My Name is Not Muzungu

Well, I've now been in Uganda for 10 days. A lot has happened and it seems more like ten months than 10 days since I've been home.

The first week we stayed in a hotel at the center of Kampala. That week was "orientation week." We learned a little Luganda, talked about the World Learning sexual harrassment policy, and had to promise not to drink the water.

Last Thursday we did the "drop-off." This meant that we had to wander around the streets of Kampala for 4 hours with a partner to research a subject and then find our way back to the hotel. I was partnered with Jen and we had to research religion and education in Uganda. We visited a local elementary (or primary) school, went to Makerere University, and went to a local church to talk to random people to research. We learned that it is almost unheard of not to go to church in Uganda. 85% of the population is Christian (about equally split between protestant and catholic) and 15% is Muslim. Most families pray before every meal and go to church every Sunday. Our culture classes also taught us that most Ugandans don't understand the concept of atheism.

As far as education went, we learned that almost all schools in Uganda are private. The government funds very, very few schools and they are in very bad conditions. Most Ugandan students graduate from secondary school around the age of 18. Children wear uniforms to classes and girls and boys must have shaved heads (so you'd fit right in Erin :).

On Saturday we went to Jinja (another city in Uganda). Along the way, we stopped at a Buganda cultural site that had a gorgeous waterfall. We learned some of the Buganda (a tribe in Uganda) traditions. For example, you never say that a king "died" you say that his "fire was put out." They also make beer from bananas which I thought was really cool.

At Jinja, we visited the source of the Nile. It was really pretty and very picturesque--lots of cool African trees and the water was gorgeous. We also saw monkeys there! They are as common as squirrels here, but for us Americans it is shocking to see a monkey just standing ten feet away from you.

One of the most fun things about last week was going out in the evenings. The group went to several fun bars and just relaxed and got to know everyone. There are 18 people in our group and it was fun to try to get to have conversations with everyone.

Sunday we started our homestays. My family is huge! There's the mom, grandma, sister Ginny, the house maid, and then my brothers Dennis, Kennedy, Arthur, Alex, Serembe, and Regan. They're all really fun to talk to--especially my brothers.

We don't have running water so I bathe using a bucket and a jug of water and you use an outhouse for the bathroom. This has been interesting but luckily years of camping in Colorado prepared me. They also don't have electricity a lot of the time so we have to do almost everything by candlelight after 7 pm. It might sound strange to hear that they don't have running water but they have a house maid. This is actually common in Uganda...I'm not exactly sure why.

The food is the same every single meal. They eat a bread called chipate which is DELICIOUS. The other staples are matoke (imagine mashed potatoes but instead made from bananas), rice, beans, posha (crushed corn meal in the shape of a hashbrown that mostly tastes like a ball of tightly compacted rice), ground nut sauce (purpley-brown looking sauce made from crushed nuts), and jinka (really salty kale). Luckily, I really like the food here, but some people are really getting sick of eating the same thing every meal.

Most families here don't eat dinner until 10 pm. This has been difficult because I have to be up at six to go to school and run, so it is hard to stay awake that long!

Classes have been really interesting. We start class at 9 am and end them at 3:30. However, it normally ends up being 4 or 4:30 instead of 3:30 because Africans do not really keep time.

I take three taxis to get to school in the morning and back home in the evening. Taxis here are 15 passenger vans that are more comprable to the bus system in the US. It's pretty crazy to navigate, but I'm getting more used to it.

Probably the most difficult thing here has been being a "mazungu" or the Swahili word for "white person." Everywhere I go, people point, stare, and yell "mazungu." I've never received so much attention and never want to receive this much attention again. There is no virtually no tourism industry in Uganda, so it is very, very, very rare to see a white person here. Thus, I'm a spectacle or a novelty. Children, businessmen, college students, shopkeepers, everyone stops what they are doing and yells "mazungu!" It is really, really exhausting to never be able to blend in and to always be stared at. I don't know how exactly to describe how exhausting it feels...but it just is.

I also am treated better by people since I'm white and that has been difficult to deal with. Shopkeepers will attend to me first, even though I'm behind other people in line. Let me note that I don't allow that to happen, I refuse to be served out of turn. The other day I was walking home and 5 little children literally bowed at my feet to greet me. It just makes me very, very uncomfortable and it feels so very wrong.

But, other than that, it has been really good so far. I miss everyone back home and love getting messages to let me know how everyone is doing. Hopefully I can post again soon!