| Friday-
August 19, 2005 (Day 8) Building day 4 |
"I am beginning to think that if I joined the Peace Corps in Africa, I would be cheating a village out of a better volunteer." |
 The house as it stood on Friday morning. |
The
most amazing thing just happened! A baby was born to one of the
cooks last night (she cooked us dinner yesterday evening, then had a
baby hours later!). We went to visit and to offer our
congratulations. The baby was beautiful - a little girl.
The father was beaming as he said something to the gent who had come
along to translate - "we want to name the baby after one of the girls
in your group." We were stunned! We stood there in silence
for a few seconds, then Doug looked down at Joy (one of our two
leaders) who was holding the newborn and said "how about Joy?"
They named their child 'Sanu' - joy in Lusoga. I couldn't believe
it - I never realized how much these people appreciated the help they
received. The mother had lost quite a bit of blood during the
birth, so I ran and got her a bottle of water and some biscuits.
She gave birth in her home and will be back to work tomorrow or the day
after...these people are amazing.
Back at the work site, the
house is really taking shape! Today, we finished bricking and
began putting up the roof - that was lots of fun...we go to climb all
over the house. Any fear of heights remaining after rock climbing
is now completely gone. During the morning, I was pointing one of
the walls while James, one of the local boys who has been helping out
around the house, sat with me. Realizing it was the middle of the
morning, I asked him what he was not in school. He looked at me a
bit oddly, as though he was confused as to why I didn't know the answer
- "because I have no money" he said. $15 would change this boys
life forever...I want to send this kid to school.
During our morning tea-break, we had a porridge made from maize. It was delicious - it tasted like
cream of wheat despite the
fact that it was made from corn flour. At lunchtime, we walked to
the other site to join the rest of our team and Bonnie told us that
Stephanie had tonsillitis and had to have an IV in her arm for three
days. As a result,
she would not be able to work on the house until Monday when we are
scheduled to have it finished. When we got back to our house in the evening, she was upset,
but handled it very well. She is perhaps the most mature 19 year
old I have ever met - no doubt she will go far in life.
After dinner, Jared, Mike,
Luke, Eden, Tymberlee and I decided to go visit mzunga Paul in Eza Gaza
(the town where he lives - about 4km away). Farouk drove us in
the pickup truck, but it was threatening to rain and the road which
connects Bululu to Eza Gaza directly is a narrow dirt road which is not
safe to drive when it is raining, so we had to take the long way around
which took about twenty minutes. Four of us sat in the bed of the
truck and the two sat in the cab with Farouk. We got to Paul's
without any rain and sat with him for half an hour.
His house is a Habitat house which has had some major improvements. The walls are plastered and painted, a ceiling has been installed, and he even has a room with a hold leading through the foundation to the outside so he can shower inside. Outside the house, he has a fenced-in backyard with a small garden, a compost heap and a latrine. To be honest, I was surprised the Peace Corps put him up in such a place - I was told that when you join the Peace Corps, you live at the same level as the people around you...this was certainly a nicer house than any I have seen here.
Paul's job is to teach the locals about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. As such, he is basically dropped into the middle of Uganda and
told to go
for it. It is up to him to decide how best to do this. If
he wants to organize a conference of sorts, he has to write a program
proposal requesting funds and send it to the Peace Corps office in
Uganda. This process takes months, so during a volunteer's two
year service, he/she might will run a handful of programs at
most. So, when I asked him what is average day was like, he said
he usually wakes up at 6:30 and farms a small plot of land he has until
11am when he comes back to his house to fix lunch. After lunch,
he does any errands he has to do, works on any program proposals he may
be writing, then prepares dinner and eats. After dinner, if he
feels up to it, he walks the streets and strikes up conversations with
people, hoping to talk to them about HIV/AIDS. Hearing this was a
huge disappointment - I realized that when joining the Peace Corps, one
had to expect to
help a small group of people and not to save the world. However,
I never imagined that your ability to help would be so hampered.
I have a great respect for those who can create structure where no
structure exists, but I have never been good at that. I am
beginning to think that if I joined the Peace Corps in Africa, I would
be cheating a village out of a better volunteer. Not only that,
but Jared (who also thought long and hard about about joining the Peace
Corps) says he hears similar things from all the Peace Corps volunteers
to whom he has spoken. I have lots of thinking to do...
On the way home, it began to
rain - hard! The four of us in the back of the truck huddled
together next to the cab to try to avoid getting soaked - this did no
good whatsoever. Farouk pulled under the only awning in the
village - that of a gas station - and said we would have to wait until
the rain died down. However, next to us at the gas station was a
taxi. I asked Farouk to ask the driver how much it would cost to
drive us back to Bululu and the driver said U20,000 (about
US$11). So, we paid him and hopped in (in Uganda, you pay the
driver before you begin driving). When we got to Bululu, the
driver said it was farther away than he had expected and that he wanted
another U20,000! I said no - absolutely not..."we agreed on a
price - it's not honorable to charge us more now." I told him I
would pay him an extra U5,000 for his troubles, he said how about
U10,000 and we finally agreed on U7,000 (about US$4). Afterwards,
Farouk said U27,000 was a good price, so I didn't feel as though we had
been taken advantage of, but it was still a bit of an adventure!
 Proud mother with her newborn baby girl. |
During our morning tea-break, we had a porridge made from maize. It was delicious - it tasted like
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Lusoga
lesson
Accaccanyavoo (Ah-cah-cahn-yah-voo): chameleonSanu (Sahn-you): joy Sabo (Say-bow): sir; mister Gnyeeabo (Gnee-ah-bow): ma'am; madam |
Featured Dish: Chapate Chapati (Cha-pah-tea) is
a flat, fried bread common in the cuisine of Eastern Africa as well as
India. It can be made from any combination of wheat flour, corn
flour, chick pea flour, millet and more. It often serves as a
method of picking up and eating foods as opposed to using metal
utensils.
|
His house is a Habitat house which has had some major improvements. The walls are plastered and painted, a ceiling has been installed, and he even has a room with a hold leading through the foundation to the outside so he can shower inside. Outside the house, he has a fenced-in backyard with a small garden, a compost heap and a latrine. To be honest, I was surprised the Peace Corps put him up in such a place - I was told that when you join the Peace Corps, you live at the same level as the people around you...this was certainly a nicer house than any I have seen here.
Paul's job is to teach the locals about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. As such, he is basically dropped into the middle of Uganda and
Featured Video: Running children Every day when we drove
home from the work site, a parade of kids would run after us!
These kids are in incredible shape - they would keep up with the truck
almost the entire way home!
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Seasons
in Uganda
January - March: droughtUganda
has three rainy seasons during which is it often rains every night:
April - May: first rainy season June - July: drought August - mid-September: second rainy season mid-September - October: drought November - December: third rainy season |