"You Take Soda"....A Week in Rural Eastern Uganda

bThis past week was possibly the highlight of my time here so far. Since the start of my eventual 15 weeks here, the time has gone by faster and faster and faster. On one hand, it's exciting because I definitely feel in the groove of things here in Kampala, but on the other hand its already been 7 weeks!! What??!!! So going to the east last week was such a great change of pace and VERY different from Kampala...in a veryvery good way : )

On our first day off to the east our destination was Mbale, which is one of the bigger towns in eastern Uganda. As always, the 3 hour or so taxi ride is always an adventure full of glorious snacks (the latest best snack discovery is getting a jar of creamy peanut butter and then pouring in g-nut, which are the Ugandan equivalent of peanuts, and then just diving in...it's like homemade chunky peanut butter!!), "hump roads" where there are speed bumps for miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiles...yes miles, and of course...a crowd of hungry baboons  along the roadside waiting for some muzungus to throw them a banana. They looked just like the baboons from Tarzan! Anyways...our first night in Mbale was really just relaxing time which was sooooo glorious. I believe I got to my room and passed out for 2 hours or so and then proceeded to watch Hidden Passions with some friends..,one of our favorite Uganda soap operas that's been dubbed into English...it's pretty intense. The next day was when we really were getting down to work again. We've done a lot of site visits while in Uganda and many of them have been rather dissapointing because we don't really get to talk with the people there or we don't even get a tour of the site! (that happened when we went to a refugee camp in the West after a 2 hour drive and didn't even get to talk to anyone...not cool.) Luckily though, this site visit was such a positive experience. In fact, many of the people who we met there described themselves as "Living Positively." The reason for this being that we visited TASO, The AIDS Support Organization, which is the biggest AIDS support organization in Uganda and possibly East Africa. We first met the entire staff while they were having a meeting because it was conference day so unfortunately we didn't get to see any clients because the clinic wasn't open, however, we did get to meet an incredible group of people living positively with HIV/AIDS. These people were clients of TASO but also extremely dedicated volunteers to sensitizing communities on the risky behaviors that can lead to HIV/AIDS. They are a drama group and they performed one of their main songs for us that they would sing in a community to educate. It was seriously so impressive the song, their voices, and most of all their attitudes. The song talked about sexual relations, how to prevent AIDS, but most compelling was their repetition of the end of the song which included, "We have a role we have a role to play. You have a role, you have a role to play. I have a role, I have a role to play." They were all so welcoming and so strong. No one looked sick or they were some charity act. These people genuinely were taking control of their lives and helping others to take control of theirs. Absolutely amazing, especially since their just volunteers and they work in this drama group 6 days a week! When they introduced themselves they would either say, "I'm living positively with HIV/AIDS," or "I'm HIV positive, but I'm not sick." Yes, I was in awe too.

Later that day we ventured an hour further east to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my entire life. Kapchorwa. It was literally like walking into Jurassic park, which probably isn't a good metaphor for creating a picture of pure beauty and loveliness cause dinosaurs are mad scary, BUT you get the whole mystic jungle crazy awesomely gorgeous type of thing I'm going for. It also just looked soooooo much like the cloud forest in Ecuador it made me sooo so happy. The place we stayed was called the crows nest atop a beautiful mountanous valley right across two epic waterfalls, called Sippi Falls. The second we got to the humble abode (yay bunkbeds!) we set out for the waterfalls and everyone was mad pumped about hiking since Kampala is NOTHING like this place (namely the clean clear air so exercise is actually possible). Muna (from the "Wise Words of Muna" post) was absolutely hilarious and ridiculous per usual on the hike. First of all her went barefoot...power to him, and of course greeted all the animals, "hello mother goat", or to the male animals he would say, "hello general." When crossing an itty bitty stream he said we were crossing Muna River...? I was super happy the whole hike and thought it couldnt get bettter than this....that's when we actually reached the waterfall and yes, it could get better. waaaaaaaayyy better. it was HUGE and MAGNIFICANT (said in David Attenborough accent of course) and we were all being sprayed by the mist and it was sooo refreshing. Everyone was the happiest I've ever seen them. No one wanted to leave the first waterfall but eventually we did leave renewed and invigorated. Then that feeling wore off a bit when we had to hike back up the mountain side...it was like a stair master or something. Once we got back up to the top and to the main road Muna explained to the guys that he would let a man marry his daughter if he could run the hike we did like 4 times. Then he decided we should run to the next waterfall...which happened to be all uphill...how do I know this? Oh, because for some crazy reason i decided to go with him and 6 of the other generals (SIT guys) but it was actually soooo awesome since we dont get to exercise alot in kampala and because the rest of the group walked we got there waaaay before and OMG. the other waterfall didn't even compare...why? BECAUSE WE WERE RIGHT UNDER THIS ONE! We all went rushing under the waterfall and it was absolutely crazy. i think everyone lost their mind for a little because of the sheer excitement and adrenaline from the immense power and COLD of this waterfall. We were screawming, laughing, yelling, it was just out of control. SUch an out of body experience and THAT was the happiest everyone has been this whole trip and some people took some goooooorgeous pictures of us all under the falls. We really didn't want to leave this one, but of course eventually we did and i felt so happy and rejuvinated and wow that was the most amazing waterfall i've ever been to. nothing compared to maid of the mist or anything of that sort. Again we headed back to camp but this time I just walked back and chit chatted. I didnt feel like getting all sweaty cause man that waterfall felt good. That night we had an awesome bonfire and sporadic sing alongs that were sometimes good and othertimes not too cute. but the hotel also had the cutest puppies, i wanted to take one home so badly. I also started reading Watership Down which my friend Jack mentioned one day he had and I remembered that my mom used to read it to me before bed in like middle school so I started reading it again so I could ACTUALLY remember it haha.

