The Chronicles of Nathan

Peace Corps adventures in Uganda, March 2006 - May 2008

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

what's this box thing? oh yeah, a computer

Yes, I'm still here, alive and kicking. It's been awhile since I've had access to the internet. I will quickly update you a bit, then try to look at some of my emails. I love getting email, but I'm sure it's frustrating when I don't respond for months.

So my house is finished, and I've been living there (where I can sometimes hear hippos calling at night). It's nice to have a place to call my own- for the most part anyway. People stop by anytime and expect to come in and chat. I only have one small wood bench that I made to sit on, so they can't get too comfy (but I can't get that comfy, either). I did finally get a bed, though, and it's nice to have my foam mattress up off the floor since there are many other things living in my house besides me. (I've counted more than 25 species so far) The inside of the walls are plastered in a nice beige cream sort of colored clay, but I've found that the cow dung plastered outside walls still erode some with the rain. The rainy season should be over around mid December, so I won't have to worry about that until the next rainy season. Although, with the coming dry season I will have much less readily available water. I put a gutter on my house and have been collecting rain water in a bucket, but in the dry season I will have to get water either from the borehole (well) at the next village (4km) or from the billharzia infested lake where the cows drink, the fishermen clean their fish, and many people bathe. Needless to say, I am working on getting the village a water supply.
I have planted a garden, and it's growing well so far. I have okra, onion, tomato, carrot, green beans, passion fruit, watermelon, and sugarcane growing. I had to make a fence to keep out the marauding herds of goats. I also have made a duck shelter and bought 3 ducks: a male and two females. One female met her demise for Thanksgiving, so I have two left. I call them Bwana Bata and Bibi Bata (Swahili for mr duck and mrs duck). It's unfortunate that when we were chasing them around to catch one to eat it (they roam free during the day and sleep in the shelter at night) we caught the nice female instead of the troublemaking one. Now I am left with the troublemaker and the male who just follows her around in her mischief. I will let these two do their thing and see if we get ducklings.
I held a house opening "goat roast", minus the goat because of some goat related last minute difficulties, and invited the elders, the local council, and other influential people in the village, in addition to the volunteers who helped build it. It was quite a production with formal introductions, speeches, etc.
So other than continuing to set up life there, I have been making contacts with people who may be able to help get some projects underway in the village: district health officials, german development agency, a man with USAID, a grants coordinator with the US Embassy, the environmental and corporate social responsibility person for the oil camp nearby, and the couple who run the safari lodge nearby and oversee wildlife and conservation activities in the area. Hopefully something will pan out from these contacts. I think it will. I just have to try to find the best interests of the village community, the surrounding wildlife reserve, and of the oil company operating in the area. There are several things I am persuing currently, and we will see what happens. I just go with the flow and follow the leads to try and get something good happening. The main project I want to get going -community health clubs, which will be a vehicle for education and projects- saw a significant setback when the organization that was going to train Rubanga (my counterpart that I'm working with in the village, who is from there and is excellant to work with) and myself collapsed. So we need to find alternate sources of training in order to move that project forward.

I had two thanksgiving dinners this year, both of them very nice (although not comparable with being with my family for thanksgiving). The first was at the nearby safari lodge with an american couple who now work for the embassy and were peace corps volunteers back in the day, the south african couple who own the lodge, the swedish man who is here until the end of december training a local search and rescue crew in my village and his son, and two south african couples at the lodge on vacation. It was very nice of the lodge owners to invite me over, and great to spend it with former peace corps volunteers. I have been to the lodge a couple times now and it's culture shock to go there. It's a bit different than life in the village. I prefer the village, though. Then I had the aforementioned duck with some of my friends in the village. It was nice to share some american culture with them.

I've been continueing to work on my swahili, but it's a bit difficult with something like 6 or 7 languages spoken in the village including 2 dialects of swahili. Things overall are going well, and progress is being made on getting some projects going, but like everything else it can be slow going with setbacks and sudden changes of direction.

Okay, I'm going to look at some of those emails now. I'm not sure I'll have time to post pictures, but we'll see.

3 Comments:

At 11/29/2006 7:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nathan
Things sure are happening in your neck of the woods!!

How things have changed since last year eh? It has been over a year since you and I went down to Bay St Louis, some things have changed down there but many people still have yet to rebuild. Now you are halfway around the other side of the world, in an area where just getting safe drinking water is somewhat of a miracle.

Sounds like you are settling. I am not sure that I could handle all those different dialects much less the basic language....heavens I had trouble keeping French and Spanish apart!!

You are in my thoughts and prayers!
Liz

 
At 11/29/2006 9:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nathan: You are my hero! You are doing amazing things! I am in awe of you!

 
At 12/03/2006 8:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nathan, I am so in awe of you and all the wonderful things you are doing. I know you are such an asset to the community you are living in. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Linda Swenson

 

Post a Comment

<< Home