Chickens, Baboons, Paul Kagame and more

Written November 18

This past week or so I’ve started thinking about how my time is Uganda is starting to come to a close and to be completely honest as excited as I am to eat cheese, sleep with all of my pillows and of course see my friends and family again I am not excited to leave Uganda.

I really do like my life here. I was talking about it with some friends the other day (on the one month before we leave mark) who feel the same way as me. We have created a life here and if you had told us in the beginning that we wouldn’t want to leave I don’t think any one would have believed you. However, now I have a routine, friends, a job (sort of), a family and different obligations. I even have my own comfort food here…matooke with sauce preferably. It’s a nice life and it’s an easy life. But when I say easy I don’t exactly mean easy because it seems sometimes even the simplest errand like going to the post office takes advance planning, but it’s easy in some other kind of way.

Anyway that’s just what I’ve been thinking about lately but here are some tidbits from the past week or so…or just random things that I remembered that I don’t think I’ve written about yet…

What do Baboons and Soldiers have in common?

On my trips back and forth from Kampala once you to a certain point in the North you can start seeing baboons on the side of the road.

They are completely normal. People don’t really get excited about them at all. How can you not like a place where baboons here can be only as exciting as seeing a rabbit or something back home?

So living in Lira and travelling to the different villages around it I’ve also gotten used to seeing soldiers. The other day we drove by these military checkpoints and drove by a military barracks. But seeing Ugandan soldiers here is slightly scary not like when you see military personal in the US, here they are really intimidating and I don’t so much trust them.

But anyway that’s what Baboons and Soldiers have in common…I’m not used to seeing them.

Signs

I’ve noticed this throughout my time here but it has become abundantly obvious in Lira, that just about everywhere you go you see a sign for some sort of development organization or when driving through the villages you come to place where the roads meet and you see signs pointing to different development organizations projects. Even on some aid cars you see paid for by the Government of Japan or this building was donated by USAID.

In one sense it’s exciting to see all the organizations that are coming and working for development but in another sense its kind of like WOW there are a lot of organizations here. I don’t know enough to say much or make judgments but it makes me wonder some things like how much do organizations coordinate their activities? What is this doing to people living in poverty seeing all these signs of people who have come to develop them? Why do the people still seem to be so poor?

But mostly it makes me wonder why the signs are necessary? Let me say again I haven’t talked to anybody about them so there could be a perfectly legitimate reason why they are around but it seems to me that its just organizations flaunting what they have done to some extent. And also it kind of serves as a sign to the poor that the need these organizations to develop them, that without the help of others they can’t escape poverty.

I think that in order for poverty to be eradicated people living in poverty need to become self-reliant they need to develop themselves. I am also of t he opinion that the international community through government and NGOs should play a role in helping to facilitate but the balance between self-reliance and international participation is something I’m trying to figure out. But I don’t think all the signs help, but maybe I’m just reading too much into it. It is exciting to be in a place where so many people are working towards the same goal, whether you agree with their exact methods or not.

Maybe the funniest old man ever, somehow

So with the organization I’ve been working with I’ve taken various trips out to the field to see the projects that they are helping people with (ps they don’t have signs really at all that I’ve noticed).

The other day I went with to help some beneficiaries move wood from one place to another (with a pickup truck) to build a market place.

While I was in one this community the people there loved getting their picture taken with my camera and then seeing the picture afterwards…this wasn’t really anything new. After taking a couple of individual or small group shots I went to take a picture of the whole group gathered. And this old man, whose picture I have already taken, starts dancing this traditional dance and singing. But it was this crazy active dance like nothing I had seen before and it seemed as if he was going to charge towards me at the end. Thankfully he didn’t and I got a couple of funny pictures of him and all the people gathered had a really good laugh.

Starry Starry Night

When I was in Sudan I remember each night I spent in Renk town I would spend time looking at the stars. In Renk there was no electricity or other things to block the stars so you could see all of them. And there are so many and they are so bright. And it was in gazing at the stars that I had time to think and reflect on the day.

Thinking about how we can see those same stars in America but they aren’t as brilliant or as abundant because of all the lights and smog and whatever else. And I began thinking that maybe sometimes that’s how we see Africa. We can’t get the whole picture most times because our mind is caught up in other things whether you want to call it materialism or the way our culture values certain ideals over others. America’s picture of Africa is distorted and sometimes it is hard to see how bright it can shine.

However when you are out in what most would consider to be the middle of no where or bufu Africa but what others would call home you can see the stars and how bright they are. I was reminded of this during my rural home-stay in the village and just the other night when I was driving back from the field. It is in these places that Africa can truly shine. Where you see its beauty in the people and in the way they live. But more importantly where you can see its hope and promise in the people’s struggle to improve their livelihoods. Not because they are trying to decrease the number of people living on less than a dollar a day, or the number of children who die before the age of 5. Not because they are trying to root out corruption in the government and not because women all over the world are treated unfairly and are among the worlds most vulnerable. The work to improve because it’s their life. Their home. Their community.

Its in seeing these people that you can understand the beauty and value of each star and how they can come together to form a beautiful sky.

Or maybe I’m just starring at the stars too much but they are so beautiful here.

Why did the Chicken cross the Road?

So this joke always seemed weird to me. It’s so random. Chickens crossing roads and all. And honestly who cares if the chicken crosses the road or not.

Well after driving around and spending sometime in Uganda I understand the question. Chickens cross the road all the time. People let their chickens run free. And when you are driving in the villages they cross the road…a lot. I find this annoying because the car, which is already driving on difficult roads, has to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting the chicken that crossing the road. Well once it sees the car it flees the road.

I even noticed in the Sunday paper the other day that there was a section called “Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?” and it had answers by various politicians that created answers based on relevant political issues.

So now I think I understand the origins of the question. Unfortunately I still don’t know why.

Paul Kagame

I was out in the field, in Aloi Sub-County to be exact and I was talking with the person I was with about President Museveni and his army when he was fighting for power in 1986 as a rebel/guerilla army.

In his army was a commander (or some ranking position) named Paul Kagame. Paul Kagame was a Rwandan refugee (Tutsi) who grew up in Uganda. He was in charge of a base and the other day I drove by it.

Paul Kagame later went on to lead the RPF in fighting the genocidaire in Rwanda in 1994 and is now the current president of Rwanda. His army as well as himself or kind of controversial and its interesting to hear Ugandan opinions of him but I will say that it was cool to see where he sort of got his start.

Partying with my host parents…

The weekend of November 15 I went back to Kampala again to visit for various reasons. That Saturday night I left town to go home with my home-stay mum, her sister and friend. They parked to go to the hotel. So it turns out there was a graduation party going on for these two women that were family friends from the village.

I of course show up in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Luckily I had jeans and a nice shirt in my backpack.

So I go to join my host mum et al who are off in a corner away from the party and am told to go sit with my host dad who is at the party. So I do. And in less than 20 seconds (and I’m not exaggerating) I have a beer in hand, a beer waiting and a plastic cup of wine.

I’m hanging out with some of my father’s friends and it’s become obvious that there is a muzungu at the party and the camera guy comes over to start taking my picture. Then one of the girls whose party this is comes over to introduce herself to me. I of course feel a little bad for crashing the party but she seemed really happy I was there and introduced me to whom I think were her parents. Then I proceed to dance with her in the center of the party where there are maybe 5 other people dancing. Spotlight on me, camera rolling. Yah there was a camera.

She then gave me a push back (escorted me) to my host dad et al. Where I took a couple of quick drinks from beer number 1, and was given a plastic cup of something else which I took a sip of and I think it was whisky.

Next thing you know this really drunk man comes and asks me to dance so again I found myself in the center dancing. And the camera decided to film me again. So I’m dancing with these two drunk guys now who keep looking at me and saying Obama. It was totally harmless just a really awkward funny time. Things continued like that for a bit, sitting only to get pulled up again to dance with the camera coming and taking my picture at of course probably the most un-photogenic times.

