25 December 2009
Tales from the Other Side
To get to my site, from Fort Portal you basically hang a left on the road to Kamwenge. This road, a wondrous 70-odd-kilometer murrum journey, takes you through stunning tea estates and notably Kibale Forest National Park, which is renown for its chimpanzees and other primates. This footage was taken from the car on an average day passing through the forest. There were about three times as many baboons as you see in the footage, and usually they just hang out and play on the road. The kids even sell lemonaid on particularly hot days.
Continuing south on the road another 70 or so kilometers of wondrous murrum you will eventually reach Ibanda, a regional centre in the Southern Hemisphere.
Last weekend I crossed over to the Other Side. There was an event in honouring a priest's 25 years of priesthood in Ibanda, and the priests I have been working with invited me to come along. I also got to hang out with Jill for the weekend, another volunteer in Ibanda. Now, Ibanda is in the Southern Hemisphere, and it was my second time to the Other Side. If you have never been, I'm sure you have many questions about what it's like down there, so I've put together a Q and A of sorts about the upside-down hemisphere.
Q: Hemispheres? I thought the world was flat!
A: Not since the UN Security Council passed the resolution that eliminated planar living.
Q: How do you keep from falling off the earth?
A: As you know, the farther you travel toward the South Pole, the more upside down you are, and the higher your risk of falling off the planet. At the equator this isn't so much of a problem, but when you go further south people have to wear a special shoe with glue on them. Similarly 3M has developed a resin for the lakes and rivers so they don't drop into space. Interestingly, people wear more hats there.
Q: What's the driving like?
A: Driving is very similar to the Northern Hemisphere, but as long as you're heading south everything slopes downhill so theoretically you can get to Antarctica in neutral.
Q: Is it true that water spins the other way down drains?
A: This is a trick question - there are no holes in which water can drain. People in the Southern Hemisphere use pit latrines and don't have piped water, so it's impossible to know if this myth is actually true.
Happy Christmas
First off, Happy Christmas! I am spending the holidays in Hoima, a regional centre near Lake Albert (and the epicentre for the oil discoveries), with my host family from Wakiso. They are from here, so the day has been filled with meeting relatives in this huge family (I think there are 20 grandchildren...?). The patriarch is a retired Anglican bishop, my host-dad's dad. Aside from the nearly 4-hour church service, we have basically been eating all day (and praying, singing carols, reciting Bible verses, and then eating more). It's much more family-oriented than in America, and no presents were exchanged. Everyone has been very welcoming and friendly and have made me feel a part of the family. There is also no shortage of children to chase around. That said, I've been very homesick the last few days thinking mainly of what everyone at home is doing. I miss my friends and my family, and knowing that the first time I see my nephew he'll be walking/talking puts the whole "two-year commitment" into perspective. This is Christmas 1. One down, one to go.
I'm staying in the hotel the family operates and am very much enjoying the hot water, toilet, and queen bed. There's also a pool. All said it's been a nice vacation. I leave Sunday or Monday to head back to my site where I'm still busy with my pineapple project. It's strange how much I've learned about pineapple... I talked to one of the family members at dinner tonight who wants to put in pineapple for about 20 minutes.
Here's my Christmas photo:
I'm staying in the hotel the family operates and am very much enjoying the hot water, toilet, and queen bed. There's also a pool. All said it's been a nice vacation. I leave Sunday or Monday to head back to my site where I'm still busy with my pineapple project. It's strange how much I've learned about pineapple... I talked to one of the family members at dinner tonight who wants to put in pineapple for about 20 minutes.
Here's my Christmas photo:
15 December 2009
O Holy Might
Internet connectivity has lately been a main source of my consternation.
Yes, you cannot rely too much on internet here, but even in the larger metropoli
of Kamwenge and Fort Portal (both boasting paved or graveled roads, running water, and
electricity), the internet has of late been as spotty as a Dalmatian. I
finally found out the reason: they are updating the lines into Fort Portal,
updating to broadband. At least it's for a positive reason, though the
chain gang has been hand-digging the ditch through town for the past two
weeks, and since this is Uganda, there is no guarantee of when a connection
will be permanently restored. Until then, I will continue to chase this
powerful and elusive Internet, hoping to find it during a flicker of its
short life.
