Weekend Thrills

So, it’s been about one week since I’ve posted. There have been a lot of exciting and interesting things that have been happening.

Let’s start with my thought from this past week:

Boda boda. Historically, it was the term used for motorcycles that crossed the border of Uganda. The word "border" gradually morphed into the term boda boda. I ride on boda bodas almost daily, as they are the most popular and easiest form of transportation here in Jinja. I have had an array of different interactions with boda drivers. There are the drivers that sit at Madhvani Market that see me walk past every morning, and have stopped asking if I want a ride, because they know that I walk to work in the morning. But, they are always friendly, and I always say hello. There are bodas sitting at pretty much every intersection in Jinja. And, when they see a mzungu, they raise their arm in the air and say, “ Yes? We go?” Most of the time I say, “No thank you, I am walking.” But there are those times when I want a ride home, and the bargaining begins. For the first few weeks, I was able to get a ride home from work (about 4 minutes by boda) for 500 shillings (approximately 20 cents). But, since the first few weeks, gas prices have gone up, and many boda drivers refuse to take me home for 500 shillings. They now demand 1000 shillings (about 40 cents) for my ride home. Although I believe that I am being ripped off, and it should not be 1000 shillings, I often succumb to their demand. I have to remind myself to keep it in perspective: 1000 shillings is only 20 cents more than 500 shillings. It has recently become a game: see who can get the cheapest boda ride home. I was really proud of myself yesterday when I got a boda driver to take me home for 700 shillings. It sounds silly, but there is principle involved. Although it may only be a difference of 10 cents, I don't like being charged more for being a mzungu.

Events from the last week:

Last Tuesday, we went to the school we have been working with to drop off the curriculum. The teachers were all really impressed, and we asked them to look over the curriculum and give us feedback. Wednesday through Friday was pretty slow, and we did not have too much work to do. We went to some good Indian restaurants, and hung out at some local cafes.

Rafting!

On Saturday I went white water rafting with a company called Adrift on the Nile River. It was amazing. There were 3 class 5 rapids that were insane, and the rest were class 4 rapids. The raft that I was in never flipped, but there were plenty of other rafts around me that were flipping. We lost our guide on one rapid: we made it through the rapid, turned around, and realized our guide was no longer in the boat. Thankfully, he rode the rapid through and was bobbing in the water off in the distance. We got some good pictures, and had so much fun. 

Bungee Jump!

On Sunday, I went bungee jumping for the first time. There were around 9 of us from our group that decided to go, so we all climbed the stairs up to the platform, and one by one, we jumped off. I went somewhere in the middle, and was extremely nervous. I wasn’t at all nervous about the safety factor because Adrift has a really good record with safe jumps, I was more terrified of the height. It was 146 feet, or 14 stories, with the Nile River down below. I was doing pretty well until I was standing on the edge of the platform ready to jump. I was hoping I would be able to get to the edge and jump, but it didn’t go as smoothly. I got to the edge, told the men they might have to push me. Thankfully, they didn’t have to; I stood on the edge with my arms extended, one man holding each arm. They told me to lean forward and as I leaned forward they counted to 3 and let go as I dove down toward the Nile below. After making it off the edge, it was amazing. The feeling of free falling is unbelievable, and I would definitely do it again. I recommend it to anyone that has ever thought about doing it.

A look at the bungee jump from the bar at Adrift

The Nile River at sunset

Harriet, one of the social workers at Busoga Trust,, and myself

This week has been going really well. We went back to Ravo Primary School on Monday to drop off the cement, nails, and iron sheets they need to begin construction on 2 bath houses: one for the boys and one for the girls. They gave us feedback on the curriculum we gave them last week, and their one critique was that we included feminine health, but did not include male health. We also got to see that they had started making their own pads modeled after the samples we had gave them. The sanitary pads looked awesome, and we were really proud of them that they had already started working on them. Yesterday we worked on the adding male health to the curriculum including the male reproductive system, puberty, and STDs. 

Money, money, money

Sorry I didn't post this past weekend, I was in Kampala!


Thoughts from last week:

Last week we learned a lesson on miscommunication with the community. As a group, we only have limited funds, and we are not here to give donations. We are here to work with the community to develop a sanitation curriculum and improve upon their sanitation. But, because of our mzungu status, when the teachers see us, they see dollar signs. We explained to them that we only have limited funds, and we are going to need them to provide supplies and labor as well. They agreed and said that they would provide bricks, sand, lumber, and labor to build the bath shelter. But, when our engineer went back to the school the next day to get exact numbers, the teachers told them that we were paying for lumber, sand, bricks, and labor. They also claimed they needed much more sheet iron, ventilation, and other supplies that were not only not in our budget, but they are not necessary. They also told the engineer that they didn’t believe that we had limited funds. Which leads to our current issue: How can we get the community to understand that we actually do have limited funds, and we need them to contribute as much as possible?

