July 29th 2009

So it is official… I am leaving the great town of Kisoro, spending a couple days in Kampala then on to Kasese. After 11 months I will be moving out on Friday. It has been a roller coaster of a ride in this town cut off from the rest of the world. I moved here with 2 amazing guys by my side. One unfortunately left kisoro much too early and we miss him all the time. We have gained one in return who has become a great friend. I have met some amazing people here in Kisoro and have seen some amazing things. I am not going to say goodbye to his beautiful town because I will be back a lot I feel. I have to keep up with my projects I started and had to end a year earlier than planned.

Many of you know I have moved 5 times in 4 months which has now lead to many anxieties revolving around permanence in my life. I think the one thing that grounds all volunteers is their house/home. We are all thrown into this crazy world we call peace corps and we cant control much until we step into our homes. We get yelled at, hit on and whistled at all day but the second we walk into those door of our house we are finally “safe.” A peace corps volunteers house becomes a coping strategy. You can decorated it anyway you want, put up picture, arrange the furniture, buy pretty fabric etc. A year ago I was plucked out of my life in American then moved to transit place called banana village. After that we were put in with a host family for two month. Right when we became comfortable with sharing our lives with this Ugandan family we were torn out again to go to our own Ugandan home for the next two years. And in most cases a peace corps volunteer sets up house and the moving is over. I feel like a lot of my problems have been because of the lack of stability in my life lately. Since moving to kisoro in October of last year, my Ugandan host organization has been on the breaking point. If one person would have wanted to cash in their debts at the wrong time, it would have gone under. It is still going but barely. For the orphans’ sake I really hope is turns around in a good direction.

I am going to miss so many things about Kisoro and some things I cant wait to get away from. The people I have met here will be hard to say goodbye to. I met my amazing milk man who has been helping me gain weight by all this whole milk he gives me with a smile…im happy to get away from the whole milk but not him haha. He is my favorite person in kisoro and judging by his comment about wanting me to be his second wife, I think he will miss me too haha. My lovely post master who can talk your leg off but is the sweetest person ever. A dedicated sign language teacher who I will never forget and the amazing people at kisoro supermarket how has helped me in more ways than just with food and many many more people in this little town.

I have been coming up with a list in my head of great positive things about this future home. Kasese is directly on the equator which makes for crazy HOT weather but a good story about living at 0 degrees latitude. I am very close to Queen Elizabeth national park which is suppose to be very beautiful and is where all the cool African animals live. Kasese sits right below the rwenzori mountains which is the only place that has snow on the equator. Of course I won’t be able to touch the snow but still cool. I have read that it is the second faster growing district in Uganda and is much much bigger than kisoro so that should be fun. I even hear there are dance clubs and a cinema there. There are no other peace corps volunteers in kisoro. But one problem I have had with kisoro is that it is so cut off from the rest of the country. It is very hard to get to, no one wants to come and visit, you cant just take a weekend trip to kampala for a refresher, etc and kasese is much closer to the rest of the world. It is only 6 hours or so from kampala, 3ish from mbarara, 2ish from fortportal which I hear is very very nice and beautiful. I also hear there are man VSO volunteers there and medical students from America and rumor has it that some of the new group of volunteers coming in October might be placed in kasese as well which is nice because I thrive on my dinner parties haha. Another interesting part is the population I will be working with. I have been told the organization I am going to deals with children who have lost limbs from the landmines in the congo during the war. I think this was the scariest part of this site. I talked to some pc staff and they said they weren’t going to put volunteers in the north until they are properly trained on how to deal with victims of war which I completely agree with. Then I was so thrown off when they wanted me to do the same sort of work without any experience. I am here to help people, not screw anyone else up even worse. But I have been reassured by other volunteers that I will not screw any kids up which makes me very happy and it will give me good experience for my future career maybe.

So now I am just dealing with loose ends here in kisoro. Packing has been interesting. I have so much stuff. I guess it is not that much stuff just a lot of big furniture. I have a couch, 3 chairs, a big cook top table, 6ft shelving unit, 3 mattresses, a table top 3 burner cooker, an oven, a fridge and a gas tank. All of this plus all my little stuff has to fit in the peace corps pick up… I don’t think it is going to happen but maybe a miracle will happen.

So I am signing off for now to do a little more packing. I probably wont write until after I get to my new home so I will let you know how it is. I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank a few people. I am not going to name names because they know who they are. I just wanted to thank them for helping me through the last few months. I have been hanging in limbo for 3 months and without these people I think I wouldn’t have made it through. I probably drove them crazy always talking about my problems but they stood by me. So thank you so much for helping me through this hard and sometimes unbearable part in my life. I will never forget it

i just wanted to reasure you all... even with the drama going on right now, i never ever have regretted my choice to come to uganda and to spend the rest of my life in the moterland. I might be unhappy at the moment but i am exteremly happy here :)

I feel like I am in a mid service crisis. With only a few weeks to go until my 1 year mark of being in Uganda I am started to feel a shift, but maybe not for the best. As you read from my last blog I am in a downward slump. A lot of peace corps volunteers get very upset when they are sent over here then given no work. We joined this great organization to do great things. The reality is, most volunteers only work a few hours a week and most feel useless most of the time. Now this could be due to many things- lack of motivation on behalf of the volunteer, lack of funding and motivation on behalf of the host organization, a stark comparison to the fast moving go go go American attitude and the slowwww pace of life in other countries or due to the fact that the problem seems so big in out host countries and we seem so insignificant.

I don’t think it would be so bad if I was eased into it. I came to kisoro and from day one I was working my ass off nights, weekends etc while all my fellow volunteers said they didn’t have any work at all. They were jealous of me and I became jealous of them as the burn out started to set in. Now that I am “working” from home making tedious posters and writing a manual I don’t know will ever get used in these schools…I have done a complete 180. I probably do the same amount of work as most volunteers but since I was thrown into a hectic lifestyle at the beginning I know think that is the standard. I am re-learning how to do nothing but something. But now the issues with my organization (lack there of) and standing in limbo, it seems like there is no end of my doing nothingness. I am the type of person that has to be doing something at all times. Most of you know I watch a ton of movies and this transition time I have watch like 6 a day. But even when I watch a movie I have to be doing something- working on the manual, shuffling papers etc. I guess I am trying to learn how to keep my mind still and be ok with it---but failing miserably.

If you ask most people why they join humanitarian organization or volunteer in other countries they will give you one standard answer – “I want to change the world.” These are the people who are going to be thoroughly disappointed and eventually go back to their pervious helping hand jobs and think change is hopeless.

Gandhi has a quote that says “be the change that you want to see in the world.” I believe these are good words to live by. You can not change a single person besides yourself. Once you have become a better person, a move giving person, a less violent person, a more understand person….the people around you will fall like dominos and be more given, peaceful and understanding. Now some people will never change but this is what makes us all different and the world bearable and interesting to live in.

I don’t want to be changed by the world, I want the world to change me!

I don’t know if it is happening or will happen but it is my goal.

My days are now filled with frustration. I am frustrated that it has been 2 ½ months since I left PET and I still do not have another site. I know Peace Corps is working hard on the situation but some days I am sitting in my house twirling my thumbs thinking that they forgot about little old me in Kisoro. I did find out that on Wednesday of next week, pc is going to start moving on my situation. They are heading to the southwest of Uganda to find me a new home and work. The day can’t come soon enough. Even though it is probably weeks too early, I have started packing up my stuff. I enjoy the process but even more now. As I took down pictures from my wall and packed my 100000 books in a suitcase I started to feel a since of relief. I am getting a slight nudge out of limbo and I am thoroughly enjoying the push.

I have been saying for months that my house is slowly killing me, only as a half joke. I truly believe this house knocks me down a little everyday. I have a horrible allergy to mold and my house is full of it. I spend my days sneezing and blowing my nose. I can easily go through a roll of toilet paper a day doing so and now have made the switch to handkerchiefs which I go through just as fast. My head feels like it is in a bubble most of the day because I am so stuffed up and unable to breath and when I take the appropriate medicine I just get sleepy. I now believe it is affecting my whole body and not just my head. I can go through the daytime somehow ok besides the sneezing and running nose. But once night time hits and I have to close my windows because of the mosquitoes I become almost non-functional. The moldy air has no where to escape but into my body. My sneezing and blowing of the nose increases 100 fold. Then I start to get really ill. My stomach begins in cramp and I start to have the constant urge to vomit. This goes on all night at least twice a week. It is not until I wake up and open my windows and doors then I start to feel better again. I should not have to live like this…. Not even in Africa.

I feel like lately I just use this blog to bitch but the way I feel like now I can’t bring my self to talk about anything else. Of course I still love it here and I don’t want to leave, my friends are great, my boyfriend is amazing and helps me get through the day and I know I should be happy for what I have because many people are starving and dying but I can’t help it….the frustration is taking over me. I don’t even feel like myself anymore.

I know this blog is starting to turn into a ranting journal but bare with me. Hopefully soon I will have great things to talk about, places I have been and people I have helped…but not today.

So today marks 11 months in Uganda. This blog would probably make more since at the all impressive year mark but what the hell. On this day 11 months ago I felt like I was finally starting my life. As many of you know I was in Uganda in the pervious months but because of an illness I was flown back to the states. This time around it was a bit different. This time I knew what I was getting myself into and I knew I was here to stay. Over the past 11 months I have made some great friends, helped some amazing people and have seen some of the most wonderful and inspiring landscapes in my life. It hasn’t been all that great though. I have seen some of the poorest people in the world and have not been able to help, people dying of incurable illnesses, children with bloated bellies. I have missed my beautiful family and friends back home, had some of the loneliest nights of my life and I still wake up most days thinking I am not doing enough.

All of the things I got used to or understood is just a part of Africa, except for the last one. Here I am living my dream. I am in the land that started mankind. I am meeting great people and doing what I think are great things. So why so I feel some days like it is not enough. I have been here long enough now that I should see the lives I am changing. I have wrote a grant or two, did some workshops, handed out some mosquito nets, but still feel like it is all surface stuff. I feel like I have done a lot but nothing at all. I know I can’t glove up and perform life saving surgery (even though I wish I could) but I still feel like I should see an impact greater than what I am seeing. Many people said that you will not change the world the world will change you when you do work like I am doing. But again, maybe because I am still in it, I do not see the change even in myself. Maybe when I go home and people are talking about pity things like having the latest Iphone or car I will realize it but for now I feel like the same old person just in a new country.

Maybe I am in just a weird mood because I am still I site limbo. I feel disconnected from the people all of the sudden. Half of my brain is thinking I will be leaving Kisoro soon because there is no sites and maybe it is getting the better of me. I am at least 3 hours from the nearest big town. I do not have an office anymore so most days I never leave my compound because I am working from home. I love being here and am planning on making a life here even after Peace Corps but some days I still wake up feeling like it is my first day in country and I am completely overwhelmed. I have 300 ideas in my head of great projects I would love to start but besides peace corps grants there is no money. The world is in a credit crunch right now and people are worrying about how to pay for that private school and not how to save a life in Africa (no judgment I promise). I don’t really know what has put me in this funk but I gotta dig my way out soon. I guess I am just attached to the people here and want the best for them and realizing maybe I can’t give that to them. I know I can’t change the world but I am really just looking for a sign that I have or will soon change one person’s life. Maybe I will never get the noble prize for curing some incurable disease but after 11 months in a country I feel like there should be more. I should have done more, said more, seen more, lived more.

I guess I have 16 more months to figure it out. Or I guess the rest of my life to figure it out.

ps. sorry i didnt mean to make this blog so depressing when I started it

After two weeks of being gone, visiting Julius and looking at some possible new work sites and then the All Volunteer Conference in Kampala, I am “home” again. I said this last time I left Kisoro and came back that is doesn’t feel like home anymore. It just seems like this empty shell of a home. I am sick of not feeling settled. I normally like moving around, packing and unpacking. But I only like it when it is the plan to start with. Coming to the peace corps I thought I would be settling into a job and house for 2 years. I know things happen but moving 4 times in 3 months is just stupid. Now I am in this big house all alone. My dog didn’t even think this place was home and ran away. I think something is going on mentally with me and this house. I want to come back to kisoro but not really back to this house. I feel like a guest here and now when I walk in the door, I become sick. I have changed everything in my diet, drinking only bottled water etc and I am still troubled with the big D and a constant nausea. This has been going on for about two months now. When I leave the house and go to Kabale, Mbarara or Kampala I am fine. Maybe it is a psychosomatic symptom but still driving me crazy.

The trip back was of course horrible. I love kisoro but I hate that it is at the end of the earth. Got on the post bus (which is the bus that stops at the major cities to drop off and pick up mail) at 7:30am. The post bus is known for leaving exactly at 8am no matter how many people are on board and for going slow. We left at 8:08am which is not bad…. But slow my ass. It started off ok but after mbarara the driver went reckless. He was hitting at least 100kph and passing big tanker trucks like we were in a VW beetle. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that we were sitting on the very back of the bus. Craig, Mark, Mark’s friend Jana and myself were flying out of our seats every few minutes. Both Mark and Craig hit their heads half a dozen times and me and Jana, who were sitting in the middle seats were rolling around like we were playing rollies pollies when I was 5yrs old. We reached kabala, the last stop for the post bus and got a private car. The road between kabale and kisoro is being re-done… they are paving it and have gotten pretty far lately. It is nice but dangerous because all the cars are going sooooo fast around cliffs with 100 foot drops. It normally takes 2 ½ - 3 hours to reach kisoro…. on Tuesday we made it in 1 ½ hours. I was sooo scared the whole time and closed my eyes for most of it. We were dodging people, cows and chickens the whole way. Even when we saw a woman who just was hit by a speeding car minutes before we past, he still didn’t slow down. It was the first time since my Nile River experience that I felt seconds away from dying.

Many of you know I have decided not to head north. After writing out pros and cons then talking to peace corps and other volunteers I decided along with peace corps that it is not the best idea. The north is ready for volunteers but peace corps has not finalized all the housing and site issues. It will be ready for the new group which will be at sites in October but not for me. So I am hoping to stay in the southwest. It is a beautiful place and I would miss it too much if I left. So for now I am staying put. I am busy working on my health clubs educational materials. I thought I would have it all done months ago and I know the students are getting upset while they wait but I couldn’t help the events that came up. I sent them a letter telling them I am no longer with PET but I am not going to abandoned them. I asked them to be patience and just give me some time to finish the posters and manual. The posters are more of a pain in the ass than I thought. I have about 15 posters for 8 schools to make and it is not a quick process. After that I have to finish this manual so they know how to use the materials, etc. The bad thing is I can’t even get finished with this one project before my mind starts racing on more ideas. I would love to do a health fair in kisoro, work on getting outfits for the kisoro demo football team, teacher health training, and much more.

The all volunteer conference was really nice and what I expected. Over 120 peace corps volunteers got together at a extremely nice in kampala and had 4 days of fun and knowledge sharing. I got talked into doing a presentation on health education and health clubs which went well. I got to meet all the new people, enjoy some traditional Ugandan dancing, talent show, trivia night, etc. No one got arrested or killed (which Larry was worried about) so I think all in all it was a success.

I am currently planning a 4th of July bash. I am working with Heidi to get all the muzungus and more together for bbq chicken, hamburgers, potato salad, mac and cheese, baked beans, corn of the cob, cupcakes, bonfire, music/dancing and just an all around great night. We don’t have fireworks which is the heart of the 4th but Heidi says if he throw small rocks in the fire they kind of explode so maybe that will be fun.

I feel like a lot has gone on in the past 2 weeks but right now I can’t think of anything important. I better get back to cookin….I so have turned into my mother.

It is crazy how much your life can change so quickly. How little it takes to throw a wrench into what you thought was going to happen in your life. Since I started thinking about Peace Corps, life has been a shot in the dark. They tell you the way to get through your service is to have no expectations, and boy were they right. The application process alone takes some longer than what their potential service will be, mine took about a year and a half. You go into staging with the unknown of who you will be training with and be best friends with for the next two years. Then you get on that plane and have no clue what to expect when you land in a different country…in 19 hours. Training begins and the unknowns grow exponentially; what language group will I be in, who will be my trainers, what district will I go to, what town will I be in, what job will I be doing, do I even have the stills for the job I will be doing, where will all my friends go, how will my house be like, will I like my job, will I be able to find a snickers bar within 10k from my house? All of these things get answered within the first few weeks of being at site. You learn the people, the places and even yourself.

But what happens when that unknown never goes away. You move to site and your housing is shaky and you move 6 times in 4 months, your job descriptions is a bit broad and you are being pulled in 20 different directions or no direction at all, or your organization is so unstable it can collapse at anytime. So 9 months after you thought you would know everything… you are still in the dark. That is one thing I was not prepared for when going into peace corps. I knew sites fell apart and things happen but didn’t know it would be so hard to be in the dark so long. I guess that was an expectations…. I should have known better.

I got a call today from my country director (who I still think is the best country director ever, and a good friend). He called because of an email I wrote talking about my dark presents and how I just want something to move forward. He just got back from visiting northern Uganda in hopes of searching for some new sites for volunteers. The north has been closed because of the 20 year long war started by the LRA (google it). So he talked a little about how his trip was and I said it would have been amazing to go because I dealt with and raised money in college for the children affected by the war in northern Uganda and in the Sudan.

He then went on listening to my story about my woes over the last few weeks and what has happened. Then he blurted out something that I never thought I would hear but joked about with my boyfriend. He said “Bailey you are a strong volunteer and if anyone can do it, it is you…. I want you to be the first peace corps volunteer in northern Uganda. I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me. I started this nervous laughter which I am sure Larry picked up on. He explained again to me what need he saw in the north. Teenage girls with children born out of rape, people in internally displaced camps fighting for survival and a chance to go home again, young boys who stare off into space reliving a nightmare in their head that will never stop because they soon realize they really did kill innocent people before they even reached puberty. He told me about the massive movement of international and Ugandan NGOs who are stationed there to help these people get back to a new kind of normal.

