Ok, so second post. The exciting news this past week is that i got my site assignment, and found out where I will be living and working and some of what I'll be doing for the next 2 years.
I'll be in the south of Uganda, near the the Tanzania border and about 30 km from Lake Victoria. I'm not supposed to tell you the name of my town for security reasons, but shoot me an email or make plain your desire to know specifics in the comments on the blog and I'll let you know. I'm in Rakai district, not too far from the major town of Masaka.
My organization has great work planned (we got a tentative schedule for the first 2 months). I'll be working with rainwater collection tanks - both already constructed, and aiding in ongoing construction - and something related to GPS data collection for tanks already made. Sounds like they've really got their act together.
One of the coolest parts is that I'm replacing a volunteer who already finished his term with the Peace Corps, so I know my organization isn't a sham, and has good work for me to do. You can see Jon Mellor's work here and here.
I'll have electricity, and great cell phone signal, which means I can go ahead with my plans to invest in a better modem which will allow me to skype, and communicate for free with friends and family back home, which I'm very excited about. I even have a shower and a flush toilet - incredible luxuries here in uganda, though I may not use either. (The shower doesn't have hot water, and honestly I think I prefer a hot bucket bath, and for sustainability/research/personal interest reasons I might try a composting toilet rather than flush my waste down the drain). Haven't decided for sure yet. Anyway, I've got lots of possibilities for research, the community and organization sound wonderful, and I'm excited for this new phase of my Peace Corps experience. I move to Kampala on Tuesday with all my stuff, swear in (i.e. officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer, not just a trainee) on Thursday, and move to site to start my 2 years of actual service on Friday.
Much love to everyone at home!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Hi all, deepest apologies for the delay in posts. Time gets away from you once you settle into a routine, and all of a sudden its been 6 weeks or so since I last let you all know what's going on in my life. So I'll throw up a couple posts - first below on what's happened up to this point, with pictures, then I'll post again regarding my assignment, which we received this week.
5 or 6 weeks ago we went on a site visit to see a current Peace Corps volunteer. We visited David Paradis, who also goes by Daudi (David in Luganda), Kimuli (his given Luganda name), or Jesus (you'll see why when we come to his picture). One of the activities we did was build a super efficient stove, called the Lorena Rocket stove. It uses 50% less firewood, and burns with no smoke if you build it correctly. This has a profound effect on indoor air quality (almost all cooking takes place indoors in Uganda, though often there is a separate, small building for cooking). Moreover, it costs nearly nothing to build, and you'll see why in the following pictures.
First, you take an anthilll - which are ubiquitous.
Then, you chop it to bits. Apparently the ants had vacated this one.
Make sure the anthill soil is thoroughly smashed into small pieces.
Cut up some grass
Mix grass, soil, and water, and you've got some mighty fine cement.
Everyone can join in mixing. This kid was ambitions - his hoe is 3 times as tall as he is, but that didn't stop him from mixing for a good 15 minutes. he accomplished absolutely nothing, but you've gotta admire his team spirit.
Laying out the boundaries for the stove - this is Robert, a teacher for a local technical school that David, our host, works at.
Lay down bricks using the mud as mortar.
Its hard to see, but there are 2 holes in the base: one for firewood,one for air. Banana tree stems serve as interior placeholders which will rot/burn and create the combustion chamber. The actual pots which will be used were the molds for the top holes - the tight fit ensures excellent heat transfer. Also in the above picture on the left is David/Daudi/Kimuli/Jesus. His wild hair was amusing to us trainees when we first met him, but he's a great guy.
David took us to visit a nearby fishing village, which was wonderful and sad. Here's the boats - glorified canoes, really, - right on the shore of Lake Victoria. The fishermen lead a less than responsible living, generally. It's a lucrative profession, bringing in roughly the equivalent of $15/day - quite an income - by fishing all night. Then most of them blow their income on alcohol and prostitutes during the day. It's terrible, because many of them have families who live elsewhere, and the men travel to the village until they've saved enough money to come home. The families, I'm told, are simply told that their husbands/fathers haven't made enough money to come home yet, leading to prolonged absences. The lifestyle is also risky behavior for the spread of HIV/AIDS, both among the fishermen, prostitutes, and the fishermen's families.
