a month in

Hello folks

Sorry I have not kept up a detailed blog like on many of my last trips,  I have been busy running 4 different Pages on facebook so that keeps me occupied much of my online time.

I'll just take you through an average day and share some stories with you. My housemates go to sleep around 8 or 9pm, and I usually go to sleep around 10. the heat all day and the sun make one very tired even if you try to stay in the shade and drink plenty of water. It is dry season now until April so it is usually in the 90s and the sun itself is extremely strong so theres a significant difference between being in the sun and shade. I bought a purple parasol umbrella at the korean supermarket and carry it around town to have portable shade. No one else seems to have caught on to this idea so I get smirks and smiles. I wear 50+ sunscreen and have darker skin than many of the ex pats but still burned last weekend when I spent a day out in the sun while visiting a waterfall. The streets are very dusty and whenever you wipe your face and arms a layer of brown dirt comes off. This brown dirt also coats the floor and most surfaces in the house. They also sadly burn their trash so I imagine we are also constantly inhaling small particles of plastic. When they burn the trash at my house I wrap a scarf around my mouth to try to prevent contamination. I've started a compost bin which I put water into and then dispose of organic material. Every other day I empty it out into a hole in the yard and hope it will turn into rich soil eventually. Maybe that healthy soil can then be put on top of the charred area where they burn the trash. I'm not sure that people understand that burning plastic is bad for the environment. I have taken it upon myself to not buy any plastic water bottles. I boil water daily and allow it to go for one minute, then wait hours for it to cool off in the metal pot before filling up a large jug. It doesn't taste as good as purchased water but it assuages my conscious and helps our lungs a tiny bit.

Last week we had a surprise thunderstorm at night. It was really beautiful and cleansing, I was enjoying the sound of the water gushing off of the room and relishing the cool temperature. Then all of a sudden lightning struck a pole next to my house, I heard the sockets sizzling, my computer buzzed and I could feel the electricity in my hands! Then the power went out and it was pitch black except for the flashes of purple lightning. It was more frightening than relaxing after that.

Sometimes in the morning I will go into town to the Coffee Hut. There is wifi there so I can upload photos to the internet. Otherwise it uses a lot of bytes off of the small usb device which you plug in to get internet. I also cannot watch videos or skype unless I am at the coffee hut to use the wifi because it just uses too much of the modems supply. Its nifty though because you have internet everywhere instead of just where there is a router.

Then I will walk over to the main market. It is a sprawling area filled with little stalls selling everything from kitchen supplies to clothing, to fruits and vegetables, to meat. There don't seem to be fixed prices and a local will get a much better deal on goods than a foreigner. I mostly just visit the produce section. I hope to go there soon with a local friend to take photographs, I don't feel comfortable walking in alone with my big flashy camera, partially for safety and partially because I don't want people to feel objectified. The produce section has heaping piles of tomatos and onions, potatoes, and beans, cow peas, avocados, cabbage, local dark greens known as Do and Bo, ginger, bananas, small passionfruits and pineapples. Everything costs on average about 40 cents, or for 80 cents you can get 4 tomatoes, a pineapple is more expensive at about $1.50. There is no need to ask if everything is organic, it is freshly picked from nearby bushes and trees or grown in local fields. The tomatos and onions are noticeably smaller than in the USA, indicating how much the food there is genetically modified to be larger. They put everything in a plastic bag so I have taken to bringing a basket and my backpack and asking them not to use more plastic and just put it in my container. I almost always leave with my bags overflowing as the women make convincing arguments to try a new option or to get a deal for buying more. I hail a motorcycle taxi called a boda and get a ride home for about 50 cents. Last night I tried making a stew, it came out pretty well although I'm not much of a cook so I kind of made it up as I went along. I do make guacamole just about everyday, it is usually one meal of the day at least. I buy dried chapati chips to eat it with at the local restaurant.

In the evening I go to teach or take the yoga class at 6pm. The students vary in range from 4-10 usually and is often 3/4 foriegners and 1/4 locals. We are working to change that and I tell everyone I meet about yoga and suggest that they come to a class. I have gotten more comfortable and confident with teaching. I really enjoy it and hope to be able to do more teaching soon as our beneficiary classes come together.

Ajuli Binu Gulu

Sorry it has taken me a couple weeks to get this started but better late than never!

