Today Obama will be inaugurated as Americas 44th president. All Ugandans are going nuts. In Kampala they are selling Obama t-shirts and they are selling quite fast. Everyone has changed their cell phone rings to an R&B song about Obama. It goes "Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama ..." And they are all trying to figure out when the inauguration will be played on the T.V.
I’m not going to lie, like them I am very excited. I was supposed to go back to Ddegeye today after a weekend in Kampala, but I am going to stay an extra day so that I can see the inauguration.
11:00 January 20, 2009 …
I just watched the inauguration at a small bar on Kampala Rd. called Slow Boat Pub and Restaurant. It was very inspiring. Everyone in the pub went wild every time Obama or his family came on the screen and everyone booed every time George Bush went on the screen. As I talked to several people around the pub, I was impressed with how well informed they were about the ceremony (many people knew that they had installed heaters underneath the main parties seats so to keep them warm). People also knew a lot about Hillary and Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden. At least half the people I saw were wearing Obama t-shirts. I thought Obama made a great speech. I was really inspired by his comment on helping the world around us (both domestic and foreign) and by comment about how if we work together we can overcome the obstacles we face today.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Random Stuff
Nsua ne Nsenene
So I don’t know if I should make this public knowledge, but I ate live bugs. Just joking I ate cooked bugs. Late in October there is a season called nsua season. nsua are large white ants. They are everywhere, sort of like locusts attacking for about two weeks and then disappear again. Many of the kids eat them raw with the wings still attached. It was nsua season while the morning program was still going on and I was often completely grossed out when a kid would come up to me with wings sticking out of their mouth from eating the ants they found on the ground. Adults and older kids have the sense to wait until the ants are cooked. Their legs, wings, and antenna are pulled off then they are fried in a little bit of oil and salted once they cool.
Nsenene are a type of grasshopper. While nsenene do not swarm like nsua they only come for about a month every year. For about half of November and half of December every major town has large lights surrounded by iron sheets set up to catch the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are attacked to the light and then fly into the iron sheet and then slide down the iron sheet into a large mettle basin. The nsenene have enough natural fats that they are just fried dry and then served plain. I really liked the nsenene and I would recommend that anyone who comes should try some.
Laying Bricks Construction
Engeye is currently expanding rapidly. The most recent addition is a building that has been under construction for quite some time, the laboratory. Since John has come back two men have been hard at work building this brick and concrete structure by hand. They don’t use any machines, not even to mix the concrete. The other day they let me try laying bricks. I was terrible, well actually not as bad as I thought I would be, it is just really hard to tell when the bricks are level even when using a plumb line. It is also really tiring. Concrete is really heavy. After about a ten foot section I was feeling it in my muscles, I can’t imagine being the person to mix the concrete.
Making American Food
A few weeks before Steve and I left for vacation we tried cooking pasta and tomato sauce for the clinic staff. First of all I thought it would go over really well. Considering most of the food eaten here consists of a large portion of a heavy starch with some sort of sauce poured on top I thought pasta would go over well. Steve, Hagar!, and I got together around 3 o’clock and started preparing. By eight o’clock we had a massive pot of pasta and tomato sauce that no one liked. I think the biggest problem with it was that it did not have any salt in it. Ugandans cook with tons of salt, I think it is because they have been told that the iodine in the salt is good for you because it stops goiters (which did used to be extremely prevalent). However, you only need a very small amount of iodine combat goiters. But once used to the taste of tons of salt, you like it. Susan we put the salt on the table just in case, I think they liked the salt more than the dish itself.
Learning to Ride a Piki Piki
After my parents left, I had a little trouble adjusting back to life alone in the village (steve was not back yet). So smart girl that I am, I decided to distract myself by having Francis teach me how to ride a Piki Piki (motor cycle). I have actually ridden a motorbike(a less powerful automatic version of motorcycles) before and therefore sort of knew what I was doing. I was doing pretty well until he started taking me up hills. And even after the hills I wasn’t doing to badly until I broke the gear changing peddle and we had to go putt putt all the way home in first gear. Woops. Luckily the Piki Piki was really easy to fix and the Piki Piki is not traumatized. I think Francis was a little embarrassed traveling by crowds of people at ten miles per hour with a while girl on the back of the bike.
Chicken Coops
Thanks to the money that the Union Campus has raised, we have started a chicken distribution program. So far we have given 10 chickens to 10 different children. We are giving the chickens to children for two reasons. First the goal of giving out the chickens is to increase the amount of protein in the child’s diet and second to teach the child ways they can generate income. Giving the chickens to the children and not the parent ensure that the parent won’t just kill the chicken and eat it for dinner, because the child will be upset and come tell us if their parent killed “their chicken”. In addition to receiving the chicken and being required to eat its eggs, each child must raise at least one chick to give to another child (maybe a friend or sibling) thus expanding the program. We also helped build the ten chicken coops the chickens will be living in (or so we thought). People are too scared that someone will come by and steel the chicken at night, so the chicken sleeps inside the house, and because they let the chickens’ free range during the day so there is really no point in having the coops. Some of the children have shown real interest in the program. I am hoping these children will not only be interested in raising the chicken so that they can eat the eggs, but use the chicken as an opportunity to learn how to generate income and increase assets (by not only choosing to raise one chicken to give away, but increase the number of chickens they have and thus increase the number of eggs they get). In the end we hope to double the number of chickens we have given out so far.
We have not checked on the chickens yet, this is something I plan to do this week. I am a little worried that some of them might have “disappeared” over the Christmas holiday. Here in Uganda the Christmas tradition is to cook a huge feast including whatever meat (beef, pork, chicken) you have for Christmas. I am a little worried some of our chickens have fallen victim.
