HEAT, Work Update, You want to Join Peace Corps? , Poetry

March 24, 2012

HEAT HEAT HEAT

The hardest challenge this last week is the heat. I keep hearing the rainy season is coming; however, the dry season is hanging on with a vengeance. March has been unbearable. The heat is beginning to make me a little nutty. The temps are not higher than in the southern US, but the lack of reprieve is what makes it hard. Remember there is no air conditioning or refrigerators or ice, so the 95-100 degrees never lets up. Several nights this week I lay in bed practically naked on top of my sheets feeling the sweat trickle down my arms and legs. I fantasize about crushed ice in a large big gulp cup of coca cola or a cherry lime-aid from sonic!! Once the rains come – which I hear are very late this year – lucky me – the temps should drop and become lovely again.

Work Update

Agriculture Students Making seed beds in front of laundry drying on drip irrigation fence

Well – It’s been a while since I talked about my work – so here is a quick update.

I think the most successful thing I have done so far was to set up a “library” at my school. I had the chance to buy a box of “throw away” books from an organization who received some books from Books for Africa. This is a US non-profit that sends books by the shipping container load to Africa – the cost is approximately US $4,000 and that covers the shipping of the container to Kampala. I was offered this leftover box of books for approx. US $4 – it had comic books, 12 books on farming in the Midwest and several story books – none of them best sellers or even noteworthy – except for one book on Mardi Gras that I am keeping myself – It helped me explain the Mardi Gras Dabloons (SP?) sent by my big Bro Kirby along with my Rex pin 2012!!! The book had a picture of Rex himself and some Dabloons! Who knew!

Burning dead grass to kill soil bacteria and then mulching ash into soil

Anyway we catalogued the books – approximately 45 in all - and stamped them with the school stamp – and then told the students and staff about the new program. In one day all the books were checked out – and several were read and returned in the very same day and exchanged for another one. In a school where there are no books, not even textbooks and the only materials are notebooks, getting something to read is a rare treat. I have seen the students reading food wrappers to each other. So I am thrilled to see them reading anything. I think I will organize some kind of book drive at some point because this is a real need and this is capacity building – not just handing out money. However – please wait until I get it planned as I have to pay “taxes” on every package that arrives.

Students Listening to entrepreneur speaker

A second, somewhat success, is my Entrepreneur Speaker Series. An idea I borrowed from my Owen School volunteer work! So far we have hosted one speaker. A graduate of our Carpentry & Joinery program from 1999 who has grown a successful small business and now has Carpentry, Metalwork and Agricultural businesses. He spoke about honesty, hard work, delivering what you promise, quality, and the value of a person’s word. I got goose bumps several times during his talk as this is what these young people need to hear.

Entrepreneur speaker audience

I also organized an HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) day at Lukodi Village that occurred on Tuesday. Approximately 10% of the Ugandan population is HIV positive. The women of Lukodi had requested this service so they could test the men of the village. This same program will come to test and educate my village of Koro and my school in June. I partnered with an Italian NGO to come and provide these services…all for free. They prefer to go where the service is requested and organized before they arrive.

I also have someone at Peace Corps trying to locate bulk rolls of treated mosquito netting as I believe the school could become a major net supplier in northern Uganda. Our tailoring dept is not well subscribed
and we lack a strong teacher so we could use the idle machines for income generation.  I am hopeful for this initiative but it must be supported by the school to be successful.

I also am looking into a brick making machine for several purposes: training, building a brick fence around our school, new school building needs, and for income generation. In 2009, 40 machines were given to each district in Northern Uganda. A fellow Peace Corps Volunteer has found the one in Arua was idle and had it donated to his catholic vocational school. I am planning to follow up with our Local Council and district engineer to see if the one for Gulu district is being used.  The machine saves money and time and is more eco-friendly.  Our students can use the machine for training on the new technology and for making new school buildings. We presently need a production showroom as well as a new computer center. Eventually we can request a grant for computers.

I am very hopeful to fund much of this through small investments - either grants or loans. I prefer loans as they teach independence and long term are more sustainable. The school has a good banking relationship and already has a positive loan history. So I hope they are not looking for a free ride.

I have been selected to be a staff member at the upcoming Peace Corps Camp for girls between the ages of 14-18. It is called Camp Glow (Girls Leading Our World) and is the last week of April. I will be teaching 2 sessions on income generation activities (IGA’s) and Business skills. I will also help with organizing and logistics when not teaching. My counterpart was also selected so we will both be there together.

So You Think You Want to Join Peace Corps?

