Happy birthday to all 50,000,000+ people whose birthdays fall in the month of May! D and S…the title is named specifically for you (through the transitive property, I guess myself as well).
What happens when you have very little or no money, disease and death are a common occurrence within your society, and nothing seems to be in your control? …You rely on God. Your life is not your own but rather controlled by that higher being. Life for most Ugandans is very much determined by God’s will. If something good or bad happens it is always “God’s plan.” In a way, this way of looking at life can be scary. Nothing is in your control. Therefore, will you have the ambition or the passion to achieve those goals which you have always wanted to perform before you die or to have a better life for yourself? Probably not. Religion (Christianity) in Uganda is constant and always in the minds of people. Similarly, thinking "outside the box" has not happened yet, especially in the villages. Every ducca (shop) carries basically the same items. I cannot determine how people make money even on the smallest scale...possibly from frequent or regular customers known as their friends?
Our first women’s group meeting was a great success, besides for the fact that the first woman came 1.5 hours late to the meeting. Still, we had approximately 40 women from the Ssanje community show up. Musawo Lucy, who headed the meeting, was an amazing facilitator. We talked about the needs of the group, as well as possible activities we could do (iga-income generating activities, cash around…). For an income generating activity, I showed the women the reusable menstrual pads which I had made a few times since coming here. They were thrilled and I was thrilled by their excitement! We are going to try to make the pads for the women and as an iga. Already I have gotten the making process translated into Luganda by none other than the fabulous Musawo Lucy.
As you can read, the title of this blog entry implies that I have been to Tanzania. Technically, not really. A visa to Tanzania is costly, about $100, which is more than any other country costs to cross. I have no idea what we (the US) did to piss the government of Tanzania off and charge us more, but it must have been pretty bad. Anyway, C, M and a Ugandan female, N were led by a Tanzanian female, R to the border of Uganda and Tanzania, Mutukula. While there we had a little stroll on the other side for a bit, said a couple of “jambo(s)” or “hello(s)” to the nice Tanzanian folks, and then headed back. The Ugandan goats are so much cooler than those in Tanzania. It is impossible to explain, but rather you will have to see for yourself some day. Unfortunately, the border patrol would not stamp any of our passports because we just walked around the area without actually “entering” the country. The most interesting part of the exploration was coming upon a school, most likely primary, that was still in session (the Tanzanian kids were still working hard while my [yes, I feel I can claim them as my own now] Ugandan kids were off on holidays). Within the school grounds were 3 tanks. These tanks must have been from the time of Amin, when Tanzania was helping in the fight. The discrepancy between the innocent youth and the tanks was a fascinating site to see.
Birthday Weekend:
Traveled to Kampala with C and M
Stayed out wayyy too late on Friday night with friends
Ate at an amazing Ethiopian restaurant
Found a place which serves dirty martinis (not as easy as it sounds…only at the most expensive -$200/night for the cheapest room- hotel in Kampala known as the Serena)
Got another tattoo (of course at the one legitimate tattoo parlor in all of Uganda) on the left wrist…my own design having to do with my favorite numbers 9, 2, 5 – S will explain
*In total that makes 3 – Chicago, Israel and Uganda
Birth-Day: Calls from the US (thank you for caring), but otherwise uneventful as I traveled back to Ssanje with C.
Official Name for the Boy Empowerment Club: Club BLISS (Boys Living Intelligently [wishful thinking :P] and Serving Society)
Up next…Rwanda
What happens when you have very little or no money, disease and death are a common occurrence within your society, and nothing seems to be in your control? …You rely on God. Your life is not your own but rather controlled by that higher being. Life for most Ugandans is very much determined by God’s will. If something good or bad happens it is always “God’s plan.” In a way, this way of looking at life can be scary. Nothing is in your control. Therefore, will you have the ambition or the passion to achieve those goals which you have always wanted to perform before you die or to have a better life for yourself? Probably not. Religion (Christianity) in Uganda is constant and always in the minds of people. Similarly, thinking "outside the box" has not happened yet, especially in the villages. Every ducca (shop) carries basically the same items. I cannot determine how people make money even on the smallest scale...possibly from frequent or regular customers known as their friends?
Our first women’s group meeting was a great success, besides for the fact that the first woman came 1.5 hours late to the meeting. Still, we had approximately 40 women from the Ssanje community show up. Musawo Lucy, who headed the meeting, was an amazing facilitator. We talked about the needs of the group, as well as possible activities we could do (iga-income generating activities, cash around…). For an income generating activity, I showed the women the reusable menstrual pads which I had made a few times since coming here. They were thrilled and I was thrilled by their excitement! We are going to try to make the pads for the women and as an iga. Already I have gotten the making process translated into Luganda by none other than the fabulous Musawo Lucy.
As you can read, the title of this blog entry implies that I have been to Tanzania. Technically, not really. A visa to Tanzania is costly, about $100, which is more than any other country costs to cross. I have no idea what we (the US) did to piss the government of Tanzania off and charge us more, but it must have been pretty bad. Anyway, C, M and a Ugandan female, N were led by a Tanzanian female, R to the border of Uganda and Tanzania, Mutukula. While there we had a little stroll on the other side for a bit, said a couple of “jambo(s)” or “hello(s)” to the nice Tanzanian folks, and then headed back. The Ugandan goats are so much cooler than those in Tanzania. It is impossible to explain, but rather you will have to see for yourself some day. Unfortunately, the border patrol would not stamp any of our passports because we just walked around the area without actually “entering” the country. The most interesting part of the exploration was coming upon a school, most likely primary, that was still in session (the Tanzanian kids were still working hard while my [yes, I feel I can claim them as my own now] Ugandan kids were off on holidays). Within the school grounds were 3 tanks. These tanks must have been from the time of Amin, when Tanzania was helping in the fight. The discrepancy between the innocent youth and the tanks was a fascinating site to see.
Birthday Weekend:
Traveled to Kampala with C and M
Stayed out wayyy too late on Friday night with friends
Ate at an amazing Ethiopian restaurant
Found a place which serves dirty martinis (not as easy as it sounds…only at the most expensive -$200/night for the cheapest room- hotel in Kampala known as the Serena)
Got another tattoo (of course at the one legitimate tattoo parlor in all of Uganda) on the left wrist…my own design having to do with my favorite numbers 9, 2, 5 – S will explain
*In total that makes 3 – Chicago, Israel and Uganda
Birth-Day: Calls from the US (thank you for caring), but otherwise uneventful as I traveled back to Ssanje with C.
Official Name for the Boy Empowerment Club: Club BLISS (Boys Living Intelligently [wishful thinking :P] and Serving Society)
Up next…Rwanda
