Play and work

As always when the halfway mark is crossed, time goes fast. Last week I had some company here, and it was quite lovely! First we went to Queen Elizabeth NP, which so far I had only passed by. Compared to Murchison Falls, I’d say QENP is more beautiful landscape wise, especially as it is framed nicely by mountains. It is also more varied, with savannah, the big lakes and “channel” in between, and forest. We also took a short hike in the Rwenzori foothills and visited a community development organization which was a rather awkward experience but, if I may say so, was somewhat saved by my skills handling needy development practitioners. Thanks to an unscheduled evening drive into the park, we got to see some lions up close – they were rather sleepy, but very cute! That day we had also done a boat ride, which served up thirsty elephants, buffaloes and hippos en masse. The morning game drive was less packed with notable sightings, but very enjoyable still, just enjoying the scenery, the beautiful animals, and the wind in your face. Then, there was a forest walk including a bat cave which was very interesting and very creepy. All in all, a very cool and varied safari trip. 

Safari favorites

Back in Fort Portal we explored the town and went for a similar crater lakes/waterfall day trip as I did before but this time with my friend T rather than with a tour. Some car trouble aside, it was a lovely day with another waterfall shower, monkeys, and sweaty hiking. The last day of ‘vacation’ we visited the palace of the Tooro kingdom in FP – unfortunately the king was not in, but we got a tour outside the palace with an energetic UPDF guard.

Crater lake hike

Revisited the monkeys by lake Nkruba

Monday morning we got on different Link buses, them for Kampala, me for Bwera, and it felt a bit lonely! Bwera is near the DRC border and I went there to meet one last farmer group for a few days. It was hot as hell, I was the only muzungu in town (I did see an albino woman, so I guess it was me and her), and the place I was staying was a bit perplexing, with a lovely squat toilet, no bathroom door, no sink, and no furniture other than a bed and a plastic chair. It made me rather miss FP, where it’s not only a lot cooler but also a lot nicer atmosphere. On market day at the border I went to take a look and get some more kitenge (printed fabric usually from Congo). We tried to cross the border, but the immigration stuff was didn’t seem worth the hassle, so I just looked at Congo at a safe distance, and did some shopping at the Ugandan side. I intuitively (and for good reason I guess) feel a bit iffy about the DRC borderlands and was glad to be staying in Bwera and not the border town Mpondwe (even if Bwera is only 5 minutes away). That said, I wasn't a fan of the place. I’m used to being stared at and muzungu:ed in the villages, but there was a strange, more hostile feel, and when I weighed the pros and cons of staying the last day to do a few more interviews vs going to Kasese to join an ongoing workshop, I decided the latter as I felt the interviews were reaching saturation point anyway. Kasese was much more enjoyable, although even hotter. Now I am back “home” for one last week. When I’m not occupied with trying to wade through data and gather my thoughts about these past two months, it will probably be spent clicking phone calls from the many very persistent men who have made me give them my number..

Market in Mpondwe

In the village outside of Bwera (hostility was not an issue here, clearly)

Half-time

Lots of activity since last time. Let's see, I have...

• Finished the participatory workshops, luckily. I think they went ok, but were a bit stressful. I am no natural facilitator.

• Done one of three community studies, which also went well, and was a lot more fun. The farmers I met were all incredibly nice, and I think there are a couple of grains of interesting stuff in the material which hopefully can grow into something more substantial over the next few weeks. One rather interesting thing was that most of the farmers in this group, thanks to joint savings and credit, increased production, and helping each other out, had been able to build brick houses with tin roofs rather than the thin mud/dung/thatch houses many had before. Most of them are sort of in a semi-finished state, without plaster or at least without paint, and looking quite grim (from my perspective) because they finish them incredibly slowly whenever there is money to spare. To me, intuitively, it is a rather strange investment, providing that you had a functional house. Surely there must be “better” things to invest in than oversized (many really are quite large) houses? Then, after thinking that, I have to give myself a small mental slap. Who am I to say what these people should want? Do I know what having a proper house means to people, how it improves their quality of life? Debates about whether the poor can be trusted as “rational” actors in terms of the investments they make I think are often based on some misguided idea about rationality. How many of us consistently use our money in the “best”, most rational way? Of course there are some investments that are more effective for getting out of poverty than others, but it’s all too easy to judge other people when you’ve never been in their shoes.

