So we're at about the half way point - does this stuff always have to go so quickly? The days are slow - especially the work days, pumping out a hundred or so bricks a day really tires you out - but the weeks fly by.
Our schedule is pretty routine by now. Every day we work from about 9 - 4 at the work site. Some days we make it to town to use the internet or shop for the house, but transportation is a whole chaotic ordeal of bargaining down 'mzungu prices' and finding enough moda-bodas (motorcycle taxis - which are my new favorite thing, by the way) to get us all there. So, we usually save it for the weekends - in between our day trips.
Friday night we went to the Jewish community here in Mbale where just two days earlier Uganda's first Rabbi had been officially announced. There are about 500 practicing Jews in Mbale - a small number as a result of Idi Amin's persecuting 'reign' as President. The open-air synagogue is located on top of a hill, just above a store called "Shalom Shopping Center" where I bought a Coke before Shabbat (oh, new thing - I drink soda. It's the most refreshing thing in the world after a hot work day. That, and this natural juice stuff they call Splash and comes in Passion Fruit, Pina Colada, Mango, mmmmmmmmm. Mgy sweet tooth is OUT here - I think it's a result of a lack of fresh foods in our diet. More about food later.) The service included mostly traditional Jewish ceremonial practices (says my Jewish friends), with African music and a change of order (and adorable Ugandan boys running around with yarmulkes on their head).
Saturday we climbed Mount Wanali - a five-hour guided hike in Mbale. The mountain is stunning, and we can see it clearly from our compound and work site. People live all the way up the mountain, so the trail led right through people's backyards and at the very top, over 3,000 people grow crops and collect rainwater to survive, barely ever coming down. I saw about 20 - I don't know where the rest were hiding. Despite the fact that the mountain is one of Mbale's only tourist attractions, we saw no other hikers and the natives at the top started covering themselves a little more when we arrived. I'm assuming they usually just run around naked - it's like another world up there. Children living and playing on the edge of a mountain, women gracefully balancing baskets of goods on their head as they climb the path barefoot, as we pant and sweat.
The hike was great, and the guide stopped enough to let us breathe and talk about local traditions on the mountain, including sacrificial practices pre-circumcision ceremony. OH and how to kill a leopard - which apparently inhabit the area. In case you didn't know, here's the best way to kill a leopard:
1. Bring along your machete. That way, when the beast roars at you, you can grab his tongue and slice it off - automatically killing the leopard. (?)
2. Just in case you forgot to bring along your machete the day - ya know, just in case - there are a few things you can do. If you are weak - or a woman - lie on your back and allow the animal to tear at you until you bleed. Once it sees blood it will leave you alone and thing you are dead. If you are brave and man and strong - make a 'V' turn (because leopards apparently can only make 'U' turns), grab it's tail and spin as it spins, and scream for help until someone comes to help.
And that is how you kill a leopard. Good luck.
Saturday night we spent drinking the noun wine we've found here - yes, the convent is also a winery, and the only wine we have found in town. It's very sweet and comes in a variety of random flavors and recycled bottles. OH and we had alter wine that was given as a present to one of the members in our group. So we spent the night wondering if we were drinking the Blood of Christ or just having fun. Who knows. A bunch of our Ugandan friends joined us for it - along with a dinner of rice. lots of rice here. and then a few of us went to dance party up the hill. That was good and fun - it's nice to be so accepted by the community here - but after a while the amount of attention you get for being a mzungu gets old, and we went home.
So here we are on Sunday. There are so many stories that happen every day. I try to keep track of them in my journal, but I feel like every time I put my head down to write them down, I miss something.
