Beneficiaries

So my Dad arrived this morning. He was a little shocked by the state of traffic here. It was like Christmas seeing all the stuff he brought for me and assorted others over here. Thanks everyone!!! Settled in well with my coworkers and all that. We went out for dinner at the Belgian restaurant then I put him on the back of a boda to get home which I'm sure he wasn't too pleased about....
Showed him all the photos and he suggested I explain a bit about what I'm doing here and our beneficiaries. So the mine action programs we run help ppl in three ways psychosocial support, economic support and mine risk education to prevent future injuries. Below is a photo of one of the advocacy groups we have trained to spread MRE messages in their communities using music, drumming, dance and drama. They were just rehearsing for us and still drew a crowd!

Now here's Jess and Josephine a landmine survivor from Anaka who was not yet one of our beneficiaries but desparately needed medical attention because she hadn't been to the hospital since her accident in which she lost her leg. Now she is in a lot of pain and also very lonely as she has very limited mobility, so most of the time her only companion is her Bible. Mercie said that we would get her to hospital for treatment and get her some books to read to help pass the time before she can be assessed for a mobility aid.

Besides the sort of psychosocial support, we also run a revolving loan/seed capital program where landmine survivors and war injured persons are given business skills training and a small loan to start a business. Then the money paid back can be used to give someone else a loan. Below is a number of recent loan recipiants as well as myself, Henry from Pader and Margaret (Jess' boss). The woman in the middle is a landmine survivor as is the man on the far left. The woman in pink and the woman on the far right are both war injured people who were mutilated during an LRA attack. All of them have started up their own businesses in the past two months.

Finally, you may remember how I've learned that out west the landmine survivors cannot return home after their accidents because of the terrain. Their mobility aids do not work in the hilly landscape of the West. Below is Imelda who lost her leg in 1997 and has not been able to go home since.

So that should give you a taste of what I'm working on here. Though today Evelyn and I wrote a peacebuilding proposal to expand the youth to youth peacebuilding project. This project will also be where the Gulu Walk money is going to go!!!

Baking

I managed to make cinnamon buns last night which were incredibly popular in the office this morning. However apparently Charles (the guard) now thinks I'm nuts....
It seems as though he thought it was strange to walk into the office kitchen at about 830 last night to find me there with a good portion of the contents of my kitchen with my speakers and ipod blasting making cinnamon buns without measuring spoons and singing along to the music.
Unfortunately the buns are now gone so I have no photographic proof of my ability to make cinnamon buns just like the ones mom makes at home here!!! It's still sometimes amazes me how easily you can find things from home if you just look a little.

Cheap lives and free activities

So sitting at my desk today, (Keith is back from a little bout of malaria so the office is loud again) when someone calls Keith hoping for some help. Apparently there was a baby born last week whose mother died afterwards (maternal mortality rate is pretty high here) but that baby has been left in the hospital and not cared for at all, he is just lying on a bed in the materinity unit alone. No one knows where the father or other family members are. Occasionally other mothers might give him a spoonful of milk but no one seems to care. This little baby is now malnurished and ill. So someone called Keith because he used to work in the maternity wards and knows people. Most of the morning inbetween work, I've been listening to Keith try to get through to someone who can transfer the baby into the neo-natal unit so that someone will care for him. People have said life is cheap in Africa but that is fucking ridiculous.

Sorry that my 50th post is depressing and that apparently I now swear in front of strangers, I think I will attempt some baking this evening after work provided we have power....
Found a cool thing last night - Bubbles shows movies on Tuesday nights for free (you're expected to order some drinks or snacks, one citrus fanta = 1000 shillings) and they give you popcorn so I went with Jess' house and some randoms to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Pretty cool to be sitting outside in a couch under the stars watching a movie wearing a tank top in October.

Thanks

So this weeekend I've been receiving little messages about my fabulous friends and family doing GuluWalks. Just wanted to say thanks for the support. It means a lot to me.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is fabulous. It is Eid today (end of Ramadan) so as of sometime last night when they decided the moon was right today is a public holiday!!!! Aka I don’t have to work – yay long weekend!!!! Yes we get Christian and Muslim holidays plus independence type holidays off here!!! What am I going to do with myself today???
Downside is the two mosques within a kilometer of my place have been a little more than active since sundown last night. Thank God for earplugs…
Dad coming in four days!!!

