I figure it is about time for a new blog post (because I
know you are all eagerly awaiting to hear about my life). New developments:
I got robbed, which is super
annoying, but for some reason not at all scary to me really. It wasn’t a big confrontation or anything; I
didn’t even know it had happened until I looked in my bag and oo shit my stuff
is gone. Oo well they are just things
and that isn’t really enough to make me hate Uganda or anything. Plus it could easily happen in the US
(probably more violently) and I think most PCVs have gotten at least some
things stolen from them. More recently
(a separate event) I did a TON of laundry: My own, Matt Murphy’s (I was doing
Murph’s for him because we had been traveling, so he had no clean clothes and
he did something to his back and could barely walk so he was staying at my
house until he got cleared to go to Kampala for medical– I don’t need a smelly
kid living at my house) and my bedspread.
Well lucky for me it rained shortly after I finished so these items did
not dry that same day. Not even thinking
about it I left all my laundry outside overnight; hoping to soak up the most
sun without having wake up early to re hang them all outside. Usually this is not a problem; I live in a gated
compound with people I work with – not too worried about them stealing my
stuff. Because of the sheer amount of
laundry, I had to hang on of the sheets on a bush; this bush is the border
between my compound and the outside world.
I wake up in the morning and EH! My blue sheet is gone! Everything else
was there perfectly fine, but my Target bedsheet has been stolen. Someone must have reached over the bush and
grabbed it and ran off. They better not
let me see it; I will know it is mine. There are no Targets here, so one quick
look at the tag and I will steal it back.
Also most Ugandan sheets have some kind of floral design on them – idk
what it is but the sheets are flowered and many of the blankets look straight
out of the 70s with the big flowers and terrible brown color. Awesome. A plain blue sheet will stick out
Around this same time I also got
pretty severely sunburnt. We went to a
pool for a bit (yes there are pools here…no water slides though) and I forgot
my sunscreen. Does this mean that I was
extra cautious and stayed in the shade?
Nope. Perhaps I borrowed some
from the people I went with? Nope I am just not that logical I guess (Uganda
rubbing off on me…) I just hang out all day under the equatorial sun letting my
skin fry. The result = probably the
worst sunburn I have ever had (yes Nickie even worse than that time we were up
north together and I was taking Accutane)…also did I mention my malaria meds
make me more susceptible to sunburn? All
in all not the most genius thing I have done in my life. No big deal; go home put on some aloe vera
and call it a day. Not a chance – I
didn’t bring any with me (packing last minute strikes again!), PC Medical
doesn’t provide it (Should they? Well as Andrew says “put a bunch of pale
people on the equator and see what happens”), and since most Ugandans don’t
know what sunburn is really they don’t sell it anywhere. I spent that night rubbing cold water bottles
over my body while we were out and trying to balance beer drinking with water
drinking to prevent dehydration but still get drunk enough to not feel the pain
of sunburn. Actually though it was a
good night. Bone shaking to my heart’s
content followed by 3am chili and caramel = always awesome. That Monday I get back to site and all the
Ugandans are like “Ah! Brittan! Your skin has changed color!” Lucky for me this was the week the amazing
nutritionist from Kenya came to visit.
She has her own company that uses natural products to make a variety of
things, including skin care products.
She gave me some sweet oil to run on my sunburn and it helped quite a
bit. Although I did peel (which has
never happened to me before) all over, the most painful being when the skin
between my boobs peeled to a raw tender level that I complained about for days. Ask anyone I talked to at All-vol; they
probably heard about it. Anyway lesson
learned sunscreen may not be super necessary in Wisconsin (although should
probably still put a base coat on during the summer), but at the equator I
should probably throw some on before laying around in the sun all day.
The Kenyan nutritionist was great!
She was really outgoing and funny; I learned quite a bit. Not always stuff I didn’t know, but often put
into a context that is unfamiliar to me.
One of the things I was struggling with is how to transfer my nutrition
knowledge from America to here. Food,
culture, and really everything is extremely different here. You have the older generations trying to hold
onto their foods and the younger generations adapting Western foods (but only
the ones that are super terrible for you and typically they are not as good of
quality). These are two separate issues
to be dealt with. She also helped put into
context how to apply nutrition to helping Numa succeed as a company—value adding
to products and talking to people about nutrition under the title of Numa’s
nutritionist. This way I am getting the
message out there and promoting Numa.
The last two nights she was here (right before All-Vol) we had dinner
together. First night was at my
supervisors’ house. They made us Ugandan
food, but it was much better than the Ugandan food you will get in a
restaurant. My supervisor, who is always
saying I don’t eat enough, got to see me eat seconds for once. Those of you that know me back home will no
doubt be shocked to hear I am not eating much --- well I tend to only eat a ton
of food that actually tastes good. You
try matooke/posho and let me know how much of it you want to eat. The next day they all came to my house and I
made spaghetti with eggplant and peppers and other veggies. My supervisor also thinks I don’t like
meat. Another shock to those of you back
home? Well meat here is different. It
may be raised better than in America, but the way it is most often prepared
makes it extremely chewy. I don’t know
what it is, some have said simply how the meat is raised is the
difference. That’s not true because I
have had good meat in this country.
Maybe how they just chop it up arbitrarily rather than by parts of the
animal (no different cuts of steak here folks!) is the problem. I think it is probably just the way most of
them cook it – many are still using charcoal/wood burning stoves with little to
no control over the heat levels. Plus
most are scared that if they don’t cook stuff well enough they will kill the
Muzungu (me), so it is often overcooked.
I’d rather get food poisoning that eat a well done steak any day (to
calm my mother I am just not eating steak in this country instead of risking
food poisoning) Anyway, surprisingly they all seemed to enjoy it! Not only did
they say they liked it -- they ate it all.
Apparently my house is entertaining to them: one I have pictures of back
home all over the wall, two I have certain things that Ugandans don’t
know/think of around, three it’s just interesting to see how other cultures
live. I probably would be more interested in Ugandan houses had I not lived in
one for a month and explored many others during that time. We had a great conversation about yoga
stemming from my yoga mat being out that led to a suggestion of Numa-wide yoga
sessions and ended with the Kenyan professor in her white pant suit doing sit
ups on my floor. They were also pretty
impressed with my chalkboard I painted on the wall and my use of a conga
(usually a wrap for after showering) for decoration. Schools here just use chalkboard paint to
make boards in their classrooms so you can buy the paint anywhere. They thought I was very creative (when in
fact I stole that idea from Tara).
Other than that not too much new
has been happening. Just working during
the week – trying to establish what exactly I am supposed to be doing. Wandering around town after work to make
myself known – although the guys near my house have started calling me Celine
Dion; maybe I should just tell them my real name. Everyone else still calls me Muzungu – I’m
too lazy to correct them and it really doesn’t bother me that much. My supervisor is extremely nice --- although
sometimes a little too eager and expects a little too much from me. Contrary to popular belief, I’m trying to get
the idea across that Americans do not know everything and everything white
people do is not necessarily correct/good.
Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but sometimes I think technology here
isn’t always a good thing. They seem to
adopt American ways/technology readily without understanding how/why they are
doing it. Sometimes this is fine and
works out well, but other times it is an expensive waste of time. Some American ways of doing things simply do
not work in Africa. Also I am getting a
kitten soon –name ideas? With love, from Africa -- Brittan
