Interview on The Point with Mindy Todd

My friend and colleague Mindy Todd graciously invited me as a guest on the WCAI program The Point to discuss my experience in Uganda. Here is the link to the audio-

http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php?xml=cape2/thepoint/point_042009.xml&template=cape_audio

VOLSET Update & Volunteering Information

19 April

Festus emailed that Deborah began her studies at university on 1 April! He was able to gather a portion of her school fees for the first term so the school enrolled her. I'm hopeful he'll be able to find a sponsor who will commit to at least one year of fees if not all 4 years so she can stay in the program. Festus is also hoping he can find a sponsor for Gloria, to pay for her medical expenses and ensure she gets the correct nutrition and care. And then there will be school fees for her as well. I'm glad he doesn't seem to get overwhelmed by the responsibilities, I think I would.

The global economic downturn has had a real impact on the work of VOLSET and other small NGO's (non governmental organizations) who rely on volunteers. Quite simply people are not signing up to volunteer- not only does this mean the organizations lose out on human resources, they also lose out on a very important source of income. A portion of the fees volunteers pay goes directly to the program where they are placed.

I know my donation paid for the community outreach HIV/AIDs testing and counseling session we did in early March. With more volunteers VOLSET could do more of these outreach sessions, pay school fees for other students, fund a program to provide egg laying chickens to poor families, embark on more home visits to the sick and infirm, begin to set up the sewing and woodworking vocational classes and the list goes on.

For those interested in learning more about the work of VOLSET please contact Festus
volset2008@gmail.com
VOLSET also has a website but Festus will be able to give you more information about their current programs than the website. volsetuganda.tripod.com/
And they are on Facebook! www.facebook.com/people/Volset_Uganda/1171667344

If you are interested in the world wide volunteer opportunities through the Global Volunteer Network their website is www.volunteer.org.nz/

Saying Goodbye... and Thank You

27 March
The rains finally came- last night it poured for a long time and this morning it is cooler. Instead of fetching water from the spring, Mary had the girls pull water from the cistern and pour through a cloth filter into the barrel. Normally this job is done by the one boy who lives here who does it each evening when he is home from school. Millie wasn’t able to haul the jerry can up (the cistern is deep and not that full even after the rains) so I took a break from my laundry to help. It was heavy but doable and it took 7 jerry cans to fill the barrel. I brought out my camera and Deborah was very excited to take some photos. Here are the first pictures of me in Uganda. I think I still look the same.

Technically running is not playing… but I couldn’t help but include the photo taken from my window of a three year old running down the lane with a large knife in hand.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update this blog again before leaving. I’ll include safari pictures and photos from the big party at Future Diplomats Education Centre later this week if I can or once I return. I’ve been thinking about what I’ll miss, and not miss, about Uganda- here are a few thoughts:

What I won’t miss-

1.Covering my mouth with my skirt in the latrine so I don’t inadvertently inhale a fly
2.Breakfast, or really the lack thereof
3.The red dust… in my mouth, my nose, my hair, my eyes and stuck to my skin

What I will miss-
1.The night sky
2.The amazing fruit
3.A Ugandan smile which transforms even the most sour or angry appearing face
4.My evening walk to the view of Lake Victoria and the calls of Naaaluuunnnggaaa along the way
5.Snuggling with Gloria at dusk as we wait, and wait and wait for dinner.

This trip has been an incredible learning experience and adventure for me and I wouldn’t be here without the support and love of some important people. My grandparents Walter and Patricia Sowecke unknowingly made it possible for me to come to Africa. I thank them for their generosity and I thank Walter for instilling his dreams of travel and adventure in me. I also thank the best boss in the world, Susan Loucks, for not just making it possible for me to leave work for such an extended time, but for encouraging me to go when I was getting cold feet. I also thank Nancy, Gary and Alexei for giving Hintza a special place by the woodstove while I was gone and David busy. Finally I thank my best friend and partner, David. Your encouragement, excitement and faith in my ability to set out on my own were the greatest supports before and during this journey. The next adventure is one we’ll take together.

25 March
My time at VOLSET is coming to an end quickly. I’ve dreamt of being at home and missing Uganda only to wake up in Uganda and feel relieved.

