Gorillas in the light of day

Today we personally met all the members of the Rushegura family. There are nineteen members in the family and each has a very distinct personality. We arrived at 8:00 am for a briefing before setting off on the trek. Our group of eight along with a guide and three rangers (with rifles!) only travelled for about twenty minutes through the very dense jungle before we met the gorillas. They were in the vegetation but about six were plainly visible. But we met the entire family out in the open as they walked along an aqueduct that provides water to the village. For one hour we watched them. At some points several passed by, one literally brushing my pants. They are without doubt a species that gets so close to us that I don't think it's possible to be with them without having the sense of connection. The hour passed so quickly and about two minutes before our time was up, one of the gorillas, called "the babysitter" simply turned his back to us. Our guide said that he was putting us on notice... our time had come to an end. We returned to the lodge and we were sitting on the veranda when the entire family came to see us again. They spent another half hour meandering, climbing and mostly eating. Then they left. As I sit here in the middle of the afternoon, they have returned. I can't see them but I hear them. I expect I might have the chance to see them once more. Tomorrow we return to Kampala and then Entebbe where we will spend the night and then fly home. So, to all of you who bothered to read this, thanks. I'm glad I did this because this was the experience of a lifetime and an immensely full three weeks. I know that most of the processing will happen later but the blog gave me the chance to simply record events and first impressions. It was good to know that there were folks who travelled with me...

June 2, Bwindi National Forest

It's been a long time since I wrote anything. I'd like to begin with our last night in Gulu. We went to Daisy and Santo's house for dinner and, as predicted, Santo was caught up in meetings and didn't make it for dinner. He was also taking the 9:00 pm bus to Kampala so we didn't expect to see him. Samuel was still at school so it was a dinner of females only and it was great. Little Daisy's mom, Daisy (Miriam), "big" Daisy, Janet and Eunice, and Lillian, the seamstress and her 1 1/2 year old daughter, Rema. Lillian made some beautiful things for us (and wouldn't let Annie pay for two of them :-). Lillian made the entire dinner and it was EVERYTHING! Posho, bol (greens) with odee (groundnut and simsim paste), yams, "irish" potatioes, Malakwon (greens) and egg. We had a wonderful time but then we had to go before dark to return to town on bodas. All the women walked down the road with us. Janet and Eunice started to cry and, of course, I started to but I made some jokes and there were no tears. I hopped on the boda and I was off, waving goodby to all these wonderful, generous, lovely women whom I came to love so much. At 6:15 am we hopped on two bodas with all our belongings and traveled in darkness to the Post Bus station only to find out it broke a tire rod the day before and wasn't running. So off we went to take one of the other buses leaving at 7:30 am but I was nervous. I had been told that these buses went crazy fast on the bad road to Kampala and that your stuff would be taken. Hold on for dear life! The bus person told us to take our things on the bus and not to put them in the boot which was a good thing I guess. However, the bus was full and about an hour into the ride a new bus conductor said we would have to pay for the seat which held our things. We did. It was a long, hot, bus ride to Kampala and we were dropped off at a bus park with no idea where we were. Annie found a taxi and we overpaid our way to the hotel. The hotel was luxurious! It was in the middle of the city on a golf course with a beautiful swimming pool and a very, very large room. Wow! A shower!!! We relaxed that day an a half except for my visit to the "Project Uplife" run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Brother Robert picked me up and took me to see this project, which is a free secondary school for males and females. The place is run on a shoestring and even that is an understatement. I don't know how he does it, but the school survives, although it is in great need of funds. Honestly, these kids were great and this school is a lifeboat for them. Some board and some walk for two hours to get to school. They live on posho and beans. I would really like to help them, maybe linking them with Rivier Campus Ministry as a way of fundraising and perhaps facebooking. We began our safari on May 31 at the crack of dawn. We drove all day to Queen Elizabeth National Park in the southwest of Uganda, bordering Congo. It is a magnificent place that stretches for miles and miles (about 2,000 kilometers) and on the way to the lodge we saw elephants, warthogs, and about twenty species of birds. Then we arrived at the Mweya Lodge which has to be the most beautiful spot on earth (ok, until I came to the Volcanoes Bwindi Lodge today :-) ). The Mweya is on a very high hill overlooking the Kazinga channel which connects Lake Edward and Lake George. The Rwenzori mountains surround the park so the view is breathtaking. Our room faced the channel and I looked out to see elephants at the water across the shore. This park is home for thousands of species and we saw many of them: uganda kob, water buffalo, crocodile, elephant, hippopotamus, and hundreds of birds. A boat cruise brought us up close and personal with hippos, water buffalo and elephants, all bathing in the water. The food was incredible and all the staff were very friendly and ready to help with anything. Annie got a massage and I had a eucalyptus steam bath. I could say so much more but I'm already embarrassed by the luxriousness of this place. Leaving was hard but we left early this morning for Bwindi National Park. The main roads were both out so the trip was interesting! Moses, our guide, is an expert. I really like him and it's a riot to be with him because he an Annie are so much alike. They don't talk unless they have to. I have lots of quiet time. But here I am in paradise #2. We arrived at this eco-friendly lodge and were greated with fresh pineapple juice and four guys to carry our bags down the steep steps to our lodge/cabin/tent. It's hard to describe but Annie and I are in this thatched roof cabin which is made with eucalyptus wood so it smells wonderful! The bathroom is made of from natural stone and the cabin is both rustic and elegant. They got it right. It is built into the mountain and we have been told that gorillas are likely to wander outside our cabin. We have already heard them as some of the villagers were chasing them away from their plantings. So they have retreated for now to the mountain in front of us. We took a beautiful walk to the river below which is this stream of clear, cold water running over rocks. You can even take a dip in it. I can't describe the beauty of this place. Just knowing that we are living where one of the gorilla families lives gives me chills. We take our gorilla trek tomorrow. In the meantime, we are the ONLY ones at this lodge! The season begins next week so there are about ten people waiting on us. I'm going for a massage tonight :0 So I feel as though I have seen so much of Uganda in these three short weeks. I love this country and I am so very grateful that I have had this experience. It is all too much. Next time, Neil comes along!

