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I have now been back in the USA for one week. From Tuesday through Saturday, I was at North Litchfield with my family and good friends. It was a nice transition period as I was able to relax on the beach and share stories with those around me.

However I think it will take me a while to fully adjust back to life in the "Land of Plenty." While at the beach, I went to CVS to have pictures from the whitewater rafting trip developed. While there, I went to get shampoo and conditioner. This process took a long time as I was floored by the aisle of options. I mean, is there really a true difference between types of shampoo? Or it is just the bottle and good marketing? I think it ended up taking about 15 minutes for me to get over the fact that there were so many choices and finally choose one.

Driving back to Columbia was interesting as well. I kept expecting to have to slow down for potholes and dirt roads, and I kept asking myself, "Where are the Africans walking along side the road?" While I can't say that I necessarily miss the potholes, I do miss the fact that you had to slow down and experience things a little more closely. I think there is something to that "African Time."

I hope that as I adjust back to life here, I will never forget where I was this summer. I hope that I will continue to recognize the difference between need and want and remember that what truly matters in this world does not come in a package and is not available only in the USA. I want to remember that what is truly important is making sure that others are okay and taken care of. And love is really the most important...

Adrenaline Rush: Part 2

After bungee jumping, we got ready to go white water rafting down the Nile. Several of us, including me, were nervous as we had heard stories of the rapids and had seen the rapids further up the Nile on the road to Gulu. I have been rafting many times before including an outward Bound experience in high school, but I was still nervous. The head guide gave us a talk before we loaded into the boats, and his talk was basically this: “Do not take anything that you want to lose. The water is rough.”
Once we got our life jackets, helmets, and paddles, we headed down to the boats already on the water. There were 10 boats in all: 8 boats of rafters and 2 supply/rescue boats. There were also 8 single kayakers; these were there to rescue us from the rapids and pull us to safety if needed. The IC group had 18 people rafting: some from Group 2 and then several IC members who work in Gulu, so we were split into two boats of 9 plus the guide. The guide in my boat was named Tutu, so we became known as Team Tutu. He had been guiding with the company since its inception 13 years before, and he had grown up on the Nile. His mode of transport to and from work was his kayak. He was awesome. The other members of Team Tutu included: Justine, Lance, Catherine, Bill, Tammy, Kate, Ryan, Nick and me. Tutu asked us if we wanted a mild or wild ride, and we all nervously looked at each other and replied, “Wild!” What were we thinking?!?!?
Once we got into the raft and on the Nile, Tutu began our training. We practiced paddling, getting down in the boat, and how to hold on. He then moved on to the bigger stuff. He told us that if someone fell out, the person sitting across from him was responsible for getting them back in the boat. I look across from me, and there sat Justine. Now, Justine is one of my favorite people in the world now, but she is maybe 100 pounds soaking wet; we looked at each other, and I just cracked up and made the suggestion that we trade places with someone else. I will admit that I had little faith that she would be able to pull me out of the water should I have fallen in. We practiced with her side first, so she fell into the water. I jumped over, grabbed her life jacket, and hauled her in. Then it was my turn. I fell into the water, swam to the boat, and she and I made eye contact. She grabbed my life jacket, I gave a kick, and the next thing I knew, I was in the boat!! I looked up at her in amazement and said, “You have got to be kidding me.” Just to make sure that I had not imagined what just happened, I made her pull me in again. Which she did with such ease; Justine is one bad mama… We then practiced what to do if the boat flips over as well as a couple other “what ifs”. Then we waited for the other boats to catch up. As all of this training was going on, we began going over smaller rapids. Once we cleared each one, I turned around and asked Tutu what class it was, and he mostly replied 1 or 2. I knew that these were smaller rapids, but it did not do much to calm my fears of the Class 5 that I knew we were approaching.
The first class 5 that we approached was difficult to see because in normal society, you would not call it a rapid; you would call it a waterfall. From our vantage point, it just looked like the river stopped flowing. Tutu gave the orders that we would paddle forward, turn the boat a little and then get down in the bottom of the boat and hold on. There was nervous excitement as we listened attentively, and then the rapids came. It was amazing and nerve wracking at the same time. With Tutu’s expertise, we made it through wet but still in the boat and no one lost. It really boosted our confidence, and afterward, we all did our trademark cheer of “TUTU”.
