Oregon-7,684 Miles-Uganda: Worlds of Difference

Kazakhstan Story #1: At Least She Laughed

2011-11-17T19:13:00.001-08:00

If stepping of 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 teh base of the stairs, the brief but ever-so embarassing interaction with the cute airline transfer agent, Laura, makes the 5 hour layover rememberable 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

2011-10-26T00:00:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-09T07:37:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-17T01:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-04-03T01:58:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-04-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-02-13T22:52:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-21T05:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T05:21:00.001-08:00

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

2011-01-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

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

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

City Planner

2010-12-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

Why does 2011 look so funny? That is a question that I can and will not answer but I pose it to you to digest. 2010 is somehow attractive with it’s two 0s. 2009 was a sweet little number; somehow 9s always look fancy because their curvature. 2008; you can’t go wrong with an 8 because rotate it 90 degrees and you’ve reached infinity. 2007; well 7 is my favorite number so don’t even argue there. I could break down each year in depth but I will leave it at this…2011 appears to be a rather ugly looking number. Though the number appears ugly, I am rather looking forward to the year; so my plan is to make this little ugly duckling to be a beauty queen of a year. But 2011 hasn’t even arrived, why am I beginning to focus on the future? Well I have been there and it looks grand and sweet. Doc and I have fixed the flux capacitor and I can tell you that 2011 holds good fortunes, but I can not tell you any details, so let me leave you with my best wishes for the New Year now, and if you are willing, let me divert and bring you up to speed on the past months.

Quote of the Moment

“Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out that he’d melt my brain.”

- George McFly (Back to the Future)

Playlist of the Moment

1. Your Ex-Lover is Dead Stars

2. My Life Would Suck Without You (Glee) Glee

3. Homesick Kings of Convenience

4. Breakable Ingrid Michaelson

5. Two Birds Regina Spektor

6. Flume Bon Iver

7. I Wrote A Simple Song Billy Preston

8. All The Morning Birds Jolie Holland

9. Geese in the Flyway Rogue Valley

10.The Bottom of the Riverbed Rogue Valley

11.Faded Coat of Blue Jolie Holland

12.That’s The Way God Planned It Billy Preston

13.For Emma Bon Iver

14.Eet Regina Spektor

15.You and I Ingrid Michaelson

16.The Weight Of My Words Kings of Convenience

17.Dream On (Glee) Glee

18.Calendar Girl Stars

City Planner

Take my hand and draw a map

Of the places you’ve gone and will go

Connected by a thin line with

Homes and places of friends and foes

The one you entered yesterday may

Not be the one that you enter today

Be curiously cautious with each step

If the laces become untied its as easy as

Blinking to see your old front door

Painted colors never seen before

But no one ever said that the past would

Remain as though you had never left

The city planner knew

The city planner drew

The city planner stayed awake all night

Dreaming of things as though

The world was a neighborhood

So don’t forget to remember that

You helped plan this city

That park where we used to play

Got turned in to a tobacco shop that we’ve

Seen on TV, where our tax dollars go

To protect and serve or cheat and steal

Though maybe this time around the block

We’ll turn it back in to the park

Wake up

Go out

Be crazy

Break rules

Make mistakes

Just come back

To where it began

The city planner knew

The city planner drew

The city planner stayed awake all night

Fighting to make it all right

Connecting the West and East

So don’t stay in one place

Help the city survive

Book of the Moment

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Camp GLOW Uganda

CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE

What was Camp GLOW Uganda?

Camp GLOW is an initiative by the United States Peace Corps in Uganda. It started in the country of Romania in 1995. This camp, generally for all girls, focuses on empowerment activities including, but not limited to, health education, life skills, career goals, sports, creative arts and Ugandan women in leadership roles (business, government, etc.). The activities help the girls gain skills to lead a happy, healthy and successful life. This year is the first-ever Camp GLOW in Uganda. Approximately 150 girls are attending from all over the county. All the girls are between the ages of 13 and 15 and are either in primary school or secondary school. The camp was run by Peace Corps Volunteers, along with the Ugandan female community members, acting as counselors. Female guest speakers spoke to the girls each day about how they became empowered, chose a career and are leading Uganda in today’s world.

Camp GLOW Uganda was an incredibly enriching experience (from my observational point of view). 153 girls aged 13-15 traveled from all over the country to attend this week-long camp being held at St. Theresa Kisubi Girls Primary School in Wakiso District, just outside of Kampala. What struck me most was the noticeable growth and friendships developed by not only the campers themselves but with their counselors (the girls were divided in to 16 groups being counseled by both a Peace Corps Volunteer and a Ugandan counterpart) and other staff. This camp was a unique experience for all involved and will be held in the memories of all for a lifetime. More information can be found on the site http://campglowuganda.yolasite.com.

Condom Demonstration Session at Camp GLOW Uganda

On Tuesday though I spent the day doing Camp GLOW's session on Condom Demonstration. Emphasized throughout the session was the point that this session and the use of condoms is most importantly for the girls' safety and protection. The use of condoms is not to bee seen as a gateway but as a means to be safe when the girls have become older and are ready, to most importantly protect themselves but also others in the process. This session was integral to the girls' health and upbringing as many of them had been aware of what condoms were but had never ever been introduced by them. While we always pray and hope that sex will be consensual and age-appropriate, if that is not the case this knowledge is integral for the protection of these girls lives. The session involved a description and proper steps to ensure that the condoms are not expired/spoiled and how to put a condom on and take it off. Each girl was given the opportunity (not forced) to follow the steps to check that they have grasped the knowledge.