Monday Morning, May 28, Memorial Day?

I'm in The Coffee Hut on my last day in Gulu. We leave at 7:00 am tomorrow for Kampala on the dreaded Post Bus. At least I know what to expect this time. We'll be staying in a pretty fancy hotel in Kampala so that will be a welcome change. We haven't had water in our room for the last two days and last night we were given a key to another room with running water. It felt great to feel clean again. The power was out in all of Gulu for about two or three days as well but I think it might have come back today. It is sporadic at any rate, even when it is "on" so generators are pretty important in the town. Apparently the power company is owned by Musevini and it outsources some of its power to Kenya. Northern Uganda gets the short end of the stick as a result. You have to pay for electricity no matter how much it goes out and you have to have a generator if you are going to maintain a business. Since Musevini has a hand in the oil company as well, he gets richer no matter what. Sweet deal for him... Saturday night we had dinner at the nicest hotel in Gulu, The Boma, with Dr. David. I guess Barbara Bush, one of the Bush twins, stayed there in March to participate in a Starkey Hearing Foundation event. Dr. David is an amazing guy. We learned quite a bit about him that night. He is director of surgery at Gulu Referral Hospital and is also working on a Ph.D. in epidemiology as well. He talked about his childhood as well as his decision to become a doctor. He was abducted by the LRA as an adolescent for about two weeks and then released for reasons he still doesn't completely understand. He studied at night, hiding in the rafters because there could be no lights left on at night. He did so well at school that he had a full scholarship to university where, he realized after being there for two weeks, he was in the premed rather than engineering track. So that is how he first contemplated medicine. It wasn't by choice! He went through medical school without having a sense of vocation but that changed when he returned to Northern Uganda and witnessed the suffering of the people. That did it for him. Now he knew why he wanted to be a physician. He came alive as he talked about making a contribution to the people here and particularly when he talked about Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, director of St. Monica's school which is a facility for long-term care and vocational training for escaped war prisoners. That is also how the cultural and academic exchange takes place. St. Monica's provides a place and context for visiting professors and Dr. David is enormously pleased with how well it has gone in its initial stage. The invitation to spend time in Gulu came up again. We'll see... We bought pork yesterday (Sunday) morning to bring to Laroo. Before that I visited the main Catholic church in Gulu and couldn't even get inside. It was absolutely filled with lots of people standing outside. The music was beautiful and the entire congregation sang in beautiful harmony. Huh? I learned from Daisy that this 7:30 am mass was one of four that are celebrated on Sunday and they are all filled. Go figure. The celebrant was a munu like me. I don't know if there were other whites inside the church. Our day in Laroo was spend visiting, preparing, and just hanging out with Daisy, Samuel, Janet, Eunice and little Daisy (Miriam) next door. There was also another meeting regarding the proposal to facilitate rural pregnant women and children being tested and then perhaps enrolling in the government's PCMCT program. A draft budget had been prepared and it was a very good discussion that included Wao, the potential project coordinator, Frances and Martin, the PAs, Clare, an RN, and Alfred, an accountant. We will see where this goes. We will return to Laroo one last time today to bring some chocolate for the children and some basic food items for Daisy. It's hard to believe our time is coming to an end in Gulu. I will miss it and its residents very much.

Saturday, May 26, 9:15 am

There was a huge rainstorm last night with lots of dramatic lightening and buckets of rain. We were at Laroo to cook our second meal of pasta and marinara sauce. Boy, do they like it! So does little Daisy's family. We brought a pot of it to them again. I feel like a corrupting influence, however, since their diet is much less processed. Daisy wanted us to get supper ready earlier than ususal and I think that's because she knew the storm was coming and didn't want us stranded. However, as usual, Santo was at the office and kept saying he would be home directly and didn't show up until about 8:15 when the storm was in full force. Ten of us had to eat in silence since no one could be heard above the rain on the roof. Santo was supposed to leave for a big meeting in Kitgum where Musevini was also attending but eventually decided not to go until this morning at 4:00 am. He had one of the chiefs from Kitgum with him and his assistant and so the chief was going to spend the night at Laroo and Robin, the driver, drove Annie, the assistant and me back to town. I'm reading a book right now that is fascinating since it is about the struggles in Northern Uganda but goes into great detail about its history and present day politics. Since politics here is so very local, positions and people the book mentions are people I have met or heard of since I have arrived. If I had read this book before I came, I doubt all of it would have meant so much since I would have forgotten the particulars of what I had read. Reading and meeting at the same time is amazing!

