Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday Part 1
This morning our banda was very lazy. No one wanted to get up and no one definently did not want to be the first one in for a cold shower. I finally decided to brave the shower and it just to painful. I ended up just deciding to dunk my head under the tap and try and wash my hair that was. My poor hair is so tangled, it is so hard to comb through it after an ice shower. Our banda was down one roommate last night, Eileen, because she and Bethan and Fi (the film leader) went back to Ngamba island and slept there for the night so they could record more scenes over there and to get clips of the chimps going to bed and then waking up in the morning and going into the forest. Wish I got to go see that, but maybe I will do that at the end of the trip. Still thinking about canceling the gorilla trek. We are going chimpanzee trekking next week and I am a thousand times more excited about that then the gorilla one. I just think I would rather go on a gorilla trek if I was going to be with someone else so I could share the experience with them. It wouldn’t be the same if I was by myself. Oh I don’t know what I am going to do yet!
After morning porridge (there are rumors someone might actually make something different tomorrow morning) Lucy, Lisa, Jess, Gaynor and I met with David (UWEC’s outreach coordinator) and he drove us to a nearby Muslim community where they are doing wildlife outreach with them. We met some of the elders and young adults there and interviewed them about their views on wildlife and UWEC’s outreach program. Everyone seemed really impressed with the people they talked to , but I guess I just got stuck with the non passionate three. Of the three, two of them barely spoke (except to laugh when I asked them questions about wildlife) and the other one was very hard to understand. They did just start a community garden so that is good and they didn’t have anything negative to say about the local wild primates. They did say they stole their crops sometimes but realized that they were still important and didn’t want them to get hurt, so that is very good. Unfortunatly, they also spoke about having a pet monkey but someone came and took it away from them (luckily!), but I think they would be happy to have another one if they could get one of the local wild ones to “behave properly”. The other girls said the people they talked to were much more involved in conservation and wildlife interests.
After that meeting and the usual handing out of the contacts to them that they all desperately want, we got back in the van and traveled to Nkumba University (just a few miles away). At the Nkumba University David was also involved in working with the University’s Ugandan Wildlife Club. Their club is very impressive there. All the members we talked to were so passionate about conservation and so genuine in everything they said. They think that promoting conservation through music and song has a bigger impact than just trying to give a lecture about it, so they gave us an example of some of the songs they created about conservation. The song was amazing, in fact the African Keepers Association has adapted it and now use it and there theme song for their organization. The group of 5 guys sang it to us and it was amazing. I wish I had my video camera out during that part, but I was busy signing the guestbook (everywhere we go they want us to sign a guestbook).
After singing to us they gave us a tour of their University and the garden UWEC helped them start. We visited a tree that had sap leaking out of it and they scraped it off so we could smell it. It smells very nice and the Africans here actually collect it, let it dry, and then burn it as incense in the home. They also say the burning of it helps rid bad luck and the devil.
We arrived back at camp around 1pm and had lunch with the rest of the group. At that point we heard news from the hospital on Kate’s condition. Kate was suppose to have emergency surgery last night for appendicitis but at the last minute they decided it wasn’t appendicitis. They now think it is just a form of Gastrointronitis (sp?) and that she might get out of the hospital today. (Update: She is now at “The Surgery” getting a cat scan making certain it is not appendicitis. The leaders have gone into town for a meeting and also to go to the hospital and to check on her and Ben).
The afternoon everyone is working in the different bandas on their different projects. Lucy and I are sitting outside under a tree. We are both pretty tired of doing surveys so just trying to talk ourselves into getting back out there for a hour before we leave here. This is our last full day here. Tomorrow we are catching a boat to a local fishing community to see a celebration on wildlife the school kids are doing and to interview people on their views of Ngamba Island (Ngamba Island works with this community a lot helping the women make money buy selling their crafts at Ngamba Island to the tourists who come and see the chimps). Then the next day the truck leaves at 6AM to do the 12 hour drive to Kibale forest. We will be living pretty much in the rain forest for the next two weeks living near wild chimpanzees!!! I just looked up the area they say we are staying and it looks so amazing. I’m really excited. It’s called the Chimp’s nest. Check out their website at www.chimpsnest.com
Tonight, Peter from JGI is going to come by and give the whole group a talk about what JGI Uganda is doing. Peter is such a nice man, he was the man I interviewed a few days back, so I am really happy we will be seeing him again.
Totally random note - Just had a sip of Lucy’s drink “Stoney Tangawizi”. It’s a ginger flavored drink and it literally tastes like ginger snaps in the liquid form. I don’t think I could drink a whole bottle of it, kinda like you can’t eat to many ginger snaps in one sitting.
Will update more after tonights activities...
After morning porridge (there are rumors someone might actually make something different tomorrow morning) Lucy, Lisa, Jess, Gaynor and I met with David (UWEC’s outreach coordinator) and he drove us to a nearby Muslim community where they are doing wildlife outreach with them. We met some of the elders and young adults there and interviewed them about their views on wildlife and UWEC’s outreach program. Everyone seemed really impressed with the people they talked to , but I guess I just got stuck with the non passionate three. Of the three, two of them barely spoke (except to laugh when I asked them questions about wildlife) and the other one was very hard to understand. They did just start a community garden so that is good and they didn’t have anything negative to say about the local wild primates. They did say they stole their crops sometimes but realized that they were still important and didn’t want them to get hurt, so that is very good. Unfortunatly, they also spoke about having a pet monkey but someone came and took it away from them (luckily!), but I think they would be happy to have another one if they could get one of the local wild ones to “behave properly”. The other girls said the people they talked to were much more involved in conservation and wildlife interests.
After that meeting and the usual handing out of the contacts to them that they all desperately want, we got back in the van and traveled to Nkumba University (just a few miles away). At the Nkumba University David was also involved in working with the University’s Ugandan Wildlife Club. Their club is very impressive there. All the members we talked to were so passionate about conservation and so genuine in everything they said. They think that promoting conservation through music and song has a bigger impact than just trying to give a lecture about it, so they gave us an example of some of the songs they created about conservation. The song was amazing, in fact the African Keepers Association has adapted it and now use it and there theme song for their organization. The group of 5 guys sang it to us and it was amazing. I wish I had my video camera out during that part, but I was busy signing the guestbook (everywhere we go they want us to sign a guestbook).
After singing to us they gave us a tour of their University and the garden UWEC helped them start. We visited a tree that had sap leaking out of it and they scraped it off so we could smell it. It smells very nice and the Africans here actually collect it, let it dry, and then burn it as incense in the home. They also say the burning of it helps rid bad luck and the devil.
We arrived back at camp around 1pm and had lunch with the rest of the group. At that point we heard news from the hospital on Kate’s condition. Kate was suppose to have emergency surgery last night for appendicitis but at the last minute they decided it wasn’t appendicitis. They now think it is just a form of Gastrointronitis (sp?) and that she might get out of the hospital today. (Update: She is now at “The Surgery” getting a cat scan making certain it is not appendicitis. The leaders have gone into town for a meeting and also to go to the hospital and to check on her and Ben).
The afternoon everyone is working in the different bandas on their different projects. Lucy and I are sitting outside under a tree. We are both pretty tired of doing surveys so just trying to talk ourselves into getting back out there for a hour before we leave here. This is our last full day here. Tomorrow we are catching a boat to a local fishing community to see a celebration on wildlife the school kids are doing and to interview people on their views of Ngamba Island (Ngamba Island works with this community a lot helping the women make money buy selling their crafts at Ngamba Island to the tourists who come and see the chimps). Then the next day the truck leaves at 6AM to do the 12 hour drive to Kibale forest. We will be living pretty much in the rain forest for the next two weeks living near wild chimpanzees!!! I just looked up the area they say we are staying and it looks so amazing. I’m really excited. It’s called the Chimp’s nest. Check out their website at www.chimpsnest.com
Tonight, Peter from JGI is going to come by and give the whole group a talk about what JGI Uganda is doing. Peter is such a nice man, he was the man I interviewed a few days back, so I am really happy we will be seeing him again.
Totally random note - Just had a sip of Lucy’s drink “Stoney Tangawizi”. It’s a ginger flavored drink and it literally tastes like ginger snaps in the liquid form. I don’t think I could drink a whole bottle of it, kinda like you can’t eat to many ginger snaps in one sitting.
Will update more after tonights activities...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday
Wednesday
Well now that today is over and I sit here to write my blog I realize I didn’t do much today. It was a very slack day for me. This morning Lucy and I kept dragging our feet to go do surveys so we only got about an hour of surveying done before noon. We got about ten in the hour so can’t complain.
For lunch, Peace surprised us and took us to her house in Entebbe. It was the house she grew up in and she had her family members cook us a Ugandan meal. It was very delicious and so nice to be in a house. Her family seems very well educated and well off. He dad is/ was a pilot and now a mechanical engineer and he mother is in charge of the entire countries AIDS campaign and promoting condoms. The house was very nice but there was not a lot of stuff on the shelves and wall (and the pictures on the walls were way higher than the western world would hang them).
After lunch when we arrived back at UWEC, Gaynor (expedition supervisor), Lucy, and Lisa had a meeting with the outreach coordinator in hopes we could get his help in meeting adjacent communities tomorrow so we could interview them on their views of UWEC and wildlife conservation in Uganda. Being that we only gave him a day to plan all of it I am still not exactly sure who and where the anthropology team is going to go tomorrow for interview. All I know it we are suppose to meet him by the UWEC truck at 9AM to head out. Hopefully the roads won’t be to bumpy for my neck in a small truck.
The rest of the day was pretty slack. I didn’t do much besides hang around camp and talk to other volunteers. Now that we are living in the bandas everyone has been hiding in them to work instead of sitting outside, so during the day there is a lot of separation. However, we all came together tonight to help make dinner (veggie burgers) from scratch. I must say as a non-vegetarian, they weren’t bad.
I just uploaded some photos so hopefully everyone can view them okay.
I have some new news about Kate, the journalist who we thought was the second person to come down with malaria, she does not have malaria but in fact has appendicitis!!! She was taken to the hospital today for another check when they discovered she had appendicitis. For the majority of the day they were trying to decide what to do and if the travel insurance would pay for her to get flown home and if she was even well enough to fly home. By dinner time tonight she had taken a turn for the worse and they were doing an emergency surgery tonight at a hospital in Kampala. Supposedly it is a decent hospital so hopefully she gets the best care that she can get. Her boyfriend, Ben, is also on the trip so he is staying by her side the entire time. All we can do now is hope for the best and that she can recover quickly and return home to England to be with her family.
