Samuel

The other day I ran into Samuel going up the path as I was coming down. Samuel is one of the first people I met here. He is middle aged with a ready smile and is one of two people who always makes it a point to converse with me. Too bad he's a drunk.

The first time I met him he said he was an electrictian, which I thought a little odd but plausible as the power grid stops far from here, but there are a handful of generators in the county and one solar power system that I know of. I have since found that his main responsibility is maintaining the water supplies in the area, which are a few springs, a couple boreholes(wells), and a gravity water system. Although mostly when I see him he is sitting around talking or drinking, which is a common practice. He usually wears a purple sweater and a driving cap, even when he took me way back up in the hills so he could show me the source of the gravity water system which carries water in pipes down from the hills to tanks and taps along the way to the parish. I was sweating and huffing and puffing as we clambored up rocky paths and across muddy hillsides wet with dew, getting me covered in mud and sweat just before my meeting with the local councilmen, but he didn't seem to break a sweat in his sweater. For me it's odd that people around here wear heavy winter coats and jackets almost every morning. They say "You are cold!", which means "aren't you cold?", when they see me in a short sleeved shirt. I haven't acclimated to 65° being freezing cold yet. It's usually 70-75° during the day, but the tropical midday sun can be very intense. Today I am in Kampala on the way to a Peace Corps conference in Jinja at a fancy resort, and here out of the hills seems rather hot to me, but it's probably not over 80. It's odd to think that when I left Kansas at the beginning of March it was still cold, now they have 100° temps. The temperature doesn't change like that here, and it's hard for people to imagine such extremes. (also this week I saw Poseiden Adventures at a movie theater. It was a bit hokey if you ask me.)

So when I met Samuel walking up the path, we exchanged the customary greetings:
I said "osiibire gye?"
Samuel "yeego, waasiibire ota?", which is typical for him to say, but isn't part of the greeting exchange we learned in language class during training. At first when people didn't follow the greeting script we learned, I wanted to say "no, no you're supposed to say this...then I say this...", but I'm used to it now.
me: "naasiibire gye"
him: "agandi?"
me: "ni gye"
Then he went past the greetings and said with a grin because he knows I am trying to learn the language, "nooruga nkahi?"
I responded, "wait, I know what that means...", but he didn't wait for me to formulate an answer and said in English "Where are you coming from?"
I pointed up the hill and said "just there."
him: "ah"
me: "nookora ki?" (what are you doing)
him: "Ninza kurambura paipu amaizi."
me: "Uh, ...something...water."
him: "Ee, good, you know much. 'I am going to inspect the water pipes'."
Then he said, "There are more of you coming."
me: "There are more of me coming?"
him: "Yes, I think there are more of you coming."
I wasn't completely sure, but I thought he might be referring to the group coming from Italy on a mission trip, so I said "The Italians are coming at the end of the month?" (Questions aren't phrased as questions, they are just asked as questions, which can be odd when someone says "You will have matoke", when they mean "Do you want to have a huge heaping pile of steamed and mashed plantains wrapped in a banana leaf?")
Samuel: "ee" (yes)
me: "For me, I have never been to Italy. I do not know them."
him:"Seventeen are coming, but they will work in the health center, the ward, the dispensary even."
me:"yes, it will good."
him:"kare" (okay)
me:"osiibe gye" (spend the day well)

