Conversation between me and an American friend after class..
American friend: Are you coming for free pizza?
Me: Free pizza? in Uganda?
Friend: Yeah Big Sam is taking us.
Me: what? Who?
Friend: Big Sam has a restaurant and he is giving us free pizza.
Me: why?
Friend: I have no idea.
Me: So some guy has offered to give us free pizza if we all follow him off campus? DO we have to like get into his white van?
Friend: I don't know. FREE PIZZA!
Me: ok. that sounds legit.
We did follow him off campus and we were given free pizza. And I use the word pizza VERY loosely.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Host Family
It is a little bit strange how normal it feels to live with a family that is not my own, as if they were my own. In my program we had multiple days of orientation. We were told things like don't ride the dangerous boda-bodas, don't walk by yourself in the dark, there was even a little squatty potty talk. There wasn't really any talk about the whole host family aspect. I have had friends go on study abroads before and heard them refer to their "mom" or "dad" and I have always thought it sounded a little bit contrived to call these people mom and dad... like I always thought it seemed like they were pretending or playing a little bit. But now I live with a family and I have two brothers and two sisters, a papa and a toto (the word for mom). It doesn't feel like I am pretending or like they are. They are my Ugandan family. I know it will probably take all semester before I really get to know them well. But they feel like family now.
Right now toto and papa have malaria. Which sucks, but not as bad as it sounds like it does. I asked toto how many times she has had malaria and she answered "this year?" I said "No, ever, in your whole life." She kind of laughed and said, "Kelsey an African can not count how many times they have had malaria!" I do not know the reason but malaria is worse for foreigners. Maybe because Africans have like thousands of years of resistance built up towards it... maybe because we are babies...
Speaking of being a baby. I need to get used to cockroaches. That is one of my goals for this semester. I no longer yell or scream when one crawls towards me... there is just a sharp intake of breath hahaha. Last night I went outside to take a bucket bath. We bathe in this little room in between the house and the road (so awkward to bathe with people like talking right outside the wall. There is no roof on the room so you feel like you are bathing outside. I was pouring water from a jerrycan into a bucket and there was a cockroach crawling on the wall right next to my face. I stood up and watched it for 2 minutes thinking about how badly I did not want to get undressed and bathe in a room with cockroaches in it and I quietly whined for Kevin to come kill it. Kevin is my 14 year old little sister... She picks up these giant cockroaches with her hands and throws them away from me. Heart her. But she was not in ear shot. I ended up kicking it and it fell and scurried away. This is like a daily occurrence and it would make me feel much more like a 24 year old if I could man up and not be so grossed out by these little giant bugs.
I am sitting with other Americans and everyone is discussing their strategies for going to the latrine during the least cockroach infested times of the day. I think I will save that for another blog post. Someone just passed around a cold pancake and we like devoured it. American food! hahaha I love it here.
Right now toto and papa have malaria. Which sucks, but not as bad as it sounds like it does. I asked toto how many times she has had malaria and she answered "this year?" I said "No, ever, in your whole life." She kind of laughed and said, "Kelsey an African can not count how many times they have had malaria!" I do not know the reason but malaria is worse for foreigners. Maybe because Africans have like thousands of years of resistance built up towards it... maybe because we are babies...
Speaking of being a baby. I need to get used to cockroaches. That is one of my goals for this semester. I no longer yell or scream when one crawls towards me... there is just a sharp intake of breath hahaha. Last night I went outside to take a bucket bath. We bathe in this little room in between the house and the road (so awkward to bathe with people like talking right outside the wall. There is no roof on the room so you feel like you are bathing outside. I was pouring water from a jerrycan into a bucket and there was a cockroach crawling on the wall right next to my face. I stood up and watched it for 2 minutes thinking about how badly I did not want to get undressed and bathe in a room with cockroaches in it and I quietly whined for Kevin to come kill it. Kevin is my 14 year old little sister... She picks up these giant cockroaches with her hands and throws them away from me. Heart her. But she was not in ear shot. I ended up kicking it and it fell and scurried away. This is like a daily occurrence and it would make me feel much more like a 24 year old if I could man up and not be so grossed out by these little giant bugs.
