Wutye nining??

An Nyinga Jose ento kilwonga ni Lamara. Lamara tye “the most loved”. Abiciro kitgum tiyo tic i Meeting Point. Iya Yom!!

Translation: My name is Jose (because Ugandans, and Afrika as a whole, cannot fathom nor pronounce “joey” and have all re-named me Jose. Not the Mexican Jose with a silent J pronounced as a H, but the Jose close to Josie, but not lame. It kinda sounds like “Jo-zay”. Its actually kinda cute, ive become quite attached to it) but I am called Lamara meaning “the most loved” (uh-huh, I got it like that even in Uganda). I will be going to Kitgum doing work in Meeting Point. My stomach is full. …just have an “Oi? Wtf?” moment? Ya, well, in Acoli, the saying my stomach is full implies that one is happy. Who knew I’d fit so well into this culture…

So, as ive said before, I will be going north to a district called Kitgum and placed right outside of Kitgum town. In the north, the main language is Acoli, which weve been studying for a little less than 2 months. It is in the Luo language family and the language and culture very much resembles the Jaluo people I stayed with in Kenya. So, its been like a homecoming since day one. I’ve loved it. We just took our language exams yesterday after studying the language for less than 2 months…I passed. Woot. Woot. I passed with the minimum score required, and therefore I will make use of the mentor PC will provide and step my game up. Imma speak this acoli by the end of my two years, you just wait and see.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, Uganda can actually get cold and cause you to wear a sweater. But not where I am going, of course not. Why would I be so lucky? I am going to the place where the Ugandans say is the hottest in the country, right below South Sudan. A couple in my group is placed in the eastern/northern part of Kitgum and can see South Sudan in their backyard.  But anyway, I am going to be working in Meeting Point, an organization started by my supervisor in the early 90s because she wanted to provide emotional support to peoples living with or affected by HIV-AIDS and reduce the stigma of the disease. It was one of the first HIV-AIDS organizations in the north and has been running for almost 20 years, even throughout the war. As I am told, they have been largely supported by Italian doctors and volunteers, as well as other European volunteers, and have a compound for said volunteers called “AVSI”.  That is where I will be staying. And it is like a little Europe inside Uganda. Actually I’ve never been to Europe so I don’t know if its like Europe, but, it definitely is not like living the life of Ugandans. **I am listening to a mix from my best friend dj soso fresh and the song, “I just came to say hello” is playing and I am so happy** My home/apartment is fully furnished with a bed, table + chairs, couch and four sitting chairs. My kitchen has a big fridge, sink (with running water), counter and best of all.. a four-stove top OVEN. I am going to have an oven.. I cant get over it. I also have a running shower and a flush toilet with a functional sink. And, I have the only and biggest closet I have ever seen in Afrika. All these wonderful amenities seem amazing, but they have been causing me a lot of guilt. When ya sign up for peace corps, you do it when the thought and hope, at least for me, to live a different kind of life. My main motive for joining the peace corps was to learn and be a part of a new culture and I had planned on immersing myself in it. With my new, and very fortunate, living situation, I wont really be doing that. Not only do I have pretty much every aside from drinkable water and a wash machine, I am living in a compound with ex-pats… not in the community. So, my thought of living as “one” with the people (even though that could never really happen) and learning the language and culture is not realistic, and its going take much more effort on my part to immerse myself. However, I do have the cool pad that everyone ones to come visit and I welcome any and all with open arms!

