Monday, August 24, 2009

Well, It's been a while...

It's been a while since I last posted a blog, but I wanted to give a little update since we've been State side. We are still duking it out with the IRB board in Uganda. It is exhausting to be dealing with people who argue over the minute details. However, I refuse to let it dampen the success that we've had with the foundation. They seem to be very pleased with the work that we did, and are already starting to implement some of our recommendations. It's weird to have people actually listening to my opinion.

For Dustin and I there is no rest for the weary. We have to start writing up a formal report, search for grants, and facilitate some of the recommendations. I will be teaching a class this semester, so I have to get prepared for that. The most exciting thing is that we have decided to raise some money for the foundation for next summer. For those of you who have been keeping up with the blog, you might remember some of the people that we met along the way. David, the phenomenal young man who had been sneeking into school because he couldn't pay, or the old woman who was caring for eight children, four of whom were abandoned at her home and four who's parents had died of HIV. These people were so generous with their time and knowledge, we feel that we would like to be able to help these people as we meet them next summer.

So.... now the tricky part...We are asking people to donate money to the foundation for this purpose. The great thing is that it doesn't take very much. We managed to pay David's school fees so that he could finish out his high school education, and it only cost $150. He was in tears when we gave him the money. It costs that much for an elementary age child to go to school for a year. We left almost all our clothes with the grandmother for the children because they were dressed in rags. Some of them are not going to school and some of them are. It's also difficult for them just to have enough to eat.

Having said all this I hope you are encouraged. No amount is too small. A dollar goes a long way. You might also remember the time we interviewed a prostitute. Her going rate was a dollar. We gave her ten dollars for her time so that she could go home early that night. We probably gave her as much money as she earns in several days. Let me know if you are interested. You can contact me by email, it's listed in my profile with this blog. Or you can call me. Or you can get in touch with my mom, and she can direct you.

She's actually been a great help in motivating all this.

P.S. and if you donate, it's tax deductible.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Hey gang

I'm going to have to postpone my blog updates till after this week. We're just too busy trying to gather some last minute information and present all of our recommendations. Things are interesting. I'm getting to buy a lot of stuff to bring home finally. It's fun.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hey, I know it's been a while... I have picked up a cold over the past few days, and I haven't been feeling very good.

June 22
Today has been an extremely productive day. The meetings at the foundation got canceled once again without our notification. Everyone is in a scramble to get ready for this Winner's Society election, but it allowed us to conduct some interviews. I interviewed my first HIV positive person, who actually told me that they were HIV positive. It was a great interview and very informative. I also got to talk casually to some of the mentors. They really like talking to us. Everyone is so eager to give their opinion.

We have been preparing for our meeting with people in the Ministry of Health, and I took the time to ask them what are the biggest problems. It was really cool when a lot of their ideas matched mine. They're big one is poverty and so is mine.

We also went to have coffee with one of our friends, Willy. His father was in town visiting from Rwanda. We talked with him briefly. I enjoy meeting people's families and watching our friends interact with their families. It always gives you a new perspective.

The last thing we did today is meet with another young man who has become our friend. We feel bad for him because he has lost his parents and he has no way to pay for his school fees. Often times he doesn't have a place to sleep or anything to eat. We usually give him something to eat. He never asks for anything. I suppose that's why we help him. Usually people assume that because we have money and they don't, we should be helping them. Dustin and I have been trying to think of ways that we can give him a little work, so that he can make a little money, but we're having a hard time coming up with things. We don't want to just give him money, but we don't want him to drop out of school either. Because he can't afford to go to school right now he sends in his assignments to be graded with his friends. I don't think I had that sort of dedication.

June 21

Today we went to a school to observe. My cold is still bothering me so I've loaded up on cold medicine so that I can push through. I just don't have time to be sick right now. I feel like I do toward the end of the semester. I start getting sick and tired. But the observation was so much fun! We were supposed to have gone to this school two weeks ago, and we were told that it was very disappointing to the children when we didn't show up. So we had to make sure that we went before we left. The smallest children were so happy to see us. They laughed at my accent when I talked. I was able to ask them a few questions, and they were very knowledgeable. Some times they gave answers that were much more sophisticated than I thought.

The mentor was very good while he was teaching. It is fun to watch people speaking in public here. They are very charismatic. I feel like it helps my own public speaking to watch and then imitate.

June 20

Luckily we have stayed at home all day because this cold is really bothering me. My nose is like a faucet. We are trying desperately to get the proposal finished so that we can be done with it.

June 19

We had a great day with Joan. Today is the day that we went with her to see her children in the village. They live on a farm with their grandparents and go to school out there. The first thing we did was visit the school where they go. They had some boarding children there, and we caused a great commotion when we arrived. Some of the littlest children got scared from all the excitement and started crying. I felt like the big stuffed mascot at a sports even that is trying to hug the kid and they start crying.

From there we went to the grandparents farm. It was really fun. They had everything they needed right there. Both of the children were fairly good at English, especially the older one Louis, who is only six. It was a surprise to the children that we were coming, and I'm not sure they knew what to think at first. They were a little overwhelmed. Once they loosened up a bit they wanted to show us around. Louis led me around by the hand every where. They took us to see their cow. They each had their own pig. They took us through the banana garden and picked guavas for us.

We had lunch with the family. They were very kind to us. We had the typical traditional meal. Stewed hen, rice, potatoes, matoke (green bananas) pineapple, avocados, and peas. It was all very good. The pineapple especially was the best. I think it was the best I've ever had in my life. I'm ruined from now on on pineapple. We had brought a cake for dessert. It was actually really good, although it didn't look that good at first. It was like a spiced cake with rasins.

I was very sad actually to leave. It was so nice to get out of the city for a while. Plus it made me realize that there is so much more to learn. People live so differently outside the city. They are almost entirely self sufficient. The land is so fruitful where we were. It's a shame to know that in other parts of the country people go hungry. They have so much food sometimes, they often throw it away, or feed their pigs with it.

Monday, July 20, 2009

In denile at the Nile!

June 17th

To follow up on my last post...We had a meeting at the foundation with all of the mentors. I saw the woman that we had helped before and she sat down to talked to us. We actually got ssshed by Rev. They are trying to get ready for their big Winner's Society elections. They have this club that meets in every school called the Winner's society. Once a year they hold general elections for all the schools and they elect a president. I think it will be interesting and fun. I'm looking forward to talking to some of them. Hopefully they won't be too shy.

Andrew and I made our final plans to go to the Nile. Dusting decided not to go, to save it for another time, so Andrew said he would go with me.

June 18th
Nile Day! I woke up super early to work on the proposal before I left. I couldn't stand not doing any work for a day, but I restricted myself to 45 minutes. After that I packed all my things. I felt like I was getting ready for a safari. I packed all sorts of things like I was going into the bush for several nights. I guess it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Of course we got a late start, there was a mix up on where we were supposed to meet. But we got on our way. We hit a traffic jam before we even got all the way out of the city. We took the public transportation, and they were driving down all of these dirt roads to try to bypass the traffic. I was worried that I was going to be carsick. That's actually one of my big fears while I'm here, that i'm going to get sick and throw up on all the people in the taxis.

Anyway we finally got going once we got out of the city. We passed many farms on the way to Jinja. Mostly tea and sugar cane. Jinja is the name of the town built around the mouth of the Nile. We passed through one of the national forests called Mabira forest. I fantasized that we would see a group of gorillas while we were driving through, but it didn't happen.

Finally we started getting close to the city and traffic started to slow down again. About a kilometer from the Nile traffic came to a complete halt. At least by this time some of the people had gotten off the taxi so we weren't crammed in there. We decided that we would catch a boda the rest of the way since they never seem to be bounded by traffic like everyone else. They just wriggle they're way on through the traffic. They even get up on the sidewalk if necessary.

Once we caught a boda we began to make progress again. We crossed over the Nile to get to the west bank and it was beautiful. It was everything I hoped it would be: cool breeze, clear fast-moving water, lined with all kinds of bright green foliage. Wide enough to swallow your focus.

I was trying not to embarrass Andrew with my excitement. We continued on down the road and traveled along the Nile to get a set of falls that were further down. They turned out to be much further down than I realized, and along the way the boda got a flat tire. I guess he had been hopping too many curves. Luckly he was able to handle the vehicle safely and get stopped, but by this time we were out in the middle of the country agian (it doesn't take long). We had to wait for another boda to come by and pick us up.

