An Ode to Fene (jack fruit)
Knock, knock…no answer.
Knock, knock…hello…hallow.
Ponga time – chop.
Off the branch it goes.
Careful placement on the ground.
Chop, chop, chop.
See the white sticky sap.
See the yellow of the fruit.
Wipe, wipe, wipe the sap.
Pull the fruit off of the shell.
Eat the fruit and not the tough deceiving outside.
Sweet, chewy, yummy.
Fene, rare and delicious.
Traditional Healer (Musawo – sort of).
FYI - Not a witchdoctor…bummer. Therefore, she does not caste spells on people. She only tries to heal them. Sitting on a white goat skin (the white and the black invoke different spirits) the traditional healer spoke of her profession in Luganda, translated by H, our language teacher. She told of how, using shells and coins, she can determine whether a person is bewitched or sick by flipping them within a sheet of back-cloth (a thin material retrieved from tree bark). I was relieved to hear that she is often considered the in-between when a person is sick. She will provide that person with some medicine (liquid herbs) within the village and then the patient will be taken to a clinic or actual medical facility. Additionally, she believes in God and is very religious (Christian) like most every Ugandan in the country. Overall it was a very interesting session. However, she did lose a bit of credibility at the end of the discussion when she told us that the advice she provides to women for avoiding conception is to wrap a tight band around their wastes…REALLY!? What would that provide besides a constant pressure on the bladder? Maybe these women are peeing their pregnancies away. Ha!
The Inauguration
Powerful and intense.
What a day/night (depending on where you live).
Change is upon the US.
P.S. In case you did not notice…Obama’s a lefty!
January 23rd - My First (unfortunately, I am being realistic) Death
Death is not uncommon in Uganda. People commonly die of malaria, HIV, car/boda accidents, plus many other reasons, you name it. Most households have at least 3 or 4 graves to the side of their property of family members who have died. The spirits of the dead are thought to live on and therefore family members do not want their own dead to be far away. In the back of my mind I knew that I would have to go to a burial eventually, but I did not think that it would be of one of our own CoU members. M.P. was a member of CoU who lived at Philips House in Kiwanga. Philips house is a home for people who are mentally disabled and are unable to take care of themselves on their own. M.P. had been experiencing serious stomach pain for a while, but had never been diagnosed for his symptoms after being taken to the Surgery (where scarily many Peace Corps volunteers are sent for unknown symptoms…no wonder they are never diagnosed with a cause!) Thursday morning when he could not stop vomiting and having diarrhea he was quickly sent to Mulago, a good hospital in Kampala. During the evening, Aunt M received a call that he would have to go into surgery. The next morning I find out that he did not live through the surgery. His body was too weak from expelling so much nutrients and liquids. Apparently, he had a hole in his intestine, probably from an ulcer, which was found from an x-ray…the first he had received since becoming sick! The next day we had a prayer ceremony with his family. The two priests who came were from the Consolata located next to Kiwanga where all of the members are originally from Kenya. Since they do not know Luganda fluently they spoke in English, which was good for me, but not for the rest of the crowd. I felt this Language barrier was a bit inappropriate for such an important occasion. Luckily, Aunt M and M, the CoU director, both spoke in Luganda when they talked about M.P. The casket was in the middle of the room the whole time. There was an opening in the casket which contained a glass piece. When we looked through, his body had already been wrapped in back-cloth, which is the traditional burial cloth. When the prayer ceremony was over, we quickly ate and then drove approximately 3 hours (due to traffic) to Wakiso district where his family home is located. We arrived and they were still digging the grave and had not yet retrieved the sand for the cement to be put down. While in the hospital, he was not given clothes. Therefore, he was wrapped in the burial cloth naked. As soon as we arrived, his family and others helped unwrap the burial cloth in order to put clothes on him. Those who could handle it watched this occur. I viewed the dressing from the ground (his casket was still on the truck). His body was very stiff (rigomordous - no idea how to spell the word - it is not even coming up in Microsoft Word!...a little help please) and therefore those putting his clothes on had to work together to lift up his arms and legs to put on his clothes. After being dressed, his body was rewrapped in the burial cloth and the top of the casket was put back on. Since we did not want to get stuck in terrible traffic or the dark, so we decided to leave after the sand was retrieved and then taken off the truck. As this was happening the kids were singing prayers around the casket which had been placed on the group, near the burial site. We left around 6:30pm and arrived back at Kiwanga around 9pm (yes – we hit both traffic and the dark). The day was draining physically and emotionally for everyone. Most of us went to sleep very soon after arriving home.
Back in Rakai. Good: a set routine and things to do. Bad: previously mentioned (I do not want to start being repetitive). There are two new permaculture volunteers here from Australia, K and C. They are a beautiful couple in so many ways and we are lucky to have them. There is also a new volunteer from Holland at Sabina, E (very similar to my own name…you can probably guess), who will be staying until the beginning of April. She will be helping the kids with their school work, as well as starting a pen-pal program (along with my help) with S’s (obvious) 4th grade students and the P5 students here. Therefore, S’s students should write two letters now, one to me, and one to their new pen-pal friend. My favorite comment from a letter which one of S’s students wrote was that if I am bitten by a mosquito, he is sorry and hopes I get better soon. S – well done for teaching your students about malaria and awesome that at least one of the kids picked up the concept…if this kid doesn’t receive an A, then no one should!