And for those that are wondering about my line of alcohol…I finished beer 1 and started on beer two and while I was still taking my first sip beer number 3 appeared. So I quickly realized I needed to start passing of my drinks when no one was looking. Host dad took my wine, some man took my maybe whisky and I started handing the beer to my host mum et al. By some miracle I only managed to drink 1 and a half beers.

Oh and as for the two guys that were dancing with me that loved Obama…the asked for my number. So I gave them a number. At the end of t he party they came and talked to me while I was standing with my host mum. She had a questionable, worried; who are these drunk men look on her face. The 2 guys promised to each call me in the morning. So when they walked away I turned to my host-mum and said “They aren’t calling me in the morning” To which she replied, “No they seemed serious. They’ll call.” And I said “Well they will call someone in the morning but its not going to be me!”

It was a good night!

Kampala, Nutella and Beaches

So last weekend I went back to Kampala because the thought of spending that weekend in particular with people that I barely new in a town that is still new to me made me sick to my stomach so I went home to Kampala.

And going back to Kampala was very much like going home. I hadn’t been gone for very long but even still I felt like I was coming back for fall break or something after having been away at school.

The whole bus ride all I could think about was getting to Kampala and wishing the bus would go faster…although this could also have less to do with my excitement and more to do with another incredibly long bus trip.

But I finally got there Friday afternoon and was able to go see some friends and stopped by both my host moms and brother’s shops, then spent the night in town with some friends who had also come to Kampala for the weekend talking about all that we had experienced since our time apart.

There’s this one guy who is teaching at this school in the village and he’s the only teacher for like 250 kids. The guy who is actually the teacher sometimes doesn’t show and other times just sits in the back of the room. It’s a private school run by an aid organization that’s waiting to get funding for the government so while they are waiting for funding the kids are in limbo and not learning very much. My friend has to run from class to class putting notes on the board and then to the next level’s class to put notes on their board so on and so forth. He was starting to wonder if it was really worth it. I haven’t heard of a school that bad yet.

Nutella and other Saturday stories

Anyway I decided that I was going to treat myself to whatever I wanted this weekend. So I bought Nutella something I see all the time in the supermarkets and have up till now resisted buying. I immediately opened it and ate it with a spoon…yum. Saturday morning I went to this restaurant at a gas station that has what I’ve heard is the best breakfasts in Kampala…and I can now say that they do and its better than a lot of places in the U.S. I got Cinnamon French Toast with bananas and pulled out the nutella and spread that on too. There was also a strawberry served with it. I don’t know where the strawberry came from (they don’t have them in Uganda anywhere). I was totally stuffed.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Read the paper over tea and then wandered around with a Ugandan friend.

Oh but that night was a total AWA moment. I was going to go home from town but first stopped at my moms shop and she told me that it was her sisters birthday and they were having a party for her that I needed to go to and that I needed to go to my brother’s shop before I went home to tell him about the party then go home to wash and change then come back to town to meet my brother at the shop and go to wherever the party was going to be.

So I do all of that. I even go back into town at night by myself…something that I have had yet to do because I was too scared. I get to my brothers shop and we leave and he calls his mom. She tells him that they are at the family’s hotel for the party. The hotel by the way is right by the family’s home aka I was had just been there. So naturally me and my brother where slightly ticked; me because there had been no reason for me to take the taxi into town and him because he had planned on staying in town and meeting friends afterwards.

So we get in the taxi and are in the taxi for an hour and a half because there was a big jam. So we finally get to our stop and go to the hotel. No one is there. We wait for a half hour and still no one. So we go home to wait there. Nothing. So the night was basically a bust. AWA

Just another day at the Beach…kind of

So Sunday came. The day that I was scared about and my reason for coming all the way back to Kampala. And it was a really good day considering.

My host mom cooked lunch. The house girl used to do the cooking so I had never had my moms cooking and it was so good. She’s a much better cook.

My brother new that Sunday was going to be hard for me so he suggested going to the beach in Entebbe. Without knowing it I’m pretty sure he chose the best place in Uganda for me to be on that day. My dad loved the beach and I have all of these memories of us at the beach in Michigan and Florida and even at the visitation we handed out cards that had a picture of a beach on it. So it was really fitting.

The beach at Entebbe was on Lake Victoria at this resort type place. It was beautiful. The lake is huge and you could see some of the islands out in the distance and fisherman in their small boats. There was music and a dance floor and food and a bar and families and a park. It was so alive and happy. We just hung out at the beach kicking sand into the water and attempting to throw a Frisbee.

Oh and do you know those things that when you put them in hot water they turn into sponges of different shapes…well I had some of those which were Chicago themed so we tried those. However since the water wasn’t hot we ended up just pulling it apart in the water and tried to discern what each shape was.

Maybe the best part of the day was riding on the boda bodas. I even rode one at night which was so cool.

Anyway it was a good day. And it helped me to realize that I have really good friends. I was worried about how I would handle being away from my family and friends back home and thought that I was going to be all alone to be miserable by myself with my nutella. But that wasn’t the case. My home-stay family was great, especially my brother. And my friends from my program were amazing. They texted and called me throughout the day to make sure I was ok. It felt so good to know that even though I was away from home that I had found people here that cared and were looking out for me.

And to those of you back home thanks for the emails and thoughts I really appreciated them.

First Days in Lira

So I’m in Lira, but this was only after a bus ride that I can only explain as an AWA experience…

My Bus Ride to Lira

I got to the bus at 9:30…this is after going to a bus that was going to Gulu but had a stop on the way to Lira where I could get off and change buses where they told me there were no buses going to Lira on Sundays.

So I get to the Lira bus and they tell me the bus well leave in an hour. Awesome. The put me in an aisle see in the front row that looks straight out onto the road. I was nervous about this because buses in Uganda drive fast and can be unsafe, so I kept picturing myself, if anything happened, going straight through the window and onto the road. Unfortunately just two weeks before I left there had been a very serious bus accident so I think my fear was legit.

After 2 and a half hours on the bus, with it being stuffed past capacity we pulled out of the bus lot. Even as we were driving our people kept knocking on the bus door to be let in and would jump in as the bus continued to drive. I was told that the trip would take 4hours from multiple people so at 4 o’clock I would be in Lira. Yay!

I guess my bus trip was fairly normal because with everything that went on I seemed to be the only one that thought it wasn’t normal. We got pulled over once and from that point on all the extra passengers had to sit low to the ground and the conductor sat in the very front looking out the window.

The second time we got pulled over all the excess passengers had to get out and be counted. They got back on but our conductor was arrested.

Oh at some point there was a really drunk angry man who got kicked off. And we stopped numerous times along the side of the road for what I can only describe as Ugandan fast food. We would pull up to a village and people would run towards the bus with water, juice, beef on a stick, roasted bananas (gonja) and roasted Cassava. There were a whole bunch of other things but I’m not going to write about them now.

At 6pm we arrived in Lira…so not a 4hour bus trip but still better than Greyhound.

Also maybe now I can mention, since I’m here and everything is ok, that I came to Lira with no idea where I was living or what I was going to do once I got there. All I had was a phone number for my advisor who I had met once. Thankfully my advisor came to get me and took me to what I thought was dinner (but what turned out to be lunch) and took me to his home to stay with his family, which is where I am still staying.

Independence

My first night in Lira my advisor talked to me about the past student who had worked for them. He said that he stayed at a guest house instead of his home because he wanted his independence. He made the connection betweens Americans liking their independence and how parents send their kids away. In comparison in Africa he said families are more dependent on each other and parents take care of their children for a lot longer. For example he said he wouldn’t let his daughter who is my age travel or live alone.

