Craziest Week Ever

This has been one of the craziest weeks ever, at least so far. After starting off on a low note (which was added to by the death of Tara’s grandfather) a light of joy shined upon us on Friday. As the saying goes new life makes losing life easier, Team Africa is happily expecting a new addition. Tara is pregnant!

The whole family went out to dinner to celebrate and I was happy to be able to watch Grace (Tara's husband) tell Edith and Timmy the news. It was quite the show and very entertaining. Here's a picture of the two of them making silly faces in their school uniforms.

And now for happy pictures. The following documents Katie and my Wednesday-night-Chicken-Pot-Pie-Culinary-Adventure.

Oh and tonight we made our own rendition of yellow curry. And it actually turned out really well! Wow, way to go us. If that wasn't enough excitement for the night, I spotted a mouse as it crawled out from under the couch while we were watching past episodes of Chuck. That started up a whole-house search for the little guy after we couldn't find it in the living room. I'm pretty sure it went back outside through the hole in the door, but Katie took a bit more convincing. And she wasn't pleased to see me walk back into the dining room brushing my teeth when I was supposed to be checking the bathroom either. I guess it wasn't the most appropriate moment to be multi-tasking, who knew?

Bad things happen in 3’s . . . right?

This week has been a bit of a downer to say the least. First off, I got sick Sunday night and I honestly do not know what it was from. Katie thinks it was the malaria meds but I think it was just one of those quick little bugs that knock you flat on the ground but is over in a day or two. And on the ground I was, literally. You know, you really don’t realize how annoying passing out is until you have to race through any task in 30 seconds or less to prevent waking up on the floor seconds later. . . But don’t worry gang, I’m all mended and back to normal now.

Tragedy struck again mid-week with Muffin. Wednesday she was set to get her stitches taken out from her surgery the week previous. However, things appeared to be a bit off Tuesday night. After a day of moping around in what just seemed like a desperate plea for attention, Muffin was clearly in pain. We discovered her stitches were now bulging and as the night went on they started leaking. What started out as small little puddles, progressed into larger wet spots all over the house- in the living room, in the bathroom, and in the hallway. At one point Tuesday evening we couldn’t find Muffin, so Katie joked “I wonder which of our beds she picked.” Yeah, it wasn’t really a joke. Muffin had picked my bed to leak all over, wonderful. By this time Tara and Katie had McGuyvered their own cone to put on Muffin so she’d stop licking her stitches, which she continued to wear for the rest of the night.

The vet came early the next morning, but good news didn’t accompany him. I guess they discovered that the inside stitches hadn’t held and that was why Muffin’s sutures were bulging. Apparently she had lost a lot of fluid during the night and even more once the stitches were removed the next morning. It was just too much and she died right on the table. Katie, Tara, and I were in shock. Lori was in agony. Needless to say it was a very rough day.

Bad thing number 3 took place the same day as Muffin and was much more of a community hit than personal. Annette, a pregnant woman who is friends with everyone here at Fount of Mercy (Sewing Hope) was in a car crash with her husband and one of her small sons. Thankfully they were all ok, Annette coming out the worst- with stitches on her forehead and a pained leg. The vehicle that hit them was comparable to a school bus. And there were children onboard. Fortunately everyone was ok and only 5 had minor injuries. Driving here is really dangerous. Death from car collisions is not uncommon – that’s not to say it happens all the time, because it doesn’t. But the prevalence is pretty high. I think it goes without saying that we are all very thankful that everyone is safe and ready for the week to move on and get better.

Sad Little Pooch

Pobre Muffin. Last night proved pretty tough for the little lass. The poor thing was having a hard time getting over the fact that all of her legs were not going to be working right away after her surgery earlier in the day. It wasn’t until early evening that she started getting really restless, managing to get up only to fall down a few feet away. But this wasn’t the climax of the excitement, oh no. For that you’d have to wait about 15 or 20 minutes for things to really get good – and good they got indeed . . .

The vet had told Lori that muffin could be given a pain pill in the evening and antibiotics the next morning. So Lori, wanting to ease any discomfort her furry companion might have, decided it was time to give her one. During the fleeting second Lori had left the room to get the pill Muffin decided to again, make a break for it. However, being the diligent dog watchers that we are, Katie and I were able to grab hold of the little darling before she toppled to the ground yet again. When Lori returned it was to see me holding Muffin up, my arms sling-style around her tummy/ribs, while Katie had her chest and was stroking her head. “Perfect, don’t move. This will make it easier to give her her pill,” Lori informed us.

