So, there is a very good reason why I had nightmares about learning an African language. It's HARD and I am not good at it. I really hate to do things I'm not good at. We had our Language Simulation on Thursday and our Language Proficiency Assessment on Friday. There were native speakers of Dhopadola (Dope-a-dole-a) on hand to have real live conversations with us one-on-one as if we had encountered them at the market, in a work setting, or at home. In a nutshell--they might as well have been speaking Maritian as far as I was concerned. Then on Friday, we had one on one conversations with our instructors which were taped and graded. It didn't kill me, but I did almost cry. I received my rating yesterday and I am a "Novice-Intermediate." The lowest is Novice-Beginner.
Today we all came to Kampala to visit the Ugandan National Museum and the Tomb of the Kings. Both very interesting. Some of us went shopping--see, some things NEVER change--and what an experience. The mobs, the merchandise, the smells, the noise, the dust, the taxis, the boda bodas, the animals (I almost stepped on a chicken while buying my used Teva's for $12), the music, the blue, blue sky and the hot, hot sun combine to provide an experience that can't be described in a million words, but I'm confident will leave an indelible imprint on my soul.
I so appreciate your emails and comments on this blog. I would also love to get text messages from you. Mike and Steve have my Ugandan cell #. I miss you all and I'm having a wonderful time--most of the time. Pray that I can get my language up to Intermediate-low in the next five weeks. That will be a jump of two categories between now and then...And that's what I need in order to get sworn into the PC. Cross your fingers--my house is rented out until May 2011 so I would have to live with you if I came back early due to a lack of language proficiency!
A GULU CELEBRATION
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The First 30-Days
I left Phildelphia on Friday the 13th and travelled to the Entebbe, Uganda airport. We were met at the airport by Peace Corps staff and whisked away to a training site not too far from the airport. We had roommates (mine was Hellen) and we settled in for a four day acclaimation to our new surroundings. The orientation training site was something between a cement block motel in Indiana and a Boy Scout camp--but it had running water, flush sit-down toilets AND electricity. Today I would call accomodations like that quite posh.
From the orientation site we travelled another hour to meet our "homestay" families and start our Peace Corps training. My family consists of a Mom, Irene; a Dad, Steven; two children, Anita, 9 yrs., and Jethro, 2 yrs. Also living at the house are a maid, a cook, a nanny and a young man who cares for the cow--which lives in the backyard. We have electricity-sort of, a TV-sort of, a refrigerator-sort of. The house is very nice, however, and sits up atop a hill about 3 miles from our training site, and a mile from town. The area around here is beautiful. Lots of trees, many birds, and livestock from chickens rooting around with their chicks for grubs to bulls tied by the roadside sporting two foot horns. From my front porch, I can see a beautiful hillside covered with green trees, a house of someone who is probably very rich, and hundreds of birds going about their daily chores. I have my own room and my own bathing room which also features a private indoor pit latrine. I take bucket baths, wash my clothes on Sunday by hand in two more buckets, and store all the potions and creams I brought from America in yet another bucket. I have a cell phone and can send and receive text messages AND in person telephone calls. We will be staying with our families until the middle of April which is when we will be sworn in, if all goes well.
I am very impressed by how smoothly the logistical side of the training has worked. We have a class of 30 trainees, from 30 different US cities, staying with 30 different Ugandan families, and who all need an 8-5 training schedule M-F and 8-12 on Sat. for a two and a half month time period. It is obvious that the Peace Corps has done this a time or two before and worked out the bugs. A typical day goes something like this:
6:30 Get up, bucket bath, dress, breakfast
7:30 Leave the house for walk to training site
8-10 Language training
10-12:30 Lecture--health, HIV-Aids, security, culture, etc.
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-5 Groups--I'm in the Community Health/Econmic Development group
5-6 Study Language
6-6:30 Walk home-or to town-or to Choice Hotel (bar/meeting place)
7-7:30 Tea at the house consisting of--tea, fruit, popcorn, g-nuts (small peanuts),
biscuits/cookies
8-9 Dinner
9:30 Go to my room and crash!
