Back to Gulu!

Oops, sorry for no update recently! I’ve unfortunately taken the last week to recover from a mild bout of dysentery (yuck!).  I had originally written a post some time last week in-between naps but looking back on it, it was clearly the sickness talking and not something I feel sums up my experience.  So here is a quick summary of what’s up here in toasty Uganda while Sandy is pouring on ya’ll.

Lake Bunoni! Possibly the deepest lake in Africa

It’s kind of funny actually.  First, on our way back from Rwanda, we stopped at Lake Bunyoni, right outside of Kabali, across the Ugandan border.  We were pumped to take our boat taxis over to an island about 10 minutes away to have a picnic lunch.  However, when piling into the shaky tin boats, mother nature decided to downpour on us.  No problem, just a 10 minute boat ride in the rain!  But wait, when it rains there are waves, which create motor problems, which turn a 10 minute ride into a half hour excursion.  Sounds like fun, right?  It was pretty fun, just really chilly and resulted in a very soggy 5hr van ride back to Mbarara. 

But before reaching there, we had to then pick Erik (our AD) up in Kabali where we stopped to use the loo and buy some street food.  Mistake.  Apparently there’s an outbreak of Marburg there.  Have you heard of Ebola?  I suppose you could describe Marburg as the sister disease (don’t worry, those who have been diagnosed with it are responding positively to treatment!)  It’s also okay, because as frightening as it was to see Erik freaking out about us getting into the cars quickly, we are all Marburg free.

                                                                          Susan, Rachelle and me, a picture for you Momma, to prove I'm alive

Maybe I shouldn’t follow up that story with this, but keeping with telling things in sequential order, I finally got a little sick.  Not Marburg, just the dysentery.  And a minor case at that.  Basically I just had some bacteria hangin’ out in my tummy, as the doctor put it (with a straight face).  Again, it’s really not that bad, but going to the clinic got in the way of meeting with VISO where I will be doing my internship.  VISO is a smaller group affiliated with CARE International that focuses on women’s empowerment, sexual and gender based violence, and peace building in more rural areas.  I was supposed to go Wednesday instead, but Simon fell sick and therefore couldn’t make the meeting, so I ended up going on Thursday, to start TODAY.  But I’ll write about that in a bit…

The weekend was fun.  It was nice to be back with my sisters, and see my mama Rose briefly before she took off to Kampala to visit her second oldest (because she calls me her first born).  But most of the days were spent looking for housing and writing essays.  Since our ISP period is starting, we need to find a place of our own, so our group has decided to rent a big house in Senior Quarters, a safe neighborhood just outside of town.  I haven’t seen the place yet, but everyone else is pretty enthused.   After we move out, it will become the new SIT office, so everyone next semester is going to have a pretty legit site. 

                                                                                          Close up of the yummies

Also this weekend, Olivia's family invited a few of us over for a feast!  It was a little sample of every delicious Acholi dish possible.  Her family is really the nicest, and although may have the most rural homestead (no power or running water and utilize huts), they are easily the most welcoming.   If I come back to Gulu soon, I would absolutely consider staying with them.

   Chowin' down

So this morning I started my internship and spent my first day in the field.  I was really excited leading up to it and it is interesting how it worked out.  I arrived around 9, as I was told, and ended up leaving with Walter around 10:45.  We drove out to Koch Goma (remember the former IDP camp? Same place) and did some errands there.  If the ride out on the bike wasn’t so fun, I may have been a little frustrated with how inefficient things were.  There were such simple solutions for each order of business we need to attend.  Like the forms dropped off at the police station.  If there was power and a computer or fax, the forms easily could have been sent that way.  But since there aren’t, Walter has to return to bring more tomorrow because he didn’t bring enough.  It takes at least an hour to get there.  Then at the primary school they are organizing a debate between two primary schools about their ideas of sexual and gender based violence.  It’s a really awesome idea, especially for kids to be involved in stopping the issue at such a young age, but there is little communication between all the involved parties, and thus the debate needed to be rescheduled again.  Maybe if there was email correspondence, that would be an easy was to organize, but again, no power out there where it’s so rural.

It was further upsetting to visit this impoverished place because they have been so successful with programs set up by NGOs like VISO, however nature still is against these people; last night, 5 elephants came and destroyed the crops of a whole village.  It just goes to show that the people do so well with limited resources and then something completely out of their hands tears down their progress.

What my feet look like at the end of the day

I am looking forward to working with VISO.  Since I have been here, I have been increasingly disturbed by the way women are viewed in this society (and makes me realize how poorly the general image of women is globally).  So working with a cause that is focusing on bringing up the status of women is right up my alley.  Currently, the main project is called Roco Kwo (Acholi for “transforming lives”).  It is focusing on community peace building and women’s empowerment by encouraging women’s voices to be heard in local governments, and also implementing programs teaching about gender roles and how important it is for men to help with the family.

Tomorrow our group is off to Mbale, our final excursion until December.  I think we are all excited for our last hoorah before cracking down

The best surprise to come home to, 5 puppies!!!