Hey everyone, hope the week has been well! I’m preparing for my last week in Uganda now—I can’t believe its gone so quickly. At times 2 months has seemed like forever, but overall this trip has flown by! And as cheesy as this sounds (and you all know I’m not really a sentimental person or anything…), as I miss home more and more towards the end of the trip, the more I feel at home in Katosi with all the incredible people that are here.
The week started rocky—Rhea had been feeling sick since before rafting and it was getting worse so she went to get some tests done with a doctor in Keytume and found out that she had malaria AND typhoid! I felt horrible for her but I know she felt worse… I can’t even imagine…but now she’s finished treatment and feeling a lot better!
Anyway, while she was getting treated I was alone in Katosi but everyone knew I was by myself and they were super nice. The staff in Kampala called everyday, Mama made me meals, and I hung out with my friend Dora in the dairy a ton for company.
It was so exiting…one night early in the week I was watching Ugandan news with Mama and KWDT was featured. We had a huge ceremony on Sunday to open a new well up the road and although I didn’t see them, there must have been reporters covering the event and it was on national tv. Margaret the director and Rehema, one of the office staff were interviewed and they showed footage from the event. Of course we all cheered when it came on and it was so cool to see my little organization with that sort of legitimacy and publicity!
On Tuesday after health club at the secondary school I was walking home with Patience and Rose, 2 girls in the club and they invited me to their house to meet their mother and the rest of their family. Their mother is one of the most inspiring people I’ve met…she’s really young but her and her sisters live together and take in orphans from surrounding towns and give them a place to live and send them to school. So there were like 15 young kids living at their house, most of had been orphaned. I stayed there for a really long time and we showed each other pictures of our families and they cooked me a huge dinner with pineapple juice and sugar cane for dessert. Then since it was dark Patience and Rose walked me home and we hung out in the apartment for a while. It sure beat going back to the apartment by myself since Rhea was gone! Once again, I’m completely amazed by the people I meet here and there’s so much I want to do for them but I can’t figure out what would be the most help.
One of the other things I did this week was bring the letters from the girls at Orchard House to one of my schools and have the kids write back. They turned out great and it was a really fun activity but it was kind of disturbing to see just how much of the creative thought process the children lacked since all they do in school is repetition and copying. At first it was really hard to get them to do their own work instead of copying the examples I gave them straight from the board. I think that’s definitely an education/development issue I want to look into more once I get home.
Then finally on Thursday, KWDT had visitors from a prep school in England that has been a major donor to the organization. Margaret, Val, and everyone else from Kampala came to Katosi to show them around and we had a big celebration with dancing and music. And I got to talk to people my age in English…which is always exciting :)
After that, Margaret took us back to her house in Kampala since we are going to her graduation party in the city tonight. Her house was really nice and in the suburbs and it was fun to meet her children who are about our age and the rest of her relatives since they’re in town for the party. She really made us feel like part of the family, plus we got to watch American tv in really comfortable chairs and take a hot shower with running water! It was a good night!
So tonight we’ve got Margaret’s party, and then we’re cooking an “American” lunch for everyone we work with at our place on Sunday…after I’ll finish up the work in schools during the week and then head home after a weekend full of goodbye parties. I’m sure this last week will fly by and I’ll be home in no time!
I can’t wait to see everyone!
Love,
Kate
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Mighty Nile
Hey everyone! Hope everyone’s week is going well!
I just got back to Mukono after spending the weekend rafting in Jinja at the source of the Nile!
Last week was a really fun week in terms of work. I taught a bunch of health seminars in the primary schools and while they were exhausting, I think they went really well. When I get frustrated with how the kids are listening or talking I just have to keep in mind that it probably wouldn’t be any different in a class full of fifth graders at home! Once the kids open up and feel comfortable being asked to participate and play games, versus just repetition and copying, we have a good time and hopefully, they learn a lot. I also went around with our boss Leonard to one of the new schools that KWDT is building a tank at and met with the headmaster about starting a school health committee. Its incredible to hear how much a rain tank will change the quality of education for the students at the schools. The headmaster explained that now (before the tank) the kids have to walk down a hill for about 2 km to a creek when water is needed for the school, since its their duty to collect water for all the school’s functioning. That’s a ton of class to miss and energy that could be spent learning!
In health club at St. Joseph’s Secondary we got into some really good discussions about some pretty sensitive subjects. We talked a lot about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality this week, both of which are huge stigmas in Uganda and have tons of rumors circulating about them. Its interesting but really disheartening to hear some of the things that people have told these kids about those issues. For example that HIV was a plot by a white scientist to kill Africans, and that homosexuality also came from white westerners because there are more gays in America and Europe. From those, we jumped into a discussion about the biology behind disease and how they jump from animals to people, and then from people to people so that they spread, and about how homosexuality probably any more common in the West, just more accepted. I could write for hours about our talks this week…I’ll really miss meeting with these kids in a few weeks.
As for the weekend, Rhea and I met up with the rest of the group in Kampala on Thursday for a tour of Parliament. We even got to sit in on a debate! Then on Friday the rafting company picked us up and took us to Jinja to hit the Nile. It was INSANE! After a pretty in depth safety briefing (I know mom will appreciate that..), we spent 2 days on class 5 rapids, I’ve never done something quite that intense. At night we stayed at the company’s campsite which was overlooking some of the rapids. I’ve never been in water that intense. When we tried to “surf”, which is to keep the raft in the middle of a rapid with water rushing around I even got the face sucked right out of the band of my watch…a huge bummer actually. Our guide Moses was incredible too, he was from the area and had some really funny and terrifying stories about kayaking the Nile and even riding over some of the falls floating on a jerry can. We’ve got a video of the trip so you guys can check it out when I’m back.
At the end of the second day we went during sunset on a boat ride up to where Lake Victoria stops and the Nile begins, so at the source of Nile. It was beautiful and another reminder of how crazy it is that I’m actually here!
Well that’s all for this week. I can’t believe there are only 2 left…time has flown by. See you all soon!
Love,
Kate
I just got back to Mukono after spending the weekend rafting in Jinja at the source of the Nile!
Last week was a really fun week in terms of work. I taught a bunch of health seminars in the primary schools and while they were exhausting, I think they went really well. When I get frustrated with how the kids are listening or talking I just have to keep in mind that it probably wouldn’t be any different in a class full of fifth graders at home! Once the kids open up and feel comfortable being asked to participate and play games, versus just repetition and copying, we have a good time and hopefully, they learn a lot. I also went around with our boss Leonard to one of the new schools that KWDT is building a tank at and met with the headmaster about starting a school health committee. Its incredible to hear how much a rain tank will change the quality of education for the students at the schools. The headmaster explained that now (before the tank) the kids have to walk down a hill for about 2 km to a creek when water is needed for the school, since its their duty to collect water for all the school’s functioning. That’s a ton of class to miss and energy that could be spent learning!