And he went on up the hill to check the water pipes, taps, pressure reducing valves, and tanks.
By now he knows that I'm not Italian, but most people around here think that I must be when they first meet me, because there is a group from Italy that sends people every year to work at the health center for 3 or 4 days then go to a national park for a safari or trekking in the mountains. They also send a lot of funding. They have paid for building a surgery building (though we have no surgeon, not even a doctor), a huge maternity building (though only about 5 mothers a month give birth there, most deliver at home), a community center building, and the house in which I use one bedroom, and last week two huge cargo freight containers on two semi trailers rumbled in. They had come from Italy full of donations for the health center: bales and bales of used clothing, tons of hospital beds, medical supplies, fancy medical equipment, and a huge generating unit. That is what most people here have seen when they see a white person, but I have a different mode of operation here. I am trying to become a part of this community, get to know the people, build relationships, work alongside them. I'm not giving handouts, but am working toward sustainable and self sufficient improvement that doesn't create dependancy. Easier said than done. Not that the Italians aren't doing good; I have been on similar trips myself. It's just that I have to get people passed the fact that I am operating differently from them. Right now I am working on getting around roadblocks in trying to get affordable mosquito nets available to the people here. Hardly anyone has a net, as they are expensive, but malaria is a huge burden for the people in terms of lost time tending crops or working, treatment costs, and lives lost. We live among wetlands, and the mosquitoes are bad, so when I tell people that malaria is spread by the bite of mosquitoes at night, some say "yes, but what will we do, we can't afford nets." Partly what they are saying is that I must be rich, so would I give them money, and partly they are saying that they really want to protect thier families, but really don't have the means. So I tell them about other measures they can take to reduce mosquitoes. The government will be spraying every house in the district this month, so it should help.

I have been at my site for a month now. It's slow going becoming part of things and figuring out what needs I can address and how to about doing it. I am less like the local freak show now and more like the local oddity. I sometimes miss family, friends, and familiar things at home, but I simply cannot go back to my convienient, comfortably isolated and ignorant life in the US yet. Not after getting to know people here and starting to become part of thier lives. Not before trying to do some kind of good. It is what we all must do: try to do some good wherever we are, however we can. I have no magic bullets and a Ugandan would probably be more effective in my position, and there are many Ugandans doing similar work, but I will do what I can.

links of friends

I have uploaded some more pics to Flickr, you can see them by clicking on "More of Nathanpics photos" on the right.

Check out some friend's links if you want.

Group blog of our training group in Uganda:
http://www.pearlofafrica.blogspot.com/
Rachel's blog, check out her pictures. Unfortunately she had to return home.
http://www.racheljenkins.blogspot.com/
Pervis' blog, check out his pictures:
http://pervispc.blogspot.com
Allie:
http://alliemuehe.blogspot.com/
Steve and Erin:
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-jIbw6e0ncrW0rfVYxTmZm75tzDuQOIQ-?cq=1
Chapman:
http://ccmaddox.eponym.com/blog
Rus:
http://www.rustumuganda.blogspot.com/
Caty:
http://www.waitnow.blogspot.com/
Lynn:
http://www.myspace.com/lynndawg206
Aaron:
http://www.edgeseeker.blogspot.com/
Eric and Sara, who have completed thier service:
http://www.candyvendors.com/uganda/gallery/
Cynthia:
http://www.xanga.com/clmurray

