The last two months in 5 words...and how to make a cow cry

August was amazing.  
September sucked.

Here's why in a few more words.

August was a month of fulfilling Peace Corps work, satisfying accomplishments, followed by a whole lot of fun with PC friends and topped off with a romantic vacation getaway.  It doesn't get much better folks!

 I held a successful two-day My Pads workshop on youth development and health education.  We trained four teachers at my primary school under the guidance of another amazing PCV who created this program.  My teachers did a fantastic job lesson planning and leading model lessons on puberty and HIV/AIDS.  I taught the Life Skill lesson, we learned how to make RUMPS, reusable menstrual pads, and now my teachers are ready to bring this entire program to our whole school.

Before

After

Two classrooms have a brighter learning environment thanks to a new coat of plaster on the walls.

My beloved P4 students and I celebrated their weeks of hard work in reading intervention groups by watching the Reading Rainbow video of Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. I used this book for all my lessons.  Then it was time for Reader's Theater.  Bravo!

The end of the term brought a day of sports for the girls and the boys and even the teachers with games of netball, volleyball and football (soccer in the US).  The local news station filmed the football game and I was interviewed at the end, most likely because I kinda stand out from the rest of the crowd.  Anyway, the boys and I made the 8 o'clock news that night.   Ha, yep, I'm famous...in a little village in the southwest region of a little country on the huge continent of Africa.
"Teachah Sandra"

That journey deserved a beer.

FIVE BOXES OF BOOKS ARRIVED FOR MY LIBRARY!  My daughter celebrated my twin granddaughter's 1st birthday in June and instead of gifts for the girls she asked the guests to bring books for my school. My heart is overflowing with gratitude and love. Book by book we are bringing a reading culture to Uganda.  I wish everyone could see what I see when a child opens up a book, some for the very first time, and smiles or giggles or gets lost in the pictures.  These books are a gift from the heart.










Other care packages arrived and if you zoom in you'll see a pocket shower. This is LIFE CHANGING.  Inside the case is a black bag that opens up, holds 10L of water that is warmed by solar energy (if you've got a sunny day, and when isn't it sunny in Uganda).  I've been taking cold showers for almost a year.  Yeah, this is huge. And the Velveeta cheese is equally amazing!






School's out!  Three weeks of vacation!  First stop, Kampala for the All-Volunteer Conference. Once a year the PCV's from all over Uganda and from every sector, including education, agriculture and health, come together for four days of networking, learning, sharing and oh, some crazy fun. The US Ambassador to Uganda, Scott DeLisi, gave his final address to us before he retired.

I'm way in the back, as usual.

I'm a member of the Peace Corps Peer Support Network (PSN) and we had an informative meeting.

I got my retail therapy fix and did some
kitenge gift shopping. All for a great cause too.

 Morning yoga class.  Namaste!

                     

                        Even did a little bleach tie-dye!
                  This shirt used to be blue.  Huh?

The highlight of All-Vol was the much anticipated Uganda Peace Corps Prom 2015.
Being voted Prom Princess was a big surprise and having Elvis as my Prom Prince...well equally surprising. (I think it was just "Be Kind to the Older Volunteers Day)    







After All-Vol this prom princess retired her crown and boarded a plane headed for Seychelles, the archipelago African island nation in the Indian Ocean, to spend nine glorious days with her man.

 

St. Anne Island = paradise!

 

I could get used to this.

 

We did lots of hiking.  This one required a rope and a prayer the frayed rope didn't break.

 

 The view from the top of St. Anne .

  

All this with a man I love who takes me on long, sweaty, sometimes perilous, 

"I could have been swept out to sea!" 

geocaching adventures, who always puts a smile on my face...

and buys me cold beers.

Holding on to every moment.

August was amazing!  


But then September came. 


Vacations must end. Tearful airport goodbyes must happen. And after 30 hours of travel back to Uganda feeling incredibly sad and wishing I had a gallon of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a box of wine I arrived back at my site.





With swollen ankles as big as grapefruit.

And I was sick, really sick with the worst     African cold virus of my life. One infection led to another but I'll spare you the details.





Things just snowballed from there.

I found bugs in my flour and bugs in my popcorn. And I'd been EATING the bugs!

My powermatic died so I couldn't charge
my phone or computer.  CRISIS!

The campus dairy cow died.  I'm sad for the poor cow who swallowed the compass that punctured its intestines (and I don't want to know how the college knows this) and selfishly sad for me because I won't get fresh milk anymore.

I saw a poor live rabbit being carried by its ears
and I knew it would soon be somebody's dinner. Yes, I know the goats and the cows and the chickens I see everyday are going to be eaten. But not the cute furry bunnies, come on!

















