The Last Weeks

So I have been home for a few weeks now but I still have this last blog entry of some of my final weeks in Uganda. Some of this was written before I got home and some since I’ve been back. Its long but it’s the last one!

Murchison Falls…Hippos, Wart Hogs and Giraffes…Oh My!

The weekend before Thanksgiving I went to Murchison Falls…The whole trip was AWA (Africa Wins Again)…

So the people that I was staying with in Lira said they would drop me off their because its hard to get to with public transportation. So the trip took a little over 2hours to get to the gate to the park. Then at the gate I had to pay a whole lot of money (because I’m not Ugandan)

Then we drove for another hour and a half in the park and I saw animals like antelope and wart hogs and…Giraffes! Which were my favorite.

So we finally get to the end (on the Nile). The park is divided by the Nile and there is a ferry that runs on the hour. I was on the side of the park were there was this place to stay called the Paraa lodge. This was the place that people had suggested as a place to stay. I should also mention that my friends and I hadn’t arranged for a place to stay for the night. So the first place I went was the Paraa lodge. Driving up to it you can tell it was a nice place…And for 133 US dollars a night per person it better be.

There was no way I was going to stay at Paraa Lodge. Across the river was a place called the Red Chili or Red Pepper…it was supposed to be cheaper. It was about 1:30 and I had to wait till 2 for the ferry. In the area with the ferry there are baboons. A lot of them. They climbed onto our car and they actually went into someone else’s car.

At 2, instead of the ferry I get on another boat that is like a 3 hour boat ride to the falls. It was good. I saw so many hippos and a herd of elephants and crocodiles. The three hour ride was actually 4 so at 6 I get off the boat on the Red Chili/Pepper side and walked 10minutes to the place only to find out its booked, they don’t even have a tent to rent. So now the only option I have left for my friends and I stay is a student center that costs the equivalent of $5 per person…but it’s on the other side of the river.

So I walk back down to catch the ferry. On the walk 3 warthogs popped out from the bush and were right next to me. I think my heart might have stopped beating as I just stared at them trying to figure out what to do…I kept walking. Turns out wart hogs are nice; I was told that people in that area actually have them come in their homes.

I get to the ferry landing at about 6:30 and find out the last ferry is at 7. My friends still haven’t gotten there, they are coming in on the Red Chili/Pepper side. So basically if they get there after 7 they don’t have anywhere to stay for the night and will be sleeping with the hippos.

After many attempts I finally get a hold of them at 6:45 and tell them they have to show up in the next 15mins. They say that they don’t think its possible and I should stall.

Oh and I should also mention that while I’m waiting for the ferry people are telling me that the walk to the student center is about 20minutes, and I would be walking in the dark by myself. This would be ok except there are wild animals out at night too…especially elephants and they aren’t nice elephants…they attack people. Needless to say I wasn’t looking forward to that walk.

At 6:50ish the ferry is getting ready to leave. Of course this would be the one time in Uganda that something would happen on time…let alone early. So I begin begging them to wait. I even offer to bribe them. Eventually they say they will wait till 7:05. And at 7:03 my friends show up!!!

We also were able to get a ride to the student center…so no elephant attacks.

The next morning I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten in 24hours. So while my friends were taking the boat ride I went to the Paraa lodge and paid 25,000 shillings for breakfast (that’s expensive but I was hungry) and it was a full buffet and I had a cheese omelet and Bacon!!!! So it was worth it.

I hung out with the baboons for the rest of the morning until my ride came to pick me up.

IDP Camps

On the way to the falls we drove through some towns were people were still living in displacement camps…or “protected villages” I’m not sure why they were still staying there because in many parts of Northern Uganda where the security situation has improved the IDPs have returned to their home villages. I have heard of places where IDPs stay at the camps because in some ways life is easier. They are still poor but have become dependent on humanitarian assistance and if they move back out to the villages they won’t have that humanitarian assistance. But they will still be poor and in many cases can lack the start-up capital to begin to farm or generate other forms of income.

