New Blog

While I was in Africa, I realized that blogging is actually really fun.  However, I feel like this is my Africa blog, and I feel like my life back in Logan is very different from my time spent there.  So...

I've made a new blog about my life here in Logan.

Apt. 10

That awesome moment when...

IT'S TIME TO COME HOME!  It's been an amazing three months, but I am definitely ready to be back in America.  We made sure to get to the airport nice and early, so we would not be missing our flight.  If you remember, our flight schedule to Uganda consisted of two half day layovers.  I was happy to see that our schedule home only had one brief layover of less than two hours in Cairo, getting us back on American soil so much sooner!

Yes, that short layover seemed like the best thing that could happen to us.

Haha, nope!  We haven't left Uganda, the fog has delayed us, and our flight back to the US of A will be leaving without us in just a few short hours.

Good thing I love airports.

The Final Week

In less than 24 hours, I'll be in a van making my way back to the Entebbe Airport.  It's weird because I feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time, I can't believe it's already over.  

We jam-packed our last week here with some pretty great adventures.  We safaried in Queen Elizabeth National Park.  We drove around in a little Toyota Corona and saw some lions, elephants, warthogs, cape buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, and many assorted antelope and birds.  It was all really cool to see, and so fun to drive around.  I'll post some pictures later.

This last weekend, Amy and I, with our Belgian friends Line and Julie, made our way to the Ssese Islands in the middle of Lake Victoria.  It was an adventure with our Luganda-speaking driver, because we could not communicate with him at all.  We spent the weekend soaking up the sun on the beautiful beach.  The sunsets were unbelievable.  The food was also delicious, and a bonfire made the perfect end to each day...well the two we spent there.  

All of the quiet time at the beach gave me some time to reflect on my time here.  I'm amazed by all of the great people I have met in my 3 months here.  I hope that when I go home, I will continue to meet new and amazing people, because it has been so rewarding to make new friends.  I'm sad to leave, but I've also learned that you should try to cherish every moment, because soon that moment will be over and it will just be a memory, and it's my choice to make that memory as great as I can.  

It's time to go home, and see what adventure is awaiting me back in America!

Jinja!

Family road trips always involve a very full and crowded van, but as of last Friday, I have a new understanding of what a full and crowded van is.  For our week off, Amy and I had been planning a weeklong vacation in Jinja, one of the most beautiful places in Uganda.  At the last minute, we changed our plans so we could travel with some of the friends we have made here. 

Last Friday we crammed 5 Irish lads, 2 Belgian girls, 2 American girls, and 1 American boy, and 1 Ugandan driver into an 8 passenger van to trek our way across Uganda.  This journey lasted for five hours and surprisingly wasn’t too traumatic, but I definitely will be rejoicing whenever I have my own seat on any future trip. 

We arrived minutes before our boat embarked on its’ sunset cruise on the Nile River.  The sunset was absolutely stunning. 

We stayed at Backpacker Explorers.  There were five bunk beds crammed into our room—a perfect fit for our group! 

We noticed that Jinja was much more touristy and clean than Masaka town.  We did a lot of souvenir shopping and ate at a great restaurant.

We played a game.  It was great to have so many new and fun people to interact with on our Jinja adventures.  We also got to learn some Irish phrases.

The best Jinja adventure of all was our rafting trip down the Nile!  Never in my life would I have guessed I would have the opportunity to do that.  It was an all day trip that consisted of 8 rapids.  In between the rapids were long stretched of very calm water, which has resulted in my arms and body being completely exhausted from so much paddling.  It was a nice company, they had safety boats for participants not so fond of the rapids as well as kayakers who would paddle up to you and return you safely to your raft.  It was an amazing way to experience the Nile River.  

Immediately following our journey down the Nile, we piled back into the van and made our way back home to Masaka.  It’s crazy that in the time I’ve been here, Masaka Town has become my home.  It was so great to climb through our compound gate, and sleep under my own pink mosquito net.  I can only imagine how much great it is going to be when I walk through my front door and fall asleep in my own bed back in America. 

Family-The Joneses

When I’m at home, I don’t spend as much time as I should with my family, and since I’ve been here I’ve realized just how important my family is to me.  I am excited to go home so I can spend some quality time with them before I head back up to Logan. 

I’m so grateful for my dad.  He’s always willing to help me with things.  One of my favorite memories with him is when we learned how to fix my car breaks together.  He is so good at fixing things, he finished our awesome basement, grows us a great garden every year, and is always helping the boys out with their sports.  He’s a great dad.

I love my mom.  She always wants to help me with everything.  She wants to know every little thing about all of her kids’ lives.  She’s the best at being a mom.  I’m grateful for her love of cooking and food, that’s one of the things I definitely got from her.  I love phone calls from her, because I can always count on a funny story from home, involving the crazy children.

…which I can also count on from Lacey, that girl is so funny.  She’s also pretty bad at communicating with me, but the occasional phone call I get from her always has me almost in tears from laughing so hard.  I have so many memories with her, growing up she was the best little sister, she would do anything I asked her to.  Now that she has grown up, she is one of the best friends I have.  We don’t always get along, but overall, we’ve become good friends.  I’m so proud of her, she is a great sister. 

Then there’s Holden, he is such a character.  He can’t resist the urge to bother everyone, and somehow has the knowledge to know exactly what to do to drive everyone to the point of insanity, it’s kind of funny.  But there’s a lot more to Holden than that.  He’s the brother that would wake up each morning to scrape my car windshield, so I wouldn’t have to do it before going to school.  He is somehow so sweet yet so much fun.  He will always have my back.

Oh little Easton.  I remember when he was younger, he would always get to angry.  When Lacey and I would babysit, he would chase us around the house, and we’d be so scared we’d lock ourselves in our parents’ room.  Now he is so calm and mellow.  I love going home and watching Chopped and other Food Network shows with him.  I also love that he loves Harry Potter as much as I do. 