We finally reached our destination,Bujagali Falls. It was beautiful (I took pictures of all these things, but I don't think that I will be able to upload them until I get back). The big thing that I wanted to do was to put my feet in the Nile, so we looked for a place to get close to the water.

Andrew is like a nanny goat. He is always worried about me falling or stepping into traffic or slipping or anything. He's always nagging me to be careful. The whole time he was like "be careful stepping down... make sure you go slowly... be careful the algae is slippery ... the rocks are slippery...keep and eye on your things you might loose them, ect." I don't mind it, I actually think it's rather funny. And nothing happens until he makes a comment on it. If anything I'm more careful than he is. He almost fell himself into the river because he was stepping on rocks covered in algae.

Anyway, we worked our way down to the very edge of the water. I asked him if crocodile's hang out here, but he said that the water was moving too fast for them. It makes sense I guess. I took my shoes off and sat on a rock and let the water run over my feet. It felt so good. I expected it to feel cold, but it was quite warm. I was tempted to go for a swim, but I didn't bring a swimsuit. We stayed around long enough to get our fill of the view, take pictures, and take pictures for other people. There were a few other people seeing the sights but not that many. The people that lived close by were washing their clothes in the river. There were also pipes running from the river up to people's homes. I guess they have gravity pumps to get fresh water, although I'm not sure how clean it is to drink. You probably still have to boil it.

We caught a boda into the town of Jinja. It was so different from Kampala, I couldn't believe it. Apparently the majority of the town was built in the 1940s so it has a very interesting architecture to it. It doesn't seem to have been devastated by the different wars. All of the roads are in really good condition, traffic is minimal. It is just a quiet small town. Perhaps this why it appealed to me so much. At the same time you could still get pizza and cheeseburgers. It clearly had a Western influence. I suspect that it may be a vacation spot for some people, and I can understand why, it was absolutely gorgeous. We stopped in a cafe to get lunch. By this time it was 4:00, and I was getting hungry since I hadn't had any lunch or very much breakfast.

Then we went to the mouth of the Nile. When we got there I was really upset because it was 10 K shillings for non Ugandans, but only 1 K for Ugandans, but then I realized that it was only five dollars to me and then I relaxed. I'm starting to think only in shillings now.

The mouth of the Nile was equally as beautiful with the same picturesque landscape. People offered to take us on a boat ride, but just to see it was enough. They had an old abandoned bridge that you could walk on out over the river. We took lots and lots of pictures. This time we saw some people swimming in the river. It looked like so much fun to me. We hung around for a while. I didn't want to leave at all. It was so nice. I don't think Andrew wanted to leave either, he was enjoying himself as well. He told me that he hadn't been there since he was very young.

I was very sad when we got on the bus to leave. The good news is that we were able to take a bus back instead of a taxi. They're much more comfortable. The traffic was still bad coming back, but I was able to doze most of the way. We met up with Dustin for a while, and then went home. I was very tired by the end of the day. However, I went to sleep so content.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Our proposal

June 15

We presented our proposal today before the IRB. It was an extremely long affair, although Dr. Bagenda told us that it was actually quiet short. We were the last ones on the agenda which was at 1:00, and we arrived at 9:00. We have to sit through several proposals, some of which were not even research. I'm not sure why they were presenting in the first place

When it finally came time for us to present, they had a lot of changes for us to make. It was pretty disheartening. Dustin and I took the rest of the day off. I just laid on the couch and watched movies.

June 16
Today I'm over it. It was upsetting to be criticized so heavily, but after a night of rest I feel much better. It's hard to keep in mind that this is a learning experience and our first time doing something like this. Part of the problem is a problem of understanding the type of research that we do. Dustin and I talked through it and came up with a plan of action.

We also had a meeting at the foundation that got cancelled without being notified. This is actually the second week in a row. I actually didn't mind because we went to our favorite pizza place. It's really refreshing to have a place that tastes familiar.

We went home after the cancelled meeting and spent the evening around the house.

June 17
Today has been a day full of writing. One exciting thing is that we met someone who works with the ministry of health. He wants us to meet his colleagues in the Ministry. I think it will be fun.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Another week gone by

7/9/09
This day wasn't interesting at all, we just wrote all day

7/10/09
Grace came today, and another person named Janette has also been coming. Grace is pregnant and is due in September, so she is starting to get tired during the day and has gotten someone to help her. I don't like her as much. I was really irritated the other day when she opened and drank an entire box of juice by herself. I didn't even get any.

Today we had a meeting at the foundation. They had moved it to this day in place of the usual Wednesday meeting. It wasn't very interesting either, although it is nice that things are starting to reach a state of consistency. After Dustin and I stopped for a beer and to talk. We actually spent a lot of time talking about the things that we have learned since we have been here, and how this experience has changed our direction. There are a lot of things, but they all seem to be good. I'm very happy with my decision to come here, even though we have only achieved about half of what we set out to do.

We invited some people over for Sunday to cook a meal for them. They all seemed pretty excited about it. We haven't yet picked out a menu, but we want to cook somethings that are very American.

I still haven't made it to the Nile. I'm getting antsy to do it, but it keep having trouble finding a way to get there.

7/11/09
I slept in today, which was pretty awesome. I spent some time writing and had one brief interview. I went to the same place where I saw the vice president, but I didn't see him this time.

Since it was Saturday, we went out with our friend Joan for a little while and by ourselves for a little while. Dustin got pick-pocketed, but he is crafty enough to place a small wallet that just contains business cards in his back pocket, while he keeps all of his money and credit cards in the front. I thought it was pretty clever. At the bar I got in a long debate with some guy about how to get a white woman. He couldn't understand that white women expect to be treated as equals with men, and that men are expected to be able to take care of and feed themselves. I'm pretty sure that if most Ugandan men married white women they would starve to death.

7/12/09
Today we had our friends Joan and Willy over for dinner. We told them we would make an American meal for them. We finally settled on a menu of guacamole and pita chips for an appetizer, then a cucumber and tomato salad, for the meal, country fried steak and gravy, broccoli and cheese sauce, and baked potatoes, for dessert was banana bread. It all turned out really well, and they ate everything up. We waited to cook everything so that they could watch us cook. Of course, they were particularly impressed with Dustin's ability to cook. Willy was sure that Dustin was amazing. I told Willy that everything we were doing was really easy, and that he could definitely do it on his own if he choose.

It was fun to watch then look at all the food, and not know exactly how to eat everything. Willy really liked the gravy, and put it on his broccoli along with the cheese sauce. I actually enjoyed the incident because I was able to interpret his actions. Ugandans really like sauces of any kind on their food. they really hate anything that is dry, so everything is cooked to be extremely moist or they load it down with some kind of sauce. At first Grace gave us a hard time because we didn't eat enough sauce, but I think she finally figured that we just don't eat our food that way.

We were able to sit down and show them pictures of our families, they were intrigued by the pictures of different holidays like Christmas and Halloween. I think they enjoyed being able to see where we come from.

They stayed for a long time, till 11:00 and afterwards we had to stay up and work on our research proposal. We found out on Friday that our presentation was supposed to be on Tuesday. So we were scrableing a bit. But the presentation itself is not going to be the hard part, we also alloted a certain amount of time where we are asked questions.

7/13/09
We had an early meeting at the foundation this morning. We spent the afternoon working on our proposal. I've noticed that i've been very tired lately. Mentally I'm starting to get tired I think. We are always constantly thinking about our research, and it seems like almost everything is of interest to our research.

We had a short meeting with Dr. Bagenda. He had been in the states for a couple of weeks and this was our first time seeing him in a while. He has turned out to be a very good mentor and supervisor. He has a certain ease about him that makes him very easy to work with and talk to. We discussed our presentation with him, and then settled down for bed. We had another early morning.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

To Catch Up

Like I said, we didn't have the internet for a couple days, and yesterday was really busy, so today is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and really write about everything that has been happening.

July 4
We had a blast! The American embassy put on a party for the Americans in the country complete with a cookout and a fireworks display. The held it at this country club type place that was actually very nice. I was really excited to have some potato salad and some baked beens. We didn't see anyone that we knew, but Dustin went and spoke to someone that had gone to UT since that is where he did his undergraduate degree. They also had performers there doing some traditional dances, which I of course loved much better than anything else.