Okay, I am going to post this and then try to post more pics.
Night!
Well now that today is over and I sit here to write my blog I realize I didn’t do much today. It was a very slack day for me. This morning Lucy and I kept dragging our feet to go do surveys so we only got about an hour of surveying done before noon. We got about ten in the hour so can’t complain.
For lunch, Peace surprised us and took us to her house in Entebbe. It was the house she grew up in and she had her family members cook us a Ugandan meal. It was very delicious and so nice to be in a house. Her family seems very well educated and well off. He dad is/ was a pilot and now a mechanical engineer and he mother is in charge of the entire countries AIDS campaign and promoting condoms. The house was very nice but there was not a lot of stuff on the shelves and wall (and the pictures on the walls were way higher than the western world would hang them).
After lunch when we arrived back at UWEC, Gaynor (expedition supervisor), Lucy, and Lisa had a meeting with the outreach coordinator in hopes we could get his help in meeting adjacent communities tomorrow so we could interview them on their views of UWEC and wildlife conservation in Uganda. Being that we only gave him a day to plan all of it I am still not exactly sure who and where the anthropology team is going to go tomorrow for interview. All I know it we are suppose to meet him by the UWEC truck at 9AM to head out. Hopefully the roads won’t be to bumpy for my neck in a small truck.
The rest of the day was pretty slack. I didn’t do much besides hang around camp and talk to other volunteers. Now that we are living in the bandas everyone has been hiding in them to work instead of sitting outside, so during the day there is a lot of separation. However, we all came together tonight to help make dinner (veggie burgers) from scratch. I must say as a non-vegetarian, they weren’t bad.
I just uploaded some photos so hopefully everyone can view them okay.
I have some new news about Kate, the journalist who we thought was the second person to come down with malaria, she does not have malaria but in fact has appendicitis!!! She was taken to the hospital today for another check when they discovered she had appendicitis. For the majority of the day they were trying to decide what to do and if the travel insurance would pay for her to get flown home and if she was even well enough to fly home. By dinner time tonight she had taken a turn for the worse and they were doing an emergency surgery tonight at a hospital in Kampala. Supposedly it is a decent hospital so hopefully she gets the best care that she can get. Her boyfriend, Ben, is also on the trip so he is staying by her side the entire time. All we can do now is hope for the best and that she can recover quickly and return home to England to be with her family.
Okay, I am going to post this and then try to post more pics.
Night!
Monday and Tuesday
Monday
Well this morning started at 6:30AM when my alarm went off to wake me for cooking duty. Ben, Sophia, and I slowly but surely made porridge for the rest of the group. Around 7:30 people started showing up. I unfortunately had another case of sickness. I fear there is now a rumor going around the group that I am having morning sickness and therefore must be pregnant. Fortunately that is not the case; I just have a stomach that hates mornings! Actually I have narrowed it down to either one of two things: hot chocolate or malaria pill to early. The last two days I have had hot chocolate in the morning and taken my malaria pill before my food settled in my stomach. I have donated my chocolate mix to the group so I won’t be drinking it in the morning so lets see if that helps and I will also try to coat my stomach with more food before I take the pill. It’s just hard to do as my stomach never wants too much porridge.
Anyways, after breakfast Lucy and I had to give a talk to the group. Lucy went first and just explained what anthropology is and how we are using it while we are here in Uganda. I then gave a lecture on primates and my personal experiences working with JGI and as a zoo keeper. I didn’t think I would have much to say and no one would be interested but it turned out to be a great talk. I gave my talk and then I had tons of the volunteers asking questions and all quite interested in it all. A lot of good topics came out of it and we had a great group conversation for quite some time after I was done talking. I got compliments about it all day long and even tonight someone came up to me and told me how wonderful of a speaker I was and how interesting I am to listen to! I wasn’t expecting that so that was extremely nice.
After the talk everyone broke off into their groups and started their work. Lucy and I wrote up some notes from our interview we did yesterday at the school and then Lucy went off to survey visitors of UWEC and I started getting the questionnaires filled out by the handshake volunteers for some anthropology research being done back in the UK. That has taken me pretty much all day and I still have tons of more volunteers to do. The questionnaires are quite lengthy so it’s a bit tedious. I also spent a lot of the day researching JGI-Uganda and talking to the video team on what exactly they wanted me to ask during the interview with them. I also received great feedback on the interview I did of Gerald on Ngamba Island. I was told it is the best interview they have so far from the trip and my questions I came up with have been great. So I am finally feeling like I am “making a difference” and helping out the teams.
Cooking dinner tonight was so insanely annoying. I’m not quite sure why but people were getting on my nerves quite easily. I think mainly I just didn’t feel like be creative and cooking dinner for everyone (it takes about 2+ hours) but as my family knows I just get in crabby moods every once in awhile and then I get over it. I am over it now, but lets just say people are lucky they survived dinner with me. I joke
We had a two course meal of squash and potato soup and pasta with tomato and eggplant sauce. It was pretty impressive if I say so myself. Have to thank Steve, our truck driver, for his expertise. He’s a cocky Australian who it always trying to see how he can annoy you (which was really working tonight) but he knows his stuff!
After dinner we watched a few clips from www.ted.com about the XO program (one laptop per child). We are going to a local school in the coming days who have the XO laptops and we are also designing a new game for the laptops that teach about primate conservation. The XO program is a great idea so I am really excited to see it being implemented in a local school and see just how beneficial it is.
I finally figured out how to post pictures (decreasing the size of them by a lot!) so I will be posting more from now on!
Oh I think I might get to go behind the scenes tomorrow in the chimp areas, so I am very excited about that!!! Will keep you all updated.
We have to move out of the dorms tomorrow night because a large church group is coming to stay, so we are moving to Bandas. Four people to a banda and they have electricity, private bathroom, and HOT SHOWERS!!! We are so going to die once we start living out of tents in another week. We leave here on Friday or Saturday so everyone is trying to enjoy the luxuries now.
Alright, I am exhausted, I am going to sleep.
NIGHT!
TUESDAY
Today was a busy and exciting day. Lucy and I went out after breakfast to to do surveys around UWEC. In about one hour we did about 6 total (not the best, but better than other hours). At 11 we met up with Jess (the photographer) and Lisa (volunteer and wife of one of the creators of the handshake). Yesterday Lisa and Lucy set up a meeting with one of the chimp keepers for today. So we went and met up and he showed us all around the indoor quarters and then he took us out back and walked to some bars behind the quarters. Some of the younger chimps came running up and started to stick their hands through the bars and the keeper told us we could touch them.
This caused a big moral problem with Lisa, Lucy and I but we still ended up doing it. We held their hands, scratched their backs, and took pictures. Unfortunately, I hadn’t showered and I had terribly ugly clothes on which made me look a thousand times bigger than I am so the shots are crap but the experience is there. Still kind of upsetting though, since the keeper shouldn’t have allowed it. He doesn’t know what kind of diseases we might be carrying and it would had been so extremely easy for a chimp to bite one of our fingers off or worse. It has really made me think, but I’m not really sure what to make of it all yet. All though I should be against it I am not going to lie…I am really really happy I finally have touched a chimp (that wasn’t under anesthetic).
After that and lunch I joined Eileen and Sophia to interview Peter from JGI. I remembered hearing about Peter since I was working at JGI – USA so it was so nice to put a name to a face. He was so insanely nervous about being interview on camera but he did such an amazing job!!! He is a great speaker and very passionate about JGI and the work they are doing. We were with him for a couple of hours in the hot sun standing the entire time. My poor feet are killing me and I now have a nice red nose
After the interview was complete we moved to the “Bandas”. The bandas is more like hut that can house 4-5 people. We had to move into these on the other side of UWEC because UWEC needed the dorms to house a church group. Each banda has their own bathroom with a toilet and a shower with hot water!!! I was the lucky one and has the first shower. The water was in fact hot but unfortunately there was no water pressure. I can’t complain though, because Jess had the shower next and she said she had no hot water. Whoops, guess I took it all. I did try to conserve it but I guess I didn’t do good enough. Poor Jess, Katie, Sophia, and Eileen are now all fighting over who gets the first shower in the morning in hopes they get the warm water.
I am extremely tired at the moment, hence the crappy blog today. Guess I should get some sleep and hopefully tomorrow’s blog will be a bit more exciting. Oh I downsized some of my pics last night so once I have access to the internet sometime tomorrow I will be posting some pics!!!
NIGHT!
Well this morning started at 6:30AM when my alarm went off to wake me for cooking duty. Ben, Sophia, and I slowly but surely made porridge for the rest of the group. Around 7:30 people started showing up. I unfortunately had another case of sickness. I fear there is now a rumor going around the group that I am having morning sickness and therefore must be pregnant. Fortunately that is not the case; I just have a stomach that hates mornings! Actually I have narrowed it down to either one of two things: hot chocolate or malaria pill to early. The last two days I have had hot chocolate in the morning and taken my malaria pill before my food settled in my stomach. I have donated my chocolate mix to the group so I won’t be drinking it in the morning so lets see if that helps and I will also try to coat my stomach with more food before I take the pill. It’s just hard to do as my stomach never wants too much porridge.
Anyways, after breakfast Lucy and I had to give a talk to the group. Lucy went first and just explained what anthropology is and how we are using it while we are here in Uganda. I then gave a lecture on primates and my personal experiences working with JGI and as a zoo keeper. I didn’t think I would have much to say and no one would be interested but it turned out to be a great talk. I gave my talk and then I had tons of the volunteers asking questions and all quite interested in it all. A lot of good topics came out of it and we had a great group conversation for quite some time after I was done talking. I got compliments about it all day long and even tonight someone came up to me and told me how wonderful of a speaker I was and how interesting I am to listen to! I wasn’t expecting that so that was extremely nice.
