Monthly Archive: December 2015

Heinz Baked Beans

Author: December 31, 2015

This is what I pulled up from the ground.

This is what I pulled up from the ground.

Yes readers, The Who once did a parody commercial called Heinz Baked Beans. I will never think of beans the same again.

Matthews is staying in Kamuli until Sunday. Last week, he had mentioned it was time to harvest the beans on Adams’ land. He was very concerned about that. Obviously harvesting can’t wait. I had told him I would help, so I made the same offer to Adams. I felt I needed some exercise anyway, and it would be interesting and educational. Part of the Adventure! So yesterday I was out there in the field with three young men (including Matthews’ nephew) and a woman picking beans.

I joked to Adams, if a gypsy fortuneteller told me three years ago I would be picking beans in equatorial Africa, I would have demanded a refund.

Beans in the pod.

Beans in the pod.

This is the same field Matthews is growing passion fruits. You saw a photo of it here. The beans were brown, on now-dead stalks close to the ground. You had to find them among the lush green foliage. Reminded me of hunting Easter eggs. I asked about the other plants, and was told by the other workers they were “greens” a general term that seemed non-responsive to me. The bean plants were easy to pull out, gather, and throw into about 30 piles we made across the field. Then we carried the piles to make big piles on the side of the road, and then threw them up onto the bed of a large truck.
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This was stoop labor and the sun was hot. Since I’m not Ugandan, I was a migrant worker! It certainly educated me about the harshness of the work migrants often do all over the world. I was thoroughly exhausted, looked at my watch, and laughed. I had only worked for one hour. I was so happy when it was time for a water break. I wore my work gloves I hadn’t worn since digging the permagarden (I need to update about that). I had on long sleeves and sweat pants and came home covered in burrs and other stickers. The other workers used their bare hands and wore sandals.

I'm with one of my fellow harvesters.

I’m with one of my fellow harvesters.

A female oil and gas engineer named Maria had driven us to the field and then stayed chatting with Adams. She had met Adams many years ago in her village and now had her own car. An empowered woman! I want to know more about her story and will ask Adams. On the way home, she chided Adams for not working and letting himself get fat and out of shape. “This older man is in better shape than both of us”. Cue my diabetes story, which Adams already knows. Like others I have told, it is inspiring but apparently not motivating.

I have plans today, New Years Eve, to visit a Danish businessman named Henning in Jinja who has invited me to meet his family. He does work with my ATEFO org and we’ve had some great chats. His wife is a doctor. He sends his kids back to Denmark frequently so they can stay acquainted with their friends and Danish roots. He says their place is on the water (Lake Victoria). Later tonight I will meet a bunch of PCVs at a place called Bourbon, also on the water, and there will be fireworks over the lake to bring in the new year. Vickie, a PCV, has lined up a place for me to crash tonight. I’ll leave a large bowl of silverfish for Meowri.

The beans drying in the sun. Adams says this filled a sack weighing about 80kg and will yield around 200,000UGX. He paid the other three workers 10,000UGX each for working on the harvest and then separating the beans from the pods by beating on them. That's about $3.00US each for a lot of work!

The beans drying in the sun. Adams says this filled a sack weighing about 80kg and will yield around 200,000UGX. He paid the other three workers 10,000UGX each for working on the harvest and then separating the beans from the pods by beating on them. That’s about $3.00US each for a lot of work!

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Father Christmas Came to Bugiri

Author: December 27, 2015

Father Christmas and his helper.

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin’
While you’re drinkin’ down your wine

–Father Christmas, The Kinks

Father Christmas is the British version of Santa Claus, adopted by its former colony. Yesterday, he came to the road I walk to work.  This little visit was something we planned for a few months. I found a costume in October (Yes, even in Uganda they start with the specialty Christmas stuff in late October- I wore it for the video we made during In Service Training). I wanted to dress as Father Christmas and give toys to the kids who run out to greet and fist bump me every day .

Sample selection of a gift package.

After my own children chided me about being the “white gift-giver”, the culture of dependency etc., and after a few other PC volunteers predicted I would be tormented by gift requests hereafter, I asked my counterpart Matthews to be Father Christmas. I had an extra Santa hat, and would be his helper.

When my Rotary Club back home started organizing a care package, I requested they send little toys, and ultimately received two packages. Included were about 65 little wind-up robots that I believe were table decorations for a CASA fundraiser. I also received two big bags of Tootsie Rolls and Whoppers. My Aunt Shirley from Laramie sent a nice box of toys and Wyoming-themed Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, three boxes of donations from my siblings did not arrive on time.

Matthews as Father Christmas.

Matthews as Father Christmas.

