Ruth's Giveaway Ceremony

Two weekends back I made the 3 hour bus ride to Mbarara to visit my friends Jen and Kyle and also to go back to my homestay in Kinoni for my host sister, Ruth’s, giveaway ceremony (the last ceremony before the big wedding day!).  3 hours on a bus probably doesn’t sound terrible to you…but in Uganda the concept of “personal space” does NOT exist….so I basically “shared” half my seat with the man next to me, who was very nice, but had no qualms about butting into my space.   So Saturday afternoon, Jen and I patiently waited out on the main road for a taxi to take us back to Kinoni. Of course, when we really needed one most, there seemed to be none around and I sure wasn’t in the mood to cram into a small Toyota where they pack at least 9 people in a car designed for 5.  So we waited, waited some more and then finally found an empty taxi and hopped in.  This probably wasn’t the smartest idea i've had, as an empty taxi drives around town until it is completely full and then makes the journey.  We drove around Mbarara for a good hour as the conductor shouted trying to get people to get in.  Finally we were full and headed toward Kinoni.  Each row in a taxi is only supposed to seat 3 people, however, this rarely ever happens.  For me, I was squished between two men and an old woman who was 100% SURE I was only 15 years old and kept saying in the local language “are you sure you are 23?!”.  Umm….yes nyabo, I am quite sure of my age! Poor Jen was squished between 3 others and a child.  So we made the 40 min bumpy and dusty journey on one of the worst roads in Uganda.  This gave us some time to decompress and not show up to the ceremony pissed off and frustrated with Ugandan transportation! And then of course, right as the taxi drops us at the side of the road, it begins pouring rain! We both ran through muddy grass in our long dresses and sandals to take cover at the police station until the rain stopped.  We arrived at my host family’s house with muddy feet and wet hair (safe to say it was pointless to have blow dried our hair that morning!).  As frustrating as this all sounds, it was all well worth it when we arrived and I was warmly welcomed by my host family and the workers who id spent a month getting to know and truly feel like they are my family in Uganda. So, instead of writing more, I have made a video of the day!

Death

Death. It happens everyday, in every part of the world and in every culture. We don't think much about it until a family member or a friend is injured or ill, or we lose a loved one or someone we know, even if only an acquaintance.  There are SO many differences between Ugandan culture and American culture, however one thing remains universal - the feeling of sadness and grief after losing a loved one. Today, these feelings were very apparent throughout my community as people are saddened by the death of a community member, Julius. I felt this sadness throughout, from my counterpart greeting me in the morning saying "last night we lost one of ours" to the grief in my supervisors' face when talking about the accident and the future burial, to the parish cook telling me she has been feeling so sad all day. 

I met Julius last week when sister called me up to come meet the man who would be my tutor for the next few months in the Rukiga language. My first thought of him was, ah this man is so friendly and nice and seems as though he really wants to teach me the language! He planned to get me all the books on vernacular from the teacher who taught that class at the school in order to help me. We exchanged numbers and agreed to begin sometime during the next week. He was a teacher at the government primary school just down the road and as we walked from the health centre, he asked me to come see the school. As we walked down the road, he expressed his frustrations to me about working at a public school and how limited they are financially and in resources for the kids and school. When I got there I could see what he meant - no fence around the school to keep animals and squatters out, broken windows in classrooms, no bars on the windows and very tiny classrooms; all of which differed significantly from the nice catholic private schools surrounding. He introduced me to some of the students remaining at the school (most had left for break back to their homes, but they allowed these ones to stay because they had no where to go). So anyway, we said our goodbyes and agreed to meet again the following week to begin language class. Fast forward to Monday...I returned from a fun weekend away in Mbarara visiting friends and my host family, and I come to find out Julius had been in a very bad accident and was at Kiziizi hospital in a coma. I could not believe this! He was riding his motorcycle and was hit by a truck. 

