western Uganda, gender studies and more!

So much has happened since my last entry that I'm going to try to talk about it all briefly... for more details send a private email.

Last week, the SIT program went to western Uganda and Rwanda for an excursion. We left last Sunday and went to Mbarara, Uganda, which meant we crossed the equator! So, last week, I was in the southwestern quadrant of the world… it was kinda cool.

We stayed in Mbarara (which is 4 hours away from Kampala) on Sunday night and Monday night. I really liked Mbarara. It's smaller than Kampala but still offers a lot. I had my first rolex there... no, not the watch, but it's a chappati rolled with an egg and tomatoes...mmmm, it was really delicious! On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning, we were in Rwanda and then we returned to Mbarara for a night before going to QE National Park. It was really nice to have so much bonding time with the group in the van rides from place to place. :)

At Queen Elizabeth National Park, we got to see allllllll kinds of animals, which was really cool! On the road into the park we were greeted by baboons! Then we went on a boat ride and saw all kinds of birds and we saw hippos!!! After the boat ride, we went on a game drive and saw even more animals, closer up that were way cooler. First of all, when I saw game drive on the schedule, I thought that meant safari style game drive in one of those land rovers or something, but no, that was not the case. We went on our safari style game drive (I was right about that) in our taxi-vans! Hahah, it was kind of a sight to see all on its own! It was unbelievable though- we saw lions (they were kinda far away though), warthogs, ELEPHANTS (!!!!), more buffalo, antelope, hyenas, lots of different birds, and more that I can’t even think of right now. So, if you couldn’t tell, the elephants were my favorite part. We saw about ten of them at one point and then we turned around the path and were able to wait for them to cross our path again. During this little turn around, our driver, Godfrey (sp?), told us that we don’t have to worry about the elephants unless they flap their ears because that’s their sign that they’re about to charge. When the elephants came past us for the second time, we saw the biggest one first- the one with the big tusks which was so cool. It was about thirty feet away from us and headed right in our direction. Everyone was taking pictures (except me because my camera was out of batteries) until all of a sudden, the elephant starts flapping its ears! One of the other girls and I started telling Godfrey that we needed to back up pronto and it was a very very funny moment of two of us speaking really quickly and talking about the fact that ears were “definitely flapping, definitely flapping.” In the morning, we went for an early game drive and were able to see the lions up close- two were about five feet from the car!!! Other than that, we just saw the same animals and had no exciting elephant stories.

Now that I’m back in Kampala, we have started the in-depth study part of my semester. This is a two week program where our group is split into three and we each study something that we get to learn more about one topic in a more intimate setting. I’m studying gender and it has been wonderful so far! It’s amazing to see how much gender roles are different here than in the States and to see how much they play a role in different aspects of life here… like politics (which I found fascinating)! I had a great lecture on gender and conflict areas- specifically northern Uganda and that too was fascinating. I also had some non-interesting lectures this week- micro-financing (which I already knew about), poverty (just a poor presentation), and health (which wasn’t specific enough for me, so it wasn’t very engaging). The last lecture we had was about gender and law, which was interesting but so frustrating. My lecturer was talking about how gender sensitive he is and yet, the whole time he kept making sexist comments about how women can’t function at the same intellectual level of men and about how women don’t have the same level of reasonableness that men do. Oh, I was so frustrated about it and it definitely made me glad that I am a woman living in America!

I've now ridden a boda boda twice...once I was NOT breaking rules because we are allowed to ride them when we're outside the city and it was really fun. The second time I broke rules because I was late and needed to cross the city quickly to make it to an appointment with world vision in time. I will not make a habit of that, but it really was helpful timing wise.

This week has been really up and down for me. In soooo many ways I feel like I've finally hit my stride and I feel really good about being here- comfortable in my environment and feel like I'm learning about things that I'm interested in and just feeling excited about my practicum (internship) time that's rapidly approaching. On the other hand, I've had a lot of stressful and/or frustrating moments where I've just missed home a TON and it's really hard to be so far away from my support network. Thank you very much to people who have sent encouraging, thoughtful emails. You have no idea how helpful it is to receive those!

So, after a hard afternoon yesterday, I went with two friends to listen to music- a blend of african and jazz and it was AMAZING! The music was great and we got to dance too! A woman there taught me some of the traditional moves and I'm actually not too bad at it... she kept commenting at how good I was at shaking my butt (apparently most mzugu girls aren't!) hahah. It was really fun and makes me want to learn more dance moves here. We'll see what I can do about that...

