10 Highlights from Uganda so far

My time in Uganda is flying by. I can't believe it's been five weeks already. Here are ten great things about my experience that I haven't yet mentioned much about.

10. The children

As you may know, kids are just "eh" in my book. Unless they are related to me or they are reasonable and quiet. So... basically adults.

The same goes for the kids here. Most are loud and annoying. But they have their moments. Sometimes they're just too loud and ridiculous to ignore.

"Baby Kayla," our two-year-old neighbor.
On a scale of 1 to annoying, she's only
a 4. Mostly because she's cute and can sing.

Joshua. He is a terror. He stole part of my last
chocolate bar from my room once and I'm still mad.

Jonah. Screeches all day long. Rarely
wears pants. Even when he wears shoes.

BEASTS

NICOLE. I LOVE HER.
She's very thoughtful for an 18-month old.
AND SHE NEVER CRIES.

9. Beautiful scenery

Once you leave the bumpy, rubbish-filled, chicken-infested streets of Lugazi, you're surrounded by some stunning-ass scenery. Rolling green hills, tea and sugar fields, rain forests.... you get the idea.

Even in town we've got some nice areas. We've started to learn the roads around the Mehta sugar plantation and golf course for morning runs. There are some great views along the way.

According to Luta, this road was featured in The Last King
of Scotland. Apparently he was in the scene.

8. Kampala's Dunkin' Donuts knock-off

The sign makes me homesick!

Well, not really. I don't actually like Dunkin's much. (Sorry, Katie. Though I doubt you read this blog.) But the best part was that the food at Cafe Javas is actually edible. And the coffee was amazing. Well done, Uganda.

7. Brenda

Brenda is our cook who makes us breakfast and dinner during the week. Though a bit quiet and reserved, she'll sometimes surprise you with long-winded stories ranging from cooking to Jesus to the rule of Idi Amin, the horrible Ugandan dictator of the 1970s.

We made a cake with Brenda one day on a charcoal stove.
Cakes are not easy to come by in Uganda, maybe because
ovens are not common.

I've had better cakes before. But we had fun baking it.
Brenda was pretty happy. Look at her awesome gomesi!

6. Weddings

Oh wait, that's a lie. In my experience, Cameroonian funerals are more exciting than Ugandan weddings.

At Ugandan weddings, there is no dancing, pretty much all 200 guests feel inclined to make long-winded speeches, AND the tiny piece of cake you might get at the end is super dry and not worth the seven hours you stared at it during the speeches.

I'm going to another wedding tomorrow. BAH.

At the wedding. The photo looks vintage because it's a
photo of a photo. We didn't want to pay the photographer
for his photo so Angela just took matters into her own
hands when he wasn't looking.

5. Musana's partnership with Living Water!

On a more serious note, I've been pretty excited that Musana is now linked with Living Water, a local health clinic. The artisans and their families will receive free and discounted services there and we hope it'll encourage them to get medical attention more frequently. More about this here (yes, I am linking to another blog post I wrote).

Eve and Nicole (her daughter) with their Living Water
membership card. This was an excuse to include another
photo of Nicole.

4. Birthday party

The birthday party we went to the other night for the six-year-old son of Musana's manager, Tina, was pretty great. Good food, great company, and few children. Awesome cake. Tina made sure of this after I told her the story of the disastrous wedding cake saga.

I liked that Tina basically directed the guests (us) to do the cooking. It made me feel like I was home cooking with family or friends before a party.

After we had cake, we didn't have to hang around for eons, which happens often at Ugandan events. Tina said "OKAY THANK YOU GO HOME." Love that woman.

Birthday boy, Chris.

Tina is Musna's manager and her family.
Her story about how she met her husband
is hilarious. In length, it rivals the
"How I Met Your Mother" story line.

3. Public health lessons

So far, it's been interesting and challenging to try to come up with a public health curriculum. I know very little about teaching. And trying to figure out how to communicate very public health messages in a way that makes sense to the women is not always simple.

Still, it's been fun and I think we've made some headway. We just finishing up the nutrition unit and will move to women's health next.

Lesson about nutrition (message: eat vegetables,
matooke is not that actually that great)

2. Good company

I've met some pretty great people s separate from the Musana circle and the neighbors. (But of course they're great, too.)

In a town like Lugazi, it's pretty rare to see other muzungus (white foreigners), so when you do you naturally strike up conversation. ("So what brings you to Uganda?" "Volunteering with this nonprofit" or "On a mission with this Church" or "Teaching at that school.")

Currently, there are a total of 11 muzungus in Lugazi. Five Musana interns. A pair from Scotland and Italy who teach at a primary school. A Scottish doctor (yes, like the Last King of Scotland!) who works at Living Water and collaborates with Musana. Three volunteers from England teaching at a different school. One Peace Corps volunteer who works in the jungle, so I'm not sure he counts. Anyways, we hang out together sometimes, exchange intel on how to live in Lugazi, and go places that aren't Lugazi.

Group shot at Namugongo.

I've also made some Ugandan friends who live in Kampala. They're a very funny and warm group of young women I met one night and clicked with. It's nice to spend time with them and see how the Kampala experience differs from the Lugazi experience.

Sorry, I don't actually have many photos of all these people I just mentioned. But I swear they're my friends.

1. Waterfalls and greenery

We visited a waterfall the other day. It was very beautiful, but not quite the hike we were hoping for. Next time.

