Monday, June 30, 2014

Life in a Northern Town...

Remember that song? Sung by Dream Academy in 1985. A lovely song about a lovely town. So peaceful and serene, just like being in Nonai, Lamwo district, Northern Uganda.

Well, all the North really. There is something about this place that makes me breathe a sigh of relief and just slow down.

We've been North since Tuesday and this beautiful part of the world has offered me more incredible experiences. I love it here and would be happy with what it has offed me so far but this past week, I have had two more unbelievable, moving, humbling experiences.

We presented to 100 girls at Lalak primary on Friday. They were in grades 6 and 7 but must have been between 13 and 18 years old. This age at these grades is not unusual. After the presentation, Grace asked us if we would walk to her village to see her aunty and the homes that she built. The 100 girls followed us and sang all along the way. It gave me shivers to be walking through the bush, along a narrow red dirt path, just managing to see the thatched roofs over the tall grass with the voice of 100 girls all around us. It was hauntingly beautiful.

The other event was after Corey had spent a morning interviewing the elders in Nonai about their lives. He asked them about their happiest childhood memory, how had the environment changed in their lifetime and what advice would they give the youth. He sat under a mango tree and spoke with four elders while others came along and listened to the conversation. A the end of the interviews, he gave them all a hygiene kit (all we had as a gift) but asked Simon what ISEE could offer to them as a thank you.

Simon suggested a goat.

On Saturday (really? Only yesterday?) we all piled into the van to Nonai to offer a goat. We parked under the proverbial mango tree and the elders came to greet us again. Simon spoke with the chairman to tell him what we wanted to do. Then someone came across the road with a billy goat.

At the same time, a child led an older woman across the street. She held one end of a stick and walked behind the child who held the other end.

Negotiations ensued and finally a price was agreed upon.

"She is asking 100,000 shillings but we have negotiated to 90,000."

"Who owns the goat?" I asked.

"This blind lady." It was the woman who was led across the street.

"Do we have to pay 90,000? Can we pay 100,000?"

"If you want to support her because she is blind, you can give her 100,000."

"I don't want to support her because she is blind, I want to pay her what she feels her goat is worth."

This is negotiating between $45 and $40.

I went to the woman and shook her hand, introduced myself and said Ofoyo Matek. Thank you very much. She pointed to her eyes and shook her head. I reassured her that being blind was not an issue in these negotiations and then put the envelope of money in her hand. I assume Simon or Grace told her that she got the full 100,000 because she thanked me more than once.

Then the rope holding the goat was given to me.

I turned to the most respected elder representative and presented to goat to him on behalf of ISEE as a thank you to the elders for sharing their stories and for welcoming us so warmly to their village. We all shook hands and exchanged Ofoyo Matek, the women sang and ululated, and the goat was led away.

The elder women then presented with a large bag of simsim (sesame seeds) that they had harvested as a thank you to us for being part of their community. When Grace presented me with the bag and I opened it, I said, "Simsim!" The ladies all laughed and said "simsim!" back to me. I think they were impressed that I knew what it was and that I knew the local name.

We then piled into the van and headed back to Lukung trading centre (I would call it a village but they call it a trading centre because it has shops along the one main street.) "Odong Maber!" Stay well!

During all of this, I suggested to Andrew and Charlie that they take out a football to play with the children. The village boys instantly came over to kick the ball around but the girls watched from the sidelines. Sometimes if the ball would come to them, they would kick it back into the circle but they didn't come forward to play. Apollo joined the group but each time the ball came to him, he lined it up and pointed to one of the girls then kicked to her so that she could play too. I was touched by his gesture to get the girls involved as well. We left them a smaller ball that they started using for volleyball. It was great to get all the kids involved in playing, boys and girls.

Now maybe the goat we bought was just returned to the same pen that it came from and the money was used for something else. Maybe the goat will be eaten as part of a feast for the whole village instead of being sold at market. Who cares?

My heart is full of Northern memories. Life in a Northern town... Maybe I should teach them that song!

How will I be able to say goodbye?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Goodbye Little Darlings!

I cannot believe that the school year is actually over. I had to say goodbye to all my little darlings on Friday the 13th but I managed to convince Corey to subject himself to the little plague carriers and take my photo with all the classes.

This is Miss Mary's Kindergarten class. I did not have a lot to do with them because many of them didn't speak English and to be honest, a room full of 2 and 3 year olds terrifies me. They are certainly cute though and Ruby to my left chatted with me on a regular basis.


Do you remember this photo of Joy?

She cried every day for the whole month of February and often spent time in my office either sleeping on a mat or sniffling in my arms. She's the one in pink on my right (above). She's become quite a confident little girl!


