Kazakhstan Story #1: At Least She Laughed

If stepping off the plane on to the tarmac in Almaty, Kazakhstan wasn't strange enough with the militaristic guards all over the place and an entourage of vehicles waiting at the base of the stairs, the brief but ever-so embarassing interaction with the lovely airline transfer agent, Laura, made the 5 hour layover memorable enough. Stepping up to the transfer agent in order to be approved to enter the international terminal, I kindly greeted the lovely Laura with a smile and "Hello" and the rest of the dialogue went like this:

Laura: "Dehli?" (indiscernible to me)
Daniel: "Huh?" (so absolutely confused what she just said)
Laura: "Dehli?" (indiscernible...still)
Daniel: "Daniel?" (was she just saying my name?)
Laura: (laughs) "Dehli?" (gah I am an idiot...did I not get it right?)
Daniel: "OH! Day! Yes, today." (crickets.......)
Laura: "Luggage?" (are you serious? not again...)
Daniel: "Lunch?" (please tell me I am right this time...fingers crossed)
Laura: (begins to laugh out loud and puts her head and hands to the desk and just looks up and smiles) "Luggage?"
Daniel: "OH! Luggage! Ha! Oh I am so sorry. No. I don't have any luggage." (I really am losing it aren't I)
Laura: (laughs) "Here's your ticket. Just wait over there until we call you."

...15 minutes later they call the passengers for Dehli. I had still not understood that she had been saying Dehli until she and the security guard look at our tickets and say that we are going to Bangkok; as we defeatedly begin to walk away they must have deemed this embarassment enough for us as they let us enter the international terminal.

So as the journey continues, and now in Thailand, there are sure to be so many more moments of complete and utter confusion, but I guess that is part of makes all of this worth it yeah?

Remembering Uganda #1: My Son

One dim incandescent light reflecting off decades old asbestos roofing panels was nowhere near enough illumination to prevent the flashes from the 9” screen blinding me from fifteen feet away. While the intoxicatingly humid air of boiled meat and mingled maize filled the room with nowhere to exhaust and as the house girl filled the knee high table in front of me with bowls and plates—I could not imagine being anywhere else. I had been invited to my next-door neighbor’s house—more of a Siamese abode as we shared a wall—to have supper and to watch a film featuring Nigerian militants, but this evening took one of the most embarrassing turns I have ever experienced in my life.

As James, my neighbor, and I absent-mindedly sucked at our 110 millimeters of cheap vodka from plastic sachets; we switched off the videos of the late Lucky Dube to view the film featuring what was said to have been Nigerian militants. Now don’t get me wrong, when I say, “what said to have been…” I am not complaining, but I just had to have an internal when I found myself watching Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a Rhodesian, struggle in a country distraught and stuck in war between government and rebel forces. Of course, I chose to say nothing. That first sachet was beginning to hit me now. Two shots of vodka nearly inhaled through that tiny hole torn off with my teeth. This was going to be a good evening. The bowls and plates numbered enough to serve a family of 20 at an American Thanksgiving (exaggerating…slightly), and being only two, this might seem a bit unnecessary to most, but to me this meant that I was in for a feast!

Being rather dark and partially blinded by the brutal catastrophes occurring on the screen across from me, I could barely see what foods and sauces were in front of me exactly. In this situation, I was provided with a bowl that had a heaping portion of posho (think a corn version of mashed potatoes with little flavor and very dense) and I was left to my disposable to add any meats, soups or vegetables that lay in front of me. I began to reach across the table to every meal complement to add to my now literally four pounds of edibles and using a few little fingers on my hand began to scoop and shovel food in to my mouth while chatting about the atrocities occurring on the TV. James meanwhile proceeded to bring around, this time, two sachets of coffee flavored alcohol and we were set off to round two of sucking up this harsh liquid. As I began to finish off most of the soup, meat and vegetables that were in my bowl but still remaining with posho, I began to glance at the table and was noticing that there was a plate that I had yet to try! Excitingly I began to extend my arm across the table in order to pick some of this mystery delicacy that I had missed the first time around. After helping myself to a large portion, I happily began to exhaust what would be the last food I should have probably eaten in days; but then my stomach began to drop. I took a swig of the coffee liquor. I blinked my eyes more times than I could remember. As a camera opening its aperture for an extended period of time, I widened my eyes looking to the right at James, and then suddenly down to his hands. My mouth dropped and I looked up to the TV without an ounce of comprehension about what was happening in the TV Sierra Leone Leonardo DiCaprio Rhodesian Man Rebels Diamonds Awfulness stuff going on. I…uhh. I spoke.

“James, I am so sorry. I was completely confused. I…I am so sorry.”

“My son!? No! No! No,” exclaimed James.

Astonished at my actions, I laughed shamefully. “But—no James, I completely did not even realize that I had been grabbing food from your plate! I thought that it was something that I had not tried! I am so sorry.”

“My son! What have I told you? This is your house too. Daniel, you know that you are my son,” said James adamantly.