I didn’t know what to say and I still don’t. I told him I would think about it and get back to him. The second I hung up the phone I started shaking. Northern Uganda? Me?

My first instinct was DO IT! The liberal in me thought about how great it would be to help these people and how it would be a career builder in the future. My dream is to work with their type of NGOs in situations like these so what is there to think about. Well a lot. I started a pros and cons list and I am sure over the next few weeks as I think about this, it will grow and grow. I am asking friends and family on their opinions but truthfully I have never been the type of person to care what other people thought. Can I really picture myself in the north for the next year and a half? I think if PC would allow me to do 4-6 months I wouldn’t have to think twice but a year and a half…

So here is the list so far

1.) Pros:It would be a great career builder

2.) I would be helping amazing people who need it the most

3.) I would help people that I started trying to help in college and I would get that full circle moment

4.) What a story to tell the grandchildren eh?

5.) I would be a part of history…even if they are forgotten people

6.) I would prove to myself that I could really live in a harsh situation

7.) I would get the real peace corps experience

Cons:

1.) It is hotter than hell in the north and I burn…badly.

2.) I would be alone because no other volunteers are up there… that is the problem with being the first

3.) I would miss the southwest, the beauty and the life I started here

4.) I would be far away from my new extremely sweet and most recently really depressed boyfriend (only after hearing about this possibility… he is usually very chipper) I thought 6 hours was a long distants relationship... add 12 more and an ex-war zone to that.

5.) I would be far away from my friends that I have made in Kisoro; volunteers and locals.

6.) I would have to deal with integrating into another community. Find a post office, get in good with the shop owners, show people I am not a tourist so they don’t over charge me.

7.) The north is known for their harsh environment. Not likely that I would have electricity, running water, dairy (I don’t know if I can live without milk)

8.) I have to deal with moving all my shit!

9.) Will I always be worried about my safety. I couldn’t walk home alone at night or even go out at night like I do in Kisoro

10.) I would have to attempt a new language. I don’t use the language a lot but I do enough where I get by day to day.

This is the list so far…. My mom says #9 on the con list is too much for her and I should tell peace corps my mom says I cant go hahaha.

So I have a lot of thinking to do in the next few weeks. Larry says if I say yes he could have me in the north in a few weeks but I don’t think I can make that decision overnight. I can turn this position down no questions asked. We would just have to start looking for another site, no harm. We have an all volunteer conference next week…. Maybe I will know before then.

Ok a lot has happened in the last few weeks. But I will make this as brief as possible. After a small vacation from Kisoro I was called into the Peace Corps office last Monday. I made the longgg journey for what ended up being an hour meeting with my program coordinator and my country director. It was a needed conversation but seemed like it could have happened over a conference call. We came to a few conclusions about my future.

1) My host organization Peace Education Trust (PET) was out. They are too far in debt to support a volunteer. PET is suppose to pay for my housing only and PC pays for the rest. Well since I moved to Kisoro in October they have not paid a single shilling for my housing. My landlord (my supervisor’s brother) is starting to put pressure on me so I had to get out.

2) There are a few options on the table for me now.

a. Stay in Kisoro and try to talk the district hospital into taking me as a volunteer but they also have no available housing for me.

b. Move to the next district, Kabale and work for a private hospital who are dragging their feet filling out the application but made it clear they want a volunteer.

c. Stay in Kisoro and work for myself and peace corps pay for my housing. I couldn’t believe my ears when I hear this. It never happens in peace corps! But my country director thinks I have made a good impact in Kisoro and hates for me to leave. But I said that working for myself is not really “peace corps” so I don’t think it will happen.

d. If none of the above work out then we have to develop a whole new site which I don’t want to happen.

3) As we wait for a site to develop I would keep quite to PET and go into the office once a week or so. In the mean time PC is paying for my housing so I don’t have to feel like I am going to be kicked out into the street at any moment.

So Wednesday was my first day back into the office. I only went because my HIV group was meeting and they needed me.

I sat down with my supervisor about 20 minutes before my HIV meeting and told him what was going on. I was going to wait but he knew something was up so I just filled him in. The conversation was somehow pleasant. I told him I didn’t want to work for PET if that meant PET was going to go farther and farther into debt. We had to end of the conversation because my HIV group was ready to meet. Then half way through my meeting I was called into my supervisors office again. This time he was not happy. He attacked me with the idea that I should pay him 650,000 shillings ( $325 ). It all came from a verbal agreement we had. I said I would pay half of the upcoming rent if he paid the other half. He understood it has I would pay half of the overall rent since January. I told him there was a misunderstanding because I don’t have that money and I can not pay. So that is when my supervisor got desperate and started calling me a lier, deceptive and said I was just like all these other corrupt Ugandan’s when it comes to money. The conversation kind of blew up for about 10 minutes. I kept my cool asking him to just be an adult and say it was a misunderstanding. I was saying I was sorry I had to leave PET but they agree to pay my housing and haven’t for nine months and that is my fault, etc. So I tried to get a hold of PC but their office is kind of crazy right now so 10 minutes later I took it upon myself to move completely out of my office. I packed everything up, got a car and was out. Now my house is full of flip chart paper, grain sacks and markers haha.

I finally got a hold of PC and they said I did the right thing and they would try to figure it all out but all the top people are out of the office for at least a week.

Craig came over trying to form a bridge between me and PET and said I should come in and my supervisor would say he was sorry for what he said and I should give in a little as well. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Craig keeps saying it is the right thing to do and maybe it is but right now… I don’t care.

I sent an email to Larry today asking for something to be resolved. I thought I would be ok just hanging out doing work from home until they figure out where to put me. But I hate the limbo. If I am going to work for myself I just want to know for sure. I wanted to buy a side table today and some fabric for a chair but couldn’t even do it because I have no clue where I am going to live next month. So now I am just waiting to be unstuck.

Well I don’t know what is going on these days in my small little town. More often than not I walk the streets feeling these strange low frequency vibration. It is officially the dry season and I don’t know if it is the static in the area or the dust swirling around me.

My organization is still kind of falling apart and by the end of the day today I should know if I have a new work place. The PET office has a sort of buzz going on. No one has been paid and my supervisor is looking down the throat of a big debt. The office has been sparse and I have only been in the office a hand full of hours this past week. I have to admit that I have a new love for the peace corps admin office. They have all been extremely supportive in my time of need. I get numerous emails and phone calls just reminding me that I am not in this alone.

I am just getting over a bit of an illness. I waited a week+ to call peace corps medical because I wanted to ride it out without antibiotics but I couldn’t do it. I am all better now so no worries.

Yesterday was a strange day. As I was walking to work I looked down a side street and saw at least 30 people standing in one place. I had no clue what was going on and it struck me as odd but I just blamed it on a busy market day. I later found out that a building was burning. It was a bar that mark and craig are regulars and that I have visited once. I just remember it was small with a single candle and the owners name was Christmas. The saddest part was is that there were two children who burned alive in the back of the bar. The story goes that the father was is kampala and the mother locked her very young children inside the house so no would steal them while she went to work. She left a candle next to the bed when she left before daylight and the children couldn’t get out and now the mom is in jail. Then on my way home from the office there was another small crowd forming about a ¼ of a mile from my office. I just passed by and still don’t really know what was going on but about 20 people were just looking off into the distance and when I looked in the same direction I just saw a man in military uniform, but that’s it. Then I go visit Heidi at her place of work and as I was leaving to go home and me and Heidi spotted some black smoke. Some where off in the distant something big was burning. I made my way home where Joseph was waiting. I had him go to market to get me a few things. He came back telling me that the Batwa/ Pygmies just killed a man in the market for stealing. So there was a dead man in the market I was just about to visit but sent Joseph instead. Vibrations.

My health club training ends tomorrow. I have enjoyed it but I am glad it is over. I don’t know how well these kids will go back and teach at their schools but I am determined to push them a bit harder. They all get to stand up tomorrow and teach a lesson on one of four topics; TB, hand washing, Malaria and a condom demo. After they all finish their talks they get a certificate. Ugandans love their certificates even if they are pointless. So 16 kids are going to receive a “completion of health education training” on pink, rose smelling cardstock paper (its all they had at the supermarket it believe it or not).

Another grant in the works is a chicken egg project. With the help of Craig, Kisoro Demonstration Primary School will be getting 125 laying chickens who will supplement an income and nutrition for the 56 deaf kids.

A newly semi-thought out project I am working on is writing a book. I know right?! I never thought I would say it but I am planning on writing a book…. Well more like a manual. I will collaborate with health expects, health educators, teachers and students to form a new health education manual mainly for schools. You see, the health education system in this country is terrible. Now in the states it is not that great either but here it means a little more with a 6-12% HIV rate, an average of 8 kids per women, STIs and teen pregnancy coming out of their ears. I think it is a combination of things really. Teachers who do not care about their students mainly because the system does not care enough about the teachers to pay them, lack of motivation, by the book teacher i.e. teaching only what is on the yearly exams and a the listen and repeat teaching method. These kids can sit in class for hours on their verge of a coma brought on by boredom, they believe they are learning a lot like what is a carbohydrate? But then can not tell you what is an example of carb is because that is not a question on the Ugandan wide exam.

So my plan is to write this new manual for schools that will include information on HIV, TB, malaria, nutrition, sex, contraceptives, gender roles, hand washing, etc along with activities and games teachers can play to change up the teaching styles, updated statistics on all the above and more, reasons for effective health programs, good teaching methods, things to expect when teaching, common questions and answers, etc.

My hopes is to get funding to write and publish this book (even if it is only in Kisoro) and then sell it to teachers, hospital educators and maybe other peace corps volunteers then use 100% of the profits to support the vulnerable children in PET’s program.

If you are interested or have any words of advice please let me know. I will need all the help I can get.

Also I want to thank the few people that took my semi- non joke seriously about raising money for me to visit home this year. I got 70 bucks so far and find it exteremly sweet. thank you!

I feel like it has been a long time since I have written but nothing crazy exciting has been going on. My organization is suffering a bit in the finances and it is really stressing me out. I only go into the office Tuesday and Thursdays and even with the reduced hours…. I dread going in those few days. I love Kisoro, I love Uganda, I love (in most part) the work I am doing but when it comes to the organization I just get…ugh… when I walk into my office.

Another small event that I don’t know why I am blogging about it but why not. I officially found a Ugandan boyfriend. Everyone in my training group said I would be the first one and they were right. He lives far away but is a great guy and he makes me happy.

Have been dealing with house issues lately as well. It has been months since my house was broken into and I started talking to people about getting bars on my windows… well after threatening to call the police if they do not do it in the next few days, I finally got bars today. I have had to stay home so many days from work because they promised to come and today was another one of those days, and tomorrow will be another. I but the bars/frames in today and pour concrete but it has to dry before they put in the shutters. So they are coming tomorrow and hopefully I can get into the office before noon so I can work on health club stuff.

Health Club training is going…ok. I have 16 out of 20 kids coming… not sure what happened to the other 4. The hardest part is getting them to open up and talk louder than a whisper. Teaching in Uganda is indescribable. It is awful, repetitive driven learning. They only teach what is on the end of the year exam. Example: they can tell you what a carbohydrate is but they can’t tell you what foods are carbs. So in 5, 4 hours training sessions I am trying to totally flip their ways of thinking upside down. I have taught them about public speaking, reproductive health and anatomy so far. Next Saturday will be STDs and HIV training. I have an HIV game that I want to make for each of the 9 schools but there is 21 pieces each so I have to cut out 189 12inX12in grain sack pieces and tape each side of each piece. AH.

Well I feel like I am rambling so I am going to stop now hahahah

peace

Well I am finally back in kisoro once again. I feel like when I leave this place for a week it feels like a month. I guess that is a sign that I have made a home here. The week was pretty crazy and I am happy to be back in my quite little town. I don’t know if I said this before but this training was all about life skills. Life skills are skills that help a person lead a safe and healthy life. So all week I was learning how to talk about these skills to mostly children and how to relate to them by games and role plays. It was a lot of fun and I had my health counterpart there Alice. But after returning to Kisoro I found out she got another job and is no longer working for PET which is really annoying because now I have to find someone else.

So we all had a lot of fun and got to hang out with each other which is always the best part. So many of you know already that I went on a date, I guess putting it on facebook spreads the word pretty fast haha. Well I hope it is not reading this but if he is then sorry to put you out there but my friends and family want to know. So me and this boy met up at the hotel where we spent like 30 minutes together. He left and I went back to my room thinking I would never heard from him again, 10 seconds later I got a text from him haha. So he wanted to take me out to dinner the next night and I agreed. The next day me and Jackie went on a shopping spree and I spent way too much money and walked about in the kampala sun way too long. So exhausted but with a cute new outfit in hand I started to get ready for my date. I don’t even know if I have really ever been on a first date. I have had boyfriends/ boys my whole life but I never really had that “ok this is the first date” moment. So he came all the way across town to pick me up at my hotel. I asked him what restaurant we are going to, to my surprise the plans have changed to his cousin’s graduation dinner.

So up for anything I board a taxi with him and I feel like we are driving forever. We are trying to have a semi-conversation but we are many seats apart with unimpressed Ugandans sitting between us. So we finally get off in some village and walk through some dark ally and happen across and really nice house with music blasting. I knew this is where the party was and 2 seconds after walking into the gate I asked if he told them a muzungu was coming to dinner… he said no. So there I am in the front yard of what I believe was is uncles house shaking hands and introducing myself to 20 of his family members in the front yard. So right away, like more Ugandan get togethers, we hop in the food line. I was really nervous the whole day that he was going to take me to eat Ugandan food (which I hate which he knows). So I want into this house and spread out on the table in front of me was all the Ugandan foods I have been avoiding for 8 months. I gritted my teeth and asked myself if this boy was worth this….. 20 minutes later I was trying to swallow my last bit of matoke. After all the speeches were made, the cake was cut and his uncle makes me laugh out loud for the 30th time I was just me and him sitting there talking for hours. It wasn’t the date I was expected but I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

So I think we are going to see where all this takes us but there is a huge problem…. We live 6 hours away from each other. I have no idea where it is going to go but I’m not too worried about it. I am being safe and he is a great guy that makes me smile and that is all I care about right now.

In other news, my friend heidi is officially moved to Kisoro. She shifted all of here things from kabala to Kisoro today just minutes before the rains hit. I helped move her in a bit then left her with PC to do paper work as I went home to deal with unloading my things. I then had to go to the supermarket, post office, soda shop and stop for milk. I needed to go to market but by the end of the day I couldn’t take anymore. Then Craig and Heidi came over for pizza. It was a pretty good day and I am just happy to be home. I have a lot going on these next couple of weeks. School is out and I am training 20 kids every Saturday this month on how to be health educators. Now that I have no counterpart to translate it should be interesting.

Love and miss you all

Today was the first day of training. It’s not as bad as the other trainings. This one consists of a bunch of games we can play with kids and we get to ask a bunch of questions to other volunteers about how to best implement the activities. The craziest part of the day was my shopping trip. After training we went down the road to a place called Lagogo Mall. We were in search of two stores, Shoprite and Game. Now I have been to shoprite and knew it was nice, but then I went to game. HOLY CRAP! This was a serious glimpse into my future. Everyone says going back to America is very overwhelming. The lack of stimulation is a lot easier to handle than sensory overload. So I walked into Game and the florescent lights quickly blinded me. I stood in the doorway and took a deep breath. I was then transported back to my favorite place in the world…. Wal-mart. I’m not kidding… I seriously thought I was back in America for a second. This place is even better than some stores in America. I was so overwhelmed I just walked around with a big smile on my face for like an hour. After walking threw every isle at least twice and wanting to buy…everything, I ended up with a dog collar and oven mitts. Not the best shopping trip but I now have sticker shock here in Uganda. But I do know if I was to live here and have an American salary, I would have the cutest freakin house ever and really broke. 99% of the stuff in that store I would love to have in my American apartment. This is a scary glimpse into my future…. I think I am going to has a stroke when I walk into a big store on my arrival home. I am use to going to like 20 different places to get what I need to make a single meal and then I will walk into walmart or Kroger for the first time where I can get everything I want and more. I know it is a year away until I go home but I’m already trying to prepare myself.

So today was another miserable travel day that is indescribable, but I will try. So on Friday I went to kabale with Jackie and the CARE international car. I thought this would be smart since the trip is so long to maybe break it up. So me ad Jackie were planning on taking a bus yesterday but to out surprise it was not running. So we were stuck with the 6am-er today (Sunday). We made arrangements to have the bus pick us up at jackie’s so we didn’t have to walk all the way down to the bus park. At 2am I was woke up by my stomach, it was not happy. I couldn’t get back to sleep and at 4:30am I started getting ready to board the bus. It was suppose to pick us up at 6am but after calling and no one answering we decided to start walking towards the bus. The walk I thought was going to kill me, carrying big bags and sick, ugh. So as we reached the bus across town, I threw up in a dark alley haha. We boarded the bus at 5:30am and I put on my eye mask, held my plastic bag tight and tried to sleep. I didn’t really sleep but about 7:30 I took off my eye mask and we were still in kabale! I grunted and put back on the eye mask. Before we left Kabale I threw up another 3 times. I felt much better and we finally left Kabale. I was in and out of it the whole trip but I still knew it was longgg. It usually takes 8 hours from kabala but it took 12 this time, with a 2 hours stop over in mbarara where we just sat on the bus. I knew I was feeling better because I was soon eating street meat. Now street meat is an interesting cuisine. You never really know what it is; dog, goat, cow, Ugandan baby? You can buy all sorts of things on the street without getting out of the back of the bus. Roasted maize, all types of meats on stick, bananas, grasshoppers, etc. The bad part is, is that you can’t really take any beverage because then you will have to get off and pee somewhere in the bushes. Well 12 hours after getting on the bus, we finally made it to the hotel which is SUPER NICE. It has a beautiful pool, decent food, great rooms, hot showers, etc. Well I am completely exhausted so I am going to crash now

Well today was super strange. It started off pretty good and completely normal. I went to a primary school to discuss the health club idea. They love, going back next week. On the way to the next school we stopped at Potter’s Village. This is a small faith based organization in Kisoro town that I have heard a lot about but never went to go visit. But today me and another office work stopped by and I am glad we did. Potters village is an amazing place. They are tagged as a “crisis center for children.” They have 20 babies under the age of 2 that live there. One care giver for each child and enough caregivers that each one does not take care of more than 3 babies. These babies come to potter’s village when they are close to death. For example, a mother dies while giving birth to her baby. The father is up a creek because there is no breast milk now and formula is 3x what he makes in a month for 3 days worth. So the father brings the dying baby only days old to potter’s village and after assessment the baby takes up residence.

