Final Days

Saturday was a perfect weekend day (beyond starting with wireless out across the whole city). Natasha took Aileen, Liz and I to ABC (African Bagel Company) for bagels and it was owned by and frequented by muzngus galore! It is a very different version of African expat reality. The people there were locals, but not just the 20 something youngsters like myself, there were also entire families of blonde headed kids running about in the grassy area. They also had a quilting co-op on the premises (apparently only happens once a month) and donuts since it was a Saturday. The place was nicely enclosed so that it was fine for the kids to run and play without much supervision (which must be 24/7 otherwise here), and a bit further from where we lived than I had expected. The bagels were good, but I am looking forward to my Bodo’s bagels again back in Charlottesville! It was also nice to get some real butter for a change (the just have a soft butter mostly). The rest of the afternoon was spent hunting for wireless beginning my own packing process and mostly being overly warm. The weather since returning to Kigali has been surprisingly overcast, but very warm overall. That afternoon at Bourbon Café the wind picked-up and made our tea tend to thicken on top and we actually got chilly enough we regretted putting on sunscreen rather than sweaters!

After heading home for sweaters and showers, we ate dinner near the house at Mr. Chips who is well known among the expats for its garlic mayo to eat the chips (French fries) with. We all enjoyed the early dinner and continued our packing afterwards. The evening consisted of some rather dull work of typing up to do lists of people, knowledge and things we need to get to the new staff before we rotate out and hit the books back at school! The more we can leave in their hands with solid directions, the better!

Sunday was utterly lazy, blogging and making pasta at home for lunch our only real outing was tea in the afternoon. I went through the Uganda guidebook with Liz to tell her about Kampala and Mbale since that will become her ‘hub’, and I figured learning how to get to and from Rwanda would also be of interest to her! Sasha will go with her initially, but once she is on her own, hopefully some of the chicken scratch will become clearer and help her not feel too overwhelmed with how large Kampala is! Mbale is manageable, and she will get that down relatively quickly, but Kampala is another story of intimidation. Then for Natasha's last dinner with us, we went to Special Michopo for some goat and potatoes deliciousness!

The rest of the week has been a bit slow. Mostly this is because Natasha left on Monday, but also because after leaving Musanze there hasn’t been a lot that I have needed to do. After my wrap-up meetings, Natasha took the team (Aileen, Liz and I) to Cocoki sewing co-op where we saw many of the ladies at work and bought a thing or two from them. I headed into town afterwards to exchange some money for the remaining days and then went back home to eat Mama Jean’s for lunch with Natasha for her last meal. An 8 o’clock flight is not particularly conducive to eating dinner, so the late lunch served as both for Natasha. She left about 5:30, and that left just one last intern- me. I did some work as follow-up to my morning operational meetings and spent the rest of the evening laying low and eating left-over pesto pasta (which luckily isn’t too hard to reheat in a skillet)! I think with all the long drawn-out goodbyes, people are tired of them and ready to settle back in, but I’m feel a bit in limbo- I seem to be done here and not ready for there (aka school to start up again).

Tuesday morning was full of the last of my passion fruit, so it was of course a market day. Prior to the market, I went to MTN center (view below) with Aileen to do some follow-up work and try to get a handle on textbooks for the fall, but that was to no avaiIe. Only one of the professors had even posted their syllabus. Guess it will have to wait until I get back, but that means they best not expect us to get any reading done until the second week of September! We did lunch there and planned out cooking dinner at home.

Since I was going to the Kimironko market eitherway for my dress and fruit, it was the perfect time to pick-up anything we might need for it. I wanted to say goodbye to Josephine, and pick up my dress from the new seamstress Chantal before braving the fruit and veggie section of the market, and it was a wonderful start to the afternoon. The seamstress was truly very good and got all of my proportions right! The dress fit like a glove, and literally needed no adjustments (which is not usually the case). She finished it up with buttons and made a little headband out of some of the extra fabric, which was just so sweet! The extra sewing time gave me a chance to get a photo with Josephine and be flirted-up by a young guy hanging around! It was pretty funny to see him shy away, but come back just in time to butt into some of our pictures. 

After Josephine’s goodbye, I headed to get the ingredients for dinner. Meddy was planning to come visit, and so I thought Aileen and I could cook up some ‘Mexican’ food for him. We ended up with a chicken, onion, tomato and pepper sauté with taco seasoning, guacamole (with lemon since there were no limes), and some rice (that I almost burnt in the pot). Meddy came in just about the time that things finished cooking, but about half an hour late since my phone hadn’t been ringing for me to give him directions. Even those only got him nearby, but luckily by then Aileen was helping out with the cooking so I was able to duck out (barefoot mind you) to go find him at Flash Radio just down the street. It was of course great to see him, and I was sorry we didn’t get to see more of each other this summer, but such is time. 

He’s planning to come to my final dinner as well, so I didn’t mind him having his friend Ben over as well (luckily there were leftovers!). About halfway through the evening, but after we’d finished dinner, Sasha got home with some blue cheese (something neither Rwandan had tried before), and offered them some on a radish (again something they didn’t seem to know what it was). They tried it, but oh was Meddy’s face a funny one! He would have spit it out if he could have, but anyone who has had it before knows that it is not an easy taste to get rid of! There was some fruit ‘parfait’ (strawberry yogurt, banana, pineapple and passion fruit) on the table and both boys dove back in after the taste of blue cheese. I think it helped a bit, but they still can’t believe Americans would eat such a thing! Overall, it was a relaxing evening and I was glad not to be saying good-bye quite yet, even if it was going to be my last night tucking myself in with a bednet!! 