The next rapid was a Class 3, which made me feel a little better until Tutu said that we would flip in it. His advice throughout the day was to stay close to the boat and hold onto the rope attached to the raft. I am not going to lie when I say that it made me feel very nervous to be churned around while still holding on to a rope. As we neared this rapid, we stood up and waved to the video camera and then prepared. We paddled in, and the next thing I knew, the boat was capsizing toward me. I fell into the water and ended up in massive churning water underneath the boat. I tried several times to get away from the boat to no avail and began to panic a little as I was still underwater. Then I remembered Tutu’s advice to swim to the light. I had my eyes closed, and I remember for a brief second thinking, “I don’t want to open my eyes in the Nile and get some nasty infection.” At that point, I believe survival mode kicked in and opened my eyes for me. I found the light, kicked hard with everything I had and surfaced. The boat was upside down but right there, so I grabbed on and looked around. There were several others around me, and we all just looked at each other in amazed bewildered. I then noticed Tutu on top of the boat giving hand signals. He finally flipped the boat over, and I ended up still in the water but beside Kate. She looked at me and said, “Catherine’s hurt.” We finally climbed into the boat and were able to stop and look at the situation. Catherine was in the rescue boat being tended to; she had dislocated her shoulder. We got to the side of the river and sat. Her shoulder was still not in place, and the head guide was nervous to move it back into place in case it hit the nerve. The next move was to get the rescue vehicle to a place she could get out of the water and get her to the medical clinic. To do that, we all had to travel through another rapid, although Tutu said it was only a class 2. The rescue boat consisted of one rower with two long paddles; the head guide got one of the members from his boat to get in the rescue boat and brace Catherine so she didn’t move any more than necessary. And we headed into the rapid. I was amazed to watch the rescue boat navigate this rapid with no worries whatsoever. We all made it safely through and stopped again at the base of a small hill. They got Catherine out of the boat and were trying to get her up the rocks. All of a sudden, she lay face down on one of the bigger rocks, let her arm dangle over the side of it for a couple of seconds, and her arm popped back into the socket. I was in awe as I think most everyone else who saw this happen was. How cool was that!!! They placed a triangle sling on her arm and led her to the rescue vehicle. We were down to 8 in our boat and a little subdued because we were all worried about her as well as wondering who was going to get hurt next as there were still rapids to navigate.
Tutu snapped us out of it by declaring a free swim. We took off our helmets and jumped into the Nile. Tutu did a couple of flips off of the end of the boat, which prompted Ryan and several others to try. Needless to say, they did not have Tutu’s finesse. After about 15 minutes of free swim, we hopped back into the boat to prepare for the next class 5 rapid.
Tutu told us this was a pretty big rapid, and there was a good chance that we would flip. I replied to him that none of us wanted to flip or fall out of the boat. He said ok and that he had a Plan A, Plan, B, Plan C, and Plan D to prevent that from happening.
Plan A: Paddle hard.
Plan B: Make sure your life jacket is on tightly.
Plan C: If the boat tips up, do not lean.
Plan D: Hold on.
I told Tutu that I didn’t think he could technically call Plans B-D actual plans. Needless to say, I was not feeling too confident about what was coming up, especially when he said this rapid consisted of 4 large waves and a section nicknamed “the washing machine” that we did not want to fall into as there was no way for us to be rescued and that we would only get rescued once it had spit us out. He gave the order to paddle hard, and I did just that. I have never paddled so hard in my life. He then yelled, “Get down!”, and we all jumped to the bottom of the boat and held on. Words cannot express the feelings coursing through my body as we moved through this rapid; maybe because it was pure adrenaline. There were several moments that I felt the boat flipping, but it never did. We all made it through the rapid in the boat and relatively unharmed, and I give full credit to Tutu for making that happen. It was amazing!!! We were all stoked on the other side and high fiving each other and calling out, “TUTU!”. It was awesome.
There were several other rapids that we went through, and all were lots of fun. We then made our way to Lunch Island, a tiny island owned by Adrift where the rafters eat lunch. The lunch consisted of potato salad and sandwiches. You created your own sandwich, and the choices were incredible. We actually had real cheese, real deli meat and lots of fresh veggies. It was the best sandwich I have ever had (probably because it was the first one in 6 weeks). Once lunch was over, we headed across the Nile to the take out point. We walked to the truck waiting to take us back to Adrift, and while the boats and equipment were being loaded, we were handed beer to enjoy.
The day was amazing and exhausting at the same time. It was a phenomenal way to end our stay in Uganda.

