On the Road Again

Our program is coming down to the final close. On Monday, the rest of the group will fly back to the states, but tomorrow me and 4 other girls from this program are off on a sort of African adventure. Our plans are to go on a safari, hike in the foothills of mt. Kilimanjaro, spend a few days relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar, and visit Victoria falls. I'm really excited about our upcoming travel plans, but it's also starting to hit me that my time in Uganda is basically up. During our time in Jinja, we all talked about the things that we're going to miss when we get home, and how we should cope with not being in Uganda anymore. So, I decided to come up with a list of my own. This is probably also one of the last times I'll write a real post, since I'll be traveling for the next 5 weeks and access to internet may be unpredictable.


Things that I'm going to miss about Uganda:
-Being able to buy any sort of food you want at any stand on the side of the road
-Hoping on a boda-boda to get anywhere you need to
-Knowing that no prices are fixed and that you can bargain for anything, even Visas
-Chapatti, rolexes, African sweet potatoes, malakwang, and other delicious foods
-Passion fruit, 50 cent pineapples and juicy mangoes
-How friendly and hospitable everyone is, to the point that they take you to their home in the village to meet their family and serve you a feast
-Ugandan English, such as "We will pick you" and "It is behind"
-Learning new languages
-Little Ugandan kids that I will one day take home
-My Ugandan family, especially my younger brothers and my older sister
-Rolling hills, luscious green pastures, and goats grazing along the side of the road
-African dresses
-Caritas social workers and other new friends that I made
-The rainy season and always being able to see lightening over the plains



Things I definitely will not miss:
-Matooke
-Traffic at all hours that follows no signs or traffic laws
-Corruption
-Constantly being sick from pollution/dust/bad milk/bacteria
-Sticking out no matter what I do and always being called muzungu
-Staring poverty in the face and not being able to do anything about it
-Stupid SIT policies that keep you from doing anything fun
-Ugly Maribu storks
-Crappy internet
-Whole milk, whole milk, whole milk, and nothing else


And a few things I'm looking forward to:
-Driving on the right side of the road!
-Working out without being stared at
-Eating vegetables not drenched in mayonnaise
-Being able to check my email at all times without wondering if the power will go out
-Seeing friends and family
-Finally getting completely clean!!


Well, see you in 5 weeks!

Wanen Koni, Gulu!

See you later, Gulu!

Today is officially my last full day in Gulu. Almost everyone from our group is already back in Kampala, giving Gulu the "last few days of finals" feeling. Aside from feeling a bit lonely at our hotel, I definitely am not ready to be done with my time in Gulu. So I thought I would make a list of some things that I'm going to miss about being here:

1. First and foremost, Caritas and the social workers there. We have SO much fun together, given that they actually have a sense of humor and ALMOST understand sarcasm, which is kind of a big deal here. These are the people that I'm going to miss the most out of all my time in Uganda.

2. The incredible hospitality and friendliness of the Acholi people. The other day our tailors invited us to their house for lunch. People here are always inviting you to come to their village where they treat you with the best treatment a visitor has ever gotten.

3. Tailors. Since this is my last extended time in one place, my tailoring frenzy has come to an end. If only I had known that it only costs 8,000 UGX to get a dress made here, I would have made more than the current 5 that I already own. Unfortunately, I had half of those made in Kampala for 25,000 UGX, but now I just have one more reason to come back to Gulu.

4. Bodas and negative traffic. I have an intense boda boda obsession, and am going to need to find a way to fulfill it in the US. I also love not having to worry about all of the taxis trying to hit me. Kampala is going to be culture shock all over again.

I could probably go on, but my time at the internet cafe is running low. I'm happy to be basically done with my research, and I can't wait for the travel part of the program to start. Our number has grown to 5, and I think we have a really awesome group of girls to travel with. For now, hope all is well!

Wanen koni!

Q: How Many Vehicles Does it Take to Get to Sudan?

A: 6.

The idea for our latest adventure came from someone in Gulu who told us that we could get across the border for 7000 UGX without our passports (since we are treated like Kindergarteners on this program and not allowed to have any of our things, passports included). The border of South Sudan is about 100 kms from Gulu, and it just recently opened up since we’ve been here due to increased security in the region. On Saturday, the majority of the group tried and succeeded in getting across and going to the market, but Hannah and I couldn’t go because we had to train the kids at HEALS Play Therapy in Gymnastics.

So on Sunday morning, Hannah and I set off to the Gulu taxi park to find a bus or taxi that would take us to Sudan. We found the sign labeled “Sudan” and climbed in a taxi that looked like it was about to break down. It being our only option, we decided to go for it. This was vehicle #1. Over the next 30 minutes, the conductor proceeded to cram 16 people in the back of the vehicle – 4 people in each row – so that he didn’t even have anywhere to sit and he had to sit on the lap of one of the passengers! Around 10:30 we finally got moving toward Gulu, after some initial trouble getting the door to close without it completely falling off the car. We traveled for around 15 minutes, until we stopped in Lacor and the driver got out, went away to buy something, and then somehow boda-ed back 15 minutes later. Again, we were on the road.

45 more minutes down the road, the taxi stopped and the driver got out to check the engine. Not surprisingly, something was wrong with the car. 2 of the women got out and started “footing it” to the next town, but we decided to stay in the taxi and wait. We got the engine fixed enough to reach the next town, where we met the women who had footed ahead of us, and we proceeded to stop for another 30 minutes to buy sugar cane and sim-sim balls and biscuits while flies swarmed inside the taxi. On the road again, we went.

Another 45 minutes later, we stopped again, and almost everyone got out of the taxi. This time, it didn’t appear the taxi would be fixed any time soon. Tired and restless, Hannah and I got out and decided to just try to hitch a ride back to Gulu and call it a day. Instead, the Israelis who had been sitting behind us in the taxi flagged down a UN land cruiser and invited us to join them riding to the border. So we hopped in the back of the UN land cruiser, along with the 3 Israelis, a Sudanese man heading back home, and a woman and her baby who we found sitting in the vehicle already. On to vehicle #2. The Sudanese man turned out to be very nice, and we chatted with him about his travels, his studies, and the state of the world. He tried to chat with the other Israeli sitting in back with us, but he was a real tool and we were happy for the most part that he kept his mouth shut. Without any more troubles, we reached the border.

