Brian and Renee's adventure in Uganda

One last look back

2008-06-18T02:14:00.000-07:00

As we have precious few days remaining in Uganda I have decided to dedicate my last entry to a collection of sights we found interesting but have as of yet failed to post. So enjoy some of the quirks of the country as well as some shots of our recent activities. Man am I going to miss this place.

A standard street scene of central Kampala.

The Marabou Stork or what I call the Kampala pigeon. These things are everywhere in the city and wherever there are large piles of trash. As you can see they are quite attractive. I have also been told that they are so toxic that even flies refuse to land on them.

An African sunrise.

Fans at a Football (Soccer) match we attended. It was my first experience seeing Soccer-Hooligandom in action. UGANDA CRANES OYE!!

Renee with her favorite African baby Bonita, a daughter to one of the school's secretaries.

And me with my favorite African child Rose, our neighbor, the carpentry teacher David's daughter. Students performing at the Music, Dance and Drama festival the school held recently. They performed traditional music and dance, as well as original compositions developed by both staff and students.

Pink chickens! Some people dye their chickens pink here to prevent eagles and other birds of prey from flying off with them.

Kenneth and I share a romantic moment in Sese Islands.

All I can say is that this has been an incredible experience and I don't really feel ready to leave yet. It is going to be hard leaving our Ugandan friends behind and forgoing our life here for the "real world". Still, I can not imagine that at some point we won't return to Uganda and Kikaaya for a visit or even to volunteer again. It will be nice to see all our fabulous friends in the States again and catch up on life in the good ol' U.S. of A. Getting reacclimated to the latter after half a year in Africa will be an adventure in itself. See everyone soon. Take care.

-B.

Just a couple of notes

2008-05-15T08:06:00.001-07:00

Makerere University is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Africa, and I can see why, they have a five-legged cow. Not only is this thing one of those cool Ankole style cows, with horns so big they would make a Texas cattle rancher soil himself, but it has a fifth leg attached to its back. Nice.

This thing is so badass.

Wicked!

Now I'm no advocate of monotheism, organized religion or anything like that but I must say the Baha'is really have good thing going. The Baha'i faith is a religion that sprung out of Persia in the mid-19th century and has since garnered a reasonably large following world wide. There are only six Baha'i temples in the world (one for each inhabitable continent), including one in Uganda. I was quite impressed with their vision. Check it:

They call for followers to abandon all forms of prejudice.
Assure women of full equality with men. (apparently the only religion to do so!!)
They acknowledge the relativity of religious truth and the need for the individual independent search for their own truth. (yes!Yes!YES!)
They want to do away with the extremes of poverty and wealth and work toward universal education.
They believe in educating the curious rather than forceful missionary work.
Recognition that true religion works in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge. (Wow!)

A house of worship for a faith of a higher caliber.

If I was prone to believing in a supreme being and all that I think this would be my faith of choice, but I'm not so I will have to remain unaffiliated but appreciative.

-B.

HIV testing at Kikaaya Vocational school

2008-05-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday a crew of nurses, one doctor, and a counselor arrived at Kikaaya Vocational with the intent to perform free HIV tests as well as give an informative educational seminar. They spoke in shy whispers as they introduced themselves. The murmurs from the students nearly drowned them out. A young man named Victor led the show. Starting with definitions, modes of transmitting, and what the test meant and what could be done after testing positive. Condoms were promoted but sadly not passed out. He had left them at the hospital. Oh well, I'll try to be able to pass out more at another time. He attempted to rally the students but he was also speaking quite rapidly and drawing triangles on the chalkboard that where meant to be symbols for...everything he was saying. He was obviously dedicated and educated but not clear or very organized. Okay, okay I am a little critical but I was watching the students' attention span run out before my eyes. What really mattered today was that this testing was free, there would be counseling offered and that was just awesome!

The testing operation in full swing.

Ms. Renee freshly tested and awaiting her results.

