This last week in Katosi has been absolutely wonderful. It is when I started to see everything I have been working on for the past two months come together and actually produce something tangible; it is hard to describe how awesome that is.
Most importantly, I finished and printed the booklet for school sanitation clubs that Avery and I have been working on. We got the idea because we didn't have time to do all the projects we wanted to while we were here, especially with the St. john bosco primary school sanitation club that we helped to start. So we decided to leave instructions on how to do projects, like building school gardens, making tippy taps where students can wash their hands, and even for painting murals and doing solar water purification projects. Then we also decided to have sections on physical education and discussion topics like HIV/AIDS, and some tips for starting and expanding sanitation clubs. We also asked about four schools what would be helpful to include in the book, and what challenges they face as a health club so that we could try to include some solutions in the book! Then we decided to print it and leave a copy with St. John Bosco and also the 15 other primary schools that have been given rainwater tanks by Katosi women development trust. I was going to have to leave some of the books with people in Katosi to deliver for us, since some of the schools are really far away. But then we decided to hold a training on sanitation for all the schools to attend, and at the end I presented and gave everyone a copy of the book. It was incredibly awesome.
At the meeting we talked about how students can be agents for change in their communities, because they can take what they have learned from sanitation club to their homes and their families. They were a very active group of people to discuss sanitation/ community issues with, and I really learned a lot from what they had to say and even from their questions. I think that Avery and I will have to make a second edition of our book and update it with what they had to say!
This last week I also helped finish keyhole gardens at St. John Bosco and at a school called Kikubo. We couldn't plant seeds yet, because it is still the dry season, but the kids were still excited and proud to have worked so hard and gotten tangible results. And let me tell you, they did work hard. Building a garden where there are rocks and weeds and junk all over the place took a really long time, and it is hot. Not to mention the students pretty much have no water to drink. Actually I don't think they have any at all at St. John Bosco. They get porridge twice a day, but still. In fact one of the topics at the training we had was about water. When leader asked the teachers how many of their schools have enough drinking water (boiled or treated) they have for their students and none of the teachers raised their hands, I realized how lucky schools in the US are, and how ridiculous it is to complain about certain little things.
Anyway, I had promised to give shoes to a certain number of the third and fourth grade students at St. John Bosco that worked really hard in sanitation club. It was part of my intern project (Kicks for Katosi)that I would give the students a reward for the kids who helped build gardens, build tippy taps, and paint a mural. But then by the end of the summer I was really conflicted. There were 100 students in the club and they had all worked so hard (of course some more than others. but as teacher martin told me, "there are some lazy people in every country you go to"). But I did not have enough money to buy them all shoes; with the intern money I helped raise over the past semester, I only had enough for like 30 pairs. I did not want to give some students shoes and not give some students shoes. I had to make a decision though, with teacher martin of course. Martin proposed that I buy 15 pairs of shoes (for the 15 students he chose who worked the hardest) and that I buy a notebook and pen for everybody else, which they really need. So that is what I did! And I still have enough money to leave 15 extra pair of shoes with Heidi, the peace corps volunteer in Katosi, to give to 15 more students who participate in the club for next school term. Hopefully Kicks for Katosi will even keep going to the next and next terms, my dad has even offered to pay for more shoes in the future (thanks daddd, that means so much!!!). So we will see how things go, but I know leaving will not mean I am done with projects in Katosi!
So yesterday, I went to deliver the shoes/notebooks/etc at St. John Bosco. It was actually soooo sad, because I was late and the kids had gone home early! (I had been running around frantically doing so many things like Keep Katosi Clean, a trash-cleanup day with refreshments afterwords!!). Luckily, about half of the students were still around and saw me coming, so they brought their friends back to St. John Bosco. But even though I knew I could leave the rest of the shoes and presents there for Martin to give them monday, I still felt like I was letting them down. I started crying, because I wasn't going to get to say goodbye (I had been planning to leave Katosi the next day), and I had not really fulfilled my promise; the students probably went home thinking I was just lying about bringing them rewards for their hard work. I was literally sobbing like a baby. But then I had an idea! My flight is not until 4 oclock monday, so I am going to stay in Katosi for the weekend, go to school and say goodbye at 7:30 monday morning, and then peace out to the airport. I hope hope hope it works out, because I really really love that school and those kids. They have made my summer amazing more than anything else has.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
porch children, football, matooke
A lot of random things have happened over the past few weeks that I really don't want to forget, even though are very small and may not actually sound that exciting. But have been part of my wonderful experience, so I thought I would write about it!
My favorite thing about the past two weeks has been coloring with the kids in my neighborhood. Of course, all of the kids know who I am, since I am the funny "muzungu" that lives next door. So they started showing up on my porch every afternoon, and it is really hard to shooo them away even though I think Maama Gertrude doesn't like them hanging around too much. So one day I just brought them some things to do, since they literally have no toys to play with (although they are pretty innovative with coming up with games and making play cars from old jerry can bottles). Anyway, I have been bringing them some paper and crayons almost everyday for the past two weeks. At first they didn't know what to do with them; I don't think they are used to having resources like that. But after a few days, they got the hang of it and started drawing pictures of everything they could think of. They would draw a picture of like maybe a house or a pineapple, and then I would show them how to write the word. It was like a little primary school write on my porch and it was awesome! Except they always bring their baby brothers and sisters (since even though the kids are like five, they have to take care of their siblings);but the babies always pee and poop on the porch, and I have to clean it up!