This morning Mary and I did another home visit to an infirm man living with his sister in our village, Nsumba. I’ve started asking if I can take people’s photographs and, despite his illness, he and his sister were pleased to be asked. We all enjoy seeing ourselves! His English was good and had a stack of papers near his bed where he reads and writes although I don’t think he ever leaves his bed. He came to live with his sister when he was no longer able to care for himself. These visits make me realize what a posh life we live at the white house with occasional lights, furniture and even paint on some of the walls. We are most fortunate.

Although March is normally the start of the rainy season we have had no rain the entire time I’ve been here except for a torrential rain the first night I spent in Mukono the beginning of March. The dust from the road is coating everything and we have run out of water in our cistern. There is an elaborate gutter system that drains into a large tank and, when it is full, a much easier way to get water. This morning before our visit Mary, Deborah, Millie and Jane all went to fetch water from the natural spring down the lane. Probably a 10 minute walk but it is all up hill. People planted crops mid-March anticipating the start of the rain and many of those crops (beans, g-nuts, maize) are languishing without the rain. Nobody seems particularly concerned… I don’t think there has been a serious drought here for as long as anyone can recall.

How do you like Gloria’s new hair?

This week has been light work wise. I gave a presentation on Monday at a secondary school about personal hygiene, health, nutrition and water quality after spending most of the morning at the nursery school. Yesterday we gave another presentation to the Helm Secondary School (this is the third week we’ve visited) using the hour to answer the questions they’d submitted last week. It is obvious the curriculum lacks a reproductive health component and hopefully that will be included in the VOLSET talks in the coming weeks. Festus does an excellent job of answering the questions honestly and frankly but with a sense of humor which keeps the students engaged and also more at ease. The students and the headmaster gave me a very nice farewell and I was struck at how disappointed I felt knowing I wouldn’t be returning. This is the type of education I enjoy- sharing information with students that is relevant to their lives in a way that treats them as young adults. I only wish condoms were made more available to these students, and young adults throughout Uganda. In a culture that considers 10 year old girls “mature and ready for sex” they shouldn’t be surprised when teenagers at a boarding high school are engaging in sex and getting pregnant.

A 15 year old neighborhood girl was recently hospitalized after she tried to give herself an abortion. There is a plant (common enough that Jane pointed it out on the side of the lane) whose leaves you chop up and make into a tea which is thought to induce an abortion. Apparently she started to bleed profusely- her parents brought her to the clinic 4km to the south only to have the clinic say they couldn’t help and she should go to the hospital 8km in the other direction. I haven’t heard how she is doing.

Last weekend I went to Jinja with 2 other Real Uganda volunteers, Mayra (coincidentally from Boston, originally from Venezuela) and Zoe, an 18 year old from Ithaca, NY. Zoe was in town because she decided to leave her placement (an AIDS orphanage about 50km northwest of Kampala) after the director of her program received word that the villagers were planning a Muzungo sacrifice. In her village sacrifices are not uncommon- when they opened the market 12 children were sacrificed. Many parents will inflict cuts on their children so they are blemished/scarred as only un pierced, unblemished virgin children are appropriate for sacrifice. It was interesting to me that Lee (Real Uganda coordinator) told Zoe she should return- that it was just a scare tactic and they wouldn’t harm a white American with so many piercings (Zoe does have a lot of piercings)…. But I don’t blame her for not wanting to return. Especially since she walks unaccompanied for an hour each way between the orphanage and where she lives.

Off we went to Jinja to white water raft on the Nile. First we stopped in the town to get some western food (there are a lot of Aussie’s here catering to the Muzungo tourists) which included my first cup of non-instant coffee and a brownie. We then went north along the Nile to the base camp for the white water rafting- which also has the most incredible outdoor shower. It is set into a high bluff overlooking a bend in the Nile. There are doors to get into the shower but then open overlooking the water. No matter there was no hot water. Simply having water coming out of a shower head and a view in the evening light was more than enough for me.
The next day was the rafting adventure. There were class 1-5 rapids and if we didn’t flip the raft in almost all the class 4 and 5 I would have said it was great. OK, it was pretty amazing to be rafting on the Nile and it was beautiful. The last rapid was a class 6 which we portaged around, followed by a class 5 called “the bad place.” I decided to sit that one out and let my sinus drain the portion of Nile which had been shot up my nose for the past 4 hours.

