The Last King of Scotland...

Hello!

A bunch of us went to see the movie "The Last King of Scotland" this evening. It is a movie set in Uganda about the rein of the dictator Idi Amin, who killed over 300,000 Ugandans while in power. He was an awful guy. It was a very stirring movie. But what was cool is that it was shot in Uganda... like I have been to the places in the movie. The clips of the people, the food, the dress, the language, the landscape etc. are all pretty accurate of what I see here. So basically what I am trying to say is... if you have the chance to see it in America... GO! It was playing around the time I left to come here, so I'm not sure if it is still in theaters. The movie will give you such a great visual of what I see here. A gentle warning, thought... there are some brutal parts in the movie. Def deserves the "R" rating. So be warned. But let me know if anyone does see it, or has seen it because I'd love to talk about it with you.

Some cool things:
1. alot of it is taped in Kampala, the capital, where we go all the time.
2. our doctor that we go see was in the movie... this funny British guy
3. a professors wife here was an extra, along with one of our fellow honours college students
4. the airport scene was taped in Entebbe- where we landed when we arrived
5. you can hear the name "mzungu" used a bunch... the name they call all us white folk
6. in one scene Idi Amin is eating food with his hands... and its all the exact food I eat every single day, along with the rest of Uganda.

Be well, everyone. Talk to you soon!

I'm still alive!!!

Hello hello!
So writing these journals is becoming a bit more difficult these days. I find that I'm often too overwhelmed to sort through my thoughts and organize them into an entry. But I'll do my best...

We've taken some very interesting field trips lately. Last Friday, we visited an African Traditional Healer, also called a Diviner. He is the man that people go to when they are ill and want to be healed by the "spirits." Apparently, it was very controversial that we visited this place, because when we talked to our Christian Ugandan peers, they were so confused on why we would ever want to go there. In terms of education, Uganda focuses much less on learning just for the sake of learning, mostly out of necessity. In the U.S., most of us get liberal arts degrees, with the ultimate goal of higher education being to produce very well rounded graduates. Uganda Christian University is just starting to offer courses like we get in the US i.e. philosophy, general psych, ethics, world views, and basic bible courses. So we visited the traditional healer to get a better understanding of the traditional religion in Uganda. It was the chance of a lifetime, as we got to ask him very provoking questions about spirits and gods and such. It was very interesting.

This past Friday, we visited Kasubi Tombs. It is the place in Kampala where all the former kings of Uganda are buried. It was in a huge hut, which was where the king used to reign from. That wasn't quite as cool, but hey, it was a free tour for us, so whatever. There are pictures of it at http://messiah.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019495&l=ab81e&id=55300263 . go check it out.

We spent the rest of the day in Kampala hanging out. We grabbed some American food (ALWAYS a treat) and then my roommate and I headed to a mall type place, and just got some coffee and hung out. We actually ran into this British missionary couple that we had met previously when we were in Jinga. We wound up chatting with them for over 2 hours. We had so much to learn from each other's stories. It was really neat. They actually hate Americans, but the man, Ken, was pleasantly surprised with us. It was nice to break down some stereotypes haha.

This coming weekend is pretty the climax of our whole trip... we are headed 6 hours northeast for our rural homestays in the village of Soroti. Here we will be living with another family in a hut, with no electricity or running water. If we are realllly lucky, we will get to slaughter a chicken and eat the gizzards! Apparently, the gizzards are the best past and they always offer it to honored quests if present... luckily, we are the honored guests!! Can't wait! In all seriousness thought, we are truly lucky to have this opportunity. No other study abroad program in the U.S. has the opportunity to do rural homestays in Africa. It truly is a once in a lifetime experience. And plus, these people live this way every single day... the least we can do is go with a good attitude, ready to learn and respect their way of life without complaining.

We will then be headed to Sepi Falls, another resort type place, to debrief our homestays. I will be home Monday, March 11th, and will then update my journal about homestays. So keep your eyes open.

Last but not least, I got my hair done!!! I had a women come and braid the whole thing they was they do it here. It's actually twists. There are also pictures of that when you go to the Facebook link. Its sooo cool- i look kind of Jamaican. They are actually twisted, not braided, because I thought it looked cooler. Now I don't have to wash my hair at all while in Soroti!

Well thats all for now. Life is getting much easier here, in terms of the culture. I miss everyone at home alot. But apparently, its boring there and I'm not missing anything except freezing cold weather! So I'm glad I'm here. Be well, everyone. Love yous

so much to learn...

hello hello-
so i was reading through some of my previous blogs... i realized that i like to tell entertaining stories. part of that is deliberate, because basically no one will read this if its boring and lame, so i do my best to make things interesting. but after all that ive been experiencing, i also want to expose some other things about my trip...

i know i talk alot of funny things that happen, like getting peed on or having to eat massive amounts of smashed plantains. but my experience here is significantly more than that. my program is very strategically planned out to deal with some really tough issues here. each week we talk about a new one in class, and then directly apply it to the things we are seeing right in front of our faces everyday. today we addressed poverty, digging through all the many complex issues of the problem. we talked about economic development and all the factors that go into making a country successful- as well as how truly complicated it is. we've talked about american styles of teaching in our universities, in contrast to the methods that will be used while we are here. we are using a very hands on style of learning- integrating our academics with real life situations, applying what we learn in the classroom and executing it in real life. some things are easy to read about in theory while sitting in class at Messiah College in precious little Grantham, PA... but try applying them to real life. sometimes they just dont fit together.