I still love them though, they are sooo cute. If maama gertrude is on the porch and they are afraid she will yell at them, they just come to my window and whisper and then we hold our primary school classes through the window. They always say "Colleennnnaa, assist me with your paper!" or "Colleeennnaa, assist me with your biscweeeetts (biscuits)!" One time a kid just said "give me your paper," and the rest shouted at them because they said that was rude. And in you are wondering, they add an "a" at the end of my name, because every single word in Luganda ends in a vowel. It's so cute, like in class the students call me "madamuuu" instead of madam.
I have also been having fun because I have been watching and playing soccer! The towns play each other, and everyone comes to watch. Its pretty cool, they are pretty baller at soccer. Even the primary school I work at had a field day where all of the kids played soccer against the other schools. They were like middle school age, but they could probably have beated a high school team in the US. At the end of one of the games, some of my friends asked me if I play soccer. They didn't believe that a girl could be tough, so I went and took two penalty kicks in front of everyone and they were both AWESOME and they both went in. Everyone thought that was sooo funny! But then I actually played with them one day, and I did absolutely horribly. That's when I remembered that I hate soccer, and I hate being bad at certain sports. It makes me really mad since I think I am really competitive when it comes to beating people, especially guys.
I have also had fun hanging around with other people in my town, like my friend Dorothy. Her family has taken me in, and they are like my Katosi family. I have been eating dinner with them almost every night lately, and then we always talk about life. Dorothy wants to come to the united states to work, and I think she would be wonderful for that (her major is microfinance, how cool is that!!). Dorothy's brother Elijah has not gone to university yet, because their family cannot afford it. He has worked so hard for the past few years, and he is about to start his own business, which I admire so so much. He told me about his childhood dream too, to build a garden with a lot of flowers, fruit, and pretty trees (flowers are VERY uncommon in Uganda, so this made me happy!) He asked me what he should plant for me, and I said blue flowers and sweet potatoes! and I told him I would be checking to make sure they are there the next time I come to Uganda. Anyway, every night after dinner we have been watching my season of Fresh Prince that I brought. They absolutely LOVE it, and so do I. God, I love Fresh Prince.
I have also hung out with my friend peter and his family lately too (it has been lonely since Avery left!). One day I went to his house, and he had cooked me literally a feast of matooke (steamed bananas)and g-nut sauce. My favorite! I think i might have lost some weight, because LITERALLY all they eat here are bananas. Many different forms of bananas; regular ones, steamed ones, roasted ones, ones with sauce, ones in cake, etc etc. Anyway, Peter's mom got all dressed up and had a photographer come over to take our pictures. It was literally the cutest thing I have ever seen. Then Peter showed me his photo album, which was really cool. Except that after he pointed to pretty much every person, he said "oh, they have died." He said one of his friends died because a witch killed him with a spell. Apparently he was brought to the hospital, but the doctors couldn't find what was wrong with him, and then he died. I told peter that people in the US would not believe that spell had killed him, but I he is a university educated man, and he still truly believes it. I guess you never know, it could have happened! But you should have seen the look on his face when I told him that aliens and vampires do not really exist, that they are just in movies. He was so surprised and sort of mad because he said that americans had been lying to him and that it was neocolonialism. I told him that some people do actually believe in aliens, but that mostly movies were just for fun.
All of this has been so much fun! But it has also been sad, because I have known that I have to leave sooo soon! I was trying to think of how I can describe Katosi to people once I get home, but I don't know if that will really be possible! I guess the main area of the village is sort of like an African version of Franklin street, where everyone walks and there are so many shops (most of which sell the exact same things, haha) and people just going about their business (also children under one years old crawling around anywhere they want)! But the dirt-road franklin street is also mixed with a farm and a jungle. Like there are random cows, pigs, and chickens wandering around the street, even without someone herding them. The cows hang out on the street corner where the two roads intersect, just chilling all day and then apparently finding their way home at night. weird. Then if you take ten steps off of the main road, you are in the middle of the hilly grassland/jungle with monkeys and such. But there are still houses and people scattered everywhere. Its strange, but I love it; it has really become my home. It took awhile to get there; looking back, the first few weeks were harder than I had thought at the time. But I really know how much I am going to miss it.
My favorite thing about the past two weeks has been coloring with the kids in my neighborhood. Of course, all of the kids know who I am, since I am the funny "muzungu" that lives next door. So they started showing up on my porch every afternoon, and it is really hard to shooo them away even though I think Maama Gertrude doesn't like them hanging around too much. So one day I just brought them some things to do, since they literally have no toys to play with (although they are pretty innovative with coming up with games and making play cars from old jerry can bottles). Anyway, I have been bringing them some paper and crayons almost everyday for the past two weeks. At first they didn't know what to do with them; I don't think they are used to having resources like that. But after a few days, they got the hang of it and started drawing pictures of everything they could think of. They would draw a picture of like maybe a house or a pineapple, and then I would show them how to write the word. It was like a little primary school write on my porch and it was awesome! Except they always bring their baby brothers and sisters (since even though the kids are like five, they have to take care of their siblings);but the babies always pee and poop on the porch, and I have to clean it up!
I still love them though, they are sooo cute. If maama gertrude is on the porch and they are afraid she will yell at them, they just come to my window and whisper and then we hold our primary school classes through the window. They always say "Colleennnnaa, assist me with your paper!" or "Colleeennnaa, assist me with your biscweeeetts (biscuits)!" One time a kid just said "give me your paper," and the rest shouted at them because they said that was rude. And in you are wondering, they add an "a" at the end of my name, because every single word in Luganda ends in a vowel. It's so cute, like in class the students call me "madamuuu" instead of madam.