Musanze Begins my Goodbyes Galore

Goodbyes galore:

You forget and perhaps take for granted the number of people you meet throughout your life. So many dictate your motivations, your future direction, and your nostalgia as you look back. I think history is not always given credit in our present movements, but so often we only move in a certain direction because we have had something in our pasts trigger us to act or remain inactive. Knowing what life was like for refugees in Atlanta triggered my travel to Uganda, and my fabulous homestay there was just one of the many things that triggered me wanting to go back. Without remembering them, the people that along the way made the difference in where I took my next step are the reason I have made such wonderful travel companions and Rwandese friends. I couldn’t be luckier, and it’s incredibly humbling to see how much those here must overcome to be optimistic, but empowering to know that it is possible for me spread my optimism and pragmatism.

Wednesday night was an evening with our facilitators, so after returning from Nyabageni I prepped for our special topics meeting on surveys. Translation is extremely complex, but I think that our facilitators have a really strong grasp of both their native language and English. Being able to translate things about right is one thing, but understanding the nuances behind words can be extremely challenging. This meeting was devoted to understanding the reasons we ask the questions we do. I think that with the knowledge of why we ask certain things, the facilitators will be able to adjust their questions with ease. Often villagers need follow-ups to questions, because even if you speak their own language, there is an inherent lack of vocabulary in the uneducated settings within which many of them live. For example, the communities often talk about climate change (something they clearly picked up from working with NGOs), but they never mean it the way we use it, they just mean it has been a particularly rainy season (or dry season). 

Ernest at Gisovu

That evening, Eamon and I joined the facilitators at their home for dinner. It was a delicious matooke and potato stew in bean sauce. I took my portion and passed the spoon to Isugi whom then proceeded to plop a whole additional portion of the stew on my plate! Now with double the food I couldn’t help but laugh thinking- and this is why Americans gain weight in Africa…what we eat is only partly our choice! It was delicious, and honestly I would probably have gone back for seconds (though a smaller version of it). The company was of course lovely, and I was glad that Claude got to join us as well, because he had been missing at our “good-bye” dinner at Green Garden. Eamon and I were exhausted, and with super full tummies, we called it a night early and headed to bed. After giving everyone else hugs good bye, Ernest wouldn’t say good-bye (which was fair, since I was going on a visit with him in the morning), but instead maintained that good-byes are unnecessary- see you next times are far more practical for those who will not be leaving your life. You better believe that I couldn’t agree more!

Thursday being my last day in Musanze (this trip) was of course jam packed! I went with Eamon and Ernest to Gisovu in the morning, and then after a quick bite at Green Garden with Eamon, we bought our bus tickets back to Kigali I headed to the market. I stopped by the market to see some of my favorite ladies and grab a few passion fruit for Kigali (since it’s pricier down there). Time just seems to fly, and by the time I was back at the house, it was time to leave for yoga, so I grabbed my bags and dashed back out! One of the other founding partners of the organization that runs the sewing coop where I did yoga was visiting, and Petra was just darting out to take a little one to take her entrance exams, but it was nice to see them all together with their hard working tailors. We had a little bit of a late start (classic), but welcomed since I was very much looking forward to not walking in after they’d started! It was great last practice, keeping me active, though I really probably needed the stretching more post-bus ride than pre-ride! When we finished up, I was thinking there wouldn’t be time to say all the thank you’s and make it for a cup of tea at my favorite spot, but I did! Or at least I made it for half a cup of tea before bolting over to the bus station. Our bus must have been coming from Gisenyi though because it was already packed and Eamon and I got to sit in the jump seats- not a particular honor, but the way it goes!

Two hours later we pulled into Nyabagogo taxi park in Kigali and hopped motos back to our new place in Kimihurura! It is a bright pink house, where the finishing touches are being done on some concrete steps and a huge mound of garbage existed (thankfully it was hauled away shortly thereafter rather than burned). I was getting excited to meet Liz, the Uganda lead for Mbale who was flying in that evening. We also were planning to go to a café called Ten to Two again (the hands on fish experience described previously). IT was delicious as ever with delicious potatoes and chicken (in addition to the fish). Liz did make it in time, and so did my things from Musanze that had come down in a car with Aileen and Sasha. I was relieved to see them, and ready to begin the repacking process for flying out (though it really is too early to do that!). We headed off to dinner almost immediately, and it worked out well since they had not given away our fish (even though we were over an hour late for our reservation. The lights of the city were equally as amazing as last time, and it was the girls (Emily and Sarah’s) last night in town, so we all had a lot of fun chatting about!

Spark Family Summer 2012

The next morning the all of us girl interns headed out to the market in order to meet up with our bead making lady (since she was going to take us to her co-op). The walk was a hot one and definitely took longer than we thought it would be, but we went by the beader’s home before continuing on the the co-op’s building. Her home was right next to a church, and when her children weren’t home, she told us they were praying. We did get to meet her ‘son’ who is really her nephew, but in Ugandan and Rwandan culture, your children include those of your siblings (talk about a challenge for survey taking). We were able to see him playing football (soccer) as we walked on to see the beaders at work.

When we finally reached the unmarked building, I called it before we even turned off of the path. Just like most of the homes, the door was open, but there were many women seated along the walls. All we knew was that there were 22 women in Greddy’s group. She never bargains in the market, and as it turns out, it’s because the group decides pricing as a whole and sticks to it to keep their income more stable. The room consisted of a wall of paper and a drying rack and then two parallel rows of straw mats that the women sat upon stringing, rolling, gluing and varnishing. Along the other wall were two doors into their “shop” rooms. Filled with some of their statement pieces and banana leaf earing stands and just tons of necklaces! I of course fell in love with some of them, and ended up buying more than I had planned, but I definitely do like all the pieces I got! I even bought some loose beads to toss into one of my own pieces. We ended up staying far longer than planned, but did learn how they make the beads themselves from the beautiful papers. As time flew passed us, we realized we were probably keeping lunch waiting at Mama Jean’s! We made our way back to the market (mostly uphill this time) and I was very glad to have grabbed a water bottle. We got back and Natasha said her goodbyes to Josephine which resulted in my final purchase of a dress (because Josephine’s was just so beautiful!) and her receiving of a headband. Tuesday I will duck back in to say my own final good-byes, but for that trip, I didn’t need to do too much!

