Comfort Food

I've been baking a lot lately. Cake, brownies, breads, cookies...anything that my local ingredients will allow (and where they won't, I improvise). I create a makeshift oven, out of three saucepans and a few small stones, on top of one of my burners and hope for the best. The ability to bake, despite the rarity of me baking in the states, has brought comfort. It has also given me a new opportunity in work-- the secretary from our organization was quite excited to learn that I could bake and arranged for me to teach baking lessons at our resource center. I began this past Wednesday by teaching my ten high-school and older aged female students to make a basic cake. The use of a coal fired "sigiiri" rather than my propane fueled burner made the baking process more difficult and unpredictable, yet was most appropriate based on the means my students would have at their disposal. Another, more humorous challenge, was finding activities to fill our time as the cake was slowly baking. The girls asked that I teach them a song or dance from America and so I taught them the Macarena and Hokey-Pokey, the first things that came to mind. There was much giggling from the students and on my part as I realized how ridiculous this scene must look. After a couple hours of increasing, then decreasing, then increasing, then decreasing again the cooking fire, our cake was finished and we each had a piece to enjoy. I hope to next teach them the wonders of banana bread (did I mention they have bananas here?) , brownies, perhaps chocolate chip cookies, and eventually how to make basic bread.

The activity of baking may seem trivial as a method of development, but at the heart of Peace Corps is the mission to increase human capacity through a variety of creative and innovative means. Dispersing knowledge about things such as baking, therefore, is a means to achieve this goal. Whether the students bake only occasionally but find a feeling of accomplishment in completing the task, or they continue to bake frequently and sell their products, the resulting increased knowledge and self-confidence is building capacity of local people. A Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) friend of mine in the Eastern Uganda is similarly doing things she never expected to do as a PCV--teaching clarinet and flute to Ugandan students as part of a larger effort to create East Africa's largest symphony orchestra. Like baking, the task may seem at first to be a long stretch from development work, and yet almost anyone who has participated in extra-curricular activities can attest to their worth for healthy personal development. Perhaps it no longer seems like such a stretch? In any case, the baking is a side project and soon our organization will embark on a large-scale HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention project. There is a fairly large life-skills component to the project that I hope to play a large role in. More details, of course, to come.

That's it for me here in SW Uganda. Just living with life's inconsistencies: power, water, internet all present or absent at any given time. But life is good, and I'm enjoying the adventure.

-Kobusingye Megan

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

I'm home :)

I owe you all a novel. Truth is, it's been a hectic month- finishing training, moving out of our host families' houses, transitioning and swearing-in in Kampala and, finally, moving to site.

Let me begin two weeks ago.

A fellow trainee, Renee, and I were chosen to MC the 'host family thank-you ceremony.' We both had traditional clothing made for the event (as did many other trainees) and spent the ceremony introducing groups of trainees doing traditional dances and songs they'd learned the last ten weeks. As you might imagine, it was a little challenging to be MC's for an event in another country, without a native-English speaking audience. Let's just say that the typical humor we like to use didn't translate as well as we'd hoped. Nevertheless, our host families seemed thoroughly entertained-- perhaps at our sad attempt to sing and dance as they do. Or maybe it was our training group's performance of the song, "Fifty Nifty United States." The event was followed by a meal blended with both Ugandan and American dishes. Two days later we packed our bags, said goodbye to the families who had so graciously taken us in for the last ten weeks, and left Luweero for Kampala. Our five days in Kampala were a blur--complete with a pool party at the American ambassador's house, a visit to the US embassy, a workshop with our supervisors, shopping for household items only available in the nation's capital, bike shopping, and our very official, symbolic, and emotional "swearing-in ceremony." As or Thursday, October 18th, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (prior I was only a 'trainee'). Amidst the chaos of our days in Kampala we were also saying goodbye to the fantastic training staff who taught us the language, cultural norms, technical knowledge, and countless other things we'll be utilizing for the next two years (and beyond). Even more difficult was saying goodbye to one another- the twenty people I spent 60-70 hours a week with. It will be three months before we're all together again. We're now spread all over the country, with some as close to the Kenyan border in the East as I am to the Congo border in the West. Luckily we all have cell phones and are able to share our successes and challenges with one another via that technology.

On the 19th of October, the six of us heading West hired a taxi van, loaded everything we had and travelled to our sites (and stopped to take pictures at the equator!). That evening I ended in Rukungiri.

It's now been a week since I arrived-- a week full of unpacking, cleaning, finding my way around town, buying odds and ends to make my house more 'homey', experimenting with cooking for myself with limited amenities, starting work, acclimating to the much cooler climate, adjusting to living alone... My house has both power and running water (not drinkable, but at least running). It's nice and comfortable and boasts a gorgeous view of the mountains. Each evening I sit on my balcony with a cup of tea and watch the sunset into green mountains, full of vegetation and spotted with the occasional farmhouse. The elevation here is that of Denver, making my walk to and from the office a bit of a trek. The area is fairly fertile, meaning the market is full of a variety of fresh produce. There I can find tomatoes, onions, potatoes, garlic, eggplant, green pepper, avocado, passion fruit, pineapple, oranges, papaya, mangoes (when in season), and, of course, bananas of all types. A typical trip to the market to buy 2-3 days worth of produce costs less than a dollar, with my favorite deal being fresh avocados for 6 cents a piece (or two for 6 cents if the woman who sells them likes you :) )

I'm excited to get working now. For some time I'll be mostly just observing my organization's activities- trying to get the hang of things. RUGADA is involved in a plethora of activities--from organizing farmer groups to benefit from national agriculture services, working on sustainable energy projects, teaching girls how to sew and tailor, implementing HIV prevention programs, assisting with legal aid for children...the list goes on. Lots of potential for great work!

