March Calendar

This past weekend, the Peace Corps held elections for the Gender and Development (GAD) Committee in Kampala.  Since that’s what I want to focus on for my secondary project, I made the trip to Kampala to run for one of the positions.  And I got elected as secretary!  :)  I wasn’t quite ready to run for the director position, since I’m still pretty new to Uganda and Peace Corps.  But the secretary position is absolutely perfect for me – and it’s a great learning opportunity.  We’re still trying to put together the goals for the committee, but basically (as I understand it), GAD will oversee the programs and events that PCVs coordinate, which relate to women empowerment, life skills education, sexual harassment, domestic violence, LGBT issues, etc.  Our first meeting is at the end of March, so I will write more about it then.

In the meantime, I’m working on the inventory database (at the nursing school) this week.  And next week, I’m teaching class.  Then on March 10^th, I’ll be traveling back through Kampala to go to Masaka for our In-Service Training.  This was supposed happen back in January but it got postponed because of the wall collapse at the Peace Corps Office.  They’ve finally rescheduled it for March 11-14.  I’m actually really excited to see my entire PC Training group again and talk about our work/sites.  And I’ve got plenty of questions to ask Peace Corps Administration.

After I return from the training, I’ll be at Kuluva for another week before I have to go back to Kampala for the GAD Committee meeting.  (I’m getting used to the 8-hour bus rides.) 

Then in April, I’m thinking about traveling to Gulu for Easter and visiting my friends there for a long weekend.  Ha!  We’ll see if I have enough energy for all of these bus/matatu rides!

Pondering Thought #2: Riding My Bike in the Rain

I’ve gotten used to riding my bike in the scorching heat and know how to prepare for it.  I slather on a layer of SPF 30 Active Sport Sunscreen, wear breathable comfy clothes, pack 2 bottles of water, and leave my house around 8:00am or 9:00am, before the sun gets too hot.  There’s no point in bathing in the morning because I’m completely drenched in sweat by the time I reach town.  Then, as the sun rays get more intense, I walk around Arua and do my errands (bank, produce market, supermarket, post office, etc.).  Also, walking around town adds a layer of brown dirt/dust to my skin that sticks nicely to the sweat.  It always makes me wonder if I’m really tan or really filthy.  After another hour ride back, I have to bathe immediately when I get home because I’m just a hot mess (and that’s when I realize it’s dirt and not a tan).

I kept thinking that the rainy season would be a blessing – no dust, no sweat, no sunburn.  Well, today I got my first taste of riding my bike in the rain.  I was in Arua and actually made it most of the way home before it started raining - I was only about 2 miles from Kuluva, so I figured I’d just ride through it and go straight home.  Of course, I paid attention to every little detail and made mental notes of the whole experience:

• Rain in Africa is almost always accompanied by lightning and thunder.  Not fun when you’re riding a bike on an open road.
• Rain hitting your skin at high speeds hurts – and eventually (during the cooler months) the rain will turn to hail.  Ouch.
• But no sunburn!  Woo-hoo!
• I didn’t have my rain gear with me because it was sunny when I left home this morning. So my backpack and its contents were soaked: my wallet, notebook, mail from the post office, groceries, etc.  Good thing I didn’t buy bread today!
• The dust that covered my bike finally got rinsed off.  It looks shiny new.
• I thought riding in the rain would give my clothes a nice rinse too.  Unfortunately, the rain water gets mixed with road dust, and when a large truck/bus passes me, I get sprayed by their tires.  My clothes are filthy . . . so is my skin and my hair.
• And somehow, I still sweat while bike riding in the rain.  I still need to bathe immediately when I get home.
• But I didn’t get as dehydrated as I do in the heat.  The rain kept my body cool and the ride was easier.

Riding through a little drizzle is ok, but I think I should stop at one of the villages and take cover during a downpour and/or lightning storm.  Even today, as I passed Eruba and the rain started, the people called out to me to stop and “stay over here!”  I think next time I will.

(*A few days after I blogged about how hot it is, we got rain.  And there have been a few random showers since then.  Like today.)

Feeling Good

First, Happy Valentine’s Day to my family and friends!  Sending my love from the other side of the world.

Today has turned out to be pretty good.  I got caught up on some schoolwork (creating exam questions for Social Psychology).  Good – done.  Then the power came back on after a 2-day blackout.  Nice.   And I decided to give my feet a good scrubbing and pedicure.  Awesome.

