Photo Updates

The internet was really fast tonight, so here are some pics that i had needed to leave out because of their data size. This is one of the woman named Hajati, she is the one who started calling herself my mother. haha, I later found out that Hajati is a title given to Ugandan Muslims who have been to Mecca, so my Ugandan Mother must be pretty well off.

 These next  two pictures are of the night that the Americans shared s'mores with the Ugandans. They look so happy, these pictures are so funny. The two in the first picture are Emma and David, they are both interns from the local university. The second picture is of Kato who is one of the care takers of the field school site. I laughed so hard at these pics.

 This is a picture of the kids that live in my neighborhood, they were catching ensua (aka ants) which emerge right after the rains.

This is just a picture of a random fruit stall at Nakasero Market, there are about 400 more stalls that look very similar to this one within about 250ft

 This is the Gaddafi Mosque, what an amazing building.

I'm am officially half way done with my internship, time is really flying. There is so much that I want to do still and time is fleeting. But I guess it my only problem is that I wont be here long enough I don't really have problems. What a great summer!

Grasshoppers, ants and Hangover II

Last Friday was work as usual, I worked on my project with the clinic and check up on some grant applications.

Saturday I headed into Kampala by myself, but I had my phone so I couldn’t get too lost. J I went and saw Hangover II, it was pretty funny. It felt like most of the day was spent on a taxi, the traffic here is crazy. I suppose that is why boda-bodas are so popular, they don’t need to wait for the traffic to go, they just dodge and weave through the traffic.

Sunday Ishmael and I went to an area of Kampala called Old Kampala, this was the origional center of the city when it was colonized. Now the main building there is the Gaddafi Mosque…yes that Gaddafi. There was a mosque that had been there for several decades, but in 2007 Muammar Gaddafi supplied the funds to build a new one. It was open about a year later. The building is huge, definitely the largest open space that I have been in whilst here. We went on the guided tour of the building, and I was good to go with a Muslim because there was a lot of information that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. With the tour we got to go to the top of the minaret, from which you can see most of the city. In the afternoon we walked through another near by market.

Monday was a work day, I am getting pretty far on my project and am excited to start the next one. We got a visit from some people who work for an organization called Shanti-Uganda. It is a Canadian organization that focuses on natural birthing methods. The offer nearly free pregnancy care for mother, from conception to 6wks post-natal, near the city of Luwero. They are relatively new to Uganda, but already have a great care network built.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both at the field school, as per usual. On the way we stopped by a natural forest area maintained by the National Forest Authority to harvest seedlings for the nursery project. Mpanga forest is more or less of an eco-tourism sit with a guest-house and several other sleeping areas. They site is home to many species that are only found in Uganda, we saw several monkeys there. While walking though the forest we came to this grove area, which looked like a plantation. I was following one of the staff members and she just walked over a pick the plant. It turned out that they were peanuts. I found out that peanuts are call G-Nuts here, I had been offered G-Nuts several times but didn’t connect the dots that they were in fact just peanuts.

Wednesday I observed class two, it was day two of “head problems and in the afternoon went to the clinic to observe the patients that came to visit. There are several returning patients, so some of them remember me. Several of the kids walk over to me and try to give me a high-five or take my pen and start to draw in their notebooks like they’re taking notes.

Thursday and Friday were both work days. On Friday afternoon Medi took me to a nearby town and bought tangela. They are shoes that are made from tires…they seem very durable. The only problem was that most Ugandans don’t have feet as big as mine, so it took a while to find a pair that fit. I am still amazed at how resourceful Ugandans are; I guess you make due with what you have.