So I don’t know if I should make this public knowledge, but I ate live bugs. Just joking I ate cooked bugs. Late in October there is a season called nsua season. nsua are large white ants. They are everywhere, sort of like locusts attacking for about two weeks and then disappear again. Many of the kids eat them raw with the wings still attached. It was nsua season while the morning program was still going on and I was often completely grossed out when a kid would come up to me with wings sticking out of their mouth from eating the ants they found on the ground. Adults and older kids have the sense to wait until the ants are cooked. Their legs, wings, and antenna are pulled off then they are fried in a little bit of oil and salted once they cool.
Nsenene are a type of grasshopper. While nsenene do not swarm like nsua they only come for about a month every year. For about half of November and half of December every major town has large lights surrounded by iron sheets set up to catch the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are attacked to the light and then fly into the iron sheet and then slide down the iron sheet into a large mettle basin. The nsenene have enough natural fats that they are just fried dry and then served plain. I really liked the nsenene and I would recommend that anyone who comes should try some.
Laying Bricks Construction
Engeye is currently expanding rapidly. The most recent addition is a building that has been under construction for quite some time, the laboratory. Since John has come back two men have been hard at work building this brick and concrete structure by hand. They don’t use any machines, not even to mix the concrete. The other day they let me try laying bricks. I was terrible, well actually not as bad as I thought I would be, it is just really hard to tell when the bricks are level even when using a plumb line. It is also really tiring. Concrete is really heavy. After about a ten foot section I was feeling it in my muscles, I can’t imagine being the person to mix the concrete.
Making American Food
A few weeks before Steve and I left for vacation we tried cooking pasta and tomato sauce for the clinic staff. First of all I thought it would go over really well. Considering most of the food eaten here consists of a large portion of a heavy starch with some sort of sauce poured on top I thought pasta would go over well. Steve, Hagar!, and I got together around 3 o’clock and started preparing. By eight o’clock we had a massive pot of pasta and tomato sauce that no one liked. I think the biggest problem with it was that it did not have any salt in it. Ugandans cook with tons of salt, I think it is because they have been told that the iodine in the salt is good for you because it stops goiters (which did used to be extremely prevalent). However, you only need a very small amount of iodine combat goiters. But once used to the taste of tons of salt, you like it. Susan we put the salt on the table just in case, I think they liked the salt more than the dish itself.
Learning to Ride a Piki Piki
After my parents left, I had a little trouble adjusting back to life alone in the village (steve was not back yet). So smart girl that I am, I decided to distract myself by having Francis teach me how to ride a Piki Piki (motor cycle). I have actually ridden a motorbike(a less powerful automatic version of motorcycles) before and therefore sort of knew what I was doing. I was doing pretty well until he started taking me up hills. And even after the hills I wasn’t doing to badly until I broke the gear changing peddle and we had to go putt putt all the way home in first gear. Woops. Luckily the Piki Piki was really easy to fix and the Piki Piki is not traumatized. I think Francis was a little embarrassed traveling by crowds of people at ten miles per hour with a while girl on the back of the bike.
Chicken Coops
Thanks to the money that the Union Campus has raised, we have started a chicken distribution program. So far we have given 10 chickens to 10 different children. We are giving the chickens to children for two reasons. First the goal of giving out the chickens is to increase the amount of protein in the child’s diet and second to teach the child ways they can generate income. Giving the chickens to the children and not the parent ensure that the parent won’t just kill the chicken and eat it for dinner, because the child will be upset and come tell us if their parent killed “their chicken”. In addition to receiving the chicken and being required to eat its eggs, each child must raise at least one chick to give to another child (maybe a friend or sibling) thus expanding the program. We also helped build the ten chicken coops the chickens will be living in (or so we thought). People are too scared that someone will come by and steel the chicken at night, so the chicken sleeps inside the house, and because they let the chickens’ free range during the day so there is really no point in having the coops. Some of the children have shown real interest in the program. I am hoping these children will not only be interested in raising the chicken so that they can eat the eggs, but use the chicken as an opportunity to learn how to generate income and increase assets (by not only choosing to raise one chicken to give away, but increase the number of chickens they have and thus increase the number of eggs they get). In the end we hope to double the number of chickens we have given out so far.
We have not checked on the chickens yet, this is something I plan to do this week. I am a little worried that some of them might have “disappeared” over the Christmas holiday. Here in Uganda the Christmas tradition is to cook a huge feast including whatever meat (beef, pork, chicken) you have for Christmas. I am a little worried some of our chickens have fallen victim.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Traveling Over Christmas Holiday
I just took a two week holiday and traveled around Uganda with my parents. We spent the majority of our time seeing the landscape and looking at animals. This is a blog about all the animals and cool landscapes I saw on during my travels.
Lake Bunyoni
Lake Bunyoni is the one of the deepest and largest freshwater lakes in Uganda. It is about the size of one of the great lakes and is surrounded by high mountains on all sides and doted with little islands. Lake Bunyoni has one of Uganda’s largest bird populations and you can see a number or rare birds while staying there. While there I stayed on one of the Islands in the middle of the lake. This was the first time I had a chance to stay at a completely eco-friendly hotel. It was quiet interesting they had everything from eco-friendly toilets where all users had to sit to solar heated showers.
In addition to bird watching Lake Bunyoni is the only fresh water in Uganda that does not have bilharzia. Bilharzia is a type of snail that carries parasites that can be transited to humans through the skin. While easily treatable, I would not recommend swimming elsewhere in Uganda. Therefore, this was the first time I have been able to swim since I’ve been here.
Lake Bunyoni is also a three day weekend spot for Uganda’s wealthy citizens (all of whom reside in Kampala). It is about an eight hour drive from Kampala. You can also tell that many of the hotels cater to the very wealthy Indian population in Kampala because many of the menus boasted several Indian dishes.
