On the Road Again

Well, the time has come again to pack my bags and set off on another adventure. It has been over 15 months since my last serious trip, so I am more than overdue to do something crazy again. Tomorrow morning, I am catching a flight here in Salt Lake City, and tomorrow night, I will be stepping off a plane in Bogota, Colombia. Okay, "So why Colombia?" everyone keeps asking me. Well, you know that I like to go places that have a certain mystique surrounding them, an unbelievable past, and that are off the beaten tourist path. I am also addicted to adrenaline-- I admit it. I love the feeling of having all of my senses on overdrive, constantly. What better way to feel alive than to have to focus on each and every little decision, to observe every little thing around you, and forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations so that you can come out of them a changed person? In the process of changing yourself, you inevitably also change the lives of others. I have experienced this change in all of my other travels, and I expect this trip to be no different.
So I have told some of you (consider yourselves the chosen few:) about my three goals for this trip. One of these goals is to really improve my Spanish. For that reason, I plan on staying out of most of the "gringo" places as much as possible. This will be a little bit of a challenge since I will be traveling alone for nearly my entire trip, but this will also put me back into that zone where things begin to get a little uncomfortable, and also where every decision I make will be that much more important. After I step off the plane in Bogota, I will give myself one night of speaking English, and then I will try to pretty much limit what comes out of my mouth to only Spanish words (ha, I know that some of you are making jokes about this phrase:). I'll let you know how successful I am after a few days.
So, to break down my trip for you, here is what's on the agenda:
4 days in Bogota to see the capital of Colombia
5 days in Cali, the Salsa Capital of the World, to what else? LEARN SALSA! Oh yeah, and also to sample the crazy discotecas and check out Cali's famous, beautiful girls!
After Cali, I will fly to Ecuador, where I will take a few Spanish classes, travel around a bit, and meet up with my good friends Mark and Laura in Quito. Another one of our good friends, Aimee, will be joining us for a reunion in the Ecuadorian capital, which also happens to be the 2nd-highest capital in Latin America (almost 9,200 feet). This will be a blast and something I am really, really looking forward to. We'll show those Ecuadorians how we rock it, SLC style! After a total of about 4 weeks in Ecuador, I will be flying back to Cali and continuing my travels through Colombia, including the famous Coffee Region, Medellin (Pablo Escobar, anyone?), the colonial city of Cartagena, and then the rest of the Caribbean coast. This time will be all about having fun, meeting people, continuing to practice my Spanish, and making friends. My time in Colombia will come to an end just before Christmas. After that? Hmm, I guess both you and I will have to wait to find out.

Goodbye to a Fabulous Year

So, I know it has been some time since my last blog entry. The truth is, I really haven’t had any travels to speak of as of lately. Hopefully, that will be changing soon—very soon. Well, having rung in the New Year just a few days ago, it is always nice to reflect and look back on everything that has happened the last year. So without further ado, here is a quick recap and some thoughts on my 2008:

I started out 2008 in Torino, Italy, staying with my good amico Andrea. Despite being sick, I enjoyed a relaxing time with my Italian friend. After a few more days in Italy, I flew back to Poland for a few weeks, to say goodbye to my colleagues down in Twardorzeczka, my wolves in the Silesian Beskidy and the Zywiecki Beskidy Mountains, and my friends in Krakow. It was incredibly hard saying goodbye to all this, knowing how much I had changed and how many significant and memorable moments these places and these people had provided me with.

After traveling up to Warsaw for a few days, I entered Germany for the first time, stopping in Berlin and staying with another friend there. My time in Berlin was short, particularly since I was preparing to leave for a 3-month trip to Africa. I flew to Egypt next, landing in Cairo at midnight, to the sound of the whole city praying. I remember how excited I was to be in a place totally unfamiliar to anywhere I had ever been before. There was no English written anywhere, just Arabic. Most of the women and girls I saw were wearing hijabs, hiding their faces, but allowing glances into their mysterious eyes. After having an ATM machine eat my debit card my first day in Cairo, I had to wander around the all-night bazaars only looking. I was able to go to the Egyptian Museum, where I saw King Tut’s coffin. That was an awesome experience. I had always wanted to see that after reading books about it when I was very young. It is pretty incredible to see it with your own eyes—3000 years old! I also got to ride a camel for the first time, while touring around the Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining structures of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The scale and size of the pyramids is impossible to describe, but the memories I have of these will last me a lifetime.

