Cape Town Time

So South Africa - right. Yesterday spent the day wandering around Cape Town and feeling strange. The waterfront is cool - it was so good to see the ocean again and strange to blend in, see organized traffic and all those oddities.
Today went to the national museum which was pretty cool and then took a commuter train out to this place called simon's town and saw a colony of penguins - photos will follow. tomorrow is a winery tour so that should be interesting then two more days in cape town before going back to jo'burg for two days before flight home.

Christmas and beyond

The Really Late Christmas Blog
So Christmas is over now and I’m sure this Christmas will go down as one of the most unique of my life. I was really having a hard time with the whole holidays away from my family and friends but it turned out to be really nice. Went over to Jessica’s on Xmas Eve day. Jess, Meg and I baked cookies, made a cake, and prepared for dinner that night then hit the pool at TLC. Meg made a lovely tortiere and we had salad, potatoes, carrots and snow peas with oatmeal cookies, an interesting peach, chocolate and pineapple cake, cream puffs and tapioca for dessert. I have to admit there was a large amount of wine consumed at dinner as well. Marijn came over for dinner and to spend the night too so there were four of us celebrating together. Then we went to midnight mass (started at 10 though) at Christ the King the church down the street expecting to sing some carols and feel festive. Nope it was a rather sober session made worse by the combination of wine drank at dinner and the priest’s long lecture on the evils of alcohol oooops. Ah well what can you do.
Got up relatively early and us three introduced Marijn to the opening presents on Christmas morning tradition which was fun. I finally got to open the present my dad brought over and Jess finally got to open the one that her mom put in her suitcase back in August. After making cinnamon buns, receiving phone calls from home and bidding good day to Marijn who was off to a Christmas lunch with a friend who happened to be from one of Kampala’s big deal families, we set off for the pool. Yes that’s right we spent Christmas day sitting by the pool at the Sheraton hotel getting a tan and swimming. It was really surreal, the day was so hot and sunny, we sat by the pool three of us who didn’t know each other at this time last year and listened to Christmas carols. Strange but good, really relaxing day and I got a bit of a tan finally…
That night we got dressed up and went for dinner at Emin Pasha the nicest (I think) hotel in town. Marijn met us there and had some excellent stories about his lunch with Kampala high society. Dinner was amazingly good but kinda odd as we were the only people in the whole restaurant. I think we had four servers each… Walked back to Jess’ and slept there again.

The current blog
So in under 2 days Meg and I decided to go to South Africa for a week. Well on the 27th it was which ever flight leaving the next day was cheapest either Dar es Salaam or Jo'burg. Jo'burg it was. Cheap flights and discount airlines have brought me to Cape Town South Africa. I'm a backpacker again and experiencing some brutal culture shock. Heading out into the town to explore now and looking into wine tours, Robben Island and all that.
Going to Jo'burg on the 2nd and heading back to Entebbe on the 4th. Wish I had more time here it would be a great place to really do the bum-y backpacker thing and just have a ton of fun, see cool things and chill out. If you need to contact me my South African phone number is (country code) 795805646....

who needs plans

So there will be an update about christmas soon as i've typed something out but it happens to be on my computer at home and since the internet is not working there i can't copy and paste in here at the internte cafe.
waiting to find out where i'm going tomorrow - either flying to Dar es Salaam and then going to Zanzibar for a week or else going to fly to Jo'burg and hit up cape town or the South african coast. whichever one we get tickets for and which ever one is cheaper. our travel agent is currently working on it...
the other day my friend texted me asking what the plans were b/c we had been talking about how meg and i were going on an adventure and the response was who needs plans?
yes i'm packed but don't have a plane ticket yet and leaving tomorrow
ha ha ha ha
life is fabulous

So never thought being away for the holidays would be so hard. On a happier note a couple photos from the past week are posted on the link photos b/c the damn blogger wouldn't upload any photos. All photos poached from the ones Kate left on my computer....