Gorillas
After traveling to Lake Bunyoni we continued traveling southwest and crossed the Rwandan border. In Rwanda we went Gorilla tracking. In order to go tracking we had to bushwhack up Mt. Sabinyo (a dormant volcano). About an hour into a climb through bamboo forests and lush bushes, we reached the Gorillas. In all we spent about an hour with a family of thirteen gorillas, there was one dominant male silver back, six females, and six babies. One of the babies was only 3 months old and could not move on its own yet. In addition one of the females was six months pregnant, she was such a picky eater, she would lumber over to a patch of bamboo shoots, and then carefully pull one from the ground and peel it until she reached the sweet middle. Sometimes she would pick off small pieces that were not sweet enough. They were so human like, they would watch us and stair at us the way we were starring at them.
While we were in Rwanda I met the current local Peace Corps medical officer. The Peace Corps is restarting their program in Rwanda this year after having closed the program 14 years ago. As I talked to her about Rwanda I learned some interesting facts. Every month the government declares a public clean up day. The police walk around forcing everyone to clean up in front of their houses and stores. While this definitely over the top, Rwanda is not covered in trash the way Uganda is. In addition the roads are much better. However, I was in an area that receives tons of money from tourism.
Volcanoes
Next we traveled back over the border and spent the next two nights in Traveler’s Rest Hotel. This hotel was originally owned by the “father” of gorilla tourism, Walter Baumgartel. When the hotel was built the forest came right up to where the hotel grounds end. It was also the place where Dian Fossey stayed when she did her research on gorillas. This was such a great place to stay because of all the reading material they kept. They had every single national geographic with anything to do with Uganda in it, and shelves full of books on Ugandan wildlife, culture, and history.
While we stayed at the Traveler’s Rest Hotel we spent our days in Mgahinga National Park. While this park’s main attraction is gorilla and golden monkey tracking it also boast three large dormant volcanoes: Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Gahinga, and Mt. Sabinyo. The park shares these three volcanoes with the DRC and Rwanda. If you climb Sabinyo you can stand in all three without a visa. My father and I decided to climb Mt. Gahinga while my mother and brother went Golden Money Tracking. This was a really interesting hike. Mt. Gahinga has very different flora than I have every seen. The majority of the climb was spent in a virgin bamboo forest. While this was interesting, the most fascinating part was when we entered the alpine zone and there were no lichen covered rocks and small pine trees, but large trees covered in this moss called grandfather’s beard. The moss hung off the branches in long hairy strands. At the top we were able to walk around the swamp that had formed in the crater.
Game Park
We finished up our travel in Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is one of Uganda’s largest national parks covering almost 2000 square meters. The majority of the park is savannah and grassland, although, there are sections that have varied terrain. For example, the Kyambura gorge boasts a tropical rainforest that had a wide variety of animals including chimpanzees. Within the park is also the Kazinga Channel. This is the body of water linking Lake George and Lake Edward and is the home to thousands of hippos and pelicans.
Our time here was really fun. We got to see lions, hyenas, fighting buffalo, elephants, baboons, several types of antelope, hippos, pelicans, chimpanzees, and countless numbers of rare birds. I got to see my first owl; it was really cool it looked just like all the cartoon owls.
Kampala
We spent a day in Kampala buying souvenirs and various items. My favorite moment was at the souvenir market when my mom was bargaining with some woman and she kept saying “I just bought a set of these salad tongs over there for 5,000Ush that is the most I’ll pay” and I walked straight up and said “No mom, you bought those salad tongs for 6,000 Ush.” Another great moment was when my brother was trying to buy a wooden mask and he asked for a discount because it had a small crack in it and the woman replied “I’ll give it to you, but you know these antiques, they have been handled poorly in the past.”
Our fun ended with a night Kampala. There is a large Indian population here and we went to one of the best Indian restaurants in town, Hanndi. Not only did the place have creative dishes (definitely not the place to play it safe and get the chicken tikki marsala), but the atmosphere consisted of a nice mix of family restaurant and night on the town. I am definitely making Steve go there with me next time we are in Kampala.
Lake Bunyoni
Lake Bunyoni is the one of the deepest and largest freshwater lakes in Uganda. It is about the size of one of the great lakes and is surrounded by high mountains on all sides and doted with little islands. Lake Bunyoni has one of Uganda’s largest bird populations and you can see a number or rare birds while staying there. While there I stayed on one of the Islands in the middle of the lake. This was the first time I had a chance to stay at a completely eco-friendly hotel. It was quiet interesting they had everything from eco-friendly toilets where all users had to sit to solar heated showers.
In addition to bird watching Lake Bunyoni is the only fresh water in Uganda that does not have bilharzia. Bilharzia is a type of snail that carries parasites that can be transited to humans through the skin. While easily treatable, I would not recommend swimming elsewhere in Uganda. Therefore, this was the first time I have been able to swim since I’ve been here.
Lake Bunyoni is also a three day weekend spot for Uganda’s wealthy citizens (all of whom reside in Kampala). It is about an eight hour drive from Kampala. You can also tell that many of the hotels cater to the very wealthy Indian population in Kampala because many of the menus boasted several Indian dishes.
Gorillas
After traveling to Lake Bunyoni we continued traveling southwest and crossed the Rwandan border. In Rwanda we went Gorilla tracking. In order to go tracking we had to bushwhack up Mt. Sabinyo (a dormant volcano). About an hour into a climb through bamboo forests and lush bushes, we reached the Gorillas. In all we spent about an hour with a family of thirteen gorillas, there was one dominant male silver back, six females, and six babies. One of the babies was only 3 months old and could not move on its own yet. In addition one of the females was six months pregnant, she was such a picky eater, she would lumber over to a patch of bamboo shoots, and then carefully pull one from the ground and peel it until she reached the sweet middle. Sometimes she would pick off small pieces that were not sweet enough. They were so human like, they would watch us and stair at us the way we were starring at them.
While we were in Rwanda I met the current local Peace Corps medical officer. The Peace Corps is restarting their program in Rwanda this year after having closed the program 14 years ago. As I talked to her about Rwanda I learned some interesting facts. Every month the government declares a public clean up day. The police walk around forcing everyone to clean up in front of their houses and stores. While this definitely over the top, Rwanda is not covered in trash the way Uganda is. In addition the roads are much better. However, I was in an area that receives tons of money from tourism.
