Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
I wake to another day of Uganda Life
My day usually starts around 7:30 -8:00 when I hear the chicken coup behind my house, the chickens make this weird high pitch squealing noise. I make a cup of coffee using the fresh milk the milk man brings the night before. Then I make three fresh eggs from the tray of eggs I get every month which only cost 5,000 shillings which equals to about 2.50 cents and there is about 24 eggs from the chicken coup where a girl named Lilly goes and fetches the fresh eggs. Then I eat my eggs with the newly made bread rolls which I also get once a week from the bakery which is only about a one minute walk from my house.
Then I start my day by meeting with Sr. Juliet my supervisor and we do all types of random management for the home and the children. I have been teaching about 10 students learn how to type using Rapid typing program that I got off a friend and they absolutely love it and it is fun to see how fast they catch on so quickly they are so eager they to learn technology.
The smell here is hot, sweet, smoky, salty, sharp soft. It is like the pure smell of dirt, fresh fire, old sweat and a hint of exhaust. It is very noisy here between the rooster, children the campaigns. There are men in trucks with very loud speakers who go around yelling random thoughts of telling people who to vote for. They are not like car speakers they are big 2 feet speakers in the back of some old pick up. Then there is the children who are sometimes quite, but if you walk down the main road around 5:00 you will see about 150 students walk home from school. Nkokonjeru is know for there great schools which is why there are so many students, plus Uganda highest population age is between 14- 24.
At dawn there is a explosion of day birds of all types. The crashing of wings and the secret language of the birds is such a perpetual background sound.
In the hot, slow time of day when time and sun and thought slow to a dragging, shallow there is the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant.
At four when the sun starts to slide west and cool waves of air are mixed with the heat, there is the shuffling sounds of animals coming back from the field at a heavy day of eating.
This is usually the time where I take a run into the bush. I past the Secondary school where girls between the ages of 13-18 stare at the white girl who has African hair and not quite dark skin but is still consider white. Then after the glares and eyes of wonder I pass the shrine of mother Mary. Where Sister Kevina the founding sister of Nkokonjeru would go and pray for support for the home. The shrine is made out of a old rock straight from the earth there is an alter that was carved out of the rock and Mary stands high above the shrine. The grass is perfectly cut into the shape of the cross that young children take machete's to cause there is no such thing as a lawn mower nor would they ever see one.
After the shrine I pass Mother Sr. Kevina grave yard where she lays now. There is a huge glass temple laced with bars and shapes I have never seen. This is where they placed her concert confine and where some the the sister go and pray to her for hours. After the grave yard there is nothing but already laid out trails where it leads to villages that have been there for years full of big families and mud huts.
Then the night starts to set in around 6:30 and the night creatures take over the chattering roosting and birds. Night owls, the lizards you can hear above you on the tin roofs sometimes sound like ran, they are getting ready for the cockroaches to come out so they can feast. These night noises have a sweeping eerie mystery sounds that play the sound track to big swollen stars above that lay side by side to the moon who every night steals the sky.
Then I make whatever food I can combine on my little white gas stoves that only holds two burners. I then clean up after dinner in my courtyard where I have access to tap water and I clean my dishes in a orange tub and let the night air dry them.
Then I warm some water and proceed to take my nightly bucket bathes that seems to wash away all the red dirt and hanging memories of the day that I have collected.
I Hop into my twin size bed that is cover with my green mosquito net, cuddle up to my pillow, close my eyes look up at the moon one last time and say my good-nights then start again knowing tomorrow will be a good day full of wonder, colors of all types from the flowers, noises that are so normal to me now along with the heat that I welcome them everyday.
Then I start my day by meeting with Sr. Juliet my supervisor and we do all types of random management for the home and the children. I have been teaching about 10 students learn how to type using Rapid typing program that I got off a friend and they absolutely love it and it is fun to see how fast they catch on so quickly they are so eager they to learn technology.