This is Miss Christine's Reception class. These children are 3-4 years old. I did not teach them but I seemed to have a lot to do with them. Rehan on my lap was always crying in my office because someone had slighted her or "Miss Chrsitine, he doesn't like me," because she wouldn't let Rehan speak or play with a certain toy. Lemeri, in the middle on my right, and I spent many mornings together when he first arrived because he spoke no English, had been left with a relative by his parents, and had not attended school. His transition was quite difficult. Ryan, next to Miss Chrsitine, was just a doll, always polite and smiley. Israel, between the two girls, played with the same green piece of plastic that looks like a steering wheel every break and lunch hour. And Deng, in the suit next to me, was a violent little creature when he arrived but after me picking him up a couple of times and making him stay in the library where he threw a tantrum, he became a well behaved little boy. I even sometimes saw him smile.


Then there is Joshua. He arrived late so I had my photo taken with just him. Two or three times a week he would come into my office and say, "My knee/finger/arm/elbow pains me." He loved the bandaids with all the designs on them. Between the time of him telling me about his pain and me putting the bandaid on, the pain often had moved to another spot!


Miss Erinah's Year 1 class was another group I spent only a little time with. I mostly helped Erinah with the boys' discipline and worked with Tina, on my left, who made it her business to tattle on everything that was happening in the school.


Miss Christine's year 2 class is the group I worked with all year. We did guided reading and Reading A to Z together and when Miss Christine was away, I would TOC in her class. They were lovely and despite having some challenging students, she managed to always be cheerful and they were always calm.


I taught Year 3 English and Geography for second term and I also had the opportunity to teach other lessons with Ms. Rose over the course of the year. Aqeel, back row in the middle, always said to me, "God bless you Miss Erika. You remind me of my Mum." I met his Mum several times and she is a lovely lady. Phiuff!


I taught Year 4 Novel study this term as we all took a piece of the class since Ms. Esther was away on maternity leave and no new teacher was hired. We had a lot of fun giggling through The Twits!


Now year 5 was a group I could have taught all year. They were challenging but full of spunk and incredible creativity. They were always in trouble for lack of discipline but I think they were full of potential. I taught Year 5 and 6 together in term 2 and we read The City of Ember together. The students had great ideas and insight about the novel and asked lots of questions. This last term, these students often came to my office in the morning to shake my hand and say hello. They also came several times a week to take library books. It was great to see them really get hooked on reading!


I didn't get a group photo of the Year 6 class because they wrote Cambridge exams and ended the week before the other classes. I did manage to catch Siem, Manan and Pierrot as they did their Lamda exam. This was another lovely group and their exam results were really positive.

We ended the day with a cake and then everyone went home. It was great because it was disorganized as usual so everyone scattered and disappeared before I was able to do the going away speech that I had been asked to deliver. So much better!




Goodbye KIS! Thank you students for a wonderful year. You were a pleasure to work with and I wish you all the best in the years to come!








  Goodbye Miss Grace! I'll miss you.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Locusts Anyone?


On my first trip to Uganda, my friend Muhamad spoke about eating grasshoppers. These are a seasonal delicacy that are only available during the rainy season, when the grasshoppers come to the city. Because we always travelled in July, grasshoppers were not available. One year, Muhamad said he had tried to save some for me but they had spoilt so he had to throw them away.

When we knew we were coming for a full year, Muhamad and I made a deal about eating grasshoppers: I would eat them if he ate octopus. I brought a can of Spanish octopus in tomato sauce for us to eat at Christmas and Muhamad graciously tried it. Not sure how much he enjoyed it but he did indeed try it. So that left me with the task of eating grasshoppers.

But Corey as my witness, I kept asking people to help me get grasshoppers but despite their promises to provide me with these tasty snacks, no-one came through.

Yesterday, Muhamad, Hanifah and Zainab came for supper. I texted Muhamad and asked him to bring grasshoppers. I knew that if they were still available, he would get them for me.




"A small small amount please," I texted.
"We will get many and help you eat them," was the reply.



Muhamad arrived with a 3x5 container stuffed full of grasshoppers. They don't take up much space so there were hundreds. This is how they are sold at Nakasero market. Fresh fried and stuffed into these convenient travel containers so that you can eat them on the go.

Harvesting and preparing grasshoppers goes like this: very large metal sheets are set up at an angle with barrels underneath. At night, spotlights shine on the metal sheets and the grasshoppers are attracted to the light however, they can't get purchase on the metal and slide down into the barrels. Before cooking, the hind legs are removed because they get caught in your throat as they have little hooks on them. The grasshoppers are thrown into a hot pan for frying but there is no oil in the pan because, as Muhamad said, "they make their own oil when you fry them."


The first one was hard as are all new strange culinary experiences but really, they only taste of crispy oil. I hesitated a bit before eating it and joked about Muhamad hesitating when he took his first bite of octopus. I think the taste sensation would have been much stronger for Muahamd than it was for me. These tasted like tiny chips. I had expected a slightly fishy flavour but there isn't any flavour. They are supposed to be a great source of protein though and scientists speculate that as the population grows, we will all have to resort to eating insects.

These were my third insect experience having eaten bamboo worms in China with Mum and cricket tortillas in Mexico with Corey.


I split the container of grasshoppers with Muhamad so that I could eat more today. I have to reheat them though so that they get crispy again. Anyone care to join me? I have lots to share!

Thanks Muhamad!