Tag Archive: volunteers

Transitions

Author: July 29, 2017

High End Graphics! My certificate was really nice though.

I arrived home on Thursday night, July 20th, after 30 hours of travel (23 in the air).

During my last two days and nights in Bugiri, I hosted my replacement volunteer, Molly, for her first visit to Bugiri and ATEFO. I think she will do fine.

Molly is “chill” as the kids say.

She will be joined in Bugiri by a couple of other PCVs who will work for a different organization, but will live only two minutes from Molly.I took the three trainees around town, introducing them to my merchant friends, while also using the occasion to say good-bye.

Lauren is Ag, and Pat is a Health Volunteer

On my last night, Adams organized a goat roast, and invited the ATEFO staff for my send-off and to introduce and welcome Molly. As a parting gift, I gave Adams a replacement battery for his laptop. Previously he could only use it when it was plugged in, and would lose work he didn’t save it before the power went off. He was excited to get it. I gave Matthews a new motorcycle helmet. He never had a real good one, and often drove me without a helmet, or would borrow mine for the half day trip to his home village. I also gave out a few power banks to other staff members.
After two nights, the trainees went back to Iganga to continue their Lusoga language and cultural training. They will swear in August 11, and then return to Bugiri to begin their two year adventure.


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Matthews gets a helmet with an “Angry Birds” theme.

Just before I flew home, all Rotarians in Uganda were jolted by the news that the Rotary International President-Elect from Uganda, Sam Owori, unexpectedly died after a routine operation on his leg during a visit to the United States. He would have been only the second president of Rotary International from Africa. The death seemed sort of mysterious, but as of this writing I have no further information. President Museveni declared there would be an “official burial” on July 29.

Earlier in July, my “org mate” Ruwani and I received two days of orientation at CARE headquarters in Kampala. Originally it was to be in Arua, but I will have to wait until my return to actually see Arua for the first time. We learned about the CARE way of reporting its activities, and the recently developed software platform it uses, which is the same for all 90 countries CARE serves. The program interacts with Excel. I am a klutz on Excel Spreadsheets, but some of my work will be using the spreadsheets, not generating or manipulating them. I can do that.
It appears I will accompany teams to the refugee camps and assist in the monitoring and evaluation of CARE programs. I will write reports for internal use, and externally for CARE’s donors. In Uganda, CARE does not hand out food and water, leaving that chore to other organizations. There are many CARE programs to assist the refugee communities, and I look forward to writing about them. Maybe I’ll just copy and paste some of my stuff into the blog!
For my home site in Arua, I will be sharing a walled compound with the CARE Guest House. I will stay in a two room annex separated from the guest house by a shared garden. I will have a full bathroom (yay!). I will also have access to the kitchen in the Guest House. They have a full time cook, but I will want to do my own ‘American’ cooking (you know, Mexican and Italian dishes). I think it will work out. Who knows, there may be the occasional interesting visitor staying in the Guest House, not mention I might be meeting them anyway since they would be there on CARE business.

Ronnie with his new laptop courtesy of your donations. An update will be coming soon.

With my healthy daughter at Red Rocks

In the week I’ve been home, I’ve ordered a new laptop, attended the Northglenn-Thornton Rotary meeting, enjoyed a show at Red Rocks, got a colonoscopy (clean!), took my mom to see “Dunkirk”, and replaced my backpack with a life-time warranty at Eddie Bauer because of irreparable broken zippers.
Overall, while I am enjoying seeing old friends, emotionally I am more excited about my new position. I think that is a good place to be.

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I had a dream..

Author: June 15, 2017

The game of Mosquito Tag is also on the cover of the Malaria Think Tank annual report, thanks to fellow fossil David, who was in charge of the graphics.

As of today, an article over my byline about the Blue House Camp is linked from the home page of the Peace Corps. See it here. There were better projects by other volunteers, but this is a combination of my bother-in-law and sister’s great photography and the compelling backstory of the Blue House.
A couple of weeks ago, about 50 PCVs had a big social gathering. These kids love to party. It was called “Burning Sebo”, a take-off on the annual Burning Man fest in Nevada. It was at a camp in Jinja next to the Nile River. David had never been to Jinja or the Nile, so he came east. We rented a tent with cots, on a bluff over-looking the river. I am sick of staying in dorm bunk beds. However, while the tent zipped up pretty tight, there were no nets over the cots (unlike the bunk beds), and I got slaughtered by mosquito bites.