From there, we proceeded to the immigration officer, who remembered our “colleagues” from the day before and said that there would be no problem getting across but that the buses going back to Gulu for the day were over. Really wanting to get to Sudan, Hannah and I agreed that we could find anyway to get back, and the officer agreed. He then wrote us a little note saying that we could cross for a few hours without our passports, stamped it, and then bargained for us to ride together on a boda through the 15 kms of no man’s land to the Sudanese border. Vehicle #3. We boda-ed with our new Sudenese friend, Peter, leading the way, and when we reached the border, he lead us to the immigration office, where he proceeded to greet all of his old friends while we waited for the officer to come back from lunch. He pulled up in this nice State car, took a look at our notes, gave us the go ahead, and then our friend shuffled us into the back of the State car to drive us up to the market we wanted to go to. Vehicle #4!

Peter spent a total of 20 minutes showing us around the market – if you’ve seen one market in Uganda, you’ve pretty much seen any market in East Africa – and then we climbed back in the car and headed back to the border! We stopped to take a giant soda, which we intended to pay for Peter but instead he paid for all of us. Upon reaching the border, we agreed that we could just hop on any vehicle going to Gulu, so they flagged down the next truck passing through the border, talked to the drivers for a bit until they happily agreed to let Hannah and I ride with them up to Gulu for no charge. We bid goodbye to our new friend Peter and climbed up into the truck. You might think this would be our last vehicle, but it was only #5. Just wait.

When we reached the Ugandan border, we met up with our friend Mr. Daniel the immigration officer and he wished us a safe journey. From there, we sat in the truck for over 45 minutes while our Kenyan truck drivers tried to bargain with the money sellers about the exchange rate from Sudanese pounds to Ugandan shillings, thinking they were getting ripped off, while the whole time we knew that they weren’t. FINALLY, we were on our way back home. Or so we thought.

Every 20 minutes, our truck kept stopping and the driver would get out and pour water into the engine and then we would continue on. After about an hour of this, they stopped and really looked at the engine, only to discover that the hose pipe was detached and that it was really very dangerous to keep going. They were sure they were going to fix it, so we waited for about 30 minutes while they called men from the community to come and lift up the entire front part of the truck. As it was reaching 5:30, Hannah and I thought it would be best to try to flag down another truck to take us up to Gulu. Luckily, one stopped just behind ours to pick up some charcoal, and with some convincing on our end that it was not illegal for him to carry us, we hopped in. Finally, we sped along to Gulu with this chatty man who had been on the road for 29 days picking up supplies for his boss’s forex bureau – counter in Kenya, cabinets in Tanzania, butter in Malawi, milk in Rwanda, again butter in Sudan…yeah, don’t ask why you need butter and milk to build a forex bureau. He had slept 7 nights out of the 29, so he was pretty much legally insane. We sat and listened to him talk for the next 2 hours, after which we reached Gulu very safely, paid him 10,000 for gas, and breathed a sigh of relief that our adventure was over. 6 vehicles later, we had arrived home in Gulu once again.

Lesson of the day: at the end of the day, the journey is more important than the place you are going!

Don't Go Barefoot - Put on the What? The Dom Con!

Despite the funny title, I sadly have to report that that statement was the only funny part of my Saturday evening. After meeting Sweet Kid last Monday, the Gulu kids decided that we wanted to go see his concert at this place called Buganda Pub on the other side of town (aka a 10 minute walk), sponsored by Trust Condoms (hence the title of this post). Although we were exhausted by the end of the day for no reason other than the fact that we are lame and go to sleep before 10 every night, and despite warnings that Buganda Pub is the sketchiest place to go in town given its usual customers of prostitutes and skeezy guys, we still ventured to the concert.

Upon arriving, we immediately felt weird – there were a lot of guys and girls just hanging out outside the pub, and they all promptly turned our way and stared when we arrived. We were lucky to have Innocent, one of the kids at the orphanage where Abbie works, and the Ugandan friend that he had made, Robert (who drove us to the pub and bought our tickets to get in). The inside of the pub was a little less sketchy – it was at least very big, with a stage and giant area with chairs for the concert. They seemed to tone down the sketch for the night, which I am so grateful for.

Anyway, the “concert” started at 10, which consisted of first an hour + of a “talent” show much to the likes of karaoke, except the singing was more like lip synching, and the dancing was non existent. Boooooring. They were playing the music EXTREMELY loud, and I was getting really annoyed and bored. When the real first real singer actually came on at 11:30, Master Plaster, he turned out to be pretty awful, and our hopes for the rest of the concert slowly declined. The peak of my frustration/anger/disgust was when a singer named Bella came on stage. After originally being excited to see a female singer, we soon found that she performed not unlike a stripper – including bringing a guy up on stage and proceeding to give him a lap dance. What was worse was the reaction of the Ugandan men while she was singing: cat calling her, whistling, putting money in her shorts, etc. If we had actually been at a strip club, I would have been less appalled, but the fact that we were supposed to be at a concert where the rest of the performers were respected for their musical talent, Bella appeared to only be popular because of her sex appeal, which she had no qualms about flaunting. Think Britney Spears in her Oops I Did It Again phase, but replace all of the screaming pre-teen girls and their parents with a bunch of skeezy middle age men and you should get the picture.

From there, the concert started to fall apart for me. They were blasting the bass to the point where I felt like I was going to vibrate right out of my seat, which always makes me freak out, and on top of feeling exhausted, disgusted and disrespected as a woman and as a white person, I pretty much started to have a panic attack. On my way trying to get out of the concert arena, I had to push through the crowds of men who proceeded to grope my arms and legs, despite me punching them and swatting at their limbs. While I was waiting in the bar area, trying to decide whether to just leave and go home or wait for Sweet Kid to come on, no less than 10 guys came up to me and trying to caress my stomach or grab my bag or get in my face. Strangely, I never actually felt scared or threatened, just mistreated, disrespected and furious. How could these men ever get the idea that they have the right to treat me that way?

After rounding everyone up and getting into the car, we had to wait for Robert to get some things from inside before we could go. While we waited, all kinds of guys stood outside the car staring at us and pushing the car. When Robert finally came out we unlocked the door for him and some guy actually opened up my passenger door and tried to grab me again. I was in shock. I’ve never been treated so horribly in my life, and I unfortunately gained a newfound hate towards most Ugandan men from this experience. Luckily, looking back on it now I'm able to laugh a bit at how absurd the whole night was, but I basically will never be going to Buganda Pub again...unless that’s where Chameleon is playing next week!

Pasca Enungi

A good Easter it certainly was! I think I did the more unusual and amazing and interesting things this weekend than my entire time in Uganda so far. Starting on Friday when I woke up early to go to the stations of the cross Good Friday service with my little brothers, where I ended up having to carry the cross from one station to another. I seriously thought I was going to trip and fall and drop the cross (which was bigger than my body), but I luckily managed not to, even though it started to get so heavy by the end. My 12 and 14 year old brothers also carried the cross, which was especially funny because it was like a family affair. I bonded a little bit with my 12 year old brother who is normally at boarding school about how heavy the cross was to carry, and learned the serious extent to which he is religion when he said “it was very heavy, but I thought about how Jesus died for our sins and I thought I could carry this heavy cross for just a little bit.” He’s the one that wants to be a priest, obviously.

