Friday, June 25, 2010
Source of the Nile
We're off to Jinja this weekend to go white water rafting on the Nile! I'm so excited! I shall return Sunday with an amazing post about our adventures.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
U-S-A!
I never thought I would be cheering that! To all you lame-os who don't know, the US somehow managed to take first place in their group in the World Cup and will be moving on to the next round. My best guess is they won't get much beyond that, but it's farther than anyone expected them to get so that's good!
As for more relevant issues, everything is pretty much the same at work, though today was a really good day. We walked in the door planning on spending the day in the library working on our project, and ended up sitting in on a bunch of counseling sessions. Today was a special day--the third Wednesday of every month is PMTCT day, so all the women come with their babies and/or pregnancies and get counseled on how to avoid passing HIV on to their child, what family planning is, etc. Very interesting. Nrupa and I were really focused on the involvement of men in this day. I sat in on a group counseling session with 3 couples, 2 men who came as representatives of their wives, and 1 woman whom I think just sat down in a random chair and ended up in the session. One of the couples was an older man with only two teeth left in his whole mouth and a woman who looked to be about 20-30 years his junior. She was holding their child who was definitely less than 1 year old. Madoyi, the counselor, made sure I noticed the gender gap. Nevertheless, this man was the first to speak up when I asked (via Madoyi) why the men decided to come and if they thought that the information they were receiving was important.
After work, we played volleyball. It started as 4 muzungus. Well, 3 muzungus and our friend Alan who might as well be muzungu, and then turned into a full game of 5 on 5. It was so much fun, even though I suck at volleyball and all the Ugandans who joined us were really good (naturally). The ball, however, was extremely heavy and inflated too full, so now my forearms are covered in bruises. Oh well, it was worth it.
The evening ended with a transparent lizard crawling on my as I was finishing brushing my teeth, so now I'm trying to avoid going back to my room even though I'm really tired.
Also, the Safari is officially planned!!! Kenya here I come!
As for more relevant issues, everything is pretty much the same at work, though today was a really good day. We walked in the door planning on spending the day in the library working on our project, and ended up sitting in on a bunch of counseling sessions. Today was a special day--the third Wednesday of every month is PMTCT day, so all the women come with their babies and/or pregnancies and get counseled on how to avoid passing HIV on to their child, what family planning is, etc. Very interesting. Nrupa and I were really focused on the involvement of men in this day. I sat in on a group counseling session with 3 couples, 2 men who came as representatives of their wives, and 1 woman whom I think just sat down in a random chair and ended up in the session. One of the couples was an older man with only two teeth left in his whole mouth and a woman who looked to be about 20-30 years his junior. She was holding their child who was definitely less than 1 year old. Madoyi, the counselor, made sure I noticed the gender gap. Nevertheless, this man was the first to speak up when I asked (via Madoyi) why the men decided to come and if they thought that the information they were receiving was important.
After work, we played volleyball. It started as 4 muzungus. Well, 3 muzungus and our friend Alan who might as well be muzungu, and then turned into a full game of 5 on 5. It was so much fun, even though I suck at volleyball and all the Ugandans who joined us were really good (naturally). The ball, however, was extremely heavy and inflated too full, so now my forearms are covered in bruises. Oh well, it was worth it.
The evening ended with a transparent lizard crawling on my as I was finishing brushing my teeth, so now I'm trying to avoid going back to my room even though I'm really tired.
Also, the Safari is officially planned!!! Kenya here I come!
Climbing Guava Trees
I didn't dare do this, but Edrin (or Edwin...we're not quite sure), Tom's 6 year old son did. On Saturday, Tom sent his kids to our house so that we could meet them. We ended up meeting them (aka babysitting) for the next 4 hours. One of the fellows last semester got a package from her friend, but thankfully it didn't arrive until after she had left because it contained lots of amazing things for kids to play with. We got a soccer ball, frisbee, cards, coloring books and crayons. This package was our lifesaver Saturday afternoon. Tom's 4 kids (and neighbor's kid, who came along for the fun), played soccer, colored, and climbed our guava tree and picked fruit which he threw over the fence to the kids waiting on the other side. Since I'm not the biggest lover of kids, this afternoon was a test for me. Let's just say that my maternal instinct is not quite as mature as Nrupa's, a fact that was clearly demonstrated when I likened Tom's youngest child, 9 month old Matthew, to my 125 pound black lab--they both like to chase tennis balls and they both drool more than any other creature I know. No matter how many times we wiped Matthew's mouth, there was always saliva dripping out of it, some of which unfortunately ended up in my hair. I should also mention that this is one of the largest babies I have ever seen. My arm was literally sore from carrying him around. I'm not sure how his 6 year old sister does it.
I know you're not supposed to pick favorites with kids, but they're not mine so it's okay, right. My favorite of Tom's kids is definitely his oldest, Isaac (9). He was the leader of the pack and definitely dressed for the part. He came to play in a nice pair of gray slacks and a fancy Africa themed shirt. He was so interested in my computer that I let him gchat with Aditya a little bit. Aditya promptly asked me to bring Isaac home. If only...
Other than our play date, things have been pretty boring. We're still making some progress on our project, slowly but surely. I also found a potential project for my CE (final project for school). Now I just have to write a proposal and hope it gets approved...
