Ramblings and Photos

Greetings world, I am doing a lot better. I am at the office now which has amazingly fast wifi which is a life saver. I like the neighbors enough, and I am getting a good sense of my surroundings. Luckily, it looks better every day. Monday night there was a bonfire/dinner. Someone even tackled veggie burgers! I was impressed! My bed arrived Tuesday, so that has made a big difference in the quality of my slumber. 

There are some americans here who work for Samaritan's Purse. They were in Afghanistan, now here, and leave in Dec. for the US for 6 weeks then will go to Iraq again. They had a christmas party last night with hot chocolate and Elf! It was like entering a whole new world. I went to bed thinking the world was magical--Obama won and I ate COOKIES!! (Their house is super nice and paid for by their org, they have everything, including an oven) For now I am the only international who does her own dishes and laundry. It is extremely time consuming, and is an endless cycle. I don't want to be a martyr, but at the same time, I feel like if I have hired help, I will slowly slip into a sense of entitlement. Spending the hours cooking/washing/planning groceries/repeating does in a way keep me empathetic to the community members and gives me a glimpse of the hard work of living. To try and avoid that seems to be to try and avoid the truths--people here struggle. My landlords give the other 2 girls a lot of grief. I think this is clearly because of their attitudes. The worst development of having NGOs (there are many here) land in your community and cluster (we only hang out with other white people) is that the divide is so so great. This is certainly breeding resentment. My landlady continuously tells me, "Well done!" when she sees me outside washing/cooking/cleaning. I have to believe that it is these outwardly signs which convey- I am here, in your hood, and I am going to play by the rules. The other night at dinner I was sharing with the girls how much I enjoy the landlord family and was telling them how I had Benjamin, the young boy, write me a story to practice his English. It was HILARIOUS! It was about how King Kong picked him up at school and took him to get his haircut. They had no idea of the families names-- Baptiste, Chad, Feteena, Benjamin, Lucy and Isaac. Boom. Perhaps as time progresses I will change my mind. And I could be wrong, maybe it's just a matter of time before the landlord starts to complain about me. We will see.

In other news I have recently been recruited to be part of the costume committee for the Christmas Pantomime here in Moroto. The international community has a pantomime- led by a British guy (it's a British tradition?) wherein a familiar story is re-enacted but with audience participation, a lot of comedy, and of course the main character in drag. Last year they did Robin Hood and had a great turnout. This year it is Snow White, and donations go to an org. working on HIV/AIDS related issues as the show will take place Dec. 1 - World AIDS Day. First costume meeting is tonight!

Enjoy the photo story lovingly titled, "How many trips does it take to set up a gas cooker?!"

 

Step One. Buy the cooker in Mbale (5 hours away). This was the only one in town. The young man working the shop was not pleased when Samson (right) had the good idea to ask HIM to please assemble it for us. I would never have thought to ask-- and I am glad he did!! The guy was about to kill poor Samson when he then said, ok now you please put it back together in the box. Bah! We assured Samson that we could transport it safely. Then we had to go across town to get the right gas, gas controller, and hose. The hose has to be put in hot hot (one might say piping hot! ;) ) water to be able to squeeze on tightly. This meant we had to boil water. Which, without the stove, was a challenge.

So we thought A-HA! We will use my power kettle! Alas, the plug-in was some crazy one from S. Africa. Of course, Kampala is 10 hours away. But never fear- Samson knew of where we could take it to get the right plug in put on.

Practicing the right plug before they rip off the one on the kettle

town electrician, and his many replacements

Too many cooks in the kitchen? Never?! 

Trying to disassemble

While the boys were busy I noticed the radio- and thought how the HELL is that one little cord providing energy. And where's it going? 

Proud electrician showing me the final product he rewired

 Then we got home...and realized, damn it, I don't have POWER. Well, I have solar but there isn't enough in that current for big things like this. So it was onward to the neighboring office to bum their power

back with boiled water

squeezing the hose into place

and again

STOVE COMPLETED!

Samson and Luke! :)

 

The house on the hill

Pictures are HERE!! I moved in on Wednesday to my home. I am the door on the most left. There are 4 units, each with a sitting room in front, a bedroom just behind that, and then an open-air kitchen with bathroom and small storage area. Here is Samson (Feinstein's beloved driver and man of all trades) on the left and Luke on the right (Field Researcher for project from Moroto). See captions below for more info!

From my stairs looking right- neighbor Frank's tv satellite, and our water tank (rain water). House that is under construction.

From front stairs looking center-right

From house looking straight out

From house looking left

Front gardens

My front door, and curtains I had made by the Women's Cooperative in town

Front window

My "sitting room"

My bedroom. The bed is being made in town and should be available for pick up tomorrow? 

My window which opens to the kitchen

Hallway to kitchen

Kitchen

Bathroom. Shower head is on left

my stove top! And storage unit behind there

House furniture provided was a table and shelf, crammed a lot of stuff on there! And now, much is covered with ants :(

On the road to find out!

View Larger Map

Hey everyone!

So I have been trying to upload photos for AGES! Basically, what I can provide you with is this map, depicting the route from Kampala to Moroto. It takes one crazy long day, or 2 shorter days of travel to reach Karamoja. Karamoja is a unique place in Uganda. It is a wide spanse of land that is reserved by the government for the pastoralists of this region. Cattle herding used to be the primary livelihood in the region but now the cattle are sequestered in what are known as kraals-- or community lots. This is a very contentious issue, and had a lot to do with politics/violence/and a 2 year drought. Anyways, you go off the tarmac road for a good while and then you see a tree with a little white line. This, as our driver told me, marks where Karamoja land begins! And sure enough, the land changed! The grass was wild, you could see forever over the fields, and there was little to no buildings. Because the area is historically nomadic, and the environment is semi-arid, there is minimal agriculture. Although this is the dry season (until March) the region has been experiencing weather changes. It rained all of last week! This has quite serious implications for the primary mode of transportation for goods-vehicles! Because the roads were bad, there were a lot of buses with travelers from Kampala or elsewhere and lorries with goods getting stuck. Luckily we outmaneuvered in the land cruiser, but it highlighted to me one of the main challenges I will face this year while living in the region--lack of easy access to goods and travel! Slowly but surely as each Uganda town became a distant fleck in our rearview mirror I would make a mental checklist of what was no longer available: there goes toilet paper, last stop for chocolate, gas for the stove cooker is 5 hours away, last junction for maize, few cold sodas from here. You get the idea. The downside of a long drive is the slow realization that with each wheel rotation, I am inching towards  no-man's land.

But, of course, there are people in Moroto! And, as I learned over the week, there are some small markets (perhaps I will take a camera one day- but it feels voyeuristic for now) and ways that people are eeking out a life in this hard land. My house is nice. Very spacious, and I like the landlord and her family. She is single, and her and her brothers run the place. Together they have 15 dependents they are responsible for their care and schooling. The first 4 days there was no electricity or bulbs. Now they have brought my bulbs (stuck in the rains from Kampala) and I have solar energy and sometimes from 7-9 pm the government energy.

As for food, I have a gas stove I was encouraged to buy. It has helped immensely!! But I had to get over my fear of a giant tank of gas in my storage room (and also bouncing along the dirt roads for 4 hours!)

The tough(est?) part has been the lack of internet- which hopefully is a bit better now that we are sharing an office that has wi-fi! However, the phones and our remote internet barely work. So, skyping and chatting has been difficult.

More from me later. . . I have to take a lunch break :) I am trying to pretend that I am excited about the pumpkin and beans I made last night . . .

Rain storm in the distance

There are more mountains where I am living, but this is the entrance to Karamoja