Friday, May 25, 10:00 am, Cafe Larem

It has been very nice having running water (sporadic) and electricity. Although it is noisy staying in Gulu town, it wasn't all that quiet at Laroo. When an exorcism isn't taking place, Santo blasts his radio from about 3:00 am on. The video hall blasts music until about 1:00 am so that leaves maybe 2 hours when it's quiet. We will meet up with Dr. David today and this evening cook our pasta meal for about 12-14 people. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. Annie has met many of her Gulu friends as we have walked in town and I'm pretty sure she'll get together with them on Saturday night. Last night I started to watch "Bridesmaids" with Annie on her computer and I thought how strange it was to do this in a hotel in Gulu. Creature comforts are nice but it's good to see how full life can be without them as well. I haven't written much about the Gulu Referral Hospital experience. We will take pictures of the Infectious Disease area of the hospital today since Fridays are the day for completing paper work. There will be no patients. The clinic is composed of two narrow buildings with an open space in the middle. That's where all the patients wait for hours and hours to be seen. Part of the space is covered with a tin roof to protect from the sun and rain. There are picnic benches and open spaces where women can place their mats for themselves and the children. There isn't an open space anywhere. It's just filled with people. The exam rooms are essentially separate rooms in the two buildings. Confidentiality is important, as the head sister told us, but it's kind of hard to respect confidentiality in this setting. I have gotten the impression from a number of people that Gulu Referral Hospital (government-run) is pretty good. The wait times for testing are shorter than TASO (http://www.enteruganda.com/brochures/aids2009-05.html), an NGO organization down the road. TASO was preferred at one point because of its ability to provide other support such as nets, food, etc. Of course, as I write all of this, you should take it with a grain of salt because I'm simply listening to the impressions of a few. We had to wait there in the open space quite a bit since the staff is so very busy that it takes time for them to help Annie get set up with interviewees. What do you do? I try not to stare but there's nowhere to look. There's just a sea of people. It's not really a sad place because these are the lucky ones who are or will be in treatment. On the other hand, saying people have "access" to ART (antiretroviral therapy) doesn't tell you much about the hardships that accompany access. But it is what it is and I'm pretty sure that all the people I've met at the clinic are the kind of people that look forward, not backwards and see how things have improved while keep an eye on the places where so much more needs to be done. The war brought so much attention to the people of Northern Uganda and many international organizations came in with financial and other resources, including personnel, to deal with the immediate effects and after-effects of the war. But many of those organizations and programs have packed up, some without an exit strategy that would provide for sustainability. I do sense that there's some sense of abandonment but I haven't picked up that it there's a bitterness associated with it. Overall, my impression of the people I have met is that they are resilient, hospitable, and kind. But at night, I want to be inside. We ate a delicious chicken curry dinner last night and walked back to the hotel, stopping by a market to get some things for the pasta supper. Annie knows the roads that are lit at night and where the Ugandan guards are posted because it's just not safe at night. That's it for now.

Thursday, May 24th, Cafe Larem at 9:15 am We moved out of Santo and Daisy's house last evening and checked in to Acholi Ber Hotel in Gulu town. It is nice to have electricity and running water! Today Annie will continue her interviews at the hospital and will have Wao, an intelligent, thoughtful young man who is the son of Margaret, Santo's sister, translating for her. I think I mentioned Wao (pronounced "wow") before. We had dinner with him last night because there's a potential project in the works that will facilitate the government's not-to-successful attempt to reach the women of child-bearing age in the villages. If you want to read a little more about the government program you can go here: http://www.unicef.org/aids/files/Uganda_PMTCTFactsheet_2010.pdf. I won't go into the details but it is a proposal with great potential. I want to go back to yesterday to add to the story of Daisy's relative. After coming back yesterday morning to take her child, she returned around noon and began to hit Daisy and scream that Daisy and Santo were trying to kill her and the baby. Then she bit Daisy and ran down the road screaming. The neighbors came to see what was wrong. When we arrived home and heard the story I got some topical antibiotic I had and applied it the the bite wound. It was pretty bad. We will probably hear more about this when we return to Laroo tomorrow night to cook another pasta supper. I'm afraid they all love pasta so we have defnitely had a corrupting influence :-) It's now about 8:00 pm and we are at The Coffee Hut after a day of interviews at the hospital. Annie's interviews are done and she's pleased with what she's gotten. It's been a good day...

When it rains...