Breakfast the next day was epic...eggs, toast, cinnamon pancakes that I doused in peanut butter and honey. so good. Later we split up into three groups to go on various site visits to practice some PRA/RRA methods to get ready for our Practicum research period that starts in less than a week (WHAT?>!) I went with three other students to a farmers association and boy did we just get thrown into the situation blind folded. There were about 20 so farmers from the village who gathered in their small office while we had to act like we knew what we were doing and start doing these different workshops. It was actually really exciting and ultimately rewarding the work we did there and I feel like I learned alot about PRA as well as these awesome amazing farmers who are just rocking at farming and improving their lives. We had them draw a community map that showed their homes, all their resources, village boundaries, etc. and then explain it to us. This one women was so great and when she presented the map to us she was staring at me the whooole time literally yelling the map to us all but she did an awesome job and i was so impressed with her confidence. Then we asked the men then the women at what time do they do what each day. Finally we asked them what the major challenges were they were facing, we narrowed the most important ones down and then compared which ones they considered more important than the others. For them, the lack of storage facilities was their biggest challenge because of their dairy products and produce, as well as transporting those goods to the market, which is virtually impossible considering how HORRIFIC their roads are. Believe me, I experienced it first hand. Near the end of our trip there it rained, not even alot but still it rained and immediately the roads turned to slush. It took us over an hour to get back to the hotel where we were meeting when our site visit wasn't even far away at all. It was terrifyingly funny how crazy that drive back was. Also, since we were driving so slowly back and my window was down, we passed a bunch of people and children and this one little girl, saw me. looked at me wide eyed and a little out of it, said, "muzungu" verrry veryy slowly and as she said that word her face turned to complete terror as she registered the fact that she was looking eye to eye with a muzungu. it was like she had heard bed time stories about scary muzungu monsters her whole life and had finally come into contact with one. i will NEVER ever ever forget that face. wow it was funny and so awful at the same time. am i really that scary?

Finally we made it back...three hours later than everyone else...whoops....but tea time was delicious. that was our last night in beautiful kapchorwa and of course noone wanted to leave. hopefully i can go back sometime before december. The next day was when we were finally heading out to our rural homestay families where we literally were just dropped off at some hoemstay in a random village in Busia district right next to Kenya with only one other SIT student and were expected to conduct a 2-3 research project...yea. BUT! It was awesome! definitely the highlight of the eastern excursion and I wish we had gotten to stay longer but o well.

Arriving at the homestay was craaaazy! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many kids were waiting for us in a big clump just staring and giggling at us as we tried to communicate with them but only got a few names out of them. we couldnt really talk to them much because they hadn't learned english yet and their local language was Samya, not Luganda. My partner for the three nights was Margie who goes to Colby College and her homestay family back in Kampala isn't around much to hang out, especially the kids, so you could tell she was super pumped about the TON of kids there! it was sweet. There was one baby who burst into tears the second she looked at us. We kinda just stood around for awhile not knowing what to do and our homestay dad was very soft spoken so yes, the first encounter was preeeety awkward. Then we moved into our house which is a pretty nice hut with two mattresses and mosquito nets already up for us which was a nice surprise. Next we went into town and everyone was waving to us and we greeted soo many people because greeting is very important in Uganda. We stopped at a little building that had a bunch of men sitting and drinking the local brew out of a big pot outside. it was definitely a little scary at first and they had us try the millet brew which was warm and sweet and pretty gross but apparently "it makes you strong." They also were drinking maize alcohol which is a kind of gin and you could literally smell it from across a huge room...gross. I was sitting next to a man from Kenya who was very nice and we talked and talked and talked about various subjects and how he's a teacher and what not. I felt like some of the villagers liked us and some of the others didn't, but it also could have just been the language barrier. I was most surprised at how common speaking Sawhiili was in this part of Uganda because if you speak swahiili in Kampala you are thought to be a theif or it just has a very negative connotation to no one speaks it where I've been for the past 5 weeks or so. We stayed chatting with these guys for what seemed like foreveeer and Patrick (our homestay dad) even disappeared for the bulk of our stay there so we got a little worried when he hadn't come back and it was getting dark, but all was well and he came back and the villagers were very nice to us and welcoming.

