Thursday, January 31, 2008




This is my family! We were all in Richmond airport when I came home over Christmas, that's where the picture was taken.
Millet bread:
Wheata, Kalo, Atop, millet bread are all the same thing. I went to my neighbors house last night to watch him prepare it and then we ate it. Basically all it is is you take boiling water and add flour to that, then you mix it up and then you eat it, with either beans, greens, chicken or fish. We ate it with greens last night. You eat it with your hands, which is actually easier because it's so sticky that your hands can grab bites for you just right. We sat down in his house which is actually just one room... it had 4 chairs, a small table, a twin size bed and a bucket for water with plates all around. He poured water over my hands to wash them, then he served me. After serving me, he washed his own hands and served himself. We said a prayer and then began to eat. He told me that most visitors that come, he won't eat with them. He will feed them, then let them eat by themselves. I thought this was really weird, so I asked him why. He said that visitors will eat alone in case they choke or drop food on their shirt or something like that, then they won't be ashamed in front of him. haha, this was cracking me up, and I laughed at this, and he did too. It is just so different then my own culture that I had to laugh. He said he would eat with me though so I didn't have to eat by myself. hehe, funny.
After we ate, we had a long conversation about the state of Uganda, the way he lives his life, and just general conversation about the poverty, disease and lifestyle most Ugandans are living. It was interesting and he was telling me most everything I already think of most of the time, but hadn't heard from most Ugandans. He was saying that he doesn't usually talk about any of this out loud. I asked him what I could do to help with the bigger picture, and he told me to just be sure I make the people at home aware of all the corruption that does go on, and to offer donations wisely... to research the organizations they plan to donate to, and be cautious and follow through to be sure the money is actually used for what it was meant for. There was so much more he talked about and I will share eventually, but for now, I don't have time... internet money is fading away. Goodbye.

Monday, January 21, 2008

I am writing today, Monday, January 21, 2008 in Mbale Uganda. It's a nice day, the sun is shining, the town is busy, and the market was hopping earlier. I understand that the GIANTS are in the superbowl... very awesome.

Anyway, life here in Uganda is good... I have done many things since I have been back, and helping my friend Wesley pass out 8,000 mosquito nets was one of them. We were heros that day, and even though Wes did all of the work, I still felt heroic. He did a great job and we were all very proud for him, and if you would like to check it out, the website is here,http://www.againstmalaria.com/en/Distribution.aspx?DistributionID=231
As I have said in earlier blogs, mosquito nets save lives every day in Africa, so being a part of helping more families have the opportunity to have a mosquito net was pretty amazing.

The scary snake
A couple days ago I was talking to my Dad on the phone and I heard all this ruccus outside of my house... I didn't think much of it so I just continuted talking. The next morning my neighbor was like, come out here and look at this snake...
it was a 6 FOOT LONG snake! Holy crap, it was very scary! They were trying to kill it the night before and succeeded, but that was what the commotion was all about...
The snake had been around for a while and killed 20 of my neighbors hens! All they kept saying to me was, "can you imagine if it were in the bed with you?" I was like no, but now I will, thank you for putting the fear in me.
I posted a picture of it and as always the camera does no justice for the scaryness of the snake, but let me tell you, it was scary. Yellow and black it was... ooo, look out.

School is still not in session yet, so with some of my down time I planted some seeds, tomatoes and some herbs like basil and cilantro, the kids helped me hoe because they think I don't know how. We cleared out some of the tall grass even before I heard about the snake, so that was well done. I've been playing with my neighbors kids a lot, they come over and we draw, I show them some things they have never seen before like my solar shower... they thought that was really weird... I showed them my right hand pinky which I broke playing volleyball a few years ago and it's still messed up, they were cracking up at it. haha. They loved my painted nails, so I painted theirs, even the boys... hehe.. they loved that too.
It's funny all the things that may seem "normal" or "usual" to us that is totally foreign to them... for example, a microwave... most Ugandans I have talked to have never even heard of one and if you showed them, they would have no clue what it is... there are so many things like this that I never really usually think about...

I cleaned up our "computer lab"... I am putting this in quotes, because if you saw the "lab", it would not resemble a lab you are used to seeing... it's small, dirty, just a few chairs, and many other things about it that I want to help with. I was thinking we should get some flat screen monitors to cut down on the power and also some battery inverters because right now the power supply sucks so bad, but of course that costs money, that we "don't have". We have 25 computers and can turn on at most 4 all at once... it's insane and stupid... I'm trying to think of ideas on how to solve our problems... so if you have any, I would love to know. Thanks.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Sweet Virginia

I just got back from America! I lOve America, and especially Virginia, that's my home. It was funny how easy I fell back into the life I had before I came here to Uganda. Everyone said I would have culture shock going back home, but it all seemed normal. There were a few things that made me be like, woah. Some of the coolest things were when I first got off the plane... I brushed my teeth and drank water from the sink, weird, I saw McDonald's in the airport, and even though I hated that place, I definitely ate there immediately... um, internet is way faster than I ever remembered, holy crap. Beer on tap.
Christmas was awesome, I got to be with my family and see all my friends.
I do miss home now though... not sure if I would recommend visiting while away, because it's really hard to say goodbye twice. A little too hard. I thought I was alright for a little while there, but when it came to the last few minutes ... it was pretty dern hard.
I am actually not even really back, back because I am still in Kampala waiting to leave tomorrow back to my site in the village... ask me then how I feel. hehe... good luck Kristy.

Kenya
As you know, Kenya borders us here in Uganda. Recently there have been riots, killings, and a lot of madness because of the recent election. Kenya is so close to us that it feels like we are a part of some of the crazyness. There was an election for a new Kenyan President recently. Raila Odinga was running against the current president, President Mwai Kibaki. This Raila guy was beating President Kibaki by a pretty large margin initially, but the next day it showed a much smaller margin. There was a delayed announcement and unsureness of numbers and a possible recount, but it never happened. Only that a couple days later, it was announced that President Kibaki had won again. Kibaki was sworn in much earlier than normal, probably so there wasn't the possiblity of a recount or a chance for any questions. The people supporting Raila went crazy after the election announcement and began burning homes and shops of any Kibaki supporters or Kikuyu tribe members (the tribe of Kibaki). Since then, the retaliation of Kibaki's supporters has been on going as well, as each groups supporters basically killing each other.
This is effecting us here in Uganda by fuel shortages, sky-rocketing the prices, and since Uganda is land locked, Kenya is the direct route to the coast.