My Life...in Uganda

I don’t have any good reasons for not blogging in the last 4 ½ months, so I’m not even going to try to give one…just jumping into it!

Back when, remember when I was so confident that I wouldn’t have any rodents in my house?? And how I was so happy to be living in my hut instead of Tori’s house because of her rodent problem?? Well…after two weeks in Kampala for my first In-Service Training (back in January), I came back to my hut DESTROYED from a mouse/mice. There was mouse shit everywhere, it ate through my bag of flour, and flour was all over my room…I was so disgusted, and to make matters worse, it was the talk of the village. ‘The Muzungu is afraid of rats!!!’ My coworkers found it hilarious that I didn’t like having rats in my one room circular house (sorry, its just not my cup of tea!). I refused to sleep in my house for the first 4 nights after coming back and I tried to kill them with these huge Ugandan rat traps…the ‘rats’ were too small for the trap. Apparently, my rats were really just mice, and they were eating the bait off of the trap without the trap going off! Ugh! So then I tried rat poison aka human pain medicine that rats OD on. There was no sign of them eating the flour/medicine mixture, and after the fourth night of sleeping in town, I decided I needed to be brave and sleep in my house. I slept with the lights on for the first couple nights, and then I was convinced that they were gone. I WON! Or so I thought…until one morning about a week later I hear something in my house at 6am. I am under my mosquito net, and get my flashlight out to see what it is, hoping it just a cockroach or a lizard, which I’m fairly used to now. Well, it was a mouse! Surprisingly, I handled it much better than I ever would have expected, plus, I think it was drugged up from feasting on the flour/pain medicine mixture that still remains on my floor for the little bastards to eat. I tried beating with my broom to get out of my house and I’m pretty sure that it died in the bushes and told his friends not to go in the thatch roofed hut because I’ve been rat free ever since!!

More recently, I had a wonderful Easter with my host family in Luweero. Its so hard to believe that my group isn’t the ‘new group’ anymore. My family was hosting another volunteer and the trainees just had their swearing in ceremony at the beginning of the month. It seems like just a month ago I was swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Victor, the nine month old baby when I was there, is now a year and 3 months and quite the little terror. It was great to be back temporarily to see everyone again, and they all loved having me home for the holiday.

In general, transportation in Uganda is not exactly easy or fun, and there are several modes of public transportation including buses, mini buses, taxis, motorcycles and bicycles. Yes, bicycles as a form of public transport. Everyone here knows the bicycle ‘taxi’s’ as ‘boda bodas’, or short just ‘bodas’. Apparently, they got their name because they used to drive from border to border, and the name became adapted to boda boda. Both bicycle bodas and motorcycle bodas are referred to boda bodas. Of course, motorcycle bodas are strictly prohibited by Peace Corps…strictly prohibited meaning, if I ride a one, I go home. It’s that simple. However, bicycle bodas with my bicycle helmet are not prohibited, and I have actually gotten used to riding side saddle in my skirt with my helmet to town! The first time I took a boda bicycle was like the 2nd month I was at site, and Tori had to help me figure out how to get on. The bikes are Hero bikes, these huge, heave duty, one gear bikes with a padded seat on the back with fringe (where the passenger sits). So there I am, helmet strapped on, sitting side saddle (because I’m wearing a skirt) riding down the main road on my way to Mbale Town! It’s been pretty easy getting to and from town on these bicycle bodas, and they even love taking the Muzungu to town because I pay 1000 shillings, which is 300 shillings more than a Ugandan pays. One day, I was riding to town, and the boda driver was pedaling away and when we were almost to my destination, he says to me in an out of breath manner, “Madam, you pay 1,500” ha! Trying to get 800 shillings more from a Muzungu than a Ugandan is just being greedy! I don’t consider myself to be a large girl, but it made me wonder, should the price of the boda ride depend on the person’s weight? I no longer have to worry about it because I have my own bike now with gears that I ride to and from town. I figured it would be cheaper in the long run, and I get some cardio out of it!

Over the Christmas break, I taught myself how to play the flute, and started teaching at the end of February at a local primary school in Mbale. I have three students who are all boys and doing great! Just the other day, they were able to play ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’…I’m a proud teacher! Its funny, because I wasn’t sure if they knew the song, but once they started playing it, their eyes lit up and were so excited. They new exactly what they were playing, and they were elated that they were able to read music. Its only three notes, but a huge accomplishment for these primary school students! Phil is on his way to the first youth orchestra in East Africa!

More soon…promise! :)