Banquet week at Rift Valley Academy

Scott's roommate Chase is to his left.

We've been having a good time with Scott at RVA. Every year the juniors put on a big banquet for the seniors, and junior parents come help with the preparations. I couldn't understand what kind of banquet could take a week to prepare for until I saw what they do. It's pretty amazing. They essentially make an auditorium into a scene from whatever theme is chosen for the year (I can't divulge this year's theme - you never know what lurkers read your blog). Murals on four walls, a floor-to-ceiling paper mache mountain, the entire ceiling and walls covered in fabric - this is big. It's been great to see the kids in action and enjoy the camaraderie with kids and parents.

Many of these parents are amazing people who work steadfastly to honor God and serve people in difficult and remote places. I had a long talk last night while we were scrubbing paint off the floor with a man who runs a youth center in Ethiopia. Besides all the work related to the youth center, he and his wife have helped several disabled women start small businesses. These are women who, because of their disabilities, have been rejected by their families and would barely have been able to eke out a living. Another family has done medical work in central Congo for 15 years, in an isolated and challenging location. I think what strikes me is that no one seems to feel what they're doing is especially impressive. They've all given up comfortable American lives to help people. Missionaries get a bad rap sometimes, and they're certainly not perfect, but I've come away with an increased admiration for them.

While Scott and the other students are back in class for the week, Paul and I don't have as much to do. In an odd twist, RVA, which has clean water from wells, has had some contamination in the last couple days. Paul has been able to consult with them on how to deal with it. As for me, it looks like I'll be subbing in some of the classes. I'm scheduled to cover for the U.S. history teacher for the remainder of the week. You can imagine what a thrill it is for Scott to have his mother be his sub.

Linguistics

Did you know that the official language of Uganda is English? Many people here speak a local language as their first language, but school, business, and government are carried out in English. It's British English rather than American English, but mostly it's Ugandan English.

One of the characteristics of Ugandan pronunciation is that the "er" sound is pronounced "ah" (as I explained at some length to Mom and Ken when they were trapped in the car with me and couldn't escape). This has tripped me up more than once.

Today I was riding with one of our regular special hire drivers, Havert. He began to chat with me and observed that, "There are no vistas now." I was surprised at his use of the word "vistas" since his English is pretty limited. Also, I was confused about where the vistas had gone. Was he referring to pollution obscuring them? Then I realized "vistas" was "visitors" and he was trying to comment on the fact that my mom and brother had left and we had no more company.

Another time we were downtown with a different special hire driver, one we'd never had before. His English was good, but he had me stumped when he asked if we'd seen the "big bads." My mind went immediately to Uganda's politicians, but it's unusual to talk politics with strangers, so I figured that wasn't it. Paul and Scott realized before I did that he was talking about the large, funny looking Maribou storks that fly over downtown, the "big birds." Sometimes I end up trying to fix my face in a non-committal expression and murmur something generic when I just can't figure out what they're trying to say. I'm sure they do the same for me.

Stay tuned for when I explain the difference between "okay," "that's okay," and "it's okay." It will be riveting.

On a different subject, we had dinner last Friday with a couple from Corvallis who are here to volunteer in Uganda for a few weeks, he as an orthopedic surgeon and she as an educator. They brought us an envelope Carl had sent along with New Yorker magazines for me and tax statements for Paul. One of us was happy for the envelope. They are a delightful couple and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. Thanks, Leon and Joanne!

Also, we leave Fri. morning for three weeks in Kenya. Half the time we'll be at RVA, Scott's school, helping prepare for the big high school banquet, and the other half Paul will be working on a project next door at Kijabe Hospital. We're looking forward to the change of pace being there will provide, and also, of course, to seeing Scott. He finally came down with the swine flu that felled a large portion of the school, but had a mild case so should be good to go for the banquet.

Ngenge water: more on the training

Our project to improve the water supply in the Ngenge villages includes training four individuals as hand pump mechanics. Classroom lessons, pictured above, will be followed by hands-on participation in repairing pumps that are currently broken.

The commonly used hand pump in this region and throughout much of Africa is the India Mark II. It's an appropriate and durable technology but like any mechanical system, it wears out over time. A brand-new pump lasts 2-4 years before maintenance is needed. Since some are used continuously from sunrise to sunset, it's not surprising that they don't last forever. The top photo shows the beehive of activity that's common around a village well.