Saturday I went to some more of the places I wanted to see in Kampala with Hamdiah, She needed to visit some family members before we went to the city, so we went to a smaller village on the outskirts of the city. I got to see the city dump. I learned that Uganda is starting to use their refuse to make biogas, they collect the rain water that has filtered through the garbage which is often acidic. This “water’ is then subjected to several other chemicals and bio-gas results. From what I understand, this is still a new project but sounds promising in the long run. We also went to the National Museum of Uganda, which is the oldest in East Africa. I really enjoyed the exhibit on human evolution…anthropology is definitely the best field. They had several fossil casts and many examples of atl-atl (look it up). After the museum we went to Nakasero, the biggest fruit/food market in Uganda. They had just about everything you could imagine, so many spices and new kinds of fruit. Every stand that we passed tried to get me to buy their vanilla, I guess that most foreigners go there looking for it. Oh yeah, I also tried grasshoppers. They are a delicacy here. I also found out that they eat ants here, fried with just a bit of salt, and just my luck the season for them is just starting but the market was out that day.

Sunday I went to Kampala in the morning, nothing too unusual happened. It is just funny how many looks I get when I order food or talk to a taxi driver in Luganda, its usually good for a laugh. In the evening I went to dinner with David, one of the Makerere interns. He wanted to take my to the next borough, it was fun to go out at night as I hadn’t done that before.

Today we went on an exchange visit with Shanti Uganda, it was only about an hour and a half car ride to their compound. I enjoyed looking at all of the things that they had put in place, it was also good to get the view of another organization in Uganda that had similar goals to PROMETRA.

On my way some I was walking in from of my apartment building to see a bunch of kids jumping around trying to catch thing that seemed to emerging from the ground. When I asked what they were catching they told me ensue, which is the name for the ants that they cook then eat. It turns out that they only eat the ants that fly…more meat I guess. Hahah

Sorry about there being no pics, the internet is super slow today.
I’m about half way already, I cant believe how fast time is going.
 

1/3rd gone.

A month gone already!

It doesn’t even seem like summer and it is already a third of the way gone.

This week was a lot of neat sights and a lot of work in the field, which is okay with me because I always discover new thing when in the field.

Saturday I went to one of the first “western” buildings built in Uganda. The first Anglican missionaries to Uganda built Namirembe Cathedral in 1915. When I was there they had two weddings going on, so I couldn’t go all of the way inside, but everything look amazing, especially for being built ~100 years ago. The cathedral was built on the site of an old cemetery where some of the first explorers are buried; some grave sites that I saw were as old as the 1880s. After the cathedral, i went to Owino Market. This is the biggest market in Uganda, and it was crazy. So many people pushing and shoving to buy just about any thing you every wanted. The section with all of the spices smelled so good.

Sunday one of the Makerere University interns, Emma, invited me to the zoo. When thinking of going to a zoo in a developing country I though the worst, you know, animals in cages that are too small, no open space and all that stuff. But, in reality, it was the total opposite. It turns out that what the locals call a zoo is actually a rehabilitation and recovery park for animals that, for what ever reason, cannot live in the wild. The Ugandan Wildlife Education Center is sponsored by several international NGOs and has many of the animals that are threatened or endangered in Uganda. It was good to see all of the things that I wont be able to see, even when I go on a safari.

This zoo was also very different in the fact that it had several of the, more or less, harmless animals just roaming around that park.

Emma is a forestry/agriculture student and knows most of the plants that grow in Uganda, and their unique attributes. I, as an anthropology student, know a lot about primates. So when we got to the various primate exhibits we would sort of exchange facts about the things in the enclosure, him the plants and me the animals. It was really fun to learn about the various floras that were in each of the enclosures and why the zoo decided to include them in the enclosure.

The zoo also has a huge beach that is on Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the largest body of fresh water I’ve seen, absolutely huge. When Emma and I headed to the beach we walked out to the dock, which apparently is usually used for weddings. As we were standing there talking we watch to kids from the neighboring house swim under the protective fence that encloses the Wildlife Education Center and swim under the dock. When we walked to the platform that goes underneath the dock we saw that they were fishing. Emma talked to them in Luganda, it turned out that the park was protected and therefore has the best fishing.  These boys would catch that fish with a fishing line that had a hook on one end and was attached to an empty plastic water bottle that was tucked into their waistband. The water bottle serves two purposes, if a fish is on the line they will be able to feel it and if the park authority sees them they can make a speedy escape with the fish and the line secured to them. Its amazing, the things that are born out of necessity. 