In health club at St. Joseph’s Secondary we got into some really good discussions about some pretty sensitive subjects. We talked a lot about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality this week, both of which are huge stigmas in Uganda and have tons of rumors circulating about them. Its interesting but really disheartening to hear some of the things that people have told these kids about those issues. For example that HIV was a plot by a white scientist to kill Africans, and that homosexuality also came from white westerners because there are more gays in America and Europe. From those, we jumped into a discussion about the biology behind disease and how they jump from animals to people, and then from people to people so that they spread, and about how homosexuality probably any more common in the West, just more accepted. I could write for hours about our talks this week…I’ll really miss meeting with these kids in a few weeks.
As for the weekend, Rhea and I met up with the rest of the group in Kampala on Thursday for a tour of Parliament. We even got to sit in on a debate! Then on Friday the rafting company picked us up and took us to Jinja to hit the Nile. It was INSANE! After a pretty in depth safety briefing (I know mom will appreciate that..), we spent 2 days on class 5 rapids, I’ve never done something quite that intense. At night we stayed at the company’s campsite which was overlooking some of the rapids. I’ve never been in water that intense. When we tried to “surf”, which is to keep the raft in the middle of a rapid with water rushing around I even got the face sucked right out of the band of my watch…a huge bummer actually. Our guide Moses was incredible too, he was from the area and had some really funny and terrifying stories about kayaking the Nile and even riding over some of the falls floating on a jerry can. We’ve got a video of the trip so you guys can check it out when I’m back.
At the end of the second day we went during sunset on a boat ride up to where Lake Victoria stops and the Nile begins, so at the source of Nile. It was beautiful and another reminder of how crazy it is that I’m actually here!
Well that’s all for this week. I can’t believe there are only 2 left…time has flown by. See you all soon!
Love,
Kate
Sunday, July 5, 2009
What does it mean to be American?
Hey everyone! Happy 4th of July! Here’s an update on the past week:
After the safari, 2 of our friends working in western Uganda came back to visit Katosi and see how Rhea and I are living. We took them back up to monkey hill where a monkey literally almost took off my arm for a banana, and even found a fisherman who took us out on his boat around lake Victoria! It was the first time I’ve been out on the water since I’ve been here and after spending so many summers on the Severn I definitely have missed it! That night we got creative (ie. Had really bad cravings for “American food”) so we made burritos. we bought some avacados, onions, and tomatos to make guacamole, stir fried some veggies and beans, and rolled it all up in a chapatti--...ironic because they were actually a mix of Indian, African, and Mexican I guess, but anyway, it was delicious.
So besides cooking, I actually did do some work this week… I started teaching the health program I designed for primary schools. Basically I’m going to all of the primary schools that KWDT works with (4 schools) as a guest speaker during 5th, 6th, and 7th grade science classes and teaching a seminar on health. I got some help from a peace corps volunteer on the curriculum and came up with some games and it’s a lot of fun because it’s a break for the kids from typical Ugandan schooling, which is a lot of repetition and not a lot of participation. I’ve really developed a love for teaching, and I already loved working with kids so its been great!
I also have been going back to the secondary school (St. Josephs) a lot because in addition to the health club, I’ve started tutoring some of the kids in biology and English. I’m getting to know them really well and since they speak English the best out of anyone else here, its great to have real conversations with them. They’re so smart and have such big hopes for the future—and they’re really funny too! On Thursday we started talking about music so they made me sing some of their favorites with them…jo jo and chris brown mostly so thanks southie and liney for keeping me up to date :)
This weekend we came to Kampala because there was a 4th of july party at the embassy…complete with cake and fireworks!! It was a really neat experience, but talking with Ugandans about our 4th of july celebration was really interesting too. Here, they don’t really celebrate Uganda’s independence day on October 9th. They told us that even still, the country doesn’t feel united enough to come together to celebrate and there is so much corruption in the government that most people aren’t proud enough. That was really surprising to me, especially because as an outsider, the country seems really homogenous. Some of the kids at St. Josephs also asked me how you know that someone is American if their roots are Indian, Italian, Mexican, etc…which really got me thinking. Its hard to understand how as Americans we can feel so united most of the time, even with a lot of diversity. I know America isn’t perfect, but that perspective gave me a lot of appreciation for life here.
And on a lighter note, I figured out this week why they pack the taxis so much here (remember, like 25 people in a 14 passenger van) its because the roads are SO bumpy here that when they aren’t over capacity, there isn’t enough weight in the taxi for it to remain on the ground. Last weekend on my way back to Katosi most of the other riders got out a few villages before Katosi which is at the end of the line, so for the last 20 minutes there were only a few people. I literally spent the entire time airborne and smashing my head on the roof as the taxi that was too light kept hitting the bumps..ouch!
Ok that’s all for now. More teaching this week and then rafting on the nile this weekend so I’m sure I’ll have stories! Have a great week, I miss all of you!
Love,
Kate
After the safari, 2 of our friends working in western Uganda came back to visit Katosi and see how Rhea and I are living. We took them back up to monkey hill where a monkey literally almost took off my arm for a banana, and even found a fisherman who took us out on his boat around lake Victoria! It was the first time I’ve been out on the water since I’ve been here and after spending so many summers on the Severn I definitely have missed it! That night we got creative (ie. Had really bad cravings for “American food”) so we made burritos. we bought some avacados, onions, and tomatos to make guacamole, stir fried some veggies and beans, and rolled it all up in a chapatti--...ironic because they were actually a mix of Indian, African, and Mexican I guess, but anyway, it was delicious.
So besides cooking, I actually did do some work this week… I started teaching the health program I designed for primary schools. Basically I’m going to all of the primary schools that KWDT works with (4 schools) as a guest speaker during 5th, 6th, and 7th grade science classes and teaching a seminar on health. I got some help from a peace corps volunteer on the curriculum and came up with some games and it’s a lot of fun because it’s a break for the kids from typical Ugandan schooling, which is a lot of repetition and not a lot of participation. I’ve really developed a love for teaching, and I already loved working with kids so its been great!
I also have been going back to the secondary school (St. Josephs) a lot because in addition to the health club, I’ve started tutoring some of the kids in biology and English. I’m getting to know them really well and since they speak English the best out of anyone else here, its great to have real conversations with them. They’re so smart and have such big hopes for the future—and they’re really funny too! On Thursday we started talking about music so they made me sing some of their favorites with them…jo jo and chris brown mostly so thanks southie and liney for keeping me up to date :)
This weekend we came to Kampala because there was a 4th of july party at the embassy…complete with cake and fireworks!! It was a really neat experience, but talking with Ugandans about our 4th of july celebration was really interesting too. Here, they don’t really celebrate Uganda’s independence day on October 9th. They told us that even still, the country doesn’t feel united enough to come together to celebrate and there is so much corruption in the government that most people aren’t proud enough. That was really surprising to me, especially because as an outsider, the country seems really homogenous. Some of the kids at St. Josephs also asked me how you know that someone is American if their roots are Indian, Italian, Mexican, etc…which really got me thinking. Its hard to understand how as Americans we can feel so united most of the time, even with a lot of diversity. I know America isn’t perfect, but that perspective gave me a lot of appreciation for life here.
