Pub Nite

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End.

Unfortunately for this blog, as it is a travel blog, my not traveling precludes it from being continued.

Look forward to my forays in Canada and Botswana, coming soon enough.

So until next time, Adios!

Siba Bulungi!

I am standing condiments

Everyone thank Jane for this blog post title. She misread the name of my blog... Gosh... WTF?

Anywho, this blog post is dedicated to reporting on Ling Ling, the Chinese restaurant in Jinja.

So Aashish and I were supposed to meet coworkers at Ling Ling last night for dinner. They didn't exactly come, so Aashish and I were the only two people in the restaurant the majority of the time. If you are curious as to what Ugandan Chinese is, I guarantee we were curious too. We started with an egg roll apiece. Essentially it was cabbage lightly sauteed with a pinch of salt, then rolled into egg rolls and fried. Tasty. I then had spicy shredded beef, and Aashish had veggie fried noodles. At this point we were still the only people in the restaurant. As we paid and left, two people wandered in. Awkward, but good enough Chinese...

The weekend was nice and relaxing, with hanging with people, meeting people for lunch, etc. Sunday we were invited to my host sister Irene's house for lunch. She made a whole spread, including different types of rice. It was delicious, as we expected. The kids were VERY energetic, and we played for a while before I dispensed with giving some gifts (markers and scissors), and it became evident how long it has been since I was a little kid. With two sets, I left one at Mama's house because the kids are there every day, and giving out the other set, Joseph and Blessing began to fight and cry and scream and I had to take them back until I added the other set and then gifted them together.

CUtting this short, I have to go now.

Whatevs.

See you back in the states!

Ecclesiastes/ The Byrds

Unlike past blog posts, this one will not be whimsical in nature, and the sarcasm will be significantly toned down.

It is with regret that I blog on the death of one of the community members in Naminya, reducing the number of people involved in my bakery project from 25 to 24. Margret was also part of the community the FSD team at St. Francis worked with on their demonstration farm project. A TASO client and then a St. Francis client since the mid 1990s, Margret was the community organizer for the group. Late Monday night she was taken to St. Francis for tetanus, and the next day she was moved to the regional referral hospital in Jinja. She passed on Wednesday afternoon. She was 58 years old with 2 children.

Most of this unknown to my coworkers and I, we went to Naminya from TASO on Wednesday around 11 to have a community meeting. Upon arrival we discovered all that had transpired and left to return to the hospital (TASO is on the hospital grounds) to visit Margret and her family. She was in what appeared to me to be a dying room, set aside from the other patients in the ward in her own room. She was sprawled on a bed, struggling to take in air. Shortly after we left she passed on.

The next day we were informed that the funeral was in Bujawali (near Naminya), so Aashish and I joined Norah, our baking trainer, as she had also expressed interest in going to the funeral. Upon arrival the funeral was bursting with people. We found the other community members we worked with and together observed as the funeral passed from phase to phase. People were sitting everywhere in every square inch of shade, hundreds of people spread out over a vast area. Then the pall bearers carried the wooden coffin to the grave site, accompanied by a call and response prayer and song led by a woman in the community. The pastor led prayers and the coffin was lowered, and then men began filling in dirt. They then laid iron sheet and cemented over the grave. The ceremony then continued with prayers for the heir, traditionally the daughter of the deceased's brother. Then the service ended and after a few moments Aashish, Norah, and I bade farewell to the community members and made our way back to the main road in order to arrange transport home.

The entire experience was somewhat unusual. As one of the only Mzungus (white folk/foreigners) in attendance, I got a lot of stares. But Margret was a member of our community, and I felt it was more than appropriate that I attend the funeral.

Hopefully the allusion in the title isn't lost on anyone. If it is, youtube the song Turn Turn Turn, or just open the book of Ecclesiastes.

Hopefully my next installment will be on a happier note.

Tell the men that their accoutrements are out of order

Hi! Did you miss me? Too bad, I am STILL blogging. It has been a while, yes, but now I am back, and better than ever. And if you don't believe me, okay, whatevs.

