I know I won't get anything up before Christmas besides this one so let me wish everyone an extremely Merry (and cold!) Christmas! It's in the 90's here today (again) and extremely dusty. The dry-season-dust-allergy I acquired in Africa is in full swing. I'll be spending Christmas at my new home with the Fathers, Kelly, Margo (another volunteer), and several other guests of the parish. I'll put up a more detailed post after the festivities. It sounds like it will quite a bloody event - the morning of Christmas eve is spent slaughtering goats, cows and chickens and is, as the Fathers say, "a very dark day for animals in Uganda".
I'll be sure to twitter some messages until I can get something substantial (and overdue) up here.
Hope everyone has a great holiday!
My love to Mom, Dad, and Jason...I'll miss you all very much this week.
Love and miss you all,
Eric.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Another update (not post)
Still no update on what I'm actually doing here....not much you nee to know except that i'm just counting the days till we're sitting on white beaches in Zanzibar (11 btw).
In the meantime I've changed somethings up here. The twitter messages mentioned in the last post are above now, and i'll work on limiting my sms's to 140characters so you can see them all here. I've also put the pictures back up here, theres a link on the right sidebar (happy flaunty? love you.)
Also, below each post you can now give me your anonymous and honest feedback....and hopefully keep me in line if i become too idealistic :)
That's it.
Take care,
love and miss you all.
In the meantime I've changed somethings up here. The twitter messages mentioned in the last post are above now, and i'll work on limiting my sms's to 140characters so you can see them all here. I've also put the pictures back up here, theres a link on the right sidebar (happy flaunty? love you.)
Also, below each post you can now give me your anonymous and honest feedback....and hopefully keep me in line if i become too idealistic :)
That's it.
Take care,
love and miss you all.
Friday, December 12, 2008
I'm twittering....
Ok, so I definitely owe you all a good healthy update. Be patient. In the meantime, I've added a new gadget (from twitter.com) to the sidebar...just there ----->
This little sucker will allow me to update my blog via my cell phone here! Not much..just short text message length updates...but it should make things interesting and give you something to chew on until I write a larger update (which I am also in the process of doing but won't be able to post today). It would be sweet if I had a picture phone, but I make 200 dollars a month, so what can you do.
Everything else is going great. We finished the last term of the school year and are on a 2 month holiday.
17 days till we leave for ZANZIBAR!
Love you all
This little sucker will allow me to update my blog via my cell phone here! Not much..just short text message length updates...but it should make things interesting and give you something to chew on until I write a larger update (which I am also in the process of doing but won't be able to post today). It would be sweet if I had a picture phone, but I make 200 dollars a month, so what can you do.
Everything else is going great. We finished the last term of the school year and are on a 2 month holiday.
17 days till we leave for ZANZIBAR!
Love you all
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Zebra's, Hippos, and Lost Ballots
I'm still here...
Once again a big gap between my last post so I'll try to catch you up on the happenings since I last updated, as well as stuff this entry with pictures. After my first ballot was lost in the mail (along with all other peace corps uganda ballots) and some legwork from my mom (thank you) I have finally printed a valid ballot and just waiting to find a fax machine that can fax trans-atlantic. I'm told they will be open tomorrow, so we'll see. Nothing like bringing it down to the wire...but this is Africa, where nothing is accomplished in a timely manner.
In other news, my football team is coming together slowly. Considering the first practice I had to teach them how to stretch before training and why it was important, i'd say its quite an accomplishment. We are currently playing an inter-class tournament, the St. Adolf Champions Cup, and are midway through the 4-week tournament. Next friday we are playing a friendly match with the neighboring school, so we'll see if the training has paid off.
The school term is once again coming to a close, and this is the last term of the year...so I am approaching a nice long 2 month break which will give me lots of time to catch up on lesson, football, and newspaper planning. I attempted to put together a science fair with my S2 physics class but in the interest of time we scrapped it for this year and will plan on doing one next school year. (Pictured below is a hand full of them...btw: the second from the right is my goalkeeper Arthur - our ticket to the national competition next year ;).
Instead we are conducting an aerofoil competition. After some laborious explanations on the process I think they are finally understanding what we're doing. The competition is scheduled for next week (monday or tuesday depending on the wind and rain). I split the classes (2 classes of 60) into groups of three students. Each team was given various materials I had a surplus of (4 q-tips, 2 paper clips, length of string, scotch tape, 2 sheets of paper) and also allowed to use sticks and anything taken from a banana tree (leaves, banana fibers, etc). Their objective was to construct some type of airplane with these materials that we will launch from the top of a large boulder (20-30 feet high) and measure the length it travels. I'm giving each member of the winning team a textbook, pen, and small notebook, and some small prizes for 2nd and 3rd. I have refused to give an example to hopefully open up their (small) creative abilities. I'll take some pictures and let you know how it turns out....keep your fingers crossed.
On the personal side I recently took a trip to Lake Mburo national park with Kelly and some other volunteers. This park is one of two in Uganda with a large zebra population, which was incredible to see so many in the wild.
