paul douglas archer

Happy Father's Day, Daddio!

thanks for showing me what it means to be
a hard worker
a good friend
a committed parent
an honest person
passionate
giving
fair
informed and involved
forgiving
adventurous
a go-getter
better safe than sorry
loving
funny
a worthy priesthood holder
a loving spouse
respectful
reliable

I love you so much, Dad! My favorite thing about you being a father is getting you as my Dad

aaand not having to touch the fish because you are there to do it for me!

jaclyn's married!

this girl got married this morning. so happy for her and jimmy! she makes one beautiful bride

(and Darla came for the wedding!)

this time for africa

this is my current jam and i am looooving it. shakira is so cultured



woo world cup this weekend!

brothers

this gets me every time I see it. look at those little studs!

LP

this place is calling my name








i think i'll go there today

i encourage everyone to

Kareena

raekwon, willie and stephanie (open to new name suggestions for her) went on a ride all day saturday. they had a lot of fun. and almost got hit by a mail truck. thank goodness for screams and open windows. thank goodness for red robin and trains and spoon it up and borders and wide bike paths. thank goodness for bikes

mother i love you

awful. I know. this is the first year I haven't owned this shirt so I had to whip this little guy out

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world. To a mom who is

hilarious
insightful
encouraging
compassionate
full of charity
smart
beautiful
hard working
kind
fun
adventurous
wise
friendly
loving
supportive
good listener
optomistic
passionate
exemplifies this:
"May each of us treasure this truth: One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one. "
-Thomas S. Monson

I love you mom!

hello sunshine

spring is sprunging. finally! i opened all of our blinds this morning. oh sunshine

Slide Sideways

all is well in the city of dam

yesterday we celebrated amsterdam remembrance day. not the real remembrance day that they really do celebrate on May 4, but our personal remembrance day of our little 4 day amsterdam adventure trip on the way to uganda. it was magical. we ate bruges and frites and reminisced about staying in the red light district and riding trains and happening upon gay festivals and pretending to be 17 to get cheap tickets to the van gogh museum (didn't work...i was laughed at to my face).

amsterdam looked a little like this:



and this:


(disclaimer: we did not consume any beer in amsterdam. although we may seem out of control. this is just a taste of the festivals we happened upon. thank you)

amsterdam thoughts from one year ago. crazy

Konichiwa! Come and move it my waaay

Laura sent me a package of HI-CHEWs that she found in her grocery story this week! Best surprise package ever. I'm obsessed with Japan

liz lied to me today. we are no longer friends

how liberating

wearing no shoes all day makes me happy. even at work. even while teaching a class of fellow el ed majors. even in stores. even walking around campus. its cool being a part of something bigger than myself, today was one day without shoes




ps thanks spence for the reminder this morning. i passed it onnn

musical moreys

I LOVE visiting Sara, Eli and Tanner in Salt Lake every weekend or so. Having family in Utah is the best and I seriously don't know what I would have done without them this year. Its so fun to watch the little Tan Man grow up, he is such a smart kid and so funny. Him and Wes are getting so big and cuter everyday! Sara has helped me a lot this year and has always been there to talk and give me advice. She has been such a great support, my sisters are the best. And Elijah is always fun to talk to and play games with, and still helps me with homework. I am going to miss them so so much when they move to VERMONT next year, but I'm so excited for them!

I taught Tan another member of the fam a few weeks ago, Gary. Also, check out how he says my name. I'm so proud


I love you guys!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!


My favorite hymn is "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". I love the powerful words, and I love listening to congregations sing the hymn. I love hearing people sing in testimony together that Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, lives again. Today when the choir and congregation sang this hymn in general conference, I just sat and listened, feeling the power of those two words: He Lives! I add my testimony to that song, I do know that my Redeemer lives. And that knowledge brings me so much joy and so much peace that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We have reason to rejoice because He is risen!

He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend,
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King!

He lives, and grants me daily breath.
He lives, and I shall conquer death.
He lives, my mansion to prepare
He lives, to bring me safely there.

He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives;
"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

birthday, birthday coming to earth day!

Today is Kristie's birthday...no foolin! On this fine day, April 1, 23 years ago Kristie Kay Archer came into the world. And I am SO glad that she did. I have truly been blessed with an incredible family and that incredible family would not be the same without Kristie...na. She is such an awesome sister, friend, and confidant and I love her so much. I miss living so close to her (if she still lived in the same apartment in Provo I would almost be able to see her apartment from my kitchen window) and after her move to AZ last week we are even farther apart, but thank goodness for skype and phones.