PS - more photos from Gulu Walk posted at the link to Photos

Gulu Walk

So just got back from Gulu Walk which was an interesting event. Organization was not exactly the best but that's ok, still had a good time. From CPAR myself, Betty, Liz the new American volunteer, and Gizaw walked. Quite a diverse group, Makerere students, randoms, a couple of drunk university students and the occasional mzungu. The Acholi Cultural Group who performed at the end was pretty cool. But now I'm tired and hot - thankfully we decided not to give a speech or else it was down to me or Betty b/c Gizaw doesn't do public speaking..... Think I shall post some more pictures and then take nap or get some groceries.

Acholi Cultural Group Preforming
CPAR Family Walking
Betty, Me and Naomi (We only had two shirts, so I let Betty wear mine due to her more scandalous tank top don't ask)
Makerere Students walking on Kampala Road

Gulu Walk

So tortillas worked out ok - still working on my technique to get them round, flatter and less flour-y but still tasty.
Now I probably haven't mentioned it yet but this weekend is Gulu Walk, a global fundraising and awareness raising event for the children of Northern Uganda. It started after a couple of guys in Toronto decided to do their own night commute to show the world what the kids in Gulu went through. While last time I was up there there were not that many night commuters, the children are still suffering. There are walks all over the planet - info about the one in Victoria can be found at http://guluwalk.com/victoria/ (hmm wonder if that'll be a link or what - if not copy and paste) for other locations check out http://guluwalk.com you'd be amazed, your city might be on the list. I say sign up, walk a bit and raise some money if you want but showing up is more important. If you've been reading this you know why you should walk. Register on the web. I'm walking here so you can sponsor me if you want/can't walk yourself. https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/StartUp.aspx?SID=1249681

plus finally figured out how to compress photos so i can post them easily so there may be some being put in to the blog now...... kids in Aromo

Am I losing my mind?

So since I know I don't have power tonight I've decided to spend the night cooking in the dark.
I just took a break from work to google 'how to make tortillas' yep that's right I'm gonna try to make my own tortillas in the dark. am i going insane, cooking tortillas in the dark?????????? I have to say the best part about this whole thing is that i have to google recipes because I'm such a horrendous cook....
I'll let you know how it goes.

personal record

So spent an hour and a half in the taxi park tonight trying to get a taxi home. I wasn't about to push my way into a taxi so i set a new personal record of over 90 minutes in the park....

So been a slightly crappy week thus far. Found out can't get the days off work to go to Rwanda this weekend with Jess and now James from MAT so guess what Dad we're going to Kigali!!! My computer got a virus and had to be killed - my entire life put on the server so yes my entire office currently has access to all the photos I had on my computer including ridiculous ones from Eastern Europe, that Budweiser taste test night and others..... now in the process of reviving my computer by redownloading everything, pulling my life back off the server and setting myself up again. sweet times

Global Socializing

So Jess' party was huge - like 100 people over the evening. Glad I didn't have to help clean up this morning. Super fun times and I actually felt like I belonged here as I knew a number of the people there. It was pretty ridiculous - some drama, mainly with a couple of overly drunk people (Angie from our nature club spent most of the night passed out on jess' bed and a couple guys were having difficulties standing...) and people taking food from the fridge and stealing alcohol etc hence the lack of photos - my purse with camera was locked in jess' room but the global reach of the party was amazing:
Ok from Africa there were Ugandans, Kenyans, Ethiopians and I think a Somali.
From the Americas there were tons of Canadians and a couple Americans.
From Europe there were Brits, Germans, Irish, Dutch, Belgians, and French. Might have been some Italians too....
From Asia we had Indians, Chinese and Japanese.
It was like the UN in a house with a bunch of alcohol and music....
good times!