Adventures of the "Twins"

So Kate (CPAR intern from Ethiopia), Meg (YP from Mozambique) and myself (Kampala resident) have been confused for ‘twins’ by the guards at the UN Village where Jess and Meg now live (yes I know that Kate, Meg and I are three people yet he still asked if we were twins). The four of us (the twins and Jessica) have had a busy week.
On Tuesday I took the girls into town while Jess worked. Hit up the craft market and had sodas at this amazing dive bar that Ties and Marijn found which overlooks the entire taxi park. Movie night that night included the movie Bad Santa (traumatizing beyond belief) and then US soldiers sending drinks over to us….
Wednesday Jessica and I took Meg to Nakawa market which is the big fruit and veggie market near where Jess used to live while Kate sorted out her visa. Finally managed to find copies of seasons 1 and 2 of Grey’s Anatomy which made my day.
Thursday was the exciting day – WHITE WATER RAFTING ON THE NILE!!!!!!!!! Day went like this Kate and I got up and left at 645 to meet Meg at Garden City to wait for our ride. The rafting company picked us up and took us to Jinja for the rafting. First we went to the hostel in town which was absolutely terrifying for all three of us. I haven’t seen a room full of like 50 white people in almost six months – there wasn’t a Ugandan in sight….. Suddenly we were surrounded by dozens of Aussies, Canadians, Europeans and a couple South Africans honestly didn’t know what to do. We ended up sitting at a table by ourselves to eat breakfast. We were in the “Bubble” (where you don’t actually realize you are in the midst of another culture). Another thing that was kinda strange was that the kayak instructor that Dad and I had was there (same company different ‘adventure sport’) and he remembered my name – too bad I spent all day trying to remember his and couldn’t for the life of me. I still don’t know which is odd for me as I’m usually decent with names.
Then we all got driven to the start of the run. We were given our safety briefing, helmets, lifejackets that Meg related to Kevlar vests used in demining they were so heavy-duty. Our boat was us three ‘twins’, a daughter and dad from the States, a guy from Edmonton and a girl from Israel plus our guide. Learning how to paddle, get back in the boat after getting dumped out, flipping the boat right way up when it’s upside and how to ‘get down’ was really entertaining.
There were 12 rapids to go. First few we got through fine even though some of the other boats flipped. Then on the third or fourth rapid we flipped. I now understand why some people’s greatest fear is to be trapped underwater because we all got pulled under quite far and although I knew I was safe (Kevlar strength lifejacket, huge safety boat, tons of safety kayakers to fish us out and all that) it was still terrifying to be underwater for that long – it was probably not that much more than 10 seconds. Our boat only flipped 3 times that time, then another one where it was four big waves in a row and of course we flipped on the first one so I ended up riding out the other three with the girl from the States holding on to the same paddle which involved swallowing a lot of water b/c we were both facing the wrong way and couldn’t see the waves… also flipped on the last one but that was fine (everyone actually managed to hold on to the boat which was amazing). One of the best parts of the trip was near lunch time there was a long flat stretch where we were allowed to go swimming so Kate, Meg and I jumped in and spent a ton of time just floating along (lifejackets on of course) down the Nile, swimming around and playing in the not very strong current. AMAZING!!!
The interesting part was that from lunch time on our guide kept talking about the ‘Bad Place’ the last rapid and how scary and bad it was as the only optional rapid. By the time we got down there the three of us were scared crapless and opted out. Now think about this he managed to get a girl who works in mine fields (Meg), someone moving to a war zone (me) and someone whose country of residence is fighting out a proxy war in Somalia and is in a rapidly heating up cold war with Eritrea (Kate) so scared we were going to opt out of the last run. As we are all standing on the edge of the rocks looking over (everyone had to get out of the boats to avoid a class 6 rapid), the nameless kayak instructor comes to talk to us and after we say we aren’t doing the last one he tells us that as long as we say we don’t want to go through the bad place it’s easy to avoid it and it’s really not as bad as some of the other rapids we had done. He told us that it would be fine, fun and safe especially b/c our boat had already decided to take the easiest route through. So we did and he was right it was a ton of fun, we were safe even though we flipped on the last little bit of it and I’m glad we did it.
Another excellent part had to be the bus ride back to the camp with a beer in our hands and then another beer on the drive back to Kampala.
So the hot and not list for rafting the Nile:
Hot: How much fun it was, floating down the Nile with friends, beers on the drives back, Kate leaning out the window trying to get the nameless kayak instructor’s phone number when the matatu that was driving us back to Kampala passed the truck with all the guides on it, unfortunately she failed.
Not: The pain from worst sunburn of my life from my knees to the bottom of the shorts I was wearing, being stuck underwater or at least thinking I was, how ridiculously sick I was afterwards (combination of swallowing too much Nile water, - mmmmmm parasites- dehydration and heat exhaustion).
Kate’s now on a bus to Nairobi to meet a friend for Christmas and Jess, Meg and I are heading to Holiday, a movie in a theater!!! Shocking!!!