I am sitting with other Americans and everyone is discussing their strategies for going to the latrine during the least cockroach infested times of the day. I think I will save that for another blog post. Someone just passed around a cold pancake and we like devoured it. American food! hahaha I love it here.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Haiti update
My friends in Haiti posted an update and I want to pass it along. Corrigan writes...
"Clerville( the poor area near our house) is STARVING and fighting over food (just a little bit of fighting,nothing out of control). We fed about 80 families so I’m down to bare bonesat home again. The boys are liking being little ambassadors of hope toeverybody. The ladies are taking stuff to their villages too, but with some
of them, I fear that they are hording the stuff for themselves. I told them
to not be scared, to share, and to trust God to provide for us all. They
have almost all returned to make jewelry again.
Rodney, Leo, Richard, Big Richard, and Carlin have been doing Recon for me
about who needs homes built. There are LOTS of people sleeping in the
streets. I will send you the list of needs as I get it put together. Piti
Mi, a village up the street towards Lopital Espoir also has a lot of
displaced people. I’m trying to see if we can coordinate a rebuilding
effort with Quisqueya chapel, the Mannaserros, etc.
Tremmors are less frequent, but I find myself getting more and more
psychological tremmors (I think it’s shaking, but it isn’t). The crack in
our bedroom under the water tank makes me nervous. The crack in the wall
makes me nervous too, after measuring things and figuring out where things
are stressed and cracked, I just don’t like that side of the house much
right now. I’m trying to see if somebody smart can come look at it.
I am still working on Hainet and banking, and finding food. I’m going to
Big Star market now."
Clerrville is the area where I spent most of my time this summer. My profile picture on facebook is taken there. Please consider giving money to www.apparentproject.org They have access to a bank and a grocery store and are feeding this village of people I love.
"Clerville( the poor area near our house) is STARVING and fighting over food (just a little bit of fighting,nothing out of control). We fed about 80 families so I’m down to bare bonesat home again. The boys are liking being little ambassadors of hope toeverybody. The ladies are taking stuff to their villages too, but with some
of them, I fear that they are hording the stuff for themselves. I told them
to not be scared, to share, and to trust God to provide for us all. They
have almost all returned to make jewelry again.
Rodney, Leo, Richard, Big Richard, and Carlin have been doing Recon for me
about who needs homes built. There are LOTS of people sleeping in the
streets. I will send you the list of needs as I get it put together. Piti
Mi, a village up the street towards Lopital Espoir also has a lot of
displaced people. I’m trying to see if we can coordinate a rebuilding
effort with Quisqueya chapel, the Mannaserros, etc.
Tremmors are less frequent, but I find myself getting more and more
psychological tremmors (I think it’s shaking, but it isn’t). The crack in
our bedroom under the water tank makes me nervous. The crack in the wall
makes me nervous too, after measuring things and figuring out where things
are stressed and cracked, I just don’t like that side of the house much
right now. I’m trying to see if somebody smart can come look at it.
I am still working on Hainet and banking, and finding food. I’m going to
Big Star market now."
Clerrville is the area where I spent most of my time this summer. My profile picture on facebook is taken there. Please consider giving money to www.apparentproject.org They have access to a bank and a grocery store and are feeding this village of people I love.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
My view
Its so interesting how previous experience colors your view of everything. I sort of thought Africa would be a lot like Haiti... I guess because it is sort of poor and tropical and black? When I am in America, Haiti is usually on my mind so I guess it should be expected that that would not change just because I have left America. Well Uganda is a lot like Haiti. I keep seeing the faces of my Haitian friends in the new people I am meeting here. Twice yesterday I thought I saw Rosleau, once Mirlande, and my friend Susan is exactly like Sinese. There are water and power and internet issues here just like in Haiti. There is animism here like the voodoo in Haiti. But overall Uganda is better off than Haiti. People here are not going hungry, the ground is extremely fertile. I was telling my host mom about the living conditions of my friends in Haiti and she just shook her head sadly. Of course there are slums here, there are poor and orphans. But its not like Haiti. There is a middle class here which is sadly lacking from Haiti.