Questions

Lately I’ve been pondering a wide variety of questions. Thought I’d share them with you all:
Why did it take me almost three months to notice that I can stick the internet cable under the office door so I have internet on my patio? Currently sitting on the patio enjoying the lovely 28 degree day….
Would it be harder to go from N.America here or the other way around? Which way would the culture shock be harsher? General discussion last night was that it would be harder to go from here especially from the village because a lot of social aspects of life in North America would be shocking eg. PDAs, women in shorts, attitudes to gender and sexuality, food, etc…
Is it really that odd to cook a meal without adding salt? Betty, Naomi, Katie and Jess came over for dinner last night. Owed Betty a Canadian dinner for missing her grad party and she wanted to learn how to cook ‘North American’ Naomi and Betty were shocked that we didn’t add any salt to the shell pasta, in a cream sauce with chicken and veggies….
If the first Backstreet Boys hit was Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) where are they coming back from?
Will the house boys next door and the brickmakers down the driveway ever get used to seeing me and stop staring/yelling things?
How can a country with so much water/lakes/rivers have such major problems with electricity? There are two branches of the Nile here for God’s sake!!!!
Why is country music so popular here?
What on earth am I going to do when I get home?
What is wrong with my fridge? – It freezes things for no reason and makes a ton of noise every so often.
Where does all the dust come from? It’s ridiculous, seriously it’s mostly paved roads up here and still there’s dust everywhere!
Am I nuts, planning on traveling from here to Mozambique with Meg after Christmas overland by ourselves?
Do Jess and I really look that much alike that everyone things we’re sisters?
How did people stay in touch with those at home before the internet?
What role do I play in the level of poverty here?
Why is the keyboard getting so hot? Wait a sec I'm outside at noon pretty much on the equator - think I can answer that one myself....
Is it wrong to live a very expat-life? Try to make my house and my life as normal as possible? Eg. Went out for coffee twice last Monday (different people, different places) and went to the mall, pretty much only cook western food.
Can the people in the office hear me singing along with my music? The worst part is I have headphones on so it's quite possible they think I'm nuts...
Will the Shoprite ever get Taco shells in stock? They have the seasoning and the salsa but not the shells!!!! Been waiting over two weeks.
How painful will it be to go from here to Ottawa in January?
It’s Saturday why are there five people here working?
What am I going to make for lunch?
Well I should probably get on that last one. Heading to Jess’ tonight for a party which should be fun, part of the CPAR family is coming and so is a bunch of other people we know in town.

When the fridge freezes your damn apples for the upteenth time and there's no power - make apple sauce by candle light.

It finally got to me

Well, it took over two months but it finally happened. The poverty here finally got to me. I went into town for the hell of it after work today to pick up something for dinner and get out of the 'hood. I went to shoprite as usual and picked up some groceries, started to walk back to the taxi park past the usual group of beggars who are under the age of 10. I normally can walk by them with a no and a smile or stonefaced if I'm in a bad mood but today there was this little boy - couldn't be more than 6 years old - sitting there crying with bright white paste covering his forearms and his knees because they were full of small open sores. I don't know what it was but it looked horrible and painful. I can't really describe it properly but something about him knocked the wind right out of me and it was all I could do not to start crying right then and there.

Then less than 10 minutes later as I was on my way home in the taxi, we were slowly driving back past the shoprite roundabout, past all the streetkids again though on the other side of the street, there were the usual kids waving and gesturing at the traffic for money but then I noticed there was one just sitting there, hunched over on the side of the road with some adult's large red winter jacket draped over him the way a guy would put his suit jacket over the shoulders of his date when it got too cold. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and had already given up.

No child should look defeated by life, their lives have barely started.

It's not like I hadn't seen similar things or worse here and especially in the camps upcountry but there was something about these boys that got through all the armour I've set up around myself. Honestly since I've been here, I've seen some horrible things, heard some horrible stories and been exposed to the most vivid and infuriating proof that life is not fair and that there is a huge amount of injustice in this world. Sometimes I wonder how much longer I can do this without it getting to me, destroying my faith in humanity and leaving me a little dead inside. At the same time I don't want to close my eyes and forget about these things and the people who live them everyday because to do that would be to deny their existence and the humanity we all share. I have to notice - it is reality, cruel, hard, unfair and painful reality.

Dirty Feet

One thing I don't think I've mentioned was how difficult it is to keep your feet clean here. It's not just difficult it's impossible. I know people who wash their feet twice a day - I only do it once a day because I feel more times is futile unless it's rainy and I'm muddy. Huge amount of dust and dirt plus often wearing open toed shoes equals very dirty feet. Now remember I live on a paved road - I can't imagine what it would be like living on a murram (dirt road). Thought you would like to know.

Remembered that there are a couple of things that just cannot become normal for me:

• the lack of recycling - seriously causes me distress to throw out paper and plastic bottles
• littering, there's garbage everywhere and then in the garbage heaps it is burnt which is just gross.