At Camp GLOW I primarily worked as a staff member—to get my geek on I was a 'Media Specialist' along with the awesome crew of Tony Markon, Caleb Henderson and Thomas Hanno—moving around constantly taking photos and videos while concurrently updating the website.

Lastly, in regards to Camp GLOW I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all the campers, counselors, Peace Corps Volunteer Staff, Peace Corps Staff, Sr. Valentine and others of St. Theresa's, USAID and other donors helping in this event. Without the integrated efforts of everyone above the camp would not have been as successful as it was. Due to the incredible response, I hope and pray that Camp GLOW Uganda can become a regular event in the lives of many more in Uganda.

Wild Life Club NTC, Kaliro

Though our requisition from the college for tree saplings failed, we managed to scrape up a few saplings to attempt the planting of a few trees. These are just a few members of the Wild Life Club at NTC, Kaliro along with Mr. Okello Yuventino (far right), one of the agriculture lecturers at the college. His guidance is integral in many of our projects. The members take time out of each weekend to work on various projects.

Wild Life Club NTC, Kaliro and Trees for the Future

Even though this day was the Muslim Holiday Eid, nearly every member of the Wild Life Club showed up for the visit by Mathius of the organization Trees for the Future. Mathius gladly came to give a presentation/Q&A with the club members, gave a demonstration on stating a nursery bed for trees, provided the club with numerous species of tree seeds and remained for lunch (which was prepared by some of our hard-working club members) before taking off for the day. The day was an incredible success and was integral for the club members to have a guest come and be hosted by us. The information that Mathius brought was valuable to the students not only for their time at the NTC, but for the future when they become teachers themselves.

Who are you?

This photo was archived many months ago to analyze the individual seen here. It is obvious that upon viewing his reflection in a mirror that he could hardly recognize himself. Do you know the man in the photo? Why does he feel that he looks so gangly?

ACYC Day NTC, Kaliro

On November 20th, 2010, our club AIDS Challenge Youth Club (ACYC) of NTC, Kaliro held a special day at the college to recognize the importance of staying aware of HIV/AIDS and keeping community members involved in continuing the fight to reduce the affects of HIV/AIDS through a series of activities including: music and songs; skits; speeches; discussions, testing and counseling. The day ended with an amazing meal and members of ACYC (including myself) played against the college soccer team. Unfortanately we lost, but the whole day was an amazing success.

ACYC Day Football Match

At the end of the ACYC Day, we celebrated a successful eventful with a tough football match between members of ACYC and the college football team. Though ACYC lost, the whole day was an amazing success and hopefully the day will be a tradition for years to come.

CHRISTMAS 2010!!!

Memorial Coliseum

2010-10-26T05:38:00.000-07:00

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://www.bbc.co.uk

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)

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

PICTURE OF THE MOMENT:

"Kyabazinga", Ishmael and Myself

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 (3^rd Goal of Peace Corps). I have been connected with a 7^th 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 2^nd year class has approximately 30 students and my 1^st 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.

TUKASABARUHANGAAHAGURUMUNONGAATUHEENJURAYAJITUHATWAHINGAEBIRIMEENJARAYAWAHO

2010-09-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Tour Eiffel et Moit (said with a thick French accent)

Upon leaving Uganda I spent a brief period in Europe. Beginning in London and ending in Switzerland I spent a mere 24 hours patrolling the streets of Paris. Some nice young lad offered to take my snap!

Most Important Websites of the Moment:

The Life and History of Daniel Koza

Go Beavs!!!

Ugandan News (Government Newspaper)

Ugandan News (Independent Newspaper)

Notre Dame

I'm not going to lie...I didn't even carry a map around with me. For that very reason I wandered the streets of Paris in circles but still had the fortunate luck of coming across the many landmarks within the city. From out of nowhere I came across this little gem!

Playlist of the Moment:

1. The Captain - Guster

2. Walking - Dodos

3. The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon & Garfunkel

4. The Blackberry Moon - Rogue Valley

5. The World Looking In - Morcheeba

6. City Bird - Mike Molaro

7. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth - Neko Case (cover)

8. The Road I Must Travel - The Nightwatchman

9. Dead Hearts - Stars

10. Rockaway - Rogue Valley

11. Good Life - One Republic

12. Can't Do It Wrong - Ringo Starr

13. Things I Like To Do - Ben Kweller

14. Sons & Daughters - The Decemberists

Swiss Alps (Gimmelwald)

Clearly prepared for the elements, Ms./Mrs. Lisa (formerly only) Robbins Garland or something of the sort mountaineered our way through the rough terrain sans Sherpa. Our climbing party of 6 brave souls took to these peaks like ther was no tomorrow...and took the Gondola down.

Quote of the Moment:

'Tukasabaruhangaahagurumunongaatuheenjurayajituhatwahingaebirimeenjarayawaho' -

The family name from a region of Western Uganda, Banyankore, meaning roughly:

'We prayed to God to give us rain so that we can cultivate. He gave us rain. We did the cultivation and harvested the produce.'

Just imagine filling out any form and having to put that down as your name!?!?!

