Burning Plastic, French Dreams, and Chocolate Cake for everyone!

Sometimes I forget how hard it is to get people to “change” their ways or make them understand a better way of doing things “differently.” Fabrice and Fabienne came to my house to help me learn how to use my new African stove that takes charcoal. I think it is extremely hard and tedious to get started. Previously I had seen many people start them by burning plastic bags all in the middle of the charcoal – I was not about to try that. All people do here is burn or dump their garbage…the smell of burning plastic is far too common here. Fabrice and Fabienne could not understand why I wanted to burn the paper pieces I had torn up instead of plastic. They kept saying things like “This is Africa” “This is the only way to do it” But I kept insisting that we start it with paper. I know that in Rwanda they have banned nearly all types of plastic bags so I asked them how people in Rwanda got their charcoal to start without charcoal! I tried to explain to them how bad burning plastic was and that the fumes were poisonous but they didn’t seem to understand.

Here is a tour of my house:

On Saturday (18) I went to the Soccer Without Boarders training near the school to play football with the kids from school. Instead I just talked to Bonji (a local who helps out and could possibly be getting a job with SWB). Afterwards some of the boy from the school came over to try to make paper – it was a complete failure. The frames I had made for me were way too big and didn’t fit into the wash bin were the paper was soaking. I searched all day long to try to find a wash bin large enough but it was nowhere to be found! The holes on the screens were too big, and we didn’t press out enough water so the papers came out like soaking wet mushy blobs. We are going to try again in a week or so.

I finally had my first French-speaking dream!! I don’t remember much of what was said, but I was at Richellie Park in Hurley, Wi with Ellysa Aijala, we were talking French together and she knew more French than me (even though she is a Spanish speaker).

When it rains, it pours... and then the electricity goes
out for the rest of the day.

Work never stops for the women (and some men) of Africa. Every morning by 6am the girls near my house they are cooking, washing clothes, bathing their little brothers/sisters, cleaning, etc! Even when it’s torrential down poor – they are still busy doing things while putting out buckets to collect what rainwater they can.

I audited one of Teacher Jacobs science classes for P5 so I could see the teaching style of Uganda. It’s hard to have authority here because the kids are beat by everyone –parents, friends’ parents, relatives, teachers, etc. I won't lay a hand on the kids, so I have no treat to them. When Eddy was walking home, he broke his 1,000ugx ($0.50) sandals. I fixed them with some duct tape when we got to my house and he said, “Thanks, now my mother won’t beat me.” Kind of shocking, and happy I could prevent a beating.

On Tuesday (21) I woke up early so that I could go with Perrine to the Owino Market in Kampala to buy some things for dinners. They cook for me at least 2-4 times a week so I wanted to buy them some food. That market is the most insanely stressful and overwhelming market I have ever been to. It is about 100-200 different venues on about 2 blocks or less or space with people from 20km away coming to buy or sell things in the countries capital. This market makes me NEVER want to live in Kampala – the city is far too crazy. I headed back early and made it in time to teach my 2 Environmental classes (my first day with P7) and my English class. 

I let the neighborhood kids have some fun with my camera
while Daniella played with my hair.

There are two people who work at HOPE school who have malaria right now…guess its pretty common – and one you have it I was told you will always have it. Good things my net is secured around me nightly and I haven’t forgotten a day of my malaria pills!

They had fun posing

Them they found "frames" on my camera.

I left Thursday (23) for Jinja and picked the wrong Matatu/taxi to take me. It was only 4,000ugx (last time the guy ripped me off and made me pay 10,000ugx) but it took over 2 hrs and we stopped all along the way! Matatus are these large 14 passenger vans (usually carrying more like 17 people) that either travel short or long distances – it is like a shared taxi. Ones around town stop as often as every 50-100 meters to pick people off or drop them off. In the taxi park in Kampala you can usually find one that goes right from Kampala to Jinja (about an hour drive) but I got on one that brought people anywhere in between Kampala and Jinja – so the entire ride the money collector (there is 1 drive and 1 money collector) had his head and hands out the window yelling something in Lugandan trying to fill up the seats of the taxi – we were constantly stopping to see if people needed a lift – sometimes we would pick them up and other times drop off people…it was not fun.