There are lots of kids in the streets of this fishing village. At one point at had 10 separate kids on me, each clinging to a separate finger as we walked down the street. There were 5 or 6 of us "muzungu's" in a group, each mobbed in a similar fashion.
This is a sad/happy story. This girl is Josephine -seen here wearing David's hat. She lives at the orphanage in David's town of Lukaya, about half an hour away. She is seven.
Josephine likes being silly and making funny faces.
She is also very ticklish.
This is me holding Josephine's 3 year old sister, Maureen. Maureen still lives in the fishing village, because she's not old enough to go to school and the orphanage doesn't quite have the capacity to care for a 3 year old. Josephine and Maureen are not orphans: their father is a fisherman in the fishing village, and a drunkard. When Josephine came with us (David tries to take her "home" whenever he visits the fishing village) after several months at the orphanage, we went to visit her father. He was roaring drunk at 11 in the morning - tried to greet us all enthusiastically, but incomprehensibly - and did not even acknowledge that his daughter had come to visit. Their mother ran away some time ago, and no one knows why or exactly when. Maureen - the 3 year old - was staying with her father at the time of our visit, though she is now being cared for by a kind woman, Mama Kiyesu, who is affiliated with the orphanage, but lives in the fishing village. The girls were overjoyed to be reunited during our short visit, but they were both crying when the time came for us to leave, taking Josephine with us and leaving Maureen behind. Josephine is ridiculously smart - when she was taken to the orphanage, she was basically taking care of her little sister - an incredible responsibility for a 6 or 7 year old. Maureen is also very talented - I held her all afternoon, and she never stopped talking or singing, or pointing things out to me. I couldn't understand much of it, but I could tell she's very smart. The happy part is that my parents will be sponsoring Maureen, ensuring she stays with Mama Kiyesu until she's old enough to go join her sister at school at the orphanage.
Just a short walk away from the fishing village is the camp of some nomadic cattle herdsmen.
David knew the families, so we spent some time in their homes, which were quite lovely.
Now some random pictures: this is the busiest part of Kampala on a busy day. My Brandt guidebook to Uganda says that some years ago, Kampala had the most chaotic taxi park in all of Africa. So the city, in their wisdom, built a second taxi park 100 meters away. Now they have the two most chaotic taxi parks in all of Africa. It's a wonder to see the subtle organization behind the apparent madness.
Pleasant view from Kuvumba recreational center near Wakiso.
The pool at Kuvumba rec center - never have I had a more refreshing swim.
Nice, quasi-American restaurant we visited in Masaka. Very classy meal for only 5 bucks or so.
Gotta love the Obama brand jeans! They're in every market.
And yes, I picked up a pair. Definitely bringing these home to show off in 2 years.
So, there's a woman who helps cook and clean at my homestay family's house, and she brings her 1.5 yr old, Enoch, every day. He sometimes doesn't wear pants, and this is his preferred napping position, laid out on the concrete floor. I found it amusing.
Oh and World Vision is all over the place here. Hoping I get to work with them some.
5 or 6 weeks ago we went on a site visit to see a current Peace Corps volunteer. We visited David Paradis, who also goes by Daudi (David in Luganda), Kimuli (his given Luganda name), or Jesus (you'll see why when we come to his picture). One of the activities we did was build a super efficient stove, called the Lorena Rocket stove. It uses 50% less firewood, and burns with no smoke if you build it correctly. This has a profound effect on indoor air quality (almost all cooking takes place indoors in Uganda, though often there is a separate, small building for cooking). Moreover, it costs nearly nothing to build, and you'll see why in the following pictures.