Picture of the Moment:

Broken Chair on the Place des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland:

Placed in front of the United Nations Offices in Geneva, Switzerland, this nearly 40 foot high statue designed by Swiss artist Daniel berset was constructed to symbolize the opposition towards cluster bombs and land mines.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Chair

Book of the Moment:

The Girl Who Played With Fire

by Stieg Larsson

A Few Words of Wisdom

Gimmelwald…just do me this one small favor and look it up. Have you found it yet? Good. Now take your next vacation there, or at least somewhere like it. You won’t be sorry. To this day it still amazes me the extent of the diversity on our dear Mother Earth. Upon my exit from the fair country of Uganda on May 31st of 2010, I managed to escape to a number of remarkable locations. Though I sat on at least 2 occasions I sat patiently in Heathrow awaiting my future flights, this moment would prove to be the one to finally set foot in the fine city of London. For nearly 3 days I scoured the city by foot, and though a virgin city to my eyes, the scents of exhaust on a rainy day and the pains of pavement quickly reentered my soul as though it had never been apart. The Paris air would relish much of the same though the first hint of disorientation would set in. With immense amounts of energy I strolled the tobacco-filled air of Paris with no map at my fingers losing my bearings and finding myself in a labyrinth of roads with no names. The sites were sought with haste and soon the steam brought me further to a neutral land.
Fitting that within a week’s time I find myself careening down a Ugandan highway with international aid vehicles all around to quietly pulling in to a station in Geneva, Switzerland, home to many of these same organizations. Sparing no energy to describe Geneva, going straight to the heart of the matter brings me to that one name; Gimmelwald. This sleepy village thousands of feet up in the Swiss Alps is a place that I guarantee you I will visit again if not any other similar location. If you one day find yourself saying ‘Ahh…where has Daniel Koza gone? I haven’t heard from him in years’, look there; I could very well be a hermit in some small hut. The unimaginable beauty of the landscape has a power of its own, little to be conquered by any supreme influence. Though Gimmelwald has grown in popularity has it has been exposed by the travel author Rick Steves, the dramatic peaks and mountainside wood lodgings make one feel as though they’ve entered a fairy tale. Who doesn’t want to be part of a fairy tale?
MSP…I feel as though it could be considered a second home. For those of you not in touch with the lingo of airport codes, that stands for Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. For a place that I have never lived yet has some sense of family history both past and present, I’ve spent hours on nearly 3 occasions in the past 16 months wandering the terminals with little to do but wait. In a sense though MSP is currently my portal to the Pyrite Gates of the USA. From Minneapolis to Portland to Austin my eyes took in every overwhelming site with its fair share of glee and exhaust. I will always love the USA as my home, will always find comfort in the friends, family and activities I have endeared myself to, but the USA will forever be the place that for the life of you just don’t understand why it always seems to be falling apart (a subject area that I will show no focus). I will always look forward to going back…
And now, I sit here in my office at the NTC, Kaliro, writing to you for the first time of this final year, expressing my unfeigned appreciation to all of you for supporting me to insanities point, my efforts to live and work at such a distance from yourselves. Without the emails, phone calls, letters and packages I could not be the person I am. Even the acknowledgement by some of you that you have even read this blog at some point means so much to me. In the grand scheme of things all of you are working and living here at the National Teachers’ College, Kaliro in Uganda. Your generosity fuels the drive in me to continue this crusade of goodwill.
Immediately seen as I woke up on the first day in this oft-sleepy town of Kaliro, I found myself realizing this I’ve definitely got my work cut out for myself if I am to reach any sort of point satisfaction with myself. Maybe this is just the masochist inside? Though progress has been shown in all the projects I have been part of—from the construction of the basketball court, the further development and integration of guidance and counseling at the college and the expanded use of supplementary resources such as computers and textbooks—the surface has barely been scraped. St. Andrew the Apostle Church is slowly changing as assistance is found but still remains a work in progress. Even my house, which contains curtains that have clearly seen better days, is in need of a much-needed facelift. The compound surrounding my house looks as though a pack of water buffalo would be grazing. Where am I going with this? The list is endless for opportunities to improve not only life but also oneself. I have less than 10 months. Do I eventually come to terms with being satisfied simply by doing my best and taking more steps forward than back? Hopefully so…but how many of you know me well enough to know that is unlikely? The day will come that I leave this place for a new and different scene, but for now I remain to work the daily grind and keep myself going. The one and only thing I ask of all of you is to continue your contributions and support, because without it I wouldn’t be here…

MORE SNAPS!!!

My 4th Cousin Twice Removed Buford Harold Diego Kozatterell:

While home in the USA I was able to visit with a lot of family that I had never met before like this chap...

Tillamook Cheese Factory:

Lisa came and we ate cheese and we were merry and everything was simply joyous!

Roughin' It:

We explored the dangerous forests of the Oregon Coast and barely came out alive. Fortunately we survived off of Pop-Tarts, Lay's Potato Chips and Old-Fashioned Glazed Donuts.

Newport:

After gorging ourselves on beer and food at the Rogue Brewery, we went and strolled by this lovely bridge...

Home Security System:

I was greeted warmly by my home security system...unfortunately he didn't do a good job while I was away...

Siblings

2010-06-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sister:

Oh the joys of family and weddings. Anna, myself and Chris—I think pre-wedding—united once again...(19th June 2010)

McDonalds

2010-06-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

I ate a peach today. I bought it for 40 pence. A strong desire to try to bargain the price of the peach down crossed my mind. I didn't say a word though; I paid the 40 pence, said 'Thank you' and proceeded to happily eat my peach—just the way I like it (tart and under-ripe)...well I'm not in Kansas, uhh, Uganda anymore. I don't remember when the last time I ate a peach was. It is quite possible that I consumed at least part of a peach in Kampala within the last 2 years, but if I did indeed eat one it was surely soft, lacking flavor and somewhere in the ballpark of 5,000 Ugandan shillings.

