Big City Boy with Big City Dreams

Today is our free day in Kampala, and probably the last time I'll be able to communicate to the world until I find settle in to my new site, find a place with internet, and have time to travel the 40km to get there from home.

I found a great internet cafe called Panorama Coffee Shop, located on the 9th floor in Kampala's largest skyscraper (the building has a staggering 14 floors). As promised with its name, it has a nice panorama of the city and free wireless! Now if I only had a hot shower and a clean shave, I'd basically be a millionaire.

I realize I haven't espoused too much on my host family. Tonight is my last night at home, and they're starting to miss me. My mom asked me what I wanted for dinner (pork and chips!) and they cooked especially for me. (It's strange how I'm starting to develop comfort foods here.) They are also insisting I come back for Christmas, and I told them I would at least stop by and say hi.

<-- This is part of my family and I last Saturday after our homestay thank-you lunch. Millie is the mom, who works in Kampala as some sort of farm supply trader. Esther is 10 and is in elementary school. She is very studious and gets excellent marks in school. Finally there is Elsie, my 3-year-old sister who keeps me sane by enabling me to act like a, well, 3-year-old when I need. Not pictured is Justus, my host dad, who was away at work, and Enook, my 13-year-old brother who was at boarding school.

Site Announcements!

"Peace Corps is a two-year camping trip during Lent."
-MJ, our 70-year-old volunteer who already served in Malawi.

Training is quickly winding down. Last week we had the trainee talent show where volunteers performed juggling acts, a ballet routine, break dancing, and I did a short stand-up bit (what do you call a deer with no eyes? No-eyed deer). On Thursday we have our Language Proficiency Interview, which I am by no means ready for. And next Tuesday we move out of our homestays for Kampala and then to our sites.

...Which brings me to my next point -- Our sites.

Site announcements were held today, with the Assistant Peace Corps Director (APCD) announcing one-by-one where everyone in our group of 42 was going. So, where will I be spending the next two years of my life? In Kamwenge district, in the mid-west of Uganda, near Queen Elizabeth National Park. The details are a bit general, but basically I think I'll be working with a local organization that works with local groups to develop projects and programs that promote health, education, and income. They also have a radio broadcast, which I think I'll be participating in! (Since college I have wanted to try my hand in radio but never took the initiative to try it out.)

For my living situation, my two sheets of information say "No Electricity," and "Well/Spring Water." I am "5+ km to the nearest town," and will have "No Internet Access." Living in rural Africa - Am I crazy? No, after all, this is what I signed up for!

My APCD was enthusiastic about my organization and the people I will be working with. She met with them on two drop-in occasions, each for about 4 hours. The only draw back so far is that she mentioned the latrine was "getting full..." But, she reassured, Peace Corps would come dig me a new one if I needed.

Phew.

So, next week it is off to Kampala, then swearing in on Thursday!


This photo is me during my stand-up routine at the talent show. If you look closely, Zach in the red shirt is almost laughing.

The PCV Visit

This week my language group went to Masindi district in the Mid-West. The goal was to experience the general routine and living conditions of current volunteers, and to immerse ourselves in our language (mine is called Runyoro-Rutoro, a Bantu language related to Swahili). The bus ride from Kampala to Masindi took around 3 hours, and while there were no chickens on the bus, we did make a stop about half-way in on the side of the road for a pee-break (which is why, ahem, women here wear skirts). The bus did play a NAZI concentration camp movie from the 60s with Alan Arkin, though it was dubbed into Luganda by one guy saying everyone's lines while the background noise is muted, a very common practice with movies here. And yes, it was bootleg.

My group of 4 stayed with 2 volunteers currently serving in the area. We had 2-hour language lessons in the morning, then managed to do several local activities, like meeting the LC1 (equivelant of the mayor), touring a nun-run health clinic (90% of their patients come in with malaria, and it costs about $1.25 - $10 to treat each case), toured a girls school, and met with the leader of a local microfinance NGO.

We also had to go to the market each day to both practice our language, and buy food for dinner. Dave is an excellent cook, so we made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, chili and corn bread, roasted peanuts, and sauteed green beans. Food was one of the highlights!