And so does Isabelle.  I was concerned at first that Isabelle did not like to read, but then she picked up the best series ever written, and has since fallen in love with reading.  I am so impressed, she knows so much about Harry Potter, she is so smart.  She’s also the odd one out in our family who loves animals just as much (if not more) than she loves people.  She’s always collecting bugs and snakes, buying crabs, and loving our little puppy Merci. 

Finally, there is Merit.  I never know what to expect from that child.  He might just be the smartest of the family.  At age 9, he’s watching all sorts of weird science shows, and asking science questions that I have never even thought about.  While he is smart, he is also crazy.  He’s always running around, screaming, and doing crazy things with his friends.  Sometimes, he drives everyone in the house absolutely crazy, but at the end of the day, we all love him!

And let's not forget Merci, she's the cutest little dog ever, I'm glad we have her too.  

My family is a crazy bunch, give us 5 minutes in the car together, and you’re sure to have a fight.  But we all love each other, and I am so grateful for them.  I wouldn’t want to be a part of any other family, and I can’t wait to go home to all of them!  They’re the best in the world.

Family-The Kazibwes

While in the field one day, we were visiting a lady’s house.  Here’s how the conversation went.

Deo:  “She is not around.”

Summer:  “Whose house is it?”

Deo:  “Margaret Kazibwe.”

Amy:  “Your mom?”

Deo (very casually): “Yeah.”

There we are, just wandering around the place where Deo grew up for 5 to 10 minutes, and Deo doesn’t even mention anything.  We had a very similar experience with Deo’s father and brother.  We met up with him, and we were talking to him for about 10 minutes, when we realized they had the same last name, and we asked him if they were relatives.  Deo once again responds with a casual “Yeah.”  No big deal. 

I was shocked by all of this, so I asked Deo what the deal was.  He says here in Uganda, you do not see your family much.  You only do things with them when there are community events.  Even though his family all lives pretty near, he rarely sees them.  I thought that was rather strange. 

We did get the opportunity to go over to the Kazibwe’s for lunch one day.  Margaret prepared us a delicious Ugandan feast of matooke, g-nuts, beef, Irish potatoes, and pineapple.  It was cool to go to the place where Deo grew up, and spend a little bit of time with his mom, dad, and brother.  (His sister is in high school at a boarding school, so she is not around.)  There was a surprisingly low amount of interaction.  So yeah, family relations are quite different here. 

Family-The Rowes

We live in the Rowe’s compound.  They are from California, and moved here about a year ago.  They work with a children’s center nearby, and plan on staying a couple of years, or as soon the adoption of their Ugandan son Jo Jo goes through. 

They’ve become my Ugandan family while we’ve been here.  When Angela saw that we were “scavenging Masaka” for dinner each night, she invited us to eat dinner with them.  Angela cooks things like pasta, chicken pot pie, and meatballs, which is a great feat here in Uganda.  Things that are simple to make in America take a lot longer here.  I’ve been so grateful to her for providing some comfort food for all of us.

I love going to dinner over there, because we can all eat as a family.  Little Jo Jo is so cute, and always wants to sit at the big table with everyone.  He just loves to eat.  Emily is always helping out with cooking and taking care of Jo Jo.  She’s so nice, I really like being around her.  Morgan is so funny!  He’s always doing the unexpected, whether it’s dancing around the kitchen when he’s on dish duty, or creeping through the window to scare people, or making random, funny comments.  We definitely miss having Andrew and Bekah around.  They left at the beginning of July, and family dinners are quieter without them around. 

It’s been a great blessing to have a wonderful family like the Rowe’s around.  

Oh, America.

I love the 4^th of July.  I love it because I always get to be with my family.  We’ll usually spend a few hours at the pool, swimming has always been one of my favorite family activities.  My mom always cooks up delicious salads, and we have a great barbeque.  We always finish the night sitting on the grass at the Pleasant Grove City fireworks.  It’s a fabulous day. 

This year, I don’t get to participate in these festivities.  Instead, I am in Masaka, Uganda, the other side of the world.  Being here, I am realizing just how grateful I am to be an American.  I’m grateful that in America, there are traffic laws that are generally followed.  I’m grateful that I don’t have to work seven days a week to survive.  I’m grateful for the American culture.  I’m grateful for consistent electricity, big grocery stores, and fast food restaurants.  I’m grateful for the variety of restaurants you can find.  I’m grateful that my family doesn’t live in a village, so I can see and talk to them regularly.  I’m grateful that I can brush my teeth and drink water straight from the tap.  I’m grateful for baked goods that are moist and delicious, and for cheese and real butter at easy access.  I’m grateful that I can go to school and study what I want.  I’m grateful that I can shower with clean water, and use a pillow that doesn’t hurt my neck. 

America is pretty great, but I’m glad to spend this celebration of it away, because it is teaching me to appreciate its’ many blessings.  This year, we’re celebrating America’s independence with the Joneses by making pizza.

It was still a grand day.  And don't we look festive?

A Day at the Lake

Sometimes weekends here can get a little boring.  So, we decided to go to the lake to spice things up a bit. 

Lake Nabugabu is a small lake about a half hour away from where we live.  We rode out with Deo and Ronald who spent the day there with us.  It was a very dusty ride and by the time we got there, Amy and I had dirt masks around where our sunglasses had been. 

The beach area is called “Sand Beach.”  I didn’t see much sand, but sand gets everywhere, and isn’t really my favorite, so I was quite happy with the grass.  It is so beautiful there!  They had swings made out of tires, wooden beach chairs, and lots of nice shade trees.  Deo showed us the coconut tree, which is actually a miniature coconut tree that has nuts that taste like coconuts.  He picked some for us.  The fruit is orange and kind of tastes like an avocado.  There is a pit inside that you crack open with a rock to unveil the little coconut nut!  They were pretty tasty, but mostly just really cool to try. 