First, you take an anthilll - which are ubiquitous. 
Then, you chop it to bits. Apparently the ants had vacated this one. 
Make sure the anthill soil is thoroughly smashed into small pieces.
Cut up some grass
Mix grass, soil, and water, and you've got some mighty fine cement.
Everyone can join in mixing. This kid was ambitions - his hoe is 3 times as tall as he is, but that didn't stop him from mixing for a good 15 minutes. he accomplished absolutely nothing, but you've gotta admire his team spirit.
Laying out the boundaries for the stove - this is Robert, a teacher for a local technical school that David, our host, works at.
Lay down bricks using the mud as mortar.
Its hard to see, but there are 2 holes in the base: one for firewood,one for air. Banana tree stems serve as interior placeholders which will rot/burn and create the combustion chamber. The actual pots which will be used were the molds for the top holes - the tight fit ensures excellent heat transfer. Also in the above picture on the left is David/Daudi/Kimuli/Jesus. His wild hair was amusing to us trainees when we first met him, but he's a great guy.
David took us to visit a nearby fishing village, which was wonderful and sad. Here's the boats - glorified canoes, really, - right on the shore of Lake Victoria. The fishermen lead a less than responsible living, generally. It's a lucrative profession, bringing in roughly the equivalent of $15/day - quite an income - by fishing all night. Then most of them blow their income on alcohol and prostitutes during the day. It's terrible, because many of them have families who live elsewhere, and the men travel to the village until they've saved enough money to come home. The families, I'm told, are simply told that their husbands/fathers haven't made enough money to come home yet, leading to prolonged absences. The lifestyle is also risky behavior for the spread of HIV/AIDS, both among the fishermen, prostitutes, and the fishermen's families. 
There are lots of kids in the streets of this fishing village. At one point at had 10 separate kids on me, each clinging to a separate finger as we walked down the street. There were 5 or 6 of us "muzungu's" in a group, each mobbed in a similar fashion.
This is a sad/happy story. This girl is Josephine -seen here wearing David's hat. She lives at the orphanage in David's town of Lukaya, about half an hour away. She is seven.
Josephine likes being silly and making funny faces.
She is also very ticklish.
This is me holding Josephine's 3 year old sister, Maureen. Maureen still lives in the fishing village, because she's not old enough to go to school and the orphanage doesn't quite have the capacity to care for a 3 year old. Josephine and Maureen are not orphans: their father is a fisherman in the fishing village, and a drunkard. When Josephine came with us (David tries to take her "home" whenever he visits the fishing village) after several months at the orphanage, we went to visit her father. He was roaring drunk at 11 in the morning - tried to greet us all enthusiastically, but incomprehensibly - and did not even acknowledge that his daughter had come to visit. Their mother ran away some time ago, and no one knows why or exactly when. Maureen - the 3 year old - was staying with her father at the time of our visit, though she is now being cared for by a kind woman, Mama Kiyesu, who is affiliated with the orphanage, but lives in the fishing village. The girls were overjoyed to be reunited during our short visit, but they were both crying when the time came for us to leave, taking Josephine with us and leaving Maureen behind. Josephine is ridiculously smart - when she was taken to the orphanage, she was basically taking care of her little sister - an incredible responsibility for a 6 or 7 year old. Maureen is also very talented - I held her all afternoon, and she never stopped talking or singing, or pointing things out to me. I couldn't understand much of it, but I could tell she's very smart. The happy part is that my parents will be sponsoring Maureen, ensuring she stays with Mama Kiyesu until she's old enough to go join her sister at school at the orphanage.
Just a short walk away from the fishing village is the camp of some nomadic cattle herdsmen. 
David knew the families, so we spent some time in their homes, which were quite lovely. 