“James, I know, but I can not believe that I had been eating off of your plate.”

“It’s no problem. I just thought that you were very hungry,” said James with complete sincerity. “There is still more food, let me bring more”

“No, no, no. I am satisfied. I just had thought that it was something different. Something new. I am so sorry.” I could not have been more embarrassed.

Had I really snatched food off of my neighbor’s plate? Not just once. Not just twice. But many times over and over? Absolutely yes! I had, undoubtedly, just eaten food off of another person’s plate, in their house, without even asking; and they were letting me do it the whole time because why?! Because they just thought that maybe I was starving?! How could I live this down? Would I ever be invited to James’ house again for a meal? Would he look at me tomorrow and turn away? Would my other colleagues look at me as if I would eat directly from their plates? Steal their crops and sell it in the market and make some money? Start my own rival chapatti stand next to theirs and sell at a lower price, defeating the competition? Of course not. Instead, I was offered one more sachet of that luscious clear liquid as the film…wait. The power just went out. No more film. Now it is complete darkness.

Slllrrrrrpppp went the sucking of vodka. As the crickets calls began to be heard James and myself, over-filled (myself obviously more so) with sumptuous food and cheap vodka, discussed but what else, life in Uganda. Life in Kaliro. Life at the NTC. How life throws so many things at you—some fair, some just downright dirty—and we all have to take it and make of it what we can. Not all of us do this of course. In the previous moment I literally ate off of another individuals plate. A man, that no matter what personal and economic trivial matters his life has, welcomed me in to his house and didn’t even say a word when someone with more was taking what is rightly his from his very eyes. I didn’t know that I was taking it, but if I was, then in his eyes I obviously needed it more. What does that say about someone? Though when I think back to this evening I still feel pangs of embarrassment scaling through my nerves, but for James, I can only assume that he is saying to himself, “My son.”

Seas of Unknown

Seas of Unknown

It's in the plans, whatever we do

A book that can not be read, but

The stereo brings us back here

So we needn't rush the future

Touch the skies but do not forget

Where it all began to make sense

And maybe one day we'll be back

And the pages will have been turned

And that day when we're back only

Our fears can hold us to the past

It's terror we hold

A terrible fear of

Things unknown

But the ledge we

Stand on continues

To move with us

So don't fear and

Let's look down

Off the ledge to

See the unknown

It's a paper of complex schemes

A movie with no ending, but

The dreams keep our reflections here

So hiding will get us nowhere

Dive to the sea but the pressure

Keeps us coming back for the air

And when we come back to breath it

And bottles we sailed are opened

And that day when we're back only

Our fears can hold us to the past

It's terror we hold

A terrible fear of

Things unknown

But the ledge we

Stand on continues

To move with us

So don't fear and

Let's look down

Off the ledge to the

Sea of unknown

Not only now

We don't know

Now not only

Take off your

Shoes and put

On your wings

And soar to the

Sea of unknown

Seas of unknown

It's terror we hold

A terrible fear of

Things unknown

But the ledge we

Stand on continues

To move with us

So don't fear and

Let's look down

Off the ledge to the

Sea of unknown

Seas of unknown

7/7

What a joyous Birthday!

87% of normal and improving; that is an achievement to be at compared from about 38 hours ago. I could have sworn I was giving birth. Yes, I am completely aware that I am a man, and so much that science as told us this is not possible, for all I knew just over 2 days ago at around 2.30am, this is exactly what was happening, where was I supposed to find a midwife now? So happy birthday to my newborn and me! Just hours after I entered the 27^th anniversary of the day of my birth and the previously sanctioned COS date (Close of Service) of my Peace Corps service I am sent writhing in pain behaving like a combination between a dog trying to find a proper position to sleep in and a fish caught out of water. As the sun rose without having an definable sleep, I lied in that bed feeling that there was something amiss about this past night. Obviously no baby birthing was to contribute to the night’s events, so I could only attribute the pain possibly to the consumption of ostrich, wildebeest, springbok and crocodile meat from the night before. As I felt somehow improved from the combination of feeling feverish and feeling like my insides were turning inside out I went back to work the next day with the assumption that all was A-OK! The walk to work was somehow laborious, I just felt tired and still was having some pain in my side, but wasn’t the same as the night’s. Happy birthday to me yeah?

Well finally I arrive at the office ready to finish my last paperwork to end my service officially but in the mean time my mind can not get off the residual pain throbbing from the night before. Moving around the office, trying to find people here and there became too much and I knew that it was time to see if I was just being crazy (did I pull some weird muscle) or was something really going on? Assuming it’s not someone attempting to tickle you, give you a massage or treat you like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, someone poking at your abdomen is just odd, but it can tell a lot. Well unfortunately I cannot tell you a lot. Blood work: unremarkable; negative, nothing out of the normal. Urine analysis: yellow (somehow concentrated), otherwise normal. Malaria test: negative. Liver Functionality Test: normal; normal, and normal. What is was the cause of the intense pain, general discomfort and lethargy, and fevers that have been going on? Today is my birthday and my last day of service and this is how I go out? I have things I need to do, people I need to see and places I need to go! A memorial for a friend who passed 2 years ago I am going to miss. The anniversary for priesthood for a friend of mine—I am going to miss. What if this continues? Are they going to evacuate me? We don’t even know what it is?

