Translating, and babies, and mice, oh my!

7/19

Tonight we discussed at dinner our highs and lows for the day.  Let’s just say that the biggest low for me was seeing a mouse scurry across our office floor during Lusoga language class.  Polly and I nearly died.  Other than that, today was quite a challenging day.  The women bring their babies with them everywhere so we had two little kiddies in the class and they would not stop crying.  And I’m not talking a whimper or a normal baby cry, this was blood curdling, choking on their own tears, screaching crying. So everyone was talking louder than normal to hear each other.  I was trying to write and teach at the same time and the second I wrote something not to do to the deaf woman I’m working with, she did it again.  I completely lost it and I was mouthing and flailing my hands saying “No no no!” I quickly apologized and recomposed myself.  I stepped away for a moment and saw Tara looking at me like “Ah this is crazy!” Over lunch, we all laughed about it and came up with a game plan to pull the class back together in the afternoon.  My high for the day was finally seeing Victoria understand the patterning concept I was teaching her and me writing “much better” and “perfect!” on our communication notebook.  I’m praying that I get a translator for her tomorrow!  Sign language in English is hard enough but throwing Lusoga signs on top of that...yeowza. I hope I’m retaining some of these languages! :)

"Everybody's workin' for the weekend!"

7/18
     Saturday morning, I went into downtown (Main St.) Jinja to do some souvenir shopping.  I actually practiced my Lusoga which was a major success.  Luckily I didn't get much past "good morning" and "thank you" but regardless, I pretty much could've passed for a Ugandan.  After that, I attended Lusoga lessons which was a big clusterf@$^!  After learning the 6 basic personal pronouns, we moved on to verbs and putting words together.  The sound for "n" means "i" or "me" here and unfortunately it changes a ton of other sounds of letters.  All 4 of us Americans just looked at each other like, "come again?"  Tomorrow is my 3rd lesson and hopefully things will be a bit more clear.  After that, Polly and I got a drink (passion fruit mojito!) after too much talk about terrorism, scary books, and rafting the Nile. We then met Jamie for dinner at the only Chinese restaurant in Uganda I think.  Since Polly studied chinese history and lived there for a while, she did a phenomenal job ordering!  I woke up this morning (Sunday) shakin' in my Trekker Janes, thinking about where I would go for first aid post rafting trip.  I lugged my 55 spf and my 98% Deet in my cargo pockets, threw back a passion juice and chapatti, and headed off into the sunrise as I decided to face my day as a rafter of the Nile.  After about 10 minutes of "what to do if the raft flips" we literally got into a Grade 6 rapids and held on for dear life.  After that, we hopped out, practiced and swam. The water is great! And Mom, all of the bad things you heard (unmentionable on my blog) are untrue so all is well. :)   For the rest, we only did a Grade 3.  Much more relaxing! The last rapids we did flip the boat and although I swear I wasn't paying any attention during the morning briefing, I, instinctively, hung on to the rope, pushed back from the boat, got slammed under a few waves and came out of the thing virtually unscathed.  Bobbi's oar hit her on the nose and she bled a bit but other than that we were good.  As we floated down the Nile, we ate pineapple and biscuits for lunch and stopped at the Hairy Lemon.  This is honestly a paradise little tiki hut/campground owned my some South African men.  Let's just say a raft full of women paired with many South African male accents equaled us staying there for quite a while sippin' on our fruity beverages. This place was out of a movie; quaint little streams and footpaths, jungle like trees, vines, and flowers, people lounging around in bathing suits, no make up and dreadlocks.  I could've stayed there forever! After we got back on the boat, we headed back to the camp where they had a HUGE barbeque for us that overlooked Bujagali Falls.  All of us agreed that we couldn't think of any better place in the whole world that we'd rather be.  It was simply amazing.  Unfortunately we couldn't take our camera but honestly, pictures wouldn't have done this place justice.  It will forever be in my memory as one of the best places ever!  Tonight, Bobbi and I headed to Betty's again to pick up our laundry.  We only wanted to stay for 5 minutes.  Needless to say, it turned into 2 hours because they wanted to cook for us!  Betty got very sad when we said we were going to go; she said she missed us and wanted us to visit more.   Although we expressed how full and stuffed we were, they insisted and proceeded to make us matoke, beans and cassava, this omelet thing, and G-nut soup.  It was honestly the best African food I've had.  Shamilla brought out her patterns and garments and I critiqued them and gave her tips. I told Shamilla and Salima that I would be back on Sunday to say goodbye and that they could cook again.  They were so excited to hang out again.  I love those two girls.  I think if an American 15 and 16 year old would spend 2 hours cooking and discussing sewing/patterning with me I would fall over.  They are so mature and loving.  It's so refreshing!  Back to work tomorrow!

Bujagali Falls

Lori blowing out her birthday candles! 

A tailor shop that I stopped in and checked out. He pulled out a ton of his garments asking for suggestions.  I had so much fun!