Our Burning Sebo was a little bit smaller than Burning Man

Another volunteer making her first visit to Jinja that weekend was Judith Fleming, who started subscribing to my blog in 2015 after asking D.C. headquarters if there was a blog from an elder Ugandan volunteer. She arrived a year after I did, and after occasional email correspondence, this was our first meeting. Judith was a 21 year-old volunteer 50 years ago as part of the first cohort in Tonga in the South Pacific. Yes, she is north of 70! Judith, David and I went out for dinner and we enjoyed her stories about the early days of the Peace Corps. In 1967, Peace Corps Pacific trainees did their training on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. They hiked once to the site of the Leper colony of Father Damien. Another time they learned how to camp on the beach, and how to catch, gut and clean fish. Back then, the number of trainees selected exceeded the number going to site. About 20% were told they had been “deselected” and sent home. This must have been tough after you thought you said good bye for two years. Of course there was no internet then, so the contact back home was with tissue thin letters that took weeks. Judith was deposited on a Tonga island with a family in a grass hut with no electricity of course, and basically was told to figure out how to help the people. She was called to help with a child birth once, purely on the basis of being an American. She practically acted as a mid-wife and was given the privilege of naming the baby!

David, Judith and I pose in front of the Nile. Judith is very popular with her cohort, and they look after her.

All you need to do is just take one kamagra 100mg oral jelly sachet just cialis cheapest before 20 minutes to your sexual session. They work in the body by improving blood circulation to the male sex organ. cialis low price It offers cialis india pharmacy effective treatment for fatigue and erectile dysfunction. There could be another physical cialis online price issue that abates your sexual reaction may cause tension about keeping up an Erection. She named him after her Peace Corps boyfriend from her cohort. Judith said this fall there will be a 50th anniversary celebration  of the Peace Corps in Tonga. Our Country Director Sean is friends of the Country Director in Tonga. They are trying to figure out if there is way she could go back for the ceremonies. It would be so interesting to find the 50 year old man she helped deliver and named. Seems like it would make a cool little documentary, not to mention it would show how she is doing a lot of work in Uganda. Neither she nor David have needed medical assistance since arriving in Uganda. I’ve only had to fix a bad ingrown toenail and had some dizziness issues that were probably solved by changing my malaria meds.
I will use this post to tell a sort of funny story. Way back at training two years ago, my cohort formed a big circle. Each of us was asked to step to the middle and state a “dream” goal during our service, even if it was likely unattainable. So I decided to announce that I hoped to find the next Dikembe Mutombo or Akeem Olajuwon in one of my villages, so he could build hospitals like Mutombo did in Kenya. Mutombo played for the Denver Nuggets many years ago. As I was about to enter the circle, I realized David was the only volunteer who would even know these names, and I couldn’t think of any current African NBA players. So instead, I clumsily tried to explain it as “I want to find a 14 year.old boy with mad basketball skills who I could bring back to America to eventually make the NBA and get rich so he could help his village.” I was told later, at first I sounded like a perv who wanted to bring home a 14 year old boy, although eventually they understood the gist of it. I have been teased about this ever since.

A future NBA star?

Sure enough, Ryan, who is currently a PCV in Arua, recently sent me a photo on WhatsApp of a 14 year old playing basketball in Arua. He said “Something to look forward to, Charlie, your 6 ft 14 year old, South Sudanese talent.” Andrei chimed in “And now with the refugee crisis They’re practically giving them away”. The good part about this is that now I know there is this basketball court, and I would like to play some pick-up basketball for exercise. It beats soccer drills, which I have been neglecting. And my “dream” is alive.

My distinctive helmet and jacket have held up well.

There was a little two room school house in one of the villages I was in last week. Each room was jammed with kids. I peeked in, and they all stood up and said “Good Afternoon”. I hope the teacher wasn’t too annoyed.