After my first taste of Turkish coffee (next time, I might as well just drink some mud with my water), several days of dodging speeding cars in Cairo traffic, and about fifty falafels, I was ready to depart Cairo for something a little more relaxed. I had a quick trip to Dubai, where I was spoiled with a stay in a penthouse on the top floor of a building overlooking the harbor, where the most expensive and luxurious hotel in the world is located. That didn’t exactly prepare me for my return to Africa, where I arrived in Kampala, Uganda a few days later. Africa definitely beats within my blood, and I was extremely excited to get back to the real Africa. I stayed with a very loving and generous family in Kampala, and then traveled to western Uganda, where I ended up staying for several weeks, teaching in a community orphanage school. I was adopted into an entire community there, becoming the talk of the town, being invited to a different family’s dwelling for dinner each night, and provided with an endless supply of fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs from my students and their families. If I had to be away from my family back home, I was glad I was able to share those special times with the people I did. I hope one day to be able to return to that town, where I will see the people pursuing opportunities they did not have when I was there. My heart will always beat partly because of the special people I met during my time at Lake Lyantonde. I know you probably will never read this, but THANK YOU!

I made a quick trip down to the Uganda/Rwanda border region, where I managed to climb two volcanoes in monsoonal winds and rain, and actually jump in the crater lake at the top of one of them (I don’t recommend doing that, since I almost suffered from hypothermia on the trek back down from the summit; but, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do it again:). I then traveled across the border into Rwanda, a country made famous by the 1994 genocide depicted in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.” Visiting sites where such atrocities and death occurred was also an experience that will be permanently etched into my mind. The fact that this horrible tragedy occurred during my generation made this all the more real for me. Another moment that I will never forget is walking out of the National Genocide Memorial Museum, meeting an old man entering the compound holding several bouquets of flowers. After speaking to him for a few moments, I found that he was going to pay his respects to the 11 family members he lost during those two deadly months. He was the only survivor of his family, and now he felt lonely, coming to the mass grave to reconnect with his loved ones. I won’t ever be able to imagine the feelings this man must have been experiencing, and I need to remember to be thankful for that.

While in Rwanda, I was also lucky enough to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to see the mountain gorillas (only found in the Uganda/Rwanda/Congo border region, and nowhere else on earth). After a three-hour trek into the bamboo forest, my group came across a gorilla family composed of 26 gorillas, including 3 silverbacks. Being so close to the gorillas gave me an appreciation for these magnificent animals, and their struggle to survive in an environment filled with poaching, forest-clearing, and civil war. I know that if we lost these animals from this world, we would also be losing part of ourselves.

When it came time to leave Africa, I was filled with the excitement of being able to return home to see my family, but also the uneasy feeling of uncertainty, of when I would be able to return to this amazing place and reunite with my Ugandan family.

I returned home, where I enjoyed catching up with all my family and friends, and also resumed my job working at Holy Cross Ministries as a summer school counselor. It was great being home and seeing the children I had taught a year before. Seeing how my students had developed over the past year and how they had grown was something special. I immediately fell back in love with my job and the wonderful people that I am lucky enough to work with. The summer program went really well and I actually was fortunate to obtain a full-time position for the rest of year, as both an administrative assistant and an afterschool program counselor. These positions have also taught me a lot over the past few months and my life has been enriched through being able to get to know my coworkers even more. We have enjoyed some fun times together and I can honestly say that I don’t know if I will ever work in such a friendly and close-knit community of people again in my life.

So, as a quick look back at 2008, I must say that it was another incredible year for me and one in which I was blessed to have the chance to do so much and see so many new places. My pulse was strengthened and quickened with my return to Africa, where I was also reminded of the hardships people endure, but also of their kindness and warmth in the face of these hardships. My friends and students in Uganda showed me the strength of the human spirit and the vastness of the human heart. Their excitement for life and appreciation for each and every day will be a lesson for me throughout the remainder of my life. I was also reminded of the importance of family and friends. Both helped me through some very difficult times during the past year and I thank each and every one of you. When times are tough, we really find out who are friends really are, and I am very grateful to say that I have some great people around me.

Looking forward to 2009, I am really unsure what to expect. I am getting very restless to get back out there and explore a little, challenging my perceptions of the world, experiencing new hardships and difficulties, and coming away a stronger and better person. I keep reminding myself what is really important in life, and looking for ways to show the people I love that they mean so much to me. So, to end this blog entry, I would like to conclude with one of my favorite quotes. This quote comes from N.H. Kleinbaum, in “Dead Poets Society,” and I urge you to just think about it for a few moments: “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Goodbye 2008, and I wish everyone a 2009 filled with happiness and meaning.