Now some random pictures: this is the busiest part of Kampala on a busy day. My Brandt guidebook to Uganda says that some years ago, Kampala had the most chaotic taxi park in all of Africa. So the city, in their wisdom, built a second taxi park 100 meters away. Now they have the two most chaotic taxi parks in all of Africa. It's a wonder to see the subtle organization behind the apparent madness.
Pleasant view from Kuvumba recreational center near Wakiso.
The pool at Kuvumba rec center - never have I had a more refreshing swim.
Nice, quasi-American restaurant we visited in Masaka. Very classy meal for only 5 bucks or so.
Gotta love the Obama brand jeans! They're in every market.
And yes, I picked up a pair. Definitely bringing these home to show off in 2 years.
So, there's a woman who helps cook and clean at my homestay family's house, and she brings her 1.5 yr old, Enoch, every day. He sometimes doesn't wear pants, and this is his preferred napping position, laid out on the concrete floor. I found it amusing.
Oh and World Vision is all over the place here. Hoping I get to work with them some.
Friday, September 11, 2009
A clearer view
Friends,
Check out the link below from a Uganda newspaper for a better understanding of what is causing the riots and violence in Uganda right now. I just got a call from our training manager instructing me to remain at my homestay tomorrow, so looks like we'll be laying low for a couple days.
http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/uganda-talks-/for-the-international-audience-the-kampala-riots-explained.html
Do not fear!
So, you will all probably read in the news this morning about riots
and violence in Kampala. Thought I'd ease your fears before they
arise, and share a little of what has happened recently. I'm fine and
perfectly safe - the peace corps cancelled training today and told us
to stay home, so I basically have the day off. I've been watching
live news on tv, and following twitter updates to see what's been
happening in Kampala and the surrounding regions.
and violence in Kampala. Thought I'd ease your fears before they
arise, and share a little of what has happened recently. I'm fine and
perfectly safe - the peace corps cancelled training today and told us
to stay home, so I basically have the day off. I've been watching
live news on tv, and following twitter updates to see what's been
happening in Kampala and the surrounding regions.
Here's what I've been able to glean from news and reading my Uganda
history. During Idi Amin, he banned the cultural leadership of the
different Ugandan tribes, but the "kings" were reinstated by the
current president back in the 80's. The "kings" have no political
power, but are considered very important cultural leaders. Authority
and respect for position is profoundly important here, which explains
some of the reaction. Apparently, the king of the buganda people/
region wanted to travel to a contested region of his "realm". A local
leader there wanted the king to ask for permission to do so, which the
king didn't want to do. The government feared for the king's safety
or something like that, and prohibited his travel. Political
interference in the cultural kings is apparently a sensitive thing to
do, so that sparked violence in the capital yesterday, which appears
to have continued, if not escalated, today. I'm sorry if that's a
murky explanation, but my understanding is murky - it's harder to keep
up with the world when your internet is so slow!
Anyway, there are reports of military police in the streets of the
capital, rioters in certain areas, vehicles and car tires being burnt,
and some police stations attacked. The good news is that where I am
(I can't tell you exactly where, for security reasons) seems fairly
calm, but there's apparently some chance that rioting/violence could
spread. Even if that did happened, my house is a little outside of
town - well away from any possible danger, which hasn't even arisen.
Moreover, Peace Corps safety plans are unparalleled, so I have no
concerns or fears for my safety. Hopefully this will die down within a
couple days and we can return to training as normal.
It was interesting to watch breaking news on tv this morning. They
didn't have reporters or cameras on the ground, so they spent an hour
taking calls from people witnessing violence. Then they broke in with
a speech from the President. I'm used to seeing my President behind a
podium, with the seal of his office, presenting prepared remarks.
This morning, President Museveni was in an office chair at a table, in
front of a white wall, reading from written notes - and frequently
departing from them. He talked a lot about history, but took a long
time to come to the point - he kind of rambled, and seemed
unprepared. Didn't have the "stage presence" that Obama does.
