Oli Otya! or, as the slightly more hip Ugandans would say, Jeballe!
Sorry it's been a little while since my last post - the power here is not the most reliable, and the internet was down somehow due to CHOGM... but now all that craziness is over and life in Lugazi is returning to normal: hot, buggy, and filled with adorable children chanting "how are you mzungu!?" over and over again
We've begun teaching at our placement and so far it is going very well. Valence wants us to focus on "fine art" (think mr dressup crafts), debate classes, and Physical Education - basically all the stuff that leaves a bit of room for the kids to be creative and have fun, so it's been a blast. It's amazing how good they are at painting and such when they've rarely (if ever) had access to these types of material before. Some of them come from the hardest backgrounds imaginable but all they seem to do in classes is smile and laugh, so it's a great experience for us too.
On the first day we had a "getting to know everyone" class with the P. 5 s and we asked them their name, how many brothers and sisters, and what they want to be when they grow up (which, by the way, is pretty much split between doctors and socce players) and many children in the half had upwards of 15 siblings, some had even lost count - polygamy is fairly common.
Our main form of transportation here is a taxi van built to hold 14, which are over-crowded on a regular basis to help the drivers combat rising gas prices. On the last count, there were 26 passengers in our 14-seater... I think by the end of this trip I will either be cured of my claustrophobia, or have jumped out one of the van windows. We ride on these taxis at least twice daily to get to our placements.
Lugazi is a lovely little village, but unfortunately its stores are somewhat lacking in the "Mzungu" food - not a chocolate bar or bag of oatmeal in sight and i'm down to my last serving!
Oh well, I'm starting to really like Beans and Posho, which is made from maize flour mixed with boiling water, a meal many people here eat 2 times a day as it is cheap and fills you up.
Well, the mosquitos are starting to come out so I should run for cover under my mosquito netting. Hopefully soon I will be posting some pictures of our trip so far!
Weraba!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Back from internet hiatus
Hello All!
Well, it’s been a while… where to begin? The safari was amazing, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience! We saw the big 5 (lion, leopard, water buffalo, elephant and giraffe), along with hyenas, hippos, flamingos, rhinos, and a bunch of awesome birds like Nubian Vultues, Kori Bustards, and one species which our guide didn’t know the name of but that we all agreed looked decidedly like Dan Rathers…. As well as baboons, gazelles and zebras and cheetas and warthogs (which are amazingly adorable and look exactly like Pumba... in fact, the Lion King was bang on about pretty much everything!) It was awesome to be close enough to a family of elephants that we could have actually touched them, had there not been a giant, cranky grandpa elephant protecting the babies. We also had a similar experience with a huge rhino, who was stationed at the side of the road to protect his two-week old baby while nursing. Trouble was, that was the only road leading to where we were headed, and so we had to do a bit of offroading, and let me tell you that being charged by an angy rhino is quite an adrenaline rush! Also, we saw lions mating a few times - a much less exciting event.... we were lucky enough to come upon a pack of female lions on the prowl, as well as one female with her cubs playing in the branches of a tree.
I was all prepared to rough it while on safari, but the showers and beds were actually the most luxuious that I've expeienced in Kenya! There was one kind of scary night though where a lion was heard eating something, and an elephant (apparently much more liable to kill us according to the Masai warrior watchman) outside our tent area.
After the four day safari, our last few days were spent in Nairobi, and within the fist 24 hours we had made up for a month of no shopping. Also, we treated ourselves to a delicious meal at Trattoria - deep fried cheese-coated artichoke in the yummiest spicy tomato sauce eve (wayyyy better than mozza sticks), followed by the best pasta of my life... home made shells with garlic, mushooms, zucchini, asperigus, feta, etc etc.... and then fo dessert, a cake that I will never forget. It was called chocolate meringue cake and it was a cross between a chocolate moose and a really rich dark chocolate cheesecake with the bottom crust made of flaked dark chocolate, and the top cust made of chunks of chocolate meringue cookies with a hot chocolate cocoa sauce in a jug to pour all over it (Karlyn, I think I know what you're getting for your birthday this year!). It may well have been the best dessert I've ever had - I'll have to visit the Olive Branch and have a piece of the raspbery amaretto cheesecake with brandy sauce drizzled on top before I can confirm that.
