Is No Problem

Generosity

2011-07-28T09:01:00.000+03:00

"Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee!"

Megan, Paul and I have spent the last week or so saying good-byes and we have been enjoying invitations to people's homes and accepting gifts from the staff and our friends here. It has been rather overwhelming to see the generosity of people who choose to use their limited resources to write a kind letter of thanks, buy some small gift or prepare a meal to share with us. Their kindness is very humbling!

dinner at Sylivia's (the school chaplain) house

a very fancy salad prepared by Joseph, our school cook

Megan, Paul and Deo (the school driver) enjoying Sylivia's hospitality

Megan and me in other dresses that were given to us

a plaque made of banana fibre that was a gift from Ritah, the school secretary

another delicious dinner prepared by Doreen at her house

a handmade and personalized wall-hanging made by Julius, a university student

who helps out at the farm here at Timothy Centre during his school holidays

Friends

2011-07-17T21:11:00.007+03:00

I return to Canada in two weeks and the fact that I'm leaving Uganda really began to sink in this morning as we attended our last service at church. The pastor's wife organized a gift of custom made "kitenge" outfits for us to wear to church for the occasion and it was a lovely (albeit somewhat teary!) service.

As we brought our final greetings, and thanked the church for all they've meant to us, I began to reflect on some of the people that I've met during my two years that I now call friends. I have been so blessed by their generosity, hospitality and patience as they have tried to answer the many questions that arise when working cross-culturally.

These people have inspired me, made me laugh and have taught me so much about life here. It is men and women like these, who possess such a strong passion for the people in their communities, who will really make a difference in this country. It has been so wonderful to have gotten to know them, and since they have become my friends it is easy to imagine that I'll be visiting them again at some point!

Comment made to us by several people at church? --"You are smart!"

(which means we were looking particularly well-dressed!)

My friend Evacy--Timothy Girls College Head Teacher. The woman who is REALLY responsible for opening the school. She's the expert on Ugandan schools; I just do what I can to help her. I have so enjoyed working with her!

(left) Paul, a Sunday School teacher and English translator at church who sends his sister to our school and is a member of our Board of Governors, (centre) Pastor Elijah and (right) his lovely wife Florence

another photo with Pastor Elijah and Florence

our good friends David and Doreen--they live close to us and visit us often. We've introduced them to cupcakes, coffee and chocolate and they have tried to explain several complicated aspects of Ugandan culture to us. We laugh a lot when they're over!

Doreen and me

Party

2011-07-02T07:39:00.003+03:00

We used Canada Day as an opportunity to invite the students to our housing compound and have a bit of a social time. The girls spend their days in the part of our property designated for school buildings and the majority of their time is spent in class, studying or in extra classes that teachers may decide to hold. Therefore, we thought it'd be fun to have them over for a brief celebration and let them share in some Canadian traditions.

The girls enjoyed playing a game that introduced them to Canadian wildlife, as they'd never heard of moose, raccoons, loons or bison (or any of the other animals on the list, for that matter!) When I asked them which animal they thought would be dangerous to humans, one girl guessed "the beaver" because of their big teeth! We also have some visitors from Canada staying here currently, so the girls loved chatting with them and learning more about our country. The highlight, of course, was the chance to drink soda and eat cake! They were very reluctant to leave when the time came to return to their dorms, but they assured us that on October 9 (Ugandan Independence Day) they would host us and teach us about their country.

we served Pringles potato chips, and it was the first time many of the students

had tried such a snack

Head Teacher Evacy got into the spirit and wore her red t-shirt

the makeshift flagpole we erected for the occasion

Church

2011-06-24T14:34:00.003+03:00

I have attended Masaka Full Gospel Church since I've been in Uganda and during my time here, I have had the chance to preach, teach Sunday School, sing with the worship teams and also sing "specials" (often with various visitors we've had from Canada.) Megan, Paul and I also were on a youth camp organizing committee and were given the opportunity to give talks at the camp as well. We have felt very welcomed at church and we have made some very good friends. As well, several people from the congregation have been able to help us here at the school in a variety of ways.

Some church experiences...

clockwise from left: the children perform a dance in the service, a little baby (with great hair!) that joined our Sunday School class one day, the goat that appeared to listen to a whole Sunday School lesson, performing a "special" on Christmas Day 2009, Megan and the goat

some of our preaching opportunities--in the church and at youth camp

Staff

2011-06-17T14:40:00.006+03:00

I recently had to take a photo of each of our staff members for their staff ID card, so I thought I'd make a collage of all the photos. These are the great people I get to work with each day. These are the teachers, secretary, driver, security guards, cooks and cleaners that work so hard to make this project a success and make my job a lot easier! They have been very patient as we continue to work out the challenges associated with opening a brand new school and I appreciate their positive attitudes and commitment.

It's a shame they're not all smiling in these particular photos, because their personalities aren't evident from these shots, and we have a lot of fun together. As the school continues to grow over the years, we want to add more great people to the Timothy Girls College staff team.

24

2011-06-13T11:29:00.011+03:00

We admitted our Twenty-Fourth student to Timothy Girls College today and it was so wonderful to be able to help this girl. Her story is all too common here unfortunately. She finished Senior 4 last year with strong results and was admitted to the local secondary school this year to complete her A-Levels in Science. She is probably about 15 or 16 years old.

Despite the academic promise she showed, she did not go to school for first term. Her father had refused to pay the school fees, as his plan was to marry her off so that he didn't have to be responsible for her anymore. The girl's aunt brought her to us today to see if we could help. This lady is a Headmistress of a primary school, so she knows the value of an education for girls, but she was unable to pay the full fees as she has several other children for whom she is responsible. After hearing about the situation, we assured them that the girl needed to be here and arranged a fee subsidy so that she could stay here and finish her education.

This girl's arrival today is a valuable reminder of how important it is for our school to offer a quality education. We aim to provide the knowledge, skills and attitudes to equip these girls to become independent and strong leaders in their communities and work for change. Educating young women is so important to a society's development and I feel so privileged to be a part of this project that can make such a difference.

If you want to help provide more spaces for needy girls to study here at Timothy Girls College, you can donate to a TGC scholarship fund. Contributing to this fund allows us to offer more subsidies to other deserving girls who would benefit so much from a chance to complete their education.

Contact the Pacific Academy Outreach Society for more information. www.paoutreach.net

our students' campaign posters for the position of Head Girl--leaders in the making!

Travels

2011-05-23T10:23:00.006+03:00

I realize I haven't written an update for quite some time, and that is largely because I have spent the last month outside of Uganda. It has been a month of seeing new sights, getting more stamps in my rapidly filling passport, enjoying the company of family and friends and preparing to return to Canada to a new job.

During the recent term break, I took a trip to Croatia where my sister met me and we had a wonderful time visiting a few towns on the beautiful Dalmatian Coast. We enjoyed listening to church bells on Easter Sunday, eating delicious sea food dishes, sipping coffee in outdoor cafes and marvelling at the clear, turquoise water of the Adriatic Sea. It was also very fun to watch the Royal Wedding in a hotel lounge in the company of some British tourists who were able to identify various personalities in the crowd at Westminster Abbey and provide the colour commentary on the festivities. It was a wonderfully relaxing holiday in a beautiful part of the world.

However, it seems that while you can take the girl out of Africa, you can't necessarily take Africa out of the girl. While enjoying the pleasures of a Mediterranean holiday, I came down with another case of malaria a few days before I was scheduled to leave Croatia. However, the hospital we visited was able to provide the necessary medication and I improved in time to continue my travels.

From Croatia, I travelled to Vancouver and had a brief visit to the West Coast. There are the obvious things to enjoy about visiting home--driving on wide, smoothly paved roads, eating familiar food, visiting with family and friends and taking advantage of all the inherent "conveniences" of life in the West. However, I also enjoyed some more subtle pleasures--the most significant was the fact that I was able to understand what people around me on the street, in the mall, on the radio, etc. were saying. So often, here in Uganda, I feel disconnected from situations since I don't speak the language; I'd sort of forgotten what it's like to be able to "eavesdrop" on conversations happening around you!

My travels in the last month also took me briefly to the "Merry Old Land of Oz" when I took in the London production of the musical "Wicked" during a long stopover en route to Uganda. The show was very entertaining, and, while I must admit to nodding off once or twice during the production, that was purely a result of jetlag and is definitely not a comment on the quality of the performances!

I'm glad to have arrived safely back in Uganda and these next few months will fly by, I'm sure.

Fire II

2011-04-07T06:41:00.003+03:00

It was around 10:00 last night when I got a call from Evacy saying that there had been a dormitory fire in one of the local secondary schools where several of our students from Kibaale have been studying. She had been asked by one of the child-sponsorship staff members in Kibaale to go to the school on her behalf and make sure all these students were fine. As Evacy doesn't drive, she needed someone to take her into town. She and I, along with one of our security guards, headed out and were prepared to bring all the Kibaale students at that school back here, if need be.

As we arrived at the school, it was quite the chaotic scene. The fire was out, but parents and guardians had arrived in droves to check on their kids, and there were also lots of neighbours hanging around watching all the commotion. There were cars, motorcycles and pedestrians everywhere! Our guard stayed with the vehicle while Evacy and I went into the school compound to check things out. What a zoo! There was power in town, which helped a bit in illuminating our path, but I still needed to use the small flashlight on my cell phone to find the way. Someone was shouting instructions in Luganda over a loudspeaker, yet there didn't seem to be any sort of organization in terms of handling the large crowd of students, parents and other interested parties that was milling around.

We had no idea how we were going to find the kids we were looking for. I held onto Evacy's arm as we made our way through the crowd, because I didn't think I'd find her in the dark if we got separated. We headed toward an illuminated classroom block; we figured that since I was definitely the only muzungu in the crowd, people would find us. Sure enough, seconds after arriving in the lighted area, one of the boys from Kibaale came to greet us. He was very glad to see a familiar face and quickly went to find the others. Within about 5 minutes, all 6 of the students we'd come to see had found us. Not only that, but the son of another friend of Evacy had found us and was able to use her phone to reassure his parents that he was ok.

We learned that the fire had started in the girls' dormitory, while the girls were studying elsewhere, so no one was hurt. Most of the Kibaale students at this school were boys, so they were fine to remain, but we decided to take the one girl student back with us. She was obviously very upset and was worried that her books and notes were lost. (It is exam time here at the moment, and students rely on their extensive notes to prepare.) Evacy kept reassuring her, that her life was more important than anything that may have been lost, and that we were just glad she is fine. We signed her out (another rather chaotic process that I won't bother describing) and drove back to the Timothy Centre, so she could have a good night's rest before heading back to the school in the morning to check on her belongings.

Dormitory fires are not that uncommon in boarding schools here, unfortunately. The rooms are often overcrowded, which complicates both supervision and evacuation, and from what I witnessed last night, there also doesn't appear to be much of a system in place to handle such a crisis when it does happen. I am grateful that no one was hurt in this particular incident and that we were close by to offer assistance. (...and I might just take some time today to write a policy regarding fire evacuation procedures for Timothy Girls College!)

Flowers

2011-04-02T15:01:00.007+03:00

It rained almost every morning this week, and since we've recently planted a lot of flowers, shrubs and grass throughout the compound, it's so nice to see how green and lush everything is looking. Here's what the gardens looked like one day after the rain stopped.

Computers

2011-03-31T16:07:00.005+03:00

Last week saw the arrival of the fifteen brand new laptops that we purchased for the school. I set them up for the teachers to use at that time and they were very excited figuring out how to type out their lesson plans, tests and notes for their students. They are eager to learn how to make Powerpoint slides and use the projector in their classes, and that will come with time.

Yesterday, I bought the wireless router from the Orange network store in town, so we can provide web access. Setting up the internet connection was relatively easy considering it's such a high-tech gadget in this arguably low-tech environment. It only involved one unhelpful call to the customer care number and one return visit to the Orange store to configure the router correctly, but within a few hours, the lab was ready for the students to start their computer class this afternoon.

Megan is the computer instructor, and she had 22 very excited girls in her classes today--many of them had never used a computer before so they were enjoying figuring out a few basic skills in their first lesson. They particularly enjoyed playing an on-line typing instruction game.

We look forward to providing computer training for the students, so they will possess valuable skills when they go to university and enter the job market. We also are excited to train the teachers to incorporate some of this technology in the classroom.

Service

2011-03-26T10:58:00.002+03:00

It is a common experience for Westerners visiting or living in Africa to have to adjust to the unpredictable nature of customer service standards. One the one hand, it is can be difficult to be "allowed" to do any sort of physical labour for yourself. For example, the cook for the school personally delivers tea to my office everyday, and if I try to take the dirty dishes back myself and any of the staff see me, they will inevitably look horrified and rush to relieve me of my load. Similarly, the students in my Sunday School class won't let me sit on the bench until they brush the dust off it for me first and the staff at the supermarket in town volunteer to push the cart around for us when we're shopping and then carry the bags out to the vehicle. I appreciate the help with heavy loads when needed, but it can get a bit embarrassing when people offer to take even small packages from me, so I won't have to carry them.