Some of the topics covered have included: rabies, malarie, building a compost pit using goat dung and vegatation, culture, HIV-AIDS, saftey and security, and other illnesses we might be exposed to like various skin problems. In my Community Health/Econmic Development track we have covered marketing, feasibility studies, SWOT analysis, business plans, pricing and budgeting, and more. And then there is the language training! I am afraid I'm probably at the bottom of my class! It is as difficult for me as I feared....BUT, other volunteers say they had difficulty as well and were able to pass the test and move on. Keep your fingers crossed that that will happen for me.
Below are some of my impressions to date--these are all subject to change without notice.
FOOD: OK, I like most of the Ugandan food I've been served, but it is obvious that Ugandans eat to survive, not for pleasure like we do in the US. We have a combination of the following for every meal--except breakfast: beans, rice, Matoke (steamed plantains wrapped in banana leaves), meat (chicken, beef, goat, fish) stew, greens, eggplant, millet (really don't like this), posha (not sure what this is, but no taste), irish potatoes, green beans, and carrots. We also get hard boiled eggs. So, most everything is good, but I'm really tired of the same line up every day.
TV: My homestay family has a TV but the reception is ghastly. That does not stop them from watching it, however. There is one show in particular that we must watch every Thurs thru Sunday at 8 pm. It's Second Chance. This is a dubbed soap opera from Spain (I think) that is about as corny as anything I've ever seen, and I don't miss even one eposide! It seems that all of the Central Region of Uganda watches and if you want to converse, you better be up on your Second Chance story line!
PEOPLE: The Ugandan people have a reputation for being warm, happy, industrious, and spiritual. The people I'm in contact with--from the Ugandan Peace Corps trainers to the trades people I meet at the market--certainly fit that discription. Of course, there is also extreme poverity here. There are many people who live in mud dwellings with dirt floors and thatched roofs, poorly clothed, and struggling to make enough to feed themselves and their children.
UNEMPLOYMENT: The unemployment rate in the country is 60%. That should make all my US friends feel better. However, there are not 60% of the population who are starving. It seems that many people here have their own businesses--chipati stands, vegtable stand in the central market, beauty salon (pronounced saloon), used clothes purchased in Kampala and re-sold in my town, carpenter, egg provider, boda boda (small motorcycles that transport people in lieu of taxis) drivers, and many more. It seems that almost everyone is an entrepenure (sp?) of some sort.
SCHOOLS: In the last few years, Uganda has instituted universal schools so that all Ugandan children can go to school. Prior to this, if children did not have school fees, then they could not attend. This is no longer the case. However, I visited three schools this week with the Peace Corps Volunteer I am shadowing, and many children come to school at 7 am and leave at 5 pm and have nothing to eat during that time. It cost about 1000-shillings to purchase lunch for the term (that's about 50-cents US). Families with many children in school cannot afford to pay, and, therefore, the children go without. Some of the PC trainees are teaching teachers to teach, and they report that class sizes in excess of 100-students is not unusual. The practice of caning children as a means of discipline is now outlawed in Uganda, but we saw it being used yesterday by the teachers and by the older students who appeared to have some responsibility for keeping order.
KAMPALA: Well, I knew I wasn't in Kansas any more when I first hit the Kampala taxi park. I'm not in possession of adequate adjectives to describe the activity, the mobs of people and taxis, the noise, the obstacles both on the ground (like giant holes and cracked cement) and above the ground (like taxis coming literally within inches of each other and ME). I will take my camera there sometime and try to give you a pictorial glimpse. In the meantime, trust me, it is quite something and makes NYC look like a day in the park!
TAXIS, BODA BODAS, BIKES: Transportation in Uganda, as far as I can tell, is primarily achieved by taking taxis which are converted VW buses. They are licensed to hold 14 passengers, but the ones I've been in so far routinely have 16 and up. They have no seatbelts, but sometimes they have brakes--but not always :>} They go like a bat outta hell, honk to warn bike riders to get out of the way, and cheat the mazungo (that's the white folks) if they can, because everyone knows we're rich and can afford it.