And on a lighter note, I figured out this week why they pack the taxis so much here (remember, like 25 people in a 14 passenger van) its because the roads are SO bumpy here that when they aren’t over capacity, there isn’t enough weight in the taxi for it to remain on the ground. Last weekend on my way back to Katosi most of the other riders got out a few villages before Katosi which is at the end of the line, so for the last 20 minutes there were only a few people. I literally spent the entire time airborne and smashing my head on the roof as the taxi that was too light kept hitting the bumps..ouch!
Ok that’s all for now. More teaching this week and then rafting on the nile this weekend so I’m sure I’ll have stories! Have a great week, I miss all of you!
Love,
Kate
Sunday, June 28, 2009
SAFARI!!
Hey everyone!
Its been another great week! I’m back after our safari trip this weekend which was SO cool!
As far as work last week, it was a short week but a very gratifying one. I built my first tippy tap on my own with help from a P4 class at one of the schools I work at. They mostly watched the construction, but were huge helps when I needed more sticks and the holes dug, etc. Literally, I was describing what sized pole I needed, and this like 9 year old boy runs out into the woods with a machete and starts hacking away and brought me an armful haha…I can’t even imagine what sorts of lawsuits would come about if they found a 9 year old using a machete in schools here!
On Wednesday Rhea, Hema, Shane and I met up with everyone else (all 8 interns) in Kampala and we headed out on the safari on Thursday morning. We drove for like 7 hours to the northwest to Murchison National Park, where the company running the safari had a campsite with a restaurant and bar area overlooking the Nile…it was INCREDIBLE. The first day we went in the actual safari van early in the morning and saw tons of giraffes, antelopes, hippos, really cool birds, monkeys, and baboons all up close. We even saw 2 female lions and one was feeding on a dead impala…it was like straight off planet earth or the lion king or something! In the afternoon we took a boatride down the nile to the bottom of a big waterfall and on the way we saw some elephants, hippos, and crocodiles!
Everything was going great until that night in the tent however when pretty much the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me happened. There was this HUGE tarantula spider thing in our tent and so me and Megan, my friend who was sharing the tent smushed it with a shoe and literally like 200 baby spiders exploded out from it and started crawling all over the tent. It was a nightmare! Needless to say, I slept about 10 minutes that night. But besides that the trip was really cool…one of the restaurant staff kept us entertained by his Michael Jackson tributes…he was apparently obsessed with MJ and completely devastated by his death. That’s been really big news here…I’m trying to find a paper today to bring home
Oh, the other thing about the campsite was the warthogs! They’re literally like pets around the campsite..and I’m not talking a cute pumba-like animal. These things are big, ugly, and hairy and will literally rip through your tent if they smell food in it. Gross.
The last morning on the way back to Kampala we hiked to Murchinson Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls on the nile and the view was amazing…of course, we got our guide to take a C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A picture of us from the top since there were 8 of us. Pretty cheesy I know…
We got back to Kampala Saturday afternoon and then all went to Mukono for the night because John, our internship coordinator wanted to have a party for us while we were all together. He had us all stay at his house and cooked us a huge African feast, with pineapple and even cake for dessert—it was SO good and his hospitality was unbelievable.
Well that’s it for now! Full work week this week and then next weekend I think we’re going to head to Kampala because there’s a BBQ at the embassy for the 4th of July…until next time! Hope everyone is doing well at home!
Love,
Kate
Its been another great week! I’m back after our safari trip this weekend which was SO cool!
As far as work last week, it was a short week but a very gratifying one. I built my first tippy tap on my own with help from a P4 class at one of the schools I work at. They mostly watched the construction, but were huge helps when I needed more sticks and the holes dug, etc. Literally, I was describing what sized pole I needed, and this like 9 year old boy runs out into the woods with a machete and starts hacking away and brought me an armful haha…I can’t even imagine what sorts of lawsuits would come about if they found a 9 year old using a machete in schools here!
On Wednesday Rhea, Hema, Shane and I met up with everyone else (all 8 interns) in Kampala and we headed out on the safari on Thursday morning. We drove for like 7 hours to the northwest to Murchison National Park, where the company running the safari had a campsite with a restaurant and bar area overlooking the Nile…it was INCREDIBLE. The first day we went in the actual safari van early in the morning and saw tons of giraffes, antelopes, hippos, really cool birds, monkeys, and baboons all up close. We even saw 2 female lions and one was feeding on a dead impala…it was like straight off planet earth or the lion king or something! In the afternoon we took a boatride down the nile to the bottom of a big waterfall and on the way we saw some elephants, hippos, and crocodiles!
Everything was going great until that night in the tent however when pretty much the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to me happened. There was this HUGE tarantula spider thing in our tent and so me and Megan, my friend who was sharing the tent smushed it with a shoe and literally like 200 baby spiders exploded out from it and started crawling all over the tent. It was a nightmare! Needless to say, I slept about 10 minutes that night. But besides that the trip was really cool…one of the restaurant staff kept us entertained by his Michael Jackson tributes…he was apparently obsessed with MJ and completely devastated by his death. That’s been really big news here…I’m trying to find a paper today to bring home
Oh, the other thing about the campsite was the warthogs! They’re literally like pets around the campsite..and I’m not talking a cute pumba-like animal. These things are big, ugly, and hairy and will literally rip through your tent if they smell food in it. Gross.
The last morning on the way back to Kampala we hiked to Murchinson Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls on the nile and the view was amazing…of course, we got our guide to take a C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A picture of us from the top since there were 8 of us. Pretty cheesy I know…
We got back to Kampala Saturday afternoon and then all went to Mukono for the night because John, our internship coordinator wanted to have a party for us while we were all together. He had us all stay at his house and cooked us a huge African feast, with pineapple and even cake for dessert—it was SO good and his hospitality was unbelievable.
Well that’s it for now! Full work week this week and then next weekend I think we’re going to head to Kampala because there’s a BBQ at the embassy for the 4th of July…until next time! Hope everyone is doing well at home!
Love,
Kate
Sunday, June 21, 2009
tippy taps, glow sticks, and other adventures
Hey everyone!
Its been a busy week…right now we are stopped at the internet café on the way back to Katosi after spending the weekend in the mountains in a town called Kasese with some friends from UNC working at an organization there. We did some hiking and went on a short tour of Queen Elizabeth National Park where we saw kabs (like antelopes), warthogs, elephants, a lion, and even got really close to a family of hippos!
The night after my last blog post we spent the night with Shane and Hema again and gave the kids in their neighborhood some of the glowsticks that Rhea had brought. It was so much fun…they were completely mesmerized by them and so were the adults. Some were even scared of touching them at first but it was adorable once we all started playing…and since its SO dark here at night they showed up really bright.