Natasha and I were the last to leave the market, and therefore the last to get to Mama Jean’s, but the rest of girls were sitting around in her living room to say good-bye to Sarah and Emily who were flying out that evening. They had special ordered a jar of pili pili from Mama Jean and she was so wonderful that she obliged! And the jar was huge! None of us could help, but laugh since it was definitely more than a year’s supply of the stuff! The stuff is so spicy that you literally couldn’t put more than a salt spoons worth on a whole plate of African food. In the US this would probably be even truer since our food tends to avoid airing on the very spicy side! But we ate until we could eat no more, and then retired to the house for so much needed naps and food-coma resting. After napping, we did a little more work, helped the girls finish their packing, and then saw them off before heading to a light and late dinner at Ogopogo down the street with Aime who had come to say good-bye to the girls, and then I invited to come on out to dinner as well. I bought some delicious banana bread from their bakery afterwards (missing mom’s second call), but was far too full to try it that evening, so it was to be a delicious breakfast the following morning. The food was tasty and the company lovely, so by the end of the night, we were all ready to rest and settled in with our books…perhaps mom’s right in asking “do you ever stop eating?” But really, who could blame us?

On our walk home, Aime was so sweet and shared with me how he saw our summer team fitting into the work Spark does here. He told me about how our team has been truly inspiring to him and it is just really reassuring to see him learning so much from us as we learn from him. The whole goal of having international interns is not just to allow them the opportunity to work here, but is also to have them bring something to the African staff, and the idea that reciprocal learning is actually happening made me feel good about what I was able to teach them!

Faith isn't just in Religion, it is in People

Sunday was going to be a hike down to Lake Burera, but it turned out that I wasn’t the only one going to bail, and it turned into the perfect low key day of work and music. I entered surveys and grabbed tea at Hotel Muhabura before heading home for a stir-fry dinner with the girls. As I was sitting on our front porch working with Sarah, working, we started hearing some rougher voices over by our gate, and slightly confused as to what was going on, I realized that we were actually getting around to firing a drunkard guard. It was about time, but also a relatively awkward time because all of us interns were home cooking etc. So Sarah and I migrated inside with the others cooking, the guards drunkenness only reinforced what we were doing, so while we were all a bit concerned, our fabulous facilitators got the keys and helped escort the old guard out. I was certainly glad there was a new one on standby though for the rest of that evening!

On Monday Sarah and Emily headed down to Kigali for their last week, and I did a bundle of survey entry before going to Volcano restaurant with Aileen. It was a pretty crowded afternoon, and we ended up in what felt like someone’s drawing room rather than the restaurant itself. We sat on some comfy couches, and ate as much as we could off our plates while drinking the cheapest and most sugary tea in town! It’s pretty much like drinking a liquefied sugar packet with some fresh ginger and milk added in as an afterthought. Delicious as it is, we can never finish our plates at this place. They are always heaped full, but it always results in a little guilt over the fact that we leave so much on the plate afterwards. Luckily, there weren’t many people around to see how much we left. Though we did have to go walk past the cook staff on our way out. The rest of the day revolved on a few other errands, but culminated in a goodbye dinner with the facilitators and Aileen at Green Garden (our favorite buffet!). We “cracked bottles” as Ernest would say, and ate up. After a failed attempt at the laughing game, Aileen and I taught the facilitators 2 truths and a lie, and we learned a bit about different people in the course of playing. Funny to do an icebreaker on one of your last nights with someone, but it definitely made it more of a challenge to come up with truths and lies that the others wouldn’t be able to guess immediately! After people had finished their Fantas and Turbo Kings, we headed home. There were a couple of early morning visits on Tuesday and it was a pretty chilly evening, so calling it an early evening was a good move.

One of those early morning meetings was with Nyarwondo, and while Isugi could definitely have done her last few surveys without me, I tagged along nonetheless. The visit was a success, because we got all of our surveys finished up (which were more or less promptly entered onto the computer). I also got a few more pictures from the community, that I think made our communications interns happy they didn’t need an extra trek down the road to Cyanika. It was very nice to be able to just join in, because having been there a few times usually means they remember your face well! This meeting had also been to talk about grant size, and so the looks on people faces were really incredibly uplifting. I, of course, have a photo of some of the ladies after the announcement, and they were certainly glowing. There are always people with reservations or skepticism, but I was glad to see so many smiles and people participating in the voting that took place during the meeting.

Afterwards, we said our good-byes walked through a miniature soccer match which even had a “ref” with a whistle! Then, Isugi and I had some waiting time for a matatu, but the only two that passed us were completely bursting full! Finally, a car was coming up and Isugi thought perhaps hitchhiking would be a smart move if there were not going to be any buses in the near future. While we didn’t think it worked at first, the car did pull over and offer us a lift! It was certainly generous of them to stop, but even more so, they refused any payment as we hopped out 20 minutes and 5 American hip-hop songs later. It was incredibly surprising to me that the two in the car were so young! Most people with cars in Musanze wouldn’t have been in their late twenties, but these two had actually come all the way from Kigali to drop-off a friend at the border. Beyond that there were precious few snippets of conversation that passed between any of us during the short ride.

Once safely back in Musanze, I headed back to Hotel Muhabura (Hotel M) to meet up with Aileen for lunch. Turned out she’d almost finished when I finally got there, but we also ran into Ross (my friend from Gisenyi)! He had been meeting with another of the milk distributors in the area for his market research, but it was perfect for introducing Aileen and him in a less stressful situation than a large group get-together. We sat and chatted for a bit about everything from American politics to what I had been up to in Mbale. I had books to give him back, so we also planned to meet up in Kigali this coming weekend. It was also nice to be able to use the wireless at Hotel M, and save my last Tigo credit voucher for my last two days in Musanze.

