greetings from uganda. it is a lovely breezy day here in jinja... a little cloudy and cool.
on the disappointing side. i did not get to go to the north with joyce. in a very african fashion, i attempted to meet her and heard from one person that she had gone to the village that morning and from another that she was not going to go, but just visit her brother in the nile. so, either way, joyce is not around and i did not go to pader.
on a more optimistic note, i know that i will go. if it comes down to it, i will pay for someone's bus ticket and we will visit their family.
last weekend, we did, however get to attend 2 graduation parties. they were hysterical. the first was very formal and speech oriented and the second was a throw down party with singers and dancers and lots of fun makers.
last night was joe and melissa's wedding: a beautiful affair at the source of the nile followed by dinner at the mzungu mansion. a lovely, lovely time.
the internet is irritatingly slow now, so i'm going to have to make this a short one because i am afraid it will not post if it is long.
adios for now
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
what up
so...i spent the last week in a village called kaihoura in the west of uganda, near fort portal, volunteering with and organization called "bringing hope to the family." I painted a mural, hauled bricks, played with orphans, helped dig a well, and ate good food. it was a superb experience. the land was so beautiful with rolling hills and lush valleys. the other mzungus were interesting and fun to hang out with. it was a nice trip out of hot, hot jinja, but while i was away, things changed. jinja is now cool and damp and rainy. kind of like homer summer. i'm not sure if it will stay this way, but i do like wearing long pants and sleeves.
i am back at the mzungu mansion today and attending some graduation parties this afternoon. Tomorrow, i'll be off again for the north. i'm going to visit Pader district and the village of Patongo with Joyce, one of our fabulous Suubi ladies. I am very excited. We have been planning this trip since before Christmas. I have heard so many stories from our Suubi ladies about their villages, I want to see how the picture i have made in my head matches up with reality. I will let you know next week when i return. And I'll post more photos too. There is a new guy monitoring internet at peace and love and hope and harmony internet cafe who is not as good lenient as mike so i only have one minute for real.
i hope all is well with everyone out there. I will see some of you soon (only one more month!)
i am back at the mzungu mansion today and attending some graduation parties this afternoon. Tomorrow, i'll be off again for the north. i'm going to visit Pader district and the village of Patongo with Joyce, one of our fabulous Suubi ladies. I am very excited. We have been planning this trip since before Christmas. I have heard so many stories from our Suubi ladies about their villages, I want to see how the picture i have made in my head matches up with reality. I will let you know next week when i return. And I'll post more photos too. There is a new guy monitoring internet at peace and love and hope and harmony internet cafe who is not as good lenient as mike so i only have one minute for real.
i hope all is well with everyone out there. I will see some of you soon (only one more month!)
Monday, January 12, 2009
back from rwanda...sweating in uganda
so... long story short. rwanda was super. it started out bumpy, bumpy; figuratively and literally: the 10 hour long bus ride was rough and not speaking french was tough and trying to find an affordable hotel was complex. when we crossed the border from uganda to rwanda at 7 am it was so cold we could see our breath. it was misty and cloudy and you could just make out the green hills and valleys. it was kind of like home. we arrived in kigali, attempted french, and took very safe, very fast pikis (with helmets) we ended up in remera a little ways out of the city center. (kigali pronounced chigari is very spread out) we found a lovely place called hotel tech with a very helpful manager, pascal, who helped us iron out all of our transitional wrinkles. we made friends with some teachers down the street (who happened to be ugandan) who were preparing for the start of the new school year. they happily assisted us as well. we found the ORTPN (some acronym for the tourist information) and signed up for the city bus tour and found directions to see some churches where genocide had happened.
the genocide memorial was everything I thought it would be and more. i was very impressed by the way the museum was set up. The ambiance and metaphor in the physical space added to the emotional impact of the facts and stories presented. We learned that the genocide museum was built on one of the largest mass graves in the city, which continues to grow as people come forward to admit that they killed people in 1994 or after and want the bodies exhumed and buried properly. The museum continues to document the genocide and attempt to identify victims.
one of the stops on the tour is at camp kigali in the city center where 10 belgium officers in the un army were killed by rebels early in the genocide. the cement block building was left as is and has many many bullet and grenade holes throughout. the front room documents other genocides that have taken place in modern history. I was suprised to see
North America
1492- ...