The next day we worked in the fields for a bit with my homestay mom, Betty, and other family members. The women and young girls who can't go to school yet do so much work its crazy. Then we just walked around the community alot, did alot of greeting, and interviewed Patricks friends for our research project during their conference time aka drinking time. Our project was looking at perceptions of family size in this village so we interviewed a group of men, of women, a p7 class at primary school, a school teacher, some family members, and other various villagers. The second night was good but awful at the same time because conference time went in for forever and we weren't allowed to say no when people ordered sodas for us cause it was rude....i never want to see another soda again in my life. Margie and I calculated how much soda we had during that stay...my count came to 2.3 LITERS and Margies came to 2.1....The men in this village have ALOT of "conference time."Also that day during lunch Patrick and Bettys cute little 6 month old baby Jimmy (pronouncned Gimmy), fell asleep in my arms...then i felt a very warm feeling come over my legs and realized i was being peed on...yes. naturally my entire family found it extremely entertaining, as did I pretty much

The next day guess what our breakfast was...two orange fantas each...yum. and served at 12:00 haha oy. That night we rode a boda-boda home for the first time and it was super fun but also really nerve-wreaking considering ive never ever been on a moving motorcycle before, let alone with four people on it. but it was super fun and only like a 4 minute trip and i spoke luganda the whole time and my dad and the driver found it very entertaining that margie and i know luganda. We also took a longer boda-boda ride to the primary school and it was sooo relaxing and awesome. i wish we could ride them in kampala but its waaay way way too dangerous. I really loved my homestay and could have definitely stayed longer (if conference time was kept to a minimum because it got old veeeeeery quickly). One night we stayed up soooooo late just dancing and singing and talking about anything and everything with my siblings, counsins, neices, nephews, uncles, and mom. it was awesome. they taught me an awesome song that I still can't get out of my head....

tobera tobera mudodo teacher tobera mudodo. teacher waligenda ffena turukava, kubalanga turikava mazigaagaridonyo. (start shaking hips) teacha i donty want, teacha i donty caaare, teacha i donty want, teacha i donty caaare.

then i taught them the bananas of the world UNITE song and boy they loved that one...
Bananas of the world...UNITE. Peel bananas, peel peel bananas (repeat) chop bananas, chop chop bananas (repeat), swoosh bananas, swoosh swoosh bananas (repeat) eat bananas, eat eat bananas (repeat) GO BANANAS GO GO BANANAS GO BANANAS GO GO BANANAS!!!

Near the end of the night I was getting soooo tired my cousin Dorinne whose 17 so smart and so wonderful and wants to go to nursing school, let me just lie down on her and she and my mom started to like examine my entire head haha it was rather funny but also sooooo relaxing. THey were playing with my hair and looking at the freckles on my face as well as pointing out the pimples on my face of course. There's this one picture i have in my photo album that I brought to Uganda and me and Bradford at the ballet in NYC and yes i do think i was little more cubby at the time but also i was wearing a super fluffy dress and literally every uganda i show that picture to they say, "oh your fat here!" in uganda being fat is a good thing but still it was a shock the first time my homestay sisters husband pointed that out to me hhaa. The other kids when i was dozing off were having like school lessons in our little hut, practicing spelling, the aphabet, math. it was pretty sweet. their all so wonderful margie and i would get upset that we had to spend so much time in the evenings at conference time because we just wanted to hang out with all of them all the time. oh well.

we interviewed dory (17 cousin), andrew (our uncle in law whose 18), and bennet (cousin 17) for our research project. We were really excited to get their standpoints since their young and educated. They talked alot about having a small family and family planning and what not and seemed like they knew very well what was good and bad about big families and small families and the many other questions we asked them. sometimes though bennets answers were a little out of character for everything else he was saying and that we wanted to be an engineer. when asked how many children he wanted he said 20 and two wives. hmm. andrew and dory did not agree and i coudlnt tell if he was joking or not but thats just bennet. apparently polygamy is one of the root causes of these huuuuge families. one man we met said he had like 4 wives and 35 kids and 70 grandchildren. who knows.