Last week I met a priest at our local parish who had asked to meet me
because he had learned though his sources that I knew German. Every
subsequent day last week was spent at the parish (they cook good food!)
where I tutored Father Silver and, to a lesser extent, Father John, in
German. Father Silver is trying to "priest abroad" next summer in Germany and needs help practicing, and since he said the parish is now my home-away
-from-village-home, I am obliging. It's nice to spend time with people much
like myself - bored, lots of free time, sexually frustrated. Although, at dinner
one night they asked me to say grace. My religious background is admittedly
small, my recent religious occurrences being spontaneous prayers to any -
ALL - Gods while riding in the local taxis.
We stood around the table behind our chairs, the food steaming in front of
us. "Mathayo, would you like to say prayers tonight?" My immediate come-
back was: "You're a priest, you get paid to pray, you do it," but instead I
hesitantly said okay. I wish there were a video camera because in my mind's
eye it was like something out of an awkward Christopher Guest movie: "Thank
you very much for the wonderful food in front of us, and thank you for
inviting me to enjoy it with you. I appreciate your kindness and hospitality."
No Gods, no heavenly fathers, no in Jesus' names. Luckily my audience
wasn't too critical.
Both Fathers and I spent one day last week traveling toward Kasese (about a 2 hour ride) to celebrate a group of pre-nuns becoming current-nuns. Aside from being the only white guy there (I'm used to it), I was almost the only one without either a white collar or a white dress/hat combo. It was like a graduation ceremony, long and boring, and there wasn't enough room in the church so I ended up just sitting in the car reading. After, in good Ugandan tradition, there was a buffet of local food, and instead of eating with the commoners, I was ushered by some head-nun into the religious dinning section to consume my blessed matooke and cassava with the area's most pious. By the time I got my food the only place to sit was next to this guy whose robes were black (instead of white), and who wore a red yamica. I sat down and introduced myself. "I'm the Bishop," was his reply. Aim high, Matt, aim high. At least now I can say that I've had lunch with a Bishop, though curiously the entire time I was more focused on not spilling food on his robes, as is my usual propensity when I eat, instead of our conversation. I couldn't imagine hand-washing those!
Father Silver and I are working on starting a youth garden at the parish,
teaching youths nutrition, farming, and cooking healthier food. I'm quickly becoming a farmer, and I foresee more awkward situations for my agnostic self in the coming future.
Our solar drying project is quickly coming to fruition (pardon the intended
pun). We are giving a project proposal to our local Member of Parliament
tomorrow, and a co-worker, Sam, and I are busy this week working in the
field visiting pineapple farms. It provides a good opportunity to meet more of the locals and I find I am most happy here when I'm working directly with The People. Though, the distances we have to bike are a bit of a hassle (yesterday was about 40km - 25mi). The only saving grace is the beautiful countryside. We are hoping to begin full-scale solar drying pineapple in January/February, the height of both the dry and pineapple seasons.
Looking at the calendar ahead:
Mid-January I have a week of further language training with my language
group. The week after is an in-service training outside of Kampala, at a
nice hotel with a pool and luke-warm showers. I'm excited. There is also
an R-Kelly concert in Kampala and Evander Holifield is fighting at Mandela
Stadium.
Yes, you cannot rely too much on internet here, but even in the larger metropoli
of Kamwenge and Fort Portal (both boasting paved or graveled roads, running water, and
electricity), the internet has of late been as spotty as a Dalmatian. I
finally found out the reason: they are updating the lines into Fort Portal,
updating to broadband. At least it's for a positive reason, though the
chain gang has been hand-digging the ditch through town for the past two
weeks, and since this is Uganda, there is no guarantee of when a connection
will be permanently restored. Until then, I will continue to chase this
powerful and elusive Internet, hoping to find it during a flicker of its
short life.
Last week I met a priest at our local parish who had asked to meet me
because he had learned though his sources that I knew German. Every
subsequent day last week was spent at the parish (they cook good food!)
where I tutored Father Silver and, to a lesser extent, Father John, in
German. Father Silver is trying to "priest abroad" next summer in Germany and needs help practicing, and since he said the parish is now my home-away
-from-village-home, I am obliging. It's nice to spend time with people much
like myself - bored, lots of free time, sexually frustrated. Although, at dinner
one night they asked me to say grace. My religious background is admittedly
small, my recent religious occurrences being spontaneous prayers to any -
ALL - Gods while riding in the local taxis.