Next, on Saturday, I made chocolate chip cookies with my brothers and we all sat around the table and ate them with our milk. In the afternoon, other family members starting coming home, such as my 21 year old sister who goes to Makerere and my 22 year old brother Godfrey who is also in University. Then my parents came home in the evening with bags and bags and bags of vegetables and fruits and meat and sodas and beer and wine and liquor for this big family get together on Easter. I got to help my mom prepare mango-passion fruit-watermelon-orange juice and just do family type activities, which was so amazing.

Then on Sunday, the fun really started. Church was not anything really special, but afterwards the preparations went into full-swing, with pizza making, cake baking, guacamole making, etc. The other family that was coming turned out to have about 6-8 siblings who were all my age, so we spent the day chatting about University, playing cards and drinking a lot of beer and wine. By the end of the night I felt like I had made some awesome new friends who promised to take me out with them when I come back to Kampala. I even bonded a lot with my sister who I don’t see very often, and she decided that she really wants to come to Gulu to visit me because she’s never been! I’m a little sad that I’m starting to bond so much with my family after I’m officially living with them, but I’m hoping that this will make it easy for me to come back and visit them or for them to even come to D.C.!

Lastly – Easter Monday. Epicness of Epicness. This is not a holiday in the U.S., but in Uganda it’s a very big deal – barely anyone works, and there are a lot of concerts for people to go to. I have a feeling the day is for recovering from the party on the day before, and the night is the final “hoorah” before classes and work begin again. Anyway, Julie and I decided that we wanted to go to this big concert called the East African Carnival that had singers from all over East Africa including Sweet Kid, Chameleon (pretty much the most Ugandan singer), and some other popular ones that I don’t remember. When we first got there the place was swarming with people and the line to pay and get in was SO long. After first being hassled by this kind of creepy seeming guy, Julie spoke to him in Luganda and he immediately changed attitudes and dragged us to the front of the line to get into the concert! It turned out he was one of the promoters working at the concert so he could easily get us in (even though we still had to pay).

After checking out the music scene for a while, Julie and I went to look for some drinks, where we ran into our friend again! We told him we were looking for this type of wine and he proceeded to drag us to every single bar to find said wine, even though everyone at every bar said that it was over. We settled for Bells, which of course he bought for us. We sat and listened to the music a bit until our new friend told us that he was going to take us to see Chameleon (!!) because they were besties. We stumbled after him in shock, where he took us just a little ways away to where the performers’ cars were parked. We didn’t find Chameleon, but we did find Sweet Kid sitting in his car with one of his band members! We talked for him about how he’s coming to Gulu next weekend, and I promised to see him at his show and got his number!! Then we turned around and BAM! There’s Chameleon and his entire posse, just hanging out behind us. We had fun introducing ourselves in Luganda, and then he was whisked off to perform, while we followed after him to go backstage. When he went on stage, we pushed our way up to the front and the 1000s and 1000s of people that were sitting there on the grass stared at the mzungus dancing and singing to Chameleon.

And THEN, when he was finished performing, our friend grabbed our hands and dragged us behind Chameleon’s posse to where they all got on bodas to ride to the car. Get this – Julie sat on the same boda with Chameleon!! I somehow got left off of a boda, so our new friend and I had to walk alone to the super market where the car was parked, and the whole time I was freaking out that Julie was going to get taken away with Chameleon and his band and I was going to be left behind! Luckily, they all waited for us and when we arrived at the car, I was shuffled in to find Chameleon sandwiched in between me and Julie. We spent the car ride with the sun roof down, wind blowing in our hair, talking to Chameleon about why he likes to sing, where his name comes from and what he thinks of Mussevini while driving to his next show. We arrived at a bar in Kabalagala surprise surprise, 15 minutes from my homestay, at around 1 a.m., where we climbed out of the giant SUV behind Chameleon to a crowd of screaming Ugandans. Un. Freaking. Real. At the show, Julie, our new friend and I sat with his band, drinking bottles of free wine that Chameleon kept ordering for us and listening to him sing every now and then when he felt like it. The whole time we just kept thinking “this is not happening!!” After posing for pictures with Chameleon and his brother AK-47 and exchanging phone numbers and emails, Julie and I whisked ourselves away on a boda at around 4 or 5 in the morning to crash at my homestay. We were so tired from the night before that we didn’t even wake up when my mom knocked on my door at 6 a.m. to go to town, and my house helper had to come knock on the door at 6:45 a.m. to make us wake up. Thank god I had asked my brothers to pack my bag the night before when I was at the concert, because I immediately had to rush to town on a boda to get on the coach bus to Gulu by 8 a.m.!! I still couldn’t believe that merely hours before we had been partying it up with Chameleon, but my lack of sleep was a small price to pay for the most amazing experience of my Uganda trip! I definitely have to say that at times, being a muzungu has its perks!!

Kop Ango?!

Kope! I'm learning so many ways to say "how are you" and "I am fine!"

Anyway, day 5 in Gulu. It’s weird to say that so much has happened, yet at the same time nothing has happened at all. We arrived on Wednesday, after a very interesting bus ride. The Post Coach is like any other coach bus anywhere, but in Uganda apparently they also serve as taxis. Before even making it out of Kampala we picked up many people, which continued at various points along the way. There appeared to be stages, and one person even said “maso,” which is what people on taxis in Kampala say to tell the conductor to stop “right there.” Every time we stopped in big towns, all of these venders would rush up to the windows and poke their meat kabobs in the windows. If you reached down a little out the window, you could also buy bananas, water, gnuts, and baked lumonde (sweet potatoes). At one point near Gulu we drove through a conservation area and a family of baboons chased our bus! Like everything else here, it was quite the experience.

Since we got to Gulu, Ben, Courtney M and I have been putting ourselves up in a little bar and lodging place called “Lacan Pe Nino.” It’s 16,000 UGX a night (aka $8), and we have all three been sleeping crossways in a double bed. With our luggage, flip flops and jars of peanut butter sprawled out across the room, we have barely any space to walk. It was amusing for maybe the first night or two, but now we’re all getting cabin fever and itching to move into somewhere more permanent for the next month. Where will that be, you ask? Well just wait, I will tell you.