The smell here is hot, sweet, smoky, salty, sharp soft. It is like the pure smell of dirt, fresh fire, old sweat and a hint of exhaust. It is very noisy here between the rooster, children the campaigns. There are men in trucks with very loud speakers who go around yelling random thoughts of telling people who to vote for. They are not like car speakers they are big 2 feet speakers in the back of some old pick up. Then there is the children who are sometimes quite, but if you walk down the main road around 5:00 you will see about 150 students walk home from school. Nkokonjeru is know for there great schools which is why there are so many students, plus Uganda highest population age is between 14- 24.
At dawn there is a explosion of day birds of all types. The crashing of wings and the secret language of the birds is such a perpetual background sound.
In the hot, slow time of day when time and sun and thought slow to a dragging, shallow there is the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant.
At four when the sun starts to slide west and cool waves of air are mixed with the heat, there is the shuffling sounds of animals coming back from the field at a heavy day of eating.
This is usually the time where I take a run into the bush. I past the Secondary school where girls between the ages of 13-18 stare at the white girl who has African hair and not quite dark skin but is still consider white. Then after the glares and eyes of wonder I pass the shrine of mother Mary. Where Sister Kevina the founding sister of Nkokonjeru would go and pray for support for the home. The shrine is made out of a old rock straight from the earth there is an alter that was carved out of the rock and Mary stands high above the shrine. The grass is perfectly cut into the shape of the cross that young children take machete's to cause there is no such thing as a lawn mower nor would they ever see one.
After the shrine I pass Mother Sr. Kevina grave yard where she lays now. There is a huge glass temple laced with bars and shapes I have never seen. This is where they placed her concert confine and where some the the sister go and pray to her for hours. After the grave yard there is nothing but already laid out trails where it leads to villages that have been there for years full of big families and mud huts.
Then the night starts to set in around 6:30 and the night creatures take over the chattering roosting and birds. Night owls, the lizards you can hear above you on the tin roofs sometimes sound like ran, they are getting ready for the cockroaches to come out so they can feast. These night noises have a sweeping eerie mystery sounds that play the sound track to big swollen stars above that lay side by side to the moon who every night steals the sky.
Then I make whatever food I can combine on my little white gas stoves that only holds two burners. I then clean up after dinner in my courtyard where I have access to tap water and I clean my dishes in a orange tub and let the night air dry them.
Then I warm some water and proceed to take my nightly bucket bathes that seems to wash away all the red dirt and hanging memories of the day that I have collected.
I Hop into my twin size bed that is cover with my green mosquito net, cuddle up to my pillow, close my eyes look up at the moon one last time and say my good-nights then start again knowing tomorrow will be a good day full of wonder, colors of all types from the flowers, noises that are so normal to me now along with the heat that I welcome them everyday.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Letter from Alex
Everyday at 6:00 all the people from the home say the rosary together outside my window where there is a shrine of Mary with wonderful garden full of flowers of all colors. They say the rosary half in English and half in Luganda along with a wonderful song they all sing.
Today after they were done praying and there was a knock on my door and there stood Alex a 18 year old boy who has no use of his legs yet can from what I have seen cut the grass with a machete and carrier 5 liter jerry can of water all while using wooden crutches with no padding that he uses everyday.
I am always worried when someone knocks on my door cause keeping my privacy is something that I need to keep otherwise you let one student in and they will all coming knocking. So opening the door and seeing Alex with a letter in hand made me a little unease cause a letter to us volunteers can either be really good or a letter asking for something like for school fees or a marriage proposal.
I am happy to say the letter was very good. I guess I am blessed because this letter stated how happy he was that I am here to live with them for the next two years and that he hopes that he will learn a lot from each other.
The letter also went on about a conversation we had on Monday about the funeral we attended.
I remember speaking with him Monday after I attended my first funeral and he asked me if the funeral bothered me and if it is the same in America and I enclosed to him that it is the same people mourn the same here as they do back home and I told him about the passing of my father.