I have also been having fun because I have been watching and playing soccer! The towns play each other, and everyone comes to watch. Its pretty cool, they are pretty baller at soccer. Even the primary school I work at had a field day where all of the kids played soccer against the other schools. They were like middle school age, but they could probably have beated a high school team in the US. At the end of one of the games, some of my friends asked me if I play soccer. They didn't believe that a girl could be tough, so I went and took two penalty kicks in front of everyone and they were both AWESOME and they both went in. Everyone thought that was sooo funny! But then I actually played with them one day, and I did absolutely horribly. That's when I remembered that I hate soccer, and I hate being bad at certain sports. It makes me really mad since I think I am really competitive when it comes to beating people, especially guys.
I have also had fun hanging around with other people in my town, like my friend Dorothy. Her family has taken me in, and they are like my Katosi family. I have been eating dinner with them almost every night lately, and then we always talk about life. Dorothy wants to come to the united states to work, and I think she would be wonderful for that (her major is microfinance, how cool is that!!). Dorothy's brother Elijah has not gone to university yet, because their family cannot afford it. He has worked so hard for the past few years, and he is about to start his own business, which I admire so so much. He told me about his childhood dream too, to build a garden with a lot of flowers, fruit, and pretty trees (flowers are VERY uncommon in Uganda, so this made me happy!) He asked me what he should plant for me, and I said blue flowers and sweet potatoes! and I told him I would be checking to make sure they are there the next time I come to Uganda. Anyway, every night after dinner we have been watching my season of Fresh Prince that I brought. They absolutely LOVE it, and so do I. God, I love Fresh Prince.
I have also hung out with my friend peter and his family lately too (it has been lonely since Avery left!). One day I went to his house, and he had cooked me literally a feast of matooke (steamed bananas)and g-nut sauce. My favorite! I think i might have lost some weight, because LITERALLY all they eat here are bananas. Many different forms of bananas; regular ones, steamed ones, roasted ones, ones with sauce, ones in cake, etc etc. Anyway, Peter's mom got all dressed up and had a photographer come over to take our pictures. It was literally the cutest thing I have ever seen. Then Peter showed me his photo album, which was really cool. Except that after he pointed to pretty much every person, he said "oh, they have died." He said one of his friends died because a witch killed him with a spell. Apparently he was brought to the hospital, but the doctors couldn't find what was wrong with him, and then he died. I told peter that people in the US would not believe that spell had killed him, but I he is a university educated man, and he still truly believes it. I guess you never know, it could have happened! But you should have seen the look on his face when I told him that aliens and vampires do not really exist, that they are just in movies. He was so surprised and sort of mad because he said that americans had been lying to him and that it was neocolonialism. I told him that some people do actually believe in aliens, but that mostly movies were just for fun.
All of this has been so much fun! But it has also been sad, because I have known that I have to leave sooo soon! I was trying to think of how I can describe Katosi to people once I get home, but I don't know if that will really be possible! I guess the main area of the village is sort of like an African version of Franklin street, where everyone walks and there are so many shops (most of which sell the exact same things, haha) and people just going about their business (also children under one years old crawling around anywhere they want)! But the dirt-road franklin street is also mixed with a farm and a jungle. Like there are random cows, pigs, and chickens wandering around the street, even without someone herding them. The cows hang out on the street corner where the two roads intersect, just chilling all day and then apparently finding their way home at night. weird. Then if you take ten steps off of the main road, you are in the middle of the hilly grassland/jungle with monkeys and such. But there are still houses and people scattered everywhere. Its strange, but I love it; it has really become my home. It took awhile to get there; looking back, the first few weeks were harder than I had thought at the time. But I really know how much I am going to miss it.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
bombings
Wow, there is soooo much to write about, I don’t even know where to start. But I guess I will start with the most important thing, and probably what most people are wondering about most: the terrorist attacks.
I honestly probably know less about what exactly happened than people in the United States do, and I feel a bit too far removed from the whole thing to act like I am an expert on it. In fact, my sister was the first person to tell me that something happened; I was in Katosi at the time (thanks Lauren!!). After she text messaged me that the New York Times said there was a bombing in Kampala, Avery and I went outside to ask Maama Gertrude if it was true. Maama Gertrude looked at me funny, then non-chalantly said “oh yes, there were bombs. People died” And then she turned and walked away, and Avery and I were like WHAT THE HECK!!?
I know that al-Shabaab, a group from Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attacks; the leader even said whatever makes Ugandans cry makes him happy. Uganda is one of the African Union countries (along with Burundi) that has sent troops to Somalia to try to fix the utter anarchy that has occurred there. Al-Shabaab (which apparently has links to al-qaeda) is clearly opposed to that; they basically “declared war” on Uganda. Three bombs went off, two at a rugby stadium (where I had actually been thinking about watching world cup finals) and one at an Ethiopian restaurant. Another one was supposed to go off at a club, but apparently it didn’t work. They found a bag with a bunch of bomb vests there a few days after the attacks.
I have been trying to pay attention to get a sense of how people are feeling about the attacks. It seems like people in Kampala are scared, and people in Katosi are not. I have not been to Kampala since the bombings, but people I have talked to said there is a lot of uncertainty and everyone is nervous. People in Katosi are sad that such a thing happened, that innocent people died. But even just a few days after the bombing, people stopped talking about it here. I guess the sad truth is that things like that happen here, whether it is from political violence, rebel attacks, or even disease. I mean, I guess it just happens everywhere. But it shouldn’t be like that; it makes me mad.
I’m mad because it is cutting my summer short. I am mad because my parents had to pay a lot of money to change my plane ticket. But mostly I am mad that so many people died; so many people that just wanted to enjoy the world cup finals. The newspapers showed the stadium after the attacks. There were people walking around wearing “Africa United” t-shirts and carrying vuvuzelas, wondering what to do. There were dead people, still sitting in plastic chairs with beers in between their knees, with blood all over there chests (newspapers here like to show pictures of dead people, for some reason). If there was no blood, they would have looked like they were still watching the game. It was nauseating. Why did they have to die? They were just trying to have fun! They were just trying to have fun.
