A lot of catching up

6/23/08

Sitting in Dubai hotel. I think I’m going to get 4 hours of sleep tonight. This is the strangest feeling because I only slept for 2 or 3 hours on the plane and then we lost 8 hours of the day on the 12 hour plane ride. It still feels like its Saturday night even though its actually Sunday night. We are leaving for the airport in a couple hours and I really should sleep a little.

Today is the first day that I’ve been able to be a little bit scared of this trip. It seems so far beyond my comfort level. It feels like I would have loved this 4 years ago. Just talking with the people on the trip is so much effort. I love them already and for the most part its kind of easy, but it also takes effort to try to get to know someone new, let alone 21 new people. Beyond that, it feels like its going to be a lot of trying to get to the people in the town people and just hanging out with kids and strangers. This in itself is very appealing and very scary at the same time. I know you get out of it what you put in it, and I think that scares me a little. What if I don’t put the proper effort in this?

One thing I’ve noticed so far is that I associate and even to a point treat people like who they remind of. There is a Kyle Perkins look-a-like who seems very outgoing, adventurous, and easy-going. (He’s also my roommate for the night.) There’s a Josh Carlton who has been here before, has dreads, and is very laid back. There’s a girl and I can’t think who she reminds me of, but she is definitely like whoever that is.

6/25/08

We finally arrived in Gulu and are staying at Christ the King. Its pretty much amazing. There are only 4 guys here so I am sharing a bunk with Kyle and the other two guys have a bed to themselves. We were welcomed with flowers in the shape of hearts on the doorsteps and on the tables. Following our arrival, they provided us with tea and hot chocolate. After that, the guys made our first trip to pit latrines. I was quite proud of myself and how easily everything worked out.

Today we rode on the bus for nearly 7 hours. I was sitting on wheel wells the whole time, drifting in and out sleep most of the trip. I was able to some good reading done, but overall, I was quite tired most of the journey. Meat on a stick was offered to us in a couple different places while phone cards were always available at nearly every stop. There was also a man who came within inches of getting picked off by our bus. We skidded to a stop and everyone was thrown from their seats. I think that was probably an angry honk as opposed to the “here I am” honk that you hear so frequently around the streets.

The hostel we stayed at was alright. I think it was actually better than the one I stayed in NYC. The shower was a cold drip and everyone shared it. We all had our own stalls, but it was a little weird talking to the new girl about her trip while showering.

6/26/08

Today was a very full day and I believe that each day will be busier than the day before. This morning I got up early and was able to have some quiet time for the first time. I’ve tried previously, but there are always people around, so quiet time just didn’t happen. Today though when I got up, other people joined me, but they also wanted some quiet time to reflect on things.

We did three different activities today to help learn about Uganda. The first one Kathryn did got everyone up and moving around. After that we had to pose as a still life in some way that would reflect colonialism in the classroom. I was somewhat unfamiliar with what that meant, so I followed the leader and added when I could. We ended up having a couple girls pull the strings of the marionette puppet, who was the teacher, while the students eagerly listened. It was a lot of fun to hear all the interpretations of what we were doing.

We also had a vocabulary lesson, which was so boring that I think I fell asleep during the last few minutes. I did really enjoy the invisible children’s PR presentation. I had no idea just how deeply involved in the community and the long-term projects they have going for them. (continue later)

6/27/08

What a fun day! I was quite nervous to meet my cooperating teacher, but it went well. We talked about all kinds of things and pretty well always ran out of things to talk about, but that will come with time. It felt much like a very awkward blind date. We talked, we made future plans, and we were constantly reaching for things to talk about. Short answers were the norm. Eventually, he said he needed to go which was good because I had lost interest and was somewhat exhausted creating dialog.

This day we also had a celebration at school because they got new Prefects and head boy. It was straight outta Harry Potter, but I’m too tired to write about it now. Maybe later I will write about the African party we went to tonight. It was a celebration with several hundred people (I was told they had 2000 people for lunch, but many had gone home by the time we got there). There was a man who became a Deacon in the church and so his family threw him this massive party.