I guess that’s all from here… oh I should tell you about another friend since I haven’t done that lately…

Friend of this blog entry: Sharon. Sharon is actually the girl that I met before coming because she’s from Wheaton, IL and we had lunch the Saturday before leaving for Uganda. Sharon is in my Luganda class, so I’ve gotten a chance to spend some more time with her and she’s really cool. She knows a TON about eastern Africa, which can be a little intimidating, but I’ve been able to learn a lot from her and her contributions to class lectures. Her host family here calls her Sharoni which has become a source of amusement for the rest of us and she has a good sense of humor about it.

Small note:
Jeff, Jen, Ali and Peter: I was totally thinking of you guys when I was seeing the elephants and, even though my camera wasn’t working, I did get someone to take a picture of elephant dung for you! J hahaha, I hope you appreciate it!

So much has happened since my last entry that I'm going to try to talk about it all briefly... for more details send a private email.

Last week, the SIT program went to western Uganda and Rwanda for an excursion. We left last Sunday and went to Mbarara, Uganda, which meant we crossed the equator! So, last week, I was in the southwestern quadrant of the world… it was kinda cool.

We stayed in Mbarara (which is 4 hours away from Kampala) on Sunday night and Monday night. I really liked Mbarara. It's smaller than Kampala but still offers a lot. I had my first rolex there... no, not the watch, but it's a chappati rolled with an egg and tomatoes...mmmm, it was really delicious! On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning, we were in Rwanda and then we returned to Mbarara for a night before going to QE National Park. It was really nice to have so much bonding time with the group in the van rides from place to place. :)

At Queen Elizabeth National Park, we got to see allllllll kinds of animals, which was really cool! On the road into the park we were greeted by baboons! Then we went on a boat ride and saw all kinds of birds and we saw hippos!!! After the boat ride, we went on a game drive and saw even more animals, closer up that were way cooler. First of all, when I saw game drive on the schedule, I thought that meant safari style game drive in one of those land rovers or something, but no, that was not the case. We went on our safari style game drive (I was right about that) in our taxi-vans! Hahah, it was kind of a sight to see all on its own! It was unbelievable though- we saw lions (they were kinda far away though), warthogs, ELEPHANTS (!!!!), more buffalo, antelope, hyenas, lots of different birds, and more that I can’t even think of right now. So, if you couldn’t tell, the elephants were my favorite part. We saw about ten of them at one point and then we turned around the path and were able to wait for them to cross our path again. During this little turn around, our driver, Godfrey (sp?), told us that we don’t have to worry about the elephants unless they flap their ears because that’s their sign that they’re about to charge. When the elephants came past us for the second time, we saw the biggest one first- the one with the big tusks which was so cool. It was about thirty feet away from us and headed right in our direction. Everyone was taking pictures (except me because my camera was out of batteries) until all of a sudden, the elephant starts flapping its ears! One of the other girls and I started telling Godfrey that we needed to back up pronto and it was a very very funny moment of two of us speaking really quickly and talking about the fact that ears were “definitely flapping, definitely flapping.” In the morning, we went for an early game drive and were able to see the lions up close- two were about five feet from the car!!! Other than that, we just saw the same animals and had no exciting elephant stories.

Now that I’m back in Kampala, we have started the in-depth study part of my semester. This is a two week program where our group is split into three and we each study something that we get to learn more about one topic in a more intimate setting. I’m studying gender and it has been wonderful so far! It’s amazing to see how much gender roles are different here than in the States and to see how much they play a role in different aspects of life here… like politics (which I found fascinating)! I had a great lecture on gender and conflict areas- specifically northern Uganda and that too was fascinating. I also had some non-interesting lectures this week- micro-financing (which I already knew about), poverty (just a poor presentation), and health (which wasn’t specific enough for me, so it wasn’t very engaging). The last lecture we had was about gender and law, which was interesting but so frustrating. My lecturer was talking about how gender sensitive he is and yet, the whole time he kept making sexist comments about how women can’t function at the same intellectual level of men and about how women don’t have the same level of reasonableness that men do. Oh, I was so frustrated about it and it definitely made me glad that I am a woman living in America!