Boda Bodas are small, quiet motorcycles that will carry passengers to and from the taxi parks, and bring home big/heavy items purchased at the market. They are also unbelievably fast, in and out of traffic like a hummingbird to nectar. I saw a Mom carrying groceries and three small children on a boda boda last week! No car seat lobby here for children under 90-pounds! PC volunteers are not allowed to ride on the boda bodas...thank GOD!
Many people ride their bikes in Unganda. Now, as many know, I love to ride my bike. HOWEVER, I don't ride it on small loose gravel roads that are not wide enough for two cars but that routinely carry a truck, a car, a boda boda, and two bikes--all trying to occupy the same piece of highway at the same time. Some of the trainees in my class have been riding their bikes, and there have been some spills--nothing awful, but I haven't gotten into the bicycle fray yet.
Well, dear ones, I guess I'll post this now. I hope I can get to an internet cafe again soon. This is a very interesting undertaking. I have had some rough days, but on the whole, things are good. As my mother used to say: It's a great life if you don't weaken!
Goodbye for now--
From the orientation site we travelled another hour to meet our "homestay" families and start our Peace Corps training. My family consists of a Mom, Irene; a Dad, Steven; two children, Anita, 9 yrs., and Jethro, 2 yrs. Also living at the house are a maid, a cook, a nanny and a young man who cares for the cow--which lives in the backyard. We have electricity-sort of, a TV-sort of, a refrigerator-sort of. The house is very nice, however, and sits up atop a hill about 3 miles from our training site, and a mile from town. The area around here is beautiful. Lots of trees, many birds, and livestock from chickens rooting around with their chicks for grubs to bulls tied by the roadside sporting two foot horns. From my front porch, I can see a beautiful hillside covered with green trees, a house of someone who is probably very rich, and hundreds of birds going about their daily chores. I have my own room and my own bathing room which also features a private indoor pit latrine. I take bucket baths, wash my clothes on Sunday by hand in two more buckets, and store all the potions and creams I brought from America in yet another bucket. I have a cell phone and can send and receive text messages AND in person telephone calls. We will be staying with our families until the middle of April which is when we will be sworn in, if all goes well.
I am very impressed by how smoothly the logistical side of the training has worked. We have a class of 30 trainees, from 30 different US cities, staying with 30 different Ugandan families, and who all need an 8-5 training schedule M-F and 8-12 on Sat. for a two and a half month time period. It is obvious that the Peace Corps has done this a time or two before and worked out the bugs. A typical day goes something like this:
6:30 Get up, bucket bath, dress, breakfast
7:30 Leave the house for walk to training site
8-10 Language training
10-12:30 Lecture--health, HIV-Aids, security, culture, etc.
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-5 Groups--I'm in the Community Health/Econmic Development group
5-6 Study Language
6-6:30 Walk home-or to town-or to Choice Hotel (bar/meeting place)
7-7:30 Tea at the house consisting of--tea, fruit, popcorn, g-nuts (small peanuts),
biscuits/cookies
8-9 Dinner
9:30 Go to my room and crash!
Some of the topics covered have included: rabies, malarie, building a compost pit using goat dung and vegatation, culture, HIV-AIDS, saftey and security, and other illnesses we might be exposed to like various skin problems. In my Community Health/Econmic Development track we have covered marketing, feasibility studies, SWOT analysis, business plans, pricing and budgeting, and more. And then there is the language training! I am afraid I'm probably at the bottom of my class! It is as difficult for me as I feared....BUT, other volunteers say they had difficulty as well and were able to pass the test and move on. Keep your fingers crossed that that will happen for me.
Below are some of my impressions to date--these are all subject to change without notice.
FOOD: OK, I like most of the Ugandan food I've been served, but it is obvious that Ugandans eat to survive, not for pleasure like we do in the US. We have a combination of the following for every meal--except breakfast: beans, rice, Matoke (steamed plantains wrapped in banana leaves), meat (chicken, beef, goat, fish) stew, greens, eggplant, millet (really don't like this), posha (not sure what this is, but no taste), irish potatoes, green beans, and carrots. We also get hard boiled eggs. So, most everything is good, but I'm really tired of the same line up every day.