Coming to an End

Well, here it goes, my last blog entry from Uganda. Tomorrow, I leave peaceful and relaxing Uganda for the craziness and heat of Cairo. This entry won't be a reflection, just because I want to take some time after returning home to look back on my Uganda experiences. Here's a short summary of the last two weeks.

I traveled back to the Uganda/Rwanda border region to climb another volcano, Mt. Sabinyo. I absolutely love this region of Uganda, with the volcanoes towering over the terraced hillsides and villages, shrouded in mist. While not as high as the last volcano I climbed, Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Sabinyo has its own appeal. This volcano has three separate peaks, with the climb up one peak being steeper than the last. All three peaks are along the Uganda/ Rwanda border, and if you are lucky enough to reach the steep third peak, you will be standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all at once! Mt. Sabinyo is one of only a handful of peaks in the world whose peak is at the intersection of three countries. How cool is that!

Despite being lower than Mt. Muhavura and the weather being much nicer for this ascent, this was a much tougher hike. Right at the beginning, I knew it was going to be an adventure. My guide and I encountered a lone male buffalo, which then chose to stare us down, huffing and puffing, preparing to charge. Of course our armed ranger (assigned to us for exactly this type of situation), was lagging behind and far from us, providing us with no safety whatsoever. After a long detour to avoid the angry buffalo, we regained the trail and began the long climb to the first summit. The climb became progressively steeper the higher we climbed. After arriving at the first peak, and then making our way to peak #2, we began the tightrope walk along the ridge to begin our ascent of peak #3. This section of trail was crazy, and very lucky for us, it was dry at this time. I'll come back to this part in a minute. The ascent up to peak #3 was vertical in many sections, requiring us to use the rickety wooden ladders to continue our climb. After some slow and deliberate climbing, we finally reached peak #3, and I immediately jumped onto the highest rock I could find, standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC at the same time! It was an incredible feeling!

After savoring the summit experience for several minutes and grabbing a quick snack, we began the long descent back down to the valley. Going down the vertical ladders was much more difficult and sketchy than going up, and the slow drizzle of rain that had begun to fall didn't help matters. So here is where things got interesting. The tightrope walk along the ridge between peak #2 and peak #3 now became even more precarious. The trail here was only about 3 feet wide, with a fall of a few hundred feet off of each side of the trail. A slip off the right side would result in a long tumble through the clouds below into Rwanda, while a person slipping off the left side would find him/herself falling through the clouds into the jungles of Uganda. The trail had become very slippery because of the rain, and the thirty minutes or so of hiking along this ridge were pretty stressful and seemed to last forever.

Finally, the ridgetop walk ended, and despite a few close calls and a huge headache from having to concentrate so much on every single step, everything was okay. Then the clouds really began to open up and let loose a great downpour, absolutely drenching us for the next 2.5 hours of hiking down. There were several harmless falls on the muddy trail on the way down, covering me in mud from the waist down. It was an awesome hike, but I was glad to get out of the rain and into some dry, warm clothes.

I left the volcano region of Uganda for the crater lake region, where I have spent so much of my time the last two months, and where I have really become part of the community. Unfortunately, this trip could only last two days because of my quickly-approaching departure. It was great to see my friends again. The mood was definitely bittersweet. We always have a great time together, but this time the feeling was overshadowed by the looming question of when we would be lucky enough to see each other again. Life is so hard here and possibilities seem limited. It is impossible to even imagine what their lives will be like in a year, or two, or even three. Things seem to happen much more quickly here than back at home. I pray that the future is kind and welcoming to these friends of mine.

There were many emotional goodbyes during those two days, and I received many wishes sent my way from various people in the villages there, as rumors of my impending departure spread. I think this will be my last time feeling like a celebrity for quite some time.

Well, my time in Uganda and in Africa has come to an end for now. It is a sad time, but also an exciting time for me. I am extremely anxious to get back home to see my family, play with my dogs, hang out with my friends, and catch up on many things. The next week and a half will be spent traveling back home. My next entry will be a reflection, looking back on these special months I have been lucky enough to spend here in Uganda. That reflection will come after a few days of some serious relaxing and pampering at home:) Weraba (goodbye) from Uganda!

