So I'm leaving in less than 12 hours, but I don't think that it means that the blog is done for. I will continue to post some more reflections and stories as they come back to me. I will defenitely post a bunch of pictures, too. Once school starts, however, I can't primise a thing.
I woke up to the Lubogas surprising me with a kanzu, a long robe wore by men at special occasions. We took some pictures and pretended that I was their son at his introduction ceremony, basically an official engagement. Meanwhile, I was in my PJs under the kanzu. Pictures to come.
I feel sad about leaving here. I have really developed an excellent relationship with the Lubogas and some other people in the area. (sigh)
I have about 5 minutes of internet left, and I definitely don't wanna spend my last day in front of a computer. So, I'm gonna go.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Less researcher, more tourist
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I feel like some of my most recent posts have been somewhat uninspired. Now, I feel inspired. Malaria free, and free to do whatever I wanted in the psychotic city of Kampala. Naturally, after not being a tourist for so long, I went to the traps.
On Buganda road there is a large craft collective full of very sweet and inviting people in each of the stalls. I went door to door like a good mzungu. I haggled a bunch and then realized that I didn’t really buy much at all; it was all about the bargain. Ok fine, I bought a bunch of things, I just didn’t spend very much money.
Meanwhile, my friend Jennifer, whom I met in Mbale with the Abayudaya, was waiting for me to go to her house and chill. I was offered hot tea, but steered us towards cold beer instead. Poor Jennifer has been without good (read “American”) music for a couple of years, so I helped her transfer a bunch from my computer to hers. We only got to the Bs.
On the way home, I really wanted to stop in an area called Kalerwe. It’s basically where the biggest market I know about is and there is a drum factory there. The word factory is used very loosely here; it’s a dark room and a half made with random slats of wood with space shared with a sofa factory. There are pelts of goat, cow, and lizard on the walls and there are drums in different stages of development all over the place. Samuel showed me around the place; prices were very fair (read “cheap as all hell”). I promised to come back in the next few days with my bag so I can see how many I can fit in.
The best part: On the rest of my way home, people in Mpererwe waved to me because they recognized me and I recognized them. In Namere, up the hill from Mpererwe, I got the same greeting. Later, when I went back to the Namere supermarket, the cashier and I had a great discussion about my stay here and she was sad to hear that me (Sebachwa) and Lauren (Nabachwa) were leaving so soon. As I walked out of the store, 2 local bodaboda drivers called “hey Danny!” I waited for one of them, Medi (short for Mohammed), to come back because I hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to catch up. He recently lost his day job, but is instead working all day as a bodaboda driver. He makes 20k Shillings a day, about $13.
It made me feel really good that I feel that I have become part of the community here. People ask me when I’m coming back and the only thing I can tell them is perhaps in 2011, when I am actually a doctor. They always answer “that’s too long!” It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be seeing these people for such a long time. Tonight, a woman whom I never met before thanked me for the osoma (research) that we are doing here. That made me feel the best.
There are many people here who are suspicious of any Mzungu who comes into town to do research. I was once asked by a deputy teacher to “Please do not just write a book about us and get your degree like some other people. Please come to us, join us in our communities, and really help us make a difference.” I hope to continue the work we are doing here and to really help the community that we have become a part of.
OK, shower break over. I could just feel really good because I am over malaria, though that cold shower was quite invigorating.
I feel like some of my most recent posts have been somewhat uninspired. Now, I feel inspired. Malaria free, and free to do whatever I wanted in the psychotic city of Kampala. Naturally, after not being a tourist for so long, I went to the traps.
On Buganda road there is a large craft collective full of very sweet and inviting people in each of the stalls. I went door to door like a good mzungu. I haggled a bunch and then realized that I didn’t really buy much at all; it was all about the bargain. Ok fine, I bought a bunch of things, I just didn’t spend very much money.
Meanwhile, my friend Jennifer, whom I met in Mbale with the Abayudaya, was waiting for me to go to her house and chill. I was offered hot tea, but steered us towards cold beer instead. Poor Jennifer has been without good (read “American”) music for a couple of years, so I helped her transfer a bunch from my computer to hers. We only got to the Bs.