Mine Action Thanksgiving

Well there was no turkey but I had a pretty good thanksgiving dinner last night. I know it was Friday and Thanksgiving is on Monday but Jane had a dinner party last night for Archie who is the regional head of mine action for the UNDP (he's incharge of all of Africa) who was visiting for a week, so Jess and I decided that we would call that our Thanksgiving dinner. Very interesting evening, dinner party with people from the government, the UNDP and one other NGO. Evelyn and Gizaw were both invited with me but Eve is sick and Gizaw got off a plane at 4pm from Canada and the dinner was at 7pm, so out of the intern, the program director and the country/regional director she only got the intern but that was ok - at least there was one of us and the others let her know ahead of time a bunch of people didn't show up so there were a number of empty seats but that's ok - more food for me.
So Jane is pretty much an amazing cook - made beef tenderloin (I didn't know tenderloin came in beef), a chicken dish, fish, salads, then there was the traditional food so everyone was happy - us expats could eat our weird food and everyone else could eat matooke, goat stew and rice. There was a lot of chatting and discussing various issues so that I kinda felt like a grownup until Jess and I began to discus our plans for hitting the pool today and which brother on Prison Break is better looking....
When dinner was ready I somehow ended up as the only woman at the table with Archie, Hartmut (technical advisor for mine action - hilarous German who apparently has 7 grandchildren), Alkie (head of UNDP country office - soon to be moving to Sudan to run the program there), Woboya the head of the Mine Action Centre and Wakinynja the UPDF commander who is incharge of the deminers here.....I think I was a little out of place!!!! But I managed to hold my own, participate in the conversation, and hide how I felt like the little kid who goes to work with their parent for a day.
Left after midnight completely stuffed and super sleepy - too much food plus a little wine means Jess fell asleep in the car and I almost did. I blame Jane for my over eating - the piece of chocolate cake she cut for me pretty much covered the whole plate. I thought it was a joke but it wasn't - took me over an hour to eat the whole thing - later she said I thought I'd give you some to take home, you didn't need to eat it all but here's another piece to take home.....
Had a good day today too - went to the bank to get spending money for only the second time since I got here, except for rent and gorilla permits I've lived off $700 USD since I arrived that includes buying mostly western food etc - crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then met Jess and her roommate Christie in Kabalagala where they enjoyed my local grocery store which is actually really well stocked with stuff you can't find here very easily before Jess and I headed to the Blue Mango which is a hostel/hotel with a pool for some lounging in the sun and swimming. Will definitely be doing that often now. Already have plans for monday if it's nice out which is Independence Day! Yep I get a long weekend too!
Ok time to go start on that piece of cake Jane sent me home with.

Problematizing Normality

Well entering my third month over here and it’s amazing how my definition of normal has changed in this short time. Things that are normal now:
- Only having power every other night. So normal that I get excited when I get electricity on a no-power night even if it’s only for like an hour and I whine when there’s no power on a power night.
- The traffic driving on the other side of the road. I only realized the other day that instead of the usual being worried about being somewhere where they drive on the left – I’m worried I’ll have problems walking around town and driving when I get back in Canada.
- Random livestock in a residential area. Walking from home to the nearest supermarket I usually pass at least 5 chickens/guinea fowl and a couple of goats, once there was a cow….
- Getting crammed into a glorified minivan with a bunch of strangers to sit in traffic for a while as my preferred mode of transportation or else riding on the back of a stranger’s motorcycle to get where I need to go and paying less than a dollar for most transportation
- Occasionally hearing the call to prayer from the mosque at the corner
- Being called by my skin colour more often than my name (except by ppl I know)
- Knowing the price quoted isn’t the real price and knowing that I pay more than most of the people I know
- Every so often being shocked to actually notice my skin colour and that I don’t look like my coworkers.
- Seeing someone with a large gun outside a building or really anywhere
- Knowing that the success or failure of peace talks will have an impact on your life
- Hearing that my coworkers and friends have all lost someone they knew either to the war or to HIV/AIDS and sometimes both
- Being able to eat a meal at a restaurant for less than 3 dollars including a soda in a glass bottle (oh and calling pop soda) and staying in decent hotels for less than 15 dollars

Things that are no longer normal:
- Traffic lights and lanes on roads. Oh hell, paved un-potholed roads
- Anything being on time.
- Drinking tap water or bottled water that doesn’t have a safety seal on it
- Having a TV
- Driving myself anywhere (I hope I’ll remember how to drive when I’m back)
- Having pets
- Stocking up for a week or more at the grocery store without worrying that it’ll go bad when the power goes out
- Not having to get let into my own yard – living in a compound
- Blending in and being treated just like everyone else – you mean I can’t just walk through security, setting off the metal detector or take my backpack in places that everyone else has to check their bags (even file folders) when I get home????
- Not having to ask the military about the security situation before visiting clients
- Hailing an anonymous taxi without any worries
- Being ignored by children
- Seeing only adults begging/panhandling on the street
- Giving directions that include specific street number addresses instead of landmarks and general neighbourhoods

Please excuse the overly theoretical title - I know some people will find it funny.......