Afterwards, Ross headed toward the bus park, and Aileen and I went for a walk through a little craft village next door to Hotel M before heading back to the house. I found a particularly cure giraffe painting that I could not resist, but I did manage to steer myself clear of buying any more baskets (which I will be having a hard enough time getting home as is). We went and met Petra for dinner afterwards at a pretty tasty pizza place in Musanze (Petra will be missing them in Thailand!) and were joined by a friend of hers working with Amahoro tours (the group who helped me to get gorilla trekking tickets). He is interning/ volunteering with them for two months, but only has one more left. It still is nice to be able to connect fellow expats over here, because so many of us are about to leave, that the new arrivals need a little help in the networking with who might actually be here a little more long-term. Dinner was lovely, and I was a bit bummed to be seeing Petra for the last time. She wasn’t planning to be around Thursday for yoga, because one of the little girls she’d been teaching was taking an entry test for the Wisdom private school nearby. She hadn’t received the job see had been looking for exactly back in Thailand, but the school she had been at didn’t want to lose her, so they raised her pay enough that it was worth her taking on the job for another year.

Wednesday was my last full day in Musanze, and while it was a full day, it mostly involved an attempt at packing in the morning and a visit to Nyabageni (for the third time). This time we went in a FM (free massage) vehicle or to say it slightly differently, a car on the crummy road rather than a moto. It truly amazes me the driving and beatings that cars go through in Rwanda (and most of the developing world), but the stick shift driving is a serious talent that I hope to never need to develop! We managed to stall only once on the drive up to the village, and only due to a serious rock to scrape on past. This community is in some of the worst shape in all of those we work with in Musanze, and partly it is an issue of malnutrition, but it is also a due to a lack of a safe water source. Our grant helped, but the rains made their potato harvest not fair quite so well this season. They are struggling for sure, but when Sasha’s brother and his girlfriend pulled out jump ropes (the really long kind) you could just see the energy flood the people surrounding us, the kids jumped up to play (and some actually knew how to jump rope already) and the parents watched on from a standing position rather than their seated meeting positions. 

Even the poorest of people smile, and so to see them that happy reminds me how we can make the daily lives that they live better one day at a time. We can’t entirely change their circumstances, but we can do something, and so to ignore that possibility of harmless sharing of happy moments is to ignore them. Spark can’t do everything, but it does succeed in telling people that are worth something, that people care about them a world away, and that there is hope for them if they can tough through the bad fortunes of their bad harvests or difficult years. We also can encourage what they are doing right. When they work together and see only partial success we talk about how you learn from your failures and can still change your futures. The only time you have once chance at something is never, and to show and empower their own actions is not something easy to do, but perhaps it helps to prevent the dependency that further grants might result in. 

Too much bus, but many beauties!

My apologies for being so late in writing again! Since returning from Kampala a week ago, things have been quite busy as I attempt to tie up loose ends before my departure from Rwanda on the 23^rd. I was certainly glad to have the muffin Grace encouraged me to get because after all of the bus riding, I was famished, and as soon as I hoped off, the go-go-go of life kept doing just that! I had about an hour before I headed back to Gahunga village where I had been given a pretty basket from one of the villagers. I wanted to return in order to give the lovely lady a photo of us with the basket in hand. I don’t think kind acts like that are often rewarded, and while I didn’t bring her a new and larger basket, I was glad I could fulfill my promise to bring her a small token of thanks, the photo. The long bus rides from Kigali to Kampala always leave me feeling a bit under the weather, because they just fill your lungs with so much dust and exhaust that you find yourself choking on it. All said and done, the trip from Musanze to Mbale was over 16 hours! My lungs were not very happy doing that!

On our ride back, we were held up for more than an hour at the Rwandan border as they dug out every plastic bag in existence to prevent their entry into the beautified country. While I went and had a cup of tea and read my book (in the terribly lighting of the little rest-o-bar on the border), Sasha’s bus arrived at the border (mind you it had left 2 hours later than mine- at least) and she ended-up hopping onto my bus! We had an extra seat because there was a grumpy man whose pride was stronger than his desire to get to Kigali (to put it mildly). The fight over a double booked seat was not worth the fight that ensued, but alas it allowed Sasha and me to continue on the same bus!

The visit with Gahunga came too soon, but I hopped of the couch which had offered me a stationary hour before I hopped on another bus headed toward Cyanika. By the time we turned back homeward bound I was exhausted and feeling under the weather, so the other girls cooked on our thankfully gas stove. Power and water was out, but their rice dish was delicious! After dinner I was afraid of how gross I must be, but really wanted to just crawl under the covers  and avoid another cold bucket shower. Luckily, Natasha reminded me that we have a gas stove, and therefore the prefect way to heat some water! So between the boiled water and the jerry can in the bathroom I managed an almost enjoyable warm bucket shower by candle light, and only sustained a bug bite or two! Turned out the power had been out for 3 days in our section of the neighborhood!

Wednesday weather caught up with how I was feeling, and it rained all night long and far into the morning. It was certainly the most rain I have seen since I arriving in Rwanda, and reminded me very much of the rainy days that just drizzle and pour on and on! Worked well for me as I just slept in late figuring it was the only way I was going to feel a little more on top of my game. The misting continued into the afternoon, and ruled out the thought of running to the market for some fresh fruit. Especially not with me feet so clean, right?

After entering surveys for a while, I ventured out to meet the girls at Hotel Murabura for tea and some company (not to mention a little electricity). It was not at all what I had been expecting to see when I arrived. Other interns had been going there for internet over the course of the last month, but then I never had time or energy to make it out there. Finally I did, and it was lovely! The architecture was more pueblo-esque than I had expected to see anywhere in Rwanda and with the rickety little ladders that exist it was not surprise that it triggered the thought about the bright orange building even here in Musanze. The delicious tea has drawn me back many times since, and the interior had paintings of all of the surrounding volcanoes (which I had yet to see all in the same panorama thanks to the continuous cloud cover). It was to see what our surroundings should look like!