Starbucks...yeah I know, it's Starbucks, but take away whatever reservations/feelings you have towards Starbucks. Yes, I drink coffee in Uganda quite often whether it be freeze dried, french press or espresso in Kampala, it was black drip coffee—from Starbucks—warming my hands, because to me, London is damn cold! I had two shirts, a sweatshirt and a jacket...I could have used another layer. This is the coldest whether I have encountered since February of 2008 when I was in Brussels enroute to Uganda.

McDonalds is amazing! No, I didn't eat anything from McDonalds but I did utilize their clean restroom and threw my Starbucks cup in to their rubbish receptacle. I have passed by many McDonalds restaurants and simply can not get myself to order anything. Not that I ate at McDonalds on any sort of regular basis prior to going to Uganda, but there are times in Uganda that I crave that Big Mac, and now that I can have it I just don't want it!

...no more matooke...no more posho...no more matatus...no more foam mattresses...no more Lusoga...no more mosquito net...no more Eagle...no more cockroaches (for the most part)...no more pit latrines......for the next 3 months at least.

Zanzibar Sunrise: 2nd January 2009

2010-05-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

Zanzibar Sunrise
2 January 2009
Featuring 'Over the Pond'
by Album Leaf
Created by Daniel Koza

A time-delay video of the sunrise off of Jambiani Beach on Zanzibar Island on the 2nd of January 2009.

Oasis

2010-05-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

Burned up and of no use anymore
Its been so much, maybe too much
To enter in to a distant moor
Its living here and there as such

A fallen leaf that never was green
Always breaking and falling
But remaining to forever be seen
A quietude of constant calling
Such is what is in store to be alive

It can’t be broken but can always be torn
A thorn pierces those who near
But for the ones who choose to endure
To cure and steer will never mourn
So be glad and be sad
That it never ends
And it always means
That we’ve grown up
And its always worth
Living and dying for

The sun is up and ever-rising
Its threatening and enlightening
To enter in to the sling
That cradles our every breath
Always in the place of our birth

To fall and to break and to gain
The strength to mend your pieces
Back together again
Enlists the slavery of each soul
To pardon the oft-resolve
To feel used but remember
Even the broken will dissolve
To that matter that builds us all

10/10/10

2010-05-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Kaliro, Uganda! Just want to give all of you a quick update on the going-ons here at the National Teachers’ College, Kaliro. So much has definitely changed over the past few months. Nearly everyone I came with has gone away, including Lisa, my site mate who has finished her 2 years of service and my cat Baghira (both ‘disappeared’ around the same time…hmm). All of them will be missed immensely. Currently we have our DEP in-service students. This is a smaller group of students; ones who are currently Primary School teachers and are working to upgrade their status, most importantly resulting in a pay increase after 3 years. As I am leaving in a matter of a few weeks I have opted out of teaching this group for this last month so that I can wrap most other things up before I come back for my holiday. Aside from marking papers, assignments, exams and practicals and compiling their marks, I have been trying to complete and bring to fruition all of the other projects that have been happening over the past (2) years. Here are some brief details:

Basketball Court:

First of all thank you to those of you who donated and supported our construction of the basketball court. Without that investment we would not be where we are now. You’re selfless assistance is integral to molding the lives of so many people here. The students, staff and other community members are incredibly excited about this new court coming in, and will be the only one in the district which makes it even more important! Unfortunately we have hit a few roadblocks, mainly the initial quote that we had received for the costs and construction of the court was nearly 6 times less than what we really needed. At this time we have reworked the budget and have rewritten an informational proposal to submit to whomever is willing to take a look at our situation and support the completion of this court.

Science Laboratories:

The work on the science laboratories is nearly complete. The 100 stools have been finished and currently we are marking the stools so that they are easily seen to be property of the science department here at the college. We are pondering imposing an immediate fine to any one seen taking the stools from the laboratories as often what happens to most of the classroom furniture here. The laboratories were repainted some couple of months ago and look dramatically better than before. The tables were also painted and the two laboratories look much brighter and more inviting than any of the other classrooms at the college. A few touch ups are necessary but all in all a huge improvement is seen!

St. Andrew the Apostle Church at NTC, Kaliro:

Through fundraising done by St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Vancouver, Washington, money was donated to the NTC, Kaliro for furthering the construction of the St. Andrew the Apostle Chapel on campus. Many, many thanks go out to all of those of St. Joseph’s Catholic School for support our college here. Your interest and investment in our college here has had an amazing impact on not just the Catholic community at NTC, Kaliro but even the outside community as members of the congregation do outreach to other community members, bringing many others to view the assistance that you have provided us here. The specific areas that the money from St. Joseph’s Catholic School has assisted are in completion of the roof to allow the sacristy, offices, smaller chapel and latrine to be used. This work is especially important in eventually finishing the entirety of the project. Thank all of you so much.

Guidance and Counseling Office:

Things have been on hold with bringing the Guidance and Counseling Office to fruition. The office has been used sparingly but we hope as we form more concrete guidelines for rules and regulations of confidentiality in regards to the office it will be best used to its fullest potential. Also we hope to utilize the office in conjunction with clubs on the college that relate to such matters as Guidance and Counseling, Life Skills and HIV/AIDS awareness. Thank you to all of you who donated in the completion of this office.

