Ghost of Christmas Past

I have never been more excited to see the holiday’s come and go.  It seems like back home from Halloween all the way to Russian Christmas, which is some day in January, my family and I are always doing something.  If its counting Christmas lights while drinking a Starbuck’s holiday drink to baking eons of cookies, we are together.  Not this year.  Anyway, I thought I’d share what I did as it started off what would be a two-year tradition. 

A fellow PCV named Jim opened up his home to those wishing to spend the holidays together.  Jim’s site is about an hour west of me and happens to overlook Queen Elizabeth National Park.  Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it.  Due to the 15 of us who were attending, a friend of Jim’s who is finishing her thesis here and happened to be back home in America, let us use her home as well.  It sits on a lodge so it came fully equipped with a hot shower (which was conveniently located outside under the stars), a refrigerator, stove, stovetop oven, spices, utensils, and two queen-sized mattresses that were not made from the typical Ugandan foam. 

After a busy Christmas Eve Eve shopping in Mbarara for all the food necessities, along with White Elephant presents, we headed over to Jim’s.  The journey was one of the best I have had in country simply because the five of us were able to fill a private hire for a reasonable price.  We got seats to ourselves, which meant seatbelts!  Upon arriving at Jim’s, we did the only reasonable thing to do.  Watch Elf.

Christmas Eve came the following day and while some went to explore town and eat, I chose to go with Jim to his organization, House of Love, HOL.  HOL is an orphanage that sells awesome crafts and houses some of the sweetest children.  Some of my campers from Camp GLOW stay at HOL so I got to spend time with them playing games, singing camp songs, and taking funny pictures on my laptop.  See below.

Awesome group of HOL Children.  Maureen, the one in the center, was one of my Rhino's at Camp.  

They loved the thermal camera setting!

Grace was so surprised to see us looking like this because, "That's not how it is in real life."

Instead of getting ready with a warm shower to go to church and head out to dinner when evening came, I showered outside under the stormy sky and prepared an Italian dinner of French bread pizza and pasta with marinara sauce.  Our entertainment for the night included decorating the house, paper snowflake making, and an impromptu 90’s music dance party with some Christmas songs sprinkled in between.  This of course was after watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and Love Actually. 

 MERRY CHRISTMAS morning!  I woke up to no letter from Santa or a tree filled with presents underneath but rather a bright blue sky, and a package from America.  I called my family and opened up the very thoughtful gifts they had sent.  I was once again being spoiled from Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  This somehow compensated for the fact that they were sitting there with me.  After a tearful (at least on my end) conversation, it was time to do what PCV’s do best… Cook.  Food for the day included deviled eggs, my Mamasita’s stuffing (it’s a hit here!), beef skewers, pasta salad, potato salad, fresh vegetables, and pumpkin pie.  The day could not have gone off without the help of the Ugandans who lived around the lodge and helped with the endless amount of dishes and cooking the beef that Jim oh so fabulously marinated.  We ended the evening by watching It’s A Wonderful Life, drinking endless cups of French pressed coffee accompanied with French Vanilla and Hazelnut CoffeeMate, and having a South African chocolate tasting, which a Volunteer had brought back with him from his recent vacation.

The day also included walking around the property, exploring gardens, the gorge that elephants walk upon and monkeys swing in, playing volleyball, and having the first ever Ugandan White Elephant Exchange.  My gift to the lucky winner?  A carved white elephant figurine from HOL (pretty clever), a Twix bar, and mosquito repellant candles, all wrapped in the Christmas paper from home and tied together with American waxed dental floss.  An added bonus.  The gift I received?  A Red Bull, Snickers, and Haribo gummy candy, which I kindly shared with the group. 

