First lessons

This is our first official "weekend off," and all of the international volunteers have descended on Backpacker's Hostel in Jinja. It's been wonderful to see everyone and catch up with everyone's lives on placement. They are all very different, but the challenges seem to be very much the same. Lots of the SRH volunteers have started lessons, and the livelihoods pairs seem to have a harder task with mobilizing farmers and out-of-school youth.

After living in the parish for a couple weeks, Jinja feels like a bastion of modernity. We went to Two Friends last night, which serves indian food, pizza, and chocolate cake. The internet seems lightning fast today. And I'm pretty excited to go to a supermarket to get some fruit juice and jam to bring home to Buwenge. There are rumors of a trip to the chinese restaurant in the next day or so. Be still, my heart.

Speaking of hearts, Lucy and I dished up a special Valentine's Day dinner of scrambled eggs for the boys. They balked at getting candles, but the heart-shaped chapattis were a hit:

Teaching has been a blast. We gave a lesson on Adolescence and Puberty on Thursday to Senior 1 and 2 (age 14-16ish) students, which was a riot. The tiniest boy in the class did a great demonstration of how boys and girls' walks change during puberty, and there was lots of laughter all around. So far we've only taught one group where Dennis had to translate most of the lesson into Lusoga. It takes a lot of effort for me to speak slowly using very simple language, but it's getting easier. Explaining "immunodeficiency" to kids that barely speak English is tough sometimes.

I've tried to bring some "scenes from daily life" pictures this time. Here's the sigiri where we cook all of our meals:


And my little slice of home:

Women selling motoke at the market.

And the tree in front of our house. H.N., any idea what kind of tree this is? It doesn't have fruit, but it has pink spikes at the end of the branches that the boys say don't open up into flowers.


Uganda started to feel like home this week. I even had the confidence on the way into Jinja to refuse to pay the taxi conductor's inflated mzungu price, and handed him the normal change instead. He laughed and said, "You have money" to Lucy and I as a means of explanation. I got a card from Grace! Everyone seems to know who we are in our village and most people are really friendly to us. Lucy, Dennis, Peter and I are all getting along really well. Teasing Dennis about girls is always hilarious. Lucy and I get bored in the evenings sometimes, but we torture ourselves talking about food to pass the time. I haven't gotten sick yet, and now that we're teaching I'm really excited about being here.

Stubby-tailed Scorpion Muncher

Wednesday, February 13th:
And we’re off. Dennis and I have led two lessons now: a session on Values at St. Gonzaga Gonza Secondary School, and a surprise one-hour introductory session at Kalebera Primary.

In both cases, I was surprised at how attentive the kids were. Our class at St. Gonzaga was made up of about 60 senior 3 and 4 kids, which were a couple years older than we were anticipating. We discussed what values were and how they influenced behavior. We played a game where we would read a values statement and the kids had to go stand under signs that said “agree,” “disagree,” or “not sure.” It was a hit.

I was surprised at the students’ responses to some of the statements. Most of the girls agreed that “boys and girls should have equal opportunities,” but most boys disagreed. Most students (of both genders) agreed that “if a woman wears miniskirts and sexy clothes, she is asking to be raped.” And surprisingly, most boys thought boys should pay for a dinner on a date, while the girls disagreed. On sexual issues they mostly gravitated towards the conservative answers.

The kids at Kalebera Primary School were pretty insightful about some things, and totally missed the boat with others. We showed up at 2pm expecting to meet some teachers and sort out our teaching schedule, and were startled when Aron, the headmaster, gathered all 150 of the P6 and P7 kids in a classroom and told us we had an hour. We spent most of the time introducing ourselves and SPW, which the kids eagerly copied off the blackboard.

Dennis asked them to identify problems that youth face. Their answers: poor nutrition, not being immunized, poor sanitation, denial of education, family planning, defilement, poor transport, personal hygiene, famines, lack of clothing. Pretty severe, when I consider the problems I faced as an adolescent. Gossiping friends and not being able to find pants that were long enough, maybe?

