Gone da Uganda: Eastern Excursion

Hello my mukwanos!

I am home from my best week abroad so far and have lots of fun and awesome stories to tell you all! The past week was spent in eastern Uganda in Jinja, Mbale and Kapchorwa. The further east you go, the more rural and mountainous it gets… and thus the more I loved it!

We spent the first night in Mbale, which has an amazing view of Mount Elgon. The next day we spent in Mbale doing site visits. I went to TASO, which stands for The AIDS Support Organization. This was one of many branches in Uganda. It’s completely Ugandan run though it is funded almost entirely from foreign aid (primarily from the US). The TASO drum group greeted us with singing and dancing. Their songs were educational in order to teach us about AIDS, prevention of AIDS and TASO. I was glad to see that TASO is such a successful support system for these individuals living positive. It was inspiring to see them so happy and supportive of one another. By the end we were all dancing with the members of the group!

Next we drove further to Kapchorwa. The drive through the mountains made me want to hike so badly! Luckily, once we arrived at our hotel, we did exactly that. The hotel was more like a camp style hostel called the Crow’s Nest. It’s located on top of a mountain and faces Sipi Falls. We hiked down to the base of the waterfall and then up the other side. The base of the waterfall was unreal. The vegetation around it was so lush and green and there was a rainbow through the mist at the bottom. We all swear that we found paradise. The hike up was super steep, but it felt good to get a workout and we timed it perfectly so that we got to the other side right at sunset. That night, we explored the camp ground at the peak of our mountain and found a grassy field right at the tippy-top where we star-gazed. I have never seen so many stars in all my years of star gazing! It reminded me of Lion King when Timon and Pumba are star gazing on the field on top of hill, which made it even cooler ;)

The rural areas of Uganda are severely different from the urban. For one, many of the old traditions are still practiced including circumcision and female genital mutilation (FGM). A group of us had the opportunity to go and learn more about FGM from an anti-FGM organization as well as a group of ex-practitioners. A man named Abu from the Inter-African Committee briefed us on the history, practice and reasons for FGM. As a summary, the practice began because the people living in Kapchorwa used to be pastoralists. Men would go away for extended periods of time and come back to find their wives were pregnant. In order to prevent this, they began the practice of cutting the most sensitive parts of the female genitalia thinking that they would become more loyal as a result. There were also many spiritual reasons behind the practice. As time went on it became a huge social stigma and girls were completely shunned if they were not cut. In addition, the practice was a large income-generating method for those who performed the cutting. In the past few years, laws have been passed against FGM and all parties involved, including the cutter, the girl being cut as well as the parents who are paying for the procedure) are arrested if they do not abide. However, because it was such a recent and abrupt change, the ideas surrounding FGM still exist and the incentives for women to be involved still exist and therefore the practice has gone underground.

We went to a village to speak to a group of old women who are ex-practitioners. They are the ones who used to perform the cutting. We asked them questions about how they felt about the new rules and what challenges they face now that they have had to stop. The answers we got did not correlate with what Abu had told us and I am sure it was because Abu was not only present for the group interview, but he was the one translating. This is a common obstacle we face in our research here. We are often looking at areas of development that may be touchy subjects and when we have authority members with us, or perhaps because we are white and therefore are “rich” and “powerful”, their answers are often tainted. However, what they did tell us was that their main challenge is finding a new source of income because up until last year, they had relied on FGM as their financial means. We asked if the Inter-African Committee was offering any services to facilitate this issue and they told us “no”. It’s a controversial issue because although there are obvious problems with the cultural practice, it was such an engrained part of the culture. After it was banned, I feel it is the responsibility of the government to offer and enforce services in order to ease the effects. I really learned a lot on this visit, but I still feel like I only got a taste of this issue.

Now comes the best part of the week: the rural homestay. We were all paired off and dropped off at different homes in villages around Kapchorwa. I was paired with my friend Sam. To get to our home from the road, we had to hike up to the top of the mountain with our bags. The view from our home was unbelievable. We were surrounded by coffee and matooke fields. We were told to bring our family a practical gift. Naturally we brought them two live chickens. My family had 5 cows (two of which were pregnant), two dogs, a kitten and a million (plus two now!) chickens. A few of the highlights from the few days we spent there included:

1. Fetching water by carrying the jug on my head. They gave us the small jugs and it still killed my neck and arms (which I had to use to hold it up). Our Mama was carrying one twice the size by her side as well as balancing one on her head without hands. Blown away.

2. Slaughtering a chicken and eating it for dinner. It’s true that chickens can run around for about 5 minutes after they die. The one we killed was the meanest rooster they had and as we ate it with our matooke and rice for dinner, we felt like we were getting revenge.

3. Bucket-bathing under the stars. Best bath I’ve ever had, even though I’m sure I was no cleaner after it. The air is a lot cooler at night in the east, which is a nice change from hot and humid Kampala.

4. Hiking around our village and finding a cave. Apparently they bring the cows there for shelter when it rains a lot.

5. Walking through the village to research coffee production and marketing. We happened upon the LC1 (local chairman), who is the local government leader of our village, and we were able to interview him on the effect coffee farming has had on the village.

6. Seeing how homebrew/grain alcohol is made. In our further coffee production research, we found a small-scale commercial coffee farm. We got a breakdown of the entire process of coffee production and at the end sat and drank their homegrown coffee and bananas with our new friend. On our tour of the farm, we found the neighbors brewing something in huge metal cans and found out it was grain alcohol. They explained and showed us the process and then let us have a taste of the final product. Ew.

7. Riding boda bodas! Finally, we were allowed to ride bodas (without hiding it from SIT) because it’s a lot safer in rural areas. It was AWESOME.

The whole experience was absolutely amazing. I fell in love with Kapchorwa. Actually, so much that I have decided to do my internship/independent research there. Next week, we begin our six-week practicum. We will be able to go anywhere in the country to do either an internship or independent research on a topic relating to development. I’m working on setting up an internship in Kapchorwa. I will go into detail later on when it’s been finalized (crossing my fingers it works out!).

I am attaching some pictures, but there are more to come when Sam sends me hers. You might notice that my hair looks strange. It’s because my Mama twisted it before I left for the excursion. It was nice to not have to wash it and by the end it started to feel like dreads. I’m glad for this because I’ve always wondered what it would be like to dread my hair and now I feel like I have a good idea. I will never do it.

Enjoy!