6/28/08

I think I’ve realized that the only time that I will get any real journaling done is in the morning. When I try at night, I’m just too tired that I stare at the computer, or else there are so many other things going on or people to talk to that I can’t concentrate. This probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who knows me though.

I love our little house. We have a little family here at Christ the King monastery. Every night when we get home from the day’s events, we all sit around and talk/journal/shower for about a couple hours before trickling off one by one to bed. Last night I was so tired that I went and laid down about 11:30 and got up at 12:30 to come back out and chat with people. We talked about the issue of spanking. There were couple girls out in the common room that were completely opposed to the idea while Casey and I were very supportive. Wendy said we would think differently if we saw a child “getting the crap beat out of them” and how that was one of the most traumatic things she’s ever witnessed. I told her there was difference between child abuse and a proper spanking given by someone in authority who’s been given the responsibility to help bring up a child. Headmasters/Principals are people chosen to have positions of power and lead the education of our children. They should be responsible enough to not “beat the crap out of a child.”

We didn’t really get anywhere. Issues were brought up such as: “What if you didn’t know a child was abused at home, don’t think that a spanking would further traumatize that child?” My response was that it would be sad to do that to a child who’s been abused, but generally abused children display other signs that might lead someone whose been trained to identify that particular situation. A child displaying signs of abuse would be disciplined in another way. It would be a shame to withhold such an effective form a discipline from so many children to spare one child; sacrifice the many the many to save the few.

Another question was, “Don’t think spanking in schools is just one more thing that would cause parents to not parent. If the school is going to take care of discipline, why should the parents have to?” I asked her if she had seen the state of children in schools lately and if she thought they were being disciplined at home. Its one thing to remove the responsibility from parents and put it in the hands of the schools, but where we are at now, the parents are already not doing it. The schools would not be proactive, but rather reactive to the lack of discipline from home. I guess this is something that each person will have to decide for themselves; but for me, after teaching for 4 years, a timeout just doesn’t provide incentive for many children to behave.

Also yesterday, we ate lunch at a place called “Mac.” It was delicious, but they overcharged us. When we asked about why they charged us almost double from what it should be, they said we ordered something different. We tried to explain that we pointed to the item on the menu and there should be no confusion as to the fact we ordered the lunch portion, but the manager said we got the dinner portion and it had beef in it. The two of us that this affected were not very happy about the events that were unfolding. In the end, we split the difference and walked away. The food was delicious though and we’ll probably go back. Next time, there will no confusion as to what was ordered.

One of my favorite parts of the day so far has been our ride in to town each morning. Those will stop very shortly, but we are quite the “Munu” parade in the mornings. I feel like we are heard of white people riding in the back of a truck, half standing, half sitting, waving to every person on the side of the road. They love seeing “Munus” because they we are so few. Other than that, its just a fun time to joke around all the “C the K” people (those staying at Christ the King).

We had a little dance party last night after the dinner. All the Munus took over the Kope Café and turned it into a club. Everyone was laughing hysterically at all of us. Naturally, I was very uncomfortable, but managed to get out and dance for a bit. I hate dancing, but was less exhausting than trying to create conversation with George. He’s very nice and I’m sure I’ll get along with him, but it will take a little time to be comfortable with each other where conversation flows smoothly.

Everyone here rides around on Boda Bodas. They are small engine motorcycles that cost a couple hundred shillings to get around on. In case I forget, $1 = 1500 shillings. That means we can get nearly anywhere in town for less than a buck. One thing you definitely don’t do is hang on to the driver. This is a little scary because everyone uses the roads: walkers, bikes, boda bodas, trucks, buses, etc. It’s a little scary sometimes when you come within inches of picking off a pedestrian. The only good thing is that when you are walking in front of a group, you don’t really get to see how close you were to getting hit. If you’re walking behind someone though, you then realize after seeing the inches between that motorcycle and your friend ahead of you were missed by the same narrow margin.