On Tuesday KWDT had their coordinators meeting that they have once every 4 months with all the people involved in the organization and the major women leaders from each women’s group. There were about 35 women there total and even though we couldn’t really understand much of the proceedings of the meeting, it was great to see everyone together. We also finally met the director Margaret who set us up with the internship…she’s been away traveling.
That afternoon, I met with my health club over at the secondary school and we built our first tippy tap (google it…it’s a really ingenious handwashing system) The kids at that school are awesome and going to their meetings are definitely a highlight of my week. They’re bright and really interested in everything…each week I get them to write down health related topics, and those become the subject for next weeks meeting.
Besides work, there’s lots to tell about life in Katosi still…I’ve done laundry by hand a few times and it SUCKS but its so dusty that its really necessary. I can’t imagine how people do it for a family of 5. Also our boss Leonard caught malaria this week…its crazy how that’s just part of life here…he just took some drugs and didn’t even miss a day of work
Also one of the things that keeps cracking me up is the names of all the taxis. Each one has either a really Christian name or the name of a cheesy American pop star airbrushed in sparkly letters across the front and back…here are a few of my favorites I’ve ridden on: Beyonce, Ashanti, Destiny, Juses’ Blood (I’m pretty sure they mean jesus…), Hungry 4 God, Puff Daddy, and 4 Our Sinz. Those names definitely add a little humor to waiting around for like 2 hours to fill a van with 25 people haha
Well that’s all for this time…I’m headed on a safari this next weekend so I’ll be back in Kampala soon and hopefully able to give updates from there. Hope everyone is still doing well!
Love,
Kate
PS. I almost forgot something really exciting!! PEOPLE ARE FINALLY LEARNING MY NAME!!! now there are less muzungu shouts and people actually call out kate when I come by...i finally just went around like a freak introducing myself and people really remembered. Actually, its rarely Kate, more often its Katie, Kathy, or Ketie...but its close, and I really appreciate it :) okay thats it.. bye!
Its been a busy week…right now we are stopped at the internet café on the way back to Katosi after spending the weekend in the mountains in a town called Kasese with some friends from UNC working at an organization there. We did some hiking and went on a short tour of Queen Elizabeth National Park where we saw kabs (like antelopes), warthogs, elephants, a lion, and even got really close to a family of hippos!
The night after my last blog post we spent the night with Shane and Hema again and gave the kids in their neighborhood some of the glowsticks that Rhea had brought. It was so much fun…they were completely mesmerized by them and so were the adults. Some were even scared of touching them at first but it was adorable once we all started playing…and since its SO dark here at night they showed up really bright.
On Tuesday KWDT had their coordinators meeting that they have once every 4 months with all the people involved in the organization and the major women leaders from each women’s group. There were about 35 women there total and even though we couldn’t really understand much of the proceedings of the meeting, it was great to see everyone together. We also finally met the director Margaret who set us up with the internship…she’s been away traveling.
That afternoon, I met with my health club over at the secondary school and we built our first tippy tap (google it…it’s a really ingenious handwashing system) The kids at that school are awesome and going to their meetings are definitely a highlight of my week. They’re bright and really interested in everything…each week I get them to write down health related topics, and those become the subject for next weeks meeting.
Besides work, there’s lots to tell about life in Katosi still…I’ve done laundry by hand a few times and it SUCKS but its so dusty that its really necessary. I can’t imagine how people do it for a family of 5. Also our boss Leonard caught malaria this week…its crazy how that’s just part of life here…he just took some drugs and didn’t even miss a day of work
Also one of the things that keeps cracking me up is the names of all the taxis. Each one has either a really Christian name or the name of a cheesy American pop star airbrushed in sparkly letters across the front and back…here are a few of my favorites I’ve ridden on: Beyonce, Ashanti, Destiny, Juses’ Blood (I’m pretty sure they mean jesus…), Hungry 4 God, Puff Daddy, and 4 Our Sinz. Those names definitely add a little humor to waiting around for like 2 hours to fill a van with 25 people haha
Well that’s all for this time…I’m headed on a safari this next weekend so I’ll be back in Kampala soon and hopefully able to give updates from there. Hope everyone is still doing well!
Love,
Kate
PS. I almost forgot something really exciting!! PEOPLE ARE FINALLY LEARNING MY NAME!!! now there are less muzungu shouts and people actually call out kate when I come by...i finally just went around like a freak introducing myself and people really remembered. Actually, its rarely Kate, more often its Katie, Kathy, or Ketie...but its close, and I really appreciate it :) okay thats it.. bye!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Kirabo
So, 2 weeks in at Katosi and being here has made me appreciate a ton of things about life in the US…2 major things being flavorful food and diversity!
Food here is alright, but nothing I’ll be dying to fix for myself once I get home…in fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll never eat another banana…they have like 6 kinds of bananas and cook them different ways to eat them at literally every meal. We’re doing most of our cooking which is good because we can mix it up, but a traditional Ugandan meal consists of a huge plate of assorted starchy mushy foods, and either beans, a meat or fish, or g-nut sauce (I’m not really sure what that is except some ground up nuts, like a thinner peanut butter) as some protein. They eat HUGE quantities of boiled plantains, boiled potatoes, boiled yams, boiled potatos, boiled cassava, you name it…they boil it and mash it up. They also have a lot of fruit like pineapples, mango, and guava which is really good. A “rolex” is food you can get from stands on the street that are really good and a little more substantial than the other stuff. Its an omelette wrapped in a chipati (fried pita bread) so its sort of like a breakfast burrito. Being here has also made me care a whole lot less about food safety (which is probably not a good thing…but theres not really a choice) For example, the other day we went to visit the site where KWDT is building a fish pond for one of their women’s groups. We hiked down to the pond and then the ladies who were overseeing the building cooked us lunch…they had 2 giant pots over open fire (one with beans and one with maize porridge) and needed something to stir. So a man climbed into a tree, tore of a branch, and stirred the food. Then to keep it warm they pulled down some banana fronds and covered the pots to keep the steam in—then we got it in a bowl and ate with our hands. Southie would have freaked out, and I was about to, but I was so hungry it didn’t matter :)
I also really appreciate the diversity in the US. Its really difficult to walk into the street and have everyone stop what they’re doing to stare at you, and its frustrating to hear mothers teaching their kids to call me “Mzungu” because I’m white, instead of my name. Kids and everywhere chant mzungu when you walk by, and although I know that the US still has race issues, its weird that here, I’m only identified by the color of my skin. And its not like people are mean, in fact most people are friendly and want to talk to you, but I know its because I stick out. Its hard to understand also because everyone watches TV, so they’ve seen fair skinned people, but I guess its just like how we’ve seen monsters in movies, but if we saw one in real life, we’d freak out. (Which happens also, I’ve made about 3 kids run crying to their moms just by walking by) Along the same lines, there’s a lot less diversity in terms of religious beliefs and other cultural values. Everyone in Katosi is strictly Christian, and they have very conservative beliefs about homosexuality, sex education, etc. I think it would be really interesting to visit the university in Kampala and see if the students there are more open minded than the average people in Katosi. That’s probably the case, for example Dora, who works in the dairy store in front of where we live is headed to University in the fall and I’ve had some really interesting conversations with her about changing views on marriage, women’s roles, and family size. She’s one of 10, but only wants to have 2 or 3 children herself.
