Long Time Gone

There are two things that contribute strongly towards preventing me from writing in my blog:

1. My life really isn't all the exciting. How many of you feel compelled to share the daily monotony of your lives with the rest of the world? The daily commute, frustrations at home, what you ate for dinner...

2. My dear readers, you never seem to respond to my blog posts. It is hard to think of writing blog entries when it hardly seems to matter what you write. Perhaps I should write something sensationally controversial. Alas, that is not my style.

So I have come to the conclusion that I just ought to start writing. For the pure and simple joy of writing. Not for you (although I will always appreciate your comments), but for me, as a daily, weekly, or monthly journal of sorts. Please feel free to join me in my pursuit!

In Lusaka, Life Goes On

At 1 am on Monday, May 2 in Islamabad Pakistan, it was 10pm in Lusaka Zambia. I was dozing in front of the television. 40 minutes later, I was fast asleep in bed, snuggled under a comforter and surrounded by a mosquito net. It is amazing to think that during such a quiet, peaceful time, a gunfight began and ended, taking with it the life of Osama Bin Ladin.

When I turned on the computer on Monday morning, at first I thought it was a prank. Confirmation of the same news from BBC and the New York Times convinced me to call a friend - and quietly, I felt a kind of fist-pumping satisfaction - the kind you feel when your team wins, when the good guy overcomes some evil. It is the only time in my life where I have felt the killing of another human being was the "right" thing to do, and that makes me feel a bit ashamed of myself.

Later, we turned on the tv, and alternated between BBC and Sky News for the rest of the afternoon. I don't understand the party scenes I saw coming from the US, and I was embarassed by the Sisqo - wannabbee and teenage blonde girl who somebody decided were worth interviewing.

By September 12, it was clear that most Americans wanted retribution for the events that unfolded a few hours earlier. They wanted justice for the victims, and our leaders told us that that would be achieved by hunting down and killing those responsible. In the terrorist deck of cards, the Ace of Spades was always bin Ladin. And after almost 10 years, he is gone. He will no longer haunt our nightmares. Perhaps we feel stronger today than we did two days ago because we now know that those who attack us will, in time, face our justice. A generation ago, we fought the USSR in proxy wars. Promising lives were cut short, and families torn apart, but we never felt the pain of a nuclear attack on our own soil, perhaps because every Soviet leader and citizen knew that such an attack would mean certain retribution. Perhaps that is the message that Al Qaeda received yesterday morning; you can run and you can hide, but you will be found.

On May 3, I woke up to a morning like any other. In Lusaka, there are no parties in the streets, there are no rallies or parades. Nobody is waving flags. There is no increased security presence on our streets, and I am unworried by the family wearing headscarves where I get my coffee. I am no more proud to be an American than I was two days ago. It seems like a much more dignified response than the one that is being broadcast accross the world.

A facebook poster wrote: "I mourn the loss of thousands a precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." She then quoted Martin Luther King; "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Nearly 10 years ago, our nation rallied and pulled together in common grief, and we translated that greif into a thirst for vengance. The cruel fact of murder is that the lives that have been lost, that have been changed will never be restored. But perhaps now we can move on. Now that we are no longer thirsty we can open our minds and our ears and find room in our hearts to love our enemy. "Love is the only force capable of turning our enemy into a friend" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Bliss

I love to watch the red dragonflies skim across the clear blue water of the swimming pool, their four, lacy wings beating in tandem. I wonder what urge or necessity brings them to this aquatic pilgrimage. One of the things I think I will miss the most when I move out of this apartment will be the swimming pool. It has become a weekend routine for me to move outside, once the threat of a morning shower has passed, spread out the beach towel that Tim & Kiki gave me for Christmas, (a surprising helpful gift in a landlocked country) and lie in the sun until it has cooked me just enough to justify diving into the pool. I find myself feeling much like a marshmallow in the hands of a mature child - I slowly toast each side and then rotate, hoping not to accidentally catch on fire. I realize this is the reason that 40 year old expatriate women have the wrinkles of a 60 year old, but for now, it is bliss. 3 dips in the pool later, and I have finished reading my national geographic; its stories of 2.5 mile long caves and warnings about population growth. I pick up my pillow and towel and make my way across the patio to our apartment, skipping across the bricks that feel like hot coals in the sun. I throw on pants and a t shirt, and make my own weekend pilgrimage to outdoors mall, for groceries to feed me for the next week, and to ogle at the hundreds of souvenir items that are sold in the parking lot here every Sunday. It is a race against the growing afternoon rain clouds, but the walk is only 20 minutes, and I make in before their ominous darkness and occasional rumbles of thunder catch up with me. I am happy to sit and drink a cappuccino under the shade and protection of a large umbrella at an outdoor cafe before finishing my allotted tasks.