Making a rolex: chapati with egg inside. mmm

My room straight outta the 30s. 

Every night thousands and thousands of bats fly every evening. We've been trying to figure out from where to where but haven't been successful. 

Happy Birthday Lori!

7/16

This morning I got up and worked out.  Carly met me for an early morning run which was nice to catch up with her for a bit.  She’s headed to Kampala tonight so I told her to be safe and wished her well.  After, headed into the office to meet the women. I worked mostly with Victoria today writing, translating, signing, and miming the directions to make a men’s shirt.  I think I’ve officially developed carpal tunnel.  I felt bad because a lot of details are missed when you cannot hear certain words during a lesson.  I kept asking if she understood and she consistently wrote “trying.” Hopefully next week things will click better for her! After work we celebrated Lori’s birthday.  We went to Bunjagli Falls about 20 min. away.  It overlooks the Nile and is a super yummy restaurant.  I had a steak for only about $9!  Tara got a cake for Lori too; we had so much fun!  The location on the Nile is where we end for rafting on Sunday.  Needless to say, I am absolutely terrified to do this rafting.  Apparently it’s the #1 place for rafting in the WORLD.  (i.e. probably most deadly...)  Although my friends assured me that they are not in the business of killing people, I am still a bit nervous! Eh, I guess I’ve dodged a few bullets already, why not add another? Knock on wood... :) Happy Weekend! 

Wasuze Otya!

7/15

Oli Otya! Well today was my first lesson in Lusoga, the language spoken here in Jinja.  Luganda is the language spoken in Kampala and is used more often but we thought we’d tailor it a bit more to the location where we are.  Luckily most people understand Luganda and Lusoga and they are very similar so hopefully they’ll understand SOMETHING I manage to say! I will say though that this morning I greeted the boda boda guy by saying “Wasuze Otya!” (Good Morning!) and he was so chatty after that and didn’t whine about me giving him 700 shillings for the ride.  Lately they’ve been wanting 1000 shillings from Mzungus but I think my newly found Lusoga along with the flashing of my pearly whites ensured that I only would have to pay 700.  :)   Anyway, the language lesson went great! Ali, our teacher, met us at the Keep which is a new restaurant in Jinja.  (This restaurant is medieval style only 2 weeks old created by a former computer hacker.  Basically he used to hack for the government in the US and now works for charities doing computer stuff. After his wife visited here once, he was sold.  He quit his job and moved his family here.  Pretty cool.  I got a Kit Kat milkshake...mmm delish!) We’re having our next lesson on Saturday morning.  Sula bulungi! (Goodnight!)

Emma working on his shirt with Polly

Victoria making final stitches on her bag.

Ziria and Olivia seam ripping a shirt apart for patterning.

A picture of our backyard...our "facilities" are behind that blue door.  We'll leave that part to the imagination.

Victoria modeling her bag!!

Rehema workin' it with her bag.

Salha loves her bag! It really makes the brown of her outfit pop!

Throwback to the 1800's sewing machines...

7/14

Happy Bastille Day! Oh wait. that’s France... Anyway, this morning started off with a firm discussion between myself and ole’ Gilbert (the head of the gym.)  I stated that I refuse to keep getting up this early to come and work out if he wasn’t going to open the gym or was 30 minutes late.  I told him that Uganda time wouldn’t be acceptable.  He laughed, then assured me that he would be there to open it.  Today was a success but we’ll see tomorrow! :) After that, I got into work, went for my first supermarket run by myself, large African tea in hand, for some last minute materials.  Let me tell you, if you want to make some serious dough in this country open up a store that sells only duct tape and 1 inch wide masking tape! It doesn’t exist in most places, and if it does it’s ridiculously expensive even for American standards!

We started off the day with the women and one man coming into the office.  There are two women who are unable to walk at all so we set up some spots for them on the ground with their own sewing machines and ironing boards.  There were two more who were crippled, one was deaf and two women with babies (one who was screaming the whole time because she didn’t feel well.)  We had very low expectations for the class starting off.  After we got the new/ancient Singer machines set up, we began with having them do a french seam and flat felled seam.  Major success! After lunch we decided to split them into 3 groups.  I taught a class on how to make a special bag to 3 women.  They ended up catching on extremely quickly. By the end they were laughing and beaming ear to ear.  We had such a great day; time truly flies by when you’re having fun!  

Side note: The baby that was there today had tiny wooden sticks in her earlobes that looked like earrings.  I had heard about this but never saw it.  It’s for protection from child sacrifice; they won’t be abducted because they are now imperfect.  I can’t believe that still happens!

Olivia on our brand new machine!

Polly teaching

Polly working with Erina who cannot work on an upright machine so she brings her own to work on the ground.

Tara working with a deaf student Victoria. We've been learning many new signs!

Innocent working with Salha on a bag project I led.

Peter, Emma and Polly working on knocking off a shirt.

