Chop Chop Snip Snip

I just returned from Mbale (eastern Uganda) on Wednesday from visiting a PCV in the field. Mbale is a beautiful and nice sized town (no Chi town of course) with views of mountain ranges, Elgon. The visit was nice because my friend, S, and I had the opportunity to explore the city on our own, unfortunately though without the help of the PCV. N's main contribution to the few days were teaching us that we can cook amazing meals: falafel, guac, mexican beans. The main source of nutrition in Uganda is matooke. Matooke is just another form of a banana which is cooked and then mashed together to make mush. Other foods are just as starchy and include casava, potatoes, and bananas. Luckily our homestayes were briefed on the diets of Americans and know that we like a little color on our plates so I am provided with carrots, tomatoes, and squimich (spinach) regularly. Anyway, back to adventures in Mbale. Tuesday was amazing! It was the most cultural and traditional event I have been to yet. We went to an embalu ceremony (circumcision) which is performed every two years. Hundreds of boys in the village were being circumcised that day. Basically you are not considered a man until you are circumcised. Some are publicly humiliated if they are not cut. Most of the boys were between the ages of 13 and 18. Just getting to the ceremony was an ordeal because we had to climb up a pretty steep moutain. Apparently there is a three day celebration before the actual cutting. We arrived during the end of the celebration with dancing and music. All of the boys who were going to be cut had their faces fainted with a sort of white chalk and some with pink dots. Others had brightly colored beads around their necks. Each boy had their family and friends around them while dancing (stomping up and down). Many families carried around musical instruments. A lot of people were drunk and spitting the local brew in every direction. Let me tell you, we definitely did not come out of this ceremony clean. After the craziness, we waited for the younger boys who would be circumcised the next even year to have mud thrown at them, and then took post at the house we were to watch the boys being cut. Actually, we were specifically assigned to watch the 11th boy. There were 18 rocks laid out for 18 boys to be circumcized at the house. As a curious person (especially when it comes to blood and penis chopping) I made sure to get up front to see the circumcision taking place. This was not an easy task considering most of the family was right up front watching. But we are muzungu (foreigners/white people) with fancy cameras and connections so we were roughly squeezed through the crowd. With the occurence of HIV/AIDS in the country each boy is assigned a different knife. Not sure how clean they were, but mpola mpola (slowly slowly). The chopping of the skin was quick and methodical. None of the boys even flinched. I have heard horror stories about older men getting circumcised and the immense amount of pain they are in afterwards. This was not apparent in any of the boys. Interestingly, this practice mainly occurs in the east and not central Uganda (where I will be stationed). There has been much research out on the spread of HIV/AIDS and circumcised males. The foreskin, which can easily get dirty and lead to friction/tearing and thus increase the chances of spreading the virus. Still, it is still mainly a cultural practice in Uganda. Abuyudaya, the Jewish village, which we passed was right next to the where the ceremony was taking place. I am quite excited to go back there to visit. As in the Jewish tradition, their circumcisions occur when the boys are just babies. Until the next adventure...wheeraba (goodbye)!