Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m thankful for my incredibly accepting and supportive family and friends. I’m thankful for the amazing experience I am having and the things I am learning about myself every day. I’m thankful for my new PC family, without them I’m not sure I’d still be in Uganda. This Thanksgiving was kind of tough. Even though we are here with a different culture, last Thursday we were able to bring a little bit of America to Uganda.

About half of my group spent the better part of 2 days cooking and preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Pies and stuffing were prepared Wednesday night and early Thursday morning we all woke up to watch our turkey get slaughtered. That’s right, we had our own turkey and one of the volunteers was brave enough to kill it for us. It definitely gave me a much greater appreciation for eating meat. A Ugandan taught us how to clean the bird and explained the significance of each part as it was removed. I have to admit, none of us knew how to cook a turkey much less how to cook a turkey when you don’t have the luxury of a big oven! We ended up cutting the meat into pieces and boiling it for a few hours before baking it. It turned out pretty good.

The menu included turkey, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce (someone brought back from the states!), mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, tuna salad, tomato basil salad, herb foccacia bread, pumpkin and apple pies, broccoli macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, pita bread and humus, pumpkin bread, and beets. Oh yea, and everything was homemade!

We ate dinner outside in the middle of the compound at three long tables, end to end to end. Before eating, everyone went around and said what they were thankful for. It was emotional and many tears were shed as people talked about their families back home as well as their new family here. I miss you all very much and it was difficult to be away on such a family oriented holiday but don’t worry, the people here are taking care of me. We are all taking care of each other.



Love everyone and miss you even more during this holiday season.

-Ash

Cultural Differences

I’ve never been to summer camp before much less been a camp counselor before. Nest week I’m privileged to be able to participate as a counselor for camp GLOW (girls leading our world). It’s a week long girls’ empowerment camp for Ugandan girls 13-15. There are about 150 girls from all over Uganda who will be attending the camp. We’ll teach them multiple lifeskills topics including HIV/ADIS facts and myths, puberty and taking care of their bodies (the topic I’m teaching!), arts and crafts, team building, self esteem, public speaking, etc. The best part is, it’s free for them to come!

Last weekend I went to a training for all the counselors who will be at the camp. Each American counselor will be working with a Ugandan co-counselor. During training, we all stayed in the dorm we will be using during the actual camp. I live with Ugandans but I have never before spent the night in a dorm setting with one. After sharing close quarters with Ugandan women I got a deeper insight into the Ugandan culture and just how different it is from the American culture. Below are some things we’ve had to adjust to as well as some things we just don’t see eye to eye on. The first couple are from the weekend at training and the rest are things I have learned my last 9 months here. Hope you enjoy…

-It’s not uncommon for Ugandans to get phone calls (and answer them!) at 3 or 4 in the morning while sharing a room with 40 other people. Apparently the talking rates are MUCH cheaper during this time.

-It’s not uncommon for people to “flash” your phone (call and hang up before you answer) because they want to greet you or they just don’t have enough airtime to spend on having a conversation with you so they want you to use your airtime to call them back.

-In a professional setting it is socially acceptable for a woman to bring her infant child with her. I can understand this, especially if the baby is breastfeeding (which is also VERY socially acceptable to see on taxis, in church, during meetings, in your living room…) What I don’t understand is bringing your toddler to a camp counselor training where you have to spend consecutive nights in the same room with a large group of people…especially when your toddler likes to cry at night.

-It’s a common belief that water treated with Waterguard or AquaSafe will upset your stomach. Some Ugandans fear this so much they will refuse to drink treated water. They insist boiling is the only way to treat your water.

-Ugandan women are surprised when American women “cover themselves” when changing to go and bathe. Apparently, they want to see the “bazungu breasts.”

-I don’t think I’ve seen a Ugandan sneeze. EVER.

-Nose picking is very common. I mean obvious, finger in the nose, digging around nose picking. While carrying on a conversation!

-While it’s ok to pick your nose, if you blow your nose with your napkin after finish lunch it’s absolutely taboo.