After the talk everyone broke off into their groups and started their work. Lucy and I wrote up some notes from our interview we did yesterday at the school and then Lucy went off to survey visitors of UWEC and I started getting the questionnaires filled out by the handshake volunteers for some anthropology research being done back in the UK. That has taken me pretty much all day and I still have tons of more volunteers to do. The questionnaires are quite lengthy so it’s a bit tedious. I also spent a lot of the day researching JGI-Uganda and talking to the video team on what exactly they wanted me to ask during the interview with them. I also received great feedback on the interview I did of Gerald on Ngamba Island. I was told it is the best interview they have so far from the trip and my questions I came up with have been great. So I am finally feeling like I am “making a difference” and helping out the teams.
Cooking dinner tonight was so insanely annoying. I’m not quite sure why but people were getting on my nerves quite easily. I think mainly I just didn’t feel like be creative and cooking dinner for everyone (it takes about 2+ hours) but as my family knows I just get in crabby moods every once in awhile and then I get over it. I am over it now, but lets just say people are lucky they survived dinner with me. I joke
We had a two course meal of squash and potato soup and pasta with tomato and eggplant sauce. It was pretty impressive if I say so myself. Have to thank Steve, our truck driver, for his expertise. He’s a cocky Australian who it always trying to see how he can annoy you (which was really working tonight) but he knows his stuff!
After dinner we watched a few clips from www.ted.com about the XO program (one laptop per child). We are going to a local school in the coming days who have the XO laptops and we are also designing a new game for the laptops that teach about primate conservation. The XO program is a great idea so I am really excited to see it being implemented in a local school and see just how beneficial it is.
I finally figured out how to post pictures (decreasing the size of them by a lot!) so I will be posting more from now on!
Oh I think I might get to go behind the scenes tomorrow in the chimp areas, so I am very excited about that!!! Will keep you all updated.
We have to move out of the dorms tomorrow night because a large church group is coming to stay, so we are moving to Bandas. Four people to a banda and they have electricity, private bathroom, and HOT SHOWERS!!! We are so going to die once we start living out of tents in another week. We leave here on Friday or Saturday so everyone is trying to enjoy the luxuries now.
Alright, I am exhausted, I am going to sleep.
NIGHT!
TUESDAY
Today was a busy and exciting day. Lucy and I went out after breakfast to to do surveys around UWEC. In about one hour we did about 6 total (not the best, but better than other hours). At 11 we met up with Jess (the photographer) and Lisa (volunteer and wife of one of the creators of the handshake). Yesterday Lisa and Lucy set up a meeting with one of the chimp keepers for today. So we went and met up and he showed us all around the indoor quarters and then he took us out back and walked to some bars behind the quarters. Some of the younger chimps came running up and started to stick their hands through the bars and the keeper told us we could touch them.
This caused a big moral problem with Lisa, Lucy and I but we still ended up doing it. We held their hands, scratched their backs, and took pictures. Unfortunately, I hadn’t showered and I had terribly ugly clothes on which made me look a thousand times bigger than I am so the shots are crap but the experience is there. Still kind of upsetting though, since the keeper shouldn’t have allowed it. He doesn’t know what kind of diseases we might be carrying and it would had been so extremely easy for a chimp to bite one of our fingers off or worse. It has really made me think, but I’m not really sure what to make of it all yet. All though I should be against it I am not going to lie…I am really really happy I finally have touched a chimp (that wasn’t under anesthetic).
After that and lunch I joined Eileen and Sophia to interview Peter from JGI. I remembered hearing about Peter since I was working at JGI – USA so it was so nice to put a name to a face. He was so insanely nervous about being interview on camera but he did such an amazing job!!! He is a great speaker and very passionate about JGI and the work they are doing. We were with him for a couple of hours in the hot sun standing the entire time. My poor feet are killing me and I now have a nice red nose
After the interview was complete we moved to the “Bandas”. The bandas is more like hut that can house 4-5 people. We had to move into these on the other side of UWEC because UWEC needed the dorms to house a church group. Each banda has their own bathroom with a toilet and a shower with hot water!!! I was the lucky one and has the first shower. The water was in fact hot but unfortunately there was no water pressure. I can’t complain though, because Jess had the shower next and she said she had no hot water. Whoops, guess I took it all. I did try to conserve it but I guess I didn’t do good enough. Poor Jess, Katie, Sophia, and Eileen are now all fighting over who gets the first shower in the morning in hopes they get the warm water.
I am extremely tired at the moment, hence the crappy blog today. Guess I should get some sleep and hopefully tomorrow’s blog will be a bit more exciting. Oh I downsized some of my pics last night so once I have access to the internet sometime tomorrow I will be posting some pics!!!
NIGHT!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday and Sunday
Saturday
This morning I woke up right when porridge was being served, but not to worry as I think everyone who went out to the bar last night was moving slowly. At 9, we started the workday with a anthropology team meeting to discuss what we would be doing. We have a lot of great ideas but very little time to get it all done. Lucy (the other anthropology team member and soon to be MSc Primate Conservation student) was working on a survey we are trying to get the visitors to answer when the visit UWEC and so today we decided I would go out with her and try and get more responses. UWEC is not nearly as busy today as other days so it has been a bit hard to get surveys completed. In about 2 hours we got about 10 done, so I guess that isn’t too bad (better than my time in NYC and the bushmeat survey).
Wow, I am so happy to be on the anthropology team. As I have been sitting here writing my blog, Lucy and I have been talking about different cultural topics and anthropology research ideas for while we are here and for the anthropology section on the new handshake website (going online any hour now). Glad I switched!!! Oh, I am also supposed to be giving the volunteers a little talk about primates in the coming nights. I really just want to teach them the difference between apes and monkeys as they keep calling chimpanzees “monkeys” and it is driving Lucy and I crazy!!! It also doesn’t look very good when they go and meet the directors of JGI and other sanctuaries calling all primates monkeys. We can’t have that anymore, and I shall fix it! I have already pointed it out many times already one on one to people (some seem a bit put off by it but oh well they are here to help so they should act correctly)!
Okay, lunch time, must pack up.
Alright, after lunch a few of us moved into the dormitories and played some music while we all relaxed and worked on our stuff. At three we packed up all the computers and video cameras and prepared to go into Kampala. Everyone moves at a different speed in Uganda. It just seems to take a lot longer to do anything here. We didn’t actually leave UWEC until like 5 and on the drive to Kampala we were diverted to a side road which took us quite a long time to make it through only to be stuck in some small area with a huge traffic jam. It turns out we were diverted off the main road b/c the President’s car was driving through and I guess it is not proper for the President to see any trucks larger than them (I don’ t know we just got a strange answer to it). Where we were stuck we were surrounded by Ugandans and small little shacks/stores. All these beautiful children were just standing outside the doors staring up at us, smiling and waving. We were there for probably an hour and they were interested in us the entire time. It’s a weird feeling.
We finally made it back to the main road and into Kampala. We went and had pizza for dinner, as we were al l craving western food (and grease). After dinner we went shopping at the one and only 24 hour shopping center in Uganda. It was the same place we went to a couple days ago. It’s just a big grocery store plus appliances and clothes on the second floor, so I guess you might relate it to a WalMart but in a grocery store set up?
After that we made the long trek home, entertaining each other on the way with random stories from our lives. We really have a great group here, as everyone seems to get along so well. The group really meshes well together, so that is really nice.
Well we are back now and we get to sleep in a little more tomorrow. Breakfast is not until 9 tomorrow. The anthropology team has a conference call at 9 too with Sam, the anthropology team leader who actually is stuck in England and was unable to make it out for the expedition. We will be having a chat with her on what kind of research she is hoping to get from us while out here and bounce some ideas off of each other on what we think we should be working on.
Tomorrow around noon we are going to go to a local village school to meet the school children and discuss conservation with them. After the work part of it, the school has challenged us to a soccer (football) match so we are going to go and play a friendly game with them. I can’t wait to go and get some great pictures. I imagine it will be a great day.
I will write about it all tomorrow night.
Good Night!
Sunday
Bleh, my stomach this morning decided it was no longer a fan of food and should return breakfast. That being said, I am back in bed. We only have about two hours to do interviews this morning so Lucy has gone out on her own while I rest.
We had a meeting with Sam, the team’s anthropologist who is back in the UK as she couldn’t make the trip last minute. We went over what she wanted us to research while we are out here in the field. Besides just helping out the local directors of the organizations study the visitors, she wants to focus on the volunteers themselves and their motivations in coming on a trip like this. She has already written up some questions for everyone to answer at different points of the trip, so I think we will start tonight getting people to answer them.
At noon, we are going to a local school to interview the teachers and children on conservation. Just the education and anthropology team is doing that, but later on in the day the rest of the team will come out and we will have a soccer match with the kids. Should be fun and very dirty as it has been raining all morning so there is not a lot of mud! I just can’t wait to take pictures as I think there is an opportunity for some great shots.
Well the internet hasn’t been up and running all morning so I think I am going to sign off for a bit and rest my stomach. Again, if anyone is confused how I am writing this if the internet is down, it’s because I write it in a word document and upload it whenever I have a connection.
……
Wow, this afternoon was amazing!!! We all really feel like we are in Africa. Since we have arrived we have been living in dorms and staring at computers all day in our makeshift office outside at UWEC, but not until today did we really get out into rural parts of Kampala and see and meet a lot of the residents. We went to Kennedy Primary School to interview the teachers and kids about their conservation initiative, as well as play a friendly match of soccer with their school team. We were like mini celebrities when we were there. It’s just like you imagine it, all the little kids running next to your truck screaming Hello and then when you get on the ground with them and start taking their pictures they are so excited to see themselves on the screen. I was practically trampled when I was showing the kids their pictures, more and more just kept coming over wanting to see.
Lucy and I were suppose to interview some children on their views of conservation and before we were even able to go look for someone to interview a girl came up to us and asked us to come over and talk to her and her friends. We went over and they were all so excited and giggly that we were talking to them. They kept commenting on how pretty our names were and how pretty we were and wanted to know all about where we were from and what we were doing there. They then offered to take us around the school grounds to show us where they lived and studied. They introduced us to so many people (as “meet my new best friend” and whenever we would walk by someone without being introduced they would yell out to the girls and ask why they didn’t introduce us (even the adults!). Like many of the people we have met they want to trade contact information from us so we can stay in touch. We all assume it’s more so they can write us for money, but who knows. One girl did pull me aside and tell me how desperately she wanted to go to University but her father had died and her mother did not work so she could not afford to go. It’s all very sad to see all of them and you wonder what is going to happen to them all. The place had 1,036 students and 800+ are borders (live there full time as their families live far away, some even from Kenya).
