Rural, Rural Uganda

Takwano!  

Takwano is “Hello” in Kupsabin, which is the language spoken in the Kapchorwa region. I feel like my Luganda is getting rusty really fast now that I am not surrounded by Baganda. Unfortunately since I have already taken my language exam, I will probably never exercise my Lugandan skills again. Reminds me a little of high school.

I think after three weeks here this small town is getting used to seeing three muzungus around. However, the level of harassment has heightened as we’ve gone further into rural Uganda. If I don’t find a husband before I’m 40, I’m moving back here where lots of men want to marry me.  Just kidding. We have been making good friends with the hostel staff, the clerk at the general store down the street and the internet “café” owner (I say “café” because it is literally a room with 4 computers separated by wooden boards, no beverages included).

Our hostel has turned into a dorm-like living area. Sam and I share a full-sized bed, equipped with a bright blue canopy-style bug-net. Because we have no choice but to do our own laundry, we rarely have clean clothes and our sink, shower and toilet don’t work between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm. I’m getting pretty used to the food though. Rice, chapatti and muchomo (fried beef) for every meal is past the point of old and has become appetizing again.

My internship has not picked up much since the last entry, but I went on a really awesome site visit the other day with Joseph. He knew I wanted to interview a farmer/member of KACOFA, so he planned to take me down to one of the biggest farm plots on Thursday. When I got to KACOFA, I expected to see Joseph ready in a car, but he waiting for me on his boda. It took an hour and a half to get to the farm and the whole way we were driving down a very bumpy and windy dirt road DOWN Mount Elgon. It was so steep that Joseph had to ask me to get off and walk a few times, as the boda might flip over with our combined weight. Really safe. Luckily, the views were absolutely unbelievable the whole ride. It’s days like that which remind me why I’m here and why I decided to spend my practicum time out east. Having to stop the boda in the middle of the road because a herd of cows is crossing the path makes me smile every time. Unfortunately, I chose to wear a skirt that day, which made for an uncomfortable ride for the two of us as I had to hug his waist the whole combined 3 hours down and back up the mountain. When we got to the farm, Joseph first showed me the fields where they grow barley, maize and tomatoes. Even though it’s the rainy season and has been raining two times daily, it’s still a lighter rainy season than normal so crops like maize and barley are suffering in the flatlands below Mount Elgon. Because of this, KACOFA trains farmers to grow different types of crops so they have an alternative source of income. For the particular region we were in, the most appropriate crop to grow was tomatoes. I found out that this farm alone supplies most of the tomatoes sold in Kampala, which I thought was pretty neat!

Mt. Elgon faces Mt. Kadam, which is in Moroto, Uganda. It is a BEASTLY mountain that can be seen from almost every point on Mt. Elgon. Since the early 1900’s there were groups of people who would come to these areas in the flatlands between the mountains (where I was) and cattle rustle. They would come at night to the villages and steal their cattle and kill the villagers. As a result, these areas were completely abandoned and only began to be resettled in the past 5 years. Because of this, the land has not been touched for more than 70 years. KACOFA is very proud to own so much of this land because of how fertile and rich it is. Only 1/50^th of it is actually being used at this point because people are just beginning to inhabit the area again, but they will continue to expand with time. As the village is so young, the homes are primarily temporary and look the same: circular mud (cow dung) huts with grass roofs. I love them1

With the frequent, violent rain storms Sam and I have been laying low and watching movies in our hostel in our down time. We had bought a few seasons of whatever pirated American shows and movies we could find being sold on the streets of Kampala before we came. We have now watched Veronica Mars (half of) seasons 1 and 2, Community seasons 1 and 2, How I Met Your Mother seasons 6 and 7, Coraline, Hugo, and a Disney package of Shrek, Madagascar and Toy Story. We were also excited to find a hidden stash of movies on my lap top  (which is my Dad’s) including: It’s Complicated, Lost in Translation, Notting Hill, Wimbledon, Star Wars episodes of Family Guy and a few British version episodes of The Office. Score! Thanks Dad J

Aside from watching TV last weekend, we went to visit our friend Eileen, who is living with a family in Kapchorwa. She lives up in Tegeres, where I lived during my rural homestay with Sam. Eileen’s homestay mom, Juliet, was so excited that we were visiting and prepared a feast for us of home-slaughtered chicken and a massive plate of rice. Even though I think both my tastes and standards have changed since being here, the meal was delicious. After eating, we went on a hike to the caves near their house. We were accompanied by about 30 of the neighborhood children. I think they just wanted a good laugh, and to show off as they ran up the hills in bare feet and we struggled behind them in flip flops. The cave was SO COOL. It was filled with huge bats (which the kids like to knock down with rocks and show me up close… kind of scary), cow poop and pools of water. Juliet told us that back when the cow hustlers would come to areas of Mt. Elgon, farmers would bring their cows into the caves at night to hide.

Aside from practicum and our few adventures, I have been electronically communicating with my friend Jessamy (who is spending her practicum in Gulu, Uganda) in coordinating our trip to Kenya. After the program ends in a few weeks, we are spending ten days in Kenya before heading back to America. Updates on our plans, coming soon!

That’s all for now! Katabon (“thank you”) for reading!

P.s. Pictures to follow in a week or two when I am back in Kampala. It's too difficult to upload them with such slow internet.