Disability Conference, Sugar, and Volleyball

Hello,

Yesterday (Friday, the 18^th) was a really rewarding day. I went to a conference on AIDS and disability with Florence and Barry, who thankfully is hearing and speaks English. The whole event was in English and interpreted into USL, but it was helpful in communicating with Florence. She is one of the nicest people I’ve met here. She grabs my hand when we cross the street. Keep in mind that crossing the street is no easy feat here. The most helpful part of the conference was the handout that included a list of acronyms of all the organizations that focus on disability and/or HIV/AIDS in Uganda. So I am making plans to visit these other organizations within the next 2 weeks. As part of the conference, we were given lunch. All of the times that I have had Ugandan trips two things are true: it is a buffet so I am able to try everything, but also, I am with deaf people, so I still don’t know the English words for the food.

Random observation. Sugar is different here. The grains are much larger, so you can feel it crunching when you eat a brownie. I am not a big fan. On the other hand, sugar improves soda. In the US, soda is made with corn syrup, but here it is made with real sugar which is much better.

Today (Saturday, the 19^th) was a surprisingly busy day. Sometimes the days you think will drag because there’s nothing to do become the fullest and fastest days of all. I slept in until 10 and ate lunch and read until mid-afternoon. Then Liz, a missionary that usually works in southern Uganda, stopped by the place I am staying to visit and use the internet. We ended up talking all afternoon and she invited me to a volleyball game at the house of yet another missionary family. Youth from Lugogo Baptist Church play volleyball everyday Saturday night. I have learned that, in Uganda, the word youth describes someone who is not yet married and does not have kids. So in Liz’s youth group, the youth range from six to thirty years old. The guys playing volleyball were all in their late teens through late twenties, I would guess. I watched with the girls, and they taught me about the Ugandan school system. One girl is studying forestry at a local university and lives at a hostel nearby.

Then, we followed the children to where they were playing. There were nine children of missionaries between the two families on the compound, all under the age of nine. I was handed the youngest, (“Who wants a baby?” I’m totally not kidding) and he hung out on my hip the whole night. Christian, who is one year old, would not let anyone else hold him and was very content to observe the playing. After most people left, we were given homemade pizza. I know that I haven’t been gone long and haven’t eaten Ugandan food that many times, but I really missed pizza. And it was a highlight of my day.

Tonight I am chatting with my mom and Ben while researching organizations that I learned about at the conference yesterday. I am finding them on the map and planning routes to get there. I am basically creating a scavenger hunt to collect data for my project. The prize is getting to write the actual BA paper!

I should be on gmail for the majority of my evening/your day tomorrow. Thanks for the continuing notes of encouragement – they are more helpful than you know.