Someone had a camera and they wanted to take a picture with Lucy and I and so we agreed. Soon as we did that an entire line of people showed up all wanting pictures with the “Muzungu’s”. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because all of the volunteers have been taking thousands of pictures of the kids all day so they are just as excited as we are to see someone from “a far away land”.
After the tour, Lucy and I went back to the soccer field and watched the end of the game. The African team was a thousand times better than the handshakers, but everyone had fun. Unfortunately, Ben fell and cut his knee open pretty badly. His leg was pretty bloody but he seems to be better tonight. Our truck driver, Steve, took care of him and fixed his knee all up.
The brakes on the truck were leaking while we were at the school, so before we could leave Steve had to replace the part (all by himself in middle of a field with hundreds of children watching). While he did that we took more pictures with the kids and just played around with him. We sang songs and danced with them. We did all the English kid songs like “If you are happy and you know it clap your hands” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and then Peace, from UWEC, came and started singing Ugandan songs to them so they joined in and got everyone to dance. I have some great video of it all.
I finally got my Ugandan sim card for my cell phone to work tonight, so I started calling people, but no one answered!!! I tried Papa but it said his phone was disconnected (might want to get that checked out Bruce or Mom), Jason didn’t answer, nor did Dad. I did leave a message on Mansion Studio answering machine for Bear to hear. Mom sorry I don’t know your number by heart and Bruce I couldn’t remember your cell phone either. Kevin wins as he answered the phone on the second call.
Well I have to do my primatology talk to the group tomorrow morning after breakfast (which I have to help cook) so I better get cracking on that right now before I got to bed. The JGI interview also might be happening tomorrow so I have to study up on what I am going to ask during the interview tomorrow. Aghhh, busy busy!! All is good though, today was so wonderful!
...
Some information about the other volunteers….
Jessica, a fellow American, is a professional photographer who is getting ready to start her Masters degree in Biological Anthropology as she wants to turn her focus towards that. She is very much into primates like me and her dream would be to start a chimpanzee sanctuary in the states at some point. I think I might have worried her about how difficult and expensive an undertaking like that would be, but she still believes so that is good. She is my age and she is engaged to the bass guitarist for the Allman (sp?) Brothers band. Yes, Bruce, we have talked all about Derek Trucks. She agrees, he looks like Jane Goodall. His name is Otil, know of him Bruce?
Eileen, a fellow American, is studying in DC doing her Masters in Film. We had a great conversation last night about all different things. We have nearly the exact same taste in 90s music and tv shows. Great to meet another DC person as I might be moving back there in the next few months.
Jonathan, British, is the oldest in the group at about 43 I believe. He is a bit different then everyone else as he does not believe in conservation. We have had quite a few conversations but overall everyday he is helping conservation as he is on the primate handshake! He has lived all over the world creating and fixing websites for different nonprofit organizations. He worked for the Dian Fossey people in the Congo (scary stories from his times there during the war) and worked in Asia with Sepilok and their orangutan organization there. He is really extremely sweet and probably one of the nicest people on the trip. He is always in a great mood. Oh and he also went on the Kenya expediton and I believe he is doing the South Africa one as well.
Actually everyone is so happy and in good moods here, it’s great. I’m wondering when it’s going to start to go downhill as we are all so sweet to each other. It’s almost annoying in the morning everyone you see, you stop and say hi, ask how they slept, how they are doing, etc… With 22 people (I think that’s the correct head count) it can get pretty tiresome in the morning, but impressive we are all so friendly. It will be interesting to see if that changes when we are sleeping outside in tents with no running water and toilets.
This morning I woke up right when porridge was being served, but not to worry as I think everyone who went out to the bar last night was moving slowly. At 9, we started the workday with a anthropology team meeting to discuss what we would be doing. We have a lot of great ideas but very little time to get it all done. Lucy (the other anthropology team member and soon to be MSc Primate Conservation student) was working on a survey we are trying to get the visitors to answer when the visit UWEC and so today we decided I would go out with her and try and get more responses. UWEC is not nearly as busy today as other days so it has been a bit hard to get surveys completed. In about 2 hours we got about 10 done, so I guess that isn’t too bad (better than my time in NYC and the bushmeat survey).
Wow, I am so happy to be on the anthropology team. As I have been sitting here writing my blog, Lucy and I have been talking about different cultural topics and anthropology research ideas for while we are here and for the anthropology section on the new handshake website (going online any hour now). Glad I switched!!! Oh, I am also supposed to be giving the volunteers a little talk about primates in the coming nights. I really just want to teach them the difference between apes and monkeys as they keep calling chimpanzees “monkeys” and it is driving Lucy and I crazy!!! It also doesn’t look very good when they go and meet the directors of JGI and other sanctuaries calling all primates monkeys. We can’t have that anymore, and I shall fix it! I have already pointed it out many times already one on one to people (some seem a bit put off by it but oh well they are here to help so they should act correctly)!
Okay, lunch time, must pack up.
Alright, after lunch a few of us moved into the dormitories and played some music while we all relaxed and worked on our stuff. At three we packed up all the computers and video cameras and prepared to go into Kampala. Everyone moves at a different speed in Uganda. It just seems to take a lot longer to do anything here. We didn’t actually leave UWEC until like 5 and on the drive to Kampala we were diverted to a side road which took us quite a long time to make it through only to be stuck in some small area with a huge traffic jam. It turns out we were diverted off the main road b/c the President’s car was driving through and I guess it is not proper for the President to see any trucks larger than them (I don’ t know we just got a strange answer to it). Where we were stuck we were surrounded by Ugandans and small little shacks/stores. All these beautiful children were just standing outside the doors staring up at us, smiling and waving. We were there for probably an hour and they were interested in us the entire time. It’s a weird feeling.
We finally made it back to the main road and into Kampala. We went and had pizza for dinner, as we were al l craving western food (and grease). After dinner we went shopping at the one and only 24 hour shopping center in Uganda. It was the same place we went to a couple days ago. It’s just a big grocery store plus appliances and clothes on the second floor, so I guess you might relate it to a WalMart but in a grocery store set up?
After that we made the long trek home, entertaining each other on the way with random stories from our lives. We really have a great group here, as everyone seems to get along so well. The group really meshes well together, so that is really nice.
Well we are back now and we get to sleep in a little more tomorrow. Breakfast is not until 9 tomorrow. The anthropology team has a conference call at 9 too with Sam, the anthropology team leader who actually is stuck in England and was unable to make it out for the expedition. We will be having a chat with her on what kind of research she is hoping to get from us while out here and bounce some ideas off of each other on what we think we should be working on.
Tomorrow around noon we are going to go to a local village school to meet the school children and discuss conservation with them. After the work part of it, the school has challenged us to a soccer (football) match so we are going to go and play a friendly game with them. I can’t wait to go and get some great pictures. I imagine it will be a great day.
I will write about it all tomorrow night.
Good Night!
Sunday
Bleh, my stomach this morning decided it was no longer a fan of food and should return breakfast. That being said, I am back in bed. We only have about two hours to do interviews this morning so Lucy has gone out on her own while I rest.
We had a meeting with Sam, the team’s anthropologist who is back in the UK as she couldn’t make the trip last minute. We went over what she wanted us to research while we are out here in the field. Besides just helping out the local directors of the organizations study the visitors, she wants to focus on the volunteers themselves and their motivations in coming on a trip like this. She has already written up some questions for everyone to answer at different points of the trip, so I think we will start tonight getting people to answer them.
At noon, we are going to a local school to interview the teachers and children on conservation. Just the education and anthropology team is doing that, but later on in the day the rest of the team will come out and we will have a soccer match with the kids. Should be fun and very dirty as it has been raining all morning so there is not a lot of mud! I just can’t wait to take pictures as I think there is an opportunity for some great shots.
Well the internet hasn’t been up and running all morning so I think I am going to sign off for a bit and rest my stomach. Again, if anyone is confused how I am writing this if the internet is down, it’s because I write it in a word document and upload it whenever I have a connection.
……
Wow, this afternoon was amazing!!! We all really feel like we are in Africa. Since we have arrived we have been living in dorms and staring at computers all day in our makeshift office outside at UWEC, but not until today did we really get out into rural parts of Kampala and see and meet a lot of the residents. We went to Kennedy Primary School to interview the teachers and kids about their conservation initiative, as well as play a friendly match of soccer with their school team. We were like mini celebrities when we were there. It’s just like you imagine it, all the little kids running next to your truck screaming Hello and then when you get on the ground with them and start taking their pictures they are so excited to see themselves on the screen. I was practically trampled when I was showing the kids their pictures, more and more just kept coming over wanting to see.
Lucy and I were suppose to interview some children on their views of conservation and before we were even able to go look for someone to interview a girl came up to us and asked us to come over and talk to her and her friends. We went over and they were all so excited and giggly that we were talking to them. They kept commenting on how pretty our names were and how pretty we were and wanted to know all about where we were from and what we were doing there. They then offered to take us around the school grounds to show us where they lived and studied. They introduced us to so many people (as “meet my new best friend” and whenever we would walk by someone without being introduced they would yell out to the girls and ask why they didn’t introduce us (even the adults!). Like many of the people we have met they want to trade contact information from us so we can stay in touch. We all assume it’s more so they can write us for money, but who knows. One girl did pull me aside and tell me how desperately she wanted to go to University but her father had died and her mother did not work so she could not afford to go. It’s all very sad to see all of them and you wonder what is going to happen to them all. The place had 1,036 students and 800+ are borders (live there full time as their families live far away, some even from Kenya).
Someone had a camera and they wanted to take a picture with Lucy and I and so we agreed. Soon as we did that an entire line of people showed up all wanting pictures with the “Muzungu’s”. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because all of the volunteers have been taking thousands of pictures of the kids all day so they are just as excited as we are to see someone from “a far away land”.
After the tour, Lucy and I went back to the soccer field and watched the end of the game. The African team was a thousand times better than the handshakers, but everyone had fun. Unfortunately, Ben fell and cut his knee open pretty badly. His leg was pretty bloody but he seems to be better tonight. Our truck driver, Steve, took care of him and fixed his knee all up.