Anyway, we just got to Uganda and so far I love it! There's this big CHOGM razzmatazz happening here soon where all the commonwealth heads of govenenment (52 of them to be exact, with ove 5000 delegates and her the Queen of England herelf) will descent upon Uganda for their bi-annual meeting... why they chose this country I can't be sure, but it's worked out well for us so far as it is the eason why many of the roads we drove on were so well paved and the aiport we landed in was barely two weeks old. I thoroughly enjoyed Kenya, but I am happy to escape the random election-related riots and from what I've seen so far, the people are somehow even nice, the sceney more breathtaking, and the food more delicious! Apparently it is also much safer here. Magz and I wouldn't (/would) be caught dead out and about after dark in Kenya, but apparently here the threat is nowhere near as high - we've been told that this has always been the case as the tribes from which most Kenyans come were notoriously violent in comparison to the more merchant-driven histories of those here in Kenya. Also, I've noticed the sense of humour is much more compatible with our Canadian one. Today we were taken to the school where we'll be volunteering and it just happened to be the big annual shindig where the kids sing and dance for all the teachers and parents, and it was so much fun - those kids can move!
We lucked out as far as accomodations go - we've got the only placement with a western toilet, internet, and (gasp!) a fridge! It makes the bathroom cockroaches easier to overlook...Our host parents are a newly wed couple and they are amazing., Valence is the director of the local organization we're working with and Dorine is the best cook ever. We had pumpkin for dinner last night and it was delicous!! ...Although it looked and tasted suspiciously like squash. One of the other girls living here is in the Peace Corps and they gave her an awesome cookbook that shows you things like how to bake a cake on a propane stove - it should prove priceless. The dialect here is Lugandan, and is a mixture of Swahili and Arabic, so I know just enough to feel totally confused. We're not exactly sure what our day to day volunteer activities will be here but I'll keep you posted!
~Julia
P.S. For the downsides of Uganda, it is way hotter here, and there are so many more mosquitos, who apparently find me a very tasty treat, but so far no malaria
=:0)
Well, it’s been a while… where to begin? The safari was amazing, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience! We saw the big 5 (lion, leopard, water buffalo, elephant and giraffe), along with hyenas, hippos, flamingos, rhinos, and a bunch of awesome birds like Nubian Vultues, Kori Bustards, and one species which our guide didn’t know the name of but that we all agreed looked decidedly like Dan Rathers…. As well as baboons, gazelles and zebras and cheetas and warthogs (which are amazingly adorable and look exactly like Pumba... in fact, the Lion King was bang on about pretty much everything!) It was awesome to be close enough to a family of elephants that we could have actually touched them, had there not been a giant, cranky grandpa elephant protecting the babies. We also had a similar experience with a huge rhino, who was stationed at the side of the road to protect his two-week old baby while nursing. Trouble was, that was the only road leading to where we were headed, and so we had to do a bit of offroading, and let me tell you that being charged by an angy rhino is quite an adrenaline rush! Also, we saw lions mating a few times - a much less exciting event.... we were lucky enough to come upon a pack of female lions on the prowl, as well as one female with her cubs playing in the branches of a tree.
I was all prepared to rough it while on safari, but the showers and beds were actually the most luxuious that I've expeienced in Kenya! There was one kind of scary night though where a lion was heard eating something, and an elephant (apparently much more liable to kill us according to the Masai warrior watchman) outside our tent area.