Wednesday, May 23, 12:30 pm in The Coffee Hut. Where do I begin? Yesterday after going to the hospital to set up the process for doing interviews, Annie went to make copies to bring to the head sister at the hospital and I took my first boda ride alone. It was fine, especially since it was from a driver who had taken us both before. Got back to the house and it was locked. Just in case I have given the impression that the neighborhood of Laroo is idyllic, let me correct that. We are staying in Laroo "by the forest" and the forest is where it is said that many thieves live. So, when Daisy isn't around, the house is locked. The front and back doors are very, very heavy iron doors with two giant padlocks. But Daisy (young Daisy next door) came with the keys. When Mego Daisy returned she said that she had gone to a church to pray for a relative who has problems "in the head" or "has an evil spirit." The relative was not in the church but showed up soon after Daisy returned home. The relative is a woman who had a one-year old on her back, held up with a cloth tied at the front of the woman. She was clearly not alright and had some bizarre movements but I couldn't understand what she was saying to Daisy. The presence of this woman meant that Daisy couldn't accompany Santo, Annie, Robin (the driver) and me to Pece and Okwir. I was disappointed but off we went. We saw Santo's future home (the floor, ceiling and windows are still to be completed which is quite a bit bigger than their current home. And it is farther from town. Santo plans to will the Laroo home to Elizah and his three brothers (one mother) and the Pece home to his and Daisy's children. It was really hot yesterday afternoon and as we left Pece to go to Okwir, Annie said she wasn't feeling well and took a boda back to Laroo. That left Santo, Robin and me. Okwir is about 15 miles from Gulu on the Kampala (south) road. We turned off on a road to Okwir (when I say "road" I mean something different than our idea of it) and first went to see Santo's two heifers, one white and one black. Lots of jokes about that. They were kept near some huts belonging to a family and Santo said that we would have to travel about 1/2 mile to visit a family that had just lost the head of their clan. So there I was at a wake, rural Gulu style. Everyone was together and the body was in the ground with a covering of sewed together palm? leaves. The women sat on the ground on large mats and the men sat under a tarp/tent or in little groups. Needless to say, I was an unusual sight as I was as at the site of the family 1/2 mile down the road. Children, it seems to me, are the most fascinated and yet the most afraid. They stare until I interact with a smile or wave. Then they run like hell and come back. I was introduced to the elder and closest family members to the head of the clan and then Santo, Robin and I sat down. It was clear that we would be offered food and that I would have to figure out how to handle it. Sodas came and then a serving of posho (maize bread), goat and chicken. We didn't have what the others had which was beans and what looked like white yams. I felt I had to eat something and I took a drumstick and some posho (and soda, of course). I figured I had had both of these over the past week and it would be safe. (I'm feeling fine, by the way). We left and it was beginning to get dark (we started two hours later than Santo had promised... African time, of course). We got in the car and traveled to Santo's two acres out in the middle of nowhere. I was literally in the bush. The truck was no longer on a road but an overgrown footpath. We walked through tall grass to the acres in which Daisy has planted groundnut (peanut), casava, maize and beans. Santo is so attached to land and the cultivation of it. It clearly has a very deep meaning to him. But it was getting dark out there and we had not yet seen what we came to Okwir to see! The project called Echoing Good is located at a school. A large (many acres) garden has been planted so that children come to the school and receive food for their families. It is a completely community run project that receives donations from the U.S. It has been very successful and as a result of the donations, two small buildings have been erected to accommodate the teachers. By now, it was about 7:30 and dark. We returned to Laroo and found that everyone had eaten supper and the relative was still there and seemed no better. I know this is a long blog already but this next part I want to record, even if no one else reads it! I haven't discussed religion yet but it is very much a part of my experience with Santo, Daisy and their family. Last Sunday I attended church with Nancy, Janet and Eunice, partly because I was curious but also because Nancy invited me. It is a born again church that has no building. They worship under an open-air steel roof. There are four pastors, and everything is said in English and translated into Acholi. Again, I was an oddity. The service had hymns (some familiar), scripture reading, sermon, prayers, and healing. It was pretty similar to an African American pentecostal service in the U.S. I even went up to be healed because I was having some issues with my digestive tract (I'm going to say no more than that :-) ) and figured, why not? So, Nancy was the one who brought everybody else in the family to this church. I think they might have been Catholic before this. The service was interesting but that's all. However, religion arose in a big way last night. When we returned from Okwir, Santo left to pick up one of the pastors to bring him to the home to "cast Satan out" of Daisy's relative. In the meantime, one of the church women came over and began to pray over this woman. Annie made a quick exit to bed and I almost did but I was kind of curious about what would happen and Daisy said "we are going to pray now" and I felt like it might be a request to stay. It was an exorcism with the woman writhing, uttering gutteral sounds, jumping, hitting, fleeing, convulsing, etc. Jennifer, the "exorcist," was yelling, screaming, slapping, hitting the woman and placing a bible on the woman's stomach, chest, knees, and everywhere else. This continued when the pastor arrived and then he and Santo began to exorcise "Satan" as well. Samuel, Eunice, Janet and the woman's baby were there. Samuel eventually snuck off to bed in his hut and the girls clung to me as the whole thing got more intense. The baby cried on and off and Daisy, Janet and I passed her back and forth to try to quiet her. This kept on all night long. I went to bed around 11:30 and literally the commotion continued on and off all night. The rain began, with thunder and lightening, and it seemed like maybe God's promise to Noah was going to be revoked. God just might destroy the world by flood after all. Sometime during the night, the woman stormed into our bedroom. She was shirtless and perhaps nursing, I can't remember. After that, we locked our door :-). We learned this morning that the woman had fled the house about 5:00 am this morning without her baby or her blouse. She returned about 9:15 am with a sweatshirt with blood on it. She untied the baby from Daisy's back and left. I wanted to report rather than interpret this experience because I don't know what to do with it. I asked Santo this morning if perhaps a visit to the mental health hospital or clinic would be appropriate. As it turns out, Daisy told us this morning that the woman's 12 year-old son died in April after falling from a mango tree. This didn't seem to have any particularly strong connection with the woman's present state as far as Daisy and Santo go. Santo said the woman could go to the hospital and they would give her valium. That's all, according to him. I guess she has "treatment options." Exorcism or valium. Hmmm.... The exorcism didn't work.