The brakes on the truck were leaking while we were at the school, so before we could leave Steve had to replace the part (all by himself in middle of a field with hundreds of children watching). While he did that we took more pictures with the kids and just played around with him. We sang songs and danced with them. We did all the English kid songs like “If you are happy and you know it clap your hands” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and then Peace, from UWEC, came and started singing Ugandan songs to them so they joined in and got everyone to dance. I have some great video of it all.
I finally got my Ugandan sim card for my cell phone to work tonight, so I started calling people, but no one answered!!! I tried Papa but it said his phone was disconnected (might want to get that checked out Bruce or Mom), Jason didn’t answer, nor did Dad. I did leave a message on Mansion Studio answering machine for Bear to hear. Mom sorry I don’t know your number by heart and Bruce I couldn’t remember your cell phone either. Kevin wins as he answered the phone on the second call.
Well I have to do my primatology talk to the group tomorrow morning after breakfast (which I have to help cook) so I better get cracking on that right now before I got to bed. The JGI interview also might be happening tomorrow so I have to study up on what I am going to ask during the interview tomorrow. Aghhh, busy busy!! All is good though, today was so wonderful!
...
Some information about the other volunteers….
Jessica, a fellow American, is a professional photographer who is getting ready to start her Masters degree in Biological Anthropology as she wants to turn her focus towards that. She is very much into primates like me and her dream would be to start a chimpanzee sanctuary in the states at some point. I think I might have worried her about how difficult and expensive an undertaking like that would be, but she still believes so that is good. She is my age and she is engaged to the bass guitarist for the Allman (sp?) Brothers band. Yes, Bruce, we have talked all about Derek Trucks. She agrees, he looks like Jane Goodall. His name is Otil, know of him Bruce?
Eileen, a fellow American, is studying in DC doing her Masters in Film. We had a great conversation last night about all different things. We have nearly the exact same taste in 90s music and tv shows. Great to meet another DC person as I might be moving back there in the next few months.
Jonathan, British, is the oldest in the group at about 43 I believe. He is a bit different then everyone else as he does not believe in conservation. We have had quite a few conversations but overall everyday he is helping conservation as he is on the primate handshake! He has lived all over the world creating and fixing websites for different nonprofit organizations. He worked for the Dian Fossey people in the Congo (scary stories from his times there during the war) and worked in Asia with Sepilok and their orangutan organization there. He is really extremely sweet and probably one of the nicest people on the trip. He is always in a great mood. Oh and he also went on the Kenya expediton and I believe he is doing the South Africa one as well.
Actually everyone is so happy and in good moods here, it’s great. I’m wondering when it’s going to start to go downhill as we are all so sweet to each other. It’s almost annoying in the morning everyone you see, you stop and say hi, ask how they slept, how they are doing, etc… With 22 people (I think that’s the correct head count) it can get pretty tiresome in the morning, but impressive we are all so friendly. It will be interesting to see if that changes when we are sleeping outside in tents with no running water and toilets.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday
Well it’s Saturday morning so hopefully I can remember everything that happened yesterday. Yesterday we had breakfast and then jumped right into filming and editing. Katie and I went and tried to finish the volunteer interviews but we got a slow start because the tie mic stopped working and a wild de Brazza monkey came and stole a banana from Laurence. He was quite aggressive about it. We hadn’t seen a de Brazza monkey until then. Laurence just peeled the banana back and he appeared from nowhere and Laurence tried to walk away but the monkey just started chasing him. Laurence got worried and so just threw his banana into the field and then the monkey ran and got that and then never got close to us again, however we got some great video and still shots.
After the monkey stuff we got back to work. We quickly filmed the last 5 volunteers and I then got a lesson in Final Cut Pro. I actually liked learning how to use the program (it reminded me a lot of the recording studio stuff). Unfortunately, the audio from the first day of interviews were absolutely terrible so we might not be able to use every one of them. The editing of that stuff took me about the rest of the day until dinner.
The cook group decided to show everyone up and made a three course meal for dinner and then the majority of the group decided to go up to the hotel up the street for a few after dinner drinks. I must say it was really nice to get out of the little area where we work in for a change. It was really quite nice, we just all relaxed out on the patio bar and had drinks and really got to know each other and didn’t talk about work. A few Tusker beers later (very delicious) we walked back down the hill to UWEC and to our dorms to get a few hours of sleep before we had to wake up and do it all over again.
I do have some big news as right before dinner I talked to the organizers of the group and we discussed how my primatology background is not being put to good use and that it might be a good idea to switch to the anthropology team. I did like learning the new film skills but I didn’t feel like I was doing as much as I could for the group being stuck in that group, so I am very happy about the switch. I will still be helping the video team when they go interview people at JGI and I will be also helping the education team when they work on education things with Roots & Shoots. So yea! I think this could turn out to be a very good switch for everyone involved (except my film partner, Katie….we had such a fun time working together).
Some other random notes….
We had a lady come and asked if we wanted our clothes washed for 5000 shillings (about $2.50). We all jumped at the chance of having clean clothes that we didn’t have to clean ourselves so I imagine the lady made a decent amount of money for a side job.
Lucy also had an interesting story when she came back from the market in a taxi with the organizers. The taxi stopped at one point and the door opened and a man appeared speaking in a Ugandan language and the taxi driver informed Lucy that the man was trying to buy her. Lucy turned down the offer but the man still gave her some candy in case she changed her mind. I have heard men try to buy women here quite often, very bizarre.
It’s also quite interesting to be walking around UWEC or anywhere actually and lots of people yes and point at you screaming “Muzungu”. At first you might get a bit offended but then you learn it is not to be derogatory, it’s just it’s still a big deal to see a white person. We have learned that now a days people use the word when they see white people, but it actually derives from a Swahili word meaning “traveler” or more literally “here and there”. In the past they would meet travelers and they were always running around going to different places so they would describe them as always on the move and “Muzungu” was just a simple way to characterize that group. It turned more into a term for white people because when the young children heard the word they would always see the travelers being white so as they grew up they related white people to the word “Muzungu”.
Alright that was probably a bad description but I am tired so that is as good as you are going to get for now
After the monkey stuff we got back to work. We quickly filmed the last 5 volunteers and I then got a lesson in Final Cut Pro. I actually liked learning how to use the program (it reminded me a lot of the recording studio stuff). Unfortunately, the audio from the first day of interviews were absolutely terrible so we might not be able to use every one of them. The editing of that stuff took me about the rest of the day until dinner.
The cook group decided to show everyone up and made a three course meal for dinner and then the majority of the group decided to go up to the hotel up the street for a few after dinner drinks. I must say it was really nice to get out of the little area where we work in for a change. It was really quite nice, we just all relaxed out on the patio bar and had drinks and really got to know each other and didn’t talk about work. A few Tusker beers later (very delicious) we walked back down the hill to UWEC and to our dorms to get a few hours of sleep before we had to wake up and do it all over again.
I do have some big news as right before dinner I talked to the organizers of the group and we discussed how my primatology background is not being put to good use and that it might be a good idea to switch to the anthropology team. I did like learning the new film skills but I didn’t feel like I was doing as much as I could for the group being stuck in that group, so I am very happy about the switch. I will still be helping the video team when they go interview people at JGI and I will be also helping the education team when they work on education things with Roots & Shoots. So yea! I think this could turn out to be a very good switch for everyone involved (except my film partner, Katie….we had such a fun time working together).
Some other random notes….
We had a lady come and asked if we wanted our clothes washed for 5000 shillings (about $2.50). We all jumped at the chance of having clean clothes that we didn’t have to clean ourselves so I imagine the lady made a decent amount of money for a side job.
Lucy also had an interesting story when she came back from the market in a taxi with the organizers. The taxi stopped at one point and the door opened and a man appeared speaking in a Ugandan language and the taxi driver informed Lucy that the man was trying to buy her. Lucy turned down the offer but the man still gave her some candy in case she changed her mind. I have heard men try to buy women here quite often, very bizarre.
It’s also quite interesting to be walking around UWEC or anywhere actually and lots of people yes and point at you screaming “Muzungu”. At first you might get a bit offended but then you learn it is not to be derogatory, it’s just it’s still a big deal to see a white person. We have learned that now a days people use the word when they see white people, but it actually derives from a Swahili word meaning “traveler” or more literally “here and there”. In the past they would meet travelers and they were always running around going to different places so they would describe them as always on the move and “Muzungu” was just a simple way to characterize that group. It turned more into a term for white people because when the young children heard the word they would always see the travelers being white so as they grew up they related white people to the word “Muzungu”.
Alright that was probably a bad description but I am tired so that is as good as you are going to get for now
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Rushing to wait
Warning: I wrote the following blog throughout the day, hope it is not confusing.
Morning
I was able to wake up at 7 this morning so it was so nice to sleep in a bit. I took a shower late last night instead of this morning, and I must say night showers are the way to go when you only have cold water. After a day of work the cold water isn’t nearly as painful.
Just finished breakfast and then yoga led by David, one of the other volunteers. Finished the yoga with a little massage session on shoulder and neck, which as most of you know that is very helpful for my lovely neck/shoulder condition. We are all nice and stretched now so I think we are getting ready to start the work day.
Lunch
Sitting around here waiting for our next task to do and for lunch to be prepared. This morning Gema, Katie, and I just worked a bit with one of the video cameras to make sure we knew how everything worked before we went out to do interviews this afternoon. It was pretty much the blind leading the blind and two of three have zero to little film experience. I think we figured out the basics though so we shouldn’t be to terrible at the thing this afternoon. The films supervisor has been quite busy this morning running around having meetings with the UWEC director so a lot of sitting around a waiting to be given tasks. A bit annoying to be honest but I guess once we know a bit more we will be able to go work on our own a bit.
Would love to upload some photos to show everyone but I don’t think it will be possible. We are using a satellite hookup to have connection to the internet which does work (as of course you can see here) but when a lot of people are on it the slower it goes and we do have blackouts every once in a while. I believe the web team is also trying to start upload some stuff on the site so there really isn’t enough bandwidth to do much else.
Oh alright my supervisor is finally back so hopefully I will be given a lesson on editing film on a mac!