Thursday was spent mostly resting and working on more surveys for work, but did manage to drag ourselves out of the house for dinner at Hotel Murabura to watch the US defeat Japan in the Olympic Women’s Soccer game! It was a close one, and therefore quite fun to watch! One of the other interns Aileen also used to play soccer with three of the girls on the team, so they were getting some extra fans by association from us all round the small table typing away, eating and watching. On Friday, I headed back down to Kigali in order to check-in on things at the Kigali house, and drop by the seamstress at Kimironko that has been working hard for all of us Spark ladies hoping to get the last few things made before we head back to the States. It was also time for me to do some exchanging of money, so the events all coordinated well for a day trip out. The seamstress was there and made the few quick adjustments that were needed on my dress and I love it! It was not exactly what I had imagined, but close enough that I was ok with it! Then, came the ride home and thoughts of dinner and rest since Saturday was going to be a day in Gisenyi’s sunshine! 

When I woke-up Saturday, I still wasn’t feeling a whole lot better, but I really was looking forward to doing some swimming and figured that this was the only way to get it in before school started up again and fall set in. So there I was piling into the next bus heading to Rubavu (or Gisenyi). The plan wasn’t particularly made up ahead of time, but we ended up going from the taxi park via matatu out to Bralirwa for the hot springs. Most readers will have already read about the springs, and how lovely they are, but it was fun to be the one taking the others, and actually knowing where to turn and when! Afterwards, the hopping into a matatu wasn’t quite as easy as it was in going there. We waited for quite some time and then finally just went in a car for hire (would have taken bodas, but the younger girls weren’t allowed to do so). It worked out perfectly though, because we ended up going for brochettes at a beachfront place called Tam Tam.

We’d told the driver to drop us of somewhere with tasty lunch and a beach front view and he did just that! We were in bamboo chairs with drinks in hand before long and just soaking up the sunlight while we waited for our food (always a surprisingly long wait- and not because it is fresh). We spent the rest of the afternoon lazily reading on kindles etc and I went swimming for a little bit which was just what I needed for my achy bus-ride stiffened shoulders. We walked back from there to the taxi park (which we again found almost via miracle) and saw for the first time the Congolese volcano off in the distance looking absolutely stunning!

The bus park was busy, but we hopped onto the next bus out of town and while we waited for its departure I played a bit out the window with one of the street kids. A cutie who luckily couldn’t do anything but push a paper through the window at me (it was too talk for anything else) and we couldn’t really communicate, so that was that and we drove off as the sun started going down.

Ugandan Festivities

Friday was to be a big day in Mbale for thousands of men as their month long festival of circumcisions began. The festival’s opening ceremonies involved the Kabaka of the Lugisu tribe (their tribal leader), and the presidents of Uganda and Kenya. It was quite the even, and in general the baseline state of the city was drunkenness. Since all of us expats (those that I met working with HELP Int’l) were not sure what to expect, I went with the other directors on a scouting mission so to speak. We wanted to make sure things would be safe enough for the others to join us at the event. The gourds and jerry cans that were being carried by the parties taking their boys to become men were definitely not water, and you could smell the sorghum and banana beer the whole afternoon.

Baby dolls and monkey tails, traditional meets today.

Light bulbs and tinsel definitely did the trick for this guy!

These two had some really colorful beads as they entered the football field.

Even in sewing there are typos...

The ones with the bare legs/leg bells are the ones about to become men.

We decided to walk rather than to boda (or take motorcycles) to the event, and as it turns out, that was a good move. Not only were there so many people walking that it was hard for the bodas/cars to pass, but this also meant we got a chance to look at much of the costumes. Colorful describes most of the costuming of Africans if they get the choice. Rarely do black and white go with anything but a bright red or green or orange. This event was no exception. In a past life, the traditions might have only included the black and white Colobus monkey pelts, silver leg bells and the cowrie shell belts (and tails). Today however, the costumes were tricked out with tinsel, beads, light bulbs, necklaces of ties and hankies, and even cheap baby dolls. What the actual significance of all the extra stuff added to the relatively elegant headdresses was I do not know, but its effect was nothing shy of a bit tacky in comparison to the elegance and simplicity of the original hats. The costumes are of course best shown in pictures, so here are a few to help explain.

In its live state, the Colobus looks like this.

http://www.animalspedia.com/wallpaper/Eastern-Black-And-White-Colobus/

People say my braclets are a little chunky?

The dancing at the festivities was impeccable, and definitely worth the bag slashing that occurred (and was luckily caught without losses occurring. The sound of the bells was incredible! The force by which they were shaken strapped to the legs of the young men was immense and I was simply amazed with the choreography. The day began with opening remarks, but the dancing that had happened along the road turned into a competition in front of the Kabaka in front of our eyes in an area that would have been perfect for a football field. It was lined with people on every single side, and as VIPs we headed into the area with chairs (though they were of course all filled). There were couches lining the front row for members of Parliament and distinguished guests, and we stood along the back of the seated individuals. Just upon entering the VIP area, there was quite a scuffle beginning when some drunken individuals used their sticks on some of the police that were checking bags and attempting to maintain some resemblance of order. This worked with the help of a little tear gas, but we quickly moved deeper into the VIP section in order to avoid future scuffles. The guard for the house was there with us, and was so protective, that it was reassuring amongst the bit of chaos that ensued. Apparently there had been a free standing metal detector originally, but the single file line up was destroyed by a giant drum driving past that literally caused people to break into a free for all.

After the initial dancing was completed, we wandered out onto the field where some of the circumcisions were occurring, while we didn’t see any occur, we definitely saw the waddling thereafter. With the help of some sunscreen and an ice cream cone, we moseyed about for another couple of hours people watching- one of my favorite activities!

