First arrival of sports bras and a little bit of goat race fun

Got the first donation of sports bras from Tricia Bruno.. she sent 9 sports bras via regular post and they arrived here in time for me to give them to my friend and to hear her girls reactions before i go. The text i got from Megan when she returned to her village is as follows:

I just showed the women the sports bras + they ran around holding their boobs showing me how "tight" their boobs would b. VERY exciting! Thnx so much!

Cross cultural exchange. youve got to love it.

Yesterday, August 30th was the annual goat races in Kampala, a massive event that apparently is "the social event of the year" in Uganda. It was a massive day bender, and heaps of fun. A bunch of us from jinja went in, all dressed up, prom dresses, ties, and fancy hats to experiance the debauchery. A lot of the major corperations in Uganda hire out tents, where they supply free booze, and food to advertise. Davey managed to get us tickets to the crane bank tent, one of the main tents, and we had a great day. Annie and some others bet on the goats- which, apparently, are often more interested in shagging then racing. Experianced betters will tell you to bet on the female goats, as they run away from the males, while the males run towards the females. To ensure that the heats happen promptly, there is a tractor padded with mattresses to push the goats around the track towards the finish line. Amazing.

Dress is taken seriously- enough so that there are prizes awarded to best dressed male, female, couple and child. I wore a blue sequined knee length promdress, made circa 1989-1993- a priceless Jinja market find. I didnt win any prizes, but i did end up on stage at one point, presenting an award in honor of ATV, the establishment where i live, to the best dressed child at the races, and then apparently ended up on Uganda TV while presenting. Who knew?
At any rate, it was a great day, and another great Ugandan experiance. I will try and grab some pictures from annie, and will be sure to post heaps of photos once i return to the land of fast internet.. so stay posted.
cheers!

Sports Bras Mailing address.

Here is a mailing address for some sports bras: Sorry this took so long, but Megan was in the states for a friends wedding. Popular time of year for weddings..

Mail To:

Megan Hatch
PO Box 191
Lugazi Uganda

Regular post is fine, DHL or Fedex will all get there.

just dontated two myself as i try and clean out my uganda closet.
cheers.

ditherings

The closer i get to leaving, the more i try and ignore it. After a good days trip on the day 2 section yesterday, we had a sunset truckride back to Bujagali, about an hour and half drivefrom the Hairy Lemon, our take out point. There was a storm coming in north, and we were headed south west, so we experianced a beautiful sunset. The sun was setting- sending warm orangey pink higlights into the clouds which were a darker, stromy grey, and were being backlit by storm coming in. the contrast of all the colors, along with the shape and density of clouds, was incredible. It was one of those moments where you feel completley at peace, or content. The blue, battered truck, the bumpy, rutted dirt road, and the shouts of the kids shouting "jambo!" as you try and duck your head from the wind. It just made me realize all over again how beautiful this country is. At that moment, i didnt want to leave.

I am trying to get ready to leave - even though none of my friends here or at home fully believe me. I dont fully beleive myself. Even so, im getting more and more excited about my next adventure- nepal.

ive been emailing with a bunch of the kiwi girls and with Inka, the projets founder, and have been trying to upload airline web pages to look at flights- with some difficulty i might add. I keep trying to upload photos, managed to get a few onto wills blog the other night, after trying for 3.5 hours. (thank you davey, for the use of your office and internet)- small things that will change very soon. For nepal, im trying to prep for the cold weather (mentally- that is) and have been going over my raft guiding skills and river safety skills that might come in handy. When i get home i might even try to start to collect some gear donations, so if anyone has excess kayak gear in small sizes- give a shout.

Its funny the direction my life has gone. I came out here to volunteer, and see if i was interested in public health, but seem to have taken a bit of a detour. Kayaking and white water have long been interests of mine, but the prominence they have taken in my life over the past few years astounds me. I also can't believe how much my blog has disintegrated into personal ditherings about my daily life, when i promise that wasnt my orignial intention. The dissapearance as well of soft power and malaria musings reflect the changes in my life, but i will do my best to put up some final updates on Annie and her volunteers.