Though my entire body was aching and I was moving at a snails pace, I was surprised by the staff of the Peace Corps Office with a lunch and cake (though none of them had known at the time how I had been feeling). This was totally unexpected and was amazing to have been treated so well by these friends and colleagues of Peace Corps Uganda. If only I could have been a bit more animated I know that I could have shown my appreciation a bit more, but I hope they know how much that meant to me. After that I went back to lying down and soon I found that my birthday was going to end with what I believe to be my first IV. Maybe I have had one before but I have a memory like an 80-year Alzheimer’s patient. So after a liter of fluids were inserted directly in to my bloodstream I was on my way home, hoping and praying that this was the end, and maybe this was just a little food poisoning or something? So I did actually end the evening with a piece of lasagna out at a restaurant, but the night’s course of sleep consisted of feverish and sweaty sleep though waking feeling fairly refreshed on the 8^th. Whew, that was brutal but look’s like there is light…

…Well that was a bit too soon to think that! Let me be short with this account even though the events here were arguable worse than the day’s prior. I thought things were good and I walked up some stairs and got halfway up and couldn’t catch my breath and my abdomen and back were in pain and I figured oh this is all okay and then I spoke on the phone while pacing for 5 minutes only to feel like I was running a marathon and breathing almost consciously and finally going back to the medical unit and being like oh yeah now something is wrong we have to figure this out and no this isn’t just me and no this isn’t just some muscle pull and something really is or has been going on inside of me and we need to go figure this out NOW! Blood work, malaria test, urine analysis, more Pillsbury Doughboy pushing, chest x-rays, ultrasound (nope, no baby)...I tried to walk up a hill but had to sit down. It was as if ‘pain/anguish’ had taken the form of some spirit and was squeezing me and sucking all of the air out of me! Someone wheel me up the hill those last 30 meters. Thank you so much, really, thank you, I couldn’t make it. It doesn’t make sense. I can sit there and chat with you—yes the pain is still there and it is laborious to breathe—but I can sit and chat as if it is a normal day. You want me to breathe, laugh, walk, turn, move and do all that and we have a problem…well NOW we have tested so many things and what, well we don’t really know? Could be a viral fever? Could be a kidney stone? Could be a combination of the two or something random and completely different and we just don’t know? Give me just one more night of a fever and sweating myself to sleep and now I’ve finally entered a beautiful pasture of hope and joy and delight and smiles and baby hippos and squirrels playing and endless snow cone and cotton candy machines! There is no intention to imply the use of psychotropic drug use, more to show the difference between how the past 2 days were in comparison to the here and now. I guess the best birthday gift I was given was relief from the past 2 days and it has come! So why don’t we let the next 363 days of year 27 pass without any stones? or other inexplicable pains and I thank Uganda for an amazing last 40 months of my life!

You Tube Channel

I don't have many videos on there, but some of the videos that I post on here I have also posted on my YouTube Channel that is ill-used. All of this new techonology is beyond me. Go here for some videos...maybe I will add more?


http://www.youtube.com/user/kozadaniel?feature=mhum#p/u




STORY TIME:
Last year at right around this time I had ventured back to the US for my home leave between my 2nd and 3rd years of service. Having been in Uganda for 2 years away from most technologically revulotionary electronic gadgets, I didn't know exactly how I was going to handle some of the what had become common everyday personal possessions. Yes, in Uganda one can get an iPhone, or an iPad, or a Samsung Pad thing or any of those, but the costs are through the roof and I don't really know where they are purchased. Anyway, back to the story. So I had of course heard of this whole iPad revolution that had begun and was nervous/curious to see what the craze was all about. Upon entering the Apple story I was greeted by a very courteous staff member wearing a black Apple t-shirt named Catherine. My heart was racing, what do I do, there is so much in here and its not even like a kid in a candy store any more but rather a grown adult inside of the NASA Atlantis Space Shuttle with no clue what anything really does and afraid to touch anything. I inquired about the iPad and was led by Catherine the black t-shirt wearing Apple employee with a large name tag around her neck and some weird iPhone-looking gadget in her hand (it had some weird additional attachment to it) to one of these infamous iPads. She immediately picked it up and plopped it in to my hands. Palms sweaty with nervousness and confusion, I began to hold this space age object up in the air, looking underneath it as if I am looking for an oil leak in a car; proceeded to smell it, listen to it, and hold it at arms length from me as if it was a baby that suddenly began to urinate and giggle. Catherine attempted to ease my obvious fear by showing me with a touch of her finger how one could manipulate this iPad to do whatever the heart desires. Ever so briefly, I attempted to poke at the display as one might poke at a hot liquid to ensure it has cooled properly only to suddenly shove the device in to Catherine's hands and exit the shop quickly embarrasingly, behaving exactly as one might after tripping on their own to feet while walking on the side walk and looking around making sure no one is around and that no one saw.

