basket weaving and other bits

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So it's been a while since I last updated.

I've now settled into the expat life at the Blue Mango in Kampala. I am working full time at Uganda Crafts, doing all sorts of things. I work with this great Irish woman who lives here, as well as 3 Ugandans. I'm learning a lot about fair trade and about life in Uganda - it's certainly been a good experience. I've been a bit lonely off and on - going from a group of 16 to all on my own has been challenging - but I've met a host of really fascinating people around my hotel and other places as well. If nothing else, I usually have someone to chat with after dinner about where we come from and things we've experienced on our travels so far.

This week has been really excellent for me in terms of work. Uganda Crafts routinely works with other community organizations and trains groups of people (usually all women) to weave baskets. I've gone to the basket weaving trainings all week. This has been great as I've been getting a lot of good information for my research by doing this, and I have also been learning how to weave a basket! It's REALLY hard, much harder than it looks. I will soon have my first basket completed - a small red and white one. I'll be proud of it when it's finished, even though it's quality is pretty miserible.

The other great part of the trainings has been spending all day with the women from this community. For the last two days, we have all sat around and practiced our weaving together, communicating in broken Luganda and small bits of English. My Irish friend knows a little Luganda and has been teaching me, and some of the women know English. My Luganda is coming along a little more each day - today I remembered several new phrases! It's a hard language for me to remember, but I'm determined to get some of the essentials down. People here always SHOCKED when a mzungu knows any Luganda. It's worth the shock factor!

This weekend, friends from NU (Paul and Adva) are coming to Kampala to visit. I'm not sure quite yet how we'll fill the time - but we'll figure something out. I'm excited to have some company!

Also - a quick apology for the lack of pictures. I left my usb port at home and am totally unable to upload any pictures on the computer - which is a major bummer, let me tell you. I promise I'll give you all the link to a photo site when I return!

take care for now---

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