6/29/08

This morning I woke up to people singing “Everything to God in Prayer” (I don’t really recall the correct title, but it was amazing hearing the drums and the people singing in Lwo (the language here). We are so blessed here at the monastery, not only to have all the amazing people that are here, but we have nice beds (that are only 6 feet long), brand new mosquito nets, tea and coffee served twice a day with mandazi (little fried cakes), all kinds of other amenities that I did not expect.

It’s so odd talking with the people here. Even though most people speak English their accents are very thick and they cannot understand us if we talk in our regular dialect. I am known as “Feel” or “Fell”, but not “Fill.” We must break up our words and speak almost with meter. Also, it helps if we do not use contractions and try to keep to more basic words. Many understand a large vocabulary and very complex words, but if we use them, I think it takes a little longer to process because they are not quite as common. Its strange trying to speak English in a different way so that the people here can understand.

Yesterday was so amazing that I almost didn’t want to write about it. Nothing I can type would do it justice or explain the sensations and experiences, but after further thought I decided a poor attempt would be better than having no memory of the events some time from now. After meeting our teachers, we went to a school program for Pope Paul IV. The program started with mass, which was an hour and a half long and was fascinating. I couldn’t understand much of what was said as it was spoken with a heavy accent through a very poor PA system. The choir consisted of many instruments, but was centered on the drums. During one part, a line of girls did a sacrificial dance and presented a live chicken and several dozen eggs to the priest. This was not a blood sacrifice, but just a sacrifice to God that would be taken home by the priest to share with his family and friends. There was also a lot of yelling during the dancing that was a little surprising to hear in church, but it added to so much culture to the experience.

After church, we went to the school and it was straight out of Harry Potter. I think reading those books has given me such a better understanding of the education system here. They have followed the British school systems here and so they have exams after 4^th year and again after 6^th year. There are so many other references, so if you want to understand what its like. . . remember: just like Harry Potter without the “Levi Corpus”.

The program was scheduled for 1 hour and started at noon. The program finished about 3:30 and we were served lunch. Time is just an approximation for many people here. All the teachers were lined up in front of the students, on a stage (just like the welcome back feast at the beginning of the Hogwarts’ year). Many students came and performed songs and skits (mostly about AIDS or respecting your teachers). One of the teachers was translating the skits to us and apparently, I did not get the humor. A typical statement was something like this: everyone laughed and I looked to the translator, “The girl just found out she got AIDS.” At the end of the skit, everyone laughed again, “The girl just died of AIDS.” I’m sure there were other jokes involved and the teacher just didn’t translate. I mean, I think I’m a pretty guy (at least I laugh at my jokes), but I just . . . didn’t get humor.

I received my Acholi name yesterday too. I am called Omara. It means “One who is loved” in Lwo. We all got introduced to the student body yesterday and they loved that we had Acholi names.

After lunch, which consisted of chicken, millet, rice, beans, and goat, we had a teacher’s faculty meeting. It was pretty much the greatest faculty meeting ever. The whole point of the meeting was to spend time as a staff and hang out with some of the new international teachers (my friends and I). Also, as soon as we sat down, they put a beer in my hand. In spite of the temperature, I drank it on principal. This would likely be the last time that I receive a beer at a teacher faculty. After finishing the warm beer (it was after three so at least I don’t qualify for the term “alcoholic”), I was offered another, which I graciously declined.

Just prior to the staff meeting, I was introduced to another faculty member, Philda. Upon hearing her name I introduced my name as Phil and we all laughed (as not only was it kind of funny, but that’s just the culture here: to laugh at everything). Philda kept raising her eyebrows at me while holding my hand (again, two more cultural things you do while greeting one another). A minute later, it was made apparent to us that she did not understand what we were laughing at, but rather just thought I could not pronounce her name correctly. I quickly made it clear that she was “Philda” and I was “Phil.” At this, the round of laughing began all over again as though it were the first time.