On the way home, I really wanted to stop in an area called Kalerwe. It’s basically where the biggest market I know about is and there is a drum factory there. The word factory is used very loosely here; it’s a dark room and a half made with random slats of wood with space shared with a sofa factory. There are pelts of goat, cow, and lizard on the walls and there are drums in different stages of development all over the place. Samuel showed me around the place; prices were very fair (read “cheap as all hell”). I promised to come back in the next few days with my bag so I can see how many I can fit in.
The best part: On the rest of my way home, people in Mpererwe waved to me because they recognized me and I recognized them. In Namere, up the hill from Mpererwe, I got the same greeting. Later, when I went back to the Namere supermarket, the cashier and I had a great discussion about my stay here and she was sad to hear that me (Sebachwa) and Lauren (Nabachwa) were leaving so soon. As I walked out of the store, 2 local bodaboda drivers called “hey Danny!” I waited for one of them, Medi (short for Mohammed), to come back because I hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to catch up. He recently lost his day job, but is instead working all day as a bodaboda driver. He makes 20k Shillings a day, about $13.
It made me feel really good that I feel that I have become part of the community here. People ask me when I’m coming back and the only thing I can tell them is perhaps in 2011, when I am actually a doctor. They always answer “that’s too long!” It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be seeing these people for such a long time. Tonight, a woman whom I never met before thanked me for the osoma (research) that we are doing here. That made me feel the best.
There are many people here who are suspicious of any Mzungu who comes into town to do research. I was once asked by a deputy teacher to “Please do not just write a book about us and get your degree like some other people. Please come to us, join us in our communities, and really help us make a difference.” I hope to continue the work we are doing here and to really help the community that we have become a part of.
OK, shower break over. I could just feel really good because I am over malaria, though that cold shower was quite invigorating.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I am the Anti-Malarial
Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:22PM
OK, so I didn’t report everything in that last post. Thursday night, as Lauren, Sonia, and I were preparing dinner, I felt tired (read feverish) again. After much encouragement from Sonia and Lauren, I called Dr. Luboga on his cell… he was driving up the driveway. I told him all my symptoms, exhaustion, sweats, headache, stomach cramps, etc. He said something to the effect of you’re now a real Muganda because you have malaria. Sonia made sure to tell Lauren that in the park, I forgot one dose of Malarone and took another dose late. It’s hard to remember things when you’re on vacation.
So, on Friday I slept late (I blamed it on the malaria, but I would have done it anyway), but still worked at Kittetika C/U and got 8 blood samples. A little disappointing, but every bit helps. The Makerere students were very nice to me. Henry said “you’re going to get it much worse that we get it because you have no antibodies.” Thanks for the encouragement Henry.
I went home immediately after because I was so tired and feverish. I made a very basic Shabbat and slept. And slept. And slept. I tried reading some books, but I was too tired. I spent some time thinking about malaria. I thought about how there are little parasites in my red blood cells destroying them one by one. I think it might have been a hallucination… I also thought about how it’s a real shame that people should die from something that responds so quickly to cheap treatment. I spent $3.12 on the medication at a private pharmacy. Government pharmacies provide the medication free of charge (though the one I went to was out of medication). It angers me to know that people still die from it.
I am now taking my malaria prophylaxis with a new zeal. I feel much better now that I have completed the 3 day treatment, but I still feel tired.
Busier still.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sunday was a fast day. On Saturday night, I lit my room with one candle and read Ecclesiastes. The first 3 words really resonated with me. I am completely alone in religion here in Mpererwe. I wonder why we read it all together in the synagogue. Maybe being alone should be part of the experience. Sunday morning, after davening (praying), I went to
Monday morning we left for
We got to the national park very late after taking a driver from the city square. We also found out that the transportation we were relying on did not exist and ended up having to hire the driver for the following 2 days. Which worked out perfectly. Julius took us to our campsite, Kanyiyo Pabidi (I still can’t pronounce it well), and we crashed in the nicest dorms I have ever seen in my entire life. And I had another hot shower. This was the best one so far because everything at KP is solar powered!