Volcanoes
Next we traveled back over the border and spent the next two nights in Traveler’s Rest Hotel. This hotel was originally owned by the “father” of gorilla tourism, Walter Baumgartel. When the hotel was built the forest came right up to where the hotel grounds end. It was also the place where Dian Fossey stayed when she did her research on gorillas. This was such a great place to stay because of all the reading material they kept. They had every single national geographic with anything to do with Uganda in it, and shelves full of books on Ugandan wildlife, culture, and history.
While we stayed at the Traveler’s Rest Hotel we spent our days in Mgahinga National Park. While this park’s main attraction is gorilla and golden monkey tracking it also boast three large dormant volcanoes: Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Gahinga, and Mt. Sabinyo. The park shares these three volcanoes with the DRC and Rwanda. If you climb Sabinyo you can stand in all three without a visa. My father and I decided to climb Mt. Gahinga while my mother and brother went Golden Money Tracking. This was a really interesting hike. Mt. Gahinga has very different flora than I have every seen. The majority of the climb was spent in a virgin bamboo forest. While this was interesting, the most fascinating part was when we entered the alpine zone and there were no lichen covered rocks and small pine trees, but large trees covered in this moss called grandfather’s beard. The moss hung off the branches in long hairy strands. At the top we were able to walk around the swamp that had formed in the crater.
Game Park
We finished up our travel in Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is one of Uganda’s largest national parks covering almost 2000 square meters. The majority of the park is savannah and grassland, although, there are sections that have varied terrain. For example, the Kyambura gorge boasts a tropical rainforest that had a wide variety of animals including chimpanzees. Within the park is also the Kazinga Channel. This is the body of water linking Lake George and Lake Edward and is the home to thousands of hippos and pelicans.
Our time here was really fun. We got to see lions, hyenas, fighting buffalo, elephants, baboons, several types of antelope, hippos, pelicans, chimpanzees, and countless numbers of rare birds. I got to see my first owl; it was really cool it looked just like all the cartoon owls.
Kampala
We spent a day in Kampala buying souvenirs and various items. My favorite moment was at the souvenir market when my mom was bargaining with some woman and she kept saying “I just bought a set of these salad tongs over there for 5,000Ush that is the most I’ll pay” and I walked straight up and said “No mom, you bought those salad tongs for 6,000 Ush.” Another great moment was when my brother was trying to buy a wooden mask and he asked for a discount because it had a small crack in it and the woman replied “I’ll give it to you, but you know these antiques, they have been handled poorly in the past.”
Our fun ended with a night Kampala. There is a large Indian population here and we went to one of the best Indian restaurants in town, Hanndi. Not only did the place have creative dishes (definitely not the place to play it safe and get the chicken tikki marsala), but the atmosphere consisted of a nice mix of family restaurant and night on the town. I am definitely making Steve go there with me next time we are in Kampala.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
My Thoughts on Dean McEvoy's Visit
Dean McEvoy Visit
As you learned from the previous post we had a visit from Dean McEvoy. Dean McEvoy visited us from December 4th to December 9th. For us it was four days of luxury. First we got to go pick him up in Kampala which meant we got to eat mzungu food and to take showers. He even brought a bottle of South African wine, yum. I think that Dean McEvoy really liked it here. He handled everything we made him do, from fetching forty-five pounds of water to eating massive amounts of strange foods to riding in very dangerous vehicles such as boda bodas, really well.
We had a very full four days planned, but the best thing that Dean McEvoy got to do we didn’t plan. The day after he arrived John told us that one of his clan members (in Uganda everyone is part of a clan. John is part of the Engeye clan, hence the name of the clinic) had invited him and his American guests to an Id Day celebration.
Id is the Muslim holiday celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. From what our host told us it is equivalent to Christmas or Chanukah. So everyone in the family from all over Uganda came to celebrate. True to tradition they sacrificed a goat and cow. I got to see them clean the skin of the cow and grill the goat meat on sticks. They also showed us tradition Muslim and Ugandan male attire which we had never seen before.
In accordance with Ugandan custom they way over feed their guests. For appetizers they brought out what any self respecting Italian would consider a large meal and made us eat almost the entire cow’s liver, an entire cabbage, and rice. Then about an hour later, the head female of the house brought out the largest package of matooke I had ever seen. Matooke is cooked by wrapping a bunch of banana leaves around pealed plantains and then putting the package of leaves/bananas into a big pot where it is boiled. Depending on the number of people you are feeding the package is bigger or smaller. They cooked a package of matooke about the size of a pillow (no joke, it took two people to carry it into the house). In addition they cooked the entire cow and the entire goat not to mention side dishes. I ate so much that afternoon that I could barely breath.
What really impressed me the most about Dean McEvoy was how well he adapted to the community culture of Uganda. He was a natural at sitting on the floor in a circle while talking and eating directly from a huge pile of yellow mashed stuff pilled six inches high on steamed banana leaves directly in the center of the circle.
On a side note I fixed the picture link on the side of my blog. Have a nice day.
As you learned from the previous post we had a visit from Dean McEvoy. Dean McEvoy visited us from December 4th to December 9th. For us it was four days of luxury. First we got to go pick him up in Kampala which meant we got to eat mzungu food and to take showers. He even brought a bottle of South African wine, yum. I think that Dean McEvoy really liked it here. He handled everything we made him do, from fetching forty-five pounds of water to eating massive amounts of strange foods to riding in very dangerous vehicles such as boda bodas, really well.
We had a very full four days planned, but the best thing that Dean McEvoy got to do we didn’t plan. The day after he arrived John told us that one of his clan members (in Uganda everyone is part of a clan. John is part of the Engeye clan, hence the name of the clinic) had invited him and his American guests to an Id Day celebration.