Really what I'm most looking forward to is the traveling we have planned. We're going to Jinja again this weekend to go white water rafting on the Nile!!! (And we're going to eat at the Source, Mom. You can tell your friend). The following weekend we're going to Kenya to go on a Safari, then the weekend after that we're going to stay a night or two with our friends who live in the mountains. We'll finally get to see a really, middle of nowhere village! Other weekend plans include: Shabbat dinner with the Abuadaya (Ugandan Jews), trip to Soroti, a neighboring district, to meet one of our coworker's children, and I pushing for a trip to Rwanda the week before we come home (hopefully passing through Tanzania for a moment on the return trip to Entebbe where we catch our flight home). Nrupa is hesitant about Rwanda because of the cost, but I'm trying to convince her that we should go because we've already spent an obscene amount of money to get here. We might as well make the most of it...
I know you're not supposed to pick favorites with kids, but they're not mine so it's okay, right. My favorite of Tom's kids is definitely his oldest, Isaac (9). He was the leader of the pack and definitely dressed for the part. He came to play in a nice pair of gray slacks and a fancy Africa themed shirt. He was so interested in my computer that I let him gchat with Aditya a little bit. Aditya promptly asked me to bring Isaac home. If only...
Other than our play date, things have been pretty boring. We're still making some progress on our project, slowly but surely. I also found a potential project for my CE (final project for school). Now I just have to write a proposal and hope it gets approved...
Really what I'm most looking forward to is the traveling we have planned. We're going to Jinja again this weekend to go white water rafting on the Nile!!! (And we're going to eat at the Source, Mom. You can tell your friend). The following weekend we're going to Kenya to go on a Safari, then the weekend after that we're going to stay a night or two with our friends who live in the mountains. We'll finally get to see a really, middle of nowhere village! Other weekend plans include: Shabbat dinner with the Abuadaya (Ugandan Jews), trip to Soroti, a neighboring district, to meet one of our coworker's children, and I pushing for a trip to Rwanda the week before we come home (hopefully passing through Tanzania for a moment on the return trip to Entebbe where we catch our flight home). Nrupa is hesitant about Rwanda because of the cost, but I'm trying to convince her that we should go because we've already spent an obscene amount of money to get here. We might as well make the most of it...
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Sights and Sounds of Mbale
So, nothing exciting has happened since my last post. Nrupa and I spend Thursday and Friday researching for our project and developing our questionnaire and background documents. Thus, instead of writing about our relatively mundane daily activities, I decided my time would be better spent giving a more thorough description of our house and life in Mbale than I have as of yet.
Home Sweet Home: We have a four bedroom, three bathroom house that is way too big for just the two of us. Nrupa and I each have a room, one room is the guestroom, but since we never have guests it has been converted into a yoga studio/wardrobe. It's the only room in the house with a quality full body mirror (the other is in my closet and just not very accessible). The fourth room doesn't even have a bed because GW only sends 2-3 fellows each semester, so it is used as a laundry/drying room. Normally our clothes line-dry outside, but on days when it rains before the clothes have dried or when something (like towels) take a super long time to dry, we hang them in that room so that they don't get rained on. Both Nrupa and I have bathrooms with showers in our rooms, though we only use the toilets. My toilet is a bit sketchy because the seat and lid aren't attached, but it has a good flush and drains quickly, so I deal with the seat issues. The third toilet and shower are in the hallway that leads back to three of the bedrooms (mine, our wardrobe, and the laundry room; Nrupa's room is directly to right upon entering the front door). The toilet and shower are in separate rooms, which is actually kind of nice. This shower is hooked up to a water heater, unlike the other two, so it's the one that we use. The pressure is a bit lacked (it's usually just a single dripping stream), but at least it's warm and not from a bucket. I think that lack of pressure is worse for Nrupa since she has about 10 times more hair than I do.
We spend most of our time at home in the living room. It's a huge room with a large dining table, a couch, two easy chairs, and our refrigerator. Not really sure why the fridge is in the living room instead of the kitchen, since there's definitely room in the kitchen, but whatever. We don't really worry about it. Our furniture is surprisingly comfortable. The seats are foam padding and very nice for lounging at night and reading. We also have a little library set up in one corner of the room. It was started by the fellows last semester and so far I have added two books to the collection. I brought 13 with me and, assuming I finish them all, will most likely contribute them all when we leave. No sense in carrying that extra weight home.
The kitchen is my least favorite room in the house. It actually kind of grosses me out. The light doesn't work, so if we're doing dishes or cooking after dark, I have to wear my head lamp. There's a large pantry to the left where we keep our dry goods and another galley room with shelves where we keep our pots, pans, dishes, broom, coal, etc. The main room of the kitchen has one tall, square table used as a counter. The sink takes up the main wall in the kitchen. On one end is our dish drying rack and on the other is our hot plate. On the floor in the corner is our coal stove that neither Nrupa nor I know how to use. We leave that one to Regina and stick with the hot plate when we need to boil water or cook (which we also mainly leave to Regina). It's a good thing our power doesn't go out too often.