The Coffee Hut, Tuesday, May 22 at 11:00 am, African time

So, African time takes some adjustment. The best laid plans can be accomplished but at a pace that teaches patience. Although I was up early knowing that we were going to Gulu Referral Hospital today, I hadn't considered that my plans aren't everyone else's. The morning bucket bath takes time. Some water is heated over the charcoal for a bath and while that's heating, all the dishes from the night before are put out on the lawn for washing. One of the girls (Santo's nieces), Eunice, was washing dishes before school so we did them together. I took my bath then, Santo took his, then Annie. Meanwhile, Mego Daisy is making tea. By the time we are sitting down (Daisy doesn't have this meal with us), talk a bit about the plans for the day, and get ready to go (Santo's van and driver were giving us a ride to the hospital today), it was about 9:20. Dr. David was already in the middle of giving exams (for the medical students) so we waited for him and he led us to the clinic which was very, very crowded. Apparently it is busiest at the beginning of the week. The clinic is for HIV/AIDS patients only. There were many women, children, and some men. One of the sisters (nurses) greeted us and we set a time to interview her tomorrow morning. Annie will find a translator,(most likely Wow (sp.?) who is a very bright, personable and gentle young man who is without a job since his NGO project has concluded its work). He is Santo's nephew. So, no interviews today. That's how it goes. I may not be a part of the interviews since three people in a room with a patient might be intimidating. This brings up another issue. I haven't taken as many pictures of Gulu as I would like. I have plenty of pictures of the Okemo family. But taking pictures of the market, a shop, a street seems disrespectful, or at least I think it might. It might be interpreted as my wanting to capture the "oddities" of this town, country and culture. So I take the pictures very quickly when I can. Even now, I am watching a woman carrying a 4-5 gallon yellow plastic jug of water on her head (can you imagine?) across the street but if I were to whip out my camera, it would be impolite. This afternoon we are going with Santo and Daisy (whoa! Daisy too!) to see their future home in Pece (another area in Gulu - we are presently in the Laroo area). The Pece home will be bigger but Santo has already planted most of the trees that are in the Laroo compound. That's important to him. I think that might be because 1.) he LOVES fruit and the trees that produce them and 2.) the loss of trees, livestock, and agriculture because of the war makes having all these trees a source of pride. Then we will see the two acres that they own and have cultivated. Although most of what we eat has come from Daisy's compound, there are things bought at the market. And apparently Daisy sells some of her produce from the two acres as well. This brings me to another part of yesterday. We offered to buy beef to bring home from town yesterday so Annie took me to the market (a very large row of tables or shops under a long tin roof) to buy the beef. She warned me that it would not look appetizing. There are flies everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The smells aren't pleasant since it is a mixture of fish, meat and vegetable that have been out in the air for hours and hours. Annie chose the 2 kilos of beef (yes, she knew which meat she wanted) and we took it in a bag, with probably some flies going along for the ride. It was beef that looked very fresh and cost 8,000 schillings or about $5.00 US. That's not inexpensive in Ugandan terms. Daisy cooked the beef by boiling it (for a long time!) and it was served with posho (a very moist bread made with maize flour and water and cooked over the charcoal then formed into an oval). Finally, last night Santo talked about the present situation in South Sudan. Northern Uganda shares a border with South Sudan. Kony and the rebels are there and in the CAR (Central African Republic), and the Congo. He says that the rebels are in an area that is approximately the size of California. He also says that they are terrorizing and killing many in South Sudan and are being given aid in the form of weapons by Sudan. So the war between Sudan and South Sudan is more complicated than I realized. He is concerned about this and thinks that the world doesn't know the extent of Kony's influence because it is downplayed ("Kony's finished") by the media. I don't know why that is the case. I'll have to ask Santo later. I realize that this is one man's perspective and that there is always more complexity but still, I take what he says seriously. I have to write more about last night, including the many, many jokes Daisy and I share, including how I have to ride the bike to my son's (Eliza's) school to bring him the pullover sweater he forgot. I will have to bring bananas so that I can throw them to the baboons so they won't beat me. Then I will bathe in the Nile before I come back to Laroo. Eunice, Janet, Daisy and I danced the African way to the music on the radio under the sky exploding with stars. I brought out my iPad and played Aretha Franklin's "Respect" as well as "Stand By Me" and "My Girl." I taught the girls and Samuel how to dance my way (1960s-1970s). The girls were a riot and loved my ridiculous moves. Annie watched and I'm sure she was thinking that, as usual, her mother looked absurd but I think she really didn't care. After all, as Daisy says often, referring to a joke she shared with Annie last fall, "you dance, or you don't dance. You are free. It's up to you!" By the way, Daisy tells tall stories with a straight face. She is very funny.