-“I’m fine” is an appropriate response to just about anything.

-Never show up to a meeting on time. 2 hours late after the set starting time is more likely to be closer to when the meeting will actually begin.

-I bring a book with me EVERYWHERE and I’ve found that it’s completely acceptable for me to read during class, during a meeting, while at a big important social event, just about anywhere a group of people will be meeting. (See above…meetings never start on time).

-Ugandans tell me cold drinks cause cancer.

-If I am feeling a little under the weather, it’s not uncommon to be asked if I have “a little malaria.”

-Greetings are the most important part of social interaction. If I don’t greet someone or forget to greet someone as I’m walking past and later need to ask directions from that same person, it wouldn’t be surprising if they gave me incorrect directions because I didn’t greet them.

-Everyone who is anyone has a visitors’ book and will make you sign that visitors’ book not once but every SINGLE time you visit the person’s house, organization, church, office, etc. At first, I felt like I was being asked for my autograph and it was kind of cool. That got old fast…about after the 30 thousandanth book I signed.

-I’ve grown accustomed to waiting anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours for a bus or taxi to actually leave after I board it.

-Dogs are dirty animals and should ride in the boot of a car but you can hold chickens on your lap and people won’t even give you a second look.

-I’ve eliminated the word “no” from my vocabulary. A straight out “no” response or answer is usually interpreted as rude so now I find myself saying “somehow” or “God willing.” Everyone knows both of these responses mean no but they’re somehow more polite…somehow.

-I eat bugs. Both by choice (it’s currently grasshopper season here) and because I don’t really have any other option. If ants are in my rice and beans or have gotten into my bread I just consider it another source or protein.

-People think my dog needs a visa to get back to the states.

-It’s totally acceptable for a Ugandan man to tell you just how much he wants to marry you and how you are “his size.” Absolutely hate this one.

-Children like to greet me by saying “Bye-eeee!”

The Sexual Network

AIDS is a problem in Uganda. I live in Rakai district, the first place in Uganda to be hit by HIV/AIDS. It’s apparent just by looking around how heavily impacted my community has been by the virus; there is an entire generation missing. We have primary schools and vocational schools whose sole purpose is to offer an affordable education to orphans in the area. With the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, you’d think my students would be more educated on the topic. I was surprised to find how shocked they were that HIV can spread so quickly through the sexual network. The sexual network is a common term in Uganda used to describe the web-like structure between people and their sexual partners. Person A sleeps with person B, who is also sleeping with person C. Person C is sleeping with person D and E who are both sleeping with persons F, G, and H. Before you know it you have an entire community sleeping with each other and a widespread breakout of (insert STD/STI/HIV).

I did an activity with my girls’ club this week that I later repeated with my entire student body, all 300+ of them, and tutors at the college. The activity goes like this…You give every person a notecard. Some notecards are blank and others have symbols or instructions to follow. One notecard says “DO NOT shake hands with anyone else.” Two notecards say “Find the other person with the * symbol. Shake only his or her hand.” One notecard has an X on it and another has a C on it. After everyone is given a notecard and told to follow the instructions on the card, if there are any, the participants begin to shake each other’s hands. After you give participants time to “mingle,” you bring them back together to explain the purpose of the activity. As you may have guessed, shaking hands symbolizes having sex with a person. In the activity, the person who did not shake anyone else’s hand was practicing abstinence and did not contract HIV or STDs. The two people with the *symbol were in a faithful, monogamous relationship and did not contract HIV or STDs. The person with the X was HIV positive. Everyone who shook this person’s hand contracted the virus. Everyone who shook any of those people’s hands also contracted the virus and so on and so on. The person with the C on their notecard was wearing a condom and was practicing safe sex. Their risk of contracting HIV was much lower than the participants not using condoms.

The point of the activity is to show how the sexual network works and for students to see how quickly and easily STDs and HIV can spread. My girls were shocked. When I repeated the activity the next morning with my first and second years at the college, they were shocked. My tutors who also sat in on the activity were shocked! These people know how HIV is spread. It is drilled into their brains from an early age, yet having a physical representation in front of their eyes still managed to surprise them.