So in this letter it stated that he did not want me to be unhappy about the passing away of my father and he's to know how painful it is, so let him pray that the father of all fathers Jesus Christ is your father too and me too because we are in the same situation of the passing of our fathers. He also wished me a nice stay at the home and to have fun and feel at home and God bless me and that he will pray for me.
I love my new home and family in Uganda and feel very at home here. Peace Corps was the best decision I have made and thank God everyday that I am here happy and healthy.
Today after they were done praying and there was a knock on my door and there stood Alex a 18 year old boy who has no use of his legs yet can from what I have seen cut the grass with a machete and carrier 5 liter jerry can of water all while using wooden crutches with no padding that he uses everyday.
I am always worried when someone knocks on my door cause keeping my privacy is something that I need to keep otherwise you let one student in and they will all coming knocking. So opening the door and seeing Alex with a letter in hand made me a little unease cause a letter to us volunteers can either be really good or a letter asking for something like for school fees or a marriage proposal.
I am happy to say the letter was very good. I guess I am blessed because this letter stated how happy he was that I am here to live with them for the next two years and that he hopes that he will learn a lot from each other.
The letter also went on about a conversation we had on Monday about the funeral we attended.
I remember speaking with him Monday after I attended my first funeral and he asked me if the funeral bothered me and if it is the same in America and I enclosed to him that it is the same people mourn the same here as they do back home and I told him about the passing of my father.
So in this letter it stated that he did not want me to be unhappy about the passing away of my father and he's to know how painful it is, so let him pray that the father of all fathers Jesus Christ is your father too and me too because we are in the same situation of the passing of our fathers. He also wished me a nice stay at the home and to have fun and feel at home and God bless me and that he will pray for me.
I love my new home and family in Uganda and feel very at home here. Peace Corps was the best decision I have made and thank God everyday that I am here happy and healthy.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
September 2010
September
Ok friends and family I was debating about what to write do I write all the positive stuff or keep it real.
So here it is in the REAL Miss Ann in Uganda.
The high and lows of training.
So when I first started training things were at a high of course then as the days sink in and one bad day leads to another if you let it. I am finding it hard for a number of reasons weather you know it or not I am not very social. There is 45 of us from all place in the states with all different types of personalities but one goal make it through training and then start our dreams as a Peace Corps Volunteers. Second reason HOME STAY is very painful. I'm first home-stay family was a little rough around the edges. They spoke very little English and I mean almost none at all. My first couple of days the Host mother would not even get home until 10:00 and then on top of this the family was Muslim and in the middle of Ramadan so they do not eat until sun down. I was excited at first to be placed with a Muslim family because I knew very little and this religion. I was excited to learn about it, but as it turns out only my host mom knew about the traditions and celebrations and them they would feed me left over meals from the night before cause they would only eat when the sun goes down and they eat very late and being used to eating 7 or 8 at night made it very hard.
They were a very nice family, but the communication barrier being sick all the time and not socializing with the family and the food. Made me a little crazy. Thank God Peace corps staff is very helpful and so they placed me in a new family. More to come on my new host family.
9-23-2010
I have been having a rough month and it is still not over yet. I have fallen ill now a total of four times and every time the peace corps medical officer says it is food poisoning and I am very susceptible to the bacteria. I knew I was going to be sick you know the usual vomiting, diarrhea and high fevers not that I can't handle it but it has been consist every two week I fall ill.
The routine of getting sick in training is calling the medical officer take a tablet and if it is during the day and you have the REA ( diarrhea ) the will let you stay at RACO the training site/ hotel that has a toilet, shower and a good food for about two days which is awesome when you are sick and don't want to use the pit latrine. SO thank god for this.
If you are really bad and have been having high fevers then they send you to Kampala the Capital city. Then you are sent to a place called “The Surgery” yup that’s right you are told you are going to the surgery and then you realize when you get there it is a clinic called the surgery lol. Then you wait from anywhere between one to five hours. You are then seen by different characters of nurses and doctors. Then after the clinic you are then sent to headquarters speak with a nurse and sent back to RACO or sometimes home. This all happens when you are sick. Lets just say I am now the expert of what happens when a trainee is sick.
