Ninsiima!

In Runyankore, “ninsiima” literally means “I am appreciating.”  Today, I’m using it to say “I am thankful!”  And I am!  Happy thanksgiving everyone!  We all have so much to be thankful for!  We hope your thanksgiving season is full of wonderful times with family and friends, good conversations over delicious dinners,and not too much crazy shopping!  We will greatly miss time with family and friends for yet another holiday - but this will be our last major holiday spent in Africa!  Knowing that we will be home to visit in less than a month and spending Christmas together is a wonderful feeling!  We can’t wait to see you all!

I have so many things to be thankful for this year!  I’m thankful for an extraordinary two years spent in such an incredible and beautiful place.  I’m thankful for the students, coworkers, and neighbors that have truly become our family here in Uganda.  I’m thankful for the family and friends at home who have believed in our dreams from the very beginning and supported us and loved us through the many ups and downs of the last two years.  I’m thankful for a wonderful relationship with my husband and best friend, and the ways our time in Uganda has strengthened us and helped us grow closer as a couple.  I’m thankful for the memories we have made with each other, our visitors from home, and some of our dearest PCV friends.  I’m thankful for good health in a place where bizarre epidemics and tragedies are a way of life.  And...I’m thankful to now be thinking now about the next adventure our life will hold!

It was almost exactly two years ago that we were telling family and friends that we had received our Peace Corps invitation to Uganda!  Although we’d originally expected placement in the Caribbean, right around thanksgiving, we got a call from our PC recruiter about a change of plans - sub-Saharan Africa!  We were thankful that an invitation was on its way and thankful for the opportunity to embark on a wonderful, thrilling, and frightening adventure!  Before we knew it, our invitations had arrived.  I remember the craziness of getting ready to go, the sorrow of leaving the people, places, and work that we loved, and most importantly the way our family and friends encouraged us and supported us in the major transition we were going through!

It’s surreal that two years have passed since that Thanksgiving!  Some days it feels like we have been in Uganda for *such* a long time.  Thinking about the last times we spent with family, friends, in our home, and at our jobs, feels like far more than two years ago.  But, at the same time, it’s hard to believe we’re coming to the end.  Days, weeks, and months truly have flown by.  We’ve gotten lots done, but there has always been so much more to do.  

But - here we are!  Two years down, and just a few months left.  Although our original Close of Service (COS) date was expected to be in March or April, Ryan and I received word this morning that we would be granted an early COS on January 31!  We’ll be home a bit earlier than planned!  Our renters are moving out at the end of January, so we’ll be back in our *home* at the start of February!  I’ve been offered a 7th grade teaching position in Saint Paul, and Ryan has some good leads on jobs too.  We are so thankful that the pieces are coming together for our future.  We are blessed beyond belief!  We’re looking forward to wrapping up our life here, saying some heartbreaking good byes, and moving on to the wonderful things that await us in America.  It will be bittersweet, but fabulous to be home!  

The two weeks before Christmas will hold a lot of exciting things too!  Ryan will be here at the college, helping “invigilate” exams, packing and organizing (what a good man I have!), and wrapping things up with students and staff.  I’ll be spending just over a week helping to train the brand new group of education PCVs that arrived in country last week and then going off to counsel at National Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World).  GLOW is a girls leadership and empowerment camp for 12-15 year olds from all over the country.  I’m also bringing four of my girls club students as Ugandan counselors for the camp.  I’m excited to get to counsel the girls who come to the camp, and help my young women grow into the fantastic counselors and leaders that they are!  Then, back home for a weekend and to help our VSLA finish their amazing one year cycle.  And then...home for Christmas!!!  We really can’t wait to see you all!

I wish you all the best in your thanksgiving celebrations.  Thank you for reading our blog, supporting us, and encouraging us all along this journey!  We could not be more thankful!  Tusiima munonga!  We are so very thankful!

We love and miss you all!  And...we’ll be SEEING you soon!

~emily~

Eat that Food!* (+ New Pics!)

First of all - new pictures!  Check out the end of this album to see pics from Halloween and also some to go along with this post!

Now, on to the good stuff...Yesterday Ryan and I, but mostly Ryan, took our cultural adventures in Uganda to a whole new level!  

