a change to come

The statement that has rendered the most shock and awe from Ugandans was my response to the question about how often we're able to get onto the internet in America. I tried to explain that between work, home, school and your neighborhood coffee shop, we're never really NOT online. Seriously - shock and awe. The absolute incredulity makes sense as many people here don't have email addresses yet, let alone something like facebook! I tell you this as background.
The only Ugandans that love muzungus more than children are the men. No doubt they see us as their ticket outta here but regardless, they're on us like flies to poop. The opening line is usually some form of "I love you" and then inevitably they inquire for our email address because they love having friends from all over the world. Very sweet, eh? I am sure I'm receiving many emails at my email address: frannie_usarocks_coollove@hotmail.com

I have decided to spend the remaining month of my trip with a different organization. GOSSACE (Good Spirit Action Center) is located in the town of Golomolo and works with orphaned children of HIV patients. Obviously some of these kids have befallen a similar HIV+ status and the organization was started by and mostly staffed by HIV+ people, too. I felt that working side by side with a group of people who have such personal and intimate knowledge of HIV would be beneficial to me. And hard. Very hard; but I felt myself becoming too comfortable (and a bit exploited over my whiteness) at MACRO and opted for the change. I am very excited about the challenge! I start on Monday.

This week I accompanied a friend to her village care project in the town of Buikwe. It was a worthwhile week full of a different kind of learning. Each morning was spent teaching science and math at a nearby school. This school operates without collecting school fees from the students and consequently the teachers often don't get paid - it was a fascinating dynamic to watch and spoke so highly of the teacher's commitment to education. That being said, the absolute prevalence of repetition learning and absence of original thought in their educational system is striking. Children (and teachers) are unable to deviate from the lesson plan in anyway.

The evenings have been spent doing community projects. There is a collective of people who volunteer around the community, helping one another out at home and eventually, everyone gets their own project finished. On Monday we built a plate stand; I learned to dig with a spear and then, like some African bandit, learned to chop down banana trees with a machete. My aim was not stellar but with each passing whack I improved. No one lost limbs = success.
On Tuesday we set off to build a mud hut and I was SO excited about it! However, it hadn't rained in several days which meant not only was it almost unbearably hot but also there there was no water. Of course without water there's no mud so we were out of luck for our hut. However, no water presents myriad other problems so off we went, jerry cans in hand, to fetch water so this family would be able to cook, etc. Well, fetching water turned into one of the most humbling things that I've ever done. The walking distance to the water source in the heat was numbing enough but to see where they got their water - I just stopped and gawked. There were about ten jerry cans ahead of us and each community member stood there, helping the next and making sure that everyone got their 20 liters filled. The pool of water itself was algae covered, murky and people would be forced to flip bugs out of the way prior to submerging their cans. I can only hope that water was well boiled prior to use. The community effort was so moving and beautiful; sometimes I think we in the west are only now starting to remember that sense of community and friendship.
On Wednesday we leveled the dirt floor of a mud hut. This means pouring water all over the birt and then chopping it into loose soil. After that, the loose is loaded onto potato sacks and carried away from the hut. More water is poured and banana leaves are laid all over the ground to hold in the moisture and prepare the ground to be rolled with a log. It was a painstaking process and truthfully, I didn't see much difference once we finished. :) The residents were so grateful though and cut down a behemoth papaya and stuffed us full!

I might seem a little out of it today, I haven't gotten a ton of sleep this week. I stayed with a pastor and his wife and somehow it has created a snowball rolling down my thoughts. Obviously, as many Ugandan men seem to be, the pastor was long winded and always right. In the past I would have debated with him over his antiquated takes on women, education and health. But this week I did nothing more than listen and feel the most deep sense of compassion and loss for him. Obviously he has the best intentions at heart but his lack of tolerance for others (there was a Muslim day school behind their home and he considered himself tolerant for listening to their calls to prayer each day) seemed so contradictory to what he stood for. I concluded that over the past couple of years I have sometimes felt the same way about myself. I want nothing more than to help people and to make an impact but I just have been unsure as to how to do it, feeling so underutilized where I was. The boiled into a lot of frustration and I felt very misunderstood, very often. I am working on that in myself but importantly, I gained a real sense of understanding and camaraderie for those who find themselves in that position. Everyone makes mistakes like that sometimes; I guess it all boils down to forgiveness.

I am headed to safari this weekend and am insanely excited about it! A friend and I are just about to head out to Kampala and then up to Murchison Falls tomorrow. I'm hoping for lots of hippos! Speaking of Kampala, there have been riots there over the past couple of days over students who were killed during a peaceful protest. It kind of (hopefully) topped off on Tuesday evening when a historic tomb full of Bugandan kings was set aflame. Don't worry, I'll be fine, we're on the other side of town in a compound and then leave early tomorrow morning.

Much love and deeply missing you,
FS