This outfit was also run by Australians but there were plenty of Ugandan guides whose English had a bit of an Australian accent. There were three rafts of Muzungos, one safety raft, and then ½ dozen safety kayakers who would go through the rapids first and then standby to rescue the muzungos who got tossed out. They kayaks were the smallest I’ve seen, maybe a meter and a half in length, and I was impressed with how quickly they made sure everyone was accounted for and had us back to the rafts. But I will say it was exhausting getting tossed out and hauling yourself back in. That evening I decided to head back to Mukono as hanging out in the camp bar, listening to loud distorted music with a bunch of muzungo twenty-something’s wound up about rafting and cheap beer was not so appealing. 24 hours of being a tourist was plenty for me.

On Saturday I hope to spend the day in Kampala and return for the big party at the Future Diplomats school on Sunday. I bid adieu to VOLSET, Ntenjeru and my many mukwanos (friends) Sunday night as I return to Kampala to embark on a 3 day safari to the north west of Uganda. Thursday night I fly to Nairobi and then Amsterdam and on home.

Your Comments

Just realized that some readers (Hi Susie!) are posting comments. I'll try to read them in the 6 minutes I have left and respond next time to some of the questions. There are radios here, many people have cell phones but no electricity so charging is a problem. More next week!

Ugandan Women

19 March
One thing I’m glad I am not is a Ugandan woman. Women here work incredibly hard from dawn until 9 or 10 at night. They are responsible for keeping the home which is a huge task given 99% of the people cook over a wood fire and don’t have running water. Water needs to be fetched and carried and firewood gathered (often from relatively far away). Washing dishes with Jane the other night I tried to explain how we wash at home with a sink. She had never heard of a sink… although she did know that Americans have machines that wash dishes. Women also tend the gardens, clean the home, look after the children, gather and prepare meals, do the laundry and tend any animals they may have.
Only in the last 20 years or so has it been legal for women to work outside the home… which only means they still have to do all the regular tasks PLUS go to a job. Men don’t have any responsibilities around the home although some are farmers, peasants, woodworkers or laborers. Women also have no rights to property. If a husband dies his family can, and often does, force the widow and children out of the home and take ownership. If a man leaves his wife, once again she gets nothing except responsibility for raising the children. A married woman without children is also not allowed to spend the night alone in her own home (if her husband has to go away) - the fear being she will invite another man. Seems like a groundless fear… who in their right mind would want more than one? Or even one for that matter. It is also very common for a husband to be unfaithful and many have more than one wife (even if they are Muslim).
I learned much of this from Deborah and Jane the other night over dinner while Festus was away and Mary was working late. I tried to describe how life is different for women in America but felt uncomfortable saying too much. Sometimes an education of this kind can be difficult- knowing something better exists but you’ll never have the opportunity to enjoy it. I only hope their interactions with foreigners make them think twice about whom they marry, what work they choose to pursue and how they prepare themselves to be independent of a man even if they choose to marry. As we wound up our conversation around 9:30pm Mary arrived home to say Festus was on his way home and wanting dinner. He hadn’t told anyone he would be home for dinner so Deborah hadn’t prepared enough for him. Back to the kitchen and fire to make another meal- she still hadn’t completed by the time Jane and I finished the dishes from dinner #1. Ugandan Men.
The younger Ugandan women also don’t understand why I am married but have no children. Most everyone comes from families of 8-10 so having none or even just one child is odd to them. Culturally they believe women can only get fulfillment by having children. I tried to explain by saying if I had children I wouldn’t be able to visit Uganda- by not having children I have some freedom and ability to do other things with my life. This is a hard concept for a Ugandan woman to understand- freedom and the ability to make choices about what she does. It’s the M&M problem- Men and Money.
In recognition of the hard working men in Uganda (for there are some) the photos posted are both taken today. The “tinker” who carries his wares (I hope he sets shop up somewhere and doesn’t spend his day so burdened, could be deadly in equatorial Africa) and a man I met on my way home who requested I take his picture. He was coming from a day of toil in his fields. The Tinker asked me if it gets so cold in America that people could die if they didn’t have the right clothes. I told him yes and he shook his head in disbelief.