Evening
Well this afternoon turn out to be very frustrating. Katie and I were stuck waiting until about 3pm to actually be given our assignment for the day. Fiona finally told Katie and I that we would be in charge of interviewing the handshake volunteers about why they came on the handshake so would could put it up on the net. Oh and she told us she wanted it all filmed and edited by tonight. Since the sun was beginning to set by the time we got the camera and mic ready it was hard to get everyone interviewed. We did do a decent amount though considering I know nothing about filming and Kate has just graduated with a film degree but not a lot of hands on experience. Fiona actually sounded surprised how much we did get done in the short time so she was happy and tomorrow morning we will import it into the the mac and start editing and finish interviewing the group.
I received a very elementary and quick tutorial on how to edit with Final Cut Pro. I’m sure I have already forgotten everything I was told, but hopefully I will pick it up tomorrow when we are a bit more hands on with it.
To say the least a few of us were getting a bit frustrated with how things were being run today. Katie and I felt like we were pushed aside, but hopefully tomorrow we will be busy all day and seem a little more useful. Besides the volunteer interviews we need to come up with a “fact of the day” video question. We will be posting answers to a different question about Uganda and primate conservation hopefully everyday coming in the near future on the website. Remember the website is www.primatehandshake.org
After finishing up working and dinner we all met up with Peace from UWEC and had night walk through the center. The chimps and rhinos were put away but many of the other animals are allowed to stay out all night. We saw the hyenas and lions; very amazing things to see in the dark. Their exhibits are right next to each other just separated by a fence. They were having a bit of a fight going on chasing each other and roaring. So amazing to watch and they were right up next to where the visitors stood so we were really close and could see everything. Quite scary to hear a lion roar in the dark!
We are now in the dorms and it is so insanely hot in the room. It’s nicer outside! I fear sleeping tonight might be a problem.
Update: Simon is slowly getting over malaria, not so much sick now as tired. However, Lisa has been sick all day as well. Not sure if it is malaria yet or not, but I think it’s just a stomach bug. So far I am doing fine. Only count 1 big bug bite and three little ones which I think are from ants. No worries family!
Morning
I was able to wake up at 7 this morning so it was so nice to sleep in a bit. I took a shower late last night instead of this morning, and I must say night showers are the way to go when you only have cold water. After a day of work the cold water isn’t nearly as painful.
Just finished breakfast and then yoga led by David, one of the other volunteers. Finished the yoga with a little massage session on shoulder and neck, which as most of you know that is very helpful for my lovely neck/shoulder condition. We are all nice and stretched now so I think we are getting ready to start the work day.
Lunch
Sitting around here waiting for our next task to do and for lunch to be prepared. This morning Gema, Katie, and I just worked a bit with one of the video cameras to make sure we knew how everything worked before we went out to do interviews this afternoon. It was pretty much the blind leading the blind and two of three have zero to little film experience. I think we figured out the basics though so we shouldn’t be to terrible at the thing this afternoon. The films supervisor has been quite busy this morning running around having meetings with the UWEC director so a lot of sitting around a waiting to be given tasks. A bit annoying to be honest but I guess once we know a bit more we will be able to go work on our own a bit.
Would love to upload some photos to show everyone but I don’t think it will be possible. We are using a satellite hookup to have connection to the internet which does work (as of course you can see here) but when a lot of people are on it the slower it goes and we do have blackouts every once in a while. I believe the web team is also trying to start upload some stuff on the site so there really isn’t enough bandwidth to do much else.
Oh alright my supervisor is finally back so hopefully I will be given a lesson on editing film on a mac!
Evening
Well this afternoon turn out to be very frustrating. Katie and I were stuck waiting until about 3pm to actually be given our assignment for the day. Fiona finally told Katie and I that we would be in charge of interviewing the handshake volunteers about why they came on the handshake so would could put it up on the net. Oh and she told us she wanted it all filmed and edited by tonight. Since the sun was beginning to set by the time we got the camera and mic ready it was hard to get everyone interviewed. We did do a decent amount though considering I know nothing about filming and Kate has just graduated with a film degree but not a lot of hands on experience. Fiona actually sounded surprised how much we did get done in the short time so she was happy and tomorrow morning we will import it into the the mac and start editing and finish interviewing the group.
I received a very elementary and quick tutorial on how to edit with Final Cut Pro. I’m sure I have already forgotten everything I was told, but hopefully I will pick it up tomorrow when we are a bit more hands on with it.
To say the least a few of us were getting a bit frustrated with how things were being run today. Katie and I felt like we were pushed aside, but hopefully tomorrow we will be busy all day and seem a little more useful. Besides the volunteer interviews we need to come up with a “fact of the day” video question. We will be posting answers to a different question about Uganda and primate conservation hopefully everyday coming in the near future on the website. Remember the website is www.primatehandshake.org
After finishing up working and dinner we all met up with Peace from UWEC and had night walk through the center. The chimps and rhinos were put away but many of the other animals are allowed to stay out all night. We saw the hyenas and lions; very amazing things to see in the dark. Their exhibits are right next to each other just separated by a fence. They were having a bit of a fight going on chasing each other and roaring. So amazing to watch and they were right up next to where the visitors stood so we were really close and could see everything. Quite scary to hear a lion roar in the dark!
We are now in the dorms and it is so insanely hot in the room. It’s nicer outside! I fear sleeping tonight might be a problem.
Update: Simon is slowly getting over malaria, not so much sick now as tired. However, Lisa has been sick all day as well. Not sure if it is malaria yet or not, but I think it’s just a stomach bug. So far I am doing fine. Only count 1 big bug bite and three little ones which I think are from ants. No worries family!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
What a busy 14 hours! This morning I woke up at 6:30 to help two others cook porridge for the group. An hour later porridge was served...so not good. After serving we quickly cleaned up all the dishes and locked the food away so the monkeys wouldn't get it and then headed to the lake to catch a slow boat over to Ngamba island. The boat ride took about two hours to get there, but it was very relaxing and beautiful. Took lots of random shots of the fellow volunteers on the boat as well as the scenery around.
We were greeted by such happy people at Ngamba. They live there for ten days and then get a few days off the island. The island consists of about 22 employees and 40 rehabilited chimps who live out in the 1-2 acres of forest and only come in to be fed four different times during the day and to sleep. At first the chimps had a choice of sleeping out in the forest or inside and after the first major rainstorm the first night the majority of the chimps decided the man-made night quarters were the way to go.
The director of the facility and the main animal keeper gave absolutly wonderful talks to us about the sanctuary as well as the surrounding communities they help. The volunteers split up into their seperate groups today and started doing the work. The film team went around with Gerald, the main keeper, all day being shown the grounds the visitors get to see and then the behind the scenes areas.
The staff there made us a delicious meal for lunch which we all were very happy to eat after the "lovely" porridge from the morning. Everyone here in Uganda is so friendly and so happy to provide you with whatever you need no matter how hard it is for them to get it for you. They are really an amzaing group of people.
After lunch I was in charge of coming up with some questions to ask Gerald so we could film an interview. At around 2 the chimps came around for their afternoon snack and then we began the interview. Luckily I was off to the side of the camera so you can't see me. I think we ended up with about 14 minutes of clips, and the other half of the film team went around filming scenery that we can piece together.
I'm thinking if I don't do the mountain gorilla trek at the end I might talk to Ngamba and see if I can help volunteer for them for a few days. They always need volunteers to help out as they have tons of work and not enough staff. They keep detailed records of all the chimps behaviour eachday in journals and they need help importing it into the computer. Anyways, we will see how it all works out. Just thinking it would be cheaper then the gorilla trek and not across the country from the airport and I do love chimps more than any other primate. Who knows...
After we got our clips we had to catch the boat back to the mainland at 4. We arrived back to our dormitories a little after 6. Ben, Sophia, and I then had to start cooking dinner for the group. We were lazy and just made some spagetti. Spaghetti is quite hard to make for 25 people, especially when the sauce is from scratch. Oh well, it done with now so won't have to worry about cooking for a few days.
I now have finally been able to take a shower for the day and sit down and try and catch up on some things. Tomorrow I think we will be bumming around UWEC working on some film editing and then maybe try and interview some other people.
I have one troubling piece of news however...Simon, one of the many vounteers, had caught malaria. He started to feel a bit under the weather two nights ago and this morning he was completly sick. He stayed home today and one of the UWEC staff members took him to the doctor (it helps that the hospital is up the street). They say he has a very mild case and he caught it very early so he should be on the mend very soon. He has not been sleeping with a mosquito net so don't worry to much (well beside their was a bug inside the net with me last night and I did get bit, but I don't feel sick (yet)). :) Don't worry all is well!!!
Alright, hope everyone is enjoying my updates and I will be writing again soon.
xx
We were greeted by such happy people at Ngamba. They live there for ten days and then get a few days off the island. The island consists of about 22 employees and 40 rehabilited chimps who live out in the 1-2 acres of forest and only come in to be fed four different times during the day and to sleep. At first the chimps had a choice of sleeping out in the forest or inside and after the first major rainstorm the first night the majority of the chimps decided the man-made night quarters were the way to go.
The director of the facility and the main animal keeper gave absolutly wonderful talks to us about the sanctuary as well as the surrounding communities they help. The volunteers split up into their seperate groups today and started doing the work. The film team went around with Gerald, the main keeper, all day being shown the grounds the visitors get to see and then the behind the scenes areas.
The staff there made us a delicious meal for lunch which we all were very happy to eat after the "lovely" porridge from the morning. Everyone here in Uganda is so friendly and so happy to provide you with whatever you need no matter how hard it is for them to get it for you. They are really an amzaing group of people.
After lunch I was in charge of coming up with some questions to ask Gerald so we could film an interview. At around 2 the chimps came around for their afternoon snack and then we began the interview. Luckily I was off to the side of the camera so you can't see me. I think we ended up with about 14 minutes of clips, and the other half of the film team went around filming scenery that we can piece together.
I'm thinking if I don't do the mountain gorilla trek at the end I might talk to Ngamba and see if I can help volunteer for them for a few days. They always need volunteers to help out as they have tons of work and not enough staff. They keep detailed records of all the chimps behaviour eachday in journals and they need help importing it into the computer. Anyways, we will see how it all works out. Just thinking it would be cheaper then the gorilla trek and not across the country from the airport and I do love chimps more than any other primate. Who knows...
