Women of Kigezi

Leslie and Travis met this local artist and in his brochure was printed this poem.  One of the reasons I was excited about moving to a developing country was to give people a voice and to link my old and new worlds, so to speak.

I usually don't endorse fashion magazines ( can I just say why do we consume things that kill our soul?  why can't we have a fashion and beauty magazine sans materialism, commercialism and vanity???), but I have to say Marie Claire does put in some good articles about the world and interesting and thoughtful articles about women.

Aaron's mom sent us a good one from January that highlights women around the world and what they spend, including one lady from Uganda--GREAT article.

http://www.marieclaire.com/career-money/jobs/articles/womens-salaries-expenses?click=main_sr

Here is the poem...

I have often wondered
The vastness of your strength
Many a times I have pondered
The gracefulness of your movements
The calmness of your temperament
Woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden.

Before the opening of the day
Your sleep bids you bye
Your work bids you come
With thump of feet you respond
Your body strapped on back
Your basket balanced on your head
Your goat tethered in your hand
As your hoe rests on your shoulder
Woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden.

The sun is high hot
Woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden
Hoc hoc hoc your hoe goes in song
Oh the bell rings in your mind
That time is running fast
With renewed vitality
Woman of Kigezi
Of bronze you must be made
My beast of burden.

Woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden
Not even a tractor can match your speed
For the tractor is aided and guided
But you my beast of burden
Single handedly off you succeed
How I adore you
My beast of burden.

The sun gets tired
and asks the moon and the stars to take over
But you never tire my beast of burden
Basket of harvest balancing on your head
Bundle of fire wood dancing on your shoulder
With your precious hoe to give it company
Goat in hand and water in hand
As your son coos on your back
How wonderful you look
Woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden

And yet you are not done
My beast of burden
The dinner you prepare
And your household goes to bed
But still your wok has just started
To please your husband
Offering pleasures with your tired worn body
And to make more offspring
For that is your calling
When will you rest?
Oh woman of Kigezi
My beast of burden.

~ Loyce Kwikiriza

Here are some pictures--I have a hard time with photographing strangers, so sorry these are not very close all of them.  

Every morning when we go to school we pass ladies and young students who have "failed to pay school fees" as they say commonly.  They come from their gardens and they are rushing to sell their vegetables.  Here is a typical sight around Kabale--door to door vegetable selling.  It's pretty cool b/c most people buy and cook the same day, so it is a good system--fresh!

 This is one of my favorite ladies in town--she sells many things, but we buy wheat from her and then have it ground.  Leslie, Julia and I got to shop together one day.

This lady (she is in the blue kerchief, holding a customers bag for her) always gets me each morning, carefully laying out her little roadside stand.  We also pass her on the way to school.

Cute little 3 year olds from "baby class" (preschool) future women of Kigezi (name of our area)

 Ladies going home after selling their vegetables.

I still don't get how the babies stay on those backs!

There is the famous hoe and digging--so, so common.  Also, a young girl heading in to sell things.

April Fool's

 Priceless!

So, they do celebrate April Fool's in Uganda.  We had heard they pinch, but none of the kids or us got pinched.  But, they seem to send each other on fool's errands.  

2 months ago, I had thought up a couple of good April Fool's tricks, so I ran them by Precious and Medard, our friends.

Here's how it went...

Hey guys, what do you think about this for April Fool's?  Me, Aaron, Leslie and Travis get some bikes and pretend to be boda boda drivers and yell out Mukiga, Mukiga...

laughter

or, what about I drive Precious up and down the town as a boda boda driver?

Yes, you should do this.  Why don't you--yes, yes, you could do it.  (I shake my head) Why not--(they both get emphatic)--you should do it!!

no way, Jose.  Women don't ride bikes here or if you are my age, wear trousers...

So, guys, what do Ugandans do for April Fool's?  Well, we call each people up and tell them to meet us in town, but we don't show up.  (Medard shaking his head) But, don't do this to old people.  They HATE this.

Good to know.

April 1, 2011

BUT, it happened that Leslie and I were in the market on Friday.  It was such a fun morning on all levels--just us, no kids, going to run errands and finish a Christmas present from Leslie--we went to a tailor to get measured and gave him some cloth to make us tunics--isn't she a great friend?

