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.

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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!

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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.