Let it be known that was my first and only iPad experience. What is going to happen in round 2 in some few weeks? Only time will tell.

We Have Won The Battle

Here is a short little music video created by Mr. Kafeero Bernard, a music teacher at the NTC, Kaliro. This song was written by Mr. Kafeero for our most recent graduation assembly at the NTC, Kaliro and is a message describing the struggle that is education and that through fighting adversity we are able to succeed.

Panic Waiting Patiently

The Nile River at Sunset:
Sometimes I forget how often I cross one of the largest and most historical rivers in the world...

How do you just miss one thing? It is such a frequent question. Even I admit to asking that very question to persons when they are leaving something that has been especially dear to them. Does that very level of question limit our thinking for any specific reason? I have trouble focusing my attention on one specific aspect. Is it wrong simply to lump life altogether and say that I will miss that? Though excitement and new experiences are there on the horizon and I am striving for them, this land, this food, these people, these conversations, this laughter, this sorrow, these sunsets, these long dusty walks—this life—to me is just one thing. One very big thing to miss. One very big thing to remember. One very big thing to one day live again?

In less than 5 weeks I will take my first steps on to that plane at Entebbe International Airport and in my hand I will be holding that infamous 'one way ticket.' Though I have returned to Oregon twice over the course of the past 40 months, none of those times could have prepared me for these next steps. Both of those times I had with me a date and time for my return home to Uganda. I had throughout those holidays thoughts in my mind of the work to be done, of the people to see, of obligations to be fulfilled.

Someone mentioned to me that maybe 'panic' is just waiting patiently in a room. Maybe that is so. Actually, most likely that is so. So in the famous words of Jean -Luc Picard, 'Make it so'. Bring on the panic, bring on the fear, bring out the confusion of what comes next. Though fear raptures the mind like a blitzkrieg sometimes the excitement of the unknown and a new challenge is enough to wage war and to come out the victor.

Tomorrow I will wake up with one less day in Uganda—when looking in the mirror that is simply one day closer to a black hole of endless possibilities.

Stones and Steel

Chameleon Season: These days the chameleons are plenty and its always amazing to watch them cautiously move at the pace of a sloth as you stand and watch them, but the moment that you walk away they then begin to speed up and move away! Though this one is not camouflaged so much, others that I've seen can hardly be noticed as they appear more like a tree branch or a leaf.

(from left: Fr Anthony Bukyanagandi, Daniel Koza)
Floor Installment at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church: Thanks to the gracious support for the second year running of St. Joseph's Catholic School in Vancouver, Washington. With this latest bout of intense fundraising, the students were able to raise enough to lay a cement floor in the church. I have to admit that I was astonished when I first saw the completed work. The floor opens the room up so more, makes the environment so much more clean, and is a much more sanitary environment than the previous dirt floor. Here I am posing with Fr. Anthony Bukyanagandi, parish chaplain.

(from left: Kirya Robert, Daniel Koza)
Keepin' it Classy: While the NTC, Kaliro football team was competing against NTC, Kabale in Arua town, Kirya Robert and myself were keeping it real on the sidelines supporting the team. Though the match ended in a draw, the team played well and went on to play again in the evening.

(from left—all on my Athletics Team: Kirya Robert, Daniel Koza, (top) Kongai Caroline, (bottom) Arudo Anna Grace, Lubega Matias)

End of Games: Well the Intercollegiate Games being held in Arua at NTC, Muni began on the 17th of April and ended on the 20th of April, and while our teams did not perform to the level that many of us had anticipated, I have to say that I am so proud of all of the sports persons at NTC, Kaliro—from the Netballers, Volleyballers, Footballers, Athletes as well as Mr. Isabirye, Mr. Awiyo and Ms. Sarah—all of you put in so much work to compete in this competition. I am most proud though of my athletes (track and field participants). Acting as the Athletics coach at the college was tough, spending many early mornings and late evenings out on the pitch training and many nights sleeping restlessly as we had to cut very qualified individuals as the team was limited by numbers. I will be sad not to be around to coach this next academic year when the teams will travel to NTC, Kabale, in southwestern Uganda.