We’d gone out to our trading center to do some shopping, and found a huge commotion at our stage.  There was a large group of people, talking excitedly, grouped around a truck.  As we got closer, we realized what it was - a truck full of grasshoppers!  Fried grasshoppers are a common road snack in Uganda - and my dear Ryan does enjoy them - but we’d never seen them being sold (live) by the bagful!  We started talking with a motorcycle (boda) driver friend of ours, Nelson, about the market happening in front of us, and...before we knew it...we’d spent 50 cents on a large plastic bag full of living, breathing, soon to be eaten grasshoppers!

Seeing our bewilderment at what we had just done, Nelson pulled us away from the crowd to do a little one-on-one grasshopper instruction.  He started by pulling a grasshopper out of the bag, still moving, and demonstrating how to remove its wings and legs in preparation for cooking.    Then, before we knew it, he’d found two boys from the village and promised them each a bitano (20 cents!) if they would come to our house with us and remove all of the wings and legs from the bag full of grasshoppers!  Done!  So, we walked back to our house, trailed by two little boys and a big bag of insects.

By the time we got home, we’d collected one more little child on the way.  So, the three little ones sat down at our table and went to work.  Nelson came up shortly after, and the four Ugandans and Ryan went to work dismembering the grasshoppers.  Flies started pouring into our living room, and there was quite a horrible smell...No wonder....After a good 30 minutes of pulling and prying, the grasshoppers were ready to go.  So, Nelson made his way to our kitchen and began to fry them up in a saucepan.  In case you’re wondering, no oil is needed to fry grasshoppers!  The little guys are chock full of fats that seep out as they cook, resulting in deep fried insects with all natural oils!  (eeeew...)  The grasshoppers took about 15 minutes to go from plump, bright green, very much alive insects, to a crispy, brown, flattened out snack food.  Nelson even compared them to popcorn - a serious offense in my book.  As he cooked, we had a good talk about the fine touches of frying grasshoppers, as well as my vegetarianism.  The best way I could describe it to him was that I don’t eat anything with eyes.  So, he made sure to point out the dozens of eyes staring at me from the frying pan in our kitchen!  Thanks, Nelson...

There’s currently a large tupperware full of grasshoppers in our pantry.  Never thought I’d say that sentence!  Since we’re a one grasshopper eater family, you’re all invited to make the trip to Uganda to take part!  Me - I’ll stick to veggies and popcorn!

If you stuck with me this far, you might be interested in a little live footage of the event!  Not for the feeble stomached among us - I could barely stand it!  But...for your viewing pleasure...The Food Channel, Uganda style!

Bon Appetit!  We love and miss you all!

~emily~

*For Daddio - ah, the good ol’ days!  Did grasshoppers ever make it to the cabin or camp?

Goal 2ing It!

Peace Corps worldwide have three primary goals.  The first goal is to train men and women skills identified by the host country.  The third goal is to teach Americans about the countries in which we served.  The second goal and the focus of this post is goal two teaching those in the host country about America.  The ways in which we do goal two range from conversations with students about what it is like to live in America to celebrating holidays like we do in America. 

Typically goal 2 consists of convincing students that Americans are not all homosexual, we do not agree to only 5 year contracts for marriage, we do not have a machine that tells us what to do when we grow up, and that Eleanor Roosevelt did not introduce HIV/AIDS to Africans to kill them off (seriously!).  Yet in the last month we got to hold two really fun events that were great goal 2 activities.  One event was for Halloween and the other was a carnival similar to what we did last year.

The carnival we did as part of a day to commit our students to passing their exams at 100%!  Last year the principal promised them a bull, so we have since called it the carnibull.  Now we had not planned to do these games again unless the school seemed interest, because planning events with students can be hard to do.  But a week before the day was supposed to happen our director of studies said, “We are excited to have those very silly games from last year again.”  Well that was our queue I guess.  We planned a whole morning full of games, and right on schedule the rains came and came. 

The rains finally let up in the afternoon, in time for the commitment and Music/Dance/Drama presentations.  But the principal put the presentations on hold so that we could play the carnival games.  In the end we did four large group games: Musical Chairs, Bottle Race (racing while balancing a bottle on your head, a Ugandan favorite), Water Race (racing to fill a water bottle carrying water in your hands), and water balloon toss.  The students and staff enjoyed the games so much.  It is really funny to see our students get so into a game like musical chairs when no 18 year old in America would dare lower their integrity to play musical chairs.  The day was very colorful, as they say, and we had so much fun once it finally happened.  We concluded by giving the winners a piñata!

