Vlog #7 - 3 crazy days

Hey Everybody!

Here's the latest video blog we've made.  It includes videos from our MDD festival, the sports and games competition, and the fun day we had with the CBO Silent Voices.

Enjoy!

We love and miss you all!

~emily~

PICTURES!!!

Hey Everybody!

I'm super excited to share some of my favorite pictures taken over the last week!  Hopefully these pics can give you some visuals to go along with the stories shared in my last post. 

Click on the links below to see my facebook album of each event:

Music, Dance, and Drama Festival

Games and Sports Competition

"Silent Voices" Activity Day for Deaf Children

Thanks for reading!

~emily~

3 Crazy Days

Hi Everybody!

Although our blog posts are getting somewhat more few and far between, things are going great here in Bushenyi!  Thanks for the continual support, prayers, emails, letters, packages, and thoughts!  We miss you all and think of you often!  As of now we’re almost 17 months in - 9 or less to go!  Wow!  

Over the last week we have had enough events to fill an entire blog!  In our opinion, our lowest times of PC service have been those in which we have not been busy, and fortunately for us, this has not been a problem during the current term.  Rather, we’ve been wonderfully busy!  We’d love to share with you a bit about how we’ve been spending our time in the last few weeks.  So...if you’re game, keep on reading!  But brace yourself - this might be a long one!  

As I think we’ve mentioned, term 2 at the Primary Teacher’s College is the term to hit the ground running.  It’s the only term in the whole year that students are on campus for its entire duration.  No child study or practice teaching in the primary schools - just lots of time for classes, remedial lessons, meetings, clubs, sports, music, and the like!  It’s a great term and a great time to get things done, but it’s also a bit of a whirlwind!  And last week was an example of that!

Things really started to go crazy on Wednesday.  (Happy fourth of July by the way!  Being in Uganda sure does make us love the good ol’ US of A!)  Wednesday brought a “calm before the storm” staff meeting to brief ourselves for the coming few days.  Everyone was delegated responsibilities (which few would turn out to fulfill) and afternoon classes were canceled so that staff and students could prepare for the days to come!

Thursday - “We Live & Die in Music”

Thursday was our college inter-house MDD festival.  This meant that the four dormitories on campus prepared pieces and competed in Music, Dance, and Drama.  The four dorms on the BPTC campus are named after great universities in Africa - Johannesburg, Cairo, Makerere, and Ibadan.  Each dorm (boys and girls) competed in 6 different events - singing the national anthem, poetry, speeches, plays, traditional folk song, and traditional dancing.  The day started at 8 am (but, actually after 10.  Ah Ugandan time!) and trophies weren’t awarded until the sun was setting!  It was a very festive, very long day with lots of joy and lots of MDD!  During the obligatory event-ending speeches, one guest said that as Ugandans, “We are born into music, we live in music, and we die in music.”  So Thursday was a great celebration of that truth!

The lowlights:

• Most of the folk songs presented all had some level of violence towards women
• The guest adjudicators gave comments at the end and had absolutely nothing positive to say!
• 4 performances in each category was a lot to handle - especially when 3 out of the 4 plays were exactly the same!
• I can only endure hearing the national anthem so many times...

The highlights:

• It was fun to see our kids have so much creativity and eagerness to be involved!
• Traditional dancing is cool!!!
• It was an entire day where nobody sat in a classroom and listened to a lecture!
• The day overflowed with energy and excitement!
• A special lunch was served - instead of the traditional (and oh so boring) posho and beans - we got gnuts, meat, cabbage, matooke, rice, fruit, and even sodas!  Bon appetit!
• Throughout the day, we witnessed various students embrace leadership opportunities and perform with total confidence - such a stark change from their day to day role as meek, Ugandan students.

The day ended with flasks (thermoses for hot/cold beverages) being awarded to individual best performers, and the overall best trophy going to Johannesburg house!  They were absolutely thrilled and embraced their victory with elation!  

Friday - "Cartwheel Crazy”

Friday the competitions continued - this time in Games and Sports.  So, again, the houses rallied their best athletes to participate in four different events - gymnastics (seriously!), netball, football (soccer), and volleyball.  Ryan and I were in and out throughout the day, as we had Saturday’s event to prepare for, but we were able to participate in some of the events and cheer on the various houses!

The lowlights:

• Our girls are not great at football.  The majority of the game consisted of the ball ricocheting across the field from out of bound line to out of bound line!
• Sunburn!!!
• Staff who laughed at students rather than encouraging them.
• Absolute chaos in the organization of the event!