Other news from the week, our nurse friend Esther caught typhoid but literally didn’t let it slow her down at all… she continued being superwoman and is recovering well which is good news for Rhea and I. Big mama Gertrude is home from treatment, and also, a group of the women members came on Friday for lunch and gave us local names! Mine is “Kirabo” which means gift—they were so sweet and I like Kirabo a whole lot better than mzungu!
On Saturday some friends in Agradu who are working and living about an hour a way came to visit and we took them up to monkey hill, which overlooks Katosi. For some reason, the trees on that hill are filled with monkeys (hence the name) and if you bring bananas they’ll literally come right up and eat them out of your hands! Its wild and I got some great pictures!
Well that’s all for now, so much to say and not enough minutes on the internet! Hope everyone at home is having a good summer, I’d love to hear about it by e-mail or phone (I have a cell phone here and if you want to call, ask my parents how :) I miss you all
Until next time,
Love,
Kate
Food here is alright, but nothing I’ll be dying to fix for myself once I get home…in fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll never eat another banana…they have like 6 kinds of bananas and cook them different ways to eat them at literally every meal. We’re doing most of our cooking which is good because we can mix it up, but a traditional Ugandan meal consists of a huge plate of assorted starchy mushy foods, and either beans, a meat or fish, or g-nut sauce (I’m not really sure what that is except some ground up nuts, like a thinner peanut butter) as some protein. They eat HUGE quantities of boiled plantains, boiled potatoes, boiled yams, boiled potatos, boiled cassava, you name it…they boil it and mash it up. They also have a lot of fruit like pineapples, mango, and guava which is really good. A “rolex” is food you can get from stands on the street that are really good and a little more substantial than the other stuff. Its an omelette wrapped in a chipati (fried pita bread) so its sort of like a breakfast burrito. Being here has also made me care a whole lot less about food safety (which is probably not a good thing…but theres not really a choice) For example, the other day we went to visit the site where KWDT is building a fish pond for one of their women’s groups. We hiked down to the pond and then the ladies who were overseeing the building cooked us lunch…they had 2 giant pots over open fire (one with beans and one with maize porridge) and needed something to stir. So a man climbed into a tree, tore of a branch, and stirred the food. Then to keep it warm they pulled down some banana fronds and covered the pots to keep the steam in—then we got it in a bowl and ate with our hands. Southie would have freaked out, and I was about to, but I was so hungry it didn’t matter :)
I also really appreciate the diversity in the US. Its really difficult to walk into the street and have everyone stop what they’re doing to stare at you, and its frustrating to hear mothers teaching their kids to call me “Mzungu” because I’m white, instead of my name. Kids and everywhere chant mzungu when you walk by, and although I know that the US still has race issues, its weird that here, I’m only identified by the color of my skin. And its not like people are mean, in fact most people are friendly and want to talk to you, but I know its because I stick out. Its hard to understand also because everyone watches TV, so they’ve seen fair skinned people, but I guess its just like how we’ve seen monsters in movies, but if we saw one in real life, we’d freak out. (Which happens also, I’ve made about 3 kids run crying to their moms just by walking by) Along the same lines, there’s a lot less diversity in terms of religious beliefs and other cultural values. Everyone in Katosi is strictly Christian, and they have very conservative beliefs about homosexuality, sex education, etc. I think it would be really interesting to visit the university in Kampala and see if the students there are more open minded than the average people in Katosi. That’s probably the case, for example Dora, who works in the dairy store in front of where we live is headed to University in the fall and I’ve had some really interesting conversations with her about changing views on marriage, women’s roles, and family size. She’s one of 10, but only wants to have 2 or 3 children herself.
Other news from the week, our nurse friend Esther caught typhoid but literally didn’t let it slow her down at all… she continued being superwoman and is recovering well which is good news for Rhea and I. Big mama Gertrude is home from treatment, and also, a group of the women members came on Friday for lunch and gave us local names! Mine is “Kirabo” which means gift—they were so sweet and I like Kirabo a whole lot better than mzungu!
On Saturday some friends in Agradu who are working and living about an hour a way came to visit and we took them up to monkey hill, which overlooks Katosi. For some reason, the trees on that hill are filled with monkeys (hence the name) and if you bring bananas they’ll literally come right up and eat them out of your hands! Its wild and I got some great pictures!
Well that’s all for now, so much to say and not enough minutes on the internet! Hope everyone at home is having a good summer, I’d love to hear about it by e-mail or phone (I have a cell phone here and if you want to call, ask my parents how :) I miss you all
Until next time,
Love,
Kate
More on my work here
Hey everybody! It’s the weekend so that means internet finally!
2 weeks in and work has picked up which is exciting. I now have a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to be working on this summer but although 2 months seems like a ton of time, it takes a LONG time to accomplish things here so I don’t want to get too set on anything. Here’s an overview:
KWDT has built rain water tanks for 7 schools in the area so the kids don’t have to spend time collecting dirty water from Lake Victoria during the day when they could be learning. 5 of those schools are within walking distance, so I’m focusing on them and basically following up on their progress regarding sanitation and hygiene (so that its not just like we built them a tank and then pretend that everything else is fine). So far I’ve met with all the schools at least once to introduce myself and now for the rest of the summer I’ll be going back weekly to do hygiene workshops, sanitation education, and help construct additional facilities like tippy taps (a makeshift handwashing station) and trash cans in every classroom. I’m also hoping to finish what the Peace Corps volunteer here was in the process of doing before she left, which is set up school health committees at each school (made up of teachers and students) that are in charge of monitoring sanitation and hygiene issues at the school after I leave so that its hopefully sustainable. I’m really excited about working on all of this, I’m hoping its feasible since all of the school administrators speak English but it will still be a challenge that will quickly fill up my remaining time here.
In the past 2 weeks we’ve also been going out into the field with the other employees some days just to see what other kinds of work the organization does…we’ve met a lot of the women members, seen the fish ponds that their building, checked in with some of the wells and ecosan toilets, etc. Its just frustrating because the group does SO much and if I just spoke the language I could be a lot more useful!
2 weeks in and work has picked up which is exciting. I now have a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to be working on this summer but although 2 months seems like a ton of time, it takes a LONG time to accomplish things here so I don’t want to get too set on anything. Here’s an overview:
KWDT has built rain water tanks for 7 schools in the area so the kids don’t have to spend time collecting dirty water from Lake Victoria during the day when they could be learning. 5 of those schools are within walking distance, so I’m focusing on them and basically following up on their progress regarding sanitation and hygiene (so that its not just like we built them a tank and then pretend that everything else is fine). So far I’ve met with all the schools at least once to introduce myself and now for the rest of the summer I’ll be going back weekly to do hygiene workshops, sanitation education, and help construct additional facilities like tippy taps (a makeshift handwashing station) and trash cans in every classroom. I’m also hoping to finish what the Peace Corps volunteer here was in the process of doing before she left, which is set up school health committees at each school (made up of teachers and students) that are in charge of monitoring sanitation and hygiene issues at the school after I leave so that its hopefully sustainable. I’m really excited about working on all of this, I’m hoping its feasible since all of the school administrators speak English but it will still be a challenge that will quickly fill up my remaining time here.