And now people in Uganda, especially in Kampala, have to live in fear. The day after the bombs, apparently hardly anyone left their homes. Then almost every day the next week, the news would talk about how there was a bomb scare, where people thought they saw a bomb every time they saw something shiny (like in an ice cream container). There are so many crowded places where something else could happen, and it is scary.
Anyway, the whole internship kind of went up in the air for a few days, because everyone in my group from UNC was trying to figure out what to do. Five people have left Uganda already, including Avery (the girl who was in Katosi with me)! Her parents called last Wednesday, and told her she had to leave on Friday. So now I am alone in Katosi. I feel totally safe though. If anything happened here, I would be floored. My parents want me to come home early too, since everyone else is. I don’t want to leave, because I love it here and I really feel like it is my home. But I guess I don’t want to be here alone for too long, in case something crazy happens. So I am coming home early, at the end of July. Come visit me!!!
Love colleen
I honestly probably know less about what exactly happened than people in the United States do, and I feel a bit too far removed from the whole thing to act like I am an expert on it. In fact, my sister was the first person to tell me that something happened; I was in Katosi at the time (thanks Lauren!!). After she text messaged me that the New York Times said there was a bombing in Kampala, Avery and I went outside to ask Maama Gertrude if it was true. Maama Gertrude looked at me funny, then non-chalantly said “oh yes, there were bombs. People died” And then she turned and walked away, and Avery and I were like WHAT THE HECK!!?
I know that al-Shabaab, a group from Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attacks; the leader even said whatever makes Ugandans cry makes him happy. Uganda is one of the African Union countries (along with Burundi) that has sent troops to Somalia to try to fix the utter anarchy that has occurred there. Al-Shabaab (which apparently has links to al-qaeda) is clearly opposed to that; they basically “declared war” on Uganda. Three bombs went off, two at a rugby stadium (where I had actually been thinking about watching world cup finals) and one at an Ethiopian restaurant. Another one was supposed to go off at a club, but apparently it didn’t work. They found a bag with a bunch of bomb vests there a few days after the attacks.
I have been trying to pay attention to get a sense of how people are feeling about the attacks. It seems like people in Kampala are scared, and people in Katosi are not. I have not been to Kampala since the bombings, but people I have talked to said there is a lot of uncertainty and everyone is nervous. People in Katosi are sad that such a thing happened, that innocent people died. But even just a few days after the bombing, people stopped talking about it here. I guess the sad truth is that things like that happen here, whether it is from political violence, rebel attacks, or even disease. I mean, I guess it just happens everywhere. But it shouldn’t be like that; it makes me mad.
I’m mad because it is cutting my summer short. I am mad because my parents had to pay a lot of money to change my plane ticket. But mostly I am mad that so many people died; so many people that just wanted to enjoy the world cup finals. The newspapers showed the stadium after the attacks. There were people walking around wearing “Africa United” t-shirts and carrying vuvuzelas, wondering what to do. There were dead people, still sitting in plastic chairs with beers in between their knees, with blood all over there chests (newspapers here like to show pictures of dead people, for some reason). If there was no blood, they would have looked like they were still watching the game. It was nauseating. Why did they have to die? They were just trying to have fun! They were just trying to have fun.
And now people in Uganda, especially in Kampala, have to live in fear. The day after the bombs, apparently hardly anyone left their homes. Then almost every day the next week, the news would talk about how there was a bomb scare, where people thought they saw a bomb every time they saw something shiny (like in an ice cream container). There are so many crowded places where something else could happen, and it is scary.
Anyway, the whole internship kind of went up in the air for a few days, because everyone in my group from UNC was trying to figure out what to do. Five people have left Uganda already, including Avery (the girl who was in Katosi with me)! Her parents called last Wednesday, and told her she had to leave on Friday. So now I am alone in Katosi. I feel totally safe though. If anything happened here, I would be floored. My parents want me to come home early too, since everyone else is. I don’t want to leave, because I love it here and I really feel like it is my home. But I guess I don’t want to be here alone for too long, in case something crazy happens. So I am coming home early, at the end of July. Come visit me!!!
Love colleen
Friday, July 9, 2010
World Cup, MP’s, fireworks, and thieves
World Cup, MP’s, fireworks, and thieves
Last weekend was a great weekend! I went to Kampala, not really knowing what I was going to do. Some the other interns were going to Kampala so that they could celebrate fourth of July at the US embassy, but I thought I would just go and see where the wind took me! So I called Margaret, the Katosi Women Organization’s coordinator, and asked her if I could stay at her house. Then I packed my bags and headed into the city!
The most awesome, exciting, frustrating, and sad part of the weekend was the Ghana world cup game. I wanted Ghana to win, even though Uruguay is cool too. It just would have meant so much for Africa as a continent and as a group of people to have a team go to the semi-finals for the first time in history. Even though Ghana lost, Africa should still be proud; they fought so hard and played with such determination that even people cheering against Ghana had to admire it. The team just sort of got unlucky. To me, the game sort of parallels life in Africa as a whole. Most people work so hard to fight through such hard circumstances like poverty and violence, but history has not always been on their side. Yet at the same time, Ghana’s soccer team proved they mean something and should not be disregarded by anyone; they had a lot to contribute to the world cup, just like the African continent has a lot to contribute to the world. I just hope we can all help change Africa’s future.