On the other hand you get to go to volunteer lounge and sometimes there will be volunteers there from another group and you can chit chat with them. They also have a room full of books you can borrow sometimes there is left over clothes you can have. Which is nice since in training you really don't have too much time to buy new clothes or get some made. Overall they take good care of you.
So enough of the sick talk.
My trip to Munko in Katiso with my friend Rashida another trainee who is also my neighbor.
8:00 a.m on a Tuesday morning 45 Mungoz's ( white people) hopped aboard a matatu 's( Bus) and headed to various parts of Uganda, but first to Kampala where all the taxi parks are.
Oh how we love Kampala.
All the trainees love to go into Kampala because there is a shopping center that is kind like a shopping mall with really good Food like ½ lbs hamburger yummmy so good. This is usually where we stock up on the feel good foods for me it is usually chocolate, peanut butter, jelly, the good strawberry wafers and some trainees have gone bowling or to a movie I have not yet experience either of those but sure as hell will in the near future. Oh yea Nados a breakfast place had the best jelly filled doughnut every . Well if you can't already guessed it is the small things in life here that make me a happy woman.
After well fill our bags we then try multiples time to track down another bus which is sometimes hard to do because they usually try and over charge us because we a American and they think we have a lot of money, but in reality we only get paid 35,000 shillings a week which is about 15.00 US dollars. To help figure out how expensive things are a bottle of coke cost 1,500 shillings.
The Matatu experience.
So there is no real regulation on how many people can travel in a bus and when I say bus don't think big bus think a 12 passenger van like bus. So when you get in the matatu ( bus) there maybe already 12 people in it so you are squeezed next to someone who usually smells like they have not showered in days. So you get in the bus then the real chaos starts so this bus does not stop when you get there it make multiple stops.
You start going down the road for 5-10 minutes when they pick up more people for the bus so Rashida and I counted 22 people were on this bus with us going down a dirt road at some high speeds where they stop drop off two or three people and then down the road again pick up five more people I hope I am painting an good enough picture for you to see. LOL.
We made it to Katiso.
After beginning drop off in Katiso which is on Lake Victoria ( I have been trying to upload pics but they take super extra long and well I don't want to spend all my limited internet time uploading pics when I can get on youtube and have a laugh. So if anyone has any ideas to help me upload I would gladly take them) we were greeted my the Volunteer Heidi Hall she shows us her town. We hike some high hill and were able to see far out into Lake Victoria it was another great HOLY SHIT I'm in Africa moment. It werid here everything becomes so normal so every now and then i'll get a oh shit i'm in Africa moment. Which is really nice because the days run so short here in training it's get up and go go go go. They do not give us a lot of down time which is good but really bad at the same time.
Ok friends and family I was debating about what to write do I write all the positive stuff or keep it real.
So here it is in the REAL Miss Ann in Uganda.
The high and lows of training.
So when I first started training things were at a high of course then as the days sink in and one bad day leads to another if you let it. I am finding it hard for a number of reasons weather you know it or not I am not very social. There is 45 of us from all place in the states with all different types of personalities but one goal make it through training and then start our dreams as a Peace Corps Volunteers. Second reason HOME STAY is very painful. I'm first home-stay family was a little rough around the edges. They spoke very little English and I mean almost none at all. My first couple of days the Host mother would not even get home until 10:00 and then on top of this the family was Muslim and in the middle of Ramadan so they do not eat until sun down. I was excited at first to be placed with a Muslim family because I knew very little and this religion. I was excited to learn about it, but as it turns out only my host mom knew about the traditions and celebrations and them they would feed me left over meals from the night before cause they would only eat when the sun goes down and they eat very late and being used to eating 7 or 8 at night made it very hard.