Let's create the table of contents on the last week and a half or so:

1. Nile Friday and Burna's Birthday

2. Chill Day and Sunday

3. Last Week

4. Sipi

Starting with #1:

I didn't get to go to the development speaker because we had a rather annoying meeting that lasted way too long and covered way too little to be worth missing my speaker, but I did. So forget that, but I did get to go on the Nile Breweries tour. A bunch of us GESI folk met at the factory gates and were led around by Herbert (Don't ask who Herbert is, I don't exactly know. He knows my host sister's husband, Frank, who is the assistant technical manager at the plant). The tour of the manufacturing process kind of sucked, but then we got a tour of the bottling plant, and mechanization is just really cool to watch. After the tour ended, we hung out in this pavilion-type area where they gave us a ton of beer and we chilled for a few hours. Best tour ending ever, even if the beer was kind of crappy.

Which brings me to Bruna's Birthday. We went to Leoz for Indian food, then Bruna and Kenny from KORD in Kakira met us to go to a club called Spot 6, a fun bar. So we partied there for a while, dancing our hearts out (we were the only white people dancing, and the only white people, and the only people dancing), and having a grand old time. I am not sure why exactly, but I got a free hat. Neat, right? Kenny wound up sleeping over at Mama Robinah's house, and we chilled most of the day on Saturday at home and in town, and then Sunday happened rather uneventfully, with only a few gastrointestinal bumps along the way.

And now we discuss last week. We FINALLY brought the oven to Naminya and had oven training! They learned to make cake, cookies, and bread (the bread was legit good). We bought the community's first cake, which said "First Cake," and shared it with TASO for Maddie's (another FSD intern working at TASO, she is doing soap making, today was her last day) birthday that was that Monday. Also, for the Wednesday staff meeting our community supplied 300 half cakes, which was a great opportunity to showcase our products to all of TASO.

And now, this past weekend: FSD had a retreat to Sipi Falls, which northeast of Mbale (if anyone cares), at Mt. Elgon national park. We hiked the falls, had AMAZING local lunch and coffee (best. avocados. ever.), and had lots of time to ourselves. I was inducted into the world of bananagrams (for better or for worse. Peel!), and it was really chill. We stopped in Mbale on the way back for lunch, and at the restaurant some Bollywood film that Aashish recognized was on TV. I totally called that in one song number people on motorcycles would start riding behind the main character and his girl friend and dance, and then it happened, and it was awesome. The movie was set in Switzerland? Whatevs, who cares really.

And now I am back in Jinja, chilling after a long day working on our community's business plan, wondering how things will go once we leave Jinja and come back to the States.

I also discovered that Maddie is planning on bringing a machete back in her luggage. I think I might want to be afraid of her.

More later, when there is more to say.

Adios!

Also, Aashish, if you read this, Sezi's wedding.

Nile Special

Right, since my last post I have had a number of fun experiences. Starting with Thursday Afternoon, I went to the national Agricultural Show, held in Jinja, and it was kind of like a big county or state fair, or so I am told as I really don't frequent fairs as such in the States. Maybe I should start... There were lots of booths and whatnot, and somewhat ironically, the booth that was most comfortable to sit in, and with good shade, was Britania American Tobacco... And tobacco companies claim to be innocent... It was really good, although at one point I got caught in a flood of running school children in the opposite direction... That was uncomfortable. The rest of the week was largely uneventful.

Which brings me to Saturday. Really, it brings me to Saturday afternoon, because I slept in and was kind of lazy, along with Aashish. Margaret and my host brother Dennis left for Margaret's farm, but on the way we stopped to get citrus fruits (mixed variety) from this lady with a huge compound. Apparently land just isn't sold that large anymore in Jinja. That was a lot of fun, and then I bummed around in town before going to Adrift with a bunch of people who wanted to go bungee jumping again. I am not suicidal, so I remained firmly on land, but it is a fun and beautiful place to just hang out for an afternoon. From there I went to NRE, a camp site on the nile, where we spent the night before rafting on Sunday. NRE is kind of like a chill party in some respects, and the night was a lot of fun, even if the food was way slow in coming out of the kitchen.