Events from last week:

My group had a great week overall. On Monday, we continued research on sanitation and worked on forming the curriculum. On Tuesday, we were able to visit the school and interview the teachers. We also sat in on a hygiene class. The hygiene class was extremely interesting because it seemed very rehearsed. Marta, Rida, and I were talking about it on the ride home, and there was a general consensus that we thought they had rehearsed the class before we arrived to sit in on it. Wednesday through Friday consisted of the three of us finishing up the curriculum, printing it out, and putting it all together. Tomorrow, we are going back to the school to deliver the curriculum so that the teachers can look over it and give us feedback and any advice they have on ways to change it. We're also going to discuss the misunderstanding with funds and community contribution. 

One of the classrooms at Ravo Primary School, the school we are working in

On Saturday the whole group of GESI students (all 17 of us) went to Entebbe with the staff members from the Foundation for Sustainable Development for a little midterm "retreat." I had a great time; we played volleyball and soccer with some of the locals, and the water was really nice. On Saturday night, we stayed in a hostel in Kampala. We had a lot of fun hanging out and seeing Kampala. We came back to Jinja yesterday evening, and I took a much needed nap.   

Marta, me, and Rida at the beach in Entebbe

Old taxi park in Kampala

On Monday, we started working on another aspect of our project. We have been researching economically friendly ways that girls in the village can obtain sanitary pads. Feminine hygiene is a huge problem in the villages because many of the girls are not educated on the matter, and do not have the money or access to buy sanitary pads. Many of the girls become extremely embarrassed, and many drop out of school. We decided to research homemade ways to make sanitary pads. We found a website that had directions, so we bought materials, and made the samples today. We are going to bring the samples to the female teachers, and show them how they are made so they can teach the students. They are reusable and can be made with almost any materials. Our organization is very excited about our idea. 

The sanitary pads that are samples for the school

Uganda Time

Thoughts from the past week:

Over the past few weeks, I have been learning what it means to be on Uganda time. People in Uganda don't really keep time. I had heard about Island time before, but was not aware that it reached Africa as well. For example, we are told to be at work at 8:30, but there have been multiple occasions that myself, Rida, and Marta have showed up at 8:30 and the building has still been locked. Rida and I have now started walking from our houses at 8:30 so we arrive around 8:45, when there is usually at least one other employee there. We were told that if you want to have a meeting with villagers at noon, they will probably start to arrive at 1:00 or later. Although this can be frustrating, I'm actually beginning to enjoy it. Life is not rushed, and I'm not constantly looking at the clock. I could get used to this...

Events from the past week:

The beginning of my week at work was a little frustrating. We were supposed to go into the village on Tuesday and Wednesday to visit the school we are working with, but on Tuesday there was not enough room for us in the vehicles that were going out to the field, and on Wednesday the Land Rover was broken down. Rida, Marta, and I went to internet cafes instead to do research on sanitation information and the curriculum we are making. On Wednesday night, we went to Marta's house with about 10 of the other students from Northwestern to celebrate the 4th of July. We cooked burgers and potatoes like true Americans. On Thursday we finally made it to the village to visit the school that we are working with. It is the same private school we saw in the village last week. It is a boarding school primarily for orphans. The school has grades P1-P6 with 150 students, and many different subjects and clubs, but it extremely understaffed. The sanitation is also extremely poor. There is 1 latrine for females, and 1 latrine for males. The latrines are a little bit of a walk from where the students sleep, which got me thinking...do they really go out to the latrines in the middle of the night if they need to go to the bathroom? Probably night, not only is that scary for kids, but it is also unsafe. So, where do they go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? The answer: either in a bucket, or behind the building where they sleep. Open defecation is not only a huge issue in school, but also in many villages. There is also no bath shelter present at the school, so all the boarders have to shower out in the open under a tree which provides no privacy for the students in a mixed school with both girls and boys. There is no handwashing station for the children to wash their hands after they use the latrine, or before and after they eat.

The 2 latrines at the boarding school with little privacy as a result of the torn cloth.

We are going back to the school on Tuesday to further discuss our plan for our project with the headmaster and teachers.

On Friday, we continued to work on developing our curriculum and also completed our workplan for the remaining 5 weeks. After work, we went home and Jaja randomly asked Marion and I if we wanted to see her business, and led us to a room in the house that we never knew existed. All of a sudden Marion and I were staring at 200 little baby chicks. We knew that Jaja had a chicken coop in the backyard, but had no idea that there were 200 chicks living in the house with us!

