Off to Sipi

I still need to write about the Ugandan Introduction ceremony and wedding, and post pictures of all of us in our traditional Ugandan dress.  But that will have to wait because all of the interns are off tomorrow to Sipi Falls for a 3-day "Intern Weekend."  Sipi Falls is in eastern Uganda, very near Kapchorwa where I spent most of February.  It's supposed to be very beautiful and have amazing waterfalls.  I'm also looking forward to the fact that it should be very cool, maybe even COLD!  It's actually been pretty cold here in Kampala the last couple of days (which is WONDERFUL) because we're in the middle of rainy season.

On an unrelated note, last night we ordered pizza delivery!  It's great that you can still get that here.  It's a little pricey for us, but nice for an occasional treat.  Tonight we had "Panera night."  We made potato soup from scratch and fresh bread in our bread maker.  Yummm.

Easter

The Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, as that is the day that Jesus had “The Last Supper” with his disciples.  Having participated in a Seder Dinner once with my church in Boston, I decided I wanted to host one for my coworkers here.  The Seder Dinner is the main dinner event of the Jewish Passover and is designed to remind the Jewish people of their history and God’s faithfulness, specifically recalling the Exodus from Egypt.  Many Christian churches have started holding their own Seder ceremonies based on the Jewish tradition and order of service (Seder means “order” because there is a set order and script for the evening) but also incorporating some Christian themes of how Jesus is the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for.  This ceremony helps remind us of the history of God’s faithfulness to the Jews back in history and to us today. 

I had a lot of fun preparing it even though it turned out to be a lot more work than I expected.  I spent several evenings working on the “script,” which I adapted from a church’s version that I found online.  I then went to a few stores around town looking for "unusual" things like parsley, horseradish, matzah, grape juice, apples, and walnuts.  In the end I used grape koolaid (left with us by a volunteer who visited), fresh ginger instead of horseradish (representing the bitterness of suffering), paid a boatload for walnuts, and I made my own matzah from scratch!  The ceremony was both fun and meaningful.  We had the youngest interns play “the children’s” role and some older staff play some of the leader roles.   

We later had a ton of matzah, peanut butter, and banana (or apple or jelly) sandwiches for dinner (the homemade matzah turned out thick, kind of like unsweetened shortbread).  And just a few days ago I used the leftover fresh ginger to make some really good soft ginger cookies!

On Good Friday, Rachel and I went up to a nearby hotel in the afternoon just to relax.  We ordered soup and naan (it was an Indian restaurant) and just sat outside under the trees overlooking part of Kampala.  It was nice and refreshing.  I’m realizing that these times of refreshment and comfort are necessary to keep you going here.  We’re definitely encouraged and motivated whenever we let ourselves go out for a treat or make some good food or something.

Easter morning, we were planning on having our own sunrise service on top of a nearby quarry (i.e., big cliff with a great view), but it was raining all morning so we ended up not going.  The girls were up at 4:30am, though, and were singing and dancing to gospel praise music for a couple hours waiting to see if the guys were going to come join us.  (We had planned to sing some songs together.)  It kept raining, though, so we watched the sunrise (at about 6:30am) from our covered porch, then eventually the boys came up and we sang some songs around 8:30am. 

We went to church and then afterwards went to a potluck at a staff member’s house.  She served goat that we had actually watched being slaughtered on Saturday!  They brought the live goat to our compound and then slaughtered, gutted, skinned it, etc, while we (or whoever could stand it) watched.  After I saw the cute helpless goat come in, I just wanted to pet it and not to kill it, so I couldn’t watch.  It was a rather gruesome reminder of where all our meat comes from.  But it was also a pretty real illustration of “the lamb to the slaughter” – the complete innocence of the goat that was about to be killed brought to mind the complete innocence of Jesus as he went to the cross.

Gomesi

Ok, I found out the traditional dress is spelled "gomesi" (but it still sounds like gomez).  We took our fabric to the tailor's today (which literally was in the part of a stairwell that is beneath the stairs that are coming down from above, ie big enough for one person and a sewing machine) and had our measurements taken so that she can make all five of our dresses in a week!  Here's a better picture of some gomesi (not sure what the plural is).

