June 3, 2016. A bit older, grayer, but lighter.
October, 2014, soon after submitting my Peace Corps application
Today is June 3, 2016, Martyrs Day, a Public Holiday. While most Ugandans understand the martyrs died for their Christian faith, the story is a bit more involved than that, as you will learn if you follow the link. It might explain a huge cultural bias here.
Today also marks the one year anniversary of my cohort’s arrival in Uganda. So much has transpired, and there is more than a year to go. When my USA Rotary Club hosted exchange students, I would always ask: What are the most surprising things you did not anticipate? The whole cohort arrived thinking they would live in mud and grass huts with no utilities; but Peace Corps has housing standards to provide security. It is easy to imagine break-ins without such secure housing. Most of us have utilities, they are just not consistent. Power goes out a lot and water has to be boiled or filtered. Of course many of the villages I visit to teach are indeed compounds of mud and grass huts, with no utilities. Some don’t even have pit latrines (they just go out to the bushes).
I naively imagined at least few more wild animals, but my environment is too urban. I see baboons on the road sometimes. Also not anticipated: Even more kids than I imagined; the surprising sameness of almost every town; and the lack of food variety.
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Some of you ask if I am homesick. I use WhatsApp here, which is way bigger here than in the USA. I communicate in a group with my four siblings way more than I ever did at home. I can’t imagine it changing when I return, and recommend it to you. Besides a siblings group, I have a group with my kids of course, a sports teams group, my Lusoga Language Group, and the Bugiri Rotary Club. Of course you can also WhatsApp individually too. So this stunts any homesickness. I have lots of imaginary conversations with Jan. She would have been annoyed by a mouse who has eluded me. He/she has eaten two pieces of expensive cheese right off the trap. I am switching to a sticky book.
There used to be a big chunk of cheese there. Where is Meowri?
I’ve had very little to worry about healthwise. I’ve had some foot issues that now appear under control. Recently, I’ve had a spell of dizziness starting Sunday. It started when I blew off dinner on Saturday night, and I forgot my malaria drug needs me to eat steadily. I remember when Jan would get hungry; eating would become the number one priority because she would get dizzy. The Peace Corps doctor requested I get a glucose test, and while I was at a local clinic, they also tested for Malaria and Typhoid, Everything was good. Azedy accompanied me to his clinic and negotiated a good price for my three tests, because the technician had been one of his students in primary school. I am going to be examined at headquarters before heading to Entebbe for my vacation flight to meet my son at the Seychelles.
I don’t anticipate blogging again until I return after the 19th. I don’t think Seychelles vacation pictures are appropriate for this blog, but we’ll see.