Then before people got too much more intoxicated or sun burnt we headed home for some relaxing and dinner. Sausages in particular, but the slightly twisted humor in it made them all the better. It was nice to relax a bit and have access to wireless without being inside of a café for a few hours at a time. The people we stayed with were incredibly welcoming, and extremely helpful in our search for people! It was a time for good-byes for many of the summer volunteers, so it was a bit of a strange time to have a new person staying at the house, but it was really wonderful to be welcomed in so smoothly. The HELP house had beads hanging all over and such beautiful ones at that! They definitely have some very talented ladies involved in the bead making process, and while they were more than buying them in the market, it was nice to know the money went straight to the women who had made them!

Sasha was arriving in Mbale on Monday, and so I was glad to be able to show her the ropes on town, and have a place picked out for her to meet up with her interviewee for the facilitator position. Then, then I was able to meet some of her friends, and Kenneth, a man that facilitated one of the microgrants for our Uganda work. He was definitely an interesting person who knew the good places to duck into for some good chicken broth dinner (with matooke and rice of course). We were to meet up with him again in the morning for a visit to the nursery school he had helped to build with our microgrant. After dinner on Saturday though, we went out for a drink with Hannah, an acquaintance of Sasha’s and it was nice to talk development, living abroad, relationships abroad and just so many other things. It was a typical little outdoor bar, and yet we did manage to avoid a person or two trying to hop into our conversation. It is interesting how nice it is to speak English with locals, and yet interesting compared to being in Rwanda, where language can limit the length of a conversation. It may also explain the much larger number of proposals that occur in Uganda compared to Rwanda- seems that no ring is fair game either place though!

On Sunday, we took a half hour boda ride out to a community near Mbale that Kenneth was born and raised in. He had received the grant for his community through our partnership with Educate! – an NGO working to promote entrepreneurial activities among secondary school students. The nursery school was well on its way! There was a pair of latrines and a 2 room school building. While crudely made, it was beautiful nonetheless to see that it had a chalk board and some benches. At first the number of benches was a bit alarming, but since it was Sunday, it turns out the benches had been taken next door to the “church” building. 

There were few children around until we went to leave, and then there actually popped up a few students who were there for Sunday school. It seems that the building is also being used as a community meeting location during rainy season and much more. The structure has brought the community together on many levels, but it seems to be doing a lot of good- even if it is not generating income for the community. Ideally, it will lead to better educated children and parents having more time to devote to their other works.

Home hasn't changed a bit!

After introducing Sasha to a local celebrity and housing guru, I hopped onto the bus heading back to Kampala. I would only be there a night, but I knew that alone was enough to make mom super nervous with the Ebola outbreaks. I wouldn’t have done it any other way (the 30+ hour bus rides through Kenya and Tanzania included), and was so excited to be visiting my Buganda family again. I sat next to a very sweet moozay (muze) or older man on the bus that was just chatty enough to be interesting, but not to the point where I wasn’t able to get some reading and a quick nap in. He had classic brown eyes with a blue ring around them, that is truly fascinating to look at and he was headed into Kampala to visit family. When I told him of my Buganda family in Kansanga he got a good chuckle, and wished them all well. Since I was able to make the 2 o’clock bus, I made it ‘home’ just in time for dinner! Originally, Thomas and mom were the only two people home, but we were joined by Anna and Emma for dinner of matooke, gnuts, and rice- with roasted gnuts to snack on beforehand, too! The visit was nice and Emma and I stayed-up chatting for a while until I read myself to sleep and she did some work.

Sheraton Kampala Fountains

Monday, my first task of the day was to get a bus ticket. Easier said than done apparently, and after tromping around to find Kampala Coaches booking office (and having the woman tell me there were no evening busses) I decided that I’d better go with the Jaguar bus, which I knew would have a ticket for me. So after trekking across the city, and buying my ticket, I had 3000 shillings left in my wallet and needed to get at trek back across town for some wireless. Luckily for me, a boda driver took pity and took me for 3000USH all the way to Garden City Shopping Center in the middle of a mid-morning traffic jam. There I was able to use an atm, buy some airtime, and grab some breakfast and wooden bird I had eyed the last 4 times I had been there.

After that, I did some more tromping around to the Sheraton to see if the antique store was open (it wasn’t) and to see if the fair trade store was even there still (it was) . It was nice to not be under a time crunch, and while it was a warm day for sure, the fact that I was able to leave my duffle bag at the house gave me a lot more freedom of movement. It wasn’t until 4 that I headed back home and chatted with the families new house girl until it was time to meet Grace (one of the Homestay brothers not living at home) and his lovely wife for dinner. The night before, I had found out they are expecting a baby in December! It was very exciting news to hear, and then over lunch they had a new development in that it is a little boy! Apparently, there is only one 3D scanner in all of Uganda, and they went to have the baby checked-out over lunch that morning. It was exciting to see how happy they were- so fearless and happy together, and I hope that they are able to stay that way for a long time to come! On the other hand, it seemed mama was feeling a bit old since grandkids were on the way! The dinner place that we met up at was right near where Grace (the brother) worked, and his wife met us a few minutes after we arrived. Conversation was lovely of course and hearing about their busy lives was also just wonderful! They convinced me to grab a muffin for the trip back to Kampala, and by Tuesday morning I was certainly glad they had done so- travelling can weigh you down fast, and cupcakes/muffins are a lot better (cakier) in Uganda!

Culture: Not an instant call for Change

Ah ha! Found the expat Internet spot! At the bottom of the Mbale Resort Hotel there is a café wireless. I knew Mbale couldn’t possibly not have an Internet café! Turns out there is one, and it is towards the outskirts of town, as you head out to Mount Elgon Hotel an area I found that most of the expats live in anyhow. I shouldn’t be surprised! After moving guest houses, I spent the morning sipping spiced African tea and eating the most delicious spice muffin- verging on cupcake cause it was so perfect and sweet. They also had at least 4 plugs in the wall for charging! Such a relief to have found it! I spent most of the morning there before walking back over to Mount Elgon Hotel for my meeting with one of the long time Mbale expats (9 years!). He was running on African time which did not bother me, because I was able to introduce myself to another expat who had been there two days in a row with Ugandans who thought I did nothing but work all the time- which while true is also not true as I currently sit blogging!

