Happiness
It has occurred to me that complete happiness, for me, seems to be found in Gulu. A few months ago I was interviewing for a one year fellowship which would have required me moving to Gulu and quite frankly, I did not want to do it. If I was asked to move to Gulu today, I think I would. I don’t know where the switch came, or what happened exactly, but I feel so happy here. I have a feeling of purpose, and being here has made me fall in love with Uganda all over again. I was desperately needing that. In a couple of weeks I will have been living here for one year, and my next trip home is so far in the distance. Life in Kampala was making me grow complacent and being here has been a breath of fresh air.
Today was quite successful. I met with Lucy this morning and we walked to the bank to withdraw money and we talked about this new project on the way. What I love about Lucy is that she is not afraid to ask for what she needs. It was nice walking and chatting with her, and showing her how to use the ATM. I could tell that she felt embarrassed that she couldn’t remember how to withdraw money from the machine, so I joked with her by telling her that my mom still didn’t know how to use the ATM and she had had a card for many years.
We returned to the market and then I came back to the hotel to do some work on my computer before Lucy and I were to meet with GWED-G at two.
I returned to the market around 1:30 to meet Lucy and talk with the tailors (Kevin and Prisca were the only two there) for a bit. This American woman came by and had ordered some pants to be made and was trying them on and I saw that she was carrying a bag that looked suspiciously like one of One Mango Tree’s “weekender” bags. I asked her if the ladies had made it and she said yes and that she had a bunch of the other products too! I told her about our projects and gave her my card! I’m so, so happy that the tailors have been selling the designs to people here! It’s so wonderful! Eventually I envision them having space to have a little store area where they can have some pre-made bags to sell to passersby.
Lucy and I headed through the bumpy market walkways, Lucy greeting almost everyone we passed (she knows everyone!), we reached the road and were shortly at GWED-G’s door. Peter and Stella were there to meet us and we had a very, very productive meeting! We were able to secure a building in each of the camps in which we will be working, set up a rough schedule for trainings, establish who Lucy’s assistant will be and so, so many other things. The meeting lasted a little over two hours and I was so happy to get so much accomplished!
After the meeting I stopped by the trouser tailor to pick up my patched jeans and headed back to Lucy’s stall. By this time, Sara and Monica (two of the other tailors) were back and we all sat around discussing the traditional dress they are going to make for me and eating pineapple, mango and fried cassava. Wonderful. They are still working on my Lwo and every time I pronounce a word for the first time the all laugh at me. I love it!
I returned, yet again, to Hotel Kakanyero to work some more, and send Halle and Julie my exciting news. I have also found myself working on the Obama campaign, both stateside and possibly now in Uganda as well, and managed to squeeze a little time in for that. It’s going to be great! You’ll all have to stay posted to find out details, for it’s far too early to let you all in on our plans just yet. Just keep the phrase “DiscObama” on your tongues for a bit.
While sending out emails and checking my flooded inbox (which I love, so please don’t stop) I got a reminder from my friend Jill that our 10 year high school reunion is in a week (why are the last ten years such a blur….oh wait) and she wants me to email her a video diary about what I’ve been up to to show at the reunion. I decided that I would ask Shaina for help on this and was fine until she started saying things like, “ten year reunion?! What?! That’s like when people come with their spouses and children and talk about their jobs!” Great. I should tell you all now that Shaina is twenty and I absolutely love her. She cracks me up all day every day and I really don’t want her to leave in a couple of weeks. I also have to get to Birmingham, Alabama as soon as possible to meet her parents and her grandma because they all sound too good to be true. I mean, clearly they ain’t got nothin’ on my family, but they still sound pretty great. She tells me family stories daily and has me rolling on the ground with laughter. She also has friends who went to her boarding school, compliments of Oprah, so I’m thinking this could be my in. If I met Oprah….oh man.
This evening Shaina (Sheuster Sheely—I kid you not, that is her name) and I decided to try out Kope Café, a relatively new café here which is yet another business which has sprouted up to ease the anxiety of the mono community. The café is affiliated with the organization, Invisible Children, and all the proceeds go to the HEELS program which gets various art programs going for youth in the north. The food was quite good but the service was atrocious. It took us an hour and a half to get our food, after asking about it twice. Several people who came in after us got their food before us, and then we asked for napkins and never got them. They were actually closing while we were eating.
During dinner I met this Norwegian man who is a professor at some school in Maryland and does conflict studies. He was incredibly full of himself and kept talking about how he was in Rwanda when that exploded and in Sudan when that exploded and in Uganda when that exploded and in Kosovo when that exploded and on and on and on and I wanted to say, “maybe if you would stay out of these countries they could experience some peace”. I didn’t. I humored him and gave him the ooooo’s and ahhhhh’s that he was looking for. Shaina and I decided that he hangs out at Kope Café to try and impress all the high school kids who come here to volunteer for Invisible Children for three weeks over break and since I had lived here for a year, he knew he wouldn’t impress me as much as he wanted so moved inside to join another group. I know I sound like a snob, but I’m just not as easily impressed anymore.
While walking back from Kope Café I spotted a new supermarket and got super excited. Really, the only thing deterring me from wanting to move to Gulu was that you cannot find plain yogurt here. Well kids, now you can! This supermarket opened three months ago, so since the last time I was here, and the Indian man behind the counter was laughing at my excitement over yogurt, Ceres sparkling apple juice and Colgate toothpaste (don’t worry Halle and Colin…the Tom’s of Maine hippie toothpaste has been finished for some time now). Shaina and I bought Ceres, tea masala, chilli cheese Pringles and digestive crackers and now we are back at Hotel Kakanyero enjoying our purchases. I think that waiting for so long for our food has made us perpetually hungry. Today was the first day I was able to really eat because of my good friend Mr. Giardia, and it was glorious. Lucy was actually force feeding me pineapples because she said I had lost too much weight. Hmmmm…when is the last time someone said that to me? I think perhaps about ten years ago?
Tomorrow is going to be so great. I don’t have any meetings but need to spend much of my morning really working on my research proposal and then at 3pm, Shaina and I are going to Lucy’s home! I cannot wait! I have been trying to do this since October of last year and my visits here are always so rushed and busy, so finally I get to go to her home! I am so pumped! I will also get to count products and pay Lucy for some things I’m taking back to Kampala with me on Sunday. Everything is looking so, so amazing I’m super excited! I have to say, it’s always hard for me to send our products off to the US because I want to keep one of every style in every pattern! So for those of you who haven’t checked out the website for a while, I strongly suggest that you do because we have new fabrics and new products and it’s WONDERFUL!
Alright, that is enough for tonight. More tomorrow from the northern part.