Margie and I were really proud of the research we were doing and it felt so rewarding. ive never done sucha hands on project before so i really didn't know what to do or expect but we were really happy with our findings and methods and have to start writing up the 10-12 page paper today!! yikes!

The second day we visited a womens savings and loans group with our mom. not gonna lie...it was a pretty disappointing and not fun interview/visit. The women never really answered our questions and the translators (including our mom) weren't very attentive or good at communicating which is pretty key when your doing an interview and are a translator. Some of their answers wre encouraging, with others were not at all. Betty (our mom and alot of other women) seemed very out of it and disinterested in talking with us. Then of ourse the worst part was this old women of the group sitting next to margie who kept asking for our support. Can we support her or who can support her in america and on and on and on. It was so disheartening because it felt like thats all they cared about and cearly had no confidence or belief in what THEY were doing. They even asked us for our thoughts on what they should do and all I could say is you know far more than I but I really don't think they believed me. Some women understood what I was trying to say but the majority didnt I think. It was definitely just a savings group and not one that had any empowerment aspect to it. It was awkward and it made me mad and sad and just totally lose interest or the desire to talk to this group anymore which isn't the right attitude at all. I wondered why Betty had asked Margie and I for 1000 shs for the meeting because when they were collecting the money she didn't give them the 1000 we gave her and gave them a 10,000 shs. I wished so hard that there was someway to get these people to stop asking me for support and stop askingme to take them to America. I understand why they ask and think that I can, but still it just sucks so much when that happens multiple times within a day. It also shows how in bad a shape the morale of the community is,e ven if some families, like mine, seem to be doing relatively well as subsistence farmers. I think this trip really helped me become very good at responding to or i hesitate to say, dealing with, the hard questions and various others like will you marry me? nope sorry. i cant. haha. Before I always felt the need to lie alot to people when they asked me certain questions but now I feel alot more comfortable with being honest and still feeling safe in what I'm saying.

Although the womens savings group was a big downer, going to the primary school to talk to a P7 class (13-14 year olds) was soo much fun. Sometimes the 40 kids or so gave very contradicting answers, but I'd like to believe that they understand whats so much more beneficial about smaller families and the importance of family planning. You could also tell that the teachers were definitely trying to teach them about why small is good and waiting to get married and finishing schooling and using family planning and so on which was very encouraging. One of Patricks friends, Simon, brought us to the school because his wife is a P2 teacher. We interviewed her for our project and it was a short but a great interview. She seemed to be so smart and lovely and really helped us see the bigger picture of family perceptions in Uganda as a whole, and fill in some gaps in our research.

These are just some of the highlights from the 3 nights in Busia District...
1. Pactrick loooooooooooves taking pictures, especially with his friends during conference time
2. He also loves carrying around Margies camera like hes in charge of it
3. You cannot say no to soda, especially since Patrick is so well liked by the community
4. I was so tired one day i fell asleep in my grandmas (?) or aunts living room while Patrick and Margie were talking to her...whoops
5. my family thought it was very funny when i tried to dance like them
6. we met a crazy man in town who was wearing two pairs of pants at the same time and proceeded to show us his "secret pocket" aka a pocket in his second pair of pants
7. when we had soda for breakfast the server never listened to what we or our parents said they wanted to drink. we said fanta he said they was no fanta when there clearly was. my dad said two cokes and spite. he brought two stonys (ginger ale) and krest. i really didnt understand what his deal was, but eventually we all got what we had intended to get. very strange.
8. When Patrick would leave us alone in town or at the hut he would always just say "I'm Coming."
9. He also loved to say "You take." whether it be soda or the VAST amounts of food given to us
And finally 10., my favorite story. Our last night in the homestay everyone was in the main hut for dinner but I went into our hut to get a notebook and looked into the corner of the hut and saw this thing btu it was dark so i couldnt tell what it was at first. i brought a light to it and it was a CHICKEN. i huge mama hen just chillin in the corner under a chair. I tried getting it out but it kept trying to peck me even though i was using my sneaker to shoo it out of our hut. then my dad came over and i was like "theres a chicken in our hut!!!" He looked at the chicken, picked it up, saw that it had already laid like 6 eggs, and said "she will stay." so we had a nice little roommate our last night there and that hen stayed there til we left. for all i know shes still there. very strange and just ridiculous ahha

I want to go back to badly and our last morning there was fun, but also very sad. Driving away on the boda-boda with little Dorinne chasing behind us was a little much to handle. All I could think about was what would happen to all my cousins and siblings. THey're all so wonderful and so bright I just hope they make it. That's kind of a somber way to end this blog entry but it's definitely what has stayed on my mind the most, as well as the good times spent with them. Just gotta hope hope hope : )