Here in East Africa they make these really cool drums with goat hides stretched over a wooden frame. I think that I'm going to get a small one for my self.

The cookout concluded around eight thirty so we met up with our friends for a while afterward, but we made sure not to stay out as late as we have been. This way we would be able to do work the next day.

July 5
I spent almost the entire day writing. The best part was that I conducted an interview with one of the people that I have met along the way. He was great and gave me a lot of information. For what ever reason, Ugandans are eager to talk and give their opinions, so I sat there and listened for over two hours. We were at another country club sitting at the restaurant, and the waitress had to bring me a candle so that I could continue writing. That is how long I sat there.

On our way out the person I was interviewing waved to a man in a suit. Once we had passed the suited man he told me that was the vice president. I said "The vice president of what?". "of Uganda." I was totally blown away by the fact that I had practically brushed by what would be a huge political figure in America. I was also really embarassed because I only had on a t-shirt. I wish I had worn something a little nicer. All of his body guards were in the parking lot. I guess that politicians are a little more accessible here.

July 6
Today the day was spent trying to figure out how to send a package home. Dustin wanted to send some coffee and a few other things back to his wife. It turned out to be really expensive because the only place we could find was a fedex express. I had also set up another interview for the day. The person also turned out to be really great, and it ended up being another two hour interview. This same young man has also offered to take us to different areas of town where the rates of HIV are very high, so that we can talk to people and see for ourselves what it is like. (This is the point where our internet stopped working, and we couldn't figure out how to fix it).

July 7

Both Dustin and I have been sick from eating something. It effected me much worse, and I couldn't hardly leave the house at all. Dustin did go to try to get the internet fixed, but it didn't work. At this point I was really hoping that it would get fixed soon because Dustin was starting to loose his cool over it and he doesn't feel good on top of it. The problem is that we have paid for this service, and it is frustrating when it doesn't work. I'm so uncomfortable that it is difficult for me to even sit and write. I wouldn't be so frustrated by being sick if I could at least catch up on my writing.

July 8

Today was an exceptionally busy day, so it was a good thing that I was feeling much better, although I'm not totally right again. I met up with Joan to go to pick up my dresses that I had made. We had to travel to an area south of Kampala, sort of in between Kampala and Entebee. We went to her sister's house, who had made the dresses for me. It was soooo interesting.

The sister had a small store adjacent to her house, the equivalent of a convenience store. In the store she also had her sewing machine. The sewing machine she had looked like an antique to me. It was a singer that you had to continually press the pedal back and forth for it to run.

She had her toddler son there with her. He was very interested in me. He kept speaking to me in Luganda because he didn't understand that I couldn't understand, but it actually was helpful in picking up a few words since toddlers use such simple words and repeat them over and over again. I taught him to make sweet eyes at me, which was very cute, and he wanted to come into the dressing room with me while I tried on the clothes. He also gave me a piece of his candy, which I was pretty impressed with for a two year old.

Before I tried on any clothes Joan and her sister made a quick meal. The used little charcoal stoves and just placed their pots directly over the coals. I wish I could have taken a picture of it. We had an interesting array of things, African tea, which consists of tea and milk, instead of tea and water, scrambled eggs, avocados, and spaghetti pasta with tomatoes in it. It was actually all very good, but I felt like I was having breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack all at once.

Afterwards I was able to try on the dresses. I'm very excited about the long dress. It needed some alterations and she was able to do them right then and there. Then when she was finished I was able to try them on again to make sure that they fit correctly. The long dress turned out much better than I expected, and I'm really excited to be able to wear it. I like it because the pattern of the dress looks very much like an African print, but the cut of the dress is more American or European, so it's not so over powering. And the color of it suits me very well. It's a very deep red, almost purple color.

Everyone was fussing over how good it looked, and it made me a little embarrassed. I had to insist that it be let out a little because they like to wear their dresses very tight. I told them that I had to be able to move.

We had to rush back into town so that Joan could make it to work on time and I could make it to the meeting at the Foundation. She helped me find a taxi bus and the taxi park, which is a nightmare of a place. They squeeze as many taxi's as they can into this acre sized plot of land. There are sign posts stating where the taxis in that vicinity are going, but you have to know what general area they park in. So you get on a taxi and you have to wait and wait for the taxi to fill. It's hot and the air is stagnant especially at mid day like I was doing. People walk around with their little trinkets for sale trying to make a few shillings, and they always target me because I'm white and they thing that I have a lot of money to spare. Especially when I am by myself they like to hassle me, thinking that I'm going to give in. Men yell at me and tell me that they want to marry me.

I have actually come up with a good response for that comment. Here men have to pay a bride price for the the woman they are going to marry, so they have to give many items to the woman's family before he can marry her, and he has to pay for the entire wedding. So I tell them that they don't have enough money for me, and it makes them laugh because I'm playing into what is their culture.

Anyhow, so I took a taxi bus from the taxi park to the foundation. I was worried because I knew I was going to be late. Here it isn't a big deal to be late, but that's one of the things that I can't let go of. I can't stand to be late. However, I lucked out because the meeting had been canceled. Everyone but Dustin and I knew about it, but the trip wasn't wasted because our favorite restaurant is down the street from the foundation. It is an Italian place run by and actual Italian. It's really good, I can't remember if I have written about it yet. It's the only place we can go where things taste familiar, so we have gotten into the habit of going there when we go to the foundation.

From there we met up with one of our new friends, William. This is the one that we interviewed on Monday. He took us to his home, because he lives in one of the slums in Kampala that is well know for prostitution. He introduced us to his grand-aunt. He wanted us to talk to her because she has been living in that same area for a long time. She has adopted about eight of her grandchildren because many of her children and their husbands have died from AIDS. William and a few of the other relatives help her to keep up with the children. That's just part of his story, but I don't have time to type it all out. He's a really good person, I'll just leave it at that.

He wanted us to come so that we could see for ourselves what the area is like when the girls come out at night to look for customers. We didn't feel entirely safe, but since we were with someone who lived there and knew all of the residents, we figured that was about as good as it was going to get. He also knew one of the "agents" in the area, which isn't exactly like a pimp, but similar. We interview him and one of his girls.

All I can say is that it was really rough on both Dustin and I to interview these people, emotionally speaking. The woman started crying in the middle of the interview, and it was difficult for me to hold back the tears. You could tell that she hated what she was doing. Even William was struck by the experience. The best that we could do in good conscience was give her some money for her time. We probably gave her as much money as she would make in a week. It was impossible not to intervene at this point.

After that we decided to go home before things really got going. Things don't really pick up till 11:00 or so, and we decided it was in our best interest to leave before then, in particular for my safety. Other women are not really welcome. William went with us into town and helped us find a taxi (again from the taxi park). We made it home safely, but we were so overwhelmed by the events of the day, that we couldn't do any more work for the night. We just relaxed and read, then went to sleep.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Hey Gang!

Our internet has been down for a couple of days, so I haven't been able to post. I had a great 4 of July. I have to spend some time tonight writing about it because I'm on my way out the door to pick up the dresses I had made. Keep your fingers crossed that they came out ok! P.S. If you haven't already notice, we posted some new pictures. Just click on the same link as before.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Fourth of July week

July 2
Today we went to see a school for the first time. It was exceptionally interesting to see the children and watch the mentor teach the children. They were excited to have us there. Everyone is very nice, and one of the supervisors accompanied us. It was actually outside the city, making it so beautifly. I'm glad that people went this us because we would have gotten lost for sure.

We have learned a lot from being the school. I wish that we had more time to collect information. The kids were very smart despite the fact that their room was so sparce. By the time we were done we were very hungry. So we took some time to get sushi. It was delicious. I was so glad to have something that I really liked. After that we got invited to some kind of presentation, but I'm still not sure what it is that we were attending.

We came back to the kitten, he is just so cute. I had to give him another bath. He has too many fleas to be in the house. I fell asleep very early because I was so tired. We have gotten good at taking the boda boda's around the town. During the day they are pretty scary weaving in and out of traffic, but at night it is so nice to be able to have someone take you straight home. The taxis are always cramped and uncomforatble. Dustin and Andrew in particular have trouble because they have long legs.

July 3

Today we had another meeting at the foundation. This time we met with all of the mentors. They seemed very interested to meet us. I helped one woman call the U.S. from her phone. She was trying to help her friend change the name on a plane ticket. It was our good deed for the day.