Also, on Friday morning, Will and I woke up at 5:30 and made our way up a hill. It took an hour, and considering that 6-foot tall elephant grass and biting ants were the worst encounters, it was well worth the adventure. (Oh, I also learned that some of Will's people back in the states have found this and have been reading this, so hello to you!).

A Day in the Life

Many people mentioned that they enjoy seeing photos... of me... in Africa. So, here is a brief "Day in the Life of Matt the PCT" of my life generally for the past four weeks:

Each morning, I wake up at 6:30, eat a breakfast usually of either white or pink porridge, bread, and instant coffee, then bike the 4 kilometers from my house to our training site. Most of this ride is downhill. Here is me on my Peace Corps standard issue Dunlop 12 speed, sporting a sleek opelescent helemet.

Language is from 8am - 12noon. My class has four members: me, Lauren, Dave, and Will. Here, our instructor is instructing us in our language hut:

After language we have tea for a well-deserved half-hour. Afterwards we have a tech session. On this particular day we were learning how to garden and compost. I can be seen dutifuly taking notes on proper dung rotation:

I even try my hand at digging our community garden:

Training is exhausting, and sometimes it's difficult to keep up with all the gossip. So, afterwards we usually get together to decompress and find out details of peoples' lives: We also play with the local kids, like this day when we got together with a current PCV and played soccer games. I played with the 3-year-olds because it best fit my age-group. Here, Sandi and Nicol stand in while I take a picture of the fun:
Finally, after a long day's work, I get to come home to my host family, usually watch a really bad Brazilian soap dubbed into English, eat my dinner, then crawl under my mosquito net and lay down to a long sleep full of mefloquin-induced dreams:

Trying to Get Photos Uploaded

I'm in Kampala today with a group of other PCTs and we found a nice internet cafe with seemingly fast internet - so I can finally put up a few pictures!

<-- This is a view of the town we're currently in doing training. This is one of the main streets that I bike down everyday to and from training.

---> Yesterday in our language group we had to cook a meal. We chose to make burritos (as we have been craving Mexican), so adapting that to Ugandan cooking methods was interesting. I've never usen a portable charcoal grill before, but it worked and the food was delicious! For the tortilla we made Uganda chapati, which is a fried dough... amazing!

<--- After making food yesterday, we all met up at an outdoor bar for some pool and unwinding. Beer here is cheap - 2000 shillings for a bottle (about $1). It's no wonder Uganda has one of the highester alcoholism rates in the world, and is a major factor in development work.

<<-- Hopefully this video works - I took it two weeks ago on our way through Kampala. It hopefully shows some of the insanity of the road here. This road is a main highway. The basic rule of the road is the bigger cars have the right-of-way.

Greetings from Wakiso!

Just a glimpse of village life on my short walk to the internet cafe this morning:
On the one-lane dusty dirt road, I had to move way over to the left-hand side to allow a small herd of cattle (with giant horns) pass. I said hello to the cattle driver.

A storm was kicking up, blowing dust everywhere, conjuring images of a dust storm blowing through an old town in the wild west. There are storm gutters on each side of the road going through town, about 3 feet deep and 2.5 feet wide. Wooden planks and small logs strewn over the ravine make the crossing hastle-free. But in town, just 20 or 30 feet from the main intersection, someone was burning their garbage in the ditch, sending grey smoke through town. Also, a few grazing goats slid down into the ditch and got stuck at another spot.

This morning was my first attempt at doing the laundry in the developing world. It wasn't too bad, but I feel like a smuck when I have to tell them we usually use machines to do it. "A machine for everything" was the reponse. Then I put some clothes up on a line to dry, and the grandmother came out and told me I was doing it wrong (well, I only understood what she was saying when she took my clothes down and hung them up differently). Inside-out to dry... I'll remember that for next time. I think I will save some money and hire someone to do my laundry when I get to my site - it's a lot of effort! And I haven't even ironed them yet (everything has to be ironed - when air-drying they can get a parasite so you have to iron to kill it).

