Holiday Time!

Today was my last day of work before my Christmas holiday! My holiday is going to end up being a month because the FSD staff (Robert, who’s leaving soon, Anita, and Nina) have invited me on a trip to Murchison Falls National Park next week. I’ll leave Masaka on Saturday afternoon and go to Kampala for the weekend. On early Monday morning, we’ll head out for Masindi, which is a town nearby to the park. We’ll stay there three or four nights, and then return to Kampala in time for my flight to Hong Kong next Friday.

Murchison Falls is the largest national park in Uganda and has all the big animals. There is a forest reserve next to it that also has chimpanzee tracking but I’m not sure if we’ll have time for that. As of now, we’ve planned to do a boat trip to the base of the falls (along the Nile with animals drinking by the shore) and at least one day of safari in the park. We’ll probably also do a forest walk among an old mahogany forest and maybe walk up to the top of the falls.

I’ll fly to Hong Kong and arrive on Saturday evening and will be staying with a good friend for a few days while I wait to get my Chinese visa. Hopefully I’ll be on the Mainland by Tuesday afternoon, but luckily Aaron will come over Monday night after work so I won’t have to wait so long to see him. Fingers crossed that I get the visa, otherwise it’s going to be a much more expensive trip!

 I am very much looking forward to this break. I am enjoying my time in Uganda but it’s difficult to keep motivated sometimes when everyone I love is so far away. Work has its ups and downs as well, with some weeks being busy, and others involving me doing personal research because I’m waiting for feedback or decisions to be made about the projects I’m doing. Recently, my supervisor tasked me with finding out what it would take for the organization to set up a Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCO) so I spent a lot of time putting together the information about how to register, drafting registration forms, and writing the by-laws that will form the SACCO’s constitution (26 pages!). After that was submitted, we had a management meeting to discuss some of the issues I couldn’t make decisions on (such as loan terms, fines and penalties, etc) and we made some headway but they wanted feedback from the employees. It’s now been a week and a half with no response so it may have to wait until I get back.

For now, I’m going to enjoy my holiday, hopefully see some awesome animals, and soak up the time with my friends and boyfriend. 

Host Family Updates - it's growing!

Last Sunday, my host brother Tendo graduated from nursery school (our kindergarten) and in January will begin Primary 1 (Grade 1). He had been confirming with me for a week that I would be going; he was very excited! We attended the ceremony and like all Ugandan ceremonies, it lasted much longer than it needed to. This time, I was much more entertained though so I didn't mind so much. The entire school (it runs from nursery to P7) performed different dances and songs to entertain all the guests and it was really cool to see their creativity. Some had important messages like Preventing Malaria or Safe Sex while others were traditional dances or songs from Uganda. Here are a few photos:

Quite a few times, children or parents would come up to the dancers/singers and give the gifts of money for the performance. I don't know if it's only family members who give or whether audience members, if they like a performer, give as well.

Tendo's class performed two routines. The first was a 'Welcome' song that a lot of the first classes also song. He is the taller boy in the white robe.

The second performance was more of a skit, where all the students dressed up as the most important or influential people in Uganda. There was the Kabaka (King of Buganda, the largest tribe in Uganda), the President, a General (which Tendo played), doctors and nurses, nuns, a priest, a college graduate, owners of the utilities, etc.

After a lunch break that was far too long considering most people refused to buy it, it was finally time for his graduation ceremony. His whole grade (99 of them!) got on the stage in their gowns and were called by class to come forward. Then they were all called individually to collect their certificates and get their photos taken with the head teacher and their parents. Here is Tendo in his gown:

Congratulations Tendo!

 For the past week as well we have been having my host cousin, Douglas, stay with us in the evenings and yesterday we picked up my other host brother/cousin from his school. Derek is my host mom's nephew and she has raised him and his sister (Dorothy, who will be coming from school next week) since they were very young. I'm not sure why my mom has been raising them as I know that their father is alive at least. Apparently their father is a businessman in their ancestral village so maybe he's too busy or wanted them to live closer to town. Either way, Derek seems nice. He's 17 or 18 and about to enter his last year of school. The Ugandan school system has six senior grades so they essentially go to school until Grade 13 (as long as there is someone to pay the school fees).

 Pretty soon we're going to have a full house! This time of year is the long holiday (two to three months of no school) so the kids have been around home a lot. Our house helper left so the kids have been picking up the slack. We just got a new one but she seems a little lazy and doesn't like to do too many chores so we'll see how that ends up.