They have only been around a little over a year but have done amazing things so far. The director is an English woman and has been in Ugandan for 16 years and has even adopted Ugandan children.

So I told them that peace corps is always looking for good places to send volunteers and I think they would be perfect. She was super interested. So I called Peace Corps and I am taking two volunteers there tomorrow to look around. One lives in kabala now but her site fell apart and the other is mark. It will be awesome for either one to work there. I hope I see them fight over it hahaha j/k.

So I went to the last school of the day. A secondary school that was excited to have health clubs. It was uneventful.

There is where the normalness stopped for the day. I then walked to the police station to collect some more things they found. I was told 2 more boys were arrested for the crime against me. As I walked I met up with the man who brings me bones for my dog. He told me he helped in catching the two new criminals and he was wanting reward money from me. So I reached the police station where I found my district police commander waiting for me with a huge smile. I have recently realized he has a crush on me only after he called me at 10pm at least twice a week and buys me things like dvds and chocolate and the more recent development of bring me passion fruit which I don’t even like but I take abut 50 to be nice and give them away. I sat in his office with my co-worker and the man that brings me bone for over an hour. They first brought in the 6 men; 4 in which robbed me and 2 who bought the things for the robbers.

I looked at these boys and felt such sadness in my heart. I know they did me wrong but their whole life flashed before my eyes. They were going to go back into their communal jail cell and get beaten senseless until they gave up some more information. About half were old enough to have a wife and probably several kids. I pictured their kids coming to my office asking for money for school because his/her mom can not afford schooling for the children since the dad was locked away from stealing from a muzungu. As I sat there listening to a discussion in Rufumbria which of course I did not understand, one of the boys said something and I guess it made the DPC upset. The next thing I know I see a metal paper clip holder (something that looks like it can come from walmart) flying across the room and hitting this boy just above his left eye. I immediately cringe as the boy grabs his head in pain. I don’t even know what to do at that point. I just sit there stunned. I can’t believe this is really happening. At any moment I thought the DPC or his first officer was going to pull out a gun or the men were going to start rioting or something. I knew it was wrong and I have told the DPC in the past that I want the people to pay for what they did but not with violence. But who the hell am I. I am a guest in this country. You don’t go to a stranger’s house and yell at them for punishing their children in a certain way. Some people would, I probably would but this is much different. You definitely don’t go to an African country and tell the head of your district’s police how to do his job. The men then left and as I was waiting for my items to be photographed again… we all got into some strange conversations. We talked about marriage, the DPCs children minus a wife, is there a god… etc. It is crazy there life leads you sometimes. The DPCs then gave me my passion fruit ration for the week then asked me on what I believe is a date. So Saturday I guess I am going with the DPCs to a hotel to have dinner and to watch a beauty pageant. Yah you heard right, a beauty pageant. Rachel would be so proud. I guess it is some tourist title or something, I have no clue…but I am currently looking for another person to go with because I do not want to go alone. After fetching my things, a police officer asked me if I am ready to go to court. The thought crossed my mind but I was still unsure how I felt about it. I told him I had to ask Peace corps about it because they might see it as a safety issue. My standing up pointing fingers then going into a community who might turn against me. I don’t think I will do it but just the chance to see how a Ugandan court system works kind of interreges me.

After police station I went to the super market where I put in an order for crayfish. I am in such a food rut I am having the super market ship in crayfish from Kabale which are apparently known for their crayfish. I have a few recipes in mind and I am kind of excited. The price is not too terrible either. About 6 bucks for 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) de-shelled and cleaned. I am in such a rut I even bought hot dogs today. I know right!

Well that about ends my semi-strange day. Just went home and crashed on the couch watching a rediscovered DVD. Above all else, I am just happy to have my sex in the city dvd back hahah.

Well I am off to bed hoping for another eventfully day tomorrow.

peace

The Rwandan armed forces and Interahamwe militia begin the systematic killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. UN forces, unwilling to breach their mandate, fail to intervene. 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers are killed.

Today starts a period of mourning. Just 15 years ago over 800,000 people were killed in one of the world’s most forgotten genocides. April 6th marks the day when, on his way to sign a Peace treaty, the president of Rwanda’s plane was shot down by Hutu Extremist who did not want peace with their Tutsi countrymen. With the president dead, the Hutu militia called for other Hutu’s to take to the streets and kill all Tutsis and Tutsis sympathizers.

In the next 30 days, more than 500,000 were killed. In the next 100 days close to a million will lose their lives.

I learned about the Rwanda genocide during a criminal justice class my freshmen year of college. I was only 9 in 1994 when all of this happened but even asking my parents and grandparents when I was in college, they have never even heard of Rwanda. This was due to the fact that the US and the rest of the world refused to acknowledge the killings happening in the heart of Africa. They would not call the killings genocide, but “acts of genocide” which was a sad loophole that allowed the world not to get involved and saved them the guilt.

These 1 million people that were betrayed by the world, forgotten by the world, lead to my passion for Africa. Many people ask me “why do you want to work and live in Africa so badly” and my only response is “because of the Rwandan genocide.” Many people don’t understand when I say this. They only think of the killings and the terrible people, corrupt leaders, etc but I think of the forgotten African continent, the love here, the history here, the reconciliation that has happened here. One solider dies in Iraq and it gets world coverage. One million are killed in the birth place of life itself and people turn their backs.

This is why I do what I do. I refuse to turn my back on the most publicized people (thanks to bono) but still the most forgotten. Is it the color of their skin, their many cultures many do not understand, colonialism or their lack of standing in the world’s economy? - I guess it is different for everyone.

This genocide has always meant a lot to me, has always struck a cord with me. Now that I am here in Uganda, living 7k from the border of Rwanda and less than 3 hours from the major killing sites, it has evolved into something more. Kisoro is full of people that took refuge here 15 years ago. I am friends with these people, I hear the stories, I talk to the young adults who live here but their parents were laid to rest there long ago. I can now witness the sadness in others eyes when this day comes around every year. I refuse to forget and I hope me being here, writing these blogs, telling these stories makes,at least one of you who read these or knows me, remember.

Well it has been too long and too much has happen this past week that I feel like I don’t know where to start and what to write.

-I got a call about a week and a half again telling me the police got some of my stuff back. I went to the police station identified my speakers, alarm clock and mark’s black bag. They said they had to take photos of everything so I can come back the next day because the guy with the key wasn’t there. So the next day I called to make sure the guy with the key was there, they said yes so I went. When I got there, the guy was no where. So on Thursday I went back and the guy was in court and to come back after 3pm. I was pissed to say the least. So I asked Craig to pick up my stuff on his way home from work. He went by and said the guy was at market hahah. The next day I went back and refused to leave without my stuff. So I sat around and finally got my stuff back. They arrested another boy but still in search of the main perpetuator.

-So Thursday was my birthday. I am officially 24! Yippie hahaha. Birthdays in Uganda are non existent. Most people don’t even know when they were born so there is nothing to celebrate. For my birthday I didn’t go to work. I was going to buy myself something but I am broke like always so I just didn’t go to work haha. It was a pretty boring day. Just hung out at home, did some gardening, dishes, cleaning etc.

I got nice messages on facebook, text messages from friends and craig gave me a cute IOU for a picnic by the lake. And for all you people that keep asking… me and craig are not dating and me and mark are not dating. They are like my big brothers who happen to be younger than me.

We had a “party” on Saturday to celebrate. I wanted a slammin’ house party but I didn’t really happen as such. We went out to eat which took forever and wasn’t even that good. Met up with two Ugandans who work at the hospital but they left before the party got started. The med students came to craig’s around 10 and we just sat around talking. Most left at midnight, I went to bed at 1 and the boys and a few students went out until like 5am.

- Yesterday (Monday) we had an invite from Peace Corps to meet up with the US ambassador and director of USAID Uganda. So me and Mark boarded a taxi about 9am, the lunch was at 1:30. We thought we had plenty of time but 2 hours later we were still sitting in this taxi. After several attempts of getting the driver hall ass we sat and sat. He said “ah we are going now now.” So he started the taxi, drove around the block and we ended up in the same spot. We were only waiting on two more passengers but they wouldn’t go. So we decided to get our prepaid money back and pay extra for a private car so we can get to the lunch on time. The driver decided he didn’t want to give our money back and didn’t want to leave. After numerous times of forcing the issue and raising my voice we told them “let us out of the taxi we are getting out.” The conductor (who is in charger of everything but driving) didn’t even turn his head like he didn’t even hear us. Well we soon realized we were being kidnapped. The freakin guy wouldn’t let us out of the car. I just looked around like “what the hell is going on!”

Finally after hours! of waiting we left. We arrived at the restaurant right at 1:30 and soup and salad was already served. So me and mark gobbled down the first course and made a quick introduction to the people at the first table we sat at. They asked us where we are from and what we do for work. Then before I could take my last bite of beautiful mix green salad, I had to get up and move tables. The next table I was so join was the ambassador’s. So on we went. We introduced ourselves to the ambassador again (we met him during training). He asked us where we were from, what we do. We were served our entrée, steak with a port wine reduction sauce, two small potatoes the size of ping pongs, and 5 green beans. My steak was cold but it was a pretty good meal. Then we got our signal to switch again. Our final table was dessert and so quick I didn’t even catch the name of the important people at the table. One man at the table didn’t even sit down while I was there, he was busy trying to sort the bill. But the dessert was amazing. Everything was made by PCVs. Hiedi made apple pie, Maria made a banana pudding, and Jackie made chocolate cake with help with Sarah on the icing which was amazing! But the crazy and most amazing part, there were real strawberries on the cake!! One thing I have craved in this country that I CAN NOT get is berries. It was a beautiful beautiful thing.

Well lunch was over in less than an hour. And even though the meal with surprisingly free, it meant we just spent 5 hours on a taxi to eat for an hour. They were gone and we were dreading the drive back. I had an outreach the next day and mark had to get back so we had to go. So we say our goodbyes to the people who thought we were crazy for coming that far for lunch. We walked to the taxi park and jumped on one with one seat left to fill. So we sat…. for 3 hours! finally we were like “screw this!” and we got off, along with the rest of the passengers. They were yelling at the driver and he assured us we were leaving in 30 seconds and I seriously sat there counting to 30 and he just laughed. Eventually we were thrown on a bus on its way to kisoro from kampala. We didn’t arrive in Kisoro at 9pm, a mere 12 hours after leaving. All for a free hour lunch date. Mark and I agreed we were in some sort of purgatory. We looked out the window and saw a crowd of 500 ugandans watching a concert being put on by nokia. This wasn’t music or anything normal like that. It was some crazy skit going on with 3 people, one in a santa hat and another hiding in a cardboard box. We shook our heads and just tried to bare the ride.

Well that is about all happening in my life.

-Oh wait, my dog has worms but I starting deworming pills yesterday.

-Also my grant for the “Health Clubs” was approved and I got 500 bucks. Well a little less since the dollar went up from 1904 to 2400 shillings per 1 dollar. But I am working on getting more.

-Also after 3 months of not having gas to cook with, my tank as been refilled.

The weather was been awful and raining all day everyday. Hence the electricity has been turned off everyday about 8am and doesn’t come back until 3pm. So I can’t bathe or cook because I am using electric for everything.

Ok that is all

peace

Well it has been a pretty good weekend/ first part of the week. I spent the weekend with Mark. He came in from Chahafi on Saturday and we just chilled, watched movies, worked on a puzzle my mom sent me. Oh man my mom sent me the best birthday package ever. She sent me a puzzle that she ordered and it is of Perry County. My Old DuQuoin house is in the middle and it is just super cool and was super hard but it is complete. The box also included a rain maker which rocks because mine was stolen and now I can sleep, a nice head lamp for those dark nights, cookies, candy, mac and cheese, newspaper clippings, and many more amazing things.

So yesterday (Monday) I had a good day at work. I got the office computer working which makes me super happy because we can’t update our website without it. So that made me feel good. Then on my way home from work I fell into a strange situation.

My phone rang as I was walking home and it was the criminal investigator in my break in case. He wanted me to come by the office because they caught the guy. Well it just so happened that I was walking right by the office and I was in the office within seconds. I met with the District Police Commander (the head of the Kisoro Police) which is super nice (a little too nice maybe, he came to my house the other day and bought me a DVD which was in luganda and a chocolate bar). So I sat in the DPC’s office and spoke with him for a bit. Then the crazyness began. They brought in this accused boy. He had no shoes on and was forced to sit on the floor. He looked really sad and really confused. He was arrested the night before and had no idea why. So the DPC explained everything to him and he was still confused haha. The DPC kept saying “this is the boy”, “he has named some of your stuff,” etc…. then the DPC told the boy if he didn’t tell them where my stuff is then he will shoot him dead like they did that other boy last week.” I was a bit shocked by this but I guess it is a scare tactic, at least I hope so.

After an hour of sitting in his office, listening to the DPC drill this boy in a language I did not understand a few things were discovered. Well the boy says he didn’t take the things but he knows who did. I guess he was sort of telling the truth because he was identified as the “look out” so he didn’t officially take anything. So he said the boys name is Thomas and the police knew this kid right away. Apparently Thomas is a habitual thief and is in and out of the police station. Also this detained boy said he knows who bought my stolen things, a woman named Gloria with big boobs. Seriously that is how is explained her. So when I left, the lead investigator was going to take the boy’s statement then they were going to go find Thomas and Gloria. Haven’t heard word today but I am sure I will get a call soon. I have already gotten a call from Peace Corps before 8am so I feel pretty taken care of.

I feel like Peace Corps thinks I am going to lose it any second. They keep asking if I am ok, how I feel, do I need anything, etc. Jolie called in the middle of this police interrogating and was a bit freaked out I think.

Well I guess it is all in a PVCs life heheh… or maybe not HA.

So another break in, but this time a lot worse. Two days after my last break in someone (who I am guessing was the same person as before) broke in again and took a lot of stuff. I know everyone says the things are not important as long as I am safe but I’m still pissed about my stuff. It looks like they pried open my locked bathroom window, climbed in and left mud prints on my bathroom sink. Since all my windows were closed this time because I was “being safe” then my neighbors didn’t see anything and the guy took his time going threw the house. When I got home I had stuff all over the floor and realized something was wrong. I took a quick glance around and realized many things were missing and that is when it hit me… BASTARDS!

Things that were stolen

- $120 Keen hiking shoes

- $50 flashlight that was given to me by my step dad

- $50 leatherman tool that was a gift from relatives

- $100 bose speakers that was an xmas gift from my brother.

- About 30 dvds including the case

- A shoulder bag that was marks that he left it at my house

- 2 big jugs of cooking oil

- My travel alarm clock that makes rain noises that I fall asleep to every night

There are probably more things missing that I have yet to discover.

So I spent the first part of the day yesterday at the police station. I had to write a statement, they took a statement, they took all my info, a list of stolen thing, etc. Then an investigator came to my house to look at the “scene.” He checked out the windows they came in, where all the stuff was that was stolen and even drew a picture of my house and compound. He talked to my neighbors and ask them all sorts of questions and took a statement from them. It was discovered while taking my neighbor’s worker boy’s (Jackson) statement that he knows the look out guy. The first time they broke in there was a man standing outside my house being the look out guy for the man inside. Jackson came home and just struck up a conversation with him and later realized he was probably in on it. So the investigator took the name of this boy and told Jackson said he would go to town and search for this look out boy. So that gives me a little hope but not much.

So I told peace corps the situation and they were pretty upset. They have called me a bunch of times to check on me and they even called and told the US embassy. Then they told me last night the embassy security guy will be calling me today. I just hope they catch this guy. And everyone says it is someone I know so I will be interested to see who it is.

So after the police station I went straight to a burial. My counterpart’s (Gideon) father passed away. So I made my way out to deep I the village to the border of the Congo. It took forever to get there because the roads are sooooooo bad. I arrived late and walked into a shell of a church and there were at least a 1000 people there. No joke! African weddings and funerals are a community event but this funeral was bigger than normal. There were a lot of top people there, local counsel, district people, dozens of reverends and even the current bishop for Kisoro. This church was about half the size of a football field and it was standing room only. So 3 hours of important people talking in rufumbira, a few hymns, and about 200 speeches later the funeral was over. After we left the church everyone walked about half a mile to the burial site which was gideon’s back yard. That is guess is a huge difference between American and Ugandan funerals. We bury our dogs and cats in our back yards but Ugandan bury their mothers and fathers there. After greeting a million people and refusing to get dozens of kids money they were begging for we made our way back to the city. It took even longer to get back and didn’t reach home until 7pm. I was so hurry I was about to pass out so I made some quick mac and cheese and started a movie. I ended the day by talking to my mom on skype on her lunch hour. I am lovin this skype thing. I have been able to talk “face to face” with my grandma and uncle. My mom doesn’t have a camera yet so we just watches me as I stare at a still picture of her.