Slowing the Pace

Welcome back to Uganda. The last two weeks have been pretty low-key compared to the previous two, but there was still no shortage of fun. I traveled back to western Uganda to visit my friends and see my students again. Although I only got to spend five days there, it was still a great little reunion. The boys at the campground where I stay were eager to show me the improvements they had made in their swimming since I last saw them. I could immediately tell that they had been practicing what I'd taught them, and I feel pretty confident that the boys who were afraid of the water just four short weeks ago, can now safely venture out into the "deep end" without any supervision. You should have seen their faces beaming with pride!

It was also wonderful to see my students again. I was only present for two class days, but it was like we had never missed a beat. We resumed our math lessons, but I quickly found myself bored with teaching math, considering I only had a little time with them, so we ended up playing soccer instead. I also had the children teach me six of their traditional dances (if you're lucky, I might just show you when I get home:), while I taught them some American dance moves (crazy stuff, like disco, Michael Jackson, breakdancing, the robot, and some other personal favorites). I know I must have looked funny performing their dances, but there is no way that I looked as hilarious as they did doing the American moves! I will try to get a video next time. As you can tell, we had an incredibly fun time.

After entertaining a few invitations to have lunch at some of the homes of the community elders, I had to say goodbye to my friends and students. I hope to see them one more time before leaving Uganda.

Unfortunately, I also experienced something that I thought might come, but was hoping wouldn't. Since I made several donations to the school and started the livestock income-generation project for the school and community, people have looked up to me, almost like I have some sort of supernatural powers. This trip back to the community, I no longer felt like the people looked to me as a superhero, but rather now as a savior. It was a more uncomfortable feeling for me, as I know I am not that person. I was bombarded with inquiries about other possible projects and requests to donate more money to start up these projects. While the community would clearly benefit from some of these projects, the beneficiaries of the others were less obvious, and I believe people started believing that I would help them, personally. I also received letters from a few students, asking me to sponsor them and their education. I understand that the people are desperate and see me as a means to a better life, especially considering that I am the only person whom most of them have ever spoken to who makes more than ten or twenty dollars per month. However, it was difficult to help them realize that I am not made of money, and that twenty dollars in the U.S. is much different than twenty dollars in rural Uganda. It seemed to me that the community members wanted an immediate relief from their poverty without having any responsibility. They were somewhat impatient with wanting to wait to see the positive effect of the income-generation project I started. I respectfully had to tell them that I cannot donate more at the moment, and also had to tell some students whom I have grown very close to, that I cannot sponsor them. It hurt me to do so, but I also realize that I am not their savior and can't solve all their problems. This situation got me thinking though, if this is one of the main problems with Africa, and with developing countries in general--are they always expecting handouts to fix their own problems? It is a difficult and controversial question, and one that I cannot answer, but one that I think is worth thinking about.

You all know me--I never like life to be boring, and am always looking for my next new adventure. About 90 kilometers east of Kampala lies Jinja, the adventure capital of Uganda. I chose to get my adrenaline fix by going whitewater rafting on the Nile River (called the Victoria Nile here). The source of the Nile River is in Jinja, so basically I could have just continued rafting for the next few months, through the war zones of southern and western Sudan, and then through the deserts of Egypt, in order to reach Cairo, where I start my journey back home. I know I am adventurous, but that is just slightly a little too much for me to bite off at this point. Maybe someday though:)

This section of the Nile is rated a Class 5, which means it is pretty gnarly. Most professional raft guides rate this section of river as one of the top rafting destinations in the world, ahead of the world-famous Zambezi River near Victoria Falls. I happened to be placed with a group of four Chinese guys, whom I immediately started disliking. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Chinese people, but these guys really pushed my buttons. For one, they very rarely listened to our guide, despite the fact that they had never been rafting before. They were constantly yelling in Chinese, never wanted to paddle, and had some very bad manners. One situation sums it up pretty well: we were just floating in a large, flatwater area, needing to paddle in order to reach the next rapid several hundred meters ahead. After the Chinese refused to paddle, they asked if they could jump in the water to cool off. Our guide said that they could get in the water, but that they had to hang onto the raft because we were floating over a crocodile pool. Not only did the Chinese guys jump in and swim about 20 meters away from the raft, but they also took off their lifejackets before doing so. They refused to come back to the raft before swimming and splashing around. Now I am generally a nice person, but I have to admit, a small part of me (actually, a pretty big part of me) wanted to see a crocodile attack at that point. What can I say? I must be honest, right? Well, no such luck this time.