I quickly learned this particular undertaking is one that more often than not requires force over persuasion. The result? Lori shoving her fingers in Muffin’s mouth to try to get her to swallow the small pill. Unfortunately this technique backfired in a major way. No sooner had Lori’s fingers disappeared into the black hole that is Muffin’s mouth that they reappeared just as quickly, and they brought friends. Before anyone could react Katie had a lap full of dog vomit (see picture), Lori- overflowing handfuls of bile, and I was just trying not to let go of the dog as I doubled over with laughter, trying not to pee my pants. Needless to say this little episode came as quite a shock, but man was is funny . . .

Random Tid-Bits

*It seems to me that time goes slower since arriving in Uganda. I asked Katie if she felt the same and received a negative. Then again the fact that I haven’t really done much this week other than try to adjust and watch what other people are doing may play a large role in this perception as well . . . Anywho, my second day, really early in the morning (I have no idea the exact time), I heard what sounded like chants and singing. Intrigued, I listened harder as the noise became louder and then began to dissipate as if a procession was passing by on the road. Later that morning I asked Lori what it was and she told me it was probably some form of the Ugandan military, apparently there is a barracks nearby.

*Also, I’ve decided that the dogs here participate in the ‘Twilight Bark,’ just like in 101 Dalmatians. On several occasions this week around 1 or so in the morning all of the dogs start barking and howling simultaneously, it’s just weird and not quite so annoying when thought about from this particular point of view.

*Yesterday Katie and I were eating at Flavours and without even thinking about it I took a bite of a raw carrot that was sitting on my plate. After about 4 or 5 chews into my mouthful I froze – eyes wide with realizations. 1) This carrot was meant to serve the purpose of décor, not nutrition and 2) This carrot is raw, meaning not cooked, meaning eating raw food here is almost a sure way to wind up with a bacteria, parasite, or some other form of unpleasant ailment. Hmm, now the question is what to do? I’m sitting in public, in a country whose rules of social conduct I’m not particularly familiar with, and I have a mouthful of food that is more likely than not going to make me sick in a relatively short amount of time. So I swallowed it. It was just one little bite, right? Surely that’s not enough to cause too much damage . . .

Well, as the minutes ticked by I felt my stomach start to change – not quite upset but not feeling exactly normal either. Uh-oh. . . maybe swallowing that bite of carrot wasn’t such a good idea after all . . . After thinking about this predicament for a few moments longer I decided to just wait and see what happens, I mean there’s not much I can do about it now. 24+ hours later however, I am happy to report no bodily reactions out of the normal so I guess it was just a false alarm :D. Whew, dodged a bullet with that one! I would like to say I learned my lesson from that little experience and will be a lot more conscious of this sort of thing from now on, but I’ll be honest, that’s probably not gonna happen. But I can always hope . . .

*Muffin had an hour long surgery on a table in the front yard to have her lady parts removed today. Timmy, fascinated, watched the whole thing out the living room window. Eating from that dining room table will never be the same again . . .

*One of the books I’m supposed to read talks about the Ugandan culture and how it varies from that of the Western world. There are awesome illustrations to go with it. Boy am I glad this is how Americans/Westerners are generalized, awesome. But I’m not going to lie, it is a little funny.

Eye-Opening Insights

Today I went with Katie to “work” at the internet café, Flavours. We started talking about NGOs/non-profit/charity type stuff and she gave me some very interesting information that I never really thought about before. I guess she knows this woman who has helped start up a few non-profits and she has a blog. Apparently many people ask her how to go about starting their own, searching for any tips she may have to help aid them in their endeavors. One of her blog posts (that Katie showed me) talks about just this with the main theme of “just don’t do it.” The main point of it is to bring attention to all of the realities of starting your own org such as, it’s WAY more work than you will ever imagine and you’d better be ready to be dirt broke for AT LEAST the first few years of operation (in addition to start-up time). These are all things I’m aware of so I wasn’t too shocked upon hearing this. However there were some things that made a lot of sense that I definitely hadn’t given much thought to in the past.

One of these thought-inducing items was the pure number of non-profit organizations (both registered and unregistered) that exist. In the US alone there are over 1.5 million! That’s right, MILLION. So if you’re going to start your own you’d better be sure there’s not something out there already doing exactly what you want to be doing or you know how to make your organization stand out from all the rest. If not the reality is you are more than likely going to fail within the first few years. Pretty awesome odds, huh? While this realization was a little sad to hear it is also very positive. I had no idea there were so many different do-good organizations just in the United States. With a number like this it seems likely that finding one that helps in the type of way I would like to isn’t going to be so hard as to make me try to start my own. So if anyone has any ideas or names they’d like to throw out at me, I’m all ears. :D

Another element brought to my attention was how important it is to teach viable skills rather than providing goods (not that providing goods is bad, but still – just keep reading). A very good example of this that really drove the familiar point home was TOMS shoes. Now I am a huge fan of TOMS and their charitable mission and will more than likely always advocate for them. HOWEVER, it is not uncommon for goods, such as shoes, to be given to those in need and the next week the same individuals who were ‘helped’ are again without. I’ll tell a little hear-say story to demonstrate this point. There was a woman who went to some country (I can’t remember which) where she observed many children without proper shoes for the frigid temperatures. After countless requests for help donations were made to buy some of the children shoes; soon after TOMS Shoes provided additional assistance. The next week however, the same children who received shoes were back to wearing their flip-flops and other unsuitable footwear (or none) because their new shoes were sold to buy food. Case in point, hand outs are great but when a greater necessity such as food is needed, things like shoes don’t mean much. I just thought this was really interesting and a good thing to be aware of.

