My ninth week in Uganda

1.Leapin Lizards- It seems in addition to the geckos, cockroaches, and spiders that visit my banda often, I now have a guest lizard. He’s over a foot in length and has a beautiful green blue color! While I like to admire him when he is running across the rafters, I do get startled when he runs out from under my bed.

2. Emails, two care packages, and phone calls- I got two fabulous care packages from home this week- thank you for the books- I was getting desperate for reading material! I started and finished one of the books on the 5 hour bus ride to Kampala. I continue to get calls from a few dear friends in the states which help me to feel not quite so far away. One discovered that Skype is a very affordable way to call Uganda! It was also great to get emails from some old friends and co-workers-Thank you!

3. Speaking to a thousand- It was only a few years ago that a friend had to trick me into public speaking as I was fearful of speaking to a large group of my peers. Thank goodness, I had that practice because Sunday, I walked into a private catholic school gymnasium thinking I was speaking to a class of students (50 or so) and there were over 400 seated in there waiting for me! After speaking to them for about an hour on the UNITE program, environmental problems in Uganda, and taking questions- I was off to another presentation. Again I was just told I’d be speaking to a group of parents, no one mentioned there would be 600 parents!

4. Baboons, civet cats, and bushbucks- On our trip to Fort Portal we saw over 30 baboons just hanging out in the road, eating berries and corn. Than on the way back we saw a bushbuck (small deer) and a civet cat (a wild cat). It was a great week for animal sightings, as earlier in the week, I went for another walk in the wetland and saw three kinds of monkeys and a ton of birds.

5. Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic- This week we visited 8 classes to evaluate if there had been a change in content and teaching methods since the teachers attended my trainings. Most teachers in the rural schools here teach by lecturing since they have very large classes (over a 100 students is common) and no resources (no text books, very few learning aids, etc…). One of my jobs here is to train the teachers in experiential hands on education; it was great to see them using some of methods that I had modeled for them in the trainings. The students presented me with sugar cane and avocados to thank me for my visit! It still breaks my heart to see students in school with bare feet, no buttons on their shirts, and torn clothing- there are some things I just won’t get used to.

6.Welcome home- Leon, his mom, younger brother, and older sister were away for about a week visiting the grandparents. When Tinka went to pick them up from the bus station, Leon recognized the car and started calling “Jamilyn, Jamilyn” even though I wasn’t even there!

7. Elections- Ugandan style- In the rural part of the country where I live there is no advertising your candidate on TV or on billboards. Instead to announce a candidate, I’ve seen 20 plus people pilled in the back of a pickup truck shouting the merits of their candidate as they drive though villages. In this particular local election, there was gun fire in a neighboring village and charges of corruption against the election officials so the election was declared invalid and will have to be held again.

8. Will a Harley be in my future- Never thought of myself as the motorcycle type but I do love ridding the boda-bodas here!

9. Allergies, go away- After being sick most of the month of March – my allergies seem to have taken a reprieve for which I am so grateful.