But first, about Gulu Town. Anyone coming from the outside would have no idea that this was an area that had been affected by a civil war as little as 2 years ago. It’s crazy to me that the roads here are nicer than the roads in Kampala. The town itself reminds me of an old Western flick, as the businesses that line the (2) main roads are all one story, and the majority of the shops are 1) “bar and lodging” or 2) “trading center.” Everything is within walking distance, and if you don’t feel like taking a stroll in the middle of the day in the hot sun, you can catch a boda for 500 or 1000…and there’s no traffic so it’s actually safe! Since we are the first group from SIT Uganda to come to Gulu, we’ve been figuring out a lot of things on our own, including where we all should live and what organizations we should work with (not to mention where all of these things are!).

After spending the last few days trying to pull a Practicum together and find a place to stay, I have the following to report: the group has found an apartment that consists of basically 2 small rooms, with an outside common area that is shared with other apartments. The 2 small rooms have barely enough space for 3 mattresses on the floor in each room - it will be tight living. I’ve decided to opt out of this apartment experience, and instead I’m planning on living in the IDP camps for at least this next week. A few of the people that I talked to here strongly recommended it in order to build better rapport with the people. I personally would really like to avoid becoming the researcher who just comes in to ask questions and then leaves without making any real connections with the people here. After this first week, I’m going back to Kampala to spend Easter with my homestay family, and when I return I’ll decide if I’ll spend the remaining weeks in the camps. I’m extremely nervous about where I will sleep, what I will sleep on, how I will shower, where I will get my food, how safe I will be – but I also know that it will probably be one of the most rewarding experiences that I can have during my Practicum, and that’s motivation enough. (Don’t worry parents – I’m addressing the safety aspect before I start living there…I’ve befriended an Irish woman who has been working here since last May who also spent some time in the camps, and I’m consulting with her about all of these things)

So that leaves me with: my Practicum. In case I haven’t mentioned, the topic that I’m theoretically researching is: the different psychosocial healing methods for former abductees and their effectiveness, including looking at play therapy, Western counseling methods and the traditional practices of the community. I’m running into quite a few problems here trying to find an organization to work with and set up my research because there are very few children still returning to Gulu from the LRA, as the fighting has moved into the Democratic Republic of Congo. There aren’t many organizations that are currently focusing exclusively on child soldier rehabilitation, and most of the counseling that goes on is more about reconciliation and the creation of livelihoods. I found one of the coolest non-profits here called H.E.A.L.S, run by the father of Jolly Okot and sponsored also by Invisible Children. They have been doing play therapy with war affected children since 2003, but they currently only have sessions on Saturdays because most of the children attend school during the week. I spent yesterday hanging out with the kids, watching them practice hip-hop and traditional dancing, and already am in love with all of these kids. They will resume full time play therapy starting on April 24th when school holidays start, so I’m hoping to spend at least 1 or 2 weeks doing intensive work with HEALS. Until then, I guess I’ll just try to find a way into the community and work with the children I meet there to find out about their experiences and what kind of activities they have participated in. As of now, my Practicum is turning into more of an ISP (Independent Study Project), and I care more about just getting to play with the kids for the next month than actually writing this 20-40 page paper.

As of now, that’s all that I have to report. We’ve actually managed to find a good internet place at the Human Rights Focus, and there are some other people in our group who have wireless internet plug-in thingys, so I’ll hopefully be able to use the internet every few days. Until next time!

Here is Your Hen!

Ogamba ki? Ki kati? What’s up?

Since I have reached the resource center at 6:45 AM, after having left for school at 5:55 and waking up at 5:15, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on my blog. For some reason, my little brother had to be at school at 6:30 AM and thus we had to leave very very early. The resource center wasn’t even open by the time we got here at 6:25. I don’t understand my family sometimes, especially when they wake me up at 5:30 and expect me to be ready to leave ASAP, so I’m starting to become REALLY excited about the prospect of living on my own by the start of next week.

But anyways, about our Eastern Excursion! The purpose of this excursion was to learn more about life in rural Uganda, and to spend 3 nights in a rural homestay in the county of Busia near the border of Kenya. Our first day of driving brought with it many interesting adventures, the first of which occurred as we crossed the bridge over the Nile river. We had been informed earlier in the semester to be careful when taking pictures of Ugandans and other government buildings and structures. HOWEVER we were definitely not informed that this bridge and the dam were part of the government structures that we weren’t supposed to take pictures of. So when a boy on the program named Eric pulled out his camera and took a picture from the window of our van, all three of our taxis were pulled over by an army official who proceeded to take Eric’s camera away from him and tell us that he would take us all to be locked up for the day! After A LOT of discussion (and hefty bribing by our Academic Directors), they finally deleted the picture and gave the camera back. When we were on our way again, Martha (one of the ADs) shared with us that bribing of government and army officials, as well as policemen, is such a way of life here that our ADs can write it off to the office in Vermont and be reimbursed!

After this crazy adventure, we finally reached Mbale, where we had the chance to go to the Child Restoration Outreach organization that rehabilitates and resettles street children in the Mbale area. It turned out to be a really cool program – the kids take classes at the organization, receive meals during the day and basically have a chance to just be kids while they are at the center. After learning about the organization, those of us who wanted to could stay with the kids until lunch time, which of course I did. Together we danced with whichever little child had latched onto us and declared us their favorite Mzungu (my little girl’s name was Sandra). We also took many pictures of them, but I forgot my camera so I’ll have to steal someone else’s once they put them up. I’m so happy I’ll be doing something with children for my practicum in less than a week!

Aside from that, the most exciting thing about the trip was our rural homestay! I was paired with a girl in our group named Lara, which worked out so well for me because she’s very easy going and hilarious, making our interactions with our family who didn’t speak any English much more interesting and enjoyable. It’s very hard to describe what the village that we stayed in was like – it was spread out over many kms, and each family’s compound had between 3 and 6 little huts/houses in it for different activities. Like most other members of the community, our dad was a peasant farmer who did mostly subsistence farming. Lara and I had a difficult time figuring out what our family’s income was like – while they living with mostly only basic necessities, they also owned a radio and a few guitars and could afford to send all of their children to school. Our mom did report though that poverty is a problem with sending kids to school, so they must still struggle. Oh! Basically none of the compounds had electricity or running water, so at night it was dark enough to see the Milky Way! It was the most gorgeous experience that I’ve had since being here and I wish I could have captured it on film.

There were many comical things about our experience in the rural homestay. In Uganda, when you are a guest in someone’s house, the way that they show you that they are happy to see you is by bringing you endless amounts of food and beverages. Luckily, we had a translator help us on our first night there to tell our family that neither Lara nor I ate meat. Over the course of our 3 days with the family, we were brought heaping bowls of: posho, rice, tomatoes, eggs, beans, greens, gnuts, biscuits, sesame balls, donuts, sweet bread, bananas, green oranges, and these weird grape things that made our lips go numb! That’s not even including all of the milk tea and soda that we were brought every few hours. Each night at dinner, Lara and I would take turns finishing different things so as not to be rude and insult our mom who had spent all day cooking these meals for us. There would be times when we thought we could manage the amount of food that we had been served and then 5 minutes later our mom would bring out 3 more heaping bowls of food! It was epically comical.

