Placement

Finally on placement! I've been saving up posts on my laptop, so the details for the past week are below. Lucy and I made the half-hour trip in to Jinja to use the internet, visit the post office, and mail some letters. We met up with a bunch of the international volunteers in Buwenge earlier today for lunch. It was so great to see them! It's only been a week but it's comforting to see everyone and hear that the challenges of placement seem to be the same all over.

The last couple days, we visited the local health center and were introduced to the classes at our nearby primary school. The kids had a great little sing-song greeting in garbled English that went something like:

Hello Madam you are welcome
This is Primary Four.
-Good afternoon children.
Good afternoon Madam.
-How are you?
We are all right
Thank you Madam.
-Will you sit down?
Thank you Madam.

Pretty cute. They laughed hysterically when Lucy and I introduced ourselves, and immediately upon our departure from the classroom.

I love the internet. I'm reading my emails, and then will attempt to put up some pictures of my new digs.

I miss everybody.



Wednesday, February 6th:
We had a productive day today, despite waking up without a plan. Lucy rallied us all into walking around the village after breakfast, and we stopped by Mr. Kabi’s place to ask if he could set up a meeting with head teachers for us. We ended being escorted to a primary and secondary school about an hour’s walk south of here by the deputy sub-county chief, Stephen.

We had great introductions in both places, and the high school head teacher especially seemed anxious for us to work at her school. They have a couple of clubs set up already that relate directly to the material we’re going to be covering. The primary school head teacher, Paul, is helping to arrange a meeting with the head teachers of all the local schools, to be held on Tuesday morning. Then we can really put the word out about what we’re doing here, and hopefully select which schools we will be working in. There are dozens in our area.

Not sure what’s in store for us between now and Tuesday, then. We’ll likely visit health centers and try to spend some time with the agricultural officer so Lucy and Peter can get started with their livelihoods material. There was mention of getting them some space to demonstrate their ARTs (appropriate rural technologies), so maybe we’ll be helping them with a little construction later this week. They’re meant to set up an example garden too, so community members can see the effects of their organic farming methods first-hand.

For some reason, I feel a lot more settled today. Peter, Dennis, Lucy and I had a really fun time making dinner together last night and talking about accents. While we walked back from our school visits this afternoon, I started to feel at home here. I still have my moments of disbelief, but life in Africa is treating me well for the time being.



Tuesday, February 5th:
I’m settling in, slowly, to life on placement. The last few days have mainly involved meeting with community members and getting the things we need for our house. We haven’t started teaching yet, but we have a meeting set up with the head of the head teachers, which will hopefully result in Dennis and me getting some timetable space and starting work in schools soon.

Our arrival in Buwenge was sobering, to say the least. We were the third group on our bus to be dropped off, and after brief goodbyes and hugs we were on our own. Mr. Kabi, our liaison of sorts, was here to unlock the doors to our place. We’re staying in half of a house owned by the nearby Catholic church.

From the outside, it looked like quite a step up from the other two volunteer accommodations we’d seen, but it was a little bit of a shock to look inside. Of the four doors off the front porch, we were let into two: one which opened to a single concrete room (where Lucy and I are staying) and one which led to two smaller connected rooms, with a tiny closet space that features the base of a broken toilet. Nice. The alarming thing was that exactly none of the items SPW requires that placement communities provide were present: no beds, no cookware, no utensils, no table and chairs, no lamp, no containers for water. The floors and walls are concrete, and it looked like our rooms hadn’t been inhabited in a long time. Very dusty, very run-down.

As politely as we could, we showed Mr. Kabi our checklist of necessary items. He assured us that everything would be fine and took off on a motorbike, presumably to look into beds. We checked out our new home. Two faucets, which didn’t work. Four power outlets, which also didn’t work. There was a hanging bulb in my and Lucy’s room that did turn on. The drainage hole in the bathroom seemed blocked. We tried to lock our things in one of the rooms, but the key broke off in the lock when I turned it.

So we sat on the porch with our luggage, and wondered what to do. We didn’t know where we could use a toilet. We hadn’t heard where to collect water. Most importantly, we didn’t have a way to contact Mr. Kabi, and weren’t convinced that he was going to come back. I thought about the next six months of my life and wanted to cry a little bit.