Monday, 11:14 am in Cafe Larem, Gulu

The house is very quiet without Eliza and Nancy. Now only Janet, Eunice, and Samuel remain, none of whom are Daisy and Santo's children. I won't bother explaining all the connections in this family because, first of all, I can't keep it straight and secondly, it doesn't matter. There are probably about 15-18 children who have been raised by Daisy and Santo but together they have five biological children. The others are the children of Santo and one of his two other wives (one died and one is still living but divorced) or Santo' relatives. That's the way it is among the Acholi and that kind of responsibility for extended family is something Santo fears has been lost in Northern Uganda for a number of reasons. We had our supper last night and it was the first time Santo, Daisy, Annie and I were alone (after the children went to bed), the rain was torrential on the tin roof so we had to shout at some points but still the conversation was so rich. There's an easy kind of sharing that has grown over the last six days. But I am also extremely aware that I would have to live here a long time before I could begin to understand the complexities of this culture and people. I keep thinking that this is so very, very different from the life I have lived and yet some things are universal. In a way, I couldn't imagine before I came what I was going to experience. Going felt like skydiving. I said "yes" I'm going, got on a plane, and thought, now there is no turning back. Yet now that I have been here, I often think, oh yeah, people get up in the morning, get ready for the day, do whatever is needed to survive and be responsible for themselves and their family, have supper and go to sleep. That's what is the same. Santo's life is not all that different from mine or most people I know. He gets up, listens to the news, bathes, has "tea", is driven to work by a driver (sounds better than it is since it is either on a boda (motorbike) or decrepid truck (the one we took to Baker's Fort), goes to the office and has meeting after meeting unless he's traveling. But Daisy's everyday life is different. She's up around six, gets the charcoal on for water for bathing and "tea" and gets the children off to school. She brings tea inside to Santo and any adult around and then perhaps goes to the borehole (about 1/8 of a mile away) for water, bringing it back on her head, visits perhaps with a neighbor or relative, sweeps and mops inside the house and sweeps the entire compound, feeds the chickens, does the laundry by hand, and prepares lunch, supper, and on and on. Her day is full but she remains even and calm. It has become clear to me that I understand very little about "what women want." There is absolutely nothing simple about entering into another person's or people's world. You just have to listen and learn and suspend your interpretation as much as possible. This isn't easy but it is necessary. I didn't finish the story about Baker's Fort and the visit to Jeremiah Bongojane, the head of the Patiko chiefdom. His clan was one of those most affected by the war. He was a very soft-spoken and gentle man who became Chief after his father died about six years ago. He lives in a lovely home built by the government (all 54 chiefs in Northern Uganda have modest homes built by the government). Many of the Patiko people have come back to their villages and Jeremiah is somewhat optimistic that the traditional values of the clan are being revived. Cattle, goats and other sources of food have returned and mixed farming is coming back as well. Perhaps the most hopeful sign is that the bonfire (I don't know how to spell the Acholi word) is returning. This is the evening ritual where the head of the village will tell stories, riddles and proverbs. This is where and how the values are instilled. Ok, got to go to the hospital. More later... This is later, about 3:30 pm. We went to see Dr. David at the hospital and Annie is set to begin her interviews tomorrow. I helped him set up the iPad we brought him and my contribution for the rest of the week will be some 10-15 minute tutoring sessions on the device :) Again, lots of opportunities seem to arise here. How would I like to be a visiting professor at Gulu University? How often do you get that kind of question? Ha! We're going home now after we buy some beef for tonight's supper.