The highlights:

• Great energy and lots of participation!
• Learning how in the world netball is played!
• Seeing our students participate in the gymnastics section: headstands, walking handstands, weird squatty stand things, and my favorite - the cartwheel!
• During the cartwheel the students worked together to do what I can best describe as continuous team somersaults.  One student laid on top of the other, head to toe and toe to head, and they proceeded to cartwheel across the field.  Keep in mind, these kids  are between 16-23 - grown young adults “cartwheeling” across the grass (and occasionally face planting) with the utmost seriousness!  I loved it!
• Observing as some of our inspired staff throw decorum to the wind to attempt some of the obscure gymnastic feats.  I think the memory of our college Principal attempting a head stand will linger forever in my mind!
• Seeing some really spectacular athletes!
• Having time to connect with students who were not participating at the time and realize the great depth of relationships we have with some of our students!
• Team unity - so much cheering and excitement for their houses!

The sun set as the football matches were not yet complete.  So, the finals and awards were postponed until Saturday afternoon.  But, at the end of the day, Jo’burg was again victorious!  Another fun, albeit exhausting day!

Saturday - “Soundless Excitement”

Saturday was an event we have been working up to for months, and I am thrilled to report that it turned out to be an absolutely incredible day!

Silent Voices is a local NGO who works to train the parents of deaf children in Ugandan Sign Language and trains them to help reduce stigma and isolation of their special needs children.  Additionally, it works with local schools, units, and teachers to accommodate the education of deaf children in the region.  On Saturday, we partnered with them to host a “fun day” for 150 deaf children from Bushenyi district here at the college!

The day consisted of three different stations - carnival games on the pitch, arts and crafts, and “speakers” - secondary school students who have been able to succeed despite being deaf and came to share their life story through signing with hopes of inspiring younger children in their same position.  Deaf children in Uganda face significant challenges, and it was an inspiration to realize that they can succeed despite the many barriers that lay ahead of them.  It was a chance for the deaf children of the region to have fun, explore a new place, and meet other children like them.  For many of the children, this was the first time they were able to meet another child who was deaf, let alone 149 others!  The children also got a special lunch that day, complete with sodas!  They had giant smiles as they faced their mounded plates of food!  There was so much excitement and joy throughout the day, and we were thrilled to be able to be a part of making it all happen!

Ryan and I took the lead on the carnival games and had a wonderful time! We recruited 30 of our PTC students to help us run the event.  As most of our students have not had many interactions with children with special needs, it was an amazing experience for them to get to practice working with these children in a positive and fun way, as well as see first hand just how resilient and capable they are!  So, with the help of our wonderful PTC students, we ran 8 stations of games - pin the tail on the bull, obstacle course, bean bag toss, limbo, drip drip drop, sack race, water race, and spoon race.  It was an absolute blast!!! 

The lowlights:

Am I back in America?

Well the easy answer to that question is No, sorry hope I didn’t get you to excited.  But the last week has made me feel like we are back in America.  Some of the reasons for this are having a busy schedule, not seeing Emily 24 hours a day, and having Denise (Emily’s Mom come and visit).  These things combined to make me feel like I was somehow back in America.

We had about a week after my parents left and before Emily’s mom came to really get all of our clubs, and teaching, on the ground and running.  So a few weeks ago was quite crazy.  I am now co-teaching 16 hours a week during the day, and then clubs every evening of the week except Friday.  Emily is ramping up for a reproductive health workshop at the end of July, which means lots and lots of gathering materials and cutting fabric like a lunatic.  She is also teaching during the day as well as phasing the Special Needs curriculum over to the Professional Education Studies Department.  Then she is still spending lots of time working with her Girls Club and Reading Club.  We also wanted to start a riddle competition this term.  So with all of these things we had a week to get them started and incorporate our second years.

We felt a little like we were running around crazy!!  But I think overall we got everything successfully off the ground.  I have open lab on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and a Computer Club meeting on Saturday evening.  Emily is meeting with her book club, reading No Longer at Ease this term, on Tuesdays.  Then she meets with her girls club on Wednesday.  I have successfully started a Boys club this term and we are meeting Sunday evenings.  Our riddles have been somewhat successful (if you have any simple riddles or word problems send them our way).  Emily (with the help of her mom) have cut a ton of fabric!  We are getting lots of time with students this term and we really love it, but it does feel like we have a work schedule like we had in the US.