Family - I think the family I live with is middle class. My host dad teaches mechanical engineering at a trade school in Gulu, which is in northern Uganda. He comes home like once a week right now but he says that sometimes he will be gone for a month at a time. My Toto just works around the house and in the families fields. THe other day my whole fam came back from the fields and told me a story about how Toto had seen a huge snake (supposedly as wide as a dinner plate) and had screamed. Her children proceeded to tease her about this for an hour. If it were me I probably would have screamed and then cried. :) I love that my family is respectful of each other but also very goofy with each other. Like they can tease Toto about being scared of a snake but they will also do WHATEVER she tells them. When my dad is home my siblings will serve him his food and they will kneel down to hand it to him.
My family is starting to get more comfortable teasing me. When I got home from school yesterday my sister Sarah said, welcome home! And my brother Sam loudly mumbeled something about foreignors over running his home. So I dumped my water on him, a precious commodity as I have to carry it from school! Totally worth it.
Food - This weekend while I was in Kampala I also picked up a bag of popping corn so last night my sister Kevin and I cooked a huge pot of it. It was glorious!! We melted some butter over the fire. Sooooo goood. The food here is not bad, it is just a lot of the same. It is also very oily! Everything is fried. So much grease. And we rarely eat meat. Most nights its rice a beans. Which I actually prefer because the meat is chewey overcooked unidentifiable chunks... mmmmm. But even the rice is like FULL of oil. I am craving a cold sandwhich. If only subway could find their way to Kampala. Tonight a bunch of Americans and Ugandans are coming over to my house for smores. SO looking foward to it. Still looking for more recipes I can cook over the fire... I mean I have pots so anything you can cook on a stove that doesnt take too much temp control I can make... maybe.
Stuff I wish I brought - So I was worried about overpacking... which in some ways I did. It seems like I have a TON of clothes compared to everyone else in my family. Also some of the electronics I brought seem stupid and useless... since I dont have electricity at home. Anyway there are some things that I should have brought... So here is my wishlist if you feel like sending me anything. :)
- downey wrinkle release
- Flashlights or batterey powered lanterns or those batterey lights that you like push them and they go on... I miss light... and I can get batteries here.
- pics of you!
- small bottle of hand sanitizer (no one washes their hands...)
- small bottle of fabreeze
- sweets!
- anything from home
- yourselves... i bet you would totally make it through customs
Things take anywhere from one week to two months to get here. So keep that in mind. Dont send a gallon of milk. :)
Thank you for your comments! Its so nice to hear from you guys! I love you lots.
Family - I think the family I live with is middle class. My host dad teaches mechanical engineering at a trade school in Gulu, which is in northern Uganda. He comes home like once a week right now but he says that sometimes he will be gone for a month at a time. My Toto just works around the house and in the families fields. THe other day my whole fam came back from the fields and told me a story about how Toto had seen a huge snake (supposedly as wide as a dinner plate) and had screamed. Her children proceeded to tease her about this for an hour. If it were me I probably would have screamed and then cried. :) I love that my family is respectful of each other but also very goofy with each other. Like they can tease Toto about being scared of a snake but they will also do WHATEVER she tells them. When my dad is home my siblings will serve him his food and they will kneel down to hand it to him.
My family is starting to get more comfortable teasing me. When I got home from school yesterday my sister Sarah said, welcome home! And my brother Sam loudly mumbeled something about foreignors over running his home. So I dumped my water on him, a precious commodity as I have to carry it from school! Totally worth it.
Food - This weekend while I was in Kampala I also picked up a bag of popping corn so last night my sister Kevin and I cooked a huge pot of it. It was glorious!! We melted some butter over the fire. Sooooo goood. The food here is not bad, it is just a lot of the same. It is also very oily! Everything is fried. So much grease. And we rarely eat meat. Most nights its rice a beans. Which I actually prefer because the meat is chewey overcooked unidentifiable chunks... mmmmm. But even the rice is like FULL of oil. I am craving a cold sandwhich. If only subway could find their way to Kampala. Tonight a bunch of Americans and Ugandans are coming over to my house for smores. SO looking foward to it. Still looking for more recipes I can cook over the fire... I mean I have pots so anything you can cook on a stove that doesnt take too much temp control I can make... maybe.
Stuff I wish I brought - So I was worried about overpacking... which in some ways I did. It seems like I have a TON of clothes compared to everyone else in my family. Also some of the electronics I brought seem stupid and useless... since I dont have electricity at home. Anyway there are some things that I should have brought... So here is my wishlist if you feel like sending me anything. :)
- downey wrinkle release
- Flashlights or batterey powered lanterns or those batterey lights that you like push them and they go on... I miss light... and I can get batteries here.