After the activity I allowed the students to openly ask questions, and boy did they have questions! I think this was the first time since the beginning of the term that I had a full classroom. My students are deprived of this information. They are not used to openly discussing sex and getting their questions answered. Living in a Catholic parish makes talking about sex and condom use a little controversial and my students were so appreciative to have the opportunity to discuss the topic. I have to admit, I was surprised with how open and honest I was being with my students. These are kids my age if not older and I was talking to them about the difference between using a condom and using a plastic bag as a contraceptive!

The level of ignorance continues to surprise me, and I have taught my students about sex and the reproductive systems multiple times. I’m going to take some of my girls from the girls’ club to the primary school next week to do the activity with them. I know, shocking that such an activity should be taught to 10 and 12 years old girls but the reality is that these girls are the ones who need it the most. They call sexual intercourse “playing sex” because it’s a game for them to do when they get bored. If anyone has tips or activity suggestions to teach sex ed or STD spread, please let me know!

I’ve officially been a PCV for 6 months now. I can’t believe it’s already November! 6 more weeks until Mom and the girls come to visit. Hope everyone is doing well and keeping warm. I miss you all so much!

Ash

Uganda Gone Wild

A few weeks ago I traveled out West to visit another volunteer and help put on an education workshop. It was my first experience putting on a workshop for Ugandans and it was a success. Two other volunteers and myself taught on the psychology of education, creative teaching methods, and classroom management. The Ugandans kept time pretty well and we had a decent turn out of about 20 people.

After the workshop we went on a safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park. We woke up at 5 in the morning for our driver to pick us up and get to the park. The early morning hours give you the best chance of seeing animals. The safari was absolutely AMAZING! We saw elephants right on the side of the road, a pride of lions, water buffalo, tons of different birds, a leopard, and warthogs. Our driver, Benjamin, was wonderful and answered all of our questions. When a friend phoned him to let him know they had spotted lions, Benjamin told us to fasten our seat belts because we would be "rushing." He sped off and a few minutes later there they were...LIONS! I can't even begin to explain how it felt to pull up next to a pride of lions. To see the dominant male. Definitely one of the coolest things I've done since being in country. Later that afternoon we went on a boat tour and saw hippos! I've never seen hippos that up close before and there were so many of them! We also saw a crocodile and more elephants. I think the elephants were by far my favorite. They're so huge! My first safari in Africa was a success! The only thing we didn't see were giraffes and zebras, which I'm hopeful to see in December when I take Mom and the girls to Murchison Falls.

A quick update on my girls' club...

The week after our reusable menstrual pads workshop, my girls went and taught the same workshop to the primary girls at our demonstration school. They did everything! They taught them in Luganda, answered their questions, and helped them sew the menstrual pads. It was a really unique experience seeing my girls teach other girls something that I had taught them...all on their own!

We had a meeting at my house 2 weeks ago and I had the girls draw self portraits and write what made them beautiful. The activity was so much fun and the girls really got into to. Some of the things that make them beautiful: Their curves, their flattened noses, their beautiful voices, the color of their skin, because that's how God made them. Of course the wanted me to share what made me beautiful and when I said my freckles, something they have never seen before, they started clapping and laughing. Anyone who has ideas of things to do with my girls' club, please let me know! Arts and crafts, team building, womens empowerment, anything is welcome!

Hope all is well stateside. Miss you guys much and think about you everyday. Until next time,

Ashley

September

I had my first girls' club meeting at my college last week. About 20 girls showed up and our MTC tutor, Namusisi. This club is the first and only club for girls at my college. The administration has been incredibly supportive and encouraging of me wanting to start this club, which is amazing! At first we talked about how I wanted the girls to have ownership of the club and I would just help facilitate. They came up with their own goals and in a few weeks they're going to nominate and vote for their own president, VP, etc. Our first activity was to talk about an important female role model in our lives. I wanted to girls to tell me what made that person a good role model as well as a few things they have learned from their role models. I went first, saying that my mother was my role model because of everything she has taught me. I told them that I respect her for following her dreams and that her strength continues to inspire me. The first girl from the group to share said "Madame Kirabo is my role model because she is ever smart and confident." I seriously wanted to cry, it was such an awesome feeling to hear that my girls look up to me so much.

