My Day in Kamuge

The roosters start to crow about 45 minutes to an hour before sunrise. This is my gradual awakening. By 6am they’re in full force. And so are my neighbors headed out to do a good two hours worth of planting/digging/harvesting/clearing, whatever the current month or day entails. This is my true awakening.

For me then it’s a quick pit stop to the latrine, a few morning rituals such as placing my solar panels outside to charge my lamps for the following night. I let the cat in after being out all night and proceed to pet him for a few minutes (an important component of his day).

Here is where I branch into one of three options. I then either (a) go for a good morning run, (b) work out to my favorite P90X videos (ok I don’t really do all of them, just X-Stretch and X-Yoga) or (c) skip both and proceed right to breakfast – one of the best highlights of my day. Why? Because I prepare it myself and I’ve discovered the amazing world of breakfast foods. Pancakes, French toast, eggs cooked any way, oatmeal, bananas, toast! Need I say more! I love Ugandan food. But nothing gets me prepared for my day than a LARGE pseudo-American branded breakfast festivity.

Somewhere in between selecting and executing one of my three A, B, or C options, I pop on BBC for my world updates. Sidenote: I love BBC.

After breakfast, I fill my jerry can with water and prepare a delightful shower with hot or cold water, depending how I’m feeling that day. I put on my “smart” dress and pack up my electric equipment for charging and head off to my school.

I usually arrive at my school sometime between 8am and 9am. Walking across the large plot of grass mixed with barren dirt between my house and my school is one of the favorite parts of my day. The temperature is still quite cool from the night before and I’ve usually still riding the tailcoats of the endorphins I produced while working out before breakfast. I’m ready for the day.

I arrive at my “office” inside the lab building at my school and prepare my first lesson. I teach mathematics to anywhere from 30-90 (depending on attendance that day) Ugandans aged between 15-18 for 1,2, or 3 hours and then it’s time for break tea at 10:40 am. Break tea is a HUGE part of Ugandan culture. You do not miss break tea.

I shuffle across the school walking from the classroom to the staff room, my legs a little tired from standing all period. I find a chair in the staff room and collect my tea and mondaz (Uganda’s version of donuts, I guess). I take a sip of the extremely hot, extremely sweet tea the cooks have brought to us (presweetened with about 2 kg of Kakira sugar no doubt) and bite into a delicious mondaz, my nostrils inhale the scent of chalk from my dry hands.

I shoot the breeze with some of the other teachers and then wander on back to my office to prepare for my next lesson.

Once lessons are complete I do everything necessary to prepare for the next day. Prepare lesson plans, correct quizzes, read essays, etc. Sometimes I will chat my students up or entertain the random mathematics and physics problems they bring me and seem to think I know how to solve. For some reason, they think I’m like freaking Einstein and can just solve every single physics and math problem they come to me with, some of which are extremely difficult. I try my best on those I can, and kindly refuse on those I can’t.

Then the school days ends and the students retreat to their homes in the village. I stroll back with my charged gadgets and spend the early evening studying, reading, talking to teachers, or just laying down for a rest. Usually this is where my second shower (more of a light rinse) comes in. Nothing refreshes me more at this time than standing under a stream of room temperature water after basking in my own sweat and dirt all day.

I finish my evening activities and feast on the delicious Ugandan meal my house girl prepares for me almost every evening. I would not survive without her! After dinner, it is shower #3 that I thoroughly clean myself before jumping into the clean and soft comfort of my mosquito netted sanctuary of a bed.

I watch movies, read books, talk to friends on the phone, or just sleep. The next morning it’s rinse and repeat. And it’s a pretty stable repeat. My days in the village are highly routine and shockingly repetitive. But there is a certain peace in my heart and in my head that comes along with them.