21st birthday

22nd birthday

 can't you see the resemblance? we created a masterpiece

23rd birthday

happy day of birth krissst

I'm so proud of you for moving to Arizona all by yourself and know that you will do great there. Can't wait to visit your new stomping grounds in a month!

mad world

Last week was madness. Madness in trying to finish projects and madness in hilarious moments. But, I love the library. And video chatting in the library. And eating everything bad for you in this world to keep us awake. And seeing millions of friends exiting Harold during the midnight music dance party. And going to a random comedy club in Salt Lake. And topping it all off with the Festival of Colors...always a Provo hit.

General Petraeus came to BYU on Thursday. He was funny and normal, and really interesting. How great would it be to know everything that he knows? Actually that would be very overwhelming. It is comforting to know there is a good man leading my brother and so many others in the military. I'm so thankful for people who dedicate their lives to protecting this country and our freedoms. They sacrifice so much and give so much, and no one forces them to. They do it out of their own sense of duty and responsibility, and that is absolutely incredible. You da best, Andyman

captain archer

4th of July in Uganda. we love america

31

 March 20, 1979

Paul and Carol Archer clan began

31 years ago!

their parents

 isn't she beautiful?

They make the cutest young married couple. And not-as-young married couple. I am so grateful they got married on that March day 31 years ago and began their eternal family. I love them both so so much and they have taught me so much. Things like

hard work

service

 laughing at myself

appreciating knowledge

respecting others

family first

standing up for what I believe in

not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ

finding and giving love

following my passions

how to be a good friend

appreciating the world that we live in

following the prophet

finding and strengthening talents

chewing with my mouth closed

choosing to be happy

i could seriously go on and on and on...

I hope that someday I will be at least half the person that both of them are. They are incredible examples to me and I couldn't ask for better parents. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! Thank you for bringing me into this amazing family that I love more than anything. I love you, to eternity and beyond. I will never forget you!

Oct. 2009

dear kiki

Journaling calms my soul. In Uganda we all journaled every single night. My room was always up later than almost everyone else in the house (except our country directors who probably never slept the whole summer. bless them.) because we were always journaling for a way long time. On Sundays we would journal for literally hours. Yesterday I journaled for hours again and it was wonderful. Let me share a journal entry written by dearest andrew lovell the night we arrived in gulu. It makes me laugh everytime i see it. please note the date

currently listening to: backstreet boys "its gotta be you". the best.

if i could change the world

“A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race” -Joseph Smith

Helping out at the Hunger Banquet last week and trying to make decisions on summer plans, has me thinking a lot about humanitarian work lately and why I love international development. It honestly is a depressing field of work, it is slow moving and it is frustrating. There are problems with methods of doing development work--people trying to work from the top down rather than the bottom up, people seeing themselves as saviors here to fix the world but doing more harm than good, giving emergency aid (which is necessary, but not enough) but not sustainable aid, corrupt governments that will not help their own people, it goes on and on. Poverty is real and it is everywhere. I do not think it is possible to eradicate poverty. Not until we are all living the gospel. But I do think it is possible to change lives. I do believe that through correct and sustainable methods, it is possible to lift individuals and families out of a cycle of poverty. I do believe that just working side by side with someone, building a friendship and bringing happiness to each others' lives is making an impact, making a difference.

I say I want to save the world, but I know that it is not really possible. But I'm not going to give up. Realizing that I cannot end poverty is not going to make me stop trying. Ishmael Beah, former child soldier and author of A Long Way Gone said, "We have a responsibility to expose ourselves to our world, to see our common humanity, to learn about other people -- not only in times of war, but in times of peace." When we see that common humanity, we will want to help that person and lift them up. We will see the love of God in their eyes and want to bless their lives, as we have been blessed.

Yes there is the argument that they may be living in poverty, but they are happy. And they are, I'm sure they are. But why not make their lives happier? Why not ease their burdens a bit by taking away the fear that they will never be able to pay for their child's education, so their child will never be able to get a good job that will pull them out of this poverty. That will make them happy. But they were already happy in the state they were in, that's enough. No! Don't they deserve more happiness, like you and me?

Warner Woodworth (legitimately one of my heroes) gave a thought about the aforementioned quote by Joseph Smith today in a meeting about getting a group together to go down to Haiti for the summer. It really hit home with me, and I love it. It can be applied to missionary work, to development work, to serving in your community, to serving your neighbors, to serving your friends.