Baby chicks!!

We also had a little photoshoot with my family, and we took a bunch of nice pictures together:

Fiona, Jaja, Trevor, Me, and Fred

Yesterday, on Saturday, 4 other girls and I went to Mabira Forest to go hiking. The rainforest was absolutely beautiful, and we had so much fun. We took a matatu (taxi) that conveniently dropped us off one town further than the entrance to Mabira Forest, so we had a nice little 30 minute pre-hike to the previous town. We hiked for about two and half hours in a loop around the forest. By listening to the sounds of the birds, monkeys, and other animals, we could truly tell that we were in the jungle. The sounds were like the "Rainforest Sounds" from CDs that people listen to when they fall asleep. Marta and Emily even tried to climb one of the ginormous trees. 

Emily in the huge tree!

We unfortunately didn't see any cool animals while we were hiking, except for some wildly uncomfortable fire ants. Oh, and a monkey that was dying in the middle of the road after being hit by a car that we saw on our 30 minute pre-hike; it was truly disturbing. But, all in all, it was a great day spent with some great people...

That's all for now!

"Mzungu" (White)

Hello all! Jinja is amazing so far, and I'm having a great time! My host family is awesome, and we just taught the kids how to play frisbee this morning. They all loved it! Let me take you through my week...
We arrived in Jinja really late last Saturday night. The staff members from the Foundation for Sustainable Development were there at the airport in Entebbe to meet us. Margaret, Dave, Dan, Jonan, and Caroline are all amazing people who have showed us around Jinja, and have acted as a second family.

In the middle is Dan (aka Shakes) one of the Foundation for Sustainable Development Interns

We stayed at a hotel in Jinja for the first 2 nights while we received an in-country orientation led by the Foundation for Sustainable Development. I had my first traditional meal, and rode my first boda boda (motorcycle) which is the most common means of transportation in Jinja.

My first traditional meal: beans, rice, greens, sweet potato, yams, amatooke, and posho

My first boda boda driver

We had Luganda language classes and learned to introduce ourselves, greet people, and how to say different foods. On Monday, we met our supervisors from the local organizations we are working for. I met Chris, a young British guy who is in charge of a lot of the finances at Busoga Trust, and Agnes, who is one of the staff members working on a project in Bugembe. They talked to us about what Busoga Trust does, and what our role in the organization will be. Later Monday afternoon, our host families came to pick myself and Marion (another girl in the program who is living with me) up and bring us home. Jaja (grandmother) and Fiona (one of our sister's) met us at the hotel, and brought us home. Jaja is awesome, so kind, and a great cook. Fiona, who is 19, always has a smile on her face, and is very helpful around the house. We have 3 brothers and 1 sister, Trevor, Kenny, and Fred, and Faith who are all very nice as well. They are slowly warming up to us. Trevor, our youngest brother, had fun with Marion and I on PhotoBooth.

Tuesday through Friday consisted of myself, Marta, and Rida (the two other girls working at Busoga Trust with me) getting to know how Busoga Trust functions, and the different projects that the have going on in the villages. We went to many different villages in Mayuge, which is about an hour and a half away from Jinja. We travel with three other staff members in the Land Rover, which is necessary because some of the dirt roads in the villages are really bad. It has been shocking to see the poverty that is present in the villages. The lack of sanitation is what has been most shocking, and Busoga Trust works to not only bring clean water, but to also improve sanitation by encouraging the villagers to build more latrines, have hand washing stations, and drying racks for the dishes. 

Drying rack from a house in a village in Mayuge 

House in Mayuge

We visited many of the Busoga Trust wells that the villagers were constructing, and also went to a school in the village. I am still getting used to being called a Mzungu, which is what all the Ugandans call all people with white skin. All of the little kids point and yell Mzungu when we walk by. It is not at all used as a derogatory term, but I am still getting accustomed to it.

One of the workers working on the well in Mayuge

One of the Jajas in Mayuge

One of the private schools in the village

Harriet teaching a sanitation class in the village

On Friday, we visited one of the Busoga Trust sites that was almost complete. They installed the pump on Friday, and it was awesome to see how excited the villagers were to have clean water for the first time.

Children looking on while the pump is installed to their well

A boy from the village getting clean water for the first time

We have also tentatively decided what my group is doing for a sustainable development project. We have decided to implement a sanitation education program in a school in one of the villages that we have visited. Our hope is that the program can be added to Busoga Trust's program when they begin work in a new village. We have not yet decided which school, but that is the next step in our project. That is all for now!