Ugan.DO.something

Friday, August 1, 2008

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.

Monday, July 14, 2008

got a bra?

howz it guys? As they often say here. Not too much to report here, and i have been relatively unsucessful interms of uploading photos, it does get a bit harder when you dont have immediate computer access... but i will do my best in the coming week. Ive been working heaps, and am definatley feeling the physical consequences! 14 days straight in a kayak, for a full day, 11 of those days were me working and teaching. Its hard work- not that i am complaining. I even got to go down to the hairy lemon for the first time in ages, tagging along to Sam Ward's Love it Live it trip. Ive gotten to shadow will and sam a bit on their coaching missions and discussions and have been learning heaps... unfortunatley ive been a bit too tired and sore to motivate and go try some stuff out on my own time. lazy lazy, thats me.
My friend Sopey from North Country Rivers made it out here, and he has been having a great time- has made friends, is loving the river, the lifestyle, really everything about here. We might have another convert. They really should put a warning label on this place : "dont come unless you have concrete plans to leave, or unless you never plan to leave at all." Im not quite sure which category i fit into yet. Though i am definatley having a hard time imagining leaving for real. More and more, it feels like i am going back to the states for a break, to pick up some stuff, and then ultimately return and continue my life here, at least for a few more months. There are tons of stuff i miss about the states, like trashy tv shows--- which i cant wait to catch up on- and food and friends- but the idea of the "real world" remains a bit daunting. (i.e- the world in which i have a job that doesnt require board shorts and a bikini)

ive been looking at a lot of options for this coming year, and nothing is certain as of yet. A friend of mine from out here is starting this mission called Nepali girls kayak, and is designed to get a bunch of female and other boaters out to nepal to teach the local girls how to kayak so they too can work for the rafting companies and everything else there- which of course i would love to be a part of. Check out her project- it http://www.nepaligirlskayak.blogspot.com/ and let me and her know what you think of it all.

also- a friend of mine out here- Megan Hatch, a peace corps volunteer- has started organizing womens sports out in her village of kitoola- about an hour or two away from bujagali. She has been looking to collect womens sporting equipment- notably sports bras- that is hard to get out here. As the women say when they play soccer, or go for a run with her- "megany, the breasts, they hurt!" So put some feelers out there, and if anyone you know has some old sports bras or trainers - whoops- sorry sneakers- that they would be willing to donate, please let me know!

Thanks guys...
hope all is well in the states, more later..
a

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

So i have officially moved back up to Bujagali- the past two months have seen a lot of packing and unpacking to be sure! From the banda i shared with morgan to rwanda, and sipi and back, to the guide banda at NRE, to another room in that banda because they were thatching the roof, to Town, and finally, back up here. I am now living in a little loft room at All Terrain Cafe, just across the street from the campsite. It is brutally hot during the day, but seeing as i am not usually there, it doesnt bother me. I have a double med (muzungatu) and another bed, for "spendovers" in the words of kristin luber, a table, a chair and a load of shelves. i even splurged and bought an electric kettle for wehn there is power. its perfect for what i need. It is certainly less stressful to be up here, and less of a pain to be hanging around both at night and during the day when im not working.

Annie is back, don't know if i specified before, and she has brought with her (along with instant oatmeal and green tea (food craveings) an addiction to the TV show Gossip Girl which i am all to happy to indulge her by watching as well. The show is based around a ficticious blog, "Gossip Girl" that details the lifes of manhattans elite, upper east side teenagers at posh private schools and their imperfect lives. (great trashy tv show, sometimes i drool over the clothes and the utter impracticality of the lifestyle- made both more and less evident by living here) What i mean by more and less evident is the lesiure lifestyle that i have mentioned previously. Annie and I always get a kick by refering to our "people"- the lady that does our laundry, or cleans our homes, our drivers, etc... Its not manhattans upper east side, but its not bad either. Then again, there is no place for Manolos and designer clothes out here, even though you can sometimes find them in the markets.

I was walking around Jinja yesterday, getting some things in the market and i was struck by how different this experiance has been to my last experiance in Africa, when i studdied abroad in Cameroon, west Africa. In Cameroon, i was shuttled around with a group of 14 other american students, of mixed race and origin, but all having a similar backround and experiance. Despite this buffer, and the protection of the program- staying in fancy hotels, getting special treatment- i cant help but feel that i did more then to fully "experiance" the place. Every experiance was new, and good or bad, it was discussed endlessly in class sessions, casual conversation, and class journals. Whats more is that we were living in host familys, forced into Cameroonian culture in a way that i have avoided here by living all the various places (mzungu compounds, of sorts) that i have. While i have made friends here, i havent interacted with the locals in the same way i imagined i had in Cameroon. Granted, Cameroon wasnt always sunshine. I had one hostfamily i couldn't stand- where my host father stole my cellphone, and put me under house arrest for my first weekend. Ah, memories.

Despite this, i cannot deny that i fully live in Uganda, that i have built a life here. I have a job, friends, a home- everything that my friends in the states have in their real world jobs. I am fully functioning here, running around the markets to buy a new handle for a broken toilet, or a metal chest, bargaining for prices while market shopping for new clothes that i really dont need. All these experiances are the same as those i had in CMR, yet feel so vastly different here. Maybe becuause i have gotten used to them, maybe because everything in CMR was conducted in french, which exotified the experiance. who knows.

At anyrate, things are going well, loving my new home though ive only spent one night there thus far, and i am excited to say that my friend Soapy (from North Country Rivers, the rafting company in maine i worked for) comes out to visit in two weeks.
more updates, and hopefully pictures to follow..
a