This is actually where the organization that I was working with comes in but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned what the IDP camps look like in Northern Uganda but basically they are huts, like you would find in the village but all the families stay very close together so there is no chance to have land to grow things to make money. And the living conditions in these camps are very poor, bad sanitation, poor health, malnutrition, security issues…the whole thing.

I guess the point that I am trying to make though is that as I was driving through these camps on my way to Murchison to go on safari, be a tourist and spend a lot of money I felt like a complete tool. These camps were so close to the park and the thought that people just drive through all the time in their land rovers makes me a little sick. Actually now that I think about it a little the part of the park that I entered on is less popular because there aren’t as many people coming from the north…so many of the people going on these safaris have no idea that just a kilometer away are these displaced people living in extreme poverty.

Thanksgiving in Uganda

I was in Lira for Thanksgiving. And other than my advisor telling me that we needed to get a turkey (which we didn’t) and asking me about what people did for thanksgiving I could have spent the whole day without even knowing what day it was.

I was asked at one point by my advisor what I was thankful for and I told him I didn’t know. But as I was doing different visits in the field I did think about it.

I’m thankful for the knowledge that I have. Not that I am particularly intelligent but that isn’t quite what I mean. I have a basic education. I can read. I can write. But more importantly I know how to think critically and analyze my situation. And when there is something I don’t know I know where to go to get the answers.

What I have discovered in Lira, is that part of what keeps the poor, poor is that they don’t have this knowledge. They can often know what it is they don’t know or what they want to know but they don’t know how to get that information. There are a variety of reasons why including at times the inability to read and poverty itself forcing them to focus on surviving rather than searching for answers. And I think this is a reason why they are trapped in poverty

Intro Ceremony

I got back to Kampala from Lira on the last Friday of November because I had to go to an introduction ceremony that Saturday. So basically the jist of an introduction ceremony if you don’t know is that it is the groom’s family meeting the bride’s family for the first time. The bride’s family basically accepts the offer of marriage and the groom’s family gives the bride’s family a lot of gifts and people are really happy etc…

So I was there with the groom’s family. I went with my home-stay brother (I think the groom was his cousin) And I had to wear a traditional Ugandan dress…I could tell you the name of it but I have no idea how to spell it…but when the pictures are posted you should check it out online…but its long and has puffy shoulders. Mine was two long and because I am a clutz and didn’t know how to fix it, the dress kept getting longer. This was also the first time I wore nice dress shoes the whole time I was there…good thing I packed them.

So anyway the groom’s family processed in to where some of the members of the brides family were waiting…and I processed with them…it was a little awkward cause I kinda stood out. I sat in the back of the grooms tent so I couldn’t see all that much and I wasn’t next to my brother so I didn’t really have anyone to translate for me (Everything was in Luganda)…At one point all the women started kneeling…except me because I didn’t know what was happening and the woman next to me starts pulling me down and telling me I have to kneel or else the family won’t allow the marriage…really!?

So then the groom’s family leaves to go get gifts…and I am told to go with. Little by little my brother and a cousin start to fill me in…I’m helping to carry in gifts (me: no problem) a little later my brother says you have to carry it in on your hear ( me: Seriously!? I can’t do that)…a little later I’m told when I take it in I have to kneel with the basket on my head and present it to the bride’s family ( me: Ok…but I’m pretty sure I’ll fall in the process of kneeling or won’t be able to get up again…do you know how long this dress is and that I keep tripping in it when I walk normally…!?) My brother gave me a basket full of tomatoes…which I put on my head…it was heavy but he promised he had given me one of the lighter ones.

So I struggled to carry the basket in one hand on the basket the other holding up my dress so I don’t trip and spell tomatoes everywhere. I successfully got to the brides family and kneeled no problem. But as soon as the basket was removed from my head I could tell that the top of my head felt a little funny and wet. Turns out that my basket was so full of tomatoes that the ones on the bottom got squashed and leaked tomato juice on my head. Awesome…so I got to smell like tomatoes for the rest of the day.