The river was pretty low after about a week of little or no rain, so the rapids and waterfalls we traveled over weren't as large as usual, but they were still pretty crazy and we ended up flipping our raft twice (awesome!). We also had to bypass two or three sections because only kayaks could pass through safely. Overall, it was an awesome experience. There was only one bad part-I got incredibly sunburned. I am always very careful with my sunscreen use (most of you know this), and this time was no different. However, at the end of the day, I found myself suffering with the second-worst sunburn I can remember. Like the worst sunburn I've had, I can only attribute this one to some crappy sunscreen I bought here that is obviously not waterproof (I know, I bought a French-made sunscreen, not Ugandan, so I thought I was safe; this is just one more thing we can blame the French for:). Unfortunately, it was a painful end to a fun day.

With a little over two weeks left here in Uganda, time is running out. I only have one more "big" thing planned in my time left, and that is hiking to the top of another volcano. Besides some shopping and a few goodbyes, relaxing and enjoying every minute here will occupy my time. So adios, ciao, arrivederci, do zobaczenia, a bientot, weraba, and auf wiedersehen until my farewell to Uganda.

Hippos, Gorillas, and Swimming at 14,000 Feet

Welcome back everyone, and a very happy Easter to all of you! It has been a busy couple weeks for me, so I'll get right to it. After leaving the school and the Crater Lakes region, I traveled south to one of the most popular national parks in Uganda, Queen Elizabeth National Park. As I was entering the park, I saw a big herd of elephants in the distance, and also plenty of waterbucks, warthogs, and Ugandan kob. I took a boatride down the channel between two large lakes and saw dozens of hippos and buffalo, a large crocodile, and many cool birds. It was my first time seeing a hippo, so it was kind of fun to watch them disappear under the water as the boat approached, and then seeing their eyes pop up above the water's surface as we passed. I also went on a game drive in the early morning hours, hoping to get a glimpse of a lion or leopard. Unfortunately, the lions and leopards didn't want to cooperate that day, so it turned out to be a very expensive joyride through the Kasenyi Plains of Queen Elizabeth.

After Queen Elizabeth, I made my way down to Rwanda, where I stayed a few days in Kigali, the capital. My main interest in Rwanda was the genocide that occurred throughout the country in 1994, made famous in movies like "Hotel Rwanda (I went into the actual hotel this trip)." Within a two month period, over 800,000 people were murdered, as civil war broke out between the two main tribes in the country, the Hutus and the Tutsis.

I only spent a few days in Kigali, but I was immediately struck by how nice of a city Kigali is. It is one of the most modern and clean African cities I have seen. It is truly incredible how far the city has come since 1994. As I was fascinated with the history of Rwanda, and particularly the genocide, I visited several memorial sights, the first being the National Genocide Memorial Museum. It is similar to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., for those of you who have been there. I don't really wish to say much about what I saw there, but that it was the saddest and most emotional thing I have ever seen. I don't wish to make comparisons between genocides in history, but this place affected me much more than my visit to Aushwitz, mostly for two reasons: the first is that this horrible event happened only 14 years ago. Nearly every pair of eyes I looked into while walking down the streets of Kigali also saw these events unfold in front of them. Nearly everyone lost at least one loved one in the massacre. Walking out of the museum, I met an old man coming to lay flowers at one of the mass graves there, paying respects to the 12 family members killed during that time. It was incredibly hard listening to his stories. Secondly, during the Hutu/Tutsi war, best friends, brothers and sisters, and other loved ones suddenly turned against one another if they were from different tribes. I cannot imagine anything like this.

I also visited a small church in the Rwandan countryside where 5,000 Tutsis hid before being discovered by some Hutu rebels. All 5,000 Tutsis were butchered in the church, and the church has mostly remained untouched since then. It was without a doubt the worst thing I have ever seen and something I will never forget.

After visits to the genocide memorials, I went to see the mountain gorillas in Volcano National Park in Rwanda. Mountain gorillas are only found in the Uganda/Rwanda/Congo border region, and seeing them is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After a 2-hour hike into a bamboo forest, my trekking group encountered a group of a few dozen gorillas lounging around in an open meadow area. It was incredible being so close to such a powerful animal, and especially one so similar to us. Looking into each other's eyes, I think we could both tell that we are nearly the same. It is always amazing to me that some of the most powerful and dangerous animals on earth are also some of the most gentle. I am so thankful that I got to experience being in the presence of such a magnificent animal.

