Excitement Is in the Air

Excitement has been bubbling all over the place!!! The FIFA World Cup has begun and in no other place than Africa…in South Africa. This is the first time ever for Africa to host the World Cup…excitement has spread clear across the continent. Everywhere you go, you hear people, radios, TVs, etc. talking about different matches…plus the World Cup theme song plays every hour and during every commercial break…thankfully it’s a REALLY GOOD song! Other than that excitement, my herbal garden is continuing to flourish. I tended to it the last two Wednesdays and even spread more seeds of the bugga plant around to re-fertilize. We shall see how it continues. I have been told I must decide upon who I shall leave it to to take care of it once I journey back to the states…I’m thinking…hehe. So the past two weeks have been good…not too busy, not too lax…excluding Thursday! Two Thursdays ago, one of my PROMETRA Uganda colleagues drove me to five different sub-counties to complete my health center interviews and to make contact with sub-county officials. It was a busy day…and too too too sunny. I put sunscreen on regularly…but managed to get sunburned even still…and it doesn’t help that the wind even burns my face some. It was an experience and half…hehe…but I can’t complain too much because it was a successful day. When I was done with my activities in the field, we drove back to Buyijja to pick up another PROMETRA Uganda colleague and journey the rest of way to Kampala…so once again there were three of us on the bike…I sat in the middle this time, but surprisingly enough was still just about as sore as when I sat on the back…hehe! We arrived back in Kampala safely…I showered and went straight to bed. Friday then came and went with simple work at the office. Once the weekend came, I first rested…as usual. Then Sunday came and I was invited to visit a PROMETRA Uganda colleague at his home to meet his fiancé and to have a feast of food and fabulous tea. So I journeyed there in the late morning on Sunday and was greeted by a warm welcome and then become a greeter for more guests who arrived shortly after. We all sat and conversed while watching the World Cup match between Algeria and Slovenia. In a short while food was served…yum yum yum! The food was delicious and there was lots of it! We all filled our bellies then sat and relaxed…waiting for the next match between Ghana and Serbia. Tea was then served with bread and the match began. The evening came and the visit concluded with our bellies full and our bodies relaxed. I made it home just in time for the last match of the evening between Germany and Australia. I must say I have enjoyed the football excitement…I never thought I would be into football/soccer…but with the excitement all the people have, you can’t help but join along and enjoy the thrill of the games! :) As for the following week, Wednesday was an interesting day. I was asked by one of my PROMETRA Uganda colleagues to help in facilitating the Spiritualist class…I happily accepted. It turned I researched some information on palm reading, for that was the subject to be discussed. So on Wednesday the time came for me to facilitate the palm reading session. I requested the assistance of a new intern for PROMETRA who spoke Luganda…she did all the translating and was very good at it…the lesson went off with a bang! At first we simply discussed openly with all the healers what they thought of palm reading and how they interpreted it. Then we dove into the research I had done. My research consisted of information detailing how certain palm readers literally read palms, i.e. the lines on the hands, shape of the hand, texture of the hand, etc. All the healers were so interested in the information…in the end we all learned from each other…better understanding different ways to use the hands as forms of healing and as ways to read about the life of someone. It was very enjoyable, and I only hope to get the opportunity to do it again! :) After Wednesday came and went, Thursday appeared with the sun trapped behind clouds…thank goodness! That day, my PROMETRA colleague and I were to visit four different sub-counties on the bodaboda to conduct interviews with local government leaders for my research. It turned out two interviewees cancelled that day, so we were narrowed down to two. The journey was interesting! First we traveled to Ngando where we did not find the Chairman…we waited just for bit, then decided to journey a some-how short distance to another village where he lived to gather him. We got there speedy speedy on the bodaboda to find him in the trading center…I hopped on his bike, while my PROMETRA colleague followed, and we cruised down the road back to the sub-county to conduct the interview…a fun journey indeed! :) After completing the interview at Ngando, we then traveled to Kituntu. While journeying there, we passed a massive truck…only to find (shortly after passing truck) a man running down the road after us. My colleague stopped the bike and the man approached us quickly saying, “Hi Ann, how are you? I am Chairman LC III Kituntu sub-county. I am running home quickly, but will arrive back at the sub-county shortly!” Then he ran back to the massive truck and finished his journey home. My colleague and I then finished our journey to Kituntu…all the while recapping what had just happened, while I examined the initial thoughts that ran through my mind…hehe. When he first approached me by my first name, the thought that ran through my mind was ‘how did this random man know me…the only Mzungu for miles’…hehe…I thought to myself ‘wow word spreads fast from Buyijja Forest’…hehe! It’s just funny how our minds can race in just a few minor seconds…hehe! But know worries, he had every right to know who I was…it’s just funny that out in the middle of nowhere he saw a Mzungu on a bodaboda and just automatically knew it was the researcher from America coming his way…hehe! So after finally interviewing him, we ventured back to Buyijja for a short while to pick up another PROMETRA colleague to then journey the rest of the way home to Kampala. This journey also turned out to be very interesting! About 45 minutes into our journey the back tire of the bike went flat…blah…so we began walking and walking and walking until we reached the next village of Kibibi. The walk was actually quite nice…it was dusk, so not too hot, and the scenery surrounding was absolutely stunning! Uganda really is a beautiful GREEN place! After reaching Kibibi we got the bike fixed after about an hour and half and finally re-continued our journey around 7:30 p.m. We ventured the rest of the way home in the dark…by the light of the bodaboda…making it home safely a little after 10 p.m. I went straight to bed! Friday then came and went along with the weekend, which turned out to be quite relaxing. Now it is Tuesday and we are about to venture to Buyijja! As usual I am excited for the stop-over at Kyengera, where I always get my gonja (smoked bananas)…yum yum!!! :) So I think that is about all for now! Hope all is well for you…wherever you may be! :)

