| Wednesday-
August 17, 2005 (Day 6) Building day 3 |
"The women of Uganda are some of the most incredible people I have ever seen - I wish the men of Uganda treated them as such." |
 The house as it stood on Wednesday morning. |
Today
was exhausting! We arrived at the worksite and were split into
two groups - six to continue at the current site and ten to go to a new
site a five minute walk away. It took me until now to realize why
the houses are so spread out, but not as much as an American farming
community - here, they do all the harvesting by hand! The fields
can only be so big. Imagine if they had one tractor to share
among the families - it would eliminate hunger for the whole village
and allow them to make enough surplus to turn a profit...it could
change their lives. Then again, having a tractor means having to
have a mechanic, a way of getting gas and spare parts, not to mention
roads to all the remote plots of land and a way to teach everyone how
to use the damn thing...it is so easy to forget how difficult
significant change is to impart.
At the original site, we installed the windows and doors, then bricked around them. The most entertaining event of the morning occurred when Okware pulled me aside and put two half bricks on top of a full brick, pointed at one and said "half-brick." Then he put a 3/4 brick and a 1/4 brick on top of a full brick, pointed at each and named them. I finally realized that he was explaining fractions to me! I managed to remain serious and listen attentively until he was finished, then looked up to se Shannon and Tymberlee laughing hysterically at his explaining of basic mathematics to an engineer. For the rest of the day, each time a mason asked me for a fraction of a brick, they would come over and explain how that worked to me - smart-asses :-)
We broke for tea and had
more of my favorite - fried cassava root! I've got to find some
of this stuff back home. Speaking of home, every time someone on
this trip introduced me as being from Texas, I would correct them
saying "I'm not from Texas!" Then again, the alternative is being
from Oklahoma, which is actually worse. How did someone as
liberal as I end up in two of the most conservative states in the
nation!?
During our brick-laying, Okware would often point at a brick one of us had just placed and say "up-down." We soon realized he meant for us to flip the brick over. So, at one point during the day, I taught him the word "flip" (which he pronounced 'fleep'). For the rest of the day, he used the word which we all (including him and the other masons) found very amusing. These people have no idea how intelligent they are - they each speak three of the hardest languages in the world...no wonder they can pick up English so easily.
When lunchtime came around, we carried the food which the neighboring women had fixed over to the second worksite to eat with our teammates. It was amazing how much progress they had made in just one morning! As we walked up, I had to laugh at the scene in front of me - Eden (former model) was dancing while putting mortar between the bricks, and all the men had
stopped working and were
watching her :-) We had lunch - each taking the bare minimum on
which we could do. In Uganda, the women prepare the food, then
the men eat, followed by the children, and if there is enough left, the
women. As soon as we realized this, we all took care to eat as
little as possible. The women here amaze me. They wake up
with the sun, carry their babies on their backs, farming implements in
their hands and walk to the fields. They spend the morning
farming, then return to the village to fix lunch. They spend the
afternoon tending to the children, the house, the livestock, the
laundry and dinner, then watch as their husbands and children eat first
hoping there is enough left for them. And yet, despite all this,
the men at the worksite were hesitant to let our women carry or mix
mortar - it was "a man's job." The women of Uganda are some of
the most incredible people I have ever seen - I wish the men of Uganda
treated them as such.
Lunchtime ended with some
excitement - we saw a chameleon! I've tried to find out what
species it is, but after looking around, I have come to the conclusion
that each new chameleon which is born is given a unique taxonomic name
- so I'm going to call this one 'chameleonus ugandas freakingcoolus'
and leave it at that. See the picture in the photo gallery.
We returned to the first worksite and continued building. The most exciting part of the afternoon was when the children all got together and sang for us! It was so beautiful - I took a video of it, but realized when I got home that my &*$% camera doesn't have a microphone :-( After they finished singing for us, they asked us to sing for them. We all got together and decided the best song to sing was the itsy-bitsy spider. We had to rehearse it once to make sure we all remembered the hand motions and the words (I definitely needed a refresher) then performed it - they laughed and clapped. They were also very intrigued by my stretching. Each morning, everyone would stretch a bit to work out the soreness in our muscles. So, I would hit the ground and lie down in a split for a minute or so. While in this position, the children would tip-toe towards me, pointing and whispering. If I moved at all, they would jump back! The group had great fun watching this and I have a feeling some photo of this will spell the end of any political career I may have had coming.
Towards the end of the day, I watched as one of the women in an adjacent hut began to spread a brownish thick liquid on the hut's porch. The reverend saw me watching this and came over to explain that she was spreading a mixture of cow-dung and water. When this dries, it
forms a smooth, hard
surface
to ensure the dust on the porch doesn't come into the house. The
thing that impressed me most about this was how flexible she was!