Fear shone in many students' eyes. Not only where they afraid of the results, they feared the needle. They were so certain of excruciating pain that indeed they got just that. I tried to explain that if they were tense and focused on the needle entering their vein it would hurt but if they relaxed and looked the other way, they'd barely feel it. This only worked for some. I mean some students were entirely stoic, they barely blinked. I saw some in near tears, and one looked near fainting. Poor kids. I think what shocked them the most was Brian and I getting tested and, as one teacher put it, "offering our arms like it was nothing at all." Well, it really is nothing but it's hard to explain that the pain is all in their heads. I think it helped some of them to gather the courage to take the test. After all we are teachers.
The nurses were set up at the motor vehicles theory classroom. I only wish it had been a clean, sterile environment but hey you work with what you have. Thankfully, the syringes were clean and sterile, freshly opened for each person. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Leonard, one of the student leaders, offers up his arm for testing.

Renee attempts to comfort one of the students with a fear of needles.

Afterwards, the nurses set up little stations to give results and counsel anyone with questions. those who may have tested positive are entitled to free HIV drugs at their hospital. All they have to pay is transportation. I am thinking of offering those who cannot afford those costs, the fare.
Well, about 70 students and teachers took the test,about 1/3 of the students at the vocational school. The group plans on returning in the near future to test the secondary students and hopefully the students who were either away on industrial training or just too afraid the first time. Plus a lot can happen during the window period of HIV exposure.

Result slips indicating that we are HIV free.

Well, that's about the day, it was a success and I hope more kids will be willing to test and take more precautionary measures in the future.

Brian Muldoon R.I.P.

2008-05-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Friends and Family, we regret to inform you that our beloved Brian has passed from this world. On April 30th, while on safari in western Uganda, he we trampled to death by a stampeding elephant, as his terrified mother and girlfriend looked on, helpless to intercede. Apparently, the animal became enraged when the deceased approached the beast with the intent to slap it, as part of his campaign to slap wild animals.

The only known picture of the horrible incident. You can really see the terror in the young man's eyes.

We at Brian and Renee's Adventure in Uganda wish to express our most sincere sympathies to the departed's loved ones and we hope for a you a swift healing process. We are sorry for your loss.

Brian Michael Muldoon

1982-2008

No, not really.

Actually my mother has been visiting us here for the past week and we have hardly stopped moving since she arrived. After collecting here at the airport on Monday we gave her a tour of the school and the village and then briefly showed her around parts of Kampala with Kenneth. Her true African odyssey began on Tuesday when we boarded a bus head for Queen Elizabeth National Park, or at least its general vicinity. The park is the second largest in Uganda and boasts a large array of wild animal commonly associated with Africa.
Mom on safari in Queen Elizabeth.

The trip out to the park was an adventure unto itself. Buses in this country do not adhere to any set schedule, they just leave when every seat is filled. This caused us to spend a good three hours sitting on the bus just waiting for it to fill up, not to mention the extra hour we lost when the bus in front of ours broke down as it was leaving the bus park. It was quite amusing watching something like 60 people slowly pushing a bus down a pot-holed and muddy dirt road. So, fours later we were on the road headed west. It was a long cramped bus ride out toward the park but we did get a very nice view of the country side. It was beautiful watching the landscape change from the forested hills and swamps of the central region to the mountainous savanna lands of the west. Still it was a long trip. However, the journey really began to pay dividends once we transferred from a bus to a private taxi in one of the towns surrounding park. The sun had set by then and our driver was forced to stop the car because a heard of five or six elephants were blocking the road. He eventually just had to swerve around two of them. It was the kind of experience we were looking for. Later down the road we also had to stop the car and turn off the light in order to allow a pair of hippos to cross the road. Both incidents really gave us a sense of place and made our ten plus hour trip out to the park worth it.

The next morning we took a game drive, where a guide drives you around parts of the park in hopes of spotting some of the exotic animals that inhabit the area. This was another quite incredible experience. We saw large herds of Ugandan kob, water-bucks, warthogs and African Buffalo, as well as a rock python, crested crane, more hippos and a large variety of beautiful birds. Unfortunately no big cats though, as the park has a decent sized lion population. Still, it was great seeing one of those PBS nature programs brought to life in front of us. The landscape was quite remarkable as well, being comprised of vast grassy plains and large crater lakes, some of which are used to mine salt for the country.

A view of one of the plains in the park.

A warthog grazing near our room at the lodge.