I hope that gives you all an idea of what has been going on here. The next few weeks I will wrap all of this up and begin my venture back home. Before returning to the US I will stop in London for about 3 days, then take the train to Paris for one night and then continue on to Geneva for about 5 days, where I will then wake up on the 10^th of July and find my way journeying back to the US. After about 11 days in Minnesota for my brother’s wedding and to introduce Kate as a ‘sibling’ I will make it back to Portland on June 21^st! Below there are a few pictures and I have also written a few thoughts on, well, many things, so take a read, but it is a lot…

Lake Victoria: Entebbe
Sitting at Goretti's Pizzeria at night at Lake Victoria in Entebbe...

PIZZA! at Goretti's Pizzeria: Entebbe
Some of if not the best pizza in Uganda! Here is Lisa and I admiring these two fine specimens before devouring them!

Basketball Court: NTC, Kaliro
Construction workers are seen here building a small containment wall that will house the surface of the basketball court once complete. The containment wall—which was a new addition to the budget—is important as it will aid in the prevention of spoilage of the cement foundation once complete. There is still so much work to go!

St. Andrew the Apostle Church: NTC, Kaliro
Workers completing the roof on the backside of the church (which will house the sacristy, offices, chapel and latrine) thanks to the fundraising and subsequent donation by the school community at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Vancouver, Washington.

Bell Lager at the Entrance to Mabira Forest
Classy isn't it? At the entrance of one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Uganda is a humongous billboard advertising beer!

Open Arms

I cannot even begin to fathom stepping on to an airplane at this point and leaving what has become a place composed of every emotion and feeling that I could ever imagine existing in our little world. At approximately 9.05am on May 31^st, I will step foot on a plane that will bring me—eventually—back to the US. I go to wake up each morning in my bed, in my house, and make coffee and some sort of breakfast. I find myself at work, or doing my laundry. I reach the market when I need some fruits or vegetables or airtime. I leave Kaliro when I need a break away from the normal routine and I find myself longing to come back to where I live—to what has become home. One day, the hour will come when time is up and I will not set foot on this college as my home. One day Kaliro will be a place to visit, a place that contains only memories but is no longer the place to form those memories. Today I sit and know that I will be back; that my holiday back to the US though exciting will also be a time filled with angst and unnerving feelings, missing what has been built up as an incredibly significant portion of my life.

Over the past few months nearly all of the volunteers that I began this adventure with have returned to the US, leaving me to simply watch and hear from afar about the trials, joy and uncertainties of their return to the US. Most of them are staying there though, not coming back and are seeking an uncertain future in a land that probably seems so much foreign as Uganda seemed only 2 years ago. Though many of these people I would only see every few months to maybe only once or twice a year, life seems suddenly so different. I find myself now the only mzugnu here in Kaliro (maybe they are there, but not that I know of) after Lisa has left and it is just so different. It is strange. It is somehow mind-bending. It is what it is. The fact of the matter is that no matter how strange or unusual or uncertain things seem to feel, the sense of excitement is still a virtue to be reckoned with. There is o much to do, so much to look forward to and so much to wonder myself in to a state of conscious wandering.

How to I cope for these 3 months that I return to a place in which my heart forever and constantly feels some gravity towards? When I came back May of 2009 to see my grandmother, Eleanor, before she passed, I would find myself walking through the streets as if I did not even exist. No one looked at me. No one said a thing to me. It seemed as though I was a ghost; as if it mattered not whether I was there or not. I would walk through a supermarket amongst all of the essential and trivial items and all the colors, sounds and sterile avenues seemed so overwhelming. That was only 3 weeks. This time it is for 3 months. I cannot even seem to wrap my mind around returning. I guarantee you I am excited as h#%&; I’m excited to go to the Taco Bell Drive Thru window…and to see all of you. I will attend my brothers wedding and eat a hot dog at Portland Beavers games. I will walk the 8ish miles from 1023 to Pill Hill. I will attempt to paint a house. I will drive on the ‘right’ side of the road. I will sleep on a mattress that doesn’t contain simply foam. I will drink a beer from a tap. I will use a washing machine. I will sit in Washington Park and over look the city of Portland with wistful thoughts…wistful thoughts of both the US and Uganda. How do I balance these? I guess that is what living though so much is about. I look at the past 10 years and realize that I have lived in 3 countries, attending 3 universities and am currently working at a college in a place that I could never not be a guest. When does this slow down? When do I slow it down? I’ve got to be honest though even through all of the lows and the highs and the ever-changing environment the sense of excitement hardly escapes. And that is a good thing.

On June 21^st I will set foot at PDX and breath in the air that will bring new life to my lungs. My eyes will adjust to the brightly lit silent streets and renew the focus to be something in this world. Every nanometer of matter my hand grazes will bring back a sense of resolve to the determination of setting my sights on each and every star in the sky.

The one thing and certainly the most important thing that I can set my sights on is wrapping my arms around each and everyone one of you as you have all supported me during so much of my life and especially the past couple of years. I might be scared to leave and stay; I don’t know. But I know that my life could not be what it is without any of you, and I thank you for that…

Where the Power Lines End

2010-05-04T05:54:00.001-07:00

Cadbury Knows Hot To Make Em
This is painted on a building in Mbale, Uganda...mmm

Quickest Route to America:California Bus Stop
Just about 15 miles or so south of my site in Kaliro this signpost stands. On our way to bring Lisa to Kampala as she was preparing to go, Ahumuza Emmanuel, myself and Lisa decided that we would just try to board a bus here...unfortunately one never came!