They were a very nice family, but the communication barrier being sick all the time and not socializing with the family and the food. Made me a little crazy. Thank God Peace corps staff is very helpful and so they placed me in a new family. More to come on my new host family.
9-23-2010
I have been having a rough month and it is still not over yet. I have fallen ill now a total of four times and every time the peace corps medical officer says it is food poisoning and I am very susceptible to the bacteria. I knew I was going to be sick you know the usual vomiting, diarrhea and high fevers not that I can't handle it but it has been consist every two week I fall ill.
The routine of getting sick in training is calling the medical officer take a tablet and if it is during the day and you have the REA ( diarrhea ) the will let you stay at RACO the training site/ hotel that has a toilet, shower and a good food for about two days which is awesome when you are sick and don't want to use the pit latrine. SO thank god for this.
If you are really bad and have been having high fevers then they send you to Kampala the Capital city. Then you are sent to a place called “The Surgery” yup that’s right you are told you are going to the surgery and then you realize when you get there it is a clinic called the surgery lol. Then you wait from anywhere between one to five hours. You are then seen by different characters of nurses and doctors. Then after the clinic you are then sent to headquarters speak with a nurse and sent back to RACO or sometimes home. This all happens when you are sick. Lets just say I am now the expert of what happens when a trainee is sick.
On the other hand you get to go to volunteer lounge and sometimes there will be volunteers there from another group and you can chit chat with them. They also have a room full of books you can borrow sometimes there is left over clothes you can have. Which is nice since in training you really don't have too much time to buy new clothes or get some made. Overall they take good care of you.
So enough of the sick talk.
My trip to Munko in Katiso with my friend Rashida another trainee who is also my neighbor.
8:00 a.m on a Tuesday morning 45 Mungoz's ( white people) hopped aboard a matatu 's( Bus) and headed to various parts of Uganda, but first to Kampala where all the taxi parks are.
Oh how we love Kampala.
All the trainees love to go into Kampala because there is a shopping center that is kind like a shopping mall with really good Food like ½ lbs hamburger yummmy so good. This is usually where we stock up on the feel good foods for me it is usually chocolate, peanut butter, jelly, the good strawberry wafers and some trainees have gone bowling or to a movie I have not yet experience either of those but sure as hell will in the near future. Oh yea Nados a breakfast place had the best jelly filled doughnut every . Well if you can't already guessed it is the small things in life here that make me a happy woman.
After well fill our bags we then try multiples time to track down another bus which is sometimes hard to do because they usually try and over charge us because we a American and they think we have a lot of money, but in reality we only get paid 35,000 shillings a week which is about 15.00 US dollars. To help figure out how expensive things are a bottle of coke cost 1,500 shillings.
The Matatu experience.
So there is no real regulation on how many people can travel in a bus and when I say bus don't think big bus think a 12 passenger van like bus. So when you get in the matatu ( bus) there maybe already 12 people in it so you are squeezed next to someone who usually smells like they have not showered in days. So you get in the bus then the real chaos starts so this bus does not stop when you get there it make multiple stops.
You start going down the road for 5-10 minutes when they pick up more people for the bus so Rashida and I counted 22 people were on this bus with us going down a dirt road at some high speeds where they stop drop off two or three people and then down the road again pick up five more people I hope I am painting an good enough picture for you to see. LOL.
We made it to Katiso.
After beginning drop off in Katiso which is on Lake Victoria ( I have been trying to upload pics but they take super extra long and well I don't want to spend all my limited internet time uploading pics when I can get on youtube and have a laugh. So if anyone has any ideas to help me upload I would gladly take them) we were greeted my the Volunteer Heidi Hall she shows us her town. We hike some high hill and were able to see far out into Lake Victoria it was another great HOLY SHIT I'm in Africa moment. It werid here everything becomes so normal so every now and then i'll get a oh shit i'm in Africa moment. Which is really nice because the days run so short here in training it's get up and go go go go. They do not give us a lot of down time which is good but really bad at the same time.
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