I've now ridden a boda boda twice...once I was NOT breaking rules because we are allowed to ride them when we're outside the city and it was really fun. The second time I broke rules because I was late and needed to cross the city quickly to make it to an appointment with world vision in time. I will not make a habit of that, but it really was helpful timing wise.

This week has been really up and down for me. In soooo many ways I feel like I've finally hit my stride and I feel really good about being here- comfortable in my environment and feel like I'm learning about things that I'm interested in and just feeling excited about my practicum (internship) time that's rapidly approaching. On the other hand, I've had a lot of stressful and/or frustrating moments where I've just missed home a TON and it's really hard to be so far away from my support network. Thank you very much to people who have sent encouraging, thoughtful emails. You have no idea how helpful it is to receive those!

So, after a hard afternoon yesterday, I went with two friends to listen to music- a blend of african and jazz and it was AMAZING! The music was great and we got to dance too! A woman there taught me some of the traditional moves and I'm actually not too bad at it... she kept commenting at how good I was at shaking my butt (apparently most mzugu girls aren't!) hahah. It was really fun and makes me want to learn more dance moves here. We'll see what I can do about that...

I guess that’s all from here… oh I should tell you about another friend since I haven’t done that lately…

Friend of this blog entry: Sharon. Sharon is actually the girl that I met before coming because she’s from Wheaton, IL and we had lunch the Saturday before leaving for Uganda. Sharon is in my Luganda class, so I’ve gotten a chance to spend some more time with her and she’s really cool. She knows a TON about eastern Africa, which can be a little intimidating, but I’ve been able to learn a lot from her and her contributions to class lectures. Her host family here calls her Sharoni which has become a source of amusement for the rest of us and she has a good sense of humor about it.

Small note:
Jeff, Jen, Ali and Peter: I was totally thinking of you guys when I was seeing the elephants and, even though my camera wasn’t working, I did get someone to take a picture of elephant dung for you! J hahaha, I hope you appreciate it!

Rwanda

I am writing this from an internet cafe in Mbarara (western Uganda) in hopes that I can write only about Rwanda right now and write another entry next week about western Uganda when I have more time.

First, let me just say that Rwanda is BEAUTIFUL! The hills are gorgeous and the streets and cities are much cleaner than Uganda. The people we met were quite friendly as well. Ok, now onto the real stuff...

In preparation for our time in Rwanda, we watched Sometimes in April (which is a movie I own and highly recommend so mum and pops- please feel free to let people borrow it- it's on my bottom shelf). It's a good movie about the Rwandan genocide that I believe is better than Hotel Rwanda.

Here's a VERY BRIEF backround on Rwanda: First Germany, then Belgium came and colonized Rwanda at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time Rwanda was fairly unified- one language and one ethnic group. There were different classifications for people (Tutsis, Hutus and Twa), but the tutsi and hutu titles were not biologically inherited- it was completely dependent on one's profession so the titles didn't mean much and people could easily change titles. When Belgium came in, they decided to legally require identity cards to be carried everywhere you went starting in 1932. Soon, the Tutsis were getting special treatment from the European colonizers and that went on until 1962 when Rwanda gained independence. From then on, tensions were very high between the Hutus (who were the majority in Rwanda- 85%) and the Tutsis (who were in the vast minority- 14%... the Twa made up the remainder 1%). There were many different instances of mass killings of Tutsis and there were lots of Tutsis who fled to surrounding countries for refuge. In 1990, the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front- tutsi supporting army) began a war with the Rwandan army (which supported the hutus). Making little headway, the RPF often had to retreat back into other countries. In April, 1994, the Hutu supporting president of Rwanda's plane was shot down by Hutus for two reasons- 1) the president had been backing down from his extreme hutu stance and 2) the hutus blamed the tutsis for the death and were able to use that as an excuse for the implementation of their mass extermination plan. Within 100 days, over 800,000 Rwandans were killed- both tutsis and moderate hutus. There was VERY little help from the international community.