Every woman here is incredibly flexible - they have to be to do all
that they do.
We returned to our house and it soon began to rain very, very hard! Just before it started raining, a gent named Paul who is in the Peace Corps stationed nearby came to visit. He is doing HIV/AIDS education and said "when 16 mzungas come into town, word travels fast." :-) He is very interesting - I told him that I had been accepted into the Peace Corps and was considering joining, so we sat down and chatted lots. He said that the first year of Peace Corps service is spent gaining the trust of the people around you, the next six months are spent organizing what it is you want to do, and the last six months are when there aren't enough hours in the day. He told me you have to be the kind of person who can find ways to entertain yourself and be useful when there is no structure in place. This was a bit disheartening, I work best in a structured environment. He stayed with us for dinner, and listening to him talk gave me the best idea yet as to what being in the Peace Corps is like. He has said he will stop by a few more times before we leave - good thing, I have plenty of questions left to ask.
At the original site, we installed the windows and doors, then bricked around them. The most entertaining event of the morning occurred when Okware pulled me aside and put two half bricks on top of a full brick, pointed at one and said "half-brick." Then he put a 3/4 brick and a 1/4 brick on top of a full brick, pointed at each and named them. I finally realized that he was explaining fractions to me! I managed to remain serious and listen attentively until he was finished, then looked up to se Shannon and Tymberlee laughing hysterically at his explaining of basic mathematics to an engineer. For the rest of the day, each time a mason asked me for a fraction of a brick, they would come over and explain how that worked to me - smart-asses :-)
 Lunchtime excitement - a beautiful chameleon! |
During our brick-laying, Okware would often point at a brick one of us had just placed and say "up-down." We soon realized he meant for us to flip the brick over. So, at one point during the day, I taught him the word "flip" (which he pronounced 'fleep'). For the rest of the day, he used the word which we all (including him and the other masons) found very amusing. These people have no idea how intelligent they are - they each speak three of the hardest languages in the world...no wonder they can pick up English so easily.
When lunchtime came around, we carried the food which the neighboring women had fixed over to the second worksite to eat with our teammates. It was amazing how much progress they had made in just one morning! As we walked up, I had to laugh at the scene in front of me - Eden (former model) was dancing while putting mortar between the bricks, and all the men had
|
Lusoga
lesson
Cale (Cah-lay): you're welcomeMantee (Mahn-tee): sorry; pardon Epicipici (Ay-pi-key-pi-key): motorcycle |
Featured Dish: Fried cassava root The
roots of the cassava plant are one of the staples of Ugandan
cuisine.
When fried, they taste somewhat like french fries, although not nearly
as greasy and much better for you!
|
We returned to the first worksite and continued building. The most exciting part of the afternoon was when the children all got together and sang for us! It was so beautiful - I took a video of it, but realized when I got home that my &*$% camera doesn't have a microphone :-( After they finished singing for us, they asked us to sing for them. We all got together and decided the best song to sing was the itsy-bitsy spider. We had to rehearse it once to make sure we all remembered the hand motions and the words (I definitely needed a refresher) then performed it - they laughed and clapped. They were also very intrigued by my stretching. Each morning, everyone would stretch a bit to work out the soreness in our muscles. So, I would hit the ground and lie down in a split for a minute or so. While in this position, the children would tip-toe towards me, pointing and whispering. If I moved at all, they would jump back! The group had great fun watching this and I have a feeling some photo of this will spell the end of any political career I may have had coming.
Towards the end of the day, I watched as one of the women in an adjacent hut began to spread a brownish thick liquid on the hut's porch. The reverend saw me watching this and came over to explain that she was spreading a mixture of cow-dung and water. When this dries, it
Featured Video: Local children playing These
local children were playing while we took our morning tea break.
I
managed to catch a few seconds of their antics before they noticed I
was filming them and decided that was more interesting!
|
We returned to our house and it soon began to rain very, very hard! Just before it started raining, a gent named Paul who is in the Peace Corps stationed nearby came to visit. He is doing HIV/AIDS education and said "when 16 mzungas come into town, word travels fast." :-) He is very interesting - I told him that I had been accepted into the Peace Corps and was considering joining, so we sat down and chatted lots. He said that the first year of Peace Corps service is spent gaining the trust of the people around you, the next six months are spent organizing what it is you want to do, and the last six months are when there aren't enough hours in the day. He told me you have to be the kind of person who can find ways to entertain yourself and be useful when there is no structure in place. This was a bit disheartening, I work best in a structured environment. He stayed with us for dinner, and listening to him talk gave me the best idea yet as to what being in the Peace Corps is like. He has said he will stop by a few more times before we leave - good thing, I have plenty of questions left to ask.