A Week of Life and Death

This week has been a strange one, even by Ugandan standards. On Wednesday we went to the Rakai District, which is just over an hour away. We work with a number of families in the area, helping them with basic needs like mattresses, soap, pots and pans, etc., and so we try to visit the area every month or so.

On our way however, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. There are checkpoints all over the place in Uganda, where cars are stopped seemingly randomly, though I would assume that many taxi drivers have some sort of bribery agreement that lets them through. The police asked Adrian, the owner and driver of the car to get out and proceeded to take his license. We waited in the car, wondering why this checkpoint wasn't going quite as smoothly as hoped, we had an adequate number of seats per butt and the car was, on a whole, very nice. We got away with a 50,000 shilling (25$) fine after they first tried to pry off the license plates (unsuccessfully) and stared into the car for a while with their AK-47's (everyone seems to have those here). The fine was for having unsafe tires, which was completely made up.

So, we were on our way, cursing the extreme, blatant corruption of the Ugandan system. We arrived in the village and set out on foot down a muddy road to reach some of the other families. 15 minutes into it, we came upon a pig tied to a tree by the leg. A man came out as we walked by wielding a machete in one hand and grabbed the pig's ear. I quickly realized what was happening and turned my head and walked as fast as possible past the scene. I know that this pig lived and died a better life than the vast majority of pigs at home, but this was little comfort to me as I heard the thwacks and squeals. The pig butchering cast somewhat of a shadow on the rest of our walk. By the time we passed back by the area an hour or so later, he had been reduced to chunks and was being cooked over the fire.
We headed home feeling sour and jaded. I think we were all wondering exactly what we are doing here and to what end. We headed to bed after a depressing conversation about mob "justice" in Uganda.

This blog says that it's about life and death, and so far I have only covered the death part of that statement. The life side of things is this:

I woke up Friday morning and Scott, another volunteer, told me to come outside to see something. Praying that it wasn't anything beaten, dead or bloody I followed. The beautiful cow who lives next door had given birth during the night to a lovely little calf. He was only a few hours old and wobbly on his legs, but he looked healthy and happy, if not a little worried. I would be too.
This morning I was standing outside brushing my teeth when I noticed an unfamiliar black goat among the herd. A new baby bumbling around!


We have been watching this mom and baby closely as he didn't nurse for quite a while and his mother seemed utterly confused about what to do, maybe a bit aloof. Another volunteer and I ended up wetting the baby's appetite with a fingerful of milk on his gums and he has been attempting to nurse ever since. His mother still seems a little frigid, but I think they will be ok.

Public Transport

I just felt that this was necessarily the next blog that I write, due to the number of ridiculous rides that I've had in Uganda in the last couple of weeks. Most of the time here, we get around using public transportation, which consists of "taxis" ---minibuses, "shared taxis" ----sedans usually containing 6-11 people, or buses. Also, let me just say that I am fairly ok with the amount of person-cramming that goes on in african taxis and buses, it's all part of the experience.
However...there are times when I just can't get over the crazy situation that I've found myself in.

In the last two weeks riding in small, 5-person sedans I have:
- sat in the front seat with 2 other people
- bribed the cops (well, not me personally)
- sat in the back with 6 other adults and 1 child
- sat on a man's lap for 45 minutes in the back with my head against the roof with 6 other people
- run out of gas in the night and waited in the dark on side of the road for the driver to return
- pushed the car backward
- pushed the car forward
- and broken down twice
So I'm trying to tone down the number of times that I ride in this type of taxi, it's simply not comfortable to ride in the back of a small car with 6 other people, especially over the potholes. I suppose it's a good cultural learning experience (the first few times). Americans enjoy quite a large bubble of personal space, and it pops as soon as you land in Uganda. In the meantime I think I will use the lesser-crowded minibus taxis, where they (so far) have not made me sit on a strange man's lap.

Dancing and Drumming

Here is some video that I took during dance practice a couple of weeks ago. They are in the front yard of the house where I stay. The kids do drumming and dancing every week as part of their after-school activities. This time however they were practicing for a goodbye party for one of the long-standing volunteers here, and so they were especially pumped for their performance. I hope the sound works...

As you can see, Ugandans are pretty great dancers, even at a young age. They can shake it like what:

Update

So, I will be sticking with URF for another month, I guess probably 2, which is exciting news. I guess that's my biggest update.
Things are going along well here. I've been doing a lot of office work for the URF, making files for all of the students at the school and planning out what the heck I should teach to my After-School class. I kicked 2 kids out of class the other day for being late, very un-Ali of me, but it had to be done.
We've also made some good progress at the orphanage this week. We managed to get some money to hire a second person to help take care of the kids. This was pretty much the number one priority since there was just one lady pretty much running the whole show. I will try to post some pictures of me holding multiple babies soon, since I know that most of you would never believe it....
Life in Kyetume is slow and relaxed. We have some stunning sunsets out over the valley that our house looks across. There are 5 or 6 goats tethered outside each morning, nibbling on reed mats and laying in the sun. There are screaming happy children running by and smiling at me. There safari ants marching in lines 2 inches thick and many feet long that will swarm all over and bite you if you stand still. There are students singing as they walk up the path toward home after school.
As I'm out of time, I won't ramble on any more. I hope to get internet back at the house this week and will try to put up some pictures or even video.