The four trainees, with their ages and village names, are:

David Chelangat (32, Korite Village)
Loya Cheptectei (22, Chepsukunya Village)
Amos Labu (25, Kaptulel Village)
Alex Chebet (21, Kapkware Village)

More graft and corruption

Are you tired of our posts about corruption in Uganda? I tell you, we're tired of seeing it. From the top to the bottom, it's endemic.

We have a friend who heads up the office of a Danish engineering firm here in Uganda. The firm has a policy of not paying bribes. The result of that policy is that they get no Ugandan government work. None. You can't do business with the government if you don't pay bribes. We were taken aback by the example he gave. The firm submitted a proposal for an engineering project (just as Paul does regularly for CH2M HILL when he's in the U.S.) and were not selected. The reason given was that their proposal was incomplete. The friend met with the officials to debrief and realized that someone on the receiving end had simply torn out and discarded pages from their proposal containing required information. Since they had not paid the bribe, they weren't in the game.

Today I was at the children's clothing store where I occasionally volunteer. Our store is located next to an orphanage, and all the proceeds of sales go to help cover medical costs for the orphans. We visited the orphanage when we were finished working today, and one of my co-workers noticed that there was a storage room with a large amount of used clothing piled up in it. She asked one of the women who helps run the orphanage about it, and the woman assured her that those clothes had been donated directly to the orphanage for the use of the orphans. After we left, my friend shook her head and said, "I'm sure those clothes are for our shop, but the orphanage workers keep them to sell them on the side." Everyone seems to be on the take.

The thing is, it's more complicated than this just being simple corruption. From what we've read and seen in action, the traditional African thought about money is that "anyone's money is everyone's money." If you have money or goods, it's understood that you will share with your family and tribe. For example, in some African languages, the word for "refrigerator" is the same one as the word for "greedy." Why would you have a refrigerator to keep food in? If you have food, you share it until it's gone. If you have a party and there are leftovers, you give them out to those around you rather than save them for yourself for the next day. At Bead For Life, one of the most frequent uses we see for the increased income women gain is to pay school fees for more relatives' children. When you get married, you hold meetings to collect money from family, friends, and co-workers to pay for the wedding. There are few social services provided by the government, but people provide for each other as much as they can.

We actually benefited from this sharing mentality when we went on our safari with our kids in December. Somehow we had significantly underestimated the amount of cash we needed for the trip. Remember, you can't use credit cards in Uganda-everything is done on a cash basis. We were out in the middle of nowhere, no ATMs to be found, and we didn't have the money we needed for park entrance fees, food, lodging, etc. Paul mentioned our dilemma to Farouk, our driver. Pretty soon Farouk pulled into a sort of ranger station, and 15 minutes later he came out with a wad of cash in his hand. He explained that he told his friends at the station (it helps that Farouk knows everyone in Uganda on a first-name basis) that he'd be back in a few days and would repay the money. So they donated to us. It was a great start, but it wasn't enough. That night, unbeknownst to us, he went around to the other guides and workers where we were staying and took up another collection. We now had enough money to get us through. Can you imagine something like this happening in the U.S.? "An acquaintance of a friend is strapped for cash, can you contribute?" Of course, as soon as we got back to Kampala we went to an ATM and got Farouk his money back.

So, although there is no excuse for corruption, there is some history and context that provides insight. On some level people feel they are taking money from strangers, from those with whom they have no connection, to share with those in their family and tribe.

Safari with Mom and Ken

We passed over the equator on our way south to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Here's a picture for all the Penn State graduates in my family. Most of the clothing Ugandans wear is secondhand from the West, which was obviously the case for this aspiring scholar. I should mention, too, that Ugandans don't generally smile for photos.

Here we're relaxing at our guesthouse after our day's safari. This picture doesn't do the setting justice. We were on a high ridge overlooking the savanna, miles and miles of scrub and silence. It's the kind of landscape that makes people fall in love with Africa.

This little guy was unhappy with us because our car was blocking his path to the watering hole. We took a few pictures then let him get on his way.