We just lay on the grass and relaxed for a while, Amy and I tried to gain some sort of tan.  The Rowes joined us around 2:00.  It was a lot fun to hang out with them.  We got in and enjoyed the water, which was nice and warm.  It doesn’t look like I got any leeches, so that is good news! 

For lunch I got some fish and chips.  The fish is caught right out of the lake, so it is very fresh and delicious, even with the head and all of the bones in tact!   

It turned out to be a very fun, nice, and relaxing day.  I think we might go back again soon.  

Frikadellen

Café Frikadellen is like an oasis in Masaka. They have the best food, you can order hamburgers, pizza, banana splits, lasagna.  Another fabulous feature of Frikadellen is their wi-fi.  We don’t eat there too often, because it is pricey, but dang, it is delicious.  Every Friday night, Café Frikadellen hosts a barbeque buffet.  There is tomato soup with delicious garlic bread, potato salad, sweet potato fries, cabbage salad, scalloped potatoes, chicken wings, steak, tomato/feta salad, tzatziki, guacamole, carrot salad, broccoli salad, hot dogs, with fruit and cake for dessert.  All of this deliciousness can be yours for 25,000 shillings, about $10. 

We like to go to the barbeque with the Rowe’s, and they go whenever they have a team in town getting ready to leave.  It’s strange seeing people come and go…I haven’t really interacted with the teams aside from dinner at Frikadellen, but it’s still strange that we arrived here before them, and they’re leaving before us.  Three months isn’t that long, but the two weeks that many people stay seems like a nice length for a visit…

Anyways, whenever you go to Frikadellen, you’ll always meet another mzungu (white person.)  On Friday nights, you can meet everyone visiting Masaka.  Tonight, there were about 100 people at the barbeque, including us (Utah), the Rowe’s (California), some people from the south, a team from Texas, there are a lot of Danish people, there were some people from Ireland.  At barbeque, you just meet people from all over the world.  

Clothes!

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to bring no cute clothes with me to Uganda.  I thought, it’s going to be hot, it’s going to be dirty, and most importantly, no one is going to care what I look like or what I am wearing. 

After being here for two weeks, I was already very sick of basically every article of clothing I brought.  By week three, I absolutely hated my clothes, and by week four, I didn’t even want to get out of bed in the morning because I hated how I looked and felt in my hideous clothing.  It’s not something I expected to be a problem, but day after day of wearing clothes that didn’t look okay really put me into somewhat of a depression.  I know, it’s kind of pathetic, but it happened.   

So, we decided to go shopping.  Nyendo the dirtiest part of Masaka town, but every Tuesday, they get new clothing.  The vendors buy large bales of donated clothes, and then put them in piles.  If the clothes are laid out nicely, they are more expensive, but if they are just in a massive heap and you have to dig, they are much cheaper.  At the tarp we were at, there was one pile priced at 2,000 shillings per piece, and one priced at 1,500 shillings per piece.  Converted into dollars, that is about $0.83 and $0.62.

Next we looked for jeans.  I hate shopping for jeans, but somehow at this place I ended up finding two pairs that I love without even trying them on!  For less than $20, I have a whole new wardrobe, and somehow, a whole new attitude.

Thank goodness for donated clothing, I have never been more grateful for charity.  

Everest

The first time Kennie and I talked with Everest, he asked me if I knew IT, information technology.  He said that he works for Orange (an internet company) and they needed someone who knew information technology.  I said that I didn’t, but he kept walking with us.  As we walked, he kept waving at everyone and telling us that all of the boda boda guys were his friends.  We told him we were going to the church to hand out flyers for the immunization drive.  At this point, he told us that he was a medical professional of the highest order.  Throughout all of this, he kept offering both of us handshakes and hugs.  We began to really question his sanity.  He speaks very good English, but there is definitely something a little off. 

Our second encounter with Everest was at Smart Shopper, one of our favorite supermarkets in Masaka.  He saw us shopping, and came in to greet us.  People here generally offer lingering handshakes that can last uncomfortably for the length of the conversation.  Due to his friendliness at our last encounter, Amy and I tried to leave him to talk with Kennie only.  He followed us around the store, until he finally got to give Amy a hug.  We told him that we study accounting, at which point he got very excited and told us that he also studied accounting.

We’ll often see Everest at our favorite restaurant in town, Chris’s Guest House.  One time in particular, he came in handing out flyers for MTN (another internet and phone company.)  Everest is always handing out flyers.  He gave us all flyers, and then started asking us questions.  He told Amy to order him a water, but then he just went and got one for himself, then left.  About five minutes later, he burst back in, and was really worked up about something.  He began freaking out about MTN, and tell us to never buy things from MTN, because they do not give him water.  He was very upset, and at this point told us he was going to go to Canada to study criminal justice.  Then he asked Kennie about his iPhone, and asked who gave him service.  Kennie wrote down T-Mobile, then Everest went on his way. 

The best Everest encounter to date involved only Amy and I, when we decided to go eat breakfast at Chris’s.  There we are, just enjoying our French toasted, when Everest comes and joins us at our table.  He tells us some good news!  He is going to be wed on August 22, and then he is going to Canada to study medicine.  Everest loves Canada.  He orders a boiled egg and some water, and continues talking to us while we are trying to eat.  He asked me to take him to the Swiss Alps and told Amy that he wants take her on a picnic with her to Lake Nabugabu.  Amy politely declines and tells him that she has to work.  He wants the information of who we work for, so I write down the name and Amy makes up an email address.  When he finishes his egg, he tells us he has to go to the hospital, he works there as a nurse. 