Adrenaline Rush: Part 1

Sunday was a day of adrenaline. We woke up in Jinja and had a wonderful English breakfast. There were 10 of us who wanted to bungee jump over the Nile, so it was decided that 5 would go before white water rafting and 5 would go afterward. I was in the group who decided to go first as I wanted to do it and be done with it.
After breakfast, I paid my $55 and signed the waiver. One of the requirements of bungee jumping is that they have to know how much you weigh so they can adjust the tension in the bungee cord; you can imagine my horror at this concept because not only do they weigh you, but they write it down on the form that everyone signs and then write in on the back of your hand in permanent marker. The good news was that they weighed me in kilograms, so until I did the conversion, I was unsure how much I weighed (more good news… I did lose weight over the 6 weeks). Once your weight is tattooed on your hand, you can go out onto the crane over the Nile.
I was the second person to jump. When they are ready for you, you walk out to the platform and sit in what I can only describe as a chair used in electrocutions. There were two men out on the platform; one walks you through the process as the other begins preparing you for the jump by wrapping a towel and webbing around your ankles. This is tied very tightly; I now have bruises where this was because of how tight it was, but I am not complaining about that at all. Once this is tied, they attach the bungee cord to this. They asked if I wanted to touch the Nile, and I said, “Why not?”. He then mentioned that I needed to remember to prepare for being immersed by placing my hands above my head, tucking my head, and closing my eyes. All I could think was, “I am getting ready to jump off a perfectly good platform and free fall 140 feet, and you expect me to remember to tuck my head and close my eyes!?!?” I asked him if I should just fall forward or bend my knees and dive out. He said I could do either one, and it would be fine. He then asked which way I planned to go. I replied, “I have no idea. I guess I will find out when I get to the ledge.”
When I was all connected, one of the guys told me I was 100% safe. I asked him if he really believed that and he said yes. I replied, “Well, if you are wrong, then I am going to come back from the grave and haunt you.” This freaked him out a little as evidently he was very superstitious.
As soon as you are connected, they say you are safe to stand and move around. I hopped closer to the edge; this was very awkward as you really can’t move your legs since they are tied together. As I got closer to the edge, I crept and grabbed onto a yellow bar overhead. The other guy very gently begins talking you through the process; he has you look out across the ravine to an arrow on top of the bar at Adrift (never look down). I then waved to my friends. As I was waving and standing at the edge of the platform, my heart was pounding so hard, I felt like it was going to rip open my chest and just fly out. What have I gotten myself into? Why did I say I wanted to do this? Am I crazy?
I then released the yellow bar and slowly lowered my hands to my sides. He counted down… 3…2…1… I bent my knees, spread my arms out on either side and dove forward and out. OMG!! The dive was beautiful, I fell toward the Nile, and it was the coolest feeling in the world. Before I knew it, the cord tightened and pulled me back up; it didn’t hurt or jerk at all. I bounced gently up and down several times and then just began swinging back and forth. It was so beautiful to just swing over the Nile.
Once I slowed down, they began lowering the cord; there’s a boat with two guys in it, so I was lowered into that. It was probably the most difficult part as I was still swinging back and forth. Finally one of the guys held out his oar and told me to grab it. After several missed attempts (the handle is very skinny), I grabbed hold but kept swinging so I had to let go. I finally was able to grab it again and hold on to be lowered into the boat. As they were rowing me back to shore, we chatted for a couple of minutes. I asked them if they had ever jumped, and they both replied, “many times. When the cords need to be tested, we are the ones who do the testing.” He said it so nonchalantly, but I remember thinking what a crazy job description that would be. They paddled me over to the steps, and I walked back up. It’s a pretty steep walk back up; for the first part, I almost ran most of the way due to the adrenaline rush. That feeling ebbed about halfway up, so the rest of the ascent was a little difficult. However it was amazing, and when I am 90 and sitting in my rocker on the porch, I will look back on that experience and smile.