    I missed a beautiful wedding attended by everyone I love.

                                               

                                          And I'm really gonna miss this guy.  A true friend.

    

                                

On top of all that, on the first day of the new school term I was greeted by a male teacher who remarked, "Ah, teacher Sandra, your stomach has popped."  I'll just add the fat joke to the other one when he said, "Oh, I didn't know people like you could get gray hair."




                       

I was so down even the cows I met on my walk home from school seemed to be crying.














Yes, September sucked.  It was a month when I started saying, "Ya know God, I just can't handle one more thing."  And then I'd get one more thing.






                        So I spent a lot of time,
                        too much time,
                        in my head.

  



           Most days I wanted to crawl up
           into a tree and just be
           left a lion.













Some of my trials and tribulations seem trivial and I share them with a sense of humor and even a bit of sarcasm, but not all of them because  this  $&%+  ain't easy!  I guess when I think about all these frustrations and how they are combined with my crazy inconvenient life in a developing country where I'm trying so hard to do some good and where I feel every emotion just about every day... yeah, bugs in my popcorn could be the "one more thing" that sends me over the top. So I've never been more eager to turn the page on the calendar to October. October, one of my favorite months of the year. It's GOT to be better. It WILL be better. It IS better.

They say there is some truth to the so-called Peace Corps mid-service slump; with data to back it up.  If it is true, then I slumped a little early, as mid-service for me isn't until November. God, I sure hope that was my slump because I don't want to make the cows cry anymore. Okay?

"Life doesn't get easier or more forgiving; 

we get stronger and more resilient." 

Steve Maraboli

 

A Day in the Life...

Up at sunrise
"Good morning" text
Coffee, toast
Crossword puzzle
Email check

Smartly dressed
Walk to school
Dusty, dusty, dirty feet

















Reading groups
I love these kids
They try so hard
My heart I give

Break tea time
The teachers talk
Tindikumanya
I don't understand

Library lessons
Read aloud
More reading groups
We're quite a crowd

Matooke, rice and beans for lunch
Every.
Single.
Day.

Walking home
Dodging bodas
"Osiibire ota?"
"Nsiibire gye."
Said many, many times

Unlock my door...and
Privacy is mine once more

Hang the clothes outside to dry
Sweep gecko poop off the floor
Filter water
Burn the trash (sorry)
Watch out for snakes in the grass

Goats bleat
Cows moo
Voices sing
Drums beat
Repeatedly
Incessantly
I will go CRAZY!

Close the windows at sunset
Malaria we must prevent
Dinner, movie, glass of wine (okay maybe two)
Cold shower
Warm bed
Time to dream
And clear my head

Yes, there are other things
I could do instead
But not right now
Not just yet

So, one last Viber text
"Good night"
"I love you"

Time for bed.

This is for the birds!

Literally!

"I don't ask for the meaning of the song of a bird or the rising of the sun on a misty morning.  There they are, and they are beautiful."

Each morning I open my front door, sit down with a cup of fresh brewed coffee, and watch iridescent blue and green sunbirds sip the sweet nectar of my trumpet flower shrub.  I might see a slender black-headed heron gracefully walk through the tall grass field or catch a glimpse of a red-billed fire finch flying by.  The birds of Uganda are fascinating!

According to Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe (I totally recommend this book if you're into birding) there are 1388 bird species in the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

I'd like to share a few pictures, (okay, maybe more than a few) taken by my boyfriend and me.  They were taken in southwest Uganda along the Kazinga Channel, near Queen Elizabeth National Park and out my front door.  We used a Kodak Easyshare camera and I edited with iPhoto.

Red-billed Firefinch

Goliath Heron

Yellow Billed Stork

Malachite Kingfisher

Striated Heron

Egyptian Goose

Pied Kingfisher

Long-tailed Cormorant

African Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle

Spur-winged Lapwing

Hamerkop (with lunch!)

Hamerkop

African Wattled Lapwing

Weaver Bird Nests

 Male weaver birds build several nests to entice their future mates.  The female picks the one nest she likes the best then cuts down the rest. Sorry guys, but you gotta please the ladies.

Baglafecht Weaver

Pin-tailed Whydah

Speckled Mousebird

White-brown Robin-Chat

Grey Wren-Warbler

Black-and-while Minnikin

Red-billed Firefinch (female)

Puffback

African Golden Oriole (I think)

Variable Sunbird

Variable Sunbird

Hadada Ibis (NOISIEST BIRD ON THE PLANET)

Black-headed Heron

Uganda's National Bird, The Grey Crowned Crane

 "A bird does not sing because it has an answer.  It sings because it has a song." Chinese Proverb

Dancing with the Batwa

The Peace Corps Mission:  To promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals.