Katosi Visit

18 March 2009
Quick update with the potentially dangerous items I’ve seen children playing with in the last few days. Razor blades (this was at the VOLSET school; teachers use them to sharpen pencils. I’ve searched in vain for a pencil sharpener to replace the blades), plastic bags (over the head is always fun followed closely by eating them) and finally a monkey tail. At first we thought it was a rope the boys were hitting each other with, but soon realized it was the tail of the monkey killed behind our house 10 days ago. We heard a lot of commotion, dogs barking, people yelling and word went out they were after a monkey. I wasn’t too concerned for the monkey, after all they are fairly adept at climbing trees and since these men didn’t have guns how were they going to kill it. Yet an hour later they paraded out of the jungle (I use that term loosely here) with one boy holding the hands of the monkey and another holding the feet. Simba, our neighborhood dog was in on the hunt and returned home with a nasty gash on his head but was rewarded with monkey dinner. The boys were rewarded with the tail. From what I can gather people don’t like monkeys about as they tend to steal crops- if you hang up a dead monkey it also serves as a deterrent for other monkeys. The boy was very proud to have his picture taken with the tail.
On Sunday Zach, Jane, Doreen and I all walked to Katosi on the shores of Lake Victoria about an hour and 20 min walk from home. We met up with Deborah, Peace Corps volunteer at the end of her 2 years, who showed us around the town and brought us to see some monkey’s up close (they’ll come out of the trees for bananas). Deborah has done some great work for the community. She works with a woman’s cooperative and taught them how to make and sell soap and how to construct water filtration system using sand and bacteria. Not only do the woman (and larger community) now have clean drinking water, they can go to other communities and build the filtration systems which gives the woman income and other communities access to cleaner water. We then did a short hike up a hill to get a view of the lake (picture above doesn’t do it justice) and did the walk home.
On Monday I returned to the VOLSET school for the morning (and reconsidered my views on corporal punishment… only slightly kidding. I could never, never, never be a nursery school teacher. At least in Uganda where there are no doors on classrooms or fences in the school yards and keeping the kids in the classroom is a big challenge. Although no one seems to care if they do stay in the classroom).
On Tuesday I returned to the secondary school in Kysoga to give a talk about HIV/AIDS. We had about 250 students at once which makes it difficult (especially since I’m loath to lecture and prefer doing an activity) as does the language barrier. Students learn English but their comprehension varies and is fairly limited. Mary and others interpret but I’m never exactly sure what she is telling them so it’s hard to follow up or add a comment. We were scheduled from 3-4 and had enough material for that hour. We ended by having the students write down questions so we could better formulate next week’s lesson. As we started our goodbye’s the headmaster asked us to remain for another hour! Fortunately we had the questions so we could answer some of them.
Many of the questions were not about HIV/AIDS but about sex, pregnancy, contraception. Festus has said to me “we do not talk about condoms, our president doesn’t want us to talk about condoms and so we won’t.” This is a man not shy to talk about sex or HIV/AIDS transmission, but he believes (due in large part to his 7th Day Adventist faith) condoms should only be used by married people and everyone else should abstain. The headmaster at the school told us he has a problem with girls having to drop out due to pregnancy and would like us to talk about that in the future- women’s reproductive health, pregnancy…. I just don’t see how we can avoid talking about condoms and how we can ignore the truth- these kids (and probably most other teenagers) are sexually active. The fact we believe them too young for such pursuits is beside the point and I believe we do them a great dis-service if we only talk about abstinence as a means of birth control and as protection against the HIV virus.
It seems many people expect and accept people engaging in sex at an earlier age. I was doing some reading about child abuse in Uganda and a study found that parents were less likely to contact authorities about abuse if the child was over the age of ten! Girls over ten are considered “mature and ready for sexual activity.” Then we should at least be providing teenagers 14-18 information about condoms and birth control. In my opinion.
Tomorrow I head back to the primary school where I gave the child abuse talk last week. Lighter topic this time, personal hygiene and sanitation. I’ll be a tourist this weekend heading into Jinja (the source of the Nile) to do some white water rafting with other Real Uganda volunteers as well as enjoying some COFFEE! And maybe eating something other than beans and rice for lunch and dinner. Fortunately I really like beans and rice. Otherwise I’d be pretty skinny or pretty unhappy.
And yes, another picture of Gloria. I arrived home the other afternoon to find Deborah preparing some peas while she and Gloria shared ear buds and some music. Gloria is a hoot but when she returned to the hospital for a tetanus shot yesterday she had lost weight since the last time she was there. In my research on nutrition I found that mal nourished children’s upper arm circumference is 13.5 cm or less. Gloria checked in this morning at 13.5cm. It also stipulates that healthy children should eat all day, at least 5 times a day and mal nourished children more. My stock of Cliff bars won’t last the entire time I’m here and even supplementing her diet with those is not enough calories for her. I’ve even thought about leaving a donation earmarked solely for her food/nutrition but I don’t think it’s an issue of folks not being able afford food to feed her, it’s just not in their culture to eat often or a lot.
PS- MOM, no need to send email to Lee. It’s difficult to check and send email. I’ll get your news when I get home and can readily get to email. Love you!