Paul had a massive spider bite/infection on his leg when I arrived. He told me it had been getting worse but when I saw it…wow! Looked pretty painful. Jane (his boss) and I finally talked him into going to the doctor (and not listening to the guys at the bar and letting them cut it open) so he could get professional help. I don’t want to go into details but he is on antibiotics now and is doing much better after the minor “surgery” and antiseptic at the visit to the doctors. He can't work for a few days because it’s a huge hole that needs to heal without dirty river water. 

This is a video of a bota ride when I went tubing with Paul's company - Zen Tubing - they are crazy little motor bikes that don't really obey the few traffic law that exist.

I ordered a chocolate cake for my birthday. Paul and I are heading back to Kampala then Ndejje sometime tomorrow (Sunday the 26th). I am going to bring it to Perrine’s house Sunday night and invite Jacques and his family and maybe some boys from school over to celebrate with us. Then on Monday (the date of my real birthday), after classes, Paul and I are going to go into Kampala to find a place to eat. I am very excited, because I think we found a place that serves margaritas… I really miss margaritas.

Next week I am going to introduce a coloring contest to the students in P5-P7 – winner gets their artwork as the logo for HEAL (Healthy Environment and Living) – Uganda. Which is the name of the organization that Jacques, Paul, and I are trying to start in Ndejje. We are also planning to start a compost area behind one of the buildings for the school. The students will help dig/build that as well. We think its important for them to be very involved for the whole process – start to finish – so that they can see the whole project.

A new "smart" start.

My house is slowly becoming my home. I finally got a broom and some other things for the house. I also bought an African stove, one which runs on charcoal. I was getting too fed up with the camping stove that I brought because it was scorching all of my pans and making everything black! I still need a place for my guests to sit though as well as a shelf for my clothes and books.  Its hard for my to justify spending money on all these things for my house because I will be leaving in October; and like my Dad has always told me – “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

People are constantly trying to rip you off here in the small markets and stores. When they see muzungu (white person) they see money. Its outrageous what some people reply when I ask the price of something…they must think I’m stupid.

Percy/Piercy, mother of Fabienne or Fabrice (its hard to tell because there are 2 families living in 1 hours and there are about 11 children), braided my hair on Saturday. I look like a real African now! It took 6 ½ hours…I sat on the cement the whole time! 

My new SMART hair style!

Jacqueline from the Kamaba Co-op finished my skirt for me!! It is so beautiful. I look very ‘smart’ now. Instead of telling someone they look “nice” or “sharp” like I have heard previously, here they say “smart”. For example, when all the teachers and students saw my new hair-do and my new outfit, I had people telling me all day, “Toni, you look smart!!” It’s a great compliment to receive.

On Sunday I did many things around the house and also went to Jacques to help him with his resume. Him and his family have visa offers for Canada and will be immigrating there in the next couple of years.

Paul came to visit on Monday (13) – I met him in Bujagali and we took a boda to Jinja and then a bus from Jinja to Kampala - - that was the worst bus ride of my life haha. I picked up some more fabric in Kampala so that I could get more smart clothes for the school; as a teacher I am expected to dress a certain way. Thankfully we made it back to Ndejje before dark. After I showed him my house we walked to have dinner at Jacques house. Jacques briefed Paul on the idea for the environmental campaign for the community and the following day they met at school and sat down together to do some real planning. HEAL (Healthy Living and Environment) Uganda is the name of the organization and they both have many great ideas that will change Ndejje.

I taught my first Environmental Education class on Tuesday (14) and it went pretty smooth. I was extremely nervous but thankfully there was only about 15 children in P-6 so that helped calm my nerves. My schedule is finalized now: Monday-Thursday 2-4(or 5 depending on class size) I will teach English to adults Tuesday 11-12 I teach Environmental Education (EE) to P-6, right after that from 12-1 I teach P-7 and then Wednesday from 11-12 I teach EE to P-5. Joseph, a Congolese man who I previously mentioned said he would be interested in tutoring me in French. We have put up a tentative schedule or tutor times for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12-2. This man is very inconsistent though, so we’ll see how well these lessons stick. Paul left Wednesday (15) morning after one last breakfast together.

I feel like the relationship here between the Ugandan Nationals and the Refugees (from Congo, Burundi, Sudan, Rwanda, etc) is similar to some American’s views/relationships with Mexican immigrants. Some Ugandans accuse the refugees of stealing their countries money and work for their people. I have heard of a few fights between the nationals and refugees, one which left my friend in critical condition and on oxygen for nearly 3 weeks. It was 30 men vs 1.