Ok, so when we got to Rwanda, we spent the night at a hotel and then spent the next day at a memorial museum and two genocide memorial sites. The museum was really informative and reminded me of the Holocaust museum in D.C. a bit, although it was a ton smaller. At the museum there were mass graves in front and we were told that 256,000 people were buried there, but they only had 10,000 names because there was no way to identify them. The two genocide memorial sites were very hard to be at. They were each churches. At the first church, there were seven shelves of skulls and bones right at the entrance of the little brick church. Then, as you walked farther in, you could see that the place had not been cleaned up other than to remove the bodies . In between all of the very low benches (pews), there was debris and small bones. The walls had large gaping holes which explains how the Hutu armies were able to enter. Behind the church, there was another small building and it had two large piles of bones and then there was clothes hanging everywhere. It was unreal. Standing outside of the church, I was able to picture the event that took place- people squished into this church because it was the only place they felt offered a sense of security, hearing the hutu army coming and realizing they had no where to go, trying desperately to hide in between these low benches but not being able to hide from this army which surround the building. From the skulls on the shelves, I could tell which ones had been smashed into the walls, which ones had been hit with machetes and there was even one with a spear head still stuck in it. Sorry for being graphic, but this description doesn't even give you an accurate picture of what I saw. At the second church, there were more mass graves, but at this one we went down into them. The first was just filled with coffins and we were told that 4 or 5 skeletons were in each coffin. In the second mass grave, there were no coffins and there were just shelves and shelves of skulls and bones. In the two mass graves, there were 3,220 people. It was simply unbelievable... except that it really was believable because here we were looking at all of these skulls.

The whole experience was so draining emotionally and mentally. Emotionally I was so sad that this happened and it was hard to see all of this evidence in person. Mentally, I was just trying to comprehend what happened. How could people have such hatred? How could so many people have committed such atrocities? How could the international community not have stepped in? Will the international community ever be able to truly mean "never again"? And SOOOOO many more questions have been racing through my head.

I hope that this gives you some idea of what I experienced, but I know if can never give a fully accurate description. Please feel free to ask me more questions because I definitely will want to talk more about this!

new address and some short notes

Sorry, I kept forgetting to include the new address in here, but here it is:
Molly Heineman
c/o School for International Training
P.O. Box 23431
Kati House, Ground Floor, Plot 2
Kyagwe Road
Kampala, UGANDA

It takes about 15 days for letters to get here (that's how long it took for the card my mum sent!)

Random things:

Kampala is a big city. I know some people think strictly of rural areas when they think of Africa, but Kampala is not rural. The main streets are paved (don't be fooled, that doesn't mean they are smooth necessarily). The buildings are not that large, but many of them are at least three stories high. This is a hilly area which is kinda fun for me since I've always lived in very flat areas. People dress very nicely here. While there is a lot of dust, we are expected to look "smart". Smart here means dressed neatly- ironed clothing, not t-shirts, skirts that cover the knee, shirts that cover your shoulder and aren't too low cut.

Each morning I take my taxi to the taxi park in Kampala and then walk uphill at least half a mile (although it actually may be a mile) to the SIT resource center for Luganda class. As I walk on the sidewalk and CAREFULLY cross the street, people are constantly trying to talk to me. "muzungu muzungu" (that's their word for white- although it's not derogatory in any way) is what I constantly hear. Also, everyone assumes that since I'm white, I'm rich. They all want me to buy from their stores. there are a good number of people sitting on the side of the sidewalk just hoping people will give them money. Most have obvious disabilities or they are clearly poor children. Children are more aggresive in their begging- they'll come up and call me sister and walk with me for up to two blocks. I learned early on that I can't make eyecontact and should definitely not give money in the city to these kids- advice from the director of my program. It seems that most kids work for someone else so they may not even get any benefits from the money they receive.

Ok, I just wanted to give you taht little insight into Kampala. Hope you all have a wonderful week! I'll try to write on Monday or Tuesday the 25/26.

change in plans...

Hey everyone!

Things are going really well here. I'm starting to settle in here with the program and feel like I may have a grasp on what's going on... maybe. :) Next week, I'll be in western Uganda and Rwanda and I'm super pumped! It means that I probably won't be able to check my email, but please feel free to send it anyway, just dont' expect a response next week.

When we get back, we continue our Luganda lessons in the morning but have indepth study in the afternoon. For my indepth study I get to choose between public health, gender studies or grassroots development. At this point I am actually torn between gender studies and the grassroots development. Contrary to what I thought coming in, the indepth study is completely separate from our practicum or really any other projects/assignments we have to do.