Id is the Muslim holiday celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. From what our host told us it is equivalent to Christmas or Chanukah. So everyone in the family from all over Uganda came to celebrate. True to tradition they sacrificed a goat and cow. I got to see them clean the skin of the cow and grill the goat meat on sticks. They also showed us tradition Muslim and Ugandan male attire which we had never seen before.
In accordance with Ugandan custom they way over feed their guests. For appetizers they brought out what any self respecting Italian would consider a large meal and made us eat almost the entire cow’s liver, an entire cabbage, and rice. Then about an hour later, the head female of the house brought out the largest package of matooke I had ever seen. Matooke is cooked by wrapping a bunch of banana leaves around pealed plantains and then putting the package of leaves/bananas into a big pot where it is boiled. Depending on the number of people you are feeding the package is bigger or smaller. They cooked a package of matooke about the size of a pillow (no joke, it took two people to carry it into the house). In addition they cooked the entire cow and the entire goat not to mention side dishes. I ate so much that afternoon that I could barely breath.
What really impressed me the most about Dean McEvoy was how well he adapted to the community culture of Uganda. He was a natural at sitting on the floor in a circle while talking and eating directly from a huge pile of yellow mashed stuff pilled six inches high on steamed banana leaves directly in the center of the circle.
On a side note I fixed the picture link on the side of my blog. Have a nice day.
Guest Speaker Dean McEvoy
Steve and Becky have offered me space on their blog to report in on their doings. For family and friends who don't know me I am Tom McEvoy, who along with Professor Hal Fried, works with the Minerva Fellows.Our intuition in putting Steve and Becky in this particular spot was good.
I will be straightforward with anyone applying for a Minerva Fellowship that this is one tough, but hugely rewarding, site. If you can survive the taxi station in Kampala and the ride of your life to the Village, then you have passed the first test, which I think the word 'harrowing' was made to describe. I have never ridden in the same motor vehicle with a chicken, 18 or so people in a van built for half that, rolling down the highway (with no shoulder or lighting, and people biking and walking on the side) at about 90 mph. Shock absorbers and tire treads aren't on anyone's mind.
Arriving in the small village where Steve and Becky call home was a stark contrast. Tranquil, pastoral, relaxed, and welcoming all describe Becky and Steve's home for the last few months. This really is a special place. It is a place once you see, you will never forget. Even with no running water, electricity, and other comforts we také for granted, Becky and Steve are having the experience of their lives.
As this is our first year of running the Fellows program, we at Union did not have things nailed down to a degree that we would know what the day - to - day lives of the Fellows would entail at any of the NGO sites. Becky and Steve have created something special from nothing. I can imagine them thinking back in August: "so we are here, now what do we do? " Unlike the other Minerva Fellows sites, here there was NO structure, or boss (although John does a wonderful job guiding and supporting them.) Through their own determination, imagination, and sense of service, they have made something exist where it had not before. The garden they have planted with cabbage, onions and carrots is an apt metaphor for what they have done for the village and kids through their teaching. Lots of water, mulching, and everyday care. They know what they have to do, and they do it.
As I talked with Steve and Becky and watched them, I realized we really threw them into a pond and cried "swim." They have picked up a language they did not know, and that is no easy task. They both downplay that challenge, but to watch them talk with a villager or barter in the market is an example of what I believe is part of the Minerva Fellows mission: to allow talented new graduates a transformative learning experience that will not only enrich their souls, but also greatly increase their wordly confidence and - navigational skills as they move on with their lives.
My impressions and memories of this leg of my journey will always be remembered. What sticks with me most are the kids. They are devoted to and respect Steve and Becky. That respect has been earned-- is not because they happen to be a novelty in rural Africa. As we walked through the paths and roads of the village, soft smiles and voices, and shy or wide smiles -- "hi Becky, hi Steve." While school is out of session, and I could not see the students in a class, sitting in the fading light of Steve and Becky's one room abode, I was able to read neatly written letters back to pen pals in the United States at Saint Eugene's School in Yonkers, NY. The letters were so well formed and neat a few asked a question that would bring me close to a tear: "Are you parents alive?" There is a softness and reality here that is felt, but hard to put into words.
Steve and Becky know exactly where each student villager studies outside their own school program. "He's in P6; she's in S4." They were interested in, and knew, it seemed, each child's story.
I was lucky to meet Fred, Peter, Masa, John and Jeff. They were thrilled at the prospect of playing with a simple balloon for an hour. Things are simple for them: no x box 360s, no ipods, no cool clothes. Just a sense of happiness. They show respect and joy. They may never leave the village, drive a car, ski a slope, go to a movie theatre, sail a boat, ride a jetski, have a television, or see the ocean. But, they seem content.
So let's talk about food. When I was leaving for this trip my wife, Anne, said that I'd probably drop seven pounds and have a good time gaining them back over the holidays. Steve and Becky may be deprived of running water, but there is no shortage of food. Starchy food at that. I had a problem with a few things, but Steve and Becky somehow pack it in and still look great and fit. The food is extremely fresh, and there is little meat. Mangoes, pineapple, pumpkin, fried spaghetti, and cabbage were my favorites. Matooke, cassava, and yams (not the yams we know) are another matter.
For those of you who know Becky and Steve well, it's no surprise to you that I had two reliable guides. Becky led the charge through crowded, insane, Kampala and Steve insisted on carrying my heavy duffel bag for miles. These are two of our most solid graduates who have a determination I have the greatest respect for.
I have only scratched the surface here. There are other moments of long visits with village elders, a few beers in the hostel and catching up on Union, fetching water from the local hole, celebrating an Islamic holiday with the locals and all that went with that, to quiet times in their quarters just before bed, and talks of NGOs, America, economics, and a few good laughs. I will also remember Becky and Steve squabbling like my wife and me balancing our checkbooks, as they accounted for every penny of the money they were spending on food, taxi service, and other small items that our finance office will never see a receipt for, as those don't exist in place like a food market.