Day with MOHM

7/13

So although I made a deal with the gym “opener” to open it for me at 7:30 the next three weeks, surprise surprise...guess who didn’t show up.  My morning was filled with great conversation with Carly, African tea, and enough pineapple for the rest of my life. We then headed to the office to go out to MOHM.  This is a women’s organization that plans activities with each other and supports the women. The women were SO great to work with.  With smiles as wide as the world, they came to greet us and take all of our materials.  One thing about Ugandans, they want to help you with EVERYTHING.  It’s very thoughtful but sometimes can be a bit of a nuisance.  (Side story, Jamie bought a bike that doesn’t work because the chain keeps falling off.  Every time this happens on the road, anyone and everyone around tries to help him fix it despite the fact that he explains he’s taking it to the mechanic.  He has talked to at least 70 people who tried to help him....and that’s not exaggerating!)  Anyway, so we made dress forms for our class today. The women were very hands on and really enjoyed the project.  MOHM meets at an orphanage every Tuesday so we got to hang out with the kids too.  So cute! I wanted to take this little boy home with me; I swear if he could fit into my pocket, I would’ve!  My heart has melted... The women cooked us this great lunch: rice and beans with kasava, beef, and this mashed banana thing that is not tasty but I only take a bit.  Portion size here is insane.  They load their plates up with mounds of food all the time and then most of the time they don’t finish it.  So for all those plates that I didn’t finish when my uncle told me “you know there are children starving in Africa,” yeah they’re not eating until their plates are clean either... so there! :)  The women also put on a small dance performance for us which was awesome.  I danced with the ladies and they were yelling, laughing, pointing at me and my hips that were shakin’ like a polaroid picture.  Although I swear those women have extra joints in their hips...  When we returned we got the office a bit more set up and then headed to Barraza for some Indian food and debriefing.  The internet is still down since UTL (the biggest internet provider) was down because of the bombing.  It should. I’m told, be up and running tomorrow.  Thank goodness! I need some source of attachment to the world! :)

               

The cutie pa-tutie...

Jigga wha'?  They're trusting an octopus to predict the outcome of the game?!

The orphanage bedrooms

The money for a well was just donated so they were building it.

Me demonstrating how to make the dress form

Three complete dress forms!! Small, medium and large. P.s. Breastfeeding ain't no thang here...this pic is quite typical of what I see on a daily basis!

Me attempting to shake it!

First day of Work!

7/12 

Woke up, turned on CNN and saw the tragedy that happened in Kampala last night.  When I got to work, Tara told us that we are going to make a detour to the internet cafe to contact everyone and let them know we are ok.  I’ve talked enough about the bombing so I’m going to just keep blogging about what we’re doing besides discussing the US Embassy.  I’m not trying to be disrespectful or naive it just starts freaking me out if I talk about it too much. 

OK, moving on... so we hopped in our van which was I swear the same van from “Little Miss Sunshine” horn and all.  So through my long fits of laughter, I was then completely grossed out by the breakfast Peter (our translator) was eating...chicken gizzard and chips. mmm Who would want Cheerios when you can have that? On we went to about 10 min. outside of Jinja to meet and assess the teachers that we would be teaching.  We visited about 8 people who brought us in their home and showed us what they do.  Emma was great: an extremely crippled man who just loved to sew! He taught free classes, did alterations for only 200 shillings (about 10 cents) and made custom garments for 1000 shillings (about 50 cents.) He seemed very enthusiastic about what we were going to teach him.  

Another place that touched my heart was a small barn room.  One side was raising turkeys the other side sat 10 women making necklaces, mats, pillow cases, and other crafts.  One woman even made her own knitting needles from bicycle spokes!  

The last place we went to was a school for the deaf.  The kids were SOOO sweet.  They even gave me a sign language name.  My hair was braided in the front so they took their right hand in an “L” (for Lindsay) and brushed it from left to right across my forehead.  (Although now that I think of it that could’ve just been for “loser.”..dang.)  I learned a lot of Lusoga signing; it was truly special to see these children.  

After a long day of traveling to the teachers’ homes, we came back to the office and started setting up our classroom.  We cleaned and set up 3 sewing machines and got our room ready for Wednesday class.  We hopped on a boda boda which is basically like a small motorcycle/big moped that they use as taxis here (think Yamaha Exciter circa 1981...)  (As a side note, the first time I rode on one I fell off, not while driving only after we stopped.  My backpack was so heavy and I couldn’t get my foot off.  The large turtle shell on my back pulled me back so fast and I got a big cut and scrape on my leg.  I mean seriously, when was the last time I got a scrape?!  I’m so B.A. ) After we all debriefed at a nice dinner at Gately.  Time to sleep...hopefully.

Peter eating the chicken gizzard!

Chicken gizzard and chips!

Emma at his shop. We gave him a teacher assessment which is what he's doing.

Shirt that Emma made. They practice before they make it in fabric.

Women making beads, mats, etc.

Deaf School classroom

The entire school grounds...

Deaf Classroom

Polly setting up a machine in the office