So, today humanitarian work makes me happy. It inspires me and gives me hope. And if anything, it is at least incredibly rewarding for the people doing the service. And I realize I have hardly even scratched the surface with humanitarian work so I am definitely no expert. I probably have no place to even say all of these things, but it is something that is really important to me. I cannot wait to get out there and do more...dang school, have to get skills first. 

One last quote...don't know who said it, but I like it: "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."

such a hard little worker

gradumacation celebration

I wrote this back in May the night before I left for Uganda. I just realized that I never published it, just saved it because I didn't have a picture to use. Good reason, right? Kris often tells me to blog about how great she is, but looky here, I already did! So, with Kris getting a job and venturing off to Arizona in the next few weeks, I thought this would be fitting to fiiinally post. Congrats on the job, krisitita! I still miss you mucho in ptown

Congratulations, Graduate! Last Thursday/Friday my sister Kristie graduated from THE Brigham Young University with a degree in Public Health Education. YEAH KRIS! So awesome, she is such a great student...she even got a 4.0 her last semester, now that is impressive. She even remembers what she learned in class, for example today she taught my Dad and I about injury prevention and having emergency plans (but she had a cool name for it). Yesterday she taught me about symbols on the outside of buildings so firemen know what they will be dealing with. Isn't she smart?

This college graduation made me think back to her high school graduation. Kristie saved me in high school. She let me hang out with her friends and eat lunch with them even though they were 2 years older than me and I was just a dinky little freshman/sophomore. I probably had more friends her age than mine. She always helped me out with everything and was always, always there for me and I relied on her a lot. When Kris graduated from high school I thought my world was ending. Seriously. How was I going to survive high school with her hundreds of miles away in Utah?? I didn't. Ok I did but I missed her a lot. And the rest of my siblings that left me for bigger and better things called college and missions and life in general.

So now I am feeling that way again...how will I survive the rest of college with kris hundreds of miles away in Colorado?? She has also been a huge support to me through college. At the beginning of freshman year when I literally had no friends for a while, she let me tag along with hers. I'm leaving for Africa tomorrow and already missing my family and it just really hit me that Kris wouldn't be coming back to BYU with me in the Fall. I don't like that. But I am still so excited for her and the adventure ahead. Good luck in the real world Kristiena, I know you will go so so far. Go save lives, thousands at a time.

thank goodness sara, eli, and tanner will be there for a semester next year. I have LOVED LOVED LOVED having them back in utah with me. Sunday family dinners at their house are what got me through this year. Oh man, I love my family.

thank goodness the moreys are still in utah is right, having some family semi close by is the best

barney and friends

when I was little, I used to ask my mom to sing me three songs at night: "Oooo ooo", "I love you" and her choice. Tuesday night when I got out of class I had a lovely message from my mom singing "I Love You" (the Barney version of course, only the best for night time lullabies) but she forgot the order of the words! Does that mean I'm getting old? My mom doesn't remember the words to my favorite childhood song! Still, it made my day.

 

on her birthday. in a river

here comes the sun

Everyday when Liz and I walk out of work between the times of 4:59 and 5:26, we look at this mountain to see how light it is,

 

and marvel at how much later the sun is going down these days. We used to walk out to a dark mountain, but these days it is still bathing in sunlight well after 5:00. I LOVE IT! Spring is coming! It seriously makes me so so happy and fills my heart with hope. No more dark winter nights...spring has almost sprung, I can feel it!

(here comes the sun just came on shuffle on my beatles playlist as I typed this. how appropriate)

delicious spiritual cheesecake

this BLOWS MY MIND but I love it



We watched this in my art class today and I am still in shock. This is a place in Thailand where Chinese artists come and work with the elephants that were once used to haul logs. That elephant is a much better artist than I will ever be. Cowabunga 

we will light the fire within

The Olympics=happiest two weeks ever. When we were in Utah for the Salt Lake Olympics we bought the Official Music of the Games CD, and I used to turn on "Light the Fire Within" and make up dances to it all night long in our living room. I was so mad we didn't live in Utah still because I wanted to be a child of light in the opening ceremonies so badly...my cousin Austin got to dance and sing in the opening ceremonies, I was beyond jealous. Well during every Olympics, I get inspired to try something new. Ice skating in 2006, swimming kick in 2008, and this year I'm really feelin the skiing. So thanks Olympics for inspiring me to do something with my life, or at least my weekends.
(while also making me feel like I haven't accomplished anything in my life compared to the 16 year old ice skaters, but its fine)



My Dad is on the committee to get the Olympics to Denver in 2022. Everyone pray for that. k thanks

Anyone see Shen and Zhao skating it up tonight? Go team China

it depends

kristie secretly signed me up for a free sample of depends. they arrived today. surprise package! the roommates and I were dyyyyyying. good one kris, seriously.

the surprise arrival of my "gift" reminded me of the younger years. maybe i have a history with depends?

oh homecoming week. oh senior girls tp-ing. oh high school

don't worry we didn't actually go out like this. the cops showed up before we could leave. that is no lie

archery

 

yes we are all matching. yes this was a self-timer pic. or maybe taken by a remote doug is hiding behind wesley

i love you, to eternity and beyond!