We stood around the table behind our chairs, the food steaming in front of
us. "Mathayo, would you like to say prayers tonight?" My immediate come-
back was: "You're a priest, you get paid to pray, you do it," but instead I
hesitantly said okay. I wish there were a video camera because in my mind's
eye it was like something out of an awkward Christopher Guest movie: "Thank
you very much for the wonderful food in front of us, and thank you for
inviting me to enjoy it with you. I appreciate your kindness and hospitality."
No Gods, no heavenly fathers, no in Jesus' names. Luckily my audience
wasn't too critical.
Both Fathers and I spent one day last week traveling toward Kasese (about a 2 hour ride) to celebrate a group of pre-nuns becoming current-nuns. Aside from being the only white guy there (I'm used to it), I was almost the only one without either a white collar or a white dress/hat combo. It was like a graduation ceremony, long and boring, and there wasn't enough room in the church so I ended up just sitting in the car reading. After, in good Ugandan tradition, there was a buffet of local food, and instead of eating with the commoners, I was ushered by some head-nun into the religious dinning section to consume my blessed matooke and cassava with the area's most pious. By the time I got my food the only place to sit was next to this guy whose robes were black (instead of white), and who wore a red yamica. I sat down and introduced myself. "I'm the Bishop," was his reply. Aim high, Matt, aim high. At least now I can say that I've had lunch with a Bishop, though curiously the entire time I was more focused on not spilling food on his robes, as is my usual propensity when I eat, instead of our conversation. I couldn't imagine hand-washing those!
Father Silver and I are working on starting a youth garden at the parish,
teaching youths nutrition, farming, and cooking healthier food. I'm quickly becoming a farmer, and I foresee more awkward situations for my agnostic self in the coming future.
Our solar drying project is quickly coming to fruition (pardon the intended
pun). We are giving a project proposal to our local Member of Parliament
tomorrow, and a co-worker, Sam, and I are busy this week working in the
field visiting pineapple farms. It provides a good opportunity to meet more of the locals and I find I am most happy here when I'm working directly with The People. Though, the distances we have to bike are a bit of a hassle (yesterday was about 40km - 25mi). The only saving grace is the beautiful countryside. We are hoping to begin full-scale solar drying pineapple in January/February, the height of both the dry and pineapple seasons.
Looking at the calendar ahead:
Mid-January I have a week of further language training with my language
group. The week after is an in-service training outside of Kampala, at a
nice hotel with a pool and luke-warm showers. I'm excited. There is also
an R-Kelly concert in Kampala and Evander Holifield is fighting at Mandela
Stadium.
02 December 2009
Development
Development - the act or process of developing; growth; progress.
That is a pretty ambiguous definition of development, or perhaps you need to further define it according to what precisely you are doing, and what your goals are. Many buzz-words get tossed around in development work (my favourite being "capacity building"), including the word "development" itself. A lot of money is pumped into this country by governments around the world for the sake of development (in 2008 30% of Uganda's GDP was foreign aid, tough down from 50% in 2005), but what I think we aren't talking enough about is an end-goal: development to what? I get comments in the village apologizing about the poor quality of roads and citing the fact they aren't developed. I tell them it's okay, it's a gravel road, don't apologize for it. Are we trying to develop so that everyone has two cars and a lawn mower? I hope not. I don't want Uganda, and other developing countries, to be like the West. I don't want them to lose their culture and way of life (indeed, if every Ugandan drove a car I'd be running for my life).
Good education, responsible citizenry, and entrepreneurship are some of the key things I'm trying to focus on for "development" because they are seriously lacking here. The education in primary schools is so rigorous, they're learning math and sciences in 4th grade we don't learn until high school. They are excellent at spouting out facts, but ask them a question that applies the information and they're stumped. Improved education, focusing on independent thinking, is greatly needed.
