Poetry week of Oct 24, 2011

Resting  Oct 24^th, 2011

Resting
Because there is no light, nowhere to go, nothing else to do…
Here in Africa….at night.

The air seems thin…not hot or cold.
Just air resting on my skin
…as I’m resting in the darkness.

I see my sons in their lives;
in their rooms, in restaurants, libraries, clubs & parks.
They are strong & bold,
but still …my beautiful, vulnerable boys….nonetheless.

I reflect on my life…
an unfinished Journey
confidence, joy, confusion, questions, sadness, love & redemption.
I wonder why I am here …alone ….by choice …or are we always alone?

I don’t understand why I had to do this
…all I know is that I was driven here,
by myself to find myself …I pray
….often.

I think of my heros …MLK, Mandela, Gandhi
and I know my struggles are small.
My pain is small. My impact on the earth is small.

However, to me it all looms large.

So it’s one step, one breath, one good thought at a time,
as I wait for the pieces to fall together,
and, at last, I see the picture of this puzzle
I pray

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Enshrined in Light    October 24, 2011

So – I realized just now – outloud,
what I have known for a very long time…innately…
That I can breathe only because of my friends.

Friendship has kept my madness at bay.
Who they are  …each so unique & precious,
has carried me over rough waters,
& through times of celebration.

One-on-one & in Tag Teams,

my friends mourn, lift, inspire.

I am enshrined in a place that glows with their light.

Can I truly express the magnitude
of the cumulative impact of their deeds,
large & small?
The answer, my friend is No!

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Living in a Movie     Oct 24, 2011

As soon as I landed,
it seemed I was in a movie.
….more like a documentary slash comedy.

The scenery is like nothing I knew from home:

loud, dirty, uncensored, raw, free.

The accents are odd
& the English does not resemble the words I hear.
…though they are speaking my language;
…if it’s really mine to claim, …here.

Mostly I am traveling along as an observer.
Pretending this is normal,
…that I am not an actor,
…in this drama slash documentary slash comedy.

I realize I am a side show, a fleeting focal point,
the odd white woman in a sea of various shades of darkness.

But frequently I am lifted.
when there is music
reminding me this is Africa.

There is no guise.
No time for western concepts,
…of sleek, smooth, polished lines.

My movie slash dark comedy slash drama
 is powerful because the images are so real,
A panoramic landscape of jagged & rough outcroppings.

My fellow actors are naturals.
Genuine natives with rich skin tones,
Bright white smiles, hearty laughs & silent eyes.
…and when the music plays the movie continues.

Karla the PCV at Swearing In Ceremony

October 16, 2011

Yessirreee -  I passed my language exam! OK I am now settled where I will live for the next two years. Wow what a long strange trip it’s been! …and this is only the beginning.

Swearing In

I am in my half of a 30 foot round brick & cement house with 3 rooms, a kitchen, a sitting room and a bedroom. I arrived on Friday Oct 14^th after being sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Thursday October 13^th at the home of the Deputy Ambassador to Uganda, Virginia Blaser. She shared with us that she applied to the Peace Corps just after college and was rejected for not having enough skills. So instead she entered the Foreign Service and has spent her career serving there. Given her opulent house in Uganda and then looking at mine, I think she has done very well for herself despite the rejection from Peace Corps!! In preparation of Swearing In I shaved my legs and colored my hair for the first time since leaving the States as we were staying in a hotel with toilets and real showers! It was nice to see my legs looking like mine and not like my brothers legs!! (No offense Kirby, Bronson & Robert but I want to be more feminine than you guys!) 

Deputy Ambassador Virginia Blaser

Swearing in was very moving and I didn't expect it to be…but in true Karla form, I cried several times. They read parts of JFK’s speech creating the Peace Corps in 1961 and they talked about the friends, family and careers we put on hold to come here. This really got to me because I feel so much support across the ocean over here in Africa. I really do appreciate all of you who are cheering for me and touching me across the world.  Several of the young and inspiring PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) gave speeches and I was glad to be in the present of a younger and committed group.  I think I have gravitated towards these young adults here and in the US because they remind me of my idealistic side that can get a little jaded over the course of a lifetime.

Host Organization Supervisors-mine is the lady in blue

Well as you know I had an African Kitenge (traditional dress) made with fabric from my host mom. She designed the outfit which has trousers worn under a tunic. I wore this to swearing in and felt really good in my ensemble. It really seemed to reflect my style. There were several of us who wore traditional African attire and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. 

Me and the other PCVs in African attire

Modeling - my next career?

Leaving Homestay in Wakiso

Leaving my host mom and brother was very hard for me. I think they were the only reason Pre-Service Training didn’t beat me; there were time I was just hanging on. Their home was my sanctuary – I am a little apprehensive about making it on my own here in Gulu District. Hopefully my new home will also deliver some wonderful people to support me in the process. I think my supervisor and my counterpart have great potential. We really enjoyed the last few days together. I learned how to cook pork like my host mom and I taught her how to make spaghetti American style. We also killed and plucked a chicken (actually I just watched) – I decided I won’t be able to do this on my own – so I will buy chickens already prepped & cleaned when I get the courage to cook meat.