Kris and Mom come in 6 days! That will be a very happy occasion

once i tried out for harry potter

THIS makes me freak out happy. Thank you Sara for making my day. daaah november!

I will marry Rupert someday, I'm still determined.

renewed rebellion

Sundance 2010. lets recap (sticking with the "re" theme of Sundance, obviously)
-two very unique films
-driving down main street of Park City blasting "Paparazzi", looking for paparazzi and their poor subjects
-fresh humor
-meeting people in wait list lines and crowded shuttles
-discussing films with strangers from around the world
-art gallery, free tea bar, pretzel looking non-pretzels, talking with photographer Michael Fatali
-man eating a sandwich he took out of a trash can. i repeat, man eating a sandwich he took out of a trash can
-chips, dr. pepper, and fries
-realizing how grateful I am to live in the United States. and to have the moral standards that I do, not the world's moral standards
-using atms, haven't done that since Uganda
-beautiful mountains and moon
-driving in a snowstorm at night
-ice on the inside of the windshield
-family
-friends

two downsides: 1) getting my car towed. then running after it and watching it disappear around a corner  2) going to Mountain House to find it DOES NOT EXIST anymore and is now Bear Dance Cafe...we were blindsided by the tragedy. literally in shock

My camera and I are not getting along these days so I don't have pictures to prove it, but it was fun to see how this famous Sundance Film Festival works. People are so creative, it blows me away

friendship friendship, such a perfect blendship

A little cheesy, but today friends make me happy. Tonight was full of fun conversations with some of my favorite people. They make Provo really great. Hey friends,  

If you ever lose your mind, I'll be kind

And if you ever lose your shirt, I'll be hurt

If you're ever in a mill and get sawed in half, I won't laugh

It's friendship, friendship

Just a perfect blendship

When other friendships are up the crick

Ours will still be slick

"Friendship" from DuBarry was a Lady

 

  

  

j-rad's tour bus is behind us. you can't see it, but you can believe it

 

 

had to

 

sarah jane made some really good brownies yesterday. these are not the ones she made, but we probably enjoyed them just as much 

  

  

she bleeds red also. i appreciate that

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.

Listening to John Denver during work. On liz's awesome iphone. Call us old school, but it made us both so happy. It took me back to my childhood doing saturday chores...I felt like I was at home dusting or washing the floors. (which you wouldn't think was a happy memory, but John Denver made it great.) Or cruising on the boat with the fam



 

reminds me of planet earth. greatest show ever

 

happiness is...

there's a song from Your a Good Man, Charlie Brown (favorite musical since elementary school, hey kristin chenoweth) that says everything that happiness is to each character. To the characters, happiness, among other things, is

finding a pencil

walking hand in hand

getting along

being alone every now and then

two kinds of ice cream

having a sister

singing together

playing the drums in your own school band

telling the time

anyone and anything that's loved by you.

I love that. Happiness is found in so many simple ways. We have SO many reasons to be happy, and I think we forget that a lot. I know I do. We control our own happiness.

Here's some background to this change of blog...when I got home from Uganda I was not happy to be in Provo. Not happy at all. I didn't want to be here, I thought the people around me were dumb and ignorant of whats out there in the world, I wanted to be with people like my Ugandan friends who really valued life, I wanted to continue living real life, not BYU world life. I hung on to my bitterness about BYU and Provo for a while, and then realized that I was being ridiculous. If the only thing I took home with me from Uganda was that I was now better than everyone else because I had seen a tiny part of the world, that was a change I did not want to have. While I thought about what to do to get my act together, my thoughts kept going back to one afternoon spent with Liz and Brooke exploring the dirt roads on the hill behind our house. We discovered a beautiful village (we were Mzungu novelties again, we caused quite the scene) and a school with little sayings painted on their walls and on tires scattered throughout the grounds. One in particular stood out to me, and kept coming back to me while I was pondering life: I choose to be happy.