A male Ugandan kob staking out his territory.

Some African Buffaloes trekking off to the lake.

Later on the same day we took a boat trip down the Kazinga Channel that connects lakes Edward and George along the boarder with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This trip boasted another strong variety of wildlife including large numbers of hippopotamus and African Buffaloes, along with a few crocodiles and many many more interesting birds. Again, it was incredible to see these creatures in the wild and to watch them interact with each other.

A pair of hippos keeping cool in the channel.

More buffaloes giving you their best come hither stare.

Some terns cooling themselves off and some storks sunning themselves.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the extremely comfortable lodge we were staying at (hooray for hot showers and Al Jazeera on TV!) and the next morning we engaged in another arduous and significantly bumpier bus ride back to Kampala. But man was it worth it. We spent the next couple of days showing her some cultural sights in the city and returned to Kikaaya for fresh cloths and to visit with some of the staff there.

Mom and Charles one of the grounds keepers at the school. They are around the same age so he liked talking with her.

Our next engagement was a visit to Kenneth's family. His mother cooked an outstanding meal as usual and number of his friends and relatives stopped by to welcome my mother to Uganda. Kenneth's mother was very happy to meet her American sister and showed her with the usual warm Ugandan hospitality. It is always such an uplifting experience to go see his family. W e talked, ate and exchanged gifts from our respected countries (Kenneth really wanted some beef jerky and mom received a hand made mat and bowl from Agnes). We then headed off to Jinja for the night with Kenneth in tow. We took a sunset cruise on Lake Victoria and showed mom the source of the Nile. It was another solid but busy day in Uganda. Mom, Kenneth and Renee at the Source of the Nile.

Just for the hell of it a monkey from the botanical gardens at Entebbe.

We took our time the next morning getting back to the school so mom could prepare for her flight the next morning. We said our good buys to Kenneth and some of the staff at school and spent the night in Entebbe. She left for London early the next morning. I was really impressed that she actually came out to visit us in Africa. I remember two years ago when I first told her I was planning to go to Ghana, she was scared and pleaded with me to go to Prague instead. Yet here she was making her own trip out to Africa and discovering its beauty for herself. So who is coming out to see us next?

-- B.

Football, martyrs, a party and Renee's African legacy

2008-04-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since we updated but we have been keeping fairly busy with exams and school functions.
So a few weeks ago the school had sports days. Renee and I acted as adjudicators, recording scores and determining the winner of each event. I also acted as a photographer and then eventual participant. I was talked into plays in the teachers vs. students football match (that is real football (soccer) not American football which should really be called tackleball). Those of you who know me know what a *ahem* stunning and mighty athlete I am. Hey, I tried to tell them that I am no good a sports and had maybe played football twice since I left primary school. But I played on anyway. My basic strategy was to run up and down the field chasing the ball but also keeping my distance from it. Oh and blocking my opponent when I could, but the guy I was suppose to cover was twice as wide as me. Here are a couple of shots of me playing.

I almost look like I know what I'm doing here.

Adhering to my strategy to the best of my ability.

So the next week there was a party to welcome the new students at the vocational school. There were awards handed out, speeches, dancing and lots and lots of lipsynching (what they call mimes) to Ugandan pop songs. Sweet Jesus was there a lot of miming, I mean hours worth. It was enjoyable but also tiring. Renee was even pulled up on stage and sung at a couple of times. It was good to see the students enjoying themselves so much.

Renee be serenaded or at least mock-serenaded by our friend Syrus.

Last weekend we hung out with Kenneth. We went to see his mother and then he took us to visit the Ugandan Martyrs Shrine just outside of Kampala. This is a shrine to a group of Catholic converts who were burned to death my Kabaka Mwanga in 1886. They were all former palace aides that the Kabaka felt was showing more allegiance to European missionaries and their new faith than the were to him. Apparently he had trouble with the whole Jesus being "King of Kings" concept. For as far as he was concerned he was their only king. The shrine was only dedicated to half of those that were killed, just the 22 Roman Catholics that were canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. June 3 (the day the Martyrs were killed) is Martyrs Days, a national holiday, and apparently people from all over East Africa make a pilgrimage to the shrine every year on that day, walking from Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania all the way to the shrine. I think since Renee and I are not Christian some the impact of the shrine was lost on us, but it was interesting no the less.

