Hello! So it has been a while since I last wrote, and I have now been home for a week, but I suppose I should provide some closure. So let's see... the last week of our travels, after Victoria Falls, was a whole lot of traveling back to where we started, so basically a repeat on all the taxis, buses, and trains we took before. Everything was going as planned until we woke up after our first night on the train to go through customs to reenter Tanzania. It turns out that someone had entered our cabin during the night and stolen some things, including Ariela's passport. Meaning, she needed to run off the train to get a police report so they would let us into Tanzania. However, to get into Uganda and then back into the US, she was going to need a temporary passport from the US Embassy in Dar. Of course, the train got in just a liiiitle too late for us to make it to the embassy that day, thus making it impossible for Ariela, and I who had agreed to stay with her, to take the bus for which we had tickets the following afternoon, which in turn meant we would have very little time in Kampala before we left for the states. However, at the last minute, Ariela's parents got us PLANE TICKETS, so we were able to fly from Dar to Kampala, giving us time to get her passport and then get back to Uganda with plenty of time to spare. To boot, we were able to see Mt. Kilimanjaro from the plane, which we hadn't seen yet and I was too embarrased to tell anyone that we went all the way to Moshi, Tanzania, but didn't see Kili.
It was really nice to be back in Kampala and not feel all touristy, since we all feel at home there. We all ran around and did last minute things. I had said goodbye to my family before and didn't really want to open that door again, so I went with Arie to say goodbye to her family, which was really sad even for me, and they weren't even my family.
Leaving on the plane was very bittersweet, but I was glad we were all together, at least for the first flight to London, and the plane food and movies more than made up for it....we were very excited for these things. Once we entered the Entebbe airport, it already felt like we were already leaving, with all the shiny electronic contraptions that are inherient to airports. Obviously, Heathrow was even more of a shock.
Since being home, I wouldn't say I've experienced "culture shock"...in fact, everything feels very familiar, almost too familiar, like I never even left and nothing ever happened. I do miss being around people that did all these crazy things with me, but I know that I'll see them again eventually, hopefully soon. Being back home is hectic, more than anything else. Not the sort of hecticness that comes from trying not to miss busses and having stuff stolen and trying to evade sketchy people, but the hecticness that comes from unpacking and working and appointments and writing assignments and thinking about next year and thesis...an unfamilar hacticness but one I assume I had better get used to.
In conclusion, I am uber-glad I decided to stay in travel, because it was a good finale to the whole experience, and really cemented relationships with the friends that I went with. It's nice to have it to look back on as the last thing I did in Africa. And now I am already itching to go travel somewhere else...but I suppose that will have to wait until I have more than $5 to my name...woops.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
African travels
Hello all. So, internet has been scarce as we have traveled around, but I think I have enough time now for a quick update. It seems like we embarked about a bajillion years ago because we have done so much and traveled so far... in fact, I really had no idea how far we were going and just how much traveling we were doing, because the amount is pretty insane.
First we bussed it to Tanzania. The 20-hour bus ride was surprisingly bearable. In Arusha, we went on our safaria. The good news is we saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, and other magnificent things. The bad news is that our guide, who was recommended to us by someone else on the trip, was outright crazy. He was significantly drugged up for most of the day, racking up traffic violations and being well...a little too friendly. However, we deftly escaped the situation after seeing our fill of animals.
On to Moshi, Tanzania. We stayed at a backpackers hostel here, and had a guided hike to a waterfall in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our guide was amazing, and he took us through the village in which he grew up, and brought us to this breath taking waterfall where we climbed and went swimming the the freeeeezing water. In Moshi we got to have REAL coffee, and Zanzibar pizza which is just....amazingness. Tanzanian food far surpases Ugandan food in every way.
Another busride to Dar es Salaam, which is this crazy mix of India, Africa, and Europe. It's very Muslim and has great architecture and just feels...alive. We bought fabric and had more awesome food. I have gotten used to waking up to the Muslim call to prayer aruond 5 am... I kind of like it though. We then took the ferry to Zanzibar, an island that is part of Tanzinia but might as well be its own country, which it used to be. The main town is Stone Town, with crazy and really interesting architecture. We stayed on the coast, in Jambiani, right on the beach. The water was this absolutely crazy color of aquamarine that I would not believe existed in nature unless I saw it. We just chilled on the beach and made friends with a few rastas, one of which had a pet monkey and was rasta CERTIFIED by the rasta institute in Dar...hardcore. The aforementioned rastas hennaed our hair and nails and tought us how to cook a Zanzibar meal, which was really fun. Back in Stone Town we took a Spice Tour, which sounds kind of weird but is a really cool tour where you are taken to see different types of trees and other plants, and see where nutmeg and henna and cinnamon and chocolate and other things come from. Once again, amazing lunch, and also a trip to the ocean and a former slave cave, where Zanzibarians where kept by the sultans that used to rule the island. So we had a great time, and escaped the island before the sketchy people got...too sketchy. Because the island is such a tourist destination, locals have become very adept at getting peoples money and following you around, etc. The ferry right back was in rough seas, so almost everyone was puking (not me, of course), so that was pretty enjoyable.
Then comes the truly epic part of our journey...a 56-hour train ride. It was only supposed to be about 40 hours, but there were a few misshaps, including the need to replace the entire engine. May I mention, that this train is the most reliable train in all of East Africa. No joke. So, what at first seemed like it would be unbearable, what with living for almost 3 days in a roughly 4 by 6 cube hurtling over poorly-constructed train tracks, the train ride was pretty cool, and we met a lot of great people, including a Tanzanian woman who took us under her wing and porbably saved our lives by showing us that we had set up our beds completely wrong, thus putting people on the bottom bunk in danger of being smooshed to death, and we also spent time with a brit makin a BBC documentary about the train. He filmed us for quite a while, so be on the lookout for a hour-long BBC special about us and out travels. Just kidding. Maybe.
After disembarking the train aaaand a few more bus rides (during which we almost froze to death....no one told us it is winter in Zambia!!!) we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, which borders Zimbabwe and is home to the illustrious and elusive Victoria Falls. We got our first night of sleep in almost a week that was not on moving transportation, and then saw the falls, which is indescribable. Kind of blows Niagra out of the water. Everyone else did the gorge swing, which is one of the only ones in the world and involved jumping off a cliff into a 3-sceond, 50 meter freefall, and then swinging at 2.5 Gs over the river gourge. Despite the fact that its very safe and that everyone else loved it, after getting all harnessed up I just could not make myself lean backwords off of the gourge edge. I think I'll get over it. A much tamer activity, we went on a river cruise in the evening with unlimited...beverage. And we even saw some hippos and crocs along the way. Today we have just been wandering and admiring the developness of Zambia (big streets, shopping malls, steady electricity...)which is so unlike anything we are used to in Uganda...basically, the US is going to be a big shock.
So, we are coming up on the last week, which is great because it means we are almost home, which I am greatly looking forward to, buuut this week is also almost all travel, with a few days to say goodbye to Kampala in the end. So, we're looking at a 6 hour bus ride, another 2 hour bus ride, a repeat of the train ride which will HOPEFULLY not be as delayed again, and then a 24-hour bus ride bringing us into Kampala. Yeah I'm crazy, I know. We should all probably be checked in to the loony bin upon arriving home. But until then, staying has definitely been worthwhile, and I am anticipating coming home even more and am definitely ready for it. I'm also really excited for airplane food and movies on the flight back. Mmm.
First we bussed it to Tanzania. The 20-hour bus ride was surprisingly bearable. In Arusha, we went on our safaria. The good news is we saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, and other magnificent things. The bad news is that our guide, who was recommended to us by someone else on the trip, was outright crazy. He was significantly drugged up for most of the day, racking up traffic violations and being well...a little too friendly. However, we deftly escaped the situation after seeing our fill of animals.
On to Moshi, Tanzania. We stayed at a backpackers hostel here, and had a guided hike to a waterfall in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our guide was amazing, and he took us through the village in which he grew up, and brought us to this breath taking waterfall where we climbed and went swimming the the freeeeezing water. In Moshi we got to have REAL coffee, and Zanzibar pizza which is just....amazingness. Tanzanian food far surpases Ugandan food in every way.
Another busride to Dar es Salaam, which is this crazy mix of India, Africa, and Europe. It's very Muslim and has great architecture and just feels...alive. We bought fabric and had more awesome food. I have gotten used to waking up to the Muslim call to prayer aruond 5 am... I kind of like it though. We then took the ferry to Zanzibar, an island that is part of Tanzinia but might as well be its own country, which it used to be. The main town is Stone Town, with crazy and really interesting architecture. We stayed on the coast, in Jambiani, right on the beach. The water was this absolutely crazy color of aquamarine that I would not believe existed in nature unless I saw it. We just chilled on the beach and made friends with a few rastas, one of which had a pet monkey and was rasta CERTIFIED by the rasta institute in Dar...hardcore. The aforementioned rastas hennaed our hair and nails and tought us how to cook a Zanzibar meal, which was really fun. Back in Stone Town we took a Spice Tour, which sounds kind of weird but is a really cool tour where you are taken to see different types of trees and other plants, and see where nutmeg and henna and cinnamon and chocolate and other things come from. Once again, amazing lunch, and also a trip to the ocean and a former slave cave, where Zanzibarians where kept by the sultans that used to rule the island. So we had a great time, and escaped the island before the sketchy people got...too sketchy. Because the island is such a tourist destination, locals have become very adept at getting peoples money and following you around, etc. The ferry right back was in rough seas, so almost everyone was puking (not me, of course), so that was pretty enjoyable.
Then comes the truly epic part of our journey...a 56-hour train ride. It was only supposed to be about 40 hours, but there were a few misshaps, including the need to replace the entire engine. May I mention, that this train is the most reliable train in all of East Africa. No joke. So, what at first seemed like it would be unbearable, what with living for almost 3 days in a roughly 4 by 6 cube hurtling over poorly-constructed train tracks, the train ride was pretty cool, and we met a lot of great people, including a Tanzanian woman who took us under her wing and porbably saved our lives by showing us that we had set up our beds completely wrong, thus putting people on the bottom bunk in danger of being smooshed to death, and we also spent time with a brit makin a BBC documentary about the train. He filmed us for quite a while, so be on the lookout for a hour-long BBC special about us and out travels. Just kidding. Maybe.
After disembarking the train aaaand a few more bus rides (during which we almost froze to death....no one told us it is winter in Zambia!!!) we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, which borders Zimbabwe and is home to the illustrious and elusive Victoria Falls. We got our first night of sleep in almost a week that was not on moving transportation, and then saw the falls, which is indescribable. Kind of blows Niagra out of the water. Everyone else did the gorge swing, which is one of the only ones in the world and involved jumping off a cliff into a 3-sceond, 50 meter freefall, and then swinging at 2.5 Gs over the river gourge. Despite the fact that its very safe and that everyone else loved it, after getting all harnessed up I just could not make myself lean backwords off of the gourge edge. I think I'll get over it. A much tamer activity, we went on a river cruise in the evening with unlimited...beverage. And we even saw some hippos and crocs along the way. Today we have just been wandering and admiring the developness of Zambia (big streets, shopping malls, steady electricity...)which is so unlike anything we are used to in Uganda...basically, the US is going to be a big shock.
So, we are coming up on the last week, which is great because it means we are almost home, which I am greatly looking forward to, buuut this week is also almost all travel, with a few days to say goodbye to Kampala in the end. So, we're looking at a 6 hour bus ride, another 2 hour bus ride, a repeat of the train ride which will HOPEFULLY not be as delayed again, and then a 24-hour bus ride bringing us into Kampala. Yeah I'm crazy, I know. We should all probably be checked in to the loony bin upon arriving home. But until then, staying has definitely been worthwhile, and I am anticipating coming home even more and am definitely ready for it. I'm also really excited for airplane food and movies on the flight back. Mmm.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
End of program, beginning of interesting African adventure
So, it is basically mind blowing that the program is OVER. It officially ends tomorrow but I am signed off today so I can go out of country. Most of the week before last was spent working on our papers day in and day out, but then we all handed in our outcomes of about 60ish pages, which felt wonderful. Our last night in Kampala we had a goodbye dinner with our families, which seemed like it might be very awkward but it was actually so much fun and was amazing bonding with the families. It turns out my little sister is a redonkulous dancer; she was by far the youngest one on the floor.
This past week we went as a group to King Fisher Resort in Jinja, which is home to the source of the Nile and many rapids and water falls, etc. We all had to give our presentations, but besides that it was a nice and relaxing week with some pool swimming involved. And then all of a sudden we have landed back in Kampala, and it seems we are in this strange liminal period where things are over but we are still here. But, things will get much more exciting very soon when I leave on the bus for Tanzania with my four friends. Here is a lowdown on the next few weeks (per my mother’s persuasion):
Sunday, May 17—Bus ride to Arusha, Tanzania (21 hours….yeeeesh)
Monday, May 18—Arrive in Arusha and find someplace to stay
Tuesday, May 19—Safari! See lots of awesome animals
Wednesday, May 20—Travel to Moshi, Tanzania, and hike in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro
Thursday, May 21—Bus and ferry to Zanzibar island
Friday, May 22 to Monday, May 25—Staying on the beach in Zanzibar, swimming, snorkeling, etc
Tuesday, May 26—Getting to Dar es Salaam and taking the sleeper train to Zambia
Thursday, May 28—Arrive in Zambia, visit Victoria Falls, hike, etc
Tuesday, June 2—Take train back to Dar es Salaam
Thursday, June 4—Spend a couple nights in the capital, Dar es Salaam
Saturday, June 6—Return to Kampala, Uganda, via bus for one night
Sunday, June 7—Get to Entebbe, where the airport is
Monday, June 8—Return home! Layover in London and be back in Boston by around 9pm
Of course, everything remains tentative and subject to common occurrences such as bus companies going out of business, mudslides, swarms of giant garbage eating storks, military coups, etc. Just kidding, it won't be that bad.