So anyway, even though the Ghana game made me sad, it was still really fun to watch (I watched with Margaret, her family, and the two other interns in the Kampala office. We were all screaming and jumping up and down most of the time!!). That night, Margaret invited us to a celebration the following day. We were excited to go to another traditional Ugandan ceremony, and even more excited (and surprised) when we found out it was a ceremony for Margaret’s husband, who is a member of parliament!! What…WHAT??! We have been working at Katosi Women Trust for six weeks, and I have spent numerous days and weekends with Margaret and her family; but I never knew her husband was in parliament! CRAZY! But at the same time, it sort of explains a lot. Margaret is awesome and she definitely works really really hard, but she is also sort of a diva…a pretty wealthy one too. Because Margaret’s husband is in parliament, though all of the people that voted for him expect him to give them money out of his salary for things that they need. The MP’s don’t get much money from the government to do projects, so I guess people just expect everything they need to come from the MP’s themselves! Margaret says people line up at their home, asking for everything from medicine to money to fix their motorcycles. I guess politics are complicated everywhere!
So the celebration itself was pretty cool! It seemed like a combination of John (Margaret husband) campaigning for the next elections and the community thanking him for what he has done. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and hugging. Of course, it was all in Luganda but it was still fun! John sort of has an aura like what I imagine Obama to have. I also made a friend, I think. A four-year old girl, in the middle of the ceremony, bolted across the “stage” and right into my lap. Then she sat there for the rest of the ceremony, counting the beauty marks on my arms. It was so funny!
The way home from the ceremony was almost as good as the ceremony itself. First, we stopped at the equator! There was a little monument, and we took lots of pictures. It was really cool to stand in two hemispheres at once. Have you ever done that???? Then about half-hour outside Kampala, there was the most gigantic traffic jam I have ever seen. And it just kept getting worse, because people behind us kept driving past us on the side of the road (which made Margaret SO mad, haha), so we pretty much were in a dead stop for god knows how many hours. Eventually, we got out and walked next to the car, which was actually really fun. I probably could have gone shopping if I wanted to, but soon it got dark! So Cathy, Margaret’s daughter, and I listened to music on my ipod. I let her choose the songs, and it was cool seeing what kind of music she liked. We have a similar taste in music, so when we got home she told me she would put some really “hip” music on my ipod for me. I was expecting a few awesome Ugandan songs, but when I looked at my ipod, Cathy had put on 135 songs, 134 of which were American. Hahahah!
The rest of the weekend was eventful too, although nothing enormous happened. Margaret thought the noise from the fireworks at the US embassy on fourth of July were gunshots, which I actually don’t blame her for. That is what they sounded like! I had never thought of the fact that our firework celebrations could evoke a totally different feeling (like fear) among other people, especially that has a huge potential to face violence.
Another event of last weekend has to do with thieves! Scarlet, another intern, and I were walking down the really busy park of Kampala to catch a bus back to Katosi. The street was so crowded with cars, and the sidewalk was so crowded with people that we were all bumping into each other and it was kind of making me dizzy. At one point, I looked behind me because I thought I lost Scarlet. She was still right behind me, but I saw her spin in a circle, grab someone’s wrist, and yell “give it back!!” Then this random guy that had been walking next to us looked mad and then handed her something he had stolen out of her backpack. Normally, the whole thing would make me mad, but it was just so awesome how Scarlet reacted. She is this tiny, soft-spoken Chinese girl, but she totally used her kung-fu assertiveness to scare away a pick-pocketer. It was so awesome!
That is pretty much it about interesting events! (oh yeah, except when I walking around in Katosi and I was cerenated by a parade of people that were dancing and singing. They pretty much surrounded me, so I danced with them for a bit and everyone thought it was funny. Then later I found out it was a rite of passage circumcision ceremony, dang!) These last few weeks in Katosi are going to be busy. I have gardens to plant, murals to paint, and books to write! (Avery and I are making booklets with ideas and instructions for Sanitation Club projects for schools in Katosi. They other day, we went around to three schools and met with teachers asking them what sort of sanitation projects they needed and what would be useful for their schools, so we can include that in the book). And I love teaching; it is just so awesome watching students learn right before your eyes.
I hope I am making a difference in Katosi, even if it is a really small one.
Last weekend was a great weekend! I went to Kampala, not really knowing what I was going to do. Some the other interns were going to Kampala so that they could celebrate fourth of July at the US embassy, but I thought I would just go and see where the wind took me! So I called Margaret, the Katosi Women Organization’s coordinator, and asked her if I could stay at her house. Then I packed my bags and headed into the city!
The most awesome, exciting, frustrating, and sad part of the weekend was the Ghana world cup game. I wanted Ghana to win, even though Uruguay is cool too. It just would have meant so much for Africa as a continent and as a group of people to have a team go to the semi-finals for the first time in history. Even though Ghana lost, Africa should still be proud; they fought so hard and played with such determination that even people cheering against Ghana had to admire it. The team just sort of got unlucky. To me, the game sort of parallels life in Africa as a whole. Most people work so hard to fight through such hard circumstances like poverty and violence, but history has not always been on their side. Yet at the same time, Ghana’s soccer team proved they mean something and should not be disregarded by anyone; they had a lot to contribute to the world cup, just like the African continent has a lot to contribute to the world. I just hope we can all help change Africa’s future.