A statuted recreation of the burning of one of the martyrs.

However, what I think is the most interesting news in this post is that Renee has a Ugandan baby named after her. This is the work Agnes, Kenneth's mother (and our African mother). Kenneth's brother and his wife had a baby two weeks ago and brought the baby to Kenneth's mother to be named. So she named the child after her favorite adopted child, Renee (or as Ugandans pronounce the name Ree-Nee). This was an incredibly sweet gesture and Renee was very touched and honored by this.

The old Renee holding the new Renee.

Cute little newborn Renee wondering whats going on.

Well that is what has been happening on this side of the world. Classes are wrapping up soon and my mother is coming to visit in two weeks. Keep a lookout for news about that. Take care.

-- B.

Masaka

2008-03-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Masaka is the fourth largest town in Uganda. It has little in the way of tourist attractions, a few decent hotels and plenty of hills. This Easter weekend, Brian and I journeyed across the Equator to this place with our friend Keneth and a new friend, Patrick. These boys have worked with a small church that Keneth's grandmother attends. This church is made of mostly mud and sticks and a lot of love. Keneth's dream is to make this church a beautiful expansive church to reach everyone in his grandmother's village. This will take a lot of work but it is his dream and he is dedicated.

Us in front of the first church we visited in Masaka with some of its members. The church pastor is the one standing between us.

The church children welcoming us with a song.

Brian and I spent Saturday there, teaching about hygiene, nutrition, and of course, AIDS. We were greeted by the people at this church with open arms. They sang us songs welcoming and thanking us for coming. We were touched and a little uncomfortable as we weren't sure that we had really done anything to be worthy of their praise. After introducing ourselves, Brian and I split into two groups. He and Keneth went to another area to work with the kids, Patrick and I stayed to teach the adults. Keneth and Patrick were our interpreters and it went incredibly well. The questions ranged from how to make water clean and safe to drink, what foods are healthy to eat, alternatives to toothpaste, how HIV is transmitted, how to protect oneself from HIV, and ways to child-space. Brian's questions from the children included "Do people die in America?" After the group session, we split into groups with some of the church members and went door to door answering villagers' questions about health. We met an old woman around the age of seventy, she had stomach problems and was very constipated. I told her to eat pineapple but of course she had no money to buy pineapple. I promised that we would return later on with pineapple from the market. I told many about the importance of boiling water before drinking it and natural insect repellents. The kids here just get eaten up by mosquitoes and probably fleas. Of course later we returned to give the old woman her pineapple. She accepted it with surprise and tearful gratitude. I'm not sure if she believed we would come back. We returned Masaka town and had a nice dinner and discussion.

Renee answer questions about health from members of the community on Saturday.

Brian talk with a family in the village about how to keep their growing children healthy and strong. I know, this picture looks like something out of a Peace Corp brochure.

Us with our Jjaajaa (Our African grandmother who is also Kenneth's grandmother).

Easter Sunday, we went to a village a ways further from the first one. We were late but incidentally so was everyone else. The program was slightly different on this day. We went to the kids first to teach them hygiene and nutrition. Brian led the show with Keneth translating. It was great seeing Brian teach children and see how rapt they were. We passed out candy and pictures of Jesus for them to color and then joined the rest of the parishion to hear the sermon. It was in Lugandan of course so another guy stood on the stage trying to translate but the pastor was loud and passionate and so most of his words were drowned out. Oh well, we got the gist. Afterwards, we were introduced and they sang us songs with a dance performance. It was all pretty cool and a bit overwhelming. Then it as time for me to stand at the pulpit and answer people's questions about health. These ranged from what meats are healthy to eat, how often should they eat, and what to do about aching muscles. At this point I demonstrated some useful stretches to help ease their pain, to be done before hard work outside. Then some people with personal questions came up to me and I did my best to answer. Some things just need doctors and that is something I am not. One poor woman was laying on the stage to show me her swollen foot. She explained that she had high blood pressure and her ankles always swelled and it hurt to walk on one foot. I got down beside her and asked if I could touch her, when she agreed I began massaging her foot, ankle and calf. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I suggested for her to soak her feet and get a walking stick as her knee was also quite damaged and possibly needed surgery. I would have done more for everyone and had it not been Easter Sunday we probably would have been there hours longer.