Digging...

Signpost for NTC, Kaliro
This signpost is just a couple hundred meters from the college in a small trading center called Natwana. We are approximately 5 kilometers from Kaliro town.

Last Touches on the Stools
My colleague Mabonga Deogratius and one of his assistants are rushing to finish the 100 new stools that we have been making for the science laboratories. Up to this point most students will simply sit up on the tables in a very uncomfortable disorderly fashion...things are looking up!

Preaching to the Choir
I'm just giving a little talk here to the congregation at the St. Andrew the Apostle Church on the NTC, Kaliro campus, explaining to the congregation about the funds that were fundraised and donated by St. Joseph's Catholic School in Vancouver, Washington.

Church Construction
From the funds donated much of the proceeds are going towards the completion of the roof for the church. The section that they are finishing in this picture will contain a couple of offices, a sacristy, small chapel and a toilet...we all need to go sometime!

AVOCADO SEASON!!!
Unfortunately, just like with the mangoes, children will come and assume that since something is growing on the tree, it must be readily available to pick and consume...therefore many avocados go rotten just laying on the ground. Nonetheless by the time I have spent an entire week eating a few of these a day I am finished for another 6 months...

Happy May Day—or a few days after May Day—to everyone! Let me be brief, supply you with a few photos to gander over and to wish you all the best as the month of May brings you to hopefully enlightening summer months!

Soon enough—4 weeks from today—I will be stepping on to a plane at Entebbe International Airport to start my adventure back to the US. 2 years are over…2 years, how can that be? So much has happened; so much has changed—whether I can see it or not—and yet there is so much hope for more…more. Anyway I’ve spent the majority of today writing a Two Year in Review Report for my college and my eyes and brain are lacking any sort of energy to exhibit something worth while on here for you all to read, so I will just leave you with a few pictures and another poem. Enjoy and I hope to see most of you all very soon!

Don’t worry, I know that my posts have been lacking any information on what the heck goes on in these parts; I’ll get something out to you this week I am sure of that. I will give you a project update at the end of this week after some very important meetings…

Where the Power Lines End

He could sing a discourse on the
Rules that we all live by
But out of nothing came the storm
That would cause it all to crash down
The sense that was made became
A call of change to only be seen
Where the power lines end

Now all the rules have changed
Matters no more which way
The winds are blowing but rather
If they are blowing at all
Still he’s quickly reaching that point
Only to see that this is the place
Where the power lines end
Where the power lines always end

He’s flying fast
He’s looking back
Those eyes below
Grab him and pull
Him back to earth
Without even asking
Where he wants to be
He’s slowing down
He’s shut his eyes
Here’s where the world begins

Here used to lay those who came
Before he even came to be
Those who shook the earth with
Their mighty fists and caused
A quake so severe that confused
Every soul to flood back in to
Where the sea meets the sky

There never were any rules
But as he created them
The leaves began to brown
And fall to the fading ground
Sinking faster, swimming faster
Fading sights are abound with
Where he wants to be
His pace quickening
His heart open
This is where the world begins

Kasubi Tombs: RIP

2010-03-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

Kasubi Tombs:Earlier this week this historical landmark in Kampala, Uganda, which houses the burial remains of the last 4 Baganda Kings burnt down. Investigations are currently in the works. 3 people were shot and killed by the military as President Museveni forced his way in to assess the damage. President Museveni and the Buganda Kingdom have been at odds for years and just nearly 6 months ago riots spread throughout Kampala and nearby cities, with many people dying as the government blocked the Kabaka (King of Buganda) from traveling to parts of the kingdom.

Kasubi Tombs

For more thorough information and pictures, go to the sites listed below:

http://www.monitor.co.ug
http://www.newvision.co.ug
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasubi_Tombs

Surprise

2010-03-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

Bududa Landslide IDP Camp: Uganda
The Red Cross, US Peace Corps and other local volunteers setting up tents provided by UNICEF for the IDPs from the Bududa landslide and nearby floods...

SURPRISE

We keep holding longer than others would
On to something we don’t even know ourselves
Always longing for a time we thought we could
We might as well throw it all back on the shelves

Books we’ve read over and over again
About lives we’ve never and will never live
Lying to ourselves about the good we never gave
And losing the fight when away from our den

Head on, we fly fast to the end, and for
No reason we find our eyes blinking dry
It’s not the crying that burns our future
The love is there but we are not
The journey’s faster than our slow demise, and
We can’t commit to the life we don’t know
So we have nothing to give but to ourselves
The selfishness that must be cherished

At night life is much more pure
Even when I lie awake and can not move
I know that our fear is there to soothe
A wound that has never had a cure

I told you to go away in your own tongue
Straining to hold on to my lonely sanity
Losing every last bit of air in my lungs
While staring at the air of your vanity

Head on, I fly fast to the end, and for
No reason I find my eyes blinking dry
It’s not crying that burns your future
The love is there but I am not
The journey’s faster than my slow demise, and
I can’t commit to the life I don’t know
So I have nothing to give but to myself
The selfishness that I must cherish

It’ll be a surprise when
It figures itself out
It’ll be a surprise when
The force is so blinding
The laws of this land
Will be strewn all about
The outstretched hands
Of a blind KO
A force of surprise
A surprise of force

You’ll wake with a smile
No matter how fast you’re going
You are the link that holds strong
Through the burning sights
You’ll be the last on standing
On the night you’re finally looked to
Finally looked to
Finally looked to

2 Year Peace Corps Montage

2010-03-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Another Year...Another Year

2010-01-07T02:06:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Bookshelf

Take a guess...just do it, take a guess! I know, I know; you have no idea what you are suppose to be guessing about, but that is okay, it's all part of the game.

