My Host Hostel

I feel like my experience with my host family has been different from other interns, because of how young my family is. My parents (David and Mariah) celebrated their first child’s (Solomon’s) first birthday last month. So rather than relatives and family of all ages coming and going I feel like our home has the feel of a hostel. We welcomed in Hanifa, an intern from Kampala to stay for the summer. She shared a room with Betty, who does work around the house. Simon stays in the guest wing, and two young women moved into the garage as they look for a more permanent place to rent. All of us are under the age of thirty five. Some nieces and nephews who are in high school in Jinja also stop by. We come and go frequently at all hours, and it is an environment I thoroughly enjoy.

Although I feel as though I have the independence of living in a hostel, I am incredibly dependent on my family. Betty takes good care of me, from helping me find the right flask with tea, to chasing the dog off so I can get out the gate. After work it is often Betty and I at home, and we trade off playing with Solomon blowing bubbles, and dancing with him. I have wanted to learn from Betty how to make matoke and some of the sauces we have, but the timing has always been off, I am down to four days to master those recipes.

My family has hosted many interns in the past, many through FSD as well. I like to talk with them over tea and throughout the evening about work and the challenges I have faced. Last night I had a great discussion with David about Uganda’s future, specifically the crippling nature of corruption and foreign aid. Spending cuts in the US are taking their affect here as many organizations have started to look for new sources of income since US aid is cut.

Today I get to spend some quality time with my family and I am so excited! The daughter of the man whose house they are renting is getting married to a Kiwi, and we are going to the introduction today and wedding on Thursday! I’m so curious to how the cultural traditions will be combined. What a perfect addition to my last week in Uganda!

No Cake for You!

Ugandans sure know how to throw a party! And really they do, it is not the work of a wedding/party planner, they like to keep it in the family! I'm surprised that wedding planning is not a viable profession in Uganda, where traditional festivities can last up to a week, or more! If the culture were to change in the future to be open to a wedding planning industry, well lets just say I see quite a lucrative potential market!

I missed the engagement party on Thursday. I was very disappointed, as it was four hours away in a rural village, and I missed out on wearing the traditional Gomasi. A Gomasi is like a sari, but with pointed shoulders, you can maybe see a few in my pictures and video. I did not wear one to the wedding on Saturday, it was a traditional Catholic wedding held in a church in Jinja. A nice dress, and some fancy sandals helped me to fit right in, well as much as I could.

On June 18, 2011 Ignatius and Daisy were married, and my host dad David was the best man. You can see him just behind the bride, bridegroom and flower girl, as they dance down the aisle.

Yes that's right, they danced - never walked - and it was awesome! My host sister Haniffa described how great the procession is when you get a couple who really loves to get down, I can only imagine. Neither Haniffa or myself met the couple before the wedding, so we stuck together and she let me pick her brain on all things wedding related!

Cool things I learned:

• Always account for twice as many guests as you plan for (my host parents invited 200 and 400 came)
• Invitation is generally by word of mouth - because you expect your friends to come, they do not need an invitation. (The workplace and far away relatives generally receive invitations.)
• The wedding party dances anytime the travel somewhere
• We had a lunch break between the wedding and reception
• The bride and bridegroom were constantly surrounded by photographers. Turns out they didn't hire all of them, some just heard and showed up. At the reception they came with multiple copies of their prints to sell right then and there to the guests!
• It is super convenient to be married in Jinja, because then you get to have your reception on the Nile!
• Cake is reserved for important people - I was not one of those - It is a way to show recognition to family members and employers and good friends who attend your wedding, and then it gets passed backwards from their to the other excess guests.

My video of their dancing and cake giving isn't loading, so here are a couple quick pics from the reception!

Noted Moments

Following is a collection of random moments from my week I though to be of interest:

The right of way hierarchy:

-cars, trucks and taxi buses,

-boda bodas

-bike boda bodas

-goats

-people

Furthermore people drive on the left side of the road, which means you walk past people on the left side. This really throws me off when someone tries to pass on the right.

I saw a monkey! They were all around when Mallory and I were exploring the source of the Nile, like squirrels at IU only sightly less populous and incredibly less fat.

Hospitals:

My host baby brother had an infection, leading me to my first Ugandan hospital experience.

My family chose to take him to a children's hospital which is frequently overcrowded and not the cleanest place around. It is government run, so their services were free and it offered pediatric specialists. Well worth the compromise. You can either stay in the large common area - often with 3 babies to a bed, or pay extra for a bare room to be shared with one other patient. My family brought their own blankets, food, and baby Solomon's mosquito net tent.

The kids are the most likely to call me a muzungu to my face.

Otherwise I am called Raula, rather than Laura.

Muzungu food is good, expensive, and the pizza comes with no sauce.

I should eat more mangoes (they are incredibly fresh and delicious!) but I do eat many avocados ...and Irish potatoes.

Muzungu prices will probably haunt me throughout the summer, what they don't know is I am siri muzungu! (Not muzugu) I will not pay so much!

I can frequently hear thunder in the near distance, with hardly a cloud in the sky

Well, until this weekend, when it finally poured. Hello rainy season.

The family TV is always on, Marimar and other old dubbed soaps,English and Lugandan news, and the Hostel (a Ugandan Real World). Then on occasion we will buy movies and TV series for UGS 1500/= (Ugandan Shillings) which is roughly USD $.75 Its the BEST!

Wedding crashing is absolutely acceptable (and thus, also the BEST). When one invites 200, they will budget for 400! And that is what I plan to do this weekend, in full traditional dress!

(Well technically I was invited, but I have not yet met the bride or groom)