While in the market, we saw some wigs that women regularly wear and we went halves on it and cooked up a plan that I would wear a wig that day when we picked up the kids from school.  Leslie and Aaron are good at getting Travis and I to do things like this...  It was a half day (no foolin', the first Friday of every month, they do teacher training and kids get a half day)  and so, we would get all the kids at 12:30pm.  Well, I ended up going alone b/c we finished early, but tested out the wig on the Hines household.  Got some laughs from Travis, but the Ugandan friends didn't even bat an eye--in fact, they encouraged me to wear it all the time.

So, I went for it at the school.  What do I have to lose?  I was going to stay in the car, but I got out with the other parents who were walking and line up by the gate to pick up kids.  We always get stared at anyway, so no one stared anymore than usual.  My friend Claudia, who is British had a good laugh.  It totally failed with the kids.  The younger ones laughed slightly when I whispered April Fool's, but the older kids were like, "mom, you look horrible, take it off."  The surprise bonus was one of the Indian dads looked and double looked HORRIFIED and then just shook his head and looked at the ground :).  that made it worth it all....  Not all jokes translate to all cultures.

Then, later, Aaron puts it on and gets rock star laughter and status!!  Why do quiet dads get all the laughs?  Aaron is really good at skits and gags, so I love it!!

I got sick shortly after this, so I didn't get re-inactment pictures... sorry.

Water and other things...

Moving to a developing country is a dream that God has put in our hearts.  We are grateful.  It's a mixed blessing!  Poverty sucks!  In the U.S., we have a buffer with poverty, but as a friend here put it, "Africa throws it all in your face and says, deal with it!"  Well said.  So, we are adjusting--death to many ideals and trying to live with tension of being treated as a wealthy person here and then, in the U.S., we would be considered "poor" as we are now on full volunteer support.  

Also, we share with our friends here, but in so many ways we cannot relate.  I often am chatting with Johnson who works with us and we will be laughing and sharing and then he will say things like "Yes, I need to put money down on my daughter's school fees so she can eat lunch this week.  I will go early to the village and then come back to work here."  Sigh.  "Johnson, take the day off and go take care of that family."  He comes back, we are sharing and such.  "Johnson, how did it go?"  "Yes, madame, it went well, but my other son surprised me at school, so I had to divide up the school fees so that now they can both eat lunch the next two weeks.  I thought he would be sick all week (he had gone to the hospital the week before), but he struggled and made it over the hill, so he can go to school and not miss."  Sigh.   I can only listen and try to imagine.

So, this blog is dedicated to Johnson, a God fearing man with amazing children that he manages to send to school and still have joy.  This blog is dedicated to the Ugandans who do amazing work in the face of many obstacles, you are my true heroes!  

By the way, one of my subconscious ideals was to romanticize "the poor".  There are good people here and there are scoundrels.  It is just like the U.S.--full of good, amazing people and then, the selfish and the greedy. There are strong people here and then there are people here with many emotional, social problems--they can't deal with the poverty and they are struggling with drugs, alcohol and just a scavenger type mentality.  We have that in the U.S., too--even among the wealthy, they can't handle wealth!  It's all mixed, isn't it--no matter where you live.

So, on to the water issue.  Water is life--you hear that all the time here.  I am fast becoming a water advocate--everyone should have access to clean water!  At the bottom of this post are a couple of links--one to Compassion International who do amazing work with the poor and then also to World Vision who has a great water program.  I have been very thoughtful about legacy.  Investing in water and clean water is a GREAT legacy.  Investing and partnering with the poor is a GREAT legacy!

 We had a short time of struggling with lack of water--we now have a water tank and a couple of back up options.  When the city water goes out and it doesn't rain, people have to go to great lengths to get water for cooking, washing--many more uses that I never even used to think about!  That's your whole day when there is a shortage or if you do not have good access to water--all you can do is haul water.  Ugandans learn this at a young age--even toddlers will be walking around with a one litre container.  I am just amazed.  We are deeply grateful and have new compassion towards this struggle, so I would just like to share that.

This is a GREAT water filter--very light and very accessible.  We brought it with us in our luggage and bought a bucket locally. 30 minutes later, we had a filtering system for a million gallons.  I think this would be a great thing for churches and volunteers to bring over to give away, if they travel to a place where clean water is an issue.  It's awesome.   Click here for more information.  Even a small impact is an impact.  We all can do something small, at least!  I do believe in that with all my heart.

This is our rain water tank--many people have this.  The church here has a water program where they go around building this type of tank for needy families--actually theirs looks like Greek pottery--it's impressive, beautiful and functional.  Great job, church!

