Château Le Blanc

When a Volunteer finds themselves at site, often times you are the only American for miles, or rather kilometers.  Sometimes you are a three-hour taxi ride from your closest PCV, and that is on a good day.

You get used to being the only one.  You find that being the token muzungu in your community and village is comforting.  When you walk into the market, people know your name and you are treated to your typical purchases of tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, eggplant, onion, and garlic. 

You find yourself at peace and truth be told, when you see other white people, you get caught off guard and if you are like me, you experience a minor panic attack.

Where are they from?

What are they doing here? 

I remember one time in Mbarara when I was headed to Nakumatt, a fairly large supermarket housing everything from sliced cheese and deli meat to televisions and washing machines.  When I got out of the taxi I stumbled upon thirty white people taking over the staircase.  They smiled while I ran into the store like a scared puppy.  Fortunately I saw some other Peace Corps Volunteers who went out to find out more details about these whites.  They were from Europe on a vacation and were headed back home after a weeks visit to The Pearl of Africa.

I couldn’t believe it. 

I was in culture shock!

Well since I have had to move out of my home in Ishaka while I wait for a new site, I am living with another Volunteer.  Also staying here is a new PCV who recently swore-in.  It is a house somehow full of Americans.  I never thought I would be living in such proximity to other PCV’s but I cannot complain… The company is wonderful and I believe I am slowly coming over my anxiety I had built up in my 14 months in country.

Matatus, Bodas, and Bikes, Oh My!

There simply are not enough descriptive words in Webster’s Dictionary to paint a picture of how Ugandan traffic and transportation work. 

Let me begin my describing the different options one has when traveling.

First you have matatus, which I consider a death trap.  Think of the Scooby Doo van, four rows deep, each allowed to seat three passengers.  The first row though houses the conductor, putting them at four.  The front has the driver and two passengers.  Don’t let this fool you; I have contorted into a matatu with 30 other people.  Incredibly illegal but you simply pay the police off with a rukumi, 1,000 Ugandan Shillings or $0.40 cents. The back two rows of these vehicles have a metal bar over the plastic sliding windows, which is supposed to provide in structural support in the event that the car flips. A life saving mechanism and a death trap in one.  Somehow terrifying…

Then you get to bodas.  Boda bodas are little two wheeled motorcycles, or rather a hybrid of a Vespa and dirt bike.  Peace Corps Volunteers are forbidden to ride them but they provide a lot of entertainment.  These little guys carry anything and everything on them… From a family of five to a flock of chickens heading to the butcher.  Bodas zip in and out of traffic, often times defying laws of physics.

Let’s talk about bikes.  These heavy, ironclad machines are frequently used as a way to transport goods, with the person pushing the bike rather than riding it.  Large bundles of plantains hang from every possible bar, pedal, and handle.  Sometimes you can find bikes with an extra pad on the back, which means you hop on the back with your helmet and they take you to your destination.

Now don't even get me started on the roads.  

In between matatus, bodas, and bikes you have beat up pickups where you can find twenty people standing in the back to get to their destination and giant trucks with anything from rubbish, bags of coal, or cattle tied up with pieces of rope.

Transport here is a miracle. 

For a more entertaining article please read here:  Surviving Ugandan Traffic

Taxi park on a good day!

Disappearing pavement

Fourth Portal

While celebrating 4^th of July with the locals was a great way to share America, it was time to go all out with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. 

I spent the weekend in Fort Portal where an upwards of 100 Americans came together to celebrate the land of the free with good food, cold beer, and an all American music playlist. 

After a smooth ride from Bushenyi to Fort, part of which went through Queen Elizabeth National Park, we arrived.  Wearing our red, white, and blue, we began to prepare the evening’s feast of burgers, pork skewers, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, string beans, BBQ sauce, and sugar cookies.  In between slicing and dicing, we decorated the hostel with balloons, denim stars, and cheesy decorations from the land of the free. 

The night continued on with some pickup frisbee and volleyball games and catching up with Volunteers who live across the country. 

The following morning we awoke early to head into town to make it back home.  Luckily transportation was in my favor and I managed to get in contact with a friend who happened to be in the area and give us all a comfortable ride back to the Southwest.  After a delicious breakfast comprised of iced café mocha and a Korean salad with cilantro, marinated skirt steak, and string beans, we were off in a vehicle that managed to have seatbelts, working windows, and didn’t stop at every trading center to pick up more people.  It was an incredibly pleasant ride. 

Two Independence days down.

1 to go.

2015… You best be prepared for an epic reunion!

Things Are A Shakin’ Up!

When I left for Africa, I simply assumed that I would not be experience any earthquakes for 800 days. 

I assumed wrong.  Way wrong.

In the past two days Uganda has two serious shakes.  A 5.2 and 5.7, both that had plenty of aftershocks.  There was also another one in the middle of the night but this California girl slept right through that one. 

The Albertine Rift is situated in the heart of Southwest Uganda, going through Queen Elizabeth National Park and extending over to the Democratic Republic of The Congo and down to Rwanda.  It also happens to sit close to an active fault line, which also happens to sit a mere 45 kilometers, 27.9 miles, from Bushenyi. 

This means one thing.

We rock and roll when the earth decides to shake things up a bit.

The other night we were watching Jake Gyllenhaal’s new movie, Source Code, when Mother Nature decided to give us a wake up call.  For a solid forty-five to fifty seconds the floors shook and the movie looked like we were watching it through someone’s video camera who had one to many cups of coffee. 

After the excitement ended, Facebook statuses were posted, and the safety of our friends were accounted for, we were finally able to return to the movie that had me scratching my head.

Earthquakes in Uganda? 

Who would have guessed?

I guess I am not that far from home…

Red, White, and Blue!

Well it looks like someone’s birthday is today.  Someone who has allowed me to meet some incredible people.  Someone who has provided me with a wealth of resources.  Someone who has blessed me with a great family, network of friends, and luxuries that many around the world will never come to know.  Someone who has given me endless opportunities… Including Peace Corps. 

The United States.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 237^th year!

In order to properly celebrate here in Uganda, I met up with some fellow Volunteers and made enough American food to feed the country.  We also shared our American love with some of the locals. 

The menu?  Semi-cold beer.  Hamburgers with cheese, caramelized onions, and bacon, cheese bites with marinara sauce, green salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli, and potato croquettes flavored with fresh cilantro and cheese.  And pickles, which the Ugandans were not a fan of. 

While grilling and grubbing out, we shared with the Ugandans some of the traditions we have in America to celebrate our Independence Day.  I told them all about the parade with military vehicles that drive down the street and how no, they do not fire artillery into the crowd, and about the marshmallow races in Inverness.

Then they asked us to sing our National Anthem. 

We kindly declined as none of us could hit the high notes.

Instead we came up with our own anthem to the tune of Uganda’s. 

We spent the remainder of the evening listening to our iTunes “We Love America” playlist, consisting of Creedence Clearwater, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Journey, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  This resulted in us demonstrating some classic American dance moves.  You know… The sprinkler and the shopping cart. 

I think I can sufficiently say that goal two of the Peace Corps was met today: “Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.”