After the zoo, Emma and I went to the National Botanical Garden, which is where the first Tarzan movie was filmed, to go geo-caching.  He had never hear of it before and seemed to have a lot of fun, on the ride back to Kampala he told he three or four times that he wanted to do more.

Monday at work I did another grant proposal, they staff at the NGO told me I was good at it…we’ll see if we get the money.  On Monday afternoon we decided that we would head out to the field early on Tuesday and not return to Kampala until late Thursday or Friday.

Tuesday was the usual field visits, we had some visitors from Kenya who are in-charge of the branch of PROMETRA from the country. They wanted to see how PROMETRA Uganda worked, as it has been established for much longer than PROMETRA Kenya. In talking to them, they said that they would be willing to show me around Nairobi, so a trip to Kenya maybe in my future. At one of the villages the kids told me that I looked like a soccer player from Manchester United, Wayne Rooney…(I had to look him up) I think the only characteristic that we have in common is that we are both white. Hahaha

Wednesday was the healers training, I sat in class two again. Today’s topic was ‘head problems’ like meningitis, encephalitis and the like. After lunch I headed up to the clinic to observe the patient visits and the documentation some more.

Thursday and Friday were tiresome. Thursday we visited a healer who everyone called Mama Nakate, she goes to the Prometra training every Wednesday. We were at her house to collect seedlings for the new nursery so that the healers could harvest their herbs from the PROMETRA nursery, thereby preserving the forest ecology. Mama Nakate owned a lot of land; she had several people working for her to grow the various crops for market. Was we were walking back to the car, she started talking to me in Luganda, David was there to interpret. I turned out that she offered me some land and a wife if I wanted to stay in Uganda, this was the third time I’ve been offered a wife, but never land. I was shocked; in Uganda land owning is a big deal. I turned her down though…

Thursday evening I got a chapatti lesson. Chapattis are an import from India, and the most delicious street food in Uganda. Its basically just toasted flat bread, but it tastes so good. Geoff, a 14 year-old kid who works at the forest school, taught me how to make them. All you need is some flour, water and oil; I was shocked when he told me that because it they taste so good for just being flour. Geoff and I took the 15 minute walk to the closest village to buy the supplies. Earlier in the week Geoff started calling me his brother, but on the walk he tried to convince me that we were twins…I wasn’t buying it. Haha All you do for the chapatti is make the simple dough, roll it out and toast it on a flat pan…crazy that its so simple, definitely a skill I will take home.

Friday we spent most of the day down by the nursery, finalizing the structure and working on the next project, a demonstration orchard. We needed to measure a lattice so that the trees would be planted in rows; here we planted most of the seedlings that we collected on Thursday.

This week seemed to go by the fastest yet, and I am already not wanting to go back to school. 

Oh well, new experiences, new adventures.

Yogurt

I have learned so much about Uganda.

Sunday I went to the Baha’i temple in Uganda. It is called the Mother Temple of Africa. The Baha’i religion has one temple on each continent and Africa’s happens to be in Kampala. When I was there, it was during a service, they had readings from the Koran, Old Testament, New Testament, Buddha’s writing and form the word of their prophet, Bahá'u'lláh. The compound was beautiful, and it was a huge area in the middle of the city. It was so quiet. I spent more of the day there.

Monday morning I went to the office as usual, when I got there I found out that one of the healers had passed on during the weekend. I did not know her, but was invited to the funeral as part of the invitation that the NGO got. I later found out that PROMETRA helped with the funeral costs. The woman who dies was only 35, and died from an infected cavity that eventually caused a systematic infection. The funeral was very different from any American funeral that I had been to. There were some 200+ people there and many conversations going on as the pastor was saying the eulogy. In Uganda, burial happen either a 2pm or 4pm; when I asked why the only answer that I could get was that there was a spiritual reason but nobody knew entirely why. When the funeral party went to the gravesite, which was in the middle of a banana plantation, all of the women began sobbing very loudly, this is in extreme contrast to the way burials happen at home, and I was a bit startled. All in all, the funeral was a good cultural experience.This was my dinner on Monday night.