Forgot to mention as well that KayakCruises, jamie and jareds new sit on top company has been doing really well- ill write more on that later as it provides a great alternative out here to the "hardcore" rafting or kayaking. Jamie is also looking into opening up a KayakZanzibar branch of KTN- which i have to admite im excited for. Yes i will come back and work- please!!!

about all for now, more later.

wrapping things up

Sitting and watching the olympics on davey's new flat screen tv- pretty exciting, nice to be getting back in touch with the real world, and getting ready to move on to the next phase in my life. Will, Sam and Jared have all left for Zambia for sam's Love it Live it Zambezi trip, and things are generally starting to peter out here. reasonably busy for work, so i cant complain too much. Ive been fortunate enough to work with a lot of lady kayakers lately, and it has been a big change of pace. Women definatley learn a little differently, and carry a different set of problems and baggage when it comes to boating, esp. on new rivers or with men, particularly boyfriends. Its been educational for me as a coach, and as a female boater. Ut has been a lot of fun though- so if you are working and having fun you cant complain too much.

Shirray, my landlady and owner of ATadventures uganda went away for the week, leaving annie house sitting and her new puppy, a sweet little rottweiler named betty, to play with. We got to cook tons of food- delicious, and so nice to not eat fried food. Again- transitioning back into the real world where i don't live inside a bar. Trying to upload a photo of the puppy... see if it works.

had a good birthday, just chilled out and hung out with annie and davey. found out that georgie, my boss' girlfriend shares my birthday, so had a little celebration with her in the bar as well.
thanks for the bday wishes, for those who wished, and i will see you all shockingly soon. cant say i know where this year went, but time flies when you are having fun.

Things i probably should mention

First off- just wanted to say thank you for the comments i recieved on my last blog posting- they meant a lot to me. I have to admit that this technology thing never ceases to amaze me. I also have to admit that sometimes i am really impressed when i found out that people actually read my blog. Who knew?


At any rate.. i realized that i forgot to mention there was a 5 minute radio piece on NPR the other month about Soft Power Health. I know some of you heard it, but for those who didn't here is the link, should you be interested.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92705089

i havent heard it myself yet, (slow internet), but have been told it is interesting. The piece is the result of a journalist Stepfanie Jackman (i believe) who was out here in March for 5 days, interviewing jessie, annie, morgan and myself, as well as volunteering.

Second thing to mention- check out Will Clarks blog- http://www.thenileprogression.blogspot.com/ - Will is one of three of my friends here in Uganda who have invested in the Sipi River Lodge, up in Sipi Falls, in Eastern Uganda. The boys have put a ton of work into the place, and it looks amazing. I just got back from a two day stint up there- very enjoyable. I believe Will has posted some photos and updates from the lodge, so check them out.

Third- My friend Sam Ward has completed two Love it Live it trips in Uganda thus far- with great success. The second trip was so successful that two of his clients extended their tickets and decided to stay longer in Uganda, thanks to a lot of fun and hard work and a new found confidence on the river. Sam and Will leave next wednesday for another trip down to the Zambeizi- lots of excitement there- and will run another trip or two in uganda in september- for anyone who is interested. Check out sams blog, http://www.loveitlivenews.blogspot.com/ for more updates and information there. I have to say, the trips look like great fun, and both boys are incredible coaches, and i hope to work with them at somepoint in the future.

If anyone would be interested in a future ladies who love it live it trip- here in uganda or else where- please let me know!

thats about all for now..

take care, and ill see you in a month!

Re:jokes in poor humour

I have decided to delete my last blog post "jokes in poor humour" after some further discussion and due to various responses i have recieved.

I do wish to say however, to those who read the post, that its intentions were in no way meant to be racist in tone, or to express a racist view- but mearly to express the difficulties of living in working in a culture that is not your own. It was also meant to discuss the diffulties of finding and communticating with staff you can trust- a challenge to any employer anywhere in the world i am sure.

For those of you who have followed my blog from the beginning, it was also meant to express the changing perspectives i myself have experianced- from tourist, or even idealisistic volunteer, to working and living here for an extended period of time. I am sure you have all noted changes in tone in my posts over the past 10 months, something to be expected, perhaps.

Of the many trials and tribulations of living and working and volunteering, or visiting in the bujagali area, one of the most common frusterations i have found, both personally and lisiting to the experiances of others, is the sentiment that one is being taken advantage of, often by someone ( a local) who you feel as whom you have gotten to know, or have established a relationship with. The post was addressing certain recent issues out here, and the overwhelming feeling of being taken advantage of by those you begin to trust.

For anyone i offended, i am truely sorry. The post was poorly expressed in that it merited an explaination. I in no way intended to generalize my experiances in one area for those of the entirety of uganda. That said, the views expressed, however poorly, should in no way be taken to represent the thoughts or digressions of anyone but myself.

cheers.