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I’m a Cessation

Author: April 21, 2017

Our last group photo. Ha ha, just before the shot, Andrei scooted over from behind me, leaving me floating. I don’t touch the ladies :-). I count 38 out of the original 45 making it to this point, a higher percentage than most cohorts.My Lusoga buddy Becky, second from right in the front row (between the Blue House PCVs) was ill and only came out ten minutes for this photo, Thursday night. She didn’t get better and was taken to the ICU Monday for malaria. She had tested negative the first time. She had stopped taking her meds a few months ago.

I spent last week with my cohort at a very nice resort.  It is low season right now, so I guess the Peace Corps got a good rate. They like giving us a nicer place at each conference. This was called Cessation of Service (COS) conference.  It’s all about wrapping things up and planning for the immediate future.

We learned about the three day process at headquarters before you “gong out”. Mostly because they drain a lot of bodily fluids (and solids 😉 ) the first day, and results are provided on the third day. And there are exit interviews and forms to fill out. I have already put together a booklet about Bugiri and ATEFO for my replacement.

There was a session about readjustment to USA life. No doubt it is sort of jolting, as I experienced. It was acknowledged that frequently a RPCV is asked to describe their experience, but often the inquisitor is just being polite.  Keeping it short, I will say: “I endured unbelievable hardships, while elevating my entire town out of poverty, and securing a lifetime of education for all the children.”  Yeah, that should cover it. See if they are paying attention.

The “Three Fossils” t-shirts were a popular item. It’s like we are a folk group. Ron on the right has lost 40 lbs. I spoke about Dave’s plans in an earlier post. Ron is either retiring to fishing in Wisconsin, or will open a restaurant in La Paz Mexico.

There were sessions on what to do after Peace Corps. I co-facilitated a session on resume writing. Thanks for assistance from back home from Mike and his daughter Michelle (an HR pro). I helped several volunteers revise their resumes. It’s been fun learning everyone’s plans. A lot of them are going to grad school. An alleged benefit of the Peace Corps is the designation of NCE (Non-Competitive Eligibility) which gives RPCVs an automatic competitive edge in Federal hiring for a few years. However, the hiring freeze and doubts about future funding for non-military activities, including the Peace Corps itself, have the negated the NCE benefit.

For me, when I was accepted, it was nice to think I had the next few years figured out. Now that time is running out. I am struggling a bit on the after-service question for myself. I feel lucky to have options, but each one has an impediment. [heh- started the paragraph in Uganglish “For me..” ]
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On our last night of the conference, I was honored to be asked to be the Agriculture PCV to thank the Peace Corps staff and speak to the cohort.  There was certainly some humor, but I am not one to waste an opportunity like this.  I have heartfelt love and admiration for the volunteers I served with. They represent our country’s best hopes. However, their future will not be easy. I urged my cohort not to go home and retreat behind their white privilege (“Especially you, Aruna”). RPCVs will know how to take on “secondary projects”, organize and interact with groups, make presentations, and otherwise lead with confidence. I would hate to see those skills go to waste. Sure, go to a march and take a selfie for Facebook. But what will you say to your grandchildren, when you take them to Disney World, now located next to a beach in Orlando, and they ask “Grandpa, what did you do …..?”

Ditch diggers in Iganga. No back hoes here! This was at least a kilometer on each side.

Across the street they are lining another ditch with stones.

They were out of these crazy taxi models when we passed through Fort Portal a few weeks ago, so I ordered one. I asked the artist to put one Muzungu in it. This one is crammed with nine altogether, but real taxis need a minimum of 19 (3-4-4-4-4) before they leave. Tires are bottle caps. One of my souvenirs!

While I was gone, Matthews built a fence around our gardens to keep out the goats. Were the fences in the old West that ramshackle?

The permagarden we dug in Kazo town. Picture was taken twelve days ago. They weren’t getting much rain there, but lately its been picking up..The garden at Blue House is not doing as well.

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Blue House Camp, Part II

Author: April 2, 2017

A  chronicle of the afternoon camp activities

 

Morning leftover. The girls are doodling on a whiteboard waiting for the RUMPs session to let out. The lesson learned here was “What’s the difference between permanent ink markers and board markers on a whiteboard?”    ……………………………In the iconic pose of the 21st Century, Scott checks out how the Mets are doing in Spring training.