Playlist of the Moment:
Track Title—Artist
1. Architects and Engineers—Guster
2. Home is a Fire—Death Cab for Cutie
3. Runaway—The National
4. Love Is All—The Tallest Man on Earth
5. Twilight Galaxy—Metric
6. Mayday—Dispatch
7. Life Is Simple In The Moonlight—The Strokes
8. Fake Empire—The National
9. You Are a Tourist—Death Cab for Cutie
10.Brick By Brick—Train
11.Burden of Tomorrow—The Tallest Man on Earth
12.This Ain't Goodbye—Train
13.Lemonworld—The National
14.A Little's Enough—Angels and Airwaves
15.Meyrin Fields—Broken Bells
16.Pieces of What—MGMT
17.Good For Great—Matt & Kim


Websites of the Moment:
http://www.monitor.co.ug
http://www.newvision.co.ug

(Always good to check out those websites, especially these days with the 'Walk-to-Work' protests with Besigye and the recent swearing-in/government expenditures by Museveni)



Stones and Steel


Blink, don't blink
It moves and moves
Even in slow motion
You'll miss it
Pictures you take
Only blank captures
Of scriptures foreign
Becoming so dark

Shake, don't shake
It's still, so still
Lacking momentum
You make believe
Sites discovered
Through imagination
Places uncovered
And covered again

There's a fire
Burning the walls
Burning the falls
There's a fire
That you sit around
And you close your eyes
There's a fire and
All the pictures
All the sites
Slow down
They're real
There's a fire
Feel the warmth

There's a fire
There's a fire
There's a fire

Battano (Arbuckle)

So as I enter my bedroom to snatch a pair of jeans lying on the ground to throw on, I notice in the unlit room some, small blob near the waist of my jeans. I immediately drop the jeans, and proceed to flip the switch, flooding the room with a dim light. What is this mysterious blob which I had seen lying in the pile of clothes on the floor? It looked at the time like a large prune, which would be interesting as I have yet to see a prune in this country. Upon further inspection I find the mystery blob to be a young, little, knock-kneed just out of the womb bat! Whoa now!

Battano (Arbuckle)

How did you get here?! Yes most, if not every evening I go to sleep with the not-so-pleasant of bats flying around outside or between my ceiling panels and roof. Yes I have had bats in my house that I tactfully smack out of my house with broom, not before getting smacked in the head once or twice (I guess their sonar wasn't as good as they thought?). But this little guy was a petite, moist, furball who would stretch out when being bothered and there were serious parts of me that was hoping it would jump up, bite me, and I would be the second-coming of Batman (the first coming was real). This little guy managed to find his way in to the small crevice between the back of my backpack and where the shoulder straps enter, so my work was cut out for me to get him out even though he moved at a sloth's pace—I didn't want to hurt my new little friend. Now, I must admit, I didn't have the desire or energy to take this little guy under my wing as just like Principal Figgins on Glee, I believe that Vampires are real and are soon going to take over this world. I carefully picked up Arbuckle (his name for now) and brought him outside...oh so sad I could see him shivering in the cool air away from my dirty pile of clothes! Well, as you can see from the snap, I took advantage of his inability to move at this stage, because I placed him on the cool cement next to a bitanno (500 shilling coin about the size of a nickel). After Arbuckle's little photo shoot, a small bed of dried leaves and mulch was made for him in the corner of the patio in hopes that he would warm up and fly off...

The next morning he wasn't there. I choose to hope that he dried off, spread his wings, and is thriving out in the real world. So yes, I think that is where this story goes. He now lives amongst his brothers and sisters and who knows yet if he left me a little gift of gratitude giving me an uncanny ability to fight crime while wearing skin-tight black clothes and having a better voice than the most current Hollywood Bruce Wayne.

So to my friend Battano (Arbuckle), my hat is off to you in your new life in the skies and away from the piles of dirty clothes in my room. And I must say I assume that my immediate decision to put the jeans on without inspecting for any more creatures is in fact a message to me of how used I've become to having spiders, cockroaches (in fact when I enter pit latrines I choose to talk to the cockroaches as if they are equals rather than getting terrified), bats, stray cats, goats, chickens...the list goes on...to having all of these species living side by side with me. Oh joy! (

4 Nights, 3 Days (3rd April 2008)

First of all, I have recently come across two amazing sites! I think that you should all check them out and take 'em for a spin:

http://roguevalley.bandcamp.com

http://www.lostinroguevalley.com

These guys know what it is about...




The following was written 3 years ago today in my journal—a journal which is scarcely written in as my ability to keep either a journal or a planner has lacked for almost 27 years at this point...

Shoe + Duct Tape + Head Lamp + Profuse Sweating=Long Live the Cockroach
A snap taken 3 years ago today, I had quite the adventurous evening as I scurried around my bed room on hands and knees to get the cockroach that had been disturbing my sleep by climbing all over (and in) my mosquito net...

4 Nights, 3 Days

Crazy to think that on 19/2/08 I arrived here at my homestay! After spending the past hour assisting my 7 y old sisters with their homework that I feel their parents have very little influence in, I ate dinner and had my evening exercise. By evening I mean I just broke into a profuse sweat chasing a giant cockroach around my room in my boxers, a headlamp and a sheet of paper with duct tape on its underside. What other life could I be living where this would not seem so strange? Even after I achieved apparent victory over this prehistoric nuisance, I can nearly guarantee you that his partner in crime is somewhere in this room waiting to creep under my mosquito net and to attack me!