I had not anticipated that many Bugiri families would be going back to their home village for Christmas this week. In fact today, Christmas Eve, there are not many children around. I also knew that Matthews wanted to get to his own home village. So after we confirmed the post office would not be receiving any more packages until after Christmas, we decided to have Father Christmas come on the 23rd. We assembled 65 little baggies, each with a wind-up robot. We added 48 pencils, and separated from the pencils, about 15 little stuffed animals similar to beanie babies for the smallest kids, and added an assortment of plastic whistles, tops, and other items.

We started from my home and things went well for awhile. Then we got a section where generally about ten children greet me. Chaos ensued. In a flash there were about 50 kids clamoring around poor Matthews. Some of the moms tried to organize the kids into lines, as you see in this video, but it was hopeless. We ran out quickly and I still did not reach a few other clusters of kids further down the road. I apologized to the moms profusely for running out and hope they are not upset.

Matthews was pretty tired trudging back to my compound.


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When the delayed boxes finally arrive, I will try to distribute those toys to the neglected portion of my road. Maybe next year I will solicit all my readers to send toys. I am reluctant, because the postage is extreme, probably well in excess of the cost of the toys. We’ll see.

I spent Christmas with my host family in Iganga. Lots of friends and relations enjoyed an afternoon in the courtyard, It was so nice to see Sharon in good spirits after her hospitalization only a few days before. I met George, an education trainee staying with Simon and Hellen in my old room. He is learning Lusoga much more easily than I.

I spent Christmas with my host family in Iganga. Lots of friends and relations enjoyed an afternoon in the courtyard, It was so nice to see Sharon in good spirits after her hospitalization only a few days before. I met George, an education trainee staying with Simon and Hellen in my old room. He is learning Lusoga much more easily than I.

 

 

Simon's two wives and oldest son.

Simon’s two wives and oldest son.

Like all of you, I reflect on many Christmas memories.  Jan’s favorite song, Christmas or not, was John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas”.

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

—Lennon

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Christmas is Coming

Author: December 20, 2015

Happy Holidays to America! Here is my cohort’s Holiday Video filmed during In Service Training. I am dressed as Santa in it, so I got a bit of airtime. I took off my fake beard for my scene with a sign, and with my gaunt face and goatee, I look like the Billy Bob Thornton creepy character “Bad Santa”. Harmony coaxed a little enthusiasm out of me for the backing Christmas song by INSYNC, which will make my kids laugh because in my daughter’s teeny-bopper years, I loathed INSYNC. Anyway, enjoy!

Meowri and I are settling into a routine. In the afternoon before sundown I read on my front porch and let her run around the compound, chasing the chickens (which don’t belong to my neighbors) and running from the seven children who live next door, and are finally not terrified of her. Here is a brief chicken attack (about my limit to upload to my brother via WhatsApp). The other day my neighbor bought a nice fat hen to slaughter for dinner. I had to keep Meowri inside because the hen was anchored by a brick and couldn’t run away. I’m not sure what will happen if she catches one. Short-sighted of me I know. She seems satisfied to just scare them at this point.

Everything at my org has slowed to a crawl during the holidays. I hope to be teaching farmer groups again soon. This slowdown is pretty common among all the volunteers. I don’t mind, most of my year has been pretty frenetic. Peace Corps introduced ATEFO to another NGO looking to fund a partner to cluster maize farmer groups. They are negotiating a contract.

Starting Monday, Taxi prices will double or triple, as families go home to their villages for Christmas visits.

I did get to go to a deep village for the end of year share-out of savings of a VSLA group. They asked me to hand out the envelopes with the money. They each had to sign for their envelope, and about half of them used their fingerprint.

We are hearing about refugees in Europe, and the US taking in 10,000 of them in the next year. Uganda is an impoverished country with 37 million people the size of Oregon surrounded by countries with conflicts. As pointed out here, Uganda took in 90,000 new refugees and hosts a total refugee population of 500,000. Aruna says April will be the best time to visit his childhood camp.

So did anyone take the practice Foreign Service Exam?
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We went to a couple of more mobilization meetings for WASH. At the meetings we stress that the new water and sanitation facilities have to be maintained by the community. This is a constant problem in the third world. Sometimes people see facilities get vandalized but they don’t do anything about it because of the interpersonal relationships between the families and neighbors. Both Rotary and Peace Corps want sustaining change. Nita is from the sponsoring Ntinda Club. She stands in front of a water tank which was installed to catch water via piping off the roof. However the roof line ends below the top of the tank, rendering it useless. …Uganda!

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President Museveni is bringing his campaign to Bugiri on Monday These are campaign posters of my friend Esega from Bugiri Rotary Club who is running for Parliament. I’ll have to ask him about the chair. The posters look the same for all candidates. I questioned why not something different to stand out? I’m told its because these photographs are on the ballot. I will have more to say about the elections after tomorrow, probably by special email.