Sunday in Gulu

It's 4:20 pm on Sunday here in Gulu. We're back at The Coffee Hut and there's a fan and AC, sort of. We just waved goodby to Eliza (I mistakenly thought his name was Elijah, "the prophet" according to Daisy)and Nancy as they return by bus to school. They have already missed a week of school in order to spend more time with us. I haven't said much about Nancy, who is twenty-six years old and in Senior 2 or 3 (high school). This is not unusual because so many of the children during the war had their lives disrupted. I have come to love Nancy and she certainly loves Annie. She came to have a lot of affection for me as well, her other "mego." I will post a picture of Nancy when I return but I wish I could capture her personality and especially her voice and sense of humor. She has a very easy, sultry voice and she had a way of saying things (kind of Mae West) that just cracked me up. A simple word like "fantastic" became a source of laughter ten times a day. Little jokes are shared all the time. Daisy and I had a running joke that I would be the American "munu" (white) mego who was bringing her Gulu daughter (Nancy) to the bus and I would be carrying her 70lb. trunk on my head the way the women carry water or fruit or whatever. Daisy thought that was hysterical and it became a running joke over the last 24 hours. But back to the bus. A very, very chaotic departure included men coming at us from all over thinking that we munus were getting on the bus. Annie and I walked away to reduce the confusion of Elizah and Nancy purchasing their tickets and getting on the bus. To Annie's surprise Nancy began to sob as she hugged Annie and me goodby. Of course, since I cry at the drop of a hat, I tried to steel myself and get back to some of the jokes that kept us laughing throughout the last five days. So there goes Elizah and Nancy and the house will be more empty now. I want to write a little about the trip I took yesterday with Santo (wego), Kenneth who is Santo's nephew, Elizah and two of the men who were part of a meeting we had yesterday to discuss a proposal they have for getting women in rural villages to be enrolled in a government project that involves the testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS for pregnant women and a continuation after birth. Now that is an entirely different topic that would take much, much more time than this blog. There's a lot that has emerged from this meeting. Well, I think the trip to Baker's Fort yesterday will have to wait until the next blog. Briefly, the Fort is the place where people were taken and put in a cramped open-air prison to be either killed by the Arab slave traders if they were too weak or taken eventually to the Middle East . It's about 17 miles from Gulu on a very bad road that was impassable during the Kony days. We stopped to visit the Chief of that area who lives at the entrance to the Fort. OK, we have to go now so this story will have to wait. This is an exhausting, amazing experience. I really miss the comforts of home but it's worth going without (for a short while!) in order to live so fully in a culture and among a people that has already been teaching me so much.

Today is Saturday, May 19 and we're in The Coffee Hut again. We've had some very full days and we only have a little time here since Santo has invited colleagues to come to meet Annie and me and talk about HIV/AIDS in Northern Uganda. Annie is pretty sure he wants her to start an NGO to deal with some particular issues but she's not sure she wants to do this for a number of reasons. But still it will be a good time for me to learn more about their perspectives. This will be set of random thoughts for this blog. 1.) Forgot to mention the begging baboons on the bus trip to Gulu. About halfway into the trip you get to the Nile River which is very, very powerful at this point. Then you get to what is closest to "the bush" on this roan. It is a very rocky, and densely vegetated spot and sitting on the side of the road are baboons, many of them, young and old. They are completely unafraid of vehicles and literally sit with their hands out begging. 2.) There's been more talk of Joseph Kony than I expected. Rumor has it that he's in South Sudan which is troublesome since he's closer to Uganda again. Yet there's hope because of the U.S. troops coming in with technology that has helped local forces kill one of the leaders. Another thing about the LRA. My good friend and teacher, Elijah (he has to be the smartest thirteen year old I know) told me about his experience in school which is about halfway between Kampala and Gulu. There are only about four Acholi (Northern Ugandan) students there and they are ostracized by the other students (mostly Bantu). On movie night, they can only watch movies in English, Bantu, or Swahili. He (and Santo confirmed this later) said that other Ugandans consider the Acholi people to be just like Kony - violent and uncivilized. They can't win. Terrorized by Kony's people, shunned by other Ugandans. Got to go. More later.

