what I was hoping for. I will be gathering more on Wednesday, and hopefully many more will be coming in the next couple of weeks. I am anticipating that I will be reading them all on my journey back to America, my mind caught in visions of beautiful goats and talking trees.

The other day, I was blessed to go around Kampala and visit what are called Youth Corps homes. There is an organization here that we have partnered closely with, called Cornerstone, who brings children in off of the streets in Kampala, Lira, and Gulu. Cornerstone gives them a place to stay, mentors to look after them, and encourages them to enter school. I was able to meet with the mentors a couple of weeks ago and they agreed to help us out with our project, and now all of the children in these homes are writing stories, which is where I got some of them the other day. But it was such a beautiful thing to go around and see the homes in which these children live, the mentors that have become parents to these children, to see the faces and hold the hands of the writers of these tales. I could go on forever about the ones I met, and about the amazing mentor, Florence,
who has helped guide me around the city and is going to be essential for the project to be followed through with.

I have so many stories I hope to tell you all. I was talking to a friend through chat the other day, and I began to rediscover the fact that stories make the world go around. As cheesy and optimistic as that sounds, I believe it to be true. People need to hear other people's stories, to remember that the world exists outside of themselves, and to realize the humbling fact that the world continues to go around without you there. That there are millions of people, millions of stories, that you will never know. But maybe you should.

That's why I am here.

In light of that, please look here. It is a story of a dear friend, Will Boyd. Without him, I would not be here. And without him, this world would be much less beautiful than it is now.

www.loveisone.org

Oh, life. Oh, Love. Lead me on.

in Love,
kristin.

p.s. If you have a chance, please go here and either read or listen to this speech. Especially the last part on imagination. http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html