Sunday, December 4, 2011

WARNING: this post is long. been a while.


ecember 1, 2011. My first participation in World AIDS Day Celebration. In Uganda. Could it get any better? I’ll answer it for you: Nope.

So, my district had organized the celebration to be in the sub-county Mucwini and different organizations and schools participated by performing songs, dances or dramas. My favorite and the best of the entire day came from my fellow PCV’s school. He, Russ, works at a disabled children’s school where the majority of students are deaf. They put together a drama where they acted out a story thru sign language that was translated in Acoli…hence, I didn’t know exactly what was being said. But, these kids were so brillant and accurately conveyed their HIV-AIDS awareness message to the crowd and provided many, many laughs. There were also some traditional dances by the school kids that are always fun to watch. They vary in dance and beat but usually have the girls dancing against the boys drumming to simulate a type of courtship. I really wish I had charged my camera enough to record, cause it was really neat to watch. The primary schools did it before the secondary schools, and it was interesting to see the difference of how the different ages and genders interacted with each other. But very, very cool. I have a few pix that hopefully gives a brief idea of what I’m talking about.

My organization came with our community volunteers who sang a song for the performance. The volunteers help mobilize when we do VCT and usually perform a drama for entertainment, encouragement and education for villagers. Usually when we go into the field, there will be about 10 people, usually women, who mobilize by circling the village while singing songs and beating drums, with the frequent high pitched ululation (don’t worry, I captured that on film and will definitely share). But for World AIDS day, everyone participated in mobilizing. And it was super cool. All of the organizations and schools formed two single file lines that were led by a small band and marched around the village to call for the locals for VCT. At first, I was like, ugh why do we all have to do it. But, it was freaking neat. Everyone was walking and bopping to the beat, which I was nervous to do because my white ass stuck out and I didn’t want anyone making fun of me, but after about 4 minutes you just can’t help it and start walking with a strut. The older women continued their excitement through their “Ai-yai-yai-yai-yaiiiiiiiiii” every few seconds and everyone was just super involved. My friend Mikael, a fellow PCV in Kitgum and closest neighbor, was with me and we were just laughing the whole time. Sounds SUPER lame and cliché, but, I totally felt the spirit of the event during the walk. All the villagers came out of their homes and shops to see what was going on and everyone was very into the mobilization. Sadly, the event got a little less spiritual after that. Although the dramas, songs and dances were awesome to watch, Ugandans man, they sure do love to talk in the microphone. And say the same thing the person before them said, with the same facts, statistics and solutions to problems. And, they thank all the same people. Every time anyone talks, the same 5 people get thanked. It just ruined the performances and made the event seem too long and drawn out and screamed of a legacy of conditioned formality imposed on them by colonization—but, I digress. Outside of that, it was super neat and I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it.

At work I have been helping my workmate, and self-assigned counterpart, Racbedo Richard. You guys wanna know what Racbedo means? Rac means bad and bedo means to stay. So, my favorite workmate is named “stay bad”. I asked him how he aquired such a name and he explained that he was born at a time of struggle and conflict, and therefore his parents named him accordingly. Richard said, with some chuckles, “I think I am the only one in the world called Racbedo, so I am thankful to my father.”  The Acoli name their youth according to the time they were born. If they were born in a time of poverty, wealth, if their mother was chased away by her husband (yes, that is true. My workmake Winnie is named Aryemo Winnie because there was some conflict and her father chased her mother away while she was pregnant)…you get the picture. It is actually quite neat and interesting to see how people are named and just how much they live up to their names. My workmate Freddy is named Anywar, which means to disturb, and he totally lives up to his name. He’s the office joker and is always poking fun with people. But ya, that is how I got my name. I explained I was a surprise and that I was spoiled rotten by my family and was therefore name, Lamara, the most loved.

Anyway. Work has been pretty good. I’ve been assigned to working with Richard on data entry and our M&E program. I have no idea about monitoring and evaluating, but hopefully I’ll figure it out. I’ve also been going into the field with Richard and Mariana for VCT. The first time I went, Marianna handed me a piece of paper and said, “Here, you do this. I’ll show you how to do it. Here, is the date: you write the date. Here, is the client’s name: you write the client’s name” and proceeded to “teach” me how to do the work. “Yes, Marianna, I get that. How do I ask all of the questions in Acoli?” …chirp…chirp…(if you couldn’t hear it, that’s crickets of silence). Ya. So, I got reassigned to registration where it was less Acoli. But still intimidating and nerve-wracking. The first day at it sucked, because my pronunciation was (and is) still off and I’m not too confident. Some were nice, until the town drunk decided to come sit on top of me and disturb me. That was super frustrating, as he insisted he “needed” me and that I take him to America. The locals laughed at him, which only egged him on and my workmates did not understand my eye-brow communication when I tried to say, get this mother away from me. I thought I was getting pretty fluent in the eye-brow communication, but I thought wrong. Here, Ugandans are able to use non-verbal communication by just raising their eye brows or pushing out their lips. The lip thing is beyond me and fortunately not common up north (from what I can see anyway, maybe it is there), but the eye brow thing I thought I was starting to understand. But no, and my workmates waited about 30 minutes to get homie off my lap. But, I am happy to say after that discouraging trial run, the field has gotten better and my Acoli is approving. I am able to hear the villagers a little more when they speed whisper their names and answers and I am becoming more confident when I speak. So, I’ve been enjoying the field.

