I hope this post finds everyone well. I have gotten a couple of requests to post pictures that will help give you all a better idea of the places and people I come in to contact with in daily life here. I hope these pictures help, thanks for all the interest and support you have shown me this past month....... I can't believe it's been a month already!
I
live here! It is a nice house isn't it? I'm beginning to realize that I have it so easy compared to some of my neighbors here. As I have seen the poverty of eastern Uganda, I think that my family is probably upper middle class in Tororo. The first night I moved in, however, I didn't feel like I was living in an upper middle class home. I thought that it would be so hard to transition to this living situation because of silly things like no hot water, a flushable hole in the floor for a toilet, and lots of bugs and cockroaches. In reality though it has not been a hard transition. I think I measure it by my relationship with the cockroaches. At first I was so grossed out by them. When I saw one I would glare at it with disgust and hatred before squashing it with my shoe. As time passed, I still hated them but when I saw them I just let them be as long as they were not scurrying towards me. Now we get along just fine. Plus, I am going to have to get used to lots of bugs because I will be living in a hut in the village for the last three months of my stay here.
This is my "dedicated desk," as people call your workspace here. At least my supervisor does. When he first told me we needed to get a "dedicated desk" for me, I was about to tell him that any desk will do really, it doesn't have to be a desk especially dedicated to me and my work. Thankfully I decided just to wait and see what he meant which saved me from some embarrassment.
These two women I have spent a lot of time with, it has been so fun getting to know them. The one on the left is Barna, but Ugandan English pronounces it like "Bana". She is a legal advisor at Mifumi's advice center. I have gotten especially close to her because she seems to understand Western culture and is very sensitive to the cultural differences that I experience here. She is a Muslim, and so I have had some really interesting conversations with her about religion. It's been very eye opening working with people of all faiths (and lack there of), but despite what people do or do not believe, they still are all about seeking justice, protecting and empowering women, forgiving perpetrators, and loving all. The lady on the right is Rosemarie, and she's kind of like a mother to me. She always calls me her daughter when we greet and has been instrumental in making me feel at home at the advice center and trying to let me contribute to their work there.
I am especially proud of this picture. This is not posed or anything, I am actually cooking, and over a charcoal fire at that. This may not be noteworthy for many of you, but if you talked to my parents, you would see why this is such a big deal. I really don't (can't) cook at all. My mom is such a GREAT cook and I know that I should take advantage of that and learn from her, but I've always been too lazy or something, telling myself that one day I will figure it out. But when I was in Kampala this past weekend, I asked Jane, the co-worker I was staying with, if I could help with anything, and she said I could fry the chicken. So I fried chicken African-style. And it was good.
These are Mzungus!!!! I had to include this picture because seeing all the mzungu tourists made me think a lot about what HNGR is about. This was taken in a crowded market in Kampala, and it isn't a very good picture because I kind of had to be sneaky about it so that they wouldn't see me taking a picture of them. I guess this scene just makes me grateful for HNGR. Instead of wandering around Kampala huddled together with other white people, wearing sunglasses and backpacks and moneybelts, I was sitting on the front stoop of a small shop owned by an elderly Ugandan woman, the sister of Jane. We were laughing together over coca colas about my mzungu tourist friends. Of course I know that the reality is I am a short-termer no matter how you look at it, but at least I am a short-termer who is embedded in Ugandan culture and life. It is definitely hard sometimes to always be learning and making mistakes in a new culture, but I know it is worth it.Thanks for reading, I'll post some more in the next couple of weeks. Peace!