The best part of the house is the huge yard! In most cities in the US, three or four houses would probably be built on the property that we have. We don't use our yard very often, but it's nice to know that we can. The other day we actually did some exercises out there with our UBC friends. The property is completely surrounded by a locked gate, so we have a lot of privacy (all the windows and doors also have bars for safety purposes). We also have avocado, matoke (plantain), and guava trees in our yard. Tom, our night guard, cut down a bunch of avocados and guavas for us the other day. We're not the biggest fans of matoke (the fruit is cooked and then mashed; it's not bad, just pretty flavorless), so we don't worry about that too much, though I would like to try cutting some down and frying them...
We also have a little garage that Tom spends the nights in. He was staying in this little shack right inside our gate, but that depressed us so we were able to move him into the garage once he got the key from a friend of his who had been renting it from the landlord for his car, but is no longer doing so.
Mbale: I really like Mbale. It's a small town by US standards, but pretty large by Ugandan standards. It's actually the 6th or 7th largest town in Uganda by population. We live in what is called Senior Quarters, which is the more residential part of Mbale. We're probably about a mile, mile and a half from the town center. The town has one main street, Republic Street, and then a couple big streets that run off of it. In the center of town, there is a huge clock tower painted bright pink. It serves as advertising for Zain, one of the main telecom companies in Uganda. I love the stores here, though often I'm too nervous to go in them. They're so different than stores in the West. First of all, they're all painted bright yellow or pink or blue depending on which telecom company owns the building or has advertising rights (yellow is MTN, pink is Zain, blue is Uganda Telecom). When you walk in, the majority of the items are in cases or behind counters. There's not really a concept of browsing, probably due to theft prevention. If you want to see anything closely, you have to ask the clerk for it. This means that you really have to go in the store knowing what you want. Secondly, they're all tiny. About 3 customers can comfortable fit in the stores, though, this being Africa, about 10 usually pile in. Also, in some stores, especially the electronic stores, the space isn't actually large enough for the merchandise so it ends up spilling on to the sidewalk. Sidewalks themselves also serve as selling areas. Women sit along the sidewalk in brightly color dresses with pineapple, bananas, and maize laid out on another cloth in front of them. Men use the same method for selling newspapers and shoes. Others sell clothes, underwear, dishes, grasshoppers (which a quite the delicacy. I had the opportunity to try them, but I declined). On one corner near our two favorite super markets, men set up tables selling jackfruit. They slice the huge, spiky fruit open on the tables making the corner smell sweet like the fruit.
This is also a devoutly religious country. Most of the signs and mottos for schools announce their intention of educating "God-fearing" citizens. In the mornings, a man stands by the clock tower preaching from his Bible. On Sundays, few stores are open and less people crowd the streets because they all go to Church. Though, I actually haven't seen a Church yet. I probably just haven't ventured far enough off the main street yet, as there must be quite a few. Also, I rarely go too far beyond the clock tower in the opposite direction of our house. Our UBC friends live over there, but we live in a safer area so if we're hanging out a night, we often do it at our house (it also doesn't hurt that we have our own house versus living with a family). I have yet to explore that side of town thoroughly, but I think more people live over there because it is less expensive, so I imagine that more Churches are located there. There's a Hindu temple (thus why the area is called Indian Quarters), so there must be some Churches, right...
The guidebooks I read before I came told me that Mbale was a quiet, sleepy town, but I can attest that it is not. The nightlife isn't too diverse, but there is certainly a lot going on. Last night we tried to go to a concert at a hotel down the street. The flyer said it started at 7, so we showed up at 8, and of course nothing was really set up or happening yet. I finally heard some music from there when I was walking home from watching the World Cup at 11:30. I'm not sure what it is about the music or the way Mbale is built, but we can clearly hear loud music from who knows where on the weekend nights. It often sounds as though someone is blasting a stereo in our front yard. The first couple nights here, Nrupa didn't sleep very well because of the loud music. Thankfully I rarely ever have a problem sleeping no matter what the surroundings are. As I'm writing this, in fact, our across-the-street neighbors are celebrating a wedding and their music must be turn up to maximum volume. Not sure what song is playing now, but earlier today they were blaring the song from Titanic by Celine Deon. And one day a few weeks ago we heard Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" no less than three times.
Okay, that's about as good a description as I can give now. The rest will have to be told via pictures. Now I'm off to watch some football matches!!! (real football, not that American football nonsense. They barely even use their feet--why in the world is it called football???)
Home Sweet Home: We have a four bedroom, three bathroom house that is way too big for just the two of us. Nrupa and I each have a room, one room is the guestroom, but since we never have guests it has been converted into a yoga studio/wardrobe. It's the only room in the house with a quality full body mirror (the other is in my closet and just not very accessible). The fourth room doesn't even have a bed because GW only sends 2-3 fellows each semester, so it is used as a laundry/drying room. Normally our clothes line-dry outside, but on days when it rains before the clothes have dried or when something (like towels) take a super long time to dry, we hang them in that room so that they don't get rained on. Both Nrupa and I have bathrooms with showers in our rooms, though we only use the toilets. My toilet is a bit sketchy because the seat and lid aren't attached, but it has a good flush and drains quickly, so I deal with the seat issues. The third toilet and shower are in the hallway that leads back to three of the bedrooms (mine, our wardrobe, and the laundry room; Nrupa's room is directly to right upon entering the front door). The toilet and shower are in separate rooms, which is actually kind of nice. This shower is hooked up to a water heater, unlike the other two, so it's the one that we use. The pressure is a bit lacked (it's usually just a single dripping stream), but at least it's warm and not from a bucket. I think that lack of pressure is worse for Nrupa since she has about 10 times more hair than I do.