The next big goal 2 event we held was for Halloween.  I have really gotten close to my computer club and thought it could be fun to introduce them to Halloween, a holiday they no absolutely nothing about.  I required them all to dress up, which I thought was going to fail completely but they actually got really into.  Creativity was a challenge as we had 4 Bushenyi PTC principals and 6 traditional African women (I needed my Uncle Mark and Aunt Dawn to be here to really show them how to dress up for Halloween), but they still put a lot of effort into all of their costumes.  We judged costumes and the prizes for the best went to Dracula (who was a spitting image of Freddy Kruger) and a military soldier.  Of course Emily and I got into costume as well, Emily as a black cat and me as a Bushenyi PTC student.  (I borrowed the uniform of our tallest student, and still the uniform was a very tight fit.  I really should have just gone as Gandalf.)

After we judged their costumes we had them go Trick-or-Treating.  We gave bags of sweeties (candy) to various tutors and instructed them to only give candy if the students said, “Trick-or-Treat.”  The students loved it though.  One of the tutors did not understand the number of students they were getting and gave all the candy to the first group, then proceeded to give out bananas and avocadoes after that.  After trick-or-treating the principal and deputy principal came to join in the festivities.  My favorite quote of the night was from the principal when he was talking to the students. “I hope that you have all taken something away from this event, I don’t know what, but learn something from it.”  We finished the evening by watching a scary movie, ‘I am Legend.’

I can’t guarantee that our goal 2 activities have made it so that October 31^st will be celebrated across Uganda next year, or that carnivals will happen at every primary school.  But I do think that maybe students learned that they could be creative and plan other events then what they grew up with.  And of course I am sure they have all learned that America is a crazier place then even they can imagine! 

Happy Halloween and Voting Day,

Ryan

Uganda @ 50

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is well at home and enjoying the fall weather!  We sure do miss this time of year at home!  Crazy to think that next year we will be with you all getting out our mittens out and enjoying the fall together!  Weather in Uganda these days is rainy and “chilly”!  Everyone has gotten out their winter parkas and fur lined hoods to brave the sixties and rain! :-)  Even Ryan and I have complained of the cold - how will we manage the midwest during our Christmas visit?!

Uganda celebrated its fiftieth year of independence this month and I thought that deserved a blog post!  50 years ago this month Uganda transitioned from being a British colony to being its own independent nation.  October 9 is the official day, although celebrations have been ongoing for the last while and will continue on for some time to come I’m sure.  It’s kind of neat timing of our being here, as we will have celebrated 50 years of the Peace Corps (1961 - 2011) and 50 years of independent Uganda (1962 - 2012) during our two years of service! 

The anniversary has sparked a lot of interesting conversations with community members and students.  There have been lots of special editions of the news papers, public events, and radio programs to discuss where Uganda has come from, where it is now, and where it is going.  In the relatively short time I’ve called this country home, it’s been interesting to consider it’s past, see daily reminders of the past’s influence, and consider its future as I talk with students and friends about what they hope to see in Uganda in the years to come.

Many of the students we’ve talked to seem to think that Uganda should have come longer in the fifty years it has been an independent country.  America is often referenced, and Ryan and I try to do our best to remind our students that it’s taken more that 50 years to get where we are, and of course America is not without its problems as a country too.  Many of the students talk about their concerns over Uganda’s leadership, and issues of corruption.  In Uganda’s 50 years of independence, it has only seen three presidents, and has never had a peaceful transition of power.  President Museveni, the current leader of Uganda, has been in office for over half of its independence - 26 years!  Not only that, but it’s dealt with civil wars, violent dictators, and the AIDS pandemic....Not an easy 50 years.  Of course, there are so many great things about Uganda and its independence as a country, but many of our students seem absorbed in how far it still has to go, and what can be done about it.  So, I ask them what they think should happen, and what they will do to be involved in that change.  Their answers - vote, consider running for an office, and pray!

It will be interesting to see how the conversations continue and to keep following the news of Uganda after we leave.  It’s a beautiful place, not without it’s issues, but also not without plenty of hope!

And, while we’re on a patriotic theme - we have officially voted!  We sent in our absentee ballots a couple of weeks ago and are optimistic that the embassy will get them in on time!  The attendant at the post office made sure to give us a call when the ballots arrived, as she didn’t want to miss a potential vote for her beloved Obama!  (Another PCV was even offered money for an Obama vote on her absentee ballot from her Post Office attendant!  She, of course, declined the money!)  We’re planning to have an election party here in Uganda with some of our PCV neighbors to either celebrate or mourn the results on the day after the election. Either way, I’m painting my nails red, white, and blue and making some sort of patriotic baked goods in the dutch oven! :-)  It will be an interesting experience watching the election play out from the other side of the world (or, more realistically, going to bed with little news and waking up the next day with a new president!).  I am thankful for a fair and free electoral system that lets us cast our votes even from so far away!  So, may the best man (specifically the man bubbled on my ballot!) win...and, may that phrase not always apply to the presidential election! :-)

So - there you have it - my thoughts on Uganda at 50 and the American election from Africa. 

