TAPP Office

As you many know, we have started selling the necklaces that the women of TAPP make in Uganda here in the United States. We are the North American Headquarters of TAPP and we now have our very own office! It is in Park Place Church of God on Anderson University's Campus & our hours are Monday-Friday 10-12 & 1-4 so if you are in the area stop by to check it out, get a brochure, ask questions, visit, and buy jewelry! Here are some pictures of our office.

AIDS Walk & Ride

Sunday I participated in the AIDS Walk & Ride in Indianapolis. My goal was to raise $200. I raised $402! I was very surprised & pleased with this so thank you those that donated. The overall total raised was over $160,000! 6 girls from AU participated in the walk & it was fun to hang out with the ones I knew & get to know the ones I didn't. The walk was really fun & a cool thing to be a part of. I hope that wherever I am next year, I will be able to participate in one again.

AIDS Walk

On October 14th I am participating in an AIDS Walk in Indianapolis. My goal is to raise $200 by then. If you would like to donate, you can do so at http://AIDSWALK2007.kintera.org/jemulligan
If you would prefer to mail me a donation, let me know & I will give you an address to do so. Thank you so much for any support.

Click here to donate

Videos

I posted links to Africa videos before, but I found a way to view them from here easier so here are my Africa videos for your viewing pleasure:).

Slideshow I made of pics from both of my trips to Uganda


Slideshow of pics of my family from my most recent trip


My Sponsor Girl, Rachael


Child Sponsorship


Dancing Sauda


Tree Planting After Working On the New TAPP Center


Singing At The TAPP Training


Judith Leading Us In Song At The TAPP Training


Cassie Leading Us In Song at the TAPP Training


In The House of the Lord- Uganda Style


Safari Drive


Safari Drive


Rhinos


Crocs on the Nile


Crocs


Lots of Crocs!


Crocs & a Monitor Lizard


Murchison Falls


Murchison Falls


Crowned Crane- Uganda's National Bird


Lion Documentary


Driving


Driving in Kampala


Giraffe


Giraffe


Giraffe & Elephant


Elephant Crossing In Front of Our Van


Boat Ride on the Nile


The Most Beautiful Sound in the World

Usa Family

Here is a fun video I made of the group that went to Uganda in Dec/Jan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsdb5NymKqk

Watch it, leave me a comment, enjoy your day.:)

Recent Happenings

A lot of "Africa stuff" has been happening lately. I've talked about the TAPP program in Uganda a lot & how the women there make necklaces. We have started selling those necklaces here and have made so much money for the women in Uganda. A group of us are turning it into a business thing where the women there will be able to earn a steady income from making the necklaces. We're still in the planning stages, but are selling the necklaces & it's going great.

My school has an Acting on AIDS group on campus. A group of us planned an AIDS summit recently. We got together every other Sunday for awhile planning it and 2 weeks before it happened we started our advertising for it. We made posters and flyers all out of used cardboard & paper & used spray paint and some of our Africa pics. We all either used a red shirt we already had or bought one at goodwill, turned it insideout, & spray painted an AIDS ribbon on it w/the date of the summit & wore the shirts for 2 weeks to advertise. It is a great way to recycle shirts so if you need a shirt for some event or something, the spray paint thing is great.

Throughout the week before the summit we had different activities. On Wednesday evening we showed the movie AIDS in Black America. On Thursday evening we showed the movie Blood Diamond, you know, the new one w/Leonardo DiCaprio. It's sad b/c I know people who bought the movie b/c it's him and a good action movie. It's real life!

After the movie a girl who spent last semester in Sierra Leone (where the movie took place) spoke. She told about a pastor she lived with while there. During the time of the diamond conflict, the pastor and his family was saved from the RUF many times. One time they needed to cross a bridge, but the RUF was letting people go, but shooting them as they crossed. The congregation needed to cross so they just started praying & walking. When the started to cross a bridge, a soldier a little ways away started going crazy & all the other soldiers left to see what was going on and the congregation was able to cross safely. As soon as they had crossed, the soldiers shot the soldier going crazy, went back to their positions and again started killing people that crossed the bridge. Another time the RUF took all the women in the pastor's congregation into a room and shot all of them, all except the pastor's wife. They were so glad God was there for their family. But that night as I walked back to my apartment by myself I cried & asked God where he was for all the other people crossing that bridge, where he was for all the other women in that congregation.

Friday we had a big bell in the valley of the campus. We rang it every 14 seconds to represent that every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa.