Although I did not know Julius well, he was a person I had planned to get to know well over the next few months and someone I was very eager to work with on health education in the school. In just the short time I met with him, he seemed to have such a passion for what he did and I feel Uganda needs more people like him. This made me realize that over the course of the next two years I will meet many different people whom I may develop close friendships with and who I could lose at anytime. Nothing is permanent in life and we must cherish those important to us and never forget this. Sorry for the downer posting, next post will be much happier! :) 

Bride Price

The second oldest sister in my homestay family, Ruth, will be getting married at the end of August and her “introduction ceremony” just so happened to be while I was at homestay!  In Ugandan culture, an introduction ceremony is somewhat like an engagement party.  The man’s family comes to the family’s house of the bride-to-be, where they are introduced.  Each family sits on opposite sides facing each other.  All of the ceremony was in the local language, Runyankore, so I didn’t understand much of anything, but I was briefed on it later.  As they told me, a woman is never “free” in their country like us American women are; the man’s family must come together with the woman’s family and settle on an agreement of what they will give the woman’s family (bride price).  The main thing is cows, and they bargain on how many to give depending on what the man's family is able to afford.  For Ruth, they settled on 6 cows for her family.

The day began very early and our house quickly became full of people cooking, cleaning and preparing for the day.  We were “supposed” to eat at 1pm…I say supposed to because nothing is EVER on time here. We ended up eating around 3pm.  There was so much food!- goat, cow, chicken, matooke, rice, beans, noodles, groundnut sauce, cabbage, fruit, etc.  Earlier that morning as I was walking to the latrine, I had the unfortunate luck of witnessing this goat being slaughtered out in the banana plantations :(.  After both families ate lunch, the ceremony continued on, lasting about 6 hours.. yikes!

At the end of the ceremony, all of the girls from the two families who are not yet married (therefore they are not yet “women”), walked out in beautiful traditional dresses and sat on a mat between the two families.  I was very surprised when my host father called me up to sit with all the sisters and introduced to the man’s family his "muzungu" daughter.  Rhoda, the next in line under Ruth, introduced all of us, then there was a word of prayer and the ceremony ended.  It was a fun day filled with a lot of meeting and greeting family, sitting around not knowing much of what was happening, and of course hanging out with all the kids.  Luckily I had my friend Jennifer to sit through it all with me!  The next ceremony will be the “giveaway ceremony” on August 16 at my family’s house.  Unfortunately I will no longer be living there but I am invited to attend and plan to make the journey! This party is supposed to be much bigger than the introduction!

Foooood time!

My younger sister Linda

My host father (right)

Jen and I with the beautiful bride-to-be, Ruth!

Family photo- Father, Mother, baby Roland, Ruth, Linda, Rose, Rhoda

Cant forget Joshua! (left)

Homestay

A few weeks ago our southwest group left our training site in Kulika and headed to Kinoni (Che-no-ni) for a month of homestay.  Nine of us, plus our two language trainers along with all of our luggage crammed into a taxi and made the 5 hour journey to Kinoni.  The drive was beautiful, but very uncomfortable since the conductor of the taxi decided to come along resulting in me being squished with half a seat.  Rarely do you ever get your “own” seat in this country. My family has been really great- my host father, Reverend Balaam Katamba, is a retired reverend, although he still works when he gets called. My host mother, Beatrice, is a teacher in a different city and is gone Mon-Fri. My host sister Linda, is 18 years old, just finished high school and will be going to university in August.  She traveled back home from Kampala when she heard I was coming so that she could prepare meals for me and keep me company…..The dynamics of the household are MUCH different than what I am used to. Linda does EVERYTHING from cooking all the meals to fetching water for me to cleaning.  The gender roles are definitely very defined and at times this is hard for me.  I have definitely connected the most with Linda and am so happy she is around because I think if she were not, my experience would be much different. I attended church 2 Sundays back with my sister and it was basically an hour and a half of me having no clue what was going on..i guess that’s kind of the theme here lately.  The service was all in Runyankore, the language I am currently learning, although Linda tried to translate some for me.

