July 29th Bird Report

I am sure that eventually the rate of new bird sightings will go down but after 4 days, we have spotted 12 new species from our balcony. Two huge highlights – the African Harrier Hawk and a pair of Black-and-White-Casqued Hornbills.

Our Birds of Uganda book says that a birder can see 70% of all the birds in Uganda on a good 16 day birding vacation. That would be 700+ birds. I think they would all blurr together. I quite like our pace of 2-4 new birds a day. Might not see 700 but 23 since July 10 is not too bad, especially as we didn’t do any bird spotting in Gulu!

These photos are all mine unless otherwise mentioned. If I have made a mistake in the names, please let me know! I am using my field guide to identify the birds but some of the smaller birds are harder to see.

Baglafecht Weaver

Cattle Egret

Female Black and White Casqued Hornbill

Male Black and White Casqued Hornbill

Meyer's Brown Parrot

Yellow Fronted Canary

African Harrier Hawk

Laughing Dove

Speckled Pigeon

Red Eyed Dove

African Yellow White-Eye (Wikipedia)

Brown Mannikins

 

Variable Yellow Bellied Sunbird

 

Ranting about Rape

The internet is down today, or at least that is what we are telling ourselves as we can’t get our magic stick to connect. We went to the local shop and the girl suggested adding time to our SIM card so we did that but we are having no luck. I blame the wind. Corey says it’s not the wind because it has to do with the cell towers but sometimes it is easier to blame something on the weather!

So I need to rant and it’s not a pleasant one so be forewarned. I am going to talk about the prevalence of rape and defilement in Uganda so if you don’t want to know or be part of the conversation, skip this blog post.

Each day I buy the Daily Monitor. It is the independent newspaper for Uganda and it covers all stories from around the country. I am slowly learning more about Ugandan politics and the roles of the various important people. I doubt I will ever remember all the names and roles because they seem to change quite often but I feel it is important for me to know more about what is going on. In China, I often felt as though I was completely out of touch because I couldn’t read the paper and the only news we had on TV was CCTV which gave a “slightly” modified version of the daily news.

Apart from lots of governmental officers being taken to court by various citizen groups, the one story that keeps coming up is about rape. It is called defilement when it happens between a child and an adult but at the end of the day, it is rape. This week the cases reported in the paper (and they only get a one paragraph mention unless the victim is also killed) are: a pregnant woman was gang raped, a man raped his mother, the houseboy raped then strangled a 13 year old girl after an argument over 20,000shilings, a father raped his 7 year old daughter while his wife worked in the garden, and another father raped and impregnated his 13 year old daughter. Those are the cases that have been reported in the last 3 days.

Apart from the visceral reaction that comes with the mere mention of rape, these cases eat away at my brain. What is it about this society that makes men feel that rape is permissible? What is the problem within the society that makes this action something that men resort to? Were societies all like that at some stage in their evolution and if so, what change happened to make this act completely unacceptable? What needs to happen?

Corey says that a big issue is that the men are idle. There is no work despite the fact that there is so much that could be done. If money could be invested into paving the roads, all the men who have no jobs could be hired to repair them. But is that really all it is? Do men in Canada who are unemployed and idle decide that rape is something to do to fill their time? Are there so many more rape cases in Canada than what we hear? I can’t imagine that this is true. I know we have cases of rape. I know pedophilia and incest exist. But on such a grand scale?

We work with girls and women to try to empower them and to try to help them stay safe. “Just say no!” we tell them. But how can they say no to their father/uncle/son? The mother who was raped by her son said that he threatened to kill her. Saying “no” would not have helped her. 

Women here work hard. They are toiling in the gardens, caring for the children, cooking, fetching water… working non-stop. Some earn money but many of them need to give the money to the man of the house. Even the Ugandans that we speak to say that this inequality is a major problem within their society.

What needs to happen to change the mentality of the men? Never mind working with the girls and empowering them, we need to do something about the cultural “acceptance” of this act. And defilement? Why have a gentler word for what is happening?

Sally Armstrong said: “Abuse and rape are not cultural acts, they are criminal acts.” It cannot be excused because it is “their culture.”

Obviously it is not all Ugandan men. It is, however, more than our norm.

There are so many billboards that advertise safe sex and HIV testing. Maybe there needs to be a campaign to sensitize the population about rape. “Shame on you, you disgusting human being.” Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to write the billboards. But something needs to happen.

