Nyakyera

A big hello from the team in Nyakyera (pronounced ‘Nya-chera’). We’ve been at camp (where we’ll be living most of the time) since Monday evening. A few years ago, the church at Nyakyera donated some land to ACTS. It’s a square compound with a rough wooden fence all around. My team members and I live in big, olive green safari tents on wooden platforms. Two beds, a table, and my tote fit comfortably in my tent. The team is lucky – since there aren’t many of us, we don’t have to share. It is very peaceful here, and I enjoy reading in the evenings. Here, it is usually cool until 10 am, then hot until 6pm, and then is cooler in the evenings. I like everything about camp except the big, black spiders that scuttle around the long-drop at night – shudder. Matt likes to squash them with his hiking boots, and Melanie and I give him lots of encouragement. Doom (hard core bug spray) is my new best friend.

The villages surrounding Nyakyera are pretty rural, much less developed than Mbarara, and most of the houses are made with mud and thatch. In terms of the landscape, it’s quite hilly and green, and there are fields everywhere full of corn, potatoes, and banana trees. Grace informed me that the banana trees (about 8-12 feet tall on average) grow to maturity in only a few months. They are very strange looking trees, with giant, drooping leaves that look like green quills. The people in the villages are poor. You know those photos you sometimes see of children with ripped, dirty clothes and flies on their faces? I've definitely seen some of those around here. Still, most seem very happy, and are often to be seen playing soccer with a home-made ball. Soccer is very popular here, and the kids know many more soccer teams than I do.

During our first day here in Nyakyera (Tuesday), we explored a few nearby villages. In the morning, we drove up to the top of a valley to examine a water tank ACTS had built for a needy widow. The roads are very poor and extremely rocky. Apparently in December, they had a lot of rain, which damaged washed away most of the roads. As a result, we were jiggled and jostled to bits on the way up, and the trucks stalled every few minutes. I think we’d have been faster going up on horseback, but I was very impressed with the drivers. Still, we have had a couple of problems already – one of the trucks broke down on the way to Nyakyera, and another ended up in the ditch when part of the road caved in. We had to cut some tracks for it with hoes and used ropes to help guide it back up. Everyone always says that travel by road is the number one killer of white people in Uganda, and I’m starting to see why…

The people here are very friendly, with dark brown skin and big smiles. ACTS has trained several Ugandans to conduct data collection and to manage projects while David is away. As for the food, it’s been pretty good so far. At seven is breakfast, lunch is at one or later, tea is at five, and dinner at 7:30pm. Breakfast is light, with bread, bananas, and milky chai tea, which I rather like. For lunch and dinner, there is a buffet of rice, matoche, beans, pineapple, peanut sauce, cabbage, potatoes, and sometimes vegetables and boiled eggs. Nancy keeps saying how lucky we are – how in the ‘old days’ all they got was beans and rice. I like the vegetables and the fruit, as well as g-nuts, which are similar to salted peanuts. But I do miss cheese and chocolate, which are delicacies here.

The engineers have started making preparations for their work, testing the equipment to see if it’s accurate, and examining models of pipelines and tanks to get an idea of what sorts of water projects will work here. They’ve also been busy fixing things at camp. I’m starting to realize that although I do not understand their fascination with math, physics, and how things work, engineers are awfully useful to have around. Nancy has been busy meeting with students, teachers, and parents about her scholarship stuff. Sometimes Michelle helps, as she really likes children. As for Tim and I, we’ve accompanied David at a few meetings with church leaders and such. David often introduces me as his ‘daughter from his village’ or as ‘the daughter of a priest,’ which seems to impress most people.

I think I am starting to understand a bit more about International Development already. One of the most important things to realize is that things take time. The roads are awful, cars break down, and, most importantly, people function on ‘African time’ (meaning they are always a few hours late – they are not fussed with getting things done quickly – their motto seems to be ‘what doesn’t get done today will get done tomorrow.’ They are not lazy, they just function at a slower pace). Also, the meetings here take forever – they meet (late, and it’s always hot), sometimes take communion, spend nearly an hour introducing everyone (as I’ve already mentioned, greetings are huge here), then they pray, then they sometimes break for tea, and THEN the meeting starts, which can last hours (and is longer when they have a translator for us). Things also take longer sometimes because of the linguistic barriers. All in all, it’s a bit of a shock for us Westerners. I’ve been really impressed with David’s patience. I usually keep myself awake by taking notes, or, if the meeting is in Runyankore, I attempt to write poetry. If I didn’t have an imagination, I’d probably go bonkers. But meetings are very important in this kind of work – people, and quite rightly so, often get offended if they are not consulted. So we meet with the individual clergymen, then with the important ones in a group (the Church seems to be the main source of social aid here), then with those who have been involved in previous water projects (Ugandan project managers), and then with important people in the villages, and so on. Between attending meetings and writing project proposals, it’s a wonder David has time for anything else.