Our group has been talking a lot about practicum ideas. Practicum is a six week assignment where we get to choose whether we want to do an internship with a organization in Uganda or research some topic and use only primary sources in our research. I definitely am wanting to do an internship type thing and right now I'm looking into either working for the Kids League up north or working at a rehabiliation center up north (probably Lira). I tried to talk to World Vision today, but instead made an appointment to talk to them when I get back from Rwanda. My buddy Laura and I were talking about possibly doing our internships near eachother so that we could live with eachother or at least check in on one another regularly. I'm pumped about that. I'm reading this book, Aboke Girls, right now (it was recommended to me by my program director) and it's about the children who are abducted. It's really good and it's such good motivation for me at the moment so that's cool. I recommend it- it's a pretty easy read- intense topic but quick reading.

So, the change in plans is that I have decided to come home in late December/early January after my parents have come to visit. This means that I will return to UD in the spring and I will not be doing my semester of service over here. I have a lot of things to figure out in terms of school, but let me just tell you a few of the reasons why I will returning early: (these are in no particular order)
1) ANOTHER language barrier: in the north they don't speak Luganda or (to my understanding) much English, so I would have to be learning a new language without formal lessons like I have now.
2) lack of a Ugandan support system: I've really appreciated having the other SIT students here with me so that I can talk to them and be supported by them and even for practicum time I will have them (and my program director) in Uganda- just a cheap phone call away. Second semester I wouldn't have them OR my program director to rely on and that seems a little too out on my own for me right now.
3) If I go home, I can plan better for coming back here in a couple ways: financial- I learned a little too late in the game about scholarships that I could ahve applied for for coming here so if I go home, I can apply for them and come back in the next couple years. Also, I could learn a little of the language I would be using and I could even look into the organization more and take classes that might prepare me better for this experience.
4) I am not sure about how available communication is up there right now and with my limited support system that I'd have here, I am not willing to be cut off completely.
If you'd like more reasons, I'll give them to you, but that's the brief overview for now.

It's hard for me to come back early because in some ways I feel like it could be seen as a failure, but I really don't see it that way since I am coming home in order to plan better a trip back here.

Well, I just tried for the past hour to upload some pictures on here, but it unfortunately did not work :(...so, I will try again this weekend and hopefully I will be more successful...

OH, I forgot to mention, I think I get to see a soccer game between two clans on Saturday- I'm pretty excited! :)

Alright, time to go home... I love getting your emails! Keep 'em coming :)

Love,
Molly :)

shocks and strikes...

Hello all!

First, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been reading this, emailing me or posting comments! It is SO nice to know that people are thinking of me here... not just for my ego, haha... but seriously, the support is felt and at times is necessary, so thank you! Also, I will try to respond when I get a chance, but our schedule is kinda tight these days...

Ok, so shocks and strikes...

Shock: On Sunday, I was ironing my shirts (because wrinkles take away from the very nice appearance everyone tries to maintain here) with my host family's iron- which has a pretty shabby cord from the iron to the outlet. I was sitting on the concrete floor in my room and ironing the way I was shown by my host sister and I put the iron down to re-arrange the shirt. When I went to grab the iron, I was slightly electrocuted... my right arm shook, my left leg shook and my eyes closed for a moment. When my eyes re-opened, i was holding my arms and legs very close to my body in a reflexive move and my host sister just laughed and said, "oh sorry- small electric shock!" she promptly removed the iron. Apparently, I had touched a part of the cord that had worn through, but I didn't even really know what had happened at the time...

Strike: the taxis were (and maybe still are) on strike because the governemnt wanted to install speed governors in the taxis. I don't even really know what that means, but I know that yesterday we were told to go straight to the taxi park after class and TRY to get a taxi. There were SO many people in the streets and in the taxi park. I was with two of my classmates and one of them commented that people filled up all the places where there usually are taxis- it was nuts! I made it home just fine because there were still a good number (it may have been half) of the taxis still running despite the strike.

