March 11th (continued)

I love Ugandan food! They eat sweet potatoes, maatoke (plantains served like mashed potatoes), posho (ground maize with water), rice, and beans. It is dirt cheap and amazingly filling. I think it's around forty cents for more than most Bazungu can eat. Unfortunately, I need to order two plates to become satisfied, straining our family finances an extra forty cents. Interestingly enough, I am the only Mzungu I have met to like the food. It is a little bit tasteless.

Today I ate at a friend's house. They didn't have forks (most people don't) we used our hands. I ignorantly dived in with both hands, thinking that it would be more efficient. The guy sitting next to me was quick to correct me. You only use your right hand for reasons I would will not delve into.

R's and L's sound exactly the same in Ugandan English. One guy was asking me questions about American food:
"Do you fly your chickens?"
"Nope our chickens don't fly."
"No no no. Do you fly your chickens. Like in oil."

You think that's funny, listen to this:

As you can imagine, the port you use to reach Buvuma doesn't have piers, so men carry passengers 30ish feet out to the boat. You pay these guys 9 cents to keep you and your belongings dry. Since jobs are scarce, many many people try to make a living off this occupation. This leads to people fighting over customers. Needless to say I had no idea about this procedure. As we came to the waters edge I was making small talk with someone when all of the sudden I felt something hard bang repeatedly against the back of my thighs. I looked down to see a guy trying to get me on his shoulders. You better believe that was awkward.

There are some amazing Christians here on campus. One man I admire has this avid love of learning. The walls of his home are completely covered with bookshelves, and by the way he talks you know he puts them to good use. You feel like you are absorbing intelligence whenever you are within 5 feet of him. Coolest part? He's a humble, God fearing man who values his wife and his two kids. Very inspiring. I am also falling in love with our Anglican neighbors. They are the ultimate examples of how to have a strong family. They love their children know how to influence them without negativity. Christ is the center of their home. It's amazing how many beliefs we share. We talked religion for a while and didn't find any disagreements.

Hey so it turns out I'm probably not going to get to shadow an OBGYN. The lady is super busy and wants me to edit a movie for her. I'm slightly devastated. I'm currently hoping I can convince my dad to let me help with VCT programs (testing for HIV). He thinks the risk of accidentally sticking myself is too high. Anyway, I just wish it was easier to get into more clinical service here as a Medical Assistant.

To Patricia:

At home my Mom has been rotating pasta, pizza, and powdered soup. Our family is still adjusting to not having a dishwasher, something that makes chores a lot harder. My mom doesn't have the crutch of frozen foods so she has been spending a lot of time cooking.

Women breastfeed openly. You should have seen Liza's face when a family friend started breastfeeding her son in the middle of a conversation on our couch. Apparently HIV has a 25% transmission rate through breast milk if the mother isn't on the antivirals. However, from what I have seen people can't afford to not breastfeed, so formula isn't an option.

As for me, culture shock really wasn't an issue when I came in August. I think Mckay struggled a little with kids staring at his white skin and being a little more outgoing than he is naturally. Now he is doing fine. As for the rest of the family, I thought their transition this trip went quite smooth. Cariel has had some problems with wardies hitting on her (who are in their mid 20's). Sometimes I think my mom is a little bit loud for the culture, but to be quite honest everyone loves her. People come and talk to her for hours in our living room.

We regularly have monkeys in both our front and backyard. Usually they are the red-tailed ones that are a little bigger than squirrels, but every once in a while we get columbus monkeys (spelling?), who are probably comparable to a medium-sized dog. It is so much fun to sit on our porch and watch them leap between the trees. Squirrels, lizards, and our neighbors chickens show up as well.

PEF is definitely in Uganda, however it definitely has it's fair share of problems. The PEF missionary couple is struggling to get people to pay back their loans and use the money they get for their education. Once you have money, there is an ingrained sense of duty to help everyone else in your neighborhood. Rest assured though, the church is working extremely hard to make the program successful. I don't know about the rest of the world, but here PEF loans are only given to active RM's. Unfortunately, I heard a guy in our ward try to convince an investigator that if he joined the church and served a full-time mission he would get his university tuition paid in full. I'm going to have to talk to that guy tomorrow, cause that's a really bad way to get people to church. I personally love the entrepreneurial brainstorming classes they hold every week. Uganda definitely needs more of that. In the words of a friend, "Uganda is a country full of job seekers, with few job creators."

On ways to support. Using snail mail is unreliable and slow. We are thinking about sending a 20x8 ft. box filled with meds in the summer but are still working that one out. If that falls through and you still want to donate, I have found a few NGO's that I trust. I have a strong belief that the LDS church teaches a lot if not all of the skills necessary to rise out of poverty, so supporting/praying for missionaries is great as well.