I gave my host mom a gas cook stove as a thank you gift so she won’t have to cook over charcoal. The gas stove is actually less expensive, but many Ugandans can never save enough for the stove (approximately $42). She fell on her knees and thanked Jesus when I presented her with it.

The chicken after plucking and cleaning!

My wonderful host brother!

The best was to come, when I told her I had found a school sponsor for my 6 year old host brother. A wonderful and generous family in Nashville has offered to sponsor his school fees for the next 3 years. The total is approximately $75/ year with another $25/year for books, uniforms and miscellaneous supplies. Because I have lived there, I know this family’s values and the importance they place on education. Since my brother was born “disabled”, he was given up by his mom at 3 months. My bother has now fully recovered except for a stutter. This difference will cause him much trouble in Africa where any abnormality is treated as a curse and often results in ostracism.  I know his education, which he is working on very hard for a little 6 year old, is his chance at a better life. This is one reason I am here – to make a small difference one person at a time.

Traveling to Site

So because I had 10 large bags by now – having bought a portable gas stove, pots, pans, a set of dishes, utensils, numerous food stuffs, and African Crafts for gifts and for decorating my home;  I chose not to commute to Northern Uganda on Public Transport per Peace Corps recommendation. It would have involved several vehicle changes and would have taken all day – where in the confusion and stress I either would have lost some items or been robbed. This cost me and another volunteer who was sharing the ride $116 each ($232 total). This is more than most Ugandans make in a month. The Peace Corps supposedly only reimburses us for the cost of public transport which is approximately $17 each even if we bought two bus tickets each. I have a real bone to pick over this issue. Luckily I had the means to access my US account and withdraw some of my resources. After 10 weeks of physical and emotional boot camp where we were all at our wits end, it feels like abuse to have to make that journey alone on public transport which is notorious for pick pockets and baggage thieves.  (Seems inconsistent with the Peace Corps statement of placing our safety and security first.)

So we left at 7am and arrived at my site at 1pm to drop my bags. Then we went to drop my travel mate’s items off and headed out with our driver to located mattresses and an LP gas canister to power my stove. I also located a used mountain bike that I asked the shopkeeper to hold for me until the next day. We also bought jerry cans to carry our water and some plastic basins for washing clothes and dishes. Then we each were dropped at our sites. Hers is in Gulu Town, and mine is 8 kilometers south in a more rural village setting.

Village Savings & Loans

I arrived at School at exactly the time the staff Village Savings & Loan (VSL) meeting was beginning – and my supervisor ferried me in to watch the process. This is a system that we have been trained on that is used in developing countries to help people save and receive loans. Most people have no access to traditional banking systems, so this new process has slowly gained traction here in Uganda. Many of us PCVs will work at establishing these while at our sites. The concept is that even if they cannot read or write, small groups of people can meet in public and each put in whatever amount they have saved that week - all under the watchful eyes of the members - and the totals are tallied in a ledger by a secretary that can read. Several people must agree on the total amount per person and for the group as a whole. Then from the monies that are collected, people can receive loans that are due in 2-3 months. These loans can help with medical bills, school fees for kids, or help them get pigs or bee hives etc. These VS&Ls can really be the difference between raising ones standard of living and falling further into poverty.

Saturday 10-15-2011 Home Set Up Day

I forgot to mention it, but my supervisor is supposed to have the other side of my circular structure as her home. Of course it’s not ready yet, so she has been staying with me on my sitting room floor to make sure I am comfortable and taken care of in my new surroundings. It might sound awkward but it’s been nice, as I would otherwise have very few people to talk to since arrival. So yesterday I got up and rode my counterparts bicycle to Gulu Town. There are 3-4 big hills that are hard to climb and fun to coast down between here and there. It took me just over 30 minutes going at it pretty hard. I went immediately to the place where I had reserved my own bicycle and had them affix a basket and a mud flap to my bike.  It seems there is more mud here than all of the rest of the world!!  

I left my counterpart’s bike with the shopkeeper man since she can take a Boda-Boda (AKA motorcycle taxi) to retrieve it. I am forbidden to ride Boda-Bodas by Peace Corps which aside from a bicycle, is the only public means of transport to my site. I then went to visit the Peace Corps Volunteer in charge of the Gulu PO Box and she invited me in for tea…Very civilized. She is a German born woman who married an American (shout out to Eva & Jim!) and has lived stateside for many years. This is her second trip to Uganda as a PCV. She is working in a teacher’s college. We then went for lunch and I purchased some nails, a hammer, some produce and climbed on my bike with 6 packages and all the aforementioned items. Needless to say the trip back was much harder. It was hot, I was carrying an extra 25-30 pounds and I was tired from the morning ride in. My new bike was great but I was running out of steam so I ended up walking the uphill parts. This was not unusual as 95% of Ugandans walk their bike up hills. So I didn’t feel like a total loser. Upon my return home I drank lots of water and began hanging my mosquito net and curtains. I unpacked all my things and cleaned and set up house. I went to bed with my supervisor in the next room and slept from 9:30pm until 7:45am – whew that felt great!!!