While I won’t go into the details of the business meeting, it was incredible how much detail I got on the process of registering, who to use to help get signatures, how to get better housing, etc. The amount of information in this gentleman was immense and about half way through the meeting we were joined by one of his friends who also ordered tea and ended up taking care of both of our lunches! The beef stroganoff was good enough as is, then to have it be taken care of out of sheer generosity rather than a ‘those guys want to clear your tab (cause your white and pretty)’. This was an incredibly generous man indeed. About 60 years old and retired here in Africa to do nothing but service to others for the rest of his life is pretty incredible and he is working in some of the most challenging areas of Karamoja (check out the book Ieto Alive if you are interested). It takes almost a full day to get in and out of the place he lives, and cars often get stuck going up and down the mountain passes and across the plains when it does finally rain on that poor region. I remember Karamoja from my last trip to Uganda as being one of the most desolate places, where people were consistently getting malaria from working in rice paddies or living near them. I never saw a rice paddy there, only expansive desert and dead looking crops. I don’t think it was just post-harvest either. The droughts hit these areas rally hard and there was really no one around to help the people or even get word of their needs. NGOs had a hard time getting in and out and therefore did little work there. That was our first field practicum for research though in a focus group. Learning as much as we could about the community prior to our departure the same afternoon we arrived. Today, Save the Children and this man’s NGO do work there, but I don’t truly know how many others help there. Either way, this man was clearly a blessing to the community he lived in, and while he spoke more of Jesus than any of the other expats that I have met here, it sounds far more common in Mbale than it is in Kampala, Kigali or Musanze. In Uganda, much of networking is done through NGOs, and even for me this has been the case. It is knowing the right people though, not just lots of people, that can help to facilitate anything you hope to do. You will get burned a time or two, but overall the networks are good and people are pretty honest about who is worth trusting and who is worth steering clear of. The trick is to get tapped in as quickly as possible and take good advice when it is given to you.

Leaving the meeting, I now knew that Mount Elgon Hotel was located in the heart of the ‘scenic quarter’ where the expats, wealthier Ugandans and the Indians mostly stayed. It is interesting to look at places, even like Charlottesville, once you know more of the history behind why things are where they are and why they are frequented by specific types of people. This area was were colonials would have lived, and its completely understandable since it is just outside of town, but not too far, and has the most stunning views of Mt Elgon and the beautiful waterfalls that surround them. While there were thunderheads looming over Mount Elgon during our meeting the rains steered clear of us giving us a cloudy afternoon that meant our 3 hour chat did not result in sunburn for pasty me!

After Robby, I went back to the internet spot to meet with two girls from HELP, Holly and Rebecca. The girls were fabulous and so much fun to be around! They were super welcoming, and even though they will have a full house on Friday, they said they would make some floor space for me after I join them at the circumcision celebration/festival in town. Since it won’t really be safe to be out that afternoon/evening, they decided to do dinner at their place and invited me! I was going to decline (since I’d have to get back to my guesthouse, but they made it easy on me by saying I could just stay the night! They really are delightful, and this will be a perfect opportunity to see if the house that they are currently living in might work for Spark this coming year.  They had a friend’s going away party to attend, so I said my goodbyes and headed to do one last internet check for the night. Things were relatively calm, but there was email to respond to, so when the internet cut out I was a bit frustrated.

When I got back to the new guest house, I had some delicious Indian food at the restaurant downstairs (which I am certain I went to with SIT) and then got comfortable under my bednet- the only place to feel safe after dark. I sustained minor bug bites from the late dinner, but it was worth it for the naan, palak paneer and rice. While there are no rats at this house, there were ants galore, so I was glad to curl up on my bed with my book (aka kindle) and read until I was fast asleep.

Wednesday, I was able to shower- still no hot water, but less of a confined space and it was nice to feel clean from head to toe, after another dirty day and warm night’s sleep. Also did have electricity this morning, which was a promising sign for the productivity of the afternoon. I did some laundry in the morning figuring that this was the last couple days I was sure to be in one place for long enough that things could dry. This meant the two day old nail polish looked 2 weeks old by the end of my scrubbing and the bed net became a clothes line in my lovely open air room. Then I headed into town for Internet and a muffin at the Mbale Resort Hotel where the girls are going to end up knowing me just a little too well by the end of the week. After getting some work done, and being on call as Sasha did her interviews, I spent the afternoon resting, blogging and making a fabric purchase. I just love my new PJs too much for my own good! In that same vein I grabbed a rolex and some goat meat brochette, so that I could head back to my PJs and room for an early night’s sleep so that I might be able to fit in some hiking in the afternoon! Not the most eventful of days, but the work done in the morning made it feel more productive than not.

 The morning began simply, a stop at the atm, grabbing some more phone time, and then my gut said to get some tea before going on my hiking adventure. Partly it was for the hydration and a muffin (since I wasn’t sure I would have time for lunch during the hike (a brought a pair of granola bars, but that would only do so much!). So I sat down to my muffin and African tea. The “quick breakfast” still took an hour, but by ten I was back at my room dropping off electronics and grabbing my poncho and Dale’s cowboy boots for the hike. Then, after the quick walk over to the taxis, I saw sitting in the one to Sipi someone I had seen earlier in the café- a perfect moment for introduction! Turns our Sean’s friends had headed up to Sipi the day before, and he was following them for a hike that they kept trying to delay for him. The taxi took quite some time to actually leave, but in the end, it gave us good time for introductions. When we finally made it to Sipi it must have been afternoon, and since few of the people surrounding us getting off the taxi seemed to think I was anything but crazy to try to hike the Falls myself, I finally caved to the lowest priced guide and the one from Crow’s Nest. Alex was nice and seemed honest enough, so I figured we could have a good time. 