Cha Cha Cha Changes....

One of the amazing things about development is how fast things can change. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it isn't development, just life, and I just don't recognize it sometimes. From my experience leaving home, there are always small differences when I come home again - maybe a new store window in West Newton Square, or a billboard proclaiming "Cowboy Up" (that slogan somehow never made it to Richmond, Indiana), but from my experience here in Africa, the changes are big, and they can happen seemingly overnight.

A few weeks ago, the cellphone network provider 'Zain' was bought out by 'Airtel.' The buyout actually happened months ago, but one morning in December, absolutely everything changed from the purple zain logo, to the red airtel logo. From the vests worn by street vendors, to the billboards, paintings on stone walls, even the watertower in Chelstone all read Airtel. Considering how long it takes to finish just about anything - roads, construction, etc, it was absolutely amazing to wake up one morning to this.

Another example - Over the past year or so, Lusaka has been in the progress of building a brand new mall - the Manda Hill Mall. For the entirety of my time in Lusaka, shopping there has been like walking through a construction site - corridors roughly 3 ft wide and 8ft tall, lined with dry wall, and occasionally opening into a tired looking shop, buffered on either end by the Game department store and Shoprite grocery store. Each time you went, the maze to get from one end to the other was slightly different - an entrance or exit had been sealed, the route had changed, and in the unlucky case you are driving, by the time you left the way out could be different than the way you came in. And then, one day, I arrived to find something completely different - a real mall! Wide, tall tiled corridors opening into fancy shops with the kind of clothes makeup and hair products that had been previously unavailable. There are sports stores, jewelry stores, electronics stores and clothing stores. There is an outdoor foodcourt and fancy fitting rooms. The parking lot is no longer a pile of construction rubble, but a (mostly) orderly area with signs and ground paintings directing you where to go. And there is an escalator! My 5 year old neighbor on entering exclaimed "this is the best day of my life!"

And so now I come to Tanzania. I arrived here Monday night on holiday, and am excited to introduce my family to friends and places that have been like home to me in the past. In some ways it feels like ages since I have been here, but when I arrived and begain the familiar drive from the airport, it seemed like it could have been just yesterday. Walking through the streets, I still encounter people who remember me. When I dropped by backpackers hostel last night, I was asked why I have been out in Monduli for so long. I explained I am actually living in Zambia now. But things are different too... There are a myriad of new shiny mulitstory hotels that have opened their doors since I was here. Dropping by Imma's house, I couldn't believe it was the same place I had left - A complete makeover including a porch with a railing, and computers and large screen tvs with kids playing motorcycle racing and bad guy shooting games. And here is the real kicker - In the frozen section of shoprite, there are veggie burgers. Imagine. There is a fake meat section to the grocery store here - in a town where one of the predominant tribes historically ONLY eats meat. In a town where refusal of meat in your dinner prompts the question "what's wrong with you." So Burger King, McDonalds, wisen up. If you can get a veggie burger or fake chicken strips along with your milkshake in Arusha, you are seriously behind the times in the US.

Enumeration

As I was sitting on my new couch on the porch, writing my most recent blogpost, I was enumerated - that is, I was counted! Before I left the US in May, I filled out the 4 page long census document, listing very basic information (I think it was just name and age) of myself and my roommates. In Zambia, there are enumerators (yes, they wear orange traffic vests that say "Enumerator" on the front, and "2010 census" on the back). Over the past month or so, they have been going door to door at every home in Zambia, counting the occupants. They also have a four page long document which they fill out, but rather than the fill in the blank simple questionaire that I received in the states, this is a combination of fill in the blanks and bubble charts that is reminiscent of 7th grade final exams and #2 pencils.

In additon to being asked my name, age, nationality, marital status, number of kids, location as of October last year and length of continuous stay in Lusaka, I was asked questions such as the presence of a TV, radio, landline, mobile phone, internet or latrine inside the house, material used in the building, and how we dispose of refuse (municipal collection).

Unfortunately, the original person who was responsible for doing our enumeration cheated - she came by and put a sticker on the door saying that we had been counted, when she had never taken the time to actually interview us. She was found out however, and so my friendly counter took off the old sticker, and replaced it with a new one attesting to the fact we are now, officially, counted in the Zambian 2010 census. As Dennis said, "welcome to Zambia." As my guard Alex said, "we are now officially Zambian."