So in waiting for dinner tonight, looking at Namakula and Hadijja's homework I came to the conclusion that my host parents really have no investment in their children's education aside from the monetary aspects, which is quite unfortunate. In look @ their work, the spelling and math errors were simple enough to happily fox in a matter of a few minutes, but the majority of work in their notebooks seemed to be marked but not corrected. Learning seems impossible in this scenario as the children are either A) learning nothing @ all because it is merely repetition, or B) learning false information which one is the case is nonetheless a tragedy, but the whole system seems to be &$*%!*!

My time here @ Eka ya Mwami Mugaya (improper Lusoga) is coming to an end. I have ultimately been quite satisfied with my experience here. It has been an unbelievable experience that could never be replicated and I have learned so much! Although clashing of cultural norms has occurred, all in all the past 8 weeks shall not be forgotten. And now I shall drift off in a damp sheet of sweat to dreams controlled by Mefloquine while I subconsciously tally one night off of this first adventure, only to get nearer to the next 2 years of my journey.....

Running on Broken Wings

Playlist of the Moment

Track Artist

1. Hey, Soul Sister Train

2. About Today The National

3. Comes and Goes (In Waves) Greg Laswell

4. Do What You Want Guster

5. Picture Window Ben Folds & Nick Hornsby

6. You Got Growin' Up To Do Joshua Radin

7. Help I'm Alive (Acoustic) Metric

8. Come on Home Franz Ferdinand

9. Let It Be The Beatles

10.All We Are OneRepublic

11.Where You're Coming From Matt & Kim

12.Onward and Over Rogue Valley

13.Float On Modest Mouse

14.Try a Little Harder Lauren Pritchard

15.Held In The Arms Of Your Words Tired Pony

16.Everybody Ingrid Michaelson

17.The Winning Comes in Waves (Reprise) The Decemberists

.............go to http://roguevalley.bandcamp.com just do it

Running on Broken Wings

Circling drifting lonely passing

When they're falling back to earth they

Run and snatch and gather plenty

Stomachs bulging eyes wide open

Taught the lessons from the darkness

Slumbers lacking though no matter

Seasons hold the shortened lives of

Delicacies from their mountains

Foraging

Pleasures

Surmounting

Fountains

Twinkle Eyes

Feather steps

Reach out

Tempered inspiration seizes

Equatorial winter dreaming

Graceful running on broken wings

Streaks the face with earth's liquid gold

Foraging

Pleasures

Surmounting

Fountains

Twinkle eyes

Feather steps

Reach out

The weeks are too few remaining at the NTC—3—and I cannot even recognize how the days have gone by so quickly. It saddens when it feels like time has cheated you, and that it has gone by disregarding the feelings and emotions one holds and desires to hold on to longer. The Delorean is nearly complete and there is enough rubbish within a banana plantation for fuel, but converting that all to 1.21 gigawatts has escaped me thus far—would that solve the emotional struggle though? Going back isn’t so much the questioned desire, more or less the allowance to have control of time to be free to stop and/or accelerate it when oh-so-desired…

The past month and a half was spent training the most recent group of Peace Corps Trainees to Uganda and was an incredibly valuable experience. The trainees in country have had an incredibly packed training that I had been part of the planning of for the past few months and all did an amazing job keeping their spirits up. I truly appreciate all of their hard work and effort over the (5) weeks while us Peace Corps Volunteer Trainers were present and without their energy and enthusiasm the pre-service training would not have been nearly as memorable. This training involved its own series of curve-balls (ie, elections, new training site, new school-based training/language combination) that we had to work through, and patience was necessary throughout and they all showed it. I will admit that through the weeks I grew to feel an emotional attachment to the group as a whole, seeing them coming in new, eyes wide open and supporting them in their growth so that in so man weeks they will swear in as official volunteers. I look forward to following all of these guys through their service—its an exciting feeling to have been part of their training as I was.

Now being back at site has been a whirlwind. Because of the elections lectures did not begin until the end of February, and this is a relatively short term so the students will be going by April 16^th. Coming back here towards the end of March has left me with nearly 4 weeks with my students—and that is sad to me. Having grown to be involved with not only the students in my biology classes; but the students in the Wild Life Club, the students in the AIDS Challenge Youth Club, all the athletes and sportsmen on the fields, my colleagues in the classrooms/fellow lecturers, it feels so strange to have time wrapping up the way it has. These next few weeks will go by just like they would any term 2 at the NTC. The end of the year parties for clubs/cultural associations will happen. The inter-hall competitions for football, netball, volleyball and track and field will occur and will send the students home hungry for more. The college will be preparing for school practice observations. I will be preparing myself for departure. Life goes on; just strange to be the one changing while all else remains the same.

Though preparations to depart will be going on, these next few months won’t be without their own sense of urgency and busyness. These next few weeks will be filled with lectures, practicals club meetings/end of year parties and training will once again begin for the inter-collegiate sports competition that will be occurring at the end of April. This event, which was held here at our NTC last year is a competition for all 5 of the NTCs and was supposed to have occurred the beginning of December 2010, but was delayed for financial reasons. The time is now, so once again my early mornings 5.30am and evenings will be spent out on the pitch, helping to get these guys ready and keeping their morale up to represent the NTC at the games.