After that I went around trying to find some kitty litter. It is actually pretty difficult to find. I guess most people keep their cats outside. Dustin went to get a hair cut, so I have had the house to myself this afternoon. It's been rather pleasant. I found someone to take the kitten. The girl next door said she would take him. It is something that I was worried about.

Tomorrow we are going to somewhere around the embassy. they are having some kind of event. should be fun.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Birthday day

June 30

So my birthday went very well. It was nice to take the day off to do whatever it is that I wanted to do. I slept in, and instead of taking the morning to write I read the paper and dozed on the couch. I went to my massage in the morning. It was fabulous and relaxing. I could have laid there for three hours while she rubbed me down. She even did my stomach, and I could choose the type of oil, which was eucalyptus. After that it felt like I floated down to the hair salon.

One of the women in the compound told me about a place where a white man could cut my hair. I needed one so bad, I thought I would take the risk. It turned out to be a much better idea that trying to cut my own hair. He did a great job and it felt so good to have my hair washed. The salon was in this really nice hotel/country club. It is sort of weird to be in a place like that. It seems so serene and removed, but then you have to step back out into the city again.

I think my favorite part of the day was to loose track of the time. When I came back I ate some lunch, and distracted Dustin while he was trying to work. Grace was there and sang happy birthday to me.

We had planned to go out to get sushi, so I hopped in the shower to get cleaned up and to wash some of the oil off me, but when I came out, people had already started to arrive! I wasn't sure what had happened because we had banked on them all being late. This was the first time I anyone had ever arrived early,and people were notorious for being late. So we had to scrap that idea and come up with a new plan of action.

I also didn't realize that as the birthday person, I was supposed to provide food and beverages to everyone at the party, so Dustin and I started scrambling to come up with at least some snacks. We actually pulled it off very nicely, but we were lucky because Grace had been to the market for us earlier in the week, so we had a lot of food on hand. Dustin was fabulous in playing host and cooked banana bread for me as a cake. Everyone was so impressed that Dustin could cook at all, especially the banana bread, which takes a little bit of measuring and mixing. It all turned out great, and we had enough food to feed everyone.

We sat down to watch a movie, Seven Pounds, but I didn't really like it. Too slow for me, but fine. People hung around for a little while, but most of them left after the movie because they all had things to do in the morning.

Dustin walked Joan to the road where she could get on a taxi, and on the way back he found a kitten in the ditch. He came in and said "Ginger don't be angry" and then walked in with the kitten. (I thought something had really happened, and of course I was not angry about it). It was so pitiful that we decided to clean it up and find a home for it.

It has turned out to be the sweetest little kitten. It's really too small to be away from it's mom, so he thinks that I'm his mom. He insists on always being in my lap and sleeping. Even now while I'm laying on the couch and typing he is trying to make a nest in my hair so that he can sleep. I suppose my hair is a bit of a nest anyway. I'm not sure what we are going to do to find a home for it. It's not like you can just take it down to the animal shelter to be adopted, and we can't put it back outside, something will come and snatch it up.

So that night we spent cleaning up the kitten after every had left. He was pretty filthy from having been in the ditch. After a washing he turned out to be orange and white tabby, with little green eyes. I wish I could ship him home to mom cause I know she would find a home for it.

July 1

I can't believe we have been here for an entire month now. I turns out the kitten, although a little small, is actually pretty healthy. He has perked up a great deal since we have given him a few meals of milk.

Today I went to have a dress made. Joan said her sister could make formal dress, so I thought I would give it a shot. I need a formal dress for Katie's Debutante ball. I picked out the fabric and everything. I picked out a maroon and green pattern, so it should turn out very interesting. I will certainly look different from everyone else.

Then we went to the foundation for a meeting. I was actually impressed with how well the meeting went. We were also supposed to have an interview, but we got tired of waiting around and tired in general, so we went home.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to a school for the first time to see the children. I hope it goes well. I hope we can at least find it. We still have trouble finding places because we don't know the city well enough.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Yay for deviled eggs

June 29

So the deviled eggs went over really well. There weren't any left so I suppose that people liked them. The BBQ was much more fun that I expected. Everyone was very social and very nice. We had an eccclectic group of people. Americans, French, British, Dutch, Ethiopian, and then Ugandans of course. Everyone has a completely different story. I loved the food that the Ethiopians brought. It's probably my new favorite ethnic food. Our two friends came, Andrew and Joan. Andrew also brought some of his family members. They weren't shy about helping themselves to all of the food. So we are slowly accumulating more and more friends. The BBQ lasted very late, and then we went out after that, so both Dustin and I were wiped out through most of Sunday.

Today I have already gone to set up my massage for tomorrow. I still don't know what else I want to do. I really want to get sushi in the evening, but I'm a little nervous about eating raw fish while I'm here. I might have to stick with the tempura. I really just want some hot saki. Very exciting. I'll be sure to let ya'll know how it goes.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

June 25

Dustin and I have started moving forward again on our project. We decided that we would try to make contact with some of the other NGO's in the area, especially those that work with children effected by HIV. It will be benedficial to get another perspective on the epidemic in the area. There are some really neat ones out there that we have found so far. My favorite is something like a summer camp put on by the queen Buganda to teach teenagers how to take care of themselves. =) I know some people that could use something like that.

We also went and talked with Joan about our project. She seemed very interested in what we were doing and was glad to tell us about her experiences. I understand now why it is almost impossible to stay impartial. She told us that she was having trouble affording to send her children to school, and was wondering if there is anyone that would like to sponsor them. She is so kind to us and is such a good person, I think that Dustin and I are going to try to find a way to help send her children to school. She invited us to go to meet them, which is also really exciting. She has two and one of them is having a birthday in July. She said that it is a treat for her children to meet white people because we are so different. I said that it would be exciting for us too because it is hard for us to get out of the city.

June 6/26/09

Doing anything is a chore here. All we have done today is go into town, have lunch, change money, try to get pictures on a CD, and stop by one store, and it has taken almost the whole day. We have started to get in touch with other NGO's so keep your fingers crossed that we are successful. We also decided that we would start trying to develop the funding for next summer. We found a grant through the embassy that we are excited about, but if anyone else knows of other options, perhaps you could let us know? It's times like these that I understand the value of marrying well.

June 6/27/09

Last night we went to hear some live music and it was so fun! Joan decided that she was going to join us. The band was a congolese band, and they were fabulous dancers. The men in particular were very good and fun to watch. I think it is something that we will keep doing.

We have a BBQ to attend today at the compound. I told them i was going to make deviled eggs and they gave me a funny look. I hope they go over well, but I think overall it is going to be a good time. They told us we could invite all our friends, but we only have two, Joan and Andrew, so we've invited both of them. It should be an ecclectic group. We live next to some Brits, and some of them are French, One husband is a Swede who has been living in Italy with his wife, but I'm not sure what nationality she is, and there are others. It should be interesting.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Reassessment time

June 23

We've had to totally reassess our project because I don't think that we will get approval in time to do direct research. So we've come up with a few things and decided that we would still try to do as much work as we can while we're here. I was upset about it at first, and I was particularly worried about how Dustin was going to react, but I think we're both over it.

June 24
We've made a new friend today! Her name is Joan and she let us interview her, but once we ran out of questions we ended up talking for a long time after. She was actually our tour guide. You might remember her from that. She has two kids, and she said that she was going to take us to see them because they live with their grandmother outside of the city. Anyway, we had a lot of fun hanging out with her, and I think she had fun too.

My birthday is coming up soon but I'm not sure what to plan for myself. I think I might go to the spa or something.

On another note the mouse in our house is still at large. Dustin said he saw it sitting in our living room chair. The gaul right? We also think he's been eating out of the trap but not getting stuck. I think we need to come up with a new plan.

Just so everyone knows, I do get all of the comments. It's really fun for me to sit down and read them.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Not much to report

There hasn't been much going on since Friday. Just trying to catch up on writing. I have a whole in my mosiquito netting and I put my foot through it in the middle of the night. I was half awake and very confused as to why I couldn't get my foot back.

There is a mouse living somewhere in our kitchen. They didn't have mouse traps at the store, so we had to buy this glue stuff. You put it on a piece of board and then bait it with peanut butter. I can already tell this is going to be a disaster.