Anyway, life does go on as usual. When I biked through town this
morning (before I got the text to stay home), kids were going to
school and shops were open. My host mom is cleaning the house and
feeding the chickens. I'll try to update what my last week was like
later today, since I've been suddenly blessed with an abundance of
free time.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Some pictures
Here's a selection of pictures - they're in no particular order, so don't assume chronological order. Hope it gives you a taste of what I've seen and done.
A view of the town we're staying in for training.
A termite mound - quite large. They're everywhere.
Gorgeous sunset from my backyard.
Kids playing soccer
Typical country road in Uganda - lots of dust!
Flying over the pyrenees.
The mosque in Wakiso.
A visit to a local NGO, educating youth on health related matters.
Nice to see monkey's on one of the first days in country.
A view of Lake Victoria.
Local kids coming to play soccer.
Dedication plaque for the health center here in Wakiso - apparently Uganda's president was present at the commisioning.
Haylee ( a fellow peace corps trainee) makes a new friend
Doing a needs assessment with an outlying community.
The Peace Corps Trainees beginning work on a keyhole garden - an efficient way of growing vegetables on the household level.
The finished product. The hole in the middle is filled with compost, and the path way allows access. All watering is done in the center, and after planting, the roots will make their way to the center hole to get water and nutrients. It's highly efficient.
The sahara desert is big - really big. We crossed over france in under an hour. Crossing the desert took 4 hours.
The liberty bell in Philadelphia - the engraved quotation is from scripture, Leviticus 25:10 "proclaim liberty to all the inabitants throughout the land"
thoughts on life in Uganda thus far
Hi all,
Time to update my blog. It's hard to pick out individual stories -
life is so structured right now that there aren't a lot of notable
individual stories to pass on, so I thought I'd talk about a few
different realms of life you might be interested.
Time to update my blog. It's hard to pick out individual stories -
life is so structured right now that there aren't a lot of notable
individual stories to pass on, so I thought I'd talk about a few
different realms of life you might be interested.
Internet: I was using an internet cafe, which was dreadfully slow.
But I invested in a USB modem, with improved results - but not
enough. Internet cafe gave me about 3 kb/s, and my modem gives me
maybe 30 kb/s, but I got in order to be able to video chat over skype,
which I was not able to do. So I'll be selling my modem to another
Peace Corps volunteer who doesn't need as much bandwidth as I do and
trying another one. I'm told that other networks ( I'm on MTN right
now) are less congested, and that you can buy more expensive modems
that are faster. One of the other trainees brought a blackberry that
has a built in modem, and he gets 400 kb/s and does video chat all the
time, so I'm hoping for that kind of performance eventually, but we'll
see what I can dig up. I'll be doing some research in Kampala on
Monday as I head out for a week. Which brings me to:
Language Immersion/Peace Corps Volunteer Shadowing: Monday through
Saturday this coming week all the individual language groups will
visit a current Peace Corps volunteer in their area. We'll be staying
in hotels ( hot showers! woohoo!), but shadowing the volunteer to see
what their life is like, as well as doing intensive language
training. Should be an exciting time - I'm not allowed to tell you
where I'm going for safety reasons, but I'll talk more about what it
was like when I get back.
Food: Pretty plain. Every meal consists of "food" ( or a starch of
some kind - matooke (boiled, mashed non-sweet bananas), or irish
potatoes, or rice) plus "sauce", which could be beans, or groundnuts
and the like. Occasionally we get meat, but that's rare. I'd say I'm
a vegetarian 3 to 4 days a week. Also, I've been realizing how
desensitized and distant from our food we are in America. I'm used to
buying chicken breasts, or ground beef in the supermarket and cooking
it, no problem. But the meat here is largely in stew form - a boiled
pot, where the meat is largely bone and gristle. I was a little
surprised when my host brothers greeting me, smiling, one saturday
morning with "Jonathan, would you like to slaughter a hen?". I
passed, but observed as they stepped on the chicken's wings and feet
and cut its head off with a dull knife. (Good kitchen knives are hard
to come by here). The dying chicken writhed and shook for several
minutes - I'm quite certain it would have run quite a distance if it
hadn't been constrained. Anyway, I miss really processed, ready to
eat, meat.
