Zanzibomb!

A little over a week ago, I arrived back in Uganda after spending ten days in Tanzania. Eight of those ten days were spent on the beautiful island of Zanzibar. This was my (along with about 20 other PCVs) holiday vacation.

We spent two nights in Dar Es Salaam, one night in Stone Town, and six nights in a small beach town on the east coast named Bwejju. IT. WAS. FANTASTIC.

Highlights of the trip:

*eating seafood (including octopus, squid, prawns & fish) everyday, seriously, this was probably the best seafood I've ever had

*the night seafood market in Stone Town - literally dozens of tables STACKED with seafood octopus, squid, prawns, all different kinds of fish on skewers, different types of pita bread, killer hot sauce, a plate costs $6

*the sugar cane juice - made by squeezing the liquid out of sugar cane stalks and mixing it with some type of citrus fruit (mostly limes I believe), half the fun of getting this was watching them make it with the crazy machines they used to squeeze out the juice, it was great

*being in a majority Muslim part of the world - this was my first time being in a Muslimish part of the world and I really appreciated the different setting from the mainly Christian Uganda atmosphere I am used to

*Zanziball - a bocce ball like beach game played with coconuts created by our group the first day we arrived

*chilling with a fantastic groups of people for 10 days - we seriously have a great group and I'm going to miss them and these times so much when our service is over

*watching the sunrise from the beach outside our bungalow on New Year's Day - we didn't get home til 4am that night so we figured we'd stay up a few more hours and watch the first sunrise of 2012

*swimming & skinny dipping in the Indian Ocean! - enough said

*morning runs on the beach

*going snorkeling - I've been snorkeling before, so this was mostly a highlight because in order to get out to the area to snorkel, we had to board this super ghetto dhow boat, which I had never seen or heard of before. it was awesome. aside from the fact that our pilot spoke almost no English, was half insane, half completely hilarious and nearly getting a concussion from the flying boom attached to the uncontrollably flapping sail, it was great! but seriously this boat (and boat ride) was amazing. one of those times where you really take in the beauty of this earth and how lucky you are to be in this moment.

Every time I travel it's the small things I enjoy the most. We didn't have to do much of the tourist type stuff. It was the people, the food and the unique experiences to that period of time that made the trip great.

Christmas Staycation

I spent Christmas at my site, in my home, with my neighbors and my friend John. Last year I was not in Kamuge for Christmas and I was curious how the holiday would pass in my village. It appeared to pass just like any other day, but our festivities in my home made it one that I will remember for a long time.

As some of you know I have five neighbor kids whom I get along with really well. So for Christmas we celebrated together. For gifts, I used a lot of the school supplies that had been sent to me from friends and family back home (thank you guys!) as well as some candies I had bought here locally. John purchased cookies and other treats for his contribution.

We created separate "gift zones" for each of the five kids: Junior, Sam, Omolo, Patience and Joann (that's Jo-ahn). We designated a spot for each kid on the table and put their respective gifts there along with a Post-It note with each of their names on them.

Getting the kids organized and together was somewhat of a challenge that morning as they spent a long time preparing for church, bathing, putting clean clothes on, cleaning their shoes, etc. It took a long time. And all the while John and I were telling them that we needed them to get together and come inside the house. So they knew something was up but they were definitely all pretty confused as to what specifically.

Finally, we got them all together and let them in to see their gifts. Their faces immediately turned to huge smiles and they all began clapping and cheering simultaneously in excitement. They were so happy. It was truly a special time for all of us. Just to see their faces light up and explode with joy. And to such minimal gifts. Literally we gave them school supplies (pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers), candies, cookies, and that's it. But it was more than enough for them.

We ate very well that entire weekend. Our meals consisted of huge servings of meat, pork, millet bread, and rice. After our Christmas meal, the kids brought out a huge plate of cookies for dessert. These were the very cookies that we had gifted to them just a few hours ago! And here they were offering them back up to us and each other. Such selflessness! I was and continue to be overwhelmed with the kindness that they show.

It was a great day in Kamuge. But to us Americans, Christmas came and went in a flash. At no point did it ever really feel like the festive season or Christmas at all. Maybe it was the lack of cold weather, Christmas trees/music/movies/lights, egg nog, fireplaces, etc. But we didn't notice or feel it at all. I think that made it easier to be gone away from the states for Christmas. We just didn't think about it. Still, it was a great day and one that I will cherish for years to come.

MAH LAIR EEE UHH

In mid-December, I fell sick. On an ever so enjoyable taxi ride into Mbale Town, I began to feel incredibly cold and weak. This was unusual considering it was at least 80 degrees outside and we had at least 20 people crammed into this taxi that is designed to carry 14. Luckily I was with my friend John who provided his sweater and some friction to try to warm me up. It wasn't very successful.

Upon reaching Mbale, I proceeded to jump out of the taxi, fully don the sweater, and topped it off with my jacket. Sitting in the scorching Ugandan sun. I was still freezing. The problem was I had a fever of 104 F at the same time. We decided to go to the hospital.

After running a urinalysis and blood work. I tested positive for malaria. And I was actually happy that they had figured out what it was. Based on what they had told us about malaria in training, I knew I had an unpleasant 24 hours ahead of me.

