Birthday Blog, White Christmas, Circumcision(?)

Birthday Blog

Today I am 49 – Funny, since in my head, I still feel 30-ish.  I think my mind stopped aging once I hit my 30s. It can’t deny I am an adult, married, and have 2 great sons, but it seems very talented at forgetting I have aged beyond those milestones! (Unfortunately the mirror seems to know exactly how old I am!)

One of my favorite pics of Me!

A wonderful part of life is that you can never predict where it will take you. Four years ago I was celebrating my “half-way to 90” birthday with my beautiful, fit, and inspiring friend Karen. I could not have guessed in 4 years, I would be typing with the aid of a solar lamp, in my house in Uganda while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  The nice thing is that, somehow, I am feeling very happy and up beat with my present situation.

For my Birthday I have received lots of well wishes from near and far – thanks primarily to Facebook. Closer to home, my supervisor & duplex-mate, gave me a lovely new purse and a wooden plaque for my home.

A lovely sentiment !

My new fashion upgrade!

So I am truly feeling the love that surrounds me. A special shout out to Lynn & Gretchen for the nice emails; and Lisa for sending me two separate birthday cards via snail mail – she sent them before thanksgiving to insure they would arrive in time. Obviously she is very organized!

Yesterday I spent 5 hours working in the “garden” (Think fields!).  Most of you know this makes me very happy – then I bagged up 4 kilos of rice to give as Christmas presents to my local buddies here in Koro. I handmade some cards and decorated the plastic bags with “fall leaves” motif Kleenex that some nice person sent in a care package a month ago!  One must improvise in Uganda!

Bathing                

I am growing fond of my outdoor bathing opportunities – I have experienced sunrise bathing, sunset bathing, midday full sun bathing and of course night bathing under the moon.  Only thing left is rain bathing and I don’t think that sounds appealing enough to me yet. But who knows?!

Poem in Honor of my Outdoor Bathing Room – written December 9, 2011                                                           

Bathing
…outside on a Friday night,
….in the soft gentle twilight,
….in the light of the full moon,
….next to fields of papaya and cabbages,
….under peeping starry skies
….beneath the racing wispy clouds
….while listening to distant African music
….and enjoying far away laughter
…. Smiling that I am here,
 Bathing

A White Christmas on the Bus

Last week I went to Kampala for a Peace Corps Volunteer Advisory Committee Meeting – I am one of 3 reps from my “class”. We are tasked with taking praise and complaints from our classmates to the Peace Corps Staff every 3-4 months. Since we are the freshmen class we basically just attend and share our info while the Junior and senior class reps lead us newbies. However the main point of this section of the blog is to talk about the bus ride I took from Gulu to Kampala.

Public transportation in Uganda is sweaty, crowded, exhausting, and constantly surreal. People transport live chickens, milk, bananas, multiple babies in one seat with mom, and a variety of bus food for the journey.  Music or talk radio is played the entire 6-hour ride, all at the discretion of the driver. Once I watched American music videos from the 1980s play over and over again. I now know that Michael Bolton is revered in Uganda…again who knew?  As is Celine Dion, Phil Collins and other soft rock giants of 3 decades ago. 

However, this bus ride was on December 11 – and it’s Christmas time in Uganda. (Ugandans are VERY religious. All meetings open and close with prayer, Really….no law against that here. ) So our driver popped in a 1 hour CD of American Christmas tunes.  Imagine barreling down Kampala highway – only white person on the bus - listening to White Christmas (it is Sunny & 85 degrees), Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and even Felice Navidad! I have to admit I sang the last one out loud, softly to myself. It was just too funny a situation to remain stoic. I was in the middle seat between 2 Ugandan men – one sleeping and the other talking to a guy in the seat across the aisle. This CD repeated 5 more times over the course of our journey. Now, again, I reiterate – surreal. (Refer back to my earlier blog poem on being in a movie/ documentary/ comedy.)

December 16^th was Circumcision Day in Koro

Friday there was a big celebration occurring across the street with loud music, and a public address system. I asked my counterpart if this was a Christmas celebration and she said no – there is a big effort to educate the village about the public health benefits of circumcision and they were having a major celebration while performing them at a reduced rate. We were in the staff room for lunch and this led to a discussion on the pros and cons of getting circumcised. (Refer back to my poem on being in a movie/ documentary/ comedy.) One man vehemently said he was not getting circumcised. His wife was familiar with what he had and she did not want something new to work with. Also he stated that God made him that way, and that way he will stay!  

Update on the Home

My Home is coming along. After 2 months of having no furniture in my sitting room.  I now have a twin sized bed for guests and am expecting a couch/sofa on Monday. Now I will be able to read my kindle in multiple locations and am feeling quite wealthy with my new amenities! Once the furniture is in place my Ugandan Wall Hangings can be hung up and I will be living in high cotton!

Work in Progress

My work is moving along well these days. I have designed a brochure including taking photos of the students & school facilities; I am working with the accountant on next year’s budget; I helped them email the brochure and a new course announcement letter to several hundred NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) to solicit student sponsorship monies, and I am researching potential grants. The school needs to develop other income generating activities because the tuition they charge is approximately 50% of the costs they incur. The challenge is that most don’t seem to worry about this profit & Loss / cash flow challenge. I think this is partially a result of having Aid for the majority of the schools existence. However with the war ending over 5 years ago and the world economy struggling, I don’t think Aid will be available in the same amounts as they have seen in the past.

PLEASE NOTE - I am not interested in getting any monies from my friends, family, or blog stalkers. At this point, I don’t want to be seen as the woman who came with money.  I have explained that I am here as an advisor and to transfer skills and build their capacities. Peace Corps Volunteers don’t bring money – money only lengthens dependency.  However, if the right opportunity arises I will send out a call for your support. Remember I am here until Oct 2013.

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Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Joyful Divali, Cheerful Kwanza, etc etc

 - whatever works for you I send you my love and support! PEACE - Karla