The afternoon means permagarden time for all the girls. I thought those new pants were supposed to be pajamas!

Matthews wants to dig a permagarden for the village where we did last week’s lesson. Watching Dave teach it twice was helpful.

“This hoe has seconds to live.” About ten readers will get that. Drop me a line!

Dave is ready to go MMA to disarm the hoe from the Sewing Instructor…… No, actually he is showing the width of the garden bed with his feet so you can work on it without stepping on it.

 

 

 

 

David, 58, is a fellow fossil, and Agribusness volunteer.He is our cohort’s permagarden master, He was featured in my blog a year ago here. David is from North Carolina by way of Pittsburgh and Wisconsin. After a career as a graphic artist, he did some woofing before his Peace Corps service. After service, he intends to help care for his mother in North Carolina for at least a year. He also hopes to work for a nearby branch of the Food Corps, part of AmeriCorps Eventually he’d like to do another Peace Corps tour.. David designed the Blue House camp t-shirts we used.

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Elphaz stopped by. He serves on the board, amd is the brother of Beatrice, the late founder of Blue House. At one point he was caring for 20 children under his roof. His is 64.

The ground was transformed in less than two hours. Aine tells me they have had rain, and the straw has come off at both sites after germination.

“…and then that P-2 kid accidentally whacked me with her hoe right here….”

“If you can learn to levitate a ball, like this, you get into Hogwarts. Or Makere U. in Kampala, your choice.”

The older girls talked about HIV, consent, and condoms. The men were kicked out during question time. Scott mobilized the younger ones for “Hide the matoke”

Sweet Victory

Scott, 25, an Agribusiness volunteer, and hails from New Jersey. He is a recent graduate of Duquesne, as a Business Major. Before Peace Corps. he worked in the marketing department for the New York Mets baseball team. He is still thinking about his post-Peace Corps options, perhaps doing some consulting.

The venerable Ugandan tradition of handing out certificates. House Mom Matene is pleased.

Fossils propping each other up.

This is the link to Hope Multipurpose Inc, the org that supports the Blue House.

When a camp is over, Mackenzie just gets carried away.

Almost time to go to the pork joint.  A favorite Ugandan culinary delight. My brother-in-law loved it. Wish I had a photo of it.

…..but lets do a silly one first. Where is my mount?

 

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Peace Corps Uganda Rocked It at the Blue House Camp- Part 1

Author: April 2, 2017

I don’t know how our cohort nick-named itself “Cohort Best” rather than a more mundane title like Education Cohort 3. I thought maybe it was Becky, who loves Superlatives, but she credits Katy J.. Anyway, we were a pretty veteran crew who came to Kazo Uganda and put on a camp for the Blue House girls orphanage on a recent Saturday.  I had written about the Blue House here...That photo above is another frame-able.  It belongs in a brochure.

We started proceedings with a welcome and introductions and a little talk I give to schools about trying your best and always being honest

We ended my little portion with an energizer called “Rainstorm”

Mackenzie led a session for the whole camp, including staff on Nutrition

“Now, is this a healthy plate?”

Lillian on the left is a bright leader, but that is a lot of butter!

What’s Dave looking for?

Mackenzie. 24, a Health Volunteer, has roots in both Chicago and Iowa. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa, double majoring in Political Science and International Studies. She studied in Tanzania for a year. After service, she intends to obtain a Master’s Degree in Public Health. I believe she has been accepted by eleven schools so far. Hard choice coming up.

We all went outside and Scott led a variation of Simon Says.

The older girls went to the sewing room, where Kelly, assisted by David, learned to sew RUMPs

Kelly, 25, a Health volunteer, is from Indiana PA. and has a degree in French from the University of Pittsburgh. After her service, she will attend nursing school, and eventually would like to work for the French organization, Medicens sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders). If you follow the news, you know that will take courage

On the left is the house mother, Ziporah Matene

…from the rafters?


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Karen gives it a shot

Doin’ the RUMPs shuffle

Well done!