In the past 2 weeks we’ve also been going out into the field with the other employees some days just to see what other kinds of work the organization does…we’ve met a lot of the women members, seen the fish ponds that their building, checked in with some of the wells and ecosan toilets, etc. Its just frustrating because the group does SO much and if I just spoke the language I could be a lot more useful!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The "Real Africa"
WOW. One week through at Katosi and it continues to surprise me everyday…this is the real deal. Its tough, but this is the Africa from the movies and we are living it. Its been neat to see and experience first hand a lot of the things I learned about in classes this year about the developing world…I’m going to give just a few examples from the first week.
1.Gender differences and the burden of domestic work on women. Its clear now just how difficult life is for everyone here, but especially women. Domestic tasks that we complain about in the US are like a million times more time consuming here…there might not be power, and even so, theres no dishwashers, washing machines, or even sinks—everything is done by hand. The nurse Esther that lives next door is also a house keeper and she is literally ALWAYS working because theres always something else that needs to be done. She told us she sleeps from 12-5 every night and then works the rest of the time. That’s why I think its great that Katosi Women’s Development Trust is focused on generating an income for women. With just a small amount of money coming in (about $1.50 a day) they can make their daily life just a little bit easier.
2.Secondly, is the different conception of time. You always hear about how Americans are the only ones tied to a schedule but Ugandan’s have literally NO concept of time or efficiency (such as what should be accomplished in a work day). Which is kind of tough for me, but I’m adjusting and that’s just how life is…I think my parents would agree that a lesson in patience is probably a good thing for me To give you an example, on Friday, we were supposed to go visit a school that Fred, our boss, said was “some distance” away. Well, “some distance” ended up being an hour and a half walk both ways through the jungle…it wasn’t that the walk was bad because it was really pretty, but when we got to the school, the man that we were supposed to meet with about sanitation and hygiene wasn’t even there! So we just looked around and walked back…he didn’t seem phased and he could totally have called the man since he had his contact info, but that’s not now business is done here. But that also means they are a lot more laid back and always ready to strike up a great conversation, which is nice. Another example of the time thing is that the taxis here are really 14 passenger vans and the will NOT move until all seats are filled, and by all seats filled, I mean at least 25 passengers on board. The more passengers, the more money for the driver so they will wait until there is absolutely no room left. Like I said, on our way to Mukono yesterday, Rhea and I counted 25 people! It was pretty crazy flying down the bumpy, dusty road with that many people and it made me really glad that I wasn’t driving
3.Another thing I’m experiencing first hand is how much we use as westerners in terms of resources. I mean I know you always see those charts where Americans use like a hundred times more water than everyone else but I’ve never been able to visualize or conceptualize that until now. In our compound, there are 3 rain water cisterns...the community can use them when they are full, but once the get low they get locked and people have to buy their water elsewhere. Since we live on site we get to use them all the time, but I’m paranoid that they will actually run out! If they do, we get our water from a pump down town and it costs about 200 shillings per jerry can (20 liters) of water. I’ve never had to think so much about conserving…I’ve even mastered taking a bucket shower with less than a bucket of water which is crazy when I think about how many gallons even a 5 minute shower takes! Its also really disheartening to see children not in school because they must collect the water for their families. Every day I see kids no older than 4 or 5 toting jerry cans back and forth from their house to the pump so that their families have enough water to bathe, wash, cook, and drink.
4.We also had been warned by the interns last year that we would stick out with light skin but its way more overwhelming than I thought. Walking into the street, everyone literally stops what they’re doingdoing to stare, and then the children start shouting MUZUNGU! Which means white person, which is pretty funny because Rhea’s Indian…Kids chase after you and want to touch your hair and a lot of time their mothers just let them while they stare. Its not like their being rude, but its just a lot to get used to. For me, they also shout “DEBORAH”, who was the name of the Peace corps volunteer before me at KWDT—I guess we look a lot alike since we’re both white I don’t correct them and just wave anyway most of the time.
Anyway, that’s just a glimpse into the “Real Africa”…its been a crazy week but we’re adjusting well and I’m sure I’ll have more stories next time!
1.Gender differences and the burden of domestic work on women. Its clear now just how difficult life is for everyone here, but especially women. Domestic tasks that we complain about in the US are like a million times more time consuming here…there might not be power, and even so, theres no dishwashers, washing machines, or even sinks—everything is done by hand. The nurse Esther that lives next door is also a house keeper and she is literally ALWAYS working because theres always something else that needs to be done. She told us she sleeps from 12-5 every night and then works the rest of the time. That’s why I think its great that Katosi Women’s Development Trust is focused on generating an income for women. With just a small amount of money coming in (about $1.50 a day) they can make their daily life just a little bit easier.
2.Secondly, is the different conception of time. You always hear about how Americans are the only ones tied to a schedule but Ugandan’s have literally NO concept of time or efficiency (such as what should be accomplished in a work day). Which is kind of tough for me, but I’m adjusting and that’s just how life is…I think my parents would agree that a lesson in patience is probably a good thing for me To give you an example, on Friday, we were supposed to go visit a school that Fred, our boss, said was “some distance” away. Well, “some distance” ended up being an hour and a half walk both ways through the jungle…it wasn’t that the walk was bad because it was really pretty, but when we got to the school, the man that we were supposed to meet with about sanitation and hygiene wasn’t even there! So we just looked around and walked back…he didn’t seem phased and he could totally have called the man since he had his contact info, but that’s not now business is done here. But that also means they are a lot more laid back and always ready to strike up a great conversation, which is nice. Another example of the time thing is that the taxis here are really 14 passenger vans and the will NOT move until all seats are filled, and by all seats filled, I mean at least 25 passengers on board. The more passengers, the more money for the driver so they will wait until there is absolutely no room left. Like I said, on our way to Mukono yesterday, Rhea and I counted 25 people! It was pretty crazy flying down the bumpy, dusty road with that many people and it made me really glad that I wasn’t driving
3.Another thing I’m experiencing first hand is how much we use as westerners in terms of resources. I mean I know you always see those charts where Americans use like a hundred times more water than everyone else but I’ve never been able to visualize or conceptualize that until now. In our compound, there are 3 rain water cisterns...the community can use them when they are full, but once the get low they get locked and people have to buy their water elsewhere. Since we live on site we get to use them all the time, but I’m paranoid that they will actually run out! If they do, we get our water from a pump down town and it costs about 200 shillings per jerry can (20 liters) of water. I’ve never had to think so much about conserving…I’ve even mastered taking a bucket shower with less than a bucket of water which is crazy when I think about how many gallons even a 5 minute shower takes! Its also really disheartening to see children not in school because they must collect the water for their families. Every day I see kids no older than 4 or 5 toting jerry cans back and forth from their house to the pump so that their families have enough water to bathe, wash, cook, and drink.