An Ugandan Childhood

12 March
Photos- Zach, Mary and visitor Doreen on the way to primary school today, Deborah giving Gloria a bath, and some kids at the VOLSET school- the girl in the front on the left with porridge all over her face, that’s Raina and she is trouble.
Today we gave the talk about child abuse to the primary school about an hour and a half walk from home. I put together the presentation and pictures but Mary interpreted and her animation and enthusiasm kept the children’s attention. This is not the type of talk you’d hear in an American elementary school- there was mention of chopping off heads (what the abuser often threatens children he’ll do if they tell) and fairly graphic descriptions of the type of abuse that happens. From what I can tell this seems to be a much bigger issue than we have in the states with teenagers often raping children in addition to adults. Enough said.
Gloria is doing very well. A week ago she went to a clinic in Mukono and was given a dose of antibiotics although no diagnosis as to why she is not gaining weight and still has such an extended belly. The antibiotics have perked her up and she’s much more animated and interested in interacting instead of sitting sucking a finger. I’m no physician and no parent but it seems obvious to me why she isn’t progressing- she barely gets any food as far as I can tell. She gets a cup of milk in the morning and a quarter of a sandwich that has some margarine smeared in. Not sure what she gets for lunch as I’m not around and then dinner is another glass of milk. When I’ve sat beside her to eat breakfast she is reaching for my food and the Ugandans say “oh she is satisfied, it’s just when she sees someone else eating she wants to eat too.” I think she wants to eat because she’s hungry. I asked Mary today if I could start giving her my stash of Clif and Odwalla bars. They are full of vitamins and protein and if she has ½ in the morning and in the evening it’s probably the easiest way for me to improve her nutrition. I don’t think anyone here is trying to starve her but food and eating are approached very differently in this culture. Breakfast is a cup of tea at dawn. If you’re a child at school you get a cup of porridge (very runny cream of wheatish stuff that I think is really soy) around 10am but if you’re an adult you coast along on the tea until lunch around 2pm. That’s typically a plate of rice and beans or posho and beans or matooke and beans. Then dinner is around 8:30pm (or 10pm which is when we ate tonight). While folks want food to taste good it’s less about nutrition and more about what is going to make you feel satisfied.
Quick note about children here- I think some American parents should spend a week or so in Uganda so they can check out the approach to child rearing. Basically, once you can walk, you’re on your own unless there is a sibling about to keep an eye on you. Not uncommon to see a 4, 5 or 6 year olds tending a younger siblings. There are diapers in Uganda but you find them in the store not on the bottoms of children. They don’t wear bottoms which I suppose means no diaper rash but probably less lap time. I was a little alarmed when one of the kids dropped his sticky lunch in the dirt only to put it back in the container and commence eating until I saw the head teacher’s 6 month old son wallowing in the dirt and teething on the sole of my shoe and his mother didn’t blink an eye. It’s true you can’t beat the dirt and the dust here so why make yourself crazy? Oh and toys- it’s whatever you can find- rusty nails, knives… there doesn’t seem to be anything a kid can find to play with that an adult finds too dangerous and takes away. That said, I haven’t seen any kids playing with fire… yet.