It was amazing.

Brian and Patrick explaining the importance of brushing your teeth to a group of Sunday School children.

Saint Renee massages the sore foot of a village woman.

Brian and I discussed our trip on the bus back to Kampala. We agreed that it had exceeded our expectations. These people at those two villages are amazing. They have so little but work so hard to help each other. They have a tiny well that provides cloudy water, that they also take their livestock to drink from. They want to expand it and make it safer but that requires money that NGO's nor the government seem willing or able to provide. A lot of organizations exist in or near Kampala but that's the big city and there are so many people that are doing without and need help. These are good people and Brian and I were so happy to meet them and do what we could to help their small village.

-- Renee

Jinja- the source of the Nile

2008-03-16T03:15:00.000-07:00

Brian and I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Jinja about 90 minutes or so outside of Kampala. What makes this town so special? It is in fact the great source of the Nile. So Brain and I arrived in the late afternoon and incredibly found our hotel without needing to ask anyone for directions. With great pleasure we discovered they had a swimming pool and charter boat rides to the source of the Nile. The ride was short but interesting. The water from lake Victoria rushed along and then at the point of the source there was a noticeable shift in current on one side. The two bodies of water did not seem to merge. It was the true source our guide explained.

The glorious source of the River Nile.

Further up the Nile is where a lot of tourists are led and told to be the source of the Nile but in fact it's just a convenient location for restaurants and shops. Our guide then offered to show us where some monkeys lived. Well, we had seen monkeys and though we wanted more of a ride we wished to see something else. That is when we discovered that Gandhi's ashes were scattered near the source. It seemed many years ago he had visited Uganda, namely Jinja, and had seen this source of the Nile and the surrounding beauty and was so overcome he decided then and there that when he died his ashes would find their home there. We saw the monument erected in his honor and to commemorate the event. It was a surprise and pleasure to discover this fact.

Cruising on the Nile.

Afterwards we went swimming and then after watching some news and music videos (we are TV starved out here) we enjoyed some yummy Mexican food. Yes that's right I said Mexican food, only one place in Uganda has Mexican food and we were so lucky to find it.
Saturday we ventured out the see the Falls. I was picturing Niagara falls or something along those lines but these would be more accurately called rapids. Still, very beautiful and we got to go on another boat ride with a guide who charmed Brian with his adorable pronunciation of certain words such as island. We even hiked a bit as the small islands the guide took us to has some steep hills to see various falls.

One of the many rapids at Bujagali Falls.

Afterwards we made our way back on a boda boda that we would never ride in Kampala as we would surely die but in Jinga it is much less hectic and so we made it back safely. If we haven't mentioned it before a boda boda is like a moped or sometimes even like a motorcycle. If we had had a choice, we would have taken a taxi there and back. Unfortunately this was not available. It was kind of fun though...
So that was our great Jinga adventure. It was quite relaxing and a enjoyable experience, especially the hot showers and flushable toilets.

Oh and Muammar El-Gadhafi was in town. We walked right past him on his way to a Muslim rally. It was weird.

--Renee

The sights we seen.

2008-03-05T00:33:00.001-08:00

Here are a few picture of what we have been doing the past two Saturdays. We first went to the Kasubi Tombs to see the burial place of the last four Kabakas. This was a treat for the historian in me as the guide was full of information on Buganda History. The actual tomb itself is located in the former palace of Kabaka Mutesa I, the first of the four Kabakas buried inside. The ancestors of the Kabaka's many wives take turns living on the grounds and sleeping in the tomb. Each shift last a month.

Here is Kasubi Tombs.

The next weekend we visited the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (aka the zoo). At visit I felt rather dubious about visiting the zoo as I generally disagree with the conditions the animals are forced to live in. However, before going I read that is in fact an animal sanctuary for animals that can not survive in the wild on their own. The grounds were quite generous and the animals looked well taken care of. There were many types of birds, a lion, ostriches, zebras and monkeys galore. There was even a family of monkeys that were freely roaming the grounds completely unafraid of humans. At lunch they would jump up on the table and try to steal food off your plate. They managed to take one of the other customers sandwich. The zoo was located right on the shores of Lake Victoria so I got a chance to go swimming. It was a nice added bonus. Entebbe is beautiful I can wait to go back to see the Botanical Gardens.