Sunday Afternoon 10-16-2011 Relaxing in My Home

So here I am – catching up on my blog and thinking of all those at home.  I heard from my youngest son just before Swearing In. He is doing well and seems to be enjoying his freshman year. He just finished mid-term exams and spent his fall break in DC with his brother.  I hear from my husband – whom I talk to almost daily – that my oldest son is also enjoying his junior year and doing well socially and academically. I love & miss my sons so very much and know they are becoming the great men they are destined to be.  My husband, who is still training for the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October despite a hip injury, is skydiving this weekend with a friend from Louisville KY. Seems not much can hold him back. I am proud of him and of how he is handling this challenge of separation. He has an amazing internal core strength that assures me things will be fine. When we talk via Skype I also get to see my dogs. Cayenne is looking as beautiful as ever and I hear is enjoying running at the river campus. She will be 2 in December and is feeling strong.

I also think of my parents, sibs, in-laws and all my girlfriends and their husbands who are so important to my mental health. The amazing ladies of my life have sent me packages that were here when I arrived. They have also gotten together and sent packages to my sons at college since I cannot be there to do that myself.  I cry happy tears when I think of you all. I am even more thrilled that my friends are planning Easter in New Orleans with my Family. This means so much to me that all my special connections are carrying on as a big family - even when I am not on the same continent.

It’s a wonderful feeling to finally unpack my things and find the small surprises that awaited me in my luggage. I located my IPhone and hooked it up to my speakers and am listening to music from America for the first time in 3 months. It’s amazing what memories music can trigger. I have also used my REI French press for the first time today – THANKS to Meg for that parting gift!!! NOTHING like real coffee. Though the Starbucks Vias are much easier to clean up after, given I have to haul water for all washing and bathing.  Speaking of living a different life – my pit latrine and bathing area are still under construction. They should be ready in a day or two, so I have been using the Girls dormitory facilities.  Good thing my house was ready, along with my full size bed (waiting on you Hubby), and my wardrobe (though the bed and wardrobe was still sticky from the varnish).  I also received a kitchen table that won’t fit through my kitchen door…a little Ugandan planning challenge!  I am still waiting to receive my kitchen cupboard, my peg boards for hanging things and my pit latrine chair!! Yes, I asked the carpentry dept. to make me a chair that I can set over my latrine so I can feel like an American when I am taking care of business!! Some things a girl just can’t give up!!!

Now that I am living on 20 acres in the rural Ugandan country side I am receiving fresh milk each day from the cows located at the school. A half liter a day is approximately 18 cents! So I will have some in my coffee in the am and a cup of hot chocolate in the evening. The men arrived this afternoon with my first delivery. They said they will be by to deliver it daily at 8 am. Of Course I have to boil it and drink it within a 24 hour period because of no refrigeration – but I still feel luxurious with this amenity!! Not to mention I have electricity in every room of my home – so I can keep my PC and electronics charged as long as the service is working. J

I also unpacked my American Flag – courtesy of Wal-Mart. It is hanging on my door to my kitchen and I feel my home is my little American outpost. I have boiled my water and have a pitcher with drinking water and a thermos for hot water or milk. Ironically my thermos was made by a company in Nashville TN called Megatrade International Inc. They sell thermoses in 84 countries. See http://www.megavacuumflask.com/ their zip code is 37204 – same as my house in Nashville – WEIRD as my Worlds Collide!!!

Note on Packages & Gifts

I no longer need feminine products, rubber bands, taco mix, brownies, or coffee – so please hold off on them and only send things that you feel I might need. (A letter is nice too!) I don’t think I will need anything else for a long time. I also have deodorant, sunscreen, pens, soup and oatmeal/grits to last me a long while…and I am pretty sure there are still more in transit. Thanks to Lisa, Mary and Margo for the ones waiting for me when I arrived in Gulu.  I have to admit it’s nice to know I have a team that can mobilize in a minute when I call on you all!!! I will definitely let you know when I receive your packages…so don’t fret – one PCV waited over a year for his package to get to him in Uganda. I think it went to Asia first! So that’s all for now – My next challenge is getting into my new work environment. I am ready to start doing things instead of training. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers! Love Karla

Technical Immersion, Final Training Weeks, African Observations

On Tech Immersion in Kasese District

OK I am convinced Peace Corps has a hidden agenda to make training so grueling and so stressful that by the time you find yourself alone in a remote village you think its bliss. My 10-week Training has alternately been exhausting (we go all day Mon-Sat, walk an hour each way to get to class, live in Ugandan homes without indoor plumbing, and are expected to do homework and hand-wash our clothes in buckets, - basically borderline abusive) and then exhilarating.  The exhilarating parts come in fits and spurts and mostly it’s a grind to attend hour after hour of classes. I admit the classes have me prepared to live here for 2 years. If I had been placed in the field without training, I would have never made it. So yes the content is valuable – I just think it could be consolidated and delivered more efficiently so as to get both Saturday and Sunday off. Maybe it’s an age thing…but in my defense the 20-somethings look tired too!