In addition, we took a boat trip around the lake and were chased by a dominant male hippo when our boat approached a little too close to his family. His attacking strategy was to dive down under water and swim towards our boat and then pop up several meters closer and blow water out of his snout at us. Here he is on once such surprise attack:
We also saw lots of small crocodiles on the lake and one that was quite large and luckily viewed from a considerable distance. I was however able to get a good picture of him just before he slipped into the water:
In addition I also learned that the vervet monkeys (most common type here have a somewhat strange color combination, especially in the uh, lower regions. This little fella here proceeded to sit up on the railing to scope out our plates during dinner, then slowly crept up behind me and snatched a boiled potato from my plate while I was turned the other way. This is just before the strike...
In village news I recently acquired a new appreciation for ants...a valuable source of protein where matooke rules all meals. A P7 student Ahebwa (Ah-hay-bwa) who lives just near the parish to the liberty of introducing me to the wonders of fresh ants. I've mentioned these in a previous entry when I watched two young boys catch them coming out of the anthill. This time we just found a spot on the ground where they were flying up around dusk and caught them with our hands and chowed down. They've got a juicy back section with some flavor, but you have to spit the wings out as you're chewing (apologies to queezy stomachs). Even the dog joined in.
We also had a new addition to the cattle herd, and this one Kelly and I were able to watch the birth throughout the day. So again, a cow for rosie...this is just a few hours after the birth, mom was still cleaning the new one off.
That's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well back home...don't worry, just a couple days and Palin's political career will fizzle out with a whimper as children everywhere sleep soundly once again (oops), and you wont have to hear the word "election" for a while (hopefully).
Love and miss you all,
Eric.
***oh and i've put a new PO Box address in the sidebar, yet again. Don't worry if something is already in transit. I can still access mail received at the Kampala and Kyenjojo addresses. I've had issues with getting a new key to replace the one the fathers lost for the Kyenjojo box, so my new neighbor and I are sharing a box in Fort Portal now instead.
Once again a big gap between my last post so I'll try to catch you up on the happenings since I last updated, as well as stuff this entry with pictures. After my first ballot was lost in the mail (along with all other peace corps uganda ballots) and some legwork from my mom (thank you) I have finally printed a valid ballot and just waiting to find a fax machine that can fax trans-atlantic. I'm told they will be open tomorrow, so we'll see. Nothing like bringing it down to the wire...but this is Africa, where nothing is accomplished in a timely manner.
In other news, my football team is coming together slowly. Considering the first practice I had to teach them how to stretch before training and why it was important, i'd say its quite an accomplishment. We are currently playing an inter-class tournament, the St. Adolf Champions Cup, and are midway through the 4-week tournament. Next friday we are playing a friendly match with the neighboring school, so we'll see if the training has paid off.
The school term is once again coming to a close, and this is the last term of the year...so I am approaching a nice long 2 month break which will give me lots of time to catch up on lesson, football, and newspaper planning. I attempted to put together a science fair with my S2 physics class but in the interest of time we scrapped it for this year and will plan on doing one next school year. (Pictured below is a hand full of them...btw: the second from the right is my goalkeeper Arthur - our ticket to the national competition next year ;).
 |
On the personal side I recently took a trip to Lake Mburo national park with Kelly and some other volunteers. This park is one of two in Uganda with a large zebra population, which was incredible to see so many in the wild.
 |
 |
 |
 |
In village news I recently acquired a new appreciation for ants...a valuable source of protein where matooke rules all meals. A P7 student Ahebwa (Ah-hay-bwa) who lives just near the parish to the liberty of introducing me to the wonders of fresh ants. I've mentioned these in a previous entry when I watched two young boys catch them coming out of the anthill. This time we just found a spot on the ground where they were flying up around dusk and caught them with our hands and chowed down. They've got a juicy back section with some flavor, but you have to spit the wings out as you're chewing (apologies to queezy stomachs). Even the dog joined in.
 |
 |
That's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well back home...don't worry, just a couple days and Palin's political career will fizzle out with a whimper as children everywhere sleep soundly once again (oops), and you wont have to hear the word "election" for a while (hopefully).
Love and miss you all,
Eric.
***oh and i've put a new PO Box address in the sidebar, yet again. Don't worry if something is already in transit. I can still access mail received at the Kampala and Kyenjojo addresses. I've had issues with getting a new key to replace the one the fathers lost for the Kyenjojo box, so my new neighbor and I are sharing a box in Fort Portal now instead.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Quick Post
Not much to update since I just posted the two massive ones. I do want to update two things.