The basketball court has been graced with funding to allow its completion, which will be incredibly exciting. It saddens me that this group of students here will not have an opportunity to take advantage of it as much as they were the major proponents to get it here at the college, but thankfully it is coming! Work had been done through the funding of many generous donors in the US but a few roadblocks had been hit. With this new grant on life of the court’s construction, the college will be gaining a new playing surface to be used by its students and surrounding community. The court will be used not only for recreational purposes but also for the use of the Sports Science Section for practical teaching of basketball as well as being used by clubs/groups supporting team-building activities and promoting sensitization of HIV/AIDS and other life skills activities.

St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church has also been supported by St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Vancouver, Washington for the second year in a row and we are excited to announce that this year we will be laying the cemented foundation in the main section of the church. This will allow easier preservation of furniture/musical instruments/other wooden objects by preventing the ability of termites to enter in to these objects. By laying down the floor the members of the church will also recognize health benefits by being able to clean the church more easily so that jiggers and other infestations cannot be present as easily. This is exciting for the church and will surely update you all as things progress.

…I look back through all that and I can’t believe that is all going to be in 3 months…

Love you all. Stay safe…

It's Coming Down to the Wire

Kaliro (Small Fire):

Though it was the dry season, I hadn't burned my trash in ages, and as I knew that I was going to be going away for some time, this opportunity seemed ideal to get some work done. After bags upon bags upon bags of trash and 500ml of parafin, I set the heap ablaze. I have to be honest though, I had to utilize some 'fire fighting' skills that I didn't even know I had as the fire began to spread from the pit that I began it in. I hastily dug in a circle around the blaze in order to contain it. Oops!

This is where I live. They call it the small fire. I would say that there is some truth to that. Sometimes when I go outside I can see rain, thunder and lightning something like 5 kilometers just north of me…and 5 kilometers to the east…and 5 kilometers to the west…and 5 kilometers to the south. What do I see above me? I see blue and that big fireball up in the sky. What day is today—oh yeah, it is February 9^th, the very day that I ventured for the first time from Portland, Oregon 3 years ago to eventually end up in the pearl they call Uganda…

…I don’t even recall sleeping that night. Thoughts swirled endlessly, disallowing any opportunity for slumber to even reach me. I remember lying restlessly, waiting for that moment to gather myself together and embrace the courage to step on to that first flight from PDX. I watched Little Rascals and October Sky both twice rather than sleeping. My first attempt to pack my luggage was in fact that very night and I don’t even know why I ever attempted to bring nearly an entire department store with me in my luggage. I hadn’t a clue what I was really getting myself involved in so my feeble attempts at packing were done recklessly…

…I’m lying here now, not sleeping. Rather than Porky and Buckwheat keeping me awake this night it is the mosquitoes that have forced me to toss and turn; that and the fact that 5 months remain between this very moment and the inevitable farewell. If three years have not been sufficient enough to feel completely ready to go, and looking forward to these next few months doesn’t calm my nerves, is there even a possibility that I would ever be fully prepared to depart? I want a cold Black Butte Porter. I want to sit around a pizza screaming at the TV as the Beavers try to pull off an upset. I want to wrap a gift and put it under the tree. I want see my family and give them all a hug that should never end. Assuming fate leads me to those very things, soon enough I will want a cold Eagle Lager; I will want to sit around eating some fried pork and watching Nigerian films; I will want to share my American-style home-cooking with my friends and neighbors, I will want to greet my dearest friends and colleagues with a heartfelt embrace and not let go of their hands…

...what’s the next thing that’s going to be desired?

So it has been 25 years and a lot has changed, some for better and some for worse. You might be asking yourself what has been 25 years? My age? Your age? Someone’s credit score? No, the reference alludes to the length of time that HE Yoweri Museveni and the NRM have been in power in Uganda and come Friday, February 18^th, general elections will commence to decide on the next presidential term. Though the information provided here will be limited, websites of importance shall be listed for your assumed interest in these current events. While Museveni has ruled Uganda for the past 25 years, he has faced stiffer and stiffer competition by opposing parties, especially with the past 2 elections in 2001 and 2006. His primary opponents being Dr. Kizza Besigye (IPC) and more recently Norbert Mao (DP), the incumbent faces his toughest election yet and obviously the events that have recently unfolded in Egypt, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivore and Kenya prove that anything can happen; it must be said though that the majority of persons are more than anything praying for peace above all else. Take a look at the following websites over the coming weeks to keep up-to-date with the developments here.

http://www.monitor.co.ug

http://www.newvision.co.ug

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Uganda+enters+final+week+presidential+campaign/4273713/story.html

http://newscastmedia.com/blog/2011/02/08/analysis-uganda-presidential-elections-february-18-2011-yoweri-museveni-kizza-besigye-norbert-mao-results/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/africahaveyoursay/2011/02/is-uganda-ready-to-vote-1.shtml Not much from BBC yet, but I am sure that will be coming