There was also a point where the mc for groom’s side was talking about all the gifts (in luganda) and everyone started pointing at me and telling me to stand up…apparently the mc had been talking about me and they wanted the brides side to see who I was. Apparently the MC had been talking about how they wanted the bride’s family to accept the offer of marriage so much that they even brought a muzungu from America…

The rest of the ceremony was cool and then afterwards there was a party at my home-stay family’s hotel.

Paper writing

I spent the last week in Kampala working on the huge final paper about my independent study time (my work with RALNUC) so of course I spent a good deal of that time procrastinating and going shopping. I did finish the paper it was 38 pages of not very good writing.

Farewell Party

The night before we left for Jinja we had a farewell party with all the host families and to also celebrate SIT Uganda’s 10^th anniversary. It was fun.

I don’t know if I had mentioned this earlier but most of my home-stay siblings were home from school and during my last week in Kampala it had been fun living with them and getting to know them…anyway they were at the party as well as my host-mom and my other brother and sister who had been home the whole time.

There was food, cake, boring speeches and dancing so fun times. My family also gave me a going away present…it was these straw placemats and a table runner…its hard to explain but it was nice and also like the table setting they had in their home.

The Resort on the Nile

My last week in Uganda was spent at Kingfisher Resort on the Nile near Jinja town. It was beautiful, had really good food and there was a pool that we were allowed to swim in.

Unfortunately we were stuck in presentations most of the time…but we did get some time to swim and the last day we got to spend the whole day out by the pool but still getting lectures.

Marching in Jinja

On our last day in Jinja we had a march through Jinja town as way of celebrating SIT Uganda’s 10^th anniversary…I think. I should mention that in Uganda the have marches or parades like all the time especially in Kampala so it wasn’t so strange that we were having one.

We had a band and were marching with Mama Jane’s orphanage (a place one of the students in my program had worked with). I was rally unexcited for this march…I would have rather spent my last day swimming in the pool.

I ended up having a really good time. I walked with some of the kids from the orphanage and then some of the street kids joined us and I was dancing with them.

The End

We were in Kampala for our last weekend and were flying out that Sunday night. I spent the weekend hanging out with some friends and on Saturday night a whole bunch of us went out…it was a lot of fun. On Sunday I went to my home-stay families home for lunch…

We had an 8hourish flight to Amsterdam where I watched Mama Mia…a very good airplane movie…this was followed by an 8hour layover in Amsterdam’s freezing cold airport. At the airport it was so weird going around to all the shops and seeing all the CDs or DVDs or the different foods at the various restaurants. I thought long and hard about what to get to eat…partially because this was my first chance to have good cheese (and other things of course) since I had left and secondly because everything was so much more money than I was used to it costing that I wasn’t sure if I was willing to spend it.

I got a hot ham and cheese croissant…it was a good choice.

Then we had an 8hourish flight to New York. The in-flight movie was Wall-E…not a good airplane movie. I was really excited when we got into to New York to turn my cell phone on again and call folks and makes texts saying I was back in the USA…but my phone decided it didn’t want to turn on (yay for my phone never working!)

Eventually I was back home in Chicago…and it was cold.

Back in the States

So I have been home for a few weeks now. I’ve had Christmas, and New Years…gone to Colorado…eaten more cheese and sweets and other things than I could have imagined and shoveled more times in only one week than I think I shoveled the entirety of last winter…

I guess this is the part of my blog where I sum up my experiences or talk about how weird it is to be back in the US but how good it was to see friends and family again and how I’m going to carry with me everything I learned and so on…and a lot of that’s true but at this point I’m not sure I have all that much to say.

I had a great time and I already miss matooke (who woulda thought!?) and I know I learned a lot but I’m still processing everything. I wish I could write more but I really don’t know what to so I’m going to say goodbye for now until my next trip to Uganda or someplace else and hopefully its sooner rather than later

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!