#1: A big thank you to all those who donated money towards the UNEB exam kits for the S4 students at my school. I made a trip to Kampala this weekend to put the money to use. After a long discussion with my Deputy Headmaster we decided that in order to ensure your contributions benefitted as many students as possible and would last for many years to come we decided on the following. Instead of calculators for the kids to use on the exams (as most of them actually have calculators or access to one) we decided to use the money to purchase books. Thanks to your generosity I was able to acquire 23 books for the school that the students (and teachers) will have access to and be able to check out from the headmaster's office for up to a week at a time. Here's the breakdown of the books by subject:
Chemistry -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) with answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Biology -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) with answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Physics -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) - no answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Math -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
I am taking the books back with me today on the bus and will be giving them to the school tomorrow and informing the students on how they can access them. These books will be a tremendous help to the current S4's (especially the UNEB question and answer books) as they have 3 weeks to cram. They will also continue to offer support to many students in the future, and serve as the foundation of our future library! Thank you Thank you Thank you. Pictures to come.
#2: Please welcome a beautiful new soul into the world. Cassidy Lynn Ross, born on the 23rd of September to Terence and Melissa Ross. Congratulations on your new addition. She will no doubt be as kind as you both.
#1: A big thank you to all those who donated money towards the UNEB exam kits for the S4 students at my school. I made a trip to Kampala this weekend to put the money to use. After a long discussion with my Deputy Headmaster we decided that in order to ensure your contributions benefitted as many students as possible and would last for many years to come we decided on the following. Instead of calculators for the kids to use on the exams (as most of them actually have calculators or access to one) we decided to use the money to purchase books. Thanks to your generosity I was able to acquire 23 books for the school that the students (and teachers) will have access to and be able to check out from the headmaster's office for up to a week at a time. Here's the breakdown of the books by subject:
Chemistry -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) with answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Biology -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) with answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Physics -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 UNEB practical guide (experiment guide) - no answers
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
Math -
3 UNEB question and answer books (questions from past 10 years' exams)
1 OXFORD course summary for the syllabus with review questions and answers
1 Teacher's guide with 25 quiz's to use in classes
I am taking the books back with me today on the bus and will be giving them to the school tomorrow and informing the students on how they can access them. These books will be a tremendous help to the current S4's (especially the UNEB question and answer books) as they have 3 weeks to cram. They will also continue to offer support to many students in the future, and serve as the foundation of our future library! Thank you Thank you Thank you. Pictures to come.
#2: Please welcome a beautiful new soul into the world. Cassidy Lynn Ross, born on the 23rd of September to Terence and Melissa Ross. Congratulations on your new addition. She will no doubt be as kind as you both.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
What else i've been doing
So aside from the introduction ceremony (previous post) here's what else i've been up to lately:
Just before the schools let out for holiday the primary school on the parish hosted the regional music and dance competition. This brought together about 6 primary schools who had each won their district competition to compete for a chance to go to the national competition in Kampala. These kids were amazing. I watched a few of the events and immediately decided i needed to go get whatever i could to record them. SO i went back and grabbed the camera and my tape recorder. I got video of lots of the dances and also some cassette tapes of the music. I'll try to get the video up sometime so you can see that, but here's a couple pictures for the mean time.
Above is a picture from the traditional dance done by the kids from Kasese. They were really interesting because they are from a different tribe than all of the other schools. Kasese borders the Congo, so these kids speak a Congolese language and their dances and culture are heavily influenced by the Congo.
This one is another traditional dance from a school in Masindi, which lies in the northern part of the country. They ended up placing in the top 3 and went on to compete at the nationals (with the Kasese school above, and another)
All together there were 6 or so events, including lots of dances, music, a play, and others. I was completely blown away by how talented the kids were. Comparing what i was seeing to performances by elementary schools in the states just doesn't work. And thats taking nothing away from our kids. There's just some things Africa does extremely well, and this is one.
So that was all before the schools let out for holiday. Luckily it all took place (over two days) right on the parish so i had no excuse not to go. During the holiday we had a week long training in Kampala with our entire group as well as each of our counterparts from our organizations. It was a little overwhelming to say the least, compared to living in the village where I am the only white person (until now) within 30 km's or so. It was good to see everyone though, and i got some great ideas for projects that i can replicate. Also, hearing of failed projects and hardships people were having made me feel a little better about my situation and the problems i've had spinning wheels on several projects.
Also a while back I had the chance to attend my supervisor's (who is 50 or so) grandmother's 85th birthday celebration. There not really sure what her birthday is exactly, but they know its sometime in august, so they usually just pick a day to celebrate. Kelly came with me, and i think grandma was, to say the least, very happy to have two of us come out for the party. It was in my supervisors home village which is about 20km from my site. And when i say village i really mean it. We took a car from the parish out there and had to take a (barely) one lane road through dense dense bush for a few km's until we reached there. I wish i had a picture with me, i'll try to get one up of the route we took. It was really a footpath i think, with sugarcane plants that rose about 7 ft on either side of the road.