This past week we went as a group to King Fisher Resort in Jinja, which is home to the source of the Nile and many rapids and water falls, etc. We all had to give our presentations, but besides that it was a nice and relaxing week with some pool swimming involved. And then all of a sudden we have landed back in Kampala, and it seems we are in this strange liminal period where things are over but we are still here. But, things will get much more exciting very soon when I leave on the bus for Tanzania with my four friends. Here is a lowdown on the next few weeks (per my mother’s persuasion):
Sunday, May 17—Bus ride to Arusha, Tanzania (21 hours….yeeeesh)
Monday, May 18—Arrive in Arusha and find someplace to stay
Tuesday, May 19—Safari! See lots of awesome animals
Wednesday, May 20—Travel to Moshi, Tanzania, and hike in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro
Thursday, May 21—Bus and ferry to Zanzibar island
Friday, May 22 to Monday, May 25—Staying on the beach in Zanzibar, swimming, snorkeling, etc
Tuesday, May 26—Getting to Dar es Salaam and taking the sleeper train to Zambia
Thursday, May 28—Arrive in Zambia, visit Victoria Falls, hike, etc
Tuesday, June 2—Take train back to Dar es Salaam
Thursday, June 4—Spend a couple nights in the capital, Dar es Salaam
Saturday, June 6—Return to Kampala, Uganda, via bus for one night
Sunday, June 7—Get to Entebbe, where the airport is
Monday, June 8—Return home! Layover in London and be back in Boston by around 9pm
Of course, everything remains tentative and subject to common occurrences such as bus companies going out of business, mudslides, swarms of giant garbage eating storks, military coups, etc. Just kidding, it won't be that bad.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Decisions...
Ok so, somehow quite a bit has happened over the last week. Firstly, going back to stay with my family was the best decision. Arriving home was really great—everyone was there, including and especially Eddie! And it was good to see everyone and they all had questions about my time in Gulu so we just sat and talked for a while and had dinner together…and then watched Saw V to top everything off. Lovely bedtime film. Because the boys are home, I am back in Irene’s room (the housekeeper), but I know her a lot better now so I kind of enjoy it. And being back in Kampala is really nice, so different from Gulu but I'm used to it now, and I sort of relish the hecticness after the calmness of Gulu.
I guess actual life has not been that interesting, mostly just coming into town every day to work on our big papers due Monday. Mine is going really well, and it is mostly all written so now I am just fine-tuning. And it is 60 pages! Ack! But, we have been café hopping, trying different places out where ever there is a place to plug in our computers, and I have discovered a lot of nice places, including a coffee shop with wireless at the top of this HUGE skyscraper that does not feel like it is in Uganda at all, and a café in a gas station with amazing quesadillas and chocolate chip cookies (actually, there was a mouse in said café that crawled on my friends foot and I felt obliged to take it outside, at which everyone in the restaurant stared at me for about 15 minutes). I have also been hopping on boda-bodas to go home instead of the taxi, because night boda rights are just too enjoyable to pass up.
But okay, the big big news is that after a few days of complete indecision, I have decided to stay in Africa for three weeks after the program ends to travel! I have always thought of this in the back of my mind, but just never thought it would work out. But all of a sudden, the deadline for changing my flight was looming near, and I realized four of my good friends had planned a pretty awesome trip involving traveling in Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, and it was just too good to pass up. So, now my summer seems quite shorter, and I am going to be somewhat broke in the upcoming year, but oh well, when would I ever get to do this, especially with good friends? I am still kind of in shock that I am no staying, but it does seem like the right decision, and I am definitely excited.
PS Happy Cinco de Mayo!
I guess actual life has not been that interesting, mostly just coming into town every day to work on our big papers due Monday. Mine is going really well, and it is mostly all written so now I am just fine-tuning. And it is 60 pages! Ack! But, we have been café hopping, trying different places out where ever there is a place to plug in our computers, and I have discovered a lot of nice places, including a coffee shop with wireless at the top of this HUGE skyscraper that does not feel like it is in Uganda at all, and a café in a gas station with amazing quesadillas and chocolate chip cookies (actually, there was a mouse in said café that crawled on my friends foot and I felt obliged to take it outside, at which everyone in the restaurant stared at me for about 15 minutes). I have also been hopping on boda-bodas to go home instead of the taxi, because night boda rights are just too enjoyable to pass up.
But okay, the big big news is that after a few days of complete indecision, I have decided to stay in Africa for three weeks after the program ends to travel! I have always thought of this in the back of my mind, but just never thought it would work out. But all of a sudden, the deadline for changing my flight was looming near, and I realized four of my good friends had planned a pretty awesome trip involving traveling in Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, and it was just too good to pass up. So, now my summer seems quite shorter, and I am going to be somewhat broke in the upcoming year, but oh well, when would I ever get to do this, especially with good friends? I am still kind of in shock that I am no staying, but it does seem like the right decision, and I am definitely excited.
PS Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Back in the K’La
So, I have just arrived back in Kampala from Gulu, officially done with my research and now just concentrating on writing my paper. Kampala is kind of a shock after being in Gulu for a solid 5 weeks. But, not nearly as shocking as the first time, and I like this city so I’m glad to have one more week here. And I was debating where to stay; I never thought I would go back to my family, but I decided that I kinda would like to do that, especially if Eddie is back which he might be. However, I am slightly concerned about Martin the stabber being there, especially since he called me the other week asking if he could have my iPod. Yet, while she doesn’t openly express it, I do think that my host-mother enjoys having me there. So, I am curious about how this week will go.
Looking back on my time in Gulu, I really really enjoyed it. My time with RHU was great and I was really sad to say goodbye to everyone at the organization… I have everyone’s contact so hopefully we will stay in touch. My parting gift to them was a bottle of barbeque sauce from the US, which was very well received. I will also miss Gulu itself, craziness and all. This past week I didn’t really do much work, just went to the market, to the pool multiple times, got really good food. Yesterday was a really good last day, involving finding an amazing craft store at an HIV/AIDS NGO, Indian food, trivia night at a local bar, and getting stuck in a crazy rainstorm on the way back.. The bus ride back today was also slightly amazing. Several chickens were on board, in very close proximity to being able to peck my feet. We also peed on the side of the road in complete view of all the other passengers and a bunch of soldiers. I also bought some cassava to suffice as breakfast/lunch, and it was honestly the size of my entire forearm. Thus, I shared it with many other people on the bus.
Well, I am going to take care of things and prepare to move back into my host family for a little bit, so until then~
Looking back on my time in Gulu, I really really enjoyed it. My time with RHU was great and I was really sad to say goodbye to everyone at the organization… I have everyone’s contact so hopefully we will stay in touch. My parting gift to them was a bottle of barbeque sauce from the US, which was very well received. I will also miss Gulu itself, craziness and all. This past week I didn’t really do much work, just went to the market, to the pool multiple times, got really good food. Yesterday was a really good last day, involving finding an amazing craft store at an HIV/AIDS NGO, Indian food, trivia night at a local bar, and getting stuck in a crazy rainstorm on the way back.. The bus ride back today was also slightly amazing. Several chickens were on board, in very close proximity to being able to peck my feet. We also peed on the side of the road in complete view of all the other passengers and a bunch of soldiers. I also bought some cassava to suffice as breakfast/lunch, and it was honestly the size of my entire forearm. Thus, I shared it with many other people on the bus.
Well, I am going to take care of things and prepare to move back into my host family for a little bit, so until then~
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Real World: Gulu
So, things continue to be strange and interesting in Gulu. I don’t think I have kept you up to date on this issue but in our guesthouse we have a very interesting neighbor, Christine. She is an elderly woman on crutches, so obviously we all decided to be really nice to her. However, she was completely unreceptive. Then she started doing interesting things like cutting down the clothesline that I made, and complaining about us putting our gym shorts and other crazy clothing articles out to dry. Things then progressed as she threw a chair at Kathy’s head as she was doing crunches in the courtyard. She has also been throwing all of our clothes that she deems too close to her part of the guesthouse on to the floor. Then today, Kaitlyn had made a clothesline out of one of her scarves. Apparently it was too close to Christine’s room, and she took a knife to and chopped up the scarf. Then, she began swearing at us (in English!) and calling us American bastards and idiots. She then proceeded to make turkey-like gobbling noises and cackled loudly like the wicked witch of the west. Even though it may appear that she hates us, apparently Christine has been giving everyone in the guesthouse trouble, knocking over jerry cans etc, so the manager came to speak with her, at which she took one of her crutches and began wielding it about and threatening to hit him. After this ordeal, she slammed her door, made a lot of noise, and stared at us creepily. Everyone else in the guesthouse is equally weirded out, and exchanged knowing glances with us. Word on the street is that management is kicking her out tomorrow, but I know they will have to drag her out kicking and screaming. Despite everything, she is more amusing than anything else, and I don’t want her to end up on the street or anything because clearly life has played her some bad cards. But, tomorrow’s Christine installment shall be interesting none-the-less.
In other less dramatic news, today was a good day. Pancakes at Kope for brunch, then some fabric shopping in the market. Then we went to the !POOL! at the fancy inn in town, which was simply amazing. If there’s one thing I really miss, it is being around a giant body of water that we are allowed to swim it. But a pool suffices. And after swimming for a while, I felt much cleaner than I have after countless showers here with terrible water pressure that fails to actually remove dirt from my body. Then we went to the Obama Inn (so many places around here are called Obama—Obama butchery, Obama hotel…I wonder what they were called before this year. Bush Inn? I hope not. Bush Butchery? Maybe). Anyways, it was all Indian food and soooooo good. Indian food here always takes about 5 hours to come after ordering, but it was worth it.
As for “Real World Gulu,” apparently that is what the rest of our group in Uganda has been calling the 7 of us in Gulu, and it definitely is starting to feel a little Real World esque….you know, some strong personalities living within very close proximity to each other…but such is life. I really don’t have much research left to do, but I’m staying through this week before heading back to Kampala to finish this mongo paper. Fun fun.
In other less dramatic news, today was a good day. Pancakes at Kope for brunch, then some fabric shopping in the market. Then we went to the !POOL! at the fancy inn in town, which was simply amazing. If there’s one thing I really miss, it is being around a giant body of water that we are allowed to swim it. But a pool suffices. And after swimming for a while, I felt much cleaner than I have after countless showers here with terrible water pressure that fails to actually remove dirt from my body. Then we went to the Obama Inn (so many places around here are called Obama—Obama butchery, Obama hotel…I wonder what they were called before this year. Bush Inn? I hope not. Bush Butchery? Maybe). Anyways, it was all Indian food and soooooo good. Indian food here always takes about 5 hours to come after ordering, but it was worth it.
As for “Real World Gulu,” apparently that is what the rest of our group in Uganda has been calling the 7 of us in Gulu, and it definitely is starting to feel a little Real World esque….you know, some strong personalities living within very close proximity to each other…but such is life. I really don’t have much research left to do, but I’m staying through this week before heading back to Kampala to finish this mongo paper. Fun fun.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Sudan Suckahs
Sooooo today... we went to Sudan! I won't lie, we mostly did it for bragging rights. Because it's like... Sudan! But we were very curious about how it would all work out because out directors kept our passports and wouldn't give them back to us, probably because they figured we would try and do exactly what we did... But we caugt the bus to Sudan at 5 am (argh kill me). During the bus ride, a box fell from the rafters of the bus and squashed me as I was trying to sleep. Awesome. But, we got to the Ugandan border town and went to customs. At first the guard was like "There is absolutely no way you can cross the border without a passport.” But we thrust at him every form of documentation we had on us, and after some sweet talking he wrote us a letter granting us entry. Then we hopped on over to the Sudanese customs, did some more sweet talking, and we were in! Southern Sudan is obviously a lot like Northern Uganda, but I suppose it's the novelty of it. We talked to Namile, the nearest trading center. One of us actually did some research while the rest of us walked around, shopped, took pictures, talked to a few nice people, etc. We then took boda motorcycles back to the border to get there before they got suspicious. We easily found a taxi back to Gulu, but of course after 20 minutes all the tires blew out and we waited for 2 hours dying in the heat as they went to find tires... And we took the most out of the way back, BUT we made it. So take that SIT, with your confiscating of passports. PS Not that any of you talk to my academic directors, but you cannot tell them that this happened. Shhh!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Don't go barefoot...use a dom-con!