I was still undecided where I was going to stay (his home or a guesthouse) but my advisor chose for me…I was staying with his family. And the home is really nice like I have more TV stations available to me at his home than I do at my own home. And then the first couple of days went by and I had rides to work, rides home, was taken to lunch, had tea and dinner prepared for me. I was treated well. But something kept bothering me.

I’m American. I’m independent. I like choosing what I eat for lunch or dinner. I like choosing when I eat. I like to decide when I stop eating. I like my me time. The whole time I’ve been in Uganda I’ve been dependent. My first week here the program took complete care of us. There was a lot of handholding that week.

Then I stayed with my home-stay where I had a family taking care of me. Living there I gradually was able to be more independent and I think I was lucky to have the family I did because I think they allowed me to be more independent than a lot of other families but I was still dependent to some extent.

My independent study time was supposed to be just that…independent. I was looking forward to living a lone, washing my own clothes, preparing my meals and figuring out my new town on my own. It is with this mind set that I am now living with the family in Lira where completely under their care. Which most people would like and welcome but had me yelling inside “Let me go!”

I’m still trying to reconcile my desire for independence with my current living situation but I am gradually trying to do more and more on my own. Like on Thursday I walked to work and back all by myself. I even got lunch on my own…which seemed to surprise everyone else at the office. But this may have just been because my advisor is out of town…so we’ll see.

Lira

I like Lira. It’s a cute town. It’s not the prettiest place that I’ve been in Uganda but the people are so friendly. I’ve been assured that you don’t really have to worry about theft and its really safe.

Unlike Kampala, I don’t have to worry about getting hit by a motorcycle bodaboda but instead getting hit by a bike which is a lot less scary.

Lira is considered a big town and is in “competition” with Gulu to be the Northern city…the thing is down town Lira is really small. Which is nice because I don’t have to worry about getting lost.

Lira is friendly, unintimidating and I can’t wait to get to know it better.

OBAMA!!!

Leading up to the election it was so exciting to be in Africa. Everyone knows Obama and everyone loves him (except one of my home-stay brothers). But on election day/night I couldn’t help but wish I was in America.

On the evening of November 4 I watched the election coverage and saw people standing in line excited to vote and talking about the historic election. Then I woke up at 6am to watch the coverage. (11pm Eastern Time) And I watched as Obama quickly took the lead and was announced to have been elected president. The whole time wishing I was home, wishing I could be there with other Americans and talk to them about what was happening. So I thought that since I couldn’t I would write some of the things I wished I could say and I hope you share your thoughts with me.

McCain’s Speech

I though McCain gave a very gracious speech. I couldn’t help but think that he was a man of deep pride and honor who loved serving America and wonder if this McCain, the pre-campaign McCain, had been the one campaigning, the election may have been different.

I believe that he changed, caving under political pressure. Where he used to reach out to moderates, he reached out to conservatives (as was clearly evident by his VP pick) alienating many people who may have supported him. Despite all this I hope now that the old McCain, the one who also gave the speech will be present to work with and push Obama throughout the next 4years

Side note though how obnoxious are Republicans…I can’t believed they booed when McCain said Obama was his president. Clearly McCain was mature enough to handle the election results, but his party may not be

Obama’s Speech

Obama’s speech was amazing! I want a recording of it to play over and over again. There were so many points in there that I loved.

When he talked about those who didn’t vote for him and he said he was there president and he heard them. How nice is it to have a president that will listen to you when you don’t agree with him and still try and understand where you are coming from.

Maybe my favorite part was when he was talking about the way America’s viewed abroad…maybe because I am currently abroad…He said “ And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular but our destiny is shared and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand…And to those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we have proved once more the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth but from the enduring power of our ideals; democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”

I won’t say to much more about the speech because it’s amazing and speaks for itself. I will just say that as I watched him give it and saw the people in the crowd with tears in their eyes. In my mind I was mocking them until I realized that I had tears in my eyes too.

Something Happened Today...

Something happened today, it doesn’t matter what and I’m still trying to figure it out but it got me thinking. I should also say don’t worry (if you were worried) everything’s fine.

The past couple of weeks I have loved being in Uganda. I finally feel at home and in fact just yesterday I was thinking about how I could live here after I graduated…and not just that I could but that part of me really wants to.

But then today happened and I still love Uganda but maybe I just don’t like it so much right now. Not a day goes by where someone doesn’t ask me for money or ask me to help them in this way or that. Or even ask me to marry them and take them back to America with me. And this is all because I am a muzungu. Even people I know and see and talk to everyday ask me for things, to leave my clothes when I’m gone, or if I can give them my cell phone.

And to be honest it is exhausting, but that’s not the only thing that’s bothering me. For my first few weeks here I felt really bad. I wanted to give and would have left everything behind for whoever wanted it. I would feel bad as I walked past someone on the street asking for money and continue to think about them for blocks as I continued to walk. When someone at a school or organization asked for something I started trying to think of ways I could help. But once you also place this in the context that you have to constantly wonder if people want to get to know you for you or because you are a muzungu and have money. Or that you constantly have to watch your stuff because the second you feel confident that its safe is the very minute someone tries to reach into your backpack to get it.

Now I find that when I walk past someone on the street I barely think about them. Or if someone asks me for my clothes or my extra fabric, inside I get really angry, furious. In the village I went to a primary school and the kids spoke in unison a greeting to us telling us that we were welcome and that they were in a bad condition and needed our help. For the rest of my time there I couldn’t focus on the needs of the school. I role my eyes every time I get asked for money. I hate it.

So I guess basically I’m saying that I’m afraid I’m becoming heartless, and at the same time heartbroken that I feel I can’t trust anyone and always question their motives.

Lira and other news

So I just posted recently but I’m not sure when I will again and there are some other updates that I thought I should include that weren’t in my last post

I’m going to Lira…
I’ve spent most of the past 2 weeks since I’ve come back from the east trying to figure out what I am going to do for my practicum/ Independent study time…and its been a hassle.

I was finally able to get in touch with the organization that I had been trying to get in touch with for weeks, and had a meeting with the guy that would be my boss. Turns out that the reason I had such a hard time getting in touch with them was because they didn’t want me and just decided not to fill me in on that piece of information. Apparently they had a student intern for them last spring and it didn’t end well. So naturally since we are both American I’m going to be exactly that same as him…not really but I spent the first 10minutes of my meeting trying to explain this to him and defending my program.

Anyway they said I cold work with them in Lira…sweet. But then for the next couple of days I was freaking out not knowing if I wanted to…I like Kampala and don’t want to leave the city to go live by myself in Lira, I don’t want to leave my family hear, the organization rejected me at first and didn’t think to tell me, I would be working a lot with agriculture (not in my top 20 favorite subjects) and maybe I want to do something more with politics…

Well I got over all those issues…not so much over them but I put them aside and just decided to suck it up and work for them…it probably helped that my Academic Director told me the organization would look good on a resume.

So this Saturday…or Sunday I’m getting on a bus and going to Lira…the furthest north my program allows me to go. I will be working for…Get ready for the acronyms…RALNUC, which is a component of ASPS, which is a part of DANIDA (The Danish aid organization, like USAID but in Denmark).

RALNUC works in Northern Uganda and started a couple years ago once the area became more stable. It was formed out of consideration of the internally displaced people (IDP) who would be returning to villages with destroyed infrastructure and no way to begin generating income and most importantly, that the relief agencies would not follow them home to continue providing food and shelter etc. RALNUC provides the agricultural inputs necessary to help IDPs become economically self-sufficient. Through a voucher-for-work program they also build infrastructure. They also do work rebuilding markets on both the supply and demand side.

Overall I’m interested in working in the north because the idea of development in a post-conflict area is fascinating to me. How do communities come together after the violence to rebuild and how can economic development play a role in maintaining peace. Issues of dependency and self-reliance seem to collide in this kind of environment as people try to get back on their feet.

