Pictures around the Tea Estate

I am currently in Fort Portal. I was able to visit with a few of my fellow volunteers last night and decided as a much deserved break, I would stay the weekend in a proper hotel. Hot showers!!! I feel like a new person this morning. The hotel also has an amazing restaurant with fabulous food, even pizza and ice cream. I just may survive the full 27 months if I am able to give myself a hotel weekend every other month or so. 

Plus they have free wi-fi and it is strong enough for me to use my computer to update my blog. On the tea estate, for some reason, I can get on the internet using the apps on my iPhone, but I cannot actually open a web page or connect to the internet with my computer. Thank goodness the apps work because that is how I am able to receive and send emails and use the WhatsApp app to text my family and friends (those of you that don't yet use WhatsApp and have a smart phone, get the app and add my Ugandan number to your contacts +256 0780 235 981 and we can text using data, not airtime, its free as long as you are connected to wi-fi on your phone). Anyway, that also means the last few posts on my blog have been done from my iPhone, and typing full stories on an iPhone requires a lot of patience. This morning I am happily typing on a full keypad so I thought I would catch up on some photos that were taken with an actual camera and uploaded to my computer (another drawback of using the app on the iPhone is I can only post pictures taken with my iPhone, and I'm still working with the iPhone 4... I'm way behind the technology and the iPhone 4 camera is not the best.

This is the clinic. I think I will do very little work here, or I hope I will do very little work here. Truthfully, the nurses do a wonderful job with the resources available to them and they don't much need my help. With the language barrier, I think I create more work for them then I could possible do good. I tried to give a health talk on the female reproductive system this past Saturday and it took my interpreter and two nurses to convey what I was saying. My interpreter is just a 21 year old girl whose first language is Richiga, not Rotooro, so much gets lost in translation. One of the nurses who tried to help is from the east and speaks Teso, but she is much older so did a little better than my interpreter. Unfortunately, the audience was still confused. Finally, a second nurse happened by and pretty much took over the presentation. See what I mean, what work can I actually do here! I think one of the issues Ugandans face in the challenge of development is not having a universal language. I quick internet search tells me there are 41 languages spoken in this country. Crazy!

This is where I hope to do the majority of my work, in the labor camps. The tea estate houses approximately 4000 people (1000 employees and their families). As you can see in this picture, there are a lot of kids, and there are kids caring for kids while the parents work in the tea fields all day. I count one adult, six children, and two babies in this shot. And there were many more children running out of the scene when I took out my camera; most people here do not want there picture taken. I can hardly blame them, their living conditions are harsh. Their homes are crowded, they average four people to a room, and there is no electricity or running water. They have outdoor kitchens, pit latrines, and cement rooms for bucket bathing. Campsites in America would seem like luxury accommodations compared to the facilities here. 

Here you can see the layout of the camp, the sleeping quarters are to the left and the kitchen to the right. The latrines and bath houses are behind the kitchen. People have to carry water in jerry cans from a tap in the center of the camp. The estate employees are actually considered better off than many villagers because the company does pump in water. Outside of the estate people may have to walk quite a distance to a well or may rely on rain water. Sanitation is a definite issue that I hope to work on. Malnutrition is another issue. The clinic wants to establish kitchen gardens and cooking classes in the villages to encourage better feeding practices. 

The kids just break your heart. Most do not go to school, are poorly dressed and do not wear shoes, are chronically ill, and eat only portage and potatoes. I haven't seen inside the sleeping quarters yet, but maybe I don't want to. The estate has "peer educators" that live in the camps, so I hope to partner with them to encourage better child care practices. Right now they all look at me as a source of money and I am trying to convince them that the Peace Corps is not charity. It is an organization that teaches people how to help themselves, to better their own lives and stop the reliance on hand outs which leads to the perpetual cycle of poverty. Decades of international aid sent to Africa proves that charity will never solve poverty. The old saying about teaching a man to fish is so true, but they are not hearing me yet. They just want money and who can blame them. 

I must sign off and start my day. Let me try to end on a positive note... in my own home garden I have green beans and spinach spouting! If I can grow them, I should be able to teach these guys to grow them. Then we can have cooking classes and see how many Ugandans will actually eat them. There's not much in the way of spices out here, and no butter, so... ops, stay positive, they will love them!