After the four day safari, our last few days were spent in Nairobi, and within the fist 24 hours we had made up for a month of no shopping. Also, we treated ourselves to a delicious meal at Trattoria - deep fried cheese-coated artichoke in the yummiest spicy tomato sauce eve (wayyyy better than mozza sticks), followed by the best pasta of my life... home made shells with garlic, mushooms, zucchini, asperigus, feta, etc etc.... and then fo dessert, a cake that I will never forget. It was called chocolate meringue cake and it was a cross between a chocolate moose and a really rich dark chocolate cheesecake with the bottom crust made of flaked dark chocolate, and the top cust made of chunks of chocolate meringue cookies with a hot chocolate cocoa sauce in a jug to pour all over it (Karlyn, I think I know what you're getting for your birthday this year!). It may well have been the best dessert I've ever had - I'll have to visit the Olive Branch and have a piece of the raspbery amaretto cheesecake with brandy sauce drizzled on top before I can confirm that.
Anyway, we just got to Uganda and so far I love it! There's this big CHOGM razzmatazz happening here soon where all the commonwealth heads of govenenment (52 of them to be exact, with ove 5000 delegates and her the Queen of England herelf) will descent upon Uganda for their bi-annual meeting... why they chose this country I can't be sure, but it's worked out well for us so far as it is the eason why many of the roads we drove on were so well paved and the aiport we landed in was barely two weeks old. I thoroughly enjoyed Kenya, but I am happy to escape the random election-related riots and from what I've seen so far, the people are somehow even nice, the sceney more breathtaking, and the food more delicious! Apparently it is also much safer here. Magz and I wouldn't (/would) be caught dead out and about after dark in Kenya, but apparently here the threat is nowhere near as high - we've been told that this has always been the case as the tribes from which most Kenyans come were notoriously violent in comparison to the more merchant-driven histories of those here in Kenya. Also, I've noticed the sense of humour is much more compatible with our Canadian one. Today we were taken to the school where we'll be volunteering and it just happened to be the big annual shindig where the kids sing and dance for all the teachers and parents, and it was so much fun - those kids can move!
We lucked out as far as accomodations go - we've got the only placement with a western toilet, internet, and (gasp!) a fridge! It makes the bathroom cockroaches easier to overlook...Our host parents are a newly wed couple and they are amazing., Valence is the director of the local organization we're working with and Dorine is the best cook ever. We had pumpkin for dinner last night and it was delicous!! ...Although it looked and tasted suspiciously like squash. One of the other girls living here is in the Peace Corps and they gave her an awesome cookbook that shows you things like how to bake a cake on a propane stove - it should prove priceless. The dialect here is Lugandan, and is a mixture of Swahili and Arabic, so I know just enough to feel totally confused. We're not exactly sure what our day to day volunteer activities will be here but I'll keep you posted!
~Julia
P.S. For the downsides of Uganda, it is way hotter here, and there are so many more mosquitos, who apparently find me a very tasty treat, but so far no malaria
=:0)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Packing up and moving on
Hello all!
well, today is officially our last day in Nyeri, tomorrow morning we head off to Nairobi, and from there we leave for our four day safari in Masai Mara !!!
It was a bit sad saying goodbye to all our kids, but luckily we went armed with gifts and so they were all smiles :)
We've really enjoyed our time here and the other canadians we've met have brought us to some of the places they volunteer at like Kenwa and NuLife. Kenwa is a place where women with aids live among one another to offer support to each other and to men and women from the surrounding areas who are also dealing with aids, we got to sit in for part of a group therapy session. NuLife is an orphanage for babies only, and they were so adorable! The organization is really well run and the kids are quite possibly the happiest babies in Africa. I was paired with one named Randal who was born prematurely and as a result was very small, on several medications, and had difficulties suckling... That being said, however, yours truly managed to get him to finish his first whole bottle ever! I got so attached within a span of a couple hours - and I thought volunteering at the animal shelter bad for wanting to take one home! Hopefully when we get to Uganda it will be easier to post pictures and I can post one of him, he's adorable.