Technical Immersion

Kids & Coffee Beans

So the exhilarating parts come when we actually get to interact with Ugandans in the field. I have visited really interesting places and love getting to see the real deal. Classroom theory can only hold your attention so long.  I returned last Friday from western Uganda where a group of 10 of us visited a coffee cooperative in the highlands outside of Kasese…not far from the Congo border.  The most amazing thing is that in this remote area that has no electric power and only 2% of the people can read, the entire culture is being changed by a coffee cooperative. The cooperative does typical things like educating farmers on ways to improve their crop yield, but they also deliver comprehensive social services by sending trainers up into the mountains to talk about gender equality, rights of women and children, domestic violence, and addiction. They teach all people to draw their vision of a better life and then draw the steps they need to take to get there. They also draw pictures of the opportunities and threats that might arise along the way. It was phenomenal to see every peasant we met take out their notebooks to show us their drawings.  The cooperative has 3,500 farmers and its own micro finance organization. (http://bukonzocoop.com/index.html)

Highlands of Western Uganda

Ok, did I mention that the western region of Uganda is the area with more tourist attractions like game preserves and also one of the most picturesque! We passed through Fort Portal which is known for its tea estates – we saw miles of green tea fields – it was something to see. http://pearlsofuganda.org/  http://www.visituganda.com/ 

Final Training Weeks

Alright – On to my final weeks of training – We had a mock language proficiency interview to prepare us for the actual test coming at the end of this week. I am not going to win any awards in speaking Acholi, but I plan to pass by the skin of my teeth. So keep your fingers crossed for me!!! We also had a round robin verbal exam where we moved from one table to another answering question regarding things such as safety, community development, HIV Aids, malaria, cross cultural issues, personal medical topics, economic development principles, etc  - basically all we learned over the last 9 weeks. It was empowering to see how much we have covered, and that I have retained a great deal of it.  

This week we will say goodbye to our host families with an event on Saturday Oct 8^th. We will have American picnic games for the kids as well as a demonstration on how to make American Pizza. We will also have a lunch with traditional Ugandan and American meals. Vegetable Spaghetti will be the American fare. I helped do the research on locating tomato paste – like almost everything here it comes from China!!! African Fare will be Matooke (green bananas steamed or boiled and then mashed) Posho (some kind of corn based starch with the consistency of very hard mashed potatoes), G-nut sauce (a peanut sauce they put over the Matooke and Posho), meat cooked in a sauce to put over rice, and most likely avocados and pineapple which grow everywhere here.

Me carrying water for bathing, cooking, washing

I of course will greatly miss my host sister and brother. We have become a close family. They have taken care of me and I have tried to reciprocate in ways that I can. Today Florence surprised me with a bolt of Congolese made Kitende fabric and then escorted me to a tailor to have a custom African dress made for me. I plan to wear it on Saturday to the host family thank you event.  I will post pictures later of my incredible fashion moment!

My Brother filling water at spring nearby

On Tuesday Oct 11, we will move to Kampala for 3 days of PC policy and safety training. We will be joined by our assigned organization supervisors and we will jointly plan what each Peace Corps Volunteer will focus on over the next couple of years. Basically this is to help educate our host organizations on what they can expect from us and to reiterate what is required from them. On Thursday Oct 13, we will sworn-in as official Peace Corps Volunteers and will drop the word “trainee” from our titles. Basically its graduation from bootcamp! Then there is a celebration before we leave the next am for our various sites.  Each person now has all the luggage they flew over with plus what they accumulated from 10 weeks of various Ugandan shopping experiences. Imagine the Beverly Hill Billies moving out across Uganda.

African Observations

Yes it sounds like Africa here. There are more exotic birds squawking everywhere you go, than you would imagine. There are hug storks and large yelling birds and gentle lovely little songbirds. Some birds make you think you are in a Jurassic Park movie – they resemble pterodactyls.  There are roosters, hens, pigs, cows and goats everywhere. In my homestay we have 10 plus chickens, roosters and chicks that are kept inside at night next to our kitchen. We also have 5 piglets that are rapidly becoming fat pigs. They shriek when it’s feeding time. You would be amazed at the ruckus they create.  Much of the sounds of Africa are man-made. Ugandans like all media played on high volume. So you can hear everyone’s TVs, radios, church service etc. If the electricity is on, the entire neighborhood is competing to burst your eardrums!! Makes it a blessing when the electricity goes out!!