And now, of course, what am I actually doing here? Again, as I usually do, I will leave this somehow short. Currently I am not at my college, I am working with Peace Corps as a trainer for the new group of trainees who have just come in to country for their Pre-Service Trianing. I am working with numerous Ugandan staff members along with 3 other volunteers for the next 5 weeks to make this the best training possible for these 44 Peace Corps Trainees. Working in the secondary education sector, these next few weeks are going to be filled with facilitation of sessions, observing the trainees in their schools during their school practice, working with the trainees through their integration in to the culture—in essence providing these eager individuals with as strong a foundation as possible to allow them to serve successfully in Uganda for the next 2 years. While I am here though training these new trainees, my students—after the presidential elections—will be coming back to school. I am saddened to not be with them nor the staff and other community members for these weeks as so much of my heart is back there. The current work that I am performing, though important and I recognize that makes me look at my college and community more and more as a place where my life has changed so much and to be away from that strains the heart, mind and soul. That said, I am happy to be here to support these trainees in their quest to be successful volunteers in the field, and by all means the foundation laid in training has a significant impact in the eventual volunteers ability to live and work efficiently, culturally appropriately and happily at their sites.

Again, while here at training all of my students are beginning to go back, but of course, if you know me, that won’t stop me from being involved and doing work remotely from here. Whether it be planning assignments/activities for the students/club members to be done while I am away (and communicated to them via phone/internet), pushing for more progress on the basketball court, ensuring that the new developments on the church continue or just keeping in touch with people, these next few weeks will definitely be busy. And it definitely does not stop there, upon completion of my time here at Pre-Service Training I will venture back to the college, begin working as much as I can with my students, ACYC members, Wild Life Club members and athletes. I am excited to think of everything that can be done in the next couple of months, but wow how fast this is all going to go. I am so proud of all of my friends, students and colleagues in Kaliro. I have learned so much from them all. I am fortunate enough to have these last months with them all.

6 Months In...6 Months to Go

Hey folks! Just letting you know that on my YouTube page I have attempted to upload a couple of videos...I apologize that the video quality is poor, but it is the best that I can do while I try not to be burdened by premature aging that disallows me from understanding modern technology. I tried to load the videos on here like I usually would but it kept failing me. Anyway the link I think is

http://www.youtube.com/user/kozadaniel?feature=mhsn

One is an interview with the priest Fr. Anthony at my college and the other is just a slideshow plus a few videos with tunes. Once I have these things figured out I will try to upload some higher res versions. Anyway take care and I will get some more words written down here soon for you to gnaw on.

So here is the slideshow/video that is also on YouTube. This one is of somewhat better quality...

Cowboy Coffee

I take it to the pan to rinse the

Little sto’ways from the daily grind

In order to make it though the day

Its not that the French Press is broken

But microbial colonization

Cowboy cowboy coffee coffee

Gets me goin always goin

Cowboy coffee cowboy coffee

Pour me that plastic cup of pure joy

With grounds and all the real essence

This buckaroo takes the hardest stuff

There’s always plenty left in the pot

But don’t look twice ‘cuz now its all gone

Cowboy cowboy coffee coffee

Gets me goin always goin

Cowboy coffee cowboy coffee

Gets me going all the time

Doesn’t keep me on time

‘Cuz its making the world go round

Just like Vanport Carousels

Gets me goin always goin

Cowboy cowboy coffee coffee

Cowboy coffee cowboy coffee

Be careful easy rider take it

Strong and dark without reservations

Get goin and make it through the day

Just break the French press and keep the pot

Because because it’s the very best

Cowboy cowboy coffee coffee

Cowboy coffee cowboy coffee

Get me goin

Get you goin

Get Kanzi goin

Gets everyone goin

Cowboy coffee cowboy coffee

Botanikos

Seed grow, look to the tree over

There the eyes burning at wonder

But will the strangle take reigns

Over progress of the veins

Childish prosperity’s amok

Kiss earthen parting with stock

Leaves’ fall’s only far if hist’ry’s

Not repeated part of the story

Though mother always said that

One day the world will be flat

Adulterated dreams cherished once

Kissed the palms and stocking stunts

Roots’ depth wants eager iron core

To break fatiguing chains with scores

Alas the bass could lose voice

Once the strung winds revert choice

Immaculate sparks showering when

Kissing stalks hidden from fen

Cliffs engulf crashes with might

Rocks break shattered in the night

Souls thrive fostered through the light

Love’s always conquered this plight

If I could make it for you

I’d then have it all for me

So I’ll make it for you now

So I’ll make it now my vow

Now my vow

Now my vow

Trees’ rings annual marriage with life

Proudly cascade that might with strife

Enduring with fortitude

And hiding beautiful brood

Creating prowess through canopy

Finding love in entropy

Cliffs engulf crashes with might

Rocks break shattered in the night

Souls thrive fostered through the light

Love’s always conquered this plight

If I could make it for you

I’d then have it all for me

So I’ll make it for you now

So I’ll make it now my vow

Now my vow

Now my vow