Kyarusozi

Here are a few pictures from Kyarusozi, a trading center right outside of the gates to the tea estate. Every Friday is market day so this is where I will go for my produce each week. This area is also where three of the four schools that I will teach at are located (the fourth one is located on the tea estate). Today I went to talk with the head teacher of one of the primary schools. I took these two pictures on my walk home from the school. All of the schools I have visited have been very welcoming; free help, why wouldn't they be. Hopefully I will start health classes with their students next semester. 

As you can see from the picture, it is not much of a town. Well, it is not a town so I've been told many times, it is called a trading center. The people who live here are very poor and are only able to sustain themselves by selling products and services to the workers from the tea estate. There are a few shops, a tailor, a beauty salon, a bike repair shop, but not much else. So far I have not found any restaurants, just guys making rolex (chapati with fried egg) and mondazi (fried dough) on the side if the road. It seems that most weeks I will be able to ride with the clinic car into Fort Portal to do some shopping and get my fill of muzungu food. I think I am too spoiled to make due with the few items I can find here. 

In this picture, the venders have started to set up for market day. I tried to get a picture of the butcher but he wanted me to pay him for his picture. He was quite rude about it, a grumpy old man, so I kept walking. He probably took one look at me and knew I was not going to buy any if his dusty fly covered meat anyway. Therefore, he was not willing to humour me with a picture. Oh well, I'd rather make friends with the ladies who sell pineapples and bananas. 

Honestly, these people here are a bit intimidating. Most do not speak English and when I try to communicate, it seems as if they are yelling at me. The Rotooro language sounds harsh to my ears - rapid sharp notes - and they talk loud and forcefully. The majority of the venders are not what you would call soft-spoken. Ha, I guess a soft spoken vender would not make many sales and would soon be out of business. 

Another thing that I find intimidating is the bargaining. I hate it. I want an item to have a price tag and I will pay that price. If I think it is too expensive, I simply leave it on the shelf. Here you ask the price, "sente zingaha?" And whatever they tell you, offer them half. Then you argue for about 15 minutes, then you pay something inbetween the two initial offers. Or if you are me, you pay way more than should have and walk away knowing that you have been cheated. I know they are fighting to survive so I will try not to get too upset. After all, I can afford their hiked up prices, and if it's too crazy, I can just walk away. Chances are I didn't need the item that badly anyway. 

I'm sure you can tell, I'm not impressed with Kyarusozi! Oh well, tomorrow I leave for two weeks of training with the other 45 volunteers at a training center near Kampala. It will be good to see the other volunteers again and compare stories about our sites. I'm sure some have nicer surroundings than I do, but many will have much worse. Kyarusozi may not be much to look at but the tea estate is awesome!

Omuceeri n Ebihimba

You know you're a city girl when you buy fresh beans at the market and are surprised to find that two days later, they have sprouted!

Eck, now what do I do with them? In the states, I always bought canned beans and they never grew tails! A quick internet search taught me that you can still cook them and they may actually be better for you than dried beans. They are easier on the digestive system in this form since the complex sugars have begun to break down during the sprouting process. I also learned that sprouted beans have an increased protein content and a decreased carbohydrate content. This is great news for me since I will be eating mostly vegetarian during my stay here; I can't stand the open air butchers with their slabs of meat hanging in dirty wooden shacks on the side of the road. I'll get a picture soon, you just won't believe it. They even leave the tails with fur on the body to prove what type of animal you are getting. I prefer my meat neatly trimmed and wrapped in cellophane, thank you (that was the city girl talking again). 

Back to my accidentally sprouted beans; I made the best beans I have tasted, ever! I ate two bowls, they were so good. I'll give you my recipe, but it really isn't a recipe because I do not have measuring cups or spoons here, I just added things and did lots of taste tests during the cooking process.