Andrew, our fabulous Ugandan cultural attaché, says that the biggest issues are a sense of entitlement and no sense of restraint. However, the issues is starting to come up on radio talk shows and in advertisements. Andrew recommended that teachers talk about it as part of the curriculum. Teachers are respected and looked up to so if they are talking about it to the boys, maybe things will start to change. It will be a slow process but at least something is already starting to happen.

July 25th Bird Report

There is a great difference between a birder and a bird watcher. If you ever get the chance to watch “The Big Year” with Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin, you will learn more about birders. We went on a birding tour in Mexico a few years ago and the people there quickly snubbed us because we did not have a “life list” to cross birds off as we saw them. My only “lifer” here is a shoebill although a wild crested crane would be pretty exciting too.

I just like birds and I like finding new ones, listening to old ones and generally watching them anywhere I am. I carry a bird book because I like to know what I am looking at but I am not counting the birds I see so that I can brag about the number of birds I have seen or “the time I saw the motmot in Mexico.” I am a bird watcher and Corey is becoming a bird watcher too. We have our binoculars by the back door with my Birds of Africa South of the Sahara book and we watch.

Uganda is a haven for bird watchers. There are over 600 species of birds here and people from around the world come to see their “lifers.” Each morning we wake up to the plantain eaters, the ibis, and the bulbuls. There is also a dove who sounds like he is rapping but I don’t know who he is yet. We also have the flock of roosters who make sure we notice them too because they are, after all, birds.

So from time to time, I am going to share the birds we have seen. If you don’t care about birds, skip these blogs. But there are some beautiful ones around that are worth taking a look at. Most photos are not mine because by the time I spot the bird, get my binoculars for a closer look, get my book for an attempt at identification and then get my camera to take a photo, the bird is gone or he has moved just behind a strategically placed leaf so that I only get a photo of his tail. If he’s a plantain eater, he laughs at me too.

Eastern Grey Plantain Eater - my photo

 Speckled Mousebird

 

Red Shouldered Cuckooshrike

Double Toothed Barbet

Splendid Glossy Starling - my photo

Scarlet Chested Sunbird

 

Long-Crested Eagle

 

Marabou Stork - my photo

Glossy Ibis - my photo

Dark Capped (Black-Eyed) Bulbul - my photo

Pied Crow

And yes, I did see a motmot in Mexico on our way to Saint Sebastian although the birders didn’t believe me!

More from Chez Mzungu

Hello again from our lovely home. We made it home on Monday and were greeted by a lovely gift from Sam... a washing machine! This was very fortuitous as we all brought home a good pound of Gulu road dust in our clothes (and hair and nose) so we needed to do some serious washing. I had already washed a load by hand before we went to Gulu and I could have continued if I did the laundry every morning from the previous day so that there was only a little bit to do but the washing machine is fantastic! No complaints there. We have even installed a clothes line on both balconies and have purchased cute fishy clothes-pegs.

Our kitchen is becoming well stocked for our time here and Corey is preparing amazing meals with the local ingredients. Tonight we are trying Boo (pronounced boaw) which is an Acholi leafy green that needs to be boiled for about 20 minutes to become tender. The traditional recipes we have found online cook it with odii (ground-nut butter) so that is what we are going to try. This is the green that we planted at St Patrick's school in Gulu so we wanted to try out this fast growing green. The seed is like a legume - looks like a small soybean - so it's quite an odd plant. Our dinner will also consist of rice, oyster mushrooms, eggplant and carrot. Yummy!

We bought the boo at the same market we went to last Saturday. I had thought (silly me) that it might only be a weekend market but it is just as plentiful during the week. Apollo, our driver, tried to keep us on the edge of the market where he could keep an eye on us but we ventured into the stalls to get avocado, pineapple, pawpaw, mango and the boo. I bought a basket today to put the fruit into so slowly by slowly the house is feeling like home. I initially found a beautiful lime green basket but it was twice the size and weight of the orange one and so this one with handles was the one I bought. The pineapple, by the way, cost $1.50 and the 4 avocados were $1.00 total.





The weather has been great. Not too hot with a lovely breeze. In the morning we are pretty socked in with hazy smoke but by the end of the day, the smoke has left and we have an amazing view. Yesterday we were able to see all across the lake. It was the first time I noticed that. We also had a beautiful full moon.


















Birds and monkeys continue to visit as well. As mzungu, we are much quieter than the neighbours so the fauna comes to relax here. When we got home today there were two crows just screaming outside the kitchen window. We all looked out and there was a vervet monkey, just trying to relax on the water tower but the crows were having none of it.