14 million killed
and
South America
1500- ...
15 million killed.
I was never taught in school that the formation of our country resulted in an ongoing genocide. Yay Beligians for pointing out the little known obvious. Of course, later in the day, we learned that the early colonial Belgians started the racial taxonomy of Hutu being short, dark-skinned people with wide noses and Tutsi people being tall, light-skinned people with long noses with the churchs' support and promotion of propaganda over the next hundred years forcing vague physical appearance into motivation for massacre. I guess the moral of the story that I took away is that there were no clear good guys and bad guys and bad things happen when we all let them happen. Its no one's fault and every one's fault.
Back in Uganda...things are hot and dry and prices are going up at the market. I am happy to be back at the mzungu mansion; unhappy to be sweating so much again after cool, cool Rwanda. We went dancing again last night with the Acholi ladies. Foot stomping in the dust is so much fun. Somehow being surrounded by 50 laughing Africans of all ages, and knowing they are laughing at you is very funny when you are attempting booty-shaking line dancing.
I went to teach the boys again this morning. I missed them last week. They just get cuter and cuter as time passes. They had their interviews for school and were accepted into grade levels. Just three more weeks and they'll be going to school. I hope to visit some ladies I haven't gotten to visit this week. I think some Walukuba time is in order.
I hope you are all well and having fun in your respective lives. I'm going to go swimming at Jinja Nile Resort, its like Mexico without the Mexicans: expensive food that isn't so good, but the pool is really clean.
have fun.
the genocide memorial was everything I thought it would be and more. i was very impressed by the way the museum was set up. The ambiance and metaphor in the physical space added to the emotional impact of the facts and stories presented. We learned that the genocide museum was built on one of the largest mass graves in the city, which continues to grow as people come forward to admit that they killed people in 1994 or after and want the bodies exhumed and buried properly. The museum continues to document the genocide and attempt to identify victims.
one of the stops on the tour is at camp kigali in the city center where 10 belgium officers in the un army were killed by rebels early in the genocide. the cement block building was left as is and has many many bullet and grenade holes throughout. the front room documents other genocides that have taken place in modern history. I was suprised to see
North America
1492- ...
14 million killed
and
South America
1500- ...
15 million killed.
I was never taught in school that the formation of our country resulted in an ongoing genocide. Yay Beligians for pointing out the little known obvious. Of course, later in the day, we learned that the early colonial Belgians started the racial taxonomy of Hutu being short, dark-skinned people with wide noses and Tutsi people being tall, light-skinned people with long noses with the churchs' support and promotion of propaganda over the next hundred years forcing vague physical appearance into motivation for massacre. I guess the moral of the story that I took away is that there were no clear good guys and bad guys and bad things happen when we all let them happen. Its no one's fault and every one's fault.
Back in Uganda...things are hot and dry and prices are going up at the market. I am happy to be back at the mzungu mansion; unhappy to be sweating so much again after cool, cool Rwanda. We went dancing again last night with the Acholi ladies. Foot stomping in the dust is so much fun. Somehow being surrounded by 50 laughing Africans of all ages, and knowing they are laughing at you is very funny when you are attempting booty-shaking line dancing.
I went to teach the boys again this morning. I missed them last week. They just get cuter and cuter as time passes. They had their interviews for school and were accepted into grade levels. Just three more weeks and they'll be going to school. I hope to visit some ladies I haven't gotten to visit this week. I think some Walukuba time is in order.