- pics of you!
- small bottle of hand sanitizer (no one washes their hands...)
- small bottle of fabreeze
- sweets!
- anything from home
- yourselves... i bet you would totally make it through customs
Things take anywhere from one week to two months to get here. So keep that in mind. Dont send a gallon of milk. :)
Thank you for your comments! Its so nice to hear from you guys! I love you lots.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Week one
I have been here for over a week and it is slowly starting to feel like home. I haven't been blogging because my mind has not been on Uganda. I can't stop thinking about Haiti and wishing I were there. Realistically I know that I would only be a burden if I were there now... but still.
School - I started classes last week and they are going well. I have most classes with other American student but taught by Ugandan profs. One of my professors attended Yale! Crazy. I often think about Kim Budd when I am in class. She hates having distractions and always closes the blinds during class. Here we have two huge windows on either side of the classroom. The first day 3 little Ugandan kids sat on the slope outside one window and waved at the classroom full of Mzungus (white people). Frequently we are visited by birds flying in, yesterday a dog followed some Americans to class and just stayed in our room during classtime. Funny story... That dog also ended up following me after class to the cafeteria, which is really like a big outdoor pavillion type thing. I have never been stared at so much in my life.
One of my classes is just a regular UCU class and I am the ONLY mzungu. I have yet to actually have that class yet as the prof seems to think he does not need to show up the first week. I sat for an hour waiting for him and he never came. I finally left but the whole class stayed and waited another hour. Crazy.
Family - There is lots to say about my family. First they are extremely hospitable. Almost too much so. My mother is called Toto in their language. The woman will NOT let me skip a meal. Sunday I skipped church and stayed in bed because my stomach hurt... but even so she guilted me into eating breakfast lunch and dinner that day. When I do eat she is always on my case about it not being enough. My family has some land that they farm to grow food for us to eat and some to sell. Sometimes I help with various food related chores like cutting the cassava so we can dry it and turn it into flour.
I share a room with one american and my ugandan sister. We have no electricity and no running water. It is sort of like camping. We bathe and wash our clothes in buckets. We use flashlights for light at night. My toto thinks we will burn the house down if we use candles inside. I expected life to be hard without electricity but it is actually sort of nice. I mainly miss having light. But it is refreshing to not have tv! We spend a lot of time singing and talking and playing games.
Culture - Mostly I am loving fitting into a new culture... and sometimes it is frustrating. It is so humbling to be like a child in this culture. The other day my host sister was watching me put in my contacts. She started guessing at what they were for. She wondered if they turned my eyes colors or if maybe they protected my eyes from the heat. She is 18 but she seemed like a baby when confronted with something from my culture. I must seem like that all the time here. I have no idea when I should pay the matatu driver, or how much money is reasonable to pay for tomatoes, or how to use a coal iron.
Food - Lots of rice and beans and matoke and posho. Yesterday my family killed one of our chickens for dinner. It was nice to have chicken... and the former vegetarian in me tried very hard to not think about where it came from. One of the chickens lives in the house with us because it is hatching some eggs. Francis' amazing sisters took me to 3 different grocerey stores in Kampala and we found all the ingrediants for smores!!! My family was crazy excited. I want to make some American food for my fam. I am going to make kebabs with whatever meat I can find. I am hoping to score some BBQ sauce. We cook everything over a fire or over charcoal. If anyone has any good camping recipes send them to me!!!
School - I started classes last week and they are going well. I have most classes with other American student but taught by Ugandan profs. One of my professors attended Yale! Crazy. I often think about Kim Budd when I am in class. She hates having distractions and always closes the blinds during class. Here we have two huge windows on either side of the classroom. The first day 3 little Ugandan kids sat on the slope outside one window and waved at the classroom full of Mzungus (white people). Frequently we are visited by birds flying in, yesterday a dog followed some Americans to class and just stayed in our room during classtime. Funny story... That dog also ended up following me after class to the cafeteria, which is really like a big outdoor pavillion type thing. I have never been stared at so much in my life.
One of my classes is just a regular UCU class and I am the ONLY mzungu. I have yet to actually have that class yet as the prof seems to think he does not need to show up the first week. I sat for an hour waiting for him and he never came. I finally left but the whole class stayed and waited another hour. Crazy.