I also had the idea to transfer all of my blog entries to a Word document to save as a “journal.”  So I just finished copying all of my entries over and relived my trips to Costa Rica and Brazil (and Peace Corps Training again).  I also got a chance to read comments that I didn’t know were posted!  Thanks to everyone for writing and giving me so much support!  I’m charged with positive energy right now!  :)

So, it’s been 6 months since I moved to Africa, and it randomly hits me that this is my life:

• Tucking my mosquito net under my mattress as I climb into bed
• Boiling water for a bucket bath
• Riding in a matatu (taxi) with a live chicken under my seat
• Watching the monkeys run around my front porch
• Hand-washing my clothes in basins
• Passing the grass hut villages on my bike ride to Arua

I totally love this experience.

Oh my God, it's hot here

February is the hottest month in Arua.  Even at night, I just lay in bed and sweat.  It’s a dry heat, but when I’m out in the sun, it feels like my skin is on fire.  Thankfully, the Peace Corps provides us with all the sunscreen we want (SPF 30) and I brought Aloe Vera gel with me – so I’m not burning too badly.  But because women wear long skirts all the time, my legs are as pale as they are during a Chicago winter.  My upper and lower body have totally mismatched tans.  It's ridiculous.

And because it’s the dry season, the hydroelectric power is failing.  The power goes out every day from 4:30pm-10:00pm.  That also means the water pumps aren’t working either.  I haven’t had running water in 2 weeks and I don’t expect to have it until there is consistent rain (maybe March or April).  Dr. Anne said that this dry season is especially bad – it’s never been this hot for this long (and without any sporadic rain showers).

So my water situation is interesting, since my house has pipes for plumbing but no water.  I have 6 jerricans for water (20 liters each).  Two of them are for drinking water only - I have a filtration rotation set up (i.e. continuously filter water & fill the empty jerrican, while drinking from the other).

The others are for bathing, washing dishes, flushing the toilet, and washing clothes.  Unfortunately, flushing the toilet uses ½ of a jerrican . . . so I can’t flush every time I go to the bathroom.  Funny, I never thought I would want a pit latrine.  I have also had to cut back on bathing – now bucket baths are every 2 or 3 days, which sucks because I’m sweating all the time.  A big thank you to everyone who has sent me Wet Wipes/facial cleansing wipes and hand sanitizers!!!

The good news is that the school driver comes around on the weekend to pick up everyone’s jerricans and fills them at the borehole for us.  I am extremely grateful his help, especially since the borehole closest to my house (a 15-minute walk) is broken.

Now, let’s all do a rain dance . . .

[Ok, after reading Mom's comment, I updated my weather widget for Arua, Uganda - not Kampala.  It's almost a 10-degree difference!  Also, Uganda is high elevation + equatorial sunlight = HOT.]

Pondering Thought #1: Fire!

In the states, if I smelled something burning, I would instinctively react as though there was an emergency (even if it was just a batch of cookies burning in the oven). 

But in Uganda, the smell of burning trash or leaves is constant.  There is no waste management here, so one must collect their rubbish and set it on fire to dispose of it.  Fires are started in a trash pits around the hospital compound; by the side of the road; or basically anywhere you feel like starting a fire.

Fire is also used as a lawn-maintenance technique.  During the dry season, fires are started in open fields and farms to get rid of the dry grasses and leaves and to encourage new growth.

So my pondering thought was: with the smell of smoke around every day, how am I supposed to know when there is an actual emergency?  And believe me, there are times when it is an emergency! 

A couple of months ago, my friend Nancy smelled something burning in her kitchen – it was her electric kettle that had shorted out after a power surge.  She got second-degree burns on her foot after part of the kettle exploded and set her papyrus floor mat on fire. 

A few weeks ago, I smelled smoke right after my electricity came back on.  Then I saw the smoke right outside my window!  I ran outside and saw the fuse box on the side of my house was smoking – so I unplugged the important electronics (computer & refrigerator) and called the electrician.  He came out and told me the fuse box was to my water pump and I would be without water for a few days. 

Then, the day before I left for Kitgum, I smelled smoke again – but this was a normal trash/leaf burning smell.  A few minutes later, I heard the fire crackling outside my house!  I opened my backdoor to see a line of fire in the brush behind my house.  I don’t know if someone’s trash pile got out of control or what, but they ended up burning the entire side of the hospital compound.  The flames came right up to the side of my house!  Eventually, it stopped down by the gravel path.  That night my house reeked of smoke, and when I came home from Kitgum, and nice layer of dusty ash had covered everything.

I don’t know if my nerves will ever get used to the weekly fires.  Smoke = panic.