Sickness and Site Visit

Sickness and Site Placement

So, last week, I think I had my first real episode of sickness in Uganda.  I know a few weeks ago I said that I had dealt with a little bit of diarrhea, but that was child’s play.  I was walking to training on Tuesday morning, and I felt a little bit off, but I felt like I could probably just push through it, so I continued on to RACO.  I made it there fine, but I was feeling a little queasy by that point.  Thinking that it would eventually pass, since I had made it through the really strenuous physical exertion for the day, I went into my language class like normal.  I had almost made it the entire two hours, but then, with about 10 minutes left, I started to feel really faint.  Now, I’ve fainted, or have been very close to fainting, several times in my life, so I’ve gotten pretty good at recognizing the warning signs.  My stomach gets really nauseous, I start to sweat a heck of a lot, and I start to lose vision as everything turns white.  Luckily, I did the standard “put your head between your knees to get blood to your head” thing quickly enough so that I avoided a complete loss of consciousness.  But, once my head was down and others could see how pale and sweaty I was, I obviously couldn’t pretend I was fine anymore.  So, I found out that the training center also has a few guestrooms, with relatively comfortable beds, and some trainers walked me up there so I could lay down.  Basically, for the whole rest of the day, I was sleeping off and on, and the medical staff decided to let me spend the night at RACO.  This turned out to be a major stroke of luck, because, when I finally did get up to use the bathroom, I discovered that I had a pretty terrible case of diarrhea (which smelled pretty horrendous).  Those guestrooms have nice flush toilets right there, and it was put to full use through the night.  If I would have gone back to homestay, I’m not sure what would have happened, since the family locks the door and doesn’t go out to the latrine after dark.

Perhaps this is the best time to introduce the concept of a “night bucket” (realizing that there might never be a good time to bring up this subject).  For many people in Uganda, or at least those with outside latrines who live in areas that might get a bit shady after dark, the common practice is to use a small plastic bucket if one must perform a “short call” during the night, and to just hold it if one feels the need to perform a “long call” (I’m going to assume you can figure out what those terms mean).  In general, I’ve made full use of the night bucket to deal with my nightly short calls, and have not found this to be a problem…but, considering that long calls become much more difficult to hold when one is afflicted with the above ailment, I’d rather not have a bucket in my room overflowing with…well, I think you get the picture.  Moral of the story – recognizing that the frequency of diarrheal disease in Uganda is much higher than in the United States, I’m very impressed with the resiliency of the Ugandans and their ability to cope with these very annoying situations.

Moving on to less disgusting and much better news, the next day, Wednesday, our group received our site placements (in other words, we found out where everyone would be, and had some idea of what everyone might be doing for the next two years).  I was still not feeling good (the lightheadedness had subsided, but the diarrhea had refused to let up), but I was able to make it down to the training room around 11, right when they were announcing our sites.  Most people didn’t see me come in and sit down near the back of the room, so I have to admit that it was kind of a nice feeling when my name was called.  As I started to stand up, a few people called out, “He’s sick,” but then, once everyone realized I was there and walking up to get my info, I was greeted with a big round of applause…not a bad little ego-booster.

Anyway, I discovered that I will be stationed in a town called Kalisizo, which is in Rakai District.  As you can see from the Uganda map, it’s about as south as you can get in the central region of Uganda…it’s around 40 kilometers north of the border with Tanzania.  And, remember Jon, the guy who I had said is more or less me in two years (discounting the fact that he’s engaged…slight difference there), yeah, I’m basically his replacement.  My primary project will involve working with a New York-based NGO called Positive Planet, which works to connect US schools with schools in this part of Uganda.  Jon, in conjunction with Positive Planet, also helped to start a brick-making and construction business, which I will probably continue to work with as they try to expand.  The bricks are a little different than the normal ones made in Uganda, which generally require a lot of mortar (which is the much more expensive than the bricks themselves). These bricks are made in such a way so that they can interlock with one another, meaning that less mortar is needed.  With that project, I’ll probably be trying to help expand the business (not that I have any business training whatsoever) and trying to see if the design of rainwater tanks built with these bricks can be improved in any way.  Those will probably be some of my primary responsibilities with Positive Planet, but volunteers are also encouraged to find other projects to work on (Peace Corps calls them “secondary projects”), so I could also end up getting involved in something completely different.