            So, that’s about it for now. On Saturday, a couple of Americans will be arriving at camp to help out for a month. And on Monday, David says my work will start intensively (although I’m still not quite sure what my ‘work’ will entail.) You might notice that I don’t have any pictures up – that’s largely because internet is very spotty and slow here. I am taking photos, and I will upload them if I get the chance, but it doesn’t look too probable at this stage. So for now, you’ll just have to make do with my descriptions.

Until next week,

Erica

Uganda!

Well, Uganda is wonderful so far. The plane rides took a long time, but we got here eventually, safe and sound. Also, all our luggage (a considerable amount) arrived too, and I got upgraded to business class for no apparent reason, which was greatly appreciated. We arrived at Entebbe airport at about 10:30 in the evening of the 17^th. As soon as I got off the plane, I was hit by a wave of heat and humidity. It was almost like someone had pressed a wet, hot cloth over my face. After clearing customs and meeting our team leader, David Moore (David went to Uganda two weeks before us), we piled our suitcases into a couple of trucks and drove to a hotel on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. 

My team-members and I spent the next day exploring Kampala. People often call it a ‘dirty city,’ but I didn’t find it especially so. We also gained a new team member – Grace, a Ugandan woman (mid-twenties). Grace has recently completed a Masters in International Development in the UK and was looking for an internship opportunity, so David asked her to come. I’m quite pleased – she adds an interesting dynamic to our Canadian group and is very helpful in translating and helping us incompetent muzungu (‘white people’ – similar to ‘gringo’ in Latin countries) learn the ropes.

            After our day in Kampala, we started the long drive to Mbarara. The trip is supposed to take six hours, but it took much longer because of all the stops we made. Still, I didn’t mind. It was a great way to get a proper look at the countryside. Of course, we had to clear Kampala first. It was very congested, with traffic advancing at a crawl and boda-bodas (little motorcycles that give lifts to people for a price – women ride on these side-saddle, and it’s absolutely amazing that they don’t fall off) weaving through cars and trucks with reckless abandon (and I do mean reckless – it’s one of the most unsafe ways to travel – many people are killed in accidents on these things).

Once we left Kampala, we were able to drive much faster. Most people say that the Ugandan countryside is much nicer than its cities, and I have to agree with them. The first thing I noticed was the difference in colour – in Canada, most of the landscape is made up of greens, blues, purples and such. In Uganda, there are more browns, reds, and yellows, although there is a fair bit of green what with the lush ferns, fertile fields, and palm trees. Also, the dirt roads are red – just like in PEI – which are lovely, although they are very dusty.

Mbarara is slightly cooler than Kampala, I think, and mercifully less humid. It is still hot, though. We have been here a couple of days (we are staying at ‘Canada House,’ a compound that ACTS owns – there are several rooms full of bunk beds for us). Yesterday was a day full of lectures. In the morning, we had a 4-hour language lesson in Runyankore, one of the dialects in Uganda (I think there are about 40 in all; fortunately, many people speak at least some English), which was rather overwhelming. Edson, our teacher, impressed upon us the importance of greetings in Ugandan culture. Over here, if you pass by someone without greeting them and later need their help, they will not talk to you (neglecting to greet someone is very rude). As a result, there are many, many different kinds of greetings (which I have already forgotten), but the one I remember is ‘Agandi’ (‘how are you?’) to which one can reply ‘nimarungi’ (‘I’m fine’). In the afternoon, a Ugandan professor gave a long lecture about Ugandan culture. According to her, community and relationships are everything to Ugandans – people take care of their relatives and neighbours whenever they can so that when they themselves are in need, they will be helped. Anyone who does not assist a relative in need is regarded with disgust.

As for this morning, Melanie and I attempted to do laundry by hand, but Grace informed us we weren’t doing it right and promptly showed us the proper way to do it. I watched and copied her scrubbing and squeezing method. I thought I was getting the hang of it and was about to say so when Grace shook her head and said ‘you’re trying.’ Ah well…

That’s about it for now – it’s been quite an exciting few days. I get the feeling that David is trying to acclimatize us to Uganda before throwing us into our work, which I’m thankful for. As for Ugandan food, I can’t really say much about it yet – Nancy says they’ve been spoiling us this week, but that will change at ‘camp.’ All in all, I really like my team-mates, and am looking forward to starting the actual volunteer work on Monday.

Until next time,

Erica