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