Once we arrived my supervisor took us around the village (village=4 or 5 houses near eachother) to show us some things he is working on there. He has a small fish hatchery as well as a couple pastures with cows. We also saw two kids catching white ants to cook for dinner. I have had the white ant sauce that comes out of this process but had never seen it done before. There are large anthills all over here, between 4 and 7 feet high usually, that are made by these white ants. They look like a normal ant but have 4 big wings on them. So to catch them you go out at night (when they usually come out) and put a blanket over the anthill. Where the blanket opens you have a little hole dug that collects them as they try to come out from under the blanket. Theres a picture on Kel's computer that i'll try to get up sometime. After catching them you pull the wings off and make a (quite delicous) sauce to put over matooke or millet....yum.
So after our tour we had dinner and a few drinks with the family before heading back home. Grandma didn't speak any english, and my rutoro is not nearly enough to hold any kind of conversation, so mostly my supervisor translated. Here's a picture of (l to r) kel, mom, grandma, me.
I think that about sums up my last few months here, or at least the major highlights. The new term started last week with beginning of term exams. I supervised about 5 of them throughout the week (3 were in a room with 130 kids!). Next week i'll start lecturing again, same classes i had before - 3 physics and 1 biology.
Oh i should make a note here of something i just realized. So some of the fam had made the comment to me about how it always seems like the school is on break, which is true, but there's good reason. The school calendar is based around the planting and harvesting seasons, which are based around the rains. Here's how it roughly breaks down: Jan-April= short rainy season and first term, May=holiday and harvest/planting, June-August=second term and dry season, Sept=planting and holiday, oct-dec=heavy rains and 3rd term, dec-jan=harvest and planting and holiday. And now you know.....
Also...HUUUUUGE thank you's are due. You all are absolutely amazing and make my time hear so much easier. My post office box has been quite busy lately thanks to you all. Here goes:
Giggles: awesome, this is a bit overdue. I got your package about a month ago i think. Thank you so much, especially for the things for school. I was trying to figure out what to do with the science magazines as i have 70 kids in my classes so instead of having them share, i've been kind of randomly giving the magazines to kids (my own and others in the village) that i meet. This, i've decided, is much better than giving out sweets and the kids are amazed every time that they can actually keep the magazine.
Jenny: Just got yours a week or two ago and was blown away. The photo album is amazing. I think i've looked through it at least 4 times since i got it. Eric i can't wait to hear the song, thank you so much for taking the time to do that. Also, the bag of peanut m&m's dropped both me and kelly's chins to the floor. you both are very much missed and loved, thank you.
the howards: holy cow, i had to send the box with one of the motorcycle taxi's to drop on my porch it was so big. I couldnt believe how much jerky was in there! I must say my favorites were the pictures of the girls. You both are quite lucky, they are cute as ever. One of the father's i live with was amazed at how much Chris and Savannah resemble one another..."right down to the chin dimple" he said. Miss you all, thank you for my card Kirstin! it's hanging in my room.
mom and dad: i've already told you how awesome yours was but i couldn't leave you off of my list here. My charging people will miss me now that i've got my own little solar power plant, which by the way amazes every one at the parish ("eh!...sure? you can charge from there?") love you both.
and thank you for your letter kelli! there are now children running around the village with spongebob stickers :) expect a response soon.
wew, i think thats it. I'm sure i'll get home and think of something or someone i forgot and feel guilty until next time im in fort. Love you all, take care.
-Eric
One more picture for good measure. A typical Kampala street:
Just before the schools let out for holiday the primary school on the parish hosted the regional music and dance competition. This brought together about 6 primary schools who had each won their district competition to compete for a chance to go to the national competition in Kampala. These kids were amazing. I watched a few of the events and immediately decided i needed to go get whatever i could to record them. SO i went back and grabbed the camera and my tape recorder. I got video of lots of the dances and also some cassette tapes of the music. I'll try to get the video up sometime so you can see that, but here's a couple pictures for the mean time.
 |
| From Uganda |
Above is a picture from the traditional dance done by the kids from Kasese. They were really interesting because they are from a different tribe than all of the other schools. Kasese borders the Congo, so these kids speak a Congolese language and their dances and culture are heavily influenced by the Congo.
 |
| From Uganda |
This one is another traditional dance from a school in Masindi, which lies in the northern part of the country. They ended up placing in the top 3 and went on to compete at the nationals (with the Kasese school above, and another)
All together there were 6 or so events, including lots of dances, music, a play, and others. I was completely blown away by how talented the kids were. Comparing what i was seeing to performances by elementary schools in the states just doesn't work. And thats taking nothing away from our kids. There's just some things Africa does extremely well, and this is one.
So that was all before the schools let out for holiday. Luckily it all took place (over two days) right on the parish so i had no excuse not to go. During the holiday we had a week long training in Kampala with our entire group as well as each of our counterparts from our organizations. It was a little overwhelming to say the least, compared to living in the village where I am the only white person (until now) within 30 km's or so. It was good to see everyone though, and i got some great ideas for projects that i can replicate. Also, hearing of failed projects and hardships people were having made me feel a little better about my situation and the problems i've had spinning wheels on several projects.
