PLAYLIST OF THE MOMENT:
TRACK ARTIST
1. Suburban War Arcade Fire
2. Coming Home The 88
3. Asleep at the Wheel The Wallflowers
4. Banana Co. Radiohead
5. Will I Lose My Dignity Jonathan Larson
6. Innocent Our Lady Peace
7. Heartbeats Jose González
8. Sunday Best Augustana
9. Love Come Rescue Athlete
10. Everything’ll Be Alright Joshua Radin
11. Second Chance Liam Finn
12. Sky Diver Athlete
13. Just Breathe Pearl Jam
14. Build This House With Me Mark Isham
15. Ordinary Angel Athlete
16. It’s Unsustainable Chris Walla
17. Black Swan Song Athlete
18. Lullaby One Republic
QUOTE OF THE MOMENT:
Here we are inside a novel
Waiting for an end
We don't know the authors of the book
Maybe someone's writing chapters
For us while we sleep
From a million miles away
Lyrics by Guster
Song Title “Hang On”
Thanks brother.
BOOK OF THE MOMENT:
Hoodwinked by John Perkins
MOST IMPORTANT WEBSITES OF THE MOMENT:
http://www.lostinroguevalley.com
http://campglowuganda.yolasite.com/
http://danielkoza.blogspot.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/17/chile.miners.mass/index.html?hpt=C1 (or any site involving the rescue of these men)
PICTURE OF THE MOMENT:
Halftime of a football match at my college I was graced with the opportunity to pose with the "Kyabazinga" (King of Busoga......and no, this is just a student posing as him) and one of my students on the Busoga football team, Ishmael. As I have no scanner and was given an original of this photo I simply took a picture of it, and then loaded it on here...to me this is one of the most 'Peace Corps'-esque photos I could find...
Many of you have heard me say that over the past 2 years I feel as though I have aged 20 years and I expect that this third year to turn me in to Steve Martin essentially (premature gray hair sort of thing); well this morning I officially feel old. Most of you do not know, but for the past 2 and a half years I have also been involved with a program called World Wise Schools (WWS) which works to connect classrooms across the US to Peace Corps Volunteers around the world in order to share their experience and expand global knowledge (3rd Goal of Peace Corps). I have been connected with a 7th Grade Class at Lincoln Middle School in Cottage Grove, Oregon (taught by the most generous Mrs. Jean Miksch) and the children have been the most curious and interested. So one of the activities that I have involved myself with these students (mind you different classes as each year goes on) is a letter-writing/pen pal activity. Whatever questions or curiosities come to these young minds I try to appease. I’ve been asked whether McDonalds exists here; if I have elephants in my back yard, and what the most unusual thing I have eaten (cow udder, if you don’t know yourself by now). Not all questions are fun and games though as some have garnered the intuition to even ask political- or disease-minded questions. Mind you carpal tunnel syndrome may set in by the time I’m 30 (compounded by the 3 years I’m here equaling 30 theoretical years) or feeling 60, I’ve opted for the insane decision to write to each and every letter written to me. I won’t tell you how many that is. But this morning, while going through some letters I came across this line:
“My Dad and Mom are taking me to see the Harlem Globetrotters game this Friday at U of O in Eugene. Have you heard of them? I can’t wait to go.”
I responded by saying:
“When I was young I used to go see them when they would play in Portland at the Memorial Coliseum…”
It makes me think of all the moments—for those of you in the Portland area—that I still instinctively say Civic Stadium (PGE Park) or Portland Blvd (Rosa Parks Way?). Yes, Memorial Coliseum is still called Memorial Coliseum, but right next door is the Rose Garden. Though my memories of the Memorial Coliseum do not involve an NBA Championship or a Beatles concert; it does include numerous center-court violin playing National Anthem Blazer games and animal-cruelty riddled Barnum and Bailey events. How many more generations will have any such memory at all? My feeling of elderliness stems from the thought that one day I will too be sitting on a porch of chipped paint, chewing on a cigar that has never been lit and realizing that it is all okay. Compounded with the fact that something of the sensation of the Harlem Globetrotters has entertained generations for decades, yet brings a completely different set of memories for all of us.