My friend Dave and I have been talking about development, and he proposed three key things needed: 1) Transportation, 2) Communication, and 3) Access to Money. Let's briefly look at each as they apply here in Uganda (briefly because I can talk a lot about them, and I think my internet time is running low):
Transportation
Most of the major roads in Uganda are murram/gravel. The rural villages are only reached by washed-out dirt roads and cow paths, full of ruts, puddles, mud, etc. The way to increase efficiency, commerce, and education is by better maintaining major and minor roads.
Communication
Cell phones have been a blessing. Telecommunications otherwise would not exist. Everyone has a cell phone, and prices are getting cheaper as competition increases. In addition to being able to speak with family and friends, farmers can now access market information, and news can travel quickly (remember the riots in September?).
Access to Money
Big banks only exist in the big cities - if the rural situation is going to improve, the villagers need capital. This has been answered by village savings and loan schemes, and SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations), both informal local ways to save and access money.
Development here is obviously happening, and I think focusing on some of these issues and, dare I say, capacity building, is what we're focusing on and what we should continue to pursue. The locals may envision a Western house and a car, but we need to be focusing on developing their potential as people do be able to achieve for themselves, which is a completely different blog topic that I will probably discuss later.
Some photos for those who like to see me out being productive:
<-- Here I am with a village group.
<-- A village woman from a group. Note the cell phone - ie communication, even in poverty situations.
<-- Dave and I, looking like the schmucks we are, during our meeting with Fruits of the Nile in Jinja.
<-- Bujagali Falls on the Nile. Yes, I know they aren't really "falls," but it's a giant river and this is where the rafting trips put in. The rapids are class III-V.
That is a pretty ambiguous definition of development, or perhaps you need to further define it according to what precisely you are doing, and what your goals are. Many buzz-words get tossed around in development work (my favourite being "capacity building"), including the word "development" itself. A lot of money is pumped into this country by governments around the world for the sake of development (in 2008 30% of Uganda's GDP was foreign aid, tough down from 50% in 2005), but what I think we aren't talking enough about is an end-goal: development to what? I get comments in the village apologizing about the poor quality of roads and citing the fact they aren't developed. I tell them it's okay, it's a gravel road, don't apologize for it. Are we trying to develop so that everyone has two cars and a lawn mower? I hope not. I don't want Uganda, and other developing countries, to be like the West. I don't want them to lose their culture and way of life (indeed, if every Ugandan drove a car I'd be running for my life).
Good education, responsible citizenry, and entrepreneurship are some of the key things I'm trying to focus on for "development" because they are seriously lacking here. The education in primary schools is so rigorous, they're learning math and sciences in 4th grade we don't learn until high school. They are excellent at spouting out facts, but ask them a question that applies the information and they're stumped. Improved education, focusing on independent thinking, is greatly needed.
My friend Dave and I have been talking about development, and he proposed three key things needed: 1) Transportation, 2) Communication, and 3) Access to Money. Let's briefly look at each as they apply here in Uganda (briefly because I can talk a lot about them, and I think my internet time is running low):
Transportation
Most of the major roads in Uganda are murram/gravel. The rural villages are only reached by washed-out dirt roads and cow paths, full of ruts, puddles, mud, etc. The way to increase efficiency, commerce, and education is by better maintaining major and minor roads.
Communication
Cell phones have been a blessing. Telecommunications otherwise would not exist. Everyone has a cell phone, and prices are getting cheaper as competition increases. In addition to being able to speak with family and friends, farmers can now access market information, and news can travel quickly (remember the riots in September?).
Access to Money
Big banks only exist in the big cities - if the rural situation is going to improve, the villagers need capital. This has been answered by village savings and loan schemes, and SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations), both informal local ways to save and access money.
Development here is obviously happening, and I think focusing on some of these issues and, dare I say, capacity building, is what we're focusing on and what we should continue to pursue. The locals may envision a Western house and a car, but we need to be focusing on developing their potential as people do be able to achieve for themselves, which is a completely different blog topic that I will probably discuss later.
Some photos for those who like to see me out being productive:
<-- Here I am with a village group.
<-- A village woman from a group. Note the cell phone - ie communication, even in poverty situations.
<-- Dave and I, looking like the schmucks we are, during our meeting with Fruits of the Nile in Jinja.
<-- Bujagali Falls on the Nile. Yes, I know they aren't really "falls," but it's a giant river and this is where the rafting trips put in. The rapids are class III-V.
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