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