Alright, well I'm off to pack my bags... the next time I post I'll be in Uganda, which should be quite different from kenya as we've heard it is about 10 degrees hotter on average than where we are now, and is even less financially stable.
Kwaherini Kenya!
well, today is officially our last day in Nyeri, tomorrow morning we head off to Nairobi, and from there we leave for our four day safari in Masai Mara !!!
It was a bit sad saying goodbye to all our kids, but luckily we went armed with gifts and so they were all smiles :)
We've really enjoyed our time here and the other canadians we've met have brought us to some of the places they volunteer at like Kenwa and NuLife. Kenwa is a place where women with aids live among one another to offer support to each other and to men and women from the surrounding areas who are also dealing with aids, we got to sit in for part of a group therapy session. NuLife is an orphanage for babies only, and they were so adorable! The organization is really well run and the kids are quite possibly the happiest babies in Africa. I was paired with one named Randal who was born prematurely and as a result was very small, on several medications, and had difficulties suckling... That being said, however, yours truly managed to get him to finish his first whole bottle ever! I got so attached within a span of a couple hours - and I thought volunteering at the animal shelter bad for wanting to take one home! Hopefully when we get to Uganda it will be easier to post pictures and I can post one of him, he's adorable.
Alright, well I'm off to pack my bags... the next time I post I'll be in Uganda, which should be quite different from kenya as we've heard it is about 10 degrees hotter on average than where we are now, and is even less financially stable.
Kwaherini Kenya!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
halloween, blood and missing heads
Happy Belated Halloween!!!
I thought I was going to have to miss out on the festivities this year, but luckily we have met 8 other Canadians, and they threw a party last night to celebrate - the Kenyans think we're nuts when we try to explain the concept... Magz and I bere giant bottles of Tusker (African beer) and our costumes were definitely the coolest haha. Onto an actually scary note, the way into the internet place was a bit crammed with people today because someone has just been murdered in the building next door and their head was cut off and stolen. Every time I start to think this isn't that different from home, something like that always reminds me that it is.
On a ligher note, I gave blood for the first time today! Apparently they Kenyans aren't as concerned as the red cross is that I was in Englad during the foot-in-mouth disease scare..
The canadians we met ranted and raved about their experiences in Uganda for hours - so we are very excited!!
We've got plans to go rafting down the nile and bungee jumping into it, just to name a couple things!! (sorry mom!) As for our actual volunteer work while we're there, we find out more once we get there and meet the locals who comprise most of the organization we're working with down there (The Real Uganda).
I hope it isn't too cold over there, It's been in the twenties every day here but don't be too envious, Magz and I will be in for a real shock when we land in Paris mid-December acclimatized to Africa with no coats!
Well, I best head out before it gets dark...
Kwaherini!
I thought I was going to have to miss out on the festivities this year, but luckily we have met 8 other Canadians, and they threw a party last night to celebrate - the Kenyans think we're nuts when we try to explain the concept... Magz and I bere giant bottles of Tusker (African beer) and our costumes were definitely the coolest haha. Onto an actually scary note, the way into the internet place was a bit crammed with people today because someone has just been murdered in the building next door and their head was cut off and stolen. Every time I start to think this isn't that different from home, something like that always reminds me that it is.
On a ligher note, I gave blood for the first time today! Apparently they Kenyans aren't as concerned as the red cross is that I was in Englad during the foot-in-mouth disease scare..
The canadians we met ranted and raved about their experiences in Uganda for hours - so we are very excited!!
We've got plans to go rafting down the nile and bungee jumping into it, just to name a couple things!! (sorry mom!) As for our actual volunteer work while we're there, we find out more once we get there and meet the locals who comprise most of the organization we're working with down there (The Real Uganda).
I hope it isn't too cold over there, It's been in the twenties every day here but don't be too envious, Magz and I will be in for a real shock when we land in Paris mid-December acclimatized to Africa with no coats!
Well, I best head out before it gets dark...
Kwaherini!
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