Fast forward to New Year’s.  The new group of Education Trainees had finally arrived in country and was doing their language satellite training, which conveniently happened to be a 10-minute taxi ride from me, in the town of another PCV, Brittany.  She kindly opened up her home for New Year’s Eve festivities, which included plenty of food, games, and cocktails made up of coffee spirit sachets.  I prepared faux cheese curds by making fresh pannier then rolling them in breadcrumbs and lightly frying them.  We also prepared a fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar chips, mini meatballs with a spicy dipping sauce, potato salad, and a veggie platter with dip.  The trainees brought over “fireworks”, which were actually your everyday Ugandan birthday candles.  The candles resemble what we know to be sparklers in America.  It is a slight fire hazard for your 4-year olds birthday party.

I should mention the worst part.  A gecko who made its way onto the ceiling lost its footing and fell on my shoulder.  I almost died.  Come on gecko.  Get a grip.

Nonetheless, I anticipated that spending two holiday seasons away from home would bring about a very difficult time.  I’d be lying if I said it was easy but this was an awesome way to spend the season… With new friends and traditions.  Who would have thought that simply reading a book under the African sky, sharing your craziest taxi ride experience, or counting down to 2013 amongst chickens and goats would comprise my holidays.  

Reminiscing

2012 has come and gone and with that brings my full year here in Uganda.  365 days of living and working amongst some of the most hospitable people I have met and 365 days of conversations, cultural exchanges, and crammed taxi rides. 

I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the past year and to set some goals for incoming.  In no particular order…

The Past (2012)

- Moved to the Southern Hemisphere in Uganda

- Stood on The Equator

- Grandpa passed away

- Best friend got engaged, in addition to many other friends

- Lost weight

- Celebrated my sister’s 21^st birthday

- I was forgiven for mistakes that allowed me to reconnect my relationships with people

- Saw my first elephant in the “wild”

- Left my beloved family at SFO to discover newfound friends in Africa

- Ate and enjoyed guacamole

- Can successfully eat tomatoes, chickpeas, and hardboiled eggs without gagging

- Used a pit latrine

- Made cheese, tortillas, and pita from scratch

- Took my first international flight

- Took my first flight over a body of water

- Practically cried every time after I talked to my family

- Got to spend the softball season on the field with my Daddy, umpiring and reminiscing

- My Mama and I got to spend more quality time together and connect over workout exercises and poker games

- I realized how much my relationship with my sisters mean to me and we finally got over our bickering stage

- Rafted The Nile

The Future (2013)

- Make Sunday my day to talk to family and friends

- Communicate on a regular basis with family and friends

- Start a VSLA (Village Savings and Loan Association)

- Save $100 USD every month from my living allowance

- Make National Camp GLOW incredible!

- Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations and program ideas

- Only spend $1 USD a day during the month of April

- Start a life skills youth group

- Run the Kampala half marathon in the fall

- Complete the 3-month Insanity workout

- Eat healthy

- Don’t be jealous of others… Including those living in the first world

- Lose weight

- Take each day as it comes

- Move to my new site in hopes of having a fresh start and a new impact

- Do not burn bridges

- Zero procrastinating

- Write in my journal on a weekly basis

- Do not let the tears, distance, and Facebook photos showing people moving on to new and exciting things get me down

- Make Sunday my Skype, phone calling, letter writing day

- Take the time to wave, greet, and hang out with Ugandans in the community

- Appreciate the small things

- Celebrate any accomplishment… Big or small

Morals of the past year: My family is my foundation, my rock, and my world.  The first world may be all glitter and glitz but the developing world is just as inspiring.  Patience is key.  Oh and using a pit latrine will never be easy.

Note to self: Everything will change and at the same time, nothing will change.  Thanks Soph!

Merry Christmas!

The past couple of days have been rough in terms of not being home for the holidays but somehow I am making it through with my friends here in Africa.  The endless amounts of home cooked food and packages sent from loved ones back home have helped alleviate the homesickness.  Not to mention the traditional black and white films, It’s A Wonderful Life and White Christmas.  Oh and Love Actually, except that one is in color.

My Christmas Eve was non-traditional in that it did not include breakfast with my sisters and dad, church service, and a dinner out on the town.  Instead I spent it at another PCV’s site with some children at an orphanage.  We took pictures on my computer and played games while they stroked my hair that they found oh so interesting.  The children’s smiles reminded me of how lucky of an opportunity I have been given.   