Leaving Gulu

Last night was our final night in Gulu. Mac, the new proprietor of Fugly’s (formerly Bambu) had a special dinner for us, which was really nice. We were able to all eat together, hang out and dance. Ob and Apolo were able to join us, making the night that much more special.
We left Gulu this morning for the last leg of our journey. We were supposed to leave Gulu at 8:00 am, but in typical Acoli fashion, we did not end up leaving until 9:45 am. Our goal was to stop in Kampala at the craft market one more time on our way to Jinja for white water rafting on the Nile. The drive was long; they have added new speed bumps to the road to Kampala, and there were speed bumps about every 20 feet for a couple of miles. The most ridiculous aspect of it was that it was not near any town; just in the middle of nowhere. Why would you need to slow down there?
We had to stop for a short call about half way through the trip. The girls went to one side and the boys to the other. We realized that we were very close to the road, so we girls created a barrier so people from the road would not be able to see us. As we started to go, about 4 children came walking out of the bush the other way curious about the munos. It was very awkward and yet hysterical at the same time. We finally made it to Jinja and the Adrift place where we are staying in tents. We bungee jump and raft tomorrow!!!

Last Day of Teaching

I finished teaching today at Sir Samuel Baker. The week was par for the course in terms of successes and frustrations. Grace teaches an 8:00 am class… I should say she has an 8:00 am class, but she is never on time. She will get there between 8:40 and 8:50 in the morning. Because of that, I have been working with those students on my own, which has been wonderful. However the point of this project is to work with the teacher.
Most of my frustrations have been systemic. This educational system is so different and seemingly ineffective. Students are taught and then expected to regurgitate the information; however the information is really unimportant when looking at the skills necessary to live a successful life. The teacher is also considered the expert, and any questioning is strongly discouraged. Yesterday morning, I was sitting in the teacher’s lounge, and Sharon’s partner teacher, Christine, came in and sat down beside me. I was a little confused as I thought that Sharon left for school before me, and she was not with Christine. Christine asked me, “Where is Sharon?” I replied that I was not sure as I thought she had arrived to teach. She said, “Yes, I am supposed to be teaching right now.” I asked her why she was not, and she replied, “I was not able to prepare a lesson.” I said, “So?”, and she replied, “At teacher’s college, they taught us that we should always consider ourselves the expert, and if we are not prepared to give a lesson, then we should not come to class.” I think she noticed my stunned face and continued by saying, “If we are not prepared, then we cannot be the expert in the classroom.” I said to her, “That is the exact opposite in the States. There are many classes that I have walked into without a formal lesson plan in mind, but I just wing it. For us, it is important to meet with the students whether we are truly well prepared or not.” I also told her that she was the expert simply because she was older than the kids and therefore had more life experience. However, I believe that all of this information went right out the window.
Until the educational system completely revamps itself and moves away from regurgitation of facts and moves towards critical and creative thinking, I don’t think it will create an educated society. But I wonder if this government wants an educated society because then the people may question its practices?
Today we actually continued with adjectives in S1, and to add some meaning to comparatives and superlatives, I had them write love poems. I began the lesson with Shakespeare’s Sonnet CXXX, but they had never heard of Shakespeare before, so it took some time to describe him and teach about his language. Then I had to read the poem aloud several times since there was no way to make copies and writing on the board would have taken too long. Once we discussed the poem, they were to think of someone they loved and the write 6 adjectives to describe that person. At that point, they were to create a comparative poem using those descriptions. Some wrote about their mother, father, sister, brother, Tupac, Lil’ Wayne, etc. Some also chose to write about me. One student used the following adjectives to describe me: smart, beautiful, early (I think he meant punctual), good teacher, tall and fat. I am not taking offense to the fat comment as in Uganda, it is seen as a huge compliment. It was very entertaining though. I hope that the students have liked the lessons that I have worked on. I realized through this exchange how important to me it is to provide some sort of real world connection. From what I have witness, students are not expected to make connections, so doing something as simple as writing a love poem to someone connects the use of adjectives to something as little more relevant. I hope that Grace will continue to use some of the strategies we did together, but I do not know.