This is the Crested Crane, the official bird of Uganda. Its likeness even grace the country's flag and currency.

The Shoebill is one of the birds Uganda is best known for.

Two of the lest mischievous monkeys we encountered at the zoo, but easily the cutest.

Us and our friends Suzan and Keneth who accompanied us to the zoo.

Keneth

2008-02-20T01:11:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we met up with Keneth, a friend James made through the church he attended while he was in Uganda. I was asked by James to meet up with Keneth once we were settled at the school so that I might deliver a few items to him. A couple of weeks before we left and I began to correspond with him via e-mail and from his letters I could tell this kid was a bundle of energy. I only got around to e-mailing him our phone number about two weeks ago, but heard from him that night. The deep and powerful voice that greeted me on the phone hardly matched the image of the exuberant kid I had pictures from his e-mails. We made plans to meet in Kampala hat Saturday. Upon meeting Keneth that afternoon I realized that it was just that his big voice matched his big personality. He was really, really happy to see us. He showed us immediate friendship and affection, the way we were told Ugandans often do. He was so warm and excited that we had come to see him. This is Keneth.

Our first stop was to visit his mother. His family’s accommodations were modest to put it mildly. His mother, two of his sisters, I believe his niece and on the weekends him all live in a one room concrete apartment about the size of a moderately-large bedroom in the States. His mother, Agnes, was just as excited to see us as he was even though she speaks hardly any English. At one point she even got up and sang and danced for us because she was so happy to have us in her house. Agnes had also prepared a large meal of native Ugandan dishes, they were easily the best home cooked meal we have had here. We could tell that for a woman of small means she had put much effort into preparing our food. Keneth even killed one of his ducks, he keeps ducks to sell for extra cash, for us to eat. These gestures made us realize just how honored they felt to have us come and visit them. As wonderful as it was it also made me feel a little strange as I didn’t think I had done anything to deserve such treatment other than come to meet him and his family. It was once we started talking, and Keneth began to tell us about his life and what James and his church in Mill Valley have done for him, that we realized why they were so happy to have us there.

Keneth has lead a rather hard life, and in spite of this he has emerged as one of the most genuinely giving and loving individuals you will ever meet. His father died of AIDS when he was young leaving his mother to raise him and his numerous siblings. He was also born with a hole in his heart and was not supposed to have lived even this long, let alone exude the sort of energy he does. His condition makes it dangerous for him to perform hard manual labor for extended periods of time. Unfortunately in Uganda that is how most people in his economic situation have to make a living. Office work was his only real option. Fortunately for Keneth he is a rather intelligent individual and scored rather well on his A Levels, making him a candidate for university if he can afford it. Here is where James and his church come in. Keneth was accepted to Makerere University one of the most prestigious colleges in Africa, but lacked the funds for tuition. He had remained in contact with James but had kept his condition secret from him, until one day when he disclosed the information to him. Upon hear of Keneth’s predicament James turned to his church to see if they could sponsor Keneth and raise funds for his school fees. James asked one of his fellow church members named Ben to help him to set this project up. Though unsure of himself at first Ben has been quite successful in getting at least the majority of Keneth’s school fees paid. The church is also working on seeing if they can pay for him to have surgery in South Africa, so that he might have that hole in his heart closed.

So, when we entered their house that afternoon we inherited the legacy of James and Ben, and were reaping the rewards of their good work. As the meal continued we were promptly adopted by Agnes as her children and became brother and sister to Keneth (sorry to our biological mothers but we now have an African mother as well, the first of many I think). She even went so far as to place one of her half eaten pieces of duck on Renee’s plate, a gesture that would seem odd and rude in America but coming from a Ugandan mother is a great sign of respect and favoritism. Even Keneth was jealous. It was swiftly becoming the best day we had had since our arrival.
Renee and our African mother Agnes.