Giving Thanks

A quick look at the left side of my blog informs me I haven't written a post since August. Perhaps the fact that my mom has long since stopped bugging me to update my blog should have been a good indication that I was long overdue. Busy weekend, patchy internet connections and perhaps a bit of laziness have come between me and my blog, but with the Thanksgiving turkey finally finished, I have decided I shouldn't wait until January to start on my New Year's resolution - doing better at staying in touch.

It is a lazy Sunday morning in Lusaka; hot and sunny. A stop by the nearest shopping mall for an iced latte this morning found the Sunday curio market already in full swing. I have already spent far too much money this weekend, so I didn't stay. Perhaps I'll swing by in the afternoon and try to pick up some few last christmas presents.

It is amazing to realize that December is just a few short days away. I find it confusing to think that in another part of the world it is cold - even snowy. In another place, I would probably be playing Christmas music right now, the rule was always no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. Still, it seems mighty strange to play chrismas music while I sit on my front porch sweating at 10 in the morning, and I can hear the airconditioner humming outside the room of my still asleep roommate.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. I took the day off of work, as did two of my American friends, and we cooked quite a feast, all completely from scratch. Turkey, gravey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, wild rice and quiche all graced our table, as well as many bottles of wine, apple pie and bread pudding. In the evening, we sat around the living room - Zambians and the odd Canadian and Irishman outnumbering the Americans, but all still enjoying the friendship, laughter, and sleepy post meal haze that Thanksgiving brings. Unlike many other holidays, Thanksiving is an easy concept to explain - it is a day to give thanks for the many blessings in your life, and of course having food on our table and friends to share it with are two of the fundemental necessities in life. Many cultures have traditions that celebrate the harvest, including some of the tribes in Zambia. Of course this time of year - the beginning of the rainy season - is not the harvest season, it is the time to till the soil and begin planting, but it still seems a good time to take stock of all the things I am thankful for. I am extremely grateful for the good friends I have both here and all over the world, and was happy to share a feast to honor them. It was also a chance to think of people and traditions I am missing out on - I thought of my brother, cousins, aunt and uncles sitting around a table (likely with many dogs present as well) in Cazenovia, I thought of my dad in Amherst with his mom and brother, and what it must be to celebrate their first Thanksgiving without my Grandfather, and I thought of my mom and grandmother in boston. I thought of Lizzy and her extended family - their annual pie making party, family soccer game and 2 story dessert party. After everyone had left - sleepy and full by 9pm, I turned on the TV. Because I am currently housesitting for someone with the full cable package, I was able to watch ESPN, and managed to turn on the TV in time to see the last 2 minutes of the Patriots game. Afterwards, I talked to my mom and grandma as they made their way to their 4pm dinner reservations.

A Quick Update

I keep writing half a blog post, then failing to complete. Hopefully that won't happent to this one! Instead of trying to write anything deep, meaningful or profound, just some thoughts on Lusaka, and Zambia.

Lusaka is not the prettiest of cities. It is sleepy, flat and dusty (at least during the dry season). But people are friendly, and I am happy to be here and have made it home.

But there are parts of Zambia that are absolutely amazing! Almost a month ago now, Kate, Elena, Mardieh and I headed down to Livingstone, where we met up with former college roommate and fellow MPH-er (only at UMich), Kari, to see Victoria Falls. I can't think of anything I have ever seen that compares, and nothing anyone told me came close to preparing me for the wonder of seeing this natural wonder in person.

A few weekends later, I had the opportunity to go north of the city for a hiking/camping trip with some friend I have met since being here. While Victoria Falls was wonderful for the sheer amazingness (is that a word), this trip was wonderful for a whole host of reasons - the feeling of getting out of the city and being in the middle of nowhere, lying out under the enormous southern hemisphere night sky, hiking a mountain that has no map, and sharing a weekend with the kind of friends who's company you can enjoy even when you are tired and can't find the way down a steep mountain, and who's presence literally keeps you warm in a tent at night!

It would be nice if life in Lusaka didn't go beyond the enjoyment of weekend trips and Wednesday night game nights, but life is even better now that work has become busy. When I first arrived in Zambia, I knew that I'd be sharing the job description I applied to with my roommate and co-intern, and I knew I would be adding more technical work on top of that. The first month or so of work started out slowly, with a joint project that - while I'm sure is helpful to our organization - is, erm, not all that much fun. I am really excited about the project that I have recently started however, and it promises to make me very busy over the coming months.