Community Outreach, Testing & Counseling

11 March
Photo Description: All from Community outreach day- Zach & Festus giving HIV/AIDS information talk, Sam giving test results and counseling, Mary giving children Vitamin A supplements & de-worming meds
“That is Africa.” You hear this statement a lot from whites and Africans alike. For example, as the reason why someone arrives 2 hours later than expected; why 21 people are crammed into the taxi when the legal limit is 14; why pedestrians (even the very old and the very well dressed) walk in the gutter whenever they hear or see a vehicle coming and why you find out just a few minutes before that you are to teach a class of 60. It’s fly by the seat of your pants to the highest degree I’ve ever experienced- probably good for someone who normally stands firmly on the prepared, planned and punctual grounds. Our day on Tuesday was another example of TIA. We were doing community outreach- staff going into a very rural community, giving a presentation about HIV/AIDS, information about ARV’s and then HIV testing followed by counseling to those tested. We piled in the hospital ambulance (4x4 pickup truck- I couldn’t help wonder what would happen if the ambulance was needed back at the hospital) and set out down the main road, then onto a smaller dirt lane and then onto what I would call footpaths (I think the locals would too as they certainly looked impressed to see a truck in places only a moped or bicycle would venture.) We passed by small homes and gardens, grazing cattle and a tea plantation. We were forced to stop when we arrived at the shore of Lake Victoria. Everyone got out and went down to the lake shore- no one seemed concerned that we hadn’t passed by anything that would qualify as a village. After much maneuvering on the footpath, the ambulance got turned around and we headed back the way we came, finally stopping at a group of huts. There were one or two people around so Zach and I took a walk to see some of the area. When we returned a ½ hour later some benches were set up under a tree and Festus had started his talk about HIV/AIDS. Slowly, although imperceptibly, word got out and by the end of the ½ hour talk there were 25 people or so. As testing began more people arrived and in the end we had administersed over 60 tests and had to stop because we ran out of needles. The talk is very basic, explaining how the virus works in your body, how it is transmitted (and not trsmitted) and how ARV’s work. A key component, I believe, is the talk done by Sam a 30ish healthy looking man who has been living with HIV since he was 1992. He stresses that HIV is not a death sentence and if you follow the protocols for taking ARV’s and a healthy diet you can continue living, working and being happy.
People waited on the benches for their test results and I could only imagine the sense of apprehension they were feeling- some people whooped and hollered in joy when they got negative results (although Festus does warn that you should get re-tested after 1 month as if the virus has recently been introduced to your body it won’t show up in this test) and other faces were expressionless. One man I recognized from our earlier misguided foray to the Lake- he was a youngish, handsome guy with a wife and two small children who directed us back to the village. He shared a laugh with us after he made some comments in Lugandan about the Muzungu to which Zach replied in Lugandan. After he got his results from Sam his reaction was unreadable, but a few minutes later he returned to the Sam and spoke with him for a few more minutes. Without bidding his friends good bye, he started walking back toward home alone. We had close to 60 people test negative and 5 test positive. Despite the upbeat message from Sam, I could only think of a positive test result as a promise of a long, hard, painful road ahead- as if life in rural Uganda is not difficult enough. In theory ARV’s are made available for free, but how would these people get to Ntenjeru once a month to receive the drugs? We drove over an hour to get to this community and Festus noted that this was “close by.” And sometimes people do make the long, expensive trek into a village to get drugs only to be told the clinic or hospital is out of them. Come back. I wondered how this man would tell his wife. Or if he’d tell his wife- if he would take measures to protect her or if it was already too late for her and their children.

Activites of Daily Life

Here is the "White House" the dormitory for the girls and boys, Mary and Festus' home and my room (second window from left). Zach, Peace Corps has the front of the building on the left. Then the students from the primary school I visited, some oxen heading to graze this morning and Deborah at one of the markets in Ntenjeru getting vegetables yesterday.