We spend most of our time at home in the living room. It's a huge room with a large dining table, a couch, two easy chairs, and our refrigerator. Not really sure why the fridge is in the living room instead of the kitchen, since there's definitely room in the kitchen, but whatever. We don't really worry about it. Our furniture is surprisingly comfortable. The seats are foam padding and very nice for lounging at night and reading. We also have a little library set up in one corner of the room. It was started by the fellows last semester and so far I have added two books to the collection. I brought 13 with me and, assuming I finish them all, will most likely contribute them all when we leave. No sense in carrying that extra weight home.
The kitchen is my least favorite room in the house. It actually kind of grosses me out. The light doesn't work, so if we're doing dishes or cooking after dark, I have to wear my head lamp. There's a large pantry to the left where we keep our dry goods and another galley room with shelves where we keep our pots, pans, dishes, broom, coal, etc. The main room of the kitchen has one tall, square table used as a counter. The sink takes up the main wall in the kitchen. On one end is our dish drying rack and on the other is our hot plate. On the floor in the corner is our coal stove that neither Nrupa nor I know how to use. We leave that one to Regina and stick with the hot plate when we need to boil water or cook (which we also mainly leave to Regina). It's a good thing our power doesn't go out too often.
The best part of the house is the huge yard! In most cities in the US, three or four houses would probably be built on the property that we have. We don't use our yard very often, but it's nice to know that we can. The other day we actually did some exercises out there with our UBC friends. The property is completely surrounded by a locked gate, so we have a lot of privacy (all the windows and doors also have bars for safety purposes). We also have avocado, matoke (plantain), and guava trees in our yard. Tom, our night guard, cut down a bunch of avocados and guavas for us the other day. We're not the biggest fans of matoke (the fruit is cooked and then mashed; it's not bad, just pretty flavorless), so we don't worry about that too much, though I would like to try cutting some down and frying them...
We also have a little garage that Tom spends the nights in. He was staying in this little shack right inside our gate, but that depressed us so we were able to move him into the garage once he got the key from a friend of his who had been renting it from the landlord for his car, but is no longer doing so.
Mbale: I really like Mbale. It's a small town by US standards, but pretty large by Ugandan standards. It's actually the 6th or 7th largest town in Uganda by population. We live in what is called Senior Quarters, which is the more residential part of Mbale. We're probably about a mile, mile and a half from the town center. The town has one main street, Republic Street, and then a couple big streets that run off of it. In the center of town, there is a huge clock tower painted bright pink. It serves as advertising for Zain, one of the main telecom companies in Uganda. I love the stores here, though often I'm too nervous to go in them. They're so different than stores in the West. First of all, they're all painted bright yellow or pink or blue depending on which telecom company owns the building or has advertising rights (yellow is MTN, pink is Zain, blue is Uganda Telecom). When you walk in, the majority of the items are in cases or behind counters. There's not really a concept of browsing, probably due to theft prevention. If you want to see anything closely, you have to ask the clerk for it. This means that you really have to go in the store knowing what you want. Secondly, they're all tiny. About 3 customers can comfortable fit in the stores, though, this being Africa, about 10 usually pile in. Also, in some stores, especially the electronic stores, the space isn't actually large enough for the merchandise so it ends up spilling on to the sidewalk. Sidewalks themselves also serve as selling areas. Women sit along the sidewalk in brightly color dresses with pineapple, bananas, and maize laid out on another cloth in front of them. Men use the same method for selling newspapers and shoes. Others sell clothes, underwear, dishes, grasshoppers (which a quite the delicacy. I had the opportunity to try them, but I declined). On one corner near our two favorite super markets, men set up tables selling jackfruit. They slice the huge, spiky fruit open on the tables making the corner smell sweet like the fruit.
This is also a devoutly religious country. Most of the signs and mottos for schools announce their intention of educating "God-fearing" citizens. In the mornings, a man stands by the clock tower preaching from his Bible. On Sundays, few stores are open and less people crowd the streets because they all go to Church. Though, I actually haven't seen a Church yet. I probably just haven't ventured far enough off the main street yet, as there must be quite a few. Also, I rarely go too far beyond the clock tower in the opposite direction of our house. Our UBC friends live over there, but we live in a safer area so if we're hanging out a night, we often do it at our house (it also doesn't hurt that we have our own house versus living with a family). I have yet to explore that side of town thoroughly, but I think more people live over there because it is less expensive, so I imagine that more Churches are located there. There's a Hindu temple (thus why the area is called Indian Quarters), so there must be some Churches, right...
The guidebooks I read before I came told me that Mbale was a quiet, sleepy town, but I can attest that it is not. The nightlife isn't too diverse, but there is certainly a lot going on. Last night we tried to go to a concert at a hotel down the street. The flyer said it started at 7, so we showed up at 8, and of course nothing was really set up or happening yet. I finally heard some music from there when I was walking home from watching the World Cup at 11:30. I'm not sure what it is about the music or the way Mbale is built, but we can clearly hear loud music from who knows where on the weekend nights. It often sounds as though someone is blasting a stereo in our front yard. The first couple nights here, Nrupa didn't sleep very well because of the loud music. Thankfully I rarely ever have a problem sleeping no matter what the surroundings are. As I'm writing this, in fact, our across-the-street neighbors are celebrating a wedding and their music must be turn up to maximum volume. Not sure what song is playing now, but earlier today they were blaring the song from Titanic by Celine Deon. And one day a few weeks ago we heard Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" no less than three times.