Last day in the Kampala office

So just realized that it is my last day in the kampala office. So of course I'm spending it blogging and entertaining Kate the intern from the Ethiopia program who is here sorting out visa issues while i wait for Meg to come by.
Yay Meg is here, it's a crazy culture shock for her as she's been a tiny town in Moz for almost six months and now she's in a city of 4 million with all the various comforts of Kampala which keep Jessica and I sane. The food options are incredibly exciting apparently.

Field Journal

So have been in the field for a couple of days and since there was no internet I have to copy and paste some journal entries I made below.

Monday December 11, 2006
So I will never ever ever go on another community function again. On the way to Gulu we went to hand over an ambulance to Anyeke Health Centre IV which was part of the UNICEF project. This ambulance will be the only one serving 300,00 people in the district. Got up at 5, left at about 630 got there about 11. Definitely the only mzungu there and people kept thinking I was someone important. Pretty funny as the conversations would go like this:
Them: So are you with UNICEF?
Me: No I’m with CPAR
Them: Are you the manager?
Me: No the manager is Fred, he is over there talking to the Program Director, I’m the intern.
Them: Oh I see.
I’ve developed quite a distaste for speeches since I came here as all functions involve a number of them but I learned there is a hell worse than too many speeches – three hours of speeches about an ambulance and the maternity unit we are building while sitting in the mid day heat with no food and all the speeches are in LUO…..Eddie (construction genius) translated for me but the whole situation was PAINFUL. Seriously wanted to die and I couldn’t escape to the car for a little snack like most my coworkers b/c the entire community would notice if the only white girl there who the district chairman specifically mentioned in relation to the speeches being in Luo and the need for someone to translate for me.It was strange actually seeing that many people waiting outside the health centre for treatment. Another strange experience was at the ground breaking part a little girl about a year old came up behind me and touched/patted my leg (I was wearing a skirt) just to see what my skin felt like. I guess I was the first white person she had seen. The eyes looking up at me when I turned around and gave her my hand were so huge it was amazing. All the people around me noticed and thought it was pretty damn funny which it was but still strange.
At dinner tonight we had the most intense discussion about the war and the peace process, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation and what might happen after people go home. The general consensus was that people just want the war to be over so they will say they forgive and all that but after a while and when reality of living next door to someone who killed your uncle and raped then mutilated your aunt really sinks in things could get really really really nasty and the violence could be unbelievable. It actually really scares me b/c I have such high hopes for peace and yet I know that a peace treaty is only the very beginning and in all likelihood things will still be nasty afterwards. Lets look at things here, there is a population who has been attacked, terrorized, forced into camps, practically starved, had their way of life destroyed, been mutilated, murdered and ignored for over 20 years and in most cases the people doing the terrorizing are parts of the community (many of whom have been forced to carry out these atrocities on their own people). This population has been left behind the development of the rest of the country and often looked down upon as well. Now there is talk of sending people home to the very places where these killings happened, to live beside the people who committed those acts, with questions of land ownership and tenure looming. Without a well thought out return and reconciliation process this is a recipe for disaster. I hope that peace and stability actually come to the north because the people have suffered too much.

