Do you want Matoke, Posho, or Rice with your Chicken?

Or perhaps all three? During our week in Uganda, Laura and I have gotten introduced to traditional Ugandan food. In summary: carbs, carbs, carbs!

I always find that one of the best ways to experience another culture and become immersed in it is to try and take risks with the traditional food. Food is such a definer of an individual culture – it reflects the climate, geography, resources, values, even the religion of a community.

In Uganda, meals consist of a starchy, carbohydrate base – either rice, matoke (mashed and boiled plantains), posho (fluffy, tasteless rice extract), cassava, Irish potatoes, or sweet potatoes. Then added on is protein – which is either beans or meat. And of course there is no lack in abundance of fruit. I have had freshly picked pineapple, avocado, mango, and even passion fruit.

In my town, Bugembe, there’s only one Internet café so I haven’t had time to post very frequently. I have moved in with my host family, and started my job at Nakanyonyi Good Shepherd Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO). The SACCO is a small credit and savings cooperative that gives small loans and savings services to its members.

I start my day around 7:30, and by that time all my family members have left for work or school, except the babysitter Agnes and Precious, the two year old baby.

After a breakfast of pineapple and bread, I walk fifteen minutes down the road into Bugembe town to my work. People greet me along the way with calls of "Muzungu!" Muzungu has been a familiar sound to me - it means a white person.

I work in my tiny SACCO until 5:00. Right now, I am in the middle of defining my project. As it stands, I will be working on a savings mobilization project for the organization. After work, I walk back home, and relax with my host sisters in front of the television. Since I have muzungu hair, the main activity in the evening has been braiding it. I feel so pampered!

This weekend, I'm going to Kampala (the capital) overnight to see the Uganda soccer team take on Guinea-Bissau for a chance to qualify for the African Cup!

Siri Bulungi!