Church: Hard to adjust to. I've gone to two pentecostal churches,
and one anglican today. Several things in common: "Praise the Lord"
is the omni-present catchphrase, used as "do you agree with me?" as
well as "you're not singing loud enough" or "you need to wake up and
be excited" - not a shibboleth I'm a fan of. Growing up in a
Presbyterian church (God's frozen chosen!), I thrive on a certain
level of solemnity in my worship. If someone insists I become excited
and jump up and down, I rapidly look for something else to do or
somewhere else to be. "Clap for Jesus" is also a big thing here -
after every song, or scripture reading. Likewise, not a fan. It's
been generally a hard adjustment - the preaching lacks the intellect I
need to be fed. Mostly it winds up being a restatement ( or even
quasi-dramatic reenactment) of the scripture text, with a bare minimum
of application. I imagine that's a consequence of the lack of formal
theological training, but I'm still looking for a good preacher.
Energy is certainly not lacking - I love the drums- and harmony seems
quite natural to all the congregations, so some of the singing is
quite beautiful. We even sang "Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah"
today, which was excellent. Todays service was mostly english with a
couple Luganda songs, while the other churches have been largely
Luganda with English translation during the sermon. Also noteworthy
was a hilarious bumper sticker on a motorcycle outside church today:
"The Lord is my Refugee" - supposed to be "refuge", but the extra "e"
was quite hilarious.
That's all for now. While I have decent internet, I'll also throw up
a couple pictures in a few minutes. And I appreciate all your comments!
Monday, August 17, 2009
training continues
So I've kind of settled into the training schedule. A typical day starts with me waking up at 6:30 and biking to the training center. I usually have 30 mins or so of downtime before the first scheduled class, so I do my devotions or read a book or socialize with other people in my group. There are 5 realms of training: Language, Cross Culture, Safety and Security, Technical, and Medical. Each day has 4 sessions: 8-10, then a break for tea, 10"30-12:30, lunch, 1:30-3:30 and 3:30-5 or so. Medical is every tuesday, so the medical officers give us our shots and give a lecture on a common medical problem, what it means, and how to deal with it. (Thus far we've discussed malaria and diarrhea). Safety and security involves the security officer briefing us on Peace Corps procedure, telling us what to be careful about and various related topics. Cross culture helps us get accustomed to local customs, analyze what we're used to as Americans and how to be wary of behavior that will make us stick out or cause offense. Tech is directed at aspects of Peace Corps work that may be useful, so last week we discussed how to build a handwashing station (it's called a Tippy Tap - check it out at http://www.cdc.gov/safewater) and how to maintain a latrine so flies and cockroaches don't pose a problem. Language, I hope, is self explanatory. Language sometimes takes up 2 or even 3 of the sessions during the day, and I'm learning a lot and enjoying it.
I wish I could upload some pictures, but my internet speed has been pretty consistently 3 kb/s (which is about a thousand times slower than I'm used to), so that's not going to happen until I get to internet in the capital where it should be faster. Not sure when that will happen - I'll keep you informed.
Went to church yesterday and it was not bad. Music was by synthesizer, but they brought out the drums when the power went out so that was great. The sermon was about working hard to build the tower of your salvation (can I get an "uh oh" from my fellow calvinists? no offense to the rest of you :)). I'm looking forward to experiencing the diversity of African churches in the coming weeks.
Finally, I'm settling in to my homestay. Up to speed with bathing, getting water, using the latrine and all the daily things I take for granted back in the states. Did laundry by hand saturday - which is hard to do. Definitely taking every step to keep my clothes clean, which is also hard when I have to bike on dirt roads twice a day.
That's all for now. Further bulletins as events warrant :)
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