The NGO wanted someone to look at the issue of resource allocation - particularly looking at how the allocation of monitoring and evaluation trips is done between our central and provincial staff, and if there is a way to improve that process. In taking on this task, it has been clear that the challenge is much bigger, with vast inconsistancies in quality and follow up of reports, and over the next few months I will be working - essentially giving technical support - with our provincial offices and compiling a manual of best practices in M&E. While this means I won't have quite as much time as I had hoped for weekend excursions, I am excited for the opportunity to visit various provinces of Zambia. Ultimately, the work of our organization is to improve the logistics systems that provide commodities (ie, life saving drugs) to people where and when they need them. By improving the process of M&E in the provinces, I will be directly impacting lives - making sure that districts and facilities that are not providing the commodities they should be are recieving the training and follow up they need so that stock outs don't occur. It's kind of cool when you think about it.

Out of Lusaka

Dear Friends, I'm sorry for the long period between posts - there have been a few nights this past week where I thought the evening would be perfectly spent writing a blog post, but unfortuntely we have had a bit of a problem connecting to the internet at home, and work has blocked blogspot (but strangely not facebook).

***

Recently, I have been beginning to think that there is nothing to Zambia beyond the cement walls, dusty roads and occassional fields full of brown tall grass in Lusaka. It is not an all together unpleasant place to live, but it has certainly not matched the natural beauty of my homes in Monduli and Nyabyeya. Lucky for me (or at least my impression of Zambia), this past few days have given me the chance to explore the country a bit.

Thursday morning started of normally enough, working on a few projects and trying to figure out how to stretch them or who to talk with to come up with enough work for our full 9 and a half our workday. Around 5 of 11 our boss came to our desks for a quick meeting, then said he was headed out for the rest of the afternoon to Kabwe. In a moment of hope, I asked "could we come too?" Yep. We're leaving in 5 minutes. No problem! And so, we packed our bags, waited another half our until our driver could be located, and started heading north.

Kabwe is about an hour and a half north of Lusaka. It is the provincial capital of the Central Province (one of the 9 in Zambia). We were headed up there to check on the work being done on a large house that will soon be the 8th of our provincial offices. Work is behind schedule, and our job was to impress the contracters with how soon we wanted it done, and see if we couldn't get the to pick up the pace.

Leaving Lusaka, I was struck by how much of the city I have yet to see. With my daily walks to work and morning runs from home, and weekly excursions to friends houses, grocery stores, and evenings out, there are certain parts of the city that I have become accustomed too. Most of them are in sections of the city that are home to the ex-pats or wealthy Zambians, and thus are thus walled off by cement fences reaching 10 feet high with shards of glass or electric wire at the top. As you walk or run down a street, you find it takes on a bit of a tunnel appearance, a paved (or not) street, with brown sand on the side serving as a sidewalk, and brown grass that eventually turns into a brownish-gry cement wall. Some of the walls are painted to look like billboards, with advertisements for everything from cell phones, computer equiptment, or vacuums.

On our way out of the city to Kabwe, the cement tunnels turned to rivers of color as we left the expat sections of town and arrived on streets that are populated by the 1.5 million Zambians who live in Lusaka. We stayed on the main road, which appeared to be the western end of a city in and of itself. Lining the street were cement and sometimes mud houses, with small yards fenced in with stick and shrubs. In their small yards were men and women; sitting in groups, cooking, or washing clothes. There were children playing, dogs and chickens pecking about for scraps of food, and lines of hanging clothes. Every few houses there was a dirt road - sometimes wide, sometimes narrow, leading into what seemed like an endless city. And unlike the streets that I frequently travel, where there is a steady, but narrow stream of people, these streets were full of people walking - in every direction and every color.

My time is up, but more natural beauty (and pictures) to come. Thanks for reading.

Friends

At this point, I think I can say that I have travelled quite a bit - sometimes with friends, but often independantly. Both have their pro's and con's - travelling independantly means that you see and do what you want; you have to immerse yourself in culture and make new friends. Still, it can be exhausting and lonely. Travelling with friends can be great - you get to share a common experience with people you already know and love, but it can also be tiring and lead to frustration and tension, as the burden of spending 24 hours with someone takes its toll.

I think I have the best of both worlds here in Zambia. In my apartment I have my own space, my own life. I am here in Lusaka for long enough to join activities and make new friends. And yet, I am lucky enough to get to share that with friends from home - people I already know and who's company makes me smile, laugh, relax and feel at home.


thanks to Elena for the photo credit on this one!