We're having some trouble with our research proposal. It's starting to get frustrating because the committee won't hear it soon enough for us to get anything done. I think we are going to have to reassess our long term plan, but I'm not sure how we are going to adjust so that the summer is still productive. We still have some work to occupy us in the mean time. I'll let ya'll know what happens next.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Monkey Sighting

Happy Father's day to everyone!

June 19
Today was coffee safari day! What a great day we've had. It didn't start out that way. They wanted us to be at the coffee house at 7:00. So we woke up with the man who calls the Islamic prayers at 5:30 in the morning over the loud speaker. At 6:15 we were out the door, and the sun was just coming up. The taxi ride into town was very fast, and so we arrived before the shop was even open.

We started with a breakfast of fresh fruit, museli, yogurt, fresh juice, toast, honey, and coffee. It ended up being just me and Dustin for the tour, and we had a tour guide and a driver. We were very glad to have a driver and ride around in a personal car instead of being crammed into a taxi.

The first place we went to was the Uganda Coffee Authority. Here they taste all of the coffee that gets exported out of the country to ensure the quality and to regulate the price of the coffee. What was so cool is that we were always right in the middle of the work space. It quickly became clear that the tour is more of an impromtu type deal rather than an organized regular thing. Our tour guide, Joan, just always called ahead to let whomever know that we were coming.

Anyway back to the coffee tasting...They were constantly roasting, griding, and tasting coffee. They would taste it with spoons and spit it out to check for defects. They let us taste the coffee right along with them. I felt silly sucking the coffee into my mouth from the spoon and then spitting it out. It was sort of like a wine tasting. All the while Joan was giving us tons of information about the different beans that are grown in Uganda, and what the different varieties look and taste like.

The next place we went was the coffee processing plant. The first thing I noticed was how the potholes were filled with old coffee beans. They had acres of coffee laid out in the sun to dry. They also had a pavilion where women were sorting the coffe and picking our the stuff that wasn't coffee. The chief engineer gave us a tour, and showed us the entire line of production. It wasn't that interesting, just loud and dusty. Mostly just elevators and things shaking. They let us climb on top of the machines and watch the coffee running through. I've never been allowed to stick my hands in the machinery on a tour before. It probably wasn't very safe, but totally worth it.

We learned about the different chemical concentrations in different coffees. The smaller beans actually have a higher concentration of caffeine, but the bigger ones are better quality. There is also natural coffee and washed coffee. natural coffee is dried with the hull still on. Washed coffee is husked, washed, and then dried. The husks are red and coffee is a seed. I never knew any of these things.

The next place was the roaster. The roaster asked us all kinds of questions and I was able to answer them. He was impressed, but it was because Joan was giving us so much information. We stood there and talked while he was doing his roasting. He told us that it releases the carbon in the bean, and the size of the bean almost doubles. He also said that it is best for the coffee to be consumed at least two days after roasting.

Then we went out of the city to the national agricultural research center. There a plant pathologist gave us a tour of the facility. They test the different strains of coffee to test their resistance to different diseases and to help maintain the quality of taste. They had several "experiements" running at the time, but it was really just fields with different plains, and they just waited to see which ones would die from disease. There were mother crops, which were the original strains of plants that could be cut and given to farmers to grow. They were also doing experiments on other crops like coco and palm oil, but we mainly stuck to coffee. I learned that there are several different types of diseases that attack coffee plants, most of them are fungi. It was cool to get a biology lesson, and to actually use the information.

The whole time I was thinking of this one time when my mom was trying to help me learn different scientists. I was having rouble with Gregor Mendel. And mom goes "all he did was cross pea plants, when will you ever have to know this again?" And here it was in action.

The research center was out of the city. I was glad to see some of the country side, and it didn't take us much to get out, but I loved seeing the country. People were making bricks by hand and baking them in large brick ovens. Domestic animals were grazing every where. Children walking home from school. Little babies running around naked. True huts.

We went from the research center to a farm where they grown coffee. This is where we were served lunch. All of the food we ate was grown right there on the farm, and it was all delicious. Potatoes, Matoke and peanut sauce, beef, fish, pumpkin, cassava, sweet potatoes, greens, fresh pineapple juice, local coffee, fruits, and sugar cane. This was the first time that Dustin had ever tried sugar cane, and I was excited for him to try it. He showed us all of his different gardens, and how they graft different plants onto lemon roots so that they produce fruit faster. He showed us a zuchinni he had planted as an experiment, and it had an enormous zuchinni on it. It was funny because he was so knowledgable about so many of the plants, but he asked us if we know when it is supposed to be picked. I told him that it was past due, and showed him the length it should be. I giggled to myself that I would know such information because I'm so bad at growing anything. He said he expected it to change colors. He had so many different crops. He even had vanilla vines, and rice. He also had livestock, and the pigs had just given birth to piglets. He also had guinea hens as an experiment.

The best part was that we walked down to the coffee fields, and he let us plant our own coffee plants. I put a sign next to mine. He said that we could email him and he would let us know how our plant was doing. I drew a sunshine on my sign. The other cool thing was that I saw a monkey in the tree. It was a red tailed monkey. I feel like I have completed one of my major objectives.

I was exhausted by the time we got home, and I went to bed almost immediately.

June 18

Today has been spent writing. Nothing exciting.

June 17

Just work today. We met some new people that work for the program. They were very eager to talk to us and seemed very skilled at what they are doing. It's a little difficult to be working with people that are so much older than I am. The one funny thing, one of the people we were talking to had never seen freckles before. He asked me if there was something wrong with me. It was difficult for me to explain that this was just the way I was, and that as I got older I got more of them. He asked if they itch. He probably thought it was a rash. They also wondered if eventually I would be totally black. =)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

It's been a while since I was able to post last, so sorry about that.

June 15
Today we spent a lot of time walking through the neighborhoods. I always try to give the kids a high five, but they don't know what I mean. They just stare at me funny when I hold my hand up. Today when we passed some small children I got a hand shake instead. But they all yell "bye muzungu" even if they really mean hello.

We also went out to eat for the first time today. We went to the same place where they had karaoke, but we went a little earlier this time. We ordered pork skewers and they bring out these long skewers with pieces of pork on them. They brought us some side items, like tomatoes and avocado. The best part is that you eat everything with your hands. They walk around with pitchers and basins and wash your hands for you. But I still used hand sanitizer even after the hand washing.

This time we met to older men. I think they were curious as to what we were doing and decided to come and talk to us. It is interesting once we start telling people what we are hear to do, they always have an lengthy opinion about it which is good for us as we are trying to collect information. I think we lucked out by coming into a society that likes to socialize and discuss.

I noticed that my ear is getting better for hearing African English. I'm still not very good at speaking in African English. People are funny because they claim that I have an accent, but they don't mean a southern one, they mean an American one.

June 16

Today we walked all the way to the foundation to see how long it would take us. It was only and hour and a half. Today was mostly a working day at the foundation. Going through files and taking notes. It's good work though.

For lunch we went to an Italian place down the road. We have since discovered where all the white people are hanging out. I thought it was pretty funny. I ordered Ravioli and Dustin got a Hawaiian pizza. It was all excellent, and authentic. I think the man who owned it was actually Italian. I broke the parmasian dish and spilled parmesian cheese every where. I was just trying to put some on my ravioli. And then I tried to cover it up with my plate, but it just smooched it into the table cloth. =) Dustin seemed to think it was pretty funny. While we were at lunch it actually rained with thunder. This was the most it has rained since we've been here. I don't think it would be very nice during the rainy season. I like when it rains because it settles all the dust.

We walked back that evening and picked up a watermelon along the way. Dustin almost dropped it when he slipped on the dirt road that leads down into the compound and almost fell into a car. I'm pretty sure it was karma coming back around to him for making fun of me when I slip.

June 17

Today was another day at the foundation. Not really interesting except for that we met some of the mentors and supervisors. Two exciting things happened. One, we got a little modem for our laptop and so now we have internet at our house! It's pretty exciting that we won't have to walk down to the internet cafe anymore. It's still slow, but now I can write and wait for pages to load at the same time! Two, Dustin and I sign up for a coffee safari. It sounds pretty touristy, but I'm excited to finally get to do something touristy. We go to the coffee shop early in the morning. They feed us breakfast and then take us out to a coffee plantation for the day. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, that's more of Dustin's thing, but I'm super excited to just get out of the city for the day.