6/30/08

Today I did not class. Several of us went into town, but I got separated from the group. When I did finally get to Ma’s computers (the Internet), there was no one there. They told me that there was no Internet anywhere and they had not seen any of my friends. I ended up just walking around town for most of the day and hitting up the market. I bought a watch, but it fell off while on a boda ride. It wasn’t worth going back for so I guess that was 2000 shillings down the drain.

I also met Charles. He works for a recording studio near where we at so he took me. I met his boss, a British man called Roger. The three of us talked for several hours today about all kinds, mostly NGO’s. Roger and Charles did not have anything good to say about any of the NGO’s with the exception of IC. They said they’ve made their mistakes in the past and there was a time when they weren’t the greatest, but they feel like they are really good now. Charles seems just very bitter about many things in life. He told me about his experience with World Vision.

Someone from WV sponsored Charles in primary school. He told me that after 2 years the WV people told him that the sponsor withdrew funding and he would not have his schooling paid for anymore. The people had written several letters for him and told him to sign them. They were typed on the computer, but the people used a computer program to make it look like a child wrote it. He supposedly found out that the director pulled funding from nearly 3000 kids and build his own restaurant.

Overall, it was very depressing to hear the opinion of NGO’s by a few of the people here. I can’t quite get a read on all these people though. I don’t know if they have reason to be jaded, or if the NGO’s had reason to not sponsor specific children. I do know that it is common knowledge that many of the 650 NGO’s that are here in Gulu, nearly 600 of them are supposed “brief case” organization and are strictly here to make money from donations. Depressing huh? I knew that it was very important to ask how much of an actual donation goes directly to the child, but I also wonder how much of even those statistics are fudged. World Vision supposedly operates on 30%, Red Cross operates on 40%, and many others are using over 50% of the donated money on their personal expenses rather than helping the children. I asked IC what their numbers were for that and they informed that their schools for schools is less than 15% and many other programs is at 10%. Those are very impressive numbers.

Ok, so get all your laughing out of the way now, but I definitely not only did yoga for the first time today, but also learned the first two parts to N’sync’s “pop” dance. There were six of us and (no, I wasn’t the only guy) and we set up a dance studio in the middle of our living room to get some exercise. The girls have to run in pants as showing their thighs is completely unacceptable in public. It would be comparable to a woman not wearing a shirt in America. Anyway, we danced for nearly 45 minutes and (I’m sorry Marcie), I can say that I was not meant to live the life of a dancer. My bend and pop was not so poppy. I have most of the movements down, but there is very little rhythm involved and much more just watching the girl in front. I’ve been relegated to the back row and I’m just fine with that. I think some night we are going to have a dance party for all the teachers and maybe the 270 girls that are here at the teachers’ college. I think we are going to have to perform that and supposedly I’m doing the worm during a little break down in the song.

Yoga was also quite the experience. I don’t recall the last time I sweated as much as I did today during dance and yoga. The room we are in does not have very good ventilation so it felt much like a “bikrim yoga”. I know I spelled it wrong, but it’s the one where the room is like 105 degrees and you just sweat everything out. At one point our instructor put us in a position and informed me that it was a relaxing position and that I should just be enjoying the position I’m in. I asked Casey if she was enjoying “flying crane” or “perching eagle” or “angry cat” or whatever it is. (I’m sorry if I’ve offended any yoga experts out there. . . feel free to comment so not everyone is as ignorant as myself.)

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I know that it is June 30^th, but it very much feels like the last day of summer. I can’t believe that I’ll be teaching kids tomorrow. Supposedly, I’m just observing the teacher tomorrow, but I’d guess that by the end of the day, I will probably be teaching a few things to the kids as I’ll be able to watch the teacher for the first couple hours. We also have another party tomorrow with sister Apolonia. She said that she would not go to the wedding reception dinner unless we all came with her. My one reservation is that it is at Diana Garden, which is the buffet that we ate at a few days ago that I could not eat everything on my plate (shocking, I know). I think I will settle for beans and rice mostly tomorrow. Tonight though, we ate spaghetti and a little sauce. We also had fried tilapia (the whole fish thing. . . head and all). My dinner watched me while I ate it.