That is what did it for me. Happiness is a choice. I could blame my anger on provo and other people, but I was the one letting myself get angry. If I choose to be happy, I will be happy because I will be doing things that coincide with a happy lifestyle. Who woulda thunk?!

So, let it be known throughout the world that on this day, the 25th of January of the year twentyten, I begin my happy blog. It will be kind of like a gratitude journal...just little things that make me happy. I'm just trying to remind myself of what makes me happy, and hopefully from it, be even happier. I hope it makes you happy too

ya know what makes me happy? You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

eskimos have it made

I have been much more sensitive to the cold this year. Maybe that severe reaction to the strong Ugandan sun that doxycycline caused turned my thick Coloradan skin African. My ears burn with cold the second I walk outside...pathetic, I know.

Nonetheless, this Finnish getaway is so appealing. Can you imagine how many STARS you would be able to see from those igloos?! take me here, please

Coolest place to stay and see the Northern Lights

Ho Ho Ho and stuff

Merry Christmas!

And Merry Christmas Eve! Literally my favorite day of the year. Archer Christmas Eve's are THE BEST with these people

We miss Liz a lot this year, those people in Williamsburg, VA are lucky to have her. But we are excited to have the Millers join the extravaganza...Thanksgiving AND Christmas together?! perfection.

We are preparing ourselves for

shrimp

smoked oysters (ew...have to eat one every year. tradition, tradition)

sausage and cheese and crackers

rolls

flank steak

baked potatoes

salad

fruit salad

peppermint marshmallow brownies

playing Don't Eat Pete

wearing mom sweaters and Christmas pins

singing The Twelve Days of Christmas

hearing the Father's bear their testimonies

singing Christmas songs around the piano

driving around the neighborhood to see the luminarias

singing Happy Birthday to Jesus

sleeping in the basement with the sibs

but most importantly, celebrating the birth and life of our Savior

I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and His life and example. He truly is the Savior of the World, our Redeemer, our Advocate with the Father. I love Him and I know He lives.

have a very merry christmas

escuela

I never liked school growing up. In fact, I kind of hated it. I would kick and thrash in my bed and then stomp around my room in the morning just to show my mom how much I did not want to go to school. I was a little out of control. I like learning, but there is just something about school that doesn't jive with me.

That's why I protested becoming a teacher for so long.

Going into college I was set on majoring in dance education. That didn't work out so well, but it took me a year of anxiety and frustration to accept that dance wasn't the right path for me--I was fighting to keep dance my future because that is what I had always planned. I started exploring my options...political science, international relations, nutrition, english, and finally decided on Geography with a minor in International Development. I was going to learn about the world and how to save it. Elementary Education was always prodding me, but I constantly ignored it, because if I hated school so much growing up, why would I want to make it my career?!

Throughout all of this time of searching, no matter what I decided upon I always felt like something was missing. I thought it was just that I missed dance, so I took more dance classes. I thought it was that I missed singing all the time, so I took voice lessons. I thought it was that I missed being super busy, so I joined a club and started searching for jobs or plays to try out for. None of those things filled the gap though...I couldn't figure out what was missing in my life.

In Uganda we were busy with lots of projects, builidng stoves, trying to set up outreaches with HIV/AIDS positive youth, trying to make home visits work, going to lots of meetings...we always had a lot going on. But Stacey, Liz and I were talking one day and we all felt like we needed to do something with a school or a children's home, we felt like something was missing. We looked in our handbook at last year's contacts to see if there were any schools or orphanages they worked with that we had not contacted yet. We found one--Seya Primary School and a connected children's home under the care of Pastor Josiah. We didn't have a phone number, just the name of the school so we jumped on boda's and hoped that they knew where to take us. When we got to the children's home they knew exactly who we were and told us that they had been trying to contact us for a few weeks but did not have the right phone number. They were so excited and so welcoming, and we started teaching at Seya the next week.

We all fell in love. Definitely my favorite place in Uganda. Such incredible people and amazing kids.

When I got home, I knew what I needed to do. I knew what was missing in my life. Teaching. I had ignored it long enough. I had finally taught and realized how much I loved it and how much I wanted to work with kids. It was so much fun and so rewarding and soo hilarious. And bonus point: education is needed everywhere in the world. In fact, education is the solution to many of the worlds problems. Educate your children and you will have a more productive generation, ending a cycle of poverty.