I was pleased in both cases that the students could somewhat understand me, but even if I speak slowly and rephrase everything I say, they seem to have a lot of trouble with my accent. With Lucy it’s not so bad; I think they are more used to British English. There were a few cases where I asked the kids to raise their hands about something and was met with lots of blinking faces. At that point, Peter or Dennis has to step in.

It’s great being up in front of the classes. The kids are pretty excited to have us, and I think as we get to know each other the lessons are going to be a lot of fun. Per head teacher request, we are starting right in with the HIV/AIDS lessons tomorrow morning at Kagoma Primary. It might be difficult. The kids seem pretty bright but the understanding of the lesson material is much lower than what I would expect from kids at home. I suppose that’s a good reason for us to be here.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I like Valentine’s, but it’ll be a reminder that I’m far away from people I love. As Lucy said, “Last year you had lobster and a trip to Canada, and this year you have… me!” If the power goes out in the evening, as it often does, we can at least look forward to a candlelit dinner with the boys.



Tuesday, February 12th:
We’re finally getting rolling. Yesterday we met up with Ronald, the most eager and present of our community volunteers (and likely the one we’ll choose), and built a tippy-tap. I got a little frustrated because the guys seemed adamant about building it their way, but tried to let it go and make myself useful by gathering rocks, retrieving scissors, etc. Snubbing the girls during construction projects (however simple) seems to be universal, I’m afraid. Anyway, it works and will be a nice demonstration piece.

Ronald (community volunteer), Peter, Lucy, Dennis, building.

Nearly finished tippy-tap. It now has a stick attached to the string, which you step on to make the water pour out.

In the afternoon we spent a few hours walking around and, using Ronald as a translator, talking to local farmers about setting up groups and meeting with the livelihoods volunteers. We had a great chat with a primary school headmaster about 40 minutes from home, and a fun introduction to several hundred purple-clad primary kids. We’re going back there tomorrow to meet the teachers and set up our timetable space.

We also met with the head teacher at the Catholic secondary school near our house, and we’re scheduled to teach there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for an hour at a time. Dennis and I are giving our first lesson today! We’ll have a combined group of Senior 1 and Senior 2 students (roughly 14-16 year-olds, I think), which should be somewhere around 100 kids. I’m nervous about whether or not they’ll be able to understand me. By that age most kids are being taught in English at school, but the American accent seems to be pretty difficult for them.

Still, I’m excited that we’re starting. We’ve now met with head teachers at five different schools, which seems like a manageable number if we spend a day or two per week at each one. Mr. Kabi has sort of abandoned us; he fell through with inviting the local head teachers to a mass meeting this morning, and we haven’t seen him in almost a week. It’s actually been a lot easier to make connections by just wandering onto campuses and introducing ourselves. Most of the school staff has been happy to have us, and say that the topics we’re covering are really needed in their schools. It’s good to hear, and I hope we can deliver.

My body seems to have adjusted to this lifestyle. For the first several days, I felt fat, my skin was bad, my hair was greasy, and I was hungry all the time. As enticing as that sounds, I’m glad that those problems seem to have gone away after a week or so of this routine. I’ve gotten more used to people shouting at me too.

I realized that the Ugandan kids’ reaction to white people is pretty similar to the reaction of people at home when we see a deer out a car window. It’s obligatory to say, “Hey, look a deer! Did you see the deer?” no matter how frequently they go by. ‘Round these parts, Lucy and I are the deer. “Mzungu! Mzungu! How are you? Mzungu! How are you? Bye Mzungu! Byee! Byee!” It doesn’t matter if we respond, or how many times we see them. We are a source of endless entertainment.