Saturday was the summit. We had a few tables set up. Acting on AIDS had a table, TAPP, Bound4Freedom (a group that makes & sells homemade journals to raise money, we-TAPP- are partnering with them), & the ONE campaign. The day was great. Steve Haas from World Vision was the speaker & he was really good. We also had breakout sessions. On Thursdays I go to a guy's house who has AIDS as part of our local AIDS ministry & this guy led a breakout session & that is the first one I went to. He talked about AIDS in the US & basically just told his story. One of the women in the session asked him who he had for support. His answer was "myself. and these girls" meaning us that go & visit with him. It was crazy to realize how much it means to him and made me feel bad for the times I didn't go just b/c I had too much homework or something. The other breakout session I went to was about HIV in women and was led by Cassie, one of the women who led my last Africa trip, and Lolly, one of my social work professors. They are both amazing women & I have learned a lot from them since I have known them and learned a lot in their breakout session. I got teary eyed a lot during this day & one of those times was when Lolly said that in East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania & Kenya) most girls' first sexual experience is forced. I immediately thought of my sponsor girl Rachael.

For lunch that day we had a poverty meal. We ate the corn soy porridge that the US sends to Africa for hunger relief. As we ate we read stories of children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. The food didn't taste too bad, but it definitely wasn't good. Definitely wouldn't be something I'd eat if I had the choice. But the people who do eat it don't have a choice. The meal just made me realize even more all the things we take advantage of. You may think, oh the US is helping them with their hunger by giving them food so things are okay now. But still think how unequal it is. When we are hungry, we can choose what we eat. They may not be starving anymore, but unlike us, they don't get to choose what to eat. It also made me think of all the times we look in the pantry or the fridge that is full and say "there's nothing to eat."

The weekend after the summit I did a thing called Youth for Africa. One of the social clubs on campus put it together. They made "African huts" and asked people that had been to Africa &/or knew stuff about HIV/AIDS to come and talk and invited area youth groups. 2 or 3 people were in each hut & the topics were things like AIDS 101, AIDS in the US, Women & HIV/AIDS, Socioeconomics, and family dynamics/sponsorship. I was in the hut for family dynamics/sponsorship. It was me, a guy who lived in Africa for a year, and Scott who went on both of my Uganda trips with me. I told the story of me meeting my sponsor girl which was a great example of family dynamics in Africa also. Then the guy who lived in Africa told a story of his neighbors that started an orphanage & then we all just started talking about family life in Africa as well as lots of other things. We were the group that always went over our time limit:). It was really good. Not a lot of youth groups showed up, but the ones who did seemed to enjoy it and the girls in the social club got to participate and said they learned a lot.

Like I mentioned before, every Thursday I got to visit a man who has AIDS. This is part of our local AIDS ministry. The man lives in Anderson and every Thursday me & 3 other girls go to this man's house to hang out, eat dinner, and help with cleaning. He is very lonely and depressed and loves company so a couple Fridays ago we had a cookout with 13 people at his house. We all helped out with the cooking and it was a lot of fun. A lot of people had to leave around 7, but me & 4 other girls stayed until 9 and played dice with him and just hung out and talked and listened to music. It is a joy to spend time with this man and it was also fun to hang out with these other girls because they are really neat, but I don't know them very well and don't normally get to hang out with them.

This summer I am taking a course taught by Cassie, the leader of my Uganda trip. It is spiritual care for those with HIV/AIDS. It's only for a week and I just recently got the syllabus and it is going to be amazing. I am going to learn so much and I think the community in the class will be awesome as well.

I have been e-mailing David, the leader of TAPP in Uganda, back and forth a bit lately. He recently told me the news that his wife is pregnant and they are expecting the baby in July! So pray for him & his family that the birth goes well and the baby & his wife stay healthy.

Church

I will be speaking in church next Sunday, the 18th about my trip to Uganda.

Sarita

When I was in Uganda this last time, there was a little girl named Sarita who was around on our work days. She was wonderful. We didn't talk, but we were friends. She hung on Chelsey & I a lot & she stole both of our hearts away. She held my hand a lot, I held her a lot. One time I was sitting down & she was sitting on my lap & she would lean back & then I would tickle her stomach & she would giggle. It was a beautiful sound. Especially compared to the cough that she had. The cough that scared me because I just have no idea what it's from, what it will lead to, if it's serious, if it's not. Tuesday chapel was about AU-EA with an emphasis on our trip. Some of the people on our trip told stories in first person of some of the people we met on the trip. They all did an awesome job! Then they showed a slideshow of some of the pics from our trip & Sarita was in so many of them. Some with me, some with Chelsey, some with other kids, and some by herself. It twisted my heart up all over the place and I have not been able to stop thinking about her since. I normally think about her every day anyway, but since that chapel it has been almost constant...

I got this from http://ugandacan.org. If you don't know what it's talking about then look up the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) & learn about the 21 year war in northern Uganda.

