Hi,
Just got back from my future site visit and it looks awesome! I can't wait! I am giddy with excitement. I’ll be living in my supervisor's guesthouse. It’s pretty posh pad for the Peace Corps. I’ll have a toilet, running water and electricity! The organization looks awesome. They do work in the Rakai region, which is in the southern part of the country, close to the Tanzanian border. I’ll be in the town of Kalisizo, which is a small town on the main road. It’s a poor region in which only about 50% of the people have access to a protected spring or protected well, in the adjacent sub-county the number is a mere 3%. It was hit hard by the AIDS epidemic in its early days and is still recovering. My organization is protecting a number of springs in the area, and is looking to expand that work. They are also very involved in environmental awareness work in the area, planting trees, cleaning up trash, promoting pit latrines and educating people about more sustainable living and farming practices. They also do work on malaria prevention and AIDS education. I’ll probably be working in all of those areas, but it looks like I’ll definitely be doing allot of engineering work on springs and maybe wells. I’d also like to get involved in the environmental work. My boss is very nice, in fact he has a master's degree from a Belgium University and is definitely not your average Ugandan! The region is very pretty. Lots of rolling green hills and bananas! It gets rural really fast once you are outside the cities. My town is only about 20-km from Lake Victoria, and I'm definitely looking forward to some weekend bike trips. There are two Internet cafes in town, so I’ll definitely be better connected than I have been. There is also a medical research facility run by John's Hopkins. So it looks like I’ll have some American neighbors.
I have just one week remaining in Luwero, and then a few days in Kampala before heading back to my site for good. I can’t wait to get started!
Check out my website that my mom has been updating for me: http://rtwjon.blogspot.com/
I guess that's about it for now, hope you all are doing well!
Cheers
Jon
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Jon got his assignment!
Jon got his assignment! He will be working in Kalisizo for the Community-based Options for Social Welfare and Responses . Below is an article from The New Vision, a Ugandan News paper.
Kyotera gets sh100m water project
Sunday, 8th April, 2007
By Ali Mambule
THE United Nations Development Programme is funding a sh100m sanitation project in Kalisizo and Kyotera town councils in Rakai district.
The eco-project is implemented by the Rakai Women to Save the Environment in Kyotera and the Community-based Options for Social Welfare and Responses in Kalisizo.
“We have already started sensitising residents on how to keep their homes and the surrounding areas clean and to construct latrines,” the Kalisizo manager, Joseph Mubiru, said on Wednesday.
He explained that part of the funds would be used to construct six spring wells in rural areas.
The project manager in Kyotera, Hadijah Ssozi, said the project would benefit women.
“We have a number of widows who have no jobs and I believe that this project will help them save some money.”
Kalisizo mayor Sande Ntambaazi commended UNDP for funding the project, saying the council had faced difficulties in convincing residents to clean their homes and the town.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
training
hi all,
i just have a short while on the computer so i thought i'd just give you a short update. i am currently close to kable, a town in the far southwest of the country. i am visiting a fellow pcv for a couple of days before returning to luwero for 7 more weeks of training. everything is going prettty well. my homestay family is very nice. i've got a great room and am very comfortable there. i'm eating lots of matoke (banana mush), potatos, casava, rice, chicken, beef, beans, chipatis etc. i am learning luganda, which is the most widely spoken language here (except for english). it's a very difficult language for me to learn, but i hope to be able to hold simple conversations in a year or so.
my days are spent in training. they put me in the econonomic development sector. i'll probably be working with an ngo that focuses on water in a district capital somewhere in central uganda. my role will be to strenghten them both economically and structurally. we spend about 2 hours a day on language and the rest of the day on technical training, medical, culture ect. it's really borning and i can't wait to get done and get to my site!
i haven't had any culture shock or anything like that except for the gender roles which are very difficult to deal with. children also are very respectful here. they kneel everytime they come into the room, it's a little strange... my host father owns a row of shops that he rents out and is a small scale farmer. my host mother is a shopkeeper. they are solidly upper middle class and all their kids are in secondary school or in college. as is typical in africa, we have many relatives that stay with us. we have some grandkids who live with us. the house is very nice. it has a nice concrete base and a solid tin roof. there is a main house with 3 bedrooms and an annex with 2. there is a pit latrine and a tap stand in the front yard. since the mom doesn't get home 'til 10pm everyday, the teenage kids are responsible for doing everything from cleaning to cooking. even the little things like laundry take a whole day. last sunday i started washing my clothes (by hand of course) and they all started laughing at me! apparently i wasn't doing it right although my clothes came out just as clean as their's. they also got a kick out of me peeling the bananas, apparently i don't do it fast enough either.
