I want to wish all the Mother’s out there a wonderful Mother’s Day! I really hope your Easter was great. Also, I know that Father’s Day will be in June and I am not sure that I will get another blog out before then...So Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there early!
I can not believe that I only have 6 months left, they will fly by! Before you know it, I will be going to COS (Close of Service) Conference, which is in July. My COS date is October 19th. I am planning to travel after COS to Thailand, and India. I also plan to travel to Egypt if I don‘t get there before my 90 days prior to COS. We are not allowed to go out of country 90 days before COS.
I really will miss the work I am doing here because it is so diverse. But it will be good to get back to the US. Many PCV’s have gone home once or twice...but I have remained in country and it really feels like a long time.
I am also going to miss the phases that the Ugandan’s said, like “it is over,” “somehow,” “you are lost,” “it is raining, too much,” "you first come," "extend." “How is home.” "Greet everyone for me," "Send my greetings," Every conversation starts with Thank you, how was the night or day depending. On the other hand, I will not miss "You give me money." "I am suffering, you give me money." "Life is hard, You just help me, you just help me with money." "Now, Now!" I will not miss the way they are not polite. I don't think that they were ever taught, Please, patience or "God Bless you" when you sneeze.
Anyway, I had a great February, I went to Zanzibar for 7 days and just really Loved the beach. I don’t know wheather you have been following my facebook pictures or not, but I tried to put the pictures up there. The white sand and turquoise water of the Indian Ocean are fabulous. Everyday I went walking on the beach and found many beautiful shells that you don’t usually get in the US. We got fresh seafood daily. Saw one of the fisherman with a large red snapper, half my size! Saw them bring in calamari and octopus to cook fresh. The environment is so peaceful, I really would like to go back there and live for 4 to 6 months sometime. It is still a 3rd world country, so you don’t have alot to do. But I was able to go scuba diving and snorkeling. The fishing boat that we went snorkeling on had a sail made out of rice sacks that were sown together! The boat itself is made out of trees. It was really great to see how inventive they are.
Out in the Ocean they had seaweed farms that were being harvested, they sell the seaweed to China and Japan for food, creams and soaps. I really did not want to leave. When Angel left in January it was hard to get back to work, so I was ready to go to Zanzibar the end of February!
January I spent alot of time getting everything hooked up for the network and the 3 laptop computers up and running for Iceme Health Center. Now we have internet access on 3 laptop computers and they can print from anyone of the H/C buildings. It is really something, the staff was so happy. They were saying that now they are in the 21st century. Most of the staff has never used a computer. The Health Center did not have any, so I spent alot of time the last few months teaching the Iceme Health Center staff basic computer skills. However, I am in Uganda, so you have to remember that staff only come for their lessons 1/2 of the time, or they come 1 hour late! I will be teaching computer skills until I leave!
My Peace Camp group in Iceme, “The Rainbow Peace Ambassadors,” I am so proud of the work they are doing. In the community they have done alot a drama’s on domestic violence, conflict resolution, alcohol and drugs. They have slashed the grass at the Health Center as community work. Now they want to start doing their drama to earn money and go to other parishes and do the dramas. The teens are really alot of fun and have so much energy. When they do a drama, they put together the entire play from nothing. They ab lib and do all the scene’s. It is really remarkable to see the talent and passion that they have and the plays are really good!
February, I started planning Peace Camp 2012. I wanted to increase the age groups because the adolescents that were abducted in the LRA war are now in the early 20‘s. So the age group I am targeting is going to be 17-25 years old. Both male and female of 4 tribes: Lango, Acholi, Teso, and Alur. So I also started writing my grant. We are going to partner with Comboni Good Samaritan Organization this year. However, $10,000 will come from the Peace Corps. I was not sure if I wanted to do Peace Camp this year since I was COSing in October...but decided to go ahead with it. It will be held August 12-18, 2012.