Well it was a long day but at least nothing was stolen

Night

Well today has been a rough day so this will be full of complaints. Well my day started off with me burning my pancakes which was really annoying but not a big deal. So then I biked to work and it was really hot and I got really sweaty. Then I come into my office where I found a jump drive was stolen from my desk. I share an office with my counterpart who I am not ruling out but not blaming. This comes after a long string of people taking small things from my office; pens, rulers, markers, sauce pan, silver wear, scissors, tape, etc. None of these mean a lot to me but do add up to a lot of money I do not have to replace such things. But the jump/flash drive is the last straw. This thing probably cost me 20 bucks and I am sure it has important stuff on it. So I questioned the whole office and said I will not be mad at anyone if they just return it to my desk anonymously. Again I am not blaming my counterpart but since we do share an office… if I am not here one day and he is, then he is responsible for the things in and on my desk just like I am responsible for the things on his.

So that unsolved…. My internet decided to quick on me. The only thing I can think of is that it is out of airtime and I need t recharge it but I checked the phone and it has money on it. The company I have it through is really bad at not taking the money off of it and then turning it off. Usually I would call and ask what is up but another problem I have is no airtime for my cell phone. And as I have said before… I have no money and the small amount I do have I want to keep in case of emergencies.

So that unsolved…. (this is the kicker) I get a call from my neighbor who is franticly telling me to rush home because someone is in my house and they are surrounding the house so he does not get out. So I calming tell the people in my office I have to go home and they ask what is wrong and I explain. So they force me on a boda boda (motorcycle) which I am not allow to be on says Peace Corps but I am taking this time as one of those times I can break the rule. And I already informed Peace Corps about this so no need to think I am getting sent home because of this blog. So one illegal boda drive later I am at my house where I find Craig (the vso volunteer) who hopped over my brick security wall and is standing at my front door waiting to hurt someone. I unlock the door to find my dog who officially is not a good watch dog and Craig who opens the door and tells me to stand back like a good gentleman. I also see the neighbors helper boy in my yard with a big stick waiting to open a can of whoop ass on some man who he thinks is going to pop out of my house.

So Craig opens the door and starts looking around for some Ugandan he is ready to tackle. He isn’t making much noise so I think maybe the robber got em. I call out for him and he is ok, just looking around. So I go in and help him look but we come up empty handed with our adrenaline still pumping. So I go and get the story from my neighbors and this is what I was told….

So apparently someone was visiting my neighbor whos front door is right next to mine. This visitor saw a man standing outside my door (we later believe he was a look out). The visitor didn’t think anything of it so went on to my neighbors but in doing so he has to pass by my side brick wall where you can see inside my windows. He looked inside where my bathroom is and saw a head bouncing about. She is ran to tell my neighbor and that is when this little old women and her 2 house servants surrounded my house and called me. So again after reaching we didn’t find anyone and they think he ran off as the visitor was informing my neighbor. Either way he is gone and I don’t think anything was taken. I haven’t really looked closely but everything seems intact. I am not freaked out or anything… just really annoyed. While I was gone in kampala I had 5 lanterns stolen from a small room outside my house, stuff stolen at work and now someone breaking into my house. It is just annoying!

Anywho I am fine hahaha

peace

Ok so I know it has been forever since I have blogged but a lot has been going on. I don’t even know if I have the energy to write this blog but I am going to try my hardest.

So I have been in Kampala for 2 weeks….2 WEEKS! It was only suppose to last a week but you know how things go. I left the 19th and just got back last night. Kampala is … indescribable to say the least. It is hot, dirty, loud, busy, big, crowded, etc. I did get to do see my host family and they were exactly how I remembered them. The place looked great, new paint job, new motorcycle, new chickens, new volunteer. They are amazing and I miss the already! We putted around kampala until Sunday when all the volunteers in my group showed up at the training site. We all gathered at the hotel and caught up on what we have all been up to, the pros and cons of our work, bad supervisors and great accomplishments. It was great to see everyone but no one was looking forward to training. It was a week of torture to say the least. I sat there with my counterpart listening to the differences between goals and objectives and wasting flip chart paper.

I think some good came out of it. I formulated a good plan for a new health activity. I think I am going to try to start health clubs in schools. No this is not a gym, spa combo but a way to get students interested in health education and start a peer to peer teaching thing. I have to write a grant for it for my country director said there is plenty of money to go around.

Speaking of my country director…. He is amazing. He was a peace corps volunteer in India in the 60s and it shows. He is so in touch with my fellow colleagues. He has never been a country director but he has an amazing resume. His wife is amazing and he has daughter that had to get a new passport at age 10 because her parents traveled so much… lucky!

So training was over and the fun really was about to start. 13 of us went to Jinja which is about 2 hours from Kampala. Jinja is where the source of the Nile River is. We decided to drop some big bucks and go white water rafting. I was surprisingly not nervous but super excited. There were about 40+ people not in our group and we all filed in out boats with our life vests and helmets. We decided it was going to be girls vs. boys. So me and my home girls situated ourselves in our bouncy little boat with our rafting guide named Roberto. He taught us the basics of surviving the Nile. Five minutes he made us all get over on one side of the boat and flip ourselves. It was my first time touching the Nile river and it was pretty overwhelming. Then all the bad came rushing to me…. Not “oh my gosh I might die” but “oh my gosh I am going to schistomiasos. This is a “fluke” that lives in fresh water including the Nile. It is not pleasant to say the least. Anyhow… all worm thoughts aside we sat off. We hit the first rapid which was like a 2 out of 5. It was called whirlpool…how fitting. He set off down to fetch another rapid…the rub cage. A class 3.. a little tougher but not by much. It wasn’t about the rapid called Bujagali Falls. This was a class 5 and pretty much kicked my ass. It was a longggggg way down with 3 separate rapids. So if you fall out on the first it is a ridiculously long way down. So of course we flipped on the first rapid. I went under, flipped a few times, opened my eyes to only see yellow green water. I began to realize I could not hold my breath much longer and took a deep gulp of water and soon realized it was not the same as air. I seriously began to believe that my life was going to end in the nile and started to wonder what my mom would think when Peace Corps called her and said “sorry your daughter was swallowed by the longest river in the world.” I then said it my mind “if you do not breathe in 5 seconds you are dead.” 1….2….3….4…..Air!! Finally, I saw the light and my head bobbed above water. I went under a few more times and finally the rapids stopped after what seemed like forever and I finally found “smooth” water and a safety kakayer heading towards me ready to rescue me. I was pulled into another boat because mine was…..no where to be seen. So I hitched a ride and looked for the rest of my boat. It took about 20 minutes for my boat to reassemble and one member was pretty shaken so we all just took a breather and I am happy we did because I was in need myself. It was the closes I have ever been to death… and even though I did not find “god” like most people do, I did have a little flash here and there…. Mostly of my mom’s face. So we sucked it up and decided to go for some more. We later had 50/50 which is the percentage of flips, guess which percent I was, total gungo, silverback, overtime, retrospect (which I was super amused by the name), Bubogo and finally Itanda falls. Itanda falls was the last rapid of the ride. It was a bitch. The rapid started as a class 6 which is crazy because rapids only go up to a 5 unless you are on the Nile. They are smart and don’t let anyone on the class 6s (I am guessing there is a tragic reason for that) so we got out of the boat and walked around the scary part. We then got back in the boat a few feet down river. We were asked which route me wanted to take, “the chicken side” or “the flippin side.” Well we went chickens so we tore down that rapid at full speed. We got about 2 feet and everyone is out boat had a whiplash moment (my neck hurt for 3 days) and we lost 3 in the boat. Then we all flipped and again… life…. flash. There is a man that video tapes all the rides and sells then for a crazy price of $45. We all sit around the night of and watch ourselves drowning. I watched the video (which I later bought because I had to have this documented and on my self) and saw myself getting sucked into a current and pretty much stuck under water. I saw a safety guy telling me to swim right and I almost laughed out loud at the fact that after all those flips under water he thought I really knew which side right was. Since I am writing this you know I made it out alive.

We left Jinja all a little sore and a little more alive. Headed back to Kampala where I was going to spend the next day and a half. I spent all Tuesday at the Peace Corps office rearranging the library which was great fun haha. I was waiting around kampala because I was to hitch a ride with the Peace Corps car which was heading down to see Kisoro and a few other volunteers along the way.

Me, Mark, my program coordinator, my country director and his wife all left Wednesday morning and heading to David’s sight which was about 40 out of kampala. His sight and house was pretty bare and lack luster but he was happy which made me happy. We then went to another site where a PCV was working with an orphanage that was one of the saddest sights I have even seen. There were about 6 kids there all very young and very sick. One little girl about 2 years old who just lay in bed all day and night. She had bed TB, bronchitis, bloated belly and bed sores. The country director has a background in food security/nutrition so he was struck by this little girl. He spent a lot of time with her and I just starred at them and wanted to cry. It was one of the first times that I actually had tears in my eyes. I feel in love with a little boy named Joseph with no pants about a year and a half old. He held my finger so tight and showed me around the place. I left there so depressed and then had a 10 hour ride to go. The ride was amazing. I don’t think many volunteers get 12 hours in a car with their country director. He asked our opinions, let us read his up and coming newsletter entry, listened to us complain and try to explain what we do everyday.

He is writing a book of his experience as a country director where one chapter will be about him and the next will be about a volunteer’s site. I hope I make it into the book. So we reached Kisoro around 8pm and it was pitch black. The PC staff was impressed by the little view they did see.

I was dropped off at my house where I soon realized I was locked out of my second bedroom which has all my clothes, bike, etc in it and that my dog peed and pooped all over my bedroom which still smells like urine. My pup was alive but what seemed like barely. It lost a lot of weight and was not eating anything. Well it is slowly getting back to normal. The PC staff went with mark all day going logistical stuff. They stopped by my office and seemed to be impressed by my office standards and posters/pictures. I took them to Kisoro Demonstration to see the deaf/blind and disabled students and the other students that I have grown to love. They were thoroughly impressed and fell in love just as quick as I did. I believe they both have a huge heart and it showed when they offered to help out the school in unknown ways but just the fact that they will show up means the world to me and those kids.

We spent a little over an hour there and then moved on to town so the kids can go play. My program coordinator wanted to go to market so I took em hehe. I have to say that the CD and hi wife were completely overwhelmed. They have been in country for only a few months and I believe too busy to go to market in kampala so they got their first taste of it in Kisoro. They look pictures and smiled with the locals. The CD is big into fishing so he had to check out the fish section which…. Smells! So after market we parted ways and I wished them a safe trip back to the other side of the world.

It was an amazing trip to say the least but I am so happy to be home.

Well it has been a great and productive weekend. Yesterday was valentines day and I spent it cleaning my house. Took up the carpet and took it outside to bang around for a bit, scrubbed the floors, etc. This house is making me sick (mold) so I need to air it out a little.

The puppy is doing good for anyone who cares. It has been a week since I got him and he is doing great. It is sleeping through the night (well until about 6:30-7am), not using the potty in the house and getting better about not biting everything in site. He has been pretty lethargic the last few days… not sure if it is just being good or sick with some African doggy disease. I am going to Kampala on Thursday and I have to figure out what to do with it for a week and a half! I took him to work on Thursday. I would never do so but my boss wanted it there. So everyone is freaked out by it. Ugandans are really scared of dogs but I think the office staff is warming up to it. I walked it home and everyone in town was just laughing at me. The thought of owning a dog as a pet and walking it on a leash is so foreign here. But hell I am not going to let him get hit by a boda! Still trying to figure out what it likes to eat but I think we have settled on milk, meat, bread and these nasty little fish you can get at market.

I had a really good day on Friday. I stayed at the office late because these people from the UK were suppose to come see the office but never showed up. But the deaf students we support from Kisoro Demonstration Primary School came to the office. Didn’t even know they were coming but all the sudden I had 56 kid running at me and giving me big hugs. This is what I want all African kids to be like…. None of that asking for money shit. Just big smiles and big hugs. I took tons of pictures and I will post the link at the bottom of this. Being around those kids is exactly what I needed. I have been feeling so burnt out lately and they jump started me again. I am going to see them again on Monday at school to take individual pictures and get all their info for our files.

Before the kids came I was spring cleaning the office. We have the former director of the BBC coming to out office on Thursday to check it out and possibly become a donor. So we are preparing for that by cleaning the office and putting new stuff on the walls to show off all our projects. He is a pretty big deal but I don’t think I will be around to meet him because I am leaving for Kampala Thursday morning.

Well I am going to go work in the garden before I have to get ready for dinner with the boys and the new resident at the hospital who is from NYC.

Peace

Pics of deaf students

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2294740&id=22902768&l=5cf7c

Feb 12th 2009

Ok this blog will be short. I meant to have a log drawn out great story but I am exhausted!

-first I got a puppy. This past Sunday I went with Craig and Joseph to search for a best friend. Well I found him with the Batwa, you might know them as pygmies. These are the outcast of most African societies. They are known for not wearing clothes, selling empty bottles at market that they got out of the trash, being extremely short, refusing health care, living in grass huts, etc. And for some reason they are known for having a lot of dogs, at least here in Kisoro.

So we walked to what seems way out but was just right out of town to a small village that was the real rural Africa. So we found the pup and it was so lethargic and sad. It was curled up with its mom and what seemed to be new puppies only like a week old. They were super cute but no way could I take the small ones. So I happily took this one. I brought it home and have been lovin on it ever since. So a few days later I gave it a name…. Kunda. It means love in Rufumbria (the local language). It is a little shit sometimes but it is completely potty trained and is learning quickly rights and wrongs. I took it to work today because everyone was talking about how muzungu of me to get a dog. I was only there for a few hours but they are all freaked out by him. Ugandans hate dogs apparently. Anyways I walked it home through town and everyone was laughing that I was carrying a dog and walking it on a leash.

In other news, my brother is official engaged and I am extremely happy. I love his fiancé and she asked me to be a bridesmaid. So it looks like I am coming back to the states because my time in the PC is over. Sometimes early 2010.

I want to thank a few people this blog….

First thanks to my uncle Steve who is sponsoring a secondary boy.

Second, I want to thank Amit’s (a doctor who worked in Kisoro for a month) cousin is sponsoring a child in secondary and a child in primary.

Third, thanks to wendy’s friend who is sponsoring a boy named Alex who is amazing and is in secondary school.

Lastly I would like to thank Laura who is a peace corps training heading to Uganda in a few days. Because of her, Gloria (an HIV positive little girl) got a new mattress yesterday as well as a warm blanket and a new basin. Other stuff will be bought early next week including a mosquito net, school bag, new dress, new shoes, etc. Laura also sent a box my way that included coloring book and colors for the kids.

Gotta go to bed… can barely keep my head up

Peace

Well another one bites the dusk. We lost a good friend this week. Ryan left Kisoro this morning and is heading back to America on Friday. He broke a few rules and got caught. He was a man about it and I respect him 100 times more because of the way he handled it. He was a great volunteer and a great friend and he will be missed.

We all went to Kabale to give Ryan a good goodbye. We left on Saturday morning and had a decent ride there. The car’s breaks flew off so the driver stopped for about 20 minutes to fix them. It actually was pretty great because we stopped at a beautiful place and took some amazing pictures. It was early in the morning and the mist was just starting to rise. We were literally in the clouds and you could only see the very top of the hills for miles. We arrived in Kabale about 11am. We met up with Jackie (another volunteer in our group who lives in kabale). I went with Jackie to walk around town to find me a new fridge. The boys split off and went golfing. Yes, golfing. There is a 9 hole course in the town which is pretty rough. No one ever golfs there so they do military drills on it and people just walk all about. My brother would shake his head in disbelief.

I did find my fridge…. Of course it was more than I wanted to spend but I was desperate. I then went to the supermarket to pick up a few things I can’t find in Kisoro; maple syrup, ramen noodles, chocolate syrup, etc. Me and Jackie then went back to her house and watched a movie. It was a pretty lazy day but back at Jackie’s I had a hot bath and blow dried my hair with my newly purchased blow drier. I felt like a new woman. The guys came back from golf and we prepared to go out for Ryan’s goodbye. We first went to a place called “the little Ritz of Africa” and grabbed some food and some beer… well not me of course. We finished there and went to a small hole in the wall with a neon blue light. We were only there for a few minutes before the male prostitutes came out of the wood work. It became clear that we were in a gay bar, well in Ugandan standards. We left there at went to “Match and mix”. Now this place was straight out of America it seemed. We entered the place and music was blasting and people were getting their grove on. We all had a strange reverse but not culture shock. We were “cutting shapes” all night. Oh yah so cutting shapes is the Scottish term for dancing…. Craig (the other volunteer at PET) is teaching me proper English. We stayed out until 2am then I went back to Jackie’s and had a terrible nights sleep.

We woke up early the next day and left for Kisoro. It was a real hoot trying to get my fridge into the car…. It ended up being wedge into the truck, sticking out and tied down with rope. The trip was terrible like always. The driver took a different route which was suppose to be fast but it definitely not and it was sooo bumpy. We finally were in Kisoro district but of course the jokes were not over. Only a few miles away from home we cross through a big puddle. It is not even the rainy season in Kisoro and it rains everyday. Rain and bad roads equal huge lakes in the middle of the road. Little kids sit on the side waiting for cars. They direct them which way to travel that is the shallowest part then ask for money on the other side for helping. Well these kids were not doing their job on one puddle. We passed and within seconds the car was dead in the middle of this small lake with water rushing in. There I was, sitting there in the back seat up to my ankles in muddy water. The little Ugandan boys laughed as the muzungu’s car got stuck and UN cars were just passing us and staring. Everyone then got out and along with the little African kids pushed out the car. It was just one of those things you have to laugh about.