Fort Patico

On Saturday, we went to Fort Patico, which is an hour outside of Gulu (actually the distance is probably only 20 miles, but the roads are so terrible that it takes forever). Fort Patico was where the Arabs ran their slave trade of Africans. Sir Samuel Baker came to Uganda, ended the slave trade and then set up a fort there. It is pretty much a bunch of enormous boulders, but the views are incredible. It was a bonding day with our teachers, so I got to meet Grace's youngest son Jacob and her sister Josephine. I also got to meet Okello P'layeng's son, Bill Clinton (not kidding). Jacob is precious but very shy. He finally warmed up to me at the end of the day, but I think he enjoyed watching me. We ate a picnic lunch of a Acoli food; I was helping to serve so I didn't get to eat much. Matt and Kate made homeade guacomole, which was delicious, so I ate that and chapatti chips. It makes me massively crave Mexican food and a large margarita.

After lunch, we went on a "hike." In the States, you would call this bouldering as we were climbing sheer faced boulders without any gear. It took us about 20 minutes of walking through the bush and a family's corn and cabbage fields before we made it to the bottom of the hike. I can see how people can easily get lost in the bush. The grass was so thick and way above our heads; it is very eassy to get disoriented. There were some local boys who helped us find out way; they were walking without shoes and then climbed to the top with no problem. When we finally reached the top, it was worth it. The views were breathtaking, and it was fun to sit and relax with everyone for a couple of minutes.

I began to worry about the trip down... did I mention the sheer rock face we climbed up? But I made it safely. I am going to write a letter to Keen and explain to them how amazing their shoes are; I think their grip saved me a couple of times. I came out of the hikes with several bruises, cut and scrapes, but no broken bones.

I think I am ready to bungee jump...

Rap is Universal

On Tuesday, July 14, I was at Sir Samuel Baker sitting outside between classes. Three small children (I would guess their ages between 3 and 6 years) were walking by and stopped to stare at me, which pretty much happens everywhere. I said to them, “Kop ango?” which means “How are you?” in Luo. They replied, “Kop peke”, which means, “I am fine.” One of the boys then said something to me in Luo, and I told him that I only knew a little Luo. They stared at me, so I said, “Are you coming home from school?”, and they replied, “yes.” I then said, “Did you learn a lot?”, and again they said “yes.” At this point, I felt that we had exhausted the conversation, and I turned around to leave. As I was doing this, the other little boy said, “Got my mind on my money…” I turned around, looked at him, and replied, “And my money on my mind.” They cracked up as did I. Who knew that rap would turn out to be a universal language?
Yesterday Obi and I went to lunch at Kope Café, which is one of my favorite places to eat here in Gulu. As we were standing outside Hotel Katherina’s and talking before we walked to the restaurant, he noticed all of the children walking by, stopping and staring at me. Several of them came up and stared until I spoke to them. I think at some point, Obi stopped listening to me because out of the blue, he asked, “Does this always happen to you?” I replied of course. I think for Obi, it is not as big a deal because he is Ugandan. It is only when he opens his mouth and a British accent comes out that people stop and stare because they really don’t know what to make of this Acoli man speaking in a different accent. There are definitely days when I get so tired of the staring. It is not malicious; they are just curious. Most of the time, it doesn’t bother me. It is what it is (this is my motto for Africa).