Tuesday we headed to the field school in Mpigi District and stopped by 6 traditional healer groups on the way. One of the other interns had a group of friends visiting from Oregon; it was good to talk to other muzungus. Hahaha. We ended up needing to cram 17 people into a land cruiser that was built for 13. All of the villages that we visit also give ups tons of fruit, as usual. One of the villages, where was a woman who let the healers use her land for production of fruit for sale and for growing traditional medical plants. This woman ended up calling me her ‘muzungu son.’ I though it was hilarious, her name was Hajati and it turns out that she owns 100+ acres that are productive. One of the things that I found interesting was a passion fruit plantation, I had never seen a fresh passion fruit before and they turned out to be super sweet. It was almost like eating candy. 

Hajati also grows bananas, plantains, avocados, mangos and jackfruit for sale in Uganda and coffee for export. Before we left her house she gave me a big hug, a bunch of bananas (~75), some papaya, some passion fruit and a packet of dried and ground ginger. The ginger smelled so fresh, not like any powered ginger I’ve seen at home.

We got to the field school at about 8pm that night; little did I know my night was only beginning. The visitors from Oregon wanted to make an American meal, so naturally they made Mexican food. We had tacos. The tortillas were made with corn flour fortified with soy so they were a challenge for the chefs but all of the food was so good. The mango salsa was definitely the best I’ve had. Best part, they brought stuff for s’mores. They were delicious, and it was fun to share a uniquely American thing with the Ugandans. They loved them. It was a great meal.

            Once a month there is an all night ‘spiritual class.’ I went to it at about 10 and didn’t get to bed till 5 the next morning. In the class there were three other interns who’s first time it also was, and 10 Ugandans. During the course of the night there was a lot of drumming, dancing and singing. I saw 4 different people possessed by 6 different spirits. One of the spirits told me that I was indecisive, like last time, another one old me that one of my friends would soon cross me…so watch it people, I know something’s up! Haha

            After maybe 3hrs of sleep I started my day with the usual field school training that happens on Wednesdays. I ended up observing Class 2, in which the trainees learn about 40 diseases, the signs to look for and the care that is needed for the patients who are affected with the disease. They were talking about embiro or diarrhea. Only someone interested in public health can enjoy a 2hr conversation about diarrhea prevention and treatment with 40 East Africans. After class some of the healers brought me and the other PROMETRA staff members lunch. Then I headed up to the clinic with Umar. One of the patients was an HIV+ woman and another was a 7 year-old boy who had sickle cell disease. They both were using a combination of traditional and western treatments for the respective diseases. Also, I found out that Vivian is a boy’s name, and Kevin is a girls name here. I could only stay for 4 patients; I needed to sleep. So, I went back and took a nap.

            After my nap I went to see how far the Ugandan interns were on their nursery/green house project. They had been working on a piped irrigation system. I am still amazed at how fast the whole thing came together without any heavy machinery. After they had hooked up the irrigation system, we headed out. All 17 of us piled back into the land cruiser for out ride back to Kampala.

Earlier in the week I found out that the Ugandans have an equivalent to the American ‘Pound it.’ Its Bonga, but when I said it in the car everyone laughed. I turned out that I was saying Bongo, which is the Luganda word for yogurt. So to them, I stuck my fist out and said ‘Yogurt.’ Simple mistake, Right? We ended up getting back pretty late Wednesday, so Thursday ended up being a pretty lax day. Most of the people who work in the office didn’t come and ended the day early.

I’m having such a fun time here, learning new things, and finding perspective.