On Friday another PCV come down to teach the girls how to make reusable menstrual pads out of local materials (school uniform material, towels, thread, button, etc.) About 40 of my girls came to the workshop and Naumsisi as well as our librarian. The presentation was informative and taught the girls such a valuable skill. They kept thanking our presenter for teaching them something they can actually use.

I've been going out to the field to watch my second years do their school practice, kind of like student teaching. The primary schools I go to for observing are sometimes deep in the village, where the students have never seen white people before. Needless to say, I sometimes feel like a big distraction. Actually going out to visit these schools has been eye opening to say the least. The vast majority of students don't have shoes and walk to school for who knows how many km barefoot. There's no electricity at the schools and a lot of times many of the students go without eating lunch because they are too poor to bring anything with them. It's hard to see but it definitely makes me appreciate our American school system much more, as flawed as it sometimes seems to be.

I've been having issues with my post office the past few months, mainly because it hasn't been open. The post worker went away to University and no one replaced her, so my post office has been closed the past 2 months. You can imagine my frustration trying to get this problem solved when most Ugandans don't even know where our post office is! I would bring the issue to my principal's attention many MANY times, almost every time I saw him! I took until a few weeks ago for someone from the Masaka post branch to come to our post office for the day. The only good thing about your post office being closed for 2 months is that when it finally opens, if only for a day, you get 6 PACKAGES! Thank you so much Dad, Jill, Uncle Mike, Sharon, Deb, and Barbara. You guys are awesome and your packages are very much appreciated.

Hope everyone is doing well. I love and miss you all so much!

Ashley

RAFTING THE NILE!

Sorry for the delay in posting…I spent the last 3 out of 4 weeks in training: language, in-service, and all volunteer conference. Needless to say, I’ve been away from site a lot this past month.

Quick Updates:

-Potluck was a HUGE success, every single tutor participated and they even want to start a new tradition of having a “foodluck,” as they call it, at the end of every term

-I hosted a game night at my house with my counterpart, Francis, and the Kiswahili tutor, Stanley, from my college. Francis and Stanley showed up at my house wearing sport jackets, it was so cute! I cooked fried rice for dinner and taught them to play spoons and bullshit. They caught on quickly and only had trouble when it came to the lying part in BS

-Turns out that weird hive-like irritation I had was a parasite called Stronglyoides. I most likely got it when I went to the Nile for kayaking. The parasite passes through damp soil into your feet then travels around your blood. Whenever my skin would get irritated (scratched, scraped, bumped, cut, etc.) the area surrounding the irritation would turn into these weird hives. No worries, after a blood test and 3 days’ worth of pills I am parasite free!

After my in-service training, a language and technical training that groups go through once they hit their 6 months in country marker, my group decided to go to Jinja to raft the Nile. For those of you who don’t know, the rapids on the Nile are mainly grade 5s and 4s with a 5.5 thrown in there somewhere. I want to remind you that I have NEVER GONE RAFTING BEFORE. I had no idea what to expect, and to tell you the truth was slightly hungover from the night before. Regardless, rafting on the Nile was probably the most memorable thing I have done since being in Uganda to date. It was freakin awesome and not to mention the single most terrifying thing I have ever done in my entire life.