Everyone in my family speaks English well, which has made the language barrier pretty much non-existent. I use a pit latrine outside for a toilet, I take bucket baths outside in a bamboo structure, our house has no electricity and no running water….so pretty much it’s back to the basics for me! But I don’t mind and it hasn’t been that much of a struggle because I really do love my family.  There are also 3 workers who live in separate quarters, 2 males and 1 female who has a son named Roland.  It has taken some time for him to warm up to me but I am happy to say we are now bff’s! The dynamics of having workers is also something very odd to me.  They do not sit at the same table for meals as we do and at times it seems they get the “left overs” after we have taken our share.  The workers take care of the cows, goats, chickens and banana plantations, as well as walk about 15 minutes down the road to get our water.

So my family can say some pretty funny things…here’s just a few…

Linda: “ I want to be taller and FAT!” (the desire to be fat here is very real! It is a sign that you can afford to eat well)

Reverend: “ Now that you are my daughter, I REALLY hope you are planning to marry”

Me: “ Yes, I plan to get married in the future”

Reverend: “I am hoping very much that you will pro-create because I want more grandkids.  And it would be so nice if you would send us tickets to come to your wedding!”

Reverend: “Eat more! By the time you leave us we want you to be very fat! Then the whole community will say ah! The reverend has fed her very well!”

As you can see, he is really taking his “host fathering” VERY seriously.  This past weekend Linda and I traveled to Mbarara- a city about 30 mins from Kinoni, where you can find just about anything you need, including American food! I ate a veggie pizza and it was delicious! My meals thus far usually consist of rice, beans, cabbage, matooke and sometimes meat. Surprisingly I am enjoying the food ive been eating at homestay much more than that in Kulika during training!  The whole “boot camp” model for training is really wearing on all of us.  We have no free time and I feel like I have been non stop go go go since I arrived.  Because of this I think, I got sick a week ago with what seemed to be an upper respiratory infection, I am feeling much better and am just waiting for the cough to leave me.

To summarize…. I am learning:

1. to be content with never feeling clean
2. to do “short calls” (pee...you can guess what long call is) in a night bucket instead of walking in the dark to the pit latrine at night
3. to be ok with not knowing what’s going on most of the time
4. to accept being eaten alive by mosquitoes despite the fact I put bug spray on all the time!
5. (attempting) the local language, Runyankore and hoping I pass my oral language exam next Friday! 

Here are some photos from homestay…more w/ my family and I and the traditional introduction ceremony to come...

our crowded taxi to homestay 

waiting for our homestay parents in the pouring rain!

church my family attends

The kids love to gather and stare at the muzungus in class

my walk to class every morning 

My family's house

where i "shower"

my toilet

our classroom for language lessons

meet Roland

kitchen

My bedroom

The avocados are HUUUGE here! and super cheap :)

Jackfruit....im not a fan.

Roland and I bonding over kicking the balloon 

one of our cows

view from my yard 

whacking the beans out

Linda and the workers Emmaculate, Charles and Moses

Roland and I chillin

My sister Linda and I 

Kinoni

Adjustment

Hello everyone!  Sorry it has taken me some time, internet is ridiculously slow here and at the moment I'm sitting outside trying to get a wifi connection...which has been unsuccessful. I've been in country now for about 1 1/2 weeks, so far most of this time has been spent at our training center in a community called Kulika, about 1 hour west of Kampala, the capital. Adjusting to living in Africa again has been going well and so many things remind me of being in Ghana and yet so much is different as well. I'm back to taking bucket baths, hand washing my laundry, and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. We've had training basically every day from 8am-7pm on everything from safety and security to common health issues you may experience such as malaria, schistosomiasis, and of course everyone's favorite, diarrhea. Luckily we have two medical doctors who are on call 24/7 and there for all of our health needs, which is comforting. 

