Random

Okay so today, Saturday September 8, I was walking back from school and saw a monk riding a moped drive right past me. He was clothed in a full cloak/rob hunched over as he cruised by through the dusty, dirt road. I couldn’t help but think that was a unique. My feeling was probably intensified by the fact that this was the first white person I have seen since I left the other two HNGR interns on August 18^th. The school is at the end of the road, meaning that anyone in a car must be coming here, but also that we don’t receive many vehicles. This made me wonder why he was here. I forgot that the Catholic charismatic service – held once a month on Saturday in the school’s chapel – is today. 

Trip with a Friend

Okay so last week (it should be noted that I am writing this on Friday September 7), I went with a friend, named Stephen, to his home in Bushenyi in southwest Uganda. It’s more accurate to say that his home was in Sheema – the district he was from. It used to be part of Bushenyi, but it is now Sheema, but when I describe where I went to Ugandans saying Bushenyi better describes the geographical area I was, which is why I say Bushenyi. (A little context: districts are like states in the U.S. – except because Uganda is small, they are more like the size of counties. Anyways, the government has been splitting up many districts over the course of the years. The district I am from, Nakasongola used to be part of the district Luweero, but was split. Bushenyi was recently split into five districts, one of which is Sheema.)

            I stayed at his place, which was a very green, hilly, and chilly place, especially in comparison to the Ranch, which is much more barren, flat, and hot. The place is extremely pretty and reminded me of where I was last year: actually I passed through Mbarara – the city where I stayed for about a week and a half when I was in southwestern Uganda last year – on my way: it neighbors the district where I was.

            We mostly just met a lot of people, including his family. I met dozens of people each day. This involved quite a bit of walking for a few hours each day. On Saturday we visited a micro-finance organization that he helped start. That Sunday, I gave what was my first “sermon” in church – to answer the commonly asked question by my parents if I’ve been asked to preach yet. I am not sure if “sermon” is the correct term, because it was about financial saving/management, not the most religious topic. This was the topic that my friends wanted me to talk about, and I gave it at two churches in the area that day. I then came back on Monday, the same day that my school is starting up again from holiday.

            So as I already said, it was much colder there. On Sunday, I think it went below freezing – at least when I looked at the one thermometer it said -1 degrees Celsius. That and the fact that it was raining, with what I thought was freezing rain made it chilly. I was also travelling pretty fast on the back of a motorcycle (boda boda) into the wind, and this may have biased my interpretation. The other time I realized how chilly it was when I was showering that night. As is normal here, you bathe outside – in this situation on the back porch. There’s nothing like standing/squatting naked splashing water all over you when you can see your breathe! I found out that people in Bushenyi don’t bathe twice a day. This is a very important thing where I am: you bathe once in the morning and again at night. I have been so ingrained into bathing at night from my time in Central Uganda by people always asking, “Have you bathed yet?” (because they know that Americans don’t usually bathe twice a day and wanted to make sure I did). Now it feels weird for me when I don’t bathe at night. I wonder what will happen when I come back to the U.S.

            Anyways the trip was nice. The area is very fertile. Most of the agriculture grown in Uganda comes from here. Because it of this, the area is pretty densely populated. I also liked the weather much better, a refreshing contrast to the heat here in Nakasongola. There are also many pretty hills, which I am told causes the fertile soil and leads to significant rains. This reminded me of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. I will include pictures in some later blog when I am in Kampala. 

Common Questions about the U.S.

All right so I wanted to list the most common questions that people have asked me about the U.S. or about me being from the U.S. It may not seem so at first, but these are oddly helpful in understanding life here and people’s perceptions of U.S. culture. So here goes:

• What languages are spoken in the U.S.? Or what is your local language? Okay so in Uganda, everyone has a local language, determined by one’s ethnic group, and (if educated) learns English in school as a second language. Because of that, it is considered strange that English is spoken as the primary and native language for many in the U.S. excepting certain groups.
• How is the weather? Or is it cold? Uganda is much warmer and 60 degrees is often considered cold and 50 freezing. My experience tells me that Ugandans could not handle a Chicago winter. I remember a friend of mine not believing me that I had been in snow until I showed him pictures.
• What do men do when they marry? I’ve already talked about this, but men are expected to give something to the wife’s family to help compensate for any loss in income when she moves out. I won’t discuss any more details here, see a previous blog post.
• At what age do people marry? All right, so a man is expected to marry someone younger than him by at least 5 years. I think around 7 is “normal” for most, although I have seen 15 year age differences. These are not common. Ugandans are very shocked when I say that people date roughly at the same age. (Okay, so I say “date” here because I know actual marriage can be different, but I notice that at least for my age group it is most normal to date at roughly the same age.)
• Why don’t you shave your chest hair? This is if they see my chest of course. Ugandans have very little hair and are often surprised to see my arms, legs, and especially chest. My usual response is something to the effect that “women like it that way.” This isn’t really why I don’t shave my chest, but I say it because it is a very convincing argument to an 18-year old boy when he is holding a razor and graciously insisting that he can just take it all off now right now, no problem. Okay, so that would make sense if realized that one time I frequently take my shirt off is when I am getting a haircut from one of the students.
• What team (in the British Premier League) do you support? This was more common when the Premier League was starting. They are surprised when I tell them that I’ve never heard of it and try to describe American football. We are such strange people. One of my friends was also talking about how Ugandans watch British soccer (and other European leagues) but pay absolutely no attention to Ugandan soccer teams.
• Do you have villages like this in the U.S.? The “this” is where I am living. They are usually trying to ask whether the rural areas are like the ones here, without roads, running water, electricity, etc. I have to answer in the “no” and when people ask about the details of rural life in the U.S., explain that I am from a city.
• Are there poor places in America? Okay, so this question is exceedingly complicated, not only by what “poor” means, but by what “America” means. It took me a while to notice this, but suffice to say that when the word “America” is used, people often mean the U.S. or the Americas (that is, North and South America). More confusedly, there often isn’t a clear difference between the two. I remember taking great pains on a few occasions trying to explain the South America is different than North America. So when someone says, “All but I heard that in the south, there are many poor people,” I have no idea whether they mean South America or southern U.S.
• Is there witchcraft, demons, or house shrines in the U.S.? I am usually asked two of the three. House shrines refer to shrines erected to worship the family idol or god. This reflects a traditionalist faith. One friend was trying to ask me what the pre-Christian (and pre-Muslim, which came at about the same time), religious traditions were. I wasn’t sure if I should explain Native American customs, although due to pretty horrendous treatment, they are now a small minority, or just say it was Christianity, and risk him viewing the U.S. as some sort of Christian stronghold.