Tuesday December 12, 2006
Today we had the meetings with possible (probable) trainers for this peacebuilding project. It went well though we sort of change the project structure a bit to make it more viable. The meeting with the youth coalition for peace (henceforth won’t call them by whole name but by YCFP) went really well I think. They like the project and together we all managed to come up with the criteria for selecting the members of the new groups as well as the TOTs who will be trained along with six of them to do the training of these new groups. Turns out I am really really difficult to understand, especially for the not as well educated members of the YCFP, so I am going to have to work on speaking slower and more importantly my Acholi. I have a Lwo-English dictionary now so that’ll be helpful.After work we went to visit Christine (the caretaker of Loro) who was in a really really bad car accident in early November. She broke her arm in two places and her leg above the knee but got off easy as the two people in the front seat died. She is in what is generally known to be the best hospital in Uganda (well best affordable hospital – ppl actually come from Kampala there for treatment b/c it has things even Mulago doesn’t have) but I would not want to be there. Although it is clean it really was not where I would want to be spend a lot of time and I would be very concerned about the treatment I would receive. After we went to the best hotel in town for a total staff dinner, it has a lot of western food on the menu so it will be my new home away from home when I live in Gulu….

Wednesday December 13, 2006
This morning we had a staff meeting and then another meeting with the trainers to go over everyone’s roles in the project. After that Evelyn, Richard and I went to Amuru to discuss the project with the district officials. The beauty of new districts is they are very keen to have projects so the district is giving us land/space to “establish” (not construct b/c the donor doesn’t want construction) a youth meeting space for that subcounty. So one space down only 5 more to go. The really interesting/sad thing is Amuru District was carved out of Gulu District in July except no one really checked to see if there were the facilities needed to be a stand alone district. You should have seen the district headquarters – three UNICEF tents, one dilapidated building and some mobile toilets. Now the plan was for me to go home on the bus once we got back to the office from Amuru but we got back too late for it to be a good idea for me to take the bus so I hitched a ride with Evelyn to Lira for the night to visit the office there (and b/c the place we would stay has good pizza.) We get to the office and find everyone piling into Fred’s car turns out Julius of Lira (not to be confused with Kampala guard Julius) has really bad malaria and is in the hospital so it’s trip three to an Ugandan health care centre in as many days. It was only when Evelyn went out to take a phone call that I realized exactly how male dominated the Lira office is – there was Julius, Fred, Godfrey, Raymond (ok he’s from Gulu but was there), Richard, Jeff and then me. If the genders were reversed you’d think I was a pimp but I don’t know what to call me in that situation. Hit the hotel restaurant for dinner only to find that there was no pizza…..

There's nothing I love more than when you turn on the tap to have a shower at 515am and the water comes out brown, opaque brown.

we're trying here

So trying to feel Christmasy is much harded than I originally expected. No family events to make it feel like the holidays, barely any decorations (save for that wonderful tree laura and mom made for me), no cold rain, no warm wool coats with big scarves, no hot apple cider, no shopping and christmas carols everywhere, no city sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style (they're busy yes, but not in that same way), no hope/dream of a white christmas (seriously tanned today while reading stuff i should know for meetings this week) and not many surprises and secrets being kept.
But we are all trying to make it festive, downloaded five cd's worth of christmas music (bing crosby, diana krall, mariah carey, kenny chesney and i'm ashamed to admit it - jessica simpson - it was a small file ok?), stuck the tree to the wall, listened to the aforementioned carols at work almost constantly and then at Kristy's pizza party, baked a cake for sinterklaas day for the boys, downloaded frosty the snowman, have white christmas which will watch soon and this evening we went to a candlelit carol service at the cathedral in town. that was really really nice, got to sing some carols and all that though i think that was the first church service i had been too in probably 8-10 years.....
anyways i hope the holidays are going a little better at home but i've gotta go get packed for the field tomorrow we're leaving at 630 and i'm not packed yet (it's 1106pm) and a bunch of the clothes need to be ironed pre-packing................

