Kalisizo

 Collection of photos from around my new town

Street food stand

Women washing clothes

Butcher

Boy walking a goat..

Boda Boda i.e. taxi stage

Office

Man transporting matooke

Coffee plant

Children outside my house

New House

One of the ten core expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers states, “you are expected to serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.” When I agreed to serve in Uganda, I fully expected that living conditions would be less than ideal and my initial site proved to be just that. After many months of misery, I moved sites and my new house, in one word, is fabulous (by Peace Corps standards)..

Outside view

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room

Living Room

Bathroom

Wall of photos - Nephews

Bedroom

Spare Bedroom

Collection of Random Hilarious Occurrences

 (1)

A few months ago, I was traveling with Aditi (a Peace Corps volunteer) to Lyantonde, a village a few hours away from my house, to volunteer at a Red Cross outreach program. An hour into our trip our vehicle got stuck in the mud. This is very common because all the dirt roads essentially turn into a mud slip and slide during the raining season. The driver made all the passengers (all 15 of us) get out of the car so that he could try to push the vehicle out of the mud. So I am standing on this deserted mud road in the middle of the bush with Aditi and a group of Ugandans when I see a group of Ugandan men in orange jumpsuits shouting and running at us waving machetes over their heads. I, of course, immediately have flashbacks of scenes from Hotel Rwanda/Last King of Scotland etc. and am paralyzed with fear. Meanwhile the Ugandans who are completely unfazed by this event tell Aditi and me to calm down.. “The men are just prisoners coming back from the field. Don't worry there is a guard.." This of course does nothing to ease my mind, as there is one guard with a rifle (which is most likely not loaded) and 20+ prisoners with large, and by the looks of it, very sharp machetes. The prisoners help our vehicle get out of the mud and then carry on running down the road thrashing their machetes above their heads.

(2)

Peace Corps volunteers will all tell you that transportation in Uganda is a nightmare. Public transportation is always filled beyond capacity – think at least two people to every seat – smells atrocious, carries chickens and other livestock, and travels 90+ mph. For my birthday, I took a six hour bus death ride from Gulu (north of the country) to Kampala (the capital) in a bus that was over packed with a group of Ugandans who I reckon had not bathed in weeks. The bus was flying down these dirt roads [infrastructure is nonexistent], swerving wildly to avoid potholes, wild animals, and other vehicles. The floor of the bus was shaking uncontrollably which was probably the result of a make shift engine and transmission. The bus would not make unscheduled stops, so the Ugandan man next to me decided to pee into a water bottle and instead of throwing the bottle out the window decided to just dump out the contents.. I watched in horror as his urine splashed against all the open windows and into the faces of the poor souls who unfortunately happened to be sitting behind him.

(3)

Last week I traveled to Busheyni, which is in the southwest of the country, to attend a World Malaria Day event. I was in a matatu (public taxi) sitting next to a woman who easily weighed 400 pounds. She obviously was unable to sit squarely in her seat, so I graciously allowed her to take half of my seat as well. So I am miserable, squished next to this obese woman praying for this ride to end as quickly as possible. All of a sudden the bottom of jeans and flip-flops are drenched in liquid.  I look at the woman and she seems not too concerned of the origins of this sudden soak of mystery liquid. I spend the next five minutes trying to figure out what had happened when all of sudden it dawns on me that this woman is not obese, she is very pregnant and I think her water just broke all over me. Worst realization ever.

Moving On Up

Before I left to meet my family in Europe, Peace Corps decided that it was finally time to switch me to a new organization. My old organization, GOCAPU, had run out of funding and from what I gathered had no plans to acquire funds in the future. Without funding it was impossible to do outreach and therefore there was no longer work for me to do. My old organization quickly became disinterested in me as soon as they realized that I am the only muzungu (pale face whitey) in the country that has no money. The concept of a volunteer is lost on the majority of Ugandans - they always ask me, "but why would you come and live here?" to which I usually respond "that is a great question that I ask myself everyday."

Fortunately for me, there was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the next town over whose organization was willing to take me on. My new organization is called Brick by Brick. [brickbybrick.org] It is an American NGO based in NYC whose mission is to improve the lives and futures of children in Uganda by supporting the delivery of quality education, improving the physical infrastructure of school communities and encouraging sustainable economic development. On a day-to-day basis I work at Brick by Brick Construction with John Trimmer (Peace Corps Volunteer) and Max Ssenyonga to plan and coordinate the infrastructure developments of school communities.

Brick by Brick Construction is unique in its use of a new construction technology called Interlocking Soil Stabilized Bricks (ISSB). The innovative technology provides an environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional construction method. Traditionally, buildings in Uganda are constructed using burnt clay bricks. Clay bricks require a large amount of clay to be removed from the wetlands and as a result there has been significant destruction of a fragile ecosystem. Additionally, after the clay is dug and molded into bricks, the bricks are then stacked into kilns and burned, a process that requires a large amount of wood. Uganda’s deforestation is already well documented, and if the use of burnt clay bricks continues to increase, the country’s loss of forests will only become worse.

Working for an American NGO certainly has its perks. My living conditions drastically improved and I am happy to say that I am no longer a “slumdog.” There is no rat and/or cockroach infestation, the walls are not falling down, and the most drastic change is that I now have indoor plumbing and electricity. My house has two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen (with a sink), and a bathroom! I almost cried tears of joy when I saw the toilet and makeshift shower. I no longer have to bucket bathe and/or use a latrine. Ahh the simply pleasures of life… I also have internet access in my house and will therefore be able to update my blog more frequently.

Life is great here in Uganda.