There are many organizations and NGOs that I have read about previous to arriving in Uganda who say that they are helping refugees and doing many things for them – but I am seeing first hand their lack of efforts and their lack of help! These organizations lie on their websites…such as BARC of Uganda. I didn’t realize how drastically life has changed for many of these refugees. Many refugees only receive help if they are living in a refugee settlement – but those are extremely unsanitary, they increase dependency on aid, and are very “dead-ended”. Fabrice went from having a father very high ranking in the military, his own Jeep, two bodyguards, and enough money to not have to worry about things – to fatherless, jeepless, living in a small 2-bedroom house with 12-15 other people. To cope with problems that many of these refugees experience, I have notices that many turn to alcohol. I am trying to influence them to find another solution.

Yesterday (16) Ashal, Eddy and two other boys from P4 stopped over my house after school. They really wanted to be in the EE class but I am only able to teach P5-P7 so I told them that on the weekend I would teach them some things and then we could also do some of the “reuse” activities that I was planning on doing in class. I figure this way I can also practice they activity before class. Today after school they are coming over with a bunch of paper to soak in water over night so that tomorrow, after we go to football at HOPE, we can go to my house to make paper.

Paul and I both became very sick yesterday. I think it was something we must have ate during his visit. Neither of us feels 100% but we are recovering. I was in and out of the bathroom all night - - and if being sick isn’t bad enough…trying being sick when your toilet is a hole in the ground, that makes things 10x worse!

My birthday is in 10 days and I will be going to visit Paul in Bujagali for the weekend. If possible we want to either go to Sipi Lodge, Murchison Falls, or Rwanda for the weekend. I am trying to utilize my time best – splitting it between lesson plans, homework, and studying French.

My new home in Ndejje, Uganda.

My first week in Ndejje has been scary, wonderful, stressful, and rewarding. The small village is located between 6-10km South West of Kampala and is considered a suburb of the capital. The drive was much faster than I expected, once we got out of Kampala traffic it was only about 20min or so. My first impression of Jacques, my director, was great! He is a very friendly and intelligent Congolese man. We first went to his home in Ndejje were I met his wife Sarah, his two daughter Daniella (14yrs) and Naomi (2yrs) and his two sons on that is about 10yrs (I forget his name) and Steven (1yr). His family was very warm and welcoming. The place that we had originally planned on me renting was occupied so Jacques spent some of the afternoon searching for another place.

This is Ndejje from a distance.

I stayed at their house the first night. I watched two mice run under their couch and minuets later Sarah and Daniella killed a cockroach in the kitchen. I thought to myself “wonderful.” J Jacques had a few visitors that nights, all of them were Congolese and spoke French! Amongst them was Joseph, who said he would help me with my French. I was very tired and went to sleep fairly early that night.

The next day Jacques and I went to the bank to get rent money and then to my new house! We had bota-botas bring my bags down the hill from Jacques house to mine (only about a 10min walk. I live in a small “apartment complex” with 4 other tenets. I am Room 5 and am in the corner of the complex. My new house has 2 rooms, and INDOOR bathroom (very excited and surprised) and a small kitchen outside that really resembles a closet. I have 1 door and 2 windows. I get my water from the tap outside but to drink it I need to filter it or boil it for 9min. Shortly after I arrived and set up a few things at my new house, Jacques sent some of the kids from HOPE school over to help me clean. They were climbing all over the windows and walls wiping things and splashing water everywhere – African cleaning is much different than American cleaning I will say that much.

The weekend (4-5) was nice, although a bit lonely. Jacques took me to a market in Kampala where we got a mattress for my house and a couple of other things for cooking and cleaning. Ashal (a boy from HOPE in P-4 [like grade 4]) came to my house and helped me cook some rice and brought me to a few local shops to get some more things needed for cooking.