Sunday, February 10th:
Sundays are lazy days at our house. We slept in, listened to the worship songs drifting over from the Catholic church, and did a lot of cleaning. We’re meeting with our three potential community volunteers tomorrow morning, and wanted to have them help us build a tippy-tap (a simple hand-washing structure made with poles, a plastic container, and string). Gathering those materials should be one of our goals for the day. It’s going to be hard to have to select one person – we have three applicants, but only a stipend for one. They’re meant to help us network in the community, translate if necessary, and help with lessons. One of them, Ronald, has been showing up every couple days to express his interest. We’re never quite sure what to do with him.

I had a great time in Jinja yesterday. It’s so comforting to spend some time on the internet and find out what’s happening at home and in the lives of friends and family. I feel pretty disconnected sometimes and appreciate the emails and facebook messages. The big news on MSN was Heath Ledger’s funeral, so I assume I haven’t missed any major world events.

It’s also satisfying to go to a supermarket. I got some cookies and snacks to tide me over for those long breaks between meals, some soap, and string so I could hang up my mosquito net properly. I asked one of the workers for string, and he misunderstood. “Skin… curry?” Yes, sir. Please show me the skin curry.

Lucy and I almost got off of the matatu several miles before we were supposed to. That would have been an unpleasant walk in the dark. Apparently, giving the name of the sub-county you want isn’t specific enough.

I’m glad I have my laptop here. Thanks, Tom and Jason. I’m sure much of what I’m posting isn’t enthralling, but it’s relaxing for me to record it. Skim at your leisure.

Dennis is a delight. He gets tea and breakfast ready in the morning. He lights the sigiri for every meal (I tried once while he was gone and failed, but tried to hide it). He finds out his scores and university admission in the next month or so and wants to study public health, which is called environmental health here.

If I were to set up an NGO, I think I would try to get medical and lab equipment to rural health centers. I’m not sure what my level of involvement with development work will be after this trip. I’d like to do some shorter volunteer trips to different places, and I’d like to stay connected to Uganda in some degree.

The word from UNC is that they mailed a letter to me a couple of days ago. Fingers crossed!

More photos

Here is our house in Buwenge. Lucy's on the porch. The boys have the left side, and the head teacher of our primary school (Theresa) lives in the right side during the week.

Lucy, Peter, and myself at our last day of training. Notice our extremely flattering oversize polo shirts. Thanks, SPW!

The waterfall we visited during our "social outing" a couple weekends ago.

Liz, Jen, and Jill. Three names that are easily confused by Ugandans.

This is from our first week at Kasenge -- playing football and hanging out with some kids at a school field.

My Fellow Americans. Jen, with her ever-present gymnast's smile, and Carson, with his... I think I just threw up.

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.

Humble abode

Here's where I'm currently living. It's better than it looks. My room (which I share with Scottish Sarah, and Ugandans Lilly and Winnie) is on the opposite side. Check out the landscape!

Taking a break

I’m back in Jinja for a Saturday night getaway with the other internationals. We were here last weekend too, enjoying a break from our training routine and indulging in the foods that remind of us home (cheese-based). We stay at the Backpacker’s Inn, a nice hostel with an outdoor bar that costs about $4 a night. It even has free internet.

I started feeling sick a couple days ago, and have been doing my best to fight off a head-cold. It’s not bad, but since nearly every white-skinned person has been sick this week I’d rather get better than come down with one of the other bugs floating around. Staying healthy is a top priority right now.

We find out where we’ll be placed at the end of this week, and leave for our new homes on Saturday. I’ve been nervous lately about who I’ll be placed with and how the food allowance budgeting is going to work, but the training sessions have gotten so repetitive that I think we’re all pretty ready for the next step.

Friday night was “culture night,” and the volunteers managed to put together about two hours of quality singing, dancing, and acting entertainment. The North America volunteers (all five of us) performed classic songs from our continent – Alouette for Canada, Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay for the States, and La Bamba for Mexico. Jill provided ukulele accompaniment. It went over pretty well although our Spanish left something to be desired on the last number.