Whats really surprising to me is how well dressed many Ugandans are every day. The ladies wear skirts and professional blouses and the men wear trousers and nice shirts. Whereas we Americans often look like hippies or just barely presentable in comparison.  

What is also amusing is that all the used clothing from the US and Europe ends up here. I even saw a Tennessee Titans sweatshirt walking down the streets of Wakiso a couple weeks back. All our t-shirts for family reunions and bank openings are alive and well in a Ugandan home.  My host mom uses a 3XL Penn State Nittany Lion t-shirt as our bathing room floor mat. I am sure my in-laws would be surprised at this situation. (Yes its typical to use old clothing as an area rug or door mat.) My host brother broke out a European Ski team jacket yesrday when the temperature fell to about 60 degrees. That’s really cold here and therefore necessitates a parka! However fairly often you can see an African woman wearing a shiny sequined prom dress or ball gown; and though we think it’s rather funny, they are considered very stylish and smart looking.  

Boys with homemade pool table

Another Ugandan custom is that men can have multiple wives and have even more mistresses on the side…they are called side-dishes. Most American men I know would not want that many women, but maybe it’s because US women have rights and opinions.  Here it is very unusual for women to own property and men can divorce you if you become “stubborn”. I am pretty sure I would not have made it to my 1^st year anniversary if I had married a Ugandan.  Where I come from “stubborn women” are revered J.  Also if a Ugandan man divorces his wife, he keeps the children. They are considered his property.  This makes it very hard for women to complain or to fight back against mental or physical abuse. Needless to say this is not Kansas anymore Toto!!

A BIG Thanks

So that’s my latest update on my Ugandan Vision Quest. I am still glad to be here and happy to report my husband is still very supportive of my journey to Africa to find myself. We talk every other day and are enjoying learning of the other’s daily activities. I hear my sons and dogs are also well, so I am secure in knowing we are all growing into ourselves very nicely.

Finally thanks to my friends and family for the numerous packages that are waiting for me when I leave the comfort of my training class and venture out alone to my 3 room hut at School in Koro Abili in Gulu District.  Feel free to send your own list of items, as surprises are also fun. Also keep sending me emails and letters – I don’t want to be forgotten while I am scampering across Uganda.  Peace to you all - Karla

Packages, Immersion, Site Visit, Embassy Party

Me in My Wakiso Home Front Yard

 Yes! You can send me Stuff

"My Name"
Peace Corps Volunteer-Uganda
PO Box 914
Gulu Town, UGANDA - AFRICA

You might want to write God Bless this Package and put a cross or religious icon on it to help insure it gets to me. If you have religious stickers I hear those work well. Send padded envelopes or small boxes, I hear it’s expensive, so pick a few items from the list below and be prepared to pay Mr. Postman! Remove things from boxes and put them in Ziploc bags – this reduces size and weight and I will reuse the Ziplocs J

Items I would like are: Brownie Mix, Individual Oatmeal Packets, Taco Seasoning, Kool Aid/Crystal Light, McCormick Seasonings, Cheese Packets from Mac n Cheese (remove the macaroni – I can get that here), rubber bands, TAMPONS – not one in the whole country (I think it’s due to religious beliefs), Starbucks Via instant coffee, hand sanitizer, pens…and a personal note and a surprise or two! I will send you an email once it arrives!

Language Immersion

Whew – what a busy and sometimes exhausting week and a half! 13 of us left at 6:15 am on Thursday Sept 8^th with our 3 language instructors to travel to Gulu for our 3 Days of language immersion. The trip involved a 45 minute van ride to Kampala and then a 5.5 hour bus ride to Gulu via the Post Office Bus. This bus is considered safer and doesn’t require one to go to the busier bus parks. (Bus Parks and Taxi Parks are where you go to get a ride via bus or taxi). However the Post Bus is the vehicle transporting mail and ….as it turns out ….milk! So it takes a longer time but it doesn’t travel at the same deathly speeds as other buses travel.

We arrived in Gulu around 2 pm and were met by several PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) already stationed in the surrounding areas. We went immediately to an American style coffee house and I had good coffee for the first time in 6 weeks. All I can get in Wakiso is instant coffee. Yes this is the first major drawback of being in the Peace Corps! We also ordered cheese burgers and chicken avocado croissants – these are also not available in 99.9% of Uganda!

We traveled by 4-wheel SUV to the Golden Peace Hotel and were delighted we each had our own private bedrooms and better yet – private indoor flush toilet and shower. Things were looking up!  How nice to have some privacy and amenities after the last month and a half.  That night it was great fun to share a beverage, eat pizza and talk about our experiences into the night without worrying about being home before dark.

