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!