Narrative walk

 • Attended a watershed management meeting called by the ministry of water and environment, which was fairly interesting, when it wasn’t incredibly tedious (how many times do we have to establish that water important?). For research purposes, it’s always good to move around in different kinds of environments and pick up on the ideas and discourses floating around. Also, the food was good. And I got money for attending, even if I didn’t have any travel costs. It felt a bit weird, but on the other hand I paid the government a hefty fee for a research permit that I have yet to see.

• Visited a fellow agroecologist’s farm, which probably crammed in over 50 different species on around 2 acres – from poultry integrated with coffee, macadamia and passion fruits, to a tilapia/catfish/crayfish pond and of course a kitchen garden with more crops than I can remember. Clovis is a rather old man, but very energetic when it comes to farming, and with a refreshing critical mind. I found out when we were leaving that they were burying his brother later that day; I am always baffled by how people here deal with death. Almost every day you hear a story of someone who has died, and not seldom, these stories brings out laughter. It’s all very strange, and somehow tragic, but also somehow healthy)

Small selection of what can be found on Clovis's farm

Lake Saka near FP

• Stopped by the “trade show” that’s going on nearby where I live. This is basically a fair where they sell a bunch of stuff (mostly the same stuff they sell everywhere else), but there’s also music performances, some animals from the wildlife center in Entebbe (including a lion and a really creepy ostrich) which I felt rather bad for, games (I threw a ring and won a packet of crackers!), face painting for kids and a carousel that looks very old and rusty. Overall, rather cute!

Trade show, complete with rusty carousel, impala head, and scary ostrich 

Well, that's it I think. This week I visit another community, then it's time for some R&R.

Crater lakes

This weekend I got off my lazy behind and went exploring the crater lake area. I splurged a bit and went with a guide, which was good because it wasn't particularly easily navigated. We did a 2.5 hike which included beautiful views of several of the lakes, walking through villages and farms (not so exotic for me), and the best part - swimming in Mahoma waterfalls. Well, swimming - more of a power-shower. It was a amazing, and worth the steep hike back up from the falls which nearly killed me. We had lunch at a campsite by one of the lakes, which had four kinds of not-so-shy monkeys; vervet, black and white colobus, red colobus and red tailed monkey. Spotted them all! The vervets are my favorite, so cute. There was a small patch of forest reserve by the campsite so we also took a shorter forest walk where I got to learn a lot about the different trees and their uses, most of which I have now forgotten but it was nice at the time..

Cute vervets

Black & white colobus

The prettiest crater lake (forgot the name..)

The view that's on the 20 000 shilling bill (minus me, thank god)

Hillside swidden agriculture (see the woman in the bottom right corner - think about her the next time you complain about working too hard...)

Mahoma falls

Wild tomatoes (tasted like physalis)

Sunday was spent sleeping, working and reading by the pool - a rather enjoyable emerging Sunday tradition.

Workshopping

The weekend ended up not being so exploratory, I did some laundry (in a bucket, mind you - it's a bit of a project), read a lot, and went to the pool. Oh and worked on a dreadfully boring course paper. The upcoming weekend I definitely have to go out and about, though, feeling a bit understimulated physically/entertainment-wise. Today I did my first proper research activity, a workshop. At the time it felt pretty miserable at times, because they were a bit hard to get started. There just isn't so much of a discussion culture here, or not the same kind as I'm used to, so you have to find ways around that. We did some group exercises, which I thought worked rather well, and although some of the "results" weren't exactly what I thought, that was a finding in itself. I am doing two more of these, so now I know a bit of what to expect and what to improve on. In hindsight, it was probably ok.