The Ugandan Wedding Crasher

Right after I posted my last post I found out the apartment building that I live in also hosts weddings. I was sitting in the restaurant of the apartment building using the internet and a wedding party walked by and as they were passing they invited me to their wedding. What an experience! Ugandan weddings are so different than the ones in the U.S., the only similarity that I saw was that the bride was in a white puffy dress.

The first part of the wedding, which I didn’t see, was the wedding party going to the house of the parents of the bride, where they would present the groom with a dowry. After that they have what is called an ‘Introduction,’ which is basically a hybrid between the ceremony and the reception. First they had a procession down the center aisle of the room with the bride and the groom being first then everyone else following. The wedding I happened to go to was for a Muslim couple, so they started with a prayer in Arabic. After everyone was seated they started the speeches, which was made by two people, the best man and then the brother of the groom. Then the music started, they really love old country and R&B here…I’ve heard enough Phil Collins and Celine Dion to last for a while. Funny enough, it was mostly the men who danced while the women sat and talked; much the opposite of the American weddings I’ve been to. While everyone was dancing they took the bride out of the room and everyone went to hide behind the curtains and under tables, everyone paid special attention to where the groom was hidden. When the bride came back into the room she had a different dress on and had to find the groom, everyone cheered when she found him.

When they cut the cake the groom was seated in a chair an the bride was kneeling in front of him. The bride then fed the groom and all of the men in the wedding party made sure that his back was against the chair the whole time. After that, the groom then fed the bride. Then, more dancing. Everyone is so happy here, all of the time, its really fun. Lastly the food was set out. They had all of the Ugandan staples, most of which are very good. Matoke, (which are under-ripe bananas that are mashed like potatoes), rice, green veggies (similar to spinach), and a meat stew. I’m feeling a little guilty because everywhere I go people give me food and wont let me pay for it. Haha Here food is often wealth, and they all want to share. I went to thank the bride and groom when I was leaving, I thanked them in Luganda they were shocked. Whenever I try to speak Luganda here people have two reactions; either they are speechless or give me a hug. I had a lot of fun at the wedding, and who else can say they’ve crashed a Ugandan wedding. J

Monday at work I started to work on my projects that I would be doing for my time here. We got an e-mail about a grant proposal over the weekend and another intern and myself started to work on that, it was very tedious.

Tuesday we headed to the field school, as per usual. On they way we stopped by several small villages to observe their farms and how they were practicing what they learned at the field school. We visited four and there ever we went they gave us so much food. By the time we got to the forest school we had maybe 40 avocados, as many mangoes, 3 jack-fruit and some things I had never seen before called Jambula or Java Plum. During one of the village visits we were driving through one of the farms and one of the Ugandan interns yelled “Enjaga!” It turned out that there was a marijuana plant in the field that that woman was hiding from the police. Pot is very illegal in Uganda, and I later found out that the woman slept in her fields so that the police couldn’t come find her. Everyone in the car laughed very hard.

The training on Wednesday was fun, I ended up observing Class 1 in which they talk about the value of tradition medicine and the value of learning about the different plants that are in the local area. Each of the classes are a year long, and that they end of that year the healers need to sit for exams to move on to the next class. Class one needed to know the purpose and use of some 340+ different plants by the end of the year. In the after noon I was observing in the clinic, where I would be doing most of my work. This week there was a little girl there who was fascinated with my pen and drew me a picture of a lion. My main project will be to help develop a better way to track patients and their outcomes in the clinic. The forestry and agriculture interns from the local university worked all day on building a green house by the nursery that they had constructed last week. They started calling it the “Black House.” Their reasoning was that the U.S. has a White House so why shouldn’t Africa have a Black House. Haha After all of the work was done at the forest school, we headed back to Kawempe.

Thursday at the office, I got feed back from the grant application from some of the staff at ProMeTra and I also helped to reconcile the budget that the application needed. My first grant application is submitted, fingers crossed!

Another week done…wow time is flying!