By far, however, I have to say that my favorite experience was organizing bicycle boda-bodas to take Lara and I illegally across the Kenyan border! We rode through the farms and the marsh for only about 2-3 kms before we reached the border of Kenya, which was marked only by a small stream cutting across the papyrus stalks. Of course there was no one guarding the border, and we passed many women walking to the market in Busia, Kenya, carrying foodstuffs and other goods on their heads (a skill I still want to learn!) to sell in the market. Lara and I even bought some of our own fabric in the market in Kenya using Ugandan shillings! It was the most surreal experience that I’ve had, and one of the ones that I will look back on and say, “That’s right, I really was in Africa.”

I also think that we met basically every single member of the community in Buyengo (the parish that we were staying in), including the born-again pastor who preaches to pretty much all of the families. He was an interesting character who had been doing seminary work since the age of 15 (he was 22). He asked us so many questions about the US, including many of the rumors that we heard throughout our stay. Apparently people in rural Uganda are under the impression that: if you have more than 2 children, the US will chase you out of the country; when couples get married they sign a contract for a 6 year marriage and when they have a certain number of kids then they get divorced…just many many misconceptions about the US. I have no idea who’s spreading these rumors, but even our family did not believe us when we told them that we had never ever heard of such things happening in the US! Another thing about this pastor: we were convinced multiple times that he was about to try to save us. On our last night together, he gathered us all in our family’s main house and said a prayer for everyone. The prayer started out quiet but fast, interjecting “oh my father” and “oh my lord” in between every 3 words. It started to get faster and faster, like you would imagine any born-again prayer sounding, except the way he was talking was so creepy in a hilarious way that I kept silently bursting into laughter and I kept forcing myself to think about slaughtering chickens because it was all that would come to mind that would make me sad enough to stop laughing! What an experience.

I think that covers just about everything from our excursion. As always, check out the pics (aka “snaps”) on facebook! I’m not sure when I’ll be posting next, because in about a week we’ll be starting our practicums, and I’ll be headed to Gulu to work with some organization and hopefully researching different traditional and alternative methods of psychological and psychosocial healing for former abductees/child soldiers. I’ve heard that internet in Gulu could be pretty unreliable, so don’t worry if I don’t respond to anything for awhile. Until the next time!

Siiba bulungi! Weeraba!

Living the Life - Uganda Style

While I still feel an extreme dislike for Kampala and its hustle and bustle, I am definitely feeling more adjusted to it, and I sometimes even feel like I can fit in! Well, maybe I wouldn’t take it that far, but I can definitely hold my own when navigating the city and interacting with my family. Especially when I am at home, I think I have a much better connection with my brothers and my family. The past 2 Sundays I helped my family make lunch and some desserts. Want to know what we had for lunch? PIZZA!! It was quite possibly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten, with vegetables and homemade crust and even cheese (which we never get here). My mom also made a really good pea and carrot soup cooked with eggs, which was also delicious. And to top it all off, I helped to bake an apple pie and a cake! I have to say, Sundays are the most enjoyable eating days, that’s for sure.

This past week I also spent some time just hanging out with my brothers and I actually am startling to feel like they are my true brothers. Especially when I want to kick them out of my room for beating each other up on my bed! Some nights they come home late and I’ll just be reading or journaling in bed, and they come plop down on my bed and start telling me stories or riddles or asking me questions about why American governments have no corruption. These talks have come to be one of my favorite things about my evenings.

I learned some cool things about my family this week. For one, when I was doing my family tree assignment, I learned that 3 of my brothers were actually adopted from my dad’s brother, who passed away when the boys were very young. The thing is though that none of my siblings know that any of them have been adopted – my mom did not want to tell them and make them feel sad or different from my other brothers. Isn’t that crazy! So some of my siblings are actually cousins, but they all just act like brothers. I don’t even know which ones are the ones that are adopted. I guess it is a good way for none of them to feel any different. OMG and on Sunday my dad was in the newspaper for being one of Kamapala’s BILLIONAIRES!! Meaning that my family is probably worth at least a few million US dollars! I’m pretty sure it’s unfair to be staying with a family here that makes more than my family at home, but that totally explains why we have 2 cars and an expensive stove and 3 house helpers and a gate keeper…I could go on. But really, my life here – it’s just ridiculous.

About getting around in the city – I can totally use my Luganda to ask for a bottle of water and pay for it, all without speaking English! I also bargain for my ride up the hill to my house on the boda-boda every night without using English, and tell them when they are overcharging me, how much I can pay, and where I am going. Those boda rides are also one of my favorite things about the evenings, because they are so different that they remind me that I am in a different county in a very exhilarating way.

And finally, I can proudly say that I have explored the night life in Kampala as well! On Saturday, a huge group of SIT students went to Garden City (the Western type mall and surrounding area of Kampala with a lot of nice restaurants) to eat Sushi and Indian food. The restaurant that we went to was called Kyoto, and we sat outside in what felt like a candlelit, backyard garden. The food was great (I had Miso soup!), the atmosphere was peaceful, and even the bathrooms were nice! The meal was way expensive (for Kampala – I think I paid around 12 dollars for a huge bento box with noodles, potato pancake, avocado sushi, veggies, salad, rice, miso soup and fruit) but definitely worth it for a one time thing. After dinner, the group of us when to a popular bar and restaurant called Matteo’s, where a lot of mzungus and more young Ugandans go. They had popular music, and we drank a few Nile beers (you’re right Michael, everyone has picked their favorite one already!) and tried the Rwenwaggi – a type of gin made out of sugarcane which is only 2,000 USh for a shot…the equivalent of about $1! After having our fair share of the crowded bar, we walked across the street to a club called Ruge (sp?) that had dancing, loud music, and free champagne for the ladies because it was international women’s day! All in all, it was a great way to let off steam from the week.

Sadly, it turned out that letting off steam was not so great for my immune system, and I spent Sunday in bed feeling like I was either going to throw up from coughing so much or faint from being so overheated. Since I woke up feeling even worse on Monday, I went in to the clinic where they basically told me I have an upper-respiratory infection, whatever that means, and gave me some prescription ibuprofen, cough syrup and some other antibiotic to take at night. As most of you know, I usually wouldn’t be taking medicine for feeling a little flu-like, but it’s impossible to function here when feeling even slightly sick, so I gave in and I’m glad I did. Ben and I spent the day in the resource center yesterday, alternating naps on the couch, and it paid off. Today I feel human again! I’m so happy. I think it also helped to receive my abroad package from AXO yesterday, with a magazine and some candy to get me through the day! I don’t think it could have come at a better time =)

Time to get ready for our in-depth public module. The modules are really cool – there are 7 of us in each module, and today for ours we get to go visit a traditional healer’s clinic! On Thursday we get to go to a school to participate in teaching the children about some aspect of public health. If I don’t fall ill again, it looks to be a very promising week!

