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