Every month a Peace Corps
Volunteer accrues two vacation days, which most chose to spend in Zanzibar or
back home for the holidays.
Me? I chose to head up further north to Madi Opei
for a couple days where Mikael’s boyfriend, Jimmy, is from. As I ventured up country on a road so bumpy
that I could not bring myself to get comfortable enough for a nap, I watched
the scenery pass. Two hours later I arrived to Jimmy’s house,
where Mikael was playing the local drums, Jimmy was slashing the grass, and his
mom was busy with food preparation. His
family’s house, nestled in your typical African landscape, was absolute
beautiful… Tiled floors and a refrigerator powered by solar energy. Orange trees were tucked away in the garden,
along with baby chicks born days earlier.
Jimmy, Mikael, and I
ventured into the small town, a simple fifteen-minute walk in the African
bush. We arrived home to dinner, sweet
potatoes and pasted meat. Think of dried
beef in a delicious salty, peanut sauce. It satisfied my hunger as we spent the
remainder of the night talking around a fire.
A chain link fence protects his home and when the sun sets, it looks as
if you are sitting in the middle of a savannah because the fence simply blends
in.
The next day we decided to
hike to a hill/mountain. I am not quite
sure what differentiates the two but this was simply a lonely hump far off in
the flat landscape that we wanted to hike to.
Underestimating the distance, we slowly made our way. A matatu happily picked us up after an hour
and a half, taking us to our destination but unfortunately on the way back we
footed, as the Ugandans say, the whole way.
Upon arriving to the hill/mountain it was way to bushy to climb to the
top so we took a rest on a rock to eat some sweet potatoes dipped in odi (local
peanut butter) and oranges. We played
games and watched as children emerged from what seemed like nowhere to come
look at the munu, white person.
That night we played
Skip-Bo, I taught Jimmy’s younger sisters and mom how to make popcorn and again
we sat around the fire and watched as the stars slowly emerged from the cloudy
sky.
Three vacation days gone,
twenty-nine left and more on the way.
The next adventure waits
and to where I am not quite sure.
I’ll see where the taxi
takes me…
The flat landscape that makes up the landscape
in the north although
those ridges extend to the right and divide Uganda and
South Sudan
Somehow close but still so far
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