Information about work is on this blog… http://tamtam-africa.blogspot.com/2010/06/team-uganda-out-in-field.html the fun stuff is here. Also sorry about typos, editing is not exactly my strong point.
I’ve been trying to write an update for a bit but can’t figure out an eloquent way to weave together all the things that are really defining this experience. So I will act like a typical consultant and use bullets that in no way go together but look much more organized and official.
- The greenness – It’s hard to describe what the landscape is like here in the more southern region near Lake Victoria other than lush greens covering everything. Its somewhat like covering the Blue Ridge Mountains with tropical plants with massive leaves. Foods grow here easily and there are fruit trees everywhere, my personal favorite are jack fruit trees which have massive green spiky jackfruits on them that could definitely cause some permanent damage if you were under a falling one.
A view a little ways from our house
- Zombies – So this may not be totally PC but it is hilarious. The kids that live near us are constantly entertained by us, to the point that we’re when inside they’ll stand at the window reaching their arms inside the bars saying “Mzungu!” (white person) over and over again. We felt a bit we were in a zoo or, as a guy living at the same house as us said, like we were being attacked by zombies. So we did the logical thing and started yelling “Braaaaaaaaaains” at them (as a zombie would do) until they started yelling “Braaaaaaaains” back. We now have about 15 Ugandan children running around our yard and sticking their hands in our windows acting like zombies. They’re still around but at least it’s much much funnier.
Zombie Child
- The color orange – The dirt (which the roads are made from) is a very bright orange/red color which means I am generally also a very bright orange / red color. We walk about a half hour along the road to school and the trucks that go by kick up a ridiculous amount of dirt that especially likes to cling to my hair and turn me into a redhead for the day. The worst was after a run when a Ugandan woman I had never talked to before stopped me as I was walking back to the house and said “Hello. You are going to shower now, yes?” I’m not kidding.
Postrun
- Pit latrines – Oh the pit latrines. Every morning I go to it and sigh that that is the way I’m starting my day once again. We now talk of “good days” (when the flies aren’t so bad in it and its clean) and “bad days” (I won’t give details). Overall it’s not as bad as it could be, we have a paint on ours that eliminates the smell, but it’s the thing that I haven’t and won’t fully adapt to
- Water – The amount of time and energy the women and children spend getting water here is unbelievable. The water spout (a place where pipe comes out of the ground and into a creek, I think the water is completely untreated but I’m not sure) is about a 15 minute walk downhill from our house which means that the water must be carried back uphill. The women are able to balance one jug that’s way more than I can carry on their heads and carry another smaller one in their hands. I go some days more for exercise then to help because the amount I can carry is pathetic. A man in the village will deliver water for about 10 cents for 4 large jugs but that’s too expensive for most people. The water that will be used for drinking is then boiled and tastes about like if you mashed up cigarette ashes in the water so I turn all of mine into tea to hide the taste. I can now also shower with 4 cups of water including washing my hair. I’m very proud of this fact. I’m definitely not continuing this practice at home.
Filling the water jug post fetching
- Food – The food here can best be described as “mashes”. Plantains mashed, wheat flour mixed with water mashed, potatoes mashed, rice that somehow is converted into a more mash like substance….there is no need for teeth here. On this you dumb “sauce” which is usually beans, sometimes eggs, on rare and very special occasions a meat. And if you’re a westerner on top of this you dump as much hot sauce as possible to try to give it any taste at all. Our house goes through about a bottle a day and the amount we each want is growing. I think we’re going to create an entirely new industry in our village of supplying hot sauce to mzungus.
Hopefully next time I can come up with something more clever to talk about but this are really the day to day things that are making our lives funny and interesting right now. Hopefully you can picture it now a little better :)