On Friday we went to the USAID (US Agency for International Development) Northern Uganda Field office and were educated on their operations and initiatives in the region. We then visited the Gulu Local Council 5 (LC5) District Chairman’s office and were updated on their plans for the Gulu District. This is the highest level Official in the Gulu District. I was interested in their plans for recovery and reconciliation after the 20+ year was with the LRA. One thing Gulu has going for it is the town’s location. Its proximity to South Sudan, the Congo and the West Nile Region of Uganda means it will continue growing as a regional distribution hub. Any goods traveling to these areas must past through Gulu. There are no other paved roads. While at the LC5’s office we shared the names of the organizations where we will be serving. The LC5’s technical advisor invited me to sit in on the Entrepreneur and IGA (Income Generating Activities) meetings once I am back to Gulu and working at the Vocational School.

After these meetings we broke into small groups and went to eat some local foods and practice our Acholi. I have learned a great number of nouns and verbs, but still struggle putting sentences together and getting the tenses out correctly. I can communicate – just at a 4 year old level.  We were tasked with asking directions and finding our way to several landmarks, grocery stores and the main market. By 5pm we were beat and headed back to our hotel for dinner there. Most of us had fish & chips and it was very good. The next day we were sent back to Gulu for more interaction with the locals. I did a little shopping and practiced my language, but we find most people in Gulu can communicate in English at some level – so we could always get by.  In the afternoon we went to an American style restaurant owned by a couple from Minnesota. I had a coffee milkshake and a burger and was very happy. Then it was off to see an Acholi Dance performance by a youth group that a PCV has worked with for the last 2 years. It was great fun and I think I made many new friends with my enthusiastic attempts to learn parts of the dance! We finished the night at an Ethiopian Restaurant that the local PCVs use as a gathering place every Saturday night.

Staff Hut and Admin Bldgs

Future Assignment Site Visit

Sunday September 11, 2011 – exactly ten years after the Sept 11^th terrorist attacks – I set off to visit my host Organization, the Vocational School. I was met by my Counterpart – the accountant, and we traveled to the school. The School is located 8 kilometers south of Gulu on 20 acres and was started by a Reverend (now a Bishop) over 20 years ago, shortly after the war began in Northern Uganda. It has received aid money from the Danish, Germans and Australians (and others) to build dormitories, livestock pens, areas for vocational workshops, and classrooms. It also has working agricultural fields and a mill for grinding grains and maize. Presently they teach tailoring, brick making and concrete work, carpentry & joinery, motor vehicle repair & metal working, and agriculture.  

Administrative Bldgs

Everyone learns the agricultural skills as almost every Ugandan has small gardens/farms for feeding themselves. The school is in process of building an irrigation system to irrigate ¼ acre to insure production through the dry season. In addition to agriculture, all students are required to study English and Entrepreneurial Skills courses. Presently the enrollment is down to 118 from a high of 300 students. This is due to the downturn in the global economy reducing aid budgets as well as funding leaving the area since the war ended. Most students are trying to pay their school fees from their family & friends or from some work they do on the side. Given the desperate nature of this population of youths, many will not attend or finish if they start.

Mission Statement: To provide quality practical skills to orphans, the destitute, formerly abducted youth and school dropouts caught in the insurgency in the Acholi sub-region as well as those affected by the HIV/AIDS scourge to become economically self-supporting and employed.

After touring the school and learning about it from Beatrice, I was taken to a roadside guest house across the main highway for my next 3 nights’ accommodations.  This consisted of several concrete block rooms built in a U-shape that created a concrete courtyard in the center.  The people were very friendly and I felt safe and welcomed. I was informed the next day that I was the first white person to ever stay in their hotel.

My Future Home - I get the Left Side!

I was disappointed my home was not ready but was glad to see construction was in progress. They have commandeered a former student reading room and are making it into 2 small apartments; one for me, and one for our School Director, Diana. It is a round structure approximately 30 feet in diameter. We will each have half of the circular building, each half has 3 rooms, 3 glass windows with decorative metal security bars, and large entry double-doors made of glass with decorative metal security bars. Outside we will share a garden; a pit latrine and a bathing structure….all 3 outside structures are yet to be built. I hope it will be ready by October 14^th when I arrive. The good news is there are several mango and Guava Trees on the path to my home!!!

Staff Break Hut

On Monday my supervisor arrived back from her niece’s wedding in Kampala and we hit the ground running at 8am. She reviewed the org history, structure and staff. She also stayed with me the next two nights at the guest house to insure I felt safe and was taken care of properly. We ate our meals there together in the am and pm and enjoyed the chance to get to know each other.

So I now know where I will live and to some extent what I will be working on for the next 2 years. I am excited and a little anxious. I have so many ideas going through my head and hope they will settle into a plan once I start working with my colleagues.  I placed an order for furniture with the Carpentry shop so I hope to have the basics when I arrive. The biggest challenges I see off the bat is that I can only get to Gulu via bicycle, so I will have to purchase one when I arrive; and there is no market or store in my little town of Koro Abili so I will need to go to Gulu often to fetch supplies on my bike. One upside is I think I will have fresh cow’s milk daily since there are milk cows on the school grounds.