When we did our language and future site immersion, we got to tour around the main city, Gulu. It’s a lot like kisumu in Kenya. Its not the hustle and bustle, dirty and compact streets of nairobi but it is a big town with everything that one needs. Including some good old America pizza :) I have a few friends who will be living in gulu, so my excuse to go there will be justified. Anyway, I stayed in my new home for 2 days and observed at my new job. I went on field outreaches with them and saw a small glimpse of what our work is. My new org is a lot like Matibabu in Kenya; it is a clinic providing VCT and home based care to peoples living with or affected by HIV-AIDS and travels to isolated communities without access to such services. The story and passion of my supervisor, as well as my other amazing workmates, is very ispiring and encouraging and I feel so privileged to be in her presence. Also, I very much want to get involved with the peace and reconciliation work taking place here in the north. If any of you remember the “Invisible Children” that was popular the past few years, that is where we are living. So, needless to say, I am surrounded by amazing people and endless opportunities…cannot wait. OH! And, they have baseball and softball here!! They have some camps taking place in January and I am signing up to participate—I cannot wait to get back on the field, my life will be complete once again.

We all were sworn in to the Peace Corps yesterday, on the 13 of October, 2011. It was great, I didn’t think it would be a big deal but I felt myself becoming a little emotional as we took our oath. And I looked at my favorite couple, Bill and Holly, and saw Bill crying which in turn immediately gave me tears. But, tis official—we are Peace Corps Volunteers. BOOYA beetchesssssss. And today, we all moved to our new homes and sites. The Kitgum grew, composed of myself, Mikael, Russ, Aubrey and Patrick all left this morning at 6am to catch the 8am, 8 hour long bus to Kitgum. The drive was great, aside from the part where it was raining and our bus pulled over to let someone off, slide in the ditch and started tipping on my side. As I was against the window, feeling the bus pass a safe balance point and near tipping over, I thought to myself, “Holy shit, its happening…This is how I go.” My rational brain told me that if I moved to the other side of the bus, it would be enough to transfer the weight necessary to stop the tipping. So I yelled at Mikael and unknowingly tried to push her out of her seat. My supervisor and other Ugandans were laughing at us, mainly at me, and said, “its ok, its just slipping. He just has to get out of the ditch.” Nah homies, that shit almost tipped. But, needless to say, the driver had mad skills and got us out of the predicament without a scratch. And we all had a good laugh at the silly mzungu who doesn’t know. Cuddos to people driving on dirt roads that are not big enough for 2 compact cars to pass evenly without swiping of the others side view mirror and have only the option to bail in the ditches on either side of the single lane road. Hot damn, people here are resourceful.

As happy as we all were to peace out to training and become real life volunteers and live in our own homes, we are all very sad to leave each other. For the past 2 months, weve been staying in wacky wakiso with homestays, going to training every day and eating food not of our choice, but we have had each other. And now we are divided throughout Uganda. Tis sad friends, tis sad. But thankfully we have things like IST (in service training) and holidays like Thanksgiving to reunite. I will def miss my homies and bitching about all the crazy shit that happens to us on a daily basis. Lucky for me, I am only 15 minutes to my future bestie Mikael and like 20/30 to Russ. I don’t see myself living any type of hard life here in Uganda, as I sit here typing with my music playing thru my speaker, fan blowing on my face and my cold water at my fingertips. (Incase you haven’t caught on, this is my guilt trying to resolve being dealt this amazing hand for the next 2 years…oi)

So, if any want to send some good ol’ fashion snail mail, it would make my life. My address is now the following:

Josephine Daniels PCV

Meeting Point Kitgum

PO Box 96

Kitgum, Uganda

Also, packages are greatly appreciate and valued J My telephone number is +256773127476 and I believe I receive most text messages from the states. It is kinda expensive, about 25-50 cents to give/receive texts.

I miss and love you all.

some pix of my bedroom with the kagembes...my mosquito net with my undies drying inside..

The living room, kitchen and dining room. yes, thats a fridge :)

My front/back/side yard..

for some reason gigantic pix of my shower and clothes washing area. plus the annoying ass chickens that wake me up every morning, starting at 4am. do they know the sun isnt up yet? someone needs to inform them.

my pit latrine. i set my shoe next to it so you all get somewhat of an idea just how small this hole is. you can only imagine how it takes skill to aim and multi-task..if ya know what i mean..

our kitchen next to the rain water collector and the pad locked door to the outside world.