Finally we reached home and Ryan went home to pack. He then brought everything he wasn’t taking back to America over to my house for me, mark and craig to shift through. We went out to eat that night to say goodbye. It was so terribly sad to hug him goodbye.

Well I am becoming sick fast (stuffing running nose, killer head ache, sniffing, sore throat) so I am going to end this blog now before the meds I just took start making me say crazy things.

Just a last few things

-joseph had his first day of school today but he said only 4 kids were in the class. No one went to school today on the first day because of market and rain… how terrible right?

- Peace Corps has not paid us so I am official living off of 400 shillings.

- I am watching a movie about the Rwandan genocide and I am really freaked out that I can understand the language without subtitles.

- oh and it is FREEZING in Kisoro

xoxox

Well it has been a rough couple of days here in the UG. It was a long weekend, we had Monday off to celebrate our current president on the day he took over power from Idi Amin… the most corrupt and famous president of Uganda, and maybe the whole of Africa. I don’t really mind all that… I just appreciated the extra day off. I stayed home most of the weekend. I was in one of those secluded moods. Normally, if I don’t have human contact before noon… I don’t want any the rest of the day. I am weird like that hehe. On Monday I got dressed and started towards market… I got about 10 yards out my door when I got my first “how are you muzungu” of the day. Within a second I turned my ass around and went back home.

This demonstrates my official burn out on Uganda. Don’t get me wrong I still love it here and don’t want to leave… but I just need a freakin break. I get up in the morning dreeding leaving my house. The stares, the whistles, the marriage proposals, conversations with children that start out great with a big smile and then turn into “muzungu give me money” and ends with me shaking my head in disappointment and walking away. This is how my days go. I cringe now when I hear the word muzungu. I use to think it was funny now…. I don’t. I am just emotionally drained I guess.

This was all topped off today by a lovely bike accident. I was putting off going to work to but when I finally did I was on my merry way and bomb! I am just minding my own business and a car heading towards me crosses over to the wrong side of the road, puts on his blinker and proceeds to cut in front of me to park on the side of the road and I swerved around the car to not be a bug on the windshield. As so as I did that another guy on a boda (bike) plows into me. My bike it ripped out from under me as it gets mangeled in the spokes of the other victim. Of course this happened in one of the busiest parts of Kisoro Town and I immediately had 30 men surrounding me laughing and trying to unhook my bike from the other. Then a handful of men started trying to repair my bike right there on the street. The front wheel was so out of whack I thought it would never get fixed and I could picture myself walking home this distorted bike. The men finally let me back into the inner circle of people where I could get my bike back. I told them to just pleased give it back and I will fix it later. They said ok and then proceeded to ask me for money.

This is the thing about Ugandans…. They offer to help (when you don’t even ask for it) and when you finally think you found some decent people… they finish helping and then put out their hand and ask for money. I told them I didn’t have any money because I wasn’t planning on wreaking my bike today, which of course was a lie… I had the 1000 shillings they were asking for. But I was just to fed up with the world at the moment, I just walked away. Joseph eventually took my bike to town and fixed it. My front break is still out of order but at least the back one works… sorta. I have to go to Kabala to get a new break because my bike is not a typical Ugandan bike. Ugh I think tomorrow I will walk to work.

This is just one of the few things that went wrong today. Just for the sake of venting….

-my gas tank is empty

-so I have to use my oven stove top which runs on electricity.

-the electricity was out most of the day today

-when the power did come back on I almost had an electrical fire

-Have to go all the way to kabala (3 hours) to get more gas

-I am broke

- my internet didn’t work all day

- had to spend money on getting my bike fixed

-drank soured milk this morning

-my computer is on its death bed

Mmm I think that is about it for today.

Man I hope tomorrow is better

Pictures of my new home

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2288633&l=92152&id=22902768

Pictures of Kisoro and the muzungus watching history

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289811&l=c5ab2&id=22902768

So I am starting a new fund raising campaign. No it is not for more african children or women with a deadly disease. This one is for me. So my computer is about 2 days away from completely shutting down or suffering from damage of me throwing it against the wall. The former is more likely but ya know.

So I am starting to ask my loved ones for small donations towards a new computer. Not only do I do my entire work on the computer for my organization.... it is also a big part of my sanity here in Africa. So if you would like to donate to keep Bailey sane fund please contact me I would most appericiate it.

I have a feeling no one is going to take this seriously (even though it is) so i will not hold my breath.

Love ya all

its official…. I now have a new boss. Being a part of the US government I now answer to Mr. Obama which I am very ok with. Last night I walked over to a local hotel/restaurant called Graceland which is more than fitting. I sat there for about 2 hours alone waiting on the boys to show up. They were busy drinking and getting their hair done haha. They finally show up and they come in right when Obama is walking out onto the main stage. It was pretty surreal to be sitting there with good friends watching my country change from half way across the world. There was something poetic about being in the motherland at this time in history. The night went a best if could in the middle of Africa. I sat there surrounded by drunk people yelling and me shushing them so I can hear, Rhianna and Sean Paul blaring across the street at a electronic store so loud the windows were shaking and to top it off… it started to rain and the satellite shorted out right when Obama was putting his hand on that Lincoln bible. I later saw the oath on a replay but still… annoying to say the least. We sat there and laughed as we saw Chaney being pushed in his wheel chair and the Obama’s waving to the Bush’s as their helicopter took off. The speeches were amazing and even mentioned Peace Corps later in the day which makes me completely proud.

Life went back to normal today (the day after). No big parades or balls here. Maybe next door in Kenya it is a bit different but Kisoro is quiet. I sit at work writing this blog freezing my ass off. Yes I know it is like -300 in America but it is low 60s here and in Africa that translates into -400 so HA! Mark is heading back to the village and Ryan waits to hear about his fate here in Kisoro (long story). Craig and I are the only muzungus left here at PET but I think we will survive. The rumor is that 3 new muzungus have arrived in Kisoro but we are not sure who or where they are. Another word on the street is that another VSO volunteer is heading this way soon and more PCVs will come this way in august. The new group of volunteers arriving in February seem to be a good bunch. I know many are reading this because they have admitted they are stalking my blog and facebook but I don’t mind hehe. I will be heading to Kampala for my in service training the end of February and then off to Jinja (source of the Nile) for a rafting trip with the rest of my training group. Afterwards I will be heading to Wakiso (my training site) to visit my host family and see the new peace corps trainees. I can’t wait to see my family again… I miss them a lot and think about them often. I want to do a training session for the new group but have no clue what I would do it on.

I feel like I have been slacking at work lately. I went from working everyday all day, nights and weekends to a week of training, moving and settling into my house. I have been busy cleaning up my garden, painting with the boys, thinking of all the furniture I need to buy etc. The one thing about my house that I have recently learned that depresses me is that my internet connection is pretty much at zero there. So no more sitting at home on the internet 24/7 which I guess is a good and bad thing.

Speaking of slacking at work… I am writing this sitting at my desk so I better stop and get back to it.

xoxoxo

Jan 16th 2008

Well I am officially moved into my new house. It has been a long time coming but I am now happy. I moved in on Tuesday with the help of Joseph and a car, I moved all in one day. I know my mom and grandma wants to know about me new place but pictures are coming soon. It is a huge house…especially for Uganda. It contains 2 bedrooms. My room is a single with two windows. The other room is a double with a strange little room that branches from the room and a bathroom that branches from that room. The bathroom only had a strange concert tub and a faucet…no toilet no nothing… so can you really call it a bathroom I guess. The main bathroom is a pretty good size. It has a sink, a small soon to be closet area, small sink, toilet and a double window. I was so excited when I saw the tub even though it is another strange concert tub. I was thinking candlelight bubble baths. I tried to take my first bath yesterday but it did not go over very well. Seeing that I don’t have hot water from the tap I have to boil water on my stove. So I boiled like 3-4 gallons of water and added it to a bathtub that took 40 minutes to fill up with cold water. Well adding the hot water warmed the freezing water up about 2 degrees. I was going to put in a hot shower but I don’t think my water pressure is enough. Anyways… so I have a huge living room which looks completely terrible with my lack of furniture. I have a huge kitchen which doesn’t contain a sink so doing dishes kind of sucks but I can see the volcano from my kitchen window. The problem now is that I have to drop a bunch of money to pay for furniture. I have zero places to put food, clothes, bathroom stuff etc. I have already starting drawing up plans for shelving units.

Outside I have a nice start of a garden which has not seen much lovin for a long time. So that will be my weekend project. A few things I have growing already is fresh parsley and rosemary, jack fruit tree, several banana tress, Uganda eggplant (which is not eggplant at all), sugar cane and a bunch of different flowers and a strange cactus. I have a small “house” outside my house which is suppose to be like an outside kitchen but since I am not Ugandan I will not use it for that. I think we are going to keep laying chickens in there and sell the eggs to pay for some of my house. I have a huge rain tank as well. That water is free but the water from the tap is not. My house is surrounded by a huge wall with glass bottle shards stuck on the stop and a huge metal gate. Oh and I have a porch which I am super excited about. I cant wait to get furniture out there and a bunch of lanterns and just chill with a book.

My house is great but there are a few downsides. The bathtub is one. There is a water/mold issue. The ceiling throughout my house is dotted with water spots and you can tell there is a moisture issue which makes me sneeze and sniffle all day. There is a big mosquito issue which is rare in Kisoro. I have to close all my windows at about 6 or I will have hundreds of malaria carrying insects in my house. And lastly my house is pretty far from work… about 4k or so. This is a good and bad thing. It sucks because of having to ride my bike through town several times a day and going across town for lunch. But I will never again have my boss and/or counterpart coming to my door at 8am and all day long asking me questions when I am not suppose to be working. I don’t have joseph greeting me 50 times a day just because he lives 100 yards away. But I am really far from the other PCV which means we will not be having many dinner parties anymore.

But all these negatives are mirco compared to the stuff I love about the house so far.

On another note….. In service language training started Wednesday. My language teacher came down to torture me all week. We start at 8am and go until 5… the whole time we are suppose to be speaking Rufumbria but as many people know… I CAN NOT SPEAK RUFUMBRIA. I have training with another PCV who lives in the village where he HAS to speak the local language to survive (not like in town where I am). So the entire time in training I am sitting there starring at the wall as this other PCV and my language teacher have 30 minutes Rufumbria conversations at a time.

Well life is grand here in Kro (slang for Kisoro).

Love you and miss you all

Peace,

Well it has been a long frustrating but great year. I thought I would do a little wrap up of yesteryear. The year started in a great way. Being excepted into Peace Corps Uganda and I left in February only to be back in the states a month later. It was a disappointed to me but more importantly to my friends and family. I came home with my tail between my legs disliking my African experience greatly. I have spent so long talking about how I wanted to move to Africa and make a different and it was not like I expected. I came home because of a gall bladder and got that sucker out weeks after returning. Even though I went through a lot and my family went through more, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Going into PC, getting a taste of it, going home and getting my medical issues taken care of, speedy recovery and rethinking PC again… it was a world wind. Immediately after surgery I was craving Africa once again. I was told my many people that problems with your gall bladder has some effect on your psychological view on life…. Something about the things you once loved seems dull, well this is what happened to me. Right after that sucker was out of me I was a million times better.

So once again I went through the Peace Corps application process and played the waiting game all over again. I look back now and can’t believe I went through that process twice when most people don’t get through it the first time. The second time around I wasn’t medically cleared until weeks before my leave date and it was a stressful time to say the least. So there I was again saying goodbye to friends and family without the fuss like the first time.

I arrived AGAIN in Uganda august 7th to start the process over again. It was my second chance and I just wanted it to go better this time. Right off the bat I knew this time was going to be different. My training group was smaller and lacked the drama I felt my February group had at times. So I made it through another round of training and became pretty close to a lot of my fellow trainees. On October 8th myself and 23 of my new friends signed a piece of paper, raised out right hands and officially become Peace Corps Volunteers. It felt a love time coming and I just sighed in relief to finally get that V at the end of my name.

Soon after I moved to my new home in Kisoro Town, Kisoro District, Uganda. I started work the next day at Peace Education Peace in Kisoro Town and dealt with my first Kisoroan drama. My housing situation was a mess and I moved 3 times before landing in a house peace corps did not approve but it was the only option at the time. So here is in January and I feel like I have not stopped moving since October. I have been told by many volunteers that I am officially the busiest peace corps volunteer in Uganda. I work 8-5 everyday plus nights and weekends. I don’t really know how this happened but I rather be busy than bored. HA I even got an email from a peace corps staff member telling me to remember to take time for myself because I might be working too hard. How funny is that! Even though I do work hard I have been spending time with some great people. I have made a number of friends here in Kisoro…. My fellow PCVs and others. Numerous dinner parties later I feel like I have made some great friends here in the middle of Africa.

So here I start a new year in a new place. I miss my friends and family everyday but I know I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but right here; sitting on my couch, listening to CNN, working on orphan cases and listening to the rain hit my tin roof. I did miss xmas dinner with family, xmas morning at grandmas, ham & beans on new years and of course seeing my own mother get married to a wonderful man. Even though I know I can not get any of those things back, but I know that my experiences here in Uganda will stay with me longer than any of those things combine.

Life here is not what I expected to say the least (good and bad) but this is all I have ever wanted. Besides opening the gifts under the tree I am working on a database for all 400 orphans in our program (sponsored and waiting list combine). Rather than singing xmas carols (not that I ever did that) I am able to tell a hand full of Ugandan children that because of some really nice people in America… they are able to go to school again and put dinner on the table.

I can’t believe I have been in Uganda for 6 months now…21 months to go haha not that I am counting.

I wish everyone a great year… I know I will

Just thought I would drop a line. I am sitting here watching Without a Trace season 5 without seeing seasons 1-4 and making soft pretzels from scratch. Today was a boring but busy day… I guess like any other day. It started with my supervisor knocking on my door at 8:30ish wondering if I took the internet modem. Now I explained to him I would never take this modem since I have my own internet. I have to say I am going to be so happy when I move so my workmates can’t just stop by my room at 8am or 8pm or just pop their head in my window to see what is going on. I am going to be across town which will suck when it comes to going home for lunch and not being able to just take a nap during work hours hahah.

I got another knock on my door… boss again, wanting to tell me I need to go to the town council to talk to a woman who has been asking about me since I got to Kisoro. So I hiked my butt over to the town council which is about a kilometer down the road. I went in looking for a woman named Sarah who I thought was the head of the HIV department but I was wrong… it was another random guy in the office, she was just a clerk. So I discussed with them for a bit… I was pretty much hesitant because I know they see the color of my skin and think I can work miracles. So they told me they only deal with 1 sub-county (Kisoro Town Council Sub-county) and their main focus is commercial sex workers. They have just started this HIV project and have only had one meeting with about 30 prostitutes that have formed a sort of union. Strange eh? Well they want to help me teach them how bad prostituting is and how to get out of it. Most know it is bad but they can’t get money any other way. So they also want me to help them find income generating activities (IGAs) for them. Uh! I don’t mind giving education to people but the IGA thing gives me an ulcer… it is so much pressure.

So after that meeting I collected some very needed information about Kisoro at the offices. It is pretty much a dead end looking for that stuff like that so I was happy for the help. So I went back to the office to enter more orphan names in my database. I hung out with Ivan who is the son of one of the ladies in my office. He is a cheeky little devil but cool as hell. I he is 5 and I think he think I am his girlfriend hahah which is way cuter than some 18 year old Ugandan boy thinking I am his girlfriend! I then reorganized my office and then started working on a small project my boss wanted. I was told to make a list of stuff I have done so far, what I want to do in the future, difficulties, etc. My boss has been asking for this for a while now but it is so difficult since I have been here for 2 months and am not really suppose to be working like I am for the first 3. I don’t know what it is but I just got get along with my boss like I should. I know it is common in the Peace corps; clash of cultures, clash of work ethics, micro managing etc. I seem to roll my eyes several times every time I talk to him hahah. It is almost entertaining in a way.

So work was over… I went home but again another knock by my boss asking me to help with him another computer problem. Went back home but then got a knock from Uni (my “stalker”) wanting to “send time with me” hahaha.

I know my life is boring hahaha

Just thought I would fill you in.

Oh ya and thank you mom for sponsoring Juliet. She is only half sponsored right now and needs about another $160 a year so if you are interested in her or any over kid let me know … thanks everyone

Ok so I am so sorry it has been forever since I have blog it feels like. So much has been going on that I don’t have time to write but of course with everything going on it is the time I WANT/NEED to write. Well I guess I have written about thanksgiving. You have seen the pictures but you haven’t heard the stories. I really thought thanksgiving in Uganda was going to be a flop but boy was I wrong! It was suppose to be at a missionary’s house but she had to fly back to the states for family issues so we were out a meeting space and half the food. So at the last minute I had to find a new place to hold 20 people and divide food responsibilities to all of them. I took this task head on and started to get organized and I have to say I pulled it off quite nicely. We held turkey day at the med students house because it was the only place that would hold all of us. We had 3 people from Kabale (neighboring town), 6 med students, 2 residents, 3 kisoro PVC, 3 VSO volunteers and one Ugandan. We had two types of salad, pumpkin chapti, 2 dozen deviled eggs, stuffing, fried chicken (turkeys are rare in Uganda), two types of mac and cheese, nut roast, baked/refried beans, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, local brew, caramelized sweet potatoes, chocolate cake and apple crisp. I started cooking at 7am because I was in charge of the main dishes and a few sides. I hired my friend Joseph (the one I am sending to school next term) to go to market and find us some fat chickens to kill. He came back with some beautiful chickens that proceeded to kluck and crow all day in the courtyard by my office/house. Now it wouldn’t be so bad but half the people in my office (the VSO volunteers) are vegetarians. Poor Liz went to use the bathroom and saw these poor chickens waiting to be killed and I thought she was going to cry right then and there. I was still going to have the chickens killed but we did it really far away from my office so no one would see anything unpleasant. Well Joseph went at it and killed, cleaned and cut these chickens up for our consumption.