Yesterday we finished our first full week of training at a training centre in the Wakiso district outside of Kampala. A lot has happened in the past week, so I'll try to summarize chronologically.
First, on Monday, we departed our initial training site in Leweeza and came to the training site here (which will be our permanant home for the next few months). We met up with our host families and were taken to our new homes! My familiy is generally bit wealthier (the father has a doctorate in fisheries, and the monther has an agricultural business in Kampala). By "wealthier," I mean that we usually have electricity, and we have running water. Still, there is no shower, and it's a continual effort to master the bucket bath. I haven't tried my hand at cooking on a propane stove yet, and my mother said that she will teach me how to do laundry this weekend (yet, in a bucket, after boiling the water).

Class itself has centered on language learning (roughly 2-4 hours/day, and I'm in the Runyoro/Runtoro group, which is in Mid-Western Uganda near Lake Albert on the Congo border, which means that is where I'll be going!). We also got some shots (Hep, Yellow Fever, Rabies), learned about diarrhea and other illnesses and how not to get them, did some team building work, and are learning about the Ugandan government, health, and education systems.
I was called today by PC Headquarters and they want to change my assignment because apparantly they were having difficulties finding water & sanitation placements. So, now I'm an economic development volunteer, and next week we begin business classes which will be interesting because the only business class I took was personal finance... and got a C.

The internet is sparce in this village, and slow is an understatement. It literally took 4 minutes to load the main GMail page, so if I don't get a personal email out to you, please don't hold that against me. I'll try stop in one or two times a week to give periodic updates, and some insight on training and culture.

The Last Supper

I am finally in Philly, after leaving Portland early yesterday morning and arriving around 9pm in the city of brotherly love. I met up with some early-arrivals yesterday at the hotel bar (where else?!), then explored a bit of the city with them again this morning. Philly is pretty nice - the old town at least. I saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, and got my share of Americana before heading off for two years.

PCT, or Pre-Service Training was today. After check-in we did several hours of group exorcises, including introductions, and other fun activities. We went over a lot of the general Peace Corps policies, history, and basically why we're here.

After those fun and games most of us went out for dinner and drinks (including some karaoke) nearby. The Last Supper was a wonderfully delicious hamburger with bacon, swiss, BBQ sauce, and even Ranch. I would never eat this normally, but it may be the last decent burger I have in two years... better make it worth while!

But now it's bedtime. We leave at about 9:30 tomorrow morning for New York, then our flight takes off at 5:50 to Brussels. We arrive around 7:30am, and leave again at 10:30 for Entebbe. :) I've got some sleeping pills for the 18-hour trip!

I'll write again when we arrive. Take care.

Flight Information - It's Official!

We just received our staging information for orientation prior to our departure to Uganda. We will be staying at a hotel in downtown Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 4th (although I get to arrive a night early because I'm cool like that).

Monday August 3, 2009
American Airlines Flight Number: 1598
Depart: PORTLAND, OR 8:45 Am August 3, 2009
Arrive: DALLAS/F.WORTH,TX 2:25 Pm August 3, 2009

American Airlines Flight Number: 1086
Depart: DALLAS/F.WORTH,TX 4:10 Pm August 3, 2009
Arrive: PHILADELPHIA,PA 8:53 Pm August 3, 2009

Our training schedule (Aug 4):
1:30pm Registration
3-7pm Training (anxieties and aspirations, managing risk, policies, reflection on our commitment for service, travel logistics)

Then, on August 5th we load up at 9am and head to New York where we'll be flying out of JFK to Entebbe (by way of Brussels and Kigali first).

05 AUG 09 - WEDNESDAY
AIR AMERICAN AIRLINES FLT:172
LV NEW YORK JFK 550P EQP: BOEING 757
07HR 45MIN

06 AUG 09 - THURSDAY
AR BRUSSELS 735A NON-STOP
AIR BRUSSELS AIRLINES FLT:465
LV BRUSSELS 1040A EQP: AIRBUS A330-300
10HR 00MIN
AR ENTEBBE 940P 1-STOP
VIA KIGALI

Dear Santa

I need to start a list of things I am thinking about bringing with me, and I realized what better place to compile a list than right here? Input is greatly appreciated!

