Kampala

Nive and I are going to Kampala for the weekend so if you don't here from me until early next week, that's why. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sunny Days...

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. We were at the pool for a good 6-7 hours. (Don't worry, I have SPF 55 sunscreen.) While we were there, a church group had a baptism service in the baby pool. That was pretty cool.

Dad will find this funny. He always says when food takes a while that maybe they're out catching and slaughtering the animal. Well, at lunch yesterday I was told it was going to be a while til my chicken was ready because they had just slaughtered it. That was pretty funny.

It's very humbling being here. You meet people and the first thing they say to you is thank you so much for coming here and helping me country or the US has given so much to help our country, thank you.

Hi

blah...I just typed up a whole entry and it got lost. I've been at a workshop that was pretty much brainstorming for formulating a district strategic plan on HIV/AIDS. I'm going to do some research on sexual behavior of students. We spent most of the time doing SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) about different aspects related to HIV/AIDS. I was talking to some people in the education sector, and they were saying that religious education promoting abstinence was a strength, so I asked what % of students is sexually active, and they gave me a funny look, but no one knew. I was like how can you list this as a strength if you don't even know if it's effective. So I talked to Emma about doing some research and he said he'd talk to some schools and get me in if I come up with a survey.
In other news, Nive and I have been hanging out a lot, which is nice. We're going to go swimming tomorrow. It's kinda funny. No one here knows how to swim, but one of the hotels has a pool you can go to. We're both looking forward to it.

more pics

here

Slainte

This weekend I met the girl that lives next door to me. Her name is Naemh (Nive), and she's from Ireland. We've been hanging out a bit together, and she told me where I can get 'mazungu' (white people) food and where there is a pool. I think I may go do that this weekend or maybe go get something to eat one night this weekend. Last night, we went to watch a movie with some people working with Invisible Children. We watched Everything Is Illuminated, which is one of my favorite movies, so I was quite happy.
Yesterday I went around to a bunch of the gardens (that's what they call their fields for farming) to check on some crops to see if they're ready to be transplanted. I never thought I'd be learning about farming. haha. I haven't really learned much, but it's interesting going around and seeing them. Yesterday and today are a big district wide track & field competition for all the secondary schools, so we spent the afternoon at that.

Pictures

It takes forever to upload pictures, so I'm only going to post a few then I'll put them all up at the end of the summer.
http://community.webshots.com/album/563786339ArkMAy

ko pango

that's luo for how are you. to say i'm fine, you say kope. that and thank you (afoyo) are about all i know how to say. i have such a bad memory!
anyways, nothing too exciting going on here. i drove through an IDP camp yesterday. I didn't take any pictures though b/c we were only there for a few minutes. A huge area of a ton of huts and all dust. This one hut had all these purple flowers around it, which was kind of neat. There's dust and mud everywhere, then this patch of purple and green. The little kids playing outside are naked or their clothes are barely hanging on their body b/c they're so torn up. The very young ones have big distended *not sure if that is the right word) tummies. It's very sad.
i wrote a letter of recommendation today for the lead contact farmer from one of our farming groups. I thought it was kind of funny since I didn't even know the guy. Emma just signed it when I was done. Thankfully I read a couple such letters this morning going through applications for the vocational school so knew how they're written here.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hallelujah!

I have hot water! The hotel manager told me the other day that they were trying to get running water by the end of the summer, and the bathroom has a shower and sink and stuff, but the water didn't work. So yesterday I get home and the water containers are gone from the bathroom. I figured he was just refilling them or forgot to bring them back or something. Then, there's a knock on the door and the manager tells me the running water now works. So I go to take a shower, figuring that at least now I can use the shower instead of trying to splash water over myself (I was asked the other day if I needed a cup to help since my hands are so tiny and I wouldn't be able to splash much water). I turn on the shower and was so surprised when hot water came out! I was soooo happy!
I didn't do much over the weekend, and Monday was a holiday so I spent most of the day at Jackie's. I watched/tried not to watch my lunch get plucked and bled and hacked to pieces. I apologized to the chicken while eating.
Yesterday, I went to the vocational school where they are training students to be tailors. There were only a few students there because they are waiting to get materials so they can do their exams. The one girl had her 3 month old baby on her back. She had to stop every so often to feed the baby or change it. I can't imagine having to go to school with a baby. That would be so distracting!