For those at Union and Saint Eugene's who have raised nearly $1300, you could not have your gifts in better hands. Rest assurred that these two are making the difference and we are lucky and blessed to have Steve and Becky on our team. So is Uganda.
I will be straightforward with anyone applying for a Minerva Fellowship that this is one tough, but hugely rewarding, site. If you can survive the taxi station in Kampala and the ride of your life to the Village, then you have passed the first test, which I think the word 'harrowing' was made to describe. I have never ridden in the same motor vehicle with a chicken, 18 or so people in a van built for half that, rolling down the highway (with no shoulder or lighting, and people biking and walking on the side) at about 90 mph. Shock absorbers and tire treads aren't on anyone's mind.
Arriving in the small village where Steve and Becky call home was a stark contrast. Tranquil, pastoral, relaxed, and welcoming all describe Becky and Steve's home for the last few months. This really is a special place. It is a place once you see, you will never forget. Even with no running water, electricity, and other comforts we také for granted, Becky and Steve are having the experience of their lives.
As this is our first year of running the Fellows program, we at Union did not have things nailed down to a degree that we would know what the day - to - day lives of the Fellows would entail at any of the NGO sites. Becky and Steve have created something special from nothing. I can imagine them thinking back in August: "so we are here, now what do we do? " Unlike the other Minerva Fellows sites, here there was NO structure, or boss (although John does a wonderful job guiding and supporting them.) Through their own determination, imagination, and sense of service, they have made something exist where it had not before. The garden they have planted with cabbage, onions and carrots is an apt metaphor for what they have done for the village and kids through their teaching. Lots of water, mulching, and everyday care. They know what they have to do, and they do it.
As I talked with Steve and Becky and watched them, I realized we really threw them into a pond and cried "swim." They have picked up a language they did not know, and that is no easy task. They both downplay that challenge, but to watch them talk with a villager or barter in the market is an example of what I believe is part of the Minerva Fellows mission: to allow talented new graduates a transformative learning experience that will not only enrich their souls, but also greatly increase their wordly confidence and - navigational skills as they move on with their lives.
My impressions and memories of this leg of my journey will always be remembered. What sticks with me most are the kids. They are devoted to and respect Steve and Becky. That respect has been earned-- is not because they happen to be a novelty in rural Africa. As we walked through the paths and roads of the village, soft smiles and voices, and shy or wide smiles -- "hi Becky, hi Steve." While school is out of session, and I could not see the students in a class, sitting in the fading light of Steve and Becky's one room abode, I was able to read neatly written letters back to pen pals in the United States at Saint Eugene's School in Yonkers, NY. The letters were so well formed and neat a few asked a question that would bring me close to a tear: "Are you parents alive?" There is a softness and reality here that is felt, but hard to put into words.
Steve and Becky know exactly where each student villager studies outside their own school program. "He's in P6; she's in S4." They were interested in, and knew, it seemed, each child's story.
I was lucky to meet Fred, Peter, Masa, John and Jeff. They were thrilled at the prospect of playing with a simple balloon for an hour. Things are simple for them: no x box 360s, no ipods, no cool clothes. Just a sense of happiness. They show respect and joy. They may never leave the village, drive a car, ski a slope, go to a movie theatre, sail a boat, ride a jetski, have a television, or see the ocean. But, they seem content.
So let's talk about food. When I was leaving for this trip my wife, Anne, said that I'd probably drop seven pounds and have a good time gaining them back over the holidays. Steve and Becky may be deprived of running water, but there is no shortage of food. Starchy food at that. I had a problem with a few things, but Steve and Becky somehow pack it in and still look great and fit. The food is extremely fresh, and there is little meat. Mangoes, pineapple, pumpkin, fried spaghetti, and cabbage were my favorites. Matooke, cassava, and yams (not the yams we know) are another matter.
For those of you who know Becky and Steve well, it's no surprise to you that I had two reliable guides. Becky led the charge through crowded, insane, Kampala and Steve insisted on carrying my heavy duffel bag for miles. These are two of our most solid graduates who have a determination I have the greatest respect for.
I have only scratched the surface here. There are other moments of long visits with village elders, a few beers in the hostel and catching up on Union, fetching water from the local hole, celebrating an Islamic holiday with the locals and all that went with that, to quiet times in their quarters just before bed, and talks of NGOs, America, economics, and a few good laughs. I will also remember Becky and Steve squabbling like my wife and me balancing our checkbooks, as they accounted for every penny of the money they were spending on food, taxi service, and other small items that our finance office will never see a receipt for, as those don't exist in place like a food market.
For those at Union and Saint Eugene's who have raised nearly $1300, you could not have your gifts in better hands. Rest assurred that these two are making the difference and we are lucky and blessed to have Steve and Becky on our team. So is Uganda.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Some More Catching Up
Morphine
A few weeks ago a young boy, maybe four, came into the clinic with absolutely terrible second degree burns all over the top of his feet. He had run past a kettle of boiling water and knocked it over onto his feet. He was in incredible amounts of pain. You could hear his screams from across the road. The morning program kids were here and they all got really quite and you could tell they were really scared. In they end they had to first remove a large amount of brunt dead tissue and then use rubbing alcohol to clean the wounds. While they were able to inject some lidocane by they were done removing the dead skin it had worn off and they cleaned the burns without using any form of anesthetic.