I went to a place called “The Country Club” to watch the Uganda vs. Guinea Bissau football (soccer) match and get dinner. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. Sunday I began preparing my lesson plans the Environmental Education class that I will be teaching to P5-P7. Ashal and his little sister Abigail took me to a house of volunteers working with “Soccer Without Boarders” (SWB). They have a very nice set up and many many things. There were 4 volunteers, but 3 of them have already left, and another is coming at the end of June/beginning of July. I am fairly sure they are they only other white people in the community. White person = MUZUNGU. Its Swahili for “white” but it is not an offensive term. Everyone, from little toddlers that can barely talk to grey haired adults will call me muzungu. Many of the children even have a little tune they sing when I walk by.

HOPE school!

HOPE school!

Some children on break at HOPE

Monday (6) was my first day at the school. HOPE Primary School is mostly comprised of refugees from Congo, Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi. I was taken around by Jacques and shown the “center” where kids did their activities outside of the classroom (mostly with SWB). I met Annette who is the headmistress of the school. The three of us sat down in the center for quire sometime to discuss what I would be doing at the school, what my schedule would be like, lesson plans, etc. Everything was pretty much up to me. I could do whatever I wanted and there was little guidance on lesson plans or what I should be doing.

Monday – Thursday 2-5pm I am teaching English at 2 different levels (so 2 classes). I have had 3 classes so far and things are going better than I expected. The group isn’t large enough to split up yet, so we have only been doing 1 1/2hr lessons. Being my first time teaching, I was feeling very frustrated and helpless trying to figure out how I was going to teach people another language when we (students and teacher) do NOT speak a common language. It makes it even more difficult when one student doesn’t know the entire English alphabet and another can form basic short sentences.

The outside of my classroom.

Chalkboard for my English Class

Inside of my English classroom

Three days a week, I am hoping Tuesday – Thursday I will be teaching 1 “Environmental Education” Class a day to P5, P6, and P7 students. I have chosen about 20 vocabulary words to introduce to the students such as: sustainability, degradation, litter (they don’t even have that in their vocab, that’s how “normal” littering is here…its just what you do!), and many others. I also have the Waste Management System which shows 1) reducing consumption, 2) reusing things, 3) recycling & compost as the top three things to do that will help us better manage our waste. The last two on the list are 4) burning garbage and finally 5) littering. I have a long list of activities I am going to do with the children to show then how they can reuse and recycle things. We are going to make things from paper to footballs (soccer), to jewelry, to pillows, to building blocks, to candle holders! I purchased some trashcans for the school, one for paper, plastics, and trash. I also want to have a section on “Pollution” and another on “Climate Change”. I think in September at the end of the class Paul and I are going to take the top 20 students rafting or tubing in Bujagali. I think students work harder when there is an incentive.

Jacques wants to take this class and make it bigger and spread these ideas to the community. He has many good ideas and has offered to devote a lot of his time to raising awareness of environmental degradation and the immediate need for change. At the end of each English class he wants me to educate the adults (through a translator) briefly on the topic. Then have them as door-to-door advocates to educate others about the things they can do with their garbage. Jacques wants the school to be the towns place to collect plastics and paper which can possibly turn into an income generating activity that could employ some of the parents of the students and the school and raise more money for HOPE so that they can finish the classrooms (some have no roof/windows/doors). Many many good ideas are brewing here in Ndejje. 

They mentioned me teaching French, and I had really considered it...but with the coursework that I have already signed up for, I don’t think it would be physically or mentally possibly for me to be teaching 3 classes – it would just be far too much work. Plus, I am supposed to be working on MY French here…which I have been! I study everything and review French verbs and vocabulary and there are also a many Congolese families in the area who help me when we are together.

Thursday (9) was a public holiday – Hero Day from what I was told and I spent the day working on my lesson plans and posters for my classes. I also did my first bucket of laundry! Hand washed and line dried. Things move at a much much slower pace here…things take a very long time to do without “technology” but I knew that before coming here and is one of the reasons why I enjoy Africa so much. In the West I feel like people are somewhat removed from the most basic things like preparing food and cleaning your house because they have many luxuries that aid in the process. I am going to use this weekend to also prepare more for my classes and possibly clean my house.

Paul is coming to visit on Monday – I cannot wait to see him and show him around my new home. I hope that he wants to help on this environmental education for the community project – I think he could do some wonderful things here if he wanted to. I am meeting him in Kampala where I have to purchase many things for the activities I want to do with the kids.

Things are going great!!

My kitchen and first meal!

My and some boys from school. 

All security guards here have huge AK-47s or just huge guns.
Very intimidating.