Over the course of the past week, my friends Elena in Kate arrived from various other parts of Africa where they have been working/doing research since the end of spring semester. It has been wonderful to continue to explore Lusaka with both of them. I am sad they will only be here with me for the next 5 weeks or so, but excited to have that time! Within the next few days, 5 more BU students will be arriving to begin work for BU's Center for International Health and Development Zambia. Although they will not all be working in Lusaka, I am excited for the chance to visit friends from time to time. Safe travels, and see you soon!

Routines

Last Sunday, I had the perfect blog post planned out in my mind. All I needed was the photo to complement it, and then, it would be ready to see the light of the internet blogosphere. But fate intervened and since Sunday night our apartment has been without internet. Yesterday, after a long discussion with the landlord, the internet has returned, however the orignial blog post concept no longer feels appropriate. This morning as I sat absently in front of my computer, nothing came to me.

And then, as I stood over the stove, pouring eggs over the vegetables I had prepared for breakfast, I realized how quickly all of this has become. I find it rather remarkable how quickly something completely new and different can become familiar and comfortable. I now walk around my neighborhood of Lusaka knowing the streets, and if I get lost on a run I know which direction I should point myself in order to find home. I can recognize the sound of the landlords car revving at the gate, or the vuvezelas signaling soccer matches at the nearby fields. Portico's has quickly become a favorite location for meeting friends to watch world cup games, and I can always tell you who is playing and at what time.

Some things I am still discovering and learning, like which direction to walk in to find the nearest purple vested hawker selling airtime for my phone, or where I can find a small vegatable stand nearby my apartment. I am still busy finding activities and making new friends. Work, too, is a new adventure, and my days are busy with meetings and reading documentation to try to understand the scope of work, structure and goals of the organization. These, too, I'm sure will soon be familiar.

New Beginnings

48 hours of travel is more than enough for anybody. It makes me really glad that I am settled for the next six months - even if I am not fully unpacked yet. The travel was mostly uneventful; I met my wonderful new roommate (for the next 6 months at least) at Heathrow; even though we didn't manage to make contact until the end of the layover. I especially appreciated the view we had of northern Tanzania during the last leg of our journey, including a great view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru peaking through the early morning clouds. In some ways, the travel was even longer than the two full days of airplane flights and layovers, with my baggage not arriving until this afternoon - though it did arrive fully intact. The wonderful admin assitants at work happily made the trip to the airport to pick it up for me, then deliver us safely back at our apartment together at the end of the work day today.

Travel aside, my first 24 hours in Zambia has been wonderful. On our arrival in Lusaka, we were taken to the most beautiful and luxurious apartment, where we met a few more staff from work. One wonderful colleague had taken charge of outfitting our apartment with all the necessities, so we walked in and found a living room with plush couches and chairs, and a large TV, a dining room table that very comfortably seats 8, a kitchen with oven, stove, a bright teal refridgerator, and all kinds of appliances - including a sandwich press (!), and two bedrooms, each with a queen sized bed and matching sets of leopard print sheets, pillows and comforters! Each room of the house has its own climate control with an air conditioner/heater, and today we recieved three very exciting additions - a microwave, cable TV, and INTERNET! Remember how I told you that living in Lusaka I would likely have access to more luxuries than in Richmond Indiana? Well it turns out I am living more luxuriously than any other apartment I have ever lived in (or will likely live in anytime soon).

In case our apartment doesn't sound nice enough already, it also has a pool! The sparkling blue water is extremely tempting, especially during the late afternoon when it is actually warm enough to consider taking clothes off, but the pool is unheated, and I think it might have to wait for a few months, an unseasonably warm day, or a day of temporary insanity to be used. Still, I hear that by October it is quite warm out, and I am looking forward to jumping right in!

It is easy to just talk about our living arangements since they are so nice, but we did get a chance to go into work for the first time this afternoon. Most of this week will likely be orientation, especially since our immediate supervisor will be in the Livingstone office until the end of next week. The office is a 15-20 minute walk from our apt, and today we chose our cubicals and met many of the 140 staff members, as well as recieving a breif orientation to the different projects currently being undertaken. Hopefully within the next few days we will get an opportunity to learn more about what we will be doing for the next 6 months. The general idea is that there is a job description with three tasks that must be accomplished, which between the two of us we will be responsible for doing, and then I will get a chance to do more technical work in quantification, while M. will be doing more technical work in monitoring & evaluation. The great part is, that since we will be living together and working next to eachother, we will also have the opportunity to learn about what eachother are doing! I am eager to get to work, and excited to get a chance to learn more about the current projects!