So we’re not exactly sure what this little man’s story is, but we always get a kick out of talking to him!

80 Hours

You know how in America if the power goes out for a few hours, it’s kind of a big deal?  Usually it is taken care of in a pretty timely manner, because everyone needs electricity.  It really wouldn’t fly if people were hanging out without the lights on for a day or two. 

However, it is a different story here.  We’ve had issues with the power since arriving, but we never expected to go 80 hours without power.  The power went out sometime Monday morning, and we didn’t think much of it.  We went about life normally, we watched a TV show on Amy’s computer, we worked on our spreadsheet of loan recipients, and we listened to music on Amy’s computer while we got ready.  We didn’t think that we might need to conserve our battery power. 

Every time we came home we kept hoping that the lights would turn on, but they didn’t.  On day two we found out that something had broken, and they said it would be fixed on Wednesday, which, figuring using African time meant probably at least Thursday.  After it wasn’t fixed on Wednesday night, Kennie came home and told us how sometimes Ugandans will climb the power lines and steal the oil, because it is very expensive.  Apparently it has happened a lot in the Katwe area, and the government said if it happened again, they wouldn’t fix it.  Our hopes of the power being restored were dashed, and we began imagining how spending the rest of our time here without power would be. 

But Thursday afternoon, our lights flickered back on and we all rejoiced. 

Also, this post is a little dramatic, because every night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., the Rowe’s would turn the generator on, and we’d have light in our house, and we could charge all of our things.  It really wasn’t that bad, but we can say that we survived for 80 hours without power.  

The Database

My mom keeps asking me to tell her more about what we are doing here.

In the past, interns have gathered groups of people, taught them classes, collected business proposals from the students, qualified them for loans, formed loan pods, and issued loans.  This has been going on for about two years now.  As much of this program is run out of Utah, and interns are only here for three month periods, about nine months out of the year, it is easy to imagine that there are a lot of gaps and inconsistencies.

The collection rate is pretty low, and we have been assigned to figure out why, and do what we can to help improve it.  Over our first month here, we have visited around 70 different loan recipients, and gathered varying information from all of them.  These visits have helped us form a better idea of what things have been going on here.  We also have the database which contains the payment history of groups and individuals—the only information on the past we have.

Kennie manages the database.  He has been working very hard on getting it more organized.  He’s recently been searching out the most delinquent of loan recipients, so we can visit them and figure out what has been going on. 

Dallin has been working on amortization schedules and other documents for the groups of second time loan recipients who we will be giving loans to soon. 

Every day in the field, Amy asks questions and takes notes and I take pictures.  We’re currently working together to make our own little database of all loan recipients and things we learned from our visits to them. 

That’s pretty much what we have going on here.  

Food Photos

Here are some really attractive pictures of us eating all sorts of fun and delicious food.

Kabalagala.  One of the lady's with a loan makes these delicious banana pancakes.
We pick a few up whenever we drive by.

Me, Amy, and some freshly picked guava.  Yum!

Lunch at Chris's Guest House, one of our favorites in Masaka.

TACOS.  We love the senior missionary couple, the cooked us Mexican food and brownies.

This is Amy's favorite:  Jackfruit.  

Pineapple Maffin from the bakery.

My first rolex.  Picture taken in front of the meat shop.  

I eat on average one avocado per day.

Me and Kent and our supersized rolexes.

Sometimes, you just need fried bananas and ice cream at Cafe Frikadellen.

Ensenene!  Kennie and I tried Masaka's finest:  grasshoppers.

Pork BBQ and a Stoney (ginger soda) after Rotary Club meeting.

These are some form of Portuguese grapes.  They are so delicious!

Pasta Night!  We just whipped up some alfredo.  The water was almost boiling.

Deo said because I ate this, I will have twins.

The Team

I figure it’s about time that I tell you a little bit more about these people that are pretty much my whole life here. (From left to right, Dallin, Amy, me, and Kennie.)

Kennie

Nickname:  Kent

Likes:  Maria Flo hotel, internet, Chris’s Guest House, driving boda bodas, America, water, church, missionary work, Canada, solitude, Cairo traffic, the Maria Flo staff, Maria Flo breakfast, chips and beef, Chinese food, Café Frikadellen, Facetime, and sugarcane.

Dislikes:  jungle food, Divine Mercy’s, poisoned Rolexes from Katwe, being sick in Africa, riding boda bodas, the small room in the house, being in debt, and matooke. 

Amy

Nickname:  Princess

Likes:  hot showers, getting her nails done by African men, pink, Angela, envubus (en-voo-boos, the word that we learned to be hippo but is actually buffalo), Luganda, Gossip Girl, being clean, Ronald, watching animals attack people, resting time, good hair days, and looking at pictures of good hair days to remember what it was like to have good hair days in America.

Dislikes:  being tickled, lizards, weird smells, approaching insects, DIRTY CHILDREN, Dallin driving the boda boda, drama, bug bites, her mosquito net, when Chacos smell, kalo, posho, cassava, jackfruit, unripe guava, having surgery, and eating pork bones.

Dallin

Nickname:  Gleen

Likes:  fire, making people uncomfortable, carrying stuff, zombies, Club Ambiance, tickling Amy, getting points, getting camel awards, Bank of Amy, sparring with children,  performing surgery, his 32 GB memory card, Microsoft Excel, Amy getting bug bites, Grandfather Glen, shoes, and the exchange rate.

Dislikes:  Gossip Girl, internet time, his bank, being confused, staying at the house alone, being asked his dislikes, when Amy and Summer talk the same, when Amy and Summer laugh, when Amy and Summer are right, Crunchies (Chicken Time restaurant serves chicken-less cornflake sandwiches), Amy being dramatic, debt, and people talking about boyfriends.