Luckily, Mr. Kabi showed up again on his motorbike after what seemed like several hours with two wash basins, jerricans, and a sigiri (charcoal stove). We were relieved not to have been forgotten. He assured us that the rest was on its way, and slowly but surely, things started to turn up. The priest showed up and introduced himself and told us that we would have to move, since they had another group was going to have to live in this house during our stay. Eventually they decided to leave us where we were, but he did show us the other housing option, a brick building of dorm-style rooms, and told us we could use the toilets and shower in that building. This has been a blessing. It doesn’t have running water, but we can hang my camping shower over the spigot and have a private place to bathe.

The priest (“Father,” of course) had us over for dinner the first night, which we were all thrilled with since we didn’t have the charcoal, food, or energy to prepare our own. Apparently, SPW had seemed skeptical when they came to check out our placement, and hadn’t confirmed that we were coming until a couple days prior (or the powers-that-be in Buwenge missed the memo until that point). Hence the lack of preparation.

The next couple days have run together a little bit. We’ve had several meetings with the assistant Sub-County Chief and various other community leaders, and met three potential community volunteers. We were shown the bore hole where we can collect water. It’s not a long walk (across a field and behind the primary school), but it feels like a really long way carrying 20-liter jerricans. We spent a long day getting food at the market, which Dennis and Peter luckily took charge of. Lucy and I are still pretty clueless when it comes to pricing, and it’s easy for us to get ripped off. We’ve cooked a few meals on the sigiri, which takes hours but the results have been delicious. We are still waiting on plates and utensils but the Father let us borrow some.

We are all getting along really well. Lucy is totally rolling with the punches and manages to be agreeable 100% of the time. Dennis and Peter are both quiet, considerate, and seem undaunted with taking care of the things Lucy and I haven’t figured out yet.

The biggest challenges for me right now are a nagging feeling that I’d rather be at home, and worrying about when I’m going to eat next. We’ve been eating around 9am, 1pm, and 8pm. I like to have small meals every few hours so I’m always starving and cranky by the time our food is finally ready, and we haven’t been cooking very big meals. I might try to go into Jinja next weekend and stock up on cereal and snack foods.

The “electrician” came by yesterday to attempt to remedy our problem with the outlets. After a long afternoon in the attic he decided to come back this morning (it’s 4:30pm, with no sign of him yet), but he did wire in a power strip and plugged in a light for the guys. It’s the first time I’ve been able to charge up my laptop in a while, which is why I’m having a little typing binge this afternoon.

We’re technically in the Kagoma sub-county, and the Magamaga parish. There are something like 13 government-funded primary schools in our parish, so I’m not sure how we will identify a target school yet. The parish is lovely. Our house is clustered with buildings owned by the Catholics, many of which seem empty, and a Protestant church. We’re right next to a large playing field, with a primary school behind that. Directly south of us there are houses, small farms, county offices, and a jail. If we walk about a half hour up Kamuli Road (the paved road which goes to Jinja) we hit the town center of Buwenge, which has restaurants, shops, and a pretty big market.

It’s not as rural as some placements, but it’s definitely rural. There are mud-and-stick huts with grass roofs, naked babies playing in the dirt, cows wandering everywhere. Lucy and I have all eyes on us at all times.

To make the time I’m here a little more digestible, I’ve been thinking of it as a seven-month week. I’ve made it through Monday, the day of getting started and seeing friends. Now it’s Tuesday morning. I’m a little tired, and I assume it’ll have some low points. Once I get into a routine, I’m sure the weekend will be here before I know it.



Thursday, January 31st:
Good news today!

First, we got our placement assignments. I’ll be in Buwenge, just north of Jinja, for the next sixth months. My placement group consists of myself, Lucy, Dennis, and Peter. Lucy is from the UK, has a really thick British accent, is bubbly and 18. Dennis will be teaching SRH lessons with me. He grew up in Jinja, and he’s just out of high school too. He’s pretty easy-going and I think it’ll be fun to teach with him. We did role plays last week and he expressed his love to his girlfriend by telling her, “I love you as if you were the only button on my shirt!”

I haven’t talked to Peter, and he’s been gone for a graduation ceremony this week. I think he’s about my age, and he’s from Uganda. The kids in livelihoods said he’s quiet but “comes out of his shell in a good way.” I think it’ll be a fun, relaxed placement group, and I’m excited that we’re so close to town. There might even be electricity.

Also, I had a good phone interview with UNC and am pretty excited about the program there. They haven’t sent out offers yet, but given what the Director of Graduate Studies said I think chances are pretty good that I’ll be a Tarheel next year(!).

This morning, we played that game where you walk around with a piece of paper stuck to your forehead with an identity written on it and get people to give you clues about who you are. Most of the papers had animals written on them. I sat around for a good ten minutes with “COCK” stuck to my forehead. Excellent.