In Transit

I am currently parked on a stool along a busy thoroughfare of New York's JFK airport. The recent realization that my flight to London has been delayed by a little over an hour was mildly ameliorated by the fact that I found it out using a free wi-fi connection provided by a super-overpriced health food stall. And so, my now 6 hour layover can be spent writing a blog post for you, my dear reader.

It is hard to believe that I am actually on my way to Zambia. As I packed my daily planner today, I found the calendar I drew for myself back at the end of March. At the time, the three months until this departure date seemed an endlessly long time to wait. But over the course of the past few months, I crossed off squares with black "x' marks, one day at a time until I reached the first section highlighted in yellow - my trip to Uganda - with such a big trip and so many things to do, even then the second highlighted area seemed impossibly far off. And yet, it has snuck up on me. Despite my disbelief its actuality, June 20th arrived with the anxiety, excitement and tears that heralded the realization that I really and truely am leaving.

And despite the fact that I am going to miss home like crazy while I am gone, I am so excited for this new chapter and adventure. It is humbling to realize that there are many things that you don't know yet that you don't know, and really scary to decide you want to find out what some of them are. I have tried my best to prepare myself for that by packing the comforts that will get me through the hard and challenging moments; Ghiradelli chocolate chips, warm fuzzy slippers, and board games (Cranium party in Lusaka!). While I hope that these will lessen the moments of frustration, I know that they will never completely blunt the occassional (I hope) feeling of "what on earth am I doing here?" Of course, these are also the most important of moments, because when you recover, you know just a little more about who you are, why you are doing what you are doing, and what you still have to figure out. That is the adventure I am really excited for. The adventure of becoming me.

Home Again (Briefly)

It is 3am in Boston, and I have been awake for well over an hour. Travelling for 24 hours is never fun, but there is always something peaceful about the early morning hours that suddenly belong to you when you are seriously jetlagged. The next week and a half will be busy recovering, visiting, and planning to leave again. It seems somehow cruel to have such a short period of time at home, but I am happy to have it.

Back to Kampala

Yesterday we said our fond farewell to Nyabyeya. It has been a really wonderful three weeks, and a very successful conference. It is really strange to feel this all wrapping up after months of planning, including many days of anxiety, excitement and frustration. In the end, we had close to 80 participants earn certificates, and the feedback we have received is extremely positive regarding the impact the information and skills our participants have gained will have on their lives and communities.

In preparing my closing speech, I realized that the participants themselves are much like the seeds and plants that we have been teaching about for the past three weeks. Each one of them came with different roots; we had young and old participants, men and women, participants who are students or full time mothers and participants who are already large scale farmers or health care workers. Each one of them has a different goal, a different destination; like the seeds the agriculture class sowed which will grow to be maize, tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage and nakati (a green leafy vegetable), each one of our participants will take this training and implement it in a different way - teachers like Freda and Alex will go back to their schools and work with their students, government administrators like Robert will take the knowledge back to their work in planning and community development, farmers like Zed and Odongo will implement techniques to improve the output and sustainability of their crops, and young women and mothers like Josephine, Juliet and Gladys will implement changes in their homes that lead to healthier children.

The real change and effort comes on the part of each individual participant, and as conference organizers and facilitators, our role was little more than nurturing and fertilizing each seed as it begins to grow. We hope that as our participants continue to germinate their plans, CMU will be able to continue to support them through additional trainings, monitoring, and assistance in implementation. I look forward to following the progress of CMU and each one of our participants - I know that not every one will grow strong and tall, but I believe that some will really flourish, and have even already begun to plant their own seeds of change.

Training Of Trainers

I received an email today from a friend of mine chiding me on my lack of blog posts. Its not that I don't want to update all of you on what I have been up to - indeed I think of you often and want to reach out and let you know that here on the other side of the world (or depending on where you are reading from, maybe only a few hundred miles away), I am happy, or frustrated, enjoying my work or missing my friends. In Nyabyeya however, internet is a luxury we do not have. In fact, electricity to run a computer or spare time to use the internet has been an unthinkable luxury until today!

Being busy has its pro's and con's. Today is only the second day we have had off since the day after we arrived in Uganda (!), and it felt great to sleep in, sit on the porch and journal, shower and do laundry before being picked up at 11 by our CMU driver to head into Masindi for internet, Mzungu food, and a quick shopping. The con of working so much is quite simply exhaustion. We are all tired and yet we never seem to get a break. Now that we have moved into the phase of our project in which the trainers train their counterparts, we are enjoying having our evenings free of lesson planning and team meetings, and instead available for tossing a frisbee, relaxing on the couch, or drinking a beer with friends.