Also a while back I had the chance to attend my supervisor's (who is 50 or so) grandmother's 85th birthday celebration. There not really sure what her birthday is exactly, but they know its sometime in august, so they usually just pick a day to celebrate. Kelly came with me, and i think grandma was, to say the least, very happy to have two of us come out for the party. It was in my supervisors home village which is about 20km from my site. And when i say village i really mean it. We took a car from the parish out there and had to take a (barely) one lane road through dense dense bush for a few km's until we reached there. I wish i had a picture with me, i'll try to get one up of the route we took. It was really a footpath i think, with sugarcane plants that rose about 7 ft on either side of the road.
Once we arrived my supervisor took us around the village (village=4 or 5 houses near eachother) to show us some things he is working on there. He has a small fish hatchery as well as a couple pastures with cows. We also saw two kids catching white ants to cook for dinner. I have had the white ant sauce that comes out of this process but had never seen it done before. There are large anthills all over here, between 4 and 7 feet high usually, that are made by these white ants. They look like a normal ant but have 4 big wings on them. So to catch them you go out at night (when they usually come out) and put a blanket over the anthill. Where the blanket opens you have a little hole dug that collects them as they try to come out from under the blanket. Theres a picture on Kel's computer that i'll try to get up sometime. After catching them you pull the wings off and make a (quite delicous) sauce to put over matooke or millet....yum.
So after our tour we had dinner and a few drinks with the family before heading back home. Grandma didn't speak any english, and my rutoro is not nearly enough to hold any kind of conversation, so mostly my supervisor translated. Here's a picture of (l to r) kel, mom, grandma, me.
 |
| From Uganda |
I think that about sums up my last few months here, or at least the major highlights. The new term started last week with beginning of term exams. I supervised about 5 of them throughout the week (3 were in a room with 130 kids!). Next week i'll start lecturing again, same classes i had before - 3 physics and 1 biology.
Oh i should make a note here of something i just realized. So some of the fam had made the comment to me about how it always seems like the school is on break, which is true, but there's good reason. The school calendar is based around the planting and harvesting seasons, which are based around the rains. Here's how it roughly breaks down: Jan-April= short rainy season and first term, May=holiday and harvest/planting, June-August=second term and dry season, Sept=planting and holiday, oct-dec=heavy rains and 3rd term, dec-jan=harvest and planting and holiday. And now you know.....
Also...HUUUUUGE thank you's are due. You all are absolutely amazing and make my time hear so much easier. My post office box has been quite busy lately thanks to you all. Here goes:
Giggles: awesome, this is a bit overdue. I got your package about a month ago i think. Thank you so much, especially for the things for school. I was trying to figure out what to do with the science magazines as i have 70 kids in my classes so instead of having them share, i've been kind of randomly giving the magazines to kids (my own and others in the village) that i meet. This, i've decided, is much better than giving out sweets and the kids are amazed every time that they can actually keep the magazine.
Jenny: Just got yours a week or two ago and was blown away. The photo album is amazing. I think i've looked through it at least 4 times since i got it. Eric i can't wait to hear the song, thank you so much for taking the time to do that. Also, the bag of peanut m&m's dropped both me and kelly's chins to the floor. you both are very much missed and loved, thank you.
the howards: holy cow, i had to send the box with one of the motorcycle taxi's to drop on my porch it was so big. I couldnt believe how much jerky was in there! I must say my favorites were the pictures of the girls. You both are quite lucky, they are cute as ever. One of the father's i live with was amazed at how much Chris and Savannah resemble one another..."right down to the chin dimple" he said. Miss you all, thank you for my card Kirstin! it's hanging in my room.
mom and dad: i've already told you how awesome yours was but i couldn't leave you off of my list here. My charging people will miss me now that i've got my own little solar power plant, which by the way amazes every one at the parish ("eh!...sure? you can charge from there?") love you both.
and thank you for your letter kelli! there are now children running around the village with spongebob stickers :) expect a response soon.
wew, i think thats it. I'm sure i'll get home and think of something or someone i forgot and feel guilty until next time im in fort. Love you all, take care.
-Eric
One more picture for good measure. A typical Kampala street:
 |
| From Uganda |
Introduction Ceremony
Its been a while since i've last updated here, so i'll makeup for it
with a few posts to catch you up. Hope everything is going well back home, despite the shorter days. Ive been busy here over the holiday with training in Kampala and getting ready for the new term. I should be much busier this term with a few projects starting up: coaching the football (soccer) team, starting the student gov't, and the newspaper staff. Oh and i'm getting neighbors! There's another volunteer from my group who now lives just a few mins walk from me, and there are 4 or so volunteers from the new group moving to my district. Ok, without further delay here goes the catchup posts.
