Slow down & Smell the Roses

What a week! Physically, mentally, and emotionally, I am exhausted! All the travelling and running around caught up to me this week. I should start with last Saturday, the wedding. Apparently love is in the air in Uganda…or perhaps just weddings. But whatever the case, it was more than I could handle. The wedding I attended last Saturday was too extravagant for my taste (and not to mention extremely long).  I have come to find that I truly am a simple person, especially compared to the weddings over here. There isn’t much of a difference in the wedding industry with the fancy cakes and big dresses, but usually there are two parts to the wedding: the introduction (where the bride introduces the man she is going to marry to her clan and to her father for approval) and the “western” wedding (in a church with the white dress). I’ll explain more on the wedding in another post, this post has a lot more to do with the differences in lifestyles.

If Saturday didn’t do me in, then Sunday and Monday certainly did! The Uganda Rotary Clubs hosted the Rotary run on Saturday which was quite successful in raising 100 milling Ugandan Shillings! All going to the cancer ward at a hospital. I was too tired to run (since I was at a wedding all day the day before) so I walked with my co-host Rotarian Florence. It was a good way to see the city and take in some fresh air without the exhaust from Boda Bodas and cars. But shortly after we completed the run, she and I went home and I slept. Apparently it wasn’t good sleep because I woke up the next morning even more tired, with a long day ahead of me. I wasn’t expecting to stay on Makerere’s campus all day, but that’s what happened. It was a good thing and bad thing to be on campus that long. It seems that everywhere I go, something is contributing to my research. I was able to observe gender relations between the college age students on campus and in that one day, I learned a lot. 

By that night, when attending my host Rotary Club’s meeting, I began to feel really weird. Cold sweats, headache, aching muscles but brushed it off as dehydration. Even though the day was long, the evening ended very well with fellowship with my host Rotarians and receiving some beautiful Rose Tubers.  They smell amazing! Few people know this but, I adore flowers. Back home, I started to grow flowers and tend to them every day like a spiritual ritual. My host club figured this out from my bio that I sent them and connected me with a Rotarian that has a flower farm. As great as the Rose Tubers were to my morale, they didn’t help me sleep that night. Tuesday evening, I met with my new roommate and had some hot chocolate with her. And I should have known then that something was wrong, because I almost fell asleep while talking to her.  But I pressed forward and attended the Bukoto Rotary Club fellowship where I started to feel extremely sick. I told one of the Rotarians from my host club (that drove me to the fellowship) and he took me to the local clinic. We just wanted to make sure that I didn’t contract Malaria, we all suspected I didn’t but just wanted to confirm. As it turns out, I was suffering from fatigue. I’ve had this before, but I feel as though I actually learned a lesson with this one…there’s no need to do everything all at once, during the same week, or even the same month. I need to slow down and smell the Rose Tubers, take in what’s around me and not stress out. Things will get done in due time.

I have many friends and colleages back home that run around stressed out as much as I do, but do they actually pay attention to what’s going on around them? I know I didn’t every time I was running around. As I’ve come to realize over these past few weeks, it’s extremely unhealthy. Ugandans call cancer and diabetes “western” diseases because it’s very rare for someone to develop these diseases with the typical Ugandan way of life. It’s usually the Ugandans that adopt the “western” lifestyle that get those types of diseases. They think that westerns put themselves through unnecessary stress, and I suppose this week I’ve proved them right! So now that I’m recuperating from my exhaustion of the past couple of weeks, I’ve adopted the mentality of slowing down and smelling the roses. I'm sure I'll be able to take in more of the culture that way too.

 

The Animal Kingdom in My Room

I don’t actually have the entire animal kingdom in my room but I certainly feel like I do. Every morning I wake up to different sounds and every day I see something different! Sunday morning started out pretty interesting! Waking up to no electricity (I’m getting used to that), and headed off to church at 7 AM. The church service was much like how I experienced church in the states. There was nothing too special about it except that I was in Uganda. It was a cold and wet morning since it had rained all night, but enjoyable nonetheless. When we arrived back home, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a roommate! A little green lizard had been rummaging through my belongings and apparently was trying to find a way out of the room. Florence and I got him out of the room, but as I was doing some research for my paper, I noticed him in the middle of the floor staring at me. I would have taken a picture of my new roommate, but he’s camera shy. He’s also very noisy! Anywhere he goes, he’s running into something. I haven’t named him since he comes in and out of my room so I view him more of a housemate than a roommate but he’s harmless. There are many bugs and animals running around that I’ve become pretty immune to them. The only roommates I would object to are snakes, mosquito's, rats and mice – none of which I have seen lately even though I know they’re around somewhere.