The pro of working so hard is that the participants seem to be really enjoying the training - and getting a lot out of it. I have broken up my health group into 4 small groups; 1)Nutrition, 2)Locally Important Diseases, 3)Hygiene, and 4)Family Planning. Each group is responsible for putting together a session on their topic which they will be presenting to the Agriculture group on Monday and Tuesday of next week. It has been a struggle to get groups to think outside of the box and come up with ways of teaching which go beyond lecture or notes on the blackboard, but with the help of a few really creative and wonderful individuals, we have at least one drama which will be performed!


And so on Monday we will move into phase 3 of the training in which the participants teach one another. It is exciting and also a little sad to see the project nearing its close. I am really hopeful that the information that the participants have gained will help them as they continue to be leaders in their communities, and I believe that the knowledge they are bringing from the training will make a long term impact on the whole sub-county.

Last day before Tomorrow

Today was our last full day in Kampala. Erika is set to arrive tonight at 9:40pm, and she will have less than 12 hours in the country before we set off for Nyabyeya tomorrow morning. The past few days have been busy and fruitful. Yesterday we spend the entire afternoon meeting with facilitator of the agriculture course. I feel that we made progress, but at the same time it was challenging to work with the pedagogy here which highlights lecture, while the focus of a TOT is on practice and participation.

Today, we spent a hot and exhausting day walking through the crowded streets of downtown Kampala, searching for bargains on the many items needed for our project. We will get many of the heavier items in Masindi tomorrow (such as hoes for the agriculture workshop), however today saw bargaining for plates (75 of them!), silverware, washbasins, stationary, photocopies, flip charts, and seeds.

I have heard that the city of Kampala is one of the worst in the world for pedestrians, and it certainly seems that you take your life into your hands every time you try to cross a street. The sidewalks are full of people - open shops stocked with rows and rows of wares from floor to ceiling many times over, colorful people selling peanuts, gum, airtime, socks, (or many other things), young men lounging around on top of the wares they are unloading from lorries stacked high with cardboard boxes tied with twine, big plastic gunny sacks, and the occassional bunches of plantains. Of course there are the pedestrians too - lots and lots and lots of them - women wearing beautiful fabrics, men in suits and soccer jerseys, young women in sharp looking suits or fashionable tanktops (and always wearing high heels), and every other get-up you could possibly imagine. We shove and push and bump into eachother and we make our way down the street, pausing at corners until the coast is (mostly) clear and we can dash to the other side before the endless stream of taxis (public minibusses), boda bodas (motorcycles that carry one or two people on the back for a fee), lorries, busses, and private vehicles continues.

Hopefully, I will get a chance to upload pictures soon. Until then, I will likely be out of internet touch for a bit as we head upcountry and away from the city. The town of Masindi has internet options, but has been powerless for the past three weeks, and we will be working from Monday-Saturday anyway. Much love to all!

No worries

In Tanzania, there were many words to say no worries. The Lion King made Hakuna Matata famous, but there are many other derivations of the same idea. I don't know if there is a word here in Uganda that is used, but the concepot of flexibility around problems is the same. Erika's flight was delayed on Wednesday as she travelled from DC to Brussels, and she did not make her connection in Brussels. Unfortunately, they were unable to put her on the following morning flight through London, so she will now not arrive until Saturday night. I know how much she wants to be here, and I know she must be frustated having to wait at a hotel in Brussels for two nights when she realy wants to be here, getting things moving. She is a strong and independent woman though, and I know she will make the best of her time; exploring the city and enjoying some well earned rest and respite!

Here, we are missing Erika too. We are lucky that Jonah is here in Kampala, and sitting around the table last night and this morning we have been able to work out many details and realize misunderstandings. This afternoon we will be meeting with Ruth, the facilitator of the Sustainable Agriculture portion of our training. It is good to be able to move forward, but we all wish Erika were here to share her ideas and feedback.

Our new lodge is lovely; we have a great little cottage with two bedrooms (with two beds each), a kitchen, dining room, and sitting room, and the campus itself is filled with all kinds of flora and fauna. There are two hostel dogs, as well as a pig, a family of goats, and avocado trees which are home to a large number of vervet monkeys. Outside it is hot and sunny, and we are enjoying the relaxing time before the crazy buziness of the next three weeks begins!