Okay, that's about as good a description as I can give now. The rest will have to be told via pictures. Now I'm off to watch some football matches!!! (real football, not that American football nonsense. They barely even use their feet--why in the world is it called football???)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
This week
Monday, June 14, 2010
This morning we did nothing, but this afternoon we had an amazing two hour meeting with Martin, one of the data guys at TASO. He pretty much designed our project for us and told us step by step what we need to do.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
We went into Tuesday with some purpose. We spent the day researching articles that we can use as background information for our project. As much as I hate doing research and usually can't focus (compared to Nrupa who is a research machine), it was so nice to actually have something semi-meaningful to do. I finished off the day by watching three football matches. And two of the three were exciting ones to boot!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Today we went to work with the intention of completing more research, but ended up going to Bukedea district for an outreach. This was a specific one called CDDP--Community Drug Distribution Point. It was the same as the first outreach we went on, where we took client's weights and refilled their ARVs. It was actually kind of boring just because we are limited in our ability to help both because of language barriers and lack of qualifications (ie: we're not nurses, doctors, counselors, etc). Though it was fun because we were joking around with the nurse, Ogolgol (aka George Allen, but he prefers his local name). It's amazing the racey comments that our TASO co-workers say. At one point, in reference to paperwork he was completing for a client, he joked: "This woman isn't sexually active, unlike Nrupa." Also, he kept asking probing questions about our relationships, often about why we're not yet married and don't have kids. This is a very insensitive comment, but while Ogolgol was asking me questions about dowries and marriage rights in the US, I couldn't help but think how limited his knowledge of Western culture was given his regular contact with students from GW and UBC. Not that that's a bad thing. It doesn't really matter either way and in reality I wouldn't expect him to have a strong understanding of the West given that he's never been there. I've been in Uganda for a month and am still learning new things about the culture every day. On Monday Martin asked us to name a some Ugandan tribes. We started listing things we thought were tribes as he laughed at us. We're still think our answers were correct, but are now self-conscious about that and trying to learn a new tribe every day. We're also still working on our languages, even though a different one is spoken in every village we visit. I can barely remember what the languages are called, so I have no idea how I'm going to remember any of the words...
This morning we did nothing, but this afternoon we had an amazing two hour meeting with Martin, one of the data guys at TASO. He pretty much designed our project for us and told us step by step what we need to do.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
We went into Tuesday with some purpose. We spent the day researching articles that we can use as background information for our project. As much as I hate doing research and usually can't focus (compared to Nrupa who is a research machine), it was so nice to actually have something semi-meaningful to do. I finished off the day by watching three football matches. And two of the three were exciting ones to boot!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Today we went to work with the intention of completing more research, but ended up going to Bukedea district for an outreach. This was a specific one called CDDP--Community Drug Distribution Point. It was the same as the first outreach we went on, where we took client's weights and refilled their ARVs. It was actually kind of boring just because we are limited in our ability to help both because of language barriers and lack of qualifications (ie: we're not nurses, doctors, counselors, etc). Though it was fun because we were joking around with the nurse, Ogolgol (aka George Allen, but he prefers his local name). It's amazing the racey comments that our TASO co-workers say. At one point, in reference to paperwork he was completing for a client, he joked: "This woman isn't sexually active, unlike Nrupa." Also, he kept asking probing questions about our relationships, often about why we're not yet married and don't have kids. This is a very insensitive comment, but while Ogolgol was asking me questions about dowries and marriage rights in the US, I couldn't help but think how limited his knowledge of Western culture was given his regular contact with students from GW and UBC. Not that that's a bad thing. It doesn't really matter either way and in reality I wouldn't expect him to have a strong understanding of the West given that he's never been there. I've been in Uganda for a month and am still learning new things about the culture every day. On Monday Martin asked us to name a some Ugandan tribes. We started listing things we thought were tribes as he laughed at us. We're still think our answers were correct, but are now self-conscious about that and trying to learn a new tribe every day. We're also still working on our languages, even though a different one is spoken in every village we visit. I can barely remember what the languages are called, so I have no idea how I'm going to remember any of the words...
Weekend in Jinja
Last weekend we went to Jinja, the second largest town in Uganda. We're going back in two weeks to go whitewater rafting on the Nile, but last weekend we just went for a change of scenery. It was certainly an adventure. We decided to take a matatu (van taxi that seats 14) for the two hour drive because it was the cheapest option. It turns out to have been a big mistake. We caught the taxi at the taxi park, and then sat in it for almost two hours as we waited for another eight passengers to fill it up. When we finally got going, after putting more air in the tires and gas in the tank, we still stopped every 500 feet or so to let people off and/or recruit new passengers. Nonetheless, I noticed some interesting things along the route:
- At the taxi park, a crazy man amused us with his karate skills, which were actually quite limited but still amusing.
- The taxi park also serves as a mobile mall. People walk around with their arms full of items such as newspapers, baby dresses, underwear, wallets, socks, etc. Really anything you would never want to buy in this manner (yes, I meant never).