Oh ya the best part of the day was that the power went out as soon as we started cooking and came on as we were walking out the door to go eat. Now this wouldn’t be such a big deal but we had a WHOLEEE lotta food to cook and to top it off Ryan only has an electric stove and the med students were out of gas and of course their electric stove didn’t work. I am happy that we made the desserts before the power cut so at least they were safe in that department.

The reheating of all the food to have a warm meal seemed to be a difficult task but we pulled it off. The task of a small speech was giving to me but if anyone knows me… I can’t that kind of crap. So I pulled through and we dug in. We ended the night with a crazy game of truth or dare and 4 rounds of catch phrase.

Some of the Kabale people stayed until Monday and I stuffed them full of pizza, cinnamon roles, and much much more. I really only make the good stuff when other people are around J

The week was topped off my World AIDS day on December 1st. Now the PET people were going to through a parade through town and I sent a letter to the district health officer to tell him our plans. Well I was paid a visit by the assistant DHO who told me because of my letter they decided to acted as well. I was really surprised that my small letter started this chain reaction but when. Because of this letter there was tents, chairs, music, a PA system, the blood bank collected over 100 pints of blood as well as performing HIV tests, Voluntary counseling ad HIV testing was giving, prizes were given out and the PET staff gave out almost 200 condoms and answered dozens of sex related questions as well as putting dozens of condoms on bananas.

After world AIDS day I went back to the hospital I got them from and got another box of 7200 condoms! After all of that we had to prepare for half the muzungu population in Kisoro to leave. Kevin and Liz left for Kampala yesterday on their way to Kenya for safari along with Kartik and Craig who are coming back in two weeks and the med students are heading back to NYC to do interviews for residency. I have thoroughly enjoyed my short time with the med students. I only met them a month ago but I fell in love with all of them :) We had so many dinners parties with them this whole month and it has been great. They came by last night to drop off tons of potatoes, beans, onions, etc. They also dropped off a white coat and a stethoscope so I can pretend I am a doctor hahaha. Maybe for Halloween next year but I would never do it on a daily basis. They know how much I would love to be a doctor so they made me pretty happy :)

I can’t even remember what else is going on in my life…. I am preparing for a huge testing day for about 200 kids next weeks. I am also starting to get school reports in from all the kids we support. They must bring their grades here so we can record them. Another thing I am working on is putting all the kids on the waiting list (about 300 of them) into the database and some of them online so people can more easily look at them and sponsor if they would like.

I didn’t want to come to Africa and just ask for money from my friends and family but if you would to sponsor a kid let me know. It is $90 a year for sponsor a child in primary school and $160 to sponsor a child in secondary. We also have many disabled kids (physically and mentally) that need to be sponsored as well. They are completely shunned in this society and get no chance of an education. If you don’t want to sponsor a kid for school there are many kids that are handicap that are in need of artificial legs and backbraces. Go to the website if you want to learn more and make sure you check on it next term when we get all the kids info and pics up. http://pet-uganda.org.

If anyone is interested now there is one girl that has come to my office several times for help. Her name is Juliet and she 15 and in senior one. She lost both of her parents and her brothers and sisters when she was young and has been raised by her grandparents who just died last month. She was living on the streets until someone kindly took her in for the holiday break but when school starts she will be on the streets again and unable to go to school. She wants to become a nurse and I believe she has the drive for it. I don’t want to be one of those people that just hit their families up for money but if anyone is planning on sending me a package anytime this year…. Just save up your money and donate towards this girl or any other kids we have waiting for a better future.

Well I will end on that note. I hope everyone is well and having a great holiday season. I am sad I am not there spending it with you but I am in a great place with great people…. And I even bought a xmas tree yesterday!

Peace

Ok I know I have been really bad with the blogs lately but here is some more pictures. I promise to write soon!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2276039&l=2e448&id=22902768

I just posted some new pics under "my peace corps pics"

I am too lazy to post a blog but i will soon

xoxox

Wow it has been a week since I have last checked in. Some might think it is because nothing interesting has gone in this week but… it is Uganda…. everyday is interesting. I don’t know what I have already talked about I my above blog entries so sorry if I repeat myself. Work has been slow lately. I don’t know if it is because I am just getting lazier or because I was so crazy my first month here. I finally feel like I am living the PC life with working half days and some days not at all. I know that sounds horrible to you Americans but trust me it is the norm here.

As you know from my last entry I have a small oven now. It has become worth every shillings! I have become famous now for my pizza and baked goods. I have mastered pizza (of course), breads, soft pretzels, about 4-5 different cakes, brownies, biscuits, etc. The funny thing is I don’t really eat any of the above things… I make them to see if I can do it and then I give it out to others. I don’t know if I talked about this before but I was thinking… maybe you guys would like to know what I have to eat everyday. I know you might think I am living off pasta and local insects but you couldn’t be further from the truth… well the pasta thing is true. A few of my favorite things to cook is as follows. Fried rice with egg rolls and duck sauce, macaroni and cheese, pizza, pizza sandwiches, seasoned French fries, quesadillas, refried beans, salad, hash browns, pancakes, French toast, fried sugary doughnuts, chicken noodle soup, garlic & cheese & herb mashed potatoes, French onion soup, etc…. So rest assured… I am not starving J

Speaking of food…. I am currently trying to prepare for the thanksgiving holiday. I never took on the challenge at home (thanks mom) but in Uganda it is a bit different. It seems I have become the hostesses with the mostess. I thoroughly enjoy this title and embrace it whole heartedly. My place is a little small right now to host turkey day… seeing that we have 20 or so people on the guest list. So I asked the med students down the road if they would be so kind in letting us gather there. It looks like it is going to be a good time and good eatens. We have different people assigned to different dishes like green bean casserole, salad, pasta salad, deviled eggs, baked beans, mac & cheese, desserts, etc.. We were going to host it at a American missionaries house but she was called back to the states for a funeral. She was going to be in charge of the main meat dish because she has an oven but since she is not attending… it looks like the task has been handed to me (the only other person with an oven now). It has become quite a challenge I must say. I have seen turkeys in Uganda… maybe 2 at the most but no where near Kisoro. So we were going to settle of chicken. Well the supermarket has chicken but they were anorexic and crazy expensive. So I think I have talked Joseph (the kid I will be sending to school soon) to find us a couple of chickens and kill and pluck them the day of. A live chicken is about 7 bucks which isn’t terrible but it is pretty terrible to watch the process of coupe to plate. Another problems I am facing planning the main course is that most of the people attending the shindig are vegetarians hahahaha. I was going to give up on the idea of meat but it is such a luxury to the carnivores I just have to do it. I want it to be somewhat of a traditional thanksgiving even though we have people from the UK, Canada and Holland attending J

Nothing much else has been going on…. Been planning for the sex talk at Kisoro demonstration school, planning world AIDS day and figuring out where I can buy 600 condoms to give away. O I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I got sick I believe from bad ranch dressing (mayo and milk left out of refrigeration over 24 hours is a no no!) I missed Kartiks birthday party but I did send over a few desserts in my place. A fever, diarrhea, vomiting and hours of best rest later… I felt much better. Then something hit me today again. I started feeling feverish again and my stomach has been making crazy music all day. I don’t know what the deal is. I will live so nothing to worry about.

I have been really frustrated with Ugandan technology the last few days. My internet was not working correctly so I was on the phone with tech support and of course it was using all my airtime. I finally got that fixed but then my phone crapped out on me. I have Zain network and it doesn’t work the best in Kisoro but has been pretty reliable so far. But the other day I lost signal for about 2 days. Of course it was on the day where my mom and grandma were scheduled to call so it threw that out the window. This has happened once before so I decided to go and get a new sim card from another network. So I took care of that and got that card working just as a backup. I didn’t want to deal with telling everyone I got a new number etc so I just decided it would be a just in case number. Well just in case came sooner than later. My Zain card has completely stopped working. I cant receive or make calls from/ to the US. The funniest part is that when someone in Uganda calls my phone they get a crazy Ugandan and when I call someone from my phone… I get the same Ugandan! So I decided enough is enough and switched networks. You can find my new number under contact info.

Well I better go bathe… Ryan is coming over for fried rice and egg rolls. Another unproductive day under my belt

Peace

Ps. Speaking of peace or lack there of… my life has been officially turned upside from my former American one by the rolling in of more tanks. I was talking to my mother the other day outside my office. As I was speaking to her I was watching a goat graze in the trash I just threw outside, a little girl (who should be in school) carrying a baby on her back as she waved to me, a man crashing his bike in front of my office and 5-6 military tanks armed with machine guns on top driving by on there way to project Uganda from Congolese rebels. The best part it, I barely skipped a beat in my conversation to my mother. I have only been here a few months and this has all become normal to me. I wonder what I will be like in 2 years!

Well I was going to blog about my terrible taxi ride back from Kabale but my fellow PCV Ryan summed it up pretty well so check out his blog under other people’s blogs and get the scoop.

One thing I am realizing here in Uganda is how spoiled I am in comparison to maybe of my friends and many other Ugandans. I am fully started to nest now and it is bringing me closer and closer to American comforts. I am not equipped with a blender, a futon, a pretty chair, a newly purchased hefty size toaster oven and a soon to be frig. I got the oven this weekend in Kabale and I think I was having buyers remorse even though I buy it for 100,000 shillings less than what I was first priced! But it didn’t take long… somewhere between the oven baked pizza and the apple crisp I realized I made the right decision. I had a little dinner party last night that included 10 people cramped in my small 2 bedroom place. After viewing the menu, I don’t think anyone cared. It was potluck style with chips and salsa, fried rice, sweet potato fries, pasta salad, oven baked pizza, apply crisp, and a little thing we like to call whiskey. At this point, surrounded my good food and good company, I realized I am living the good life. I am living my dream with all the comforts of home.

The newest comfort came this morning in form of a boda driver. He was here to deliver my daily drop off of milk. Now I know it sounds crazy but I refuse to drink warm milk straight from the cow. So yesterday I was walking home from the market and I stopped at a local milk man. I recently realized that the milk man is a man I met like my first week in Kisoro and was such an amazing personality and a really good man. I purchased a liter bag of milk and proceeded to explain to the milk man how I love cold milk but I live so far away. And in my American fashion I then asked him if there is any way to get cold milk delivered to me every morning. Now weeks ago I would not even think about asking but I have now learned that almost anything I could dream of wanting can be provided by someone who knows a person who knows a person. So now I just ask, what can it hurt I guess. Hahah. Well I got a knock at my door this morning and I got my bag of cold milk and I went on to make a chocolate banana milkshake! Now this might seem a little too spoiled but rest a sure there is a reason behind this. I have realized I am totally lacking in my vitamins and minerals needed for my everyday survival. I have been almost unable to stay awake sitting at my desk, exhausted all the time and even my hair is starting to show signs of malnutrition. So this milk has been helping with those things so it makes me feel a little less guilty about someone coming everyday to supply the muzungu with vitamin D.

Well I must get to work :)

Hey everyone i just wanted to let you know i added all my pics links to the side bar and more stuff on my wish list..

xoxox

So today, right away, I knew it was going to be a crazy day. It started about 8am when my internet was not working still. The night before it wouldn’t connected and I didn’t know why so I called MTN (my internet provider) this morning at 8am sharp. At the same time a young Ugandan boy I have decided to take under my wing was waiting for me to go to town to pick up a chair I ordered. Oh yeah and I was trying to cook French toast and get ready for work. So I talked to MTN and got it sorted out. But then I got a knocked at my door and it was my friend Paul here to deliver my computer power cord which starting last week began to split and not charge my computer. Now for anyone that knows me and knows me situation over here… you know I am on the computer and my internet 24/7! I thought I would have to get one sent from the states which would cost a lot to say the least. Paul seems to be my hook up for everything these days… he started with helping me get glass beads from Kampala, then more jewelry closures, on to t-shirt, paper to make beads, a hose for my cooker and just recently given the task to fix my computer cord and get me and ryan a frig when he goes to Kampala next weekend. He is a brilliant man and always comes through for me. So I had to pay him for that and then eat breakfast. Then off with the Ugandan boy to pick up my chair which wasn’t much trouble. Then back home/office where I quickly saw some of my HIV group waiting on me.

They were coming today to get more training on how to make the paper beads. I told them if they wanted to come every other Friday to pick of more paper and varnish that would be ok. So they started filing into a “hall” we have here in my building to hear from the white girl. So I greeted them and thanked them for coming, etc… They all brought small containers to put varnish in to take home with them so I started handing that out and realized I would need much much more and sent my Ugandan boy to town to get some. I then had to registered a few more new people and teach them about the beads. Then I let the group handle it all on their own. I went back to my office to work on the other million things I am currently doing. I was quickly interrupted by the chairperson the group which is one of the only men in the group and speaks decent English. He told me there was a problem with the room and I needed to talk to someone in the adjacent office. So I went to speak with this women and she proceeded to tell me that it was going to cost me 15,000 shillings to rent out the room where my group was presently sitting. I thought that was crazy and I told her I was just going to tell my group to go sit outside on the steps. But I was surprised that when I went to ask my group to take a seat outside and explained the reason and the money behind it they wanted to stay put. It is like these people are poor but it doesn’t register. I told them that it would be 15,000 taken away from the small group money we have now and they seems not to care. I went back and had a 10 minute discussion with the other people in my office about how I understood the rule but I was not told the rule and how I wanted them to move and they wouldn’t. The women in the next office first told me that they can stay there for today and pay later. I started to raise my voice at this time and told them no… this group can afford to feed their kids at night so I am not going to take up a 15,000 a day room when they can walk 3 feet outside where they can sit for free. After much debating I finally got the women to let me group stay in the room today for free and next time they will be outside (which will be fine for them as long as it is not raining).

So that crisis averted I then happened across another. The group was complaining that they were hungry and I politely told them, “ then go home and eat.” Everyone in Uganda thinks that if you are at a meeting for a certain period of time then you will get served food and beverage. I then reminded them that this is not a formal meeting and that the reason for them coming today was to get varnish of their own and then home to make the beads. If they wanted to stick around it was their doing. So 10 minutes later the hall was cleared out. I don’t get Ugandans sometimes. So in 2 weeks I will do this all again.

Before they left I did get to ask them about World AIDS day. I wanted to included them because of obvious reasons but I was not sure if they were up to showing their status. The meeting I held last week decided that we were going to put on a parade. We were not getting any money from Peace Corps because I have only been at site a month and there is a 3 month rule before asking for PC funds. So it would all have to be done for free which limits pretty much anything we do. So we decided to invite 7 local schools (40 kids each) out to the middle of town to form an AIDS parade. I think it is going to be a nightmare logically but I’m going to stick it out hahaha. Each school gets 4 flip chart pages to make a poster of their choice. I think we have also decided they will come up with a song which will add to the nightmare hahah. My HIV group also said they would come out so that made me happy as well. So hopefully this world AIDS day will not make me go off the deep end.

After the group left and I was finally getting back to my everyday work a head teacher from Kisoro Demonstration came to visit me. She is a regular in our office and is very sweet. She is also the one that invited me to her school for the HIV talk a few Fridays ago. When I was there the girls were to shy to ask questions aloud so I gave this teacher a box so the kids can put questions in. Well today, she brought by those questions. As I started to read them I started to get very sad and very angry. I wasn’t sure who I was getting angry at; the government, the schools, the kids, the “system”….. These questions really started to drive home the reasonings behind the AIDS problem. I understand these are just kids and when I was a kid I am sure I didn’t know a lot about HIV and sex. But these kids have been taught about HIV since their first year in school. They are taught twice a month about anything and everything pertaining to HIV. Thinking that I started to get upset with the school who was teaching them because these questions are something they should have known the answer to years ago. Now I am going to tell you some of these questions but keep in mind this is Uganda and these kids are about age 13-15ish. Also remember the problem we have here with HIV and ignorance. There are many many questions but I only picked a few to drive home my point

In no particular order…..

Question 1.) if I get HIV today, and tomorrow I get a new girlfriend and have sex with her, can she get HIV or not?

Question 2.) why are people living with HIV told to where condoms if they have HIV already?

Question 3.) Are HIV and AIDS the same thing and if I get HIV does that mean I also get AIDS?

Question 4.) Is it true that if a girl has sex in water she can not get pregnant? (I got this question from many people)

Question 5.) what happens to a boys penis if he wears an expired condom?

Question 6.) When one sperm fertilizes an egg, where does the rest of it go?

Question 7.) when I wake up in the morning my penis stands up, what causes that?

Question 8.) I was told to get rid of wet dreams I have to have sex with a woman. Is that true?

Question 9.) What happens when you use a condom for more than one round?

Question 10.) what causes AIDS?

Question 11.) I frequently wake up from a wet dream with my bed messy, what can I do?

Question 12.) what causes a penis to stand up when I see a beautiful girl.

Question 13.) how long does it take to get HIV when you have sex with someone who is infected?

Question 14.) My testicals hurt a lot, what is wrong with me?

Question 15.) When I started my menstrual period, I had bad pains in my stomach, I asked my mother for advice and she told me if I have sex with a man the pains will go away, is this true?

Ok I will stop there…. I think you get the point.

I am so freakin busy I can’t stand it but I am going to suffer a bit more because I told the teacher that brought these questions that this is very serious and I need to come teach about HIV soon. All the schools are having exams soon so I planned to go there 2 weeks from today. I have no clue what I am doing but if I can answer just come of these question with some basic knowledge I have picked up, maybe I can save one of these students from getting HIV.