 My host sister is sad that I'll be gone for Christmas and seems to worry that I'm going to leave without saying goodbye, and/or not come back. I've assured her that neither will happen but everytime she sees me putting clothes into a bag she will ask if I'm packing for China. It's very sweet. On the one hand, I'm sad I'll miss out on experiencing Christmas in Uganda with my host family, but on the other hand, I'm very much looking forward to this break and spending time with my boyfriend and friends in Shenzhen.

Introduction Ceremony

This past weekend, I had the privilege of experiencing an Introduction Ceremony of my host mom’s coworker’s daughter. An Introduction Ceremony is similar to an engagement party but with a lot more flair and tradition. Traditionally, this was the first time that the daughter would introduce her fiancé to her parents. Nowadays, all parties have probably met but the ceremony still follows the old traditions. The bride’s family hosts the party and ceremony and the groom’s family is responsible for the wedding. A wedding can occur anywhere from a day to a couple years after the Introduction Ceremony.

  My host mom lent me a gomesi, a traditional Ugandan dress for the occasion. Under the dress, I had to wear a sort of blanket thing, designed to fill out my booty and hips. Then the gomesi was wrapped around me and a sash was tied around my waist. It wasn’t too uncomfortable but it sure got warm in the sunshine! Before we left, we took some photos with the family.

My host family (from left): Tendo, Margaret, and Feli

       

   We arrived at the ceremony around 11:45am.  The bride’s house was decorated brightly with a lot of flowers and some tents to protect people from the sun. At one end of the yard is a tent for the bride’s family and at the opposite side, a tent for the groom’s family and friends (the groom’s parents don’t attend). Each side has a representative MC who speaks on behalf of the bride’s family and the groom. They banter back and forth; the bride’s side testing the groom’s knowledge of tradition, Uganda, the bride, and also his intentions. Luckily my host mom helped me by translating what was happening.

  The true groom is not originally advertised. First, a family member of his will present gifts to the family members and friends of the bride. Then, the bride’s aunt(s) will appear and will search the groom’s tent for the correct man. They will place a special pin on him to identify him as the groom and they will bring him to the front of the tent to be seated.

Bride's side

Groom's side

Bride's family and friends arriving for their gifts

Bride's aunt and the groom with his new pin

  Next, the bride emerges from the house with her female relatives and friends and performs a small dance around the yard. She then must go to the groom’s tent and publicly choose him as her man. Once she has chosen him, she is given a gift from his family in which each item holds a special meaning for the bride. They walk across the yard together and she formally introduces him to her family members. The bride’s family gives them a small sapling and they plant the tree together in her yard to symbolize their love. As this is happening, the groom’s family and friends go to retrieve the gifts for the bride’s family. There were probably fifty baskets and bags of all sorts of things; from chickens to luggage to make up, to cartons of soda, to food. The bride’s family accepts and the bride and groom are presented as a confirmed couple. The bride and her brother cut the cake (the bride and groom will cut the cake together at the wedding) and rings are exchanged.

The bride

  The two and a half hour ceremony was pretty interesting and I’m glad I got to experience it; unfortunately I was at the bride’s home for seven and a half hours… There sure is a lot of waiting around with nothing happening at these things! Nonetheless, I’m glad I got to see one, but I’d be apprehensive to attend another!

Work Update

  Progress at work has been a bit slow as of late because I’ve had to await further instruction or approval from my supervisors. I can happily say, though, that my strategic plan is officially completed, my work plan for the first three months has been submitted, and my budget for my seed grant has been approved! With the $300 seed grant, I will be constructing a seed nursery at the community demonstration farm. The money will go towards construction materials and tools, as well as seeds, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, and irrigation supplies.

  The seed nursery is a crucial step for the community demonstration farm. The hope is that with a one-time purchase of good quality seeds, each subsequent season we will have been able to grow our own seeds at the farm so that we don’t have to purchase them each season. This greatly improves sustainability of the project and the farm, and is not to difficult to begin. Hopefully the seed nursery can grow into a seed bank, whereby community members can donate seeds at the end of each harvest, and then withdraw them before planting season. They can support one another if one happens to have a poor yield and also learn about the importance of planning and saving for the future. Because of the long Christmas holiday, the construction will begin in January.

  In the meantime, this month I will be working on a number of things. I have almost completed the ideal budget for the farm (for the first year) and will be finalizing that. Once that is completed, I will begin applying for funding through grants, or targeting different fundraising opportunities. Stephen, the manager of the Orphans and Family Support Program (where I’m based) has also asked me to take on two additional projects. The first is to edit and format the new Child Protection Policy for the organization (which shouldn’t take long) and the second is to create a Strategic Management Plan for the entire Orphans Department to set out how they can meet the objectives set out my the organization’s strategic plan. This will include identifying funding sources, coming up with activities designed to meet the objectives, instituting new policies for the existing programs, and potentially consolidating the existing programs to prevent overlap, or cracks. This last task seems monumental and I hope I’m up to it!