Okay. I will give you a hint: Think 'holidays'

Your getting nowhere, I know it, but that is okay because I am getting impatient too. Your just not working your brain enough so I will just tell you. You never will have guessed, but now you will all know.............

I am proud to announce that I am wearing my favorite Pumpkin Pie Holiday boxer shorts!!!

There I have admitted it. They are my favorite, and the day that I have to convert them from underpants to wash rags I will be thoroughly disappointed. At this point though they are still large and in charge and fully capable of giving me a festive mood anytime of the year. Therefore that brings me to wish all of you an incredibly HAPPY NEW YEAR! Along with that message I wish to send a very belated Labor Day, Veterans Day, Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!

(The above was written 31^st of December 2009)

'Cooking' with Susan

The thing I realized I miss most this Christmas about not being home (Portland, Oregon) is the typical dreary, cool winter. Snow is atypical; freezing rain or sleet is very possible, but that 38° rain is what is almost endearing about Portland winters..to me at least. Yeah snow would be nice once in awhile; in fact I can not recall a single Christmas spent with snow (sans Lake Tahoe which doesn’t really count), but there is something that excites me more about going outside with a sleeting rain, wishing it would snow, but just getting drenched as one runs from their car to grab a cup of coffee.

Being in Uganda, a equatorial African nation, one would assume that the chance Christmas is simply sunny and hot to be relatively high, as would I, yet this year felt oddly ‘Fall in Oregon’-like. I sincerely appreciated it. At night I needed to use a heavy multi-fiber blanket (and I guarantee that most of you would have still been sweating with a sheet on though—I’m acclimated) and in the morning there was a slight drizzle and not a sight of blue sky. I guess that is the closest I am going to get to an Oregon Christmas yeah? I’ll take it any day!

Yes! Golfing in Uganda over New Years Weekend

This past term has just flown by! I am amazed that the New Year has reached and we are already nearly 1/52^nd of the way through this glorious-to-be 2010! Imagine this…after next week we will be 1/26^th of the way through it!!! Double that amount of time (4 weeks for you non-mathematicians) and we are nearly 1/13^th of the way through! Wait…okay, let us say that we have reached the end of the 23^rd week of this year. That would place us somewhere in the beginning of June, approximately…uhh…23/52^nd of the way through the year, and you know what is special about that time is I will be setting my feet back down on to American soil! I assure you all time will fly by and we’ll all be bear-hugging and giving each other the Pillsbury Doughboy® tickle! Some of you might also be thinking now “Hmm, June, that is a bit later than I thought. He (as in me—Daniel Jacob Koza) went to Uganda in February, began his service in April, it is suppose to be two years so why June??? The answer is below:

I have requested and have been approved for a year extension of my service in Uganda! I will be staying at my same college—the National Teachers’ College, Kaliro—continuing the work that I have been doing nearly the past 2 years. My time here has been exceptional in many capacities and I am excited to live here for one more year and continue my service to the community here in Kaliro, Uganda. Aside from various projects that I hope to see through to completion here in Kaliro I very much care for the people that I have met and come to be friends with here and I desire to have another year to continue these friendships. The stories and experiences shared between myself and the community are integral not only for my committed service here in Uganda but also for the strengthening of hearts and minds of all those involved. This decision to remain here for one more year was not sudden but has been a thought festering in my mind for the better half of this past year. With that said, I will be returning to the US sometime in early June and will be leaving to come back to Uganda sometime in early September (the exact dates TBD). My service would then officially end sometime around July 2011.

Nearly two years in to being in Uganda I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your kind and generous support of my efforts here in Uganda. Like most of you assume, each year has its fill of ups and downs and ‘nowhere-in-betweens’ but with out all of your support these past two years would have been far more difficult.

Like always I am open to any and all questions that you may have. Think of me as Encyclopedia Danielica if you must…though being rather limited in knowledge I might direct to some wikipedia page. Unless it is about me of course, there is no wikipedia page so maybe someone should start one? Nonetheless I will be more than excited to see and talk to as many of you as possible when I do indeed return to the US. I hope the best for all of you over the coming months and that all of our New Years can start off with a bang and we can all continue our quests for making a difference; whether those differences are in and for ourselves or directed outwards towards others, neither is most important as long as we are constantly striving to improve.

We all have to go yeah? I don't think Baghira would be too happy if he saw this though...

