Open Day, Food Successes, Spa Day Poem

November 6^th 2011

First of all – Congrats to my husband on completing the Marine Corps Marathon in 3 hours 58 min!      …..woo – hoo that’s an accomplishment!------------------------------------------------------

School Sign and some Staff

3 Weeks at my Vocational School and each day gets a little more comfortable as I figure out how to live here in rural Africa. It’s definitely a world away from anything I have known in the past.

OPEN DAY

My work is 8-5; 5-days a week – which I hear is different than most of my Peace Corps classmates. I share an office with our accountant and primarily have been preparing for the Open Day event that occurred yesterday with a visit by the German Ambassador to Uganda to officially open our new drip irrigation field – funded in large part by the German People. We are a vocational school that has carpentry, tailoring, brick and block laying, metal working, motor vehicle repair and agriculture. The school’s greatest challenge is that it cannot sustain itself on its tuition fees. It is hoped the drip irrigation will serve as both a demonstration/training facility for the region as well as generate income for crops grown – especially during the dry season. My next assignment is to write a business plan with the 2 agriculture staff to get that project jump started. I am also looking for other income generators to help incrementally add cash to the school. I definitely have my work cut out for me – so say a prayer to send me good ideas.

The event yesterday had approximately 300 invited guests and catered lunch – including about 150 people from our school as well as local dignitaries and agricultural educators. We also had a brass marching band, a local primary school perform a traditional local dance, a drama by our students and we finished the day with a football (soccer) match. Unfortunately we lost. But the day was a success!! We also had at least an equal amount of community members – mostly children – come and watch the entire event. There is little entertainment in Uganda so any event draws a crowd of onlookers.  My biggest contribution was a newsletter I produced after interviewing several successful graduates of the school. It was a fun assignment as I traveled to their respective workshops and places of business to learn about their trade and their business successes.

Marching Band

 Director, German Ambassador, RDC, Bishop

Primary School Dancers

 

For Uganda, this place is run fairly tightly. I must sign in and out daily and if I ever arrive late, I will have to sign in the “dreaded late book”. So far I don’t know the consequences of this book, but it is feared by my co-workers. My other PC classmates frequently arrive at their workplaces around 8:30 or 9 and may be the only ones there. I hear one friend’s office reads the papers for the first 3 hours of each day. My place on the other hand also works all day Saturday – which I explained right off the bat – that I will not be working on!

FOOD

I use Saturday to ride into Gulu Town to purchase food stuffs for my livelihood. The only food items I have located in my village are cabbage, bell peppers, onions, eggplant and okra. Luckily my upbringing in NOLA has prepared me to love these veggies and know how to cook them.  However for variety, I peddle 35-40 minutes on a straight and hilly road to purchase things like eggs, flour, tea, coffee, powdered milk, soap, detergent, fresh ginger, avocado, banana, pasta, rice, beans, potatoes and CHOCOLATE! As Uganda was formerly occupied by the British, we have Cadbury Chocolate here! So far, my favorite it the Mint Chocolate bar! 

As you may recall I have no running water, no drain, no fridge and no oven. My kitchen contains a 2-burner LP gas cooking stove with propane tank, and my new best friend – the electric tea kettle. I use it several times a day when we have electricity - to boil water. I do this for all water I drink as well as for heating water for my bucket bath outside in my bathing room. (This is a 3 foot x 3 foot cement & brick structure with no roof.) It sits next to my pit latrine (Same size but with a roof and a small hole in the floor).

My second best friend is my bottle of Heinz Ketchup, purchased in Kampala, which is the thing that reminds me the most of home. Heinz is an American food icon, and for me, also connects me US football, as it brings memories of seeing the Steelers in Heinz Stadium. The night I made French Fries – called chips here – and opened my bottle of ketchup, I was reading the bottle and realized I had opened it on the exact date it expired – October 28^th, 2011. What are the chances of that!?? Of course I will continue eating it until it really goes bad. Your standards drop a good bit here as your options are severely limited.

Success stories in the food department so far, are the baking of a poppy seed muffin mix my mother sent me, and the cooking of beef in a sauce similar to one for grillades in NOLA. Baking is an improvised process where I place a few small broken brick pieces in the bottom of a larger pot and then sit a smaller pot inside it. The small pot has the sides greased and is filled with the said muffin mix. I then cover both pots – with a frying pan – and turn on the gas and heat this set-up until I smell the mixture baking. Surprisingly it turned out pretty well. I also cooked beef I purchased in the market yesterday. The carcass was hanging in the open air and had flies enjoying it – I asked for ½ kilo for 5,000 Ugandan Shillings (About $2). I then peddled this home and had to cook it immediately as we have no refrigeration. Basically the rule of thumb is you can keep cooked food for 24 hours in a dark cool place. However, you must reheat it before eating it again. So I had this beef mixture over rice today for lunch, and will also have it for dinner tonight.

I must admit that my diet is greatly improved by the packages I have received from the US. Most every day I eat oatmeal and use seasoning and soup mixes shipped here. I found that beans cooked in taco mix is really quite tasty – give it a try at home – it’s a nice meal of Mexican beans. I also drink my Starbucks Vias almost daily – my French press is great but the hassle of cleaning coffee grinds with no sink or running water limits my enthusiasm!!! The drink mixes also brighten up the boiled drinking water. So again thanks to all my support group back in the USofA!

Uganda – Noise pollution

One of the biggest challenges here is the noise pollution. Music is played at the ear splitting levels all day and night. I can handle the daytime, but the night time sometimes goes until 7am the next day. I have resorted to wearing earplugs on the nights when the bass beat it so loud I feel the vibrations in my bed. I still wake up frequently but I get some sleep. Therefore it is a blessing when the electricity is not working. So I often hope for the power to go out just about my bedtime, so I sleep more soundly.

Poem from last weekend - Spa Day in Gulu Town     Oct 30^th, 2011

3 ladies in a foreign land
Peer expectantly into the box.
A magical Box from 7,000 miles away,
The thrill yet to be seen!

This is my box,
Sent with Love.
Received with grateful awe
& now shared with joy!
Here it is impossible to keep
The glittering prizes to myself!

One item at a time -
We Oooooh, We Aaaaaah!
We nod with approval.
Yes – this was well thought out!
Oh this is frivolous!
This is practical! This is comforting!

Then a green soothing packet
Promises a moment of cool & clean
in the midst of heat & dust.

The smooth crisp cucumber facial wipes- in a packet of 10
are too luxurious to describe!

One lady says – “No, you cannot be that generous – to share;
We can all use the same sheet and extend the miracle”

But I am generous & frivolous
I know that waiting for a better day
To enjoy something is Folly!

The day is now! The moment is perfect!
The cucumber facial wipes will never be a sweet.

So with abandon I pass one to each of us!
I am a magnanimous woman of wealth

Giddy with the thrill!

We caress our faces, necks, arms, hands
we are giggling & smiling

Momentarily transported to our own Spa!
A moment of gratitude for the breath of physical comfort

We realize something has happened that will bind us
Together forever.

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Anyway – right now I am trying to get my bearings and get comfortable with the new routines and faces in my life. I do feel I am on a long personal journey to God only knows where – but I think it will make a difference in my life going forward. It is a real process to become your own best friend and confidant! When you remove all your support structures, you find you must rely on yourself alone. This is both daunting and exhilarating. So keep sending positive energy to me here in Uganda. I do need this kind of support. Visualize me being successful here, and I will continue to try to live up to your visions.

Love your friend and adventurer - Karla