We have also had some beautiful birds that I am trying to identify and will add to the blog as I go.

Apart from the few tiny ants in our bedroom and the very occasional cockroach, we cannot complain. And even at that, we can't complain! Apollo, our driver, is great and knows the back routes to avoid the jam. Edigga, the grounds-keeper, is so sweet and works very hard to make sure the leaves are swept, the floor is washed, and the grounds are safe. He has told us that he only leaves the grounds to go next door to the school to eat lunch and dinner. When we returned from Gulu, our shoes were a bit muddy but nothing we wouldn't have just left at home to eventually wear off. When we got up the next morning, the shoes were gone. Ediga had collected them after washing the floor and scrubbed them spotless. They are cleaner than they were when we bought them!

So life here is good. While Ellen, Marina and Kathy are on safari, we are going to do some more exploring of our neighbourhood. There are small stalls with fresh produce, grocery stores, and other little shops to see. There are also some restaurants that we want to explore in Kabalagala which is 2 neighbourhoods away.

Webale nyo for reading my blog! Please comment and let me know what is happening at home. We always love to get news.

Erika

PS - I do have a blog from Gulu but it is on my iPad so I have to wait until we get our wifi.

Welcome to Chez Mzungu

I am not sure if the reality of our year has hit me yet but once we had toured our new home, Corey said, "I could live here forever!" If it was solely based on our accommodation, I would have to agree! Even as I write this, I am sitting on the balcony, enjoying the view from Chez Mzungu. We had a Chez Laowai in China next to our kitchen where we ate our breakfast on little metal chairs at a tiny glass top table but it became our special little corner of the world. The upstairs balcony off our bedroom on Mulamula road is a lovely corner of the world and deserves the name of Chez Mzungu. I am sure we will have many meals and write several emails (when we get wireless) from this spot.








When we got here, we thought we had arrived at the dorms and that the luggage was being unpacked because we were going to stay with the team at the boarding house and then move to our home. We asked if this was a boarding house and the lady laughed when she told us it was our home. This property was acquired within the past few days by Kabojja School and is being converted into a meeting/conference centre with accommodations on the top floor.

We use the kitchen, laundry, and dining room (with the big boardroom table) downstairs but we spend our home time upstairs. There is a huge bedroom with an amazing balcony (Chez Mzungu), full bathroom, dressing room, living room, 2 more bedrooms and another full bathroom for the guests.















Right next door is the school.




The house has a big yard maintained by Endiga (not 100%sure on that one) and his dog Simba keeps us safe during the night.

This was not the original home arranged for us but this one is larger, safer and closer so that no money is spent on transport on a daily basis. It works our really well as the teachers can come to the conference room downstairs for presentations (a SMART board is being installed on one wall) and Sam has said that we can even come for a rest during the day if we want.

Corey will use the kitchen to train the cooking staff. I look forward to seeing him do that there. He will need to get used to the kitchen first before he can even start to plan his cookery lessons!





New large houses are being built all around us and it all feels very grand. It's not what I expected at all. I knew it wouldn't be a mud hut but this is so much more than I thought.

Thank goodness the shower lives up to the Ugandan standard!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mzungu at the market

We asked James to take us to the market where he buys his food for the school and he told us that while there are other markets closer, his favourite is Kalerwe Market. It is miles away but certainly well stocked. We left at 10:45 this morning (Saturday) and arrived in about 30 minutes. The drive home was another matter!

James did his shopping and we looked around. Eventually we decided on what we wanted to buy for ourselves to eat for snacks, lunch and dinner. When looking at the prices we paid, the conversion rate for Canadian is 2000UGS (Ugandan Shilling) to 1$ Canadian. Here are our purchases for the weekend.

 One child even dared to touch Corey and then ran away!

 I touched a mzungu! And a big one too!

Pineapple – 3000UGS

 Tomatoes – small stack 2000UGS and pawpaw (papaya - small) - 2000UGS

 Peppers – small stack 1000UGS

4 Avocado – 1500UGS

6 Limes – 2000UGS

Bunch of Mini Bananas – 2000UGS

Mango – small stack – 2000UGS

Dodo – 2 bunches – 1000UGS

Total $8.25

As I eat the pawpaw, I think that I would have paid at least $4.50 for one this size at home and it wouldn’t have tasted this good. I think we may make it a weekly ritual to get our produce there. We won’t be able to do better, that’s for sure and judging by the flavour of the pawpaw that I am eating, the hour in traffic is well worth it.