Hello again!
It has been far too long since my last post, butI have finally managed to get online when there is power in the internet cafe AND when the internet is fast enough to load blogger. (Just kidding.) Google has changed the template of their blogging platform, which has been reluctant to load on these slow Ugandan internet cafe computers. But, here I am. (NB: I wrote this on Monday, and the power died at the internet cafe before I could upload it. So I've escaped to a very very slow computer in Kayunga town to put it up.)
The last couple months have flown by, and I have been keeping busy. The rainy season started (late), but that meant that we could start planting. As a livelihoods volunteer, one of my tasks is to train people in small-scale organic farming. So my team has been doing just that. Since May, we started a seedbed behind our house for kale, which we transplanted to a few "sack mounds" at our house and where our youth groups meet. We have also planted eggplants at our primary school and more kale at the health centre, with the hope that these seedlings will be transplanted to the homes of those in the "positive living" group we work with for people who are HIV+. Even though it is my job to train other people, I feel like I am really learning a lot as I have never really been a big gardener. Most people in Busaana (and Uganda as well) are subsistence farmers, so sometimes it feels strange to teach them about what they do all the time. For instance, my "digging" skills are clearly lacking. I've learned to use a hoe, but everyone in the village thinks that it is hysterical when I do it, so it is a bit hard to concentrate on the task at hand. But, people really seem to like our demonstrations, so I think that we are doing well.
Besides work, I have been having some fun as well. Along with some of the other international volunteers, I discovered a great hostel in Bujagali, just outside of Jinja. It has an amazing view of the Nile and great nightlife. We have been coming here for the past couple weekends off, and yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and go rafting! The Nile is one of the best spots in the world for white water rafting and kayaking, and the hostel in Bujagali is actually part of the same company that runs the rafting (called Nile River Explorers, if anybody ever decides to visit Uganda). I spent the whole day on the river, paddling down the calm parts and flying into the water when we hit the rapids. On the stretch that we covered, we went through 8 rapids, most of which were "Grade 5". We flipped our boat 3 times, which was actually a lot of fun! You wear a life-jacket and so if you fall in, you come right up, and there are kayakers nearby to bring you back to the raft if you don't manage to hold on. This was definitely one of the highlights of my weekends off in Uganda, and I'm really glad to have done it.
My time in Uganda is coming to an end - this next week will be my last week in Busaana. After that, I'm in Jinja for debrief and then I will have finished my time with Restless Development. Although I have not been posting a lot in the past little while, I have been making some notes so that I can do a couple follow-up posts once I am finished the program and back at home. I have been learning a lot here about the development system in general - both good and bad things, and I want to reflect on those a bit more and share them with all of you. One of the reasons that I came to Uganda was to see how development works on the ground, and I want to be very honest about the highlights AND the challenges of working here. Be sure to check back as I reflect on my experiences.
Thanks for reading. I miss you all!
L
P.S. Photos to come. The power went out just as I was trying to get them uploaded. What can you do?
It has been far too long since my last post, but
The last couple months have flown by, and I have been keeping busy. The rainy season started (late), but that meant that we could start planting. As a livelihoods volunteer, one of my tasks is to train people in small-scale organic farming. So my team has been doing just that. Since May, we started a seedbed behind our house for kale, which we transplanted to a few "sack mounds" at our house and where our youth groups meet. We have also planted eggplants at our primary school and more kale at the health centre, with the hope that these seedlings will be transplanted to the homes of those in the "positive living" group we work with for people who are HIV+. Even though it is my job to train other people, I feel like I am really learning a lot as I have never really been a big gardener. Most people in Busaana (and Uganda as well) are subsistence farmers, so sometimes it feels strange to teach them about what they do all the time. For instance, my "digging" skills are clearly lacking. I've learned to use a hoe, but everyone in the village thinks that it is hysterical when I do it, so it is a bit hard to concentrate on the task at hand. But, people really seem to like our demonstrations, so I think that we are doing well.
Besides work, I have been having some fun as well. Along with some of the other international volunteers, I discovered a great hostel in Bujagali, just outside of Jinja. It has an amazing view of the Nile and great nightlife. We have been coming here for the past couple weekends off, and yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and go rafting! The Nile is one of the best spots in the world for white water rafting and kayaking, and the hostel in Bujagali is actually part of the same company that runs the rafting (called Nile River Explorers, if anybody ever decides to visit Uganda). I spent the whole day on the river, paddling down the calm parts and flying into the water when we hit the rapids. On the stretch that we covered, we went through 8 rapids, most of which were "Grade 5". We flipped our boat 3 times, which was actually a lot of fun! You wear a life-jacket and so if you fall in, you come right up, and there are kayakers nearby to bring you back to the raft if you don't manage to hold on. This was definitely one of the highlights of my weekends off in Uganda, and I'm really glad to have done it.
My time in Uganda is coming to an end - this next week will be my last week in Busaana. After that, I'm in Jinja for debrief and then I will have finished my time with Restless Development. Although I have not been posting a lot in the past little while, I have been making some notes so that I can do a couple follow-up posts once I am finished the program and back at home. I have been learning a lot here about the development system in general - both good and bad things, and I want to reflect on those a bit more and share them with all of you. One of the reasons that I came to Uganda was to see how development works on the ground, and I want to be very honest about the highlights AND the challenges of working here. Be sure to check back as I reflect on my experiences.
Thanks for reading. I miss you all!
L
P.S. Photos to come. The power went out just as I was trying to get them uploaded. What can you do?
No comments:
Post a Comment