I remember when I was in Southern Sudan just after the peace treaty was signed all the talk of the development that could take place now that there was peace. The people there were so full of excitement, trepidation and hope for the future.

So I’m off to Lira…somewhat hesitantly and full of nerves but with hope. So we’ll see


My Birthday
So in my last entry I forgot to mention that for my 22nd birthday I was at my rural home-stay. Maybe I forgot to mention it because it wasn’t that eventful. Anyway It started out with opening a birthday card that my mom had snuck into my suitcase followed shortly afterwards by a phone call from her. It was followed by another phone call from my friend’s home-stay brother. She had texted him that it was my bday and he thought that meant bad day, so he called to ask me why it was a bad day. It was sweet.

Throughout the rest of the day I got various calls and texts from my friends in the program and it was nice. That night my home-stay brother called followed by my home-stay mom.

It wasn’t that eventful of a day but it was nice knowing that even though I was in bufu Uganda people were still thinking about me. And to be honest I don’t know if for this birthday I would have wanted the typical birthday celebration.

Going to Parliament
Last week, when I was back in Kampala our group took a trip to Uganda’s Parliament. We had a chance to meet with 2 female MPs and asked them questions for about an hour. This all was not that exciting or informative.

But 3 of us stayed later with or Academic director and Program assistants to watch a session of parliament. We were introduced and had to bow in front of the speaker and everything. The session was a little less than an hour late in starting, typical Uganda. But sitting even just for a half hour of the parliament session I was able to learn so much just from observing. Its set up much like the British parliament, ruling party on one side, opposition on the other.

On the day we were there this MP from the ruling party was reading a personal statement about him getting beaten up and later harassed at a police station earlier that week. In the statement he accused an MP from the opposition, saying he had thugs with him at the police station and all kinds of other accusations. It was honestly hilarious. Here this man was reading this statement, completely seriously, and yet MPs on both sides are yelling back and forth and laughing with every accusation. The accused MP kept yelling objection and the Speaker was hardly trying his best to mediate between the two. For example when the guy yelled objection for maybe the 11th time on the grounds that he was making charges against his character the Speaker said, “At least hes still using your title as honorable.”

It was funny and I learned a lot about the political process. I also saw President Museveni’s wife…she’s an MP.

Hanging with my family
Since coming back from my trip to the East I’ve been able to spend more time with my home-stay brother and sister and they are awesome. I really like them. I haven’t had to leave for town as early so I’ve been able to hang around later in the mornings so I get to talk to them more.

Also last Friday night about 10 of us from the program decided we would go out. And my brother and sister came with. You will have to ask me about some of the crazyness from that night but it was awesome having my home-stay brother and sister with me.

Last Sunday I also went to a parents meeting at my youngest home-stay brothers secondary school with my other brother. They were talking about some of the misbehavior among the S1 students…not my brother though, he's a good kid. But it was funny and kind of awkward being at a parents meeting.

Mountain Tops, Mud and Bodas...best trip ever!...Maybe

So last week I got back from my trip to Eastern Uganda, I’ve just been really busy and haven’t had a chance to type this up yet…

Anyway… I was really not looking forward to this trip East. Before my trip to the West and Rwanda I was really excited and couldn’t wait to get out of Kampala. But before this trip east I had finally started really enjoying Kampala and feeling at home there. I knew when I got back that I would only have a little more than a week left in Kampala before my practicum started so I was not excited to leave. I didn’t start packing until about 15minutes before I had to leave my home-stay…if that says anything about how much I didn’t want to go.

And of course, because I packed in a rush, I forgot a lot of things that I wanted to bring, so when I showed up at the group meeting place I was tempted to turn around and go back home to stay.

I am saying all this so you know my state of mind before the trip, so that when I say that I had an amazing time. I’m really not just saying it. The way I felt about the trip before hand meant that it was going to take a lot for me to have a good time and I had more than just a good time.

Here now is a good time to warn you that this will probably be another long entry…Also I tried to upload pictures but it wasn't working so I will try again soon...

Mbale

We left Kampala on Sunday morning and drove to Mbale. We got there at about 2 and proceeded to have what I think might have been the longest lunch of my life only because it took over an hour to get our food. The food was good though. Then we went to the guest house…it was run by the Church of Uganda…aka the Anglican Church (they changed their name I think because of some of the issues in the international communion…someone told me that but I am not sure)

Then before dark we took a drive up this mountain. We were in two taxis and we were driving through this wet patch and you could feel the car fish tailing underneath us…it was fun. I was in the first van and we were able to make it through the mud but the second one got stuck. After a couple of attempts of trying to reverse and drive through the mud a crowd had gathered. And a bunch of kids helped to push it out of the mud. It was pretty awesome.

TASO Mbale

One morning we visited TASO aka The AIDS Support Organization. Its an organization in Uganda that works with people who have HIV/AIDS mostly through counseling. They also distribute medication and provide clinical services for their clients. It has done a lot of work to combat the stigma of HIV/AIDS in rural communities. There is a lot more that can be said about the organization but overall it is considered to be a really successful organization and similar organizations in Africa have tried to model themselves off TASO Uganda.

The have a dance group that is made up of some of their HIV Positive clients and they go around to different communities and perform pieces that raise awareness about the different aspects of HIV/AIDS. They performed for us and then a few shared their stories with us about how they became infected or how they decided to get tested and how they dealt with the results. The stories were pretty incredible but for me what I was most struck by was their strength and ability to confidently tell their stories in a place were not very long ago it would have been taboo to talk about with severe consequences.

Sipi Falls

After in Mbale we drove to Sipi Falls and stayed at a place called the Crows Nest; an adorable place on a mountain. It had all these little cabins that were very cozy. The cabin I stayed in looked out onto the Mountain with the falls. I think there are three of them. Everytime I go someplace in Uganda I think to myself ‘How could this country get more beautiful?’ and then I go to the next place and am again amazed by how beautiful the country is.

We went hiking twice while we were at Sipi and when I say hiking it wasn’t exactly walk in the woods…it was intense…people have broken bones. And to make it more difficult the rainy season had started there so it was really wet and slippery.

On the first day we hiked to the first waterfall. It was scary and I was slipping every few steps but luckily I was able to catch my balance every couple of steps. Once we got to the Waterfall it was so worth it. It was amazing watching the power of the water crash into the rocks. We stayed there for a couple minutes and then we had to hike back again.

The next day we hiked to a different fall. And again it was really slippery as we climbed up what seemed like vertical mud and then through a creek. And then we got to a cave type place where the waterfall was. And then we climbed down into the waterfall. It was hard to get down to it and the water was freezing but being there in the falls was this amazing feeling. You felt so alive and all you could do was yell and laugh. (Sidenote now that I am back safe and sound, we weren’t allowed to go in the cave because recently someone got Marburg from one of the caves in the area)

As we were hiking back we were walking along this narrow muddy ledge and I slowly started slipping and next thing I knew I was slipping down the mountain and grabbed onto a root. A couple of friends grabbed my arm so I didn’t fall and then I had to pull myself up again. Afterwards I was really happy I had almost fell…it was exciting!

That night we sat around the campfire and some of the guys at the hotel taught us traditional dances most of them which are performed during circumcisions, some of them for female circumcisions. It was a lot of fun and you were able to gain an understanding of the cultural role circumcision plays whether you agree with it or not.

Then at like 11pm me and a friend climbed up the mountain with our pillows and blankets to sleep. I really wouldn’t recommend climbing up a mountain at night carrying anything. That night about 10 of us slept on top of a mountain. We had a 360 degree view and there was a full moon. In one direction we could see mountains with the falls and in another we could see a huge lake. Over the lake there was a lightning storm. It was amazing. I woke up more than a few times in the middle of the night and the stars were awesome, so big and brilliant. I have never seen stars so big. That morning I woke up just before the sun rise and could still see the moon set as the sun was rising in the other direction. I don’t think anything else I write could do the view justice.