Breakfast on Tuesday was great fresh fruit and AMAZING FRENCH-PRESS coffee! I had 2 cups. Julius drove us to the Paraa river launch and we took a ride up the river to see
We rushed back to KP because we were hoping some people wouldn’t show up for their guided chimp trek. 2 people didn’t show up. It was perfect. We ended up getting a private guide to take us to the chimps. He said we were the luckiest people he has ever taken because of the private tour and because the chimps were on the ground in the middle of the path when we first encountered them. Chimps are a lot bigger than I imagined them. We spent an hour and a half with the chimps, saw some really old (500 years) trees, and had a general good time.
Wednesday morning, we decided to sleep late so that we could relax before taking another ride back to
The ride back was pretty sweet. We got a matatu instead of going on a big bus. We met a cool guy named Justin who had been working with the Red Cross in Masindi, the town closest to the park. We went out for dinner at another Indian place, I had couscous…again. Though I did enjoy my drink; vodka was an excellent additive to my freshly-squeezed passion juice.
Today we planned on getting some more soil samples from ABC primary school, but only Lauren went because I felt a little tired. Tonight, Lauren and I are making a mzungu dinner for the Lubogas. Tomorrow, we are going to another school, Kittetika C/U, and then Shabbat comes. I leave for
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Mbale adventures
Wednesday August 6th, 2008
I'm down to one post a week. Obviously, things are really busy here; we've been visiting many schools, we've been trying to enter a lot of data for preliminary analysis, and we've been trying to procure soil samples from families we have already taken blood from. All of this happens in Mpererwe, where internet is really cheap, but doesn't even have the bandwidth to get email. I apologize.
So, I left off on Thursday last week, huh. Friday was an adventure of a different sort. I went to town with Lauren for a morning meeting with Mike (friend from Yale) and Dr. Sadigh (Yale global health MD). We relaxed and talked about accomplishments, challenges, and goals. Then, I was off to Mbale.
Travelling in Uganda is kinda like playing darts drunk and blindfolded. I jumped on a bodaboda for a ride from the hospital to the new bus park. My driver, a nice guy agreed to take beya mna'Uganda (Ugandan's price), thought I said old taxi park. Because I haven't been to either place, I thought that maybe all the nice people who were telling me that I had to go accross the street were wrong. Eventually, I made it accross the street and was escorted to a Gateway bus to Mbale, they said they were the Elgon Flyer just to get me on. 10,000USh later (fair price), I was on my way.
Busses in Uganda are the same size as those in the USA but there are 5 seats accross instead of 4. Also, there are no lights, all the windows open, no AC, and peddlers are free to come and go as they please until the bus starts moving. Once the bus moved, however, I was out cold...clutching my bag to make sure I knew that nobody's hands were going into it. (I am still a little nervous about that kind of thing because I stopped an attempted pickpocket from getting my new camera about 2 weeks ago, oh yea, I have a new camera!).
About an hour into the ride, I get woken up by people yelling to my right. I thought, that's weird, I have a window seat. There were people sticking all kinds of food and drink through the windows of the bus. I was right next to the guy selling meat and chicken, NOT FAIR. Eventually, I bought a few mini bananas and was very happy for paying only about 12.5 cents for 5 bananas. Once the bus started moving, people started to yell a lot louder; apparently not all debts had been paid. I saw at least 3 people on the bus throw money out of the window to 1 or 2 people running after the bus. I guess you have to be honest in business here (unless you're in government).
When I ate my first banana I realized that I have nowhere to throw the peel. The guy next to me explained in sign language.
- fingers peeled an imaginary banana - got it
- fingers put imaginary banana into mouth - clear
- fingers throw peel out the window - really?
Unfortunately, Uganda is it's own garbage dump. People don't care about throwing anything just about anywhere. I also only know once place to recycle water bottle... I'm saving them all for one trip.
Suprisingly, we arrived in Mbale on time. Not suprisingly, my guide/ride/hotelier was not. I waited among the bodaboda drivers in the bus park, who would not leave me alone, for my ride. The ride was worth the wait. We went into the backwoods of a small town to a tiny village on top of Nabugoye hill (check out this article written by my friend Jordan about their Jewish community). Forunately, I made it with an hour to spare before Shabbat, unfortunately, I had only an hour before shabbat to get settled, shower, and take pictures. I took no pictures before shabbat.
