life in the village

As I have mentioned earlier the place where I live is more of an urban center then most Peace Corps placements. So where most volunteers come to town to have a change of pace I go to the village which I am sure seems strange to the other volunteers. So two weeks ago the organizations I work with decided to have me do some work in the village for 1 week. I went to meet with the farmers from that area who are supplying us with milk. To this point we have not done a great job of reaching out to the farmers and understanding the challenges they face. The place I visited is extremely mountainous and very rainy and I was given the responsibility to go on a house by house visit of as many farms as I could visit in the one week. I was to conduct a survey of how the farm is operating and the challenges they are facing. I had a wonderful time away from town just walking in the mountains and visiting some of the farmers. It was also enlightening to see what and where the milk traveled before finally be consumed. Just some interesting things I discovered were that many of the farmers have to walk 50 minutes to bring their milk to the village collection center which is still another 1 hour taxi ride from the town where I live and the milk is sold also because many of the farmers live on mountain ridges they have to walk down hill for 30 minutes to find water then carry it back up the mountain between 500 and 1000 feet. The time away was great but it also made us aware of the many challenges these farmers face. We hope to continue our work with this group and strengthen their capacity to work together to accomplish their goals.

Chad

Super Bowl

Last Sunday was the Super Bowl the biggest TV spectacle of the year. Many Ugandans don’t know what American football is let alone understand how the game is played. So it is safe to say that the super bowl passed here in Uganda with about as much attention as high school basketball game. This didn’t stop many of the Americans in the areas from gathering at 2 in the morning to watch the game. A missionary family invited a bunch of people over to their home to watch the game live. I wasn’t all that interested in the game but it was fun to be together with people watching something I was so familiar with. The missionaries are from Texas so a party can’t be complete unless something has been grilled. So at half time the fired up the charcoal grill and grilled some sausage and beef. Not the time I am used to eating a meal but it still tasted great. A few of the Peace Corps volunteers had decided to come and watch the game from town. So half way through the third quarter went to watch with them at a small restaurant, which had stayed open for these guys to watch the game. We were enjoying a closely fought game until about 5 minutes from the end the power went out. So, we didn’t eve get to watch the end of the game which we heard was quite exciting. When all was said and done it was about 6 in the morning on a Monday which meant there was work to do. So I struggled my way through the day on 2 hours of sleep but it was worth it to get a little taste from home and some good cooking. I don’t think I would want to do it more then once a year but you never know when March Madness roles around.

New Year, Home and Birds

So a new year is now here and with a new year come changes. One change I am going to attempt to make is to keep this journal a bit more updated as there are probably about 3 people who check this thing after not seeing a new post for 3 months but non-the-less I will write. I have been back in Uganda after visiting home for a few weeks for a wedding and seeing family and friends. It was a great visit and one that I am glad I made but I am also glad to be back in Uganda. Except for one small thing, my home has two glass windows which are made of a glass so that from the outside it seems as if you are viewing a mirror and not a window. At 1st I thought it would be nice in helping provide me with some privacy but I’m not so sure whether I like them any more. For the past 2 maybe 3 months I have a these birds which look like sparrows visiting in the morning to check themselves in the window and then proceed to fight their reflection creating a very annoying pecking noise. This normally occurs between 6:30 and 7:00 so most mornings I am awake but if I am not awake at that point there is now no chance of continuing to sleep. I was hoping that during my 3 weeks away they would have found a new morning hangout but my first morning back I was greeted by the birds. So there is no sleeping in at my house which is a good thing I guess but if I can every figure out away to get rid of those birds you can be sure I will do it. Anyways it is good to be back and get back into the normal routine and hopefully that will include a few journal entries. Thanks for patience and care for me.

Chad