However, there are times, when the customer service can leave you shaking your head in bewilderment. Waiters will dutifully take your order, disappear back to the kitchen for some time and then return to let you know that whatever you ordered is "finished." We have learned to ask "Do you have this?" and point to the item on the printed menu before ordering to try to avoid the long wait and then be disappointed. All of us have stories of this nature we could tell, but today, an interaction with the lady at the bakery was pretty classic, and I felt the need to share the story.

Sue and I went into town today to do a bit of grocery shopping. We stopped into the bakery that we frequent a fair bit. The items for sale are a bit hit and miss, but every once in a while I will pick up a pastry "cheese pie" for a snack. I hadn't had one in awhile, so I ordered one. The lady behind the counter asked if I'd like it warmed up--they have a microwave, which is pretty upscale for this part of the world. As I intended to eat it a bit later, I declined the offer of the warm-up.

Well, she gave me this look that said I was nuts to eat it cold and said, "You don't want it warmed up!??!" as if I had no idea what I was talking about. Her accusatory tone made me feel the need to defend myself so I said that I liked them cold. She sort of rolled her eyes, shook her head, wrapped up the pie and the look on her face communicated that she'd be telling another "crazy muzungu" story around the dinner table tonight.

Meanwhile, Sue decided she'd like a pie too, so she ordered one and said that she would like it warmed up. The same lady, who had just served me, looked at Sue and said "You want it warmed up!??!" in a similarly shocked manner. Sue re-stated her wishes and the lady replied, "No power."

We had a good laugh as we left the bakery.

the infamous cheese pie (not heated up)

Opening

2011-03-13T12:49:00.004+03:00

Yesterday was the Grand Opening celebration for Timothy Girls College. It was a really wonderful time where all the builders, the staff, the students, people from the community, other expats and many members of the Kibaale Community School staff came together to mark the start of this exciting project.

Here are some things that stood out as highlights for me:

-the local District Education Officer saying how proud he is that the Luwengo district now has a school dedicated to educating the girl child. This is a stated focus for the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports, but many areas in the nation still can't provide such schools. He promised to do all he can for us as we seek to register the school officially and that was good news indeed!

-the choir made up of all 21 of our students performing 2 songs. Five of the girls had only arrived the night before and had to learn the numbers very quickly. They sounded great!

-hearing the Kibaale staff members cheering loudly in celebration as a long-term goal of that project was being realized.

-seeing how proud of their work the builders were and having a chance to thank them publicly.

-listening to Esther, the first girl that reported for school, speak articulately to the crowd about how happy she was to be a part of the first class of TGC

-greeting a former student of mine when I lived in Uganda in 1996. She is now a nurse that works in the Kibaale clinic, and she recognized me as her former teacher and found me to say hi.

-chatting with another former student of mine who is very seriously planning to run for office in the next election in 2016. He currently works in Kibaale and wants to represent that area in order to bring further development to Rakai district. He was also telling me what a wonderful opportunity it is for some of our students who have come from Kibaale. They have such disadvantaged backgrounds that to be able to study at an A-Level school like ours would have been totally out of reach without the sponsorship they've received.

-being able to tour people through the site and see the support from so many people from the community.

We have high expectations for Timothy Girls College, and it will take time to develop our program, but it feels like we're starting well and it is such a privilege to be a part of it.

Chapel

2011-03-07T08:23:00.005+03:00

Since Timothy Girls College is a boarding school, we have the opportunity to meet together on Sunday mornings for our weekly chapel service. We have had two such meetings since the school opened, and I've really enjoyed joining the students in the worship service. The girls lead the singing with local drums as the only accompaniment and everyone joins in very enthusiastically.

It is very hard to convey the mood of an African worship service in words and photos alone; even video doesn't quite capture the atmosphere. The girls in the chapel services sing at the top of their lungs, dance, pound the drums, clap their hands and shout; it is really very fun to be a part of it all. I can't join in the Luganda songs, and it's sometimes difficult to recognize the ones in English, but I can't help but be touched by the excitement all around.

You'll just have to visit sometime and experience it for yourself!

some students presenting a "special"--a song they prepared to perform at the service

the cooks left lunch preparations and joined in and provided the drum accompaniment

Floors

2011-02-24T11:33:00.009+03:00

The dining hall/multi-purpose building is nearly ready for tables and benches to be moved in, but first the very dusty floor needed to be swept and mopped. It is a huge floor, so it took all of our cleaners plus a few of the workers to get the job done.

The method: Spray water all over the concrete floor with a hose and then have other people use brushes to scrub the floor and squeegees to push the excess water out the door. Labour intensive? Yes, but it got the job done.

The floor looked white with dust before this process, now the colour shows.

Students!

2011-02-22T15:50:00.009+03:00

February 21st was the date we'd set for students to report. However, the presidential elections were held on the 18th, so people were travelling to their home areas to vote, some were lying low in case there was violence and basically everything slowed down over the weekend. Thankfully, it was very peaceful electoral process and things have returned to normal very quickly. However, all this meant delays for school openings. We were unsure how many students would actually arrive and when they might turn up.

We had 2 girls show up yesterday and 8 more came today. 7 of these are girls who finished their O-Level at our Kibaale project. It was very cool to see them here, as they are the first ones to go through both of our schools. It was also really great to see parents who heard about the school through word of mouth be willing to take a risk and send their daughters to a brand new school.

We're hopeful that more girls will come throughout the rest of the week, but for the time being, it's just great to feel like we're actually starting our programme with actual students!

The students from Kibaale arrive and head off for some lunch

Awhile ago we took some promo shots of Kibaale students in TGC uniforms--this girl was one of our "cover girl" for the brochure and posters we had made.

Boarding school students in Uganda take these metal boxes (filled with their personal effects) to school with them. You see them on the top of taxis and stuffed into car trunks everywhere at this time of year.

getting organized

looking very smart in their new uniforms!

The first 10 Timothy Girls College students!

Registration

2011-02-09T21:42:00.011+03:00

This week, the Uganda National Examination Board finally released the Senior 4 exam results that determine whether or not a student can move onto the Advanced Level of secondary school. As the Timothy Girls College is specializing in the A-Level program, we've been waiting very impatiently for these results to be published so we can actively recruit students.

In order to target the demographic most likely to send their daughters/nieces/cousins/sisters to our school, we arranged to set up a table at the entrance to Garden City Mall in Kampala for this week. We've spent 3 long days there and many people have stopped and expressed interest in what we're doing.

Garden City is where the well-to-do Ugandans as well as many expats do their shopping and there is also a cinema and an entertainment centre there as well. It's a very busy place and we've had a variety of interesting things happen in the three days we've spent there. Here is a taste:

the wife of the national Leader of the Opposition walked by the booth, but I have to admit, I noticed her Prada bag before I noticed her. I assumed it was a knock-off until one of our staff told me who she was. (she didn't stop to chat)
one of the President's daughters was shopping for a while (again, someone had to tell me who she was, and she didn't stop either)
I recognized one of my former students from Canada as he entered the mall. We were very surprised to see one another!
Our school logo has a key depicted on it, and as Uganda anticipates presidential elections next week, people are really noticing our logo. Turns out that one of the major parties uses almost the identical image as the symbol for their party. We are quick to reassure people that it's a coincidence and that we definitely are not making a political statement in our logo!
We wondered why a couple of British tourists were taking photos beside the banner advertising our school, until we gathered that one of the guys' names was Tim...
The national Commissioner for Agricultural Planning stopped and talked to us for quite awhile and gave us lots of farming advice. Most helpful!
A lovely, vivacious woman was so impressed by our project that she took extra brochures to put up at her very large church and said she'd also promote the school on their radio station for free.

We still have about a day and a half to go, and we're hoping for lots of registrations to come in during that time. However, I'm sure that as we continue to sit at the table there will be many more interesting people to meet.

our banner (I apologize for the problemmatic apostrophe!)

A scene from an African mall. Cleaners filling jerrycans from the decorative fountain.

We asked for a power connection in order to plug in the laptop...
this is what was rigged up for us.

some of our staff manning the booth

The hard-working promotions team! 3 of our teachers, our headmistress and an intern who is majoring in Public Relations at university have spent the last few days convincing people to enroll students. Thank you team!

Cairo

2011-01-29T11:41:00.007+03:00

Just over a month ago, I was in Cairo enjoying a wonderful holiday and touring a fascinating and historically important city. Here is a photo I took from my hotel balcony on Friday, December 24, 2010. The view is of Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.

This morning, I was reading about the protests in Cairo and looking at the various images that have been posted online; I came across the following photo dated Friday, January 28, 2011: (the photo credit is Peter Macdiarmid, Getty Images)

Notice the tower that is visible in both photos. I figure this photo could have been taken from a balcony at the same hotel I stayed in. It is hard to believe the changes to the city in such a short time, and my recent visit to Cairo makes the reality of what is happening there right now feel very close. The people we met there are on my mind today. I am praying for their safety and that peace and order will be restored to Cairo soon.

Firewood

2011-01-22T08:18:00.004+03:00

Since most people rely on charcoal fires to cook their food and boil their water, it is necessary for them to have a regular supply of firewood. They can either buy it, grow their own eucalyptus trees if they have the resources to do so, or find it wherever they can. This last practice often causes problems, as was demonstrated by a small drama we encountered this morning.

I have mentioned before that the wetland on our property is a place where some of our neighbours have started fires in order to make charcoal for themselves. Burning the wetland is illegal since it is protected by NEMA (the National Environmental Management Agency) and it is also private property (ours!), so we try to discourage it whenever we can. Between June and October last year, we had three major fires in our wetland and some of the brush there is still blackened and damaged as a result. Our security guards keep an eye on this area and even caught some of the people responsible for starting one of the fires; they were given very strong warnings not to repeat the practice.

Earlier this week, we noticed some people chopping down some of the small, blackened trees in the wetland, so our guards (once again!) went down and chased them off the property. However, this morning, about 10 or so people were down there hacking at the saplings. The dogs were barking at them, we were on our front porches watching, and they knew they weren't supposed to be there, but they still continued to collect the firewood. When I walked to the edge of the retaining wall in front of my house to take the photos below, some of the people ran off because they knew they might get in trouble.

Paul called the guards to take care of the issue, but meanwhile, Arleen set off on her morning run around the compound. The dogs always follow her on these runs, and so the folks in the wetland saw her and the dogs coming towards them and they took off running. There is a chainlink fence between our compound and the wetland, and Arleen wasn't going to do anything to them, but they weren't taking any chances. By this time the guards had also made their way down to that area to chase them away.

As we watched the scene from our porches, we heard all the workers down at the building site cheering and hollering as they also watched these folks running away. It was quite the event!

While we are sympathetic to the problem--the difficulty of finding firewood for people who can't afford to buy it--we still want to uphold the law and protect our beautiful wetland. I think this is probably something we'll be dealing with for years to come.

a rather faraway look at the people chopping firewood in the wetland this morning

you can only see 2 people in this shot, as most of the group ran away

when they saw me come to the retaining wall to take the photo

Bread

2011-01-10T11:48:00.012+03:00

I made a rather major decision fairly recently: I decided to avoid buying bread from the bakery in town. When I am in Kampala, I will purchase a loaf or two from the supermarket bakeries--there is usually more variety there and the loaves are of a better quality. Generally,however, I am not a big fan of the bread found in most of the local stores.

It can be rather difficult to find whole wheat or even "brown" bread and the loaves tend to be dry and go stale very quickly.

There are also some definite cultural differences between what I expect a loaf of bread to be and what people here prefer. Note the selling feature of the loaf below:

Yes, that's right...it's "enriched with extra fat and sugar"...

The result of not buying much bread, is that I make my own more frequently and I do enjoy this process. The warm temperatures here ensure that the dough rises beautifully every time and there really is nothing nicer than the smell (and taste!) of freshly baked bread. I'm enjoying experimenting with different ingredients and have even gotten to the point where I don't have to follow a recipe every time. My homemade bread may lack the benefits of extra sugar and fat, but somehow, I don't seem to notice.

Contrasts

2010-12-28T10:08:00.016+03:00

I just returned from a short holiday to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Cairo, Egypt. It was a great experience and since I was far from home for Christmas, going somewhere totally different was a great way to avoid feeling too homesick during the holidays. Both cities were interesting in their own way, and I've been reflecting on what I experienced in both.

Perhaps the most effective way to communicate my impressions of the two cities is to use a “compare and contrast” model. (nerdy, I know, but I am a Social Studies teacher after all!)