An Introduction

Last weekend I was invited to the Introduction ceremony of the tea estate's IT Manager to one of the women from the factory's tasting room. This is not an "introduction" in its literal meaning. This is a traditional Ugandan ceremony that joins a couple in matrimony. It is legally binding and the two live as man and wife after the ceremony. Many couples here also have a church wedding, but that could take place years following their introduction. For this couple, their wedding is scheduled for next June. 

The event was quite elaborate with traditional costumes, dances, and rituals. Of course the entire ceremony was spoken in Rotooro so I didn't understand any of it. The group I went with kept me up to speed for the most part, but really, it was like listening to the Peanut's adults talk for six hours. Yes, six hours! I've discovered that one of the things Ugandan love to do is talk. Oh boy, give them a microphone and they will talk and talk and talk. 

The original intent of the ceremony was the introduction of the man to the girl's family to negotiate a price for the hand of the daughter. Usually there were livestock  offered along with a sum of money. In more affluent families I suspect this is all for show and good fun; "you are worth three cows, my dear". The sad truth, so I've been told, is that some girls are married off against their will for financial gain. This is usually a young girl to an older man and it is not due to greediness of the girl's family, but due to desperation. Thankfully the ceremony I witnessed was not such a case. 

In the first part of the ceremony, a group of young girls were paraded out so the groom, best man, and the men of the groom's family could "look" for the bride. The looking entailed the men walking by each if the girls and shaking their heads to say she was not the one. Then they gave them little gifts and sent them away. Obviously the bride was not among those girls. 

Then another group of girls, these ones a bit older, were paraded out. Again the groom and his party "looked" for his intended bride. She was not in this group either so gifts were given out and the girls were sent away. 

Finally the bridal party was paraded out and the groom identified his choice. Gifts were given and everyone danced. 

These professions dancers absolutely amazed me. It was a wonder how they kept their hips moving so their grass/fur wraps kept movement to the beat if the music. 

After the entertainment came lunch and then the bridal party returned wearing their wedding costumes. 

The men did a crazy half dance/half march toward the women. The groom was the one with flowers on his lapel, walking right behind the closest man wearing a gown. I beleive that man was the groom's father because was the one that did all of the talking during the negotiation part if the ceremony. 

Here come the men dancing up to the women. There were more speeches and then papers to sign. Then the happy couple cut the cake and everyone brought up gifts. 

And that, my friends, is a Ugandan Introduction. 

Home from Training

I've just returned from two weeks of  training in Entebbe with the other volunteers from my cohort. It was good to see everyone and for the most part, they all seem happy with their sites. The training was good, mostly relevant for what I'll be doing over the next 22 months, but tonight, I'm happy to be home. Well, happy to be back at my home-away-from-home, home. 

Here is a picture of a typical road in Kampala, taken from the window of a bus. It took us nearly two hours just to get out of the city. I will never get used to Kampala and will try my hardest to stay away from there for the remainder of my stay in Uganda. Unfortunately, all roads lead to Kampala so to get anywhere in this country you must pass through the city center. Nothing bypasses the city. That's means you have to take a bus or a taxi into the city, change buses or taxies, or figure out how change from bus to taxi or taxi to bus, then fight your way back out of the city. And remember, a taxi in Uganda is a mini van stuffed to the gills with people, luggage, sacs of potatoes, chickens, etcetera... not a comfy sedan all to yourself. And it has a route it sticks to, so you may be walking the final stretch to get to your destination. 

Today, I actually had a hassle free commute. I took a taxi from Entebbe where our training was held to Kampale, then a quick walk from where the taxi dropped me off to the bus park, bussed it five hours to Rogumbe, then hung out for about an hour for a driver from the tea estate to pick me up. Rogumbe to home was about a 45-minute drive and the driver brought me right to me door. Ah, such luxury! All told, nine hours and I'm back in my comfy little cottage surrounded by tea fields. 

I promised you a picture of the butcher, here it is. I took this while I was waiting for the estate's driver to pick me up in Rogumbe. I'm not exaggerating, the carcasses are just hung outside, apparently no covering or refrigeration is needed. I have no intention of buying meat over here. I have eaten it when someone else has prepared it, like at training venues or in restaurants, and I haven't gotten sick, but I won't buy and cook it for myself. Not doing the chicken either because they don't come pre-plucked! Sounds like I'll be doing lots of beans or egg dishes for my dinners.