One of the highlights of the trip was Jess (from UK) trying
to cross the little shaky bridge. She's smiling here, but she
was actually having a minor meltdown.

From the top

Trista, Julie, and Angela

Nicole!

Gomesi Photo Shoot

Recently, the Musana artisans have been designing jewelry to match their gomesis, or the traditional dresses Ugandan women wear to special events, like weddings.

Last Wednesday, they finished the jewelry and we had a fabulous fashion shoot at the workshop. We'll put the shots in a pamphlet to be circulated locally to advertise Musana jewelry. We expect US crowds to be a bit less interested in gomesi accessories.

Susan, one of the women, brought in gomesis for us - the interns. The gomesis looked pretty great/hilarious on the other ladies, but mildly apalling on myself. I maintain that my gomesi resembles the invisibility cloak from the Harry Potter movies (omgosh there's a Harry Potter wiki?!), only it unfortunately didn't make me invisible.

Here are  highlights of seven of the ten artisans modeling their gomesis and matching jewelry. Sadly, three of women could not be there because of medical emergencies. (Sidenote: medical emergencies are way too frequent here. It's awful.) Anyways!

Florence

Immaculate

Susan

Mama Christine

Eve, who doesn't have her ears pierced. She
put the earrings in her braids. Funny lady.

Cissy

Betty

And some awesome shots (of mostly Eve and Florence, class clowns):

Today, if you walk around Kampala, the capital city, you won't likely see young women sporting gomesis. They wear skinny jeans, Western clothes, etc. Even in Lugazi, it's mostly older women who wear them. However, apparently Alicia Keys absolutely rocks a gomesi.

Still, as muzungus (white people or foreigners) learning about Ugandan culture, we kind of have to wear them because a) it's respectful, and b) it makes the Ugandans proud, and c) it also makes Ugandans laugh. 

Next week, I get to wear one ALL DAY for the wedding of the Musana security guard, Joseph. I really hope I don't resemble an old moth this time.

Lions and Martyrs and Cranes (oh my!)

This post is a compilation of various Ugandan adventures. (And it's a long one, sorry. Feel free to break as needed, like if you have a meeting at work or a hungry child.)

Adventure #1: Wildlife

My first day in Uganda, I stayed at a backpacker's hospital in Entebbe, close to the airport. Julie and I waited for Angela's flight to arrive so we could all go to Lugazi together.

To pass the time, we went to see real, African wildlife! At the zoo.

There were lions, but apparently I didn't take photos of them. I think they were being boring. But look! Chimpanzees, zebras, hyenas, and ostriches.

We also encountered a random camel eating leaves on the road near the hostel.

Julie and I stopped by Lake Victoria, too. We were advised to not swim, so I just put my feet in. Turns out you're not supposed to do that, either, because the lake is full of this snail parasite. So I'm gonna die. 

Or I'll take a pill in a few weeks to get rid of any possible wormies that might be chilling in my liver or whatever. Leave it to me to contract a parasite within 12 hours of arriving in Africa. 

Anyways, here is Lake Victoria:

Adventure #2: Martyr's Day 

June 3rd in Uganda is Martyr's Day, or the anniversary of the killing of Ugandan Christian converts in the late 19th century for resisting some Ugandan king's pagan rule.

Today, pilgrims from all over Uganda and surrounding countries flock to Namugongo, the site of the murder. They come to pray, get holy water, and attend services.

We were invited to go. I wasn't incredibly interested in the material per se, but since Namagongo is only about 40 minutes from Lugazi, I figured I should see what the fuss was about.

Basically, it's just a lot of people. Literally about a million. They wait in very long lines to pray at the church and tour the statues created in the martyrs' honor.

Would not recommend this experience unless you are a pious Christian who enjoys heat and crowds.

The martyrs' memorial is not subtle.

 Adventure #3: Uganda football game

Among the best experiences so far was the football match on Saturday, June 8th, between the Uganda Cranes and the Liberia Lone Stars. Currently, Africa is in the middle of its second round of Qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This match determined if Uganda will stay in the running.

Tickets were pretty cheap, at about USD $4.50. We got jerseys with Luta with our Luganda names printed on the back. (Mine is "Nanyonjo," which means "smart" in the sense of being neat or well-dressed... not intelligent. The name is a bit ironic because I'm bad at hand-washing my clothes and I'm constantly covered in red dirt.) We got the face paint done outside the stadium. Actually, Julie seized the paintbrush from the vendor, and we trusted her artistic abilities more than his.

Before the game, we sold Ugandan flag-colored jewelry, which the Musana women quickly created the day before. Florence (above) helped sell them. It wasn't easy - the few bracelets we sold were to dudes. But we had fun talking to the crazy fans before the game.

Luta originally told us he'd wear a gorilla suit to the game but opted instead for less suffocating attire. He was no less enthusiastic.

The game itself was spectacular. Uganda scored a goal in the first five minutes. They kept the lead the rest of the match for the win.

The crowd was probably more remarkable than the game itself. The noisemakers were abundant and horrendous, but tolerable. Except when they were right in your ear.

All in all, A+. Uganda just beat Angola this past Saturday and it apparently was a real nail-biter. Now the Cranes lead in their football group. We hope they advance to Rio next year!

Family photo!
Back: Angela, Florence, Julie
Front: Andrew, Phoebe, Vilate, Sigrid, me