Right now, I’m on a week-long “future site visit,” staying with Jon in Kalisizo and getting the lay of the land.  The ride from Kampala took me between three and four hours, and I was the only white person in the vehicle the entire time…I kind of enjoyed that.  As much as I love hanging out with the others in my training group, it was nice to not be a part of a massive cluster of foreigners.  And, helpfully, my bowels remained very well-behaved during the entire trip, giving me a chance to enjoy some of the scenery.  The topography is almost Pennsylvanian – rolling hills, some small mountains here and there, with a bunch of trees.  There’s a great diversity of plant life, and everything is very green.  Unlike PA, I won’t see the leaves changing color soon, which is a little sad, but I think I’ll get through it.

Kalisizo seems like a nice place.  I walked around town with Jon a bit on Thursday evening, and on Friday morning, the Peace Corps Uganda Country Director came to take a look at the brick project.  We went to see where the bricks are currently stored, the press used to make them, and one of the completed rainwater tanks using them.  It sounds like Loucine, the country director, has very high hopes for this project and would like to see it expand a lot (in other words, I’d better not screw it up).  Also on Friday, I met a wonderful man named Max, who will be one of my Ugandan counterparts (one of the people I’ll probably be working with very closely).  He is more or less the manager of this brick company (which is called “Brick by Brick,” by the way), and is on the Positive Planet payroll.  Later in the day, I met a very fun, and very pregnant, woman named Peruth, who does the school-based side of things for Positive Planet.  That afternoon, Jon, Max, Peruth, and I had a Skype meeting with Marc Sklar, one of the directors of the organization back in New York.  He seems like a very good guy.  He definitely likes to joke around and have fun, but he also seems to be quite serious about the work that Positive Planet is doing and is very ambitious about what we can accomplish in the coming years.  Being from New York, he is not excited about the fact that I’m a Phillies fan, but hopefully I can win him over on other fronts…

On Saturday, we moved most of the stuff from Jon’s house into the house that will be mine for the next two years.  Jon graciously sold me (for a relatively low price) all of the stuff that he had accumulated here and didn’t want to take home.  So, I got his bed, his furniture, his gas stove, his pots, pans, dishes, and silverware, and a bunch of other assorted goodies.  I may never need some of the things, but it’s definitely great to have the huge majority of my shopping done before I actually move in to the house for good.  The house itself is very nice (it’s more of an apartment, actually), and my landlady seems great.  I think I am her first tenant ever, because my place is the only one in her complex that is finished.  It consists of two relatively large rooms.  The first one will be mainly a cooking area, I think, and maybe also a living room if I have any visitors.  From there, we get into the bedroom, with a tiny room off of it that can be used as a bathing area.  At this point, I think I have the bedroom more or less how I want it…the kitchen/living room is still a mess.  And I haven’t even brought all of my luggage from home yet…

There are also four young kids who run around the complex…I’m assuming they’re the landlady’s.  They’re very energetic and playful, but I am definitely the center of attention when I come out and they see me.  I immediately hear “Mzungu, mzungu!” (“White person, white person!”), and the four of them surround me.  If I decide to sit down out there, one will head for my lap, one will take the right side, another will take the left side, and the fourth will probably stand behind me playing with my hair.  At this point, I can say a few things to them in Luganda, but they’re so young that they don’t really realize that I am not completely fluent, and they jump into some string of words at hyperspeed that I totally miss.  Hopefully, my Luganda will get a little better so that I can at least have a little conversation…

On Sunday, Jon left for Kampala, where he will stay until Friday, when he flies out of the country.  I am hoping to get to see him on Wednesday, when I’ll be heading back that way.  So, I’m now living in my house, at my site in Kalisizo, by myself.  It’s kind of cool…a little preview of what it will be like.  And I have to admit, as much as I have said that I’ve been enjoying the Ugandan cuisine, it’s been great to cook some more Americanized meals with Jon…and now I’ll get to try some stuff out on my own over the next few days.  I have definitely enjoyed this little visit to Kalisizo, and I’m really looking forward to getting started in the middle of October.  I’ve had lots of ideas bouncing around in my head about things to do and things to try (maybe it’s good that there’s still another month before I actually start…that will give me some time to filter out the ideas that stink).

Oh, by the way, I did not bring my camera (trying to pack light), so I don’t have any pictures of the area…yet.  I figured it was okay that I didn’t bring it for this one week…seeing as it’s going to be my home for, like, over 100 weeks.

Oh, and I’m feeling better now.  Don’t worry, Mom (or anyone else)...