Program Cut?!?!?

So apparently the government program that funded my placement is on the chopping block. It was one of the programs cut in that announcement last week. Thankfully it doesn't look like they are gonna recall us which no one considered until someone said it wouldn't be happening. It really sucks because I know I would never had got this experience without that funding and I know a lot of mine ban campaigns internationally (our hosts in general) rely on having an intern because the rest of the staff are volunteers and the interns have very useful skills. Christa always gets people asking for an intern at all the international mine action conferences - apparently we're a in-demand commodity. Unfortunately if these cuts go through there are no more international internships through the department of foreign affairs and international trade, I'm not sure what the status of the internships through CIDA is but probably not good. This was announced while Christa was here and almost instantly she had like 100 emails. It looks like the opposition and the internship coordinators from tons of NGOs are going to be fighting it. So if you wanted to do this program start throwing a fit and telling Stevie so. Not looking forward to telling Evelyn that she might not get someone next year. Guess I'm even luckier than I originally thought to get this placement.

Christa's Visit

Finally back here for more than ten hours. As I've probably mentioned my supervisor from Canada, Christa came to visit this week. She was here to check up on me and Jessica and see the projects we were working on. Therefore we decided to show her pretty much the whole country. After the first day in the city, we headed up north. On Tuesday we spent the whole day in one IDP camp visiting with landmine survivors and seeing the community counselling aides in action. We also got to met the traditional birth attendents who were being trained by our reproductive health officer and they greeted us with songs!!!! Saw the mine risk education advocacy group practicing which was pretty cool though wish I could understand what they were saying. Learned something very valuable that the kids who gather around can be shoo-ed away for a bit by saying that if they all gather over there (somewhere out of the way) the mounos will take their picture once we were done doing whatever....
Next day visited the other mine action project in the north, went to three different sites with Henry that project's economic support officer.Definitely was not an easy couple of days as I heard some horrible things and met some people that have lived through the most horrific events. I don't even really want to talk more about it - that's not what you read this for but we met landmine survivors, other disabled persons, people who lost limbs and other body parts to LRA attacks (they seem to like amputating and mutilating people) and dozens of children who have only known war and life as an IDP. A very sobering couple of days. Though I did get to go to one of our offices I hadn't been to yet and it's lovely - really would like to spent a week or so there but not much longer as it's an entirely male office at the moment (though I think Lucy the midwife will be based there soon) and I can only live with 6 guys for so long though they promise I would get put up in the hotel across the street if there isn't a totally empty room in base camp. The hotel is really nice (TVs in the rooms and western food on the menu)
Then after one night back in town we headed out west to almost the border with the DRC. There is another mine affected area that doesn't recieve as much attention as the north. Unbelievably gorgeous countryside. It was such a contrast from the north, hilly and lush as opposed to the flat almost savannah but still very green vistas of the north. The people are much healthier which made our trips to the camps earlier in the week stand out even more. Met a number of landmine survivors there as well. What is really horrible and unique about the situation out west is that since the terrain is so hilly/mountainous those who survive a mine accident usually can not go home. They are displaced from their homes b/c the terrain is too difficult to navigate without a leg or both legs. All the survivors we met had been forced to move into the town or village they were in after their accident b/c they could not physically get home or if they got home they couldn't move around at all. Could you imagine after losing a limb and learning to walk again still not being able to go home and having to live in town alone while your family continues to live up the mountain where your farm is?
We took the long way home so went through Queen Elizabeth National Park and crossed the equator twice!!!! In the park we saw kobs (which are like gazelles I think, they're a national animal), buffalo and wildebeasts!!! I don't even want to know how many districts I drove through this week but it almost killed me. I think I've ended up with Jessica's cold and apparently only brought allergy medication not cold medication so I have big plans for the rest of the afternoon - I'm gonna watch sweet home alabama (which my awesome aunt, uncle and cousin just sent over - people are so jealous of my packages from home - they think that i must have people who love me a lot and they are right) in the office until the power comes back on then it's back to my place to watch more movies and cook my fabulous dinner of fresh green beans, broccoli, baked and seasoned potato wedges and steak, before going to bed at like 8. New photo album posted - should be linked at right there.