Also, in case you hadn’t already guessed or noticed, I will be using this blog as a form of personal journal as well – so you’ll get to learn about all of my deepest, most secret thoughts and opinions – and you don’t even have to snoop!! Haha, ok not quite, but you get where I’m going with this I hope. Happy ‘spying’!

Adjusting, Adjusting 1, 2, 3 . . .

Day 1

My first day (Sunday) in Jinja started with rain, lots of rain … pouring rain actually. It was like I was back in Oregon, weird. Apparently when it rains hard things shut down for a while because everything gets so muddy. The day pretty much consisted of hanging around the house and watching Alias and How I Met Your Mother on DVD. When I think about it it’s pretty ironic that I’m already watching more TV here than I have the whole past year, haha. Katie had to go help teach the business class for a few hours and once she got back we prepared/ate dinner then hung out some more before bed. Not too exciting but definitely a nice way to ease into things :D. This week I’m pretty much going to be taking it easy and just trying to get used to things around here, which is fine with me. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the week has in store.

Oh right, the house! I do not live in a hut (as you may have guessed from the TV watching). We have electricity and running water. AND, from what I gather, a woman who does our laundry. So I’m guessing by the end of this thing I’m going to be pretty darn spoiled. . . Katie and I share a room, each with our own bunk bed and mosquito net. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen, toilet, and wash/shower room. Oh yes, and there are nice little random paintings on the wall in various areas of the house. Our house is in a walled compound with 3 or so other homes and a big green gate. We have two guard dogs, Smokey and Charcoal, who are cute and friendly but definitely do their duty at night. [side note- pretty much everything here has a working purpose. This means that dogs are primarily used for protection, and the concept of having them as pets is quite out of the ordinary. The result of this is most people being afraid of them.]

PICTURES: 1) Kitchen 2) Bedroom 3&4) Living Room 5&6) View from Kitchen window 7) Dining Room

Now that I’m thinking about it I should probably introduce people to you so when I throw out names you’ll know who I’m talking about. I live with Lori, who is Fount of Mercy’s international director. She’s been living here for 2 years now and overseas everything over on this end. She has a dog named Muffin who is pretty cute and apparently being spayed in an hour long procedure on a table in the front yard tomorrow (Thursday). Wow, that sounds . . . awesome. Katie is the other intern. She’s originally from the mid-west and has been here for several months already. Lucky for me she pretty much has the lay of the land and can show me the ropes on most things. Tara, the Vocational Programs Director, lives next door to us with her husband, Grace, and two children Edith and Timmy.

Day 2

Today Katie didn’t have to work so she took me down to Main Street (yes, they have a main street) to see what it’s like and help me get out money, a SIM card for my phone, and a few other things. Most of the roads here are dirt and depending on where you are at there may be residential houses or little shops set up on the side of the road. Once you get to Main Street, it is easily recognizable as the center of town. There are buildings after buildings lining the street, just as you would see in the US. The main difference however, is the look of the buildings – practically all have large porches/awnings and very open doorways (though this isn’t true for all). Probably the biggest difference, aside from the dirt road, is the sidewalks. Most of the time there is one, but it’s usually cracking or in pieces, looking like chunks of ice floating on the arctic waters – except it’s all a shade of brown and not cold or wet, usually.

I had an interesting time finding an ATM that my bank card would work in after discovering that Barclay’s was out of money. But have no fear; I was able to find one on about the 3^rd or 4^th try. After getting out money, well before actually- but order’s not important, Katie took me to MNT (one of their cell providers) to get a SIM card and airtime for my phone. Along the way I was shown where the FOM office is and a few good cafes nearby. The office is right next to a café called Sources, where we stopped to enjoy a nice meat pie, called a Samosa. After that it was on to the supermarket to pick up some groceries.

There are two types of places to get food here, supermarkets, like what you picture in your mind when thinking of small, privately owned local grocery stores and (what I guess you would call) the market, which is like a giant farmer’s market. It is here that you will get all of your produce among an assortment of other things ranging from cooking utensils to shoes to metal work. Most of the prices here are set by bartering (which I have yet to do and am a bit nervous about), so the price they give is not necessarily what you have to pay. Katie showed me the woman she always goes to when buying produce, telling me that she always gives her a fair price. I hope I can remember what she looks like and how to find her so I can go to her too. After getting our groceries we headed home and hung out for the rest of the day.