Love and miss you all!

~emily~

Over the RUMPS hump

Today was the last of the school practice RUMPS workshops!  What an incredible experience this project has been!  Since the first student teacher’s workshop, which I blogged so excitedly about a few weeks ago, 8 more workshops have taken place at schools all around the region.  I’ve gotten to see many new villages, greet many new faces, and be totally blown away by the ownership and enthusiasm of my girls!

All in all, 9 workshops were held by BPTC student teachers over the last three weeks in government aided primary schools in various villages, towns, and trading centers in the Bushenyi and Sheema districts.  Over 400 primary students, 45 student teachers, and 36 local staff, head teachers, classroom teachers, and senior women were involved.  I figured out that, up to this point, the project has used 1,422 buttons, 711 needles, 12,000 meters of thread, 420 meters of ribbon, 59 towels, and 95 meters of fabric!  It’s exciting to think that all of it is now in the hands of girls all around the region, helping them take care of themselves and minimize their risk of potentially dangerous or unhealthy situations.

I’ve loved seeing the girls from the college step up and take on the project, and seeing the thankfulness for the project and eagerness to learn from the primary school girls.  It’s also been amazing to hear the support and enthusiasm of the local staff in the schools.  Many of the head teachers and senior women have participated in the workshops and expressed the need for this project even more eloquently than I could!  At the end of most of the workshops, a staff representative from the school gave a speech to close the day.  Again and again, these head teachers, senior women, and female staff members reiterated the significance of what the girls had learned through the project. They described how now they would not have to miss school because of their period, not have to resort to a “sugar daddy” to “help” them to get these supplies, and not have to use unhealthy materials to keep the blood from leaking on to their clothing and embarrassing them. Additionally, they implored girls to share their newly acquired knowledge and described how easily the RUMPS can be replicated with materials found at home.  Wow - could I ask for anything more?!  One teacher even described how excited the girls were - saying they might even wear the pads around even when they weren’t having their periods!

All in all, this has been such an exciting project to be a part of!  It has achieved even more than I could have imagined and has taken on a life of its very own!  I have been so incredibly proud of the girls, who have truly owned the project, and so blown away by the need expressed by women and children every where we’ve gone.  I can’t wait to see where it can go in the weeks and months to come, and believe that though many girls’ lives have been impacted, even more can still be empowered through this project!

So...what’s next?!  My first year students are already planning for Health Education and RUMPS teaching they hope to do over the holidays in their villages and in their student teaching next year.  And me?  I’ve already bought more towels, ribbons, buttons, needles, thread, and fabric and have a new audio book queued up on my ipod to listen to while I get more kits ready!  It is my hope that before the term ends in December, I can head out with some of my student teachers to even more nearby schools to keep the project going and share more about these important issues.  I’m also organizing a meeting with the Coordinating Center Tutors in the outreach department of the college to plan for next year and hopefully set up many more RUMPS workshops for the beginning of 2013.

So, although the school practice section of the RUMPS project is coming to an end and although the initial grant money has all been spent, I believe there is lots more potential for this project in Bushenyi!  There is still so much that the project can achieve and so many student teachers excited to keep teaching about Reproductive Health and RUMPS.

If you’re interested in contributing money or materials to keep the project going, shoot me an email!  ekjesbojohnson@gmail.com  I would so appreciate support from home to keep this already successful project going!  As student teachers have already been trained and equipped with materials and training manuals, the only ongoing costs are transportation and RUMPS kits.  At less than 75 cents per kit and less than $5.00 round trip for most local taxi rides, a little bit of money or materials truly does go a long way!  Feel free to email if you have any questions or if you are interested in getting involved in keeping the project going!

Truly - thank you for reading and thank you for the support!  What an incredible adventure this has been!

As always, we love and miss you all! :-)

~emily~

new pictures!

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry if I'm flooding your inboxs a little bit!  Here's a link to new pictures that I added to the day-to-day Bushenyi album I'm keeping on facebook!

Enjoy!