So anyway, even though the Ghana game made me sad, it was still really fun to watch (I watched with Margaret, her family, and the two other interns in the Kampala office. We were all screaming and jumping up and down most of the time!!). That night, Margaret invited us to a celebration the following day. We were excited to go to another traditional Ugandan ceremony, and even more excited (and surprised) when we found out it was a ceremony for Margaret’s husband, who is a member of parliament!! What…WHAT??! We have been working at Katosi Women Trust for six weeks, and I have spent numerous days and weekends with Margaret and her family; but I never knew her husband was in parliament! CRAZY! But at the same time, it sort of explains a lot. Margaret is awesome and she definitely works really really hard, but she is also sort of a diva…a pretty wealthy one too. Because Margaret’s husband is in parliament, though all of the people that voted for him expect him to give them money out of his salary for things that they need. The MP’s don’t get much money from the government to do projects, so I guess people just expect everything they need to come from the MP’s themselves! Margaret says people line up at their home, asking for everything from medicine to money to fix their motorcycles. I guess politics are complicated everywhere!
So the celebration itself was pretty cool! It seemed like a combination of John (Margaret husband) campaigning for the next elections and the community thanking him for what he has done. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and hugging. Of course, it was all in Luganda but it was still fun! John sort of has an aura like what I imagine Obama to have. I also made a friend, I think. A four-year old girl, in the middle of the ceremony, bolted across the “stage” and right into my lap. Then she sat there for the rest of the ceremony, counting the beauty marks on my arms. It was so funny!
The way home from the ceremony was almost as good as the ceremony itself. First, we stopped at the equator! There was a little monument, and we took lots of pictures. It was really cool to stand in two hemispheres at once. Have you ever done that???? Then about half-hour outside Kampala, there was the most gigantic traffic jam I have ever seen. And it just kept getting worse, because people behind us kept driving past us on the side of the road (which made Margaret SO mad, haha), so we pretty much were in a dead stop for god knows how many hours. Eventually, we got out and walked next to the car, which was actually really fun. I probably could have gone shopping if I wanted to, but soon it got dark! So Cathy, Margaret’s daughter, and I listened to music on my ipod. I let her choose the songs, and it was cool seeing what kind of music she liked. We have a similar taste in music, so when we got home she told me she would put some really “hip” music on my ipod for me. I was expecting a few awesome Ugandan songs, but when I looked at my ipod, Cathy had put on 135 songs, 134 of which were American. Hahahah!
The rest of the weekend was eventful too, although nothing enormous happened. Margaret thought the noise from the fireworks at the US embassy on fourth of July were gunshots, which I actually don’t blame her for. That is what they sounded like! I had never thought of the fact that our firework celebrations could evoke a totally different feeling (like fear) among other people, especially that has a huge potential to face violence.
Another event of last weekend has to do with thieves! Scarlet, another intern, and I were walking down the really busy park of Kampala to catch a bus back to Katosi. The street was so crowded with cars, and the sidewalk was so crowded with people that we were all bumping into each other and it was kind of making me dizzy. At one point, I looked behind me because I thought I lost Scarlet. She was still right behind me, but I saw her spin in a circle, grab someone’s wrist, and yell “give it back!!” Then this random guy that had been walking next to us looked mad and then handed her something he had stolen out of her backpack. Normally, the whole thing would make me mad, but it was just so awesome how Scarlet reacted. She is this tiny, soft-spoken Chinese girl, but she totally used her kung-fu assertiveness to scare away a pick-pocketer. It was so awesome!
That is pretty much it about interesting events! (oh yeah, except when I walking around in Katosi and I was cerenated by a parade of people that were dancing and singing. They pretty much surrounded me, so I danced with them for a bit and everyone thought it was funny. Then later I found out it was a rite of passage circumcision ceremony, dang!) These last few weeks in Katosi are going to be busy. I have gardens to plant, murals to paint, and books to write! (Avery and I are making booklets with ideas and instructions for Sanitation Club projects for schools in Katosi. They other day, we went around to three schools and met with teachers asking them what sort of sanitation projects they needed and what would be useful for their schools, so we can include that in the book). And I love teaching; it is just so awesome watching students learn right before your eyes.
I hope I am making a difference in Katosi, even if it is a really small one.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
A vist with Kevin
A few days ago, Avery and I went to visit one of the Ugandan friends we met, Kevin, who lives in the village next to Katosi with his mom and his 18 siblings! Kevins's mom had 18 children with two different men, yet neither one of the men has stayed around the home (Kevin's dad actually died because he was shot by the police in a land dispute. Kevin still has such a good atitude, and he smiles all the time no matter what goes wrong. I really admire him.) Marriage here is actually quite interesting, and I honestly dont really get how it works. I honestly have seen like one family that has two parents living together. I think the men often just "marry" women, have kids and then move on to another woman leaving the first wife alone to raise their children. And that is pretty much the best case scenario. Margaret, the Katosi organization's director, told me that she was proud that her father only had one wife at a time, even though he had many wives over his lifetime. I guess that is better than having many wives at once, but i still don't think it is fair to the women!!
Anyway, Avery and I had a long conversation with Kevin about life and politics in Uganda, and it was really quite interesting. We talked about Mussevini and the elections that are coming up next summer. Kevin, as well as every single other Ugandan I have talked to, are worried and frankly almost terrified about election time. Although Kevin recognized that Mussevini has done a lot of good things for Uganda, he said the younger generation doesn't really like him that much because he has been in power for too long. But he did say the older Ugandans, even if they may not like Mussevini, will vote for him because they want to avoid war. Mussevini has apparently said that he came to power through a gun, and that is the only way he will leave power. Even the Ugandans are going to get the heck out of Kampala during election time.
Then I started to wonder what people here think about Idi Amin. It seems like Amin's dictatorship is hardly in the public memory at all, at least not openly. Even though Amin killed pretty much anyone that threatened his power, it seems like the violence really depended on who you were and what region of Uganda you lived in. I guess people in Southern Uganda, where I am now, were not as badly affected during Amin. Raymond, my homestay brother, was reading my Uganda guidebook one day, which has a little history about the country at the beginning. I asked him if the history was interesting to read, and he told me that he was surprised because he had no idea Amin killed so many people. Raymond also said that Amin is not really in the public memory because Ugandans are good at forgetting. Would that be a good thing?