Also while staying at Sipi Falls I visited with this community who had been pushed off their land because of the establishment of Mount Elgon National Park. The government pushed them off the land without providing any sort of resources or support for them to resettle. Now some still live in the park where they have to hide from park officials so as not to be shot all because they cannot afford to leave. Some park officials also rape the women in the surrounding communities. Overall it seemed like a problem that was largely ignored by the government, even the areas own MP. Its strange to think that Mount Elgon is a place that draws tourists and the whole time you are there you could have no idea that these people are suffering for the sake of someone’s vacation.

Rural Home-stay

After the time at Sipi falls we drove to Busia (which is right on the Kenya border and near the village where Obama’s family lives!)

From there we were divided into partners and were taken to our rural home-stays. In the taxi I kept hoping that I would be dropped off last so that I could see where everyone else was staying…and of course I was dropped off first.

My friend and I walked to my family’s compound and was greeted by our home-stay mother and shown to our hut where we would be sleeping. Then we sat awkwardly outside as the children gathered staring at us. One started crying when she saw me but I was assured that it was because she has never seen a white person before.

After we got bored of sitting awkwardly we asked the mom if we could take a short walk around the village and she said we could go to the borehole with the kids. Most of the kids didn’t speak English or only knew the few words they had learned in school so it was hard to talk to them. But amazingly when it comes to playing games there is no language barrier. So during the walk we ran around chasing them and having fun.

My rural home-stay family was amazing though. My home-stay father was the secretary of defense for the village (and after many questions I still have no idea why the village needs a secretary of defense). There were 2 wives but we only met the 2^nd wife. And there were so many kids in the family; I would guess 15. Lets see their names were Esther, Irene, Beatrice, Sara, Patrick, Peter, Dennis, Adrian, Francis, Kate (the one who cried), Patricia, Raphael, Mukaga, Godfrey, Sharon and John. Ya I think that’s all of them.

The kids were adorable and each one with their own unique amazing personality and my favorite would always be the one that I was playing with at the moment. They were so happy and the little ones who were too young for school would just play all day. It was amazing the way they could entertain themselves and how they could just run nonstop all day. Every kid in the family had this amazing smile too. They were so beautiful. They would smile at you and get these really big eyes and you couldn’t help but smile back and forget how dirty you were or that a hen slept under your bed all night, or that there were rats living in your thatch roof.

Our last night there we were dancing and playing with about 6 or 8 of the kids and had a sing along where we taught them different songs; just singing outside on the compound under the moon and starts singing “He’s got the Whole World in His Hands.”

More Stories from the Village

During our stay there we were supposed to be practicing our field research skills using Participatory Rural Appraisal and/or Rapid Rural Appraisal, so the next day we visited the hospital which was a 3km walk from the homestead and also visited the primary school. The following day we visited a lot of homesteads and went to a secondary school. Most of these visits confirmed a lot of things that I had read about or learned in classes such as the successes and failures of the governments Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) and agriculture issues but at the homesteads it was fascinating talking to people about their individual hardships.

We came to this elderly family, a man and his 2 wives, who were probably in their 60s. They described to us how their children had died, most from AIDS, and that now they were taking care of their children’s children. They found this particularly difficult because they depended on agriculture to generate income but at their age the intensity of the labor was too much for them. They only use a simple hoe. They asked us if we knew of any organization that supported the elderly who were taking care of orphans and I couldn’t think of anything. I have always heard so much about AIDS orphans at orphanages but I have never heard of any organization that was working to help families that were trying to take care of the orphans…If anyone knows one please let me know

We me another man who was a widower trying to take care of his family. His compound was so clean and you could tell that he was trying his best to play the role as both father and mother.

There was another young woman that we talked to whose husband had died a couple years ago from AIDS and she too was HIV positive. She talked about how hard it was to make a living in agriculture when it was just her. She was also worried about her children’s future because when she dies she doesn’t know who will take care of them because she doesn’t have any family.

Lets Talk Poverty

So I talked to my friends here and many of them were blogging about the intense poverty in the village. And its true there was a lot of poverty. My family there never changed their outfits the whole time I was there. And ripped torn rags could qualify as an everyday outfit. And as you visited the homesteads you could see malnourishment. And you could see that farmers were having trouble increasing production of their crops for kinds of reasons and even in the schools all the hardships that teachers and students face just so that you can get a basic education. The poverty there is exactly what you might think of when you think of rural Africa…

But in the village there is something else. The same sort of feeling I got when I was in Southern Sudan. A simplicity that can’t be ignored and denied. Living off the land, eating what you grow and selling the surplus. Spending the night singing under the stars because there’s no electricity. Dropping what you might be working on to welcome a visitor into your home and offering food when they themselves have so little.

The village faces real problems or poverty that need to be overcome but at the same time there is something about that way of life that is beautiful and that in the process of development should not be lost. Too often I think muzungus come to a place like Africa, especially in the village looking for what they can fix. And there are things that need to change. But I think we shouldn’t focus on what needs to be fixed. I think when you go to the village you should look for whats there. For whats beautiful. For what works. And gain an understanding and appreciation for their lives and it is from that point you can encourage change to eradicate the poverty.

My First BodaBoda Ride

Yep, that’s right I rode a boda!! In order to get from my village back to Busia town I had to bet on a boda (motorcycle for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about) It was awesome, riding through the dirt roads, speeding past all the bicycles, wind in my hair. I loved it and can’t wait to ride one again…but I still will never ride one in Kampala.

Ok well this entry has been long enough. Thanks for reading!

Elections, independence, forests and grassroots

So I just posted recently…like yesterday but I’m about to go on another trip for a week so here’s some quick updates since most of the stuff in the last post was from 2 weeks ago.

Presidential Election
So I’ve been trying to keep up with election news in the US and I’ve been having a lot of conversations with various Ugandans about Obama and McCain. So while most Ugandans like Obama and are really excited my home-stay father and one of my brothers likes McCain, so that’s interesting. I really like talking politics with them. Its interesting to hear insights from people who aren’t American.
I also was able to watch the VP debate and I would just like to take a quick moment to say that I love Joe Biden and Palin makes my stomach churn. I could rant for a long time about it but I won’t put you all through that.

Forest Adventures
The other weekend some friends and I were going to spend Saturday and Sunday in Entebbe (a city near Kampala) the beach is there, a zoo, a lot of stuff. Someone suggested going first to the Mpanga Forest where we could go hiking and see monkeys, butterflies and birds. So in the Taxi on the way to the forest we realized that Entebbe was in the opposite direction of the forest so we would need to go back to Kampala after the forest then on to Entebbe. OK

So we hike. See cool things. It was good. A couple monkeys, lots of butterflies and some birds…one looked like Toucan Sam, sort of. We took this side path and after 3hours of hiking we were lost. Not just lost but waking in a swamp on these wooden planks that look like they would have been a good bridge 50years age. Luckily we stumbled across these village kids who were collecting firewood and the helped us find our way back to the main park area.

Then we had to walk back to the road which is kind of like a highway and then walked along the road (highway) trying to get to the closest town where we could get a taxi. So of course right when we get to the road it started down pouring. So we walked along the road for a half hour in the rain getting laughed at by people who were dry and watching the 11 stupid muzungus walk in the rain.

We eventually hailed a taxi. So normally taxis hold about 15 maybe 16 people and that’s already packed really tightly. After 6 of us got in there were 21 or 22 people in the taxi and sat all squashed and cozy for a half hourish and drove back to Kampala. We got there at 4 and ate lunch. We called it a day because we were dirty and disgusting…so no Entebbe. It was a crazy, funny day though.