50^th Anniversary Party for USAID & Peace Corps  

Program & Flowers

I am sure you are all wondering how the big embassy party for the 50^th Anniversary of USAID and Peace Corps turned out. Well it was absolutely wonderful on many levels. My fashion-inability did not keep me from having a magnificent time. (I think I looked swell in my Hudson’s Treasure hunt skirt and shirts.) So the embassy is a huge concrete structure covering a large area surrounded by high walls, barbed wire, German shepherds and guards. The guards outside look like Ugandan natives and inside the guards are Marines. So it was like entering a fortress - including metal detectors and security checks. We had to show our Peace Corps IDs and our Printed Invitations with our names on them along with our passports. Getting in was a big deal, no average US pedestrian was getting access to this gala event!

Our crew of approximately 50 people arrived over an hour early – you have to count on bad traffic in order to be assured you make an event in Kampala. Luckily traffic was not too bad and we made really good time. So when we arrived the set up was in its final stages – three large tents had 3 large bars preparing to serve beer & wine and soft drinks. Each tent had numerous tables with beautiful red, white & blue floral arrangements with Ugandan and US flags in them. (At the end of the night I was allowed to take one home to my homestay sister Florence!) There were also many potters showing USAID programs and old Peace Corps recruiting posters. I took a million pictures during the event. So being early we went to the bar on the back grounds of the embassy where Marines were serving hot dogs and there was a bar with – can you imagine my delight – Real US Bourbon and safe ICE.  So being starved for anything from home, we all began eating and drinking the taste of the good old USA. There were people from other Peace Corps Uganda classes and many people from USAID, as well as many Ugandans.

Me in front of PC Recruiting Advertisement

Cultural Dancer

The event had Ugandan drummers and native dancing by girls from an orphanage where a Peace Corps Volunteers is assigned (childrenofuganda.org). The Ambassador Jerry P Lanier (a UNC grad) spoke 1^st followed by the Ugandan National Anthem and the US National Anthem. Then Professor Ephraim Kamuntu, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities spoke. He was a perfect person to talk about the impact USAID and Peace Corps has had on Uganda, as he had a Chemistry teacher from Peace corps and won a scholarship to study in the US from USAID. Afterwards two cakes were cut – one by the Peace Corps Country Director and one by the USAID Mission Director in Uganda.

Well – our group was having a great time. It was nice to hear how appreciative Uganda is for the US support from our 2 organizations and we were all reminded why we joined the Peace Corps in the first place. So when a great band started playing US, Ugandan, and Hispanic tunes, everyone began to dance – including the ambassador and his wife, the Peace Corps country director and many of the volunteers, our trainers and other Ugandans in attendance.

Hot Peace Corps Babes at the Embassy! 

PC Country Director Lucine and Laura Cutting Cake

So now I am in my bed in Wakiso town after just eating a late lunch of fried fish, fried potatoes, fruit salad and sautéed cabbage with vegetables feeling glad to be where I’m at!

Gulu Town or Bust!

Woo-Hoo I am going to the outskirts of a fairly large town..dare I say city...here in Uganda. I will be 4 hours north of Kampala in the area that until just 5 years ago was ravaged by a 20+ year war and reign of terror. I will be working as a business adviser to a vocational school. I am very excited as this ties in many of my loves. Working with young adults, growing business ideas and income generating activities, working with my hands, and having variety in my daily activities. I hear they have carpentry, electrical, plumbing, brick making, agriculture, animal husbandry etc.... Yes - I will most likely be able to have a garden as they have a program in agriculture :).

Tomorrow I leave for 3 days of language immersion in Gulu Town. There are 13 Acholi speaking language students and we are all being immersed in Gulu Town, a bonus for me and the other 5 volunteers being placed in the Gulu area.  On Sunday I travel a few kilometers to my actual site and will meet my supervisor and local counterpart. Both are women so I am excited to meet these ladies. I spend 3 nights there...cant wait to see where I will be living for the next 2 years.  Then I travel back solo to my home-stay in Wakiso for my last 4 weeks in training.

A fun event is scheduled for Thursday Sept 15th; our entire class of 46 is invited to the US Embassy for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps. I need to find something fancy enough to wear. My Merrill Boots and Chacos wont cut it. I wish my sister Adele could come and dress me up pretty!!! Adele is amazing with fashion, style and class. Guess the Ambassador will have to settle for my fashion-in-ability!

Sorry to make this short - I will write more when I return in a week with lots more info.
Eat a hamburger, a chocolate bar and have a coke over ice for me!!!! Love K

Yes Indeed - Africa is Different from Nashville

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. 

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!!!!

Karla at the Botanical Gardens! Loved-Loved-Loved it!!!

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

I made it!!!!

Posted Thurs Aug 18th....

