So
a lot has happened since I posted last. I had my In Service Training (IST) for
Peace Corps in Jinja with the rest of my group. This training is basically to
see how we are adjusting to being at site for three months. The first part of
our IST training was broken up into our language regions. So my southwest group
met up in Mbarara for a week and worked on language a bit but mostly got to
catch up and hangout in Mbar. Many of us were trying to get our Halloween
outfits together and I finally decided that I would be a punk rockstar! I
really wanted to get a weave so I got purple and green synthetic strands weaved
into my hair by my sweet Ugandan hairdresser Jennifer. She did a fabulous job
and even though I definitely got over charged, I later discovered I still
enjoyed it getting done and it looked pretty awesome! I even had Ugandan’s
complimenting my hair. My counterpart, James, from my organization liked it so
much he took a picture of me! After our language IST we all traveled to Jinja
for the technical training with the rest of our group. The training was good
but boring at times. Some things were still pretty repetitive from what he had
learned at PST and the information about grants that I really wanted to know
about was one of the shortest presentations which kinda sucked. Oh well. Anyway
Jinja is definitely a fun town and a whole lot of muzungu’s visit, volunteer,
and work there. Probably the best thing about Jinja is the food and the
MILKSHAKES!! Yep that’s right they have legit milkshakes. Pretty excited but I think I got a little
over excited and had three in three days and felt the worst I’ve felt in
country. I definitely had an overload on dairy which is sad because I’m from
Wisconsin where we eat a ridiculous about of dairy products.
After
our IST trained ended about 20 or so people from my group decided to go white
water rafting on the Nile River!!! Probably one of the best experiences I have
had in Uganda. This is a definite must for those who come to Uganda. I was
scared out of my mind at times but it was a blast. We actually only flipped
once even though we tried to flip multiple times. Our rafting skills were just
too good. There were eight rapids that we went through and a good part of the
time it was like being on the lazy river. It was so beautiful out on the Nile.
We saw a lot of birds and some monitor lizards on the shore. On the last rapid
our guide told us that we would most like flip but if we don’t that we are to
jump into the rapids. Of course we didn’t flip so she yelled for us to jump
which was crazy but a blast. It was a little scary at first because the rapids
kept pulling me under so I only had enough time to pop up for a quick breath of
air then sucked back under again. So much fun though. I only thought I was
going to die twice but other than that so much fun! The only crappy thing of
the whole experience is the wicked sunburn I got on my legs and on my left
should. We put sunscreen on like crazy too but my legs haven’t seen the light
of day in a while so they fried to the point where I felt like I could fry an
egg on them because they were so hot. Totally worth it though. Our rafting
company has a campground too with dorms and tents that we stayed at and had a
booze cruise the following evening. So as you can imagine the day after rafting
I didn’t do a whole lot of anything cause I was in a bit of pain but that night
I got my punk rockstar outfit together and went boozing on the booze cruise.
The booze cruise was pretty much a double decker pontoon boat! It was all you
could drink for two hours and endless snacks. I started with a single vodka
sprite and somehow ended with a triple vodka sprite. Plus we got to take two
drinks off of the boat. Needless to say we all were feeling really good once we
got back to shore and stumbled our way up to the bar at the campsite. We did
have a costume contest which I ended up getting honorable mention!! Totally
because of my hair. It was a great way to end our two weeks of training.
The
day after the booze cruise I found out that Ibanda district was a no go zone
for PCV’s because of the Marburg Virus. This virus is a form of Ebola and does
a lot of the same damage. So far it had killed 6 in Kable District, 2 in Ibanda
District, and I think 1 person in Kampala. To get to my village I have to go
through Ibanda district so I was a bit homeless for a week. I actually stayed
with a volunteer in Rukungiri and worked on our World AIDS Day event for the
southwest region. I am the Coordinator for the event but am extremely thankful
for the help I got working on it from the PCV’s living in Rukungiri. Candy and
Meish are amazing!!!
Before
heading back to site I met up with a bunch of other volunteers and went on a
mini safari on the outskirts of Queen Elizabeth’s National Park. We saw cobs,
water buck, water buffalo, elephant, warthogs, and hippos!! It was super cheap
to do it this way instead of entering into the park and we saw many of the same
animals. The last thing I had to do before going back to site was to get my new
kitten or kapuss puss as the Ugandan’s say. We are pretty sure it is a boy but
either way it’s name is Busingye (peace) and Bu for short! The travel back to
site was an adventure with a crying kitten stuffed into a taxi surround by
Ugandan’s giving me dirty looks. It wasn’t a fun journey but I managed to get
him home and he is adjusting quite well! He pope din his basin of dirt right away
and eats what I give him although he is afraid of everyone but me. Hopefully he
will adjust and be social but for now he only purrs and cuddles with me. I
think he has learned quickly that I don’t like him sleeping on my face too.
My
last update is the arrival of abuzungu’s in my village. LICHI is now receiving
volunteers from an international volunteer service. They have all been ladies
from the US, Malaysia, Russia, and Australia. Many of them assist with various
things at the health center while a few others teach some classes at the
secondary school in Engari. They have all been great and are helping to make
LICHI and stronger and better organization as well as Engari a better
community. I hope to collaborate with a few of them on some of LICHI’s projects
before they leave. The majority of them are short calls (only here for a short
period of time). I will hopefully begin working on a Facebook page, blog, and
website for LICHI. We want to get more volunteers to come and help out with
various projects at LICHI or help donate towards the various projects LICHI is
working on. Once I have these media’s developed I will post links on my blog so
everyone can see what I have been up to and how to help out a great
organization and village.
No comments:
Post a Comment