The staff put on a ceremony for us to receive our site assignments. They played drums and danced for each region of the country and then had a "sorting hat " (like in Harry potter) where each of us sat to receive our assignment! I'll be living in the southwest region near the Uganda-Rwanda border in a village called Kiita (located near the larger town Kabale if you want to look it up on a map!). This is supposedly a very green and beautiful region, as well as cooler weather than the rest of Uganda. I'll be working with a community health center called Kitanga Health Center, doing community outreach with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS prevention, working to strengthen psychosocial support groups for HIV positive individuals and maternal child health activities (immunizations, nutrition edu, antenatal care, malaria prevention, school health edu).  The language of this region is runyankore/rukiga, which I must say is pretty difficult! I really hope I'll be able to pass the oral language exam at the end of pre service training. There's a group of 9 of us heading to this region, so we will all be leaving wednesday for 1 month at our homestay families. I'm really excited to get out of kulika to see Uganda and be immersed in the culture and language! My homestay family consists of a retired reverend, school teacher, and 3 kids- 2 still living at home and under the age of 18. They speak runyankore/ rukiga which will help me with learning
the language as well as going to language training mon-sat all day. Anyway, stay tuned for more about my homestay hopefully soon...love and miss you all =) 

Our entire group at staging

The sorting hat! 

Southwest region group 

Christina and I 

All the children in the village came out to greet us on our 3 hr hike :) 

Final Days in California

Well, the time has finally come.  I leave tomorrow morning to begin the next chapter of my life….Peace Corps Uganda!  I have spent the last week packing, then re-packing, and packing again to make sure everything is the right size and weight limit. I think packing has by far been one of the most stressful parts of this process! How does one pack and prepare for 2 years?! A lot of thought and time went into this.  Before heading off to Uganda, I first fly to Philadelphia where I will stay for two nights and attend what is called “staging”.  Basically Peace Corps puts everyone from the group up in a hotel and we spend a day doing registration, orientation and tying up any loose ends.  I fly out of JFK with my whole group on Wednesday June 4 to South Africa (15 hour flight) and then South Africa to Uganda (4 hour flight).  This will be a much longer travel time than when I moved to Ghana…..i’ve got my compression stockings ready to go!!  I have been waiting so long for this day and now that it is finally here I cant help but feel so many different feelings…excited, nervous, sad.  Saying all of my goodbyes these past few weeks has been difficult, but knowing that I have so many people who love and support me makes it that much easier.  I am dreading the good-bye to my mom tomorrow at the airport, which will probably be one of the hardest good-byes of all.   I'm not sure when I will be able to post anything in the future, so I wanted to make sure I got one in before I headed off…..i guess now I should probably try and get to bed as we must be up bright and early to head to the airport…not sure im going to get much sleep tonight!!

My long wait for an invitation..

As most of you already know i'm sure, I finally received my invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer after a painstakingly long wait!  I will be serving as a Health volunteer in Uganda, East Africa.  When I received my invitation, I was ecstatic about going back to Africa, as I absolutely loved my time studying abroad in Ghana, West Africa.  I was, however, not too happy about the dates- I don't depart until June 3, 2014.  Now if you know anything about my entire application process, you know it has taken much longer than the average 9-12 months the Peace Corps gives you as a time frame for the time it takes from submitting your application to departure for service.  I submitted my application in September 2012 and received my nomination for the health program with a departure date of July 2013.  I was super excited about leaving right after graduation, and then my application got held up in the medical pre-clearance and ended up taking much longer! That's okay though...I ended up getting a job as a Patient Care Tech (aka-CNA) at Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital and have been working there for the past 8 months after graduating from UCSB.  I have met so many wonderful people in my job, people I would never have had the opportunity to meet if it weren't for the delay in my application.  So, as I continue to tell myself throughout this entire process...everything happens for a reason, and this is just part of the journey!

 I gave my letter of resignation to my boss a few weeks ago and my last night of work is Wednesday.  I also gave my 30-day notice to my landlord and will be moving back home to Orange County the end of this month.  As my time here in Santa Barbara comes to an end, it makes me sad, but also excited for the future.  It is going to be hard leaving SB as I have lived here for the past 5 years and have truly loved it.  I will miss it, but June 3rd couldn't come fast enough!! :)