I have to be honest here; I had forgotten how difficult it is to live in a foreign country, especially because I'm female. The independence one has when living in the US is taken for granted. And the little things, like being able to drink the water, or walking down the street without watching every step to avoid stepping in something disgusting ...
And especially being able to communicate well! I guess I was assuming my Spanish would take off where I left it three years ago in Costa Rica. It just takes time, but wow, is it ever frustrating to try to sound like an intelligent human being! I get so tongue-tied! I can read Spanish wonderfully. Listening to it, however, is another story, and speaking it well (with all the vocabulary that I know) is so difficult. I know I have a lot in the Spanish compartment of my brain, but darnit, it just won't come out sometimes (ok, a lot of the time!).
I'm fine. I like being here. I just hate the loss of independence. I guess I don't always do well with situations that humble me without my consent. :)
Pray for my comprehension and ability to learn fast and to communicate. And for my drive to continue to study and my energy. Thinking and communicating in Spanish zaps me!
Off to go be with the girls :) ...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Ir de Compras y La Puerta Cerrada
Marta y yo - finally!!! Mom and Nana have sponsored her for years.
This is Heidi ... at least that's what her name sounds like!!
Still raining ... well, hay muchas lloviznas (drizzle). Not really the warm tropical weather I was hoping for! Classes were good today as well. We went over indefinite articles and things like that. Argh, it's so detailed when you really start to study. Que frustrante. Hondurans seem to talk much faster than I remember Costa Ricans doing ... oh well!
After classes, Ashley and Valerie, volunteers at the Home, took me to the mall to get a cell phone and to the grocery store (food!!!). We had to take a taxi there and back. I forgot how frustrating it is to feel trapped by being an American (it's unsafe to travel alone). Really funny: Ashley went to college with and is friends with John Nunn, a guy I kinda grew up with. Small world....
Tonight the group from Alabama made spaghetti and garlic bread. I think I'm eating more American food than Honduran! I have had my share of refried beans, tortillas, and mantequilla (kind of like sour cream).
The girls are so wonderful. Three more came to the Home today and they are expecting two more soon. Wow. I wish you could all come and just be with them. I'll have to post some pictures. :)
OH ... I locked my keys in my room today, too. Wonderful. I think it took eight people, Honduran & American, to open it!
Word of the day: hipo - hiccup
Marta y Heidi on the soccer field/gym
Marta and her sister, whose name I've forgotten...
And I am having an awful time trying to arrange the pictures on here! I don't remember how I did it! From L-R: Fanny, me, Marta, y Sondra.
Sondra, Marta, Fanny, y Melissa ! I am learning names slowly ... when there are sixty girls it takes some time!!
Vanessa!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Little Girls and Language School
Day 2 of Honduras! I arrived yesterday completely exhausted but without problems. Kevin Perez, director of the language school, picked me up at the airport and took me to meet Julia Ortiz, one of our sponsored girls, at her house. She's 23 and done college, so she's working as an accountant of sorts. It was so wonderful to meet her after almost ten years of writing letters and seeing pictures. I couldn't believe it! She's beautiful and shorter than even me. I'm looking forward to being friends.
Kevin showed me around the compound, but I'm still lost somewhat. There is a school here and a bilingual school as well (Holy Family Bilingual School - for the Honduran kids). The girls of Our Little Roses (Nuestras Pequeñas Rosas) live downstairs in dorm-type rooms. Tias ("aunts") come and take care of the girls (I'm not sure if they live here or just have specific hours), but they all watch out for each other as well. There are 60 girls here now, from a 1-year-old to the twenty-year-olds in the transition houses down the street. I'm living on the second floor in the building next to the girls' dorms. Next door are houses upon houses (well, tin shacks) of squatters. The difference between those who have enough and those who don't are stark.
The girls are wonderful, loving, and so happy. This is the way it should be. This is what Christians should be doing more often.