Meanwhile, the Primary age girls learn about washing their hands properly

Getting it right

Only the roof of the Blue House is blue. We were lucky to have great weather during our visit, which is supposed to be the beginning of rainy season, but now those permagardens need to get wet!

After Scott observed many of the girls did not use their mosquito nets properly,, they segued into a session on why nets are important. Scott had a bad case of malaria last year.

Mosquito tag! A couple of kids with cardboard mosquitoes try to ‘infect’ their mates with malaria. Scott and Mackenzie make a safe haven ‘net’. in the background.

If you get malaria, you need a doctor to get back in the game.

My turn as mosquito was exhausting! Those kids can turn on a dime. I eventually adopted the lion hunting strategy and let another mosquito drive a victim towards me.

 The district probation officer, Fortunate Abaho, gave an inspirational talk.

Fortunate had never heard of the Peace Corps so Karen recruited Mackenzie to explain how during training, you learn how to make those duck shadows..

Yum! Part two of the camp is in the next post!

 

 

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PCVs Sharing Knowledge with Kazo town

Author: March 29, 2017

Our first working day was on Friday, providing sessions to benefit the town of Kazo. We dug a demonstration permagarden behind the Catholic Primary School, taught financial literacy to local farmers, and taught RUMPs to a vocational sewing school. It all went well.

They removed too much top soil in prepping the land so we had to bring some of it back. Notice the adjacent roof which will help drain rain into the garden

David brought his illustrated grain sacks to explain this type of garden

A color-full plate grown in a garden next to your house provides year-round good nutrition even in hard times.

 

Add ash for minerals, manure for nitrogen, charcoal for water retention, and egg shells for calcium

Scott pours a full Jerry can into one of the corner holes to show how much the garden can retain. The water seeps deep under the garden.

The MaMas dig as well as the men!

We planted our color-full plate of cabbage, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, and simi greens (collards)

Since the garden is dug so deep, you can plant the seeds closer together. The roots will go straight down and seek out the water that is stored. The surface growth, being closer, adds shade and so there is less surface drying.

Spectators from the classroom

Finish with a cover of straw. Water a bit if it doesn’t rain, allow the seeds to germinate, remove the covering.


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After digging the garden, we moved inside a class room to teach a session of record keeping

They are paying attention too!

Scott invited the farmers up to record the cash book entries

Meanwhile at the town’s vocational school run by the Blue House on it’s grounds, Kelly and Mackenzie teach how to sew Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) with the school’s teacher Musiime as their able assistant and translator. These students come from the town and nearby villages. Some board in a nearby building during the week. One student is a Blue House girl.

I love this photo but I can’t rotate it!

 

In the background on the chalkboard, Kelly has has done the math to show the cost of commercial pads for three women in the family is 216,000 UGx, compared to 15,000 UGx for RUMPs. They help keep girls in school the full month. They also can be made and sold to other girls as an Income Generating Activity

Finished RUMPs. A girl snaps it into her panty and can remove the absorbent cloth from under the ribbons to wash and re-use. I’ll show this better in the Blue House camp post

Karen set out piles of clothes for the girls made at, and donated by, students in a clothing design class at the University of Minnesota

Back at the Guest House we relax and plan for the Blue House Orphanage Girl’s Camp the next day

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The Muzungu Invasion of Kazo Uganda

Author: March 29, 2017

We left Bugiri and visited Jinja and the source of the Nile, meeting PCV Nick for lunch at the PCVs’ favorite Indian restaurant. We drove on to Kampala for the night, where Karen greeted five Secondary School graduates who were raised at the Blue House. They are still supported by the orphanage’s NGO, Hope Multipurpose, Inc. in their studies at University or vocational school.

On the way to Kazo we took the obligatory Equator Photo

I join the other Peace Corps Volunteers at the BAM Guesthouse after our arrival in Kazo. In another post I will provide more information about each of them. Note the African country names for the rooms.