For the next week the boy came in every day to have his bandages changed and burns cleaned without any pain killers. I was able to watch the second day they changed the bandages and after watching Richard and the boy’s teary eyed mother hold the screaming kid down for Joseph to take off the bandages I couldn’t watch the rest. It was unbelievable. It was a good reminder of what luxuries we have in the first world. No mother in America is asked to hold down her screaming child while his second degree burns are cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Sometimes you forget the hardships that these people face. They are always so friendly and always seem so happy. No Uganda will every tell you that he or she is sick or uncomfortable or unhappy. People are always telling you that their life is good and are always smiling. But then something like this happens and I remember that these people lack so very much that should be available to them, everything from the obvious things like books and proper medical care to the not so obvious like balloons and pipe cleaners to play with in and make art project to bring
Peanut Patch
Our garden is doing relatively (~) well. A couple weeks ago we spent the week weeding the peanut patch. There are two ways to weed, the mzungu way and the Ugandan way. The mzungu way is pulling the individual weeds by hand. While this way is much more through it takes a lot longer. The Ugandan way is to use a hoe to dig up all the dirt and weeds around the peanut plant and then pick out all the weeds from the loose dirt around the plants. We started out weeding the mzungu way assuming that we could do a really through job once and then we wouldn’t have to weed again. People would stop and watch us weed. Many would even bring us a hoe and try to get us to weed the Ugandan way (including six year old children). But we held true to our roots and continued to weed the American way. However, half way through the peanut patch all the weeds from where we started had already grown back. We switched techniques. What is interesting is that Dean McEvoy was just here visiting and he instantly assumed that the hoe technique would work better. Without any instruction he just picked up the hoe and started weeding the Ugandan way. In addition, he was really good at it. I was very impressed.
The rest of our garden is doing pretty well. We transplanted our cabbage too early so it all died. However, someone heard our story from John (that we are trying to grow for the community and felt bad for us black thumbed mzungus) and donated some of his healthy cabbages. So we have transplanted all about 70 of his cabbages two weeks ago and they are looking great. We have also transplanted some of our onions. I was really skeptical because they were so little, but so far they are all standing upright. The carrots on the other hand are not doing well. They are supposed to be planted once and not in a nursery bed, so any that we tried to transplant died, I think that we are just going to have to thin the carrot plants in the nursery bed and hope for the best.
The beans are now being harvested. YAY! This is so cool because we get to eat the fresh beans that we grew for lunch and dinner every other night. Fresh beans taste amazing, although they still have the same effect on your digestive system ;). Hopefully the corn will be ready to harvest when my parents come in a week and a half.
Last Few Weeks of School
School has just let out for summer holiday (December 4, 2008 to February 2, 2009). Toward s the end of school I started to expand my teaching horizons and teach math duhnananaaa. At first I thought that this was going to be really hard. The p.5 math teacher gave me a list of topics like LCM, Finite Systems, Prime and Composite numbers, improper and proper fractions, and square numbers. Some of these topics I understood, but I definitely could not explain any of these concepts in words. However, after going through the pupils book, which I purchased in Kampala months ago and promptly put on my self and did not touch, I realized that most of it I knew and could figure out how to explain. The first topic I ended up teaching was Lowest Common Multiple (LCM). This was actually relatively easy, except for one thing, the students are not required to memorize their multiplication tables, instead they just look on the back of their blue books where a copy of the tables up to 12 is printed. Now I am the first social science major to raise her hand and argue against stringent math Gen. Ed. requirements and talk about how I never use that trigonometry I learned in tenth grade, but knowing your multiplication tables is key.
In the end I actually enjoyed teach math more than English. Math ended up being easier to teach than English for a couple of reasons. First, you can explain using examples and their aren’t very many if any at this level of math exceptions to rules. Second, I have no formal training in teaching English as a second language and there are so many irregulars. For example, I went over plurals and this was really hard because the plural of mouse is mice, but the plural of house is houses. Third, since the students aren’t taught grammar and are expected to memorize everything through repetition, it is really hard to explain new concepts.
Steve and I also got a chance to grade P.5 and P.6’s math and English exams. I take back what I said about red pen making you feel powerful. It is extremely frustrating to watch your students get something wrong that you taught, more than once. The average P.5 English exam was 30% and the average P.6 math exam wasn’t much better. There were several really funny wordos and mistakes. The best was the one asking the students to change the word wolf to plural. One student wrote “wife – domestic animal”.
End of Morning Program
With the end of school also came the end of the morning program. We decided to give the students the same summer break that the public school was getting. I think that both the kids and Steve, Hagar, and I needed the time away from each other. They were getting bored of the activities we planed for them and we were becoming a little to comfortable yelling at them and joking about corporal punishment. For example, we have to put Joan on the windowsill when she is bad (we would put her in the corner and make her stare at the wall like everyone else, but she is too young and doesn’t get that its punishment) and one day we forgot about her for about half an hour until we heard her yelling from around the corner asking to get down. Also our jokes about shutting them all in the chicken coops and letting them roast under the afternoon sun were just seeming a little to tempting.
Our last week was really fun and went really well. Steve and I made them chapattis (a local snack food steve and I have just learned to make) for snack time. They loved this because we made them extra large ones. This was the first snack time where kids weren’t crying and begging for food. We also made popsicle stick picture frames and printed picture of each of the kids. This was by far the most popular activity we have done. For many of these kids this was their first picture.
I want to thank everyone who has sent school supplies, children’s books, and arts and crafts supplies. As your packages came in we were able to make drastic improvements to the morning program. Without what you sent we never could have given these kids such a rewarding experience.
Now that I have had a week away from the children I can’t wait to start up the morning program again. The other day I was walking by the road and saw a bunch of the kids. I just wanted to sit and play with them. Separation definitely makes the heart grow fonder. It is going to be really hard to leave these kids.
A few weeks ago a young boy, maybe four, came into the clinic with absolutely terrible second degree burns all over the top of his feet. He had run past a kettle of boiling water and knocked it over onto his feet. He was in incredible amounts of pain. You could hear his screams from across the road. The morning program kids were here and they all got really quite and you could tell they were really scared. In they end they had to first remove a large amount of brunt dead tissue and then use rubbing alcohol to clean the wounds. While they were able to inject some lidocane by they were done removing the dead skin it had worn off and they cleaned the burns without using any form of anesthetic.