A group from Alabama (I think) is here for a week. They come at least once a year, and they just adore the girls. They made us a dinner of hotdogs and chips last night, and we played soccer and a type of dodgeball. Oh! I met Marta as well! She's our other sponsored girl. She's 11 and very friendly. She dragged me around everywhere last night and sat next to me at lunch today and made me read several children's books to work on my Spanish.
I started classes with Kevin today - just the basics to review. It's wonderful! I have four hours a day of classes by myself. I think I'm going to learn a heck of a lot here. I met several volunteers from the US and one from Holland today as well - they're here teaching classes in English at the bilingual school.
I think I'm falling in love already ... though I'm frustrated that none of my friends or family is here to share it with me. I'm sure I'll be back.
Ok, I'm off to unpack and go tutor girls in English. Go look at the website of the school: www.ourlittleroses.org.
Palabras del día (I like random):
Estrellar - to crash into
el arpa - the harp
resaltador - highlighter
Chao y Dios les bendiga :)
Kevin showed me around the compound, but I'm still lost somewhat. There is a school here and a bilingual school as well (Holy Family Bilingual School - for the Honduran kids). The girls of Our Little Roses (Nuestras Pequeñas Rosas) live downstairs in dorm-type rooms. Tias ("aunts") come and take care of the girls (I'm not sure if they live here or just have specific hours), but they all watch out for each other as well. There are 60 girls here now, from a 1-year-old to the twenty-year-olds in the transition houses down the street. I'm living on the second floor in the building next to the girls' dorms. Next door are houses upon houses (well, tin shacks) of squatters. The difference between those who have enough and those who don't are stark.
The girls are wonderful, loving, and so happy. This is the way it should be. This is what Christians should be doing more often.
A group from Alabama (I think) is here for a week. They come at least once a year, and they just adore the girls. They made us a dinner of hotdogs and chips last night, and we played soccer and a type of dodgeball. Oh! I met Marta as well! She's our other sponsored girl. She's 11 and very friendly. She dragged me around everywhere last night and sat next to me at lunch today and made me read several children's books to work on my Spanish.
I started classes with Kevin today - just the basics to review. It's wonderful! I have four hours a day of classes by myself. I think I'm going to learn a heck of a lot here. I met several volunteers from the US and one from Holland today as well - they're here teaching classes in English at the bilingual school.
I think I'm falling in love already ... though I'm frustrated that none of my friends or family is here to share it with me. I'm sure I'll be back.
Ok, I'm off to unpack and go tutor girls in English. Go look at the website of the school: www.ourlittleroses.org.
Palabras del día (I like random):
Estrellar - to crash into
el arpa - the harp
resaltador - highlighter
Chao y Dios les bendiga :)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Week of March 26-April 1
A famous American journalist and author, David Lamb, said in his book The Africans that the only time an African is in a hurry is when he is behind a wheel. The Ugandan is no exception. Little wonder then that in spite of having the lowest vehicle per capita ratio in the world, our continent also lays claim to a fatal accident rate that is ten times higher than that of London and New York. Sensible car driving has simply refused to blend with our culture….
Once on the road, what matters most is confidence. Learn to sneer at other drives and in a traffic jam, ask the fellow disputing the lane with you if he just bought his license, unlike you who passed the driving test. When you approach a junction, never leave any empty space in front of you. Whether you can clear the junction or not, enter it anyway. A thick jam will build up on your side. Regard it and nod with satisfaction. Then look behind you in the rearview mirror and behold the nice, long snakelike jam growing longer by the second. Savour this all, take a deep breath and smile. Roll up your windows to close out the impatient hooting as the fellows you have blocked build up blood pressure like yours.
Like the British, we keep left while driving. But that is only while driving on a straight stretch. At junctions, left and right stop making sense – just take the shortest straight line to your objective. Jam on the breaks when you are almost head-on with the fellow from the opposite direction who insists on keeping left. What are brakes for, anyway?
- From How to be a Ugandan by Joachim Buwembo
I thought I would offer you Ugandan insight into the insanity that is called driving in Uganda!