The second thing that has made this seem a bit more like America is not seeing Emily nearly as much as in the first year of our service.  I think Emily and I were literally with each other 24 hours a day most days last year.  Which was wonderful and was a huge change from the half an hour we were getting with each other a day before we left the US.  But we have really enjoyed getting to have different things we invest in and then we are able to share experiences together and build off of each other.  Emily has also been having to spend extra time in Kampala recently to get help from medical with cramping in her legs while she walks or runs.  They think they have finally found the solution for her which is a great answer to prayer and we hope that before long Emily will be back running the hills of Bushenyi!  But this has meant Emily going to Kampala alone a lot recently.  Which makes me nervous but it helps that she is the direct one out of us, and can handle the craziness quite well.  As we speak she is on her way back to Bushenyi, hopefully for a while!  (I can’t believe that most Ugandans see their spouse for maybe 2 or 3 months total out of the year.)

Finally, it was a wonderful treat to have Emily’s mother back with us in Uganda.  We got chances to connect with some ministries in Kampala that she works with.  Then we got to relax for a bit.  Most importantly she got to see what our everyday at the PTC looks like, which is a first and only for our visitors (since they usually come during breaks).  But overall it was a great time to connect, visit, and feeling like we are home again in the Midwest talking over the dining room table at 5809 King Arthur Drive.  She even brought us apples and cheese (seriously 4 pounds of cheddar!) to make it feel a bit more like the Midwest. 

The last month or so has indeed felt like we were back in America!  But it sure is no supplement to actually being there.  The things that made us feel sure we were not in America were still being a mazungu in Africa, dry season in June, terrifying public transportation, Peace Corps world drama, chickens in our house, and na binda bingi (and many more)!  We are so excited for the trip of a lifetime (like any of these two years isn’t) in August to Italy, Spain, and France; that will be a great end point to probably the busiest time in our two years here.  Alright hope you are all doing well actually living in America!!

Love,

Ryan

Almost June......Really?!

Hey Everybody!

We can't believe it is already almost June!  Where has the time gone!

Things are continuing on here in Uganda.  I feel like we aren't posting as much recently, although I'm sure that's really common for PCVs in their second year.  Life goes on, day to day, and not as much seems as noteworthy.  But, at the same time, we are always trying to live in the moment here, enjoy the little things, and try to really "suck the marrow" out of our life here in Uganda. (Anyone love Thorough as much as I do?!)  Time is flying and we know before long we will wonder where our two years spent in Uganda have gone!

A few updates - today starts the second term here at BPTC.  If you remember last year, around this time, we were forced to send our students away after receiving only about 66% of the budget needed to run the college.  Well, this year we only received 33% from the Ministry, so the principals got together and decided to postpone the beginning of term until more funds came.  We thought it would be two weeks or more, but after only a week delay, the students *should* arrive today!  So far we've only seen two, but we'll remain optimistic until at least lunchtime :-) 

 We are excited to get going on another new term!  Term 2 at the PTC is the heavy teaching/extracurricular term.  Since there is no school practice with child study and student teaching, the students are physically here at the college the entire time.  So, it should be a great term for getting teaching done, having lots of great club activities, and helping out with other extracurricular (sports and games, music dance and drama maybe?) like last year.

 I'm also very excited to begin/expand a girls empowerment project that began on a small scale in the girls club I was working with last term.  The project involves teaching about women's health and the creation of reusable menstrual pads.  Since pads are very expensive here, many young women resort to using uncomfortable, unhygienic options (feathers, rags, leaves, etc.) rather that purchasing them.  Others skip school for the entire duration of their periods, and still others resort to selling sex to get money for pads and other necessary items.  It's a little thing that can make a big difference for the girls.  So, I'm using a model a PCV created a couple of years ago to use local materials to make washable, hygienic and very inexpensive pads.   The other component of the program is education related - teaching about the menstrual cycle, female anatomy, family planning, and offering a question and answer session.  The idea is that I will lead an example workshop for the girls at the college, then support them to lead similar, age appropriate workshops for the upper primary girls they work with during third term school practice.  I'm currently working on the printing of 280 manuals providing information for leading the workshops.  Next up - buying and cutting materials for 280 reusable pad "kits."  I am very, very excited about the scope and significance of this project, and will definitely update as the work progresses!


