My home town for the next year. Idi Amin came from Arua, and I saw a street named for him, which is quite exceptional because street signs are rare..
When you return from any sort of trip, people will always say “Welcome Back.” Matthews used to say it every time we dismounted from a trip to a village. When you arrive in a new environment such as a village or a store or even a meeting, people say “You are most welcome.”
Casper was very accommodating for the eclipse tourists with a town square full of booths selling t-shirts, caps etc. It was like a county fair. People stuck pins showing where they came from into a world map. Since I am considered a resident by the Ugandan government (and a shorter line through immigration), I felt justified in sticking the first pin into Uganda, second pin in Africa. Denver didn’t need another pin. Quite a few pins in Europe..
I certainly enjoyed many activities during my month leave, and visiting friends and family, culminating the last few days with all five siblings in Casper, WYO to see the total eclipse.
However, the complexities of my Western life also intruded. A pile of mail from the last year took me two days to deal with. Heh- the IRS gets pretty threatening if they think you are ignoring them (My CPA is fixing it now, I should not owe what they claim). My HOA is replacing my building’s HVAC system, including asbestos remediation (it was the first ‘high rise’ in Denver, built in the late 50’s). My assessed share will wipe out a significant chunk of my investment income the last two years, without adding value. Ugh.
I got my overdue colonoscopy, and some minor dental work. I tuned up my hearing aids. I don’t think I had mentioned, I bought them two years ago, the week before I left. This was probably due to a combination of age, and 45 years of amplified rock concerts. FYI Costco has free exams and it’s aids are waay cheaper than anywhere else. Only the VA distributes more than Costco. I also brought back about 150 new batteries for them too.
After being stymied by a May blizzard two years ago, we finally could take Jan’s ashes to mountain meadow called the Valley of Flowers, just west of the Eisenhower tunnel. Clark came home for a long weekend. He has a new accounting job in New York, working for the Education Alliance, a 127 y.o. charity to boost the underprivileged on the lower East Side of Manhattan.
I bought a new laptop and smartphone. Blair teased that my Ugandan smartphone (brand name “iDroid”-although it is a U.S. company) was worse than the cheap phones her homeless clients utilize for job searches!
During the month,some of the gloom I left behind for the Peace Corps had returned. So many reminders…. Could I have a bit of mild PTSD? Perhaps if I had stayed in Denver it would have dissipated, but it seemed like it was just arrested for two years.
There certainly was no nostalgia about my earlier profession, after listening to my ‘old’ lawyer friends talk shop. The turmoil and direction of my country continues to distress me. My conversations in ‘mixed’ company were like walking on egg shells, because no one changes their mind, no matter the evidence. I found myself watching too much cable news (like… “How will FOX excuse this?”). I don’t watch much TV in Uganda, but when I do, Al Jazeera’s depth and variety of coverage puts American news outlets to shame. I salute Qatar’s courage to stand up to the rest of the Middle East, which is demanding Al Jazaeera be shut down.
Finally, Blair had an “ambiguous” CT scan soon after I arrived. It cast a pall over my stay, but a subsequent PET scan last week was more reassuring.
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The Nile is quite active here (lots of connected lakes and tributaries) and my region is called the West Nile Region.
After spending a full day in Kampala, CARE flew me in a little plane (23 passenger seats) to Arua. If I have to commute to Kampala by bus on non-CARE business, it will take 8-10 hours. It’s maybe 7 hours in a CARE vehicle. So, after 11 hours in traffic returning to Denver from Casper, and then flying to Entebbe for another 26 hours, this one hour flight was most welcome. We landed on a muddy, red clay runway, something new for me. My bag which Brussels Air had lost was delivered a few days later.
I have settled into my new home, finally overcome my jet lag, and started to acclimate to Arua town. I need to learn the greetings, and other phrases in a new local language.
The CARE office is a bustling place compared to ATEFO. One year ago, there were three CARE workers in Arua. It has now reached 34 and by next month it will be 56. Unlike me, new hires arriving in Arua are given a stipend and they must fend for themselves to find a place to board. 30% of hires must come from the local communities. Most staff spend all day at the refugee settlements of course, not at the office. I anticipate going to the field a few days a week myself.
Uganda recently took in its One Millionth refugee from South Sudan. She was symbolically identified by name, but I don’t think she received a special prize.
Interior view of my CARE office. I just grab a spot along the wall on the left.
This is Carly, from Australia, the temporary team leader in Arua and my local supervisor. She has worked most of her career for Oxfam, all over the world. All other staff are Ugandan,with a few Sudanese and Kenyans.
I live in this annex, as viewed from the kitchen of the CARE Guest House. The door on the left goes to my toilet and shower. The shower is not heated so I continue to heat water and bucket bathe. It gets real hot here, so there will definitely be cold showers in my future. It is too stimulating to unlock my door and go next door in the middle of the night, so I still use a bucket next to my bed (TMI?). Door on the right is a storage room. We have 24 hour guard who flips on a generator for the compound when the power goes out. Posh Corps!
My bedroom
My living room. It’s nice to have a sofa to watch movies on my computer. Eddie Bauer kindly replaced my lifetime guaranteed backpack, which had broken zippers, with the new one you see on the couch. Yes I played my Peace Corps card to get it approved.