So, we continue so stay in our lovely abode behind the bar and adjacent to the crazy evangelical church. Nothing too exciting has occurred as of late. Last week I continued at Reproductive Health Uganda. They’ve actually had me do a few things around the place, so I don’t feel completely useless. I had a couple of really awkward visits to the resettlement villages. For instance, I was trying to run a focus group with women at one village, but soon everyone and their mother had gathered around and was piping in, and when I finished I got the response, “So, people keep coming and asking us questions, and we never see any results. Are you going to get us results?” I have received this on a number of occasions, and it’s really difficult to explain the whole thing about being a young, un-influential, powerless student. I can obviously understand where they are coming from, and its stinky that I can’t immediately get them better healthcare or influence others to do the same.
I had some other better experiences, like going back to Cet-Kana, my favorite village of the four that I visit. It’s the first one I went to, and I met a few people there who were very kind and friendly, and now every time I see them they seek me out and are really interested to talk. One of them, Ana, is an elderly woman, and upon my arriving she gave me an entire pot of sim-sim (like sesame seeds), which was incredibly nice of her. The local chairman (like the mayor of the village) and another man I know took me by the hand and took me on a tour of the village and talked to me, and then helped me translate as I gave a speech on hygiene to mothers and children (quite awkward and not my idea at all, but hopefully something I said was helpful). They day I went to Lela-Obaro, another village, no one was around to help me talk to people, so after sitting around for a while I just decided to walk around the village and see what happened. Turns out, I was welcomed by a group of quasi-drunk men (given, this is at noon), into their hut where they spend exorbitant amounts of time sitting around and drinking their liquor. A few of them knew English, and we had some pretty funny conversation. They also wanted me to buy them some more alcohol, to which I kept replying that I did not think that was the best idea, and that they should be doing something else with their time…probably not my place to say such things, but I’m not going to contribute to their drinking when they could be earning money for their families. One man was really interested in why I was there, so I decided I might as well start asking about family planning, and he offered me his opinions on it and then volunteered to translate so I could ask the other men what they thought. So, this random occurrence happened to be really interesting and useful.
I also enjoy spending time with and talking with Charles, the lab technician, who has been to the US and is working on his graduate degree so there are a lot of things that we can talk about. He has been having me observe as he does HIV testing, and even in 2 sessions I have witnessed several people test positive for HIV…which is such an intense experience, and it makes me feel like this tiny, insignificant piece of sand or something as these people are told that have this disease that will eventually claim their lives. Of course, HIV is not a death sentence, but that is only if one is going to be able to access the drugs and treatment that they need which is definitely not guaranteed here.
This past weekend I decided that I should perhaps begin exercising after not really doing anything the entire time being here (to my credit, I do walk everywhere and probably sweat out my weight in water everyday). So, we went on a run, and then went to Kope Café pancakes. Kope is this café we have been patronizing quite frequently. It has a cozy atmosphere and proceeds go to a local NGO that works with children, and they have amaaazing food, like pancakes and muesli and Greek salads and steak sandwiches and basically sorts of food that are hard to find elsewhere. I have been enjoying food elsewhere of course, like the local staple, kalo, or millet posho, made of millet flour and water and has a play-doh type consistency. I think I am the only muzungu to actually enjoy it, but I really do. Another favorite is mallakon, a mixture of greens and groundnuts, so it tastes really peanut buttery, and you eat it by dipping sweet potatoes in it. Sooo good.
I also found a really cute dress on the side of the road, which I decided to invest in for the evening. That night we went to Buganda Pub to see Sweet Kid, who is apparently a big deal around here. We had heard that this pub was sketchy….and that doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was basically a grabby-man fest, but we were with a guy from out guesthouse who is really nice and drove us there and stayed with us the whole time. The show began with about two hours of awful karaoke, so awful it was laughable. Then they had a few opening acts, including the female artist Bella, which actually turned out to be a series of lapdances. Finally Sweet Kid came out but by that time we were dead, so we didn’t stay that long.
Sunday I woke up and actually thought that I might have malaria…I just had a fever and some other symptoms and it is Uganda so you can never be too sure…I did test negative though and I’m feeling better now so that’s good. The Uganda experience is not complete without malaria, or at least getting tested for it.
PS the title to this post is a quote from the night at Buganda Pub. This is apparently the MC's way of advertising condoms (or dom-cons, as they like to call them.) So remember, don't go barefoot!
I had some other better experiences, like going back to Cet-Kana, my favorite village of the four that I visit. It’s the first one I went to, and I met a few people there who were very kind and friendly, and now every time I see them they seek me out and are really interested to talk. One of them, Ana, is an elderly woman, and upon my arriving she gave me an entire pot of sim-sim (like sesame seeds), which was incredibly nice of her. The local chairman (like the mayor of the village) and another man I know took me by the hand and took me on a tour of the village and talked to me, and then helped me translate as I gave a speech on hygiene to mothers and children (quite awkward and not my idea at all, but hopefully something I said was helpful). They day I went to Lela-Obaro, another village, no one was around to help me talk to people, so after sitting around for a while I just decided to walk around the village and see what happened. Turns out, I was welcomed by a group of quasi-drunk men (given, this is at noon), into their hut where they spend exorbitant amounts of time sitting around and drinking their liquor. A few of them knew English, and we had some pretty funny conversation. They also wanted me to buy them some more alcohol, to which I kept replying that I did not think that was the best idea, and that they should be doing something else with their time…probably not my place to say such things, but I’m not going to contribute to their drinking when they could be earning money for their families. One man was really interested in why I was there, so I decided I might as well start asking about family planning, and he offered me his opinions on it and then volunteered to translate so I could ask the other men what they thought. So, this random occurrence happened to be really interesting and useful.
I also enjoy spending time with and talking with Charles, the lab technician, who has been to the US and is working on his graduate degree so there are a lot of things that we can talk about. He has been having me observe as he does HIV testing, and even in 2 sessions I have witnessed several people test positive for HIV…which is such an intense experience, and it makes me feel like this tiny, insignificant piece of sand or something as these people are told that have this disease that will eventually claim their lives. Of course, HIV is not a death sentence, but that is only if one is going to be able to access the drugs and treatment that they need which is definitely not guaranteed here.
This past weekend I decided that I should perhaps begin exercising after not really doing anything the entire time being here (to my credit, I do walk everywhere and probably sweat out my weight in water everyday). So, we went on a run, and then went to Kope Café pancakes. Kope is this café we have been patronizing quite frequently. It has a cozy atmosphere and proceeds go to a local NGO that works with children, and they have amaaazing food, like pancakes and muesli and Greek salads and steak sandwiches and basically sorts of food that are hard to find elsewhere. I have been enjoying food elsewhere of course, like the local staple, kalo, or millet posho, made of millet flour and water and has a play-doh type consistency. I think I am the only muzungu to actually enjoy it, but I really do. Another favorite is mallakon, a mixture of greens and groundnuts, so it tastes really peanut buttery, and you eat it by dipping sweet potatoes in it. Sooo good.
I also found a really cute dress on the side of the road, which I decided to invest in for the evening. That night we went to Buganda Pub to see Sweet Kid, who is apparently a big deal around here. We had heard that this pub was sketchy….and that doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was basically a grabby-man fest, but we were with a guy from out guesthouse who is really nice and drove us there and stayed with us the whole time. The show began with about two hours of awful karaoke, so awful it was laughable. Then they had a few opening acts, including the female artist Bella, which actually turned out to be a series of lapdances. Finally Sweet Kid came out but by that time we were dead, so we didn’t stay that long.
Sunday I woke up and actually thought that I might have malaria…I just had a fever and some other symptoms and it is Uganda so you can never be too sure…I did test negative though and I’m feeling better now so that’s good. The Uganda experience is not complete without malaria, or at least getting tested for it.
PS the title to this post is a quote from the night at Buganda Pub. This is apparently the MC's way of advertising condoms (or dom-cons, as they like to call them.) So remember, don't go barefoot!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Housing
Ah, I forgot to mention the outcome of our housing search (because I know none of you could sleep at night waiting to find out). We are all staying in rooms at a guesthouse that is literally behind a bar... so things are often loud and a bit rowdy... And actually, there has yet to be both running water and electricity at the same time...usally one or the other, or neither...but such is Gulu. The rooms are cheap though, we are all living in sets of 2 in rooms that are next to eachother, so we're all together but not on top of eachother. And it is costing me 2 dollars a day...which is sahweet. Thus far the only casualties have been a pair of flipflops and a pair of pants that dissapeared off of the drying line...gotta work on that. But, it's amazing what you can do with a scarsely furnished cement room!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Gulugulugulugulugulu
So! Another week in Gulu has passed. Did a lot of observing last week for practicum--it was the biannual training session for peer counselors in the IDP camps, so I got to go along for all of their training. They even do things like make puppets and then have puppet shows to teach about gender based violence. So, a lot of good stuff for me to write about later in my paper.
One evening we got together with the army general again, and this time he brought a long a guy that distributes one of Uganda's most popular brands of beer to all of East Africa, and also this guy Sam Okello, who was a major character in the Last King of Scotland! IMDB that, I do not lie. He also started his own NGO here, and he has spent time in New Hampshire, as well as all over the US. So basically he's a really well-to-do guy. And these are really helpful connections to be making. Next weekend hopefully they are going to take us on safari so I can see some of these animals that SUPPOSEDLY live here but that I have not seen yet, like zebras and giraffes.
On Friday, all of us Gulu-ers embarked for Mbale, a town in the East where a few of us are staying. The bus ride was very long and bumpy and I was literally encased in dirt when I emerged, but it was worth it. A bunch of us turned up, so it was a fun weekend and good to see friends I hadn't seen in a few weeks. The first night we got Indian and went dancing at what we are guessing is a sketchy gay club cause there was a really weird vibe going on...the next day we went for a pretty intense hike to a waterfall. In the evening we visited the Abayudaya Jews. There is this one little village of Jewish Ugandans--the only Jewish society in Africa other than the Ethiopian Jews. I believe they came about because in the early 1900s, missionaries attempted to convert a Ugandan general. He was not having any of it, and decided that Judaism was a much better deal. (Duh.) So, we went to havdala, or the ceremony to mark the end of Shabbot, and it was really surreal to hear Hebrew being sung in the middle of Uganda. Fun fact: to get there, we all rode standing up in the back of a flatbead truck. I also had my first bodaboda, or motorcycle ride, which was really fun. Everyone else has taken them a bajillion times but somehow I have escaped thus far.
Sunday it was raining all day (it is the rainy season now in Uganda, which means rain for at least part of the day, every day, and also that mangos are in season), so we just ate and watched TV on peoples laptops--very nice and relaxing. Mbale has a lot of Indian-owned supermarkets, which generally means good imported food. I think I drank my weight in Diet Coke. And there were M&Ms and toblerone and pringles and laughing cow cheese and apples...I'm basically going to get really fat when I get home and have access to everything I want. The ride home, with the all the waiting we did, left us in transit for TWELVE HOURS. But, whatever.
But, I really can't believe we are only here in Gulu for another 3 weeks, then a week back in Kampala to write my paper, and then our last week presenting at a resort...geez. So, I guess I better go and make the most of it! Talk to you later.
One evening we got together with the army general again, and this time he brought a long a guy that distributes one of Uganda's most popular brands of beer to all of East Africa, and also this guy Sam Okello, who was a major character in the Last King of Scotland! IMDB that, I do not lie. He also started his own NGO here, and he has spent time in New Hampshire, as well as all over the US. So basically he's a really well-to-do guy. And these are really helpful connections to be making. Next weekend hopefully they are going to take us on safari so I can see some of these animals that SUPPOSEDLY live here but that I have not seen yet, like zebras and giraffes.
On Friday, all of us Gulu-ers embarked for Mbale, a town in the East where a few of us are staying. The bus ride was very long and bumpy and I was literally encased in dirt when I emerged, but it was worth it. A bunch of us turned up, so it was a fun weekend and good to see friends I hadn't seen in a few weeks. The first night we got Indian and went dancing at what we are guessing is a sketchy gay club cause there was a really weird vibe going on...the next day we went for a pretty intense hike to a waterfall. In the evening we visited the Abayudaya Jews. There is this one little village of Jewish Ugandans--the only Jewish society in Africa other than the Ethiopian Jews. I believe they came about because in the early 1900s, missionaries attempted to convert a Ugandan general. He was not having any of it, and decided that Judaism was a much better deal. (Duh.) So, we went to havdala, or the ceremony to mark the end of Shabbot, and it was really surreal to hear Hebrew being sung in the middle of Uganda. Fun fact: to get there, we all rode standing up in the back of a flatbead truck. I also had my first bodaboda, or motorcycle ride, which was really fun. Everyone else has taken them a bajillion times but somehow I have escaped thus far.
Sunday it was raining all day (it is the rainy season now in Uganda, which means rain for at least part of the day, every day, and also that mangos are in season), so we just ate and watched TV on peoples laptops--very nice and relaxing. Mbale has a lot of Indian-owned supermarkets, which generally means good imported food. I think I drank my weight in Diet Coke. And there were M&Ms and toblerone and pringles and laughing cow cheese and apples...I'm basically going to get really fat when I get home and have access to everything I want. The ride home, with the all the waiting we did, left us in transit for TWELVE HOURS. But, whatever.
