Rural Uganda

Yay for the Internet!! As Gavin wrote, the conditions in Mukono have been a bit different from what I was expecting. Our electricity was broken for the first week. We still have shortages and only have electricity about 50% of the time. Right now I am writing from the Kampala guesthouse I stayed in last month. Allison, the other student I am working in Mukono with, and I are visiting for the day. We have only had the Internet in Mukono once since we have been there. We decided to come back here for the day to use the Internet, take a real shower, and do some shopping. We are doing fine without the power but it is nice to have a little break from that.

In Mukono, we are living at the FH office with a couple of other staff members. Allison and I have our own bedroom, which we also often share with a gecko we named Frank. The guard and his two sons, Stephen (age 8) and Moses (age 7), live here too. Allison and I are completely in love with those boys. We play with them most days when we get home from work. We let them play with our cameras, draw and color with them, and have showed them my Disney DVDs on Allison's laptop. They really liked watching Peter Pan. They couldn't understand a lot of it because English isn't their first language but they loved the idea of kids being able to fly.

The food here is surprisingly good. We have not had to eat much matooke so I am pleased. They also are surprisingly okay with me being a vegetarian. We usually have rice for every meal with either beans, peas, peanut sauce, or fish. We also usually have white potatoes and cabbage. Sometimes we have spinach or sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. The only bad thing about the food here is that we have milk tea about three times a day. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so hot outside and if the milk wasn't often chunky. We have tried explaining that Americans don't drink so much tea but they just can't believe that is possible, so they keep making it for us. They also can't believe Americans could possibly dislike Wheatabix, this cereal that tastes and looks exactly like cardboard that we are expected to consume each morning. Our supervisor was appalled that we don't like the stuff, because a couple from England who visited before liked it. Allison tried explaining that America and England are vastly different but she didn't seem to think that was possible either.

Since we often don't have power, Allison and I have gotten used to using a lantern at night. We also don't have running water so we are getting used to bucket bathing. I never feel quite as clean as I would like to, but I'm getting used to it. We have a Western-style toilet out back but it just drops into a hole in the ground. The toilet is usually covered with a couple dozen little black flies, and toilet paper is hit or miss, so we use it as infrequently as humanly possible.

The work I have been doing so far is really good. It is really challenging, but it's good. I am doing a needs assessment so I have mostly been interviewing families in their homes about their struggles, and meeting with community leaders to talk about community needs. I have also spent some time at one of the schools. My favorite is visiting people's homes and talking with them. I prefer talking one on one with people who are living in poverty rather than either meeting with lots of people at once or talking with community leaders who are middle class. Most of the families I talk with have up around eight kids and maybe two or three are sponsored by FH. The sponsored ones go to school but the families usually struggle to send the others. Finding clean water and finding work to do are also common struggles for people here.

We will be working in three communities for practicum: Kyoga (the community we live in), Musombwa, and Namasumbi. Mostly I will be continuing to do home visit interviews, interviews with community leaders, and working on the actual report for my needs assessment. I will also be doing some children's Bible clubs and women's Bible studies here and there. Last week, Allison and I went to a chapel at school and were asked fifteen minutes beforehand to speak. It was kind of hilarious. We were expected to speak for an hour about values and goals. I think we made it for about thirty then the guy in charged expounded on what we said for another half hour. We have already been forewarned that this Sunday we will be expected to preach, so at least we have the chance to prepare this time.

Well that's all for now. Allison and I are going to go enjoy a day in the city. We are going shopping and will go to an Indian restaurant for lunch. I have no idea when I will be able to post next. Hopefully sometime this week I can get on the Internet though. I hope all is well at home!