After food Keneth, who is a deeply committed Christian (as are most of the people we have met in Uganda), told us about the mission he had gone on recently. He sold some of his ducks to travel to a poor village in the south and help to alleviate the poverty of some of the children living their. He went on to tell use about his desire to continue with such work, reaching out to villages were no NGO will travel and help the children there. Though his vision is rooted in Christian philosophy he welcomes the help of any who desire to do good with him regardless of their religious affiliation or lack there of. To see how grateful he is to the people who have helped him and how he only wishes to in turn help other people was quite touching. It felt so good to hear him say that no matter how little he had he would always desire to share it with those in need, especially children.

He has severed as our guide to some of the sight of Kampala the last two weekends and has worn us out each time. Last week he took us to see the Palace of the Kabaka (the king of Buganda, Buganda being a Ugandan kingdom centered around Kampala) and the shrine where the last four Kabakas are buried. As a history person I very much enjoyed this. The most interesting part of the palace for me was seeing a series of chambers where Idi Amin and his predecessor Milton Obote would have political prisoners held and executed. These chambers were on the palace grounds because in 1966 Obote had the Kabaka Mutesa II (the then President of Uganda) run out of the country so he could take over. The palace was then turned into an army base. The chambers still had blood and messages scrawled by the prisoners all over the walls. It was very chilling. But I digress.

Keneth is awesome. I look forward to many more outings with him. He will make our experience here all the better. Sula Bulungi.

-- B

What it looks like to teach in Uganda

2008-02-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

So last time we showed what our living accommodation look like, this time we have some shots of where we teach. I teach primarily, and Renee exclusively, at Kikaaya Vocational School. This is located on a separate campus just down the road from Kikaaya College School (in the Ugandan system, as in the British system, college means late middle school and high school) where we board and I teach once to twice a week.

Here a couple of shots of what the vocational campus looks like. The large pile of wood is used by the kitchen to cook lunch and dinner for the students.

This is the school's cow, sadly it is their only cow. It spends most days grazing at the vocational campus. Not pictured is the dog that follows it around all day.

Here is my classroom. On the right are some of the students hard at work.

Ms. Renee teaching away, note the hole in the wall behind her. And a pair of students helping me put the computer lab together.

Me and Sam, one of my best students.

And finally, for those of you who asked, what our typical meal in Uganda looks like.

Not pictured are any of the staff members, as they either objected to having their picture taken or we don't know them well enough to try. Until next time.

--B

Teaching English and guidance counseling

2008-02-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

So I have not yet posted my experiences here but I am excited to say it is quite thrilling. At first, it was a little confusing, and to some extent it still is. I don't have a classroom of my own so I just go to whatever classroom has the fewest students and hope the ones I am supposed to teach find me. It's getting a little easier to figure out the best classroom to wait in. Sometimes, the vocational principal gathers my students for me but otherwise I have no idea who is supposed to be in my class and when. On the positive side, teaching English is rather fun. We are going slowly but surely with each subject: adjectives, nouns, pronouns, et cetera. A really rewarding moment was when one of my students asked me for a novel, and another asked me for a dictionary to study on his own.
The guidance and counseling is really interesting. it is meant to be sex education but that is a taboo subject. So, much like "family life" education in high school, this is guidance and counseling. It is a two hour block so i decided to spend the first hour giving them information and answering group questions and then the second hour with private counseling. This has been quite revealing. Some students have told me very personal information and have asked for resources that I am attempting to uncover here. I can already feel the impact as I dispel the myths many of them have grown up hearing.
I am looking forward to the next session. I am going to show everyone how to properly put on a condom. The good ol' banana-condom. They are pretty excited for this as well. I think at first they thought I was going to need a volunteer. One of the boys was eager to have his friend participate. I quickly squashed that idea. This is a lot of fun so far. I hope to have some exciting stories to tell everyone soon.

-Renee

This message has been aproved by the Government of the Republic of Uganda

2008-02-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of the greatest PSAs in the history of government sponsorship.

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

So here are the afore promised pictures.

Welcome to Kikaaya (pronounced Chi-ky-ya) College and Vocational School.

Here is view of the bedroom. It is really not a comfortable as it looks.