This week was slow; we attended two days of child counseling classes with TASO counselors and then were taught the basics of counseling. On Friday, however, an American study abroad group visited TASO from Kenya, and one girl went to high school with a friend of mine from ENC, Amanda Fish. Another guy in the group attends Boston College, so he promised to show me around when I start attending in the spring. How funny!
On our walk to TASO, Aubrey and I pass a mosque. We’ve heard rumors about camel sacrifices there but had never actually seen the camels. Well, this week we lucked out and got to see two of them! After taking pictures from the road, someone inside the mosque grounds invited us in to take pictures, and the camel graciously slobbered Aubrey’s face.
Since Charles is back home in the States for a few weeks, Aubrey and I have become better at using boda bodas (bicycle taxis with an extra padded seat on the back) and picky-pickies (motorcycle taxis) to travel. We’ve definitely decided to stay away from the boda bodas in town, however, because they don’t have as much control in traffic (yikes!). Don’t worry, all you parents; we’re fine and we don’t travel after dark. We’re taking a mini spring break this week after TASO since we don’t have many practicum hours left and are traveling in two weeks to learn about counseling for LRA returnees in Lira.
Aubrey and I are currently house-sitting for the Howards, mostly so we can have a break from the nonstop flow of guests in the CURE guesthouse. Right now, two Welshman, Rob and Aowyn, are living there. Both of them are great and are working with a community development organization. Across the street for the next two months is Justin, a British medical student from the University of Edinborough. I’ve finally found someone to accompany me on Mt. Elgon!
Two American guys who’ve been living across the street since mid-January, Nick and Patrick, are leaving soon to head to Kenya, Tanzania, and Egypt (and who knows where else!). I wish I could just travel like that! They organized a boda boda race on Sunday, complete with cash prizes and a new bike for the winner. Patrick insisted on slaughtering a cow for a barbecue afterwards. Ha! The head was just sitting in a room next to their apartment yesterday. Gross. Apparently a Muslim has to cut the cow’s throat facing Mecca to make it acceptable for Muslims to consume.
Well, there’s last week for you! I’m sitting here trying to finish all of the papers for my practicum portfolio. I have two more papers, two revisions, and three reports. I will be ecstatic when I’m done; I had no idea it was going to be this much work!
Once on the road, what matters most is confidence. Learn to sneer at other drives and in a traffic jam, ask the fellow disputing the lane with you if he just bought his license, unlike you who passed the driving test. When you approach a junction, never leave any empty space in front of you. Whether you can clear the junction or not, enter it anyway. A thick jam will build up on your side. Regard it and nod with satisfaction. Then look behind you in the rearview mirror and behold the nice, long snakelike jam growing longer by the second. Savour this all, take a deep breath and smile. Roll up your windows to close out the impatient hooting as the fellows you have blocked build up blood pressure like yours.
Like the British, we keep left while driving. But that is only while driving on a straight stretch. At junctions, left and right stop making sense – just take the shortest straight line to your objective. Jam on the breaks when you are almost head-on with the fellow from the opposite direction who insists on keeping left. What are brakes for, anyway?
- From How to be a Ugandan by Joachim Buwembo
I thought I would offer you Ugandan insight into the insanity that is called driving in Uganda!
This week was slow; we attended two days of child counseling classes with TASO counselors and then were taught the basics of counseling. On Friday, however, an American study abroad group visited TASO from Kenya, and one girl went to high school with a friend of mine from ENC, Amanda Fish. Another guy in the group attends Boston College, so he promised to show me around when I start attending in the spring. How funny!
On our walk to TASO, Aubrey and I pass a mosque. We’ve heard rumors about camel sacrifices there but had never actually seen the camels. Well, this week we lucked out and got to see two of them! After taking pictures from the road, someone inside the mosque grounds invited us in to take pictures, and the camel graciously slobbered Aubrey’s face.
Since Charles is back home in the States for a few weeks, Aubrey and I have become better at using boda bodas (bicycle taxis with an extra padded seat on the back) and picky-pickies (motorcycle taxis) to travel. We’ve definitely decided to stay away from the boda bodas in town, however, because they don’t have as much control in traffic (yikes!). Don’t worry, all you parents; we’re fine and we don’t travel after dark. We’re taking a mini spring break this week after TASO since we don’t have many practicum hours left and are traveling in two weeks to learn about counseling for LRA returnees in Lira.
