A day out of town. All the PC volunteers get together once a year for a training held in Kampala. They come from the whole country and the US ambassador comes too. So, we met our counterparts in the corp. We had a chance to talk to the people that are in the area we will be assigned. A Chinese American has started a garden and I asked if he would start my basil and rosemary for me so it would be ready to pick by October. He said he would and he took a pack of sweet corn too so when we get there I am hopeful to have some fresh garden offerings as I miss the fresh food here. They cook everything to death due to the fertilizing process they use. Add fresh manure from the pen or just let the animals live in the garden area. And sometimes you don't know how the market sellers have handled the food either. Sanitation has a whole different meaning here.
Example: At night, 7pm you need to be home because it is dark. After dark it is not safe for the Ugandans to be out much less the glow in the dark muzungoos (which is what Uganadans call us) . So, since we share the electricity grid with Kenya and they get first dibs on the power, Uganda get power in the day time and about 4:30-7:00 the power goes out. Our pit latrine is outside but we live in a fenced gated complex that I will send pictures of soon. You find your flashlight, get your toilet paper,(we don't leave it in the latrine as someone may steal it) get your shoes on and go out and go. There is a brick wall around the latrine but no doors so you can look at the stars when your out as the power is off in the area and the countryside is dark. It is beautiful. Then you get a jerry can and wash your hands tipping it over with your dirty hands to get the water out. You wash, have no towel, drop your flashlight, slid in the mud up the hill to the house, take off your shoes bring them in and go to bed with your night bucket close by for those early morning calls. This is just one small adjustment I am making and so glad menopause has lessened my need for more latrine time. After I do laundry I use the wash water to scrub out the latrine but found out the more water you have in a latrine the stinkier it is. Did I tell you before what a pit latrine is a concrete slab over a 20 foot hole with a 6X12 cut out area to do your business in. We have a 2 stall. The squatting process has improve the muscle tone so I recommend it to my friends that are finding sneezing, coughing, and laughing to be moistening affairs.
It is part of the experience and today I am enjoying the experience. The boys that live here have been on break from school which coincides with Ramadan. They are Christian so they have been home. There are a lot of little ones here. The boys have made sleds out of the jerry cans by cutting them in ½ and the little ones sit in the can and get pulled around and slide down the hill in them. Just like we do at home in the snow. Tom and I sit out and watch them and laugh. The kids do not see many muzungoos so they are afraid of us, but when the boys are pulling them they wave but we can't get close or they bawl and run for there mothers. Imagine, I am in Africa, sometimes Tom and I forget. Guess the process is becoming routine. In language we learned numbers. Finally something that remains the same and the rules stay the same and the words don't change depending on the area you are in. All 7 of us that are going to West Nile were happy about learning something we could actually understand and remember. The other great thing is the $ is in 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 20,000, 50,000 Ugandan Shilling notes. This makes the amount easy to figure out it is the conversion I have trouble with. When we came a month ago $1 US was worth 2,640 USHillings now the dollar is worth 3,300USHillings. So, when I go to market I ask my house mother how much something should cost and I just pay it. Pineapple cost $1 and is still in season. The pineapple here is so sweet and as much as I eat I have not gotten one sore in my mouth.
This Tuesday we find out our site announcements in West Nile. This is when they tell us what organization we will be working with weather an NGO or a local enterprise. Then Thursday we go up to the area and do 3 days of language immersion, then our teachers leave and the 7 of us go to the sites we will be serving in, some rural some in the town of Aura. The volunteers there said that the market is amazing. Because it is a major trade city Congo and Sudan also have there goods there too. Brilliant colors of fabric, are what I heard it is known for. I am hoping for some baskets for storage but next week we will find out. Also heard that there is a large number of Dr. working for Dr without borders in the area that the PC volunteers get together with. I met a young woman from ST Paul who is serving in the area as a teacher but didn't have a lot of time to talk with her yet. It seems funny to me that I go to Africa and meet people from MN. It reminds me of what a sense of humor God has. On one of the outings Tom did for economic development he went to an organic farm practicing permaculture. There are 4 in the country and they are used as models. They are self sustaining meaning they support themselves but doesn't look like they sell anything. Tom said there were 3 groups from Tanzania, Kenya, and Rawanda, NGO's & Catholic mission that were in the 9 month class to learn how to implement this back at there site. He said it was a model program and the man running it could come to the MOSES conference and speak. So, there is another couple here and he just finished his masters in agriculture so we may go back out Sun when it is there 1st anniversary. She is a ICU nurse. More to come...