But, I really can't believe we are only here in Gulu for another 3 weeks, then a week back in Kampala to write my paper, and then our last week presenting at a resort...geez. So, I guess I better go and make the most of it! Talk to you later.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Helloooo
So, since I am once again mooching internet from my friend's modem, I might as well make use of it by posting an update. So, it looks like my schedule in Gulu will be long days Monday through Thursday, shadowing Reproductive Health Uganda, but Friday through Sunday I won't really have anything to do, which is sweet. This weekend has been pretty busy though, as we have been trying to find an apartment. We have visited several brokers and have a couple options, but we cannot get a definite answer about our first choice, so we are sort of in limbo. This would be an apartment in a nice, clean complex very close to where we are now, and it is dirt cheap. As in, each of the 6 of us would be paying about 50 cents a day. Hahaha. The only downside is, the apartment is so small that we will literally be on top of eachother. Our other option is more spacious and more expensive (and by that, I mean 3 dollars a day...Ugandan prices are really spoiling me), but it's kind of grimy so we're hoping this other one pulls through. I don't like being grownup and having to find my own housing! It's so stressful.
In other news...Friday night we had dinner with majors from the UGANDAN ARMY. My friend Kathy was walking down the street, and a truck of them drove by and offered her a ride, and then asked her to dinner. So a bunch of us met them for drinks and dinner, during which they continued to pump us full of alcohol, but they did pay us for everything and took us dancing, which was fun. We have also met a number of other important people, like the head of NAADS, a really big organization over here, and some professors who are helping us all with of our research. But, I continue to like Gulu a lot, it's just very chill and pleasant, and the nights are nice and cool (in temperature) and there is music everywhere. It's nice to be with friends too and always have someone to do things with.
So, hopefully more updates soon. PS Happy Birthday dad!!
In other news...Friday night we had dinner with majors from the UGANDAN ARMY. My friend Kathy was walking down the street, and a truck of them drove by and offered her a ride, and then asked her to dinner. So a bunch of us met them for drinks and dinner, during which they continued to pump us full of alcohol, but they did pay us for everything and took us dancing, which was fun. We have also met a number of other important people, like the head of NAADS, a really big organization over here, and some professors who are helping us all with of our research. But, I continue to like Gulu a lot, it's just very chill and pleasant, and the nights are nice and cool (in temperature) and there is music everywhere. It's nice to be with friends too and always have someone to do things with.
So, hopefully more updates soon. PS Happy Birthday dad!!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Gulu
So here I am in Gulu! After a five-hour bus ride filled with many speed bumps, we pulled into Gulu on Tuesday, and moved into a pretty nice hotel for the time being. I really like the town--you would never guess that until recently it was right in the middle of a civil war. It's pretty small compared to KampalaÑquaint, if you will. There's no crazy traffic and far less harassment as we walk down the street. It is a different language of course, Acholi instead of Luganda, so another set of greetings and such to learn. There are a lot of good restaurants, and the staple here is millet bread, this gooey brown stuff that I love, and not matooke, the mashed plantain stuff that I do not love. There's also a cute market, and some (insanely slow) Internet cafes, a decent supermarket, and a pool at one of the nice hotels--so what more can you ask for? So on Tuesday we just got acclimated.
Wednesday I set out for my organization, Reproductive Health Uganda, which involved me walking for an hour in an unknown direction before calling the RHU director, who was like "No no no, you are very far, just go back to the hotel."So then they picked me up and I discovered that RHU was about 50 feet behind the hotel. Sweet.
So everyone there was very nice, and the organization does community outreach for the Internally Displaced Persons camps Monday through Thursday, so they brought me along to the days outreach, so I got to see the activities they do there as well as talk to people around the camp. In many of the camps, people have been moving back to their homes, but many people are still afraid to do so or are not able. The camps are areas densely populated with mud and grass huts. There's a lot of dirt, and not much vegetation, and not many other resources there. The government is tactfully trying to get the people to leave the camps by not providing thigs for them anymore. Somebody helped me translate as I talked to people in the camp, and I met this 18-year-old guy who is the head of his family after his father was killed in the violence and his mother left with another man (because the woman must always move to where the husband lives). He was not able to finish school, and he must care for his 4 younger siblings. So, really intense stuff. The next day I traveled with RHU to another camp where I was shown around again, and another intern tried to feed me sill-alive insects, which I politely declined. I got to lead a women focus group and the other intern helped me translate, which was really cool and I got to hear their thoughts on what RHU is doing for them. RHU's clinics seem to be the only thing going for these people-they don't receive much other assistance or funding, the local clinics are a joke, and they are still displaced. So they have to come to really rely on RHU. Unfortunately, RHU programs in the IDP camps are about to end since funding is about to end in a couple months, so I am really curious to see what is going to happen.
I made several more stops with the RHU staff on our way back home and they kept feeding me-sugar cane, beans, posho-and I feel kind of guilty because I haven't actually been doing any work for the organization. I really want to, but thus far I have been mostly just going everywhere with them and seeing what happens. When we got back yesterday, they were all like "Ah, we are so traumatized by the IDP camps, we must play a game." So then we played Ludo for a long time, which is like the Ugandan version of Parcheesi. They are a funny bunch, and I think I will like working with them.
Today I am just chilling, since RHU doesn't do programs on Friday. We are currently trying to get an apartment for the 7 of us that are here from my program-we have several leads so hopefully we can even move into one tomorrow. But, all in all, I really like it here. And my practicum is going well-almost TOO well, seems suspicious. But I'll just enjoy the ride for now.
Wednesday I set out for my organization, Reproductive Health Uganda, which involved me walking for an hour in an unknown direction before calling the RHU director, who was like "No no no, you are very far, just go back to the hotel."So then they picked me up and I discovered that RHU was about 50 feet behind the hotel. Sweet.
So everyone there was very nice, and the organization does community outreach for the Internally Displaced Persons camps Monday through Thursday, so they brought me along to the days outreach, so I got to see the activities they do there as well as talk to people around the camp. In many of the camps, people have been moving back to their homes, but many people are still afraid to do so or are not able. The camps are areas densely populated with mud and grass huts. There's a lot of dirt, and not much vegetation, and not many other resources there. The government is tactfully trying to get the people to leave the camps by not providing thigs for them anymore. Somebody helped me translate as I talked to people in the camp, and I met this 18-year-old guy who is the head of his family after his father was killed in the violence and his mother left with another man (because the woman must always move to where the husband lives). He was not able to finish school, and he must care for his 4 younger siblings. So, really intense stuff. The next day I traveled with RHU to another camp where I was shown around again, and another intern tried to feed me sill-alive insects, which I politely declined. I got to lead a women focus group and the other intern helped me translate, which was really cool and I got to hear their thoughts on what RHU is doing for them. RHU's clinics seem to be the only thing going for these people-they don't receive much other assistance or funding, the local clinics are a joke, and they are still displaced. So they have to come to really rely on RHU. Unfortunately, RHU programs in the IDP camps are about to end since funding is about to end in a couple months, so I am really curious to see what is going to happen.
I made several more stops with the RHU staff on our way back home and they kept feeding me-sugar cane, beans, posho-and I feel kind of guilty because I haven't actually been doing any work for the organization. I really want to, but thus far I have been mostly just going everywhere with them and seeing what happens. When we got back yesterday, they were all like "Ah, we are so traumatized by the IDP camps, we must play a game." So then we played Ludo for a long time, which is like the Ugandan version of Parcheesi. They are a funny bunch, and I think I will like working with them.
Today I am just chilling, since RHU doesn't do programs on Friday. We are currently trying to get an apartment for the 7 of us that are here from my program-we have several leads so hopefully we can even move into one tomorrow. But, all in all, I really like it here. And my practicum is going well-almost TOO well, seems suspicious. But I'll just enjoy the ride for now.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Practicum Already!
So it seems like practicum has been this far off thing the entire trip… and now all of a sudden its here. Practicum officially begins today, but I will be leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday. I had several meetings last week to set up what I am doing. So, I will be working at Reproductive Health Uganda at their branch in Gulu. The organization used to be called Family Planning Association of Uganda, and I was completely unaware of the name change but I’m really glad because this means I’ll get to focus on more than just family planning. In Gulu they have also recently launched a program that I’ll get to help out with, called: “Between Two Fires: Ensuring Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for People in Conflict Situations,” which is basically what I’ve wanted to study this entire time. So, if everything goes as planned I will be interning with RHU and helping out with this program and doing fieldwork with women and youth in internally displaced persons camps.
Gulu is in the north, near the Sudanese border, about a five or six hour bus ride from Kampala. About seven other people from my program will be doing their internships or research in the Gulu area, so I will travel with them and a bunch of us are planning on getting a house together, so I am excited for that. I’m a little nervous never having seen Gulu before, but having spoken to other students who have been there, they all seemed to enjoy working there. When I tell other Ugandans that I am going to Gulu I get a lot of unfavorable reactions, like looks of horror or disgust, but I’ll make my own judgment.
So until then, I am just packing, finalizing things, spending a last few days with my host family which is sad in theory but I’ve still never spent more than a solid 15 minutes with my hostmom so…whatever. This past week began very stressfully but got better as things fell into place. Surprisingly, I had a really good time trying to find RHU in Kampala. The directions I had were really wrong, so I got to meet a lot of nice people who helped me out, and in the end I found the place, and everyone that worked there was very nice as well. Friday night was someone’s birthday so we went to a nearby restaurant that has some of the most amazing pizza I have ever had, and we all ate about 5000 pounds of pizza and then went out dancing, but we are pretty lame and tired so we didn’t stay out that late. And on Saturday a group of us went to volunteer at an orphanage that my friend Abbey will be doing her practicum at. It is caused Raising Hope for Uganda, and this twenty-year-old guy who grew up on the streets himself directs it. Now he runs this place, which by day is a school for kids who can’t afford public school (deceptively very expensive despite being “free”), and by night they house about 40 kids who would otherwise be living on the street. So basically this guy Patrick and his coworkers are amazing, amazing people. They have made this their entire lives and are absolutely in love with all of the kids. We came to help build a house for an HIV positive mother and her 6 children so that they have someplace to live, especially after the mother passes away… so in the morning we did a lot of carrying bricks and sand and logs, and then we had lunch at the orphanage and played and danced with the kids which was great. I’m not a huge “just go play with the kids” person but these kids were adorable, and just ran up and gave us these unconditional huge hugs, and we exchanged lots of dance moves, and got really humiliated because some of these 8-year-old girls can shake their stuff way better than I can. If I were going to be in Kampala longer than I am, I would definitely go back again, but alas. It’s weird to be leaving this area so soon, just as I am forming relationships and learning places, but oh well, I’ll get to do it all over again.
So, for the next 6 weeks I am very unsure of what my internet access will be… I’ve heard it’s very shady in Gulu so we’ll have to see how often I get access. So, until then!
Gulu is in the north, near the Sudanese border, about a five or six hour bus ride from Kampala. About seven other people from my program will be doing their internships or research in the Gulu area, so I will travel with them and a bunch of us are planning on getting a house together, so I am excited for that. I’m a little nervous never having seen Gulu before, but having spoken to other students who have been there, they all seemed to enjoy working there. When I tell other Ugandans that I am going to Gulu I get a lot of unfavorable reactions, like looks of horror or disgust, but I’ll make my own judgment.
So until then, I am just packing, finalizing things, spending a last few days with my host family which is sad in theory but I’ve still never spent more than a solid 15 minutes with my hostmom so…whatever. This past week began very stressfully but got better as things fell into place. Surprisingly, I had a really good time trying to find RHU in Kampala. The directions I had were really wrong, so I got to meet a lot of nice people who helped me out, and in the end I found the place, and everyone that worked there was very nice as well. Friday night was someone’s birthday so we went to a nearby restaurant that has some of the most amazing pizza I have ever had, and we all ate about 5000 pounds of pizza and then went out dancing, but we are pretty lame and tired so we didn’t stay out that late. And on Saturday a group of us went to volunteer at an orphanage that my friend Abbey will be doing her practicum at. It is caused Raising Hope for Uganda, and this twenty-year-old guy who grew up on the streets himself directs it. Now he runs this place, which by day is a school for kids who can’t afford public school (deceptively very expensive despite being “free”), and by night they house about 40 kids who would otherwise be living on the street. So basically this guy Patrick and his coworkers are amazing, amazing people. They have made this their entire lives and are absolutely in love with all of the kids. We came to help build a house for an HIV positive mother and her 6 children so that they have someplace to live, especially after the mother passes away… so in the morning we did a lot of carrying bricks and sand and logs, and then we had lunch at the orphanage and played and danced with the kids which was great. I’m not a huge “just go play with the kids” person but these kids were adorable, and just ran up and gave us these unconditional huge hugs, and we exchanged lots of dance moves, and got really humiliated because some of these 8-year-old girls can shake their stuff way better than I can. If I were going to be in Kampala longer than I am, I would definitely go back again, but alas. It’s weird to be leaving this area so soon, just as I am forming relationships and learning places, but oh well, I’ll get to do it all over again.