Aubrey and I are currently house-sitting for the Howards, mostly so we can have a break from the nonstop flow of guests in the CURE guesthouse. Right now, two Welshman, Rob and Aowyn, are living there. Both of them are great and are working with a community development organization. Across the street for the next two months is Justin, a British medical student from the University of Edinborough. I’ve finally found someone to accompany me on Mt. Elgon!
Two American guys who’ve been living across the street since mid-January, Nick and Patrick, are leaving soon to head to Kenya, Tanzania, and Egypt (and who knows where else!). I wish I could just travel like that! They organized a boda boda race on Sunday, complete with cash prizes and a new bike for the winner. Patrick insisted on slaughtering a cow for a barbecue afterwards. Ha! The head was just sitting in a room next to their apartment yesterday. Gross. Apparently a Muslim has to cut the cow’s throat facing Mecca to make it acceptable for Muslims to consume.
Well, there’s last week for you! I’m sitting here trying to finish all of the papers for my practicum portfolio. I have two more papers, two revisions, and three reports. I will be ecstatic when I’m done; I had no idea it was going to be this much work!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Pictures!
new pictures!
http://enc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005622&l=9ee66&id=149000028
And I got into Boston College for grad school!!!
http://enc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005622&l=9ee66&id=149000028
And I got into Boston College for grad school!!!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Uganda Makes Me Laugh Part 3
1. Eating with your hands is common. Even at a wedding reception, we were given beans, matooke, posho, meat, etc., and expected to eat it and not make a mess.
2. Cheese here tastes awful. That’s all.
3. Oranges are green.
4. We have two chickens in a plastic bag in the back of the hospital ambulance we’re currently riding. This is probably one of my favorite pictures because the chicken looks so ridiculous.
2. Cheese here tastes awful. That’s all.
3. Oranges are green.
4. We have two chickens in a plastic bag in the back of the hospital ambulance we’re currently riding. This is probably one of my favorite pictures because the chicken looks so ridiculous.
Oh look! I'm in our ambulance. And there is a chicken sitting on some cassava next to Christine's backpack. 5. Eight people fit quite comfortably on a four-person bench in the taxi-vans (matatus).
6. In our hotel room a few weeks ago, the first rule of hotel conduct on the door was, “Esteemed guests: Please do not throw your used condoms out the window or on the floor. Use the wastebasket provided.”
7. Potholes are everywhere. You just drive through them. Seatbelts? What? (these are some serious potholes. They're not even potholes...they're like ditches. But they're not meant to be ditches.)
6. In our hotel room a few weeks ago, the first rule of hotel conduct on the door was, “Esteemed guests: Please do not throw your used condoms out the window or on the floor. Use the wastebasket provided.”
7. Potholes are everywhere. You just drive through them. Seatbelts? What? (these are some serious potholes. They're not even potholes...they're like ditches. But they're not meant to be ditches.)
8. The innards of animals are delicacies – the gizzard, liver, kidneys, the neck ….
9. The showers in hotel rooms are simply a shower head in the bathroom. It makes for quite a wet bathroom floor and toilet.
10. They like to eat whole fish. The eye is the favorite part. Mmm.
11. Cars have right of way, not pedestrians.
12. It is common to say, “Well done,” not necessarily as a response to anything. I don’t fully understand it yet. The proper answer is “Okay.” I still get flustered because it throws me off.
13. “You are lost” = “Where have you been?” We spent a few weeks trying to tell them we weren't lost and then realized what they were saying.
14. “Where are you from?” = “Where did you just come from?”
15. They pick their noses in public. No big deal.
16. Seeing squirrels is a big deal. I don't get it. There are lions and hippos and giraffes here. And squirrels are a big deal.