Which brings us to Sunday. On Sunday I, along with six other guys from GESI (it was the guys boat, Kenny got stuck elsewhere), and our rafting guide Peter hit the river. We went balls to the wall on class 4 and 5 rapids, and in the morning we got flipped every time except one. In the afternoon we rafted down a waterfall, which was awesome, and didn't fall out, save Aashish (it was like he and the raft were both positively charged ions... Unable to stand each other in close proximity). Flipping was really intense in the morning because you weren't always sure which way was up, and you couldn't really see what was coming once you were no longer in the raft. We all drank a lot of the Nile that day. The joke is that there is a crappy beer in Uganda called Nile Special, and that it tastes surprisingly like the Nile... any difference? jk.

Well, this week at TASO has been kind of a disaster, and our plans totally fell apart. Our community removed the shelter we were using from the space they have, so we couldn't bring the oven there. It became clear comm. channels were kind of crappy, so we have been working on that, while at the same time rebuilding the shelter. Yesterday I carried logs for the new shelter. Logs are heavy. Especially going over 1 kilometer up and down hills. And the old ladies carry them on their heads... Way jealous.

In any event, tomorrow we have a lecture on development in Africa, and then a tour of Nile Breweries. We get to see first hand the difference between nile water and Nile Special :)

Yea, that's about all for now.

A Friend Named Sharon / Robinson Mocks Irene

Hello and welcome once again to my blog, the best blog in the world. I regret to inform you all that I am alive and well, and potentially kicking and screaming if the circumstances warrant such behavior. Jinja is sufficiently distant from Kampala that any latent flying debris will not reach me, although the far more interesting question is how such debris managed to defy gravity in their perpetually hovering state. Just thought you all might want to know.

Anywho, it has been an interesting number of days since I last posted, and a few things have happened. But first, the requisite explanation of my blog post. This post's title is shared between two things as both are entertaining experiences I have had since I last plagued you all with my blarney. The first half of the title refers to a time last week when Aashish and I were walking home, and a high school girl asked if she could be our friend because she had once met and befriended a few mzungus (foreigners), and enjoyed the experience. The friendship lasted for approximately two and a half blocks, when she turned for her home and we continued to walk straight to our home. She left a lasting impression, and I will greatly miss my dear friend Sharon for eternity. The other half of my title refers to an occurrence on Monday at TASO when Irene asked a question of our boss, Robinson, and his response to Irene was to repeat the question back in a mocking tone while he signed papers. He then answered her question. We all thought it rather funny, and appreciate that Robinson and the TASO staff have gotten used to us egg-headed Americans around.

So, getting on with it. Much has happened since I last posted, as I have mentioned. The thursday after we met Nora, we put together a preliminary budget that got torn to pieces, and then on Friday we made a much better budget that remained intact through multiple, rigorous rounds of scrutiny. We got ourselves an oven maker named Ben, and he is building us a local oven. He actually began today after we were able to pay him an initial installment on his work. It will be done this Friday. But back to last week-

Friday after work Aashish and I hung out at home because we were very tired, and then I made a huge mistake in lifting one of my host nephews in an awkward position and kind of hurt my back a bit, so I called it a day, and by Saturday it was feeling a lot better. Saturday Aashish and I spent at Flavours, a mzungu cafe with free wifi, and then at a bar watching the 3rd place match. The place we went to had a projector and screen set up outside, so they moved chairs to the sidewalk, and it was really nice and chill. Sunday a bunch of people from the other villages came to town to go bungee jumping, and we all hung out for the afternoon at this place called Adrift, which is located along the Nile. That evening we went for Indian food at Leoz, and watched the final match at 2 Friends, a mzungu restaurant near my house, but with a really big screen, and it was packed to the gills with people watching. Unfortunately it wasn't the year of the Dutch...