So, for the next 6 weeks I am very unsure of what my internet access will be… I’ve heard it’s very shady in Gulu so we’ll have to see how often I get access. So, until then!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Photos
Here are some photos from someone on the trip who takes really amazing photos. I don't think I'm in any of them, but it will give you a taste of where I am and what we are doing. These are mostly from our rural excursion, and not Kampala city. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/nolan.katherine/EasternExcursion?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/nolan.katherine/EasternExcursion?feat=directlink
Monday, March 23, 2009
Rural Homestay
So, I am finally back in civilization after our rural excursion to the East. We left on Sunday and stayed in Mbale for a night, and I really liked the feel of the city, it was smaller and sleepier than Kampala. I walked around with my friend Abby and got ice cream and as we were sitting on the sidewalk when this guy came and deposited his baby in our lap… I was a little concerned that we weren’t going to see him again but I think he just figured that we would like to play for a little while. We spent the next two nights up in the mountains at a place called the Crow’s Nest, which is a sort of camp place build by the Peace Corps. It was gorgeous, and we all stayed in little cabins and I kind of wanted to stay there forever. We went hiking down to the Sipi waterfalls, and we did some pretty intense rock climbing around and INTO the falls, which was one of the most amazing experiences. The waterfall is HUGE so it was really painful to be pelted by the water while simultaneously gripping slippery mossy rocks and trying to climb through…but it was really cool. And wet. The next day there was another hike to more waterfalls, and everyone had to run back to the camp rather than take the van because they didn’t want to get the van wet, which was pretty fun. Dinner was really shitty the first night, and after that the foot drastically improved—for breakfast we had PANCAKES which was amazing, and for dinner we had garlic bread, guacamole, and some other really great things. (As a sidenote, we all spend about 95% of the time talking about the foods that we miss and can’t wait to have when we get home and how we will all consequentially become obese). I was in a group that went to interview a village community that has been displaced by the cattle raiders from Karamojo district. The cattle raiders have been a huge issue, because they believe that they basically have the right to whatever cattle they find and so they go to other villages and steal the cattle and burn the houses and rape the women… scary stuff. They are the reason why we are not allowed to stay in the Northeast of the country.
After our little stay at “camp,” our rural homestays began. We were all matched with partners from the group, but besides that we were isolated in our own rural village. I was with Jesse, a guy on the trip, and we were in a village called Bunyunyke, which is 3 kilometers from the Kenyan border (to which I really wanted to go but other people lacked my motivation). The basic living situation is family compounds. My family had a compound consisting of several sleeping huts, the cooking hut, the goat pen, and rabbit house, etc, and the compounds of male family members were connected and shared resources, so my host dad’s brothers lived right next door and the women cooked together and the kids ran around quasi-naked together. Jesse and I had our own hut, which was apparently built just for us (swanky). It was pretty well outfitted, with mattress pads and mosquito nets. The structure itself is made of circular mud walls, a tin door, and a grass roof. Pretty much beginning with the first moment, lots of awkwardness ensued, seeing that the family spoke very little English, and also because Jesse and I were treated like royalty which makes me very uncomfortable.
Things about the homestay that were cool:
We could to take part in a lot of the everyday chores—rather, I did, and not so much Jesse (as I will explain). The first morning they had us “dig,” or hoe the ground to plant cassava. Digging is how most of the families in the area make a living. We planted groundnuts, and slashed with machetes. I “cooked,” or did whatever they asked me to do like shell eggs, cut meat, stir vegetables on the “stove,” which is 3 rocks with a fire in the middle and a pot balanced on top. Why they do all the cooking inside is a mystery to me—I have never inhaled so much smoke in my life. I also washed dishes and pumped water from the boar hole. This reaffirmed my lack of strength when I could not even carry one full jerry can of water, so my host mom carried mine IN ADDITION to hers. Its amazing how even the “simplest” of things can become very complicated when water must be pumped and carried, and you don’t have basic things like matches or soap (these families have very, very little money). I mention that Jesse did not do as much because gender inequalities are very pronounced in Uganda, especially in rural areas. Women do all the chores and most of the digging while men spend much of the day drinking and sitting around and expecting meals cooked for them. So, they would have me come help with lunch while someone would fetch a mat for Jesse to lie in the shade. Sounds about right.
Also, while I am not the type of person that swoons over hoards of little kids, we got to play some football and Jesse is very good with them and they liked to sing songs together which was pretty cute. There were also gazillions of animals around, like goats, cows, pigs, piglets (!), chickens, dogs, rabbits, etc, so always something to play with.
Every night for several hours, we went into town with our host dad and went to a large hut that is sort of like the local bar. Everyone sits around and drinks marwa, which is like warm millet beer with chunks of…stuff in it. It is drunk from a large communal pot and everyone has his own “tube,” or hollow stick, with which to drink. It’s almost exclusively a male pastime but I suppose I got special permission being a guest. There is another popular drink made from maize and molasses and is like vodka times a thousand—I think it burned off my esophagus. You can literally smell it when people are drinking it across the street. But they absolutely down it.
Also, the stars were unbelievable. I have never, ever seen them so bright. It was like being in a planetarium, and I could even see the milky way. Brushing my teeth outside at night was probably one of my favorite things. Using the pit latrine and watching all the bugs crawl out of it was not. The bugs in general were a bit intimidating—my first night I rolled over and felt a squish, which turned about to be a gigantic cricket that had been sharing my bed. Fun.
Things about the homestay that were not so cool:
During said homestay, we were supposed to be doing a bunch of research and organizing interviews and focus groups, which is very hard when your family is having you do lots of stuff and no one can communicate with you in English. Jesse and I did research some health care and went to the local clinic and a pharmacy and a traditional healer, but I wish we had been able to do a lot more.
The most upsetting thing about the homestay was the fact that they kept asking us for money. Yes, we are Americans, and they are quite poor, but SIT gives them a lot of money to host us, as I found out, and we also bought them a goat (!) and some other things. Yet my host mother actually cornered me a few times in my hut to ask for money without really explaining why, and she would ask me for things every chance she got and tried to convince me to take her husband back to America so he could get a job (no joke). The father also kept taking us out but then expected Jess or me to pay for things. This all culminated during the last night, when I really wanted to go to bed, and just as I was, ALL the family members piled into our little hut, the one girl was asking for homework help and the father took his dinner. I politely asked them to leave several times but they did not understand. I think they thought Jesse and I were together and thus I could not go to sleep without him. So I dragged Jesse inside, and then one of the daughters got up and gave an apparently prepared speech about how poor they were and how they needed us to give them money, etc etc. At this point I was very fed up, and explained to them that they were getting a great deal of money to have us here, and we did want to help them which is why we had gotten them a goat. And then they finally shut up. Sigh. I thought that maybe all the families were like this, but it turns out no one else’s were, but we talked to our directors about it and they are going to take care of it. So, that kind of tainted the experience, but I’m glad we got to do a lot of the other stuff we did.
Our last day on the excursion, we went to the home of one of our teachers because it is in the area. They have a REALLY nice compound, and our teachers had arranged a DJ and a dance and a cash bar. So we all got to dance and get our directors tipsy, which is always a good time.
I was never so happy to get back to Kampala, however, and I have a newfound appreciated for the privacy I get in my homestay here as well as the familiarity of the city even though it is still crazy and overwhelming. While my little host sister is still annoying at times, we have been “doing homework” together which is cute, I just have to keep an eye on her because if I turn my back for a second she goes through all my stuff. And Irene, the housemaid, is great and missed me a lot. And I have been able to have some really great conversations with my host mom, talking about gender inequalities in Uganda, and HIV/AIDS, and a lot of other stuff that has been provoked by my rural excursion. It’s unfortunate that now that I feel we are finally getting to know each other, I am leaving in less than a week.
That reminds me—I am leaving in less than a week! This is the last week in Kampala before we begin our practicum, or internship/research period. We have this week to finalize plans, write 2 major papers, say bye to our families, and do everything else we want to. Quite overwhelming, to say the least. And it’s a very strange feeling to not know where I am going to be living or what I will be doing even a week from right now. This is very typical for Uganda, but strange for me.
In other news, I went shopping for kangas today, which are these fabric wraps that women wear around the house or while doing chores or use as towels, etc. And I found one with a giant picture of Obama’s face. Perfect. In other interesting news, going a little bit back in time, they day before the excursion was our free day, so some of us went to this nice hotel on top of one of the hills in the city to use the pool. Most of my friends brought their host brothers to swim as well. Ariela’s younger brother insisted that he knew how to swim… which was not really the case. So he went in the deep end and promptly swallowed a bunch of water and started choking and couldn’t breathe… Ariela was like “Jamie!!!” So on autopilot I leapt out the pool and Heimlich-maneuvered the kid and he threw up all the pool water, which was quite a relief. But what it made me think about was how I learned how to do the Heimlich and CPR and even save people out of a pool… but besides the Heimlich, which does seem kind of like common sense, I don’t really remember the rest of it, and now I really feel like I should take a refresher course because you never know when you’re going to need to use that stuff.
After our little stay at “camp,” our rural homestays began. We were all matched with partners from the group, but besides that we were isolated in our own rural village. I was with Jesse, a guy on the trip, and we were in a village called Bunyunyke, which is 3 kilometers from the Kenyan border (to which I really wanted to go but other people lacked my motivation). The basic living situation is family compounds. My family had a compound consisting of several sleeping huts, the cooking hut, the goat pen, and rabbit house, etc, and the compounds of male family members were connected and shared resources, so my host dad’s brothers lived right next door and the women cooked together and the kids ran around quasi-naked together. Jesse and I had our own hut, which was apparently built just for us (swanky). It was pretty well outfitted, with mattress pads and mosquito nets. The structure itself is made of circular mud walls, a tin door, and a grass roof. Pretty much beginning with the first moment, lots of awkwardness ensued, seeing that the family spoke very little English, and also because Jesse and I were treated like royalty which makes me very uncomfortable.
Things about the homestay that were cool:
We could to take part in a lot of the everyday chores—rather, I did, and not so much Jesse (as I will explain). The first morning they had us “dig,” or hoe the ground to plant cassava. Digging is how most of the families in the area make a living. We planted groundnuts, and slashed with machetes. I “cooked,” or did whatever they asked me to do like shell eggs, cut meat, stir vegetables on the “stove,” which is 3 rocks with a fire in the middle and a pot balanced on top. Why they do all the cooking inside is a mystery to me—I have never inhaled so much smoke in my life. I also washed dishes and pumped water from the boar hole. This reaffirmed my lack of strength when I could not even carry one full jerry can of water, so my host mom carried mine IN ADDITION to hers. Its amazing how even the “simplest” of things can become very complicated when water must be pumped and carried, and you don’t have basic things like matches or soap (these families have very, very little money). I mention that Jesse did not do as much because gender inequalities are very pronounced in Uganda, especially in rural areas. Women do all the chores and most of the digging while men spend much of the day drinking and sitting around and expecting meals cooked for them. So, they would have me come help with lunch while someone would fetch a mat for Jesse to lie in the shade. Sounds about right.
Also, while I am not the type of person that swoons over hoards of little kids, we got to play some football and Jesse is very good with them and they liked to sing songs together which was pretty cute. There were also gazillions of animals around, like goats, cows, pigs, piglets (!), chickens, dogs, rabbits, etc, so always something to play with.
Every night for several hours, we went into town with our host dad and went to a large hut that is sort of like the local bar. Everyone sits around and drinks marwa, which is like warm millet beer with chunks of…stuff in it. It is drunk from a large communal pot and everyone has his own “tube,” or hollow stick, with which to drink. It’s almost exclusively a male pastime but I suppose I got special permission being a guest. There is another popular drink made from maize and molasses and is like vodka times a thousand—I think it burned off my esophagus. You can literally smell it when people are drinking it across the street. But they absolutely down it.
Also, the stars were unbelievable. I have never, ever seen them so bright. It was like being in a planetarium, and I could even see the milky way. Brushing my teeth outside at night was probably one of my favorite things. Using the pit latrine and watching all the bugs crawl out of it was not. The bugs in general were a bit intimidating—my first night I rolled over and felt a squish, which turned about to be a gigantic cricket that had been sharing my bed. Fun.
Things about the homestay that were not so cool:
During said homestay, we were supposed to be doing a bunch of research and organizing interviews and focus groups, which is very hard when your family is having you do lots of stuff and no one can communicate with you in English. Jesse and I did research some health care and went to the local clinic and a pharmacy and a traditional healer, but I wish we had been able to do a lot more.
The most upsetting thing about the homestay was the fact that they kept asking us for money. Yes, we are Americans, and they are quite poor, but SIT gives them a lot of money to host us, as I found out, and we also bought them a goat (!) and some other things. Yet my host mother actually cornered me a few times in my hut to ask for money without really explaining why, and she would ask me for things every chance she got and tried to convince me to take her husband back to America so he could get a job (no joke). The father also kept taking us out but then expected Jess or me to pay for things. This all culminated during the last night, when I really wanted to go to bed, and just as I was, ALL the family members piled into our little hut, the one girl was asking for homework help and the father took his dinner. I politely asked them to leave several times but they did not understand. I think they thought Jesse and I were together and thus I could not go to sleep without him. So I dragged Jesse inside, and then one of the daughters got up and gave an apparently prepared speech about how poor they were and how they needed us to give them money, etc etc. At this point I was very fed up, and explained to them that they were getting a great deal of money to have us here, and we did want to help them which is why we had gotten them a goat. And then they finally shut up. Sigh. I thought that maybe all the families were like this, but it turns out no one else’s were, but we talked to our directors about it and they are going to take care of it. So, that kind of tainted the experience, but I’m glad we got to do a lot of the other stuff we did.