Visitors

This weekend we got to hang out with three EMI interns who we got to know back during Colorado orientation.  A team from the Colorado Springs office was in Uganda on their project trip, and they stayed a couple extra days at the end to hang out with us.  It was really nice to see "old friends" and have visitors who sort of knew what we're doing and what things we're going through.  We're also always thankful for the treats that our visitors leave with us.  (It's amazing how excited we get over Tootsie Rolls and Skittles!)  After church, we all went to Steers, a "nice" fast food restaurant, where a small salad was super expensive at $2.50, but totally worth it since I'm missing fresh vegetables!  It also looked like they had awesome pizza, but that was an astronomical $6!  Here's a picture of all of us with a couple Ugandan friends from church:

And here's a picture of the fabric store from gomez shopping yesterday:

Gomez

Wow, sorry for the long silence.  I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'll probably just do short posts because otherwise I know I'll never post anything.  Basically, I spent 3 weeks in Kapchorwa, then immediately went to Kenya for 2 weeks for my main "project trip" of the semester.  I'm helping document and assess the wastewater system for Kijabe Hospital, which is located about an hour north of Nairobi, in the Rift Valley.  I got back from all my travels 3 weeks ago, and since then have just been settling back into Kampala and catching up on all the stuff I need to do (still need to do my taxes!)

One of my Ugandan co-workers is getting married soon, and the day before the wedding is an "Introduction."  This is a traditional event that proceeds a Ugandan wedding (anywhere from a day to a year beforehand), when the two families officially meet each other.  Generally, attendees wear the traditional Ugandan dress to the Introduction, but not the wedding.  So all of us interns have decided to go out and buy a traditional outift!  Today, Megan, Rachel, and I, along with our co-worker Janet all went to a fabric store to buy the fabric and many accessories needed for the outfit.  Tomorrow, we'll go to the tailor and have them make the dress for only $5!  We're excited about our new dresses, and I'll definitely post a photo of all of us at the wedding.  For now, here's a preview.   =D

Kapchorwa

I'm currently in the middle of 2.5 weeks in Kapchorwa, a small town in eastern Uganda.  There's not too much to do here, but it therefore has been very relaxing.  (I've read 2/3 of Pride & Prejudice in a week!!)  And the best part is that it is often very cool.  Sometimes even cool enough (when it rains) to put on a sweater!!!

Each day we travel about 1.5 hours down the side of the mountain (SUV required!) to the plains of Ngenge (which is much hotter) where Travis (another intern) and I are helping with a borehole project.  I have really enjoyed getting to know all the people that we are working with here (from the Church of Uganda), and I'm excited about the difference we are helping to make.  The people in Ngenge live very simply (no electricity and mostly mud & straw huts) and depend on agriculture and cattle/goats, etc., but they have very few water sources, so these borehole wells are crucial.  Whenever we visit a new village, they are so excited about the prospect of having a clean water source nearby.  Otherwise they use rivers (which are not sanitary) or have to walk several kilometers.  We are helping oversee the repair of 14 current boreholes and the installation of a few new ones.  So far we have watched the borehole assessments and the water/sanitation/hygiene trainings that are also being delivered to all the villages.  Tomorrow the actual borehole repairs are supposed to start!

Off to Eastern Uganda

I probably won't have much internet access for the next several weeks because tomorrow I'm heading out to Kapchorwa in eastern Uganda.  Travis (another intern) and I will be out there for an unknown amount of time, but it's looking like probably 2 weeks.  We are going to help document a borehole project that is taking place in small villages in the dry plains of Ngenge.  A Ugandan drilling ministry has been hired to assess, fix, and install borehole wells so that the villages can have access to clean and plentiful drinking water.  They are also training locals to help maintain and fix the wells themselves, and they're also doing "Water and Sanitation Health" trainings in the villages.  Ngenge (sort of pronounced "nyay-nyay") is supposed to be very hot and dry, but we're staying in a town part way up Mt. Elgon, so I'm looking forward to it being much cooler!!