Dubai

Cairo

Architecture

-ultra modern feats of engineering (indoor ski hill, tallest man-made structure in the world, man-made islands in the shape of a palm tree and “the world”, etc)

-examples of what one very rich absolute ruler can build with enough man-power and money

-a mixture of Islamic and Western styles

-ancient feats of engineering (pyramids, Sphinx, temples, fortresses, etc)

-examples of what one very rich absolute ruler can build with enough man-power and money

-a mixture of ancient Egyptian, Islamic and Western styles

Transportation Options

-Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris, Porsches, BMW’s or Mercedes are de rigeur

-new buses and metro system

-a variety of vehicles with multiple scratches on the bumpers given the way traffic works, taxis that have been on the road for a LONG time, horse-drawn carts or camels

-old and very dirty buses and metro system

Dress Code

-the latest designer fashions, traditional Emirati dress for men, all manner of appropriate Islamic styles for women

-very elegant and stylish

-the latest designer fashions, traditional Egyptian dress for men, all manner of appropriate Islamic styles for women

-varies according to economic situation

Garbage

-invisible

-piled in alleys, canals, and gutters

Typical Tourist Boat Experience

-dinner cruise on the Arabian Sea or Dubai creek on a traditional boat called a dhow

-dinner cruise on the Nile River on a traditional boat called a felucca

Unique to the City

-the only “7 star” hotel in the world complete with Rolls Royce pick-up at the airport and your own personal valet to attend to your every need

-collection of ancient artifacts from King Tutankhamen’s tomb

Smoking

-allowed basically everywhere…even some bathroom stalls come equipped with ash trays

-shisha pipes are very popular and you can order cigarettes from some restaurant menus

-encouraged by the government. Apparently, the government keeps the price of tobacco very low so that everyone can afford it

-if you only smoke shisha, that is considered by some as “giving up smoking”, even though the tobacco is just as strong as cigarettes

Overall Impression

-a fascinatingly “new” city. There is still construction going on all over the city and it has developed in basically a period of ten years

-the height of all the buildings in the city is astounding, yet the Burj Khalifah (the tallest man-made structure in the world) rises far above them all. Makes one think of the Tower of Babel!

-a fascinatingly “ancient” city. People find antiquities when they dig in their yards, and there is evidence of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Islamic influence as well as Medieval and the British colonial period.

-all of the above plus modern shopping malls with Starbucks and T.G.I. Fridays

Mohammed Ali mosque at the Citadel in Cairo

interior of the mosque

The Sphinx and one of the Giza Pyramids

camel riding in Giza

felucca ride on the Nile

the view from my Cairo hotel balcony (notice the McDonald's billboard)

the interior of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai...this is what 7 stars gets you

a view from the observation deck on the 124th storey of the Burj Khalifah.

That's the shadow of the tower you see stretching out below.

indoor skiing at the Mall of the Emirates

Malaria

2010-12-16T11:14:00.003+03:00

This nasty disease is an unfortunate reality here in Uganda and throughout Africa. It is the number one killer of children on this continent and it is a very complicated disease to try to understand. I am now on the recovery side of a case of what the doctor called "complicated malaria" which means there were many malarial parasites in my blood which caused high fever, chills, and general weakness. Not fun! However, medical professionals here are very capable of dealing effectively with malaria, so I was sent to the hospital immediately to start a course of IV quinine drip. I spent the night in the hospital and am feeling much better today. I am grateful that I have the resources to get the necessary treatment; too many people can't afford medical help or have access to clean drinking water in order to deal with malaria effectively. Tragic!

the ambulance I got to ride in from the clinic to the hospital

the very exciting view I've been staring at for the last 24 hours (the ceiling of my room)

looking my best

(actually an improvement from the very green shade my skin was yesterday!)

Hair-do's

2010-11-29T07:07:00.008+03:00

Two staff members from our Kibaale project got married on Saturday, and I went along to participate in the festivities. Ugandan weddings can be very confusing for Westerners, because the invitation indicates what time the ceremony will start, but if you actually arrive at that time, it is very likely you'll be waiting in a relatively empty sanctuary...for hours, possibly. We arrived at what we considered to be fashionably late enough, but we were greeted with the news that the ceremony wouldn't start for at least another hour.

When we returned to the church after killing time at Kibaale Community Centre, the groomsmen were all in position to enter the church, so we were hopeful that things were starting. About 45 minutes later, (the groomsmen had entered and were seated in the church for that time) the bridal party arrived and things finally got underway. The crowd was enthusiastic, there was singing and dancing and it was great fun to be a part of it all.

I have wondered why wedding delays are so common here and I think I have come up with a workable theory to explain it: It's all about the hair-do's.

The flower girl, bridesmaids and bride all get their hair done in elaborate styles for the event and it must take ages to complete these works of art. I was lucky enough to be seated directly behind the bridesmaids, so I had the opportunity to examine the intricacies of their hairstyles; it is truly astounding how much work it must be to achieve "the look." Taking that into consideration, that the bridal party arrives at all is a tribute to the women who work tirelessly to ensure that each strand of hair is perfectly in place!

So, to the hair dressers of Uganda: Well done! We wedding guests will continue to wait, eagerly anticipating the arrival of your masterpieces.

the flower girl (she was SUPER cute!)

close-up of the bridesmaids' hairstyle

the bridal party

the final effect

Nature

2010-11-22T16:25:00.008+03:00

Yesterday morning, as we were preparing to leave for church, we heard the dogs barking quite persistently outside. When we went to check it out, we saw that the dogs had cornered a mongoose inside our compound and were engaged in a bit of a grudge match with the feisty little thing. After a short time the outcome was decided. I'm sure people might be wondering: Who'd win in a fight...2 dogs vs. a mongoose?

The answer is the dogs. That's all I really need to say about that.

Today Nature continued to cause some excitement for us. Again this afternoon, I heard one of the dogs barking persistently and went to check it out. As I approached, I noticed that he was barking at a small snake that was near our front gate. The snake was trying to strike, so I called the dog to get away, hoping that he hadn't already been bitten. Even small snakes here can be very dangerous.

Once I got the dogs safely away, I went back to try to deal with the dangerous critter, but I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. Armed with only my camera (you can't let a moment like this go unrecorded!) I tried to figure out a plan, but wasn't really willing to get too close to the problem. Fortunately, I didn't have to come up with anything on my own, as Paul just happened to be driving by at that moment. I flagged him down, and he picked up a nearby construction pole that had a large nail sticking out of the end. With only 2 hits he managed to hit the snake with the nail--crisis averted!

We think it was a black mamba, which could have been quite dangerous. However, the dog appears to be fine; the snake is gone, and we have one more great story to tell. I wonder what tomorrow will hold?

the snake lying near the gate post

Paul has successfully eliminated the problem

images of Moses in the wilderness...a snake on a pole

it's good to have neighbours who are willing to take care of unpleasant tasks!

Campfire

2010-11-14T08:00:00.010+03:00

We have been living on the Timothy Centre site for nearly a year now, and last night we finally got around to constructing a fire pit so that we can sit around a campfire from time to time in the evenings. We had high hopes, but alas, it was not to be. It had rained quite hard during the day, so the wood we tried to use was too wet to burn and it ended up being too smoky to be fun. So, we packed up the marshmallows and hot dogs, headed back inside and cooked them using the broiler in the oven. We ended up spending the evening in the living room, which is pretty much the normal routine, but still enjoyable. All things considered, it was a fun experiment and we look forward to other attempts in the future.

it's so embarrassing when you show up to a campfire wearing the same outfit as your neighbour!

the reason we were driven inside

Wings

2010-11-09T07:31:00.004+03:00

I guess it's an example of cause and effect. Cause: rain during the rainy season....Effect? "White ants" (I'm not really sure what kind of insect they are) fly out of the ground in massive quantities, drop their wings and crawl away.

These ants are a bit of a delicacy for the local people and the workers were very excited when this phenomenon had occurred overnight. The ants are attracted to light, and as we have security lights on all the buildings and gates on our compound that are on all night, there were piles of wings everywhere! The workers collected the ants and enjoyed them as a seasonal snack.

For me, these ants are less of a delicacy and more of an irritant; the wings are scattered all over my verandah in the morning and it requires a fair bit of sweeping to try to get rid of them. Not to mention that the ants themselves somehow manage to crawl through the crack under the door and come into my house. They aren't harmful or anything; they are just difficult to get rid of. Just when you think you've gotten them all, another one appears from somewhere and out comes the broom again!

Here is what my porch looked like this morning before I swept it:

Activities

2010-11-03T09:01:00.000+03:00

Here are some things I've been doing that have prevented me from updating my blog lately:

-entertaining my parents while they visited for about a month

-learning to use my new Mac computer

-interviewing more prospective teachers and staff members for the school

-helping to plan a youth camp for our church

-teaching Sunday School

-writing school policy

-designing marketing material

-creating budgets

-deciding on furniture, supplies and resources for the school

-meeting with Evacy, the Head Teacher, regularly to discuss plans

-preparing to move into my office in the (mostly) completed administration building

-developing a Leadership course for the school

I enjoy all of these tasks and there is still much to do before our intended opening date in February, but I will do my best to write updates more frequently. No promises though!

Workers

2010-10-07T10:43:00.009+03:00

As the anticipated opening day (Feb. 2011) of Timothy Girls College approaches there is all kinds of work happening on the site. We have over 100 men employed to do the building, landscaping, wiring and plumbing of the school buildings, so from Monday to Saturday the site is a very busy place. The local community is very appreciative of the work we are providing for these men, and we appreciate all their hard work on our behalf.

All the buildings are constructed with locally produced bricks, covered in plaster with wooden roof trusses and iron sheet roofing. They are fairly basic structures, but there is a great deal of man power that goes into each stage of the construction. Landscapers have levelled huge piles of dirt with only hoes and pick axes; porters mix cement by the wheelbarrow full, men carry jerrycans of water by hand from the pump to be used in cement mixing; bow saws are used to cut the roof trusses and hammers pound the nails into them (the wood used is tropical hardwood that is very difficult to cut by the way.) Each brick has been laid with a hand trowel and the septic tanks, trenches for foundations and retaining walls have all been dug by hand. The only real machinery that has been used is a small bulldozer that was used to grade the sloped land. An electric skill saw has also been used to speed up the roof truss production process, but there is only one.

So, as a tribute to all the hard work that goes on each day, here are some photos of the workers doing what they do best. Thank you, guys!

making sidewalks behind my house

loading extra slate into the "tipper"

raking gravel

preparing for the installation of the roof trusses for the dining hall

shovelling gravel

digging a trench for a retaining wall

binding the joints of the dining hall roof trusses with metal bands

nailing the beams together for the roof trusses

all the workers change their clothes in the morning when they arrive and hang them outside the big storage building, then change back at the end of the work day

Interviews

2010-09-23T14:52:00.002+03:00

We have started interviewing potential teachers and staff for the school and I have learned quite a bit about some of the more subtle aspects of the culture here through this process. The Ugandan head teacher takes the lead in asking questions of the candidates, as she has a better idea of what is important to learn from these individuals in this context. Here are some things I've learned from the questions she's asked:

1. The language, Kiswahili, (spoken widely in Kenya and Tanzania) is viewed by some Ugandans as the "language of thieves" and they resist learning it. This attitude hinders the development of a common East African language--something the government in this country would like to see.

2. Some families would be willing to pay high school fees to educate their sons, but would not be willing to pay the same amount to educate their daughters.

3. Chemistry and Biology are prerequisites for taking Advanced Level Foods and Nutrition, but a student doesn't need lower level Home Management (Home Ec) in order to take it. Foods and Nutrition is considered a Science course.

4. There have been cases of Art teachers completing their students' assignments for them in order to improve the grades on the national exams.

5. Despite the many challenges facing teachers in this country, it is easy to find many dedicated individuals who stand against corruption, care for their students, are committed to seeing more girls achieve higher education and work hard to achieve these goals.

It is encouraging to meet people who recognize the importance of education to development and want to make a difference in their country. I look forward to speaking to more interesting people over the next few weeks as we finalize our decisions.

Commerce

2010-09-06T12:14:00.012+03:00

Here's a look at a variety of businesses around Masaka. People get very creative about where and how they display their wares; any spot on the street can become a shop. People sell items from baskets on the sidewalk, from baskets balanced on their heads and from pieces of cloth spread out on the ground. It can be a great adventure participating in commercial transactions around here.

A butcher uses a machete to cut the meat.

A suit salesman. He just piles one jacket over another on his shoulders and walks up and down the street. (the shop in the background is owned by our pastor's wife; it's where we get all our photocopying done.)

Street food. These guys are making chapattis.

A typical row of small shops along with makeshift shelters selling more items.

Kids

2010-08-26T17:12:00.014+03:00

I just said goodbye to two of my sisters and another good friend a few days ago. They were here visiting for about 10 days and we packed in a lot of African adventures while they were here. A real highlight of the trip was the day we spent out in the village visiting the homes of some of the children that attend Kibaale Community School. My sister got to meet the boy she sponsors and present him with a goat that my nephew had raised money to buy for the family.