Like the always-developing and ever-changing tale of Gifty. Gifty is a 3 year-old that lives next door with her mom, Joy, sister, Blessing, and aunt, Naomi (who is 9 - more like a sister). Joy's husband is a soldier and comes home 2-3 times a year. When we first got here, we didn't know if Gifty was a boy or girl because every time she saw us, she would run screaming back in the house, crying out of sheer terror at the sight of our skin color. It's been about a month now, and I'm happy to report that Gifty is our most frequented visitor. We often see her big eyes peeking through the lace curtains of our front door at breakfast. And when it's play time, she's a riot. She has so much attitude and such a little personality already. Sometimes I catch her making dinner for the family - yesterday she was cutting up eggplants - and when she saw one of us, she just said in a demanding tone, "Mzungu come." She refuses to learn our names, pops every bubble we blow at her, and when she doesn't want to do something she pretends to not understand English. I love her.
There are so many other little stories like Gifty - in the people, in the animals, in the earth. You can find pleasantries in everything here, if you just dig past the rest of it. Sometimes its hard to forget - or make others forget - that my skin is a different color, that my cultural, financial and spiritual background is completely different - but there are tiny moments that do occur when everyone forgets, and those have been my favorite so far.
13.7.08
6.7.08
I'm here!!!!!
I have been for two weeks now, but this is the first working computer I have come across! Ayyyyy where do I begin?
I am very happy. Haha, overall the past two weeks here have been eye-opening like no other experience I have ever had - even more so than I expected - in both good ways and - not bad, but uncomfortable. However, it's the uncomfortable situations that are making me feel so good about being here (visiting a tribal area where female mutilation is still practiced, travelling on a bumpy dirt road in a taxi with enough seats to fit 10 yet 25 are squeezed in there with chickens and children and the guy is filling the gas tank by putting gasoline into his mouth and spitting it into the car, making bricks - totally not my forte, etc. etc. etc.)
Our whole group is working together to keep eachother sane, safe, aware, helpful, open-minded and educated. We have all become so close so fast - as environments like this tend to encourage - and have eachother's best interest at heart (every morning at least one person shouts out "MALARIA PILLS!" for anyone that may have forgotten to take them...)
Here we are known as "mzungus" (moo-zoon-goos) - a non-derogatory word (?) for white people - and we can hear it being shouted from the hills as we pass through our village, especially from the mouths of children who are always soooo excited to see us. Some come running up to come shake our hands, some kneel as they do, while the others run in fear - tears streaming down their adorable faces. Of course, I'm constantly running around looking to hug them all and since it's about a 25% chance you'll get a cryer - I've since recieved the nickname, "mzungu monster". Someone has already taken the title from me with a triple-whammy (making three cry in a row) but I'm sure I'll grab it back some day, haha.
So our daily schedule is 8-5 building a volunteer house for FDNC - the organization we are working for here. The organization is amazing, the people are light-hearted and helpful. The site we work at is a vocational school compound, including a special needs community, a children's band that plays all over town, tailoring school, beauty school, and a comptuer science school. We're having a blast with all of them who are making us feel so welcome, and completely immersed as people - not just crazy mzungus (and they totally do think we're all crazy) haha.
This past weekend we went to Sipi Falls (which I thought was Sleepy Falls until we got there) and sat behind waterfalls, hiked up mountainsides, climbed into a bat cave (gross but awesome) and while I was sitting next to one waterfall I found myself in the middle of a rainbow!!! Full circle, streams of color surrounding me - ah, what a spiritual experience that was, and really hard to explain in words.
Ok time is running out but I will write soon. I really want to get into words how I feel about my true purpose being here but I am changing my mind about that every day. Maybe I'll save that for the last post.
OH and OF COURSE! The donations. OMYGOSH if you could only see the reactions from those soccer balls... I have never seen bigger, brighter smiles. I laugh as I walk the mile (uphill, cough cough) to work every day and I see one of the balls come bounding across a field. They've infiltrated the community and even though they seem simple material objects - those balls have helped to keep the people light-hearted despite the intense poverty and hardship that truly devestates this area. So thank you thank you thank you. You have brought smiles to some of the most precious faces I have ever seen.
And as for the school supplies - I am bringing them up next week. I decided the best use for them was to the Special Needs school because they literally have nothing. And unfortuantely, the special needs kids as a group have been rejected for years (not unlike the U.S.) and the people that are running it are having a hard time finding sufficient support. And these kids. wow. All kids come running and laughing - but this community comes leaping. They love people, singing, and talking with empowerment about conquering their disabilities which ranges from physical to mental and everything in between. I've learned a little sign language to be able to communicate with the three deaf girls (one I have not met, because she can't afford to get to school all the time - this is common everywhere).