"Nice and Cool"

This morning when we woke up, Sharon commented that it is so "nice and cool" in our room. I vehemently disagreed, "it's hot and muggy!" I pointed out that May in Boston will often get into the 70's or even 80's during the day, but the mornings are still cool sweatshirt weather. She mused thats why there are places like New England - for people like me who like it brisk in the morning. We then proceeded to look at the temperature - 26 degrees at 8 in the morning. After my convenient cell phone converter told us what temperature that is in farenheit - 79 degrees, she agreed perhaps it wasn't so cool afterall. However, to her credit, this morning was much, much cooler than the middle of the day yesterday waiting for public transit (called taxis) to get to Kampala.

We have been staying at a lovely lodge about halfway between Entebbe - where the airport is, and Kampala - the capital of Uganda. Yesterday, we learned that Jonah and his daughter would be driving into Kampala tonight to stay with us and shop for materials for the trainings before we all head up to Masindi together on Friday. With 5 of us staying instead of 3, we decided that today we will move to a less expensive hostel which is closer to the city. We stopped by Red Chilli yesterday, and it seems like a very different atmosphere - more of a backpacker's hostel with lots of young people moving around and hanging out. We will be headed over there later this morning.

view down the road from our Lodge in Lweza

Our trip is going well so far, and we have enjoyed meeting family friends of the Phelps', but we have also been plagued by airplane troubles and missed connections; all of my flights were delayed, including 3 hours on the tarmac in Rwanda because of a damaged cargo door, but luckily it only thing it affected was the amount of sleep I got. Sharon was unable to make her connecting flight in Brussels, and arrived Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday night, sans luggage (we are hoping it arrives on tonight's flight), and after checking on the flight status, it seems that a long delay caused by bad weather in DC and the volvanic ash cloud will cause Erika to miss her flight as well. We are hoping that means she will only be bumped to the flight that gets in tomorrow morning. Still, it means a long 2.5 days of traveling for her, followed by a 4 hour trip by public transit to Masindi.

Good Morning!

Hello from Entebbe, Uganda! I arrived late last night, after a mostly uneventful, but long flight. I arrived to a warm, rainy night, with the chirping of grasshoppers. As we drove along the shores of Lake Victoria, I was dissapointed it wasn't light out to see the water - although the reflection of lights on the water suggest it hasn't vanished.

My travelling partner unfortunately didn't make her connection in Brussels, but luckily was able to get on a flight that arrived this morning. She hasn't arrived at our lodge yet, so I am enjoying a relaxing morning waiting for her to get here. We will then meet up with a family friend and head into Kampala to do shopping and continue making arrangements for our three-week training.

Let the fun begin!

This will be my last post before I leave for Uganda. Thanks to the wonderful support of friends and family, we have reached our fundraising goal of $13,000. Many thanks to all of you! If you haven't had a chance to donate and still want to contribute, please visit the Compassionate Ministries of Uganda website; http://compassionateministriesuganda.org/WordPress/. Any additional funds raised at this point will be used towards supporting our trainers as they bring what they learn out into their communities over the coming year, or supporting members of a neighboring district who were trained last year in building solar powered stoves to bring that technology to Masindi.

I am really excited about the work we will be doing over the next 4 weeks, but that doesn't keep me from being a nervous wreck. The past couple days have been emotionally challenging for me, as the reality of leaving the country; my family and friends - for virtually the rest of the year - has started to become reality. At the same time, I am excited for a new country, a new scope of work, new friendships (and some old), and getting to share it all with YOU - my loyal reader.

Here is my itinerary for the next month:

May 10 (tomorrow) - 3:15 flight. Boston-NYC-Brussels-Kigali (Rwanda) - Entebbe
May 11 - arrive Entebbe, Uganda 9:40pm
May 12-14 - Kampala, Uganda - purchasing supplies and getting additional pages for my passport
May 14 - Travel to Nyabyeya, Masindi District (by bus)
May 17 - 22 - Training of Trainers; Week 1
May 24 - 29 - Training of Trainers; Week 2
May 31 - June 5 - Training of Trainers; Week 3
June 8 - Travel back to Kampala, 10:50pm flight. Entebbe - Brussels - NYC - Boston
June 9 - Arrive Boston, 3:49pm
June 11 - World Cup begins; South Africa v. Mexico - 10am (EST)
and... Jimmy gets married; 4pm

So here we go again. It should be a fun ride, and I hope to take many pictures and update as often as possible. If you are reading, please leave me comments so I know you've been here.

Song of the day: Take a Minute - K'Naan