Another short history lesson. During the dictatorship of Amin in the late seveties and early eighties, the economy in Uganda was collapsing. To make money people on the eastern boarder of Uganda would pack up their coffee beans and drive them into Kenya on bikes, and make tons of money. They would then buy lots of goods and transport them back into Uganda. All of this was highly illegal, but the money was so good, many people dropped what they were doing and picked up the trade. So if you had Kenyan coffee during that time, it is likely that some of it was actually Ugandan.

Monday, June 15, 2009

A comfortable weekend

Dustin is trying to put on some video, but you might have to view it from his blog. It's only traffic, so it's not that interesting, but we will try to get something better soon.

June 14

Today has been a really relaxing day. I have spent the whole day catching up on writing and reading. We tried to make French toast today, but I hate the frying pan we have. It doesn’t have a handle on it, so you have to hold it with a dish cloth. The stove is a gas stove, and I’m afraid that the dish towel is going to catch on fire. It all tasted fine. I have enjoyed listening to the church crowd today. They were going late.

Somehow the children in our compound hangout under my window. It’s like their hangout spot where they just sit and talk. I can overhear their entire conversation, and they talk. Today they were climbing on it. I went to knock on it, and it scared them away. It wasn’t really my intension to scare them, but they couldn’t see me through the window. And they run around in our yard.

I noticed in the paper that they are banning plastic bags. It’s funny that they are very environmentally conscious, you can’t smoke in restaurants or anything. It’s such an unusual system because they have spent the last 20 yrs. developing from the ground up. And so they have skipped a lot of the stages that other western countries have gone through. They don’t have the infrastructure to really pick up the garbage, so they just skip ahead to eliminating a lot of it. In the same way they don’t have land lines for phones, so everyone has a cell. The electricity is unreliable, so there is a big push for solar energy. I think it’s just interesting.

June 13

Today is the first day that Dustin and I were brave enough to go out at night. We went to a bar that was just down the road from where we lived. They were having a karaoke night, which was interesting. They were all singing in Lugandan so we couldn’t understand what they were saying. Afterwards, we stopped and picked up a pizza with pepperoni with olives. It wasn’t half bad.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Nevermind

You should be able to see the pictures on the right. Let me know if you can see them.

One last thing

I have changed the blog, so that you don't have to have a username to make posts, but put your name in the comment so I know who you are! =) cheers. We are having an unusually good connection, so I'm taking the time to change things around a bit.

Ginger

Pictures

I have to say, thanks everyone for the posts. I enjoy them so much. We should have some pictures up now. If you click on Dustin's blog (there's a link below) there should be a stream of pictures. They are just ones that we have taken around the city.

June 10
Today we started at the Foundation. We managed to take taxis all the way there without getting lost. Everyone was impressed with us. At the foundation we met with Rev Obed to ask him some questions about the evaluation and to tell him about what we were doing. We have already run into a bit of a problem. It is difficult for anyone to judge success in this program, so we are kind going to have to figure it out along the way. In the end I suppose that will be a major contribution we will make. Defining success.
Interestingly, for all the family members, we met a doctor and her daughter from Baton Rouge. I can’t remember their names at the moment, but the daughter goes to school with Caroline. Dr. Muhumuza had invited the mom/physician to visit SAS for three weeks, and she brought her daughter with her. We happened to be at the clinic at the same time. It was very enjoyable to sit and talk with them at the Foundation.
The foundation gave us lunch, and I had that archetypal experience that you see in the movies. I had them serve my plate, and the two meat options were goat and fish. I went with the goat because I had not tried it yet. The meat part was very good, but then I ate something that I thought was a vegetable because it was bumpy. Then when I put it in my mouth it wasn’t a vegetable at all, it was an organ of some sort (I’m pretty sure it was the stomach). I had to get it down to be polite, but it was tough going. Everything else was great, but now I know I guess.
We’ve had a little difficulty with eating meat in general, so we have been eating vegetarian a lot. We certainly aren’t any worse for the wear. I think we me have some pictures coming soon. We managed to get the pictures transferred from Dustin’s camera onto a CD, so the next task is going to be uploading them to the internet.

June 11
Today I haven’t felt very good. I woke up with a head ache that was right behind my eye. I have spent most of the day sleeping and trying to get a draft of our proposal ready for Dr. Bagenda when he came by. He only stopped briefly and helped us with a couple of different things. Andrew also came by so that we could catch him up on what was going on. I think he is going to help us take some notes.

June 12
Dustin and I have traded off. Yesterday I didn’t feel good, now he doesn’t feel good. His is a stomach problem. He bought some local peanut butter and we think that might be what it was. The jar wasn’t sealed very well, and I didn’t have any of it.

So I quickly made some last minute changes on the proposal. I was frustrated and stress that we didn’t have it done sooner, but Dr. Bagenda picked me up and took me to the research center and the hospital where the IRB committee was housed. He gave me a tour of the entire complex. I meet several deans and the chair of the IRB committee. He had recently been to Memphis and thought it was wonderful, so I guess that’s good for us. In the family center Dr. Bagenda conducts his research, and they study the transmission of HIV between mother and child. In the center there is children running around everwhere, up and down the office halls. They also have a small store where the women who are participants make crafts. The money they earn, they get to keep. So the hospital is very good about supporting all of the needs of their participants. I think Dustin and I will end up buying a lot of things from that store. After six hours around the hospital we finally got the IRB turned in. It was difficult to have copies made, and to meet up with the right people (as always). He also said that monkeys hang around the area a lot, but I didn’t spot them this time.

Grace came today, which I was glad for. I made me feel better about leaving Dustin at home. She made some soup for us. She keeps complaining that we don’t eat enough. She accuses us of starving ourselves, which is clearly not the case. But she just mothers us so much, and she worries all the time. Especially when we are not feeling well, she immediately wants to take us to the clinic. It’s hard to talk her out of it, you can’t directly oppose her.

By the time I got back, Dustin was feeling fine. I think he was just tired from not having eaten and expelling all the bad stuff.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The beginning of a new week

June 8
Hey everyone, I hope you are enjoying the blog so far.

Today has been an interesting day, and we have managed to do a lot of things on our own. We made it into town as I said before, we went to the book store, then the internet café, then the phone store, then for lunch, we met with Andrew Briefly, then the coffee shop, then home again. I’m pretty sure it’s the most we’ve accomplished in any one day.

We are trying to get a better internet situation, but one has not come about just yet. It would be expensive for us to by something for the computer, so we are looking into the library.

Dustin bought a coffee press and some fresh coffee and it is delicious! I’ll probably be bringing back a bunch.

June 9
Today we have spent the day at home. We have been working on the proposal all day trying to get it prepared and submitted by the end of the week. Papers, books, and notes are spread out all over the tables. The weather has been wonderful today. Sunny and I nice breeze, no threatening clouds.

I have already finished the book I bought. It was about the abduction of children by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the northern part of the country. Of course it was so sad and heartbreaking to hear the stories of the children that had been abducted, and the brutality they endured. It is the sort of thing that is hard for me to understand, especially after interacting with the children the bit that we have so far. They are so eager and happy.

For those that are maybe not aware of what I’m talking about: when the current president took power in 1986 there were a group of rebels, who eventually came to be know as the Lord’s Resistance Army that would go back and forth between Uganda and Sudan. They would attack villages and steal the children. Then the children would be forced to become part of the army and conduct ruthless acts of violence. Then these children would abduct other children and the cycle would begin again. The leader of the army was a man by the last name of Kony. He essentially thinks he is a prophet guided by the holy spirit. Thousands of children have been abducted over the course of the 20 yr period. Kony is still alive, but I think the resistance has lost almost all of its momentum.

Now the problem is rehabilitating all of the children that have been released. They have all been severely traumatized, the children as well as the adults, and the rates of post traumatic stress disorder are staggering. They need counseling in some form or fashion whether it is in a traditional way or in a clinical way.

If you want to learn more about it, look up the organization Invisible Children. I think the LRA also has a website, but be careful it’s full of propaganda. I haven’t looked at either myself, but I’m sure both would be informative.

Sometimes when I think of all the things that need to be done around the world, people, and especially children that need help, it becomes very overwhelming. I want to be able to help all of them. I know that I can’t help all of them, but I do feel partially responsible because I’m so able. In my mind withholding and being complacent is almost as bad as refusing. I suppose that I’m on my way to helping a lot of children at once, but it’s hard to allay this sense of urgency I get.