 

Ingredients:

-cooking oil

-garlic

-red onions

-carrots

-hot red chilly pepper

-tomato paste

-beef seasoning/bouillon 

-sprouted beans

-salt and pepper

Heat cooking oil in large pan (maybe 2 tbsp). Add garlic (minced, I used a whole head because I love garlic) and onions (finely diced, here they grow tiny red ones, not much bigger than the garlic, I used about twice as much onion as garlic). Sauté that a few minutes. Add carrot (two small ones, finely diced). Sauté a few more minutes. Add tomato paste (one small can), beef seasoning, and water (sorry, no measurements, I just kept adding till it looked right). Bring to a simmer then add the sprouted beans. Add enough water to completely cover beans. Bring to a boil then simmer for an hour or two, until the beans are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. As I was making mine, it tasted a bit bland so I got a red chilly pepper from the garden next door, with permission of course. I don't really know what kind of pepper it was, but it was hot. One tiny pepper, seeded and minced, for the entire pot of beans was perfect. Red pepper flakes or ground Cheyenne pepper would work the same I suppose, depending on how spicy you like your food. Serve over rice. 

Whala. You have omuceeri n ebihimba (rice and beans, Ugandan style). 

My House

Finally, I have moved into the house I will call home for the next 23 months. I absolutely love it. I've lucked into much better accommodations than most of the volunteers. I have electricity and running water, though both have gone out numerous times during my first three days. I don't have hot water so I have been boiling water for bathing; I much prefer hot bucket baths to cold showers. I am blessed beyond belief to have a gas stove and oven, I can bake bread and cookies and casseroles! And, wait for it... I have a frig with freezer!!!! It's a tiny college dormroom type frig with freezer, but I'm thrilled I can buy dairy products and make ice cubes. Hahaha, it's the little things in life, can you image giving up your frig in the States!?

Here is the before picture. I was a bit miffed when I first saw it, but that's how the locals live. Can you see the little girl on the left? She lives on the other side of the duplex with her mom and two brothers. Cute kids. The mom is the worker at the executive guest house that is next door. She is very nice and I think will be a big help in getting me adjusted to my new surroundings. 

Here is my house now. Nice, huh? I'll take beautiful glass windows over wooden shutters any day, even though I ended up spending most of my moving in allowance on curtains. The workers even put up a bamboo fence to keep the kids out. The fence is still only half finished... may take another month for that to be done at the rate these guys work. Before and after pictures of the yard  will come later. Right now it is all dirt but I plan to grow my own vegetables and maybe put some flowers around the porch. It will be awesome. 

Here is the view from the front door. As you can see, I still need furniture, but I have enough to be comfortable. I don't have a before picture of the interior. Essentially it was empty, they completely built the kitchen from scratch, and of course the windows weren't there, the floor was torn up, and the ceiling had water damage; it was vacant for years and just left to rot. Anyway, all better now. The bathroom is the door on the left (yes, western style toilet, no pit latrine for me) and the bedroom is on the right. There are actually two bedrooms on the right, so guests are welcome. I was able to get beds, now I just need a table and maybe some better chairs for the living room. Oh yeah, and a rug, cement floors are cold... I still cannot believe how cold it gets here. We've entered rainy season so it's damp and chilly. I'm told it will stay that way until January so I must invest in blankets and socks. 

This awesome tree behind my house is home to a family of owls. How lucky am I, lizards and owls and tons and tons of birds. 

Now I guess I need to get to work, start earning my keep around here. I still have not started any projects. I can't figure out how to get the ball rolling and the culture seems to be very non-confrontational. Nobody has asked me to do anything yet (none of the Ugandans that is, Peace Corps staff is a different story) and I get the impression that I could easily let two years slip by without making any significant impact. I need to get aggressive about doing something that qualifies as supporting Peace Corps goals. 

Save that for another day though, right now I think I'll take a stroll through the tea fields, look at the birds, and greet some locals in Rotooro... because greetings are all I know, my language skills are bad! After the "hi, how are ya", I keep walking. 

Strange Critters

Check out these guys... we have birds, moths, and lizards in the States, but not like these!

These storks are lovingly referred to as trash birds. And by the way, Uganda does not hide it's trash, huge piles like this one are everywhere. 

Best looking moth I've run into yet!