4.We also had been warned by the interns last year that we would stick out with light skin but its way more overwhelming than I thought. Walking into the street, everyone literally stops what they’re doingdoing to stare, and then the children start shouting MUZUNGU! Which means white person, which is pretty funny because Rhea’s Indian…Kids chase after you and want to touch your hair and a lot of time their mothers just let them while they stare. Its not like their being rude, but its just a lot to get used to. For me, they also shout “DEBORAH”, who was the name of the Peace corps volunteer before me at KWDT—I guess we look a lot alike since we’re both white I don’t correct them and just wave anyway most of the time.
Anyway, that’s just a glimpse into the “Real Africa”…its been a crazy week but we’re adjusting well and I’m sure I’ll have more stories next time!
Life In Katosi
Hi everyone! I don't have internet in my town so I'm in an internet cafe about an hour away right now. There's so much I want to say about life in my village but not enough time..so I can't wait to see you all with stories and pictures when I return.
Anyway I’m gonna try and describe it: Katosi is a bigger village than I thought, theres a ton of produce stands and little food stores with the basics, theres also one gas station, a “post office”, a few restaurants and like 500 schools since theres literally a million kids. Lining the street are storefronts and then the housing compounds are behind the stores and believe me, they are the real deal…some are just like TV: mud huts with thatched roofs, etc. That’s been the most shocking thing…we are definitely in real Africa—the kids with bloated bellies, no shoes, tattered clothes and I want to do so much to help them but I know it will be tough.
So the village is right on Lake Victoria which is GORGEOUS…it’s a fish trading post so theres always boats coming in and out. That also means that there is always a breeze so its really not that hot. Its way hotter in Raleigh or even Sherwood but its just incredibly really dusty here. The “apartment” that Rhea and I are staying in is in a little courtyard thing behind the office and dairy store that are on the street front. There’s a gate that they lock at night so we feel really safe. Also in the courtyard is a nurse’s clinic, a kitchen, 4 latrines, and 3 rain water cisterns. There’s one other apartment where the nurse Esther lives nextdoor…she is the NICEST lady ever. I don’t know what we would do with out her…she’s helped us cook, buy things from town, introduce us to the women… everything! Also in the courtyard is Gertrude’s house. Gertrude is the mother of the founder of the organization so she’s pretty much everyone’s boss but they all call her mama and we do too because she treats us like her daughters. Unfortunately, she is pretty sick right now so she’s in Kampala for treatment but she’s left her house open for us to go in during the day which is nice because its a lot bigger and cooler than our little apartment. Where we’re living there are 2 rooms and a “bathroom” which is literally a cement closet with a drain where we do our bucket baths (which I’ve become pro at by the way). In one room are our mosquito nets and beds and in the other is a sofa, 2 chairs, and a gas stove. basically a bunson burner for us to cook on. Theres also a fridge which we pretty much use just to keep the ants away from food instead of keeping things cold since the power is so sporadic.
The village is really loud at all times. Theres a loudspeaker across the street that does death announcements and soccer scores like 3 times a day and there are so many animals EVERYWHERE. There’s like 5 chickens and roosters and a goat that live in the courtyard. Deborah also adopted a cat named Maria that keeps trying to get in…I hate cats and Rheas allergic, and all the Ugandan’s think its weird that she had a pet anyway so we’re trying really hard to get rid of it
That blue water bottle is the best thing ever, while we’re home we can use the water that we treat but its nice to have during the day out working because you can fill it up anywhere.
As far as work goes, its still pretty slow to really take off but that’s just how things are in Uganda. I’ve started visiting some schools to introduce myself so I can’t wait to go back and help them with specific projects.. I’ll keep you updated with that as it comes along. Right now we’re working mainly with 2 guys named Fred and Leonard who are in charge of the Katosi field office—they are both really nice and would do anything to keep us happy. There’s also another intern who is here for the same time from the University in Kampala named Musisi.
Thats just a description for now..hopefully more stories to follow and if there's anything you want to know, just ask.
I love and miss you all, Kate
Anyway I’m gonna try and describe it: Katosi is a bigger village than I thought, theres a ton of produce stands and little food stores with the basics, theres also one gas station, a “post office”, a few restaurants and like 500 schools since theres literally a million kids. Lining the street are storefronts and then the housing compounds are behind the stores and believe me, they are the real deal…some are just like TV: mud huts with thatched roofs, etc. That’s been the most shocking thing…we are definitely in real Africa—the kids with bloated bellies, no shoes, tattered clothes and I want to do so much to help them but I know it will be tough.
So the village is right on Lake Victoria which is GORGEOUS…it’s a fish trading post so theres always boats coming in and out. That also means that there is always a breeze so its really not that hot. Its way hotter in Raleigh or even Sherwood but its just incredibly really dusty here. The “apartment” that Rhea and I are staying in is in a little courtyard thing behind the office and dairy store that are on the street front. There’s a gate that they lock at night so we feel really safe. Also in the courtyard is a nurse’s clinic, a kitchen, 4 latrines, and 3 rain water cisterns. There’s one other apartment where the nurse Esther lives nextdoor…she is the NICEST lady ever. I don’t know what we would do with out her…she’s helped us cook, buy things from town, introduce us to the women… everything! Also in the courtyard is Gertrude’s house. Gertrude is the mother of the founder of the organization so she’s pretty much everyone’s boss but they all call her mama and we do too because she treats us like her daughters. Unfortunately, she is pretty sick right now so she’s in Kampala for treatment but she’s left her house open for us to go in during the day which is nice because its a lot bigger and cooler than our little apartment. Where we’re living there are 2 rooms and a “bathroom” which is literally a cement closet with a drain where we do our bucket baths (which I’ve become pro at by the way). In one room are our mosquito nets and beds and in the other is a sofa, 2 chairs, and a gas stove. basically a bunson burner for us to cook on. Theres also a fridge which we pretty much use just to keep the ants away from food instead of keeping things cold since the power is so sporadic.
The village is really loud at all times. Theres a loudspeaker across the street that does death announcements and soccer scores like 3 times a day and there are so many animals EVERYWHERE. There’s like 5 chickens and roosters and a goat that live in the courtyard. Deborah also adopted a cat named Maria that keeps trying to get in…I hate cats and Rheas allergic, and all the Ugandan’s think its weird that she had a pet anyway so we’re trying really hard to get rid of it
That blue water bottle is the best thing ever, while we’re home we can use the water that we treat but its nice to have during the day out working because you can fill it up anywhere.