She's about to make some rice (arabic style)

Saturday, I was able to help (mainly watch) cook for a big dinner that Florence was hosting. It is quite interesting to see how everything is made by hand and from their farm. I really wanted to make the Chapati but I watched instead. I didn’t need anyone getting sick over something that I cooked incorrectly. But it definitely takes a village to put on a big feast!  One thing I have really enjoyed is the conservation of energy here! In the states, we don’t usually have switches to turn off and on the sockets or use very little water to wash the dishes or wash our hands. Here, because resources may be plentiful but you don’t know when the next time is that you’ll have power or hot water, everyone is very conservative!

I named the one looking at me Babe

I also had a great revelation! I’ve mainly been eating vegetables! I am turning into a vegetarian by coincidence rather than on purpose. There are a few reasons for that: first, most of the meals I have with Florence’s family are vegetable based and very good! Second, I usually don’t eat meat back home and that habit has carried over to Uganda.  And lastly, since waking up to baby chicks chirping, a cow mooing, pigs squealing, and goats baahing, I’ve grown to really see them as living creatures rather than food. Yesterday, Florence’s niece took me to see the pigs and I was shocked! Not because of how they looked, no my friend, I’ve seen a pig before. But rather because of how they looked at me. I know pigs are smart, but unlike other farm animals that I’ve been around, I felt as though the pig was looking at me to try to understand me rather than to see if I had food in my hands. I suppose I can relate this feeling to dogs.  How my two dogs look at me is how I saw the pigs (and piglets) looking at me. That shocked me more than anything so far.

 

During the week, I was able to go to Eastern Uganda and go hiking while Florence monitored a training. I wasn't just amazed at the beautiful waterfalls and vegetation, but I was also amazed to find that in that particular area, there were some cultural practices that are now illegal that directly harmed women. Its as though everywhere I go in Uganda, it contributes to my research either through the law or through the cultural practices that harm women. I don't want to go into detail about the cultural practices in that particular area, but if you are interested in learning more, just email me and I will be glad to share with you in more detail the things I learned while near Mbale and hiking near Mt. Elgon.

 

But now! I'm safely back in Kampala and working on my research. I have an opportunity to present my proposal to the faculty and staff of the Gender and Women Studies department next week and get some feedback.  Overall, this past week has been good and very eye-opening. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year! I just hope I don't have anymore roommates when I move into my new flat. :)

 

Welcome to Uganda!!!

I have arrived safely in Uganda on Monday morning. I was greeted by my host counselor Ronald at Entebbe. It wasn't hard to spot him with his Paul Harris Fellow pin and Peace Through Service pin on his suit jacket lapel. My dad had travelled with me to see what all the hype over Uganda was all about, so the three of us travelled to my host home until I find a flat of my own. Florence, another Rotarian, was kind enough to open her home to me and my dad. We greatly appreciated it since we had a long layover in London.  We were able to see the marathon and even saw Uganda win it's first gold medal in years (talk about making history)! We had no idea as we were watching the event that it was history in the making or even that the man leading the group was Ugandan! He was running quite fast at the 40 kilometers mark. In fact, Ronald was the one to deliver the news that the Ugandan Marathoner had won gold. Such an exciting moment for the country.

After resting for a few hours, I was soon off to meet my host rotary club and the District Governor (DG) Geeta. She is called the Alpha and Omega because she is the first female DG for the 9200 district and will be the last DG for the district because starting next Rotary New Year (July 1, 2013) the district will be split into two. My host Rotary club didn't waste anytime with a service project. I was instantly taken to a water pump that had been installed and was to be officially open to the children at the school once the DG blessed it. What a way to kick off my scholarship year, Aye? The DG is such an encouraging woman and I can tell that she is a huge inspiration to many female rotarians in the district and rotaractors.

The next morning, my dad and I accompanied Florence to Kabale. Florence works for a nonprofit organization that helps young school girls go to school.  She works directly with the girls but more so with the teachers and volunteers that try to solve issues of girls education.  Right up my alley! so I decided to join her for her travels for work every now and to assist my research on gender equality and culture.  This is also a great opportunity to see the country side and the entire country.

In one of the towns, I was able to sit in on the trainings and listen to some of the issues presented to the females.  These issues are so interesting yet sad!  The most basic physical barriers or cultural barriers (which aren't simple most of the time) can cause a female student to not attend school.  From listening to Florence and the teachers/volunteers, I have been thinking that this would make a good service project.  But I'm going to think about it more and see how feasible it is with one the local rotary clubs.

The gender issues are so evident in Uganda.  I had almost forgotten the major differences that the genders have in the rural areas.  Traveling outside of Kampala has been a great experience and I look forward to travelling to the rest of East Africa in the district as well. My dad had the opportunity to see the many people of Uganda - from the city to the rural areas. He left on Friday morning and says he will be back. I'm glad he enjoyed himself and seeing the Pearl of Africa has inspired him to do some great humanitarian work. I hope that my experience in East Africa opens many people diversity of the world and inspire them to help those in need.

This first week has been so eventful, I can only imagine what the next 10 months will be like.