The first line treatment they recommend to us for malaria here in Uganda is Coartem. I started my first dose immediately. The next 24 hours consisted of me laying in bed at a cheap hotel alternating between periods of extreme cold and extreme heat. Sweating in bed. Freezing in bed. Taking ice cold showers to reduce my fever and sitting in front the fan almost completely naked, and then bundling up completely with full clothing and two comforters. Shivering uncontrollably. Feeling extremely weak with headache. And then feeling better again.

I guess that's how malaria goes. It gets good then it gets bad again. I started coming out of it during the second night only to come down with stomach problems and more fever. By the third day I was pretty much rid of symptoms, but still weak. One more token Peace Corps experience to check off the list!

BUILDing it Up!

December 4th through the 11th marked the first annual Camp BUILD and second annual Camp GLOW in Uganda. BUILD is an acronym that stands for Boys of Uganda In Leadership Development. And that's exactly what it was, a leadership camp. The female counterpart was GLOW or Girls Leading Our World.

I had the rewarding opportunity to participate in Camp BUILD as a counselor. This meant that I, along with my Ugandan counterpart Lewis, was responsible for leading a team of 10 adolescent males from all different parts of Uganda. The camp consisted of about 150 Ugandan boys nominated by different PCVs throughout Uganda. They were selected based on their academic performance and leadership potential, as witnessed by the PCVs in their respective villages.

The idea was to spend one week with these boys, arming them with the tools and knowledge to be better leaders, and then bring that knowledge and those leadership skills home to their villages and share it with their communities. This experience turned out to be one of the most rewarding and fun weeks of my Peace Corps service. I'm so happy I did it.

Another great thing was that I was able to send six boys and four girls to the respective camps from my village. So they can bring this back home to our school and their villages when all is said and done.

Each day the teams participated in sessions on personal health, conflict resolution, communication, water & sanitation, environmental stewardship, and many others. The idea was that we were BUILDING each one of these areas in Uganda's male youth.

BUILD yourself

BUILD your community

BUILD your health

BUILD your environment

BUILD Uganda

By far my favorite parts of the week were sitting down with my boys and discussing these topics after each session. Together, with my amazing counterpart Lewis, we would sit down and review the important concepts of each topic discussed.

On the second evening, we invited a local drama production to come and do some performances for us. We invited the girls from Camp GLOW over to the BUILD side. The drama had to do with domestic violence and women's rights in the home. The event turned out to be little short of a complete disaster. With the boys pitted against the girls on every little action that took place. The boys erupting in cheers and applause when the man in the play pretended to beat the woman or rape her. While the girls screamed and clapped every time the woman stood up for herself (a good thing).

Needless to say it was not our intent to spur such a competitive and primitive exchange between the two sexes. But what was a great thing to come out of it was the opportunity to sit down the next morning and discuss with our teams what had happened the night before. The opportunity to address these issues face to face with these boys. These are very serious issues and can often times be buried or masked in everyday Ugandan life. Domestic violence and sexual abuse is a huge problem here. And many times it just isn't talked about. The events of that evening exposed just how serious the problem was.

Sitting down and having this discussion with my boys was incredible. Of course none of them admitted that they actually thought domestic violence or sexual abuse was right. And maybe they were telling the truth. I personally think they were. But you can never know. But just to have the opportunity to sit down and motivate and inspire these young men to do better was transcending.

"You, as young men in your communities, have to decide today what kind of leaders you are going to become. Are you going to be a man who accepts and promotes domestic violence in his home? Who rapes his wife? Who beats his children? Or are you going to build a home based on mutual love, respect, and honesty."

Whether these words fell on deaf ears or whether they truly hit home will never be known. But to be a small part in these boys development was more than I needed to feel absolutely thrilled for the week.

And just the small, day-to-day interactions with my boys were awesome as well. The opportunity to encourage them in everything that they did and love on them in a way they hardly ever get in a country where kids are often times treated as second class citizens is by far one of the best things about the week and my service.

At the end I got to participate in a leadership session where we gave a similar talk to all the boys which capped off the week pretty well. You can check out the camp's website at campbuilduganda.blogspot.com. There should be one or two pictures of me floating around on that site (look for the maroon t-shirt).

Keep on Running in the Free World

November 27th marked the annual MTN Kampala Marathon race. Five other Peace Corps volunteers and I decided to participate this year. Five of us ran the half marathon (13.1 miles) while one brave soul opted for the full.

It was a fun and unique experience to be running in a region that continuously fields the best runners in the world year after year (mostly Kenya). Prior to the race, I was very curious about how all the logistics were going to work. How well would it be organized? What would the route be? How would they divert traffic from the roads?

Well, it turns out, to no surprise, that it was pretty poorly organized. The start and finish area seemed to be operating pretty well. But Kampala was a mess. There were potholes (in some cases huge, gaping holes) in our path. There were distance signs at different locations that were grossly inaccurate. The roads were not closed and cars were breezing past us spewing their nasty exhaust into our path. While I was finishing the race (2:02 finish by the way) I had several dozen boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) running alongside me asking me if I wanted a lift and cutting me off. It was a bit aggravating.

Other parts of the race were organized well. They had plenty of water and sponge (?) stations, which definitely refreshed me throughout the journey. Actually I think I drank too much water (about 4 bottles) because it was so readily available every mile or so. But it was nice to see Kampala come together, sort of. Kampalans united in this event and encouraged one another. Everyone was excited and/or tired but still in high spirits. At the end I felt really great and not too tired, which surprised me. But mostly I just felt lucky to have good health and the opportunity to run in such a unique setting with fast Africans.