Another neat event we are looking forward to this term is a collaboration with Silent Voices, a local NGO working with the parents of deaf children.  Ryan and I will be working with them on their (somehow) annual activity day - a day to bring deaf children from all over the region of Bushenyi together for a day of fun and games at the college.  I'll be recruiting students to help run games and "make the day colorful" as they say here, as well as practice what I've been teaching them the last year in my Special Education classes.  Since students with special needs are often stigmatized and isolated, the day is a neat chance to bring together children with similar special needs - to realize that they are not alone, and just have fun!  We're hoping to bring back some of the successful games from the CarniBull we did last fall, and are really looking forward to it!


And...of course other things will come up, others will delay, and others won't happen at all!  But we're excited for a new term to start.  It's crazy to think that a year ago we were beginning our first term here at the college.  And next year at this time we'll be on the job hunt back in America!  I am thankful every day for this crazy ride that is the Peace Corps, the adventure of a lifetime with my best friend.  Here goes another term!


Love and miss you all,


~emily~





 

Parent's Trip Part II

Well our anticipation grew and our hearts were broken once again by the coming and going of my parents this time.  My parents flew in a couple of weeks ago, for the trip of a lifetime!!  Their first trip off the continent, first trip to Africa, and most definitely first time to a crazy place like Uganda.  They were no doubt in for a treat!

We started our time in Entebbe staying at a nice little guesthouse near the airport, that we had also stayed at with Emily’s parents.  Being in Entebbe allowed us a nice chance to catch up, walk to the botanical gardens, and eat good western style meals.  Then after a day in Entebbe they got their first chance to see what sarcastically became their favorite part of Uganda, Transportation!  You will have to ask them in person why they loved it so much, but I think they got close to the full experience by the time they left.

When we got back to our site we got a chance to show them what our everyday life looks like, from washing clothes by hand to cooking absolutely everything you plan to meet (no buying a bag of tortilla chips here).  We got to spend some time gardening with them.  I think my dad was a bit surprised when I told him we were going to get manure for fertilizer, and we literally just walked into the field and starting picking up pies.  But time at site was quiet and relaxing.

While they were here we had to give them the full African experience so we took them to the National Park near us (Queen Elizabeth National Park).  We had a good time staying at a local lodge, and enjoying the views overlooking the park.  Then we got up early to go on a game drive.  We had much better luck then the first time Emily and I went to QENP.  On the drive we saw elephants, kob, waterbuck, warthog, baboon, monkeys, LION, and more that I can no longer think of.  Then we went on a boat trip on the Kazinga Channel.  We got to see hippos and Nile crocodiles, as well as a ton of amazing birds.  Queen Elizabeth was a great experience overall and we had great luck.  On another day we tried to push our luck at tracking chimps but our luck had run out. 

The final experience that we had with my parents was some time in Jinja, which is a fun place to spend a few days.  We got a chance to ride horses by the Nile, and take a boat trip on the Nile as well.  We stayed in fun tents that overlooked the river, and was a peaceful conclusion to the end of our trip. 

I think I can say that my parents had a true Africa experience.  From hippos and elephants, to hand washing clothes, to seeing the Nile, to hordes of Ugandan children yelling Mazungu at them, to riding on Uganda’s wonderful transportation system.  I loved having them here and it was hard to see them go.  If you want to see pictures from our time the link is: HERE.

Ryan

Midservice + New Pictures!

First of all, I added some new pictures to my day to day album on facebook! Click Here if you'd like to check them out!

In other news, we had our Peace Corps Mid-service conference this week!  It was a great time to getting together with the other 42 volunteers we traveled to Uganda with (we are all *still* here 14 months from when we arrived!!!) and getting some training to help us continue to serve effectively at site.  Although the training was mainly idea sharing and trouble shooting, the best part by far was seeing our friends and fellow volunteers from all over the country.  While sitting in a discussion group with the other 8 or so volunteers placed at PTCs, it was amazing to hear their struggles and successes and realize that we are not alone in the challenges we have at site.  What a great perspective to be given!  At one point we made posters to visually describe our year at site.  It's crazy to think back on all of the details last year - friendships made, discouragements weathered, new things learned, successes celebrated - all the day to day ups and downs of life as a PCV.  I have to say, though, at the end of it all, I'm really happy with where we are at, and also really happy to know that in less than a year we will be home!

We also got checked out by our medical unit, and had our first visit to a Ugandan dentist's office.  We are both foot fungus and cavity free (sort of funny the things they check for!) and survived both visits without too much pain! :-)

And, Ryan's parents flew in yesterday!!!  So, the Johnsons and Kjesbo-Johnsons will be enjoying Uganda together this week!  Also, Mom just booked tickets to come in June, and Bryan and Jen will be here in August!  We have a great few months ahead of us!

Love and miss you all!

~emily~