Keep Your Eyes Open

Keep Your Eyes Open

A feature that In Touch magazine did about PMI. Beautiful.

Day 110

I've been back from Uganda for a little more than a week now.  After slacking off on my blog for quite a while, I decided to go back and fill you in on some of the major stories and pictures I skipped.  Enjoy!

It is great to be back in the US.  I celebrated my sisters beautiful wedding this past Saturday and now I'm scrambling to finish up my end-of-semester school work. 

I don't know what is next, but I hope to soon find a job I can enjoy and one that will enable me to put down some more permanent roots.

Thanks for reading!

My People

In no particular order, here is the cast of characters who made my crazy three months in Masindi worthwhile...

Me with Amanda (my directors wife and a super supportive friend) and Alex (one of the clinic docs)

My buddy Wilson. He was always super protective and concerned for me.  He was a loyal friend from day one.  Don't know what I would I have done without him.

Christine, my brainy Quickbooks copilot.  She taught me a lot about accounting.

Mustafa my crazy boda driver, ambassador to all white people in Masindi, and more full of personality than any picture can capture.

Gilbert, a clinic nurse, my most eager computer student, and a caring friend.

Brian, a janitor at the clinic, another great student, and an overall sweetheart.

Forms of Resistance

"Julie, something terrible has happened."  Patrick told me.  He showed me his brand new, expensive phone.  It had just fallen on the ground and was looking worse for the wear.

"Do you know who is responsible for this?" He asked me very seriously.

"Museveni?"  I asked.

"Yes." he nodded, as a chorus of giggles burst out all around the office.

Uganda has had the same president for decades.  Many citizens are quite tired of him and do not believe he is an effective leader for their country anymore. 

Some fear to speak out against him, others are just a bit too jaded about politics to complain openly about him.  But they still find ways to undermine him. 

A popular joke among the clinic staff was to blame him for any absurd thing that went wrong in their lives.  Premature balding, a stolen bike, a missed bus, a cough.  Who was to blame?  Museveni. The explanations for how he arranged for these annoyances were quite creative and varied.

It may not be the most effective form of resistance.  But an interesting coping mechanism all the same.  And a fun way to let of steam, if nothing else.

Basket Making

This is Constance, my neighbor.  I had to walk through her families compound every day on my way to and from the clinic so I was up in their business pretty much all the time.  They were always kind and friendly to me. 

I asked Constance to teach me how to weave a basket out of grass, and she did.  I'm holding the completed basket in the top picture.  I'll admit, I had a lot of help in finishing it...

Gulu Visit

About six weeks ago, I traveled to Gulu to visit Jocelyn.  I forgot to take many pictures of my visit, but I did want to document it here.  Better late than never?

My bus journey was complete with the typical set backs and break downs that characterize most of my travel in Africa.  This is the "rest stop" in Kafu where I ended up chilling for about an hour and a half trying to transfer buses.  Whenever a bus rolls through, the vendors race out to crowd around and hold up their food items for sale through the bus windows.  It was fascinating to observe a slice of their life for a time.  I met many prospective spouses here.

But it was all worth it to get to Gulu.  Gulu is a fun little town with lots of great food and interesting stuff to do.  I spent part of the first day helping Jocelyn out at Krochet Kids where she works. 

On a quest to make chips and salsa, I went to the market in search of ingredients and got caught in a major downpour.  Some of the market women invited me into their stall where I waited out the rain for about a half an hour. 

We ate well!  Good chips and salsa were had, along with some delicious pizza, omelets, Lebanese, and Ethiopian foods.  We also strolled around town, went to church, got sun burned, played banana-grams, met her colleagues, hung out with her kittens, and I got to have an extended Swahili conversation with her guard. It was a splendid visit. :-)  Thanks for being a great hostess, JC.

Traffic Jam

 

There were definitely some advantages of living in rural Uganda.  Such as rarely having to deal with Kampala traffic like this.