Several other generous people from Canada had donated money to buy goats for more of these needy families, so we were privileged to be able to deliver the goats directly to the recipients. Everywhere you go in Uganda, you see children and we had a lot of fun interacting with all the little ones living in the homes we visited. It was hard to tell who actually lived in each of the homes, because as soon as we arrived kids from the neighbouring area would come over to meet the visitors.

The kids love having their photos taken and then looking at themselves in the camera. As most are too poor to have mirrors in their homes, they don't see themselves very often, so it's a real novelty.

It was a day full of kids--both the human and the goat variety!

Dogs

2010-08-01T11:25:00.006+03:00

I've mentioned our dogs before, but I thought I'd dedicate another blog entry to these animals that provide daily entertainment for us. They have a lot of energy and they enjoy the space they have on our site to chase each other, goats, cows, and occasionally even the workers (not something we encourage!) Their favourite activity, however, is chasing birds. As there are many different types of birds around here, Max and Joey have many opportunities to pursue this hobby. Fortunately, they aren't usually successful in catching birds, but this doesn't seem to deter them from trying.

Recently, there has been a crow that is getting revenge by tormenting our dogs in his own way. He flies very low, gets them to chase him and then he perches just out of their reach. It drives the dogs crazy and they bark, jump, run and look up helplessly at this smug bird. We've seen him doing this on several occasions, and it is quite funny to see. Watch out, dogs....that crow has ATTITUDE!

Max and Joey being tormented by a crow on the roof.

Fire!

2010-07-25T06:15:00.006+03:00

Yesterday a fire started in the bush just beyond our property line. It continued to burn all afternoon and by the evening it had spread down to the wetland in front of our property. The fire eventually died down at about 10:00 pm, but we were watching it's progress pretty carefully throughout the evening to make sure it wasn't coming too close.

We're grateful that that no one was hurt and that nothing of value on our property or on the surrounding properties was lost.

An opportunity to get some rather dramatic photos!

Nothing like a fire burning close by to provide exciting and (somewhat scary) evening entertainment. You can see the bits of ash in the air illuminated by the camera flash.

Taken from the retaining wall in our front yard

Visionaries

2010-07-23T13:09:00.000+03:00

I have been privileged to meet several Ugandans who are working very hard to improve their country and these people are truly inspirational. They face huge challenges—severe poverty, corruption, limited resources, disease and even physical danger, yet they continue to press on toward their goals and remain committed to improving their society.

There is the radio talk-show host that discusses educational issues on his programme and strives to encourage teachers and parents to take education seriously. As well, there is the local government official in this area who is staunchly committed to education and is appalled by the corruption he sees amongst his colleagues. The pastor of our church started a project for the children in the area, and another for their mothers because he recognizes the great needs and wants to do what he can to help. When you hear him talk about children you can see how much he cares for these vulnerable members of society. There are two men on staff at our Kibaale project who, out of their limited resources, sponsor several homeless children in the area because they benefited from sponsorship themselves and want to give something back.

None of these people are rich. They are just ordinary folks who want to see their country develop and are willing to sacrifice in order to see that happen. I am humbled by their dedication and perseverance as they endure many difficulties and continue to work for development. You hear a lot of negative stories about Africa, but I want to take time to applaud the people who work so hard within their communities to bring positive change. These changes come “slowly by slowly” (as the saying goes here) yet these committed individuals don’t give up. Bless them all!

Madmen

2010-07-16T14:09:00.004+03:00

In a country that lacks so much in terms of healthcare, you can imagine how little help there is for the mentally ill. People here refer to these men and women as “madmen” and you often see them wandering the streets in cities and by themselves along the side of the highway. They are usually wearing very ripped, tattered and dirty clothes or (more often than not) very little clothing at all. Their behaviour isolates them from the rest of society and, sadly, they are a very marginalized group within this society with few available resources.

Here in Masaka there are a few men like this that we see regularly around town. One of them occasionally comes to visit Megan and me when we are working in the Christian Schools Association office in town. He walks right in, sits himself down in one of the chairs and starts talking to us. He has obviously been educated, as he speaks very fluent English, and he loves to expound on one or two of his favourite conspiracy theories. The topics seem to revolve around Catholicism, racism, Judaism, the War in Iraq and any combination of these and other hot topics. The other day he started the conversation (actually, it was more of a monologue, truth be told!) by asking “Where is Osama Bin Laden?” and so it went from there. Neither of us is required to say much in response to his thoughts, and he usually ends up saying something that cracks him up and then he gets up and leaves abruptly at that point.

We were in the office this morning and he hadn’t showed up during our time there. We weren’t too disappointed, as it’s a bit difficult to get any work done when someone is sitting in front of you discussing world politics. However, on the way home we stopped to pick up a few things and noticed him amongst the crowd at the weekly Friday market. As we drove by, he recognized us and we waved at him as we drove by.

I feel like I’ve passed some sort of milestone in terms of cultural adjustment...the local “madman” knows me and greets me in passing.

...another local personality

Bureaucracy

2010-06-23T10:24:00.003+03:00

I knew it was inevitable—as an administrator of a new school, I would be obligated eventually to visit government offices in Kampala and somehow try to navigate the red tape involved in getting the school licensed etc. I’ve been able to put it off for a while, but this week the time came to start the process in earnest. Fortunately, I don’t have to start right from scratch as people here have already made contacts in the Ministry of Education and Sports and are familiar with the basic process. Arleen took Evacy (the Ugandan Headmistress) and me to Kampala to introduce us to people who could be of assistance and to show us how to find the appropriate offices.

Many of the things I expected of a trip to visit a government office occurred:

1. We had to go through an inefficient security process before entering the building.

2. We opted to take the stairs (since taking an elevator would require more trust in Kampala’s power supply than we were willing to give) and the offices we needed to visit were on the top floor.

3. The offices were off a very narrow, dark hallway packed with people waiting to see various officials, and when peeking into open doors, I saw offices with the entire desk and shelves covered in random piles of (no doubt) very official and important papers

4. We had to interrupt the secretary of one bureaucrat as she was eating her lunch at her desk only to find out that the man we came to see was not available. She did help us by giving us his contact info so we could make another appointment on another trip to Kampala

5. In order to pick up copies of some pertinent documents, we had to visit the “photocopy room” located in a 6’X8’ room in the basement of the building equipped with a single photocopier. There was another security routine to endure here as well, and Evacy had to sift through a large stack of dog-eared papers to determine the ones we needed. Then the lady (who'd also had her lunch interupted by us) had to photocopy the ones we’d chosen on a slow machine that didn’t automatically photocopy double-sided copies so each sheet had to be fed through manually. Then a receipt had to be prepared by hand for the $1.50 we’d spent.

6. We discovered that another office we’d intended to visit had moved to another building and the man that we needed to see there was away at a course.

7. Just as we arrived at another office to pick up old copies of exams, we learned that the woman who could help us had just driven off, leaving the room locked. In fact, she passed us in a car as we entered the parking lot.

It was actually not a total waste of time. We made some new contacts that could be useful; I now know where to find these places and what to expect when I go, and we picked up some helpful documents. Despite the bureaucratic hassles that we experienced we were encouraged by a sign we saw posted on the stairwell of one of the buildings we visited. It was a photocopied piece of paper hung beneath the No Smoking sign, and another urging people to “use a low voice when speaking on cellular phones” and the message typed on a computer notified readers that they were “entering a zero corruption zone.” Good to know!

Football

2010-06-11T18:07:00.003+03:00

It's June 11, which means the long anticipated "Africa's World Cup" has begun in South Africa. I was in Kampala today and you could tell people are getting very excited--wearing team jerseys, lining up to get connected to digital satellite tv, and poring over the schedule in the newspaper. It will be very interesting to see how the tournament progresses, and as Uganda isn't in the World Cup it's also interesting to see which teams Ugandans support. Today, I heard Argentina, England, South Africa and Cote D'ivoire to name a few.

Ugandans don't leave it all up to the professionals, however. The workers here play a daily game of very lively football during their break. It doesn't appear that they are following the exact rules of the sport, but it sure looks like they are having fun. You haven't seen a challenge until you see guys playing soccer on uneven, sloped ground wearing gum boots on their feet; somehow they make it work. Here's what lunchtime looks like around here:

the line up at the mall in Kampala to get hooked up to satellite TV

Savings

2010-06-07T09:27:00.002+03:00

It is clear to see that people here live hand to mouth, and few people have extra money saved for when some kind of emergency occurs. A member of the family gets sick, and they don’t have money for treatment. They have to travel to the burial of a relative and they don’t have money for transport. They need to make repairs to their houses and don’t have the funds to buy materials. The list goes on and on and the needs are great.

In order to enable our workers address some of these issues, we have a savings program that they can choose to participate in. It is a very simple system that makes a huge difference for people. If they want to get involved, we put aside a pre-determined amount from their salary in an envelope and keep it for them until they need it. The men are amazed at how their savings add up and they are able to use that money for a variety of things. Some have bought livestock with their money which further increases their family income; some have made improvements to their houses and many have been able to pay emergency medical or travel expenses with their own money.

Last week, I was fortunate to see firsthand how this savings program empowers our workers. The rest of my team was away for a few days, so I was the sole muzungu on site; therefore I was the one the workers came to with questions or issues (this is not my normal role—usually they go to Paul or Karl.) One of the landscapers approached me along with another worker who acted as translator and told me that the other man needed money to go to a clinic to have some stitches removed. Apparently, the man had been robbed and the thieves had slashed his arm in the process leaving a gash all the way down the inside of his forearm. The wound had healed enough that they stitches could be taken out. They told me that he had savings with us and he would pay me back once Karl (who had his envelope) was back. I happily gave him the 10 000 shillings (about $5) knowing that he was good for it.

The next day he came to my door to pay me back. The look of pride on his face as he handed me the money really touched me. He seemed so happy to be able to pay his debt so promptly. In a place where people often ask us for money or have to borrow money from relatives or friends, it was so encouraging to see someone who was able to afford to pay for medical care with his own money. It’s just another example of how a small action can make such a huge difference for people. Merely putting aside a few dollars a month of their own money allows these men to improve their lives in significant ways.

a 10 000 Uganda shilling note, worth about five dollars

Gardening

2010-06-01T12:19:00.002+03:00

One of the aims of the Timothy Centre is to train local farmers in sustainable farming methods. To that end we have a demonstration plot on our property where we grow some local crops using these methods. Most Ugandans subsist on the produce they grow in small gardens, and these plots are very important as the crops they grow are what keep people alive. More effective farming methods designed to minimize the need for chemical pesticides or fertilizers as well as using seed from the harvest will allow these farmers to increase their crop yields and provide food for their families and maybe even a surplus.

We are currently growing maize and beans in the demonstration garden, since a staple of the Ugandan diet is made from these crops. They grind the maize into flour, steam it in banana leaves in order to make posho (a starchy substance similar to mashed potatoes) which is served with boiled beans. Eating posho and beans together make complete protein, so it is a fairly nutritious meal for people who don’t have a lot of variety in their diets. It is also VERY filling and we muzungus can never eat much of it!

So far our garden has been growing well. We have already had one harvest and we’re looking forward to a second successful harvest in a few weeks.

the demonstration garden

healthy maize

the beans are coming along nicely

the fate of the crop--our cook preparing posho and beans for the workers' lunch

Creativity

2010-05-22T08:52:00.003+03:00

I just returned to Uganda after a brief trip home to Canada where I had the opportunity to visit with family and friends. My departure from Uganda was affected by the volcanic ash situation over Europe, but I managed to find a (very long!) way home, for which I was very grateful! It was a great holiday and now I’m back in Masaka and re-adjusting to life around here.

The Timothy Centre site has changed a lot in my absence—there are now plants in the beds in front of my house; roofing the administration building has begun; the exterior of the houses have been painted by a visiting team; there is now a gate for our housing compound and the brick retaining walls in front are in the process of being covered with slate. Everything is looking great!

Yesterday, the workers took some creative initiative and added some flair to the retaining wall (see below) I’m definitely back in Africa!

(map of Uganda....not to scale!)

Heavy Equipment

2010-04-07T13:08:00.005+03:00

This morning, Arleen and I went out to meet with the District Education Officer, because we had some questions regarding the licensing process for the school. When we left, there was a truck that had come to dig a well on the property that was too heavy for the soft wetland and had sunk to its axles in the mud. We managed to squeeze by them and get out of our driveway, but when we arrived home again, this is what we saw blocking our way:

Yes, that is a tow truck with its front wheels off the ground. We parked our car right there, and walked the rest of the way. Here's why:

It was trying to pull a well-drilling truck out of the mud. How stuck was this truck? See below:

The above photo was taken after about an hour and a half of trying to dig the wheels out. Here's another view of the scene:

And a closer look (when we left for the DEO's office, there had been no digging, so that tire was barely visible.)

We left this morning at about 9:45. It is now 1:30 and the scene doesn't look that much different now. They're going to have to basically build a rough road to be able to get it out of there. Just another day really...