Keep the spirit alive – Ann Kyamulabi

Star Spotting

Well the month of May is over and June has begun. Time sure flies by! Last week I finally visited my garden at Buyijja…oh boy was it overgrown…hehe! One of the healers even approached me to inform me of the overgrowth! I think almost the entire month of May I had not visited my garden to do serious work…and serious work it needed. So I began clearing it of weeds with the help of one of my PROMETRA colleagues…we pulled pulled and pulled some more. It finally got clear…I then took a hoe and mixed up the soil some, then left it to become bountiful once again. No matter how bad the overgrowth of weeds was…I was happy to find my herbs to be doing really well…they looked extremely healthy and lively! One of the plants is even a brilliant red from the roots to the stem to the leaves…really quite beautiful!…you can automatically assume that it treats anemia…lack of blood. It is interesting to note that many medicinal plants have physical characteristics that match their particular treatment, as well as local names that basically describe what they do. Also on Wednesday, I decided to attend the spiritualist class. I had been absent for quite some time the previous two months. On this Wednesday the spiritualist class studied about Emindi…in Luganda meaning pipe. In spirituality there is the frequent use of a traditional pipe. In class the healers discussed the different types of emindi, the uses of emindi, and the significance of emindi. The main purposes of emindi are that it is a medium for communication between humans and spirits, it is a source of nutrition, and it is a symbolic fireplace for spirits. I was told by one spiritualist during the May workshop that fire has great significance in spirituality. He asked me why that would be…I responded that fire represents a central location…when a fire is present, people gather near or around that fire for many different purposes. He told me that was correct…a fire represents light and life and a central area for communal gathering…never knew fire had such meaning! Anywho, the class ended shortly with the bell call for lunch. It was agreed upon that the following Wednesday the class would finish discussing about emindi and then move onto discussing palm reading…should be very interesting! After lunch all healer trainees gathered for an afternoon meeting. The day in the forest ended after the meeting…all healers and PROMETRA Uganda staff journeyed out of the forest to then see healers head their respective directions home on two buses/trucks packed with people passionate about traditional medicine. So Wednesday ended…two of my PROMETRA colleagues and I stayed behind at Buyijja in order for me to ‘re-begin’ my research that had been put on hold because of all the excitement encompassed in the month of May. That following day on Thursday, we ventured around Mpigi District to four different sub-counties in search of contact information for sub-country officials…lastly visiting Kalamba Health Center to conduct my second to last research interview. Upon finishing…I and two of my PROMETRA Uganda colleagues journeyed all the way back to Kampala on the bodaboda. I sat at the back…and let me tell you…I was so sore by the time I arrived home…I hadn’t ridden on the bodaboda for such a long distance in over a month, so my body was unprepared for the stamina it takes to sit on the bike for so long. Once we arrived home, I washed the dirt/dust off my body and clothes and went to bed! The following day was to be a day of celebration! Earlier that week I had finally decided to schedule a little graduation party/event for the coming Friday…well Friday came and we celebrated. Five of my PROMETRA colleagues/friends, one of my friends from Bulondos, and I gathered late in the evening to journey into town and dance the night away at Ange. By the time we arrived not many people were there…slowly but surely they trickled in and people began to dance. Let me just remind you…the music in Uganda is sooooooo GOOD! The local modern music has a distinct beat you can always dance to…then many songs from American artists are locally remixed with an added twist…eh it is good good good music. When the music surrounds you, you can’t help but simply dance. Oh and people can dance in Uganda…men, women, children, elders…they all can dance and love doing it! Oh and one other exciting thing took place that night…Chameleon, a local artist (one of the first to introduce the Ugandan modern hip-hop/raggaeton music) appeared at Ange. It was interesting because people kept about their business…simply pointing him out as he passed by…there were no fan swarms that you would expect when someone famous enters a room full of people. But I guess he frequents Ange so maybe people were used to it…either way it was neat to witness a Ugandan star in person and in natural circumstances. So basically we danced the night away…lasting into the early morning. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed having at least a little graduation celebration :) The rest of the weekend I simply rested to both catch up on sleep and relax my body from the stress of the bodaboda ride and the late night dancing. Monday soon came and we all returned back to work. Now it is Tuesday and about time to venture to Buyijja to prepare for the Forest School. I’m not sure which class I will join…we shall see how the flow of the day goes. Well that’s all I have for now! Greetings to everyone…wherever you may be!

Keep the spirit alive – Ann Kyamulabi