Hotel Rwanda

Phew! After a week long adventure to western Uganda and Rwanda, I am home! I sadly have to say that coming back to Kampala did not make me very happy – I really enjoyed being out of the city where you can breathe fresh air and drive without traffic and not be called Mzungu every 10 seconds. I am happy to be back with my family and sleep in my own bed and not live out of a suitcase, though. So much happened this past week, and we saw so much, so be prepared for this entry to be quite long.

I think out of everything that we did this past week, we spent the most time in our caravan of taxis, driving all over Uganda and Rwanda. Each day we spent anywhere from 4-8 hours in the cars, and let me tell you, those vans do not have very much legroom. It was a great way to bond with other people though, and we spent a lot of time telling relationship stories, playing psychiatrist (I introduced them to it, Kir!), and many other fun things. Other than that, I guess I should start from the beginning of the week and work from there.

The first interesting thing that we saw was a Millennium Village Project in Uganda, which was funded by the UNDP and was started in response to the Millennium Development Goals. Before the UNDP came in, the village was like a typical poor rural village – many diseases, few kids in school, poor water and sanitation, etc. But the UNDP came in and funded the education system, providing computers (?!) for the schools. It also set up a water system so that people could collect clean water in a more efficient way. Among other things, the UNDP helped the people to set up a bank, a clinic and a nursery garden. Seeing these things that have changed these people’s lives SO MUCH made me rethink the way I view the UNDP and the MDGs. While this project may not be sustainable without the UNDP, especially under this current government, it has certainly helped the people in terms of development. The only issue I have with this project is that the attitude of the UNDP workers seemed to be that these people could not have done this on their own, and that the Westerners had to come in and provide all these things or else it never would have happened. I do see though that regardless of the mentality behind it, the project has been very good for the village.

Another cool thing about the trip was going to Orchunga Refugee camp, which holds many people who fled from Rwanda during the genocide. The “tour guide” that we had did not speak very much English, and none of the Ads went with our group, so I actually didn’t learn much while we were in the camp. We spent the time being led around by the little kids in the camp who also did not speak any English, but enjoyed talking to us anyway. I learned from other groups that many of the people in the camps had fled because they were perpetrators of the genocide in 1994, and that some of the refugees are not ready to go back to Rwanda because they “are not ready to avenge yet.” The sentiment in the camps was one of general hostility, and many intellectuals throughout the trip seemed to be quite convinced that genocide will come again in the future.

About Rwanda: it is amazing how a country so close can be so different. The infrastructure in the country is the most shocking difference – the roads have much fewer potholes than in Uganda and there are stop lights (that people actually obey!) which makes traffic pretty much nil. There were even real malls with coffee shops and ice cream stores – it seemed like many things were tailored for Mzungus. However, even having all of this, after hearing what we did from the people in the camps, and having that view repeated in Rwanda, I came to the conclusion that the physical development and infrastructure of a country says nothing about the social relationship between the people.

As soon as we got to Rwanda, we were taken to a genocide memorial at a church that kept Tutsi refugees until the Hutus came and killed everyone there. We weren’t really briefed at all before we went in about what we would see, which made it really difficult. The church was filled with rows and rows of benches, on which were piles and piles of clothes that the victims had been wearing when they were killed. As if that was not hard enough to process, being surrounded completely surrounded by something like that, we were then taken behind the church to a mass grave, which consisted of an underground hallway housing hundreds of coffins that were all full of skulls and bones from the people who had been killed. After seeing all of this (and at this point, I already was crying uncontrollably), the man leading us around told us his story of being at this church during the genocide and how he survived. I can’t remember another time in my life when I have felt so sad.

The next day, we were taken to the Genocide Museum, which gave us a lot more information about the genocide and made processing the events of the day before much easier. Of course, the genocide comes back to colonialism, when the Belgians basically made the genetic distinction of Hutu and Tutsi which had previously been something changeable depending on a person’s class. Just one more reason for me to hate colonialism.

Last thing about Rwanda – we visited the Kigali Prison, where there are between 800 and 1000 people who took part in the genocide. After learning about the prison, we were told that we would have the chance to talk to 2 people who had participated in the violence. Instead, we were lead into a church on the prison grounds, and we found our selves face to face with upwards of 2000 prisoners, all staring back at us. Apparently, since it was Ash Wednesday, there was a huge Pentecostal worship service, and we were treated to a “performance” by the choir. The songs they sang were fun and joyous and everyone in the choir was laughing and having a good time, but it was hard to reconcile my feelings about the songs with the idea that we were surrounded by people who had killed people during the genocide.

The coolest thing about our trip home from Rwanda was that we got to go on a game drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park! The park seriously reminded me of the Lion King, especially because we saw mostly antelope (or Kob) and warthogs! We were lucky enough to also spot some hippos, water buffalo and a strange little lizard/snake thing. It definitely made me positive that I want to do a safari when the program is over.

Okay, sorry that this was so long! I have a million pictures to put up, so watch for those sometime this week!

My Name is Not Mzungu!

Been having a bit of difficulty adjusting to the city this week, although it has gotten better over the last few days. I think the excitement of being in a new city is over, and now I’m just frustrated with always being stared at and yelled at and grabbed on my walk to the taxi park. There’s also always so much traffic and so many people on the street and it’s tiring by the end of the day. I’m trying to accept that this is the way things are here and trying to embrace them instead of being frustrated, and it’s kind of helping so far. Cross my fingers!