The Best Day

Last Friday was the best day!  Really!  In the midst of it, I texted Ryan this message: “Seriously, my favorite day in peace corps!  So far…”  It was one of those days that made everything so worth it, and once again reminded me that I love being a PCV in Uganda!

It started as a result of the RUMPS (reusable menstrual pads) project that I began at the college last term.  I wrote about the first part of that event here – the lifeskills and reproductive health workshops Ryan and I held at the college during second term.  Now, it’s third term and we headed into the next section of the project –when the girls would take the information they learned at the workshop out to their primary schools during student teaching to lead health/RUMPS workshops of their own.  Coming back from the August holiday, I was hoping hoping hoping that the girls would take it on, but was uncertain how well it would go.  At this point, it rested in their hands, and I didn’t know if it would continue or just lose momentum and fizzle.  But, take it on they have!!!

I got a call early last week letting me know that the first of the workshops was in the works!  Two of my first year girls club members headed up the effort at their school – coordinating with the head teacher and their fellow student teachers, organizing the girls, and getting a room prepared.  They told me we would be beginning at 3 pm, and when I arrived at 2:45 they ran to out greet me, hugging me and welcoming me, and letting me know that they had been waiting for me!  What?!  Yes….I walked into a room full of almost 60 p4 – p7 girls and nine of my PTC ladies, ready to go!

The workshop started with my girls club members teaching a session in local language about the menstrual cycle.  It was amazing to sit in the back of the room, and hear them explaining the process, using the same words and explanations that I shared with them during last terms workshops and times in the club.  They also allowed for some questions and answers, handling sensitive issues with poise they never would have had six months ago!  I was so proud – I just sat in the back of the room and smiled – one proud mama watching her girls all grown up and out on their own! I have watched these girls develop over the last year and it’s hard to describe how incredible it was to see them taking this on and doing such a truly fabulous job!

After the education component, the PTC ladies taught about the benefits of using RUMPS, and taught the girls how to sew their kits into the pads and liners.  The primary girls were so excited to get going on the project – they were already talking about teaching their friends, sisters, mamas, and aunties, and I think I made their day when I told them that they would be keeping the pads they made, as well as the needles that came with the kit!  During the sewing, my PTC ladies walked around the room helping, talking, and sharing.  I overheard more questions being asked, and great, honest answers from the girls I had trained.  They really stepped up to the job of mentors, teachers, and friends.  I was so, so impressed!

So, the workshop was a really, really huge success!  I went to the school planning that at some point I might have to step in and salvage some rough moments, or do most of the teaching on my own, and was absolutely blown away by my girls ability, confidence, accuracy, and utter lack of needing of me!  It was exactly what I had hoped would happen as I trained them all a few months ago and I couldn’t have been prouder of their success! 

In the midst of conversations with my PTC girls, I also found out that they started their very own girls club on their second day in the primary school!  Although they will only be there for four weeks, they have already recruited over 50 young members, and are doing a lot of the activities that we have been working on together the last year or so – tackling issues like leaderships, health, decision making, HIV/AIDS, and communication.  Additionally, one of the girls shared with me that they had been using the manual I distributed as part of the training last term as a textbook for teaching in their student teaching classroom.  They have already used it for their HIV/AIDS lessons, as well as different health lessons from the curriculum!  I was so pleased to see that every one of the nine had their manual in hand, already looking well worn and much used!  What a joy to realize that what was prepared for them was being utilized in ways I never could have foreseen!

At the end of the event Evelyne and Charity, two of the girls who had really spearheaded the day, walked me out to the road and proudly flagged me a taxi and negotiated the price for me.  They were so excited about the day, so pleased to have shared it with me, and sent me off with greetings for the college and many thanks for the support. 

This really was one of my favorite days.  It felt like so much of my service – building relationships, seeking out needs and solutions, working to empower the girls at the school – really came full circle.  I’ve done my best, but it’s hard to describe the feeling of fulfillment, pride, and achievement that comes from knowing that all the work you put in really is making some small difference here in Uganda!  More workshops are in the works now, and I have every hope that they will be as exciting and meaningful as this one!  What a joy to be at this place in our service!

We just posted a video blog of parts of this project from last term up to now, and I think it gives a great glimpse of this fantastic project and the way our students have totally stepped up to the plate.  You can see it here!  Also, I added some pictures from the event to the end of this album on facebook!

Thanks for all of the support and encouragement from home – we truly could not do it without all of the love and prayers! 

Love and miss you all,

~emily~