Day 3

Day three started out with a day debriefing by Tara. I was told Julius, FOM’s newest employee and Uganda local, was going to take me into ‘town’ again today to help me get the rest of my errands taken care of and then I could watch his and Katie’s second attempt to make soap. I had met Julius very briefly the previous day at the market, just saying hello. But today we got to spend some quality time together which I enjoyed a lot. He’s really nice and easily to get along with. Also he’s my age so I thought it was pretty easy to relate to each other (but perhaps that was just on my end). He helped me to get my internet modem (just a little stick you stick in the computer) as well as a step-down, which is a wattage converter for electronics. Thank goodness he was with me to help me get a good price on things because I didn’t (and still don’t, to be completely honest) have a clue.

We also went to have keys made. This was really interesting to me because unlike key copying services in the United States where molds are used, replications here are done my hand. Basic keys are already made but the locksmith measures and then eyeballs with extreme precision where the grooves and chunks are in the key and either saws it out or files it down. It is quite a timely process, I’d say we waited a good 45 minutes to an hour for 4 keys (it could have been longer but I got distracted by a cute little boy and girl who I started a waving/smiling relationship with).

Along the way Julius ran into a few of his friends, one of whom joked ‘you need to learn basic greetings so we don’t talk about you,’ and I quite agree. I’m not sure when my language lessons will start but it will be interesting for sure. After the keys we headed to pick up some supplies from the supermarket and market for soap. Once we had gathered up all of our needed items it was time to head home and time for my first experience on a Boda-Boda.

Bodas are essentially motorcycle taxis. This isn’t really that big of a deal, except for girls are supposed to ride side saddle, which unnerved me a little bit. I mean, I don’t have that great of balance to begin with so I could only imagine the disasters that awaited me. Tara had told me earlier that morning not to ride one if I wasn’t ready. But by the end of the day I was feeling pretty bold and decided to give it a try. Not so bold however, to ride it alone, so Julius rode in with me sandwiching me in the middle. It turned out to be not so scary as I originally anticipated and was actually quite fun. I think this was a good way to go about my first Boda ride.

After we got back to the house we had lunch and I observed Katie and Julius’s soap adventure. I learned it was their second attempt as their first never hardened. Here’s hoping it works this time.

A brief blurry-eyed introduction

John was the name of the man sent to pick me up at the Entebbe airport. He was really nice and friendly and put up with all of the questions I asked him. Though it was dark out I was able to catch a glimpse of Ugandan nightlife as we traveled to Jinja, passing through the capital, Kampala, in the process.

On the plane Tom had told me that I would probably be a little distressed when I first experienced the driving – he was right. As in most British settlements, vehicles drive on the left side of the road, however staying there is really more of a suggestion than a rule. Trucks, cars, motorcycles, and bikes alike will take up both lanes in one direction until on-coming traffic is spotted. But even then they might still take up the whole road. This results in the oncoming traffic to drive on the side of the road to avoid a collision. Needless to say, it makes transportation very interesting. But I would like to point out when driving in Uganda it is size that matters, meaning that it’s pretty much big trucks that can do whatever they like and everyone else has to work around it. This just goes down the line leaving pedestrians dead last.

The thing that jumped out at me the most were all of the people I saw just walking around on the side of the road late at night in the dark . . . most in dark clothing. My first thought was ‘thank goodness I’m not driving, I’d be scared if all of a sudden I saw people on the side of the road and then running across it in the middle of the night!’ And as time went by 12:00, 12:30, 1:00am, people didn’t seem to disappear but instead gained in numbers. But then again it was a Saturday night so I guess being out late isn’t too unusual. We passed a lot of clubs, bumping bass alerting us of our imminent approach. To me, the club buildings reminded me of gas stations, except without the pumps and completely covered overhead. Basically they had one whole side open, like a huge open porch with a small area in back that could be considered “inside”.

Another exciting event was finding out the road was blocked because two huge trucks had broken down right in the middle of it. Apparently this is quite common, lucky for us there was a side road we could take to get around it. Also, John told me (from what I understand) that not too long ago a truck carrying gasoline broke down/spilled/tipped over or something along those lines and there was a free-for-all of people trying to gather up as much as they could. I find that easy to picture and can imagine it was much more civil than it would have been in the US – but that’s just my opinion.

The last thing I thought was slightly exciting on the trip home was the police check points. We had to stop at two. The first we went right on through but the second took a little longer. The guard decided to hassle John a little bit, asking if he’d been through before as he shines a flashlight through the back windows – “yes”. Have you been through here before? – “Yeah, like four hours ago.” Have you been through in the last 30 minutes? – “No.” The guard looks through the windows some more. After a snide remark we were on our way again and soon arrived at Plot 33 Lubogo Road.