They're pretty great, and we are having a lot of fun out here together!

Dishes

Somehow, sinks everywhere are suddenly completely full of dishes still covered in food.  Dishes are a  big pain, and are definitely not a lot of fun to do, but after doing my first load of dishes in Uganda, I feel like I probably shouldn’t be so dramatic about the chore of doing dishes. 

We don’t use that many dishes here, mainly because we mostly eat out.  Breakfast is the only meal we really eat at home so far.  But as dishes always do, they manage to build up to a point where the kitchen is unusable.  So because dish doing is my favorite, I decided to take on the task. 

When the sink is real full of dishes, at home, if you have a poor-college-student-apartment dishwasher, the process consists of scraping the food off the dish and finding a spot for it in the dishwasher.  There will probably be a few pieces of cookware that do not fit in the dishwasher that you may actually have to wash by hand.  If there are lots of dishes that have been there for a long time, it will probably be a relatively gross task, but it shouldn’t take too long.

Here, the task is a bit more of a pain, literally because the people here are kind of small, so the sink is short and not so fun to lean over.  The first part of the task is the same.  You scrape the food off of all of the dishes.  After you have cleared the sink of all dishes, you must fish out everything that is now blocking the drain because you do not have a disposal. 

Next, you fill the sink with dish soap and water.  You cannot use hot water, because you do not have hot water expect sometimes in the shower when it does not shut off the power.  Then you scrub all of the dishes, and stack them precariously on your small counter.

Once this part is finished, you can drain the sink.  Then refill it and add on capful of Jik.  Jik (we pronounce it Jix) is bleach.  When we need to rid things of disease such as fruit or other things that may have come into contact with contaminated water such as dishes, we refer to this is jixing.  Basically, all things need to be jixed.  Each dish must be dipped in the jik solution, preferable for a few seconds or more.  Because I feel like all of the surfaces in our kitchen are probably not that sanitary, you must find a clean rag (also a hard task) to try off each dish as you finish jixng it, so it can remain clean. 

I suppose that dish washing here is teaching me to be grateful for what I have.  It is quite the task here.  Next time I have a bad attitude about doing the dishes at home, I will think back to my time here when it took almost an hour to clean and sanitize the equivalent of about a normal day’s dishes.  

Shower Power

I love our new place.  The Rowes, who are in charge of the compound we’re staying in, did an excellent job of decorating and furnishing our little home.  The living room features some Ugandan-made wicker furniture, a few pieces of African artwork, a large map of Uganda, and some non-threatening looking tribal masks.  Mine and Amy’s room is pretty spacious, with two twin beds with accompanying mosquito nets and nightstands, as well as a large wardrobe.  The boys complain a little about their room, as it is significantly smaller, with two twin beds squeezed in leaving them with a walkway of about a yard by half a yard.  They’ll be fine though.  The kitchen is small, but is equipped with a few pots and pans, dishes, and a great assortment of cooking utensils.  The last room in our small house is the bathroom which possesses the greatest feature of all:  the shower with a water heater. 

Our first few weeks at the Maria Flo, showers were kept very short, because the water temperature was never high enough to convince me to stand under the water for any extended period of time.  Showering is a great part of the day because I get so grimy my Chaco tan lines look five times darker than they are, and the combination of sweat and dirt on my face is clearly visible.  Even in the heat, a freezing cold shower is not the most pleasant experience. 

We were all very excited to find out that our new home had a water heater, because hot showers were something we all missed greatly.  During the grand tour of the house, the Rowes told us the water heater and kitchen appliances wouldn’t work when the power was out, but the generator would pick up on everything else (the power here goes out all the time, temporary loss of power from ten seconds to an hour occurs daily).  We quickly learned that hot showers come at a price. 

Whenever anyone flipped the switch to turn on the water heater and got in the shower, we would lose power.  So with these circumstances, you must choose between heat and light.  We’ve found some strategies to provide us with the best chances for a pleasant shower, because there are some tradeoffs involved. 

Option 1:  Flip on the hot water switch, and turn on the shower, nice and hot.  Don’t go crazy with it, leaving the water at a slight drizzle gives you a better chance of keeping the power running.  The obvious benefit of this option is that if all goes well, you get a nice and hot shower in the light.  This goes particularly well if it is daytime and you are able to turn off all other lights in the house, because there is a window that lights up the bathroom well enough to see.  However, if this option is taken at night, you could plunge the entire house into darkness, and you are left to finish your now freezing cold shower in the dark. 

Option 2:  Turn the bathroom light on and take a cold shower.  The benefit of this option is that most likely the power will not go out, you will be able to see through the duration of your shower and everyone else in the house will be able to go about life normally.  The downside of this option is that your shower will, without a doubt, be freezing cold. 

The good news from all of this is that it is not how things are supposed to be.  Brian and Angela (our landlords) are going to look into this issue, so maybe one day soon we will always be able to take showers that are both hot and lit. 

The good news from all of this is that it is not how things are supposed to be.  Brian and Angela (our landlords) are going to look into this issue, so maybe one day soon we will always be able to take showers that are both hot and lit. 

I will certainly be grateful for every hot shower I take here, but what I’m discovering is that cold showers really aren’t that terrible. When I’m at home and the water doesn’t get as hot as I would like, it’s like the worst day ever.  Here, I’m not enjoying them by any means, but at the end of each day, I am just so grateful to finally be clean that it doesn’t really matter if the water is hot enough to scald me or if it’s so cold that I only touch it when I need to rinse off.  Heated water is a luxury, being able to shower is what is most important.  