Product/Item	Cost	Where to Buy?	Link to Item	Purchased?	Not Sure	Category
HP Mini Laptop				Y		Electronics
Canon DSLR camera and lenses				Y		Electronics
Canon PowerShot small camera				Y		Electronics
2 or 3 ScanDisk cards for the cameras				Y		Electronics
DVDs (Simpsons, Arrested Development, etc)				Y		Electronics
6-cell battery for mini laptop	$ 77	HP.com		Y		Electronics
Solar charger	$ 100	Solio.com	Solio Charger	N	x	Electronics
Shortwave radio - solar/wind-up				N		Electronics
Rechargable solar batteries/charger				N	x	Electronics
New MP3 player	$ 100	Best Buy	MP3	N	x	Electronics
Flashlight (wind-up?)	$ 25	REI	Flash Light	N		Electronics
LED Headlamp	$ 20	REI	Head Lamp	N		Electronics
Thumb Drive (at least 2 GB)	$ 30	Best Buy	Thumb Drive	N		Electronics
2 or 3 pairs of slacks/khakis	$40-75	Ex Officio Discount	Ex Officio	Y		Clothing
2 or 3 pairs of shorts				Y		Clothing
1 or 2 pairs of jeans				Y		Clothing
1 swimsuit				Y		Clothing
2 long-sleeved button shirts	$30-40	Ex Officio Discount	Ex Officio	Y		Clothing
3 short-sleeved button shirts	$30-40	Ex Officio Discount		N		Clothing
3 polos	$10-15	Old Navy		Y		Clothing
Several T-shirts				Y		Clothing
1 UV Hat	$15	REI	Solar Hat	N		Clothing
6 pairs of bamboo socks		Target		N		Clothing
20 pairs cotton underwear		Fred Meyer		N		Clothing
1 tie				Y		Clothing
1 pair of flip-flops				Y		Clothing
1 pair of Tevas		REI		N		Clothing
1 pair of tennis shoes/hiking shoes		REI		N	x	Clothing
Travel alarm clock		Fred Meyer		N		Clothing
Outlet converter		Fred Meyer		N		Clothing
Lightweight rain jacket	$100	REI		N		Clothing
Sweatshirt				Y		Clothing
3 toothbrushes (teethbrushes?)		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
2 sticks of deodorant (unscented)		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
2 giant things of floss		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Toothpaste		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Mach 3 razor, with two packs of refills (24 total - Costco!)		Costco		N		Sundries
2 cans shaving cream		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Tweezers		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Nail clippers		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Hair buzzer				Y		Sundries
Face wash		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
3 things of Burts Bees with SPF		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Sun Screen		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Small Mirror		Fred Meyer		N		Sundries
Leatherman				Y		Miscellaneous
1 roll of duct tape				Y		Miscellaneous
Large backpack (main travel pack, to check)				Y		Miscellaneous
Small rolling suitcase (secondary travel pack, to check)				Y		Miscellaneous
Camera bag (carry-on)				Y		Miscellaneous
Laptop bag (carry-on)				Y		Miscellaneous
Crystal Lite packets		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Instant potatoes, gravy, seasonings		Fred Meyer		Y		Miscellaneous
Garic powder		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Book light				N	x	Miscellaneous
Notecards (3x5 or smaller; for vocabulary. Probably at least 1000)		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Pens (set of several colors)		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Photo album		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Journals and notebooks		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Nalgene Bottle	$10.00	REI	Nalgene	N		Miscellaneous
Money belt		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Can opener		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Veggie peeler		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Starbucks French-Press (ie, indestructible plastic)	$15.00	Starbucks	French Press	N		Miscellaneous
Work Gloves (2 pair)		Fred Meyer		N		Miscellaneous
Solar Shower	$15.00	REI		N		Miscellaneous
Solar Calculator	$5.00	Fred Meyer		N		Electronics

...wow this was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be! I will be updating the list as things are added/removed.

Peace Corps Update

I have been accepted into a Community Health and Economic Development program in Uganda, specializing in water and sanitation. My description of service (DOS) lists a variety of projects I could be working on, including malaria prevention, hygiene education, water and sanitation projects and education, HIV/AIDS assistance and education, to name a few.

Pre-Service Training starts on August 2 in Philadelphia, and I leave for Uganda on August 4. Yes, I am scared, but also look forward to the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that will come of 27 months of living in Sub-Saharan Africa.