Well, that was a completely uninteresting update, sorry! Here's a cute pic of children going home from school, as a compensation.

This, that and a few pics

Today has been another field day, met one of the groups that I might visit for some more indepth discussions/interviews, a little bit south of FP towards Kasese (and then of course a couple of km down a dirt road). We've also called a ton a people to invite for meetings during the next two weeks - luckily, life here is pretty flexible so it seems that people can generally make it to full-day activities even when invited just like a week before (at least this kind of people). Now I just have to figure out what we're doing during these meetings, so I don't waste their time (and my own for that matter). I'm very glad I am collaborating with T, he is making my life so much easier and we have a good time together. We're doing one here in FP, one in Kasese which is good because the drive there is gorgeous, and one in a district west of here called Bundibugyo which will be interesting because it has been described to me as "troubled", with occasional ethnic violence (it's bordering the DRC) and an ebola outbreak a couple of years ago. I have a feeling not too many muzungus go there, not that it's dangerous, but a bit off the beaten track.

What else... I've learned how to count to ten in Rutoro (always something), we still have generator issues but I'm enjoying my lantern-lit evenings, I am perfectly healthy (thus far) despite meals at some pretty rough roadside restaurants (which always serve a selection of different kinds of carbs i.e. matoke, posho, rice, sweet potatoes - take your pick - with a scary looking but well cooked chunk of beef and/or beans in some kind of sauce), and I got a 10-visit-pass to the divine pool at the fancy hotel up the road and am planning on using it in a very near future. If I'm not too lazy tomorrow, I might go off to explore some crater lakes.

The road into Fort Portal from Boma. Note the well loaded matoke bike.

Words of wisdom. One of the organizations in the network is a beekeepers' association where I bought some honey which then leaked all over my bag. Great. Tastes good though. They are having some issues because the honey comes from lots of very small producers, so the bees feed on lots of different plants, making it hard to control flavor and to label. Sometimes bees feed on giant lobelia up in the mountains, which gives all the honey a bitter aftertaste (I tasted some "polluted" honey in the making - it is indeed a bit funky)

Possibly one of "my" farmer groups, having a meeting outside the village church where a "prayer" was going on i.e. signing and drumming for a good hour. Not so great for their meeting, but nice for me since I don't get much of what they're talking about but at least had something to listen to.

A sweet little calf munching on matoke peel. One farmer in the group has a farm that functions as a "demonstration farm" and his son showed us around. It's so cool with these little farms that do a million things, with innovations everywhere you look. It was also cool to see a young guy so ínto farming. I bought some of their banana wine, which is surprisingly tasty. 

Before heading back we took a walk to visit a priest friend of T's. We didn't find him, but we did find about a million kids who seemingly skipped class to run out and look at the rare muzungu.
 

My bedroom, minus power.

New home

I made it safely to Fort Portal on Tuesday morning using the always lovely Link bus, complete with plastic covered seats. I have a one bedroom apartment in a FP "suburb" called Boma, where apparently "the rich people live". Sadly I have a first floor apartment, but otherwise it is nice, and new. Internet coverage a little sketchy, and electricity the same; there's a generator but at the moment it has "failed". No electricity means no hot water (why oh why don't more people have sun heated water? We're on the bloody equator!) so my glamorous morning today started with an icecold shower. Well, at least you heat up again quickly. My next door neighbors are two Swedish girls doing an internship here; small world, but nice to have people to talk to who experience similar culture shocks (though honestly I've become rather difficult to shock or even annoy, even the slow pace. I know that somehow, things tend to work out one way or another even when things seem hopeless...).