AWA
So this girl in my program a few weeks ago came up with the term AWA – Africa Wins Again. The above story was an AWA moment. We say it when a situation so strange or funny comes up. Or something that would never happen back home or a time where we just look like stupid Muzungus.

Grassroots
The past two weeks my group broke into four smaller groups to study various topics more in depth. I was in the Grassroots Development group which involves empowering the poor, encouraging group formation, and savings among other things.

We learned about Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) which, without going into too much detail, gives a voice to the poor. Letting them identify who in their communities are poor, what their needs are, and how to go about lifting themselves out of poverty…It seems like a pretty obvious idea yet it is actually relatively new in Development Studies.

In the past and still today a lot of organizations come in and decide what is needed in the community but the community especially the poor don’t play a role in the decision process and in many cases the project fails, or is underutilized.

I’m going to stop because I’m starting to get more in-depth but if you want more info about it just let me know…

Anyway we visited these farmer and women groups where grassroots methods and PRA have been used. There was this women’s group and you could see in their faces happiness and the sense of empowerment they felt. The group of about 20 comes together each week and each saves 200 Ugandan Shillings (1500 shillings is about $1). They have been together for just under a year and have already raised about 120,000 shillings. They then use this money for loans to buy things for their own individual income generating activities or to pay school fees for their kids etc, and are able to pay the group back, with interest, on time.

We were taught that groups are supposed to rotate leadership positions so when we asked the group if they rotated leaders their answer was “We are all leaders.”

In meeting them its hard to believe that one year ago they did not know each other and now they take care of one another and are helping to pull themselves out of poverty together, and this was the poorest of the poor in that community. I can’t stress enough though how exciting, and hopeful their energy was.

Ugandan Independence Day
Thursday October 9 was Uganda’s Independence Day so I didn’t have class. I was hoping for parades and fireworks and people walking around in yellow, black and red (Uganda’s flag color) but honestly with the exception that the taxi park wasn’t as crowded you could have gone the whole day without knowing it was independence day.

Apparently there was some kind of something going on somewhere with speeches and parades but my friends and I didn’t find that out till after it was over…which is kind of a bummer but it was still a good day.

A few of us had lunch at this really nice Chinese restaurant (they gave us hot towels before and after eating) And the food was so good. It was the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve kind of splurged on a meal. We got our food, drinks and split a dessert for less than $7. You can’t get Chinese food that cheap even at a bad Chinese restaurant in the states.

Afterwards we took a Taxi to Lugogo which someone recommended to us. I think it was like some kind of international trade fair of maybe East African goods. I’m not exactly sure because we never went inside. You had to pay 3000 shilling to get in and we didn’t feel like paying. So we stood outside where there was a crowd looking in. And we got this man to teach us Uganda’s national anthem -First you have to stand up straight (he made us stand up straight) and look kind of like a soldier…it was at this point that we asked him if this was for real or if he was just trying to make us look silly…then he started singing it for us and a couple others joined in…it goes something like “Oh Uganda, May God uphold thee. We hold our future in thy hands.” And so on. It’s a pretty song.

We stayed for a bit talking to other Ugandans and a random Kenyon about what we should have done for Independence Day which probably would have been more helpful the day before rather than the day of.

Afterwards we walked back to Kampala, it was a kind of long walk but it was good. Along the way we saw this guy selling Ugandan flags and we decided we should each get one. The man only had 2 at the time so he had us wait while he ran to a store and got another one for us. While he was gone a bunch of other people came up to us trying to sell us things. This one really persistent man was trying to sell us a night stand and we said we weren’t going to carry it home and he said he could get it to fit in one of out bags (there is no way that would have been possible)

Anyway there are all these people around the 3 of us including the taxis full of people stuck in a jam just looking at us. So we got them all to sing Uganda’s National Anthem with us. And when the flags came we waved them.

It was a day where I completely loved Kampala and Ugandans. It was awesome. So I guess I didn’t need the parades and fireworks!

Another Trip
This Sunday I leave for my trip to Eastern Uganda. I’m going to Mbale and also doing my rural home-stay…so more updates when I come back.

Rwanda, grasshoppers and other news

So I’m back from my trip. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to post again s my internet café has been closed for various reasons…no power…no internet and I had to find one where my flash drive would work. Anyway here I go with my entry its going a long one so I broke it up by topic so you can skip around if you want.

Mbarara

We stopped in Mbarara which is a few hours from Kampala. It was such a pretty area. Its so hilly and green and every now and then there would be this brilliantly colored flowered tree like red or yellow. And throughout the whole drive I kept thinking of the part of the Sound of Music where the family is hiking in the hills to go to Switzerland with the song the Hills are Alive playing in my head…only the scenery was slightly more tropical.

We also stopped at the equator on the way which is cool only cause now I can say I have had one foot at each end of the equator at the same time.

Another interesting tidbit is that once in Mbarara 3 girls shaved their heads and we all went to this tiny salon to watch. I thought it would only take a few minutes but it took an hour and a half.

Millennium Village Project

We stopped to visit a Millennium Village Project in a village called Ruhiira which is in Western Uganda near Mbarara. In case you aren’t sure what the Millennium Village Project is it is basically a village where the UNDP and other organizations give a bunch of money for this experiment like village to holistically develop it encompassing all the MDGs to escape the poverty trap. In the case of Ruhiira they spend about $110 per person per year and they’ve been there for about 2ish years and plan to be there for 5ish years. 60-70% is donor funded, about 10% comes from the people in the village and the rest is from the government or that’s how the breakdown should be.

The tour around the village to the bank, health center and their agriculture site was interesting. It was cool to see how much they were doing but it raised questions as to how much community input there was although we were assured that the community was involved in the decision process and I think our guide was from the village as well.

There was some controversy among the group over whether the village project was a good idea or not because the surrounding areas might feel resentment, it did seem like it would be able to self sustain after the UN was gone, and it seemed like a lot of money for something that wouldn’t be replicable in other areas. Oh I forgot to mention that there are 12 of these villages throughout SubSaharan Africa in different agrozones with the goal of learning what works best in these areas so that it can be replicated later.

I think that I think it’s a cool idea. The theory of going into an area and attacking poverty at every angle is intriguing and if you have read Jeffrey Sachs book the end of Poverty then he explains why it actually makes a lot of sense. I do think that it had more grassroots development included in it, with more community empowerment and what not but there could be and I just wasn’t exposed to it. In terms of it being to much money…I disagree I think when someone considers the immense wealth of the western world spending $110 per person per year is not that much money. Just look at how much money the US government has spent on the war in Iraq in comparison to how much is spent on foreign aid and then looking at how much of that aid actually goes to development work. I wish I had the numbers on me but its kinda crazy.

Refugee Settlement

So we also went to a refugee settlement in Western Uganda that holds Rwandan Refugees. The settlement has been there for about the past 50years originally with Tutsi refugees but after 1994 it switched to Hutu refugees who are there now. We were told that some of the refugees could have been perpetrators in the genocide which is why they don’t want to go back.

The settlement its important to mention was not like a refugee camp at all there were homes, they have land for crops etc…they are settled…hence the term settlement…but the people were still very poor. The place was loaded with kids and you could tell that a lot of them had signs of malnourishment. Someone in the group asked the refugees why they couldn’t go back to Rwanda and their answer was because the country wasn’t stable which is interesting because I think it showed a lot about their views of the current government which is largely Tutsi. It’s also interesting now that I’ve been to Rwanda because it seemed more than stable to me. In fact in Rwanda, a Rwandan student was talking to us about how boring Election Day is there because everything is peaceful on election day relative to elections in other parts of Africa.

The Refugees in general seemed to ask us a lot for money and complain a lot about their lives and how they weren’t given enough. Even some of the kids were asking us for money. One of them told one of my friends to give them their camera because they could get another one. Overall it left me with a bad feeling about the refugees there and raised questions about the issue of dependency and also about how would you have a refugee settlement for 50plus years without repatriating people or encouraging them to settle somewhere.