So I'm going to be a teacher. That something missing feeling is gone! You can call me Miss Aly. or Miss Archer. I'm going to be that teacher that makes kids love going to school. I'm SO excited to finally start my classes next semester, this last semester was rough trying to get myself to do anything. Generals and pre-reqs are not my favorite.

On Saturday I got to watch the 2 boys that I nannied two summers ago. The 6 year old told me that he learned how to play a new song on the piano: "Road to Joy". I asked him if he meant "Ode to Joy" and he insisted for several minutes that no, it was indeed "Road to Joy". He didn't believe me that it wasn't until he saw the name of the song in his piano book. It was hilarious. Kids are so funny and I can't wait to work with them...hopefully teaching will be my Road to Joy

beef time

last night we had an archer cousin party and played a wild game of catch phrase. we learned some really valuable lessons:

no one knows what lurid means but you sound really smart if you use it in a sentence. so use it as much as possible.

Saskatchewan is a province in Canada, not a species of humans like Neanderthals

there are easier ways of describing gum than saying "something you chew, but not tobacco" marijuana? no, gum

no one knows what inky means either. probably used as "it was an inky night"

beef time does not exist. prime time does.

when you are guessing "glue" and the catch phrase holder is shouting NO! NOO! IT'S NOT GLUE! you should probably stop guessing "glue"

hoot'nanny.

I love my extended family. They are so hilarious and so fun to be around. We had dinner with my mom's side tonight and they are also so so great. Naturally, we played a little catch phrase with them too. And Tanner may have drooled on innocent Kaydee's head from the second floor.

15 more days until my whole family is together for Christmas in Colorado. the plan of happiness makes me happy because I get to be with my family forever

we shout for the advice, what shall we do?

Yesterday was World AIDS Day. And I actually knew about it, without my public health sister or brother-in-law telling me. I meant to post this yesterday but got distracted, but better late than never.

In Uganda it was so crazy to me that I knew people with AIDS. You always hear about it but it never hit me how huge of a tragedy it is until I met some really amazing people who have the virus. I remember meeting with the HIV/AIDS positive group, called Live Positively, and being so incredibly inspired by them. Every single person in the group has HIV or AIDS, and their objective is to give support to each other, spread awareness about the virus, and teach people that they can still live positive, fulfilling lives even if they are HIV positive. They were so optimistic, so grateful for everyday they have to live, and so welcoming of new people. In Africa there is a stigma attached to AIDS, that if you have it you are a bad, wicked person. But that is so wrong. Many people are innocent victims of this disease--who got it from an unfaithful partner, or from mother-to-child-transmission.

In my International Health class we were learning about AIDS and our teacher asked if we thought AIDS was really the tragedy that it is talked up to be. One girl said it wasn't because the disease is preventable, and that typhoid is more of a tragedy because you can get it just from people coughing near you. But I disagree. I think that makes it more of a tragedy. AIDS is so preventable, but yet millions of people are still infected and millions are dying.

This summer in Uganda we had an AIDS Extravaganza...or rather a Mega-Youth Festival as they called it. Sidenote, Kristie gave me the idea..she's a legend. We wanted to remove the stigma of AIDS, to inspire and show the people of Lugazi that they need to help each other fight this disease. It was a huge success. We had tons of schools perform, women's group's performed, and even the HIV/AIDS group I talked about earlier did a dance to "We're All In This Together" with some of our volunteers. Not gonna lie, I got emotional watching it haha. It was so great. We had free HIV testing and then 3 of us got to tell people their results and do counseling with them. I even got tested...and I'm negative. It was an amazing experience to talk to the people individually and ask them how they would feel if they found out they were HIV positive. Or if their test came out negative, what they would do to keep it negative. They were all SO relieved and SO happy when we told them their results were negative. And some of these were 12 and 13 year olds. I definitely was not concerned with getting infected with HIV when I was 12. I probably didn't even know what it was.

My dad told me last week that one of his best friends from high school died of AIDS a few years ago. That seriously blows my mind. You never hear of that happening in the US these days. AIDS is such a devastating disease and I wish we could just make people change their behavior so that slowly, this disease could start going away.

Anyways, I wanted to share a video from Uganda. These girls are all orphans whose parents died of AIDS. There are more parts to the song, where they describe the disease and the symptoms and act it out a little bit, this is just the chorus. The first time they sang this song for us the two girls on the right started crying and could not finish the song. It was heartbreaking.

I've been singing this the past two days. And everyday in Uganda after we heard it, it gets stuck in your head



So, Happy World AIDS Day. Maybe this year they will discover a vaccine to combat AIDS