How long has it been since your last digestion?

So it turns out I spoke to soon when it came to the absence of any bowel emergencies. Shortly after I posted that, I came down with some nasty food poisoning and/or Giardia, woo hoo!

Needless to say, I got a picturesque Peace Corps experience that I’m sure every trainee aspires to (not), thank God for that bucket! I will spare the graphic details.

So…I’m still alive! After many hours of purging the systems, I have officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer. We swore in on April 21st at the US Ambassador’s home. It was a wonderful ceremony, attended by the ambassador, Peace Corps’ staff, along with the different host organizations that have requested Peace Corps’ assistance.

Oh…did I mention we got to go to the embassy? Bad ass! It was incredible. We also learned WHY the USG (United States Government) is spending ~ $521 MM here a year. They want to see, essentially, the same things the Ugandans want to see, a peaceful, secure, and healthy Uganda that is governed by a body that is elected in a free, accountable, and transparent manner. Sounds good right? That whole democracy thing sounds great when you condense it into one sentence.

Great, so hopefully Peace Corps is a part of that in some small way.

The next day after swearing in, I promptly left for my new post and home for the next two years. Kamuge, Pallisa, Uganda!

I have been here for a few days now and am just starting to get settled in and feel a little bit at ease with my new environment. I’m super excited about my location and the people surrounding me. They’re incredibly warm, friendly, and engaging.

I’ve got a two-bedroom unit that is ½ of a duplex house that I share with a Ugandan family of four. I have a spacious living room, a kitchen, and a bathing area. I even have a roof! No ceiling yet though. Completion on that is TBD. Pit latrine in back.

Plenty of room for a garden, so I figure I’ll throw a few seeds in the ground and see what happens. My house is sans power, sans running water. I like to think that makes me more hardcore than some of the other “volunteers”. Some volunteers have palaces!

So it turns out my new locale speaks mostly Lugwere. Of course, as you well know I have been learning Ateso for the last seven weeks. I speak almost zero Lugwere (I learned how to greet this week). I guess this is part of the flexibility part of Peace Corps. So I will learn both.

Ugandans are massive proponents of the open market. This afternoon I went furniture shopping in Pallisa Town. I was looking at a dining room table and set of chairs. The chairs were quoted at a price of 80,000 shillings, about $40. Pretty high for Uganda.

Upon hearing the price quote, my supervisor was so offended, he offered to pay exactly nothing for the chairs and then proceeded to get into a heated rapport in Lugwere that ended with our abrupt departure. It was hysterical. I did not get my chairs. Ugandans bargain for EVERYTHING.

My head teacher is a great man. I can already observe that he is very well respected in this community, my community. And I can see why. He understands how the world works and what Ugandans must do to enable progress and develop. It is such a relief to have a high quality supervisor.