This is the front room. As you can see it has all the comforts of home a camper stove, a lanter, a thermos for hot water and big plastic gas cans to pump water into. The red and green water basins on the floor serve as our shower/sink/dishwasher/laundry machine.

Here is our bathroom. Our bathing chamber is about the same but a little bigger and with no hole in the floor. Sorry I was unable to capture any of the flies buzzing around or the cockroaches crawling out of the hole.

This is a view of the yard in front of our complex. Our place is the one on the far left with the bathrooms behind. The only thing missing from this scene is the ever increasing mob of chickens that peck around the area all day.

Here is Renee with our best Ugandan friend Suzan. She has been very kind to us, we have lunch with her on most days.

This shot doesn't really capture the place but this is a papyrus field near the village we are staying in.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into our life in Uganda. This series will be the first of many. I hope everyone is well. Sula bulungi.

-- B.

STOP THIEF........ errrr could you turn the lights back on.

2008-02-02T05:55:00.000-08:00

Sooooooooo, I was going to post some picture today but my camera was stolen on the way over here. It was a classic pickpocket move they pilfered the thing straight out of my backpack while we were caught in the crush of downtown Kampala. Yeah, well I at least hope that the little punk that took the thing uses what ever profits they might find from it to feed their family or something similarly worthwhile. You live you learn and I reluctantly dropped the cash on a new camera (that I will guard with my life) so that we may continue to record our exploits here. Other than this unfortunate incident thing have been great here, we began teaching our classes, have met some interesting and extremely friendly people and have been getting a general feel for the culture and pace of life here.

Teaching the kids how to use computers has been quite interesting many of the students have a lot of trouble with my accent so they don’t understand what I am saying half the time. The student’s range of computer knowledge also varies widely. A couple of the kids probably know how to use Microsoft Office better than I do, while others have never touched a computer in their life. My first lectures were quite awkward as I attempted to explain the advantage of computers in business and life to a group of kids who have very limited access to them. This was made abundantly clear to me while I was attempting to explain the advantages of word processing over hand written documents to a group of carpentry students (we are teaching at a vocational school), I asked a student to name one of the benefits of word processing and he replied, “It’s not practical.” True enough for most of these kids. However many of them are very eager to learn and are grateful for the opportunity to actually play around with a computer and not have to pay for it.

There have been other challenges to teaching as well. For all the great work the school does it is not very well organized. Very often the ground of students that show up are not the ones we a scheduled to teach, Renee didn’t even know what room/s she was suppose to teach in until her second day on the job. I have only been able to teach a handful of the classes I have been scheduled because either the computers were missing power chords, the IT guy lost power before he could finish updating Windows leaving two of the three computers without an OS and the third without any of the Office programs I was set to teach on it, or because the power has been out at the school. It has been an interesting week on campus. Still, this promises to be a rewarding experience. Once we get settled in our teacher roles and routines I think things will start running more smoothly, that is if the power ever comes back on.

-- B.

Oliotya Muzugu!

2008-01-26T02:09:00.001-08:00

So, we have arrived in Uganda after a pair of long flights. It has been a few days since we first got here and we are steadily getting settled in our new surroundings, though culture shock has impeded this process some. Our accomodations are nice if not a little.... different. We are well taken care of by the staff and have made friends with one of our fellow teachers named Suzan. She is very warm and always excited to help us out in anyway she can. It has been a bit tough trying to connect with most people here so far, as I think they find many of our little habits of life strange, but comfort and understanding will come with time. I find many aspects of the Ugandan way of life quite envigorating. The other morning I got up at 7:00 to get water for bathing. I walk a ways through the village with the sun rising at my back, greeting the villagers as they emerged from their home to start their days work. I strode down the hill to the vocational school were we will be teaching and stood in a puddle of mud and shit to pump fresh spring water from the ground. It made me love this place. We are scheduled to begin teaching on Monday, and have had some confusion in getting all the logistics straight, but those will be hammered out once we getting into the class room (if we are ever told where that is). Though I can already tell that this will be a very hard experience in many respects, I feel it will be equally rewarding. We will try and keep this thing updated as much as possible, and I will try to get some pictures up soon.

-- B.