This Peace Corps program is still a very challenging adventure…Challenging on more fronts than I can articulate. The cultural divide is wider than I imagined, and the isolation is palpable on a daily basis. Also it is difficult to know if you are making a difference most days…Though I am told I am. According to Peace Corps, our class is presently at the lowest point in the mental health cycle of a PCV. We’ve been here long enough to have the newness wear off (8 months), and we still have a long time to go (19 months). Also we have not seen the fruits of our labors yet – so we can get discouraged. I am working hard to remain upbeat and try to keep a good mental perspective through all of this. But I must warn those who think of joining the Peace Corps that this is a very difficult, lonely journey.  Of my original class of 46 we have lost 3 to medical issues, and 3 to “this is not what I thought it would be”. However, for many it is wonderful. I just attended a good bye dinner for a man in his late 50’s, who is finishing his second Peace Corp service (Mexico for 3 years and Uganda for 2) and he plans to return to the US for 6 months and then rejoin Peace Corps to teach math and science in Jordan for 2 years. So for the right people this is a wonderful life adventure. For me, I am still figuring it out. J

For More on the Ups & Downs visit my friend Nancy’s post from yesterday! She nailed it. http://atexangoesquesting.blogspot.com/2012/03/feelings-and-other-honesties.html

Drinking

Related to the above challenges, drinking seems to go one way or another…. primarily the younger people drink a lot – maybe as much as, or more as back home; and generally the older PCVs drink less. Of course these are generalizations, and there are old and young who do not follow this trend. For me I have not drank so little alcohol since childhood. I may go 3-4 weeks without anything, and then have one or 2. Drinking for me is a luxury that must have the right environment. Here everything requires so much work, and safety is always on my mind. So, I will plan to have a drink with my buds when I get back on US soil! SO….please keep that bottle of bourbon in your cupboard for me!

Poetry

Well I have written 34 poems since arriving in Africa. All but the very personal have made it to this blog. This has been a significant part of my personal development and a result of my “Vision Quest”. It has required courage to put on paper my thoughts and feelings as they course through me….Courage to feel them, and listen to them; and then courage to put it on paper; and finally courage to share it. I recognize the themes of what has been on my mind and find them reflecting the person I am. Themes of self-identity, my physical person and the process of aging, the connections of places and friends in my life and my appreciation for them, my joy in nature and in the simple things, and the struggle of all of us as humans to understand our purpose. 

Thanks to those of you who have encouraged me to continue. I have delighted in seeing which ones impact various people. I can post 4 poems and have 4 different people express why different poems resonate with them. So enjoy the ones you like, and leave the rest for others! It’s just a buffet of my thoughts! 

American Skin                   Mar 17, 2012

Sneaking away from the 3^rd world

For a bit of respite

Close the curtains

Praise the stars & stripes

Hanging from the ceiling

Of my cement hut

So grateful

For being born an American

Wrapped from birth in this shawl

Of healthy societal institutions

So pervasive

It’s taken for granted

Our layers of protection,

Support, Justice, Freedom

Gift wrapped and delivered

To us, the chosen

Rarely mentioned or noticed

Because it is expected

It is all we have known

Until      …it is gone

The absence is crushing

At times in sub Saharan Africa

Non-existent social services

No garbage collection

No water pipes

No sewage systems

Uncertain judicial processes

Questionable public officials

So grateful for the American wingspan

Reaching - all the way here

Protecting us – Serving us

As we serve

Even here we are privileged

White, Black, Indian, Hispanic, Asian

Wrapped in American Skin

A US Passport

Is our ticket to a place

Where others can only visit

In their dreams

My little slice of America in my home! (Curtains by Walmart!)

Irrational Addiction                         Mar 17, 2012

Warm & Rich

So easy to love

Kick starts the day

Breaks the afternoon

Closes the evening meal

Alone

And with friends

Or strangers

This self-indulgent vice

Brings illogical contentment

Reminds me of home

Of happy moments

Of daily routines

With my spouse

My sons

My parents

This humble ritual

This irrational addiction

Delivers so much more

Than a cup of coffee

Envy                      March 4^th 2012

Envy

So seductive

To see others and be jealous

So easy to point out flaws

Cracks

Failings of others

To be righteous that they

Don’t Deserve

To believe they are

Lucky

Unworthy of their Abundance

Of Love

Money

Looks

Talent

So easy to forget

They struggle

Like you

Hurt

Like you

Are lost

Like you

Better to Celebrate

Be happy

For Blessings

To pray

Burdens are lessened

To Encourage and Love

Instead

Despise Envy

A terrible

Dark facet of our humanness

A direct path to hell

That glitters with temptation

For the weak and lonely

Who cannot see

We are all connected

That Envy is our Enemy

Time                      March 3 2012

Time

To wait

To think

To day dream

To let go

To breathe

To listen to your spirit

To be

Time

To remember

To forget

To inspect & evaluate

To meditate

Or not

Time

Like you’ve never taken before

Time

Continues forward

Regardless of you or your plans

Don’t wish the minutes to quicken

Passing like waters of a swollen river

Sink into the seconds

Like a queen surrounded by silken luxury

Time

To be self-indulgent

Masks                   March 3, 2012

Wearing many faces

Playing the parts

That are expected

Roles:

Woman, Wife, Mother, Parent,

Child, Boss, Employee, Consultant, Expert

All requiring

Bits of my soul

Bits of my time

Pulling me to pieces

Reduced to anonymous titles

Losing

My name, myself, my Spirit

My joy

While the masks graft into my skin

Pained and scared

I remove them

Defiant to be unlabeled

The multitudes scream

This challenges the expected order

Threatens those who demand

I remain under the spell

Slowly

Deliberately

I extricate

Unearth

Uplift

The treasure

Of me