I will fill everyone in on the day’s events in a later post.  This was just a short and simple post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Time To Play Catch (Up)

After an 18-day adventure of living out of a hiking backpack in a school dormitory, hostels, and hotels, I am back just in time to leave again for the holidays.  Oh December! 

Prepare yourself… This is a long one!  Okay?  Go!

From November 30^th to December 8^th I was working at National Camp GLOW (Girl’s Leading Our World) as a counselor.  Up until this point, I felt like my work in Uganda has been minimal and quite frankly, not all that practical and sustainable.  Peace Corps reminds us that change takes time and to remain patient but when you work day in and day out to educate Ugandans on healthy practices, all you want to see is a cluster of school-aged children around a borehole washing their hands with soap or mothers breastfeeding their newborns rather than giving them a Coke.  (Yes.  This does occur).   Well, camp changed my attitude. 

During the two-day counselor training I found out that I would be working with Eunice, my Ugandan co-counselor, and that together we would be responsible for the rhinos.  Each counselor pair was assigned an animal group and upon finding out what we had Eunice came to me and said, “Ah!  Tara!  I have been asking around and researching what sound a rhino makes.  I do not know!  Are they silent?!  What will we do?”  For those that may be curious as to why this is important is because camp is full of chants, cheers, and songs.  I said, “Eunice, do not fear.  What kinda, sorta rhymes with rhino?  GLOW!  And we are at Camp GLOW so for the meantime we will chant, ‘Who GLOWS?  Rhinos!’”  This was a hit and after the girl’s arrived, we came up with plenty of more chants, cheers, and songs. 

Camp started on the 2^nd with the arrival of 180 girls from all around the country.  We welcomed them with t-shirts, games, posters, manuals, and icebreakers galore.  It was a flashback to move-in day when I was a Resident Advisor.  I reminisced.  Eunice and I were blessed to work with 11 rhinos, who started off shy, timid, and still inside their bubbles.  By day two of camp, Eunice and I couldn’t convince them with anything to get back inside their bubbles.    

Camp was filled with sessions surrounding topics of teamwork, life skills, income generating activities, and healthy living.  We talked about gender roles, nutrition, how to make pita bread, female health, malaria, assertiveness, in addition to many others.  The topics we talked about are not always conveyed to these young girls in the village so we were able to educate and empower them to go back home with this new information. 

I led a session on self-esteem, which was very empowering to witness.  Many Ugandan girls are told that they cannot accomplish their dreams and that their destiny is to marry young and become mothers.  To witness the girls in my session write positive words about themselves, to visualize their dreams and to know that they can do it was beyond inspirational.  I also had them write down on a piece of paper something they were told by someone else that they could not do or something they fear doing.  That night at dinner I gave a mini speech and together, we threw the fears into a fire.  This symbolization of their fears turning into smoke and ash meant that nothing was holding them back and they could do anything. 

The week continued with activities, guest speakers, movies, a talent show, nighttime capture the flag, and a dance party.  We also had a field day with the boys from Camp BUILD (Boys In Uganda In Leadership Development), which included the limbo, volleyball, an obstacle course, in addition to others.  

At the closing ceremony, this is what I left my rhinos with.  “After being in this country for almost seven months, I started to question my purpose.  Well, I no longer have to after spending a week with all of you.  Throughout camp I have seen you all come out of your shells, help others, and become the leaders you were born to become.  Each and every one of you have inspired me to continue work back in my village.  Each and every one of you have made a lasting impact on my life.  Each and every one of you are special individuals who have the capacity to continue what you have learned here at camp back home.  I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you grow into a GLOW girl!”