- Every 100-200 feet for long stretches there were piles of cassava laid out to dry along the highway.
- We passed women in rice patties and bean fields completing there work with babies and young children strapped to their backs. No baby sitters here...
- At one point, a man started sprinting behind our van to catch it while the drive slammed on the brakes and veered off the road to wait for him. Then he didn't even get in because he didn't want to go to Jinja
When we finally reached Jinja five hours after getting in the taxi, we settled in for a low key weekend. We had a relative good lunch at the hotel, minus the bill issues at the end. Two people ordered ice cream for dessert. Technically, ice cream alone wasn't on the menu. It was ice cream and cake for 4,500=, but they were out of cake so the waitress said we could have ice cream for 3,000/=. Then when the bill came, she still charged us 4,500/= for the ice cream and, after much arguing and pretending like she didn't know what we were talking about, she told us that she didn't have the authority to set a price for the item. We decided to calm down from this experience by hanging out at the pool (and of course watching some of the World Cup). We then had another 5 hours long dinner. Just another example of the slow pace of life in Uganda. We sat down to dinner around 8 or a little after, and didn't leave until nearly 11:30. Aside from the long wait time for the food to arrive, nothing ever comes out at the same time. By the time one person's meal comes, someone else has finished eating. We've done away with the niceties of waiting for everyone's food to arrive because then only one person's food will be hot(ish). We were going to go out dancing after, but everyone was exhausted after our ordeal of meal. Better for me because I got to watch the end of the US-England match!
Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel around 10am and went to explore Jinja town. Of course, it was Sunday so most things weren't open. We finally found a place called Flavours (also known as Muzungu town) to eat a really good breakfast. By the time we finished, some craft shops had opened so we all did a lot of shopping (though I think I did the most...good thing nothing is very expensive). I got some awesome gifts and souvenirs, though I do still have a few more things to get when we go back for rafting. Jinja is the place to get souvenirs because they're are so many shops and it's cheaper than anywhere else. In Mbale, we only have one crafts store.
We hesitantly caught another taxi back to Mbale. We really wanted to catch a bus because we didn't want to repeat our experience on the way to Jinja, but we weren't sure when any were coming. We got some assistance from some locals to make sure we got in the right taxi. They told us to climb into a van that looked completely full to me. When will I ever learn that there's no such thing as a full vehicle in Uganda. By the time we were all in, there were 20 people plus driver in a 14 seater van. Thankfully, this driver was much better than our first one. We made it home in 2 hours, bought some delicious jackfruit from town, and had a nice evening at home/watching the World Cup. (This was also the day of the awkward situation with Tom which has since been resolved. And by resolved I mean never discussed but last time we were at Mbale Resort he paid for his drink before I even paid for mine, so I guess what I did worked).
- At the taxi park, a crazy man amused us with his karate skills, which were actually quite limited but still amusing.
- The taxi park also serves as a mobile mall. People walk around with their arms full of items such as newspapers, baby dresses, underwear, wallets, socks, etc. Really anything you would never want to buy in this manner (yes, I meant never).
- Every 100-200 feet for long stretches there were piles of cassava laid out to dry along the highway.
- We passed women in rice patties and bean fields completing there work with babies and young children strapped to their backs. No baby sitters here...
- At one point, a man started sprinting behind our van to catch it while the drive slammed on the brakes and veered off the road to wait for him. Then he didn't even get in because he didn't want to go to Jinja
When we finally reached Jinja five hours after getting in the taxi, we settled in for a low key weekend. We had a relative good lunch at the hotel, minus the bill issues at the end. Two people ordered ice cream for dessert. Technically, ice cream alone wasn't on the menu. It was ice cream and cake for 4,500=, but they were out of cake so the waitress said we could have ice cream for 3,000/=. Then when the bill came, she still charged us 4,500/= for the ice cream and, after much arguing and pretending like she didn't know what we were talking about, she told us that she didn't have the authority to set a price for the item. We decided to calm down from this experience by hanging out at the pool (and of course watching some of the World Cup). We then had another 5 hours long dinner. Just another example of the slow pace of life in Uganda. We sat down to dinner around 8 or a little after, and didn't leave until nearly 11:30. Aside from the long wait time for the food to arrive, nothing ever comes out at the same time. By the time one person's meal comes, someone else has finished eating. We've done away with the niceties of waiting for everyone's food to arrive because then only one person's food will be hot(ish). We were going to go out dancing after, but everyone was exhausted after our ordeal of meal. Better for me because I got to watch the end of the US-England match!
Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel around 10am and went to explore Jinja town. Of course, it was Sunday so most things weren't open. We finally found a place called Flavours (also known as Muzungu town) to eat a really good breakfast. By the time we finished, some craft shops had opened so we all did a lot of shopping (though I think I did the most...good thing nothing is very expensive). I got some awesome gifts and souvenirs, though I do still have a few more things to get when we go back for rafting. Jinja is the place to get souvenirs because they're are so many shops and it's cheaper than anywhere else. In Mbale, we only have one crafts store.
