Rural Homestays

March 1 (three days ago) marks two months since I left for Uganda. I have been here for two months and falling in love with Uganda (and the people) a little more everyday. I've been slacking so I'll catch you up. 

I was in Rural Uganda for 7 days living with a family.

We had about a six hour drive in that I spent with a majority of off-campus students. It was a great time to get to know people that I don't get to see very often. The van ride was full of Heads-up, laughter and ice cream we bought at a gas station (and shared with very tiny wooden spoons).


That week, I learned how to work incredibly hard. Ugandan women might be the strongest people I know. This past week, I was up before the sun every single day (I left my watch behind, I'm trying to truly embrace "African Time.") My host mom, Toto Helen, wanted me to learn everything in a week. I think we might have gotten close.

Some background to this experience. I was living in Serere, Uganda. I put in my last post that I would be staying in Soroti. I was wrong- Toto Helen told me that it has only been it's own district for about a year. My Ugandan geography/history education is a bit behind :) They speak a different tribal language than is spoken in the central region (where I am now).  They speak Ateso, if you want to greet in this language you say "yoga." That is about the extent of my Ateso. I lived on a compound- communal living is huge here. My two brothers and my uncle each had their own structure and my two sisters (19 and 10) had their own structure. I lived in a different structure with my host mother (fun fact she is a twin mother and was beyond excited to here I was a twin).

I was dropped off Saturday at probably around 10 or so. We got straight to work washing the dishes. This sounds like an easy enough task, until you realize there is no running water. You have to haul water in jerry cans to where ever you want to do dishes. This is a job. Ugandan's really dont have a need for a traditional gym. The bore hole  (where you get water) pump is basically a rowing machine. I felt it for the next couple of days let me tell you. After you get water from the bore hole you have to push the jerry cans in a wheel barrow over many bumps.

House that I lived in.

Always welcomed with open arms.

On Tuesday, my brother (21) took me on a hike. I am out of shape (you will hear this at least 3 or four more times in this blog post....but I seriously need to start exercising and start eating less chapati and Rolex). We first went to a farm that was raising fish in a pond (and other random animals) We then went up this steep hill. I was breathing so heavy, but I made it. It was cool to see the landscape and get out of the compound for a bit. We took a detour on the way back and he showed me the prisoners gardens. The prisoners are used for manual labor in Uganda, so if you don't want to do something you hire prisoners. I asked Dan more questions on where the money goes and who gets it but he wasn't really sure. It was an interesting thing to see- they wear yellow shirts and shorts and are very rarely accompanied by guards. It was unsettling for me at first, but Dan assured me the punishment only gets worse  if they escape. I decided not to thing about it too much but rather just trust him.

I forget what day it was, but Toto Helen and I played a little bit of dress up while I was there. I was dressed in the two different types of gomesi (the traditional African wear- ps. don't judge my spelling I very rarely see Luganda written out).

This picture and the picture below are both the traditional style of dress. 

In general, I did a lot of cooking with my mom. I got to explore the gardens and see what they all planted. Also I did a lot of house chores and basically did whatever they were doing or what they would do on a normal day. 

This is sorghum. You must beat it with a stick and then thrash it in order to use it.

This photo is most definitely staged. I was so bad at thrashing. She took my picture and took over....which is definitely a good thing!

I learned a lot during homestays. It was a really long week in which I learned that I was not cut out to be an Ugandan housewife in rural Uganda (though I did have a couple guys imply they would love to marry me so I could stay there- I politely declined).  I'm all blogged out- but I'll soon post about my trip to Sipi Falls and my safari!

I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of the stars well. However, they were beautiful. Absolutely no light pollution what so ever. However I'm afraid you'll have to be okay with this picture of the moon.