Already yesterday I met with the guy from the NGO I'm semi working with, semi studying. Luckily he really is a doer, so we're planning to do the first real research activities at the start of next week (focus groups/workshops with other members of the organization). Today I went with him and a colleague to visit and do follow up with some of their farmer groups in Kyenjojo district, next to Kabarole where FP is, which was quite interesting minus the fact that I understand very little of what they say other than the occasional English. But some got translated of course, and some is observable. The farmers in the groups were so welcoming and friendly, it is always a bit of a weird experience not being able to communicate other than through smiles and getting the nice seat and all that but I think generally they rather enjoy getting an outsider visit. Something different and someone showing interest. Oh - on the way back I saw my first wildlife spotting - a gang of baboons hanging out on the road. Those guys are kind of creepy..

In other not-so-surprising news, it's hot. Hopefully the rains will start properly within a few weeks although I may take that back when I have to go on the muddy roads. I became refamiliarized with the Ugandan definition of a driveable road today, and that with your average sedan that had seen better days. But yes, hot and dry - I hear there's a hotel just up the road where you can pay to use the pool - praise the lord. 

Acclimatization

Trip was smooth, but it's looong - that stop in Kigali is unfortunate. After stopping there, the plane goes on to Entebbe and then back to Brussels; I was toying with the idea of hiding somewhere and going back with it, but I pulled myself together and got off. Arriving in Entebbe is starting to feel quite... habitual, but this time there was a new addition - because of ebola there were extra precautions with forms and a 'health check' (i.e. they aimed a little thingy to your forehead to check the temperature, which of course made me a little paranoid because it was quite hot in there). I had booked a seat on the new "airport shuttle" which sounded like a terrific addition to Uganda travel; a bit too good to be true it turned out because when I got out it had already left. Well, it was good in theory. Actually they followed up to check if I had gotten on, and apparently they had waited for me but had been off showing other people to the bus. Had this been Sweden, I had written a snippy reply, but honestly, any attempts at making everyday things smoother and make an effort to get feedback should be applauded.

Kampala is its usual self. It's always good for random oddities, though. Last night I wanted to go out and buy some water before bed and everything around seemed closed. Eventually I passed a bank, with a guard sitting outside with his big rifle; he asked me where I was going by myself and long story short he ran up the road to buy me a bottle of water. I opposed, saying he's working, but he thought it was ok because there's one more guard. Totally redundant, I guess he reasoned. It was an expensive bottle of water because I gave him the change; I appreciate random acts of kindness. This morning I slept late until I was woken up by loud chanting accompanied by some sort of bells coming from god knows where. Sunday service related no doubt, but it sounded like it hall happened in the hotel corridors. Then again, Ugandan walls tend to be for visual privacy, not so much auditory, so maybe there's a church a couple of blocks away...

Walking back to my bunker of a hotel room, I passed an intoxicated homeless man sitting on the sidewalk. I smiled, as you do because what the hell are you supposed to do, yet he decided to throw a pen at me. I gave him a dirty look but didn't think it was a good idea to discuss his unwarranted pen violence at that particular time and place. Him having to get up to pick up the pen was punishment enough. The next man I passed picked up a conversation that I first thought was just one of those random conversations you have here but then it turned out to be a plea for money to feed his four starving children. The pen man fresh in memory (in fact just a few meters away and approaching) combined with a nagging feeling that there wasn't much truth to this story, I put on my cold face, declined, and went home feeling like shit which you have to allow yourself to do sometimes. It doesn't help these men or any potential children, and sure - I could go around handing out shillings to every needy person I come across (that would cut my trip rather short) and it happens that I do. But generally, I tell myself that that is simply not my role. I participate in a system which contributes to some these fates, and what I can do is using my modest abilities to question and counter it. To these men, I'm just another rich white girl who probably doesn't give a crap about why I'm in my position and they're in theirs, and in any case would probably rather I just hand them some money, I get that. Which is why these experiences are so, well, shitty.

Monday has mostly been spent standing in line at the bank and at the phone shop, which I expected hence the extra day in Kampala. Other than the slowness I've managed to arrange everything I needed to, fairly smoothly, except for the wonderful moment when I dropped a million shillings (in 20,000 USh bills) all over the bank floor. Although if you're gonna do that, a bank guarded by three rifled men is the right place I guess.