As far as work goes, its still pretty slow to really take off but that’s just how things are in Uganda. I’ve started visiting some schools to introduce myself so I can’t wait to go back and help them with specific projects.. I’ll keep you updated with that as it comes along. Right now we’re working mainly with 2 guys named Fred and Leonard who are in charge of the Katosi field office—they are both really nice and would do anything to keep us happy. There’s also another intern who is here for the same time from the University in Kampala named Musisi.
Thats just a description for now..hopefully more stories to follow and if there's anything you want to know, just ask.
I love and miss you all, Kate
Friday, May 29, 2009
Here safely and in Kampala!
After 48 straight hours of traveling we finally got to Uganda. The trip was really easy..Emirates Air is awesome but it was just LONG. It was about an hour taxi to our hostel in Kampala once we touched down and got luggage.
The hostel is really basic but its clean and safe and has hot water, which is more than I can be sure of once I'm in the village :)
On Thursday (our first morning), we met our internship coordinator John who was so happy to see us and helped us exchange money and get cell phones. He also showed us around the city which is nice because Kamapal is CRAZY and lacks pretty much any city planning or reason, but that makes it interesting. There are people and cars everywhere...its exciting but I also can't wait to get to the village. Especially after meeting Rehema, one of the ladies from Katosi who works in the main headquarters that just by chance, is right across the street from our hostel. On the first morning at breakfast she came to find Rhea and me just to say welcome, introduce herself, and make sure we were comfortable. Thats how everyone is here...they are always smiling and so welcoming. Haha, in the market today I told someone I was from the United states and he shouted OBAMA and gave me a high five!
Well, this has to be a quick post...i've got to meet up with everyone for lunch but I just wanted to give an update that we were here and settled. On to Katosi on Sunday!
The hostel is really basic but its clean and safe and has hot water, which is more than I can be sure of once I'm in the village :)
On Thursday (our first morning), we met our internship coordinator John who was so happy to see us and helped us exchange money and get cell phones. He also showed us around the city which is nice because Kamapal is CRAZY and lacks pretty much any city planning or reason, but that makes it interesting. There are people and cars everywhere...its exciting but I also can't wait to get to the village. Especially after meeting Rehema, one of the ladies from Katosi who works in the main headquarters that just by chance, is right across the street from our hostel. On the first morning at breakfast she came to find Rhea and me just to say welcome, introduce herself, and make sure we were comfortable. Thats how everyone is here...they are always smiling and so welcoming. Haha, in the market today I told someone I was from the United states and he shouted OBAMA and gave me a high five!
Well, this has to be a quick post...i've got to meet up with everyone for lunch but I just wanted to give an update that we were here and settled. On to Katosi on Sunday!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Final Countdown...some pre-trip thoughts
Its been less than 2 weeks at home since exams ended and I'm already getting bored at home, so its definitely time for me to leave for Uganda. This entire experience is going to be an incredible adventure, and I'm so lucky to have a chance to do something like this. That being said, like everyone else, I'm pretty nervous too. Preparing for this trip over the course of the year has been an emotional roller coaster, at times more excited than nervous, sometimes vice versa...but now the excitement is building. I can say one thing for certain: I have put more time and energy into this summer's plans than ever before, and now that everything has fallen into place, I can't wait to get started!
My family and friends are pretty worried, which only adds to my anxiousness. It was my sister's graduation this past weekend so alot of my family was in town, and needless to say, not a conversation went by without someone expressing some concern about my well being and safety this summer. While its nice to know that they care (alot) about my safety, it almost makes me more nervous when they bring up questions and concerns that haven't even crossed my mind. One of the most difficult things is explaining to loved ones that no, I don't know exactly what I'm getting myself into this summer. The best I can promise is that I'll be smart and use good judgment, but I know that's not enough to settle nerves. For me, the graduation was also bittersweet in that I was reminded how much I will miss my family this summer. My extended family is really close and this will be the first summer ever that I haven't spent months living with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all together. I'm glad I got to see everyone before I leave, but it was hard to think about not being with everyone this summer.
Luckily, alot of my extra energy generated by the excitement and nervousness has been able to be channeled into endless preparations for the trip. I've been to Target and REI at least 4 times each, and probably will go 4 more times before Monday. I love making lists so this trip has been just one big exuse to make tons of them: to do lists, to get lists, to pack lists, check lists...you name it :) Casey and Lea have been SO helpful answering any and all questions, I'm not sure what we'd do without them. Deborah, the peace corps volunteer who has been in Katosi for a while has also been incredibly helpful...its been really nice to communicate with someone in a similar situation, especially since no one else from AGRADU has gone to Katosi before.
So now after months of anticipation, I'm off, but not exactly sure as to what awaits me. From my job description with Katosi it looks like I'll be working in schools alot, which is really exciting because I love working with kids. When people ask, I tell them I'm doing an internship in health behavior eduaction, which is what I've pieced together from the e-mails, but won't know for sure until I get there, get settled, and meet Margaret and the other amazing women for the first time. It kind of worries me that I don't know exactly what I'll be doing since I'm someone that likes to be busy and productive so I think that this summer will definitely be a personal challenge in patience, flexibility, and self-reliance...but I'm ready for the challenge to begin!
My family and friends are pretty worried, which only adds to my anxiousness. It was my sister's graduation this past weekend so alot of my family was in town, and needless to say, not a conversation went by without someone expressing some concern about my well being and safety this summer. While its nice to know that they care (alot) about my safety, it almost makes me more nervous when they bring up questions and concerns that haven't even crossed my mind. One of the most difficult things is explaining to loved ones that no, I don't know exactly what I'm getting myself into this summer. The best I can promise is that I'll be smart and use good judgment, but I know that's not enough to settle nerves. For me, the graduation was also bittersweet in that I was reminded how much I will miss my family this summer. My extended family is really close and this will be the first summer ever that I haven't spent months living with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all together. I'm glad I got to see everyone before I leave, but it was hard to think about not being with everyone this summer.
Luckily, alot of my extra energy generated by the excitement and nervousness has been able to be channeled into endless preparations for the trip. I've been to Target and REI at least 4 times each, and probably will go 4 more times before Monday. I love making lists so this trip has been just one big exuse to make tons of them: to do lists, to get lists, to pack lists, check lists...you name it :) Casey and Lea have been SO helpful answering any and all questions, I'm not sure what we'd do without them. Deborah, the peace corps volunteer who has been in Katosi for a while has also been incredibly helpful...its been really nice to communicate with someone in a similar situation, especially since no one else from AGRADU has gone to Katosi before.
So now after months of anticipation, I'm off, but not exactly sure as to what awaits me. From my job description with Katosi it looks like I'll be working in schools alot, which is really exciting because I love working with kids. When people ask, I tell them I'm doing an internship in health behavior eduaction, which is what I've pieced together from the e-mails, but won't know for sure until I get there, get settled, and meet Margaret and the other amazing women for the first time. It kind of worries me that I don't know exactly what I'll be doing since I'm someone that likes to be busy and productive so I think that this summer will definitely be a personal challenge in patience, flexibility, and self-reliance...but I'm ready for the challenge to begin!
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