Call me Mugisha

I have been christened by the parish council with a local name. Mugisha or Migisha (Mu-JEE-sha, Mee-JEE-sha, both variations are used, but Mugisha is more common) means blessing or one who brings blessings.
As odd as it seemed to be eating supper with a Ugandan priest/politician and an elderly priest while they watch American satellite TV in rural Uganda, it is even a bit more odd to find myself sitting in a mud house with a thatched roof on the side of a fill in rural Africa explaining safe sex and family planning to a Ugandan woman and asking to examine her latrine. Right now this is my romanticized life of saving the world: looking in people's crappers and talking to them about sex. And these aren't your more glamourous outhouses you may have seen in the states; these are a bit more rudimentary. I have started this week going out two days a week with a lady from the community interpreting (since I'm not quite fluent yet) and I will do this until I have visited every one of the few hundred homes within about a 20 minute walk. Then I may visit them again to see if improvements have been made from our suggestions. The idea is to see people's situations and offer suggestions on better sanitation and hygeine to prevent spread of disease, ways to help prevent malaria infection, make sure the children are immunized, educate on HIV transmission, prevention, the importance of testing and of positive living if infected, offer information on family planning methods and answer any questions they may have. I am also trying to learn more about the community and the needs for other projects I may do.
I don't really know what will happen when we go into a home. Ugandans are very hospitable, but one old lady just laughed and laughed that there was a white American guy in her home talking about this stuff, one young lady just stared at me the whole time as if I had 6 eyes, one lady wanted advice on dealing with her husband who didn't approve of HIV testing or family planning, and one man said that he didn't need to worry about HIV because he had been saved at a revival and God would protect him. So in addition to using my skills as a latrine inspector and health advocate, I am also using my skills as marriage counsellor and theologian. Some people are very interested in learning how to be more healthy and keep thier families healthy, though.
The lady who is going with me to interpret is very helpful in relating to people in terms they understand. She has no health training, not that I have formal health training, but she knows quite a bit and is learning more as we go. She can understand most of what I say most of the time when translating what I say in English, but once in a while there's a communication gap, even when I use Ugandan English (we call it Uganglish) and the little Rukiga I know. She goes ahead and tells the people something, even when she doesn't get what I am trying to tell them. She is from the community, probably a bit younger than me, has a 2 year old son, has HIV, and has lost her husband to AIDS. She doesn't know if her son is positive or not.
Even though this is a fairly rural area, there are really a lot of people. Houses are scattered over the hills and families grow some crops on small plots of land around thier houses that they eat and sell a little of the excess if they can. Some have some animals: chickens, goats, or a cow or two. Most houses are mud and wattle with tin roofs, but some have thatched roofs, and a few are made of mud bricks. Water is carried up steep paths in jerry cans. The amount of English a person knows depends on how far they went in school, as English is supposed to be taught in schools. A lot of people know some amount of English, but it's limited for the majority. The main causes of mortality for this area area are malaria and complications of AIDS. There is also a lot of resperitory infections, worms, and diarhoea. 1 in 7 kids die before the age of 5. Yet there is a big population growth rate from fertility. There are a lot of kids around, and it's not unusual for elderly to be caring for small children. A lot of families are caring for orphans. Generalizations about the people here don't do justice to their diversity, richness, character, and humor. The other day I happened to meet a man living in the area who has advanced degrees in economics from a university in Switzerland. He is retired from being a foreighn ambassador with the Ugandan government and is doing part time consulting work.
Last Sunday I went to mass at the church next to my house. I'm not catholic, and I'm not fluent in Rukiga, so I didn't participate much, I mostly just sat there and tried not to mind people staring at me, as I do about everywhere I go. At the end of the service the priest/politician called me up to the alter in front of the several hundred gathered and introduced me to them and told them why I was here. Even though the language, customs, appearance of the people, and even some beliefs may be different, God is the same.

I should clarify what I said in my previous post. I do actually get more than rice, beans, and goat to eat. There is also usually matoke (boiled and mashed plantain bananas) on the table, although I usually pass on it as it tasts okay, but is an acquired taste. And it's not just goat meat, but a big bowl full of pieces of goat meat on big chunks of bone and gristle, usually with intestines and stomach. The priest/politician likes to suck the marrow out of the bones. Ugandans don't usually use any seasoning in thier dishes. Thankfully I can serve myself family style, instead of the Ugandan customary heaping bowl full of what was cooked placed in front of me. Usually when I go to the priest/politician's place for supper he is watching Animal Planet, football (soccer), or CNN. The other day it was Ugandan music videos. He only watched the Family Guy the one time. We haven't talked much about American culture, but he loves Bill Clinton, since the old priest doesn't talk much (although he's a cool guy and I like him) and the priest/politician (who's a pretty good guy, too) is busy watching his TV at supper and is usually gone to meetings and such during the day at lunch.
As a note of interest, the Kisizi (chee-see-zee) waterfall is just down the road, which is mentioned in the good book "The Impenetrable Forest" by Thor Hanson, who was a peace corps volunteer in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. One guy, Chapman, from my training group is working with a gorilla conservation group in Bwindi.

Feel free to ask me questions and I will try to answer them as I have internet time. I wish I had more access to be able to keep in touch better.

"If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast." Psalms 139:9-10

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39