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot! My host mother gave me a Runyankore name (quite the honor) just a few days before I departed Luweero. The name is Kobusingye (koh-bu-sin-jay), and it means 'peacemaker' or 'peaceful one.' I've been teaching the kids who live near me so that they now yell "Kobusingye!" instead of "Muzungu!" from their yards. It's a nice improvement.

Must get going. It is, yet again, laundry day (as long as the weather holds out), and I need to buy a clothesline! Hope you're all doing well wherever you are!

much love,
kobusingye megan

Banana Count: 23

Yes. 23 bananas in the past week. And this excludes any in matooke, a Ugandan staple dish of steamed plantains. I have to admit I haven't even begun to get sick of them though...thankfully.

Now that we're over halfway through training I've been given my site placement--I will be moving to Rukungiri District (in the southwest corner of Uganda) to work with an organization called RUGADA (Rukungiri Gender and Development Association). The organization was founded by Winnie Matsiko, a female Member of Parliment who hails from Rukungiri. The organization works on a number of issues including health, gender, economic empowerment, and environmental protection. I look forward to meeting my supervisor and visiting my site in the next couple weeks before permanently moving there in mid-October. It looks like my position will cover a number of duties mainly related to assisting in the implementation of RUGADA's projects. I'm very excited about my new job and the potential to work on so many issues I'm passionate about!

Other than that exciting news I've just been chugging away at my training. Language training is getting better by the day as my confidence in using it increases. Technical training is becoming more and more helpful as they are giving us some opportunities to practice what we've been learning. Our group is bonding really well and definitly saddened by the fact that in one month we will be scattered all over the country...thank goodness text-messaging is pretty cheap :)

Hope all is well!

Megan

Life as I see it

I love Africa in the morning.


Maybe it's the sunrise, the cocks crowing, or the fact that I finally get to use the latrine after holding it all night (I despise the chamber pot). More likely it's because mist sits amidst lush greenery creating an enchanted effect, I've consumed my morning roll and tea, and the town's children are too groggy to start-up their rythmic "bye muzungu (white person), bye muzungu, bye muzungu" chant from houses, store fronts, or anywhere else within thirty meters of my path to the training center. Instead, the twenty minute walk is a time to relax, reflect, and prepare for another long day of language, cross-cultural, and technical training.

I arrive at the training center at 8:00 each morning and partake in my language lessons for the first two hours. I have a fantastic instructor, Kabayo, and five fellow trainees. We're all progressing pretty well and are both excited and frustrated by our ability and inability to speak the language. Reaizing how important it is to speak to a person in her own language, however, keeps us working hard.

After our morning language session is tea time, then usually some cross-cultural, safety, or medical training. After lunch we return for technical training, specific to the health work we'll being doing here in Uganda. This sometimes involves a field trip to a local health NGO, a visit to a traditional healer or birth attendant, or a tour of the public health facilities. I return home around 5 or 6 to some evening tea, take a 'bucket bath' and eat dinner around 8 or 9. I then read, write a letter, and head to bed so I'm well rested for the next day. It's really quite a busy schedule!

It's time to head back to my house to do laundry (aka three buckets, lots of dirty clothes, and hands which are practically raw by the time I finish scrubbing). Hope you're all doing well!

Megan

Greetings from Luweero District!

I'm here, typing away at the one internet cafe in town- it's actually only been here since March, when the last Peace Corps group who came through initiated the expansion of internet services in this area. There is no electricity today, so a generator hums behind me as I type :)

I arrived in Uganda on Thursday the 9th with an incredible group of 20 other Peace Corps volunteers. We spent the first few days doing some orientation activities and getting acclimated to the climate, time zone, and food. On Sunday we arrived at our training site and met our host families, with whom we'll be living for the next 9 weeks. My host parents are very nice and I have two adorable little host brothers (5 & 7 yrs). This is the fourth time my family has hosted a Peace Corps trainee-- both an plus for me, as well as a testament to their hospitality and reputation.

We spend our days at the training center, learning language, culture, political history, medical information, geographic information, and technical information for our volunteer work. I'll be learning the language, Runyankore, which is spoken in the west and southwest parts of Uganda (this also means that I will most likely be placed in that region for my volunteer assignment!)

I don't have much more time to write, but I hope all is going well for you back home (wherever that may be!). I will continue to update the blog as time allows :)

The joy in returning...

In only six and a half weeks I'll be back in a country whose people stole my heart two years ago. Uganda, despite its economic, governmental, and health difficulties, is filled with color, dance, tradition, and millions of smiling faces. My hope is that in two years I can help to extend the lives of these wonderful people so that their smiles endure for years to come. Stick with me and find out what life is like in Uganda and how the Ugandan people come to effect my views on life and the world!