So why bring this up at all; especially in a blog supposedly devoted to a Peace Corps Volunteers experience in Uganda? The fact that I just lit a maintenance man’s (Nabongo’s) cigarette from a Bic lighter (usually wax matches would be used for this purpose) as he looked on precariously? Or the fact that this same man assumes day in day out that I am fluent in the local language of Lusoga when in fact I’ve mastered nodding, smiling and making other audible “ehhs”, “ahhs” and “mmhmms” that I appear to be a master of the universe? I am making ‘cowboy’ coffee right now simply because I am too lazy to clean either of the two French Presses (which is a mysterious contraption possibly capable of time travel to all but a few, that I carry around the college many days). The earth is a tiny place filled with mountains of emotions centered on thousands of different possibilities that mean what? That means that each and everything you say and do matters to everyone of us whether or not we’re around to even register any physical sensation.
Every thing that you do matters; and it matters to all of us. At least that is what I’d rather choose to live by than other philosophies; being one of the ways I’ve begun to realize teaching and learning over any generation is valuable, and one that I’ve begun to utilize to its fullest extent here in Uganda. The ideology briefed above is one of many valuable mechanisms of uniting people’s goals and ideas…
So in a matter of 755 words (excluding these)—according to the word count feature in Microsoft® Word 2004 for Mac® version 11.0—what has been accomplished? Everything.
…
Names, places, faces and even cultures change (or become lost). In some miraculous way we are all connected amidst this relentless force of change even though sometimes more often than not it seems as though we are continuously being pushed down. The frustrating part is often the very things that we (or you—on a personal level) want to change are the ones that remain, sometimes lingering simply as a thought in the back of the mind. These are the very things that bring us down; and bring us down to a point when we look at all the very things that we do love and just want it to go away. All of it to change. All of it to start over. But when we quit; when we just shut down and want to grab that morning cocktail, how many people are we potentially letting down and are we contributing to the very things that we want changed that seem to remain stagnant. Most often we are strong enough to overcome this barrier, and other times it is true; the options have been weighed and it is better just to put you hands up and walk away.
I’m still here, though many times good ol’ Mother Earth and whatever intertwined divine forces have been pulling away.
In essence the First Law of Thermodynamics relates the idea of conservation, it is neither created nor destroyed. The one time I believe that this can be proven false comes from our unique ability to help, plead and assist others without any possible benefit in return aside from the knowledge that someone has benefited. It could be believe that in this case, the benefit to the donor—the volunteer of good will—has been given that energy to the soul where it continues to grow. The soul is the only place where this law of thermodynamics is thrown off kilter. In teaching these philosophies to my students I don’t expect a change, if I do I know I only come closer to that point when I just shut down and show myself the door. I do expect them to think, to question themselves and others but to also trust themselves in their decisions, and I can hope that they will make the right choice.
…
It is difficult to reminisce at times: partially due generational alternations in memories relating to the same subject; sometimes in seeing how what and how we do things that seem so normal is only relative, and when we look at all the change both from our past which we never wanted to change and when we look to the future that we dearly hoped would change and it never came to fruition. We play mind games, questioning the past could have been like and what the future holds—you don’t really know until you reach the latter. I guess the only way is to make your decisions—though every one will not go this way—is by what will benefit the most people with the smallest expectation of return. Defy physics.
Now that I have proceeded to talk your ear off with my philosophical rant, what exactly has been going on here at the college? Well it has been a rather busy past month and a half and I cannot believe how fast the time has actually gone. Of course I am teaching still. My 2nd year class has approximately 30 students and my 1st year class is somewhere around 35. Often many students to not show up to school until their school fees have been paid, so the first week of lectures each class was only around 15 and now I think these amounts are stable. Along with teaching I am the Patron (Staff Representative/Leader) of both the Wild Life Club of NTC, Kaliro and the Patron of the AIDS Challenge Youth Club (ACYC) of NTC, Kaliro.