TV: My homestay family has a TV but the reception is ghastly. That does not stop them from watching it, however. There is one show in particular that we must watch every Thurs thru Sunday at 8 pm. It's Second Chance. This is a dubbed soap opera from Spain (I think) that is about as corny as anything I've ever seen, and I don't miss even one eposide! It seems that all of the Central Region of Uganda watches and if you want to converse, you better be up on your Second Chance story line!
PEOPLE: The Ugandan people have a reputation for being warm, happy, industrious, and spiritual. The people I'm in contact with--from the Ugandan Peace Corps trainers to the trades people I meet at the market--certainly fit that discription. Of course, there is also extreme poverity here. There are many people who live in mud dwellings with dirt floors and thatched roofs, poorly clothed, and struggling to make enough to feed themselves and their children.
UNEMPLOYMENT: The unemployment rate in the country is 60%. That should make all my US friends feel better. However, there are not 60% of the population who are starving. It seems that many people here have their own businesses--chipati stands, vegtable stand in the central market, beauty salon (pronounced saloon), used clothes purchased in Kampala and re-sold in my town, carpenter, egg provider, boda boda (small motorcycles that transport people in lieu of taxis) drivers, and many more. It seems that almost everyone is an entrepenure (sp?) of some sort.
SCHOOLS: In the last few years, Uganda has instituted universal schools so that all Ugandan children can go to school. Prior to this, if children did not have school fees, then they could not attend. This is no longer the case. However, I visited three schools this week with the Peace Corps Volunteer I am shadowing, and many children come to school at 7 am and leave at 5 pm and have nothing to eat during that time. It cost about 1000-shillings to purchase lunch for the term (that's about 50-cents US). Families with many children in school cannot afford to pay, and, therefore, the children go without. Some of the PC trainees are teaching teachers to teach, and they report that class sizes in excess of 100-students is not unusual. The practice of caning children as a means of discipline is now outlawed in Uganda, but we saw it being used yesterday by the teachers and by the older students who appeared to have some responsibility for keeping order.
KAMPALA: Well, I knew I wasn't in Kansas any more when I first hit the Kampala taxi park. I'm not in possession of adequate adjectives to describe the activity, the mobs of people and taxis, the noise, the obstacles both on the ground (like giant holes and cracked cement) and above the ground (like taxis coming literally within inches of each other and ME). I will take my camera there sometime and try to give you a pictorial glimpse. In the meantime, trust me, it is quite something and makes NYC look like a day in the park!
TAXIS, BODA BODAS, BIKES: Transportation in Uganda, as far as I can tell, is primarily achieved by taking taxis which are converted VW buses. They are licensed to hold 14 passengers, but the ones I've been in so far routinely have 16 and up. They have no seatbelts, but sometimes they have brakes--but not always :>} They go like a bat outta hell, honk to warn bike riders to get out of the way, and cheat the mazungo (that's the white folks) if they can, because everyone knows we're rich and can afford it.
Boda Bodas are small, quiet motorcycles that will carry passengers to and from the taxi parks, and bring home big/heavy items purchased at the market. They are also unbelievably fast, in and out of traffic like a hummingbird to nectar. I saw a Mom carrying groceries and three small children on a boda boda last week! No car seat lobby here for children under 90-pounds! PC volunteers are not allowed to ride on the boda bodas...thank GOD!
Many people ride their bikes in Unganda. Now, as many know, I love to ride my bike. HOWEVER, I don't ride it on small loose gravel roads that are not wide enough for two cars but that routinely carry a truck, a car, a boda boda, and two bikes--all trying to occupy the same piece of highway at the same time. Some of the trainees in my class have been riding their bikes, and there have been some spills--nothing awful, but I haven't gotten into the bicycle fray yet.
Well, dear ones, I guess I'll post this now. I hope I can get to an internet cafe again soon. This is a very interesting undertaking. I have had some rough days, but on the whole, things are good. As my mother used to say: It's a great life if you don't weaken!
Goodbye for now--
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