After the gorilla trek, I left Rwanda and crossed back into Uganda. The Uganda/Rwanda border region is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Huge volcanoes tower over the small villages and acres of hills dotted with terraced farmland. Low-lying clouds and morning mist create a magical scene, hiding the middle areas of the volcanoes, but still allowing the volcanoes to show off their breathtaking summits. I decided to hike up one of the tallest volcanoes in the region, called Muhavura. Muhavura climbs to over 4,200 meters (nearly 14,000 feet) and is one of three volcanoes dotting the Uganda/Rwanda border. I woke up extremely early the morning of my hike, hoping to summit before the frequent afternoon rains. Well, just my luck, it started to downpour just before I started hiking, and didn't stop until 2 hours after my hike had ended. The weather was the worst it had been for the whole month, and upon arriving at the summit, I found I could barely see my guide, just a few meters from me! There is a small crater lake on the summit of Muhavura, and keeping with my tradition of jumping into any lake I come across, I plunged into the freezing water. I wouldn't exactly say that I swam, although I did reach a deep part, because I got out of the water almost as quickly as I had gotten in, so as to avoid hypothermia in the freezing rain and wind. I ended up finishing the hike in just over 6 hours. My guide, before starting the trek, and I think also in an attempt to intimidate me, told me to expect to hike 9-10 hours, or maybe 8 hours if I was very strong. I think I surprised him, and it appeared that he was struggling with the pace at the end:)

So it has been a very fun two weeks in Uganda and Rwanda. I have seen many things that will remain etched into my mind for the rest of my life. That is what traveling is all about. Each memory created helps to shape me into a more complete person, adding to my knowledge, challenging my perceptions, and broadening my mind. Thanks Uganda and Rwanda!

