It has so long since I’ve last posted, I’ve been having such an experience here. I’m getting to know the customs, the people and the places so well; I’m going to miss them all when I need to go back home.
In the time since I last posted I saw so much culture and history, they are all amazing sites. Two weeks ago I went to the Kabaka’s palace; the Kabaka is the king of Buganda, the ethnic groups that is around Kampala and about 30% of Uganda’s population. It was the weekend that celebrated his coronation, so the palace had several diplomats from all over Uganda. In the tour the guide said that the palace was used as barracks when Idi Amin took over Uganda, and that he had a distain for the Buganda people; this led to an ethnic cleansing of Uganda. On the palace grounds there are still the torture chambers that were used during the dictatorial regime, I am still constantly amazed when I realize what a lot of these people lived through. On the walls of the chamber there are still bloody hand prints and different messages for help written in blood. When we left the area there the torture chambers were, the guide asked me why I didn’t ‘talk like an American.’ When I asked what he meant he said that most American drop the F-Bomb or say “Shit” in awe of the atrocities that were committed there.
After the palace I went to the cultural parliament building. This was a building in which the cultural affairs of the Buganda people are decided, I learned that Uganda has several cultural legal systems in the national legal system. I also went to the tombs of the previous 4 Kabaka’s, including the one that was exiled in the 1980 when Idi Amin came to power. I learned that the Buganda Kingdom is one of the only ones in the world where the second born son succeeds his father, when the Kabaka has a second son he is then taken and hidden in an obscure village to be raised; this was to protect against the future king from being killed by those who are vying for the throne.
On August first the Muslim holy month of Ramadan started, it is a time of reflection and charity. During this time, Muslims fast, not taking anything to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. They wake up very early in the morning to take a small meal, then break the fast at around 7pm every night. Most of the people in my neighborhood are Muslim, and several of the people I work with are Muslim also. I feel a bit strange when half of the office is eating while some others are not but they said that they are used to it.
Tuesday we visited several more villages where healers live, I tried this drink that is made from hibiscus flowers called Ribenna, it was delicious and very dark red. I also tried this fruit called a tree tomato, it was strange, it tasted very similar to a tomato but grew like an apple. Several of the healers now know how much I love passion fruit so when we go to visit them, I get baskets full. People here are so generous.
Wednesday was the usual field, except in the fact that the bee hives that are maintained on site needed to be ‘landscaped’ around. When mowing the grass here, they use a machete that is about 3 ft long and has an angled edge. This was very different than at home. Also, we needed to weigh the fish form the fish pond that was just put in, and because all of the kids are on their break they had a lot of fun with that.
Over the weekend a 14 year-old boy from the village next to the field school came into town with us. Geoff He was really fun to have around, and it was only his third time in the city. We did a lot of stuff, I took him bowling with some other people I work with, we went to see a movie, and just explored the city. Two of the people who I work with and are around my age wanted to take him to the beach because he had never seen Lake Victoria. When they said beach, I assumed it would be like American beaches where people go and just relax and lay in the sand, I was wrong. It turned out to be a sort of dance club/resort place. It was really fun, there were people swimming, playing volleyball and everyone was having a good time.
This last week was a usual workweek, but I had decided to stay at the field school from Friday till next Wednesday when the office staff was coming to the field because some people wanted to show me stuff around the district that the field school is in, Mpigi. So Friday afternoon I left the office a bit early to head to the field school with Sadat who volunteers at ProMeTra. It was a two hour taxi ride, but one of the things that Sadat wanted to show me we passed on the way.
About 10 miles from the field school is a crocodile farm and resort on the shores of Lake Victoria, I had no idea how close we were to the Lake. The resort was beautiful, there were some men fishing for tilapia that would be sold in Kampala. The crocodiles farmed there are sold for meat and their skins, which are exported. They had crocs that were 6 months, 2 years and 3 years old; they said that they had almost 300 crocs on the farm. The crocs are killed at 4 years old, other wise their skin is too tough. This farm also has some older crocs that were rescued from poachers. One of them was 60 years old and was 17ft long, and there was a pair named Romeo and Julliet. The tour guide said that Romeo came from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority because he had eaten someone…
So now I will be staying at the field school, it is so quiet here, hopefully I will get a lot of work done.Also, because we are in such a rural area the internet is bad...sorry no pics. Ill post them when we get back to town.
Already only one month left, see everyone soon.
Hey, do any of the schools you've been too have Sister Schools...or are they involved in that? We donate to them every year...and they go to different schools in Uganda!
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