Rwanda

Now would be a good time to mention that before I went to Rwanda I read this really good book about the Genocide called We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families. It’s really good and gives a good analysis of the stuff leading up to, during and after the genocide.

I should also mention that I really liked being in Rwanda. It’s a beautiful country and Kigali (the capital) is amazing. While there I saw traffic lights, the boda-boda drivers all wore green helmets and matching vest jackets and pedestrians for the most part had the right of way. The city is also very clean and actually has laws against littering. The city is so nice and beautiful and clean that you can’t help but wonder how much of that has to do with the countries history and if someway they are trying to make up for their messy past with a clean city. Who knows?

Genocide Memorial Museum

We only really spent one full day in the city but it was emotionally draining.

First we went to the Genocide Memorial Museum. It provided information about the genocide, the history leading up to it and what not and then information about what was going on at the time. For me as I learn more about the Rwandan genocide I am continually frustrated with the international community’s response…or lack of response. If you’ve seen Hotel Rwanda, the movie doesn’t even come close to showing how badly the United States and the United Nations stunk it up. And France involvement in actually selling arms to Hutu Power, the people leading the genocide, is sickening.

The museum also had a section about genocides that have occurred including the Holocaust, Bosnia, Cambodia and others. Now here comes the part of the blog that turns a little lecturey…In looking at the Museum, reading about Rwanda and seeing the Church memorials and mass graves I can’t help but think that despite the continual promises of never again that seem to occur after each genocide they happen again….and despite the continual apologies from the US or the UN or elsewhere after the fact for not doing something to stop it, they always allow it to happen again. Need I mention Darfur…but not just Darfur, Burma, The Congo, Northern Uganda and so many more…so much for never again and not on our watch.

And for those of you out there reading this who say how can the US or the UN possibly get involved in all that it is financially feasible…If you look at how much money it would have cost to stop the genocide in Rwanda versus the amount of money that was spent on refugee camps and Rwanda afterwards to help assuage Americas guilt…well it would have been cheaper to stop the genocide.

On another note at the Museum they also had survivors talking about their experiences during and after. A lot of them had loss parents and talked about what that meant for them and how sometimes they still talk to them at night as if they are still there and it made what happen become so real for me. When you look at the numbers of how many were killed (close to one million) it doesn’t truly affect you because it is so incompressible. But when you think of the death of one person and how much that one person means to you then you can begin to understand. There was a quote that I read somewhere in Rwanda that said something along the lines of genocide isn’t the killing of one million people but the killing of one person, and one person and one person till you reach one million. Something to think about I guess.

Kigali Prison

After the Museum, the Rwandan students we were with thought it would be a good idea to go to the prison in Kigali to visit the prisoners. So we did. The prison seemed really nice and had a mix of both genocide perpetrators and people in there for other crimes. It seemed really strange to me because we didn’t have to go through any kind of security to get into the prison and prisoners just seemed to walk around freely talking to guards it was weird and nothing like American prisons.

The people in charge of the jail gathered about thirty to forty prisoners who were apart of the Genocide. So they trickled in staring at us and us at them just facing each other. It was an incredible feeling to come face to face with killers with no bars, glass or chains in between. Some of them shared their ‘testimony’ with us about what they did some in more detail than others and you could tell those who were reluctant to talk about what they actually did, some eager to blame it on the person above them, and some whom you could tell weren’t sorry despite them saying they were.

One women said she had been a teacher and had taught the methodology that led people to kill because the government made her…that was all she said but the wardens said afterwards that the fact that she was in jail meant that she did more than what she talked about. One man had been the leader of the ruling political party, which would mean he most likely would have been a planner even though he blamed it on people higher up than him. Another woman had been a radio personality during the genocide and had encouraged people to go out and “Do their work” which would have meant killing the Tutsis. Another man had been in charge of a road block that checked Ethnic Identity Cards. But there was only really one man who talked about how he had killed Tutsis with a machete. He seemed the most genuine and he was the only one who spoke to really say, ya there was a plan for this genocide, and a lot of people can be blamed but I was the one who chose to pick up a machete and kill someone. Even if I had been taught to hate Tutsis, I chose to kill them. I believed him when he said he was sorry.

Afterwards the prisoners asked us to have their pictures taken with them. So we did not knowing whether to smile, or how to act in the photo. Some put there arms around us and when some tried to shake our hand it was an interesting thought process deciding whether to go ahead and shake them.

I think I should mention the way the Rwandan Government has decided to deal with trying, convicting and punishing people in the genocide. For starters after the Genocide they abolished the death penalty. How amazing is that…the clear statement that killing a person will not be accepted at all, and this done by a largely Tutsi government the very group that Hutu power was attempting to eliminate. Also because having Trials for everyone involved in the genocide is not really feasible cause the number involved is so big so Rwanda has gone back to a traditional method of having perpetrators go back to their communities and be tried, usually confessing what they did and the community decides if they are guilty, innocent, the punishment, and if they should be accepted back into the community and many of the perpetrators get reduced punishment for confessing sometimes being allowed to go back home.

The process is more complicated than what I’ve described but it is this incredible process of reconciliation, and acceptance, allowing both victims and killers to come to acceptance with what has happened with the goal of being able to move past it. The only way I can think of how to describe is grace, beautiful, hopeful, amazing… The strength of the survivors and the government to take their country in this direction is incredible. I honestly don’t think that if I had been in that situation I could do that. But maybe it isn’t until you are truly in a situation like Rwanda’s that you can truly understand the process. I think its important to mention that from the conversations that I had there was a difference between reconciliation and forgiveness…many of the Rwandan students we traveled with said they didn’t think they could ever forgive the people who took their parents from them.

Church Memorial

After the prison we went to a church memorial. During the genocide people went to the churches for safety and at many of these churches there were mass slaughters…sometimes with the help of the parish priest…how sickening is that. At the church I visited 5000 people were killed.

The church sits on a small hill with some trees and these small purple flowers (purple is the genocide remembrance color). The church itself is this simple clay brick structure. Before you even walk in the church you can since that something happened there and just before entering you can see the bones inside. I honestly didn’t think that I was going to be able to go in and turned to start walking back outside but decided to go ahead and go in. Inside the church you can see the simple wooden benches for pews. I have no idea how 5000 people were able to fit it looked like it could hold 200 maybe but 5000 people sought refuge there for 3days before they were killed. Against the back wall is a shelf full of bones. There are arranged on the shelves according to the type of bone skulls with skulls etc. Too many to count. On The side walls of the church were the clothes the people had been wearing when they were killed. And in the front of the church there was a small alter with a cross. On the side there was another shelf but this one had the possessions that people had with them. There were a lot of Rosaries and a small statue of the Virgin Mary alongside a few children’s toys. Then across the front wall there were coffins.

Being in that space gave you an interesting feeling. Everyone in my group was silent, lost in their thoughts, shocked by the site before them, some praying. We were told to take pictures. I honestly was torn as to whether to take pictures. In one sense I thought it would be important to have as a reminder of what happened and to show people so that it won’t happen again but on the other hand in order to respect those whose resting place was at the church I didn’t think I should take pictures. I took one of the front of the church and felt guilty, so I hope this description of what I saw shall suffice.

In Other News

I went to a place where the grow plants for traditional healing methods and sell it as a form of development it was actually really cool and an interesting blend between modern and traditional Ugandan culture.

I went on Safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park and saw a bunch of animals like Water Buffalo and ELEPHANTS! But I’m still waiting to see a zebra, lion and giraffe.