I hope you are all well and having fun in your respective lives. I'm going to go swimming at Jinja Nile Resort, its like Mexico without the Mexicans: expensive food that isn't so good, but the pool is really clean.
have fun.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
good afternoon...
yay internets.
so life here is filling up. i have nailed down a nice routine. wake up. make coffee. poop. go to town for internet. go to teach the boys at caring place at 10. we have now completed all 5 short vowel sounds and are working on short phrases and sentences. then i come home, make a banana and pineapple and passionfruit smoothie. i read, play cards, fix necklaces, chat. ride the bike or walk to the village and find some ladies to make necklaces or roll beads with. on wednesdays i teach english to the ladies at the suubi building. they are very good students. we translate phrases from luo to english and work on writing. usually i come home around 6 pm. it is cooler then and the bike ride/walk is more enjoyable. i shower, scrub the feet, and find some food. i eat lots of beans and rice and rolexes. then i read, play cards, fix necklaces, chat. watch a movie maybe. take the malarone and go to bed. all in all a pretty nice life.
josh and i are planning a trip to rwanda on monday. we will take a matatu from jinja to kampala in the afternoon so we can reserve a good seat on the bus from kampala to kigali. we will leave kampala at 2am and arrive in kigali at 8am. we will stay at one love hostel. (google it, its sweet) they are a japanese ngo that raises money for disabled people and make prosthetic limbs walking sticks and canes and wheelchairs at no cost for rwandans. we will visit the museums and memorials there. we are watching hotel rwanda and sometimes in april to prepare. i've heard that kigali is a very clean and modern (and expensive by african standards) city. people who have visited say the roads are paved and smooth and the piki drivers have helmets and reflector vests and line up in an orderly fashion. i haven't been out of jinja in a while so we'll see how it goes. we're also attempting to find the local "right to play" chapter. (google them too, they work around the world to organize competitive and non-competitive sports and games for kids with the belief that playing is the best thing for child development)
still working on going north in january. hopefully pader, perhaps gulu or kitgum.
the missionaries are going bungy jumping this evening. it should be fun to watch them fall hundreds of feet toward the nile. and then eat some pizza.
happy new year.
so life here is filling up. i have nailed down a nice routine. wake up. make coffee. poop. go to town for internet. go to teach the boys at caring place at 10. we have now completed all 5 short vowel sounds and are working on short phrases and sentences. then i come home, make a banana and pineapple and passionfruit smoothie. i read, play cards, fix necklaces, chat. ride the bike or walk to the village and find some ladies to make necklaces or roll beads with. on wednesdays i teach english to the ladies at the suubi building. they are very good students. we translate phrases from luo to english and work on writing. usually i come home around 6 pm. it is cooler then and the bike ride/walk is more enjoyable. i shower, scrub the feet, and find some food. i eat lots of beans and rice and rolexes. then i read, play cards, fix necklaces, chat. watch a movie maybe. take the malarone and go to bed. all in all a pretty nice life.
josh and i are planning a trip to rwanda on monday. we will take a matatu from jinja to kampala in the afternoon so we can reserve a good seat on the bus from kampala to kigali. we will leave kampala at 2am and arrive in kigali at 8am. we will stay at one love hostel. (google it, its sweet) they are a japanese ngo that raises money for disabled people and make prosthetic limbs walking sticks and canes and wheelchairs at no cost for rwandans. we will visit the museums and memorials there. we are watching hotel rwanda and sometimes in april to prepare. i've heard that kigali is a very clean and modern (and expensive by african standards) city. people who have visited say the roads are paved and smooth and the piki drivers have helmets and reflector vests and line up in an orderly fashion. i haven't been out of jinja in a while so we'll see how it goes. we're also attempting to find the local "right to play" chapter. (google them too, they work around the world to organize competitive and non-competitive sports and games for kids with the belief that playing is the best thing for child development)
still working on going north in january. hopefully pader, perhaps gulu or kitgum.
the missionaries are going bungy jumping this evening. it should be fun to watch them fall hundreds of feet toward the nile. and then eat some pizza.
happy new year.
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