Cheese

2010-04-02T09:33:00.001+03:00

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, was I seeing what I thought I was seeing? How could it be true? It was April 1^st, this must be someone’s idea of a joke. There it was, just sitting in the freezer case looking as innocent as can be, like it had always been there and nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Yes, there it was... a wheel of gouda cheese AND it was selling for 18000 Uganda shillings! A mere $9.00! Here I was picking up a few things at Smartshopper, (Masaka’s largest supermarket) never suspecting that I’d see such an amazing thing on such an ordinary day. Will wonders never cease?

Let me provide some background in order to help you understand why I was so stunned. Here are some basic facts:

1. Ugandans don’t eat cheese in their regular diet.

2. check it out in a cookbook if you don’t believe me, but Westerners eat cheese in some form or other probably every day. We like it particularly in many of our favourite comfort foods—pizza, mac and cheese, TexMex, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. We also use it in countless other meals, appetizers and desserts.

3. Being far from home makes you crave comfort food...a lot!

4. until fairly recently one couldn’t buy cheese in Uganda

5. nowadays you can buy a variety of cheeses (feta, cream, cheddar, processed) in Kampala, but it is expensive

6. cheese is not an item that Smartshopper usually stocks

7. we normally have to travel to Kampala-a 2 ½ hour drive away- to replenish our cheese supply as needed and we are very willing to pay 25 000 Uganda shillings there for the privilege. (that’s about $12.00)

So perhaps you can begin to see why I was so delighted with this discovery. If Smartshopper begins to stock cheap(er) cheese here in Masaka, it means we might be able to live an almost Kampala-free existence here. And that means fewer trips on that dodgy highway, less time spent in the crazy Kampala traffic and a lower petrol bill. Sweet!

Actually, that’s not exactly true. We may have scored cheese in Masaka, but if we don’t go to Kampala, we can’t stock lettuce, broccoli, Kraft dinner, chicken that has been skinned, boned and conveniently packaged, red peppers or sour cream in our fridges! I guess Kampala continues to be a necessary inconvenience from time to time. That’s ok, Kampala also has shopping malls, movie theatres and guesthouses where I can blow dry my hair; it’s not so bad!

P.S. Think of me when you open your lunch bag and unwrap that cheese sandwich you have every day. Don’t take cheese for granted!

Construction

2010-03-23T16:26:00.002+03:00

In case you were worried, I am aware that while the subtitle of my blog is “stories of starting a school in Uganda,” I haven’t actually told any stories of starting a school. I think the only explanation I have for that is that most of what I’m doing to start the school at the moment does not rate very high on the Good Story Potential Scale. I spend my days on the computer coming up with policies, manuals, and solutions for hypothetical problems. Believe it or not I enjoy that activity. Someday it will all be useful, but the school doesn’t open until next February!

Recently, however, the school has been really starting to take physical shape. Paul and his 60 plus workers have made some real progress on one of the dormitory blocks and, what is of most interest to me, this week they poured the foundation and floor on the administration building—the future home of my office. The hill in the background will be the view I’ll be looking at from my office window in a few months when we start holding staff and student interviews, filing all this paper I’m creating at the moment and meeting with local officials and dignitaries as we try to get the school registered with the Ministry of Education. Seeing this building well on its way makes this whole project seem very real!

(Just before taking this photo, one of our guard dogs woke up from his nap right in the middle of the wet cement. I was sorry not to have gotten the shot sooner!)

So there is a brief look at a school coming together—it’s a huge task! But I continue to grit my teeth and repeat “Is no problem!”

Potholes

2010-03-12T14:44:00.005+03:00

When I was in South Africa a few months back, my sister and I took a day trip to the Drakensberg Mountains. It was a lovely drive and we had a beautifully relaxing time. At one point we had to take a more secondary road through a more rural area. As we turned onto this road, we saw this warning sign:

I had to chuckle when I saw that. The road was paved the whole way and I don’t think I noticed a single pothole. The road was a bit rougher than the South African highways, but it was still much smoother than most roads in Uganda. If the quality of the road we took to Drakensberg was here, drivers would easily consider it to be the best road in the country; Ugandan roads are dreadful!

Even the major highways between cities have some very treacherous potholes and eroded edges. In places, more drivers have created a “road” on the shoulder as they are forced to detour the actual road. The pavement on the road to the post office here in Masaka town was recently scraped away and the dirt road that is there now is actually an improvement. Formerly, much of the pavement was broken on that road that it was mostly dirt. The potholes that resulted were very deep and it is practically impossible to avoid damaging the undercarriage.

Many of the side roads in Uganda are not paved at all and after a prolonged period of rain, it is quite the challenge to get from A to B. As our project is located a fair distance from the main road, we have to drive about 3 or 4 km on a dirt road to reach home. In the few months I’ve been here this road has deteriorated significantly—larger potholes, deep trenches down the middle of the road, ditches caused by flowing water, etc. We have a Rav 4 that we use to run errands in town, and that poor little vehicle has really been shaken up driving this road so much. We get a bit shaken up ourselves!

Here is a photo of part of Bukoto Rd that we have to drive whenever we leave home. If it has been raining, we have to splash through large puddles and slide through slick mud:

Urban North American SUV’s must get very jealous of their cousins who drive African roads and have the opportunity to fulfill the purpose for which they were designed! Unfortunately, vehicles in Africa do tend to have a shorter life expectancy. (nothing new for Africa.....)

Soda

2010-02-25T10:24:00.003+03:00

Last weekend I attended a party in honour of the woman who will be the Headmistress of Timothy Girls College when it opens next year. She recently completed her Masters degree, so her friends at Kibaale Community Centre (our sister project) organized a big celebration to mark the occasion. When we drove into the compound, it looked like a wedding reception was about to take place. There were three big marquee tents, tulle arches, artificial flower bouquets, straw hats with festive ribbons atop tulle-and-ribbon-draped pillars and a head table set with bottles of soda.

This last detail is important to note. In Uganda, an event becomes an “occasion” when you are given a bottle of soda to drink. Coke, Sprite and Pepsi are readily available, as are a few local favourites that aren’t sold at home, but a bottle of any carbonated beverage is considered a real treat. So special, in fact, that crates of soda are often listed as one of the many gifts a prospective groom is expected to give to the bride’s father as a dowry. Similarly, when Paul bought a bull for the Timothy Centre workers to slaughter and roast at Christmas as a way to thank them for all their hard work, our security guards were put in charge of the soda crates at the party in order to ensure equitable distribution. (The Ugandans made that decision, not us, incidentally!)

The honour placed on bottles of Coca Cola or Pepsi may be viewed, I suppose, as an example of corporate colonialism; American soft drink companies imposing themselves on other cultures. However, no one here seems to be complaining. Perhaps the old commercial got something right...apparently, giving the world a Coke does keep it company!

The head table at the graduation celebration

The Timothy Girls College administrative team

Olympics

2010-02-18T14:23:00.006+03:00

Despite all the technological advances that appear to make the world smaller, we’re all feeling very far from home these days as we hear about all the Olympic fervour happening in Vancouver. It all looks like so much fun from this side of the world, and we feel like we're missing out! Reading Facebook status updates from people in the stands as Canadians win medals at home or seeing photos of my nephews all dressed in red to cheer on the Canadian women’s hockey team at Thunderbird Stadium can make a (slightly!) homesick Canuck just a bit jealous!

We’re not totally cut off though. We can stay on top of the medal count and read about the events online and most importantly a restaurant here in Masaka has satellite TV. We’re eleven hours ahead of Vancouver, so nothing is shown live. However, every day at noon SuperSport 2 shows an hour long highlight program of the previous day’s events in Vancouver. Paul, Megan and I have gone a few times to eat lunch and watch images of our city projected on the wall. We’ve been the only ones there watching, but every once in a while a few curious Ugandans wander in to check it out. Once they see we’re not watching football (and snowboarding, luge and curling mean absolutely nothing to them) they don’t tend to stick around. It's a fun way to spend an hour, and it is so great to see familiar places--we always look for people we know when the cameras pan the crowd, but no luck so far!

Given that we're so far away, here’s what we’ll picture when we look back on our Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics experience:

GO CANADA!!!!!

Obama

2010-02-11T09:40:00.003+03:00

Earlier this week we had the opportunity to attend a small function at the US Embassy in Kampala. Our project was chosen to receive a grant from the US Mission and so we were invited, along with the other recipients, to visit the embassy, sign the documents and pose for a few photos. It was an interesting experience having to go through the tight security and then, upon entering the building, feeling like you’d stepped into America.

In the lobby where we waited to be escorted to the meeting room, there were official portraits of Obama, Biden and Clinton. It made a lot of sense that on the wall of an embassy, you’d find the portraits of the Head of State and key government officials of that country. However, regarding this particular Head of State, one sees his image in all kinds of unlikely contexts around Uganda, so it was almost strange to see this portrait hanging in its proper place.

Yes, Obama is very popular here—or at least his image and name are very popular here. I’ve seen an Obama Restaurant and an Obama hair salon; a portrait painter in Kampala has used Obama’s face on the sign outside his shop; people wear Obama t-shirts and sport his image on the all-purpose kanga cloths women use as shawls, baby carriers, and head-coverings; the teachers at Kibaale Secondary School keep track of the date on a calendar poster covered with photos of the First Family. He's everywhere!

I don’t know if Obama has any plans to visit this region, but if he does, he’d be assured of a very warm welcome! People don’t seem to care much about the politics; he’s a US President whose father came from East Africa, and that is enough to have hair salons named in his honour! This t-shirt was hanging in the Kibaale village market. It reads:"Barack Obama: Two centuries ago, a band of patriots signed a document in Philedelphia. Now he's bringing it home."

Kanga cloths for sale

Insects

2010-02-03T13:00:00.002+03:00

At one point in the movie The Princess Bride, Buttercup and Wesley have survived two of the three “terrors of the Fire Swamp”—the Flame Spurt and the Lightning Sand, when they are set upon by the vicious third terror--the R.O.U.S’s, or Rodents of Unusual Size. While the rodents here in Uganda generally tend to be of a Fairly Typical Size, we regularly find ourselves faced with the menacing I.O.U.S’s—Insects of Unusual Size.

These six-legged beasts invade our homes, attack our porch lights, lie in wait in dark corners and release powerful biological weapons such as malaria or sleeping sickness. They lay their eggs in our feet, attach themselves to our dogs’ ears and sting us (causing unsightly swelling.) They burrow into our deliciously ripe fruit, infest our rice and drown in our drinks. And how do we defend ourselves? A thin net suspended over our beds and a small bottle of Deep Woods Off. We don’t stand a chance against the sheer numbers of their forces!

Yes, insects are definitely a part of each and every day. Whenever we sweep the house, there are usually tiny ants in the dust pile that we sweep out the door. We go to sleep at night to the sound of the cicadas buzzing outside. Every morning we have to deal with all the lake fly carcasses on the floor beneath the window. Fruit flies are ubiquitous in the kitchen. Slapping mosquitoes is a regular evening activity. But all of these bugs are fairly small. Every once in a while, however, we come across an insect that is just ridiculously large.

There was a beetle in front of Paul and Megan’s house one day that was probably three inches long with a body that was about an inch and a half wide. Fortunately we don’t have them in our new houses, but where we used to live, we’d regularly see two inch cockroaches. And then I came across this one morning on my front porch:

We’ll never defeat them, so we are forced to learn how to co-exist with them. You learn that flip-flops make excellent fly swatters and that it is important to keep a can of Doom (the Ugandan version of Raid) handy at all times. No big deal. As Wesley says about the Fire Swamp, ”It’s not that bad...the trees are actually quite lovely.”

Wildlife

2010-01-26T08:21:00.000+03:00

I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited two national parks in the last month and had the opportunity to see lots of African wildlife while on the game drives and boat rides. Here are a few miscellaneous items to share from those experiences:

-The cliché that elephants have good memories is not that far off, apparently. The park ranger we hired to guide us around the park at Murchison Falls told us that the elephants in that park are more aggressive towards humans than the elephants in Queen Elizabeth Park because of the greater incidence of poaching and the longer history of conflict in that region.

-I was awakened around 4:00am one morning by the sound of something very large eating grass and breathing heavily outside the banda (a small cottage) I was staying in. The man at reception when we checked in had told us not to go outside after the generator was turned off for the night and the lights went out, because the cape buffalo come through and graze on the grass in the lodge compound. Cape buffalo are considered to be the most dangerous animal on the savannah in terms of the danger they pose to humans. Needless to say, I was very glad when the generator came back on and the lights encouraged those big fellas to git movin’!

-While on the boat ride up the Nile to see Murchison Falls, we got very close to a male elephant that was eating on the shore. The driver turned the engine off and we watched this guy for a while. It is quite amazing to be close enough to hear the sound of his ears flapping. However, when he turned, looked us square in the eye and made a few threatening lunges in our direction, I didn’t feel the need to hang around!

-A lot of the hippos we saw had huge scars and/or open wounds on their skin. Male hippos are very territorial and they fight each other a lot; their large teeth can do a lot of damage, apparently! Also, I learned that a group of hippos is called a “school.”

