Food and other conversations...

Food is a constant source of comment here.  As you might imagine, food is different.  The good news is Uganda has a rich growing environment.  The bad news - for us anyway - is that it's mostly root vegetables.  A traditional Ugandan meal consists of:  white potatoes, yams (yes - both in the same meal), Matooke (plantains mashed and steamed with no seasonings), posho (ground corn a bit like grits) again no seasoning) and ground nut sauce.  We get all that everyday at training.  For American tastes, they have added some meat, and at much urging some greens (a bit like mustard or collard) and a bit of shredded cabbage - and almost always bananas.  There are LOTS of bananas here!!!  Sometimes we have pineapple, and I have to say it is the best I've ever had.  My host family gives me a boiled egg every morning and a scrambled egg at night.  And I am OK with that, because I DON'T want posho or Matooke or tiny little dried silvery fish or...

With every meal there is what's called African tea - a smokey tasting brew of boiled milk, some tea leaves and maybe another spice.  My drinking water is always boiled and this is done over a charcoal or wood fire, so everything tastes a bit smokey.  Clothes smell smokey...  Hair smells smokey...  You get the picture.

So the generalization is that men lose weight and women gain.  So far, the walking to a from class and everywhere else has balanced things out.

Other self care issues:  HAIR.  Thank goodness I learned to cut my hair when I was 13.  I did it this weekend on the front porch while it was pouring rain.  Still, I collected an audience.  I hung the 3 inch mirror up on the iron grating over the window and saw some faces peering through the trees from the road.  I waved - they waved back.    The next look revealed two sets of eyes, then three - all the while giggling at the Mzungu  cutting hair.    Several people are now "in line" to get hair cuts when the weather allows the cross town hike to get here.   Life continues, hair grows.

OK - enough.  Lights and brain are dimming.

Rainy Season

Ah - rain.  As a Texan who has often prayed for rain - I say ENOUGH!  I like rain - the sound of it on a tin roof - it's comforting.  Today, however, I have had enough comfort.  Laundry - done by hand in tubs of rainwater was hung with care and just as it was drying (difficult enough in high humidity), the rain began.  Sheets, shirts, socks - are now all draped around my room and should dry within the next few days if I'm lucky.  Rule one, wash one sheet at a time in case it doesn't dry.  We have been cautioned to IRON all of out clothes (and sheets) to be sure that the mango fly does not burrow into our skin after laying its eggs in clothes that never quite dry.  Well - I have no iron, because I have no electricity.  But there's alway a charcoal powered iron.  That's probably not going to happen - so I will take my chances with the Mango fly ;-(

Tomorrow we will learn the REAL short cut through the hills to school.  Rubber rain boots that come to the knee are now a requirement.  Mine are white - aren't you just a little bit jealous???  Sometime this week we'll visit a farm and don these boots, and be allowed to wear trousers (women DON"T wear trousers here) and work gloves and learn about perma-culture farming.  No doubt I'll have some kind of garden at site, but everyone in country depends on their farms for food, so we'll at some point be talking and training in farming methods.  I know - you can't see me farming????

Light is fading and the solar lamp is on it's last leg.  Nighty night....

Muzungu....

Hello from the middle of Africa!  And in case you're wondering, "Muzungu" is what white people or foreigners are called, both with affection by children and not-so-much by the Boda-Boda drivers.  Boda-bodas are screaming-wild motorcycle taxi's that Peace Corps Muzungus are not allow to ride for fear of death or being termindated from PC - hopefuly not in that order.

Se we are settling in with our host families here in Wakisu, 15 minutes from Kampala as the crow flies and 45 if you dare to take public transportation.  My family is headed by an amazing woman who has survived more than anyone I know will experience in many lifetimes.  She is educated, articulate,  a community leader and raising several grandchildren and educating some extended family.  She was reared in a wealthy family with high level connections until one of the wars came along and her husband was thrown into prison, where he died.  She became homeless, penniless and survived with her 6 children in the forest until she found some family land willed to her husband.  She has built her home alone and has educated all of her children (4 of whom died from AIDS related issues) and most of her grandchildren!  In short, she is the quintessential feminist in a culture where that is rare.

Her home is reasonably upscale, built of home made bricks.  We have a toilet (that flushes to somewhere with water poured in from a Jerry Can), no running water and no electricity.  Many volunteers are in homes with outdoor pit latrines, so this is a large step up.  We take cold water bucket baths (no too bad once you catch your breath) and sleep under treated mosquito nets.  This phase lasts for another two months, after which we will go to our sites and have out own places.  All I know at this point is that I will be in northern Uganda, somewhere in the vicinity of Gulu and will be working with a non-profit (NGO).  The language is Acholi: rather a combination of Arabic, African dialects and peppered with sounds akin to Vietnamese.  In short, it sounds like a made up language and I am having a hard time with it. 

We are a group of 46 and my Acholi group is fabulous. I'm looking forward to moving on to the next stage and will tell more.  At the moment, I'm running out of of battery and have to hike down the road to leave it with someone who has electricity!   No time to proof read - so forgive the mistakes!

OH yes - and I have to say "The views expressed in this blog are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Peace Corps..."  So there it is.  Love you all!

Lift off!

It's happening - we are loading up.  You've never seen so much luggage!  About a third of the group of 46 is "older" and the age range is probably early 20s to about 70.  We've been told there will be NO internet or phone access for 2 - 3 weeks - so that means no Posts!    We'll be assigned to Ugandan host families within a week and spend about 6 hours a day learning a language.  Our host family will speak NO English, so that should speed both learning and frustration!  Excited finally! Up 'till now it's been about the mechanics of leaving.    Ate great Thai food last night, had my last Starbucks for a while this morning and sending a last post...   Seven+ hours to Brussels, 11-ish from Brussels to Entebbe via  Kigali.

N

 

Stretching the umbilical....

Already feeling disconnected.  That gasping sound you heard last night was my cell phone breathing its last breaths before AT&T cut service at midnight.  I felt immediate panic, but got in a few last minute calls.  Oh nooooooo!  Deep breathing was required.  The umbilical is thinning......    Still have e-mail for another day.  Let's get every bit of value possible out of it before also becomes an unknown.  After schlepping stuff around airports yesterday, my immediate thought upon arriving at 10:30 last night was "what can I unload." Turns out I am not alone.  My twenty something roommate for training brought even more.  So I've already done another round of re-packing and have lightened my load. Working on her suitcase now - old habits die hard.  First of many such episodes I suspect.  At training we will get even more stuff!

What I want now is more sleep - but 22 hours on a plane should take care of some of that.
N