In conclusion, thank you all for your support. This trip is pushing my comfort levels in all sorts of intense, necessary ways and I am happy as a clam in the sea (or a white girl in Uganda) haha.
Much love to all!
I am very happy. Haha, overall the past two weeks here have been eye-opening like no other experience I have ever had - even more so than I expected - in both good ways and - not bad, but uncomfortable. However, it's the uncomfortable situations that are making me feel so good about being here (visiting a tribal area where female mutilation is still practiced, travelling on a bumpy dirt road in a taxi with enough seats to fit 10 yet 25 are squeezed in there with chickens and children and the guy is filling the gas tank by putting gasoline into his mouth and spitting it into the car, making bricks - totally not my forte, etc. etc. etc.)
Our whole group is working together to keep eachother sane, safe, aware, helpful, open-minded and educated. We have all become so close so fast - as environments like this tend to encourage - and have eachother's best interest at heart (every morning at least one person shouts out "MALARIA PILLS!" for anyone that may have forgotten to take them...)
Here we are known as "mzungus" (moo-zoon-goos) - a non-derogatory word (?) for white people - and we can hear it being shouted from the hills as we pass through our village, especially from the mouths of children who are always soooo excited to see us. Some come running up to come shake our hands, some kneel as they do, while the others run in fear - tears streaming down their adorable faces. Of course, I'm constantly running around looking to hug them all and since it's about a 25% chance you'll get a cryer - I've since recieved the nickname, "mzungu monster". Someone has already taken the title from me with a triple-whammy (making three cry in a row) but I'm sure I'll grab it back some day, haha.
So our daily schedule is 8-5 building a volunteer house for FDNC - the organization we are working for here. The organization is amazing, the people are light-hearted and helpful. The site we work at is a vocational school compound, including a special needs community, a children's band that plays all over town, tailoring school, beauty school, and a comptuer science school. We're having a blast with all of them who are making us feel so welcome, and completely immersed as people - not just crazy mzungus (and they totally do think we're all crazy) haha.
This past weekend we went to Sipi Falls (which I thought was Sleepy Falls until we got there) and sat behind waterfalls, hiked up mountainsides, climbed into a bat cave (gross but awesome) and while I was sitting next to one waterfall I found myself in the middle of a rainbow!!! Full circle, streams of color surrounding me - ah, what a spiritual experience that was, and really hard to explain in words.
Ok time is running out but I will write soon. I really want to get into words how I feel about my true purpose being here but I am changing my mind about that every day. Maybe I'll save that for the last post.
OH and OF COURSE! The donations. OMYGOSH if you could only see the reactions from those soccer balls... I have never seen bigger, brighter smiles. I laugh as I walk the mile (uphill, cough cough) to work every day and I see one of the balls come bounding across a field. They've infiltrated the community and even though they seem simple material objects - those balls have helped to keep the people light-hearted despite the intense poverty and hardship that truly devestates this area. So thank you thank you thank you. You have brought smiles to some of the most precious faces I have ever seen.
And as for the school supplies - I am bringing them up next week. I decided the best use for them was to the Special Needs school because they literally have nothing. And unfortuantely, the special needs kids as a group have been rejected for years (not unlike the U.S.) and the people that are running it are having a hard time finding sufficient support. And these kids. wow. All kids come running and laughing - but this community comes leaping. They love people, singing, and talking with empowerment about conquering their disabilities which ranges from physical to mental and everything in between. I've learned a little sign language to be able to communicate with the three deaf girls (one I have not met, because she can't afford to get to school all the time - this is common everywhere).
In conclusion, thank you all for your support. This trip is pushing my comfort levels in all sorts of intense, necessary ways and I am happy as a clam in the sea (or a white girl in Uganda) haha.
Much love to all!
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