Our last day on the excursion, we went to the home of one of our teachers because it is in the area. They have a REALLY nice compound, and our teachers had arranged a DJ and a dance and a cash bar. So we all got to dance and get our directors tipsy, which is always a good time.
I was never so happy to get back to Kampala, however, and I have a newfound appreciated for the privacy I get in my homestay here as well as the familiarity of the city even though it is still crazy and overwhelming. While my little host sister is still annoying at times, we have been “doing homework” together which is cute, I just have to keep an eye on her because if I turn my back for a second she goes through all my stuff. And Irene, the housemaid, is great and missed me a lot. And I have been able to have some really great conversations with my host mom, talking about gender inequalities in Uganda, and HIV/AIDS, and a lot of other stuff that has been provoked by my rural excursion. It’s unfortunate that now that I feel we are finally getting to know each other, I am leaving in less than a week.
That reminds me—I am leaving in less than a week! This is the last week in Kampala before we begin our practicum, or internship/research period. We have this week to finalize plans, write 2 major papers, say bye to our families, and do everything else we want to. Quite overwhelming, to say the least. And it’s a very strange feeling to not know where I am going to be living or what I will be doing even a week from right now. This is very typical for Uganda, but strange for me.
In other news, I went shopping for kangas today, which are these fabric wraps that women wear around the house or while doing chores or use as towels, etc. And I found one with a giant picture of Obama’s face. Perfect. In other interesting news, going a little bit back in time, they day before the excursion was our free day, so some of us went to this nice hotel on top of one of the hills in the city to use the pool. Most of my friends brought their host brothers to swim as well. Ariela’s younger brother insisted that he knew how to swim… which was not really the case. So he went in the deep end and promptly swallowed a bunch of water and started choking and couldn’t breathe… Ariela was like “Jamie!!!” So on autopilot I leapt out the pool and Heimlich-maneuvered the kid and he threw up all the pool water, which was quite a relief. But what it made me think about was how I learned how to do the Heimlich and CPR and even save people out of a pool… but besides the Heimlich, which does seem kind of like common sense, I don’t really remember the rest of it, and now I really feel like I should take a refresher course because you never know when you’re going to need to use that stuff.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Picture
PS Here is a picture of some of us during our Western excursion. The land in the background is actually the Democratic Republic of Congo! And that's a funky palm leaf that I liked.
Storks and mouthwash
Okay so the most exciting news is thaaaaat…. My computer is fixed! I am sosososo happy. And I would never wish for my computer to be broken, but the fact that it did was a really interesting experience and I got to meet a bunch of interesting people because of it. It think I had told you about up until taking my computer to the store and working on it there…. From there, it was still not working. So this women Barbara, who had been working with me, whispered to me that she knew who could fix my computer, but that I could not tell anyone I was leaving it with her or at the store because they would try to steal it. So, I pay the store, leave and go around back, at which point Barbara sneaks out, takes my computer, and then hands it off to a man selling pirated DVDs out of a shack on the side of the road, and he pays her. And then she peaces. And I was like….what just happened. So I called my academic director and she was like “yeah, you should get the computer back.” So I go to her car to drive back there, and she off course gets a flat tire promptly after I get in the car. So then this other guy that works for the program walks me there and to check it out, but Barbara was already gone and no one else knew that she had my computer because it was a secret, so I knew that nothing would come of us going there. So for the next night I am freaking out thinking that my computer is being sold for parts on the black market. So the next day I go back to the store—Barbara still not there. Then, she calls me and it like “Jamie, why are you going back to the store?? I told you not to! You are freaking out, do not freak out, I will take you to your computer.” So she instructs me to go to this mall (and she is calling me every 30 seconds as I am running there because I am not there yet) and then I meet her and she takes my hand and leads me on this whirlwind chase through about 17 stores and down alleys and through a hair salon etc, until we get to this teeny tiny office in the back of the building where this guy, Tinka, is working on my computer! And he really knew his stuff. It was not ready for another day because things kept going wrong, but I picked it up the next day and it was all fixed and it was not expensive at all. And we had a really good chat because Tinka is the man.
So what else…. This past weekend was really good. A bunch of us decided to stay in town so we could go out, so we checked into a guest house, and then took a taxi to the nice/expensive/white people part of town, and went to sushi, which was amazing and just really nice to eat outside in the evening and talk and such. And then we went to a bar and later a club, which were fun and…interesting. It was International Women’s Day so obviously there was a special performance with these two girls in skin tight velour jumpsuits, clearly representing freedom of oppression. Then, we went back the guest house where I shared a double bed with 3 other people…actually not that bad, though it was tough to make the mosquito net fit. Oh well. The bathroom was the typical shower with toilet inside of it, but there was no drain so that was also…interesting.
On Sunday, my friend Ariela was making latkes for her host family (I have not yet made a meal for my host family because I do not want to burn their house down). But, I had hung out with her host borthers before so I went over to join them, and it was actually really cool to figure out how to get somewhere on my own. A few weeks ago I would have been terrified to try taking new taxis to another parish, not know exactly where I was going, but now I am more confident that even if I don’t know where I’m going, I can just always ask. So I got there, and got to eat latkes and see someone else’s homestay, which was really interesting.
Had to do another assignment lately, which was drawing a writing about a family tree of my host family. So I actually got my host mom to talk to me and she ended up telling me about her life story which was really interesting… her father died when she was really young, so all of the kids had to work on the mom’s coffee plantation. And she had 7 siblings, 4 of which were brothers and they all have died, whether from AIDS or drowning or throat cancer, and all of their kids have been distributed among the sisters, which is why my host mom has several other children that she raises and sends to school other than her 2 biological sons. She also separated from her husband a long time ago, so she has been financing everything by herself for a long time. The thing is, people die here so young and so frequently that most people are raising many kids that are not theirs, which is just so different than in the US, and here its an obligation to do so, people would never dream of not taking in their deceased siblings children etc. And also, men RARELY have one partner, even when they are married. Divorce isn’t legal, but couples will just “separate” and the husband will often go live with another family. Or he’ll just keep it all going at the same time.
In other news, I have been feeling like my oral hygiene is not up to snuff, even though I floss and brush but I miss my electric toothbrush. So I found this mouthwash which is British, and when I used it, it was so strong I think it burned off my entire cheek lining. No wonder Brits have such bad teeth.
Yesterday in public health class we went to a slum to look at the different options to get water…pretty dismal. None of it is really safe to drink without boiling, but people drink it anyway. We also went to the Kampala City dump which smelled sooooo bad, and the Maribu storks, which are all over the city, were super concentrated there. They just eat trash, and apparently their bodies are so toxic form it all that when they die, flies don’t even want to eat them. And if they poop on you, really bad things happened. But, no stork poop yet, thankfully.
So what else…. This past weekend was really good. A bunch of us decided to stay in town so we could go out, so we checked into a guest house, and then took a taxi to the nice/expensive/white people part of town, and went to sushi, which was amazing and just really nice to eat outside in the evening and talk and such. And then we went to a bar and later a club, which were fun and…interesting. It was International Women’s Day so obviously there was a special performance with these two girls in skin tight velour jumpsuits, clearly representing freedom of oppression. Then, we went back the guest house where I shared a double bed with 3 other people…actually not that bad, though it was tough to make the mosquito net fit. Oh well. The bathroom was the typical shower with toilet inside of it, but there was no drain so that was also…interesting.
On Sunday, my friend Ariela was making latkes for her host family (I have not yet made a meal for my host family because I do not want to burn their house down). But, I had hung out with her host borthers before so I went over to join them, and it was actually really cool to figure out how to get somewhere on my own. A few weeks ago I would have been terrified to try taking new taxis to another parish, not know exactly where I was going, but now I am more confident that even if I don’t know where I’m going, I can just always ask. So I got there, and got to eat latkes and see someone else’s homestay, which was really interesting.
Had to do another assignment lately, which was drawing a writing about a family tree of my host family. So I actually got my host mom to talk to me and she ended up telling me about her life story which was really interesting… her father died when she was really young, so all of the kids had to work on the mom’s coffee plantation. And she had 7 siblings, 4 of which were brothers and they all have died, whether from AIDS or drowning or throat cancer, and all of their kids have been distributed among the sisters, which is why my host mom has several other children that she raises and sends to school other than her 2 biological sons. She also separated from her husband a long time ago, so she has been financing everything by herself for a long time. The thing is, people die here so young and so frequently that most people are raising many kids that are not theirs, which is just so different than in the US, and here its an obligation to do so, people would never dream of not taking in their deceased siblings children etc. And also, men RARELY have one partner, even when they are married. Divorce isn’t legal, but couples will just “separate” and the husband will often go live with another family. Or he’ll just keep it all going at the same time.
In other news, I have been feeling like my oral hygiene is not up to snuff, even though I floss and brush but I miss my electric toothbrush. So I found this mouthwash which is British, and when I used it, it was so strong I think it burned off my entire cheek lining. No wonder Brits have such bad teeth.
Yesterday in public health class we went to a slum to look at the different options to get water…pretty dismal. None of it is really safe to drink without boiling, but people drink it anyway. We also went to the Kampala City dump which smelled sooooo bad, and the Maribu storks, which are all over the city, were super concentrated there. They just eat trash, and apparently their bodies are so toxic form it all that when they die, flies don’t even want to eat them. And if they poop on you, really bad things happened. But, no stork poop yet, thankfully.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Another Week
So, the current themes are really broken computer, and lots of Luganda. We have our Luganda exam tomorrow which is pretty bad news, I'm going to have to do some intense studying this evening. There just isn't enough time in our everyday lives for studying, and it's quite hard to pick up a language in THREE weeks, especially mostly orally. Today we did a bunch of role play like pretening we are at the market and restaurant etc...which was fun but stressful because I feel like I know very little, and once I leave Kampala, other parts of Uganda don't use Luganda so its hard to feel like putting in a lot of effort...
Also, in an effort to revive computer, I brought it to a place where they had a harddrive that SHOULD have worked, it ended up not fixing the computer thus the problem is something else, though as a consequence I have now spent many many hours in a computer repair tech room working on my own computer because people here don't know how to even open a macbook...sigh.
So, what are some better things from this past week.... Last weekend I spent a nice day in town, got caught in a rainstorm but got yummy Indian food and then coffee at the coffee shop we frequent. I also got my dress made with my fabric from Rwanda! It looks amazing and I get lots of compliments from Ugandans because now I look really "smart" (you know you look good when people say you are looking smart). Also, a big highlight was going out earlier this week--my friend Abbey had befriended a few Ugandans from the internet cafe and they seemed very smart and sincere and not just trying to take home a young American girl, which is what most people want. So we went with them to the National Theater for drumming/hip-hop night, and it was just a nice atmosphere with a small crowd and a traditional drumming group as well as this really funny rap group of which one member was this little white guy from colorado, haha. And then Abbey's dad organized a group taxi home for us so that we lady folk could get home safely in the dark and not have bad things happen to us. We have found a good place for SUSHI so tomorrow we are going there and then dancing, which is exciting. Still trying to tigure out where to go/ what to do for practicum, yikes. There is another SIT group studying in Uganda right now, and they are in the city this week. I have a friend in common with them (Molly) so I hung out with a few of them, and they have loved Northern Uganda where they have been, so that seems promising if I want to go to Gulu where many NGOs and Internally displaced peoples camps are. I just need to make up my mind.
This past week has been public health class, which myself and 6 others are taking, and its been nice to learn about some stuff that I have a grounding in, like biomedical ethics and insurance and also gender issues in health and nutrition, etc. The nutrition guy was pretty funny, kept telling us about how we had to stop drinking soda and get up off the couch and I'm just like ummm I think you're talking to the wrong people. Next week we get to go to the trash dumping and sanition place, among other things, which should be interesting/gross.
Interesting thing: last week sometine, this market called Owino burned down, and tons of people lost their stalls and merchandise. Owino is also 300 meters from the fire brigade. And they did not show up for an hour. Some people think it was a conspiracy to clear out the market for other business, though I would not be suprised if it were an accident because the government departments here are just that whack. Just a little snippet of the wonderful infrastructure here.
Ok must run! Love you all,
Jamie
Also, in an effort to revive computer, I brought it to a place where they had a harddrive that SHOULD have worked, it ended up not fixing the computer thus the problem is something else, though as a consequence I have now spent many many hours in a computer repair tech room working on my own computer because people here don't know how to even open a macbook...sigh.