We arrived at the Blue House on a Thursday afternoon. Dave and Kelly chat, while Mackenzie fills out the guestbook, a necessity everywhere you go in Uganda

Karen greets Blue House Girls, while the Director, Aine, looks on

This is Alice, the Blue House Social Worker

Each dorm room has two bunk beds for four girls. They actually live in somewhat better conditions compared to the dingy dorms and dining halls I have seen in the schools I have visited. If a youth doesn’t board at a school but still attends, he is a “desk scholar” and there seems to be a stigma attached to it.


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David isn’t just a good permagarden instructor. He is good with the kids.

Sharing a book

Aine Abel, the Director of Blue House

Girls bring Jerry Cans of water up from a spring-fed pond. I love the simplicity and symmetry of this photo. I will print and frame this some day.

This is the spring-fed pond which supplies water for the Blue House. It is also off of the Kazo electric grid, but is well solar powered.

When Karen, my other sister Marian, and my niece Hannah last visited the Blue House in December, 2013, they brought the girls soccer uniforms. The girls later personalized them. The jerseys have held up well. In an evening performance after dinner, they wore them and preformed drum, song and dance routines for their visitors. Hopefully I will be able to link you to the video(s) soon.

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Like John the Baptist

Author: March 10, 2017

Kayaking on the Nile during Nile River Fest in Jinja

Last  month, I took a nine day trip, staying at six different places for two different functions. I hate living out of my backpack.

First, I traveled to the town of Kazo, in Western Uganda. Kazo is the home of the Blue House, which is a girls orphanage supported by my sister Karen for many years.

The Blue House was founded by a native Ugandan, Beatrice, who was living with her husband in St. Paul MN. After being away 17 years, she made a few trips back to her hometown of Kazo. She came to bury her brothers, and was appalled by the scourge of AIDs in her community. Several little girls in town were particularly vulnerable – orphaned with no family support or shelter. Beatrice found an old shop for them, made repairs, and hired a caretaker. With an estimated 200 needy orphans in the vicinity, Beatrice decided to build dorms, a kitchen, dining hall and latrines. She purchased eight acres outside of town for this purpose.

Beatrice returned to America to raise funds, utilizing her St. Paul church and local connections. In 2004, just as this was underway, Beatrice suddenly and unexpectedly died. The USA Board of Directors decided not to let her passing deter their efforts. Today, the Blue House supports 40 orphaned girls. The ones who live at the dorm walk to the local schools and their school fees are covered. The Blue House also pays the school fees for eight others, who live in town with their relatives. Further, it still supports a few girls who grew up at the Blue House and are now at University or vocational schools. Blue House also built a vocational sewing school on its land, with 22 students from Kazo town, including one from Blue House..

Karen has just completed her term as the President of the USA Board, and has visited the Blue House twice. She is coming to Uganda next week with her husband Dave (his first trip to here) to visit me in Bugiri, and then we travel to Kazo.

I have recruited four other Peace Corps volunteers.to meet us in Kazo. We are going to meet with local Kazo farmers, do some financial literacy lessons, and dig a town demonstration permagarden. We will also teach how to make Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) at the vocational sewing school. The next day, we will put on a day camp for the Blue House girls, including RUMPs lessons for the older girls, and dig another permagarden.

I am so grateful to get the help from other PCVs. We are all in the same cohort and they are all good friends. We are on our last six or so months, so this will be a fun weekend for us too.

My preview visit last month was to find potential permagarden locations, meet the staff and girls (precious-each one came up and curtseyed) and get introduced to town leaders to explain our plans and get their support.  I spent one night in each of the local guesthouses to pick one for our “muzungu invasion”. The director of Blue House, Aine, said I was “like John the Baptist, preparing the way.”

When our time in Kazo is finished, Karen, Dave and I plan to travel another week in Western Uganda on vacation, with visits to many places I haven’t been able to see yet. So the rest of March is going to be exciting.
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After my scouting trip to Kazo, I returned to Kampala to participate in a panel and a workshop for the entire Peace Corps Uganda staff, and representatives from volunteer support groups in Diversity, Peer Support, LGBTQ, and Sexual Harassment. It was called Intercultural Diversity and Inclusion (ICD&I) training. In other words, sensitivity training, (I can just sense some eye rolls out there). It was really cool, actually. We can all use some self-awareness enlightenment.