We took a group trip to Ssezibwa Falls last Sunday. Legend dictates that barren women should throw an animal over the falls if they wish to conceive – if the animal dies, you get pregnant, if it lives, no luck. So you end up with either a baby or a wounded goat, depending on how your luck plays out.

I neglected to bring my mosquito net to Jinja and got devoured last night. I've always been a target for biting bugs...

Pic!

Finally! A photo is up! Here's me in Kasenge, with some kids that were pretty excited by my camera.

Training days

We are into the swing of training now. The volunteer group has split into two focus areas: livelihoods and sexual reproductive health (SRH). I’m in the SRH group. While the livelihood kids spend most of the day outside learning about soil composition and farming methods, we’re indoors with Dr. Alex discussing contraception, life skills, and hygiene.

Most of the information is old news for the overseas volunteers, but it’s helpful to go over it in a lesson context so we’ll know how to teach the content when we leave for our placements on the 2nd. There have been some frustrating cultural differences. The most noticeable one is that homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, and is seen as a strictly deviant practice. The white kids all objected when it was listed as “transactional sex.” After some argument I had to accept that there aren’t consenting gay couples here – at least not open ones. The only expression of homosexuality is in the form of prostitution and rape, but it’s still upsetting that the term is met with such disgust.

There have been a few other topics that raised some eyebrows among the internationals. We were instructed to tell adolescent girls not to wear bras – to “leave them pointy,” because wearing a tight bra will make your breasts grow downward like chapattis??? There’s a practice called “pulling” that shocked the internationals, and we’re called on to give personal examples of a lot of adolescent changes which can be pretty awkward. I want to object when it feels like misinformation, but I’m learning to let it go unless I feel like it’s going to be harmful to the kids we teach.

Other than some arguments during training, the group of 40 or so volunteers is getting along pretty well. The Ugandans are indispensable when it comes to getting around and not getting ripped off (too badly) by vendors. They’ve taught us some new card games and some key Lugandan phrases. There’s still some separation between national and overseas volunteers, especially at meal times, but I think it’s more because we stick to the people we’re comfortable with than because we have any aversion to each other.

I’m one of three Americans: Jen, who’s 27 and from Pittsburg and Carson, who just graduated from UPS. There are a couple of Canadian girls too. We’re a pretty powerful front, in terms of people who say “pants” instead of “trousers” and can eat bread without Marmite.

We’re staying in Kasenge for the rest of our training at an organic farming center. It’s a tiny town with one strip of shops we can walk to, but Mukono (which has a post office and an internet café) is 5-10 minutes away by taxi. There are converted vans called matatus that shuttle people from town to town. There are always packed to capacity, and the trip to Mukono costs 1000/= (about 50 cents) if you’re white and 500/= if you’re local.

The little kids here are a riot. They chase us around shouting “Mzungu! Mzungu!” whenever we go to town, and they are fascinated by digital cameras. There are lots of funny misconceptions about white people, and I think some of the kids think we are painted. If I touch one of their hands he or she will stare at it afterward in disbelief.

I’m thinking about picking up some multivitamins, because we are stuck with a pretty starch-based diet. Our only hope for iron or fiber is the occasional pile of leafy greens. I’ve tried some new fruit here, but a lot of it is perfumey and it’s hard to eat very much.

I finally have the address where I can receive letters:

Liz Pempe
c/o SPW
P.O. Box 1208
Jinja Uganda

Packages have to go to the physical address, which is:

Plot 6 Acacia Road
(behind Cool Breeze Hotel)
Jinja Uganda

I’ll be able to get my mail about once a month, either during trips to headquarters or visits from SPW staff.

In terms of life state-side, I’ve been invited to interview at UNC. I have to miss the recruitment weekend at the end of the month, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to do some phone interviews? It’s a good sign and I’m pretty excited about it.

That’s the wrap-up for now. I miss internet access, Sunday breakfast at the parsonage, and variety in my diet. But I’m happy to be here and ready for more!