Teaching in the Crater Lakes Region of Uganda

Hello! It's me again. I have spent the last two and a half weeks in western Uganda, near the border with the Congo, in a beautiful region called the Crater Lakes region. I stayed in a banda (a hut with clay walls and a straw roof) on top of a hill above one of over 70 crater lakes found in the region. Forested hills stretch forever, hiding the lakes between their tops, and the Rwenzori Mountains, the highest mountains in Africa, tower over the landscape. I have never seen a place like this anywhere else.
I was the only guest staying in the community-run campsite becoming quick friends with the manager, his family, and the six local boys training there to be tourist guides, and the camp dog, Jex (what can I say, I love animals!). I also volunteered at a local community school.
In Madagascar, I thought I had seen just about the simplest school I could see. I was definitely wrong. That school had the benefit of being established and sponsored by a small Catholic mission. This school in the Crater Lakes region was established by the community so that children living in the areas between government school locations would have an opportunity to attend school. Therefore, the school has no governmental support in terms of training or funding. This was obvious the first time I saw it. The school consists of two buildings (similar in structure to my banda), totaling 5 classrooms (one for each of 5 grades). Approximately 170 children, ranging in age from 6-12, crammed inside these classrooms, either standing for the five hours of instruction, or sitting in the dirt on the floor. Each child had a few pieces of scratch paper to use as a notebook, most shared pens with their friends, and none had textbooks. My classroom was luxurious, having an old blackboard to use. It was very sad.
I taught the oldest group of kids math and science for five hours each day. The kids were terrific and immediately loved me (probably because I was the first white person to pay attention to them). My second day there, the kids presented me with 4 huge papayas, 2 mangoes, and 5 avocados as gifts. I was extremely touched and grateful, although carrying them all the way back to my banda was a bit challenging, especially considering that I had to walk over 4 miles roundtrip to and from school each day, including half a kilometer up a very steep hill. The teachers at the school bestowed on me a Ugandan name, "Amooti," which refers to the reverence and respect a king demands. I am honored by the respect, but I certainly don't want to be thought of as a king.
Teaching without any materials at all proved very challenging, but I managed and we all had a good time. To liven up the atmosphere and make it fun, I taught the children some games, which they continued to play even after school was dismissed each day. I am glad that I was able to provide the children with a friend, teach them some new things, and share in their love, but I also felt bad that I couldn't do more. Out of the 170 children at the school, nearly 80% are orphans, losing their parents to AIDS and other diseases. The community members have been wonderful and taken many of the orphans in, but it is still rather easy to find groups of 4 or 5 children sleeping under a tree together at night, and then spending the next day trying to find enough food to give them one more day. It is truly heartbreaking to see, and to even think about. Nobody should have to live like that, never feeling loved, never having another thought except about survival, and never experiencing a feeling of hope for the future.
Well, I don't want everyone to be depressed by this blog post, so I will switch topics. I have been eating the local food for the past five weeks (mostly matooke, a potato-type food, potatoes, maize, and beans), but like in Madagascar with my rice and beans diet, my stomach has decided to rebel. I found myself feeling sick just looking at another plate of matooke (normally part of breakfast, lunch, and dinner--it is very cheap because of the vast number of matooke plantations everywhere). Only the taste of fruit has been appealing to me. So lately, my diet has consisted almost entirely of fruit, with some avocados thrown in. I have never eaten so many bananas in my life (6-10 a day!). It is not exactly a balanced diet, but it is the best I can manage right now. When I get back to Kampala, I will definitely treat myself to a pizza!
I had an interesting encounter the other day. As I was walking down to the lake to fetch water for a shower, I rounded a corner and saw a huge snake winding down the path a few feet from me, going down into a hole. The thing was huge, like 8 feet long! As it turns out, it was a black cobra (a very, very, very deadly snake). Needless to say, my daily trips down to the lake for water have been a little more stressful lately!
My afternoons after school have been spent relaxing. I have been teaching the local boys how to swim (very, very funny--none of them had been in the water before, and they all think I am part fish by the way I swim multiple ways across the lake) and visiting the homes of some of the local community leaders. I have again been the first white person to visit two more villages here. In each village, I felt like the president, as everyone came out and wanted to shake my hand and do their best to impress me with their limited English. Some of the leaders have been telling me that the whole village has only been talking about how they actually touched and spoke with a mzungu, and they have also been arguing about who touched me for the longest and whom I said the most words too. It is quite a feeling walking into these villages, and I think I may go down in history here. Maybe I will be spoken about in legends or those types of things:) How cool would that be!
The school gave me a farewell ceremony yesterday, with the school committee, the parents/guardians, and the children all present. The children performed their traditional songs and dances for me, several people gave speeches thanking me for my service and for a hefty donation I made, and then presented me with several gifts, including a wonderful handwoven basket and even a rooster! I must say that I don't think I ever expected to receive a rooster as a gift at any time in my life. When I return, the parents and guardians told me that they will present me with a goat! Wow! Oh, by the way, I named my rooster Jimmy, and Jimmy is the largest bird around, and he seems to know it too, as he has become the community bully:) Well, that's the last two weeks in a nutshell. Now it's off to a Ugandan national park and then Rwanda. Life certainly is interesting!