So, what are some better things from this past week.... Last weekend I spent a nice day in town, got caught in a rainstorm but got yummy Indian food and then coffee at the coffee shop we frequent. I also got my dress made with my fabric from Rwanda! It looks amazing and I get lots of compliments from Ugandans because now I look really "smart" (you know you look good when people say you are looking smart). Also, a big highlight was going out earlier this week--my friend Abbey had befriended a few Ugandans from the internet cafe and they seemed very smart and sincere and not just trying to take home a young American girl, which is what most people want. So we went with them to the National Theater for drumming/hip-hop night, and it was just a nice atmosphere with a small crowd and a traditional drumming group as well as this really funny rap group of which one member was this little white guy from colorado, haha. And then Abbey's dad organized a group taxi home for us so that we lady folk could get home safely in the dark and not have bad things happen to us. We have found a good place for SUSHI so tomorrow we are going there and then dancing, which is exciting. Still trying to tigure out where to go/ what to do for practicum, yikes. There is another SIT group studying in Uganda right now, and they are in the city this week. I have a friend in common with them (Molly) so I hung out with a few of them, and they have loved Northern Uganda where they have been, so that seems promising if I want to go to Gulu where many NGOs and Internally displaced peoples camps are. I just need to make up my mind.
This past week has been public health class, which myself and 6 others are taking, and its been nice to learn about some stuff that I have a grounding in, like biomedical ethics and insurance and also gender issues in health and nutrition, etc. The nutrition guy was pretty funny, kept telling us about how we had to stop drinking soda and get up off the couch and I'm just like ummm I think you're talking to the wrong people. Next week we get to go to the trash dumping and sanition place, among other things, which should be interesting/gross.
Interesting thing: last week sometine, this market called Owino burned down, and tons of people lost their stalls and merchandise. Owino is also 300 meters from the fire brigade. And they did not show up for an hour. Some people think it was a conspiracy to clear out the market for other business, though I would not be suprised if it were an accident because the government departments here are just that whack. Just a little snippet of the wonderful infrastructure here.
Ok must run! Love you all,
Jamie
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Back in Uganda
Hello, so we arrived back in Kampala yesterday from our week all over the place. In synopsis: We piled into our vans and drove to Western Uganda. The road was managable at times but was also just rediculous, at times I wanted to die there was so much jostling around. However, the scenery was absolutely stunning, rural Uganda is so gorgeous. We arrived in Mbarare, a biggish town that we stayed in for a couple nights. They had amazing food…we all went nuts because they actually had vegetables, which are hard to come by in the average meal.We visited a Millennium Village site, which is a project done by the UN. The have have a few such sites all over Africa, and they sort of vamp up a impoverished rural village and try to make it sustainable and start a bank, a good school, agriculture, etc, but in such a way that when the UN pulls out, the village remains self-sufficient. It will be interesting to see if this will work… The village was a little eerie, had the feeling of Strawbery Banke or something, where stuff is real but not really. We also went to Oruchinga Refugee Settlement. The settlement used to be all Tutsis, the ethnic group that fled Rwanda when they were prosecuted during the genocide. However, many Tutsis eventually returned, and the camp became mostly Hutus, because many of them are afraid to return to Rwanda for fear of prosecution. There are also rumors that some of them are planning revenge…yikes. Anyways, the scene at the settlement was really desolate, and it’s clear that these people are stuck in limbo, not feeling like they belong in either Rwanda or Uganda.
In Rwanda we saw a lot of powerful places. We went to the Kigali Museum, which is a really amazing place that depicts a really good history of the genocide as well as other genocides that have happened throughout the world. Parts were really chilling and emotional, like walls and walls of photos of the killed that families gave to the museum. There is a famous church that was supposed to be a refuge during the genocide, which was then attacked by the Hutu extremists and almost everyone was killed. The church is a memorial, which we went to, and our tour guide was a man who had survived the church massacre, and his story is just ridiculous—smearing himself with his dead friends’ blood and pretending to be dead, etc. Inside the church, they have left the clothes of everyone who died on the benches, so there are just piled of dirty and bloody clothes. Behind the church are the mass graves, and you are able to go down into a couple of them and there are shelves and shelved piled with skulls and femur bones and coffins… really hard to look at.
It is interesting to compare Uganda and Rwanda. Looking at infrastructure, Rwanda is so much improved over Uganda—the roads are, well, more like roads than potholes. There are sidewalks, and traffic lights, and bodaboda drivers and passengers must where helmets. There are most Westernized buildings and malls, and more running water. Stores have things that we were excited about like Nutella, Snickers, and cornflakes, but they are really expensive (like a box of cereal is the equivalent of $8). All this stuff is very impressive, but then I step back and think that though Rwanda is more developmentally advanced, it basically took a genocide to get that way. And it’s evident that there is hatred bubbling right under the surface, and no one is sure what the future holds, and at the same time people are not comfortable talking about what happened. In Uganda, there are so many problems, but ethnic identity is not one of them.
We did do some slightly more fun things. One of the highlights was going to this Italian restaurant for dinner in Rwanda. It was outside and on the hill and overlooked all of Kigali (the capital). And we got PIZZA and it was amazing. I was at a table with some of my good friends on the trip and we imbibed a bit and it was really nice to just hang out. On our last day we also went to the market to get some crafts and fabric to have made into dresses and such back in Uganda. Also on the way back through Western Uganda, we stopped at a place where the grow all these medicinal plans and work to combine indigenous medicine with Western medicine, really interesting especially for those of us into medical anthropology… and we went on a game drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park! We saw a bunch of baboons, including a little baby on its mothers back, and antelope, and waterbuck, and hippos, and water buffalo, and this crazy lizard thing. I still have not seen any of the animals on “Jamie’s List of Animals that She Must See,” which includes lions, elephants, giraffes, and zebras. Must see at least ONE of those, so I’ll just have to go on another safari.
Also after this trip, I consider myself a pit latrine expert, after having used many of all shapes and sizes.
Arriving back in Kampala was a little like a slap to the face—so much traffic and people and shouting and stuff. Some people are really unhappy to be back. I am mixed, because it was nice to do something different and get to be with everyone, but it will also be nice to be back here and have a little more control over my schedule and have my homestay, etc. Right now I am feeling like I really want to explore more of the city, because I have gotten to know a few areas well but there is still so much. I also want to see more art/theater/music type things, so hopefully I will be able to do more of that coming up. At time I wish that were more a basis of the trip, but then I realize I can seek that stuff out on my own while I couldn’t have access to some of the amazing speakers we have had and NGO sites we have visited.
This week begins my public health modules—more long days. Oh also, attempted to fix my computer with the start-up disc—didn’t work, so still no computer. Phht. Anyways, talk to you all soon!
In Rwanda we saw a lot of powerful places. We went to the Kigali Museum, which is a really amazing place that depicts a really good history of the genocide as well as other genocides that have happened throughout the world. Parts were really chilling and emotional, like walls and walls of photos of the killed that families gave to the museum. There is a famous church that was supposed to be a refuge during the genocide, which was then attacked by the Hutu extremists and almost everyone was killed. The church is a memorial, which we went to, and our tour guide was a man who had survived the church massacre, and his story is just ridiculous—smearing himself with his dead friends’ blood and pretending to be dead, etc. Inside the church, they have left the clothes of everyone who died on the benches, so there are just piled of dirty and bloody clothes. Behind the church are the mass graves, and you are able to go down into a couple of them and there are shelves and shelved piled with skulls and femur bones and coffins… really hard to look at.
It is interesting to compare Uganda and Rwanda. Looking at infrastructure, Rwanda is so much improved over Uganda—the roads are, well, more like roads than potholes. There are sidewalks, and traffic lights, and bodaboda drivers and passengers must where helmets. There are most Westernized buildings and malls, and more running water. Stores have things that we were excited about like Nutella, Snickers, and cornflakes, but they are really expensive (like a box of cereal is the equivalent of $8). All this stuff is very impressive, but then I step back and think that though Rwanda is more developmentally advanced, it basically took a genocide to get that way. And it’s evident that there is hatred bubbling right under the surface, and no one is sure what the future holds, and at the same time people are not comfortable talking about what happened. In Uganda, there are so many problems, but ethnic identity is not one of them.
We did do some slightly more fun things. One of the highlights was going to this Italian restaurant for dinner in Rwanda. It was outside and on the hill and overlooked all of Kigali (the capital). And we got PIZZA and it was amazing. I was at a table with some of my good friends on the trip and we imbibed a bit and it was really nice to just hang out. On our last day we also went to the market to get some crafts and fabric to have made into dresses and such back in Uganda. Also on the way back through Western Uganda, we stopped at a place where the grow all these medicinal plans and work to combine indigenous medicine with Western medicine, really interesting especially for those of us into medical anthropology… and we went on a game drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park! We saw a bunch of baboons, including a little baby on its mothers back, and antelope, and waterbuck, and hippos, and water buffalo, and this crazy lizard thing. I still have not seen any of the animals on “Jamie’s List of Animals that She Must See,” which includes lions, elephants, giraffes, and zebras. Must see at least ONE of those, so I’ll just have to go on another safari.
Also after this trip, I consider myself a pit latrine expert, after having used many of all shapes and sizes.
Arriving back in Kampala was a little like a slap to the face—so much traffic and people and shouting and stuff. Some people are really unhappy to be back. I am mixed, because it was nice to do something different and get to be with everyone, but it will also be nice to be back here and have a little more control over my schedule and have my homestay, etc. Right now I am feeling like I really want to explore more of the city, because I have gotten to know a few areas well but there is still so much. I also want to see more art/theater/music type things, so hopefully I will be able to do more of that coming up. At time I wish that were more a basis of the trip, but then I realize I can seek that stuff out on my own while I couldn’t have access to some of the amazing speakers we have had and NGO sites we have visited.
This week begins my public health modules—more long days. Oh also, attempted to fix my computer with the start-up disc—didn’t work, so still no computer. Phht. Anyways, talk to you all soon!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Leaving for the West
Howdy, so the bad news this week is that my computer hard drive decided to die for no reason (I swear, I didn't do anything to it...) and so now, unless I can fix it, which is looking doubtful, I brought my computer for nothing, and doing all my academic work from here on out is going to be really difficult. And I also hate that I need to be thinking about this when I should just be thinking about where I am.
So, besides that, this week went by pretty quickly. We've had some interesting site visits in class, like going to visit an AIDS project in the slums and talking to some women there. It still boggles my mind that so many people live on less than a dollar a day...definitely more easy to imagine in Uganda where stuff is amazingly cheap but still, that is not enough, especially for a single mother with multiple children who also is HIV positive. In another week when we get back from Rwanda, we begin out in-depth study, for which I chose the public health modal. We will be having importantish people come speak to us at the school of public health at Makerere University, and get to visit lots of places like sanitation facilities (sneakers required) and the ministry of health. In the meantime, we are going to western Uganda and to Rwanda, which I'm looking forward to. We will get to see the memorials and even an animal reserve (!), and there are also great crafts and jewelry and stuff so I will definitely have to do some shopping. We will also be in hotels, not homestays, so it will be easier to go out at night. I am also looking forward to not having to negotiate Kampala streets for a week. The other day a car INTENTIONALLY shoved me down the street, even though it was a jam and they couldn't go anywhere, I guess they just wanted to make a point.
Things at home are...ok. With Eddie gone, I make a point of talking and joking around with Wenie and the maid, but they can only understand me so much. And I was really hoping to form some sort of relationship with my hostmom but she is rarely home, and when she is, she is literally in her room the whole time. She doesn't even eat dinner. I wonder what is up....like if she understands that hosting me should be more than just giving me a room, or maybe she is depressed...I don't know. Sunday we have a project due that is a map of our village and a write-up about important places and transactions in the village, and she is supposed to take me around to show me, and I told her this so hopefully she follows through and it will force her to spend time with me....
Yesterday I stopped off at a huge grocery store which was like the first establishment that reminded me of something in the US....I even found chips ahoy cookies! Mmm. Today for Luganda class we went to the market to "practice" our market vocab... I bought the most delicious mango ever and a rolex, which is the bread, chipate, with a fried egg rolled up inside...BEST thing ever. Ok well that is all for now, despite computer disasters and antisocial hostmothers things are good, still loving the people in my group, and looking forward to Rwanda!
So, besides that, this week went by pretty quickly. We've had some interesting site visits in class, like going to visit an AIDS project in the slums and talking to some women there. It still boggles my mind that so many people live on less than a dollar a day...definitely more easy to imagine in Uganda where stuff is amazingly cheap but still, that is not enough, especially for a single mother with multiple children who also is HIV positive. In another week when we get back from Rwanda, we begin out in-depth study, for which I chose the public health modal. We will be having importantish people come speak to us at the school of public health at Makerere University, and get to visit lots of places like sanitation facilities (sneakers required) and the ministry of health. In the meantime, we are going to western Uganda and to Rwanda, which I'm looking forward to. We will get to see the memorials and even an animal reserve (!), and there are also great crafts and jewelry and stuff so I will definitely have to do some shopping. We will also be in hotels, not homestays, so it will be easier to go out at night. I am also looking forward to not having to negotiate Kampala streets for a week. The other day a car INTENTIONALLY shoved me down the street, even though it was a jam and they couldn't go anywhere, I guess they just wanted to make a point.