On a more positive note sorta…. My little Ugandan boy I always talk about is named Joseph. He just showed up here one day and he is friends with the other volunteers and he asked if there was any work I had for it. So for the last month he has been washing my clothes once a week and doing my dishes every so often. He is 17 I believe and of course says he loves me. He is a decent enough kid and works soooo hard. He says the reason why he works is to get money for school which he is not currently in. So I decided the other day I was going to sit him down and have a chat with him. I proposed to him a plan. A plan of me paying for his school if he would come over once a week to help me out. I would pay every 3 months but it comes out to about the same that I am paying him every week. I think he is happy or scared about the idea. I asked him when the last time he went to school was and he told me 2001!!!! I cant stand for this. The money I give him I know goes to buy booze and stupid haircuts so I explained to him that I would be going to his school to give the school the money and I would check on him once a month to make sure he is attending classes and doing well. He says he is happy and wants to go to school but I know he makes a lot of money now during school hours so we will see if it lasts.

OK well enough for today, I am going over to the med students house to eat some Mexican.

Peace,

bay

nov 13th 2008

Well here I sit…. I am sitting on my brand new couch lined with fabric I would have bought in the states, staring at my computer which I had in the states, just finishing food I would have had in the states. Where am I?

If you sit down and really look at my life here in Uganda it is not much different than it was in the states. Yes I am cooking with a gas tank right next to me, I am washing my dishes with the tap outside, I have refugees living a few kilometers away, I am walking to a market once a week and I use a big orange bucket and a small red cup to bathe. But as I sit here by self inflected candlelight looking out my window at a full mood I ask myself, does this meet my “peace corps expectations.” I am spoiled in many ways here. I have constant electricity because Kisoro has its own power grid apart from the rest of Uganda. I have my computer and somewhere around 90 DVDs with me. I have a refrigerator being delivered from Kampala this weekend. I can fill a water bottle with that tap outside and drink it without consequences which the water comes from a natural spring in the nearby mountain and is more refreshing than a lot of the water I have had in the states. I can hop over to the “Kisoro Supermarket” and pick up extra virgin olive oil, Heinz catsup, Pringles and a cold soda or two. And here I thought I would be living in the bush, eating bugs or something. Life is funny I guess. I mean I guess it doesn’t matter if you are living the “Peace Corps life...” all that matters is how you are helping others to live a better one.

Well I am officially exhausted! Yesterday was a big day for PET Uganda. One of the VSO volunteers started Peace Clubs in 10 Kisoro schools which consist of a group of 30 kids getting together talking about human rights, disadvantaged people and HIV/AIDS and how they can make their own lives and the lives of others better. It is a pretty good leadership program that is set up. So this event was these 10 schools with 30 student each getting together to put on a drama day. 300 students have been practicing for weeks and came together yesterday to present a dance, poem, song or skit. The performances had to contain something about the above categories. I came in to PET half way through setting up this event so I have been just trying to help out as much as I could.

Since I am the community health volunteers and suppose to have some knowledge about dealing with HIV in Uganda (which I am slowly starting to think I have no flippin idea what I am doing but that is a topic for another blog) I was in charge of putting a little HIV education thing together for the day. So with the direction of Kevin (the VSO in charge) I made three different handouts to give out yesterday. The handouts followed the ABCs of sexual education. For the people who have not had sex ed in a while that is Abstinences, Be Faithful and Condom Use. So one handout out was talking about how abstinences is the only way you can not get HIV from having sex with another person, what other things can be done other than having sex (i.e. handing holds, kissing, hugging, etc) and much more. Be faithful was discussing that it is important to be in a faithful, open relationship, the importance of going to get tested with your partner, etc. The condom hand out was of course the more interesting. One side was facts about condoms like the rate of failure, myths about condoms, tips on how to use one, etc. The other side was a full out condom demo with pictures. So my little HIV booth was made up of these three half sheet handouts and then some local HIV newspapers. These newspapers seems like a funny idea but I believe the really work. It is just like a two page monthly newspaper that is called “youth talk” of the little ones and “straight talk” for the older kids. So these free papers discuss things like defilement (statutory rape), tips on how to use a condom, ARV usage, anatomy lessons and in the current issue in the top right hand corner there is even a little blurb talking about how Barack Obama only met his father once when he was 10 and how that absence of a father saddens Barack and sparked his best selling book. I have no clue what it has to do with HIV but Ugandans love Obama J

Well I would love to say the Ugandan children there that day were so excited to learn about HIV and read my leaflets but I think my expectations were a little high. By the end of the day I was surrounded by 40 kids all with fingertips about an inch from me grabbing at these papers. They actually started fighting! I tried to get them to back up about 500 times and form a line but again… high expectations. At the end I had to stop handing them out because it was causing chaos and kids were on the verge of getting hurt. I mean can you imagine… I know they were not even reading them, I’m guessing they just wanted free stuff from the white girl but goodness! I guess it one kid reads it that is what really matters but I will definitely do it different next time.

All in all the day was really great. 10 different schools performed for 30 minutes each. They all did about the same routine; a song and/or poem about HIV, a skit about how it is important to send your kids to school and a traditional dance. It was a bit repetitive towards the end but I love nothing more than listening to little African children sing. We pretty much went the whole day without confusion and conflict until the very end. One kid was going through out bag and some other people were eating food that didn’t below to them. I was expecting a lot of craziness but I think we pulled it off pretty well.

I think our next project will be World AIDS day. The peace corps said they are giving 500 bucks to people who want to write a proposal for some event. It is on Dec. 1st and today is Nov 9th so we don’t have much time. I am going to call a meeting tomorrow and discuss ideas.

Oh and I just wanted to send a big thank you to the schools who are writing to the orphans my organization supports and to Kelley Fiorini for hooking me up with the American kids willing to help. There are 200 of them so I know it is a big task and I appreciate all the help in showing these kids they are not forgotten.

Thank you to my Uncle Steve who has graciously and selflessly made the first donation to my HIV group. Because of him I was able to buy the supplies I needed to start the project and also bring in a doctor to teach the group about how to living positively by eating the eat foods, not overworking the body and projecting the people in their families.

Also I wanted to send a hello to the kids in Ms. Grubbe and Ms. Schroeder’s class. These are the two classes that have decided to do a school match program with me. So I will be sending emails and info to these classes and they are free to ask me any questions about life in Peace Corps Uganda, about the people I help or anything else young minds can think up. I know they have this website but I don’t know if they are reading this so I just want to thank everyone.

Well all for now

peace

I went to work around 9ish (like always) and I started working on this computer program for my HIV group. I am using the database that is for the kids and modifying for the HIV group. It is a pain in the ass and I can’t seem to get it to work. Right before I was about to smash my computer against the wall I decided to go to market. So I headed off but it looked like it was going to rain. I really needed to go to town so I just decided to tough it out. I got about half way there before it started down pouring with no sign of stopping. So I went to this little supermarket to ask if my brown sugar has come in yet (which it hadn't, I want to make syrup for pancakes) and took refuge in this woman's shop. We talked for a bit and I bought a coke and a mars bar for lunch. I sat outside waiting for the rain to stop as I shared my mars bar with the shop owners little 3 year old daughter. The rain wasn’t stopping so I decided to get on my way. I went to market, wet shoes and all. Bought spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, onions and potatoes all totaling a whopping buck 50. I wanted to go to this craft shop to get some baskets for all my stuff but they were closed so I moved on to the t-shirt place. I ordered a t-shirt that has the PET Uganda logo on it and then "Peace Corps Community Health Volunteer" on the back.

Speaking of t-shirts…. I think I have a tiny crush on the man that makes them for us. I met him when I first got here and I swear he told me he had a wife and kid but he told me different today. He said he is 25 but I don’t know… it is hard to trust any Uganda now. I am going to ask around the office and find out for sure. He is the first and only Ugandan boy who didn’t want to just want money from me or say he wanted to marry me to go to America. He is super nice too. He has been helping me get what I need for my HIV group. When he goes to Kampala to get more t-shirts he picks me up bead supplies and when I didn’t have a hose and was unable to cook he ran all around town looking for a new hose for me (which he found).

Anyhow, I had to wait around for some flyers for my organization to be printed and then I was back out into the rain to go to the furniture shop where my couch is being made. I found the place, paid for it, ordered a chair and a table and walked home along side a man on a bicycle with my couch strapped to the back and it was like less than a dollar for the trip. My couch was 80,000 which is about 47 bucks. It is a 6 foot wooden couch and the back comes off like a futon so someone can sleep on it like a bed. I still have to get padding which is my task tomorrow.

I guess I am starting to nest a bit more. Not as much as I would have hoped because I know I am just moving in 3 months so why set up shop but I think I am slowly getting in the mood. Another interesting thing going on is my organization is putting on a drama day on Saturday. The VSO volunteers starting working on this before I even got here and it is going to be amazing. 10 local schools with 30 kids each have signed up to dance, sign or perform a skit. It is being held in the park that is in the middle of the town… we are expecting hundreds of people to show up! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I had to make 300 little handouts for all the kids today on the ABCs of sexual education.

(disclaimer- this blog will be very incoherent because I am exhausted beyond words)

Ok so most of you know who your next president will be… I just wanted to write a little blog about it. Most of the people reading this are hardcore Republicans so all I have to say to that is “HA HA HA.” Ok sorry that was mean J Well the regime change finally happened and the man I have been wishing for years to sit in that oval office finally will get the chance. After years of wearing an “Obama 08” t-shirt and getting made fun of…. It is all becoming clear now J

Because of the time change the elections for me happened over a course of a few days. On the 3rd I sat in my office listening to CNN 24/7. I found that I can listen to the live CNN coverage sitting here in Uganda and I was very pleased. So there I sit… staring at my computer for the whole day. Gripping on to each word, following each debate, holding my breath the whole way.

November 4th, for me, consisted off about the same staring at my computer. I am 9 hours difference from Illinois so the stuff didn’t start happening until late in the day. I listened as Obama file into a school gym in Chicago with his family to vote and as McCain spoke his last words before casting his vote. That night I walked myself and my computer over to Ryan’s house (another Peace Corps Volunteer). I cracked up my laptop and turned on the very CNN I was listening to through the day. It sat there and kept us company while we made and ate the best salad and pan cooked pizza you will ever witness. It wasn’t very cost efficient but it rocked my world. We didn’t listen much to the elections because it was pretty boring at the time….it was only like 10am in the states or something, many polls were not even open yet. So we called it a night and promised to wake up super early to catch the big announcement.

So at 4am I woke…. No happily but it was for my country J I text Ryan to head over along with his makeshift travel coffee (made from an empty pizza sauce can for the night before and a sock to insulate) and we both proceeded to stare at my computer once again… gripping on ever exist poll result. It didn’t take long for it to get interesting. Polls were closing on the east coast and projections were already being made. We refreshed my CNN website every few minutes hoping that when it popped back up another state on the projection map would be shaded blue. We held out breath as the ticker at the top of the screen start flipping numbers one by one counting the electoral votes. It was sort of surreal, after all this time… sitting there listening from thousands of miles away as my country…. our country…. united for change. We waited for Virginia, Texas, California, Missouri and Ohio to be announced because we knew those are the ones that mattered. At 7:06am Ugandan time it was all over. Virginia was projected to turn blue and Obama was in the white house. Ryan and myself both whipped out our cameras to take a picture of my computer screen to mark this historic moment. Ryan had to leave to get ready for work and I also started to move about but did not stray to far from my computer because I knew the speeches were coming soon.

About 10 minutes later McCain ate crow pie and stepped aside. Only a short time later I could hear the thousands and thousands of people gathered at Grant Park in Chicago chanting Obama’s name. The next President of the United States of America stepped out on stage to deliver a brilliant and beautiful speech (which of course I recorded on my camera for future generations). It was at this time where I wished for a television to see the looks on the faces of those thousands of faces. I am sure it will live on through youtube but it is not the same.

So a beautiful start to an early and long day. I then had to actually be a functioning member of society and go to work. Today was not only a big day for Obama, it was a monumental day for me as well. Today was my first official meeting with my new HIV positive group. They started to arrive before I even opened my office and at about 11am about 40 or so women and one man were assembled waiting on me to lead them. I went through everything; introductions, forming leaderships in the group, having a real medical doctor speak about living positively and then moved on to discuss the income generating activities. I watched as each member of the group wrote “no way in hell can I do that” on their faces. I started to kind of freak out a bit thinking all my hard work and money spent was going to these people that would refuse to make these beads. But after showing them how easy it was to roll this paper around a needle, cover it with varnish and string together to make something beautiful, they finally began to smile. Then I exhaled. They had many questions and I had many answers. Of course it is a new group and I had to explain to them that they had to come to the office to make the beads to start with because we can not send everyone home with a huge can of varnish and thousands of shillings worth of glass beads. They had many concerns which most were legit and I tired my hardest to communicate with them the big picture (via an interrupter or course). Many, many, many questions were asked and the next thing I knew 4 hours had past and I had to get these people out of this meeting or they would start demanding lunch (which I didn’t have). I finally told them the meeting was over but not before I could take a picture of each one for a database and a group shot at the end. I did get a lot done today and of course it will be easier the next time. One thing I am proud of is I registered 123 children (of these 40 people) to be tested for HIV in the near future. It is amazing to me that here sits these people with HIV and CD4 counts of below 200 and they have yet to test their children.

Well I must go back to sleep before I pass out right here on my keyboard.

They say you will always remember the exact place you were at when history was made…. JFK, 9/11 and now Obama. I am sadden not to have been in America at this historical moment but there is something poetic about being in the middle of Africa to witness it.

So I can not believe there is only 2 days left until the elections. I am so upset I have not been in America for all the news coverage and won’t be there to watch it live on CNN. I know everyone that is in America is probably pretty sick of hearing about Obama and McCain but I am just grasping on every bit of info I can come across. I turned in my ballot at swearing in but I don’t think it is going to get there and/on count. I was told they only count absentee ballots if the race in your state is close and I am going to predict that Obama is going to take Illinois. Either way I am very excited…. I hear my man has it in the bag so I am pumped. I think I am going to round up all the Americans in town and see if they want to go on a hunt for American/British news TV stations. If not then I will be staying up all night staring at my computer listening to BBC radio. I hear the race is getting out of control with fake phone calls from the president of France and some name calling but no surprise there J

I went to travelers rest today (muzungu hotel) to grab a coke and a glance at the local paper and I stumbled across something very funny. There was a section in the back of the paper with text bubbles next to picture of little Ugandan children. The children were asked a general question about who you want to be the next American president and why. The children in all their innocents answered pretty honestly. One kid said “I would vote for Obama because he seems like a good person and he speaks good English.” Another said “I would vote for McCain because he has been in the army and he could defend America.” One said, “I would vote for Obama because he is from Africa and he would help Africa with fighting things like malaria and AIDS.” And my favorite…. “ I would vote for Obama because he is not American, he is African, why can’t he be the president of Africa?!”

Now this sums up the view of American politics by most Ugandans. When I say I am from America the next words out of their mouth is “do you know Mr. Obama?” I have to break the news that I do not personally know him but he is the senator of the state I come from. They assume I will vote for him (which is correct) and then I ask why they like Obama so much. The ONLY thing they say is “Because he is from Africa!!” I have to then try to break the news to them that he is not really from Africa but his father was Kenyan but he was born in America and his mother was American and if he was African then he wouldn’t even be able to be president. It is hopeless… they don’t care… he is African. TIA!

On another note…. Refugees have officially moved into my town. About 2,000 Congolese refugees poured into Kisoro on Wednesday. I have not seen any of them personally but I did see some nice UN cars which was kind of cool. Peace Corps said they would pull us out if they came over the border but no word yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed because I really don’t want to move AGAIN!

Wow I can’t believe it is November. A few things I need to write about in this blog… first my visit to the Kisoro Demonstration Primary School and the events of Halloween.

First.. the school. So there is this woman by the name of Florance that comes around my organization maybe once a week. She is good friends with everyone in my organization. She is a teacher at Kisoro Demonstration school as well as teaching one of the VSO volunteers Rufumbria and I believe is waiting for the go ahead to start tutoring me as well. So anyway… she has come to my office a few times and just sits there and talks to me. Looking at all my books, wanting to take them all but I have to explain to her that I need them for my job but she can read them while she sits there. Anyhow, I have been really wanting to go visit a local school in Kisoro, mainly because I know how bad the conditions are and a lot of the orphans we support attend these 40 some odd schools in Kisoro district. Well it just happens to be that Florance teaches primary one student at Kisoro Demo. For all you who don’t know the Ugandan school system I will briefly break it down. School starts at “Baby Class” which is sort of like a combo of preschool and kindergarten that lasts about 3-4 years. So then you moved to Primary 1, which is a government support “free” program. Primary school goes until P7 and then you move to secondary school which goes to S4. Throughout this process you are taking exams every year to get to the next level. It is also very difficult to generalize ages in this levels because a lot of kids don’t attend school for a year because they can’t pay school fees, they are helping their families out at home or they just didn’t pass their exams. Therefore a 18 year old can be in P4, etc.

So Florance knows I am in Uganda as a community health worker dealing with HIV so she invites me to her school on Friday where they are having their regular HIV discussions. That is definitely not something that happens in the states. I mean we have sex ed and all but this is school wide; they break all the kids into boy/ girl and age groups to make sure the appropriate language and topics are discussed. So on Friday, me and 3 other VSO volunteers from PET walked to Kisoro Demo for this health talk. I was so excited because this is the crap I have to do for 2 years and I am clueless on how to actually do it. So we show up at this school and of course all the kids that were suppose to be in class listening to the teacher was peering out the windows trying to figure out why the muzungus have just walked in. So we make our way over to Florance’s classroom and all her kids just start staring and don’t stop for the next hour. She introduces us briefly and (in Ugandan fashion) tells us that the HIV talk is not ready to start yet. So she motions some of her children to please move and give the muzungus a place to sit. So the other volunteers and I took our seats at this tiny little African school desk which was pretty comical. He sat there for 30-45 minutes and watched as this Ugandan woman proceed to TRY to teach 30 or so students how to say “this is a ball” “this is a banana fiber” “the ball is on the desk” “the ball is on the box” etc, as we held up each object and repeated about 100 times. Kartik who was sitting next to me was starting to lose his will to live (as he put it) and my ears felt like they were bleeding because of the pre-pubescent decibel level coming out of these kid’s mouths.