So I ate a grasshopper…And liked it!!! And random other stories

The other day I was at a market and we made friends with this guy selling stuff and he was showing me and some friends around the market and we came to a grasshopper stand and the guy handed us a grasshopper. And I ate it. And it tasted like a potato chip. And I would probably eat one again. True story.

So I went out to a bar with my home-stay brother who is my age and a friend. And these 30yr old guys bought us beers. One started talking to my friend and she relayed to me that the guy she was talking to told her to tell me that his friend “Fancied me” and I said to tell him I had a boyfriend (its just easier to tell people you are taken than to explain you aren’t interested here…some people wear pretend wedding rings) anyway after he was told that I had a boyfriend he asked if “he was heaven sent” I lost it and couldn’t do anything but laugh.

This is an old story – it happened when we first moved in with our homestay families. At my friends family she found out her first night there that to bath you had to use a basin. So her sisters set everything up for her and went away and when she started to bath her sisters came back in and started to bath her. Afterwards they came up to her and the younger one told her that her nakedness was weird.

Along the same lines at another girls homestay her sister told her that her home-stay mom wanted to see her and she walked and saw her mom with the basin and just looked at her and said “Do you fear me” and then washed her to show her how to use it.

I was glad I wasn’t in their families.

I was walking around with my home-stay sister one day and we met the LC Chairman (like a village leader). He looked at me and said “You’re a big American, a big one” and my sister said “Shes reduced” and afterwards tried to explain to me that he meant it as a compliment but I just thought the whole experience was really funny.

Things are going well with my homestay...I really like them

I will try to come up with more funny stories to write sometime. The past couple weeks have been really good and I noticed from some of my blog entries that it didnt sound like I was having any fun...but I am and these stories are proof.

So I've been trying to get interested in some topic to study for my praticum later this semester and nothing seems to be interesting me too much. I dont know if Im over stimulated or under stimulated. I have a bunch of ideas but nothing that I have became all that passionate about. And honestly the only thing I think I really want to do at this point is go back to Sudan and study there.

I feel like me heart is still with Sudan. It's been hard for me to enjoy and appreciate all that Uganda is because I keep thinking about how it was the same or different in Sudan. I don't know if its because when I was in Sudan I stayed in a more rural area and I just dont like being in the city as much or because in Sudan there was a sense of community and this great joy despite unbelievable tragedy that was insipiring. I'm not sure but I'll figure it out. I think once I'm not in Kamapala or once I stop living with the upper middle class in Uganda things will change but for now thats where I am.

I'm leaving for Western Uganda and Rwanda on Sunday. I am really excited and preparing myself emotionally for the genocide memorials. I probably won't post again till I get back the following Saturday. So expect a long blog entry once I get back.

I miss pillows and cheese

So there isn't all that much news to report so I thought I would just write about a couple of things really quick. Also my brother mentioned that my spelling was bad in the last blog so I'll try to work on that but I'm typing really fast and don't have much time to proofread cause I'm on my way to class but we'll see how it goes.

Anyway lately I've found myself missing really simple things from home. For example I love pillows, I use them all the time usually keeping at least 6 on my bed at a time. At my homestay here I don't have a pillow not one. Its not really a cultural thing I just dont have one. I'm finally getting used to sleeping without one or I could just be too tired to care. Also there is no cheese. And ifyou get lucky and find cheese its not good cheese. Theres a whole bunch of other stuff too that I miss but those I think are the top on my list right now.

One of the things that has really surrised me about being here is how dressed up Ugandans get. It doesn't matter what job they have if there are going to Paliament, to teach or even to sell things on the street men are in suits and women are in heels (Which is amazing in itself given the way the sidewalks are here) Also many people bath twice a day. Which makes since because you get so dirty during the day that the first thing you want to do when you get home is wash it off. So I'm in Uganda getting very dressed up for class and bathing twice a day...not exactly roughing it.

Someone asked me aout my daily routine so heres the jist of the way it is at the moment but it will change in a couple weeks...
My daily schedule involves waking up at my homestay, washing, eating bread, and getting a taxi (not the kind of taxi you would think of though) going to Kampala. Navigating my way through downtown (which is like the shadiest, scariest part of the city at least of the plaes Ive been so far) Luganda class, then drive to Makerere for lectures lunch and either more lectures or site visits. Then walking back to the Taxi Park/downtown area at "rush hour" and its crazy congested. Then take a taxi home and study and work on Joyce's (the housemaids) reading and writing and english then supper then bed. Sometimes we watch movies. On Sunday my homestay family watched American Pie all day...did you know there are 8 of them...there are.

Ok well thats all for now. More later

"I sweated into a shadow"

Hey!

So its been about a week since my last post and I thought I would give a quick update on whats been going on. I had to do a reading for class about culture shock the other day and it had this quote in it about sweating into a shadow and I thought it was so funny and so true. It is so hot here during the day and we have to walk pretty much everywhere...uphill on unstable rocky sidewalks.

Anyway we finished up orientation type stuff last week and last Saturday we went to the Sezibwa Falls and Jinja, where the source of the nile is. It was so beautiful. While at the nile we were getting a lecture about homestays and in some trees near us there were monkeys playing around. Everyone of course stopped listening to the speaker to look at the monkeys yet she still continued to talk like nothing was going on. But how cool is that just monkeys chillin in the trees!

On Sunday I met my homestay family. I was told it would be a big family but the two kids that are still in school are at boarding school but there are two older ones who are in Univeristy. So far with the program we have been staying at a really nice place, going to nice plays to eat...living the good life. So I was hoping with the homestay I would get to experience typical Ugandan life and maybe even rough it a little.

Thats not the case. My family has a really nice home, indoor plumbing and everything. The also have a maid and there home is in this gated compound. The parents run a hotel or 2 and have 2 stores and next week a couple of them are going to Dubai for a busniess trip.

One of the other things I had hoped for is that my homestay family would be like a family. When I was in Renk, Sudan even if it was just for a few days I felt like a part of the family. The since of community between friends and family members was what I enjoyed most about bing in Sudan because it stood in such a contrast to what I am used to back home and was one of the reasons I was so excited to come back to Africa.

Unfortunately my family is never home and works till late at night so I have yet to find the sense of community that I was hoping for. But the made Joyce is really nice but she only speaks Luganda so I've started to try and teach her English while she helps me with my Lugandan. Its kinda cool!

On another note to some of my Happening/Episcopal friends I went to All Saints Cathedral here last Sunday (its Anglican) and it happend to be the Youth Sunday service and the sang Prince of Peace! It was so much fun to be able to sing along with them.

Ok thats all have to go to class. Hope everything is going well!

So I've been in Kampala about 4 days now and its been interesting filled with both highs and lows. The transition is really hard. The food is especially hard for me to get used to especially this dish they call matouke(probably spelled wrong) which is mashed up plantains. My whole group is also supposed to be experiencing gastro-intestenal problems sometime next week so...something to look forward too.

The city itself is so beautiful. There are hills everywhere so now matter where you are in the city you have a view. You can also clearly tell that the more well off people live at the top of the hills and in the valleys are the slums.

The city is also so busy. Everywhere you go there are cars and boda bodas which are like motorcycles taxis...from what I've heard about 60% of people in hospitals are there because of boda boda accidents...so our program had forbidden us from riding. there is endless car honking and pedestrians have no right of way not even at the zebras (crosswalks).

From when the flight landed till now I find myself constantly comparing Kampala to my experiences in sudan and I might have to blog about that in more detail later but let me say that it is so different while being so much the same.

We had our drop off yesterday where we were sent out into the city with a partner for the first time by ourselves. It was scary only because there aren't really any street signs so its really hard to figure out where you're going at first but luckily you get used to it pretty quickly. Also the people here are so friendly and at times will even agree to walk with you where you are going if you don't know the way.

Sorry for the jumbled thoughts I've been writing this in a rush because I'm at an internet cafe and out of minutes but I'll write more on that soon to.