05 March
I realized after posting the last note that I had not paid any attention to my spelling or grammar and as a result some of my ramblings might not make sense. I apologize for the carelessness and have found the spell check so going forward should be an improvement.
Although most people living here do not have a lot of money, they have a lot of pride in their homes and their appearance. People dress in the best clothes they can afford and keep them as clean as they can given the red dust and the amount of walking or driving in the hot sun required to get around. Personal hygiene is also important and people bathe once a day if their circumstances allow. This is a custom they make sure visitors understand, and each evening between 6:30 and 7pm Deborah puts hot water in the bathing area for all of us to wash. Homes are kept very clean and tidy- shoes are taken off before entering the home or room (most homes have doors to the outside, not between one another).
On Thursday Festus asked Jane (VOLSET primary school teacher) to take me to a primary school for a visit. Jane met me at the VOLSET school, immaculately dressed in a long form fitting dress and nice shoes, and off we went. And went and went. After walking for over an hour on a dirt road through some very small communities we arrived at the school. I don’t think the headmistress knew we were coming but the students, maybe 60, all crowded around (I hope to post a photo). The headmistress asked me to return next week to teach. I asked her what she would like me to teach and she said child abuse. To be clear I asked if she meant hitting or beating. No, she meant sexual abuse. So I’ve come up with two lessons, one for the P1 and P2 (kindergarten and first grade) and one for the P3 and P4 children. Fortunately a previous Peace corps volunteer left a book of life skills activities and lessons and there is one I can adapt for this age group.
After Jane and I made the long walk back, I invited the two other teachers from the VOLSET primary school to lunch in the village. For the four of us to eat matooke, rice and meat (although I had beans) it was 5,500 shillings. That’s about $2.25. I learned that the fastest way to convert to dollars is knock off the zeros and divide by 2.
Festus has given me a Ugandan name- Nalunga. Pronounced nah-luuuunga, drawing out the u. He does this partially to incorporate me into the community and partially because he doesn’t like the small children yelling “muzunga” as I pass by. So now I tell the children in my best (not so great) Lugandan, “I’m not Muzunga, I’m Nalunga!” Some get it right away, some can’t figure out what I’m saying (or maybe don’t care) and others figure out that muzunga and Nalunga rhyme very nicely and sing out repeatedly “Muzunga Nalunga, Mazunga Nalunga!” I have to admit it is fun to say.
I am back in Mukono, just for the day, to stock up on bottled water, biscuits and use the internet. I might even splurge 8,000 shillings for a swim at the Colline Hotel. I had thought about spending the night but in addition to being noisy, the road house is like a college dorm, complete with college age residents. If there is someone reading this considering volunteering with the Real Uganda and you’re under the age of 25 you’ll love it. If not, consider staying someplace else or seek a village placement. Seriously, if you (or someone you know) are considering volunteering (not just in Uganda but anywhere the Global Volunteer Network has programs) let me know as I have a $350 transferable coupon which can use to pay the application fee.
On Sunday we paint the sitting room at the White House (hopefully a photo will be posted of the house) which recently was done over with new cement on the overhead and parts of the walls. I hope the next post will show the progress and painting party!

More Photos of Mukono & Ntenjeru

I'm at the VOLSET office in Ntenjeru which has power so I can charge the laptop battery and post more photos. Above is a picture of my room at the dorm the sign to the dorm on the village road and the way I'm appeasing my sweet tooth- Family Biscuits Uganda. Zach and Festus burst out laughing when I asked if there was ice cream in the village. Below is the Kampala - Nairobi road in Mukono Town and the kitchen at the VOLSET dorm. The students who live at the dorm get breakfast and lunch at school but fend for themselves at dinner- some are as young as 8 or 9 but they seem to manage just fine. They also do their own laundry and haul their water from the creek. Before dawn I saw one of the girls proceeding to school with an immaculate uniform and her books balanced on her head.

Some of the VOLSET Family (and friends)

03 March

I hope I’m able to post photos today. There is Gloria, Deborah cooking in the hut over a wood fire (she doesn’t have a gas stove) and then the local children after I handed out sickers. For some reason they love to stick them on their heads! I learned more about Deborah today. Deborah was one of the VOLSET children who graduated from high school thanks to a sponsor and now hopes to attend hotel/restaurant management school in Mukono. It is very expensive so she’ll need to find a sponsor to do so.

I’ll need to think of a new goal for the month- Gloria not only smiled today she giggled and clapped her hands with me. I think she must have been petrified on Monday seeing a muzungo woman for the first time. And this particular muzungo woman is really muzungo (white) after a cold new england winter.

Today I went to the school started by VOLSET in the village. There are two classes one with children 4 and 5 years old, the other has boys and girls 6 and 7. These children were not stunned by whiteness exticating myself from their graps was a work out. While they know very little english now, they will be fluent by grade 6. At this age they speak mostly in Lugunda, the local language for this part of Uganda. Most people converse in Lugunda but they will switch to English once they realize they’re in the presence of an Muzungo dolt who smiles a lot but doesn’t understand a word.

I will help out at the school during Monday and Tuesday mornings. Tomorrow I meet with the teachers there to determine what they’d like me to do. The teachers will have to translate any lessons I teach- not sure this is really helping them but we’ll see. Monday and Tuesday afternoons I work with Mary, a nurse and Festus’ wife , who goes on home visits to women living with HIV who have recently given birth. The purposes of these visits is to asses the health of the mother and baby as well as the cleanliness of the home and the nutrition of both. It is not inevitable that the AIDS virus will be transmitted to the child (for example the virus is not transmitted through breast milk unless the breast is bruised and blood gets into the milk or if the mother has a cracked and bleeding nipple) so these visits are a means to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Wednesdays and Thursdays I will work with Zach, the peace corps volunteer, doing school visits in the village. Zach has been giving first aid talks and I think I’ll focus on women’s health for the high school girls (rerproductive health, pregnancy, AIDS transmission as well as some exercises in assertiveness). For the high school boys and primary aged children I’m not sure what lessons I will teach. When setting up the visits with the teachers I will ask them what they think would be best for the students or what they’d like to cover but are unable to. Let’s hope it’s not mathmatics. If so, the lesson will be for the students to teach me!

