Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to post. We have had little free time to reach the internet cafe, and now that I have reached it, it is very slow. I have arrived safely in Jinja after a loooooong journey (8 hour flight to Amsterdam + 3 hour layover + 8 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya + 3 hour layover + 1.5 hour flight to Entebbe). The diarrhea started as early as Kenya (I'm sure you are all pleased to know), but Immodium has been very friendly :).
Some highlights (which will expand later ... I do not have my journal of observations with me right now):
-Sitting next to a 28-year-old Ugandan on the plane from Nairobi to Entebbe. She was my first clue that Ugandans are very blunt. Her first question was whether I was Christian. Then she asked why, if the United States had so many Christians, everyone was so terrified of the economic crisis. Shouldn't they just rely on God? It made me kind of uncomfortable, but I think my answer was satisfactory. I was also surprised that when her baby cried, she breastfed right in front of me. I guess I must've been putting off vibes of discomfort, because she explained that breastfeeding while walking down the street in Uganda is quite common. At the end of the flight, she gave me her number and name (for Facebook!), just in case I needed to contact her while in country.
-One of my favorite things so far is the color of the dirt. Odd, I know. But it's rusty orange. And when it rains, little pools the color of tomato basil soup are all over the roads. The drive from Entebbe through Kampala and onto Jinja on Sunday was gorgeous. We passed countless chai tea and sugar plantations, children in bright purple school uniforms feeding goats on the side of the highway, women carrying firewood on their heads, and (you'd be happy to know this dad) wind turbines in the capital. I also saw some of the ugliest birds ever. I was told they are Maribou (spelling?) storks. Look at them on Google images. Nasty.
-The past two days we've been staying at a hotel, before heading to our host families tomorrow. I've learned how to use the "bucket bath." I've also eaten lots of matooke (mashed bananas), rice, goat meat, and posho (a kind of corn mush).
I'll have plenty more to add soon. Right now we've got to go to a language lesson then dinner!
Love,
Your Favorite Muzungu (what all white people are called here)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Learning my ABCs (and Ds) all over again...
Warning: this post might bore some. My dad wanted to know what I’m learning in class. So here you go Pops!
Well, I arrived in Chicago on a rainy Tuesday afternoon and settled in a hostel with the 40-or-so other GESI participants. I’m in a room with about 8 other girls, the majority of them going to Uganda with me, and some going to India. We had a brief reading assigned that night by Professor John P. Kretzmann, founder of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach and Obama’s recommendation letter writer for law school. The article proposes that identifying the capacities of communities is favorable to needs-based assessments (which basically just offer really gloomy statistics with no explicit plan for improvement) or service delivery (temporary problem-solving like the establishment of soup kitchens), which seem to function on the assumption that deteriorating communities are just big lumps of deficiencies. In his lecture on Wednesday, he mentioned that the problem with “do-gooders” is that they tend to view a community’s social problems as the WHOLE truth. The media generally operates under the principle that “if it bleeds, it leads.” Academics love studying urban problems. Politicians like to talk about all the problems they want to solve, so they can make themselves into the solution. Professor Kretzmann said that instead of instituting leaders who magnify inadequacies, it’s better to look for natural local leaders … the woman on the block who all single mothers turn to, the guy who can paint beautiful murals, religious figures who inspire and comfort. People, instead of programs, are the answer to community issues. The goal of ABCD is empowerment instead of service, investment instead of charity, and treatment of community members as citizens instead of clients. So … I think GESI brought him in to humble us and set our mindsets in the right direction: we are not going abroad to solve anything. We’re going to help community members realize that their talents are valuable, and can be used to address context-pertinent issues. If everything goes perfectly, my Uganda group will combine our goals, interests, and common values with the intentions and assets of our host non-profit organization St. Francis Health Care Services AND the interests and passions of the community to create a sustainable project. Sustainability, we’ve learned, is defined by competency development. Tomorrow we’ll take a fieldtrip to two communities on the west side of Chicago—one African American and one Latino—that have implemented successful community-based revitalization and development projects.
On lighter subjects, my Uganda team is pretty interesting. All five are from Northwestern. Three are pre-med, two are aspiring engineers. Everyone has pretty distinct personalities, but there are already some commonalities emerging: we all love traveling and outdoorsy stuff. We’ve got some sailors, speed skiers, and mountain bikers on the team. Being such an active group, we decided that we would like to exercise in Uganda (which I heard is kind of taboo … women’s knees are highly offensive, so I’m going to go shopping for some yoga pants before heading out a week from today! Plus, exercising for fun is just weird). My roommate for my Uganda homestay, I discovered, is from Singapore, so this will be a cultural experience x2. Speaking of homestays, it was suggested that we bring small, meaningful gifts for our host families. My mom and I had a fun time at Kansas Sampler picking out memorabilia that excessively glorifies the Sunflower State: a heart-shaped door blessing made out of wheat, a stained-glass window suction thingy with an illustration of windmills and sunflowers, and a picture book. I also took a trip to U.S. Toy to pick up bubbles, finger puppets, mini-pinball games, and kazoos for street kids I meet. Ugandan parents will probably hate me for that last toy.