Recently, the ACYC held a weeklong workshop for members of the club and others interested to guide them to become Peer Educators. Through the workshop we had discussions on Life Skills, Guidance and Counseling along with roles of Peer Educators, HIV/AIDS Sensitization, Positively Living (with HIV/AIDS) and Sex & Sexuality. The workshop proved to be a success as the attendance was nearly 50 students (not all members of the club) and although the workshop was held each evening at the same time that our college was holding our own Football (Soccer) tournament, the attendance was constant! You know people here love soccer so giving up an evening when they can watch a match is significant! Days after the workshop was over our Peer Educators went out to their own halls of residence to carry out their first rounds of sensitization to their fellow peers on the things that they had learned in the workshop. I have been told that this first outing was a success.
With the Wild Life Club we have been struggling to get projects off the ground, but the minds involved are committed and motivated. Each weekend members of the club meets for some few hours to do some community service such as collecting trash around the college grounds or clearing the area around bore holes, which when becoming clogged they flood and entertain the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes, the carriers of malaria. We are working on a tree-planting project to help in sustaining the ecosystem here along with adding to the aesthetic appeal of the college so are currently looking to acquire tree saplings to involve ourselves with that work.
Bigger and better things are definitely hoped for by both clubs with the ACYC wanting to promote a small festival with sports, HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling and promoting sensitization to the greater community, and the Wild Life Club looking to branch out and plan a trip to one of the National Parks or Forest Reserves to have a hands-on experience with the local environment. Both will take a lot of effort and energy by the students and I look forward to the progress of both of these clubs.
The computer lab is still kicking and I can tell you all that the Encylopedia Britannica that was installed is a huge hit, so thank you to Mari Baker for that. Not only has a tool for the students’ studies but it gives them an opportunity, without having the use of internet, to broach many topics that they would not otherwise be suited for. The biggest issue is finding a full time attendant for the lab (who is computer literate) and finding a means to have the lab also open some of the evenings, but nothing can be perfect can it?
The Guidance and Counseling Office is being used more this term in its official manner than it has been in the past but changes are still necessary to get it to grow to the department we would like it to be. It is pertinent that the college find a means to hire a full-time guidance counselor, but when the subject was brought to the administration it was met with “The position has not been in the budget through the Ministry of Education.” Odd when many of the universities in the country have degree courses for Guidance and Counseling and the Ministry of Education is pushing for more in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions. We’ll push it to change, as per now on our voluntary basis we are doing what we can.
The Basketball Court has hit a long and troubled rough patch. First of all I thank from the bottom of my heart those of you who helped us in funding this project. I have received a list of the donors so the college community’s most sincere gratitude goes out to each one of you. You have all made an impact and have gotten this off the ground. The issue lies in the initial budget created. The personnel approached to assist us in budgeting for the project ended out not being so reliable and I do take blame for this misstep. For the past months we have been seeking new, diverse ways of trying to fund the remaining funds for the completion of the court. You all laid the foundation and without that I can guarantee you the effort and drive by the students wouldn’t be there to make something bigger and better happen. So far our efforts have come up with little to smile about, but we are still struggling and trying to smile through this as we find solutions. Hands down the court will be finished by the time I leave this college. Today, the Co-Chairpersons of the project (Sports Tutors), the college community invested in basketball and myself are meeting to discuss the progress and the way forward. It is a battle none of us anticipated but one in which we will win.
With that I leave you with what is seemingly turning in to a monthly post. I hope that you all can handle these long drawn out novellas and without your continued support and appreciation I wouldn’t be sitting here now working through all these things. Thank you and stay safe.