Another political issue that I have found interesting is Uganda's relationship with Sudan. I read the Ugandan newspaper almost everyday, and I LOVE it because it is full of all of the interesting things that only take up a tiny section of newspapers in the US. Some of Uganda's government ministers wrote to the newspaper about how the west is only trying to villify Sudan by issuing arrest warrants for president Al-bashir, like the one by the ICC, in order to "pave the way for the ultimate usupation of Sudan's vast and rich resources." I would have to disagree with that! And it is quite interesting because the African Union is set to meet in Kampala this month. At first Mussevini told Al-bashir he could not come (since Uganda is a member of the ICC), but then he had to re-invite Al-bashir since Uganda is also a member of the african Union which voted to ignore the ICC's arrest warrant. I wonder what is going to happen!!
Anyway, Avery and I had a long conversation with Kevin about life and politics in Uganda, and it was really quite interesting. We talked about Mussevini and the elections that are coming up next summer. Kevin, as well as every single other Ugandan I have talked to, are worried and frankly almost terrified about election time. Although Kevin recognized that Mussevini has done a lot of good things for Uganda, he said the younger generation doesn't really like him that much because he has been in power for too long. But he did say the older Ugandans, even if they may not like Mussevini, will vote for him because they want to avoid war. Mussevini has apparently said that he came to power through a gun, and that is the only way he will leave power. Even the Ugandans are going to get the heck out of Kampala during election time.
Then I started to wonder what people here think about Idi Amin. It seems like Amin's dictatorship is hardly in the public memory at all, at least not openly. Even though Amin killed pretty much anyone that threatened his power, it seems like the violence really depended on who you were and what region of Uganda you lived in. I guess people in Southern Uganda, where I am now, were not as badly affected during Amin. Raymond, my homestay brother, was reading my Uganda guidebook one day, which has a little history about the country at the beginning. I asked him if the history was interesting to read, and he told me that he was surprised because he had no idea Amin killed so many people. Raymond also said that Amin is not really in the public memory because Ugandans are good at forgetting. Would that be a good thing?
Another political issue that I have found interesting is Uganda's relationship with Sudan. I read the Ugandan newspaper almost everyday, and I LOVE it because it is full of all of the interesting things that only take up a tiny section of newspapers in the US. Some of Uganda's government ministers wrote to the newspaper about how the west is only trying to villify Sudan by issuing arrest warrants for president Al-bashir, like the one by the ICC, in order to "pave the way for the ultimate usupation of Sudan's vast and rich resources." I would have to disagree with that! And it is quite interesting because the African Union is set to meet in Kampala this month. At first Mussevini told Al-bashir he could not come (since Uganda is a member of the ICC), but then he had to re-invite Al-bashir since Uganda is also a member of the african Union which voted to ignore the ICC's arrest warrant. I wonder what is going to happen!!
Tippy Taps, stars, and a rhino named obama
Last week was one of the best weeks in Uganda so far! Avery and I helped start a sanitation and health club at the school we have been teaching at, St. John Bosco. Most of the schools in Uganda have Sanitation Clubs, but St. John Bosco is a school for orphans, and they don't have much extra money to dedicate to clubs and things like that, even though sanitation is so important!
Anyway, so we asked the P4 (fourth grade) teacher if he thought a sanitation club would be a good idea, and if he did, if he would be willing to be the lead teacher of the club. He agreed! But first we had to see if the students were interested, which they were (about 75 out of 80 kids in the 3rd and 4th grade wanted to join!), and then we had to get the approval from the headmaster and the elder of the school since we don't want to be imposing anything on the school. The headmaster was really open to the idea, but the elder was a little worried that we would be taking away too much classtime from the students (which is definitely understandable!). But we compromised so that we take a little class time each week, and a little of their break time each week for anyone that wants to to meet for sanitation club!
Our first project was to build tippy taps, which are really cool contraption things that are an easy and clean way for kids to wash their hands (it is basically a can of water hanging from a structure of sticks, attached to a string and piece of wood that act like a pedal). St. John Bosco only had one bucket of dirty water for over 300 students to wash their hands before our tippy tap project started. Now they have five clean places to wash their hands! First, we demonstrated how to build a tippy tap and everyone watched quietly and attentively while Teacher Martin translated for us. Then we divided the students into groups with each of the four interns as the leaders (it was a little chaotic at first, since there were like 80 kids!). We sent them to collect sticks, dig holes in the ground so the sticks could stand up, and tie string to the water can to make a pedal. It ended up taking only about 30 minutes to build four tippy taps!
The students probably never really needed our help in the first place; they just needed some guidance and resources. Everyone, even kids, are so resourceful here and they can pretty much figure out how to do anything they need to do (one group even invented a drainage system for the extra water, and the boys used the leftover sticks to builds their own soccer goals!). Everyone seemed really excited to participate, it was one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. It helped that we gave the students some incentives, like for my intern project called Kicks for Katosi I am going to give out shoes to the students who participate most actively in Sanitation Club. I really like my shoe idea, especially because last year the interns gave kids shoes based on their grades in school (eek!!). But I am also a bit worried about having to decide who to give shoes to! Teacher Martin said he would pay attention to who was participating and tell me who to give shoes to, and I plan on leaving some shoes so that next term when I am gone the students that work hard can still get shoes. still though, i dont think i can give shoes to just a few kids, i wish i had enough money to buy 80 pairs of shoes!! I am applying for a grant from an American youth organization that gives out $500 every week, but if I dont get it, i am going to have to figure something else out. Any ideas???