So the introduction:
The director of studies (just below vice principal) at my school is getting married in December and as is customary in most of Uganda, I think it is a bantu tradition, the families must first be introduced, and then the bride's family must agree to give away the daughter. In some areas of the country this is done in two seperate ceremonies (the "introduction ceremony", then "giveaway ceremony"). In the Batoro kingdom where I live, both are done at the introduction ceremony, allowing the two families to come together and meet and agree on a brideprice. I'll try to descibe this as well as I can, and hopefully with the pictures you'll have an accurate picture of what was going on.
I was of course sitting on the groom's side. The two families sit facing each other, with the male elders seated in couches at the front of each group. The ceremony is held at the bride's father's home. In this case it was about 15 km's or so from the school, deep into the bush. We took a small (one car wide) dirt road through the hills further and further from the main dirt road I cling to at the parish. Myself and about 8 other teachers from the school road in one of the minibus taxi's the groom had rented for us. We joined the groom and his family at their house near the bride's and then took our whole caravan of 2 minibuses, 2 cars, and a pickup truck full of beer and soda through the bush roads to the bride's family home (brides family = "bridefam"
from here on out). Here's the back of the pickup truck with all the alcohol etc we brought for gifts (as described below).
On arrival we formed a 2 x 2 line into the family's front yard. Oh I should mention at this point that I am in traditional dress for the Butoro (and a few other bantus) Kingdom, which is a sport jacket and kanzu (essentially a long white robe similar to a church robe). I was definitely not alone, as about 90% of the males were in this attire. So we walked in line up to a small archway on the outside of the bridefam's lawn. I had originally tried to slip in the back of the
line with two of the other younger teachers at the school, but the groomfam quickly found me and put me up near the front of the line. We had to stop at the archway and wait for the family to cut a ribbon allowing us to enter the "home" (or yard). Once in we took our seats, I was in the third row, 2 rows back from the couches with the elders. The first order of business was for the groomfam to request permission from the bridefam to have photographs taken by some of its members. This was granted, so from here on I was able to snap some pictures of what was going on. (btw, i did sneak a couple of pictures before we entered the archway, which i'm pretty sure is legal since we weren't actually in yet).
After allowing the pictures the groomfam's spokesperson (he was an uncle i believe) led the family up to the bridefam seated at their couch to offer formal greetings. The groomfam kneeled down and exchanged the normal back and forth greetings (ie: inquiring each's pet name [mine's amooti btw], asking how they are, thank them for being, etc). Next the bridefam welcomed us formally. This was my first major clue that I was going to have to be much more than merely an
observer of this whole thing. Myself, the groom, his best man, his father, the spokesperson, and the deputy head master from my school were invited into the house for milk. Luckily I was seated next to my dep head master so he was able to translated and let me know when they
were calling on me to do something. We were taken into a small room on the side of the house and offered the warm milk from the bride's sisters and cousins. Umm, not actually from the bride's sisters and cousins, but they just brought it out on a tray. Meanwhile the 100 or so other guests of the event sat outside and waited, including the bridefam elders on their couch. After receiving milk we went back outside and took our seats.
The spokesman then had to thank the bridefam for the milk and offer a gift to thank them for allowing us into the home (ribbon cutting). The gift ended up being a case or two of soda, case of beer, and two calabashes (think huge gourds) filled with locally brewed beer called tonto (an acquired taste if u ask me). On his way out with a few others to get the gifts from the pickup truck, my dep head master motioned for me to follow. When we got out to the truck a few of the men in the family pulled a list of things we had brought and decided on the items mentioned above. They asked which I'd like to carry in and I couldn't pass up a chance to carry the gourd, so I picked it immediately. However, I didn't realize the shear weight of the thing till they had it on my head and i started walking through the long grass and stumps surrounding the truck. I could feel my body drifting back a few times until i caught myself. I really thought i was going to just tip over like an unbalanced bookshelf, but i made it, with minimal soreness in my neck and a new respect for the items Africans are able to hoist onto their heads. Oh don't worry, theres visual evidence of this whole fiasco:
So my deputy took the other calabash and we led the group of 6 into the ceremony. All carrying our beverages on our heads and up to the bridefam's couch where we laid them on a grass mat. This, of course, wasnt enough - so the family had to go out to the truck again and bring more gifts. I didn't have to carry anything the rest of the day, I think they just wanted me to get a chance to do it once. Either that, or they noticed the couple times i tipped backwards a little too far with the calabash and didnt trust me to carry anything else.
This gift exchange happen a few more times for different reasons: gifts for the brother of the bride, more gifts in honor of a baby the couple had some months earlier (they are already married, but only through a civil service), then gifts to convince the father to bring his daughter out of the house, where she had been up until now. After the gifts the father agreed to bring her out....almost. First he brought out a group of about 5 girls that the groom could choose from
instead of having his daughter. Here's the group of girls (yes they are very young) kneeling in front of the bridefam elders. They were facing towards the groomfam.