We hesitantly caught another taxi back to Mbale. We really wanted to catch a bus because we didn't want to repeat our experience on the way to Jinja, but we weren't sure when any were coming. We got some assistance from some locals to make sure we got in the right taxi. They told us to climb into a van that looked completely full to me. When will I ever learn that there's no such thing as a full vehicle in Uganda. By the time we were all in, there were 20 people plus driver in a 14 seater van. Thankfully, this driver was much better than our first one. We made it home in 2 hours, bought some delicious jackfruit from town, and had a nice evening at home/watching the World Cup. (This was also the day of the awkward situation with Tom which has since been resolved. And by resolved I mean never discussed but last time we were at Mbale Resort he paid for his drink before I even paid for mine, so I guess what I did worked).
Last weeks highlights
Wednesday, June 9, 2010--On Wednesday we went on outreach in Ikiiki. Nrupa and I were trying to get some baseline information for our project, though I'm still not sure how well that worked out for us. At the beginning of each outreach, one TASO staff member gives a health talk. The main topic varies, but the point is to relay important information and take general questions from the group. TASO Mbale is testing some new techniques to draw more men in to their services, so this particular health talk covered topics such as why the men came, why others didn't, and why couples didn't come together. It was interesting, but we had to have someone translate for us, so it was difficult to follow and we're not sure about the quality of information we were receiving. Furthermore, there were a few questions we tried to ask, but we're not sure if the translator really understood what we wanted to know or asked the questions properly. It would be so much easier if we knew the language(s).
After the health talk, the clients broke into small groups for group counseling session, and from there received individual counseling sessions. I sat with one counselor, Emma, during the group session. I was hoping that he would translate for me as he went, but he didn't. Instead he told me that he was going to do a lump translation and debrief after the entire outreach had finished. Needless to say, that never actually happened. His method also made it impossible for me to ask questions as he went because I had no idea what was being said or if my questions were even applicable to a specific client.
Finally, realizing that sitting with Emma was of no help, we tracked down Nova. We've started working on another project with Nova, so we thought he might be more helpful. He's also much better at comprehending our questions than some of the other counselors. It turned out to have been a fantastic decision on our part. Nova translated the conversations with the clients as he went along and allowed us to ask questions of the clients. None of the information we gathered was really helpful for our project, but it was very interesting to learn about the predicaments that people are in and how they cope with their situations.
On another note, as I'm sure can be deduced from what I just wrote, the level of confidentiality (or, more accurately, the lack thereof), is appalling. Client files are sorted on the grass with only one person "watching" over them. Individual counseling sessions are conducted about 2 feet away from where the group sits waiting for their turns. Obviously, the atmosphere is going to be different than at the center just because of the available/unavailable facilities, but it seems to me that the individual counseling sessions at least could be conducted in a more private manner. At the Center it's a bit better, but not much. Client's files still sit in cabinets in the main waiting area where anyone could read them. At any location, they let lowly graduate students sit in on the meetings.
Thursday, June 10, 2010--Nothing to exciting happened today. We did a bit more measuring of kids for malnutrition. Learned a few more words in Luganda and Lugisu so that we could ask people what village they're from and how old that are, but that's all.
Friday, June 11, 2010--Friday kind of sucked. On Thursday, the counseling coordinator, Robert, had specifically told me and Nrupa that he was going to take us on outreach to Bukedea on Friday so that we could collect some information for our project, but then when we found him on Friday he told us that the trucks were full so we couldn't go. We ended up doing absolutely nothing all day. In the morning, we sat in an office reading and talking to our UBC friends, who also had nothing to do. After lunch, we just went home. Friday really made us both feel very antsy and useless. It was the end of our 3rd week at TASO and we hadn't done anything useful yet. I didn't come to Uganda to sit in an office and read a book. I could very easily do that at home. Even after almost a month in country, I'm still getting used to the very slow pace of work and life in general. It's so different from the "must always be busy" attitude of the west.
Friday night, however, was wonderful. It was the opening of the World Cup. South Africa versus Mexico. We watched the game at one of the two cinemas in town. We got there at 4pm, one hour before kickoff, and the place was already 3/4 full. I don't think I can do a description of the cinema justice, but I'll try. It's just one large room with a sloped for to simulate stadium seating. The seats are straight out of 1917. I'm glad the lights, when the were working, were very dim because I do not want to know what the chair I was sitting in really looked liked. They were wooden chairs with a semblance of upholstery, though what cushioning was left was very torn and lumpy. Also, most of the chairs seemed like they were about to fall over, yet still managed to support the weight of full grown men. I think that the 5 girls in my group may have been the only women in the entire place, and we were definitely the only muzungus. I absolutely loved watching the game in this atmosphere! Since South African was opening, everyone in the hall was trilled. You could practically feel the excitement in the room. One of the World Cup sponsors, MTN, has this big add campaign about uniting Africa during the games. Five African teams are in the Cup, but they're trying promote African football by portraying them as one team for the continent. Anyway, it was a pretty amazing experience. The only bad part was the BO. Ugandans have a very distinct body odor which, thanks to my deviated septum, I can rarely smell. In this enclosed room with no circulation, however, the concentration of the smell was overwhelming. Then, about 10 minutes into the game, they turned the fans on. This was great because it was so hot and stuffy in there, but awful because it just made the smell worse. Our friends Jessie and Dave call Ugandan BO "the JAB," because of the way it punches you in the face. It's so true! All I can say is: Beware the JAB!