Things at home are...ok. With Eddie gone, I make a point of talking and joking around with Wenie and the maid, but they can only understand me so much. And I was really hoping to form some sort of relationship with my hostmom but she is rarely home, and when she is, she is literally in her room the whole time. She doesn't even eat dinner. I wonder what is up....like if she understands that hosting me should be more than just giving me a room, or maybe she is depressed...I don't know. Sunday we have a project due that is a map of our village and a write-up about important places and transactions in the village, and she is supposed to take me around to show me, and I told her this so hopefully she follows through and it will force her to spend time with me....
Yesterday I stopped off at a huge grocery store which was like the first establishment that reminded me of something in the US....I even found chips ahoy cookies! Mmm. Today for Luganda class we went to the market to "practice" our market vocab... I bought the most delicious mango ever and a rolex, which is the bread, chipate, with a fried egg rolled up inside...BEST thing ever. Ok well that is all for now, despite computer disasters and antisocial hostmothers things are good, still loving the people in my group, and looking forward to Rwanda!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Another week
I have realized that I really look forward to getting home in the afternoon—both because it is a relief to be out of the city and because I definitely feel more comfortable in my homestay. For reference, one of lecturers described the state of the streets of Kampala very well: “In Kampala, you can tell a person is drunk if they are driving straight down the street.” Because if they were sober, they would be driving all over the place to avoid the potholes, get it, get it????!
It is a frequent source of amusement in my house that I am trying to learn Luganda, a language that everyone here grows up knowing. Almost everyone in Kampala knows English, but they pretty much only use it in schools and to talk to Americans, from what I see. All the rest of the time they are speaking Luganda, even my family members—they all speak Luganda in the house unless they are talking to me. A little frustrating at times, for I can only pick out a few words as is. What’s ironic is that my little sister, Wenie, just starting primary school, which is when kids here start learning English. Yesterday my homework was to figure out introductions, like “My name is blahblah,” and that was the exact thing she was learning. Weeeiiiirrrd.
A few days ago the editor-in-chief of “Independent” magazine spoke to us—the magazine is this really great free speech publication in Uganda. He spoke about 3937492 words per minute but was really interesting. In the afternoon we went to the Buganda Parliament—Buganda is like a nation of people in the middle of Uganda that got unwillingly absorbed into the rest of the country, and they don’t really have any power anymore, which is sad. Then we went to the Kasubi tombs, where the Buganda kings are buried. After, I stopped over at the bushere shop that my friend Abbie’s host dad owns—bushere is like this non-alcoholic beer sugary type stuff with wheat floaties in it....kind of odd but I tried it. It was cool to hang out in the shop and talk to some people, and try new food. I do really like the food, though I’m sure it’ll get old soon. And Eddie has successfully weaned me off of his help getting to and from school....all has been successful so far. Today there was a little mishap when the taxi dumped everyone off at a new spot but after wandering for about 10 minutes I got reoriented and made my way to school.
I had to write my first proposal for the project I want to do for my practicum....I’m thinking of looking at health care in a refugee camp, specifically at prenatal and maternal health care. There’s a professor at the university who has that as his specialty so hopefully he can help me out. I’m also trying to read the newspapers and stay up to date on current events for ANOTHER paper we have coming up...it just never stops.
You know, I was not expecting Uganda to be as of need of development as it actually is. I don’t want to be mean, but they need help with like, everything. Kampala is the biggest urban area in Uganda, is there is still a lack of clean water, drivable roads, electricity, health care, etc etc (I think over in a Uganda, the doctor/patient ratio is 1/18,000....scary). There needs to be some serious overhaul here. A lot of class so far has been about how NGOs can help...or how NGOs cannot help. I’m still confused on what actually will work, because there are tons of organizations and people trying to do things but nothing seems to be changing. Everything takes time, of course, but to me Uganda seems to be stuck. It’s compared to Rwanda a lot, where there have been drastic changes and everything is developing really well (but of course, it took a genocide to do that which is not ideal). Ohhhh wellll.
Today my younger brother Eddie is going off to boarding school... which really stinks becasue he is the one around here that shows me everything. My mom isn’t home that often, so it’ll be me and Wenie and Irene (who I found out is 14, by the way...)
Yesterday was my birthday, which was a little weird cause it was the first day we didn't see anyone else in the group...and only Eddie knew and I don't think he told his mom (how rude). But he did take me to a swimming pool/bar/club place.... and I was the only white girl there of course which was wonderful and awkward but I dealt and the water was really nice. And I had my "first" "legal" beer... kinda silly cause the drinking age here is about 4, but oh well.
Talk to you later!
It is a frequent source of amusement in my house that I am trying to learn Luganda, a language that everyone here grows up knowing. Almost everyone in Kampala knows English, but they pretty much only use it in schools and to talk to Americans, from what I see. All the rest of the time they are speaking Luganda, even my family members—they all speak Luganda in the house unless they are talking to me. A little frustrating at times, for I can only pick out a few words as is. What’s ironic is that my little sister, Wenie, just starting primary school, which is when kids here start learning English. Yesterday my homework was to figure out introductions, like “My name is blahblah,” and that was the exact thing she was learning. Weeeiiiirrrd.
A few days ago the editor-in-chief of “Independent” magazine spoke to us—the magazine is this really great free speech publication in Uganda. He spoke about 3937492 words per minute but was really interesting. In the afternoon we went to the Buganda Parliament—Buganda is like a nation of people in the middle of Uganda that got unwillingly absorbed into the rest of the country, and they don’t really have any power anymore, which is sad. Then we went to the Kasubi tombs, where the Buganda kings are buried. After, I stopped over at the bushere shop that my friend Abbie’s host dad owns—bushere is like this non-alcoholic beer sugary type stuff with wheat floaties in it....kind of odd but I tried it. It was cool to hang out in the shop and talk to some people, and try new food. I do really like the food, though I’m sure it’ll get old soon. And Eddie has successfully weaned me off of his help getting to and from school....all has been successful so far. Today there was a little mishap when the taxi dumped everyone off at a new spot but after wandering for about 10 minutes I got reoriented and made my way to school.
I had to write my first proposal for the project I want to do for my practicum....I’m thinking of looking at health care in a refugee camp, specifically at prenatal and maternal health care. There’s a professor at the university who has that as his specialty so hopefully he can help me out. I’m also trying to read the newspapers and stay up to date on current events for ANOTHER paper we have coming up...it just never stops.
You know, I was not expecting Uganda to be as of need of development as it actually is. I don’t want to be mean, but they need help with like, everything. Kampala is the biggest urban area in Uganda, is there is still a lack of clean water, drivable roads, electricity, health care, etc etc (I think over in a Uganda, the doctor/patient ratio is 1/18,000....scary). There needs to be some serious overhaul here. A lot of class so far has been about how NGOs can help...or how NGOs cannot help. I’m still confused on what actually will work, because there are tons of organizations and people trying to do things but nothing seems to be changing. Everything takes time, of course, but to me Uganda seems to be stuck. It’s compared to Rwanda a lot, where there have been drastic changes and everything is developing really well (but of course, it took a genocide to do that which is not ideal). Ohhhh wellll.
Today my younger brother Eddie is going off to boarding school... which really stinks becasue he is the one around here that shows me everything. My mom isn’t home that often, so it’ll be me and Wenie and Irene (who I found out is 14, by the way...)
Yesterday was my birthday, which was a little weird cause it was the first day we didn't see anyone else in the group...and only Eddie knew and I don't think he told his mom (how rude). But he did take me to a swimming pool/bar/club place.... and I was the only white girl there of course which was wonderful and awkward but I dealt and the water was really nice. And I had my "first" "legal" beer... kinda silly cause the drinking age here is about 4, but oh well.
Talk to you later!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Homestay!
Hello! So, I am now in my homestay. My family consists of my mom, Diane, as well as Marvin, who is older than me (he’s never really home). There is Wenie, who Diane adopted when her brother died. She only knows Luganda because she hasn’t started school yet. There is also Eddie who is 18 is my lifesaver. He talks nonstop and is really interested in what I like and the US etc. He is extremely smart; I think he knows more about US politics than I do. There is also Irene, the housekeeper who I share a room with her. She looks suspiciously young, I am quite curious about her. The house is on a dirt road in a village, and we have running water and sporadic electricity. There’s no hot water so we take bucket showers, which I have actually come to like. So efficient. There are a lot of little things that are so different about living here, which leads to a lot of awkward encounters. Like, I accidentally put my socks in the laundry that the housekeeper does, which is a huge no-no. Things have been interesting; last night my older brother stabbed someone outside the house and the police came...but don’t worry, it was because of some long standing issue and not anything that would involve me. On the bright side, Eddie loves the OC so we have been watching episodes on DVD. I really am busy all the time, by the time I take the taxi and get home and bucket shower and eat dinner and watch the OC, I’m dead...even though there are readings that I’m supposed to do. Oh well, we are here to live more than anything else.
By far the most overwhelming thing is transportation...I can’t even begin to explain the roads to you. They are just madness. There is more pothole than road. No lanes or speed limits or rules. Generally we take “taxis,” which are like really dilapidated minivans that everyone piles into and you hope they are going where you want them to and then you yell when you have to get off and you hope it’s the right place....and meanwhile you are the only white person ever so everyone is shouting “Muzungu muzungu!” Eddie has been coming which me to school so far, but this morning I made it all by myself! It is nice to have the support network of everyone on the trip so that we can vent to each other and figure stuff out.
In class we have guest lecturers come. Today one spoke about the health care system, which I’m very interested in, and in the afternoon we went to a rehabilitation center for malnourished children...really intense. That’s one of the places we can volunteer during our 6-week practicum. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, perhaps looking at the health care available for refugees here in Uganda. We already have to be thinking about this even though it begins in around 6 weeks.
Well all right, that’s it for now, webala!
By far the most overwhelming thing is transportation...I can’t even begin to explain the roads to you. They are just madness. There is more pothole than road. No lanes or speed limits or rules. Generally we take “taxis,” which are like really dilapidated minivans that everyone piles into and you hope they are going where you want them to and then you yell when you have to get off and you hope it’s the right place....and meanwhile you are the only white person ever so everyone is shouting “Muzungu muzungu!” Eddie has been coming which me to school so far, but this morning I made it all by myself! It is nice to have the support network of everyone on the trip so that we can vent to each other and figure stuff out.
In class we have guest lecturers come. Today one spoke about the health care system, which I’m very interested in, and in the afternoon we went to a rehabilitation center for malnourished children...really intense. That’s one of the places we can volunteer during our 6-week practicum. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, perhaps looking at the health care available for refugees here in Uganda. We already have to be thinking about this even though it begins in around 6 weeks.
Well all right, that’s it for now, webala!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Oliotya!
That means hello in Luganda. I am here! It is been a whirlwind of a week. After spending what seems like days in airports (actually, it was), I am finally in Kampala. Firstly, the weather is beautiful. I have actually been cold more often than I have been warm, it's perfect. We are staying in a local hotel on the main road of the city, and we have begun venturing out into the city and using the little big of Luganda we have learned so far. The city is simultaneously the most dirty and also the most beautiful place. The people are incredibly kind and generous-- the will literally walk a mile out of their way to being you somewhere if you are lost. The people in my group too are great, we number 30 but we are all very close. I have been staying with my great roommate but tomorrow the homestay begins. I have a single mother and 3 kids of a range of ages, one my age so that will be good. And hopefully I will have running water... This past week has been orientation, so a flood of information before real classes start on Monday. Those also seem intense. I am looking forward to the trips we will get to take out of the city, and already we are thinking about our practicum during the last 6 weeks, which is like an internship during which we will be doing research and writing a big paper. For the first time, the program has opened up northern uganda to us (where the war has previosly been). Don't worry mom and dad, I probably won't end up there. Also, the program leaders and great and everything seems in very good hands. One of them has my birthday so we will hopefully plan something exciting. What else...ah the food. Lots of matooke with ground nut sauce...basicallyy mashed up plaintain with what tastes like peanut butter on top. Really good nan-type bread, and lots of beans and some meat, and amazing fruit. Oh, I just got a phone. The full number is 011+256+0775821667. the 011 is to leave the US and 256 is the ugandan country code, and then my cell number. and i get incoming calls free! so hoooopefully that works. Well I don't have much time left, but I shall write again soon.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Getting ready to leave!
Hey everyone, I am getting ready to study abroad in Kampala, Uganda. I am leaving this Monday, February 2nd, and I get back on or around May 18th. I am currently just waiting around to leave and visualizing how all my stuff is going to fit in a suitcase...
Hopefully I will keep this updating on what I am doing. If you are so inclined to send me things, I have addresses. For regular mail, the address is:
Jamie Cragnoline
Kati House, First Floor
Plot 2, Kyagwe Road
P.O. Box 23431
Kampala, Uganda
For DHL or FedEx:
Jamie Cragnoline
SIT/World Learning
Resource Centre
Kati House
Plot 2, Kyagwe Road
Kampala, Uganda
Once I get to Uganda, I'll be getting a cell phone. And I'll be on Skpe, my name is jcragnoline. Wow, so many methods of communication, it's like I'm still here. Anyways, talk to you soon, probably once I am there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