Back in Africa

Finally, 14 months after leaving Madagascar, I find myself standing on
the dark red African soil again. It is an amazing feeling being back
here, and my heart started beating a little faster as my plane started
descending over Lake Victoria, toward Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Lake
Victoria from the air is an incredible sight, and seems to stretch
forever. It is a deceptive view, especially knowing that most of
Africa is struggling to find fresh water. I guess that is one thing
you always have to remember in Africa-- things aren't always what they
seem.
I had remembered the poverty, filth, and challenging conditions in
Madagascar, but being away from it for over a year, I found myself
still surprised by the conditions in the surrounding areas driving
from the airport to Kampala, Uganda's capital. The straw and wooden
boxes that serve as people's homes dotted the roadsides, reminding me
that life here is a different life than most of us know, and in fact, a life
most people do not wish to know.
I have been staying with a guy I met through some other contacts.
He lives with his sister, niece, and their maid on the outskirts of
Kampala, in a little village. The village is very poor and most people
live in the small shacks I wrote about above. The house where I am
staying is simple, but pretty nice for this area. The family has been
extremely nice to me, showing me the generous hospitality and
friendliness Ugandans are known for. Electricity is sporadic, hot
water is non-existent, the nights are hot, the mosquitoes are
plentiful, and the food is a little redundant, but I am loving every
minute of it. The family has also been teaching me Lugandan, the local
language! It is a lot of fun, and many people in the village are happy
to hear me speaking a little Lugandan to them when I go to buy some
mangoes or bananas. I have also been able to visit many areas where
tourists never venture. This is the best part, and you can imagine
that I receive a lot of glances walking through the little village
markets and gathering areas at night, when my white face can easily be
seen in the firelight.
Kampala is a pretty typical African capital, although it seems much
safer than many others. Like the other cities, it seems totally
unorganized and chaotic, but it is also very interesting. There are
many different areas of the city (the rich area where the ex-pats
live, the poor slum areas, the villages, the wealthy area full of
Ugandans who have been working abroad, etc.). Although I haven't quite
figured out the taxi system yet, I have managed to see a lot of the
city, mostly by getting lost and then having to find my way back:)
One beautiful thing that I really missed after leaving Madagascar,
although I hadn't really realized it, is the beautiful singing of the
African people. Every morning, I wake up to the girls in the house
singing beautiful Lugandan songs, while preparing breakfast, washing
dishes, cleaning the floors, and burning the garbage (all at the same
time!). Their voices resonate through the house and display their joy
of life, always bringing a smile to my face.
One cool thing that happened to me during the last two weeks here is that I got the opportunity to attend two Ugandan weddings. The receptions were very fun, with traditional Ugandan dances performed by several girls, and a great deal of African songs and boys playing the congo drums. I was popular, especially with the kids, because I was the only mzungu (white person) at either wedding. The costumes worn by some of the guests and family members were great, and now I need to find out how I can get ahold of one of those men's outfits, called kanzus, for myself!
Every day here is a new adventure. Another cool new thing that I have experienced is a boda-boda ride. The boda-bodas are guys and young boys on motorcycles and scooters, who weave in and out of the jam-packed traffic here, ferrying passengers around town. Although
they are probably about a -4 on a safety scale of 0-10, they are definitely cool and a lot of fun, in a dangerous sort of way!
I really don't feel like a typical tourist here, since I have been living in a village with a family, eaten only local food, learned some of the local language, and also seen many areas tourists never see. The other day, I walked through one of the poorest slums in Kampala with one of my friends. I can definitely say that I saw the "real Africa." I can't really describe what I saw because I still have trouble thinking about it. Poverty is a huge understatement. My
friend, who lives there, told me that I am one of the first white people to walk through that slum, so that is why I received so many stares and looks of amazement. The kids absolutely loved me (except for the little girl who ran to her mom, screaming that the white man was going to eat her), and by the time my walk ended, I had around thirty children following me. Unfortunately, my friend also told me that many of the adults were hoping that I was there to try to improve their village in some way, by building a school, fixing their water supply (they get water out of a filthy little canal, that probably is not even safe to touch, let alone drink), or providing more land. I felt bad that I couldn't help them, besides providing a brief distraction from their daily struggles.
I also took a stroll through the largest outdoor market in Africa. The Owino Market has everything you can possibly imagine, from second-hand clothes and shoes, to fruits, vegetables, old appliances, and a fish market. It is a huge maze of alleys, each lined to the max with sellers and their goods. I could tell that not many tourists visit the market by the attention that I received. The market is a very interesting, but very dirty place, so most tourists stick to the nicer supermarkets, where prices are fixed and they are safe. Every seller I passed tried to shake my hand and welcome me to look at his merchandise, either as his "brother" or "friend." It was pretty amusing. I even saw a huge 150lb. Nile perch being cut up for sale. They definitely don't have these back home!
The last thing I will mention is that I was invited by the maid of the place where I am staying, to go with her and visit her mother and family in their village. It was incredible! The village is about 2 hours outside Kampala, in the forested hills. I received a huge welcome from her mother, who was so happy to see me and make sure I remembered my visit fondly. I met the 12 or 14 children she has (most were orphans from the village or children of other family members who had died), and ate some awesome food. After eating, they took me around their land and showed me how they grow their mangoes, jackfruits, papayas, coffee, pineapple, guava, and everything else, which was really interesting. We then strolled to the "main street," where the village was. The village consisted of two little shops and about 10 little mud houses. The whole village came out to greet me, and my friend explained that her mom had told her that I was the first white person to visit her village. I shook hands with over 100 people and several more children. I even tasted two of the local alcoholic drinks, called "tonto" and "quete." They were very good, and everyone watched me as I sipped them, laughing and smiling at this strange person drinking and eating their food. My visit to the village was something I will never forget, and a great break from the rush of Kampala. Life cannot get much simpler than the lives those people lead.
Well, there is a summary of my first two weeks in real Africa. It has been great, and hopefully will only get better. Every day here is a gift. Every night, I take a moment to look up at the stars and say, "Wow, I'm in Uganda!"

A few pictures I have managed to upload so far can be found at http://www.photoworks.com/members/Nathan_Owens under the Uganda folder.