Shabbat was nice. Very different from what I am used to, but still very nice. The singing and congregation participation was really fresh, especially since some of Kabbalat Shabbat was in Luganda. The electricity went out in the middle of the service, so the entire room was lit only by 2 candles. It was really great. After services, we Mzungus who did not get invited for meals or refused invitations sat to a shabbat dinner. It's amazing what hanging out with your people can do for you when you've been away for so long. We spoke a lot about how the only reason we were together was because we are Jewish and a lot about the people-tend-to-sit-in-a-lunchroom-at-the-same-table-as-people-like-them phenomenon. We stayed up past 10:30, but then I slept really well.
The rest of Shabbat was really nice and relaxing. I went for a walk to the lookout point where the founder of the community sat to look at his kingdom (long story). It rained a bit, but the sunset was still spectacular.
Saturday night was a trip. We went to town to get some food and drink. We ended up getting food (I had some banananas and passion fruit) and then going to get Adam(new friend)'s beard shaved off and hair cut. The barber was absolutely wasted. He kept on messing up. So, I took over. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, and then I crashed on my friend Mitch(also new friend)'s couch.
We woke up really early, I was going to Sipi falls and Mitch was going to Kampala for a ride West. I met up with Merideth (also new friend) and we jumped in a matatu bound for Sipi. A- MA-ZING! Only pictures will do it any sort of justice, and I don't have the bandwidth. Sipi is basically a system of 3 waterfalls each at least 60 meters high all on the same river. We hiked down a huge ravine and back up the mountains to get to all of them. It was out of this world.
We finished about 3lbs lighter because of the exercise, but 1lb heavier with dirt. We called the guest house and were invited back in to take a shower. Really sweet people, I wish I had more time to write about them (the library closes in 12 minutes).
Getting back to Kampala was nuts. I ended up getting the last seat on the 2nd to last bus, so my space was shared with some chickens. I stepped on one of them by accident, it made a lot of noise and I got a lot of looks.
Note to self: in next post tell the story of the Muganda women talking about Mzungus.
My ride back to Mpererwe consisted of boarding a matatu bound for Wandegeya, getting off said matatu when it went into the worst traffic jam ever to pick up people from a concert (I had to fight the conducter for the right to leave), and jumping onto a boda. The boda's light stopped working half way through the trip. I screamed bloody murder, but the guy wouldn't stop driving out of fear that I wouldn't pay him at all. I got home and got some well-deserved rest.
Monday...Monday...hmmm. I guess I was really tired. I will continue with more about this week next time.
I'm down to one post a week. Obviously, things are really busy here; we've been visiting many schools, we've been trying to enter a lot of data for preliminary analysis, and we've been trying to procure soil samples from families we have already taken blood from. All of this happens in Mpererwe, where internet is really cheap, but doesn't even have the bandwidth to get email. I apologize.
So, I left off on Thursday last week, huh. Friday was an adventure of a different sort. I went to town with Lauren for a morning meeting with Mike (friend from Yale) and Dr. Sadigh (Yale global health MD). We relaxed and talked about accomplishments, challenges, and goals. Then, I was off to Mbale.
Travelling in Uganda is kinda like playing darts drunk and blindfolded. I jumped on a bodaboda for a ride from the hospital to the new bus park. My driver, a nice guy agreed to take beya mna'Uganda (Ugandan's price), thought I said old taxi park. Because I haven't been to either place, I thought that maybe all the nice people who were telling me that I had to go accross the street were wrong. Eventually, I made it accross the street and was escorted to a Gateway bus to Mbale, they said they were the Elgon Flyer just to get me on. 10,000USh later (fair price), I was on my way.
Busses in Uganda are the same size as those in the USA but there are 5 seats accross instead of 4. Also, there are no lights, all the windows open, no AC, and peddlers are free to come and go as they please until the bus starts moving. Once the bus moved, however, I was out cold...clutching my bag to make sure I knew that nobody's hands were going into it. (I am still a little nervous about that kind of thing because I stopped an attempted pickpocket from getting my new camera about 2 weeks ago, oh yea, I have a new camera!).