This weekend was less than thrilling for me. I did not get to stay with Rachel in her house of flushing toilets (bummer), I spent a lot of time on Saturday with my host siblings Fred and Gertrude as they showed me a strip mall and then a shopping mall and asked which one was more American. Unfortunately (in my opinion), they were both VERY American... we had lunch at a place where there were only three non-white faces! I wish that they had taken me to Ugandan places, but I didn't have much say... oh well... Each day during the week, my host sister Gertrude has woken me up- even when I've offered to set an alarm she refuses and says that she'll just wake me up. Well, on Sunday, she didn't wake me up. So, when I woke up at 10, I had missed church. For other people in my group that would have made them very happy, but as you all can probably predict- that was not the case for me. So, I was pretty homesick on Sunday as I missed church, had an electric shock, and had spent the previous day doing quasi-American things. It got better by Sunday night when I went with my host family to a birthday party. It felt very similar to Hogan family events, in the ways in which cousins interacted and that I felt fairly comfortable- obviously it had a Ugandan spin which made me at least feel like I was seeing a bit of THEIR culture and I definitely appreciated that. Another little bit of their culture- my host family doesn't have a car. So anytime we went anywhere, we crammed into other people's cars with them. On Sunday there were five adults squished into the backseat of a regular four-door car for a 40 minute drive over Ugandan roads- filled with pot holes! It was hot and uncomfortable and there wasn't much English conversation.

I guess after this weekend, I've finally found the uncomfortable culture shock that so many of my peers found sometime last week. I'm still very happy to be here and am enjoying my time here, but I'm aware that I really am in Uganda and that's VERY different from the states. On the upside, I'm getting more and more used to my pit latrine, I am pretty good at riding the taxis here and I'm participating more in class. :) So, things are good here (despite my complaints).

Next week we're headed to western Uganda and Rwanda. In western Uganda, we'll be trying to lead some focus group discussions with Ugandans (which will be an interesting experience for sure!) and in Rwanda we'll be visiting three genocide memorials as well as talk to a couple NGOs. It'll be nice to spend some time away from our homestays and with the rest of the students for a while before returning to the homestay for another two week period.

New friend of today's blog: Krista. Krista is from Wisconsin and goes to school there too. She's a sweet, quiet girl who is so genuine! Krista and I are in language class together (we have three different sections for our group) and it's so nice to begin each morning talking with her about her night. At the end of our first student-led processing session yesterday evening, after most people had been complaining about different cultural issues they've been dealing with, Krista said, "I just want to say that I'm happy to be here and I think we have a lot to be thankful for here." It is very true. We do have a lot of beauty around us and a lot to be thankful for here and it's nice to have people like Krista around to remind us of that!

Ok, I'm out of time... I'll write more later! Hope you all are well!

"Light is coming"

My language classes these past two days have been great and today and I definitely had an "ah ha" moment when we were conjugating the verb to go and my teacher, Herbert, turned to me and asked, "Light is coming?" and I thought that describes things very well right now. Light IS coming.

I joined my host family on Sunday afternoon and they are great! There's a sign in the living room/family room area that says something along the lines of- you are welcome in this house. we may not have the best of food or offer the greatest things, but we give, we give with love. It's very true. :) They live in a small house- i don't know the exact material used for the house but, cement or concrete? is that the same? I don't know... my bed is larger than my bed at home and I bought a nice mosquito net to put up so that's been great so far. We use a pit latrine which is located outside in an outhouse... there is a cement floor with a rectangular hole and there's a cover that has a large stick attached to it that you just move away from the hole before going to the bathroom and then you replace it afterward. We have a bathroom... literally. It is a cement room which is about three feet wide and ten feet long (total estimates). There is a drain in the back right corner and when I get in there, there is always a plastic basin (about 18 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep) with water in it. there is a clothes line hung from the door and the window and that's where you place your towel and clothes while you are "showering". Very interesting experience and I definitely found myself laughing at myself as I fumbled through my first two "showers". We shower twice a day (morning and night) and that is not negotiable.

My host family's name is Lule, so I've decided that I'm going to call my host mom "mama Lule", but she doesn't know about that one yet, so we'll see. I am roommates with Gertrude, who is 25 and across the hall is Aunt Joan. Mama Lule sleeps down the hallway and that's all who lives in the house. My host dad lives in Juba (in Sudan where the LRA/Ugandan gov't peace talks are going on right now) and he came down on Sunday for my arrival. I felt very special. :) I have two "brothers"- Fred (19) and Ivan (20) and they don't live with me. Fred is in college (equivalent of our first two years of college) and Ivan is in university (equivalent of our last two years of college plus one more year... i hope that made sense). I also have one more "sister", Rachael and she's married and has a 5 month old son, Daniel. She actually got married one week before David and Maryjoy, so we bonded over that when we met on Sunday. All the sibs were there on Sunday, but left by Sunday night. I will see some of them this weekend. Rachael invited me to stay at her house on Saturday and she has running water- flush toilet and real shower! So, I'm hoping that plan still goes through.