Volume

Maria Flo, the hotel we stayed at for our first two weeks in Uganda, exposed us nicely to the culture of Masaka.  Each morning, we were provided a delicious breakfast by the hotel staff.  This is where we were first exposed to matooke, and we can all agree that the hotel prepares matooke the best.  Pale omelets were also a part of the breakfast line at Maria Flo, the eggs here do not render such yellow finished results as eggs back home.  Breakfast at the hotel also included French toasted (I’m pretty sure that is deep fried French toast…oh yeahh) as well as fresh fruit, mostly pineapple, watermelon, and small bananas.  Usually a nice glass of passion fruit juice (with four spoonsful of sugar) would accompany our meal, and even, on occasion, a steaming mug of drinking chocolate. 

Another way Maria Flo eased us into Ugandan life was the hospitality of the staff.  Sylvia and her sister, the front desk girls, were always very friendly and welcoming, and always had smiles on their faces.  There were always many girls around, cleaning and preparing food.  They would always greet us in Luganda (the language of Uganda), and try to teach us words. 

Our favorite hotel staff was the director.  We’re not sure of his name, but he always called us his sons and daughters.  He liked to take us to town, especially when we needed to go to the bank to get money to pay him.  He would always come and join us, and ask us “Are you okay?”  His voice and laugh were booming, and you could hear him throughout the day.

Our friends Ivan and Deos, managers at the Maria Flo, took us to Masaka’s finest—Ambiance.  Club Ambiance is a night club located very near the hotel.  When we arrived, all of us were stunned.  In the middle of Africa is this nightclub.  Now, I’m no judge of nightclubs by any means, but this place was nice, way nicer than anything else we had seen here.  There were huge TVs with music videos playing, loud music (even American music), pool tables, flashing lights, and more security than the Egypt airport.  It was intense.  The only part that looks slightly…ghetto was the bowling alley carpet.  You know the type, black with neon prints of bowling balls, pins, and rockets.  But hey, even that is nice, because it’s literally the only carpet I have seen on this continent. 

But perhaps the best way Maria Flo introduced us to Uganda was the volume of the place.  Many things here are extremely loud.  There are large vehicles that drive through the street with the loudest music blaring out the huge speakers they carry.  When Club Ambiance is going (every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night from 10:00 p.m. until I’m not exactly sure when, but it was going strong until at least 4:00 a.m.) you can hear music loud and clear.  Our own hotel, Maria Flo, frequently hosts all sorts of events, from weddings, to concerts, to conferences.  And even though things are going late into the night, for some reason, everyone is back up again at 7:00 a.m., being loud.  It is always loud.

Our last night at Maria Flo was the night of the big concert, the one we’d been seeing and hearing advertisements about this concert since we arrived.  There were so many people, and so much security, they almost didn’t let us back onto the hotel grounds.  There were cops everywhere, with sticks and guns, but that’s not too unusual for here.  We actually attended the concert for a while, it was fun.  They set up lawn chairs and even though we couldn’t understand the music, it was quite nice.  Some people were getting drunk and out of hand, so we went in around 11:00.  It was the best way to end our stay at Maria Flo—a very late, and very loud, evening.  

On the Road

While traveling through the jungle, we encounter many things.  Some of my favorite things are the various treats Deo finds for us.  The jungle is where we get to experience the freshest fruits of the field.  We always are excited when Deo gets into the bush to grab us our newest snack. 

Deo has picked us some fresh guava a few times.  Apparently there are many different varieties of guavas.  I think we’ve only tried the sweet variety.  The best ones were the ripest ones that we ate and they were actually pink and soft on the inside.  The other ones were not so soft and sweet, but they were still fun to eat. 

Deo’s favorite fruit is jackfruit.  A nice lady we visited cut us some pieces of it.  Jackfruit is a really bizarre fruit.  It is larger than a football, greenish, and has spiny things on it.  It only gets weirder from there.  The inside has yellow fruit segments, filled with these gigantic, bean-looking seeds.  You pull on the yellow fruit part, and it slowly disconnects itself from the rest of the fruit.  It tastes vaguely reminds me of a banana, a real slimy banana.  The general consensus was not favorable for the jackfruit.  I think it has potential, and Deo said that the one we tried was a bit overripe. 

A familiar fruit we got to try fresh was a pomegranate.  It was definitely not fully ripe, the seeds were somewhere between pink and white.  They were a nice treat to snack on while we walked around to different businesses.

I also got to try passion fruit.  One of the people who have a loan has a passion fruit business, and luckily for us, there was one that was semi-ripe.  It is green and purple-ish if it is ripe.  You crack it open, and there are some orange-yellow seed things, like of like a pomegranate, but more gooey.  They are a bit tart, but very delicious. 

Many times on the road, we have seen small children gnawing on sugar cane.  The other day, Deo snagged us some.  He expertly peeled and chopped the sugar cane into edible pieces.  I ate so much.  It’s real nice, because you don’t really eat it, you just bite it and suck all of the sugary juice out, then spit out the rind.  I love it.

The best thing we ever tried on the road were these delicious little pancakes that one of our loan recipients makes for her business.  They are made out of the sweet bananas, which are littler than normal bananas.  They are sweet little cakes that are absolutely delicious.  I always ask Deo if we are near her shop, because I want to buy more and eat them. 

I look forward to trying more food on the road.  

Ugandan Businesses

Before coming here, I was really curious as to what types of businesses the people here would be running, and how they would be using the loan money.  During our first week, I have been able to see a few of the businesses here, as well as learn a little bit about them. 

A very common business is a piggery.  Typical piggeries we have visited have four to eight pigs.  Deo will always tell us about the quality of the pig house.  The worst one we have seen was akin to a shelter you would see on Survivor—a lean-to with a palm leaf roof.  The nicest one was cemented and had both an indoor and outdoor section for each pig.  Most have been moderate, strong looking wooden fences (pigs are pretty sturdy animals) with a decent roof.  With such a loose definitely of “pig house,” the quality of these structures is one of the things we will be checking out when people are applying for loans to purchase pigs.  One of the major problems in the pig industry is disease, which can sometimes be avoided by vaccinating the pigs.  People looking to get new loans have also considered different strategies such as purchasing a different (and more expensive) pig breed which produce more piglets. 