I am an elected representative from my cohort for one of the four support groups. However, the Country Director Sean wanted my panel participation to be from the perspective of an older volunteer. My cohort friend Aruna represented first generation Americans (In  my cohort besides Aruna from Sudan, we’ve had volunteers born in India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Belarus- more than  the number of elder volunteers.)

I almost didn’t post this. I look so fat. I am still 30 pounds lighter than diabetes weight, but 20 more than my skinny low a year ago. It looks like man boobs too. This was my panel. CD Sean is upper left. Aruna is front right, and next to him is Sam from Littleton and CSU. Back row second from right is Anita from Denver. She went to a magnet school at DPS. Three out ten from Colorado!

Panelists were asked to speak about how they were marginalized or empowered by Peace Corps staff, other volunteers and/or in the country. There were some heartbreaking presentations. Hearing a school assembly chant “Kill the Gays”… the constant sexual harassment of the female PCVs (100% here- I admire their courage for what they have to endure here- although they are not unique from Ugandan women.)…. a black volunteer being a disappointment to his assigned town and marginalized because it did not get a white American… If you are an Asian-American volunteer, people shout “Jackie Chan” or “Ching Chong” and want you to show off your martial arts moves.

Teaching youth in a village while a mom next to me makes a mat.

Well as a panelist, amidst these stories, what could I say? Paul Sulley, who just became the Country Director in Jamaica, once met with the older volunteers during training (The Fossils!). He said we probably would not be invited for certain social events, but we had an opportunity to be a positive influence on these ‘kids’. So yes, there have been some comparatively minor slights, likely not intentional (that’s where the sensitivity training comes in!), and I try to be a good, but cool,  “in loco parentis.”

But in fact, I have not really been marginalized. The younger volunteers and Ugandan staff treat me well. In my town and throughout Uganda I have massive privilege as an older white American male. I am a celebrity with the neighbor kids. I attract good parental turnout when I speak to schools. More farmers show up to listen. On the crowded taxis, the elderly are often ushered up to the coveted front row by the conductor. (I admit I exploit this, because my knees take a beating otherwise). Sometimes before I can get in a food line at a dinner, someone brings a plate to my seat. I received immediate respect from my org and my supervisor. Of course I try not to act like a condescending jerk either. The other white male PCVs are generally privileged too, except fresh out of college, they might have to earn some respect from the older men in their communities. So I was honest on the panel about my status, and saw a lot of nodding in agreement by the Ugandan staff.  I can’t feel bad, it is what it is. Sean thought it was a good.

I also enjoyed different conversations that particular weekend with our Country Director Sean, the new Deputy Director Karen, and my supervisor Meital, about possible Peace Corps- related options for me when it is time for my service to end in six months. I am really trying to get my impending future figured out, since time is slipping away.

Local kids play video games at a shop near my house.

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November

Author: December 4, 2016

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Who needs a truck when you have a boda boda?

Sorry to be negligent about the blog recently. I’ve been a bit sick and had some low mental energy. It’s normal according to Peace Corps. Perhaps while I was gone for three weeks, my mind minimized some of the frustrations of my experience here. There is also distress about current events back home, a very late but moderate rainy season being so disruptive to the town’s grid and my meetings, and the challenge finding my niche in our new project to help youth groups. Its hard to ignore the internet, but reading books is a good distraction..

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I finally gave up on my smart phone, replacing it with new cheap one which I hope will get me through to the end of service. Photography might suffer, although I might still use my crippled phone for that. This Phone Doctor place in Jinja had my phone for a week. I lost a great picture of a lady transferring the SIM card that didn’t work on my phone to test it in her own phone, all the while nursing her baby.

ATEFO’s new contract required us to put in place nearly 600 “backyard gardens” This an ideal opportunity to spread the gospel of permagardens. However, the approach by the field staff is to get out there and slap gardens down, without the little bit of extra work to dig a permagarden, which ultimately will mean less work to maintain over the long haul and more resiliency during dry season. My counterpart and master gardener Matthews says the permagardens we dug recently are thriving. I chide Adams a bit, but ultimately what ATEFO does is a business, and profit trumps what would be best for the beneficiaries. There are many boxes the trainers will have to tick off to complete the contract, so corners will get cut.