I also get a little daily practice on my walk to and from work. They are doing some construction/plumbing in town, so since I have moved in I have had workers all around me. When I first walked up the hill (I have a steep ass hill right by my house that I have to hike multiple times a day, and it sadly does not get easier the more I do it), I saw all the men and thought, oh great. I gotta walk up this hill, all sweaty, red and panting out of breath with these fools waiting to disturb me. But, I said a small apwoyo (thank you, which is a go to in any situation, I shall discuss later) and they have become my buddies. They get a kick out of my small Acoli and greet me everyday. Aside from the two asses who tell me to give them money, they are my homies and I look forward to our paths crossing. Sadly, they are finishing the work by my house, so I don’t see them as often.
But back to the Apwoyo. Here, Apwoyo is the go-to word. And it means, Thank you. And you say thank you for EVERYTHING. Let me give you a few examples. When you pass people on the street, greet your workmates in the morning or just basically come into contact with anyone, these are some of the common thanks you give:
Apwoyo coo (thank you for waking)
Apwoyo bino (thank you for coming)
Apwoyo neni (thank you for seeing you)
Apwoyo ba (an all encompassing thank you)
Therefore, when I return to the states, I’m gunna be like, “Thank you for waking up today!...Thank you for showing up!” It doesn’t necessarily translate well. But, is actually pretty neat to think about and interesting to note the differences of our culture compared to theirs. Definitely more people centered and embracing, for sure. 

Mikael and I finally started with our Acoli teacher, who is just the sweetest and most cheerful old man ever. He always has the biggest grin on his face with his chipmunk cheeks. The first day we were supposed to meet, the networks were out so we couldn’t reach each other by phone. So, I rudely went about my evening while my lapwonya (my teacher) came to my compound and waited for me. After an hour or so when I didn’t show up, he left copies of notes he had written up for my guards to give me. You don’t have to say it, cause I felt like an ass on the spot.

For thanksgiving we all met up in Gulu town to celebrate. There were about 50 volunteers who came to our regional celebration and we cooked and feasted at the local Ethiopian restaurant and had an after party at a fellow PCV’s, Michelle, compound. The food was, AMAZING. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, salad, roasted pork, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin pie, brownie crumbles, cake, home made bread…ah it was so good. And then we went to Michelle’s and had a bonfire in her compound. It was pretty awesome and everyone was stuffed from delicious American food. It is crazy how much food can really mean to you. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’ve always had an appreciation for food. I love it. But hot diggity damn, when you don’t have access to everything that is good and that you are used to, it gets to you. The smallest resemblance of home can just make your life. Luckily for me, I haven’t been struggling that much since homestay. My family sends me AWESOME packages loaded with goodies like snickers, cereal and pasta/pesto/artichoke sauce. And, I have some friends who are effing talented at cooking. But, the American celebration with American food was fan-freaking-tastic.

Other than that, I’ve been pretty much chillin. I’m loving my life here and cant believe I’ve been here for 4 months already. Only 1 year and 11 months to go, lol. Its going by so fast, but at the same time, I cannot believe I’ve been gone from my babies for 4 months. I had my first breakdown last week. I was looking at pix of Giada and Coupe, and I just could not believe it. Its hard enough seeing how big and grown Jack and Tru are getting, but at least I got to see them grow up. I’m missing out on a lot with all of them, and its depressing. Those little baybays are so effing beautiful. But, such is life, right? Oh, also. im 25. im a quarter of a century year old. it feels weird.

Sorry this one is kinda long, haven’t written in a while and I guess had more to say than I thought. Miss you all and wish you a happy holiday season. Love yous.

3 comments:

  1. Apwoyo for writing this "Lamara". It was my Sunday morning gift, a great read!

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  2. That was weird..the comment above is from me Jowi, Not sure why it doesnt say Tracey

    ReplyDelete