Chickens are also a common business.  It has gotten to be trickier, because of the price of feed.  Feed prices have been fluctuating a lot.  It has become more profitable to export the feed, which has raised the price here.  While many people have abandoned raising chickens, we have seen two very full chicken houses.  They are not my favorite, because the chickens are very loud and very crowded in there. 

We have also seen quite a few people who are involved in the growing or trading crops such as coffee and corn.  An issue that faces the people growing these crops is weather, as it is unpredictable.  Traders purchase in small quantities from many different sellers, and then sell in large quantities. 

We’ve seen other various businesses, such as hair salons (they actually spell in saloon here), breweries, and retail stores.  One store sells drinks, and was interested in getting a new loan for a refrigerator, to differentiate from her competitors.  Another lady sells alcohol, and her store of it looked quite interesting…she keeps it in a backroom in these yellow “jerrycans,” which are used to carry water here.  Our favorite business is of this lady, who makes and sells pancakes.  They are made out of sweet bananas, and are very delicious.  We want to go back and visit her again.  

A New System

The purpose of this program is to teach business, and potentially give out loans. Unemployment is very high here, and because there are so many people looking for work, the pay situations for those employed are not very good.   

Everyone is looking for ways to make more money, so a more profitable business means a lot to the people here.  However, the loan repayment rate for the program here in Uganda is around 75%, while the rates of the programs in Ghana and Peru are around 95%.  Because the program cannot really be sustainable at such a low rate, our first duty is to go out in the field and figure out what we can do to help. 

Deo is the programs greatest asset.  He is the loan collector, and he is the only one who knows what is going on here.  He knows the tricky routes of the jungle.  He’s knows the people who have the loans, and he knows which people are causing the program “headache,” as he says.  He speaks English so well, we’re all very impressed with him.  I don’t really know how this program would be managing without him. 

For the past week, we have been joining Deo in visiting some of the many people who have been granted loans.  Last week we visited a lot of people who had actually already paid back their loans in full, and are looking to receive second loans.  People like these are the best kind of people for our program, because they have already had success in their businesses, and have proved responsible in repaying their loans. 

It was very interesting as we rode around the jungle, stopping at various houses.  In a day, we would visit a loan pod (we give out loans to a group of people, so there is shared responsibility in repayment) or two.  Because we were visiting people who wanted second loans, we would usually first ask them some questions. 

What is your business?  What was your first loan used for?  Has your business been successful?  What problems have you faced?  What are you looking to do with the next loan?  What materials do you already have? 

The new system we are looking to implement involves verifying the answers they put on paper.  In the past, loans could be granted if the paperwork and records showed a good enough plan.  We are now adding to the process.  After we asked the questions, we would go and look at their various businesses to see what things they really have. 

The groups and businesses we’ve seen so far have been nice to visit, because they have all been pretty faithful in repaying the loans.  This week, we’re going to start going out to some of the delinquent pods.  I think that is where things will start getting really interesting.  It’s kind of an overwhelming task.  We don’t know much of what is going on out here.  There are a lot of outstanding loans, so there are a lot of people and businesses to visit and help.  Hopefully we figure out a way to get things turned around out here.    

Let's Eat!

May 16, 2012

Alright, anyone who knows me has probably been shocked that this post hasn’t come even sooner.  I hope you’re all ready for a brief overview of Ugandan cuisine.  A typical menu includes a list of what I would probably call sauces.  Things on this list include meat, fish, chicken, beans, g-nuts (pronounced guh-ee-nuts, kind of…), etc.  From this list, you choose one thing.  Then there are sides, which include things like matooke, rice, posho, kalo, sweet potatoes, yams, and pumpkins.  I’m not quite sure of how many of these things you order.  At one restaurant, Divine Mercy’s, we’ve stuck to two.  However, at the new restaurant we tried tonight, Chris’ Guest House and Restaurant; you can just pick a sauce thing, and say “with everything.”  I’ll go over some of the unfamiliar food. 

Matooke is definitely a Ugandan favorite.  Matooke is a banana-like plant which occupies approximately half of each plate of food.  It is mashed up to varying degrees; some servings of matooke have large chunks, identifiable as banana like parts, while some are more fully pureed.  While it looks like a banana, it does not taste like a banana.  I’m not actually sure what it tastes like pure, but it is somewhat tasty, salty mush.  It is a quite heavy dish, and I can never finish mine.  For breakfast, I like to spread the matooke on my buttered bread when the hotel runs out of jam, because I don’t really like to eat it plain, even though the taste is fine.  It’s not really my favorite. 

Posho is something that I do like…however, I am completely unsure of what it is.  It is pure white, and served in the shape of a slab on your plate.  It is relatively firm, but cuts about as easily as cold butter.  In your mouth, its’ texture is slightly grainy, but not significantly so.  I wouldn’t say it has much of a flavor, but it is an excellent vehicle for the sauces. 

Kalo.  Kalo is not good.  First of all, it is quite unsightly.  It is blob shaped, would be considered brown, but with a greyish hue.  It is soft-ish, but to eat, you must penetrate its slightly congealed exterior.  Once in your mouth, you have something that is the texture of overcooked oatmeal.  You can stick a fork in it, and pick up the entire portion.  Its appearance does not lead you to believe that would happen.  I will not be ordering that again.

G-nuts, in my opinion, are peanuts, they make some sauce out of them that is actually quite tasty, not to mention purple.  We assume that the purple comes from cassava root, although I’m not quite sure what that is. 