Six Days in Jinja and Bujagali!

      I landed into the Entebbe International Airport about an hour behind schedule on the 25th. Paul was there waiting to pick me up :) He helped me pack my things into the taxi and we were on our way! There is no road that connects Entebbe to Jinja so we had to go all the way through Kampala which was a giant unorganized hectic traffic jam. But, Paul had a pineapple in the car and sliced it up for us as we drove.

     The first thing I noticed about Uganda was how green everything is! It looks much different than Tanzania and is full of trees, farms and shrubs. As we road through Kampala the traffic "was not bad" but it took us nearly an hour just to make it through the city. They have a very crazy way of driving here an I am extremely surprised I haven't seen an accident yet. There are motor vehicles of every size that constantly spew out gallons of black exhaust (there are no smog tests here), followed by small motorcycles called "bota-botas". Botas are the fastest (but not the safest) way to get around town. Behind the drive you will see 2 goats and a person, 3 large bags of cement with a woman holding a child, or even 3 more men for a total of 4 on the bota. It is absolutely insane to watch these guys zip through traffic. Then you also have a mix of bicycles carrying obscene amount of things as well as well as the common and random men women and children who are walking. Driving does not look fun.

     Wednesday (25) was spent walking around Jinja and getting to know the area. The patters of the fabric here about absolutely stunning!! I cannot wait to get a few outfits made by the tailors in Ndejje. Jinja is the second largest "city" (it is considered a town) in Uganda and is known as the adrenaline capital of East Africa. I also noticed the lack of infrastructure throughout the town. Only the main roads are paved, there is trash everywhere, there is burning trash piles everywhere, and no trash cans!

     Thursday (26) we took a bota to Bujagali and I was able to go kayaking with Paul for a little bit. Bujagali is were Nile River Explorers (NRE) and Zen Tubing (Paul's company) operates from. It is a beautiful small village full of other "muzungus" (foreigner) and many volunteer opportunities.

     Friday (27) I helped Paul move into his new house in Bujagali. He is living with Mama Flo...she is a wonderful independent single mother of three. She has her own little business where she sells things that her and other women have made (jewelry, purses, etc) and also rents out rooms in her house. Paul is paying 70.000 ugs (Ugandan shillings) a week and that includes breakfast and dinner. 70.000ugs ends up being about $28 USD a week. Pretty cheap!! Cheaper than my place in Ndejje. Staying with Mama Flo is a woman about my age named Chichillia (not sure on spelling) from Italy. She is volunteering with S.O.F.T Power Education which is a group of different schools that were build with profits from NRE.

Innocent and his brother (they live at Mama Flos)

Innocent in Paul's kayak gear

    Over the weekend there were many overland trucks that came to NRE and I was able to go rafting and tubing with Paul. The Victorian Nile River (I thought it was the White Nile) is crazy different than California white water!! There are HUGE features and HUGE waves and HUGE eddy lines. It was so much fun. I actually enjoyed swimming; it was warm and deep! Alex (one of the guides) even let me guide a couple of rapids - - it was tons of fun.

       I met a couple of school girls on a walk home to Mama Flo's and made a play date to help them with their homework that night. They stopped over to pick me up and brought me avocado, mango, and maize. It was only able to spend a brief about of time with them, but it was great and gave me even more to look forward to :)

Paul and I when I went tubing

    I got a cell phone and called my director Jacques Bwira to set up when and where I would be picked up to begin my project with him in Ndejje. I am in Kampala (the capital city) now waiting for Jacques to pick me up. I have been studying French nearly everyday preparing for my project. I decided that I also want to implement an Environmental Education class into HoPE Primary School so I have been working on the class outline for that. I brought my French 1&2 textbook and I will use that as my outline for teaching basic French to the refugee students. As for the English classes, I think I will just have to see where everyone is at in their proficiency and literacy levels. I read a book about a student who came to Uganda to teach for a month and he had the students write an essay to start. He corrected the essays and taught his English lessons based off of the mistakes made in the papers. That sounded like a great way to start and I think I will base my lessons off of that.

    I am looking forward to getting to Ndejje and meeting everyone in the community. Jacques should be here in 4 hours, but Africa time tells me he will be here in about 5 1/2 :) I don't know when I will have access to the internet next...But I do know that I feel mentally and physically prepared for the greatest experience of my life.