After we got our clips we had to catch the boat back to the mainland at 4. We arrived back to our dormitories a little after 6. Ben, Sophia, and I then had to start cooking dinner for the group. We were lazy and just made some spagetti. Spaghetti is quite hard to make for 25 people, especially when the sauce is from scratch. Oh well, it done with now so won't have to worry about cooking for a few days.
I now have finally been able to take a shower for the day and sit down and try and catch up on some things. Tomorrow I think we will be bumming around UWEC working on some film editing and then maybe try and interview some other people.
I have one troubling piece of news however...Simon, one of the many vounteers, had caught malaria. He started to feel a bit under the weather two nights ago and this morning he was completly sick. He stayed home today and one of the UWEC staff members took him to the doctor (it helps that the hospital is up the street). They say he has a very mild case and he caught it very early so he should be on the mend very soon. He has not been sleeping with a mosquito net so don't worry to much (well beside their was a bug inside the net with me last night and I did get bit, but I don't feel sick (yet)). :) Don't worry all is well!!!
Alright, hope everyone is enjoying my updates and I will be writing again soon.
xx
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tuesday, July 21st
The expedition has begun! Woke up a little before seven this morning for a very painfully ice cold shower. The dorms were painfully hot last night so the water wasn’t as dreadful as the day before I suppose. We all had porridge this morning for breakfast before we were introduced to our traveling home “Knox”. The final volunteer arrived during this big, Conner, from Ireland. We made our introductions and then headed into the capital city, Kampala.
Kampala was about a 30 minute drive. The roads are pretty decent here so my neck is holding up alright so far. We made it into Kampala and stopped at a little mall complex which has some random shops are a very modern grocery store. We were there during lunch so we all packed up on snacks and food to tie us over for the rest of the day. We also had time to change our dollars into Ugandan shillings as we are all having problems getting people to accept our dollars (even though we were told dollars would be the best way to go). I also was able to top of my Ugandan sim card with some money so now I can text and call people without worrying about the bill! My number is in a different building right now so I will have to give you the number at a different time.
After shopping around a bit we took the ride back to the dormitories and prepared for a talk by one of the UWEC educators, Peace. Peace is an amazing speaker and so wonderfully energetic about everything going on here. She gave us background on the Ugandan culture and conservation efforts by Uganda. Did you know 200 species of birds live in UWEC 32 acres? The film team hopes to interview her one on one in the coming days so we can create a video.
After that meeting, the film team met up and discussed what we would be doing for the next month. I am quite nervous as I have no film experience, but it seems like it will be okay. One of the returning volunteers is also on the film team and last year she was exactly in my shoes, and she says she had no problem at all picking it up and being of some help to the team. During that meeting we learned we are going to Ngamba Island tomorrow! I am so excited! Ngamba Island is an island in Lake Victoria where chimpanzees are reintroduced to live out their days in the wild with less threat from humans. We are going to be there for the entire day so I am sure we are going to see tons of stuff. We will start filming tomorrow as well so I will start to learn some new skills!
Right now we are just relaxing in our little work area waiting for dinner to be cooked and served. Everyone will be assigned a team to go on rotation to cook all the meals. Luckily (form me as well as the others) my team is not today.
Alright internet is up and running now so I am going try and post this.
Kampala was about a 30 minute drive. The roads are pretty decent here so my neck is holding up alright so far. We made it into Kampala and stopped at a little mall complex which has some random shops are a very modern grocery store. We were there during lunch so we all packed up on snacks and food to tie us over for the rest of the day. We also had time to change our dollars into Ugandan shillings as we are all having problems getting people to accept our dollars (even though we were told dollars would be the best way to go). I also was able to top of my Ugandan sim card with some money so now I can text and call people without worrying about the bill! My number is in a different building right now so I will have to give you the number at a different time.
After shopping around a bit we took the ride back to the dormitories and prepared for a talk by one of the UWEC educators, Peace. Peace is an amazing speaker and so wonderfully energetic about everything going on here. She gave us background on the Ugandan culture and conservation efforts by Uganda. Did you know 200 species of birds live in UWEC 32 acres? The film team hopes to interview her one on one in the coming days so we can create a video.
After that meeting, the film team met up and discussed what we would be doing for the next month. I am quite nervous as I have no film experience, but it seems like it will be okay. One of the returning volunteers is also on the film team and last year she was exactly in my shoes, and she says she had no problem at all picking it up and being of some help to the team. During that meeting we learned we are going to Ngamba Island tomorrow! I am so excited! Ngamba Island is an island in Lake Victoria where chimpanzees are reintroduced to live out their days in the wild with less threat from humans. We are going to be there for the entire day so I am sure we are going to see tons of stuff. We will start filming tomorrow as well so I will start to learn some new skills!
Right now we are just relaxing in our little work area waiting for dinner to be cooked and served. Everyone will be assigned a team to go on rotation to cook all the meals. Luckily (form me as well as the others) my team is not today.
Alright internet is up and running now so I am going try and post this.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday Night
Hello
7:30 AM tomorrow morning (11:30pm Missouri time) the handshake will officially start. At that point we will get into our different groups and start working with the local organizations. I will be on the video team so I am quite excited to learn about it all.
This evening we had our welcome dinner as everyone had finally arrived (except for one person who emailed saying he would be here at 11am, but we have yet to see him....we are guessing he is staying in a hotel for the night). During dinner one other volunteer showed up and we are now going on 4 Americans.
We went to a hotel up the street for a proper meal. They had a whole buffet set up with wonderful different foods which I probably would have never ordered off a menu, but turned out to be delicious. It was also one of the supervisors birthdays so we celebrated with cake beforehand as well as some squash juice and vodka. Squash juice is actually pretty decent, who would have guessed?
I am happy to report I have switched mosquito nets tonight and I am already feeling better about tonight's sleep. I will be able to move and breath! The bugs here are quite amazing. You just walk through swarms of them throughout the day, but by late evening they all start to die. They have less than a 24 hour life expectancy. They hatch early morning and die at night, quite crazy to think about. If I post some pictures soon I will try to post one where you can see the thousands of bugs. When you awake in the morning there are just literally thousands of tiny dead bugs on the ground. The local Ugandan women spend all morning at UWEC scrubbing the floors to get rid of all of them, just so it can happen again the next day.
Well I am trying to post a picture of a vervet monkey and her baby that were inches away from me yesterday but am having little success. Internet speed is quite fast at the moment so not sure of the problem. Alright I give up for now. It's a really great pictures so I will keep trying later.
Leslie
7:30 AM tomorrow morning (11:30pm Missouri time) the handshake will officially start. At that point we will get into our different groups and start working with the local organizations. I will be on the video team so I am quite excited to learn about it all.
This evening we had our welcome dinner as everyone had finally arrived (except for one person who emailed saying he would be here at 11am, but we have yet to see him....we are guessing he is staying in a hotel for the night). During dinner one other volunteer showed up and we are now going on 4 Americans.
We went to a hotel up the street for a proper meal. They had a whole buffet set up with wonderful different foods which I probably would have never ordered off a menu, but turned out to be delicious. It was also one of the supervisors birthdays so we celebrated with cake beforehand as well as some squash juice and vodka. Squash juice is actually pretty decent, who would have guessed?
I am happy to report I have switched mosquito nets tonight and I am already feeling better about tonight's sleep. I will be able to move and breath! The bugs here are quite amazing. You just walk through swarms of them throughout the day, but by late evening they all start to die. They have less than a 24 hour life expectancy. They hatch early morning and die at night, quite crazy to think about. If I post some pictures soon I will try to post one where you can see the thousands of bugs. When you awake in the morning there are just literally thousands of tiny dead bugs on the ground. The local Ugandan women spend all morning at UWEC scrubbing the floors to get rid of all of them, just so it can happen again the next day.
Well I am trying to post a picture of a vervet monkey and her baby that were inches away from me yesterday but am having little success. Internet speed is quite fast at the moment so not sure of the problem. Alright I give up for now. It's a really great pictures so I will keep trying later.
Leslie
Africa!!!! Gatwick-Dubai-Ethiopia-Entebbe
Hello all,
I’m sitting here on the plane from London to Dubai now. I must say, Emirates airline is wonderful so far. Finally a plane that lets me charge my laptop while in the air! The seat televisions even have a Seinfeld channel (!!!) which if you know me is quite pleasing.
Once I made it to the gate I ran into (or they ran into me) four other volunteers. I’m actually sitting next to one of them right now, Lucy. She is planning on attending Oxford Brookes to obtain her Masters like I did. She will be on the anthropology team doing research during her time here; however, she does not know what they will be researching yet. Guess we will find that out Monday night when we meet the organizers of the group.
Well nothing big to report; guess I will go back to watching the channel dedicated to Flight of the Conchords. Hilarious.
Hello,
I have arrived in Uganda! I have been here for pretty much 24 hours now although strangely it seems much longer. Been going non-stop so I guess that is it. When we landed in Entebbe airport the weather was lovely. Sunny with a nice breeze. We first had to go through a health check point and tell them we did not have swine flu (big outbreak in the UK right now). Then we stood in line to buy our visa to get into Uganda. All nice and simple. We then picked up our bags and headed outside to find our driver we had arranged to pick us up and to take us to our dorms at the UWEC (Uganda Wildlife Education Center). He was there waiting for us with his pickup truck. Put all our bags in back and squeezed in to the truck with just enough room. The roads were nicely paved and traffic wasn’t bad like I had expected it to be, but I guess Entebbe is still small so it will be worse when we get into Kampala (which I think we will be doing tomorrow when the handshake expedition actually starts). We are lucky in that we are staying at UWEC for the first week or so during our expedition which means we get to stay in their dorms and don’t have to camp yet. The dorms are quite nice and the whole group fits into the room.
When we arrived at UWEC the supervisors of the expedition as well as some other volunteers (all coming back for another year b/c they all loved it so much last year) were already here. All lovely people. Majority are females (as you I find you find with any primate related work). The majority are British as there are only 3 (including me) that are from the States.
We dropped our bags off and changed into some clean clothes (I have been wearing the same jeans since I left Columbia, MO on Wednesday!). We then went and walked around the zoo (aka UWEC). They have animals all over the place in exhibits and also just freely roaming. The vervet monkeys are free roaming and are not scared of the visitors at all. Have some great shots of them, expecially of a mother and baby so I will try and upload some soon.
