Blogs from Central Region, Uganda, Africa - page 52

Friday marked the first day of my "official" research - in that I finally completed some interviews with some artisans. Anyone who's taken SESP's advanced research methods class with me can imagine my inner anxiety right before I started - the pressure of doing good research that will take me through the next year is pretty huge. However, I think that the interviews went rather well... I got a handful done, and the people I talked to were willing to talk and gave me some good information. Add that to a pretty good translator, and so far, so good. Beyond that, it's been a week of design. I never expected to become a designer on my trip here - and I have to admit that I love it. Last week, when the basket weavers brought their ... read more

It's 12.30 and I've finally made it out of the hotel into Masindi. It has been absolutely bucketing it down all morning and nothing happens in the rain. Gradually the other GTs are being picked up and taken back to their villages but I've got a bit more time until my boda-boda arrives. Oh what bliss to sleep in clean cotton sheets, to have hot showers, sit down toilets and even eat a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate! Having said that though, my stomach has felt less settled this weekend after being fine for the past two weeks! Everyone found the rich, processed food needed an adjustment! It has been great meeting up with everyone again and to share all their experiences. By all accounts I'm very lucky in my host family and in the food ... read more

Last Sunday I attended Atneyi's Catholic church in her village. It was a large, modern chuch which contrasted greatly with some of the stick structures I've seen. The previous evening I had a great time with two of the guys from the church as Atneyi had told them that I wanted to take back a Ugandan Carol with me. So we sat out on the porch at her house, singing, notating and translating carols ( one of which was 'Il est nee'). They were so impressed with my Runyoro -it's easy enough to read as it's all phonetic, that we decided the following day I would address the congregation in the local language! The service was at 8am. Everyone puts on their best clothes, Atenyi insisted that I couldn't wear a skirt that I planned to ... read more

I thought I'd describe this evening as it is fairly typical. We were invited up to Madam Flossie's for tea ( she also teaches at the school). She lives up on the hillside so we walked up on the dusty tracks, through the banana plantations, bean plants, avocado and mango trees, passing houses ( where everyone greets passer bys), goats, children returning from the bore hole with their jerrycans aloft, accompanied by the sound of many crickets chirping. On arrival at her house there is a routine set of greetings: weloming, thanking for coming, thank you for inviting, what news? nothing new etc. This I can more or less manage in Runyoro. I had taken a set of playing cards as a gift and later taught Flossie how to play 'sevens'. They brought furniture out from ... read more

Can you imagine the paperwork that would accompany these?! Children collecting the keys from a teacher's house and opening up the school themselves. Children sharpening pencils using razor blades. Children being sent to collect water from the bore hole as the tank is empty. Children cleaning the school and latrines. Children ( even P1) left for long periods without a teacher in their classroom. Children cycling to buy drinks for the staff meeting ( and returning the bottles the next day!) Children walking home alone, long after dusk. At home too, African children have a great awareness for their own safety. Joseph ( 4) was 'playing' with a blade about a foot long and hacking it into a tree! Most of the day he plays with no supervision! Victor (1) happily crawls around the kitchen area ... read more