Fridays are a day of rest at VOLSET, Saturday is for church (Festus is a 7^th Day Adventist and takes the children living at VOLSET to church with- the service lasts almost all day) and then Sunday another day of rest. That gives me long weekends to travel about or return to the Mukono guesthouse (I call it the Mukono roadhouse since it sits on the busy route in and out of Kampala). There are some other GVN volunteers who live at the guesthouse and walk to their assignments. While Mukono has restaurants and the hotel where there is a pool I’m not sure I can expect any sleep while I’m there. I hope to make a few trips while here- there is an overnight river rafting trip in Jinja, a three day safari in the north and then several beautiful National parks in the southern region.

And I’ll end with my favorite topic, food. Dinner last night was delicious- chappatis, rice and beans, plantains

Arriving at VOLSET in Ntenjeru

02 March 09
After a farily sleepless night at the Mukono guesthouse (15’ from the major thoroughfare between Kampala and Nairobi) Festus, director of VOLSET, picked me up. We did some shopping in Mukon before driving to Ntenjeru. It’s a red dirt road to my village and while there are potholes and bumps it’s nothing like the road to Trail Lake Ranch (for those of you familiar with the old Audubon camp inDubois).
I live at the dormotory for the school which VOLSET runs for children born with or living with HIV/AIDS. I met Deborah who recently graduated from school but has stayed on to provide meals for Festus, his wife Mary (a nurse and midwife) and me. There is also a peace corps volunteer named zach from California but he prepares his own meals. The other resident is 1 year old Gloria who was found abandoned in the jungle about 3 months ago. She now spends her days with Deborah who clearly loves her and gives her good care. The only way I could get Gloria even slightly engaged or animated was to hold her up and encourage her to take steps. She has a very distended belly and doesn't bother to brush away the flies that rest on her. My goal is to see her smile at least once before I go!
Basics- food at VOLSET is very good. Today for lunch we had chicken, rice with carrots, cooked eggplant, some left over pasta and avacado. This is a big improvement over the meals I had the first couple of days with no vegetable- only white rice or white corn maize, white bread. Apparently the carbohydrates are considered the food of the wealthy and vegetables and fruits (the things that grow and are considered “free”) are the food of the pour. According to Lee (Real Uganda program coordinator) there are cases of malnutrition in wealthier people here because they don’t eat a balanced diet.
For those of you familiar with Africa you are familiar with the pit style toilets. I, now, am too. As David likes to point out I’ve never been shy about taking a short trip (pee) outside and I’ve gotten adept at hanging toes or heels off the blocks depending on how long or short the trip is to the toilet. Bathing is done with jerry cans and big basins. The splash or scoop and poor method. So far not too bad and I’ll attempt to wash my hair tonight. I suppose it’s a good thing David cut off close to 4” (he might argue 3”) before I left although I didn’t think it was a good thing at the time. Thanks D, it’s much easier.
Tomorrow I go to the office with Festus to plan what my days will encompass. I believe he’d like me to teach…. We’ll see. I will update this as best I can but we rely on solar power at VOLSET and charging the battery on this laptop will be a challenge!

Olyotya Uganda

Luganda is a major language  in Uganda.  The folks at the Real Uganda have passed along a few words and phrases, 

Olyotya, pronounced ol-lee-o-tee-uh (really fast) means "how are you?"

Olyotya Uganda? is the question I seem to be asking myself as I prepare for this trip.  Not just how are you, but what are    you? And where might I fit in? 

Matooke is a staple food, basically a green banana. I understand I'll be eating a lot of matooke. Don't I always complain     there aren't enough good ethnic restaurants on the Cod?  Matooke, here I come.....

What I'm Leaving Behind....

28 February is fast approaching which is making me appreciate all that I'm leaving behind on the Cod....

the 0700 Black Beach Walk

the project "next door"

and most importantly, my favorite boys