Tuesday, April 27, 2010

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.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Happiness

“If you are not growing, you’re dead.”

So I was talking with a good friend of mine here in Uganda today and this quote came up in our conversation.

We were talking about the importance of the work we are doing here. We were both struggling with just how big an impact we could make. Asking each other questions such as “So what if I teach these kids math and physics? What difference will it make in their lives?” or “So what if this man expands his business a little more this year, he is still going to be living in poverty for most likely the rest of his life.”

In a country that has an estimated unemployment rate of 60%, opportunities are few. Even for the students who manage to make it past A level and go on to university. So what impact can we as volunteers really have?

Well, there wasn’t a real clear answer to these questions, unfortunately. But what the conversation boiled down to was this, “If you are not growing, you’re dead.”

Growth can be defined in many ways. One can grow his mental capacity, one can grow his revenue, one can grow by approaching the same problem a different way, one can grow by opening the mind to a new experience. It is not the relative scale in which progress is taking place, but the fact that it is taking place at all. That is the key. Continuous improvement – at any level, is better than none at all. It sounds pretty simple, but I had to stop and think about this for quite a while.

So progress (and people) are like plants, if they are not growing, they are dead. Who are the dead people walking among us? Stay away from them! We must focus on the living!

And that is what we are here to do. That is why we are here. To unlock some of the potential that exists in fantastic abundance. To build capacity, not wealth. Wealth is the result of progress and increased capacity. So many people see money as the end goal, when really it is the result of pursuing something with intensity. It is like a promotion, you shouldn’t seek the promotion, you should seek the personal growth in yourself, and the promotion will follow.

My mind was put to rest. Phew.

So I’ve been reading this book and it has also been helping me discover a new kind of peace in my life. It has been a great experience. It is difficult to describe, but reading this book and living in Uganda for the past two months have already reshaped my perspective on life in general.

When I was living in the states, I sometimes felt like the life I was leading was one based on selfishness. I got good grades and went to college so I could get a good job and make money. And even joining the Peace Corps. What really was my internal reason for coming here? Was it to help Uganda? Or was it to build an experience into my life I know I would never forget and would cherish forever? The latter sounds a bit selfish. Not so?

Today, I realize that none of that is important. What matters, are the decisions you make based on your experiences, beliefs, values, education, etc. And how these decisions ultimately affect your own personal happiness and ability to perform whatever it is you were born or chose to do.

The decisions you make determine your level of your ability to enjoy your work and work hard at it. And there is nothing selfish about that pursuit (granted there are some exemptions). Every soul is endowed with such challenges. And it is certainly a challenge, one of my biggest.

What is my job? Well Peace Corps has made it quite clear for me, I am here…

TO LEARN
To learn from the Ugandans about their way of life, to learn from teachers about Ugandan education, to learn why things are the way they are, and why they aren’t the way they aren’t

TO TEACH
To teach Ugandans about our way of life, to teach math, to teach physics, to teach Ugandans why they should do things a certain way, to teach them why they shouldn’t do them a certain way

TO SUPPORT
My fellow PCVs, the road can be difficult for all of us at times – getting Giardia, getting food poisoning, being stared at 24/7 and called “muzungu” wherever you go, dealing with the cockroaches, the heat, the insane taxis and buses, adjusting to no power, water, toilet, and the smells – mmmmm the smells…can all wear on us

I will close by leaving you with an excellent reading by John Gardner.



(read slowly)



(and with reflection)




MEANING

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it passes on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success and failure is of less account.






Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Hey Everyone!

Fantastic news from the Peace Corps Uganda world. We received our site placements yesterday. I'm going to be in a small town called Kamuge. I will be teaching math and physics at Kamuge High School.

The town looks to be about 10k east of Pallisa and about 40k outside the major city of Mbale. I'm really happy and excited with where I have been placed.

So I'm in Kampala today. I will travel to Kamuge tomorrow for my initial site visit. I will get to see my future home and meet my counterpart and supervisor. I will also get a tour of the school I will be teaching at.

I have so much to write and update you all with. My mind is filled with too many thoughts to distill in this internet cafe. I will try and write again soon.

Cheers,
Joe

P.S. - Here are two more random pictures I managed to upload.



My fantastic host sisters, Fina and Sala



This enormous wasp that decided to fly into our room one day in Kidetok. Score: Joe - 1, Wasp - 0