Christmas Holiday

 I was informed by Kitovu Mobile that we will have three weeks off for Christmas and New Year holiday so I had a chat with my boyfriend and he agreed to pay for half my flight to China! I had to leave Uganda in mid-December anyway as my original visa was for 90 days and since I have such a long holiday, China seemed like the best idea! Besides, I miss my boyfriend like crazy and I am excited I’ll get to see my Shenzhen (and Hong Kong) friends again! I’ll be flying out of Uganda on December 13^th and will be returning on January 5^th. It’s going to be so wonderful to see everyone again, have hot, standing showers, do laundry using a machine, have fast, unlimited internet, eat Chinese food… Hmm, I think I’m a tad excited!

  In addition to that, I was speaking with Anita from FSD and she said they will probably try to arrange my mid-term retreat for the week of December 9^th to coincide with Robert’s leaving time as well. That means I’d get an extra four days holiday, and get to see Murchison Falls National Park for safari and relaxation! I hope the trip will work out as planned but I will keep you updated!

Progress at work

Work is going a little slowly, but overall going well. I finished my strategic plan for the community demonstration farm last week, and on Thursday I went to the village to meet with the 25 farmers who will be taking part in the project. The purpose of the meeting was to provide an open forum for the farmers to point out the issues they are currently facing, what areas they would like to improve upon, the resources currently available to them, and the solutions they would suggest to their problems.

 The meeting was scheduled for 2 o'clock but around 1:15 we got a call to tell us that many of the farmers weren't going to be at the meeting because there were two funerals happening that day in the community. We decided to check it out anyway and eleven out of the twenty-five showed up so we ran the meeting.

 I conducted the two hour meeting with translation help provided by my supervisor, Charles. I ran a series of exploratory activities in which I had the farmers tell me their problems as I drew them in pictograph form on a piece of poster paper. I then elicited potential solutions to encourage them to find the answers themselves, and to gauge their knowledge of what may be possible to achieve. The farmers were very aware of both their issues and motivated to learn how to fix them rather than asking for or relying on handouts.

The farmers mapping out the community and where their homesteads are located.

Some of the results of the discussions

  The farmers are all very hopeful about the potential of the demonstration farm and very gung-ho in their wish that it be started soon. I was really happy to finally be able to meet the group members and to see their motivation and willingness to learn. It is obvious that they can foresee the benefits the farm will provide for them and they are very eager to start.

  Now that I have received their input, the next step for me to do is to finalize the three year plan, including objectives and timeline. That'll take me a good part of next week and hopefully after that, we can start implementing the plan and get the project off the ground.

Lake Bunyonyi

Two weekends ago, Robert, Renate, and I travelled to the far southwest of Uganda to a town called Kabale. Next stop after Kabale is Rwanda and nearby is a huge cold-water lake called Lake Bunyonyi ("place of many little birds"). It is filled with islands and is set amongst green hills. We caught the Post Bus from Masaka on its way through and the journey took about six hours. The Post Bus is actually a bus that runs for the purpose of delivering mail; it just happens to take passengers as well. It stops at a lot of villages along the way but it was a pretty comfortable ride. Every time we stopped, vendors selling drinks, kebabs, snacks, and chapatis would accost the bus and shout out for us to buy their wares.

  The views on the ride were pretty spectacular. Most of Uganda's southwestern region is mountainous so there were endless green hills, fields, and because we travelled up and down the mountains, some pretty amazing views.

 

By the time we arrived at the lake, the clouds had rolled in so we had a bit of a wet ride to the island where our resort was. We stayed at Byoona Amagara, an eco-lodge in the middle of the lake and it was really gorgeous. Most of the buildings were open-air with a focus on providing great views. We stayed the first night in a dorm and turned in shortly after dinner.

Before the rain...

View of the sunset from the open-air lounge/restaurant area

The following day, I woke up early and went to take pictures of the lake in the morning. The dawn light was gorgeous and provided some really cool reflections off the surface of the lake.

After breakfast, we hiked around the rest of the island and were led by various members of the community whose village is on the other end of the island. At the highest point on the island, there were more amazing views of the lake and the other islands inhabiting it.

After the hike, we moved into our geo-dome, which is essentially a hut with the whole front wall missing.

The rest of the time we spent socializing with the other residents and watching movies. It was a really relaxing time. The following morning we had to leave, and to return to the mainland we took a dugout canoe...which we had to paddle. It took close to an hour but was a great workout and provided nice views of the lake as well.

The trip home was long but mostly uneventful. I would definitely recommend going to Lake Bunyonyi and hope I'll have a chance to return!