There were about 20 of us that went and we divided into groups of 6-8, each raft having their own Ugandan guide. My raft was the “baby raft” and had a total of 6 people in it. None of us had been rafting before. We started out in a little eddie learning how to maneuver the raft, which way to paddle, what to do when you come to a rapid, and what happens when you flip over. Not what happens if you flip over, but what happens WHEN you flip over. The idea of an inevitable flip scared the crap out of me! Even during the practice flip in calm water I managed to get trapped under our raft and swallowed about half my body weight of Nile water. No fun. I was determined to not flip over for real and we kept emphasizing to our guide that we did not want to flip (we went through a company called Equator Rafting and they are notoriously known for purposefully flipping the rafts).

After a few more practice laps around the eddie, it was time to go. My raft was first up and the rapid we went down was supposed to be a 4. Our guide directed us not down the smooth part of the rapid that everyone else went down, but smack over a waterfall. Our raft became trapped and before we realized what was going on we were all being pummeled with water. I was desperately trying to hold on the rope but I kept getting smacked in the face with water, I couldn’t see anything or anyone around me. Within seconds I was thrown from the raft and caught in a current. My life jacket was not pulling me to the surface and I was thrashing about wildly. I finally came to the surface gasping for air and made my way to a kayaker (the safety guys that kayak in front and around the rapids to pick up stragglers and bring them back to their rafts). I was panting and holding on for dear life to the tiny kayak as he pulled me back to my raft. Every person in my raft was thrown…in the FIRST RAPID! None of the other rafts tipped, as they all went over the smooth part of the rapid.

When we were all brought back to our baby raft, the one we were determined to not flip over, we just sat in a sort of shocked silence for a few minutes. I didn’t want to go any further, I was ready to quite. Especially when our guide told us the next rapid coming up was the worst one of the course. (The waterfall we went over was the second worse, what a way to start out a bunch of beginners!) I was dead set on walking the rest of the course and just giving up. This obviously wasn’t an option. I had to suck it up and continue through the rest of the day. Like I said, I had never been more scared of anything before in my life. It was definitely a way to sober up quickly, though. There’s nothing like holding on for dear life while trying to paddle through a grade 5 rapid to kick your hangover!

The more rapids we went through the more comfortable I became. I got myself into this system, paddle as hard as I could, duck into the raft, hold on for dear life, pray that we don’t flip, repeat. I’m proud to say that our raft did not tip after that first rapid. Some of them were close and one we even went down backwards and I was sure we were all going to fly out, but we made it. We all survived an entire day of rafting on the Nile. Talk about a team building exercise! I definitely recommend the experience to anyone visiting Africa. It’s the experience of a lifetime and how many people can say they’ve rafted on the Nile? I’m glad that I stuck it out, but I don’t think I would do it again to be honest.

Hope everyone is doing well! I’m going on being in country for 7 months…time is flying by! Happy Birthday Uncle Rich, Lashelle, Matt, and Ish. Miss you guys! I miss you guys so much and think about you every day. Looking forward to your updates,

Ashley

Airtime, Potluck, and Bacterial Dysentary

First I want to give you a little more information about the bombings you may have heard of. A few days ago, after the final World Cup match, a terrorist group set of bombs in Kampala, targeting mainly areas where white people tend to frequent. More than 70 people were killed in the bombings, including 7 Americans. No Peace Corps volunteers were hurt during the bombings and Peace Corps staff immediately took control of the situation and restricted travel to and from Kampala until further notice.

The power has been going out a lot lately and I have been spending many evenings cooking by candlelight. The other night after I finished making dinner, I sat down to eat at my table. Buzi started barking outside, but I didn’t really think anything of it because he barks at pretty much anything that moves. He kept barking and I started to hear footsteps on my lawn. I don’t usually get visitors after dark and I of course started to freak myself out. I heard a scratching noise on my screen then someone whispered my name. I opened my door and looked out the screen door to see 3 pairs of eyes staring back at me. They were children and after greeting me in Luganda they just stood on my porch. My immediate thought was that they were going to ask me for money, but they didn’t. One of the little boys said he had airtime for me (there’s no such thing as a monthly cell phone bill here, you purchase airtime in various amounts and it’s kind of a pay as you go thing). Earlier that night I walked into town and went to my favorite dukka where Joseph, one of the nicest Ugandans I’ve met, works. Surprisingly, his dukka was closed and he was nowhere to be seen. I always purchase my airtime from him because he’s started carrying large quantities of it for me to buy. I guess someone in town must have told him that I stopped by and he sent a group of kids to deliver me my airtime. It continues to surprise me when people go out of their way like that to do something for me, but it’s definitely making me feel more and more a part of my community.