We stopped and had lunch in the zoo the food was good, but unfortunately I became quiet ill after the meal and was sick. I quickly got that out of my system (literally ) and I am glad to report I have felt fine ever since, but never nice being the first person to get sick on the trip. Oh well, let us hope that is all that will happen.
The chimp exhibit is quite nice. I am actually sitting out front of it right now as I write this in a word document and will then update onto the net once I make it back to our wireless service. When I first saw them yesterday they were all quite active playing and chasing each other around. Lovely to see. The UWEC is right on the banks of Lake Victoria. The lake is mammoth and as you sit on the banks it feels as if you are staring out into the sea as their our large tides and no end in sight. However, you can see Ngamba island from here. For you primate people reading this you will know that is where they have reintroduced chimpanzees into groups onto the island so they can live freely with out fear of human encroachment. We will be visiting there in the next week so I am quite excited. For a little bit we were worried we would not be allowed because of the outbreak of swine flu in the UK but now they say we can go we just have to wear masks.
After the walk around the zoo we headed back to our dorms and met up to go downtown for dinner. Two locals from the zoo invited us out to dinner. About 15 of us went to 4 Points restaurant. I had a delicious greek salad with such fresh vegetables. Was very tasty. We made it back to the zoo dorms about half past nine and we were all exhausted. Many of us quickly through up our mosquito nets and headed to bed. My mosquito net is awful! It keeps the bugs out and looks quite nice but the black netting is so hot and is so close to my body there was no air flow. I was miserable all night. Thinking I shall have to switch to normal net in the coming nights. I slept well for about 2 hours, but I woke up about 12 wide awake and took me many hours to fall back asleep.
This morning we woke up and had a much needed shower, unfortuantly the showers are ICE COLD. Not a hint of heat, but I shouldn’t complain because once we leave here I am sure will be “showering” out of a bucket.
Had a nice cheese omelet with the group this morning for breakfast and then we dicided to take a walk into town. Entebbe doesn’t have much so didn’t stay long, just picked up a big jug of water (yes I am staying hydrated family!) and a Ugandan sim card. I haven’t put money on the card yet, but as soon as I do I will let you guys know my number. I know I have texted some of you on my US phone, but I must stop now as I fear the bill when I get home.
Well I am going to take some pictures of the chimps napping across the moat from me now and then head back to the dorms and trying and upload this. Will try and write more later.
Leslie
I’m sitting here on the plane from London to Dubai now. I must say, Emirates airline is wonderful so far. Finally a plane that lets me charge my laptop while in the air! The seat televisions even have a Seinfeld channel (!!!) which if you know me is quite pleasing.
Once I made it to the gate I ran into (or they ran into me) four other volunteers. I’m actually sitting next to one of them right now, Lucy. She is planning on attending Oxford Brookes to obtain her Masters like I did. She will be on the anthropology team doing research during her time here; however, she does not know what they will be researching yet. Guess we will find that out Monday night when we meet the organizers of the group.
Well nothing big to report; guess I will go back to watching the channel dedicated to Flight of the Conchords. Hilarious.
Hello,
I have arrived in Uganda! I have been here for pretty much 24 hours now although strangely it seems much longer. Been going non-stop so I guess that is it. When we landed in Entebbe airport the weather was lovely. Sunny with a nice breeze. We first had to go through a health check point and tell them we did not have swine flu (big outbreak in the UK right now). Then we stood in line to buy our visa to get into Uganda. All nice and simple. We then picked up our bags and headed outside to find our driver we had arranged to pick us up and to take us to our dorms at the UWEC (Uganda Wildlife Education Center). He was there waiting for us with his pickup truck. Put all our bags in back and squeezed in to the truck with just enough room. The roads were nicely paved and traffic wasn’t bad like I had expected it to be, but I guess Entebbe is still small so it will be worse when we get into Kampala (which I think we will be doing tomorrow when the handshake expedition actually starts). We are lucky in that we are staying at UWEC for the first week or so during our expedition which means we get to stay in their dorms and don’t have to camp yet. The dorms are quite nice and the whole group fits into the room.
When we arrived at UWEC the supervisors of the expedition as well as some other volunteers (all coming back for another year b/c they all loved it so much last year) were already here. All lovely people. Majority are females (as you I find you find with any primate related work). The majority are British as there are only 3 (including me) that are from the States.
We dropped our bags off and changed into some clean clothes (I have been wearing the same jeans since I left Columbia, MO on Wednesday!). We then went and walked around the zoo (aka UWEC). They have animals all over the place in exhibits and also just freely roaming. The vervet monkeys are free roaming and are not scared of the visitors at all. Have some great shots of them, expecially of a mother and baby so I will try and upload some soon.
We stopped and had lunch in the zoo the food was good, but unfortunately I became quiet ill after the meal and was sick. I quickly got that out of my system (literally ) and I am glad to report I have felt fine ever since, but never nice being the first person to get sick on the trip. Oh well, let us hope that is all that will happen.
The chimp exhibit is quite nice. I am actually sitting out front of it right now as I write this in a word document and will then update onto the net once I make it back to our wireless service. When I first saw them yesterday they were all quite active playing and chasing each other around. Lovely to see. The UWEC is right on the banks of Lake Victoria. The lake is mammoth and as you sit on the banks it feels as if you are staring out into the sea as their our large tides and no end in sight. However, you can see Ngamba island from here. For you primate people reading this you will know that is where they have reintroduced chimpanzees into groups onto the island so they can live freely with out fear of human encroachment. We will be visiting there in the next week so I am quite excited. For a little bit we were worried we would not be allowed because of the outbreak of swine flu in the UK but now they say we can go we just have to wear masks.
After the walk around the zoo we headed back to our dorms and met up to go downtown for dinner. Two locals from the zoo invited us out to dinner. About 15 of us went to 4 Points restaurant. I had a delicious greek salad with such fresh vegetables. Was very tasty. We made it back to the zoo dorms about half past nine and we were all exhausted. Many of us quickly through up our mosquito nets and headed to bed. My mosquito net is awful! It keeps the bugs out and looks quite nice but the black netting is so hot and is so close to my body there was no air flow. I was miserable all night. Thinking I shall have to switch to normal net in the coming nights. I slept well for about 2 hours, but I woke up about 12 wide awake and took me many hours to fall back asleep.
This morning we woke up and had a much needed shower, unfortuantly the showers are ICE COLD. Not a hint of heat, but I shouldn’t complain because once we leave here I am sure will be “showering” out of a bucket.
Had a nice cheese omelet with the group this morning for breakfast and then we dicided to take a walk into town. Entebbe doesn’t have much so didn’t stay long, just picked up a big jug of water (yes I am staying hydrated family!) and a Ugandan sim card. I haven’t put money on the card yet, but as soon as I do I will let you guys know my number. I know I have texted some of you on my US phone, but I must stop now as I fear the bill when I get home.
Well I am going to take some pictures of the chimps napping across the moat from me now and then head back to the dorms and trying and upload this. Will try and write more later.
Leslie
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Some interesting links
While I relax at the airport I keep thinking of more things I can put on this blog, so here are two links you might find interesting....
1.) YouTube Page for the Primate Handshake Expedition (you might see my lovely face on there in the next few weeks)
http://www.youtube.com/user/PrimateHandshake
2.) Primate Handshake Website (Gives you a better understanding of what the expedition looks to do)
http://www.primatehandshake.org
1.) YouTube Page for the Primate Handshake Expedition (you might see my lovely face on there in the next few weeks)
http://www.youtube.com/user/PrimateHandshake
2.) Primate Handshake Website (Gives you a better understanding of what the expedition looks to do)
http://www.primatehandshake.org
London, England
Hello from England! I arrived at Heathrow airport yesterday at 8AM. We had to sit on the tarmac for awhile as there was a "security breach" in the airport and all customers and staff were evacuated leaving no staff to help us unload. After that little mishap we quickly got off the plane and were back on schedule. I slept maybe for the last two hours of the flight so I wasn't completly out of it. I flew through security and headed towards the central bus terminal, bought my ticket to Gatwick airport and jumped on the next bus heading that direction. That was about a 40 minute drive and I nearly fell asleep right before we arrived at Gatwick. I jumped off the bus and walked what seemed like forever through the airport looking for the Hilton Hotel which was attached to the airport. I finally found it and was lucky enough to get my room early even though it was 11am. I collapsed into my room only for a minute as I knew if I didn't get up right then I would sleep the day away. So I got up and went to the train terminal and caught a train into London and met up with Rob and Vicky! Was so nice to see them both. Rob it has only been a few days but Vicky it has been over 3 years. We then caught the tube and went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. After lunch we headed over to Covent Garden which is always nice to walk around...one of my favorite places in London actually. After that we decided to go to zoo. The zoo is a thousand times better then it was back in 2005. The gorillas have a brand new large natural habitat now instead of the terribly old one they use to have. So nice to see the change! After that we caught a quick bite of sushi to eat in a park before I departed ways with them at the train station to catch my train back to my hotel at Gatwick. Before collapsing in my room I decided I should see if I could change my plane ticket to the night flight into Dubai so I wouldn't have a 12 hour layover (8pm to 8am) by myself in Dubai. The fee was 75 pounds to change, but after researching I would have spent at least that finding a place to safely relax in the airport while I was there so I decided to change it. This way I can hopefully sleep on the plane without having to worry about someone stealing my bag and I should be on the plane with a lot of the other handshake volunteers so that will be good. When I arrived back in my room around 9pm I tried to get the internet working with no luck (glad I didn't because way expensive and found wireless for cheaper today). I then decided to send out a few texts and pass out which I did extremely easily. I was woken at midnight be a lovely call from Ali not realizing I had left yet. Was very nice to hear from her but was too tired to talk and feared the phone bill if I had stayed on any longer. This morning I slept in late (my last time for a month I am sure) took a nice long warm shower (also my last one for a month I am sure) and packed up my bags. I am now just sitting in the lobby of the hotel for a few hours before I head over to the terminal to check in. I have a long day of waiting but I think it is better that I am here in London then lost in the crazy Dubai airport tonight. Well I will try to keep writing throughout the month but no promises on being as detailed as I will be busy seeing Africa!!! (oh and working :)) Email me your updates as well. Love to all!
Leslie
Leslie
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