Here is another common sight.  We now have this in our back yard--1,000 litre water tank that uses gravity to pump to our kitchen.  The house has a small reserve for the back water system--toilet and bath, but we found out it runs out in 2 days (although we learned to stretch it to 4)  I cannot express to you how stressful it is to be out of water in the kitchen or for washing clothes.  This water tank will fill from our city water pipe, rather than relying on the rain water.  The city water can go out when the electricity goes out or we were out for about 4 weeks when a pipe broke during the Christmas holiday.

Basins--this to me, will always remind me of Uganda.  Basins are used for everything--washing clothes, people, food, dishes etc.  Also, now we keep a reserve of bottled water, too.  Clean water is awesome!

Gerry cans.  This also for me, is the sign of Uganda.  Loads and loads of people carrying Gerry cans all around.

Lock box on the water pipe.  Water theft is an issue.  This is a common sight around town.

Do you know how much a simple flush of the toilet uses?  In the U.S., you can put a heavy weight in the tank and use half the water, but the water pressure is not good enough here.  I didn't know what these buildings were when we first moved here.  Latrines!  Oh, man, do I LOVE latrines--no water use!  A great help when your water is out.  The kids use them at school.  We call them squatty potties.  Emma Shae hated them because she had quite a few accidents at school and finally had found a toilet she could use. At the new school, that is not an option.  I tried to get her to practice at home, but she refused.  Then, second week of school, she had an accident in the class b/c she waited too long--so, she sweetly and humbly came home and asked if we could practice with the squatty potty.  Good girl, poor, girl!  Mallory and I were the first ones in the family to get into the latrines, but others have followed.  Is this too much information or what? This is the behind the scenes...

So, think about pitching in for your brothers and sisters--supporting financially, giving your expertise or being a voice for those who are just trying to make it, is a wonderful legacy to leave from your life. It is said that with wealth comes great responsibility.  I had to learn this from the poor themselves.  Wow, thanks, guys!  Once a friend and I were talking about the issue of serving the poor.  She was lamenting a bit, since we were both young moms--our hearts were there, wanting to get past check writing service, but what could we do?  She said, "Do you think everyone is supposed to move to poor neighborhoods and struggle, etc?"  I didn't know, but I wanted to.  I can say now after living here and seeing the fight--yes, do something--small or large, just do something!

These are only two organizations that we are personally familiar with--there are so many good, good organizations doing compassionate work around the globe and in your city, in fact!  Check it out!

Click here to learn about child sponsorship from Compassion International

To read more about the water issue, check out World Vision's program.
World Vision - Water, Sanitation, Hygiene

The Garden

We have discovered that we have moved to a house plot that has very good soil.  We are so thankful.  Uganda has been called the Garden of Eden because soil can be sooo good here.

In the past, we have only gardened a bit--tomatoes, strawberries, basil for fun in pots in our back yard.  In moving here,  we brought heirloom seeds to try to grow and eat some vegetables.  In the first few weeks of moving to Kabale, there was a guy that brought us these amazing vegetables--his name is Medard.   I asked him to work with us to grow our garden and to teach us and Johnson how to garden.  It is so interesting!  Most Ugandans tend to eat the same things every day and lots of it (beans, cabbage, rice, local greens and sometimes matoke, which are green bananas-- it's like manioc that you find in South America) So, they have a different planting strategy.  You plant lots and lots of cabbage, for example.  I don't know about you, but we tried that and I can eat about a fourth of a cabbage once a year.  Contrast this with Americans, who tend to eat a smaller amount of veggies and more variety. Interesting.  So, we are learning to basically plant small amounts of a salad--lettuce, tomato, carrots etc.  Also, for some Ugandans who don't have schooling or a trade or work, they can plant vegetables to sell.  It is very common to see people walking around with hoes and baskets of vegetables on their heads.  They can sell door to door, to businesses in town or to the local market.  So, there are just massive amounts of gardens all over the place--for personal use and for making a shilling or two.

Honestly, in the U.S. gardening is more of a hobby or for folks who live in the country or older folks.  We have shifted to relying on supermarkets or for those "granola" folks, they can participate in a food co-op or such.

I have totally caught the vision for sustainable agriculture!  Part of it is having time and space to dedicate to it and having help, it's great.  Wonder if we would keep doing it in the U.S.?

The greenhouse where we plant seedlings.

This is the back of our house-- dill, broccoli, garlic chives, lettuce, basil and cilantro grow here.

On top of our hill, we can grow swiss chard, cabbage, and loads of local greens.

The first time we have picked carrots!

Did you know that Barbie likes to garden?

