Work at RASD

Today I'll tell you about the work that I'm doing with RASD. RASD has only been an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) since 2005, but already has a lot of facilities and programs. For example, their internet cafe is the only way to get to the web in town, so every time I make a post, it's thanks to their little router.



My first project to focus on is an education program to promote composting in Nkokonjeru. On Tuesday I met with the Town Health Inspector, Yusufu Kazibwe, who told me that next month bins for compostible material will be installed in the town. Currently the rubbish bins in town are overflowing with a mix of plastics and compostable waste, so these new bins will hopefully help reduce the waste that has to be taken to dumps outside of the town. The compostible bins will be emptied to a compost heap. Here the town will oversee that the material is turned into good humus, and then sold to local farmers. There is a lot of substance farming in the town, so I plan to encourage people to also use household compost heaps.



Tomorrow I'm giving presentations at the two major primary schools in town on the benefits of using compost correctly, and on Monday I'll be giving presentations at the two major secondary schools. I'm trying to better understand how people could benefit from compost by speaking to locals; since Luganda is the native tongue, either Ignatius or Sam will be going with me
(This picture is Ignitius with RASD in the far background, on the hill toward the right).



If anyone reading this follows the Champions League (the football organization in Europe), you know that last night Barcelona beat Manchester United in the final game of the series. Dan's supervisor at the local bank, Moses, invited us to watch this match with him. Since satellite TV isn't something that people have in their households, when a game comes on that people want to watch everyone goes to something similar to a local sports bar. I was expecting booths, tables and bar stools, but the building that I walked into with Dan and Moses was set up more like a small church, with rows of tightly packed benches facing toward the front of the room where two small TVs were set up. Although outside the temperature was cool, in this room body heat from more than a hundred people made the air stifling, like a sauna with an unpleasant odor. A man went through the room to collect 1000 shillings (about 45 cents) from everyone, and the game came on at 9:45. The importance of this game to the people of Nkokonjeru is something like what the Super Bowl is to most Americans. So imagine a couple hundred football fans watching the Super Bowl in a tightly packed room. That's something like what this match was like.

Muzungus arrive in Nkokonjeru

This past week has been very busy so I've grouped two posts together. Now that I'm in Nkokonjeru, I'm able to use the internet cafe and should be publishing regularly.

Last Friday the van dropped us off at Mother Kevin's convent in Nkokenjeru. For the next two months this beautiful place will be home sweet home for four of us Duke students. Along with Lauren and me, who are working with RASD, there are two students who are sent by the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative (DMLI) who will be working with the local savings and credit bank. Gloria is another undergrad and Dan is studying Public Policy in graduate school. All of us are staying at the guest house in the convent, where each of us have our own rooms, a common room and a dining room. The sisters are very nice, and they keep the grounds beautifully maintained.

















I was surprised at how kind people were in the city of Kampala, but people I've met in Nkokonjeru are even more good-natured. We've spent some quality time with Peter, who is about our age and also works at RASD. Last Sunday we went with Peter to see two local soccer teams compete. Although some of the players played barefoot and the goals didn't have nets, the match was high stakes: the prevailing team won a goat. Before the game began both teams lined up and Peter informed us that the four of us were going to be marshals for the game which meant that we shook the hands of all the players. At the time I was really confused at what was happening, but it was clearly an honor for us.



Not many westerners come to this small town, and the term locals use for us is "muzungu", which means lighter-skinned person. While walking around, small kids will get really excited when they see us, and start yelling 'muzungu! muzungu!'. Almost everyone greets each other, even just passing strangers on the street. Many of the locals think it's hilarious when we greet in Lungadan, and I sometimes feel like we may be here for our comic relief as much as for the work we do with our projects. The work ahead of us sounds exciting and I look forward to the things I may be able to accomplish, but I'll talk about that more in a later post.



We've met a few more Peace Corp volunteers in town. Holly is an avid runner, and she's showed me some of the runs she does around the town. The dense forest gives the air here a rich, clean smell, and running is wonderful early in the morning. Next Sunday, Gloria and I will run with Holly and other Peace Corp workers in a half-marathon in Jinja. Jinja is where Lake Victoria flows into the Nile, and is a popular whitewater rafting destination. Lauren, Gloria and I plan on rafting the Nile next Saturday.

Welcome to Kampala

On Tuesday I arrived in the Entebbe airport, where Ignitius and Shari greeted me. Ignitius has been working with the Rural Agency for Sustainable Development (RASD) since it began almost ten years ago, and Shari has been in Nkokenjeru with the Peace Corp for the last 15 months. For the next two months I will be working with Ignitius and the other wonderful people at RASD on various project. Lauren is the other student who will be working with RASD this summer, and we arrived in Entebbe on the same flight.



We met up with four other Duke students for a three day orientation in Kampala, which is the capital of Uganda. Here the roads are always busy with taxi vans, motorcycles called boda bodas, and pedestrians. In one of the markets we had the fortune to taste roasted grasshoppers. They look like little shrimp, but they taste like Doritos! They are also nutritious: http://www.ent.iastate.edu/Misc/insectnutrition.html
I strongly recommend trying them if you ever get the chance.



We also attended a dance troupe's performance, during which the entire audience took the stage near to the end of the performance to dance. We also visited Ignitius's alma mater: Makerere University. Although Uganda offers accessible public primary and secondary education, essentially all the students here come from private schools. This is one of the premier schools in Uganda, and has a beautiful campus.




To get rides to outside of the city there's two taxi parks in Kampala. The taxi parks are crowded with commuters and lots of people hawking small items such as candy, jewelry and calculators. We learned that "I don't want" in Luganda is "sagala", which was useful when approached by these vendors. The vans themselves are usually considered full enough to leave the park once they have 15-20 people aboard. Although most of Kampala is paved, once out of the city the roads are dirt, and the van is always bouncing. On the third day in the city we got a taxi van from one of these parks to Nkokenjeru.

Pre-Departure

Hello friends, family and everyone!
Tomorrow I leave for my eight-week trip to Nkokenjeru, Uganda.
I'm excited for this experience and I'll keep updates here with entries and photos during my stay.