Although I feel like I’m learning very valuable information about team dynamics, how to ensure feedback and accountability in our project, and how we should go about deciding on a project when in-country, I’m already getting very antsy. I can’t wait until these posts become less hypothetical and more observational!
Well, I arrived in Chicago on a rainy Tuesday afternoon and settled in a hostel with the 40-or-so other GESI participants. I’m in a room with about 8 other girls, the majority of them going to Uganda with me, and some going to India. We had a brief reading assigned that night by Professor John P. Kretzmann, founder of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach and Obama’s recommendation letter writer for law school. The article proposes that identifying the capacities of communities is favorable to needs-based assessments (which basically just offer really gloomy statistics with no explicit plan for improvement) or service delivery (temporary problem-solving like the establishment of soup kitchens), which seem to function on the assumption that deteriorating communities are just big lumps of deficiencies. In his lecture on Wednesday, he mentioned that the problem with “do-gooders” is that they tend to view a community’s social problems as the WHOLE truth. The media generally operates under the principle that “if it bleeds, it leads.” Academics love studying urban problems. Politicians like to talk about all the problems they want to solve, so they can make themselves into the solution. Professor Kretzmann said that instead of instituting leaders who magnify inadequacies, it’s better to look for natural local leaders … the woman on the block who all single mothers turn to, the guy who can paint beautiful murals, religious figures who inspire and comfort. People, instead of programs, are the answer to community issues. The goal of ABCD is empowerment instead of service, investment instead of charity, and treatment of community members as citizens instead of clients. So … I think GESI brought him in to humble us and set our mindsets in the right direction: we are not going abroad to solve anything. We’re going to help community members realize that their talents are valuable, and can be used to address context-pertinent issues. If everything goes perfectly, my Uganda group will combine our goals, interests, and common values with the intentions and assets of our host non-profit organization St. Francis Health Care Services AND the interests and passions of the community to create a sustainable project. Sustainability, we’ve learned, is defined by competency development. Tomorrow we’ll take a fieldtrip to two communities on the west side of Chicago—one African American and one Latino—that have implemented successful community-based revitalization and development projects.
On lighter subjects, my Uganda team is pretty interesting. All five are from Northwestern. Three are pre-med, two are aspiring engineers. Everyone has pretty distinct personalities, but there are already some commonalities emerging: we all love traveling and outdoorsy stuff. We’ve got some sailors, speed skiers, and mountain bikers on the team. Being such an active group, we decided that we would like to exercise in Uganda (which I heard is kind of taboo … women’s knees are highly offensive, so I’m going to go shopping for some yoga pants before heading out a week from today! Plus, exercising for fun is just weird). My roommate for my Uganda homestay, I discovered, is from Singapore, so this will be a cultural experience x2. Speaking of homestays, it was suggested that we bring small, meaningful gifts for our host families. My mom and I had a fun time at Kansas Sampler picking out memorabilia that excessively glorifies the Sunflower State: a heart-shaped door blessing made out of wheat, a stained-glass window suction thingy with an illustration of windmills and sunflowers, and a picture book. I also took a trip to U.S. Toy to pick up bubbles, finger puppets, mini-pinball games, and kazoos for street kids I meet. Ugandan parents will probably hate me for that last toy.
Although I feel like I’m learning very valuable information about team dynamics, how to ensure feedback and accountability in our project, and how we should go about deciding on a project when in-country, I’m already getting very antsy. I can’t wait until these posts become less hypothetical and more observational!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Heading out
Two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be heading to Northwestern University to take two classes in international community development with the Global Engagement Summer Institute. On June 26, I'll board a plane with several other college students and head to Jinja, Uganda, about 50 miles east of the capital of Kampala. Although I don't yet know exactly what my project description is, I know I'll be working with St. Francis Health Care Services for seven weeks in their effort to support those affected by HIV/AIDS.
I feel extremely excited and blessed to have this opportunity, and hope to provide you guys with some interesting stories and insight!
I feel extremely excited and blessed to have this opportunity, and hope to provide you guys with some interesting stories and insight!
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