This is the part when bombs go off in Kampala, which is NOT near me. I did not discover that anything had happened until the next morning, and at that point internet was down for Eastern Uganda if UTL was your provider, which I think all of Eastern Uganda uses UTL, or almost all of it... not important.

Moving on with my thoughts:
Monday we spent most of the day waiting for money to arrive from our grant from FSD so that we could go shopping as training for the bakery began yesterday, and we needed ingredients and a few supplies.
Tuesday Sue and I went to Naminya with Nora and we had a 5.5 hour session, where we taught how to make donuts, cow pea samosas, and daddies (they are small, tasty, and deep fried, and I can't come up with what they are in English, or if they have a name in the States...). Then last night the community sold the goods we baked. It was a lot of fun, but the internet where I am is about to be shut off, so I feel a need to hurry right now, so no more description.

Today I have simply done accounting for our project, which is boring.

Later! Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to type more.

****Right, so I couldn't post this yesterday, so now it is tomorrow. I only have a moment, but I want to discribe my host aunt who is staying with my family right now because she is AWESOME. She currently runs a farm, two businesses, and a second hand sale business with items she collects in the US. She used to live in Manhattan and work for the UN, and she has been all over the world. I took tea with her yesterday, and spent hours talking to her. It was a wonderful evening, and I hope she is still there when I get back because I want to know more about her life.

Things still going well.

TTFN

NATUPLWAS Community Bakery. Mind your Business!

Good morning! And a wonderful morning it is. Why, might you ask? Because this morning it was raining, now it is cloudy, and overall it is cool, not hot humid and gross! I didn't sweat my ass off this morning walking to TASO! Anyway, this excites me...

So, since Saturday... Much has happened.

Starting with Sunday, FSD took all of us Jinja GESI folk to Kampala to watch a show of traditional dance and music. It was a fairly good show, even though the MC talked far too much. Also, he made an awkward joke about the North aht the Acholi... But aside from that it was fascinating to see the traditional dances of Uganda. Around the country, all of the dances involve an amazing motor, with their hips moving side to side for minutes on end. All of us were highly impressed at the core strength required to maintain such a dance for as long as the women did.
Of course, Sunday was the Fourth of July, and at the end of the show the MC asked for birthdays. One girl in the audience shouted out that it was America's birthday, and all of the Americans proceeded down to the stage where we sang Happy Birthday to America, and also one other girl who was in the audience. All in all it was a very good day.

Which brings us to Monday. We went wit hRobinson, our boss at TASO, and his trusty sidekick Martin to Naminya, the community that we will be working with. We had a meeting with NATUPLWAS (the HIV positive group formed by TASO in Naminya) to gauge the community's interest in different projects. They were very interested in forming a bakery, and after much deliberation internally, my fellow group mates and I decided to move forward with the Bakery project. On tuesday we had an FSD meeting to discuss the bakery project, and tried to do some market research for the bakery, though Sunrise Bakery in Jinja wasn't working.

Which brings us to yesterday, a breakthrough day. Robinson put us in contact with a woman named Nora, who is a client of TASO and bakes, and she joined Martin and us when we went to Naminya to discuss the bakery further. We then did some budget research by checking prices on materials and a whole bunch of misc. stuff. Nora cut us sugar cane to chew on while we discussed the technicalities of creating the bakery.

In other news, Netherlands won (YAY) , and Germany lost (Boooooooo), and the world cup continues. Aashish and I found a place in town where they project the game on a big sheet, so we can watch games on a big screen. Jorum now has Malaria, and while Joseph is getting better slowly, he apparently also has sickle cell, which sucks. Blessing is still totally fine. All three now like me becuase I can bribe them with candy and pick them up. Things are going well, and I have more or less run out of news.

Oh, one more thing! We met Menonites! They live across from where NATUPLWAS meets, and they have been there for just short of three years on a mission. They were very nice.

Now that's all.

Lehit!