Go With The Flow

Ehh, things have been crazy busy lately. The Afro-Asian Learning Exchange and Training Workshop PROMETRA is hosting is beginning May 7th with guests arriving by the 5th …next week! And I think us PROMETRAns will be venturing out to Buyijja either Sunday or Monday to prepare for the arrival of the guests! Though it has been busy, it has definitely been a good experience planning for it! :) As for about two weeks ago, PROMETRA hosted guests from BioVision, an organization based in Switzerland that focuses in Africa and promotes environmental conservation. The guests came to visit PROMETRA Uganda to see how we are promoting traditional medicine as well as conservation of the forests that house those medicinal plants. During that week, us PROMETRAns escorted the BioVision guests around to different traditional healers’ homes and traditional healer groups in order for them to gather information and capture photos for making a documentary and writing an article in BioVision magazine...pretty sweet! They mainly wanted to capture how people in Uganda use the environment for health related purposes, as well as inform the general public that people here are very well educated on the importance of the land and that conservation is key in order to keep forests for years to come. BioVision seems like a good organization with a good purpose! On that Wednesday, the BioVision guests were able to see Buyijja Forest School and understand better how healers learn about the medicinal importance of the forest as well as methods for conserving the natural environment. Thursday was also a pretty neat day…at about 5 a.m. we were all…those who wanted…woken up in order to venture to the top of Doctor’s Msindye Hill to watch the sunrise over Mpigi District. The BioVision people, after visiting traditional healers, wanted to capture images of the environment and the landscape…so we journeyed to the hill! :) Unfortunately, the morning was quite cloudy, so the sunrise was not seen very well…but to give credit to nature, the clouds were beautiful in the way they molded shapes and light-up with various colors. It was like the sun was battling the clouds by trying to break through…off in another direction, there were dark dark dark clouds that hovered over the hills, and every once in a while we caught a glimpse of lightening! Just being on top of the Hill and looking out over part of the Ugandan landscape was breathtaking and worth the early morning wake-up. After the early morning, it was back to visiting traditional healers. Once that Thursday ended, we ventured back to Kampala after having spent a pleasant week in Buyijja away from the hustle and bustle of the city. And let me tell you, that journey was actually quite interesting…the land cruiser first had to be loaded with lumonde (sweet potatoes), then a few of us and our bags were to be loaded on top of the lumonde! Three people laid on top, while I squished down in between two sacks. Our BioVision guests and Doctor squeezed together in the front, while the rest of the PROMETRA staff loaded themselves into yet another packed vehicle…that one full of office equipment and bananas! Once we were on the road and could no longer just sit/lay there, we decided to pull out a deck of cards and play in order to ease an awkward, lengthy journey :) So out came the cards, and we played all the way back to Kampala finally reaching around 9 p.m…just enough time to get a good night’s sleep! Overall, I think the visit of BioVision guests went really well, and they got the information they were looking for! Now as for today…it has been an interesting day! I woke up early this morning to prepare for a journey into Kampala city center to retrieve my new visa. Well…one of my PROMETRA colleagues and I arrived at Immigration early and had to wait about 45 minutes to see someone. I then got my passport and was directed to the cashier’s office. Once there, he wrote up a quick receipt type thing and directed me to Diamond Trust Bank. So my colleague and I hailed a taxi bus and ventured down the busy road to the bank where I was to get a money order for paying for my new visa. Once at the bank, I waited only about 15 minutes to find that I must return in two hours to pick up the money order. So…my colleague and I found breakfast at a little spot near the big ‘old taxi park’ (Paka Kadde). After eating, we still had some time to waste so we walked around inquiring about poster printings for PROMETRA. After two hours, we ventured back to the bank, I picked up the form then we journeyed back to Immigration. Once there, I roamed around shortly to get a copy of some documents…then went to the office hoping to simply get my visa stamp and be done…instead I found I must return again in another two hours to pick up my passport with its new visa stamp. So my colleague and I moved down the road a little to a nice grassy area at a nearby Institution where we simply relaxed for a bit. After about an hour and half, we returned to Immigration… waited some more…then, with no further problems, I obtained my passport with a nice new visa stamp. Ehh, it was a process and half…hehe! Now I am back at the office about to continue working on video scripts for the workshop…I think it will be a long night again…last minute preparations! But it’s all in the name of the workshop…It’s going to be GOOD! :) Sorry for the delay in blogging!!! Hope all is well wherever you may be! Oh I almost forgot…my garden is doing wonderful! My bugga is growing really well, and the other herb…not sure its name yet, but it’s good for anemia…is so bushy and healthy looking. Unfortunately, the third herb dodo is not coming up…maybe it’s just being stubborn..hehe! :) Either way, yayyyy for my herbal garden!

Keep the spirit alive – Ann Kyamulabi

Ants Ants Ants and Cards Cards Cards

So good good news! I finally got my herbs planted in my garden! :) This past Wednesday at Buyijja turned out to be quiet with extra leisure time as well as muddy muddy muddy! It had poured rain all morning causing the forest to be a mucky mess. Oh and just to inform you, when it rains, the ants come out! They begin migrating to dry land by the hundreds of thousands, which means they traipse across the walking path, and you have to step lightly but quickly with high knees…even so, you still get bit…hehe…it’s inevitable! Well any who, because the day was so quiet, I took some time right before lunch and ventured to my garden with the company of a traditional healer trainee. She provided me with both the herbal seeds for three different plants good for anemia as well as help in planting them! Come to find out, she is also from the Mbogo clan…so when she found out I am now also from the Mbogo clan, she wanted to help a fellow clan member/sister out! People in Uganda are very very generous and constantly assist one another in anything…it’s considered a blessing to help a fellow person. More importantly, here in Uganda when you meet a fellow clan member, it is truly wonderful and lucky and accompanied with happy loving greetings…it’s as though you are meeting a long-lost family member :)! So because we are now from the same clan, she was so so so generous in assisting me with my garden…she even gifted me with sugar cane, guavas, cassava, and yams!!! It was all so NICE!!! So now my herbs are planted, and I can simply up-keepthe garden and wait for something to hopefully spring-up…wish me and the garden luck! On another note, I have learned a really fun and quite exciting card game that is infamous here in Uganda…you can play and play and play into the night and up till odd hours of the morning…just like we do with dominoes on Thanksgiving (for those of you who have experienced the craziness of that event)…hehe :) I have heard no name for the game yet, other than cards…but the name is not important…you just play! :) I’ll show you all once I’m back…and it could become another option for Thanksgiving game nights…wink wink! Any who, after Wednesday came with rain and ended with a late late night of cards…hehe…Thursday arrived, and all us PROMETRAns climbed into the land cruiser with the company of three visitors and ventured around Mpigi District. We visited two traditional healers’ homes to see their gardens and cultivation, as well as visited three different traditional healer groups that are attempting to develop themselves through marketing and selling of herbal concoctions and treatment. The day was full of so much activity…driving on muddy bumpy roads, climbing in and out of a packed land cruiser, walking around lush, incredibly bountiful gardens, and watching traditional healers mix and prepare herbal soaps and herbal vaselines. I was fascinated to see such dedication and integrity! These traditional healers are so so so knowledgeable about various herbal plants and their use in treating illnesses, and they manage such large variety-packed gardens as well as keep livestock and raise families! People here have so much heart and strength…I admire their drive! :) Well I think that is about it for now. I am back from Buyijja for a few days and will hopefully enjoy a fun relaxing Easter weekend! Happy Easter and enjoy the weekend!

Keep the spirit alive – Ann Kyamulabi