-We watched a large baboon in the parking lot of the lodge we were staying in, go over to the garbage can, lift the lid and peer inside to see if there was anything interesting inside. Those animals are quite habituated, obviously!

You see and learn a lot in a couple of days while on safari and it is a truly remarkable experience to see these animals in their natural habitat. It’s a great blend of fun tinged with very real danger. That park ranger we hired as a guide? He had his gun with him in our vehicle....just in case!

Nostalgia

2010-01-17T18:59:00.000+03:00

We just spent the afternoon visiting with one of our friends here in Masaka. He is an Indian Ismaili Muslim who was born in Masaka and fled to Canada with his family during the Idi Amin years. He returned to Uganda as soon as it was safe to do so and has since reclaimed his family’s farm and has almost single-handedly worked to rebuild the mosque in town that had been nearly destroyed by neglect during “The Troubles.”

This mosque restoration has been a labour of love for him and he proudly gave us a tour of the building and the gardens that he has spent years working on. He was telling us stories of the way Masaka was when he was younger—perfectly paved streets, beautiful gardens, 900 Ismailis living in the area, operational sugar and coffee factories and a vibrant social life centred at the mosque. He then took us outside of town a ways to his family’s 300 acre farm that used to produce sugar and coffee. There had been a house on the property, but it was destroyed and now the property is basically just a beautiful garden.

Things have really changed in Masaka since the days he remembers. There are only a handful of Ismailis that live in town now, the streets have gaping potholes and those coffee factories are empty and derelict. However, this man remains committed to the community. He cares for two young Ugandan boys and pays for their schooling, he ensures his workers and their children get proper medical attention when they’re sick and he continues to restore the mosque.

I should also mention that he is an absolutely amazing cook, and he frequently drops by our place with some kind of delicious Indian treat for us to enjoy. When he had us over today, he whipped up some kebabs and served them with freshly made mango chutney. It’s people like this that make my experience here so rich and it is so interesting to listen to his stories of another time.

Clinics

2010-01-13T10:09:00.001+03:00

So imagine the confidence with which I entered a local clinic seeking treatment for malaria. The sun had just gone down, and as we parked the car outside we saw no lights coming from within—clearly the power had gone out in town. Armed with the feeble flashlights on our cellphones we ducked beneath the ratty beaded curtains hanging in the doorway and entered the lobby. A voice told us we “were welcome” and so we sat down on the benches in what appeared in the dim light to be a waiting room. Several people came over to greet us and shake our hands and finally someone said that they were just going to get more petrol in order to start the generator. Yes, I was feeling pretty good about the kind of medical attention I was to receive!

The lights came on soon after, and to be honest, it might have been better to have been kept in the dark! The lights just showed how grubby a place it was! However, seeing a computer at the registration desk did give me some hope of respectability. The doctor ordered a malaria test and the nurse directed me to the lab (while her cellphone was to her ear)—outside, in the next door, up a dodgy flight of stairs, down a hallway where I was told to wait on a bench. I passed a filthy sink that wasn’t equipped with faucets, sat on the bench outside some rather smelly toilets and waited alone on the bench.

A lab tech came soon after and took me into the lab. I tried to block out most of the scene and just concentrated on where she was taking the needle from; she opened a new package, so I could (almost) ignore the rest of the surroundings as she went about her task. I had the results in about three minutes and went back through the maze to the doctor’s office where he wrote a prescription for malaria medication. The whole process probably took half an hour at the most.

Two days later, I determined that the meds the doctor had given me were only making me sicker so I returned to another clinic for a second opinion. This one is far more reputable, but it’s only open during the day, so we hadn’t been able to go there in the first place. A second doctor’s consultation, some glucose injections, some kind of rehydrating IV drip and a new prescription seemed to make the difference and I’m thankfully feeling much better now.

Say what you like about the waiting lists, the bureaucracy and even the occasional user fees associated with the Canadian Healthcare System, at least the generators are always fuelled up!

Catering

2009-12-26T15:19:00.002+03:00

The Challenge: Create Christmas season food for a group of visiting Canadians and a few other expats who would be missing familiar traditions in a place where only basic ingredients are available.

The Response: Is no problem! All we have to do is:

1. Find a turkey. Ugandans don’t eat turkey, and you can pay over $100 for a turkey from stores in Kampala, so this is was not easy. However we managed to work it out. We contacted the Farm Manager at Kibaale Community Centre (a former student of mine when I taught here in 1996.) He found us one, and almost as importantly, he arranged to have it slaughtered, cleaned and plucked for us, so we didn’t have to deal with all that. It was very small and quite tough, so we supplemented it with a roasted chicken as well to make sure there was enough to go around.

2. Gather special treats. Over several trips to Kampala over the last few weeks we stockpiled items that are unavailable in Masaka to ensure that we had sprinkles for the cookies, cheese for the cheese platter on Christmas Eve and bacon for Christmas morning brunch. On my recent trip to South Africa, I also picked up some exotic African appetizers to share on Christmas Eve—roasted macadamia and cashew nuts and cans of zebra and wildebeest pate.

3. Bake up a storm. Megan has been VERY busy over the last little while making gingerbread men, molasses cookies, chocolate mocha pretzels and many other delicious baked goodies. I contributed a tray of Nanaimo bars and some butter tarts.(Interestingly, I learned through my internet recipe search that both of these are uniquely Canadian treats...who knew?)

4. Adapt where necessary. Since we are in the tropics we were able to add a few things to our menu that we wouldn’t be able to enjoy at home. We served freshly squeezed passion fruit juice for Christmas dinner, barbecued burgers on Christmas Eve and had fruit salad that featured mangoes from the trees on our property.

5. Be willing to spend lots of time in the kitchen. Prepared food doesn’t exist to any great degree here, so we had to make most things from scratch and without the benefit of food processors. We chopped all the ingredients for fresh salsa and guacamole and had to form the hamburger buns and patties by hand. Lots of cutting, slicing, kneading, carving and stirring, let me tell you!

Yes, it’s been a lot of work, but it has been fun to put it all together. It was a delicious feast and it felt almost like home on this first Christmas I’ve spent away. I’ve got good friends here and it was great to have visitors to help us celebrate. Good thing we’re heading on a safari next week...we can let others do the cooking for a few days! Phew!

Festivities

2009-12-19T06:53:00.001+03:00

Christmas Day is apparently in six days, but I have to keep looking at the calendar in order to convince myself of this reality; it just doesn’t feel like “Christmas” around here and I’ve been thinking about why that is. Sadly, I’ve realized that many of the things I associate with preparing for the season have a distinctly “commercial” element to them—buying coffee in a red cup; seeing decorations appear in malls, checking off items from a shopping list; buying new outfits for various parties and so on. Don’t get me wrong—I love these things!

We really do make things complicated, though. Magazine covers offer “200 Gift Ideas” or “150 Ways to Simplify the Holidays” or “75 Festive Recipes.” We go to parties, attend special concerts, brave crowded parking lots and make plans to travel great distances through inclement weather. This is how we celebrate. And since I find myself somewhere that does very little of this, I am finding it hard to believe that the season is here.

I do hear the occasional Christmas song playing on the workers’ radios outside my door each day; people are starting to head from the cities to their villages where they will spend time with their extended families; the street hawkers in Kampala are trying to sell artificial Christmas trees to people stuck in traffic; some businesses have put up decorations and the Kampala Amateur Dramatic Society (made up of expatriates) is putting on its annual Christmas pantomime. There is evidence that it is a special time of year. There just isn’t the hype that I am used to and it is sort of refreshing.

We are planning to re-create much of what we associate with Christmas, but we will do several things a little differently. For example, we’ve ordered a turkey from “our guy” in the village, but we really had to emphasize to him that we didn’t want to butcher it, clean it and pluck it ourselves. Similarly, we have done a fair bit of baking, but we’ve had to adapt a few of the ingredients to what is available here. On the plus side, we can put poinsettias on the table as decoration, but we can just pick them from the bushes that grow here naturally. Another contrast is that the workers at the project site are having their staff Christmas party later today, but we’re not going to some hotel ballroom to enjoy a buffet dinner--they’re killing a bull right here and cooking it up to share. Good times!

In many ways, I’m glad the season feels so different here. It helps me not to feel too sad that I can’t be with my family and friends at a time of year when spending time with loved ones is such a big part of the celebration. Be that as it may, we have visitors from Canada here at the moment, we’ve stockpiled lots of delicious goodies, we’re having a barbecue on Christmas Eve (something this Canadian has never done!) and it’s sunny and warm. It’s all good!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Domesticity

2009-12-08T11:21:00.001+03:00

The construction of the on-site housing is finally finished at the Timothy Centre, and last week my team members and I moved into the houses we’ll be occupying for our time here. It must be said: these houses are lovely! We’ve got all the mod cons and some features that are really nice even by North American standards, let alone African standards. We even use “green” technology what with our solar electricity, solar hot water heaters and harvested rain water. It is really great to have my own home to set up and to be able to unpack some of the bags that haven’t really been touched since I packed them in June.

The new house requires a fair investment of time to maintain, however, and sometimes I feel like I could spend each day just doing domestic chores. The greatest challenge is trying to keep the light-coloured tiles on the floor clean. Since the site is still in the process of being landscaped and it is the rainy season, even a quick trip outside results in muddy shoes that leave reddish-brown footprints on the tiles. Even if the ground is dry, the red dust gets tracked in. There is also an interesting situation each morning as there are usually lots of dead bugs on the floor that were attracted to the porch lights outside and then met their demise; I’m not exaggerating when I say that I sweep the floor about five times a day and mop it once a day.

Pre-planning and adequate time are also required to complete kitchen chores. When I buy fresh produce at the local market, I let it soak for a few minutes in a diluted bleach/water solution in order to get it clean enough to be able to eat it. Similarly, each morning and evening I boil a kettle of water and pour it into the water filter to have clean drinking water. Doing dishes is simpler in the new house, because I actually have hot water coming out of the taps and don’t need to heat it on the stove first like we did at the other place. Running water is convenient, but when you can’t drink it straight from the tap, you need to evaluate how you intend to use it every time you turn on the faucet and act accordingly.

Having said all that....even with the all the work associated with the activities of daily living, it is wonderful to be moved onto this gorgeous site with the beautiful view from my living room window, nothing but the sound of crickets and frogs at night and great neighbours next door.

Transitions

2009-11-23T05:44:00.000+03:00

I just spent my last night in the house I’ve been living in since I arrived in Masaka. I will be spending tonight in Entebbe and departing for South Africa early tomorrow morning, where I’ll spend a week on a bit of a holiday. As I write this, my sister is probably checking in at the Vancouver airport for a flight that should get her to Durban about half an hour before I arrive. I am so excited that she decided to come visit and that I’ll get to catch up on all the news from home!

If all goes according to plan, (a tall order around here, we realize!) upon returning from South Africa, we will be moved into our houses on the Timothy Centre and my first night back will be spent in my new home. It will be very nice to be able to unpack all of my belongings and settle into a more permanent situation; the construction process has taken longer than expected, and we have all felt like we’re living in limbo over the last few months. It will have been worth the wait, however, as these houses are really lovely!

So, a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks—an opportunity to explore a new part of the world, a visit with a much beloved sister and the chance to settle into a brand new house situated on a beautiful piece of property. Then there is possibility of enjoying a Christmas Eve barbecue in the near future—a unique experience for any Canadian! Transitions aren’t easy, but things are looking pretty good at the moment.

Keys

2009-11-17T22:02:00.002+03:00

In the house where I’m currently living, we go through a rather elaborate locking and unlocking procedure each morning and evening as well as any time we go out—a procedure that requires four different keys to leave the place locked up. At night, three padlocks are used to secure the main gate, and in the morning three different keys are used to unlock them. There is a key in each of the bedroom doors and a key for each of the two post office boxes we use. Each vehicle has a couple of sets of keys. There is even a key for the fridge. There are some padlocks we can’t open because we don’t have the key, and extra keys on the key ring that don’t seem to open anything.

December 1 is the date I am anticipating moving into the house located on the property where the school is to be built. Construction has been slow on these houses, but gradually they are being finished and the furniture arrived last week—a sign that completion is very near! On the weekend, we went over to clean up a bit and even move a few of our things there. If I thought that in the new house I’d enjoy some freedom from the Tyranny of the Key, I’ve since realized this is not to be.

The front door has a different key from the back door. The wardrobe in the bedroom has 4 locks on it, each with its own key and the top drawers of the dresser each have locks with separate keys. The bedroom has its own key and while I haven’t seen the fridges yet, chances are pretty good that they’ll also have a locking function. And that’s just for my house—there are six other units on the compound so far, each with the roughly the same number of locks! The situation will be further complicated by the different locks on the various buildings that house the laundry facilities, the storage areas, the generator and the vehicle parking. Of course, we definitely don’t want these keys to fall into the wrong hands, so there will also have to be a locked locker to hold all the keys for all the various locks...

