Tag Archive: staff

Volunteers of America!

Selfie on a stick taken by Harmony. She has great AV skills and put together a fantastic video of our training, I am trying to get her to post it on YouTube. One of the better aspects of this day was seeing all the girls in make-up and nice hair. They clean up well. Boys too.

 

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US Ambassador Scott DeLisi, on the left, and the Ugandan Minister of Health on the right, gave the best speech of the day, mostly extemporaneous, very funny, and made great points.

Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution (got to revolution)
Hey, I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution (got to revolution)
Oh, ain’t it amazing all the people I meet?
Got a revolution, oh-oh
We are volunteers of America
Yeah, we are volunteers of America
We are volunteers of America (volunteers of America)
Volunteers of America (volunteers of America)

-Volunteers / Jefferson Airplane 1969

Matthews, my counterpart, motorcycle driver, and interpreter with the rice and fish farmers. (Just found out we help fish farmers too- they raise them in their own ponds). Tuning my ears to his English is my next challenge. He saw me make a couple of presentations during supervisor workshop, and says my English is beautiful. He is 45, has nine children.

Matthews, my counterpart, motorcycle driver, and interpreter with the rice and fish farmers. (Just found out we help fish farmers too- they raise them in their own ponds). Tuning my ears to his English is my next challenge. He saw me make a couple of presentations during supervisor workshop, and says my English is beautiful. He is 45, has nine children.

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U S Ambassador DeLisi, and my new supervisor Adams. He’s is a jovial fellow and loves the Bugiri Rotary Club. My fellow volunteers liked him during Supervisors workshop

But it is immaterial because the damage to the digestive walls or the intestinal muscles caused by harsh chemicals. levitra 60 mg see for source Sleep deficiency, work pressure, relationship issues, http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482468231_add_file_1.pdf viagra 25mg alcohol, nicotine may also cause this problem leading a man to achieve erection. It is one of the best ways of doing that is by carrying out cialis australia a tiny on-line investigation you may find pharmacies which offer no cost shipping. Make sure that you visit your doctor and discuss the possibility of taking buy viagra wholesale, as it may cause side effects like dizziness, insomnia, nausea, elevated blood pressure, etc. he must not opt for such medicinal treatments since the ingredients of such drug products might not suit with the requirements of the health of such patients. For the baby boomers out there, take out your vinyl Woodstock album. As I recall, Grace Slick introduced “Volunteers” as “Morning maniac music” following The Who’s legendary performance that ended at dawn. For obvious reasons, “Volunteers” was an ear worm (in my head) all day. Of course I first heard it twenty years before most of my fellow volunteers were born. That’s the equivalent of me being familiar with the hits of 1934. I suppressed my usual shyness(!) and blurted it out on the bus ride up. I think only a couple of trainees knew it, likely thanks to their parents. If you know “Volunteers” perhaps it will now be your ear worm today!

My Agri-business director, Meital. Great lady, all Peace Corps.

My Agri-business director, Meital. Great lady, all Peace Corps.

Jan was also much on my mind. Starting on the bus ride to the US Ambassador’s house, through all the speeches right up through swearing in, I could not stop thinking about her. It made everything more emotional. I kept tearing up. Maybe she was with me in some karmic way. More likely it was something in my subconscious emerging in a big event, but I have no evidence either way. Hey, sorry, but I am still new to this widower stuff. You can read Jan’s PC Musings (PDF) here, written in her own hand.

The US Ambassador Scott DeLisi is a good guy. Looked him up on Wikipedia, and he is a career diplomat; and so is not serving as a reward for fundraising for a winning presidential candidate. Those people don’t like third world posts anyway. He is leaving this post in Uganda soon. I found his speech on the ground in a folder, during the reception, complete with hand-written edits. Kept it. The Ugandan Minister of Health on the right, gave the best speech of the day, mostly extemporaneous, very funny, and made great points.

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I’m with my remaining “Colorado Girls”, Hannah on the left, Emily on the right. They both represent well our state’s reputation for beautiful, healthy women.

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I took this picture of the interior of the Ambassador’s house while waiting on stairs with a bunch of Ugandans to use the restroom. One of them said, “Are you allowed to take pictures in here?” I replied “I’m an American taxpayer, I paid for this house.” Huge laughter, Ugandans love to laugh large and my clumsy ways provide them with many opportunities. Mango, my language teacher explained once that when we spoke to the school children in their language their laughter is natural way of dealing with new and different circumstances. If a guy falls off his motorcycle, people around him will laugh while coming over to help.

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My roommate David, fellow fossil, doing a native dance at the swearing in

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I passed my Language Proficiency Interview! My two language teachers, Mango on the left and Ken on the right. When encouraging me during my dark days of frustration, Mango told me “Sometimes the old broom sweeps better than new brooms.” He was full of these types of sayings. Once when we visited a farm to try out our Lasoga, he said “Just move about, I will follow you around like a belt on trousers”. Ken came in during the last week for review, and did the LPI interview. He dragged me over the finish line. I got back to Bugiri today, after a two week absence, and realized how much I had already forgotten as I got acquainted with new neighbors on my route. Mango is helping me find a tutor.

Aruna

Aruna

Aruna, my Lost Boy of Sudan friend, and roommate during staging, spoke and  thanked everyone, and his back story was singled out by the Ambassador (he told me later he was requested to write that part). On our Saturday day off during tech immersion a couple weeks ago, he returned to visit the his Uganda refugee camp near the Sudan border for the first time since he and his brothers were taken out of it in 2003. He said it is much bigger and he saw many people he remembered. So many families have raised their children there. Imagine living in a refugee camp your whole life. Sad. I am going to take a long weekend to see Aruna soon, and he promised to take me to the camp, which is about 3-4 hours away from his posting.

I’m setting up my place in Burgiri with various needed furnishings this weekend. I am shopping in Iganga Sunday. I will meet my mother Hellen so she can help me bargain.

Now the two year job begins.

Demographics

During a conference call with my cohort of volunteers and the Uganda staff, I learned we are the largest contingent to go to Uganda. There are 49 trainees in the training class (24 in Health and 25 in Agriculture). Gender-wise 31 females and 18 males. Three are over age 50 including myself, three in their 40’s, and the remaining 33 in their 20-30’s. Known for giving up to 36 hours generico cialis on line of its effect. No one needs to passively accept the loss of sexual function as they think this condition is quite uncommon or does not even exist!&nbsp Is it for the reason that the populations of order viagra levitra many places are downing huge doses of Western medicine?&nbsp Hardly! What Triggers Hypertension? In actuality there is not absolute proof as to what causes substantial blood stress, but educated guesses show it really. Ashmariharaha: It is of great buy generic cialis use in gauging the humidity, and wetness in some various substances. Hence, sildenafil tablets australia your system is kept safe from being detected, curated and attacked. So I might be the old man of this group. As for Uganda’s demographics, it has one of the largest youth populations, over 80% under 30 years of age, out of which 54% are less than 15 years of age. No matter your specific job description, if you go to Uganda, you better like kids!