Bobbi Wine's VIP van

Hi!

I think staying in one place for a while was the best thing that I could've done. I've been able to meet Ugandans and hang out with them and I've finally been able to really experience Kampala. Being on the course we were really sheltered and tucked away in the university so it was hard to get a feel for things, and then when I was traveling and staying in hostels I was only meeting other Mazungus which was fun for a while, but they are all really doing the same things so it just got old after a while. So it's taken a while to get to this point, but now that I'm no longer overwhelmed and fearing for my life when I cross the street and all that stuff I have come to love the chaos of Kampala. When you walk down the street a lot of the little shops are blasting music, and there's always so, so much going on. It just feels like a party all the time.
On Sunday, I went to a local music festival with some of the Ugandan peer counselor volunteers at the KCCC. There were hundreds and hundreds of people there and it started around 12 and lasted all night. A couple highlights:
- Skipping the whole line (which was huge) and going straight up to the ticket counter where policemen were swatting bats around to prevent anyone from getting too close. We then gave our money to people in line so that they would buy tickets for us.
- people drinking beer out of gourds
- everyone wearing bright yellow MTN t-shirts and head scarfs because they sponsored the event
- One of the guys having connections that lead to us spending a couple hours hanging out in Bobbi Wine's (one of the musicians) buses where famous musicians kept wandering in and out. We had a great view of the stage and of the crowds of people.
- And of course dancing! Dancing here is just a blast because everyone is such a good dancer and even guys have no problem dancing in public and with each other.

On Monday I went to KCCC's microfinance instituion to go into the field with one of the social workers. Before giving any loans the social workers visit the person and write up a report on their living situation, the number of dependents, source of income, purpose for the loan, etc. and then use that to decide whether or not to give the loan. I thought I would be going on one of these visits but instead I ended up tagging along for the exact opposite thing - going to arrest someone!! It was really pretty awful...one of the rougher days I've had here. We showed up at this guy's office and took him to court where I then sat around for four hours while his boss negotiated with the KCCC people. Eventually, I just left, but the whole thing was very strange.
Tuesday was much better. There's a group of Norweigan volunteers here who are with an organization so they have a lot of money for projects. Tuesday they sponsored "health day" at the youth center. They bough about 150 mosquito nets and then sold them at a much cheaper price and they organized an activity for the young people. They had a huge white banner which they hung up and then had kids dip their hands in one of 3 different colors of paint and put their hand print on the banner. Green stood for "say no to drugs," Red was "say no to cross-generational sex," and blue was "say no to violence." As you can imagine, there were hundreds and hundreds of kids and they just kept on coming and coming, so it was really crazy. I spent most of the day entertaining the kids waiting in line and practicing my Luganda by asking them their names and ages and writing them next to their handprint. It was really fun but also very exhausting.
Yesterday and today I worked at the mental health clinic. I love the doctor there, he is this really happy, jolly guy but he is also so passionate about mental health. Yesterday I went on home visits with the nurse and today I helped her give out medications during the weekly clinic they have.
Yesterday after the home visits I went to the guy's workshop who sold me 2 prints; I think I mentioned him in a previous post. It was SO cool!! He literally taught me how to paint one of the images he had drawn. He would do part of it and then have me do some, and then kind of fix what I did until we had finished it, and then he had me sign my name and keep it! I felt like I was a little kid at summer camp. It made me think about Grandma. She would've just been so excited. As nice as it was, I think what he really wants is for me to help him sell his stuff in the U.S. I'm going to try to help him, I contacted JD about it already, so maybe he can get hooked up to fair trade world. We'll see, I hope something works out, his stuff is really special.

Oh! That reminds me. Alex - you asked me what guys are like here. Not just guys, but everyone here laughs so much easier than we do in the U.S. I think a lot of times at home people think something is funny but they won't necessarily laugh out loud about it, but here people laugh out loud at everything. It's really great, I'm trying to pick it up.

What else? Tomorrow I'm going to Jinja to meet Kelsi and Marissa and chat about what their week at the island was like. We'll stay overnight there and then go to Kampala on Saturday and get ready for all YOU wonderful EDGE ladies to come!!! I'm so, so excited! It's going to be great :)