Do all these locks make things more secure? In some ways they do, I suppose, but each night as I engage in the elaborate ritual of locking out intruders while locking myself inside at the same time, a vague thought often lingers at the back of my mind: “I sure hope the house doesn't catch fire tonight!”

Rubbish

2009-11-12T13:19:00.003+03:00

In cities at home, you hear lots of news stories and public service announcements about reducing waste so as not to add to the landfill. The problem with these and the reason that the landfill continues to grow is that “the landfill” is largely a theoretical concept. Few people ever see this mythical “landfill” with their own eyes, so it is pretty difficult to get worried about something that may or may not actually exist. As far as most people are concerned, you put garbage in a can, take the can to the curb and it disappears by the end of the day. Where has it gone? Who cares? It’s garbage!

Garbage does not disappear here; it continues to pile up until someone eventually sets the pile on fire with little regard for the toxic fumes created by the burning of plastic. Mounds of tattered plastic bags and squashed water bottles develop at various places around the city and even spill out into the road at times. (If it were feasible to fix potholes by filling them with garbage, this would be a different place, let me tell you!)

As if the piles of trash weren’t unsightly enough on their own, these dump sites tend to attract flocks of marabou storks which are quite possibly the UGLIEST creatures on the planet. I imagine that at some point, marabou storks must have lived in some green and natural habitat, but I’ve only ever seen them picking through overflowing dumpsters in urban environments. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the phrase “you are what you eat” originally referred to marabou storks.

As someone who has gained a slightly different perspective on garbage over the last few months, I would urge you to consider leaving your garbage man a token of appreciation for the valuable and vital work he does. Having garbage that disappears on a weekly basis is cause for great celebration, believe me! Oh yeah, while you’re at it, you should probably reduce waste as well, so as not to add to the landfill. If you’re not careful, the marabou storks might hear that if the garbage picking is good in Africa, North America is a regular carrion-eater’s Valhalla and a marabou migration is about the last thing anyone should want to encourage!

Fruit

2009-11-02T10:55:00.001+03:00

Any produce market here offers juicy pineapple, delicious mangoes, exotic passion fruit, sweet watermelon and mouth-watering papaya. The flavour of these tropical fruits far exceeds the paltry imported versions you can buy in Canada and once you’ve tasted pineapple that has been allowed to ripen in the sun and picked that day, with its bright yellow colour and its sugary sweet juice, you can never really be satisfied with the slightly tart and rather tough “pineapple” sold in the Safeway produce section.

Yes, one can get rather spoiled having all of these fresh tropical fruits so readily available, and as those in the Northern Hemisphere head into the doldrums of November dreading the “fresh produce-less” winter months ahead, one can imagine that heaven’s gardens are cultivated solely with mangoes and passion fruit.

I would likely have believed that myself a few months ago, but I had an experience yesterday that showed me how easy it is for the “exotic” to become mundane. I was invited to a birthday party that was attended by several members of the ex-patriate community here in Masaka; there was a delicious spread on the buffet table and we ate on an outdoor patio with a stunning view of the surrounding area. It was a really lovely time; the chocolate birthday cake was served with ice cream, but then a fruit salad appeared on the table...

This salad had cubes of fresh mango and pineapple and was elegantly served in an emptied out watermelon. It was received politely until people noticed that mixed into the local fruit were fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. It was quite the sight to witness what happened next. Within minutes, the berries had disappeared from the salad leaving only the tropical fruit in the bowl; the British, American, Danish and Canadian guests couldn’t scoop those berries fast enough! I don’t even think the Ugandan guests got the chance to taste the foreign fruit.

It became clear to me that depending on the context, the “familiar” can easily become the “exotic.” (and by the way, I didn’t get any berries either! Guess I’m stuck with boring old papaya and guava....sigh.....)

Bazungu

2009-10-27T09:04:00.002+03:00

In Luganda (the dominant language in this region) a white person is called a muzungu; I hear that word a lot. When travelling through the rural areas little kids will wave and shout “Muzungu! Muzungu!” as we drive by. A guy at a market stall will say “Muzungu” in order to get my attention and then indicate that I should check out what he is selling. It is often the only word I understand if I hear a group of people talking in Luganda, so I know that it is very likely they’re talking about me! The word is so ubiquitous that tourist shops sell t-shirts that read “My name is not muzungu!” The plural form of the word is bazungu. It is simply unavoidable--we bazungu stand out around here. In terms of appearance, however, there is so much more than our skin colour that distinguishes us from the Ugandans.

When I see how the local women dress and carry themselves words like elegant, poised, statuesque, graceful, and even regal come to mind. They walk with perfect posture; they never seem to be in a hurry; their dresses are perfectly pressed, and even amongst the dust in the village, their whites sparkle. In contrast, when I observe bazungu women, words like harried, comfortable, practical, ill-fitting, or frumpy come to mind. We wear Velcro sandals, while the Ugandans wear high heels. We carry nylon purses or backpacks with lots of useful pockets, while the Ugandans carry fancy handbags.

Bazungu always have water bottles in our hands; we really like khaki and denim; we use a lot of hand sanitizer; we can’t seem to keep our hair under control; we often look flushed and a little sweaty; we are always in a rush; we pull out our cameras a lot. We are just so obvious...and it makes me smile.

I, unfortunately, cannot exclude myself from the above description. I try to keep my clothes ironed. I try not to take out my camera too much. I try to vary my footwear for different occasions. However, comfort and practicality tend to win most of the time. We are a funny bunch of folks to watch and observing other members of my race continues to keep me entertained.

Security

2009-10-17T08:09:00.003+03:00

From purely anecdotal evidence, I think the security industry may be one of the biggest employers of young men in this country. You see guys dressed in sharp uniforms walking around with large guns all the time. They sit outside supermarkets, hotels, banks and offices--even schools employ armed guards. Most houses are surrounded by very high brick walls with broken glass or large spikes cemented in at the top to deter thieves and I’m getting used to driving up to large metal gates and honking the horn so a guard can let the vehicle in. You have to take security seriously around here.

We don’t have armed guards, but we do have two dogs that bark a fair bit and jump up at the front gate when someone arrives. They’re great for security because they can’t be bribed to look the other way while someone breaks in, and many people here are afraid of dogs. The ones we have are part German Shepherd and part Rhodesian Ridgeback (a type that was originally bred for hunting lions!) Sounds vicious, right? We’re pretty sure that if there were some kind of serious threat, their tough instincts would kick in. However, most of the time, they look like this:

We’re in good hands!

Powerlessness

2009-10-13T05:29:00.000+03:00

It is now the fifth day in a row where we have had extended power outages during the day; the worst was Saturday when we had no electricity for over 12 hours! This situation has a “good news/bad news” kind of feel to it.

The good news is that we have a propane stove and can cook food and boil drinking water even when the power is off. The bad news is that the food spoils in our electric fridge and we have to throw lots of our groceries out before we get the chance to cook them.

The good news is that we have running water in our home and can even take real showers. The bad news is that the water heater is electric, so those morning showers can get a bit chilly (even in the hot weather!)

The good news is that we have a washing machine at the house and if we put in a load in the morning, the clothes have a chance to dry on the line throughout the day. The bad news is that when the power is out in the morning our laundry continues to pile up. Or, if the power goes out mid-cycle we have to deal with soapy, dripping clothes for an undetermined period of time.

The good news is that the power tends to come back on in the early evening. The bad news is that we’re sleeping overnight and can’t take advantage of it!

I am taking steps to survive these challenges, however, and recently invested in a rechargeable fluorescent lantern (imported from Dubai.) I have a lot of faith in this product as, according to the user’s manual if I “set power switch to the lighten position, then connect it to the pointed electricity power, it will be an excellent emergency light automatically when it is in the shortage of electricity power.”

SWEET! If only I knew what that meant!

Imports

2009-10-06T06:20:00.001+03:00

Each meal here seems to involve a trip around the globe. I had peach jam from South Africa and granola from the UK for breakfast; the rice I ate for dinner last night came from India; the crackers I enjoyed for a snack were from Hong Kong and a glance in the pantry shows tomato paste imported from Dubai, olives from Spain and tuna from Thailand. Similarly, while shopping in Kampala this weekend, I was pleased to find cranberry sauce from the US to serve at our Thanksgiving dinner.

It is quite amazing to see not only the variety of goods available here in Uganda these days but also how far these goods have travelled to get to my table. The carbon footprint of many meals I have eaten here is a bit staggering when I think about it! However, much of the produce I eat on a daily basis easily falls within the boundaries of a 100 Mile Diet. In order for you to enjoy the same items in Canada, they would have to have been transported a long way; I figure these things should sort of cancel each other out.

For example, I buy pineapples, passion fruit, watermelon, mangoes, papayas and avocadoes from people who cultivate the land by hand and bring the goods to market on a bicycle. This should offset the fact that I buy imported cereal, mayonnaise, apples and fruit juice and have to drive 2 hours each way in order to purchase these luxury goods. Don’t you agree? Likewise, the milk powder that I put in my coffee comes from Holland, but since the sugar I add is grown and produced here, as is the coffee itself, I’ve basically achieved carbon neutrality, right?

So, here is the dilemma I’m facing: On the one hand there is the problem of climate change due to the emissions required to send these goods around the world. On the other hand, however, I have a really strong personal desire for comfort food while I’m a long way from home...

Given the fact that I’m anticipating enjoying cranberry sauce very soon, I think it’s fairly evident where I’ve landed on that one! My apologies to the polar bears.

Science

2009-10-01T18:37:00.001+03:00

I’m not generally that interested in scientific phenomena (picture my fingers indicating quotation marks in the air), but here’s something for those that like that kind of thing.

Question: If water spins in one direction as it drains in the Northern Hemisphere and spins in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere, which direction does it drain right on the Equator?

Answer: It goes straight down without spinning at all.

Each trip I take to Kampala is a “trans-hemispherical” experience (I’m quite aware that isn’t actually a word!), and I had the opportunity to witness this phenomenon last week as we stopped at The Equator en route to the capital city. Over the years enterprising individuals have capitalized on the novelty of having this significant line of latitude run through the nation. They’ve painted a yellow line across the road indicating zero degrees and set up a place for people to have their photos taken. There are also several craft stalls in the area that sell souvenirs and a coffee shop that serves lattes and cappuccinos as well as freshly baked muffins and cookies (a distinctly “northern” menu that is rather ironically located on the south side of the line!)

Another interesting feature of this little tourist trap is the three basins that have been set up to show the water draining phenomenon—one on the Northern Hemisphere side, one on the Southern Hemisphere side, and one directly on the line. I watched a demonstration in the three basins, and it was pretty cool to see that the effect works so close to the actual line and also to realize that the water doesn’t spin at all right at zero degrees!

Perhaps I’ve been a bit starved for entertainment lately, or maybe Science is interesting after all!

Understanding My Context: The Sounds

2009-09-22T10:45:00.002+03:00

You know that time in the morning when you’ve woken up and you’re deciding how much longer you can doze before having to actually get up? Well, I’ve learned in the last few weeks that here in Uganda I don’t even have to open my eyes and check a clock to get a rough estimate of the time. If I wake up and all I hear are cicadas buzzing outside, then I can go back to sleep—that’s a night sound. However, if I hear birds singing outside, then I will likely have to get up soon—birds are a morning sound. I can almost set my clock to the birds as they seem to start singing about an hour before the sun rises at 7:00.

The sounds here emphasize the contrasts in this country. I hear cell phones ringing and goats bleating; radios blaring and roosters crowing; vehicle horns sounding and cows bawling. There’s even a local ice-cream man whose motorcycle plays a tinny electronic version of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” that I hear from time to time. I hear the Call to Prayer from the local mosque as well as the sound of raucous singing and preaching from an outdoor Christian tent revival. There are the natural sounds like birds, insects, heavy rain or wind in the banana leaves, but there is also manmade noise like traffic, generator motors or vehicle horns. Most sounds I’ve heard here are pleasant, but hearing gunshots, teargas being fired, or rioters shouting was unnerving.

People and relationships are highly valued in this culture and it is not surprising that the sounds reflect this. Passengers on motorcycle taxis or open trucks shout greetings to the people they pass on the side of the road. Little children sing together as they play. Market stall owners call out to passersby to try to drum up business. Mothers give instructions to their children. Taxi drivers negotiate prices with customers. Political activists drive around with megaphones mounted on the back of pick-up trucks raising awareness of all kinds of issues. It’s almost like human voices are the soundtrack playing in the background all the time.

There is an important distinction between hearing sounds and listening to them, so I hope that I am not just “hearing” sounds but I’m also listening to them in an attempt to understand my context better.
PS: Waking up to a variety of songbirds every morning is pretty great!