For the next week the boy came in every day to have his bandages changed and burns cleaned without any pain killers. I was able to watch the second day they changed the bandages and after watching Richard and the boy’s teary eyed mother hold the screaming kid down for Joseph to take off the bandages I couldn’t watch the rest. It was unbelievable. It was a good reminder of what luxuries we have in the first world. No mother in America is asked to hold down her screaming child while his second degree burns are cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Sometimes you forget the hardships that these people face. They are always so friendly and always seem so happy. No Uganda will every tell you that he or she is sick or uncomfortable or unhappy. People are always telling you that their life is good and are always smiling. But then something like this happens and I remember that these people lack so very much that should be available to them, everything from the obvious things like books and proper medical care to the not so obvious like balloons and pipe cleaners to play with in and make art project to bring
Peanut Patch
Our garden is doing relatively (~) well. A couple weeks ago we spent the week weeding the peanut patch. There are two ways to weed, the mzungu way and the Ugandan way. The mzungu way is pulling the individual weeds by hand. While this way is much more through it takes a lot longer. The Ugandan way is to use a hoe to dig up all the dirt and weeds around the peanut plant and then pick out all the weeds from the loose dirt around the plants. We started out weeding the mzungu way assuming that we could do a really through job once and then we wouldn’t have to weed again. People would stop and watch us weed. Many would even bring us a hoe and try to get us to weed the Ugandan way (including six year old children). But we held true to our roots and continued to weed the American way. However, half way through the peanut patch all the weeds from where we started had already grown back. We switched techniques. What is interesting is that Dean McEvoy was just here visiting and he instantly assumed that the hoe technique would work better. Without any instruction he just picked up the hoe and started weeding the Ugandan way. In addition, he was really good at it. I was very impressed.
The rest of our garden is doing pretty well. We transplanted our cabbage too early so it all died. However, someone heard our story from John (that we are trying to grow for the community and felt bad for us black thumbed mzungus) and donated some of his healthy cabbages. So we have transplanted all about 70 of his cabbages two weeks ago and they are looking great. We have also transplanted some of our onions. I was really skeptical because they were so little, but so far they are all standing upright. The carrots on the other hand are not doing well. They are supposed to be planted once and not in a nursery bed, so any that we tried to transplant died, I think that we are just going to have to thin the carrot plants in the nursery bed and hope for the best.
The beans are now being harvested. YAY! This is so cool because we get to eat the fresh beans that we grew for lunch and dinner every other night. Fresh beans taste amazing, although they still have the same effect on your digestive system ;). Hopefully the corn will be ready to harvest when my parents come in a week and a half.
Last Few Weeks of School
School has just let out for summer holiday (December 4, 2008 to February 2, 2009). Toward s the end of school I started to expand my teaching horizons and teach math duhnananaaa. At first I thought that this was going to be really hard. The p.5 math teacher gave me a list of topics like LCM, Finite Systems, Prime and Composite numbers, improper and proper fractions, and square numbers. Some of these topics I understood, but I definitely could not explain any of these concepts in words. However, after going through the pupils book, which I purchased in Kampala months ago and promptly put on my self and did not touch, I realized that most of it I knew and could figure out how to explain. The first topic I ended up teaching was Lowest Common Multiple (LCM). This was actually relatively easy, except for one thing, the students are not required to memorize their multiplication tables, instead they just look on the back of their blue books where a copy of the tables up to 12 is printed. Now I am the first social science major to raise her hand and argue against stringent math Gen. Ed. requirements and talk about how I never use that trigonometry I learned in tenth grade, but knowing your multiplication tables is key.
In the end I actually enjoyed teach math more than English. Math ended up being easier to teach than English for a couple of reasons. First, you can explain using examples and their aren’t very many if any at this level of math exceptions to rules. Second, I have no formal training in teaching English as a second language and there are so many irregulars. For example, I went over plurals and this was really hard because the plural of mouse is mice, but the plural of house is houses. Third, since the students aren’t taught grammar and are expected to memorize everything through repetition, it is really hard to explain new concepts.
Steve and I also got a chance to grade P.5 and P.6’s math and English exams. I take back what I said about red pen making you feel powerful. It is extremely frustrating to watch your students get something wrong that you taught, more than once. The average P.5 English exam was 30% and the average P.6 math exam wasn’t much better. There were several really funny wordos and mistakes. The best was the one asking the students to change the word wolf to plural. One student wrote “wife – domestic animal”.
End of Morning Program
With the end of school also came the end of the morning program. We decided to give the students the same summer break that the public school was getting. I think that both the kids and Steve, Hagar, and I needed the time away from each other. They were getting bored of the activities we planed for them and we were becoming a little to comfortable yelling at them and joking about corporal punishment. For example, we have to put Joan on the windowsill when she is bad (we would put her in the corner and make her stare at the wall like everyone else, but she is too young and doesn’t get that its punishment) and one day we forgot about her for about half an hour until we heard her yelling from around the corner asking to get down. Also our jokes about shutting them all in the chicken coops and letting them roast under the afternoon sun were just seeming a little to tempting.
Our last week was really fun and went really well. Steve and I made them chapattis (a local snack food steve and I have just learned to make) for snack time. They loved this because we made them extra large ones. This was the first snack time where kids weren’t crying and begging for food. We also made popsicle stick picture frames and printed picture of each of the kids. This was by far the most popular activity we have done. For many of these kids this was their first picture.
I want to thank everyone who has sent school supplies, children’s books, and arts and crafts supplies. As your packages came in we were able to make drastic improvements to the morning program. Without what you sent we never could have given these kids such a rewarding experience.
Now that I have had a week away from the children I can’t wait to start up the morning program again. The other day I was walking by the road and saw a bunch of the kids. I just wanted to sit and play with them. Separation definitely makes the heart grow fonder. It is going to be really hard to leave these kids.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
More Pictures
Hey everyone, I uploaded more pictures. To take a look click on the link I put on the side of my blog. I also added some links to good Ugandan/African News websites and to the other Minerva Fellows Blogs. You should take a look at the blogs they are very interesting.
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