About an hour into the ride, I get woken up by people yelling to my right. I thought, that's weird, I have a window seat. There were people sticking all kinds of food and drink through the windows of the bus. I was right next to the guy selling meat and chicken, NOT FAIR. Eventually, I bought a few mini bananas and was very happy for paying only about 12.5 cents for 5 bananas. Once the bus started moving, people started to yell a lot louder; apparently not all debts had been paid. I saw at least 3 people on the bus throw money out of the window to 1 or 2 people running after the bus. I guess you have to be honest in business here (unless you're in government).
When I ate my first banana I realized that I have nowhere to throw the peel. The guy next to me explained in sign language.
- fingers peeled an imaginary banana - got it
- fingers put imaginary banana into mouth - clear
- fingers throw peel out the window - really?
Unfortunately, Uganda is it's own garbage dump. People don't care about throwing anything just about anywhere. I also only know once place to recycle water bottle... I'm saving them all for one trip.
Suprisingly, we arrived in Mbale on time. Not suprisingly, my guide/ride/hotelier was not. I waited among the bodaboda drivers in the bus park, who would not leave me alone, for my ride. The ride was worth the wait. We went into the backwoods of a small town to a tiny village on top of Nabugoye hill (check out this article written by my friend Jordan about their Jewish community). Forunately, I made it with an hour to spare before Shabbat, unfortunately, I had only an hour before shabbat to get settled, shower, and take pictures. I took no pictures before shabbat.
Shabbat was nice. Very different from what I am used to, but still very nice. The singing and congregation participation was really fresh, especially since some of Kabbalat Shabbat was in Luganda. The electricity went out in the middle of the service, so the entire room was lit only by 2 candles. It was really great. After services, we Mzungus who did not get invited for meals or refused invitations sat to a shabbat dinner. It's amazing what hanging out with your people can do for you when you've been away for so long. We spoke a lot about how the only reason we were together was because we are Jewish and a lot about the people-tend-to-sit-in-a-lunchroom-at-the-same-table-as-people-like-them phenomenon. We stayed up past 10:30, but then I slept really well.
The rest of Shabbat was really nice and relaxing. I went for a walk to the lookout point where the founder of the community sat to look at his kingdom (long story). It rained a bit, but the sunset was still spectacular.
Saturday night was a trip. We went to town to get some food and drink. We ended up getting food (I had some banananas and passion fruit) and then going to get Adam(new friend)'s beard shaved off and hair cut. The barber was absolutely wasted. He kept on messing up. So, I took over. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, and then I crashed on my friend Mitch(also new friend)'s couch.
We woke up really early, I was going to Sipi falls and Mitch was going to Kampala for a ride West. I met up with Merideth (also new friend) and we jumped in a matatu bound for Sipi. A- MA-ZING! Only pictures will do it any sort of justice, and I don't have the bandwidth. Sipi is basically a system of 3 waterfalls each at least 60 meters high all on the same river. We hiked down a huge ravine and back up the mountains to get to all of them. It was out of this world.
We finished about 3lbs lighter because of the exercise, but 1lb heavier with dirt. We called the guest house and were invited back in to take a shower. Really sweet people, I wish I had more time to write about them (the library closes in 12 minutes).
Getting back to Kampala was nuts. I ended up getting the last seat on the 2nd to last bus, so my space was shared with some chickens. I stepped on one of them by accident, it made a lot of noise and I got a lot of looks.
Note to self: in next post tell the story of the Muganda women talking about Mzungus.
My ride back to Mpererwe consisted of boarding a matatu bound for Wandegeya, getting off said matatu when it went into the worst traffic jam ever to pick up people from a concert (I had to fight the conducter for the right to leave), and jumping onto a boda. The boda's light stopped working half way through the trip. I screamed bloody murder, but the guy wouldn't stop driving out of fear that I wouldn't pay him at all. I got home and got some well-deserved rest.
Monday...Monday...hmmm. I guess I was really tired. I will continue with more about this week next time.
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