One thing that has helped is that my mom here came home from Dubai on Tuesday! She brought me back a bunch of candy, and I shared with her the presents I brought for the family like the Obama buttons and the pineapple bookmark (did you know pineapple is the fruit of Virginia? Just so happens they eat a ton of pineapple here, too!) and I showed her some pictures of my family and such. It’s nice to have her home, as I feel like I have someone to mother me again which I was definitely missing out on while she was gone. She promised that we would make chipati pizza one night, so I think I will have a lot of fun with her learning how to cook and do other things here. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

The most exciting thing about this week has been going to visit a women’s group funded by Action Aid that provides services for extremely poor women and children who are HIV +. Most of their clients live in the slums of Kampala, and we had the chance to visit some of these people. Seeing the slums was like nothing I had expected – of course we’ve seen pictures of the slums in our classes, but I didn’t expect them to be smack dab in the middle of Kampala. They literally were right down a road in the center of the city. So much for this whole core-periphery framework. What was expected were the poor living conditions – each family had a one room house with a sheet of tin over top for a roof. There weren’t any sort of drainage systems, so when it rains the water just rises and brings many diseases to all of the people. The most striking thing about the slums was the number of children. I’d say over half the population of the slums were children – a frightening thought to think about what will happen when these children grow up and have 4-6 children themselves…there’s no way that a slum/country/environment can sustain that many people. I got a chance to play with some of the children, and I taught them how to “high five.” Even though these children live in such poor conditions they are still so much more joyous and free than many children in America. I’m now positive that I want to work with kids for my practicum.


I suppose this is my last post before we leave for the Western excursion. I know I will have many stories after that’s over, as I’ve heard so much about how great the government of Rwanda is, and how in Rwanda there are no potholes in the roads and people do not live in slums and the government does not ignore people who have suffered from its internal war. I guess I’ll make my own judgments and report back. See you in a week!

I haven't been able to upload any pictures here, but I've been slowly putting them on facebook, so check them out there!

In Uganda, There are Strips of Road in our Potholes

^Apparently that is a joke that they tell in Uganda, and I have to say that it’s true. They also say that “if you see a car swerving all of the road, you know that he is sober, but if you see him driving in a straight line he must be drunk because he will hit all of the potholes!”

Into the second week of classes! I have a feeling that this week will be one of the hardest weeks to get through, because now that we’ve already had a week of classes and I’m aware of how boring they are, there’s no longer any excitement to get me through the days. At least not until this weekend, when I have plans to bake with my little brothers on Saturday and we go to Rwanda on Sunday!

We did have the opportunity to do some cool trips last week instead of sitting in boring lectures. First we got to go to a malnutrition center for children at one of the local hospitals. It was by far the most interesting and eye opening thing that we’ve done so far. First we listened to a talk by one of the nutritionists about what the children go through upon being admitted to the center. All children admitted there are below 70% weight for height, meaning that they are seriously malnutritioned. After the talk, we walked through the wards. It was unbelievably heartbreaking. There were babies less than a year old and you could see every one of their ribs. Babies so malnutritioned that all they could do was lay there and cry. Seeing those children brought up so many questions for me – how can parents let their children get this way? Extreme poverty and not being educated about what to feed your child, I suppose. I also wonder what can be done…that I don’t really have an answer for. I’m considering doing my Practicum (research project) with a center like this one up in the North because it would be something different and I think I would learn a lot.

We also got to visit the tombs of the Buganda kingdom and Buganda Parliament. In Uganda there are like 2 ruling parties: the president and the current Buganda king. The president has more power, but the Buganda king also rules the Baganda people. It all seems very complicated and I can’t imagine how having 2 people in power would help a country. The tombs were very pretty though – they were inside a GIANT hut and they were surrounded by all of these spears that had been given to the king as a gift. It was mostly just exciting to get out of the classroom and do a little site seeing.

The other fun parts of my week were spent playing around with my brothers – playing cards, showing them my gymnasty skills, including doing back flips off of little cement ledges onto the grass and doing handstands in their basement. They want to learn things before I leave, so I guess my coaching skills will come in handy here too! I also taught my brothers how to play MASH, and they had so much fun with it! Of course my little analytical brain was thinking about all of the responses they had in comparison to what mine were – for example they wanted to only live to be in their 50s because after that you get to old and someone has to take care of you. Also, none of my brothers chose to live in Uganda – they all wanted to live in places like Spain or the UK or New York. I can see where this whole “brain drain” thing comes from, seeing as how my brothers will probably be those children that grow up to be doctors and lawyers and priests and move to America. We also had to alter the word shack to slum because they didn’t know what a shack was. They were cracking up over everyone’s futures, but it was still another one of those eye-opening experiences for me. Everything here is (except for when we sit in class, ugh.).

Not too much else to report on here. Hopefully something new and exciting will happen this week!

Maama and Ttata

Today is day 3 of staying with my host family. I have a host mother and father named Robin and George, and 6 brothers and sisters, although only 4 of them stay in the house right now. Their names are Roger, George, Martin and Mark. I spend most of my time with the boys and really only talk to my host dad in the mornings on the way to school. My host mom is SUPER friendly, but she left soon after I arrived for Dubai. I hope when she returns I’ll be able to spend more time with her.

A typical day for me so far includes waking up at 5:30 am to wake up my brothers who go to school, then going back to sleep for 20-30 minutes until my next alarm goes off. Then I get ready for school and eat breakfast. Mealtime is the most awkward part of the day for me because of the house helpers who serve it. I feel like I get special treatment, especially during breakfast and evening tea because I get served more food than my brothers. For example, for evening tea last night I got a rolex (Chipati, which is like Indian naan bread, with a fried egg on top and some lettuce and tomatoes, rolled into a long tube then cut into pieces like sushi…it definitely is delicious) while my brothers got popcorn. It’s uncomfortable for me to always feel like I am being served and getting better treatment, but I don’t know how to address it. I know that other students have the same issue with their familes, and I hope that maybe it will go away as they start to treat me less as a guest and more as a family member.

Oh right, but about my day. We leave for work/school/classes at 6:30 am. We drive 2 of the boys to school (the other 2 go to boarding school which starts next week) and then my host dad drives me to his shop. From there I have about a 15 minute walk through downtown Kampala. So far we have had different classes all day, learning Luganda in the morning at the resource center, then going to the University to listen to some guest lectures. Some of the professors are good – well one has been very funny, but the one we had yesterday afternoon was just obnoxious. At the end of every sentence he would say “the what?” and then finish the sentence. Even when we obviously didn’t know what he was going to say at the end of the sentence. For example, he would say “And the neo-classicalists believed in a what? A free market. And they believed that governments should what? Should not what? Should not interfere.” Listening to this for an hour and a half gave me a headache!

After all of my classes are done, I walk back to my dad’s shop (from the University it’s about a 30-40 minutes walk) and catch a taxi back home. It’s not such a long drive, but the traffic makes it take over an hour. Last night was my first night trying it by myself, and while I didn’t have any trouble finding the taxi to get on, I completely missed the stage (stop) and went all the way to the end of the line! It was getting so dark, and I had to ask the conductor when we passed the “pump stage.” Luckily he was very friendly and understood that I was a lost Mzungu, so he let me stay in the car and told me where to get off on the way back. After all of that, I still had to walk up the ENORMOUS hill in the dark to get to my family’s house – which I almost couldn’t find! It was a scary adventure, and my brothers made fun of me for getting lost, but now I think I will know what to do in the future.