08/13/2011 - Saturday

 Wow it’s been a strange trip so far and seems so long since I left Philadelphia.  We arrived in Entebbe Uganda on Thursday August 4^th close to midnight after approximately 30 hours of travel – it was exhausting but that was just the beginning. Several people’s bags were broken into somewhere between Brussels, Kigali (Rwanda) and Entebbe and we waited as a group for them to file a police report. We arrived at our temporary quarters around 1 am and our bags were unloaded into the pitch black night – none of us had our flashlights and the 46 of us were trying to identify our 4 bags each totaling 100+ pounds.

Needless to say it was chaotic after our drive from Philly to NY and then 3 flights to arrive in Uganda. The big surprise was 20 females – including me - were placed in one large room with bunk beds and one inside bathroom. Of course our luggage couldn’t fit anywhere except under our beds and around the walls in their closed positions. There were two small fluorescent bulbs to light the room, so we did our best to brush our teeth and find something to sleep in. By the time we were all in bed, it was 2:30am and we were told to be dressed and at breakfast at 7am with training starting at 8:30. There were grumblings, but we all felt sure it was going to get better.

The training overall is top notch. Most weeks we train from 8am until 5 pm – so we are lacking in down time. We have medical training and medical kits with supplies for most any situation. We have learned “Survival Lugandan” the language spoken in Central Uganda. We have had security and safety briefings and have phone numbers for all the local police and the US Embassy. Most useful is the cross cultural training where we learn how most Ugandans bathe – using a bucket – and wash clothes –  how they cook - and how to use the pit latrines. These are useful to be able to make it in-country for 27 months. We have mostly local Ugandan trainers who are well educated and have traveled some outside Uganda. They are very hospitable and caring people, like most people I have met here. We also have some currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers who can tell us how they have navigated the process. We have started several series of shots (Hep A & B, Rabies, Meningitis) and our malaria meds – which we will take until 4 weeks after we leave Uganda.

It has been wonderful in many ways, but the hardest part during the first week was the living conditions. Aside from the married couples who received their own bungalows, most people had 5 roommates in a room approximately 12 x 14 feet, while the lucky ones like me shared a room the size of my living room with 19 other people.  These close quarters created the inability to get to our luggage easily and led to challenging sanitary conditions in a country already fairly challenged in that arena.  Add to all this our serious jet lag and the numerous immunizations we receive every few days and our malaria meds and of course you will have people getting sick.  A virus began in our room of 20 and fairly quickly several people were sick. So after 3 nights they moved 8 people out of the big dorm and I was put in a small hut with 5 others, which at this point felt luxurious – but again the access to our things was difficult. We had to keep everything under the beds and closed against the wall. And remember this is Africa – so no hot water – very little running water – and electricity that works on whim.

Official Group Stats

·         16 Males, 36 Females

·         ½ Econ Development Volunteers & ½ Community Health

·         5 Married Couples

·         19 people 22-26 years old

·         12 people 27-32

·         1 person 33-50 (ME)

·         14 people over 50!

·         3 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers – they came back for more!

We spent the first week in a hotel called Banana Village near Entebbe. During that week we started our 10-week training regimen and toured Kampala in groups of 3-4 accompanied by one of our trainers. This was essential as this is not an easy town to navigate without an introduction. Here we purchased cell phones and any items we needed while getting to see the city.

On Thursday Aug 12^th we moved to a new training facility located in the town of Wakiso. It is in the same district as Kampala so we are still in the Central part of the country. Here we were all sent to host families to live for the remaining training schedule. Mine is a lovely lady named Florence and she has hosted 3 prior Peace Corps trainees like me – though I am her oldest yet!  She is teaching me how to act like a Ugandan including shopping, cooking and washing clothes their way.

Today (Sat Aug 13) is our first free day since arriving in country and I am recovering from Bacillary Dysentery for the last several days. I am not alone in this joyful experience as this is expected while you adjust to the local “flora & fauna”.  The Medical team put me on Cipro and I am now on the upswing.  I spent the afternoon playing soccer with my 3 year old neighbor who has a shy twin. Our ball was a wad of old plastic shopping bags rolled into a roundish object. She kept giggling and calling me Muzungu – the word for white person. This is shouted as we travel the streets by groups of smiling children waving and saying “bye bye” – which I thing they thinks means “Hi”.

Tonight I went to town with Florence and bought some more airtime minutes for my cell phone as well as peanut butter and 2 rolls of toilet paper…my life essentials these days.  I speak to my husband most nights as he has purchased a calling plan through Skype. I also heard from Number 2 son, who is leaving soon to begin his college career.

I now know the region that I will be serving in – Northern Uganda, and my language - Acholi. This means when you visit me after traveling for close to 24 hours, I will still be approximately 5-8 hours away. Look up the city of Gulu – it is the largest city in the north for some info on the area.

The hardest thing is not having internet access. Now that I am settled, I hope to find a way to get my emails and to post to my blog. I love and miss so many people!!  Know you are with me in spirit and in my thoughts frequently. 

________________________________________

Love K