17. They say, “Yes, please” in response to everything. We haven’t really figured out why. It’s polite.
18. Cows roam the streets all the time. Goats climb trees. (These ones are just hanging out on the side of the road, which is quite common.)
19. We are celebrities everywhere we go. Why? We're white. (Kids are chasing our van here.)
Awful Roads and Cow Hoofs: Week of March 19
This is me not standing out in the crowd. 
Melissa (Charles' wife) and Breanne
Melissa, Aubrey, Elyse (their daughter), and me before they left for the States this weekSunday, March 18
I just learned that my friend Grace here is from a polygamous family. It’s funny when you learn all these crazy (to me) things about a different culture and then separate those you know from it. Her grandfather had 30 wives.
Monday, March 19
We went out into the field for home visits again today. We only connected with one client, however. Several were out, and one had died the previous day, which was sobering. The one client we talked to asked Aubrey and I for our clothes. There it was, the biblical commandment to give your shirt to the person who asks. The problem was, I wouldn’t be wearing much if I gave her my shirt. If I was a guy, I don’t think it would matter, but somehow I didn’t think it was a good idea!
Monday, March 19
We went out into the field for home visits again today. We only connected with one client, however. Several were out, and one had died the previous day, which was sobering. The one client we talked to asked Aubrey and I for our clothes. There it was, the biblical commandment to give your shirt to the person who asks. The problem was, I wouldn’t be wearing much if I gave her my shirt. If I was a guy, I don’t think it would matter, but somehow I didn’t think it was a good idea!
We passed a beautiful two-story house surrounded by a large wall and intricate gate on our way back from the village. One of the Ugandans said, “In Uganda, if you have such a house, you must have deprived many people of resources.” They seem much more aware of injustice and inequality than we are sometimes.
Tuesday, March 20
ELISA HIV tests After a talk about STIs and STDs (I have the worst time trying to pay attention to Ugandan preachers and speakers. I zone out because I can’t understand them half the time), we went out into the villages for HIV testing. Aubrey and I each went to different sites with a counselor on a TASO boda boda (bike with an extra seat on the back or motorbike). Visiting the home of a current client, the counselor explained HIV and its transmission and then offered to test those who were willing. Altogether, he tested 21 family members (and this was not a polygamous family!). After the results were in, the counselor talked to each person away from the group.
HIV testing in the community I held a one-month-old for a bit while his mother was in counseling, and they asked if I would feed him since he was hungry. I said I hadn’t had children yet and therefore was quite unable to feed him, and they were shocked. I guess it’s just normal to always have a breastfeeding infant around, so if you’re holding a hungry kid that’s not yours, no big deal. Haha.
I think I want a motorcycle.
Thurdsay, March 22
The executive director of TASO Uganda came to our site today with a group from SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – http://www.sida.se/), most of them Swedish and one from Kenya, one from Zimbabwe, and another from Senegal. SIDA funds the TEACH (TASO Experiential Attachment To Combat HIV/AIDS) program.
We visited seven different sites with successful interventions. Most of the projects were similar to the ones I’ve described previously. Two of the clients today, however, were orphans. Kelly Flamos (http://blog.case.edu/kellio/), who worked with TASO last summer through Case Western Reserve University, helped build a house for a family of five orphaned children. The oldest is seventeen; both parents died of AIDS a few years ago. Only the youngest, who is probably about five, is HIV positive. TASO provides him with ARVs and other medical attention when he needs it. They also gave the children a bike so the oldest could more easily bring the youngest to the TASO center for ARV refills and any other services. Before they got the bike, the boy would wake up very early, skip school for the day, and carry his brother to the center. It takes about 20 minutes or more to drive to their house from the center.
The boy in the paragraph above TASO is really doing wonderful things for the people of Uganda.