When I get home the boys and I usually take evening tea (just like the Brits!), I shower, we play cards, we eat dinner, and then I’m in bed by 10 pm. I think this schedule may get somewhat monotonous day after day, but luckily we only have 3 weeks max at a time with this schedule. As it is, we only have 2 weeks until we go to Rwanda and Western Uganda, where I’m hoping we’ll at least get to sleep in til 7:30!

About my homestay family: I think that they are very wealthy, comparatively. For one, they own 2 automotive shops and 1 motel. They have 2 house helpers, a cook and a gate keeper at night. Their house is bigger than mine at home! It’s something that I feel kind of awkward about, as well. Their house is built among other smaller, slum-looking houses, which seems to be a theme among wealthy Ugandans. All of the boys want to be doctors or lawyers or priests or business men, and it seems that with the track that they are on in terms of education, it will not be very difficult. Being with this family does not really correspond with what I have learned about Ugandan culture, so I hope that maybe my rural experiences will show me a different side of Uganda.

I guess that’s all for now about my family, I’ll have more to write when my host mom comes home!

Weraba!

Mzungo in Kampala

Time for a real update, finally. Where to begin? It's only our 3rd day here, but I finally feel like I have a good feel for the city. I'm even using the little Luganda that I know to talk to other Ugandans. I can have the most basic conversation, but it's a start. I know how to say:

How are you - Oli Otya
I'm fine - Gyendi
Thank You - Weebale
Goodbye - Weraba
White Girl - Mzungo (kind of similar to "Gringa")

And that's pretty much it. It's a start! We start our classes tomorrow, which is really exciting because we'll finally start having a little bit of a routine. I have my first Luganda class at 9 am tomorrow, with only 6 other students, which is a little daunting, but I hear that I have the best teacher and that he is very funny, so I'm looking forward to that. Even though we start our full schedule of classes tomorrow, we still only have less than 2 weeks until we go on our Western excursion to Rwanda! I've also learned today that we get to go on a game tour on the way back from that, so we'll get to see lots of cool animals.

Tonight we're meeting our homestay families. I know so far that mine is a bussiness man and woman and that they have 6 children - 3 who are 6-13 and 3 who are 18+. 5 are boys and 1 is a girl! It will be very exciting to meet them and I hope they speak at least a little English so I'm not completely lost trying to communicate.

My camera has been locked up in the resource center ever since we got here, so I haven't been able to take any pictures here yet. We've also been advised that Ugandans don't like to have their pictures taken, especially without asking, so it may be awhile before I can get some good pictures of the city and everything else around here. Since I don't have pictures though, I thought I would just say a few things that I've learned about Uganda so far.

First of all, there are no stop lights or street signs pretty much anywhere, other than signs that say "give way" which aparently means yield. Sometimes there are cops out directing traffic, but most of the time the taxis and cars and boda-bodas (motorcyles that are like taxis that take people around the city) just drive wherever they feel like it. It makes being a pedestrian kind of scary, especially when taxis drive over the medians and boda-bodas drive on the sidewalks! Most of the time we try to follow other Ugandans because we figure they know best where they're going.

I've also discovered that while most places do have electricity and running water, it doesn't really mean too much, as the running water is usually only a trickle and the electricity goes on and off during the day due to the rolling blackouts. It's still better than nothing, however, and we've been spending most of our days outside, so I don't mind.

One kind of scary thing - almost every kind of security guard or policeman or authority figure of any kind carries an AK-47 around everywhere. They're posted all over the city, mostly in front of banks or fancy stores. It was kind of freaky to see the first time, but now I'm used to it. It's interesting that that's the kind of detterent that is used to prevent crime and theft, at least at important economic places.

Lastly, there are many people here who say "You are welcome" before you say thank you. It's an interesting way of doing things, but at least it lets you know when you're supposed to say thank you!

Other than that, I think that Uganda is a beautiful place - the trees are green, the roads are brown (although there are plenty of paved roads), and the people are so friendly and helpful, even with the language barrier. Especially when you start speaking to them in Luganda, it makes their faces light up. It's really neat to hear everyone's story and be able to say that we are students at the University here, rather than tourists. I can't wait to see more of the country!

Oh, and good news! We have permission to go to parts of the North to travel or to do our Practicums, and Gulu, Lira and Kitgum are three of the districts that we're allowed to visit. I'm SO excited, given that there are so many other restrictions on things that we can do. I'm starting to get ideas for my project - maybe something with kids and education in the IDP camps. In any case, I'm just so excited to get to go to the North.

I'll write again at the end of the week to talk about my classes and my family! I miss you all!

7 Minute Update

Oli Otya!

That's how are you in Luganda. I'm slowly starting to learn some key phrases, and that one has been most important so far.

Only 7 minutes left at this internet cafe, so I'll have to be quick!

We arrived in Uganda yesterday, and it's hard to even begin to sum up what is happening. Lots of orientation, and I love our Academic Directors. They're really funny, even when they make us sit there all day and talk about orientation. The program is going to be very strict, and all of our time is planned down to the minute. Especially once we start classes, we will be very busy. We have lots of assignments but also lots of fun excursions planned. Tomorrow we'll be moving in with our home stay families and getting a tour of Makerere (pronouced Makelele).

Hopefully I can give more updates soon on what life in Uganda is like...it's all so different but I'm starting to appreciate it more today after having slept for 14 hours last night! Alright times up, bye!

Here!

I made it!! I don't actually have time to write anything of substance because I only have 3 more minutes left at this internet cafe, but I wanted to let you know that I got here safe, and it's SO cool here and I can't wait to share pictures and stories and everything. Love and miss everyone!!

XOXO
K

Misconceptions

I've been thinking a lot about the different stereotypes and misconceptions that people have of Africa in general, and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular. The most common questions I've gotten have been: 1. Will you live in a mud hut? 2. Will you have electricity or running water? and 3. Are the people civilized?

Ridiculous questions, right?! At the same time, I really don't have a good response to them, seeing as how I really have no idea what conditions I actually will be living in. Obviously, the people are civilized, I'm pretty sure I won't be living in a mud hut (not in the middle of Kampala, anyway), and I'm fairly certain that the majority of places in the city have running water and a good amount of electricity. But I really won't know until I get there.

For these reasons, I'm really excited about finally getting to Uganda and being able to say exactly how it is there, at least from my perspective. At the same time, it pretty much JUST hit me that I'm leaving tomorrow night. After it feeling like the trip is years away, it's finally here, and I don't know how to process it! I guess I won't really until I actually arrive in London, and then Entebbe.

Until then, happy February! See you on the other side of the world!