Rainy Season in Rukungiri

Perhaps under different circumstances the onset of rainy season would have me a bit disappointed. At the moment, however, I breathe a sigh of relief with each rainfall because for some unknown reason we have run out of water here in Rukungiri. The Ugandans seem un-phased by the absence of this fluid necessity, ever-assuring that this happens from time to time and that it will soon return. I, on the other hand, admit some concern about my water situation and have taken to setting some basins out in the morning to collect rainwater, then later funneling that water (with the upper half of an old water bottle), into a number of 20-liter jugs. Chances are that the water will be turned on again within the week and my current situation will be nothing more than yet another lesson in unpredictability of Peace Corps living, but for now I will stick with my daily collection routine. (I should note that there is no need for those back home to worry—bottled drinking water is plentiful).

Despite the situation above, things are going very well. Work is picking up and I am now doing jobs that I enjoy and find worthwhile. My main work at the moment involves accompanying one of RUGADA’s community trainers out into the villages 4-5 days a week. The trainer, an older, charismatic Ugandan man, trains groups of 20-50 local farmers on how to receive government support for their agricultural pursuits. His task is mobilization, sensitization, and organization (the farmers must form groups, obtain bank accounts, and designate chairpersons in order to receive the government grants). This requires 2-3 visits to each small community (giving me a great opportunity to see much of this district). At the first visit to each community, I follow the trainer’s speech with a lesson in leadership development and good group dynamics. I do this with the assistance of five large posters/story boards I created to help illustrate my points (especially helpful with a partially illiterate audience). On my second visit to each site I do an activity in gender mainstreaming—mostly to get people thinking about roles which are typically designated to specific gender but could be performed by both men and women. Our hope with this activity is to have men and women sharing responsibility for all the farm duties so that their enterprises can grow. Digging and weeding, for example, are duties typically designated only to women here, and therefore are not completed at times when the woman is busy with another task—even if the man is capable and free to complete the duty. The gender activity proves difficult because I’m addressing long-held cultural norms and meet some resistance while doing so. I am hopeful, however, that my participatory exercise is at least inspiring some thought into gender mainstreaming and allowing the women a venue in which to express their thoughts on the matter. As I said before, I find it a truly enjoyable and worthwhile venture.

My personal life is going nicely as well. I feasted on Thanksgiving at the home of an American family living and working at the nearby hospital. The meal was complete with all the proper Thanksgiving components (with cranberry Jello instead of cranberry sauce) and even a few rounds of Thanksgiving BINGO when our stomachs were full. With an oven and refrigerator, the family is capable of making quite a few more dishes than I can on what is a close equivalent to a two-burner camp stove. My feast was followed by another holiday gathering, but this one with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers and on the weekend. As always, it was nice to meet up with the others in my region to relax, converse, and eat some of our favorite American foods. A turkey-day touch football game was even organized, which passing Ugandans watched with a bit of confusion. Although many are aware of the existence of something called ‘American Football,’ they don’t know the rules, nor can they understand why any person would choose to play it over real football (soccer). From the sidelines I laughingly agreed as I watched my fellow PCV’s throw, run, tag/tackle, huddle, and repeat the process again. To each their own…

Anyhow, that’s all for now. I hope you’re all doing well and those of you back in MN are enjoying the snowfall for me!

Megan