basically what im trying to say is that my experience here is WAY more than a safari adventure or camping trip on steroids. yes, i'll have plenty of funny, crazy stories to tell you when i get home, but ill also have serious issues to grapple with. i dont want everyone to think that im this brave, honorable woman for coming to Africa, because its not true. I'm here to learn, I'm here to be changed. and yes it is an adventure- but im also just another college student here in Uganda. I live with real Ugandans- who all live real lives- who all live like this every single day. they are people, with feelings and opinions. and im no better than them bc im american or have been blessed with some sweet technology.

so all in all, i just wanted everyone to know that im not just playing around here in Africa. i am learning more than i ever anticipated to learn, both experientially and academically. so im psyched to share new ideas with you when i get home! until then, be well. and keep those comments coming. i love reading them.

mmm...cheeseburgers

hello hello!
Well, things have been going really, really well here now that we are back from homestays. We have gone into Uganda's capital, Kampala, a few times which has been such a treat. Yesterday, My friend Liz, also from Messiah, and I went and met up with our friend Marc, who just graduated from Messiah. He is in Uganda for 4 months working with Food for the Hungary while his fiance is in Spain. It was SO great to see him and just hang out. He took us to this INSANE market place that was so crowded and so crazy. It was a blast. i found some cool second hand clothes and some jewelry.

Last Saturday was also such a treat. We went into Kampala for my friend Kara's birthday. We went to lunch and all bought cheese burgers! Its amazing how good a burger can taste when you havent eaten any american food in over a month. It was heavenly. Later that night, one of the USP students here made an American dinner for all of us to celebrate the end of homestays (our just celebrate that we actually lived through them!) So Saturday, all of my 3 meals were American... the french toast and eggs i made for my host family, the cheeseburger, and country fried steak for dinner! that may have been the best day here! haha.

Today we are leaving for an Honours College Retreat... on campus we live with all African students who are in the honours programme here (yes british spelling) They are highly intelligent Africans with so much to offer us, so we as a group are all going on a retreat to Jinga (aka the source of the Nile where i went with my host dad two weeks ago) It should be a really great weekend. I hope you are all well... lemme know how everyone is doing.
-Kate

Cooking in Uganda... easier said than done

What a busy last few days. I spent this last week still with my host family, traveling to their home each evening after my classes. On Thursday night, I made them dinner… pasta with tomato sauce. Who would have thought I’d learn to cook in Africa? Boy did I take the microwave and stove top for granted at home in America! I made sauce from scratch… have I ever made sauce from scratch? Nope. But I did on Thursday! And it came out pretty good. I loaded it with veggies (eggplant, onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes) because I rarely get to eat any. Well, it turns out the Ugandans aren’t a huge fan of vegetables. For us, the vegetables are SO cheap here. I would think they would have eaten them all the time. But they really only use them for flavoring on their meats, they don’t eat them like we do. I think that they don’t find them filling enough and it would be too expensive to feed such large families on vegetables.

So they picked at the pasta, and choked down the sauce. I was a little angry because the 18 year old, Prose, who does all the cooking for the family everyday, had such an attitude that night. And she picked at the sauce, smelled it, made a face, put it down and didn’t eat it. If I had no self control, I would have yelled something like “Oh my God, Prose, I eat your gross plantains every day and I don’t EVER make a face!!!” But of course, I didn’t yell such a thing… I just laughed. Sometimes there’s nothing I can do but laugh here… because if I didn’t laugh, I’d probably cry haha. So we USP students spend as much time as we can laughing off the tough situations. The adults were fairly polite about it, even though I could tell they didn’t like it… and the kids just made me laugh because they were trying so hard to choke it down with a smile.

It’s very interesting because in America, we have such a variety of foods that we are very accustomed to liking and disliking foods, and also learning to fake that you like things to be polite. But Ugandans have pretty much the same basic 10 or so foods… and they like them all. So being exposed to something they don’t like is a tough situation for them, and they are fairly open about disliking it. It’s kind of funny actually.

But luckily… I decided to redeem myself by cooking breakfast for them on Saturday morning before I left. What a success!! I made French toast and scrambled eggs (also had never made French toast before then.) Now you in America are thinking to yourselves “oh those are pretty easy things to make.” No. It wasn’t. Let’s go through the process here… first it took an hour or so to go get the ingredients on Friday night. I had to buy eggs, which are fresh brown ones that they put in a plastic bag when you buy them. Kinda weird. Then milk….which comes in a bag. And my family didn’t have a refrigerator so I had to create my own. I put cold water in a bucket and put the milk in it, then left it outside over night so it would stay cool. It turned out fine. I also had to get bread, cinnamon, and vanilla. After buying all the stuff, I walked the 20 minutes home with my bags. Not fun. Then Saturday, we had to start up the charcoal “stove” type thing and let that get hot. Then I had to cook the toast in a pot… because frying pans are hard to come by. A pot… that’s not very easy to make French toast in for the record… and without a spatula. Then the bread started falling apart… because the bread here ALWAYS falls apart. It’s perpetually stale and really hard. But so it goes.

So the final product… a whole loaf of French toast “pieces” covered in margarine so they wouldn’t stick to the pot and a load of scrambled eggs. I served it and they LOVED it. They love sweet things… and didn’t care the French toast pieces were all broken, because we ate with our hands anyway. So at least they liked one meal! And I was pretty glad to eat some American food.

Our departure on Saturday was bittersweet… I was DEFNITELY ready to leave and be home in my dorm room and get some alone time. But I also had a very fulfilling two weeks, where I learned more than I could have ever anticipated. Mzumba prayed for us before we left, and they family kept thanking us for the gifts we gave to them the night before. It’s amazing how much they appreciate such small things. All in all, I’m glad I’m back at school, but I’m very thankful for my experience. I’m sure I will continue to go back there to visit often throughout the semester.

Saturday was a very eventful, exciting day… but I’ll save that for another entry. Be well!