World Food Day

I just attended "World Food Day" in our Sub-County's headquarters, about a 5-10 minute motorcycle ride away. It was a big open area surrounded by vegetable stalls with a tent in the middle to protect some guests from rain. People came and showed off their cows (and tried to sell them) and there were a couple of BIG ol' bulls. A couple of goats or rams or something started going at it ramming their heads (which is why I think they could have been rams), so that was exciting. Other than that, a lot of kids dancing, and a lot of people there. I'd say 600-1,000 people, though my companion at the event, Mangowe Masawi Wilson, our outreach coordinator and mayor of Bumwalukani, guessed 2,000.

Our drama group performed to this huge crowd. I was impressed by the way they held their own in front of a large crowd. Our health center houses a community health drama group who creates and performs small plays about public health issues. Then there were some speeches and such, and then Wilson and I split. It was a good day, overall. A good experience to be certain (though my camera is broken) and I might have made some good contacts at a government run bank that seems to encourage renewable energy projects (Biogas?) and the Community Development Officer of the district. I MAY have arranged to get a copy of the video taken, so if that's the case it will be on youtube once I get it and get a decent internet connection for long enought to upload it. All for today.....

My Election Night

I partied it up with some teachers from Arlington Academy of Hope (the school). After hearing that they had a sattelite, I expected at LEAST a 19" tv, but alas... it was more like 10". I got used to it pretty quick, and was happy to be watching my first tv since I got here. Leading up to the party, Godfrey (one of the hosts) was talking about sausage, chicken and the like.... I was making promises about bringing a case of "Senator" beer aka Obama (soon to be named "President" beer, I'm sure). As I was dreding carrying a crate of beer up the slippery, muddy hill to Godfrey and Andrew's house, I quicly realized that I wouldn't have to worry about it, as Senators were sold out in Kiholo (the village trading center) and they only had 7 Eagle Beers in the whole trading center. I bought them out and bought out the sugar cane liquor that they had, too (10 small pouches). I called Andrew, the school's treasurer, and apparently he sent a 6th grader down to "make things happen". I saw the kid coming down the hill with a backpack and money while I was on my way up, and he told me that "Andrew sent me to find beer". The kid came back without beer, but with the promise that it was 0n it's way. Sure enough, an hour later, a motorcycle drove up to the house with a crate of Senators!! Oh happy election day!

After washing down my sausage, chicken, rice, chipati bread, potatoes, and many other starches (maybe even a vegetable in there) with SENATOR beer, it was about 11pm. I fell asleep for a few hours, and was ready to go for the rest of the night... the results starting pouring in aroud 3-4am, and by 5am, we were fired up, Godfrey had his shirt off, and the party really started.... We kept it going until Barack's emotional victory speech just around sunrise. By then, I looked over and the health clinic staff was there, early for work, watching along with us. They were impressed that I managed to work the next day until 2pm. Not my most coherent day of work, but I got some things accomplished. I even test drove a bike and got damn muddy doing it. Luckily, my booze and mud soaked ass got overlooked thanks to everybody's excitement. WHAT A NIGHT!

Shout Barack... Obama.... Barack.... Obama.....

People are psyched about Barack. His Grandmother's village is 80 miles from my village (as the crow flies... by road, it's probably twice that).

There's a song by "Cocoa Tea" called, you guessed it... "Barack Obama" that was being cranked by one of AAH's teachers, Teacher Godfrey, on Saturday afternoon as he was sitting on his porch drinking a Kenyan beer called Senator named after, you guessed it, Senator Obama. People just order "Obama". Godfrey has a sattelite TV (one of two TVs in town that I know of) and he agreed to an all nighter Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Other Ugandans are also coming - they're psyched.

In Mbale, the city, people see a white guy walking down the street (me), ask where I'm from, and within seconds, we're high fiving, or hugging or jumping up and down, laughing in excitement about Barack.

I'm sure that no Presidential candidate in history has had this kind of international support... I don't want to offend any of my blog readers, but I'm psyched about Barack Hussein Obama... and I'm not the only one.

Papa

We hiked two hours over rivers and up steep trails to get to Salim's house for lunch on Saturday. We were guided by both a cook from AAH (the school) and by "Papa", a 77 year old man whose son is the founder of the school. Papa had knee surgery on both knees and when you look at him, you wouldn't imagine that he'd be able to handle ten minutes of hiking. In fact, he's been hiking these mountains his whole life and he laughs in the face of muddy slopes, rocky passes, and cliff-side paths. And he was doing it this past Saturday in a suit and tie.

On the way home from lunch, about half way into our two hour hike home, Papa disappeared. The last time I saw him, he was talking to an old lady so I just let him do his thang, continued walking, and figured he'd catch up. We stopped at the bottom of an especially steep downhill stretch, and Papa didn't show up for five to ten minutes, but it felt like much more as we started to worry about him. Once our fear started to escalate, we were thinking, "great, papa's missing or he's hurt and it's all our fault. What are we doing letting the old man go last down a steep slope without waiting for him more often?"

Then, as we were all looking uphill, waiting anxiously for Papa, we heard a call come from the other direction. As we turned, what did we see but Papa, standing there looking dapper as ever with his walking stick dressed in his suit and tie with a big smile on his face. He had taken a shortcut and was actually waiting for US. He had to come back to find us, as he passed us while we were contemplating what could have possibly happened to him.

Papa proved that the mountains still have nuttin' on him.... Neither do us punk kids.

Farewell to David

As I mentioned in one of my first postings, my predecessor, David Gelvin, did an unbelievable job here and after spending two weeks being trained by him, I feel like a better person. We had two ceremonies to honor his leaving and my arriving. One was with the villagers and the other was with our partner school (AAH). They were touching and inspiring, as he was given a hero's farewell and I was given a warm, open-armed welcome. The volunteer coordinator for AAH spent nine months with him, so I'll cheat today and provide a link to HER blog tribue....

http://outofuganda.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/david-and-goliath/