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I took a different way to my Rotary meeting the other day and passed by this coffin maker. Sad to see the child-size. The one on the left is the cheapest, at 50,000UGX (less than $20 US) and the fancy one next to it with glass and mirrors is $250,000UGX ($80 US).

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Matthews took me to a field belonging to Adams. He has planted hundreds of sticks to allow starter vines of passion fruits to grow. In a few months he will replace with larger sticks and spread netting across the top to allow the fruits to grow on the top of the netting. He says he should be able to harvest passion fruits for 3 years once the vines are established on the sticks and netting. In between the sticks he is growing beans.

 

 

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Rearviewmirror IV

Author: December 9, 2015

It’s been awhile. I have had internet and power problems. Sometimes it seems like certain aspects of Uganda harkens back to the 90’s, 80’s or 70’s. But even more than 50 years ago we did not have power outages as often as Bugiri has them.Keeps spoiling the milk in my fridge. ;-).

For Thanksgiving I passed on a big gathering of PCVs in the Southwest Corner of Uganda. Can’t leave Meowri until I have someone who can help out. It was also a 14 hour trip. So instead, I went with PCV Will to Endiro Coffee in Iganga (with free Wi-Fi) and took a practice version of the multiple choice part of the Foreign Service Exam. I had heard about this from a PCV who took it at the U S Embassy. She ends her service this month.

The first test is called “Job Knowledge” and it was mostly questions about history, civics, economics, and easy computer knowledge. I thought it was generally pretty easy. The next test is called “English Expression” . Essentially, in this test you are required to make corrections to the grammar in some writings. I did not do as well, but I think I would perform better in the future. It took me a while to get the hang of it. It still bothers me though. There were a couple of answers I did not agree with, but Will said those answers are now considered proper.

Overall, it was a fun experience. I think all of you would enjoy trying the tests. To me, it was way easier than Jeopardy. Seventy minutes total test time. Here is the link

After the test, we had lunch- no turkey on the menu. Then we took a hike to Pride Rock, near Iganga.

The big event of course, was the pope’s visit for 3 days. I watched some of the coverage from the TV in my office.

 
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Standing in front of Pride Rock

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My brother asked if this was like Pride Rock in the Lion King. It kind of looks like it from this angle, although the cows tethered next to it would not last too long if there was pride of lions about.

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I was pleased to accompany Sharon with her family when she checked into Nursing School. I met the vice- principal, who told me that the school places 97% of its graduates. Sharon is boarding here. She can’t leave campus, and can have visitors only on Sundays. Our first visit allowed will be next Sunday

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We are now getting into the thick of the political campaigns. Some candidates hire men on stilts or tall unicycles to lead a parade.

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It attracts a lot of kids too young to vote.

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A bumper sticker that caught me eye. Sad that this is an issue in Uganda.

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WASH

Author: December 9, 2015

Sticking with my propensity for song titles (Pearl Jam, again), but actually WASH stands for Water and Sanitation and Health. This is an initiative of the Rotary International Foundation. In the absence of my counterpart, interpreter, and motorcycle driver Matthews, who is getting some health issues attended to, my supervisor and Rotarian Adams has taken me with him to villages to help determine how WASH funds will be spent. There are 10 schools in Bugiri District which will receive these funds. The main Sponsoring club is the Rotary Club of Ntinda, which is located in Kampala.

We go into the community and it’s like a town hall meeting under the shade of big trees. There is great participation. They talk about their community resources and the problems they have with water and sanitation. School is out so there are lots of kids on the periphery of these meetings, but they are exceptionally well behaved. I get treated like a special guest and they are easily charmed by my fractured Lusoga. All I remember now are the introductory phrases and a some greetings. Then I tell them my Lusoga is “mpola mpola” (slowly, slowly) and they all laugh and I switch to English. I say a few sentences and sit down, and the whole meeting is beyond my comprehension. Then we inspect the school’s latrines and water resources, which are often the same as the village water resources.

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A couple of facilitators are used to keep the meeting moving.

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They make the kids drag their desks and chairs out of the classroom to the tree where the meeting is held.


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Pit Latrine inspection. This one was OK. So far every school gets a new bore hole. They cost about $12,000 US.

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Adams stands in front of a pond which is the water source for the village. He says it is not fed by a spring, it’s mainly rain run-off. Yuk.

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Our four wheel drive picked up two passengers this morning, so we were 4 abreast just like on a taxi, but then it got stuck in the muddy road. We all piled out to walk, while the vehicle was able to eventually pass us with the lighter weight. Adams is in front of me. He laughed and said “This is Africa!”. It reminded me of the snow back home.

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