The rest of the items should at least be somewhat familiar sounding. 

Alright, so they bring all your sides on a single plate, with a bowl full of sauce.  I like to dump my bowl of sauce over my entire plate (except I don’t like it on matooke). 

Accompanied by clean bottle of water, it makes for a pretty good meal. 

Boda Bodas and Kittens

May 14, 2012

We’ve made it to Uganda, we’re settled into our super loud hotel, and we’ve explored the town.  So far it has been a lot of sleeping, as well as a lot of fun.  Today, we got down to the reason we are really here in Uganda, the SEED program. 

Deo (our loan collector and only contact in Uganda), and Ronald (a boda boda driver who can be trusted) picked us up so we could go around for this week’s collections.  Amy and Dallin rode with Ronald, Kennie and I rode with Deo. 

It turns out that I absolutely love boda boda rides. 

All I have to do is sit and not fall off.  The wind rushes through my hair, I can observe the beautiful sites of the Ugandan jungle, and wave at the kids on the side of the road who wave at me.  It is definitely my new favorite activity.  While I am sitting on the boda boda, I wonder if life even gets any better. 

It turns out that Kennie does not.

Kennie explained to me that he only likes motorbikes if he is driving, and that it scares him to be the passenger.  Personally, it would scare me lots more to be driving.  Luckily for him,

It turns out that Deo is not so good at driving the boda boda. 

After stalling the bike a few times, on our first boda boda ride ever, Deo hands the keys over to Kennie, and lets him drive us around the Ugandan countryside.  I’m not sure that is approved by our travel insurance, but I do have to say, Kennie did an excellent job.  Kennie is now our team’s boda boda driver of choice, except I told him I will not ride with him in the town or in the rain, because that scares me. 

At one of the stops for a loan collection, I found this kitten sitting in a small hole.  Since I can’t resist any cat that doesn’t look completely diseased or mangy, I just had to go look at it, pet it, pick it up, play with it, and take pictures with it. 

As Amy would say, it was the best day ever.  

Online

It’s kind of crazy how important the internet is to some people, people like me.  One of the first things the hotel management said to us is that they would have the wireless internet up and running real soon for us, without us even asking.  They just know that we, Americans, would require internet.  It was interesting to me that until we arrived, having working internet was of no concern to the hotel.

And it’s true.  Much of our first 24 hours in Uganda was spent in search of internet.  The hotel wi-fi was not cooperating.  We tried to use the data stick the previous interns gave us, but it had expired.  We went and sat in the hotel community room where the wi-fi modem is, but it didn’t work in there.  So we all went to bed, while no one else in the world knew whether or not we had arrived safely. 

Our first item of business in the morning, after eating breakfast, was to head into town.  To do what?  Find internet, of course.  On our way out of the hotel, the owner asked us where we were going, then offered to take us into town.  He first took us to the bank, probably so we could finally pay him.  As he continued to drive around town, pointing out places, and shouting about how all of the boda boda drivers cannot drive, I could feel mine and Amy’s anxiety about accessing the internet rise.  It was like an obsession. I couldn’t possibly relax until I had checked my email.  It was all I wanted to do. 

Finally, we got to an internet café.  I was so excited as I logged onto my email.  Twenty-three minutes have never passed so quickly. 

We wandered around town for a while longer—our only purchase was a data stick so we could have easier access to the internet, of course.  We ate lunch at this fabulous café, Café Frikadellen.  A little expensive by Ugandan standards, but they provide a nice little perk:  free internet. 

So why do I have such a dependence on internet?  I think I just like to be connected, not just to the world, but my world.  So far, I absolutely love Uganda.  It is beautiful, the weather is absolutely perfect (so far), the people are so nice, and the interns I’m with are great.  But that doesn’t replace my friends and family back home.  I still want to be a part of that world.  I don’t like to feel disconnected.  I’m more than 8000 miles away from home, but through the internet, I can still be a part of it.  

When Things Don't Go as Planned

May 11, 2012

Last Flight

What we planned:  Sit by each other and hopefully get a little sleep before arriving in Uganda. 

What actually happened:  We sat in four different rows, laid across three seats each, and slept quite happily for most of the flight. 

Journey to Masaka

What we planned:  Ride with Dave’s contact Idd, who was supposed to pick us up.

What actually happened:  Idd called us while we were driving to Masaka with someone who was not Idd.  Apparently Idd is sick, so he had someone else pick us up. 

Housing

What we planned:  Quickly find the compound; carry our suitcases into our furnished house, shower, and fall asleep in our beds.

What actually happened:  We couldn’t figure out where the compound was, so we drove around asking random people for directions.  We finally arrived, and a lady greeted us dramatically, and said “Welcome to Uganda” while opening the gate.  We got out of the car, and she informed us that our house would be ready for us in about a week.  We got a brief tour of our empty house, then had to find our way to the Maria Flo Hotel, where we are now staying.

First Day in Masaka

What we planned:  Sleep, explore a little, eat, email Dave and our families so they would know we arrived safely. 

What actually happened:  We did get some sleep, we all crashed.  Then we had to move rooms, because initially we got a room for all four of us to share.  I’m pretty sure the hotel staff was appalled, so they came into our room during our nap and told us that they had two rooms for us for after we were done resting.  We moved rooms, ate a dinner of sweet potatoes, rice, beans, and g-nut sauce.  We tried to connect to the internet, which was unsuccessful. 

Regardless of things not always going according to plan, life is good.  I’m in Uganda, and it is so amazing.  We were driving as the sun rose on our first morning in the country.  I’ve heard many people talk about African sunrises, and now I know why.  It was dark, and all of a sudden, it was light.  As I turned around and looked out the back of the van, the sky was red.  I’m pretty sure I was more than half asleep, but even in that state, it was beautiful.