as a whole the country is a little bit richer than either tanzania or malawi. they have a decent infastructure and many people have concrete homes. they have one of the highest birthrates in the world at 7 kids per woman. they also have one of the highest deforestation rates in the world at 2% a year. unemployment is very high, and so even those with a university education can't get work. HIV is a huge problem here, although it is considered an african "success" story since "only" 7% of the population is infected. it is very difficult seeing kids who are hiv positive. yesterday i met one. she was 10, but looked 6. she was very unhealthy looking and i fear that she will not live for long...
anyway, i've got to go now, but please give me a call or text sometime. it's difficult to get through, but keep trying. the best time to reach me is 11am-2:30pm eastern time. text messages are the best way to reach me. i'll have very limited access to email during training, the internet is very expensive and unreliable in luwero.
i just have a short while on the computer so i thought i'd just give you a short update. i am currently close to kable, a town in the far southwest of the country. i am visiting a fellow pcv for a couple of days before returning to luwero for 7 more weeks of training. everything is going prettty well. my homestay family is very nice. i've got a great room and am very comfortable there. i'm eating lots of matoke (banana mush), potatos, casava, rice, chicken, beef, beans, chipatis etc. i am learning luganda, which is the most widely spoken language here (except for english). it's a very difficult language for me to learn, but i hope to be able to hold simple conversations in a year or so.
my days are spent in training. they put me in the econonomic development sector. i'll probably be working with an ngo that focuses on water in a district capital somewhere in central uganda. my role will be to strenghten them both economically and structurally. we spend about 2 hours a day on language and the rest of the day on technical training, medical, culture ect. it's really borning and i can't wait to get done and get to my site!
i haven't had any culture shock or anything like that except for the gender roles which are very difficult to deal with. children also are very respectful here. they kneel everytime they come into the room, it's a little strange... my host father owns a row of shops that he rents out and is a small scale farmer. my host mother is a shopkeeper. they are solidly upper middle class and all their kids are in secondary school or in college. as is typical in africa, we have many relatives that stay with us. we have some grandkids who live with us. the house is very nice. it has a nice concrete base and a solid tin roof. there is a main house with 3 bedrooms and an annex with 2. there is a pit latrine and a tap stand in the front yard. since the mom doesn't get home 'til 10pm everyday, the teenage kids are responsible for doing everything from cleaning to cooking. even the little things like laundry take a whole day. last sunday i started washing my clothes (by hand of course) and they all started laughing at me! apparently i wasn't doing it right although my clothes came out just as clean as their's. they also got a kick out of me peeling the bananas, apparently i don't do it fast enough either.
as a whole the country is a little bit richer than either tanzania or malawi. they have a decent infastructure and many people have concrete homes. they have one of the highest birthrates in the world at 7 kids per woman. they also have one of the highest deforestation rates in the world at 2% a year. unemployment is very high, and so even those with a university education can't get work. HIV is a huge problem here, although it is considered an african "success" story since "only" 7% of the population is infected. it is very difficult seeing kids who are hiv positive. yesterday i met one. she was 10, but looked 6. she was very unhealthy looking and i fear that she will not live for long...
anyway, i've got to go now, but please give me a call or text sometime. it's difficult to get through, but keep trying. the best time to reach me is 11am-2:30pm eastern time. text messages are the best way to reach me. i'll have very limited access to email during training, the internet is very expensive and unreliable in luwero.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Off To Uganda!
Hi Everyone,
It's finally almost here! After a year and a half of planning and preparation, I will be leaving for Uganda in 10 days! I am totally psyched for my next big adventure!
We'll be meeting up on March 2 in Philladelphia. We'll have two days of orientation there before boarding a bus for JFK where we'll fly out on 4th to Uganda via Brussels and Nairobi. It's then 3 months of language and technical traning before I'll be placed in my village in early June. That's where I'll spend the majority of my 2 years!
Many people have asked me whether I am nervous or anxious about my upcoming trip. The truth is, not at all. I just love being in the developing world so much. The sights, the sounds, the sense of adventure. Being in a totally foreign land is where I feel most comfortable and where I feel most alive. I live for the moment and without any regrets. I am totally happy.
I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you my new adventures. Please check back often as I will be updating this webpage w/ pictures and stories as often as I can!
cheers
Jon
It's finally almost here! After a year and a half of planning and preparation, I will be leaving for Uganda in 10 days! I am totally psyched for my next big adventure!
We'll be meeting up on March 2 in Philladelphia. We'll have two days of orientation there before boarding a bus for JFK where we'll fly out on 4th to Uganda via Brussels and Nairobi. It's then 3 months of language and technical traning before I'll be placed in my village in early June. That's where I'll spend the majority of my 2 years!
Many people have asked me whether I am nervous or anxious about my upcoming trip. The truth is, not at all. I just love being in the developing world so much. The sights, the sounds, the sense of adventure. Being in a totally foreign land is where I feel most comfortable and where I feel most alive. I live for the moment and without any regrets. I am totally happy.
I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you my new adventures. Please check back often as I will be updating this webpage w/ pictures and stories as often as I can!
cheers
Jon
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