If you want to read more, here is the camp blog: http://glowuganda2012.blogspot.com/ and an article written about the camp:

http://www.thecommunityagenda.com/new/index.php/community/68-peace-corps-hold-girls-empowerment-camp

It was also decided at camp who would be the directors of National Camp GLOW 2013.  Well, it looks like I will be a busy bee because yours truly along with two other fabulous Volunteers will be heading up those positions.  I am very excited to once again be involved in an event that in my mind is one of the best things that we do as Peace Corps Volunteers.

Well that concludes the first 10-days of my adventure.  After this I traveled to Entebbe, quite possibly my favorite “city” in Uganda.  We celebrated the joint birthday of two Volunteers with pizza and cold beer.  We then moved on to Kampala, where many people were getting their mid-service medical exams but I had a VAC meeting with Administration.  After taking in a movie in an air-conditioned theater, I began my two-day meeting (Sunday and Monday), with Peace Corps.  I then had all day Tuesday to explore the ins and outs of the country’s capital with my friend Kat.  We started the morning off with café lattes, then found a 2-for-1-pizza deal for lunch, and ended the day with soft serve ice cream.  In between our Taste of Kampala tour we shopped for Christmas presents, which resulted in a Santa suit for her and a yoga mat for me. 

On Wednesday I was presenting a session to the new group of trainees on living with a Ugandan family during their time at homestay.  I only got to meet half the group as the education sector facilitates their training differently.  What I can say is that the group of individuals I met were awesome and to see their energy and excitement about Peace Corps and Uganda rejuvenated me.  After that training session, four of the Volunteers still in town and I took in The Little Donkey.  AKA Mexican food.  Delicious Mexican food.  We are talking quesadillas, burritos, tortilla chips, fish tacos, chimichangas, and margaritas with salt on the glass rim.  If you visit, we will go here and it’ll give Mi Pueblo a run for its money!

After my trip in Kampala I then journeyed back to the Southwest down to Rukungiri District (where I may be moving, more on that later though), where I helped with a belayed World AIDS Day Event on December 15.  World AIDS Day is on December 1 but with a majority of us at Camp, we decided to postpone.  We applied for a grant and received $500USD.  This allowed us to purchase tents, rent space from a church in town, and get all of our necessary materials.  Two days before the event, Candy, Kendra, and I were on the radio where we used our Runyankore language skills to talk about the event.  The following day as we shopped in town for fabric, glue, paper, rope, rubber rings, soda, and stakes, everyone recognized us by our voices and started to refer to us by our Runyankore names.  People in shops we didn’t even go in to, vendors at the market, men driving by in the back of a pick-up truck would shout, “Eh Kyomuhendo and Businge!  I heard you on Rukungiri Radio!  You were great!”

The day started out with a damper as the skies darkened with rain clouds.  With the creativity of PCV’s, we were able to accommodate and adjust, making the necessary changes to have a wonderful event that would accommodate approximately 300 people of all ages.  We chose to focus our event on general health, with an AIDS focus of course.  We had educational sessions on malaria, WATSAN (water and sanitation), nutrition, and HIV/AIDS.  After each session, we then had carnival games set up that the participants could engage in, as long as they correctly answered questions about the subject matter.  The prize?  Sweeties.  Candy.  We also had free testing and counseling, drama from a local village group and TASO (The AIDS Support Organization), speeches, and a raffle. 

On the trip back to site after the event, I made one short stop along the way to visit the new trainees who would be joining us down in the Southwest, as they were beginning their regional satellite language training.  We met at a local restaurant and over drinks we were able to learn more about the group of nine.  They are awesome and I am excited to have them join what I think is one of the best regions in the country… Not like I am biased or anything.  We were able to answer questions, ease fears, and plan for Christmas. 

I left the restaurant excited for what the future holds… A new group of Volunteers, directing a National Camp, a possible new site, a new year, fresh beginnings, and a rejuvenated sense of self. 

Unfortunately this came to a quick halt when I got my first experience of being sick in Uganda.  Nothing that a bowl of chicken noodle soup, throat lozenges, and liters upon liters of water couldn’t fix. 

P.S. If you ever have questions about life in Uganda, want more details, or have ideas on a post, please feel free to comment or email me!