Anyway after feeling so heavy I took a nap and I feel much better. When I start to feel a little sad or homesick, that usually means that I haven’t slept enough. I’ve been pretty good about homesickness, but it would be nice if people could post some of the normal things that are going on at home.

Monday, June 8, 2009

June 6
I was up with the sun this morning, and a little disappointed that I didn’t sleep a little longer. Nothing gets going around here till ten o’clock anyway, so there isn’t very much use in waking up too early. However, I do like to quiet. This is the first morning I’ve woken up and it’s been quiet. No loudspeakers, no crying children, no nothing.
Andrew Muhumuza was supposed to come over today, but he has a cold, so I think he will come by tomorrow instead. It is very nice around here that if you are sick, you can just take the day off. It isn’t like in America where you have to be really sick before you can even think about taking the day off. People really value their health here, I imagine because it isn’t as easily attainable as it is at home.
This morning we also had two black and white horn bills in our yard. A male and a female, I got a great picture of them, but we are having some technical difficulties with uploading pictures. Dustin brought two cameras and one video camera, and something is wrong with all three. With one camera, the computer isn’t recognizing it because he doesn’t have the software. On the other two, he doesn’t have the right cords, so we are trying to figure out how to get the pictures on the internet. All that to say that I got some really great pictures of the birds. I had to walk into our neighbors yard to get them, and now I’m not sure that we will be able to share with everyone.
The reason I know that they black and white horn bills is because we went to the Uganda museum today. We were able to walk there comfortably. We aren’t brave enough to take a taxi by ourselves yet. The difficulty is that we don’t know the names of everything or how much it costs. There is a set price for the distance you are going, people just have them all memorized. I supposed we will probably get cheated once or twice while we are figuring it all out.
It’s funny that people think they are cheating us, but they only try to get 1 or 2 hundred extra shillings out of us. The exchange rate is somewhere between 2100 and 2200 shillings to 1 US dollar. So 100 shillings is somewhere around 5 cents. People think they are being clever, but in the long run 200 shillings doesn’t even really matter to us anyway, and if they really need it then they can have it.
Back to the museum, it was wonderful. They had exhibit after exhibit on the different traditional cultures. For all of the anthropologists out there reading this, they had all of the similar items matched together, like all of the headdresses together, all of the masks together, all of the bows together, ect. Instead of having them grouped by tribe. It does make it very difficult to distinguish the character of one particular tribe when they’re items are spread all around. I can see Boas’s point.
However, it was very exciting to see everything anyway. There were some very interesting items, like a trap for hippos and elephants. They would dig a hole, and get them by one foot. Then they would let a heavy stone with spines come falling out of a tree above, and smash the hippo. There were remains of a very important person who was a warrior legend. When the traditional religion was still prominent, they thought the soul resided in the jaw bone, so they had his jaw bone in a beautifully decorated case. They often use a specific type of shell to decorate things. They also had his penis and testicles in a case, which made me blush a little. It certainly pushes the boundaries of my open mindedness. But also a cheetah skin, and all of his war gear.
After going through the museum, we stopped in the adjoined restaurant for some lunch. It clearly catered to foreigners of all types. There was American food, Indian, European, and Chinese. I got vegetable bajiya, which I think is Indian. It was like hush puppies with vegetables on the inside. Dustin got a cheeseburger and potato salad. We also got one of the local beers, Nile. A beer costs about 3,000 shillings ($1.50) but the alcohol content is much higher, 4.5% I think. And they come in bigger containers. So drinking one is almost like drinking 3 at home. I always feel pretty fine after drinking one of those, but I have to be careful because I’m not drinking nearly the same volume. The food was good. All of the meat here tastes a little different, so far we’ve had both chicken and beef. I can’t do the chicken, but the beef is tolerable. I imagine the difference is in what the livestock consume.
It was interesting the people that sat beside us were also researchers working on an evaluation. They were evaluating a midwifery program. A wedding party also came into the restaurant. I think it was a reception. But everyone was dressed just like in a wedding in America. The bridge had on a white gown, there were flower girls, bridesmaids and groomsmen, and a ring bearer.
We stopped at the grocery store on the way back. I’ve been fixated on making banana pancakes and I needed baking powder. I’ve never made them from scratch before, but it doesn’t seem too hard.

June 7, 2009
Today is Sunday, and so everyone is at church. I can hear several different choruses in Lugandan. It sounds like they are all competing for loudness.
I think we’ve made a friend. Andrew came over again today, but just to hang out with us and socialized. I made him try banana pancakes, but I couldn’t tell if he liked them or not. Ugandan’s are not very emotional people. Anyhow, it’s been a relaxing day just writing and reading. I even layed out on the porch for a little while. This coming week things are going to start becoming a little more busy. We are going to meet with several different people from the SAS foundation. Tomorrow we are also going to try to take the taxi by ourselves for the first time. Which us luck!
We made it into town by ourselves! I think we are starting to get the hang of things. Dustin and I are considering going halvesies on a modem thing for his computer so that we can have internet all the time. We will have to see how things play out today.

Friday, June 5, 2009

we're definately going to make it

June 2

We have this clock in our house that plays an electronic version of Fur Elise at eight in the morning. That is what I woke up to this morning. I always think it is the door bell. I had toast and honey for breakfast. The honey tastes just like cane syrup. I find comfort in a lot of unusual places like this. It happens all the time.
There are so many children here it is unbelievable. Everywhere you go there are children and every couple hundreds of yards there is a primary school. It seems like there is always one screeming within earshot of the house.
We were supposed to meet with Rev Obed today, but he has been ill, so today we were on our own. We weren’t brave enough to try the taxis because we still don’t know exactly how to tell them where we want to go, or how to negotiate the price. Instead we decided to walk down the main road in each direction for a while. It was very much an act of participant observation. It was not too warm to walk even though we got a lot of sun. So far the weather has been warm and sunny, but not overbearingly hot like it is in Memphis. People are surprised to hear that it is hotter at home than it is home.
Back to our journey along the road, we found a grocery store, bought a paper, found a baker, had coffee, and used the internet (That is when I made my last post). It is hard to explain how these things are such an accomplishment, but they very much are. The coffee we had was delicious, and I had a meat pie to go with it. Dustin and I had each drunk a small pot of coffee before we realized that we had drunk the local water. However, 24 hours later we are fine, so I think we will be fine, but it is hard to always be thinking about those sorts of things.
The internet has been really difficult and slow. It is REALLY slow, like going back to the dial up days, and it gets really frustrating. It was pretty funny to watch Dustin get frustrated with the internet while he was all hopped up on the caffine and it was going so slow. Because we want to maximize our time, we type out everything ahead of time and then just copy and paste it into the spaces so that we don’t waste our time on the internet typing. We have learned to economize a lot of things actually. All in all we probably walked about four miles. The closest internet is about one mile in one direction. I hoping that we will have an office with an internet connection soon, so that we don’t have to work so hard to get on the internet.
Today was the first day that I noticed how much people stare at us as we walk by. We are really out of place. People dress fairly nicely here even thought it must be so hot. Men always wear pants and often long sleeve shirts. Women also wear pants or long skirts. As we passed along the different nurseries the children would run up and wave to us. The children are really the only ones that will talk to us on the street. Even the toddlers know how to say hello and goodbye. I think they are just excited to see someone so different.
The biggest event of the day was that Dr. Muhumuza’s brother came by the house today. He is our age and is in college. I think he has been assigned to work with us and look after us at the same time. However, I was grateful to talk to someone my own age, and he has a very easy personality, as do most of the people here. He was very concerned as to whether we were comfortable or not.
I person also came by to bring us a phone, so we will be able to make calls now to all of the people we will be working with. This is very good for us, but we will not be able to make international calls from this phone. We finally figured out where it is that we live: Bokoto. It is more like an area of the city like we do in the states in the way that I live in Midtown in Memphis.