Understanding My Context: The Sounds

2009-09-22T10:45:00.000+03:00

You know that time in the morning when you’ve woken up and you’re deciding how much longer you can doze before having to actually get up? Well, I’ve learned in the last few weeks that here in Uganda I don’t even have to open my eyes and check a clock to get a rough estimate of the time. If I wake up and all I hear are cicadas buzzing outside, then I can go back to sleep—that’s a night sound. However, if I hear birds singing outside, then I will likely have to get up soon—birds are a morning sound. I can almost set my clock to the birds as they seem to start singing about an hour before the sun rises at 7:00.

The sounds here emphasize the contrasts in this country. I hear cell phones ringing and goats bleating; radios blaring and roosters crowing; vehicle horns sounding and cows bawling. There’s even a local ice-cream man whose motorcycle plays a tinny electronic version of Beethoven’s “Fuer Elise” that I hear that from time to time. I hear the Call to Prayer from the local mosque as well as the sound of raucous singing and preaching from an outdoor Christian tent revival. There are the natural sounds like birds, insects, heavy rain or wind in the banana leaves, but there is also manmade noise like traffic, generator motors or vehicle horns. Most sounds I’ve heard here are pleasant, but hearing gunshots, teargas being fired, or rioters shouting was unnerving.

People and relationships are highly valued in this culture and it is not surprising that the sounds reflect this. Passengers on motorcycle taxis or open trucks shout greetings to the people they pass on the side of the road. Little children sing together as they play. Market stall owners call out to passersby to try to drum up business. Mothers give instructions to their children. Taxi drivers negotiate prices with customers. Political activists drive around with megaphones mounted on the back of pick-up trucks raising awareness of all kinds of issues. It’s almost like human voices are the soundtrack playing in the background all the time.

There is an important distinction between hearing sounds and listening to them, so I hope that I am not just “hearing” sounds but I’m also listening to them in an attempt to understand my context better.
PS: Waking up to a variety of songbirds every morning is pretty great!

Hope

2009-09-19T12:56:00.001+03:00

“For pennies a day, you can make a difference in a child’s life. Call today!” We’ve all seen the commercials on TV asking you to pick up the phone and pledge to sponsor a child in a far-off country, and we develop a degree of immunity to these appeals. It’s easy to wonder how mere “pennies a day” can really help in terms of the massive needs in these countries. However, I have to say that these ad campaigns are not trying to deceive you. Sponsoring a child can provide opportunities for children that would not be able to go to school otherwise, and (please pardon the cliché,) it DOES make a difference!

Today, I had the privilege of meeting up with the girl that I have sponsored, and she is an example of someone that has truly benefitted from a relatively small financial investment. In a country where girls face many challenges trying to finish primary let alone secondary school, she has graduated from O-Level and has earned a post-secondary certificate in accountancy. She is hoping to go on and earn a diploma from a school in Kampala, which will allow her to get a higher paying job. She is a bright, determined young woman whose eyes lit up as she described her ultimate goal of working in a bank. However, without sponsorship, she would not have been able to afford school fees and would have little chance of breaking the poverty cycle. It is such an honour to see firsthand how the gift of education has changed someone’s life.

She was on her way to Kampala today, but she wanted to interrupt her journey in Masaka to meet up with me and greet me (a very important thing to do in this culture.) She was waiting for me outside a cafe and when I got out of the car, she rushed over with a big smile on her face to give me a hug. We visited for maybe 20 minutes or so and she gave me a woven straw mat that she’d made. She told me that her family sent their greetings and was praying for me, and her smile got even bigger when I told her that I also brought greetings from my family. It was so great to sit across the table from her and make that personal connection.

The needs here are real and the challenge is great. However, it is not hopeless. A straw mat presented to me by an ambitious young woman is all the proof I need.

Unrest

2009-09-13T12:56:00.000+03:00

A PowerPoint announcement slide in church this morning read something like “Welcome back from the previous week of gunfire, teargas and running exercise.” I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything like that at church at home, but sadly, that was the experience here in Uganda this week.

You may or may not have heard that there were some violent protests that broke out in Kampala earlier this week and I actually happened to be in the city at the time. The violence extended beyond the capital and there were some blockades and rioters even here in Masaka. It was a bit of an adventure trying to get home on Friday, but thanks to the help and advice of some great Ugandan friends (and the prayers of many) we are all safe. Things have settled down now and people are getting back to routine, but the experience did highlight a few concepts for me:

1. Adversity brings people together.
2. Good friends are invaluable.
3. Cell phones are a wonderful invention.

You can read about the situation in more detail from various internet news sources, if you’re interested, but we’re all doing fine here and are maintaining positive attitudes. Keep Uganda in your thoughts and prayers!

Waiting

2009-09-09T15:52:00.001+03:00

Time is viewed in more general terms here than most Westerners are used to, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that more than a few well-meaning development workers have burned out trying to get tasks accomplished according to a rigid timeline. Everything just takes longer than you expect and you spend a lot of your time simply waiting—many times you don’t even know what you’re waiting for.

Personally, I try not to get too worked up about “wasted time” and try to keep myself entertained while I wait Good thing the cell phone I just bought has games on it!

I also came up with a helpful sort of acrostic poem that I could repeat over and over to myself as I wait.

While
Activities
Involve
Tedium
I
Never
Grumble.

I may have to say it through gritted teeth every once in a while, but I shall boldly attempt to stay positive in the face of frequent and interminable waits!

Understanding My Context: The Smells

2009-09-06T07:12:00.001+03:00

Countries adopt national birds, flowers, sports and all kinds of national symbols. Well, I think Uganda really should try something new and be the first nation in the world to declare a National Smell. Towards this end, I humbly submit my nomination: Smoke—the National Smell of Uganda. (Not the cigarette variety, we’re talking the smoke caused by the burning of wood or grass.) You smell smoke in both rural and urban areas and it seems like every breath you take in has a hint of wood smoke in it. You may not believe me, but even as I write this I can smell the smoke from a nearby fire.

It is the end of the dry season at the moment, so farmers who keep cattle tend to burn the older grass at this time so that new, fresh grass can grow when the rains start. Similarly, other farmers burn brush in order to clear their land for cultivation. Driving through the countryside right now you can see charred hillsides where there has been burning and at night you can see the glow from these fires.

It is not just farmers that cause all the smoke smell in the air, however. Brick makers, charcoal producers and housewives all do their share in producing it. Bricks are baked in wood-fuelled kilns, charcoal suppliers obviously can’t make their product without burning wood and housewives cook the family meals over open fires or charcoal fires. It is no wonder that every breath has a smoky undertone.

Other nominations for Ugandan National Smell could be diesel fumes or “just-rained-on-dirt,” but these would be distant runners-up. Smoke takes it.

Stories

2009-09-03T19:20:00.001+03:00

There is that stereotypical image of traditional life in Africa with a village elder sitting in front of the campfire telling stories to the children in order to impart wisdom and teach the history of the tribe. While modern academics may bemoan the perceived loss of this practice in post-colonial Africa, it seems to me (from my admittedly limited perspective) that oral tradition remains alive and well in these parts. The village elders may look a little different and the campfires may have changed somewhat, but stories are still a vital form of communication here.

Just as the village children would gather around the tribal elder to listen to stories, I have found myself listening to the wisdom of people who have been here longer than me. I have heard amusing anecdotes, cautionary tales, historical accounts, genealogical chronicles, epic sagas, exaggerated yarns, local legends, extended narratives and just about any kind of story imaginable. I’ve barely been here two weeks and in that time I’ve heard stories of persecution under Idi Amin and tales of close encounters with snakes, lions, elephants and all manner of wild animals. I’ve listened to tragic accounts of the vulnerability caused by poverty and learned of the innumerable challenges people have to overcome to make a better life for themselves and their families. But for each of these sad stories, I have heard inspiring tales of generosity, courage and resourcefulness.

I have listened as the Canadians with whom I work tell of their experiences, but I’ve also heard stories told by Ugandan teachers, school administrators, and even a game warden. One evening, I listened to stories recounted by two young Irish women working in a hospital here and in church one Sunday a visiting Kenyan pastor shared stories from his home. I’ve heard varying political and religious viewpoints and have heard stories from both the male and female perspective. People have shared stories to pass the time in the evenings or on the long drives from place to place; each day presents many opportunities for the telling of tales and I never tire of hearing them.

Right now, I feel like that village child sitting at the feet of the elder; I am trying to learn as much as I can from the stories I’m hearing because each tale adds to my understanding of this place and the people who live here. The problem is that every new story makes me realize how much more there is to learn! I appreciate each of the “elders” so far who have shared their wisdom and I can’t wait to hear the stories tomorrow will bring.

My Context: Sights

2009-08-27T17:25:00.001+03:00

Remember the “Where’s Waldo” books that were so popular a while back? Each page depicted a complex scene with a variety of people engaged in a variety of activities; you had to examine each part of the large picture very closely in order to find Waldo. As I think about how to describe a “typical” scene here, I imagine a sort of Ugandan version of that kind of picture.

A quick look at a village scene would show a red dirt road lined with lean-to shacks and shop fronts in the foreground. The green hills in the distance are dotted with small houses—some brick, some mud, some with sheet metal roofing and others with thatch. Each of these has a grove of banana trees beside it to provide the family with matoke, their staple food. There is a cleared area of packed dirt in front of the house and maybe a few hibiscus plants decorating the small compound. There might be some bougainvillea vines here and there splashing colour onto walls or fence posts, and as the rain hasn’t arrived yet, everything is covered with fine, red dust.

Upon closer examination, you would begin to notice the people in the scene, each involved in the daily activities of village life. A wrinkled ja-ja (grandmother) sits on a three-legged stool beside a roughly constructed stand where she sells some produce from her garden; the tomatoes neatly piled on plastic bowls and the lemons polished with a small bit of cloth. A boda-boda driver (motorcycle taxi) transports his three passengers with the hood of a winter coat pulled so tightly around his face, he can barely see out. This is his attempt to combat the dust he encounters on the road. A little girl wearing a grimy dress peeks out shyly from behind the ragged curtain that serves as the door to her home. Three young boys kick around an improvised soccer ball made of tightly knotted plastic bags; they try not to disturb the older men playing cards in the shade of a tree or the young men gathered around the portable radio that hangs outside a small shop. A woman, her hair wound up in a brightly coloured head scarf and a baby tied onto her back, bends over plastic basins to do laundry; another stirs an aluminum pot over a charcoal fire—banana leaves serve as a lid to steam the matoke ; still another woman bends to sweep the hard-packed dirt around her door with a broom made of long grass she has collected. Several children stand around the water pump waiting their turn to fill jerry cans and some are walking back to their homes with the yellow jerry cans balanced on their heads. Children walk to school wearing brightly coloured uniforms in various states of repair. Everyone seems to be doing something—even if it is just sitting in a doorway watching people or vehicles pass.

A further inspection of this scene would show that animals are an integral part of village life. One goat is tied to a spindly tree, while two others wander freely through the street. Chickens dart here and there narrowly avoiding being hit by the passing motorcycles or trucks. A man, holding a stick, drives his herd of Ankole cattle with their characteristically long, curved horns to a nearby field to graze. These animals make themselves at home practically anywhere throughout the village.

I love seeing this sort of scene as I drive from place to place, and, while my specific context at the moment is a bit more “urban” than this particular depiction, I wanted to take the opportunity to describe what is most typical throughout the country and the kind of thing I see every day so that you can picture a bit of what life looks like here. The urban street is a whole other scene to be described at a later date, perhaps!

By Way of Introduction

2009-08-24T04:00:00.000+03:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a developing world taxi driver/mechanic/hotel clerk in want of a tourist’s money, must be in possession of the phrase “Is no problem.” I have observed this phrase employed to answer practically any question asked of them.

“Do you know this place?”

“Can you fix this?”

“Can I arrange a wake-up call?”

“Do you understand?”

The phrase is stated with such conviction that the tourist feels that he can get in the taxi, authorize the repairs or go to bed confident that his wishes have been communicated clearly. It is only after driving in circles, hours of waiting at the shop or nearly missing a plane that the tourist begins to understand that blind faith in the phrase “Is no problem” has the potential to create a few...well...problems. The taxi driver/mechanic/hotel clerk, however, continues undaunted, unapologetic and unconcerned by the situation and will answer the same to the next person who asks.

I have just arrived in Uganda charged with starting a school, and as I consider the task at hand, I rather envy the assurance these people have to answer “Is no problem” to any challenge put before them. For that reason, I have adopted the phrase as a theme for myself as I embark on this adventure.

“Do you understand the Ugandan curriculum?”

“Can you hire staff?”

“Can you recruit students?”

“Have you ever written a policy manual for a boarding school dorm?”

When it comes time for me to address each of these issues, I shall confidently declare:

IS NO PROBLEM!

I plan to record my impressions, stories, lessons and struggles in this blog from time to time, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I’ll enjoy writing it.

By the way.... on a related note: If a developing world taxi driver/mechanic/hotel clerk looks you in the eye and says “Is problem.” Take that as your cue to be afraid; be very afraid!