Gulu

I'm here on Thursday, May 17, 11;45am in The Coffee Hut in Gulu. Annie and I just came from seeing Dr. David at the Gulu University Faculty to Medicine. It was great to meet him and he clearly likes Annie very much and appreciates the research she did in the fall semester. He believes that she can continue her interviews during these next ten days and be able to produce a paper that will benefit the medical community that focuses on the HIV/AIDS population. But back to our trip here to Gulu yesterday. The Post Bus was an experience. We were very happy to have the bus conductor secure our luggage in a compartment since he said we couldn't leave anything out. We kept our backpacks on our laps the entire trip. The bus was crowded and the ride was bumpy. Whenever we stopped to let someone off or on the bus, people came up with trays of grilled bananas, meat on sticks, cold sodas and other things. They raised them high enough for people to reach out the window take what they wanted. We didn't have anything which, it turned out, was a good thing since Daisy, Annie's mego, told us that the meat might be contaminated bush meat (gorilla, etc.) and the food might be two days old. The post bus is considered the safest transportation to Gulu and I have to say, it's a relative kind of safety. But we made it. Nancy, one of Mego's daughters greeted us and had hired a truck to bring us to her house. Here is where the joy of this trip begins. Daisy and the children who are living with her right now (some hers and some not) made us feel welcome and immediately part of the family. Our afternoon and evening was filled with lots of conversation, laughter and wonderful food. Daisy had prepared a delicious lunch of "bo" (green leaves with egg mixed in), rice, "poscho" (a dense and moist bread made of maize) and pork. We all sat together in the main room (where everything we do together happens). I immediately became friends with Elijah, Daisy's stepson, a thirteen year old boy who is very smart, curious and talkative. He loves to teach and explain as much as he loves to learn. He loves to read anything he can get his hands on and although he says his favorite subjects are English and physics, it's clear that he is a Renaissance man who wants to study the world, local and global. When I asked him if he would like to attend university he very matter-of-factly said that "realities" would not allow that as much as he would like to. Daisy showed me the compound which consists of the main house which has the big room and three small bedrooms, a room for storage, and storage space for kitchen items and food (large sacks of rice, maize, millet and other food stuffs)and a small space for preparing the meal after it has been cooked. The tour of the rest of the compound consisted of visiting the thatched-roof huts and other buildings. New since Annie's time at their house is the small kitchen hut which is close to the house. there are two charcoal-heated small pits for cooking. Daisy is happy to have this since the kitchen hut was far away from the house. There's a chicken hut, a hut for one of Daisy's older sons, a hut with a bunk bed for whoever might need it, a toilet (a hole in the ground with a door), a brick construction for taking a bucket bath. There are plantings everywhere. Currently there are plantings of yams, beans, maize and every kind of fruit tree (I know, it sounds like Genesis 2 :-) ). As Elijah and Daisy told me, "Here in Africa, you just go out and pick the fruit from the tree." When the mango tree is done producing its fruit, neighbors give you some of theirs and you share your papaya, lemons, oranges, or other fruit. EVERYTHING is used to its fullest and it seems that all of it is eaten with appreciation. There's just a gratefulness that I sensed for all that they have. Daisy talked about the Acholi custom of hospitality and sharing with a kind of pride. The hospitality became clearer to me in the evening before supper when we all sat on a large mat outside talking and playing with another Daisy, a little girl from next door. By then the other children had returned from school too. It seemed that neighbors and relatives came from everywhere to greet us. Elijah had been trying to teach me some basic Acholi phrases which I not to successfully used to greet everyone. Everyone met us as though we were family. And it wasn't the kind of welcome for white ("munu") strangers one might expect as though we were a curiosity, but rather an embrace of "you're here, you're family." Maybe this is a bit too much detail for a blog. I will get to the conversation in the small kitchen hut as Daisy and Elijah prepared the supper of rice and beans (best I've had, by the way). Daisy and Elijah gave me a history lesson on the war and the LRA's effect on the district of Gulu and their family. With a sense of emotion as well as detachment, Daisy said that she had been abducted and three (or four?) of her children taken by the rebels. Daisy was left in a place far away from her home and her children eventually escaped one by one to come home to her. Nancy was one of them. Daisy said that everyone in her neighborhood lived in fear during those years. At 4:00 every afternoon, all the families would leave their homes and go to the centre of Gulu for the night. Daisy's family was able to rent a place but many couldn't and had no food nor any way to prepare food. The Ugandan military would chase them back to their homes but they would come back to the city every night. There was literally no safe place. This time of fear and violence lasted thirty years. I hope that in the days to come, I will be able to understand more about the lives of Daisy, Santo and their children during this time but I certainly want to ask delicately and sensitively. There is so much more but for now, goodbye from Gulu.

We arrived in Kampala around 7:30 am today, Tuesday, May 15. How time flies... literally. The two flights were great. Lots of leg room, good food and hospitality. British Airways all the way. We flew over Africa in the early dawn and the horizon was a deep orange and pink. I looked down and thought we were over the water because I couldn't see anything. But that didn't make sense. As the plane flew lower I realized that I couldn't see any lights or any evidence of cities. That's why I thought it was the ocean! We arrived in Kampala Airport and got through immigration quickly. A crazy ride from Entebbe to Kampala was next. There are two prominent colors in Uganda, a very lush green and a deep red earth. And the road from the airport is often chaotic. Cars, bikes, motorbikes, and people come at you from every possible angle. The British driving rule is here but that doesn't mean that everybody necessarily stays on the left. As a matter of fact it's seems that staying on one side of the road is optional. We were pulled over by a Ugandan policman and our driver (and Annie I found out later) was nervous. It seems that the policeman had to get to work in Kampala and the easiest way to get there was to stop a car with two white women in it and ask for a lift. It was a request I guess you just don't say no to. We arrived at our hotel and got to the room and noticed that we had a perfect view of the Gaddafi Mosque. The hotel is pretty basic. The water barely comes out of the faucet, there's only one mosquito net, but the people working here are really friendly. And finally, we walked around the neighborhood looking for a cell phone and some batteries and Kampala is crazy. Crossing the street takes a tremendous amount of courage. The smells are different here. Lots of fumes from the cars mixed in with smells I don't recognize. Enough for now. I'm tired and I think my thoughts might be better put together after a nap!

It's almost here and I am feeling ready, sort of. My bags are packed and it looks as though I'll fit in most of what I think I'll need. People have asked me when I'm going and when I say "Monday" it doesn't seem real. I've been in touch through email with Annie's wego and already I feel welcomed. It seems as though I have a family in Gulu. I just haven't met them yet. "Commencement" took on a whole new meaning for me today. I am commencing alright on a trip of a lifetime!

Just about a week away from our departure for Uganda. I will be blogging when I am able to. Ready, set... 

Two weeks until the trip

In less than two weeks we will be leaving for Uganda. It is hard to believe. I never thought I would go to Africa but here it is. I'm nervous and excited.