June 3, 2009
Today was also an eventful day. We are trying with much difficult to finish a draft for our research proposal. Reading the paper has been very informative and interesting. There is a lot of discontent with the government here, but that isn’t really a huge surprise, but the perspectives that people have are interesting. You often don’t hear about African peoples speaking out on their own behalf, but it is happening all of the time. I believe that one day, they will get to a better position. I’m not nearly as fatalistic as I was before coming here.
Andrew came over today to take us to the SAS foundation and the clinic, which were in two different areas. It was nice to meet the different people that are working for SAS. Everyone was very interested in talking to us. I met one person who had been to Memphis. I certainly did not expect to meet anyone who had been to Memphis. He did say that everyone was so nice there, which is very good to hear. People seem to like Americans here, as opposed to Europe, where they think Americans are heathens.
Andrew is very interested in working with us, so we are going to add him on to our research team. I think he will be more of an asset to us than he realizes. We have so many questions about the way things work, but he is very patient in answering all of our questions and providing us with information. I do think he gets a good laugh out of us every once and a while, especially when we try to pronounce words in Lugandan. Lugandan is the language that most people speak here, and it is the preferencial language of everyday life, although most people speak some English. I have also realized that we have much common ground in that we are all students. We were laughing about how students here try to sneak in kegs to the dormitories like we did.
My stomach is finally all better. The antimalarials were giving me terrible heart burn for a while. It is nice to be able to eat whatever. There are so many foods I want to try. But the biggest excitement is that I can drink the fruit juice. It is SO delicious. I wonder if there is crack in it because I drank almost an entire container of it today.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be meeting with the rest of people who are helping us with our research. I’m very excited to be moving forward, and ready to get into a routine. However, we are still needing some time to adjust. I find that the maximum amount of time that Dustin and I can tolerate in the city is about four hours. There is just so much going on, and everything is so different, and we have to make so many adjustments in the way we act even though we aren’t even talking to anyone. People don’t really make eye contact on the street, you only make eye contact if you want something, and it’s weird if you smile at anyone on the street. We are still getting used to the currency which is done in thousands. Often we pay people the wrong amount, but they are nice enough to give the money back when we pay them too much. But they laugh at us. There’s just too many zeros.
However, it is amazing how cheap different things are. We can take a taxi all over town for about 3, 000 shillings which is a dollar and fifty cents. Our stop at the bakery cost about 8,000 shillings. We got to small pots of coffee, a personal veggie pizza, and a meat pie. Less than four dollars in American money. In our research we have read that the majority of Ugandans live on less than 1 US dollar a day and around 90% on less than 2 dollars a day. It makes a lot more sense now. We are living pretty lavishly compared to the rest of the population, but we are probably only spending about 5 dollars on a regular day. Cheers! I miss you all.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Greetings!

Just as a disclaimer my first blog from Kampala is going to be pretty long. So make sure you’re in a comfortable chair…

May 30-31
On the whole our travels were pretty uneventful, which I guess is a good thing. We made all of our connecting flights without having to wait around for a long time. The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was roughly 7 hours and so was the flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe. They served curried vegetables as dishes on both flights. And each seat had it’s own screen, and so you could select an watch the movie of your choosing. I only watched one movie which was the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was good. I started some other movies like Marley and Me, but I got bored with them.
When we arrived at Entebbe, there were nurses there to check us for swine flu. All we had to do was fill out a little card, and I’m certain that some people lied on it. I saw one man with a cold pass right through the line. The nurses were dressed in dresses with aprons and those little hats that you have to pin on your head. Getting our visa was not a problem. Everything just took a long time. All of our bags made it, which is something that I was extremely worried about, but they both ripped as I pulled them off the conveyer belt (sorry Christopher). I’m going to have to buy some more luggage at some point. We weren’t sure how to go through customs so we just walked buy without having our bags checked at all. Reverend Obed was waiting for us with his son. I think he was worried that we hadn’t made it because it took us so long to get through all of the lines. His son’s name was Michael. He looked to be about 13 or 14. He texted on his phone the whole way home. It’s funny the things that are the same.
I’m so thankful that Rev Obed came to pick us up because we never would have been able to drive ourselves. Traffic was really scary. They drive on the left side of the road, for starters, and there are people on mopeds darting in and out of traffic. There are very few traffic signals. I was surprised at the number of people that were out and about at the bars that lined the road. There was a lot going on for a Sunday night, but it seems now that it was the normal level of activity. I was getting a little car sick on our drive from Entebbe to Kampala from all of the brake slamming and swerving to avoid other vehicles. We turned and twisted up and down the different roads until we turned onto a dirt road. From this point we progressed very slowly down a steep hill. We came to a heavy metal door. A man peeped out of a hole, and then opened the gates for us. I felt sort of like I was entering the city of Oz because the gates were big and green and heavy.
There was some confusion if anyone was at the house waiting for us because none of the lights were on. It turns out that the power was out, but Grace, who is going to help us around the city and at the house, and her friend Faith was waiting for us. Grace and Faith are their Christian names, but they have other more Ugandan sounding names. They showed us our rooms. They are both very comfortable. We each have our own bathroom, and the kitchen and den are fairly large. Grace had made us a late meal, which was very good. We had fish, green beans, and rice. Some where close to us there is a bar where they play reggaton and rap. I didn’t expect to be able to recognize some of the songs, but I did. I had some tea and then went to bed. I have to sleep under mosquito netting, but I didn’t mind it.

June 1, 2009
I woke up to the sound of roosters and children, both of which were crying. I was the first to wake up. We spend the morning writing and poking at the breakfast food that Grace had set out for us. Wheetabix was the cereal we had. It was different. It came in a whole loaf and you broke some off, but it flaked off a lot. It tasted like all bran. Grace came again. She cooked some more food for us for breakfast. For all those concerned, we never eat enough to satisfy her liking. I don’t think we will be going hungry any time soon. She took us into the city to change our money and buy groceries. The power came back on which was exciting. It was difficult to do anything by candle light like the night before.
The whole affair was pretty overwhelming. Supposedly 1.4 million people live in the city, and that number doubles during the day because so many people work in the city. There is very little personal space to go around. We took a taxi bus into town, which we shared with any where from 10-12 other people. There didn’t have to be an available seat for more people to get on. The taxi just goes a long a route and people get off a long the way. There are so many people on the side walk, that you are constantly bumping into people, but you don’t have to be as polite here and say “excuse me” when you do.
The grocery store was supposed to be the “Western” grocery store, and in a lot of ways it was. They played old country music in the store. One of the songs was a George Straight song. Dustin and I thought it was hilarious because Grace knew all of the words to the songs. It was difficult for us to explain why it was so funny. Some of the things we bought were interesting, like black currant juice and washing powder. We bought so many things that we had to hire a drive to drive us back to the house. I’m really glad we had Grace with us. I would have been a mess without her. I feel like a child again because I can’t hardly do anything for myself and I don’t know where anything is.
Along the way, we stop at an internet café, so that I could briefly write something. I hope no one was too worried about me. There wasn’t any place that we could stop up until that point. By the time we got back I was ready to be done. All of the new things were just overwhelming, and we were only gone for about 4 hours. Behind our house there is a soccer field and the kids were playing there after school today. Tonight the reggaton is going again, and I have spent the majority of the down time writing – trying to capture everything before I forget it. I am still forgetting lots of things.
The bananas are really good
There are only two channels on the TV.
I brought cards, but when we started playing I realized that it was a set of pinochle cards
I can’t figure out how to make the stove burner stay in the on position.
We bought a wheel of cheese =)
We bought powdered coffee, but it tastes like ash.
We still don’t have a phone
We each have a map

We are hoping that Rev Obed will come by tomorrow since we don’t have a phone. This is my biggest concern at the moment. But we do know enough now to be able to get around a little bit, so we won’t be wasting any time.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Hello everyone. I'm making a quick stop to let everyone know that Dustin and I made it to Kampala safely. I'll have to write more later because we are pressed for time. Much love to everyone.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Getting prepared



So I've gone to Target like three times, trying to get prepared for Uganda.  It is a lot of work just getting prepared and making sure that everything is in order here in Memphis while I'm gone.  I bought a really cool head lamp because Mrs. Eva says the power is cut off sometimes.  I'm sure it will come in handy on more than one occasion.

Monday, May 18, 2009

And the blog is created

Hello All,

I have created this blog so that I can keep in touch with everyone while I'm away.  I plan to periodically update the blog on all of my adventures, and you can write back to me too! All you have to do is type in what you would like to say in the box.  Then in the selection box if you do not have a gmail account, go ahead an set one up, then it will allow you to post comments from now on.  If you would like to write me emails anyway, that's fine, but I can't promise how often I will be able to respond.  Cheers!... next stop Africa!