Some logistics about Uganda-
load sharing: There are power problems here in Kampala and we have power about every other day (this is called load sharing). The first night I was with the family was a power day so that was nice to get my bearings when there were lights. Oddly, I watched the Fugitive on tv with them... I'd never seen it before so that was interesting. Last night, we did not have power and I think I liked that better... I'm for sure investing in a lantern when I return home because they really do the trick- I have no need for excessive power use, that's for sure.

transportation: we have mini-bus taxis which are 15 seater vans that you see EVERYWHERE! the two people working it are the driver (obviously in the front seat...oh, but on the right side because it's not like america in that way) and the conductor (who sits on the left side in the first row of seats behind the driver). The conductor sticks his head out the window and is pretty constantly calling the destination of the taxi out the window so that other people can join us if they want. traffic here is NUTS! Cars and taxis are RIGHT on top of each other and it's ridiculous! mama Lule is going to try to help me take a picture of it this weekend... I haven't taken many pictures yet because I don't want my camera to be stolen and I've been warned by everyone here that that is a completely valid concern... actually I didn't have the concern until they told me I should be. The other form of traffic is motorcyles which are another taxi type service. you sit on the second seat and they take you places. They can weave in and out of traffic easier and can fit on the side of the vans on the streets so they are much quicker. They are called boda boda's and they are off limits for SIT students. so lots of traffic- it is a tricky task to cross the street, but so far I've done quite well.

overall, in Kampala it is VERY dusty. I always come home at the end of the day with a layer of red dust (yes, red... i don't know why, but that's the color of their dirt). also, lately i've been noticing how dry my contacts get in my eyes so i will probably start carrying around eye drops.

um... that's all I can think to write now. More later. Oh, wait, food- we've had rice and beans for the past two nights at home and that's wonderful. we also had matoke the first night which is made from green bananas (plantains) and i'm not a huge fan, but i can choke it down with the best of them. :) And passion fruit juice is always available and that's awesome... i really like it. So, I'm very happy here and life is good.

New friend of today's blog: Marisa. She's from Massachusetts, but goes to school in CA. She's always outgoing and optimistic so we have found it helpful to talk together because other people are not always as happy as we are and we don't want to gloat. She's been great though and I've also been able to have a few heart to hearts with her, so that's awesome. Ok, now I'm really done.

Thank you all for emails- I've LOVED them! Keep 'em coming if possible. :)

Webale bannyabo ne bassebo! (goodbye ladies and gentlemen!)

I'm a learning machine!

Hey everyone!

I hope things are going well at home! I know I said I would only be updating once every two weeks, but this first week has been so crazy, I just wanted to let you all know that I AM settling in. I will probably be able to update once a week for the rest of the semester, so that's exciting! :)

where to even begin...

The Other SIT Students: SO fun! My roommate for the week is Laura and she's awesome. Each of the past two nights we've been able to talk about what we've experienced, what we're nervous about and what we're excited for, so that's been really good. Another good friend I've made is Gabe- he goes to Oberlin and is just an easy going guy and is one of those people that I just feel comfortable with from the start- like we already knew each other. I'll tell more about the others as time goes on, but that was just a sneak peak. :)

The Program: Yesterday I got answers to SOOOO many questions about the SIT program. We learned about our practicum period which happens for the last six weeks and so many little logistical questions about what's going on. For the practicum it looks like I may be able to work up in Arua with the Kids League (although I have not yet had contact with TKL directors) so that is exciting for me. Again, I will tell you lots more as time goes on.

The Food: the moment you've all been waiting for... it's actually pretty good! They have rice and beans with a lot of their meals. They have a starch-product (I honestly have no idea which ones or else I would tell you) called capote (sp?) and it's AWESOME. I can already tell that it will become a comfort food for me here and I will probably miss it when I go home.

That's all I have time for now and this computer isn't letting me check my gmail, so I'm sorry but I can't respond to any of those emails yet.

Love you all and miss you, but really I just wish you could all just come here and join me in this incredible learning experience!

PS- I had my first Luganda lesson today and it went so well! My favorite word thus far is nsanyuse (nn-san-yoo-say) which mean it's nice to meet you! ok, i'm off..