Flooding, diseases and all that good stuff

So just got an phone call from my mom worried about me due to the flooding in Kampala making the news and the cholera outbreak here. Just letting you all know I'm ok, the flooding wasn't anything too bad in Kampala just a road or two in Kibuli/Industrial area was not too passable on Wednesday morning.
Cholera outbreak makes me feel like I'm in the middle ages or something but I've been vaccinated against it and will be taking precautions like washing my hands, cooking food properly and not drinking dirty water (honestly that's the advice that the government is giving out to protect yourself - sketchy I know) don't worry.....
Mainly the problem is the rainy season is lasting much longer than usual thus causing problems such as the aforementioned flooding and waterborne diseases well plus just plain pissing me off b/c I'm sick of getting poured on for a little bit each day.

Umm 21st century?

So makerere university has a telegraph id listed on their website. They do not have contact info for the school of peace and conflict resolution or whatever it's called - the place that would have a good trainer for the peacebuilding project but they have a telegraph id........
Check it out:

http://www.makerere.ac.ug/pages.php?p=university%20contacts&pid=5_774

hmmm

So was wandering around the grocery store today to escape the heat, picking up some apples and a cake pan while singing along to christmas carols in a tank top and skirt. What is wrong with this picture?

Top Threes

So the wedding reception I cancelled (rainchecked) plans for b/c I finally read the invitation and it said 3pm, actually won’t get going until about 4 or 430 and I’ve been instructed to show up at least an hour late thus I have some time to kill.
First the big news, I’ve been offered a job implementing the 3 month project Evelyn and I wrote that was just funded. So I’ll be staying here until April with a slight downside, I’ll be moving to Gulu but that’s ok 80% of my friends have offered me couches or spare rooms for the weekend.

Besides that I thought I share with you some lists of my three stars or top three lists.

Top three reasons I’ll be traveling back to Kampala on an almost weekly basis once I move to Gulu:
3. the lack of western food (aka the only food I know how to cook and can eat for more than 4 days at a time without losing my appetite) and warm running water
2. the tiny number of major activities to keep me occupied when not working
1. the number of friends I have in Kampala vs the number of friends I have in Gulu

Top three sources of calcium
3. cheese on pizza
2. yogurt
1. calcium supplements

Top three things I should have in my house but don’t:
3. lantern for when the power goes out
2. shaving cream – cut the crap out of my leg yesterday
1. scotch tape (or cello tape as they call it here)

Top three reasons the guards here think (incorrectly!!!) I ummm…. get around:
3. I will hug people regardless of gender when displays of affection between couples (even married couples) is incredibly rare
2. I will meet male friends for drinks/coffee alone and will get home after midnight when out with the boys (scandalous evenings included dinner with Ties and Marijn followed by drinks at the bar where I’m pretty sure I was only invited to keep the prostitutes away, going for a beer with Nate after work on a Thursday and having dinner with Dave)
1. I have a number of male friends (for the most part men and women are not friends here unless they are dating/sleeping together - yay for cultural differences)

Top three reasons I hate technology:
3. my computer still has not been fixed so I can’t watch the huge stack of dvds I have
2. the fax machine is my nemesis
1. I cannot do a large part of my job until the cd drive on the laptop is fixed

Top three holiday traditions I already miss:
3. Christmas cartoons on tv
2. advent calendars
1. festive events with family and friends that start in late November and don’t end until early January

Top three things I can cook here besides cookies (aka my rotating menu):
3. Steak in a frying pan
2. Pasta and veggies
1. spaghetti bolognaise

Top three things I do or say that shock people:
3. Be ok with gay marriage (South Africa just legalized it and when asked my opinion say meh it’s normal been legal at home for a couple of years)
2. “Even if I had a boyfriend here, I’d still go home whenever I wanted to” (that one resulted in me being called stubborn….but it's true if I was really really homesick there is very little that would keep me somewhere i was miserable)
1. “No thanks, I don’t really want any fried grasshoppers”

Top three reasons I’m still going to be late for this wedding reception:
3. I don’t know where this venue is
2. I’m pretty sure there’s a lovely traffic jam
1. I should be there in half an hour and I’m still blogging with my hair and make-up not done at all (ah well at least the present is wrapped)

World AIDS Day

So it's World AIDS Day today. I am slowly starting to realize the impact of AIDS here. It's hard to find a single person that hasn't been affected. The number of lost family and friends is shocking and Uganda has a low HIV/AIDS rate compared to most other places in Africa.