Food in Uganda

Well, I decided that I should probably write a new blog, since I have some internet time. Honestly though, I wasn't sure what to write about, so I'm going with food, cause everyone loves to eat...
You are probably wondering why you've never seen any Ugandan restaurants around your neighborhood. You're thinking, "I'm hip to ethnic food, why haven't I been eating Ugandan? Am I behind the times?" No my dears, you haven't missed the boat to new multicultural edibles. I think possibly there just isn't the American market for hot banana mush...which brings me to Ugandan Food.
Matooke is the staple food here, which is basically bananas or plaintains smushed up and cooked over the fire in a shell of banana leaves. It's not as sweet as it would be if made from bananas in the US, in fact, it's not very flavorful at all.

Posho is another staple, though not as readily available. It's made from cassava (a root veggie) and is sort of like cream of wheat in the form of clay, and with less flavor.

Stew is eaten with matooke and posho. Generally you would dip fingerfuls or forkfuls into the stew to give them some flavor. Stews can be made with many different things but are most typically meat, beans, or groundnut, which are peanuts.

Mogo or Mogol- I'm not sure exactly the spelling is deep-fried cassava and is pretty good. It's similar to french fries but in larger chunks and a bit more bland. Salt is imperative.

Generally, this is what I eat everyday for lunch and dinner along with some other starches, usually some rice and some pasta, though they tend to be a bit gritty. Vegetables are not so common in our meals here, usually we have some salty chopped, cooked cabbage and some extremely tiny eggplant type things that are very bitter. Breakfast, if it happens, is stale white bread with margerine and sometimes jam and honey. Sometimes we get chapatis which are round, flat breads, a bit like Indian naan, but a little tougher and greasier.
Probably my favorite Ugandan food however is the Rolex. In the evenings you can find lots of little stalls with cooking fires setting up along the roadsides and among them is sure to be a rolex man. Rolex is a chapati with a sort of omelet with cabbage and tomatoes rolled up inside it. You can get one for about 50 cents almost anywhere and it's delicious.

The food here in the village gets old pretty quickly, and unfortunately, I'm a 20 minute walk down a main road from the nearest rolex man. (And the nearest beer, soda, juice). But I suppose that it just makes it all the more awesome when I get to go to the bigger town and eat some other types of food. We all had dinner in a western-style restaurant last weekend and were in heaven over our the delicious sweetness of the pie we got for dessert. We didn't even mind that the beers were warm from the recent power outtage. It's amazing how we take even pastries for granted.

My Address

You can send me letters (or packages if you really love me) here:

Ali Hunsberger
Uganda Rural Fund
P.O.Box 1220 Masaka, Uganda

Be aware that it might just take forever to get here. Or it might take a week. I have committed to the project until the end of March at this point, so please keep this in mind when sending things. I will let you know if I will be here longer, hopefully I will be. I love letters, pictures, books, magazines, chocolate, candy, etc.

The Uganda Rural Fund

Yes indeed, I've set down in yet another location in Uganda. I'm now volunteering with the Uganda Rural Fund (URF) in the village of Kyetume (pronounced che-toomay). Hopefully I will be able to blog a bit more regularly because we have reasonable internet access here, slow as it may be.

Life in Uganda is....well....very different, and sometimes good, sometimes bad. You probably already realize this if you have read my other posts. It's a major adjustment for pretty much everything that westerners take for granted, time, comfort, food, toilets, privacy, water, bathing, all of it. And although that sort of makes it sound terrible, it's not. It's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to peeing in a cement hole, or sitting in the back of a car with 4 other adults, or washing your hair and body with a gallon of water. But although many things are harder here, they tend to be simpler as well, which provides a sort of balance.

So, what do I do? Good question. As I discovered when I was volunteering in Ghana, and rediscovered during my time here, volunteering in Africa is tough. You come here ready for anything, ready to help out wherever you can, but it turns out, there generally isn't enough infrastructure, much less funding, to accomplish anything. For instance, my first day on this project, 3 of us were asked to mop out a new office and paint part of it. We were happy to do it, but the lack of any tools but for one scrub brush, one basin for water and some soap, we weren't really as useful as we could have been. We did cut an amusing picture as we swept the water off the concrete floor with chunks of wood we found in the bushes. Maybe we are just here to amuse the kids with our ridiculousness, I guess that would be alright.

Back to what I do. I do pretty much whatever someone asks me to. We work at a school here in Kyetume doing construction, cleaning, paperwork and teaching. We also run a number of community programs aimed at women, from basket-weaving and livestock raising, to workshops on everything from domestic violence to using a condom. We ALSO work at an orphanage about 50 mins from here each week. There are about 25 kids living there, 10 of which are under the age of 5, and pretty much just one woman who takes care of them all day, everyday. She's amazing. So we go there and help her in any way that we can, laundry, bathing, playing, dishes, you name it. It's amazing how much dirty laundry that many little kids can make each day, and how long it takes to clean it by hand with minimal water. The kids aren't necessarily always wearing any sort of diaper, so there's also a lot of floor cleaning and soiled clothing. The children at the orphanage are amazingly cheerful despite their circumstances, which just makes it all the more mind-blowing.

When I'm not attempting to help out on these programs, I pretty much have a lot of down time. I live with a family and with the other volunteers so there are always people around and there is always someone greeting me and asking me how I am. Ugandans are extremely friendly and are always ready to have a chat with you about how Uganda is, or whether or not you are in personal contact with Barack Obama. (If only!)

That's my update for now. Stay tuned for more from Ali in Uganda, I'm sure there will be plenty of adventures to report. I hope to have an address soon so that you can all send me letters and care packages filled with candy.