Luckily for me, Sean wanted to catch-up with his friends on the mountainside, and so he asked if I minded company- which of course I was more than delighted to have.  Now, in Mbale I have mentioned the rainstorms that come with torrential rains in the early afternoon, and this was no different. No more than 20 minutes out of the Crow’s nest the rain hit and it hit hard! The trails all became ultra-slippery (which wasn’t great in any shoes, let alone cowboy boots), but I pulled out my poncho and the guys got a few big banana leaves. I was steaming up my poncho as we came down under the cover 

of one of the locals roofs. It was good to be out of the rain, because I had torn the side of my poncho and with the rain, had not really had time to make sure by bag was staying dry.

We were invited inside, rather than just under the roof, and gladly accepted. This seemed like a very good move, because it rain probably for another solid 45 minutes. The young boys that had been helping me not to slip all over the place getting to the house came in, and their father I assume was there sitting and doing snuff. It was an interesting place to sit, and we saw metal tipped arrows, tools for cultivating and for small cook stove tops as we waited. One of the young boys showed our guide his school notebook of English, and beyond that, I tried to not let the smoke from the room bother my enough to be noticeable. During the storm, his friends passed by the very house we were at, and were going to be not only drenched, but going to the last of the 3 falls. I was glad he decided to stay where it was dry, because it meant I had a friend still with me for my journey that had barely begun.

When the rain finally subsided, we all decided that the best course of action was to go barefoot. Seems like a not great idea, but when you consider the alternative of slipping down a steep slope, or just on your tush pretty hard it became a good idea fast. So off came the boots for the remainder of the hike (about 4 hours). I was glad mom had suggested bringing my flip flops for blister purposes; I was glad to have them for flat bits or road walking (it would have seemed so terrible to get my boots so dirty from the inside!). At Sipi, there are 3 major falls and some beautiful trickling over the ledges in around the falls themselves. Add to that the downpour we had just seen and it was even more gorgeous and thunderous. Falls that don’t exist in dry season existed for our short time there. We hiked Middle Falls first, and I remembered this one clearly. The falls is a double fall, which is about 65 meters high. Bit taller than me if I do say so myself!  There is a beautiful cave that has been dug out behind the falls, because the rock had contained salt and the herdsmen had wanted to let their cows lick the rock. They are of course no longer digging it out, but it is a nice place to stand (where it is dry) and watch the water just crash down below into the continuation of the river.

After some time snapping photos there and slipping, because we knew that even barefoot, I couldn’t get away without a good slip or two! Of course no one else in the party managed to slip quite like me, and partly it was carrying my boots, and partly it was just being distracted by the magnificent scenery, but either way- it was classic, little klutzy me. As we worked our way up a steep slope, a man had passed me a walking stick (far too tall since it kept getting caught and knocking me off balance more than one it) and it helped a lot for me to have a little something beyond my little calves working 

overtime. Most of these ‘helpers’ were looking for money (for school fees exclusively I noticed), and I was glad to finally have come up with the excuse of I didn’t have any money since I had paid beforehand for the trip. It became somewhat of a running joke that you didn’t want to be last in line when the person left. It is always lovely to have someone lend a helping hand to someone, but at the same time, to expectation of payment can be very high here in touristy parts of Africa. I think it is critical to put money into legitimate tourism, but think that this is just another form of begging that preys on those who seem a little less strong for whatever reason. Even when the guides that joined the guide we already had did not help at all they still asked. At the end, when I was washing my feet off a little, Sean took my boots for a moment but wouldn’t take them back- claiming chivalry, and all I could say was, “well at least you aren’t expecting money afterwards!” The second falls you almost couldn’t see until you were already being rained down by it! At 85 meters tall, we stood maybe a third of the way up it, by some of the largest banana trees I have ever seen they were legitimately more than 2 feet in diameter, and usually they are a measly ten inches or so. The mist felt so good, and coated me, my bandanna, and a bit of my camera, but I didn’t mind a bit! There were many double rainbows that circled in some bizarre directions based on where you stood. Not like your traditional earth to sky to earth rainbows, but sometimes top of the falls to bottom, or otherwise. It was gorgeous and the greenery included the orchid like William’s flowers, ferns, furry bean filled trees, and so much more. It was just an incredibly vibrant green pierced with reds, oranges, yellows, purples and whites. 

The hike down went much faster, and was not too hard on my feet. There were creeks every now and again, and I could never resist having the cold water across my toes. The worst part of hiking to me is usually that your feet get so warm and there is no way to cool them down. But here there was, and it was fabulous! The last or ‘lower’ fall was the one overlooked by both the Crow’s Nest and the nicer LAMAC lodge. We didn’t go all the way down (which was a relief, because even the little uphill had resulted in me being quite winded. I did love the view though, and while I wanted to enjoy it more, I knew it was best to follow the advice of our guide Alex and try to catch a matatu back to Mbale before they were all full!

To get to the matatus, Alex put me one of his friends motos for a scenic drive back to a small town nearby where it seemed taxis were originating (and therefore had plenty of open seats) for Mbale. The boda boda (moto) ride was lovely and a relatively long one. We stopped for gas (which is a bizarre pink color sold in liter Fanta bottles at the side of the road), and then continued on past waving kids, beans drying from rooftops, and coffee being sold along the side of the road with jack fruits, pumpkins, matooke and tons of tomatoes! On the taxi, I met Deo Gracias (a veterinarian) and rose (a recorder in a small town on the way back to Mbale). They got bananas from a taxi runner and gave me one without hesitation or expectation that I pay them for it. It was truly lovely and in the end we exchanged cards to keep in touch. They would both be at the ceremonies Friday, and were hoping to meet up to see my reaction. Rose said, “don’t think us barbaric.” And I thought, I don’t, even if we do things differently. There is culture everywhere that could be seen as barbaric, some more violent than others, but honestly there are many things Americans do and watch on TV that is no better than what is done here. We just watch it in a movie or have it happen in our poorest centers of town. At least there is logic behind this ceremony, whether it remains a part of their existence or not is up to them, not to some foreigner.