I am settled into a nice house in a compound with 4 other houses in a neighborhood in Gulu, Uganda. It is in northern Uganda where the Lords Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony waged a horrible civil war and uprising for two decades. Peace came to the area in 2006 followed by an inundation of non-governmental organizations. There are still many non profits here but many have moved on to higher crisis areas. Gulu is the center for the north and many organizations work in suburban or rural areas out of a base here. The people here are traditionally of the Acholi tribe. They are kind, community oriented people with a lot of pride despite their stigmatized reputation as a result of being associated with the atrocities committed in the region. Many people left the area for Kampala, the capital city in the south during the war, and those who stayed in the north were forced to live in internal displacement camps. Many children were abducted and forced to become soldiers for the violent and insane leader, Kony, nominally a Christian man who wanted to rule the region by the 10 commandments. The region is recovering from this history, and in fact, if you didn’t know, you would not find many indications in Gulu town which would portray it’s history. The people are truly warm hearted and kind. They greet each other by holding each others hand briefly, not a handshake like in the west, but a lingering exchange as you chat. Nearly everyone speaks English for the most part, and they have a distinct cadence and style of the language which ex-pats begin to imitate when talking to locals (this is not offensive but helps facilitate communication). Most locals also speak Luo, the language of the Acholi, as well as other dialects. Swahili is also understood by many and some words are borrowed from it.

Gulu is a city of around 154,300 people. There are many foreigners here, called Muzungu’s, or “whites” or “munos” by the local people. They come from many different places, I have met aid workers and researchers from Italy, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Australia and the United States. Many large organizations have a presence here, mainly noted by stamped logos on the SUVs around town. I have seen signs from the UN, Mercycorps, Red Cross, USAID, Save the children, war child, and more. There is a downtown area which features basic amenities enjoyed by ex-patriots such as a supermarket; Uchumi, a coffeeshop with internet, an internet store called Orange where you can buy the usb stick and bytes. There are two banks; Barclays and Stanbic, an Ethiopian restaurant, an Indian restaurant, a radio station, and stores which have smaller or more specific goods. There is also the main market which is a sprawling area filled with stalls selling vegetables and fruits, freshly slaughtered meat, various plastic kitchen items and foam mattresses as well as textiles.

The main mode of transportation is a boda, a motorcycle taxi. They wait around on nearly every corner and eagerly offer rides around town for 1,000 shillings or 75 cents. At nighttime you are recommended to only ride with someone you already know and can trust.

There is a popular restaurant which is usually filled exclusively with foreigners called Sankofa. The food is good and affordable ($5) but rarely takes less than 45 minutes (and sometimes 2 hours) to arrive.  It is located conveniently in between my house and my office and the people who work there are so friendly.

The pace of life is slow and an appointment at 4pm really means more like 4-430, or usually at least by 5. But it is not uncommon that people just don’t show up. Patience is a necessary virtue, and frustration is still a frequently experienced emotion when trying to get things done. Communication is different, its somewhat hard to explain but I will give some specific examples later. The water and power have been pretty reliable, though it is a routine occurrence for either or both to be out. I’ve learned to fill a bucket with water in the mornings so that I can take a cup shower after yoga in the evening. Promises of the immediate installation of a water tank have been assured for about 10 days now. The sun comes up around 7 and sets quickly between 7-730 at which point the mosquitos come out although they are not nearly as bad as during the rainy season. When the night is clear the stars are absolutely divine. The weather is hot or very hot, it is dry season and quite dusty. There are gorgeous flowers in bright colors blossoming regularly. Cows, chickens and goats wander around freely. There is a lot of construction being done and new houses and buildings being built. The men and women are very hard workers, some men work as boda drivers by day and night guard all night. The women are often employed as house help cleaning and cooking and doing laundry.

The women carry their babies on their backs and it is so beautiful to see. They sleep blissfully, tied safe to their mother as she does her work, rides a bike, or walks around town. The children are very self sufficient, rarely have I heard whining or crying. The people don’t treat their babies or children like fragile dolls, and the children seem to mature faster than in the USA. Even physically, babies can hold their head up a lot sooner than babies in the west. Children are incredibly important to the culture, and most women have babies at a young age.

Unfortunately there is violence against women, and not many options for rights for a woman being abused. They often stay because the children belong to the father and if they leave they must leave their children. There is also an active transactional sex industry. HIV and Aids are prevalent here in Uganda.

Christianity is the main religion, also Islam but to a lesser extent, and most people still retain much of their traditional beliefs and practices as well.

The food is pretty heavy, based in a few types of thick dough, with vegetables mixed in, meat is a luxury.