While Matthews runs around spraying pesticides, I have gone out to visit the youth groups with a different counterpart, Amos. Each group has chosen a business, such as tomato growing, poultry rearing, vegetable selling, and candle or soap making. ATEFO provides funds to each group for start-up capital, but before they get it, I worked with a few of them to make a budget, and teach them to keep a cash book to account for it. These kids are usually very deficient in education, and not surprising, some of the money has not been accounted for very well. Amos is easier to understand as a translator, but he prefers to summarize a long conversation to real time translations,

Meanwhile I press forward to facilitate Rotary grant funding to renovate Hindocha Primary School, basically by nudging the relevant actors in the Clubs in Bugiri, Colorado and California. I really want to show something for my effort before the end of next summer, but it’s a bit of a slog.My cohort has passed the 2/3 mark, 18 months down, 9 to go. The PCVs of the Education cohort from the Fall of 2014 are starting to go home this month. It’s hard to believe my own cohort will soon to be the most experienced.

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These are coffee beans getting scooped up into bags.

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Carpenter shops. On the left beds to sleep, on the right coffins for that final sleep.


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Cute kids outside my place

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More cute kids.

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I haven’t published too many pictures of other volunteers. Some of us celebrated a pot luck Thanksgiving in Jinja. All three guys from my cohort on the right have not cut their hair since arrival. Coy in the middle is a “no shave in 2016” guy.

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Peace Corps Ladies. Carm in the middle is leaving soon, she’s been filling out applications for grad school.

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Birds land in front of my mirrored window and can’t see me.

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First picture with the new phone. A selfie in Kampala with Aine, the director of the Blue House girls orphanage in Kazo which my sister Karen and I are planning to visit next year. We might do a Peace Corps camp there. I picked up a new pair of glasses while I was there. Each PCV gets a new pair during service. The dust and grit scratch them horribly. Forget about contact lenses.

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Blair’s treatments are going quite well, based on a recent PET scan to evaluate it. She sent me this photo from a recent chemo session. Her last chemo is February 2. She will be happy to stop being sick every two weeks, and looks forward to growing her hair back.

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Permagarden 101

Author: September 20, 2016

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Matthews likes to add banana leaves for protection of the tomato seedlings. We also planted spinach, carrots, and cabbages. The slope runs toward the people, the holes trap some of the flow from a heavy downpour, and the beds are dug two feet deep to trap more water and allow the roots to go straight down and allow for closer planting.

As I had indicated in an earlier post, ATEFO has a new contract to work with 1500 youth in 110 groups in Bugiri and Iganga. Part of the contract is to teach and dig 600 household gardens before the contract expires in July next year. These would provide a steady source of nutrition for the household with minimal maintenance. It’s a daunting goal.

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Becky shows how deep the top soil is, about an inch, before the double digging allowed more manure and air to permit the stick to go down two feet. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Becky could teach this, as I have been chiding Adams that he only hired male trainers for the new contract. He blames it on the lack of skilled female motorcycle drivers to get into the deep villages.

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Carson talks to the group.

Matthews and I organized trainings in Iganga and Bugiri for the ATEFO trainers to learn about digging permagardens. For the first training near Iganga, I recruited fellow Peace Corps volunteers from my Lusoga Language cohort, Becky and Carson, to help out. They had been trainers for the new Agri-business cohort that just arrived in June, and had received a permagarden refresher from my hero, Peter Jenson. It was a great session. I think the ATEFO trainers present were impressed, and most of all, Matthews is sold on it. I had dug such a garden last year at the office, but this lesson connected the dots better for him.

The next day Matthews and I dug a smaller garden, with two beds instead of three, for the Bugiri Trainers. Slipping back into Uganda’s ways, that day’s program was plagued by time conflicts, and poor communication, which resulted in some trainers and youth not attending either session. So a challenge remains to spreading the word for 600 permagardens. You want to connect with at least one “early adapter” in each youth or farmer group, who will appreciate the demo garden we dig, then dig his own, then perhaps help a neighbor dig another one too. That’s how to get to 600. While digging these gardens we continue to teach sack gardens.

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