I’ve introduced the concept of a “potluck” to the tutors at my college. They were so intrigued by the idea they insisted we have one, so next Thursday Rakai PTC will have its first (of many, hopefully) official American/Ugandan cultural food exchange potluck (the tutors insisted it have a title, hence the food exchange part). The tutors were so excited when I made a flyer advertising the potluck and they all signed up and chose a dish to bring. I made the flyer more than two weeks ago…it’s all they can talk about…EVERY DAY. When visitors come to the school, my principal brags about this big cultural food exchange that I’ve organized. People have no clue what he’s talking about! I almost can’t wait for our potluck day to come and pass just so people will stop talking about it. I’m sure the actual event will have a story of its own. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes…

As our term is coming to an end I have been assessing my students. Nothing major, just an in class exercise to be able to get a grade for them. I thought an 8-10 question mini exam would be no problem. Boy was I wrong! I have been spending the majority of this past week grading 300+ short answer papers. It’s taken me forever and I’m not even done yet! I still have about 100 to go. What makes the work even more tedious is that my students have a hard time following directions. When I ask them to give me 3 examples of a specific term, they’ll list 7. When I ask for them to list 2 different ways of being a good guidance counselor, they’ll give me 12! I think I’m going to have to reiterate the importance of following directions next time, or maybe I’ll just try true/false.

You’ll be glad to know I survived my first major sickness in Africa! Last Thursday night I woke up in the middle of the night terribly sick. I mean running to the pit latrine every hour with simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea (sorry to be graphic). It turns out I had a bad case of bacterial dysentery, which basically means I had amoebas in my intestines. I most likely got it from using unclean or contaminated water to wash my vegetables. I can honestly say I have never been so sick in my life. It was the worst pain I’d been in, I couldn’t eat, and I could barely drink anything. I spent most of the 3 days I was sick in and out of sleep. I’m 100% better now and am super cautious of any water I use for cooking.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. While you were probably eating hot dogs and setting off fireworks, a group of us PCVs were spending the weekend on a remote island in a hostel on Lake Victoria. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had the place to ourselves and even had all of our meals prepared for us by the wonderful staff. On the actual 4th of July while we were all hanging out on the beach, we saw a bald eagle in one of the trees. It was a surreal feeling to be celebrating our independence in a different county, but seeing our national bird definitely made the experience real.

I think I mentioned that I started working at a primary school in Kyotera, my nearest town. I’ve decided to be their new PE teacher. I’m 22 years old and yesterday I spent more than an hour playing duck duck goose. It was the best day ever. The kids loved it! The best part is that I gave the directions entirely in Luganda. I tried teaching them Simon says, but they had a hard part understanding why they weren’t supposed to follow directions if I didn’t say “Simon says.” They taught me a Ugandan game, I think it’s called cat and rat or something similar. Basically, one person is a cat and one person is a rat. The cat is trying to catch the rat but everyone else forms a circle and holds hands. They lift arms to allow the rat in and out of the circle, but do everything they can to keep the cat from passing. It was actually a lot of fun and something I want to teach my students when I come back to the states. If anyone has any game EASY game ideas for little kids, please let me know!

As I’m going on being in country for 6 months, I am definitely missing you guys. Some days are harder than others but all of your letters and emails definitely help. I’m doing ok over here and I absolutely love my village. I hope everyone is happy and well there. Thanks for all the updates; I always look forward to reading them. Barbara, thank you so much for the MAD book, it will come in handy when I’m teaching. Mrs. Supik, thank you for the care package…I FINALLY got it and the granola bars were awesome!

Love and miss you guys like crazy!

Ash