Friday, March 23
What a day! We drove out to Sironko district (almost to Sipi Falls) to visit clients in the mountainous region. As we got in the car, I asked Aubrey, “Is this the guy who drives way too fast?” She said, “No, I think the other guy is worse.” Boy, were we wrong! After leaving the main road, we began to bump our way up the switchbacks. They were probably the worst roads I have ever seen, and I promise you I have experienced some awful ones! Our driver seemed to think that racecar driving was the way to tackle these barriers, so we flew/jostled/tumbled up the mountain. I yelled, “What is wrong with you?” one time. I don’t think he heard me, but everyone else laughed. Needless to say, that was our last day in the field at TASO, so it looks like that driver won’t be responsible for my life anymore!
The mountains were breathtaking. I wish my camera could capture them, and I wish my words could describe them. I don’t even want to try!
We probably stopped at six different homes today; we were out in the field for seven hours. At most of the homes, we simply dropped off ARVs, but we did HBHCT (Home-Based HIV Counseling and Testing) at two of them. At the first house, we met a widower who is HIV positive and lives with his two boys. We tested the boys; all I could do was hold my breath. You can’t help but hurt when you have to test a six-year-old for HIV. But they were both negative!
The second household we tested had about 14 family members; two of them were HIV positive. The counselor said that one of the HIV positive clients was shaking and could not believe the news. I think we are too quick to separate ourselves from things like this. Especially when we only have to read about them. I try to place myself in their shoes, in their fears and challenges, and imagine what they must feel. I know I fail miserably, but it helps me remember that this is real life, that people all over Uganda are facing this awful reality every day.
On the way back, we stopped to drop matooke off at a counselor’s house and even took a 45 minute detour to a market to buy molokonyi. Cow hoofs. Disgusting. This culture is worlds away from my own!
My time here is coming to a close. I have about four weeks left, and I don’t know what to do with myself! I have 348 hours, so I only need to work for about two more weeks, and then Aubrey and I are hoping to head out to Kenya for our long-awaited spring break.
I want to make sure I get everything I can out of being here, though. I’m trying hard to focus on Uganda and the present instead of getting excited about graduating and being on a Summer Ministry team for ENC.
Friday, March 23
What a day! We drove out to Sironko district (almost to Sipi Falls) to visit clients in the mountainous region. As we got in the car, I asked Aubrey, “Is this the guy who drives way too fast?” She said, “No, I think the other guy is worse.” Boy, were we wrong! After leaving the main road, we began to bump our way up the switchbacks. They were probably the worst roads I have ever seen, and I promise you I have experienced some awful ones! Our driver seemed to think that racecar driving was the way to tackle these barriers, so we flew/jostled/tumbled up the mountain. I yelled, “What is wrong with you?” one time. I don’t think he heard me, but everyone else laughed. Needless to say, that was our last day in the field at TASO, so it looks like that driver won’t be responsible for my life anymore!
The mountains were breathtaking. I wish my camera could capture them, and I wish my words could describe them. I don’t even want to try!
We probably stopped at six different homes today; we were out in the field for seven hours. At most of the homes, we simply dropped off ARVs, but we did HBHCT (Home-Based HIV Counseling and Testing) at two of them. At the first house, we met a widower who is HIV positive and lives with his two boys. We tested the boys; all I could do was hold my breath. You can’t help but hurt when you have to test a six-year-old for HIV. But they were both negative!
The second household we tested had about 14 family members; two of them were HIV positive. The counselor said that one of the HIV positive clients was shaking and could not believe the news. I think we are too quick to separate ourselves from things like this. Especially when we only have to read about them. I try to place myself in their shoes, in their fears and challenges, and imagine what they must feel. I know I fail miserably, but it helps me remember that this is real life, that people all over Uganda are facing this awful reality every day.
On the way back, we stopped to drop matooke off at a counselor’s house and even took a 45 minute detour to a market to buy molokonyi. Cow hoofs. Disgusting. This culture is worlds away from my own!
My time here is coming to a close. I have about four weeks left, and I don’t know what to do with myself! I have 348 hours, so I only need to work for about two more weeks, and then Aubrey and I are hoping to head out to Kenya for our long-awaited spring break.
I want to make sure I get everything I can out of being here, though. I’m trying hard to focus on Uganda and the present instead of getting excited about graduating and being on a Summer Ministry team for ENC.
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