Base Camping

Alright this is gonna be long and I dont' have a lot of time so bullet points it is. Got back from a week in Loro yesterday where the whole team was there for monitoring and evaluation training.

• Evelyn's birthday party was huge and tons of fun. (can't remember if I already mentioned it)
• Loro is practically a village. Was the only mouno (rememer I'm a mouno in the north not a muzungo) living in town though there was another girl working at another NGO but she didn't live in town.
• Our base camp is where the national program started and the largest camp we have though no one lives there at the moment.
• Got to stay in a hut with Naomi, Betselot (Betty) and Grace.
• No electricity unless the generator was on
• No running water, had to pump water from borehole into basin for bathing.... oh yes and I can't forget our lovely latrines - I have to give the construction guys (Eddie and Alex) credit they definitely know how to make a nice latrine but still it's essentially a hole in the ground......
• Learned a ton about participatory monitoring and evaluation which is a very useful career skill apparently
• Watched a ridiculous number of movies and episodes of sex and the city and prison break as there wasn't a ton to do at night in Loro
• Everyone else here is super fun - got to meet people from some of the other field offices who I hadn't met before so that was great
• Taught a few people how to throw a frisbee except the kitchen ladies kept trying to take it back to the kitchen b/c they thought it was a plate
• Man I can't eat any more starchy mashed food..... seriously there is no way I can handle another week of rice, matooke, posho, beans and meat for every meal. I want a salad so badly it's not even funny.
• the peacebuilding team i was working with (mine action is part of the peacebuilding program) needed a peacemaker - we were the team that kept yelling at each other. There are some strong personalities there and I tried to stay out of it but as the fastest typer I was stuck trying to type what they were yelling at each other....
• Went to the biggest market in the north on friday with betty, naomi and robinah. It was intense. Betty and I were the only non-Ugandans there and everything imaginable was there. We actually got lost in the market
• women aren't supposed to wear pants so we all got stared at a lot.
• We had a dance party on Saturday night - crazy fun...
• the rest of the staff is really fun and we laughed all the time usually at each other...
• Christa arrived and is currently meeting with evelyn, we took her out in kampala yesterday
• Went to the really good indian restuarant (oh my god so good after a week of traditional food), went craft shopping then out to the kisube tombs where a bunch of buganda kings are buried and then to the ndere centre for a night of african song and dance. super fun day but really really tiring as I left Loro at 730 am and got to bed at 1230....
• now we're getting ready to head up north to show christa the projects before heading out to the area near the conglese border so probably won't hear much from me til Saturday or Sunday.... carrying up a bag full of chocolate for the teams up north.