This was inevitably denied by the groom, and followed with a different group of girls again being offered. This exchange went through 3 groups of girls, with the groom denying each. Finally a 4th group was brought out that included the bride in it. The groom rose from his seat and placed a beaded necklace on the girl to denote his choice. This is all very traditional for many of the Kingdoms in in Uganda. It is practiced nowadays as more of a way of honoring the tradition that the actual rituals, but before colonialism it was common practice as a way of receiving payment for giving away ones daughter. After receiving the
beaded necklace the bride walked over to the groomfam couches and offered a necklace of roses to the groom. Rings were then offered to each the groom and bride, similar to engagement rings.
A cake followed (this point i'm hoping lunch is close behind). This was where i made one of my few (but expected) slipups. This is the first time i had cake here in Uganda at a ceremony like this. Unbeknwencd to me they cut the cake into these little bitesized pieces, because theres usually so many people at a ceremonies and they want everyone to have some. So the custom is for them to bring around the plate and you pick a piece off of it. Unkowingly i fought for a few seconds tugging back and forth with the girl becuase she wouldnt let go of my plate, or so i thought. My deputy headmaster (as i said before he was sitting next to me for just this reason) elbowed me and told me just to take a piece. doh.
Ok, then came the brideprice. This is the big one, the payment to the family for giving away their daughter. The bride's family started with 10 cows, the groomfam offered to give 2, eventually they settled on 4 local cattle i think. We didnt bring any cattle with us, we had a pretty small pickup truck, so more soda, beer, waragi (local liquor), and money were offered for the same amount. Gifts were also brought for the father (a new kanzu) and mother of the bride. After the brideprice was decided on the groom's elders went out to the truck and brought them. For some reason the groom's family slipped up here. A tradition at these ceremonies is to make sure the spokesman's chair is always occupied. In this case the groom's spokesman got up and walked out to the truck, and so did the gentleman who was supposed to hold his seat. So a member of the bridefam came over and sat in the spokesperson's seat. I had to kind of guess what was going on here as my translator was gone, but i verified when he got back and this whole thing was kind of a trump move by the bridefam. When they came back the groomfam had to give a gift (1000 shillings in an envelope) to him to convince him to give back the seat.
After all of this we finally ate. I again was invited in the house with the groom and elders and ate with them. There was so much food, and of course no silverware, as is tradition. So i dug right in with my hands. After the meal the event was over and we loaded back into the minibus and headed home. All and all a hell of an experience for me and something i'll never forget. A lot of the guests asked me to compare this to what happens in America but i really couldnt think of anything that would compare.
with a few posts to catch you up. Hope everything is going well back home, despite the shorter days. Ive been busy here over the holiday with training in Kampala and getting ready for the new term. I should be much busier this term with a few projects starting up: coaching the football (soccer) team, starting the student gov't, and the newspaper staff. Oh and i'm getting neighbors! There's another volunteer from my group who now lives just a few mins walk from me, and there are 4 or so volunteers from the new group moving to my district. Ok, without further delay here goes the catchup posts.
So the introduction:
The director of studies (just below vice principal) at my school is getting married in December and as is customary in most of Uganda, I think it is a bantu tradition, the families must first be introduced, and then the bride's family must agree to give away the daughter. In some areas of the country this is done in two seperate ceremonies (the "introduction ceremony", then "giveaway ceremony"). In the Batoro kingdom where I live, both are done at the introduction ceremony, allowing the two families to come together and meet and agree on a brideprice. I'll try to descibe this as well as I can, and hopefully with the pictures you'll have an accurate picture of what was going on.
I was of course sitting on the groom's side. The two families sit facing each other, with the male elders seated in couches at the front of each group. The ceremony is held at the bride's father's home. In this case it was about 15 km's or so from the school, deep into the bush. We took a small (one car wide) dirt road through the hills further and further from the main dirt road I cling to at the parish. Myself and about 8 other teachers from the school road in one of the minibus taxi's the groom had rented for us. We joined the groom and his family at their house near the bride's and then took our whole caravan of 2 minibuses, 2 cars, and a pickup truck full of beer and soda through the bush roads to the bride's family home (brides family = "bridefam"
from here on out). Here's the back of the pickup truck with all the alcohol etc we brought for gifts (as described below).
 |
| From Uganda |
On arrival we formed a 2 x 2 line into the family's front yard. Oh I should mention at this point that I am in traditional dress for the Butoro (and a few other bantus) Kingdom, which is a sport jacket and kanzu (essentially a long white robe similar to a church robe). I was definitely not alone, as about 90% of the males were in this attire. So we walked in line up to a small archway on the outside of the bridefam's lawn. I had originally tried to slip in the back of the
line with two of the other younger teachers at the school, but the groomfam quickly found me and put me up near the front of the line. We had to stop at the archway and wait for the family to cut a ribbon allowing us to enter the "home" (or yard). Once in we took our seats, I was in the third row, 2 rows back from the couches with the elders. The first order of business was for the groomfam to request permission from the bridefam to have photographs taken by some of its members. This was granted, so from here on I was able to snap some pictures of what was going on. (btw, i did sneak a couple of pictures before we entered the archway, which i'm pretty sure is legal since we weren't actually in yet).