Just as we were about to hang ourselves with the banana fiber, class went to break and the HIV session was in sight. So all the kids went for break which was hundreds and all the wanted to do was get as close to the muzungus as possible. Like 100 little kids surrounds me stroking my arm because they were all curious on what these strange brown dots where on my skin (freckles) and they touched my hair because they probably thought it was a wig (because everyone shaves their hair in Uganda, even the girls). Craig started to play soccer with some of the boys and Kartik let down his dreadlocks and try to freak out has many Ugandan children out with them as he could. Kevin was there to interrupt some of what the deaf children were saying. The one thing I did get that day was a sign name. It is not pretty in American standards but the sign means “the big muzungu.” Even if I weighed 180 pounds I probably would still have gotten the name. I am going to hope for a new name next time but I am not going to hold my breath.

So after the muzungus show all the kids were told to assemble and we did the introduction thing again (I can see me getting sick of 2 years of that) and then all the kids broke up into gender and age groups and bottlenecked into these tiny classrooms. I went with Florance and a group of p5-p7 girls. There had to be 50 in this tiny room but they didn’t mind J I made another little speech about how I am a health worker and a girl so please feel comfortable with saying or asking whatever you would like. I sat in the back of the classroom as Florance starting talking about HIV and life skills. For you who don’t know what life skills are it is things like self esteems, ability to say no, etc. Ideas to lead a better, healthier life basically. It really wasn’t what I expected but what is in Uganda. She spoke most in Rufumbria which kind of upset me because kids here start learning English in p1 so I am sure they would understand everything if it was in English. I picked up a few key points in the presentation that might be helpful though. He had the kids define AIDS and talked about how there is no cure but these things called ARVs. I had to leave soon but not before I hear the lecture about not trusting men who say they are your uncle because they are probably not your uncle and they just want your trust so they can touch you in the bad places. Apparently it is a big problem here so I am going to take note of that. I had to say goodbye but I was going to take a few questions but the girls did not feel that comfortable with me yet. So I suggested that they write it down on paper and put it in a box and I will address it the next time I pass through. I think I am going to start an HIV education program there which is something else I need to find room on my plate for.

So on to the second topic. Halloween! Didn’t really think I was going to celebrate this year (like every year) but at the least minute a little shindig was planned. The 4 other volunteers at my organization, the other peace corps volunteer, myself and about 7 American med students from a local hospital came to party. Since it was last minute I didn’t have an costume planned but the others had a few ideas. Kevin and Craig dressed as Scottish men in kilts with blue war paint and looking like they just stepped out of the Braveheart movie. Ryan was a pizza hut delivery guy named Cory with a shirt he picked up at the bi-weekly market. Kartik dressed as a village woman which was ridiculous because he was just wrapped in a bunch of fabric but looked my like a cross between Gandhi and Johnny Deep from the Pirates of the Caribbean. Liz dressed up as Kartik which won the prize of best dressed (you have to known Kartik to know why it was so funny). And the girl med student dressed also like village women which they pulled off nicely accompanying by little teddy bears strapped to their backs as stand in African babies. As most people know, I don’t really drink and especially since the major booze here is Nile Beer (yuck). I was happy to discover I can make a pseudo margarita with Waragi (the local vodka substitute) and his lime mixture I could buy at the local grocery store. I bought a blender the other day at the supermarket which came in extra handy for the margaritas.

After sitting around and getting to know these new med students some went home and the rest of us went out. Now going out in Kisoro is a lot different than going out say in southern Illinois. We headed out around 1am and the town was pitch black and pretty dead. The VSO volunteers lead us to some back ally building with music blaring from the doors. We walked in to an empty concert room with about 4 Ugandans and loud ass music that I couldn’t understand. A few of the people I was with danced around for a bit (I didn’t drink enough for that) and then we left. I was happy to home and I crashed until about 11 this morning. It was a good time had by all I believe and new friends were made. This med students will only be here another month but we are already planning a Mexican fiesta next week at my house.

What other random things are going on…… mmmmm let me think

· My HIV group meets on Wednesday and I am kind of nervous about it.

· I talked to a local doctor about trying to put together a testing day for the orphans we care for and the children of the people with HIV. It is ridiculous that these people have gone without testing but I am still trying to figure out if it is the best thing for everyone. If the kids can’t get transport to get their ARVs and don’t have the nutritional standard to take them then it is just going to make them think life is not worth living if they are positive.

· The Congo thing is on the verge of blowing up or cooling off… can’t tell yet but I am on pins and needles.

· Feeling a little better… I think my cold is finally starting to subside.

· I am officially drinking the tap water and not dead yet. It comes from a natural spring so I am trying it out

· Somehow my stalker found my cell phone number and I already had to block him

I think that is about it for now. Tomorrow is Sunday… I think I am going to clean and do some work.

how is there? Here is well... ( that is how they would say it in Uganda hahha). And then you would proceed into about a 10 minute conversation about “did you survive the night? How is your day? How are the people at home? What is the news? No news?” etc…

Well I was thinking about doing some work but decided to blog instead J Work was pretty useless today. The power went out around 8pm last night and didn’t come back on until 8am today and then went back off until 3pm. It was so strange because where I live the power never goes out. Maybe for like 10 minutes but not 12+ hours. Well if you didn’t know, I have been sick for the last few days. Just a head cold but it felt like one of those gorillas came out of the mist just to sit on my head for a few days. I lost my voice and I think was freakin’ all the Ugandans out when I would greet them. My nose is still stuffy but I am feeling much better today. So I walked into town today to just get out of the house. I needed to go to the bank because I got word we got paid yesterday and I had 7000 shillings in my bank account (about 4 bucks). It is terrible because I also ordered a couch to be made this week and didn’t have any money to pay him. And I went to the supermarket the other day without any money because the atm was broken (the only one in town) so I bought like 31,000 shilling son credit. Then I went back to the store to pay off my bill and bought a blender that was 60,000 shillings on credit. But at least the color of my skin allows me a good credit line. But I am kind of excited about my new blender. I haven’t taken it out of the box yet but I am thinking about all the nice soups and salsas I can make with it. I really should be saving up for something I really really want…. A refrigerator! I know it is horrible and not the peace corps roughen it experience but I really want a huge glass of cold milk and ranch dressing damnit! I can’t really find a cheap used one anywhere.. cheapest I can find is 300,000 ($175) and it is a big one. I just want a small dorm frig but no luck anywhere.

So anyways… I got my money out today but for some reason the supermarket was closed which kind of broke my heart a little. So I shifted to the hardware store to buy sewing needles (it is what you wrap the paper beads around) and then went to the drug store to buy a surgical knife which is for another craft project. Then I didn’t feel like walking all the way down to the post office so I called the guy at the front desk (yes I have been here 3 weeks and I already have the post office man’s number). I asked him if a package came for me yet (waiting on one from my lovely grandmother) and he sadly said no, I said I would try back next week. So then I made my way back to work where the power was still off so I couldn’t really do any work. Thus, the VSO volunteer Craig and another volunteer, Kartik started to play random games. We were drawing a bit then playing “would you rather” which was funny because it was Ugandan style. For those who do not know the game it goes something like this “would you rather eat cow dung off the road in Kisoro or stick your hand in the pit latrine to fetch your keys?” The person proceeds to pick the would be rather do and the asker of the question (and everyone else in the room) proceeds to be completely discussed by either answer they person says. Well that got a bit boring and was interrupted by this random guy who seem to know Kartik coming up to us and asking if we want to have a drum session. Of course we said yes, so he ran off in the distance somewhere then returning with a huge drum. We gathered another drum from the office and one from kartik’s room and seriously had a killer drum session right there in front of our building. It took about 3 seconds for all the kids who were on their way back to school after eating lunch to stop and just laugh at us. Well Kartik.. being Kartik got up and started asking for the little girls to dance with him, and of course they were freaked out by him, I would be too if I was them. After about 20 mins of drumming we had a good few dozen kids smiling, laughing and cheering for us and the 3 crazy muzungus and few Ugandan office workers began to dance… Kisoro style. I think I have explain this type of dancing before so I will not repeat myself but it was loads of fun. I got some nice pictures and video as well. It last a few hours this drum/dance session… just enough time for the power to come back on…. Then we all pretended to go back to work for the like hour that was left of the day.

Well this blog is not cohesive because I stopped and started all through the day so I apologies now J

peace

ps. I hear the fighting in the congo has been getting some airtime on cnn and what not. Don’t freak out… I mean it is pretty serious but the Peace corps will keep us safe J The rebels took over a town about 15-20k from my town and they are heading south to Goma which is where the (pardon my language) shit is really going to hit the fan. They are now saying that 7000 (instead of earlier reported 4000) refugees are heading this way. They are going to set up camps about 5k or so from my house. The Peace Corps said they would pull us out of Kisoro if that happens but we still have not heard a word from them. One thing that is kind of cool is that I hear there are UN soldiers heading this way as well. Up the road about 3 hours or so they were camping out for the night and should be coming this way tomorrow. My camera is charged and ready because when they do come this way, they have to pass by my office door to get to the congo border…. Crazy eh?

· I am officially getting sick. Not like a cool African sickness like dysentery or typhoid…. Oh no I got an annoying sore throat and headache. Ok I was so joking about the “coolness” of those diseases, they kill millions of people every year. But my throat does hurt when I cough, which is a lot L Who would have even thought moving to Africa I would move to an area that is older and rains more than Illinois. It rains just about ever day which I love and is between 65-75 everyday which I also love.

· I am getting really ticked of the crap that wakes me up in the morning and all throughout the night. It is anything from men rambling in Rufumbria, huge birds making more noise than I ever thought possible, the night guards singing, doors slamming, etc… Even with my ear plugs in I still wake up enough to be pissed in the morning. I am thinking about posting a sign in English and Rufumbria about respecting the people who are sleeping, I doubt it will do anything.

· My stalker is coming around a bit less which is good but he is still annoying me about every other day.

· I think I am becoming a Ugandan after all because they are starting to walk faster than me. Ugandans are known for being extremely slow in walking, talking and any other time consuming things. But I walked to town today to go to the bank and to the supermarket and they were all flying by me. I am going to tell myself that everyone was just running late for church. Religion here is a crazy thing. It is in everything even if you don’t realize it. On Sunday the town shuts down and everyone crowds into the “park” here and they sit up loud speakers and go at it all day. Religion has played a different role here than most would think of. I don’t know the whole story but a conflict has been happening for the last 8 or so years. Most of the reverends (including my boss), priests and other clergy people were forced out of their churches and houses were burnt and people were killed.

· We are suppose to be “assessing” our communities these first three months but I have been soooooo busy it is crazy. I am working on this database for all the kids we support and I am even working on the weekends. The VSOs have been working hard on the PET Uganda website, so check it out… there is even a picture of me on there.

· I am starting to experiment with the peace corps cookbook a bit. I made biscuits this morning in a skillet, it was interesting and they were decent. I am going to make refried beans tonight. I have been trying to build my pantry a bit. I went today to the supermarket to get a few more things but I needed money first. So I went to the bank right next door but the atm was not working, which sucks because it is the only one for hours away. So I went to the market with 5,000 shilings in my pocket. I am happy that I have become very good friends with the people who own the supermarket. It is owned by a nice Indian family who son (maybe around 16 or so) works at the front all day long. They have been here 6 years and I am trying to learn their language as well. They say that can get anything you want… they have been trying to get pepsi light for Ryan for weeks now and they are in search of a gas cooker hose for me. Well I went there needing a crap load of stuff and ask the boy about the atm and when it will be working. He said I can get whatever I want a pay for it later. So I got 31,500 shillings worth of food and stuff. I tried to give him the 5,000 I did have but he wouldn’t let me. I am glad he wouldn’t let me because I had to use that 5000 for airtime because I am extremely low and zain (my phone company) is extremely rare here.

· I am still really upset I have only gotten 1 box and 1 letter in the last 3 months. My mom and my grandma are the only people who love me. I know I have internet but I guess want letters and goodies.

· I am so excited that the election is only days away but I am very upset I am missing all the coverage. I downloaded the bbc radio on my computer (because I don’t get it on my actually radio and I have been trying to keep up with all the info. I am trying to find a place in town that shows American or British news so all the muzungus in this town can go have a slumber party and watch the breaking news.

Well that is all my random thoughts for now. peace

Just got done eating dinner (quesadillas) and just got done talking to my mom. She was making fun of me because I am watching a movie and she claims I can’t escape my movie addiction. A storm in a’brewin’ in the distance and I am exhausted. I am working my butt off everyday and night. I even brought work home with me this weekend… I’m such a loser haha. I am working on this database that one of the VSOs started. It is suppose to have all the names of the orphans that we support but there are names entered twice, some not at all and most missing information. So I am staring at my computer for hours and hours matching up names with faces and faces with names. I am writing and reading these kids stories and you almost have to become numb to it. Every child has lost one or both parents, has no place to live or the roof is made from grass and is leaking, no money for school fees or food, etc. I hope over the next two years I can know each one of these 200 children by name and know their story and have a chance to make their life a little better. Even if it with a smile or a pencil.

One of the volunteers from Kabale came to Kisoro this weekend for a workshop. Kabale is about 3-4 hour drive from me. She is working for Care international which is a pretty cushy job compared to mine  She is working for the Batwa which has a crazy history that is to lengthy to get into now but google it if you wanna know. She will be here in Kisoro a lot but I am happy about and I had a good few days with her.

I don’t think it has been on the news but some recent developments have happened in my little town. There is fighting going on between Rwanda and the Congo about 12k away from here. So the people living in the villages where the fighting is happening are forced to move out. They are now coming into Uganda. 400 refugees are sitting at the border waiting to be let in which will probably happen in the next few days. They will be set up in camps a few kilometers from here. I think the Peace Corps has a policy that if refugees come close enough, they move us out. The refugees are harmless but I understand the peace corps worry. The bad part is is that if they did come over it would be the time where help is needed most. Handing out food, water, etc. It would be an experience of a lifetime in comparison to what I am doing now. I even met a nurse that was with doctors without borders (which is like my dream job) who was here assessing the border issue.

Mmmm what else has been going on…..

O ya I found out I am officially an aunt. I can’t believe it and for all you who only think I have one brother, Dylan. He did not have a love child. My half brother Aaron did  Zoey Sophia Shook was bored 2 days ago. It is weird being an aunt. I mean I am never going to be like a real aunt to this little girl. I live in Africa she is in California. Maybe I will try to find a cute little African outfit for her.

I think that is about it for this blog. I still have a million names to enter and I am about to pass out.

Xoxox

Oct 20th 2008

Well I just thought I would write a little blurb about the markets in Uganda. They are close to all the same but I will be focusing on the lovely market in Kisoro. So the hills are alive with bells but not just any bells…. Bicycle bells. You know those things that only 10 year old little girls have, well everyone has them here and on market days that is all you hear. They are warning people to get the hell out of the way or I WILL run over you! Today I went to the market which is every Monday and Thursday. A town of what seems like a town of a couple of thousand people on a slow day turns into a bustling town of what seems like tens of thousands. There are between 200,000 and 400,000 people in Kisoro district (most living in the villages away from the town) and it seems like they all fall upon the inter city market place on these two days. There is a market everyday in Kisoro but it is only a handful of women selling some tomatoes and potatoes. But on “market days,” wow! Everyone is out buying and selling anything you can think of. Seriously… everything from huge bars of soap, kitchen ware, fabric, buckets, dead smelly fish, sugarcane, watches, shoes, cabbage, gourds, booze, etc. The amount of stuff for sale is only magnified by the amount of people in one small area. The market it about a 20 minute walk from my house. The closer you get to it the more people you see and the more stuff on the side of the road there is. There is a central market place, it is just a bunch of iron sheets put together to form a circle around the size of a basketball court. To enter the market there are like 3 different small entrances that is a huge bottle neck. You inch your way through the people then get spit out on the other side where the amount of crap takes your breath away. It is dirty and busy and loud and dangerous but you can’t overlook the beauty of it all. There are women sprawled out with their children climbing all over them while they are just trying to sell some beans. There are people greeting each other and then fighting for a customer the next second and then helping each other make change. You can get lost and dizzy in the market but all you have to do is look up to catch a glimpse of the volcano to catch your balance.

If you want to know how much food is here, it is hard to tell from one day to the next and from one seller to the next. Most people try to take advantage of the color of your skin and they charge you double what the product is worth. But the second you open your mouth and ask “Ninya Zinghe?” which is “how much money” in Rufumbria, they perk up and reduce the price a bit and then proceed to rattle off a whole lot of Rufumbria I don’t understand. Five tomatoes (which are more green then red) are about 500 shillings which is about 33 cents. Carrots are about the same, onions are about 400 shillings for a bunch (6-7) and about the same price for a small bunch for tiny sweet bananas, 12 meters of fabric is around 40,000 shillings/23 bucks, etc. It is the most alive place I have even witnessed in my life… and I get to see it twice a week for the next 2 years

Pictures of the beads I am going to have the women with HIV make... if you are interested in buying some let me know :)

http://www.edirisa.org/img/paper_beads_necklaces.jpg

http://www.sspp-inc.org/images/products1.jpg