Family - There is lots to say about my family. First they are extremely hospitable. Almost too much so. My mother is called Toto in their language. The woman will NOT let me skip a meal. Sunday I skipped church and stayed in bed because my stomach hurt... but even so she guilted me into eating breakfast lunch and dinner that day. When I do eat she is always on my case about it not being enough. My family has some land that they farm to grow food for us to eat and some to sell. Sometimes I help with various food related chores like cutting the cassava so we can dry it and turn it into flour.
I share a room with one american and my ugandan sister. We have no electricity and no running water. It is sort of like camping. We bathe and wash our clothes in buckets. We use flashlights for light at night. My toto thinks we will burn the house down if we use candles inside. I expected life to be hard without electricity but it is actually sort of nice. I mainly miss having light. But it is refreshing to not have tv! We spend a lot of time singing and talking and playing games.
Culture - Mostly I am loving fitting into a new culture... and sometimes it is frustrating. It is so humbling to be like a child in this culture. The other day my host sister was watching me put in my contacts. She started guessing at what they were for. She wondered if they turned my eyes colors or if maybe they protected my eyes from the heat. She is 18 but she seemed like a baby when confronted with something from my culture. I must seem like that all the time here. I have no idea when I should pay the matatu driver, or how much money is reasonable to pay for tomatoes, or how to use a coal iron.
Food - Lots of rice and beans and matoke and posho. Yesterday my family killed one of our chickens for dinner. It was nice to have chicken... and the former vegetarian in me tried very hard to not think about where it came from. One of the chickens lives in the house with us because it is hatching some eggs. Francis' amazing sisters took me to 3 different grocerey stores in Kampala and we found all the ingrediants for smores!!! My family was crazy excited. I want to make some American food for my fam. I am going to make kebabs with whatever meat I can find. I am hoping to score some BBQ sauce. We cook everything over a fire or over charcoal. If anyone has any good camping recipes send them to me!!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
I am on the internet!
Praise the Lord for internet in Uganda. I have many first impressions but the strangest one is definitely the catchphrase bird. You know the beeping noise that the catchphrase game makes? It like slowly speeds up as you pass it around. you know? Everywhere I go I hear that beeping noise in the same pitch as the catchphrase game. It is so strange. I thought maybe it was people's cell phones or something. Last night I finally figured out that it is a freaking bird. It drives me crazy and I am the only person who even notices it. How American am I that a bird hooting reminds me of an electronic game!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
UGANDA!
I am officially Uganda bound. I leave in one hour for the airport to go to D.C. I am spending the night there with my amazing friend Juli who I met in Mexico a couple summers ago and who I wish would accompany me everywhere I go. I have been putting off blogging about Uganda for a few reasons... I sort of still can't believe I am going. It was like craptons of paperwork to make this happen. Also much finagling classes and being flexible occured by my awesome professors. Thank you tons Budd, Krispin, and Sanders!!! It also required many shots to make this happen. I got 5 shots yesterday immunizing me from like 7 diseases. Joy! I have my skirts packed and my flashlight and watterbottle, my textbooks and like 9 nice pens. I really like nice pens. The big question now is, do I have enough stuff or do I have too much? Or maybe the bigger question is should I bring more deoderant?
I will be staying in a town near Kampala called mukono and I will for sure post my address where you can send me lots of letters and care packages...hint hint. I can pick up mail either at my school or in the nearby town. I will be living with a host family who I know nothing about yet. Yikes. Right now I am just excited and tired. Mostly tired because they shot me full of typhoid and yellow fever and all that good stuff yesterday.
My address:
‘Kelsey Little’ Uganda Studies Programme
Uganda Christian University
P.O. Box 4
Mukono, UGANDA
I will be staying in a town near Kampala called mukono and I will for sure post my address where you can send me lots of letters and care packages...hint hint. I can pick up mail either at my school or in the nearby town. I will be living with a host family who I know nothing about yet. Yikes. Right now I am just excited and tired. Mostly tired because they shot me full of typhoid and yellow fever and all that good stuff yesterday.
My address:
‘Kelsey Little’ Uganda Studies Programme
Uganda Christian University
P.O. Box 4
Mukono, UGANDA
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