I give up on trying to call people. It's expensive, and I keep getting cut off. Email me if you want to talk. It's free and easy and no getting cut off. Sorry!

easy like Sunday morning...

coming up with titles for these things every other day is kinda hard. lol.
anyways, the hotel is great. i can now sleep through the night without fearing giant insects or hearing them running around. plus, i have a toilet & toilet paper! my shower is still a bucket of water, but i can live with that. the first thing i'm doing when i get home is taking about 10 hot showers though...and eating something that doesn't involve rice.
anways, nothing too exciting to report. i watched the opening game of euro 2008 last night with one of the guys from work. i love getting to watch all the soccer games here!
i'm not going to keep rambling since i really don't have anything to say. i hope everyone is doing well. i'll try to post some pictures soon, although i haven't really taken many.

Faith

I am continually amazed at how much faith people here have. In Kampala, I met a woman who is very poor and is raising her kids on her own. Her, Jackie, and I were talking one afternoon, and Jackie was telling me that her daughter got the top marks in school. I said she must be very proud of her daughter, and she said no, I just praise God. Restaurants play praise & worship music. Almost every meeting I attend is opened in prayer, and this morning, the chair didn't open with prayer and someone stood and asked that a prayer be said and the meeting uplifted to God before we continued. That would never happen at a public meeting in the US.

The meeting I attended today was about challenges and opportunities facing people returning to their homes after living in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps for the past several years as well as discussing the Juba peace talks and what is going to happen next. They also distributed a report on DDR (disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration). (There are about a million acronyms used in development talk). I find these meetings so interesting, and am learning a lot.

I moved to my hotel this morning. I just dropped my bags in the room on my way to the office, but it looks nice. Most importantly, I have a bathroom! I am very happy about that. I am also looking forward to being able to be alone. I haven't really been by myself at all since I've gotten here, and I think most of you know how much I like having some time alone every day.

Greetings from a mazunga

...not sure if i spelled that right, but it means white lady. Whenever kids see me they go "mazunga! hi!" it's really cute. they get so excited and then laugh if I say hi back.

Yesterday I want to a training session sponsored by ACDI/VOCA and USAID on forming community farming groups. It was really interesting, and I feel like I learned a lot. It was exciting finally getting to be a part of something that was talked about in some of my courses. Today I went to a working group meeting on Peace Building & Reconciliation (PB&R) at the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) headquarters. It's basically a group of representatives from NGOs in the area who are doing something related to PB&R. Today's meeting was rather confusing, but hopefully next time it will be better.

Being outside on a clear night is incredible. You can see about a million more stars here than anywhere else I've ever been, and they are so bright. It's beautiful.

The main mode of transportation around here are boda bodas (motorcycles). They're a bit like taxis: you find one, hop on the back, and off you go. They kinda scare me a lot. The roads aren't that great so it's kind of like off-roading on a motorcycle at 30 or 40 mph, dodging potholes and puddles and people and bicycles and other bodas and cars and trucks. It's pretty crazy.

I will try to update every other day or so now that I have regular access to the internet.

Gulu

I arrived in Gulu yesterday, and for now am staying with Emma, his wife Jackie, and their daughter Hope. Hope is almost 2 and is adorable!
There are a lot more bugs here than in Kampala. I almost decided to give up and come home last night when I woke up to a giant cockroach crawling across my neck at 3am. I couldn't fall back asleep. Mosquito nets don't keep out bugs that can crawl under them! After my first "shower" in almost a week, I felt a lot better. Of course, by shower, I mean washing in a bucket of water. Sarah was right about cutting off my hair to make things easier, but I can't do it. I love my hair too much! I can survive 2 months with it being dirty most of the time. (Michelle, you would never survive here...haha). I think the thing I miss most is toilets & toilet paper. Here, it's a hole in the ground and you just kinda shake it off.
Anyways, I'm very happy I'm here despite the challenges. I'm looking forward to a great summer.
Oh yeah, I wasn't on tv this time b/c they wanted a student who was attending the university in Kampala sponsored by UYAP, but they're going to do another program about the Lost Children's Day in July that I may be on since Emma wants me to help coordinate that.
The soccer game was so much fun. Even better b/c we won!