Pumpkins!  These we by and large failed on b/c we didn't give them much room.  I brought pumpkins not knowing that they grow them locally.  So, when we were starting these, Medard and Johnson asked me, "Are these the kind that move?"  what?  Now, I know.  They are vine growing and travel and needs lots of room.  Local pumpkins do not grow on a vine.  So, now we know and have adjusted the planting strategy.  These guys get their own plot in the corner of the hill and have lots of room "to move".

Butternut squash!

We don't have small garden tools here, so I was laughing--Mallory is digging up a carrot :).

Christmas 2010

Well, our family celebrates Christmas this time of year.  We start with Advent, the Sunday after Thanksgiving and this year, we actually remembered.  We have some time and space here to remember things.  Although, it didn't always feel like Christmas--not a lot of commercialism here, we began to learn how Ugandans celebrate.  One funny note was, the Friday after Thanksgiving we had to go to Rwanda for renewing our visas.  We were there for a few hours in the capital, which happens to have a western type mall and a shop sort of like a Target --so, due to time constraints, we found ourselves running around grabbing Christmas decorations (that was one of the things we forgot) and dodging Koreans in Santa Hats--it was strange, but fun.  Aaron had looked over at a TV while we were eating in a pretty cool restaurant and there was CNN showing Black Friday shoppers--we felt American.

This time of year is a big time for Ugandans.  Disclaimer--this is from my limited understanding-so, don't quote me on these things :).  Some people save all year to make large purchases, so it was very common to see bicycles, motorcycles and trucks packed full of people and goods like sheets of iron for roofs, furniture, etc..  Prices go up at this time, but it did not deter anyone.  My favorite scene is a bed frame on a bicycle--just stands straight up--had no idea you could do that!  Also, it is a big reunion time of the year.  Kampala empties out and most of Uganda retreats to grandma and grandpa's house in the village.  For most Ugandans, it is the one time of year they eat meat.  The family will go in together and buy a cow, goat or chicken to be butchered and then have all the traditional dishes--rice, beans, matoke (green bananas), irish potatoes, mingled millet bread among others.  People do not traditionally exchange gifts, but will try to buy a nice new outfit to wear to church.  Uganda is by and large Christian, at least in tradition.  I haven't figured out if there is a Jewish population here, but I did see a picture of a synagogue once on the web--I need to find out more about that.  There are Muslims, so Eid is a national holiday.  People are pretty religious here, there is not a lot of secularlism.  People also do a lot of drumming, dancing and singing.  For us, we got a few cards and garden vegetables from neighbors and we discovered that some people do have trees and decorations with cards in their homes.  We even saw lights on the tree at church.  We also got loads of text messages from students, neighbors and friends--that was nice.  Our German neighbors cut the tops of a Cypress tree for us, so we had a fresh one at the last minute (which is not last minute for Germans, who celebrate on Christmas Eve).  Also, New Year's is a big celebration--the day is a national holiday.  New Year's eve is celebrated with fireworks at hotels and burning tires and people used to pop off guns, but that, apparently, has been more and more discouraged.  For New Year's we had over our British friends who stayed until around 9pm, then Aaron and I rang in the new year together--beautiful fireworks and the whole town seemed to be celebrating--it was very fun and encouraging.  We live on a hill above town, so we could see the fireworks and hear the cheering and music from the valley--cool.

So, here's what we did....


Our little tree from Rwanda :).  Of course, later we saw bigger artificial trees in Kabale.  We didn't know, but the Hines ended up getting one of those.

 The Saturday before, we had Dr. Gilbert, his wife Constance (with baby Mei Li) and the clinical officer group over for a chili  dinner and games.  It was fun!  We played Catch Phrase, which was hard until we did the science and technology section and they were all over that!

 We also played Apples to Apples.  At first, they weren't too sure about it, but then really got into selling their answers--what a fun group!

 Christmas Eve.  Decorating Gingerbread Men at the Hines.

 Travis read the Christmas Story.

It was a beautiful evening--it threw me when I was listening to the story and then looked up to banana trees and a beautiful tropical sky!

 The kids wrote and acted out a Christmas play, which I will post on Micah's blog.  Afterwards, they exchanged gifts.

 Woohoo, Christmas morning!

 This was one of the most restful Christmas days ever.  Partly because I forgot to plan any meals after breakfast--I think we just had cereal and popcorn the rest of the day!  I was pretty proud of homemade pecan sticky buns! ha!

Micah hates getting dressed up, but as you can see the girls don't mind.  Off to morning church service.

 After church, there was a snow storm.  Of course, it came from China in the spray snow cans.

The New Year's Eve girls, Bethany, Mallory and Emma Shae