7/1/08

I do like my teacher a lot. I think he and I are somewhat similar in our teaching methods. Today I corrected him after class about a concept but he still didn’t have it completely correct. He was not afraid to come over and ask me if it was right or not. When he finally understood what I mean, he corrected the class. One thing I really like about him is that he jokes around with the kids a lot. It will be difficult for me to joke with them much because I don’t get much of the humor here. That is ok though.

I have spent much of the morning just listening Omony’s accent. It is very difficult to replicate for me. I also do not want to insult them by sounding so bad. It is very laborious to try to think and speak with such a different accent. I think I sound silly.

Sitting through the same lesson for the third time definitely does get boring. I am completely fascinated by how many people are “comfortably” in a classroom. Every student has a seat and about 10 by 10 inches of desk on which to write. Though the previous 2 rooms have been brick and mortar with dirt floors, this last class is made of timber and reeds. We share a wall with the class next to us and therefore it is difficult for the kids in the back to hear. The walls have vertical pine beams anchored in the dirt with horizontal bamboo spaced about a foot apart. The covering of the hut is comprised of reeds that are reminiscent of Vertical blinds that are nearly closed, but could use one more turn of the rod. A solitary blackboard is the only distinguishing characteristic of the front of the class.

After class, I was walking home when my stomach turned. This was the first sign of sickness for me on the whole trip. I had to stop three times on the walk home from school because of severe stomach and intestinal cramping, the last of which was only 30 feet from the door. Once I made it to the house, everyone thought I was extremely pail and looked very sick. I was in the bathroom for 20 or 30 minutes in a cold sweat and thought I would throw up. Eventually, without throwing up, everything passed my system and I was fine the rest of the night. I did stay in though while everyone else went to a wedding reception dinner. I was a little sad that I did not go, but I did not a reoccurring event to happen while at someone’s wedding reception. I did hear that the munus did not go unnoticed though as during the groom’s speech, one of my friends fell off his chair and dropped his empty beer bottle on the floor. He was not drunk, but was just leaning to far back on his chair and lost his balance.

It rained for the first time in 2 or 3 weeks here. We were all at the door watching the rain when lightening struck somewhere on the grounds causing 7 people to run screaming away from the door. This was made funnier by the fact that just across the way, three or four locals were watching the stampede from their opened door. During a lull in the storm, I went out to another building to sit in the quiet and watch the storm. As I jumped up a step, I lost my footing and fell face down on the concrete. All in all, I surmised the embarrassment was negligible as no one from my the house saw me, but as soon as I hit the ground, I heard voices directly above me, “So sorry. So sorry.” There were three girls sitting in the open window who were watching the rain when this strange white person appeared from nowhere and ate concrete right in front of them. Upon further inspection, there was a whole class of people now congregating at the window to see how badly the munu was hurt. I was ok and decided to walk a little further down the building to be alone and to mend my pride.

After the storm, there were several hundred girls who were walking and repeating the rosary in unison. Following each progression of the rosary was a different chorus that was so beautiful just after the rain. I also met one of the people who watched the stampede of whites who were scared away during the thunder. We both laughed about it and he told me about his newly born daughter. She is less than a week old and has not named her yet. He asked me what the name should be and after refusing several times, I finally offered “Amara.” It is the female version of my Acholi name that means “one who is loved.”

One thing I neglected to write about was our visit to St. Jude’s orphanage. Every time I think about it, I sing the namesake song by the Beatles. Although I did manage to compete in one “super slow motion race” in which I tripped and fell and did a super slow motion summersault before coming up just short of the finish line, most of my time was spent holding Maria. She played with me for a while before falling asleep in my arms. I thought it was very ironic that I found the one girl in the whole orphanage who could asleep bouncing and clapping on my lap. I tried adjusting her several times, but she was very reluctant to let me go and so I held her and let her sleep for an hour or so. It turns out that she had gotten back from the hospital only two days prior and was treated for malaria. She was still very weak and just the little bit of playing we did had completely worn her out.