When people ask about witchcraft or about whether they are demons in the U.S., I often am not sure how to respond. There are Satanists in the U.S., though they are very few. I also think there are demons in the U.S. even if they engage in different things. Here they are wandering if there is magic and other ways that demons inflict harm.

• How much does a plane ticket cost? Or how can one get in the U.S.? Why is it so hard to get to the U.S.? Okay, so many who ask the former really mean the latter. The latter is also often not asked as a question, but through explicit hints at wanting to the go to the U.S. Many view me as the best way to help, either through financial assistance or through marriage.
• What tribe are you from? Okay, so this one is not as common, but I was asked it multiple times by a certain family. I tried to answer by giving my ethnic heritage in terms of different European ethnicities, the closest equivalent to tribe I could think of for those in the U.S. (Okay and for the record, I can’t remember them and sort of mostly make them up. This almost certainly makes me an “American” – although not to be confused with someone in Latin America.) This didn’t seem to answer the question, and I was asked it multiple times until they gave up on my tribe.
• How are the roads there? Or how is the traffic? Okay, so the first question is asked in the rural areas where the roads can get bumpy, especially after it rains. People want to know if there are very many dirt roads in the U.S. The second was asked primarily in Kampala, where the traffic jams can be horrible. People want to know if they are as bad in the U.S.
• What are the stable foods in the U.S.? A complicated question that I already talked about in a different blog post. When I asked a Ugandan who had lived in the U.S. for many years how to answer that question, she said, “It’s meat.” I have a whole other blog about that and won’t get to it here.
• What do you think of the elections? What do you think of Obama? Why don’t Americans like Obama? Okay so when anyone asks a question about this, I usually try to turn it back on them, if anything to see how much they know about U.S. politics. (I’ve seen a huge range, and many are more knowledgeable on U.S. politics than me!) Those who like Obama may ask the third question, inferring this feelings from popular polls. (I have no idea if this is “up to date” but there have been times when Obama was done on the polls.) I sometimes find it funny when people ask me the election is going because being here, I have no idea.  
• How is the U.S.? And how are you finding Uganda? These are the most common questions I am asked, which should make sense.

All right, so I hope you enjoyed. Knowing what people ask is a surprisingly good way to understand a culture. 

August: Now back to blogging...

So as people can tell I haven’t really blogged for the month of August. That has been due to busyness and lack of internet. In this blog I will summarize my month of August. Many things told in this blog I will describe in more detail later.

            On August 3^rd through 8^th, Dr. Lovett came to visit. We spent a few days at the school where I am, a day at a rhino park (the topic of another blog), and another in Cornerstone’s offices in Kampala. I will wait to write this blog until I can post pictures because it requires that.

            Between the 13^th and 18^th, I met up with two other HNGR interns one in western Uganda and the other Rwanda. We spent a few days in Kampala and a day rafting the Nile in Jinja. We watched the newest Batman movie. For me being from Pittsburgh where it was filmed, it seemed like my city was blowing up. When the battles occurred, I couldn’t help but thinking, “Hey I know that place” and “That’s such and such building or bridge that just got destroyed.” It’s sometimes weird seeing my hometown while in Uganda: it seems so out of place. Rafting in Jinja was also nice, involving several trips in the water and a big gash on my head of which I have no idea how I got. During one set of rapids I got knocked into the water and when I came back into the boat, I had a cut on my forehead, without the slightest clue how it got there. I will provide pictures soon.

            I then wrote a couple essays for HNGR, including an ethnography. That is an anthropological write up after observing a culture/place. The culture I observed was a grocery shop. This took longer than expected because of little electricity.

            I then visited a friend’s home in Bushenyi – in southwestern Uganda – on August 30^th until September 2^nd. This will be the topic for another blog.

            As one can see my August month was a little packed, and I am just getting back to normal to a place where I can blog. I know I have some catching up to do. As time progresses, I will hopefully write some more. I will likely have another picture blog around October when I take another trip into Kampala that will include some from these trips and a few others.