1.     To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women

2.     To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served

3.     To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans

These are the big ideas. These are what guide me as I work as a PCV in Uganda. As I work at the grassroots level toward sustainable change that lives on long after my service.   Hmmm...as  of right now, I’m hoping more than knowing I will make a substantial, sustainable contribution, and I’m at peace with that.  Mpora, mpora. Slowly, slowly.

Because what I do know right now, what I’ve learned these past seven months in country, is everyday I have the opportunity for a friendly conversation, a teachable moment, a cultural exchange, an observation or even a spontaneous dance lesson.  They happen anywhere and everywhere.  And it is in these shared experiences, these serendipitous moments I realize I am working towards fulfilling the goals of the Peace Corps...by promoting a better understanding between two cultures. And having fun too!

Such as...

Hiking the hills of my village with a surprise meeting of my favorite P4 student and her family

Preparing and sharing a multicultural meal with everything from matooke to pizza.

Teaching our taxi driver about geocaching then scoring an FTF (first to find).

(Tom gets all the credit)

My boyfriend, visiting from the US, playing volleyball with the college tutors and students.

Learning how to peel matooke from my “sister”

P7 students writing letters to pen pals in America.

My teachers at Kibingo giving me a pumpkin so I’d make them more pumpkin bread.

Celebrating Alvin’s 15th birthday.

 

And finally, dancing with the Batwa pygmies in Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest.  An explosive expression of humanity.  My dance moves need work!

   

“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” 

                                                                                                            Mahatma Gandhi

Leka tuzine!  Let’s dance!

Flying termites - The nuptial flight

 There’s no mosquito buzzing in my ear right now, just the sound of falling rain.  Those two buckets of laundry can keep soaking until the sun comes out! 

The rainy season stopped flirting with us and came in force the end of March.  I witnessed the most beautiful, amazing but also slightly annoying phenomenon.  Early in the season during the heaviest of downpours and with the right climatic conditions, I’ve learned certain termites arise from the earth and gracefully fly through the sky.  They resemble dragonflies with smaller bodies and light brown in color.  I watched from my window one afternoon as thousands took their nuptial flight, males chasing females, fluttering everywhere, somehow able to navigate the rain.  Mother Nature took over and I watched swarms of birds feast on this delicious delicacy. I was glued to the “screen”.  When the rain stopped, the few lucky surviving pairs landed, shed their wings and magically disappeared into the ground to start a new colony. I haven’t seen them since.

Now that was the second time I met these creatures.  The first time was NOT with the same appreciation.  It was late in the evening, the rain was coming down hard and I was watching a movie on my laptop (a typical evening’s entertainment).  A large brown winged creature flew in front of me.  I had never seen one before.  When it landed it got the flip-flop smash, meaning any crawling, flying, creeping insect gets smashed with my sandal. (Daddy Long Legs are exempt, for the most part) Back to my movie.  But then another fluttered by, SMASH, then another and another.  My living room was filling up. What was going on?  Where were they coming from?  With my movie paused, I started my investigation. 

All my windows and doors are closed by 7:00 pm to keep the mosquitoes at bay but my doors are not at all energy efficient, shall we say, and have gaps, especially at the bottom.  My brown lacey-winged “friends” were attracted to my lights and squeezing in under my door, under both doors.  I ran to get my spray can of DOOM, (really meant for roaches but it had to do) and sprayed the gaps with the toxic fumes.  I quickly swept the dead ones out the door then rolled up a towel and sealed the gap. The few still flying around were hunted down then I finished watching my movie in the dark.

Since that night I’ve been finding delicate brown wings turn up in random places throughout my house.  I’ve apologized to Mother Nature for spraying DOOM all over her beautiful creatures. She has forgiven me by sending rainbows and sunsets.  I know, that’s a bit over the top, but it’s true.  Uganda is a breathtakingly beautiful country; no movie can compare to the live action adventure Mother Nature provides everyday. 

Just keep the bugs outside please!

Photo Friday

Look at these beautiful faces!

Ah, the love of reading.

Uganda's National D.E.A.R. Day

March 5, 2015

 

 

Schools and other organizations all over Uganda dropped everything and read during the 2nd annual national D.E.A.R. Day event co-sponsored by the Peace Corps and Uganda's Ministry of Education and Sports.  From school children to boda boda drivers to embassy officials, Uganda is building from the heart promoting the love of reading.


Click on the link to view...
Uganda's D.E.A.R. Day 2015 video