Anyway, I thought the Tippy Taps were really successful! By the end of the day, everyone was using them because the big kids had taught the little kids how to use them too! Now perhaps the kids will go home and build Tippy Taps for their families and communities to use! This week for sanitation club, we are going to start school gardens so that students can grow their own food and eat it for lunch! The week after that, we are going to paint murals about the importance of health and sanitation. At the end of the summer, Avery and I are going to type up a booklet with instructions for a lot of sanitation projects and donate them to as many schools as possible in Katosi. I hope it goes well!
That night after the tippy taps, Lauren, Avery and I celebrated by looking at the stars! The stars are seriously SO beautiful in Katosi, I honestly felt like I was at the Morehead Planetarium. We could see the southern cross, which is apparently like the big dipper of the southern hemisphere (even though we are not quite in the southern hemisphere..?), and we could even see the bands of the milkyway! Um, and this is even cooler...we could see satellites rotating around the earth! The look basically like stars, but they are just moving slowly and steadily across the sky. It was a pretty baller night!
Oh yeah, and last weekend I went on a safari in Murchison Falls National Parks. Everything was absolutely awesome, aside from the tsetse flies that were biting us (they really really hurt!). We saw waterfalls and a lot of really cool animals like hippos, giraffes, elephants, and leopards! Then we went rhino tracking, where we had to walk through the grassland/jungle and search for two rhinos, one of which was named obama! The baby rhino we saw was named obama because his rhino mother was from Animal Kingdom/Disneyworld in America and his rhino father was from kenya. Just like the president obama's mom was from the US and dad was from Kenya! I wonder if Obama know he has a kick-ass rhino in Uganda named after him...?!
Anyway, so we asked the P4 (fourth grade) teacher if he thought a sanitation club would be a good idea, and if he did, if he would be willing to be the lead teacher of the club. He agreed! But first we had to see if the students were interested, which they were (about 75 out of 80 kids in the 3rd and 4th grade wanted to join!), and then we had to get the approval from the headmaster and the elder of the school since we don't want to be imposing anything on the school. The headmaster was really open to the idea, but the elder was a little worried that we would be taking away too much classtime from the students (which is definitely understandable!). But we compromised so that we take a little class time each week, and a little of their break time each week for anyone that wants to to meet for sanitation club!
Our first project was to build tippy taps, which are really cool contraption things that are an easy and clean way for kids to wash their hands (it is basically a can of water hanging from a structure of sticks, attached to a string and piece of wood that act like a pedal). St. John Bosco only had one bucket of dirty water for over 300 students to wash their hands before our tippy tap project started. Now they have five clean places to wash their hands! First, we demonstrated how to build a tippy tap and everyone watched quietly and attentively while Teacher Martin translated for us. Then we divided the students into groups with each of the four interns as the leaders (it was a little chaotic at first, since there were like 80 kids!). We sent them to collect sticks, dig holes in the ground so the sticks could stand up, and tie string to the water can to make a pedal. It ended up taking only about 30 minutes to build four tippy taps!
The students probably never really needed our help in the first place; they just needed some guidance and resources. Everyone, even kids, are so resourceful here and they can pretty much figure out how to do anything they need to do (one group even invented a drainage system for the extra water, and the boys used the leftover sticks to builds their own soccer goals!). Everyone seemed really excited to participate, it was one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. It helped that we gave the students some incentives, like for my intern project called Kicks for Katosi I am going to give out shoes to the students who participate most actively in Sanitation Club. I really like my shoe idea, especially because last year the interns gave kids shoes based on their grades in school (eek!!). But I am also a bit worried about having to decide who to give shoes to! Teacher Martin said he would pay attention to who was participating and tell me who to give shoes to, and I plan on leaving some shoes so that next term when I am gone the students that work hard can still get shoes. still though, i dont think i can give shoes to just a few kids, i wish i had enough money to buy 80 pairs of shoes!! I am applying for a grant from an American youth organization that gives out $500 every week, but if I dont get it, i am going to have to figure something else out. Any ideas???
Anyway, I thought the Tippy Taps were really successful! By the end of the day, everyone was using them because the big kids had taught the little kids how to use them too! Now perhaps the kids will go home and build Tippy Taps for their families and communities to use! This week for sanitation club, we are going to start school gardens so that students can grow their own food and eat it for lunch! The week after that, we are going to paint murals about the importance of health and sanitation. At the end of the summer, Avery and I are going to type up a booklet with instructions for a lot of sanitation projects and donate them to as many schools as possible in Katosi. I hope it goes well!
That night after the tippy taps, Lauren, Avery and I celebrated by looking at the stars! The stars are seriously SO beautiful in Katosi, I honestly felt like I was at the Morehead Planetarium. We could see the southern cross, which is apparently like the big dipper of the southern hemisphere (even though we are not quite in the southern hemisphere..?), and we could even see the bands of the milkyway! Um, and this is even cooler...we could see satellites rotating around the earth! The look basically like stars, but they are just moving slowly and steadily across the sky. It was a pretty baller night!
Oh yeah, and last weekend I went on a safari in Murchison Falls National Parks. Everything was absolutely awesome, aside from the tsetse flies that were biting us (they really really hurt!). We saw waterfalls and a lot of really cool animals like hippos, giraffes, elephants, and leopards! Then we went rhino tracking, where we had to walk through the grassland/jungle and search for two rhinos, one of which was named obama! The baby rhino we saw was named obama because his rhino mother was from Animal Kingdom/Disneyworld in America and his rhino father was from kenya. Just like the president obama's mom was from the US and dad was from Kenya! I wonder if Obama know he has a kick-ass rhino in Uganda named after him...?!
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