Unfortunately, I got food poisoning twice since January. Once on February 14th (my fault) and once in April. No fun, especially when you are using a latrine!
I am still doing Lifeskills at the Secondary School and this semester was really fun with the girls.
On March 8th, Women’s Day, all the men on staff at the Health Center made all of the women dinner. It was suppose to be ready at 2, but it was 5:30 pm when we ate. However, I was really impressed! They killed the chicken, cooked it, rice (which the stones had to be picked out of the rice) and other stuff in 3 different kitchens. Now kitchens here are different than your kitchens in the states. Here you have to build the fire, cut the wood, do everything from start to finish! It took them all day to cook everything for us. And of course in Uganda, everything has an agenda for the program. I was asked to talk about Women’s Day about 1 hour before I was to speak. But it was really alot of fun. After we ate they put on a CD of religious music and everyone watched the TV. The only TV at the health center.
I am also working with the Heifer Organization and a Veterinary MD to get more cattle up here in the North. But before you get accepted with the Heifer Organization and fund raise in the states, you have to have a committee that has met, minutes, a constitution and everything has to be stamped by the District. We have written a concept paper, proposal and submitted a budget...so now I think everything is done so we are just waiting for the okay to start raising funds. My friend Cheryl in the US is going to help with the fundraising. So I hope that I can see the first of “pass on the gift” before I leave. It really will benefit the villages and the community at large if the project takes off. It has been done already here in Uganda with much success. It is a gender balanced, project with HIV patient’s, Orphans and widows, as well as other poor community members. I really like the Veterinarian I am working with, he is sharp and active. Once the farmer gets the cattle, they are already 4 months pregnant, then when the calf is born after they can leave the mother, the calf is given to another community farmer and then the gift is passed on! A great Concept!
In March I went into the Kampala slums and taught Lifeskills with another PCV. It was challenging and the kids (8-11 years old) were really interested. We talked about Decision Making. It was hard to see how and in what conditions these people live. The paper the other day said that 39 people in the slums died from contaminated water after the rains in Kampala. They get their water from the ditch, that is also contaminated. It is sad to see. I had to wondered if any of the kids I was with were part of the 39. I felt like I really did not do anything, when you look at the big picture.
Here in Uganda the Ministry of Health has as a guideline to prevent spreading of HIV, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision VMMC. The reason is because it decreases the risk of HIV infection 60%. So I am working with the district to come do an Outreach here at Iceme. It was scheduled for April 18 & 19, however it rained those days. No one travels on rainy days because the roads are so bad. So I am hoping to reschedule that sometime in June.
The end of April I was staff for Northern Camp Build. It was a leadership camp for the boys in the North that were 15-18 years old. It was also a week long. At camp I met one of the boys, Simon Peter, that had been abducted by the LRA and was with them for 2 years. He said that he wanted to write a book about his experiences and he had already started. After camp we got together and I typed his story....Wow, how do people endure such tragedies and come out so loving is beyond me. Simon had also written some songs and he wants to put them to music on a CD and sell them. So we are working on that...I think it will be a good IGA for him. My brother, Dennis the musician said that he will put some of Simon’s songs to music. So I can not wait to here how it goes. Simon will also produce some.
Anyway, Camp Build was alot of fun and exhausting. I also taught Lifeskills on HIV, Condom demonstration and Reproductive Health with another PCV.
Recently, I just got back from Kampala after working with Peace Corps office on the new PST (Pre Service Training) Focus In initiative. PST is the training for the new volunteers that are coming in May and we were setting up the training schedule for them. I will go back down to Kampala to also do the Train the Trainer (TOT) for all the PCV’s that are going to train for PST. Before that though, I plan to meet up with Shelley and Linda and go to Nile Porch for Mother’s Day weekend. It should be relaxing.
I do want to try to make it to Egypt in June...but not sure if that will happen or not.
Well, I think that is all I have for now.
Take care of yourselves, and stay safe.
Love & Light,
Mari