Today's New York Times includes a compelling article about Ugandans' fascination with the award-winning film "Last King of Scotland," which portrays the reign of dictator Idi Amin. Unfortunately, when speaking about the state of Uganda today, the article completely overlooks the 21-year suffering of northern Ugandans. In it, Uganda is described as "one of the safest and most stable countries in Africa." This is hardly the case. For the last 21 years, the people have been condemned to a brutal war that has left 1.7 million people displaced (80% of the region) and over 30,000 children abducted and forced into soldiering. If this leaves you outraged, consider writing a short letter to the editor to the New York Times or write an email to the article's author Jeffrey Gettleman. The neglect of the international community and media has perpetuated this conflict, and even after 21 years, that neglect will remain alive unless we speak up.

e-mail

My e-mail: jemulligan@hotmail.com

More Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH4XjZb6ovg <------ this is another video of Murchison Falls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAllNlbDvWA <----- this is a video of us driving through Kampala.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhqZHQzFD_Q <----- another video of Sauda dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce2RkImLTg8 <------ this is a video from our work day at the new TAPP building. It's singing during the tree planting led by Annie & Pastor James.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYnyOsyldB8 <------ This is a video of the missionary Colleen Stevenson talking about sponsoring a kid. Let me know if you want to sponsor one & I can hook you up.

Videos

Please tell me whether or not all these videos work for you! Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8MteGnkmS8 <---- this is a video of my sponsor child Rachael singing to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St84qrN3uAU <---- this is a video of a game the kids in Uganda taught us. I love the end with the kids on the winning team jumping around celebrating. It's a beautiful sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGggUnKoNy4 <----- this is a video of Sauda dancing (I wrote about it in my post about my last trip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffxks5uTTcQ <----- this is a video of everyone singing the song "All Around" at the TAPP training.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2xpR6um_Ck <----- this is a slideshow of some pics from both of my trips to Uganda. The song is by the Paul Coleman Trio & the words are PERFECT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRMipR5uXtI <----- this is a video of our boat ride on the Nile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5LPJE2DCR8 <----- this is a video of some crocodiles that we got pretty close to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPv12TeNrYM <------ a video of what we see as we drive through Uganda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhbTTuplOSw <------ video of some crocs & a monitor lizard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH4XjZb6ovg <----- video of Murchison Falls, part of the Nile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFh8MrLqks <----- video of a giraffe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AJc8mvp2x8 <----video of lots of crocodiles on our Nile boat ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umNAT8bRx18 <----- video of an elephant as it crossed the road right in fron of our van

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixB6iZvGDw8 <------ this video has a story behind it. our group would often have "true confessions." One of Chelseys (the girl filming) is that she lies a lot, but always admits it. This video is an example of one of those times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9QaEelhszI <------ this video is of a crowned crane which is the national bird of Uganda & on their flag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVOINRrR_po <------ this is a video of singing at the church service we went to. recognize the song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxV2lSOpM0Q <------ this is a video of giraffes and elephant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyk_HSamG_Q <----- this is a video of the tree planting ceremony we had, it is Brittany who is planting her tree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOlG0TmnT9k <----- this is a video of the rhinos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOFbPO3BlEg <----- this is a video of my friend Judith leading everyone at the TAPP training in a song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0M5dCxRPNA <----- another video of lots of crocs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-JQ_E80WoQ <----- this is the video "documentary" we made on the first day of the new year when we saw lions (lioness, lioness', lionesses, lionessesses? -you'll understand when you watch it). :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBSFgsNTQHM <------ this video is more singing at the TAPP training.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFY1C0iEHMo <----- this video is on the safari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrQo52TNKbE <----- this is a video of a couple giraffe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdgqmlKlKzM <----- this is another video on the safari

HIV/AIDS

Before I went to Uganda for the first time in May, I had never met a person with HIV or AIDs (at least not that I was aware of). I cared about the issue. But that's what I saw it as- an issue. I knew some of the basic facts, I was in Acting on AIDS & participated in a lot of the activities, I felt bad when I heard the stories, etc. But it wasn't a part of my world.

Then I went to Uganda in May of 2006. There we did things with the TAPP program. We went on home visits. I met people with HIV & AIDS, I touched people with HIV & AIDS, I sang with people with HIV & AIDS, I prayed for people with HIV & AIDS, I heard their stories out of their mouths. It wasn't just an issue anymore, it was something affecting people I know.

So when I got back I had a choice. I could leave everything I saw in Africa, I could leave it an ocean & many miles away from me, or it could stay a part of my world. Actually, I'm not sure if it really was a choice. I don't think I could forget if I had wanted to. When I got back I read. I learned in class. I went to other informational things. I got involved in the local ministry. I told others.

Then I went back to Uganda again and it became even more a part of my world. Again I went on home visits, I met people, touched people, sang with people, prayed for people, talked with people that had HIV & AIDS. I learned about HIV and AIDS with and from people who's lives it directly touches. I held children and played with children who's parents have HIV & AIDS. And so much more. When we got tested for HIV in Uganda, I even got a glimpse of the fear of possibly having it, what people who don't have choice of whether it's a part of their world or not go through. It became not only more than an issue to me and a part of my world, but a part of my heart.

check out the awesome shirt I designed, had made, & bought!

More Pictures

Images from Africa