After allowing the pictures the groomfam's spokesperson (he was an uncle i believe) led the family up to the bridefam seated at their couch to offer formal greetings. The groomfam kneeled down and exchanged the normal back and forth greetings (ie: inquiring each's pet name [mine's amooti btw], asking how they are, thank them for being, etc). Next the bridefam welcomed us formally. This was my first major clue that I was going to have to be much more than merely an
observer of this whole thing. Myself, the groom, his best man, his father, the spokesperson, and the deputy head master from my school were invited into the house for milk. Luckily I was seated next to my dep head master so he was able to translated and let me know when they
were calling on me to do something. We were taken into a small room on the side of the house and offered the warm milk from the bride's sisters and cousins. Umm, not actually from the bride's sisters and cousins, but they just brought it out on a tray. Meanwhile the 100 or so other guests of the event sat outside and waited, including the bridefam elders on their couch. After receiving milk we went back outside and took our seats.
The spokesman then had to thank the bridefam for the milk and offer a gift to thank them for allowing us into the home (ribbon cutting). The gift ended up being a case or two of soda, case of beer, and two calabashes (think huge gourds) filled with locally brewed beer called tonto (an acquired taste if u ask me). On his way out with a few others to get the gifts from the pickup truck, my dep head master motioned for me to follow. When we got out to the truck a few of the men in the family pulled a list of things we had brought and decided on the items mentioned above. They asked which I'd like to carry in and I couldn't pass up a chance to carry the gourd, so I picked it immediately. However, I didn't realize the shear weight of the thing till they had it on my head and i started walking through the long grass and stumps surrounding the truck. I could feel my body drifting back a few times until i caught myself. I really thought i was going to just tip over like an unbalanced bookshelf, but i made it, with minimal soreness in my neck and a new respect for the items Africans are able to hoist onto their heads. Oh don't worry, theres visual evidence of this whole fiasco:
 |
| From Uganda |
So my deputy took the other calabash and we led the group of 6 into the ceremony. All carrying our beverages on our heads and up to the bridefam's couch where we laid them on a grass mat. This, of course, wasnt enough - so the family had to go out to the truck again and bring more gifts. I didn't have to carry anything the rest of the day, I think they just wanted me to get a chance to do it once. Either that, or they noticed the couple times i tipped backwards a little too far with the calabash and didnt trust me to carry anything else.
This gift exchange happen a few more times for different reasons: gifts for the brother of the bride, more gifts in honor of a baby the couple had some months earlier (they are already married, but only through a civil service), then gifts to convince the father to bring his daughter out of the house, where she had been up until now. After the gifts the father agreed to bring her out....almost. First he brought out a group of about 5 girls that the groom could choose from
instead of having his daughter. Here's the group of girls (yes they are very young) kneeling in front of the bridefam elders. They were facing towards the groomfam.
 |
| From Uganda |
beaded necklace the bride walked over to the groomfam couches and offered a necklace of roses to the groom. Rings were then offered to each the groom and bride, similar to engagement rings.
A cake followed (this point i'm hoping lunch is close behind). This was where i made one of my few (but expected) slipups. This is the first time i had cake here in Uganda at a ceremony like this. Unbeknwencd to me they cut the cake into these little bitesized pieces, because theres usually so many people at a ceremonies and they want everyone to have some. So the custom is for them to bring around the plate and you pick a piece off of it. Unkowingly i fought for a few seconds tugging back and forth with the girl becuase she wouldnt let go of my plate, or so i thought. My deputy headmaster (as i said before he was sitting next to me for just this reason) elbowed me and told me just to take a piece. doh.
Ok, then came the brideprice. This is the big one, the payment to the family for giving away their daughter. The bride's family started with 10 cows, the groomfam offered to give 2, eventually they settled on 4 local cattle i think. We didnt bring any cattle with us, we had a pretty small pickup truck, so more soda, beer, waragi (local liquor), and money were offered for the same amount. Gifts were also brought for the father (a new kanzu) and mother of the bride. After the brideprice was decided on the groom's elders went out to the truck and brought them. For some reason the groom's family slipped up here. A tradition at these ceremonies is to make sure the spokesman's chair is always occupied. In this case the groom's spokesman got up and walked out to the truck, and so did the gentleman who was supposed to hold his seat. So a member of the bridefam came over and sat in the spokesperson's seat. I had to kind of guess what was going on here as my translator was gone, but i verified when he got back and this whole thing was kind of a trump move by the bridefam. When they came back the groomfam had to give a gift (1000 shillings in an envelope) to him to convince him to give back the seat.
After all of this we finally ate. I again was invited in the house with the groom and elders and ate with them. There was so much food, and of course no silverware, as is tradition. So i dug right in with my hands. After the meal the event was over and we loaded back into the minibus and headed home. All and all a hell of an experience for me and something i'll never forget. A lot of the guests asked me to compare this to what happens in America but i really couldnt think of anything that would compare.
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