Sorry this one is a bit out of focus, but my iPhone camera does not do well when I try to zoom. This lizard lives in the tree in front of my house. I've seen him several times. I just love his colors, teal head, brown body, and a tan and blue tail. How strange. I'll try to get a better close up when I have time to just sit under the tree with my phone/camera at the ready. I know lizards eat bugs, but I wonder if he would like a banana... I could try to make friends :)

Ndali Lodge and Crater Lake

During Welcone Weekend (seasoned volunteers welcome new volunteers with a weekend party), a group of us went to Ndali Lodge for an afternoon of relaxation. The lodge overlooks one of the many crater lakes in the western region of Uganda. It was beautiful, but way out of budget on a volunteer's salary! Thankfully the owners do not mind day visitors, especially the ones that purchase drinks from the bar during their stay. I tried a rum drink made with hybiscus nectar, orange bitters, and soda water called a Pink Sparkler. Wow, it was awesome, I wonder if we can find hybiscus nectar in the states?

Ndali Lodge, Fort Portal, Uganda

A crater lake. I'm not sure how many are in the area, from what I gather, many. It was nice to look at, but the banks were too steep for me to get down to the water's edge. I guess that's just how it is when a crater fills up with water!

PCVs settling into the deck that overlooks the lake. I could have spent an entire afternoon up there sipping rum drinks. 

Some volunteers did venture down to the lake, but the path was too steep for me. My fear of heights is getting worse as I get older. If there is no railing, I'm not going. The picture really does not do the trail justice... it was steep! I was much happier on level ground admiring the gardens around the lodge. 

Ha, reminds me of FL. This picture could have been taken in Dad's yard. 

My Rotooro language group, minus Coy, who was there, not sure why he missed the picture, maybe he was sleeping off some of the previous night's festivities... good times had by all :)

More Pictures

I may have this internet challenge under control. Apparently, apps on my iPhone work even though the connection is too weak to open a web page. I happen to have an app for Google Blogger! Unfortunely, this means that I can only upload pictures that I have taken with my iPhone and cannot share pictures taken with my camera that have been saved to my computer. I'm a bit upset that I can't use my new MacBook and am relying my four-year-old iPhone, but oh well. Keep fingers crossed the iPhone lasts 23 more months!

So, more pictures!

This is Dokas on the left and Teddy on the right. Dokas is the one stuffing me full of fats and starches at the guest house. Of course she is naturally very thin and does not understand my life-long battle with weight. Also, to add to the misunderstanding, Ugandan view overweight people as attractive because they think it is a sign of health and wealth. If someone here says you are fat, they are complimenting you! The other lady, Teddy, is my language tutor and translator. She is 21 years old, finished school through level Senior 4 (10th grade), and has no prior experience with language instruction or translation. She just happens to be the sister of one of the clinic staff and knows fairly good English. Fairly good... I still have to speak very slow and in simple terms to be understood, so wish me luck! I really miss talking at a normal pace and being easily understood. 

These are two girls from the nearest village, Kyarusozi. Every time they see me they run at me full speed yelling "muzungu, muzungu, muzungu".  They are very cute. I'm not sure why they get so excited to see me. I think maybe they are hoping for candy or money; people here seem to think all muzungus (white people) give away money. I can only assume these kids have been taught that by their patents. I suppose most charity organization do give money to churches or communities, but the PC is not charity. We are here to teach them how to help themselves. I haven't given these children  anything yet but they still run to me and want to hold my hand. 

Well, I hope I can do something to help this village as a volunteer. Kyarusozi is what they call a trading center, not really a village and certainly not a town. They have a market every Friday, and there are a few shops, schools, and churches, but that's it. Overall, the people around here are terribly poor and they live in unsanitary conditions. The tea farmers are rich in comparison because at least they have a steady paycheck every other Friday, which, by the way, they spend on booze and women in Kyarusozi. 

Side note - I think I accidentally volunteered to teach an empowerment/esteem class to sex workers next month. PC research reveals that prostitudes are pressured (offered more money) to have sex without condoms. They seemed to think I could give a good talk on not compromising your health for a few extra shillings per trick. Me? Huh? I guess if we can't convince them to not be hookers, the least we can do is convince them to use a condom every time. I'll let you know how that goes!!!

That's all the pictures I have on my phone, the others I wanted to share are on my computer. At least I now know I can post whenever I pick up the wi-fi on my phone. 

Mwikara kurungi banywani bange!

(Stay well my friends)

Pictures

Yeah, I may have found a way to upload pictures! Here is the baboon I was talking about. Stay turned for more pictures if this post actually uploads properly.