Overall my assimilation into Uganda has gone smoothly since being placed in my Homestay Family in Wakiso Town for the 10\-week Peace Corps Training. I live with a lovely lady and her 6 year old nephew. My host sister is the first person to take great care of me since I was a child. She heats water twice a day for me to take a bucket bath - which is actually a very sensual and personal experience. I have not spent such quiet relaxing time with myself in a long while. I get home from class - which is an hour hike each way - and I come into my home where there is frequently a fresh Mango waiting for me. I then may go with my 6 year old to the nearby well to haul water to the house. He is a very strong boy because, like most Ugandan children, he must carry approximately 15 liters of water per person to the house each day. I help when I can but this young man does the lion's share for our home of 3 people.
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| My host family in front of our home |
My sister speaks English very well, so I am lucky to have good communication during my stay. Not everyone is so lucky. She is also a good cook. All drinking water must be boiled and all vegetables cooked or blanched in boiling water and she cooks over charcoal or kerosene. Just getting this all done requires her to rise early and work all day. She is a gracious host and I am very fond of her. Ugandans are also very clean. They bathe twice a day and iron all their clothes - frequently using a charcoal iron...if you can imagine that!!
What is very different in Uganda is the general lack of easy access to water, electricity, and waste disposal. Water is available, but most people must carry it home. Rain collection is very big but usually must be subsidized with carrying from the well in the dry season. Electricity is somewhat available in the towns - my home is wired for it and we receive it about 3-5 hours per day...but it is inconsistent and not easily predictable, so you can never count on it.
The worst situation is the waste disposal. There is no collection of waste in almost all locations. My city of Wakiso Town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakiso_Town) has a population of 21,000 has no trash disposal. Thus people burn or bury their trash....and in the poorer places they leave it on the roadside in front of their homes and stores. There is also no removal of waste water and this facilitates the high disease rates in this country. Peace Corps does a good job at teaching us how to handle these hygiene challenges and, with diligence, one can navigate through the challenges and remain healthy. My home has a pit latrine ...that is a hole in the ground covered by a cement floor and raised above the "Pit". It is covered when not being used in order to reduce access by flies - this one precaution reduces the incidence of disease by a great percentage. Lucky for me my Yoga teacher Jen helped me get in Pit Latrine shape before I arrived. Thanks Jen for all the squats!!
Another big change is the road system - or lack there of!!. There are a few paved roads in Uganda - only the main roads from the capital to the other large cities are paved - all the rest are dirt/mud roads. Trucks get stuck daily as the rains create flash floods and gullies and trenches form in the middles of the roads. Thus transportation is unpredictable and traveling 200 miles can easily take 8 or more hours.
So the big difference is LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE. Americans are so spoiled with all our public works and systems that we take for granted. Please be thankful for our roads, water, sanitation, electricity and gas. Our level of convenience is unfathomable to the average Ugandan.
In 2 weeks I get to travel to Gulu town for language immersion and the week after that, I get to tour the site I will be assigned to for the next 2 years. Once I know where I am going to live and what organization I will be assigned to, I think it will really get exciting.
Yesterday we had a recreational day and toured the Entebbe Zoo and Botanical gardens - Robert you would have loved the tropical forests at the botanical gardens!!!!
Our group of 46 is developing strong friendships and we will be great support for one another over the next 2 years. Stay in touch!!!
Love you all tons! Karla
Yesterday we had a recreational day and toured the Entebbe Zoo and Botanical gardens - Robert you would have loved the tropical forests at the botanical gardens!!!!
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| Karla at the Botanical Gardens! Loved-Loved-Loved it!!! |
Love you all tons! Karla
Karla- So happy to see your smiling face - you have no idea! Although I must admit the 'pit' situation may give me nightmares!
ReplyDeleteRead this today and thought of only you:
"Each one of us is called to greatness. Each one of us has an exquisite power within us. Each one of us can have a significant impact on the world around us - if we so choose. But for this power that resides internally to grow, we need to use it. And the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets...The best among us are not more gifted than the rest. They just take little steps each day as they march towards their biggest life. And the days slip into weeks, the weeks into months and before they know it, they arrive at a place called Extraordinary."
Namaste girlfriend.
I enjoyed reading this. Maggie's situation in Ethiopia is a palace compared to this. THey have running water, and some electricity most of the time... but inconsistent. And they have internet service and internet cafes. I had no idea that Uganda was so primitive in comparison.
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