Things I like about Uganda:
- How nice and approachable all the people we've met are
- The predictable weather. On days that it rains (which is most of them), it always rains between 2-4pm, usually for no more than an hour. Also, every rain is preceded by about an hour of darkening sky, so it's very obvious that the rain is coming. Also, it doesn't get too hot here, and when it is hot it usually only lasts for an hour or two before it cools down again. I actually get cold at night with only my windows open (no fan or anything). That never happens at home.
- The relaxed, go at your own pace atmosphere...usually
Things I don't like about Uganda:
- The relaxed, go at your own pace atmosphere when I'm trying to get something done or figure out my project.
- The way people assume that, because I'm muzungu, I have money.
- The JAB (Ugandan BO)
After the health talk, the clients broke into small groups for group counseling session, and from there received individual counseling sessions. I sat with one counselor, Emma, during the group session. I was hoping that he would translate for me as he went, but he didn't. Instead he told me that he was going to do a lump translation and debrief after the entire outreach had finished. Needless to say, that never actually happened. His method also made it impossible for me to ask questions as he went because I had no idea what was being said or if my questions were even applicable to a specific client.
Finally, realizing that sitting with Emma was of no help, we tracked down Nova. We've started working on another project with Nova, so we thought he might be more helpful. He's also much better at comprehending our questions than some of the other counselors. It turned out to have been a fantastic decision on our part. Nova translated the conversations with the clients as he went along and allowed us to ask questions of the clients. None of the information we gathered was really helpful for our project, but it was very interesting to learn about the predicaments that people are in and how they cope with their situations.
On another note, as I'm sure can be deduced from what I just wrote, the level of confidentiality (or, more accurately, the lack thereof), is appalling. Client files are sorted on the grass with only one person "watching" over them. Individual counseling sessions are conducted about 2 feet away from where the group sits waiting for their turns. Obviously, the atmosphere is going to be different than at the center just because of the available/unavailable facilities, but it seems to me that the individual counseling sessions at least could be conducted in a more private manner. At the Center it's a bit better, but not much. Client's files still sit in cabinets in the main waiting area where anyone could read them. At any location, they let lowly graduate students sit in on the meetings.
Thursday, June 10, 2010--Nothing to exciting happened today. We did a bit more measuring of kids for malnutrition. Learned a few more words in Luganda and Lugisu so that we could ask people what village they're from and how old that are, but that's all.
Friday, June 11, 2010--Friday kind of sucked. On Thursday, the counseling coordinator, Robert, had specifically told me and Nrupa that he was going to take us on outreach to Bukedea on Friday so that we could collect some information for our project, but then when we found him on Friday he told us that the trucks were full so we couldn't go. We ended up doing absolutely nothing all day. In the morning, we sat in an office reading and talking to our UBC friends, who also had nothing to do. After lunch, we just went home. Friday really made us both feel very antsy and useless. It was the end of our 3rd week at TASO and we hadn't done anything useful yet. I didn't come to Uganda to sit in an office and read a book. I could very easily do that at home. Even after almost a month in country, I'm still getting used to the very slow pace of work and life in general. It's so different from the "must always be busy" attitude of the west.
Friday night, however, was wonderful. It was the opening of the World Cup. South Africa versus Mexico. We watched the game at one of the two cinemas in town. We got there at 4pm, one hour before kickoff, and the place was already 3/4 full. I don't think I can do a description of the cinema justice, but I'll try. It's just one large room with a sloped for to simulate stadium seating. The seats are straight out of 1917. I'm glad the lights, when the were working, were very dim because I do not want to know what the chair I was sitting in really looked liked. They were wooden chairs with a semblance of upholstery, though what cushioning was left was very torn and lumpy. Also, most of the chairs seemed like they were about to fall over, yet still managed to support the weight of full grown men. I think that the 5 girls in my group may have been the only women in the entire place, and we were definitely the only muzungus. I absolutely loved watching the game in this atmosphere! Since South African was opening, everyone in the hall was trilled. You could practically feel the excitement in the room. One of the World Cup sponsors, MTN, has this big add campaign about uniting Africa during the games. Five African teams are in the Cup, but they're trying promote African football by portraying them as one team for the continent. Anyway, it was a pretty amazing experience. The only bad part was the BO. Ugandans have a very distinct body odor which, thanks to my deviated septum, I can rarely smell. In this enclosed room with no circulation, however, the concentration of the smell was overwhelming. Then, about 10 minutes into the game, they turned the fans on. This was great because it was so hot and stuffy in there, but awful because it just made the smell worse. Our friends Jessie and Dave call Ugandan BO "the JAB," because of the way it punches you in the face. It's so true! All I can say is: Beware the JAB!
Things I like about Uganda:
- How nice and approachable all the people we've met are
- The predictable weather. On days that it rains (which is most of them), it always rains between 2-4pm, usually for no more than an hour. Also, every rain is preceded by about an hour of darkening sky, so it's very obvious that the rain is coming. Also, it doesn't get too hot here, and when it is hot it usually only lasts for an hour or two before it cools down again. I actually get cold at night with only my windows open (no fan or anything). That never happens at home.
- The relaxed, go at your own pace atmosphere...usually
Things I don't like about Uganda:
- The relaxed, go at your own pace atmosphere when I'm trying to get something done or figure out my project.
- The way people assume that, because I'm muzungu, I have money.
- The JAB (Ugandan BO)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