Give Me the Time To Show How I Have Grown

2009-10-04T08:53:00.002-07:00

CLICK ON ME PLEASE: Donations for Science Laboratory Refurbishment and Construction of Basketball Court at the NTC, Kaliro

***THE WEBSITE ABOVE IS EXPLAINED IN THE FOLLOWING POST,BUT PLEASE VISIT IT***

I am nearly positive that the buildings that I live and teach in are technically condemned—even by Ugandan standards. If they are not and I am potentially wrong, then by all means they should be and should be fenced off with bright yellow caution tape and be secure from trespassers 24 hours a day…that is not the case though. I live in a house with asbestos roofing; I teach in classrooms with asbestos roofing, and the cement walls are peeling and even have mysterious beige fuzz growing on them. You should especially see this place when the students are on a school holiday—you would think that it was simply the aftermath of a bomb or war-stricken area. Welcome to the National Teachers’ College, Kaliro—my home for the past 18 months—and I would not have wanted to be anywhere else. We push through though, we find a away to make the best of the situation here, and like always we are open to whatever comes our way to make our lives better. Aside from the classroom where I teach Biology to both 1st and 2nd year students, I spend my time and talk with people. If I were to say at this point what my job has been as a Peace Corps Volunteer it has been a professional listener; or a professional laugher; a pro at eating copious amounts of food mainly in the forms of carbohydrates, or maybe even a professional walker (I walk everywhere; and people here tell me that I walk as fast as a man can ride a bicycle). Living as a Peace Corps Volunteer is a job in itself and any responsibility atop that (teaching, building, etc.) can be seen as the secondary activities.
Our students have just returned for the beginning of their next school year and therefore a new group of minds to mold and get to know are ever-present. Amazing that after 1+ school years here at the NTC, Kaliro I have grown to have expectations for the behavior and attitudes of both the 2nd year and the fresh incoming 1st year students. I have found my way to responding to their uncertainties of having a mzungu around, and that is being myself. So much of the first year was spent holding back, trying to appease these thoughts of what I was suppose to be, and now having relaxed a bit and feeling like I am somehow in the comfort of ‘my own home’ have been able to be more of the strange, odd, unusually American that I have grown up to be. Less than 1 week ago a fellow colleague at the college even told me that she was excited how I have changed, and become so much more integrated as myself and not holding back so much. That was a happy awakening. I have truly made ‘a’ home here, a place that I feel that I could come back to, be excited about and know how to be.
In the recent weeks we have been developing a few projects to better promote our college and to further improve the morale of the students and staff that often tends to be rather low due to the standards of the college. Having mentioned that the entire institution is essentially condemned, we have been looking for ways to at least aesthetically improve the college’ image and we have begun to develop projects that will promote that cause. These projects not only will assist in the aesthetic appearance of the college but also assist in boosting the morale of both students and staff to show the pride and loyalty to the college as a whole. These first two projects being worked on are constructing a new and improved Basketball Court and Rehabilitating the Science Laboratories. These projects are described below in an excerpt taken from the website promoting these projects and seeking funding.

Through the joint efforts of the National Teachers’ College, the local community and friends in the USA, we desire to completely rebuild our basketball court and refurbish the science laboratories concurrently. As all of us here at the college have seen the dirt foundation erode and the hoops lean more and more towards the ground on the current court and students and visitors alike express their incredibly discouraging views on the conditions of the science laboratories, we developed this joint project with a matching dollar agreement. As these two tasks show little connection, the college has agreed that a monetarily equivalent match will be made available from the college of the amount equivalent to the construction of the basketball court. The refurbishment of the science laboratories will aid in increasing the current low level of morale and provide an improved atmosphere for the teaching and learning of sciences, which also includes education on HIV/AIDS. Aside from the obvious recreationally athletic benefits of the basketball court, the students of the sports science combination will have a better opportunity to learn and teach the sport to their fellow students and outside community as well as incorporate the sport in to the teaching of Life Skills as an example of team-building and support for one another. Through the implementation and completion of these two tasks, the National Teachers’ College will prove to be a frontrunner in the development of facilities aiding in the education and morality boost that the students of Uganda need.

I can happily say that the college has already pulled some of its weight and this past weekend (October 3rd and 4th) two staff and five students volunteers used funds acquired from the college to repaint one of the laboratories and I can tell you firsthand that it looks amazingly different from before! These are projects that need to be accomplished, and in hoping that we can quickly and efficiently finish these facelift operations, the potential to do even more in the months to come is a sincere possibility. Please, as you can see fit find your way to the website below, and if we can make these small changes below, more changes could be possible in the near future! Your help is indeed necessary and deeply appreciated by the National Teachers’ College, Kaliro.

CLICK ON ME PLEASE: Donations for Science Laboratory Refurbishment and Construction of Basketball Court at the NTC, Kaliro

I love you all...

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

The Current Basketball Court at the National Teachers' College Kaliro. Through these projects we will create a tarmac court and create improved hoops.

The completed Guidance and Counselling Office at the National Teachers' College, Kaliro which will also be used to host the developing Peace and Human Rights Club.

Granny

2009-08-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

So it is no mystery to the lot of you that I secretly ventured back to the United States for a 3 week stint—and I must assume that the majority of you saw my journey as a gluttonous week holiday from the dirt and grime of Uganda filled with pints after pints of microbrews and as much food as the heart could take (without submitting myself to cardiac arrest). Granted, I succumbed to the copious amounts of beer and non-diabetic nutrients America has to offer, but the reasons and the eventual facts-of-life held the true weight of my sudden escape from my current life…

Amidst the mayhem of Kampala; literally climbing atop the bumpers of matatus lined up outside the old-taxi park I safely was received by the nearest sidewalk, only to find that my phone, and its existence ended by the crushing rubber of one of these vehicles-of-death as they began to move through the muddy streets. Yes; my phone was crushed by a taxi…Hectically attempting to purchase a new phone and acquire my old phone number through the incredibly incompetent and lazy employees at the Zain Point in Iganga, I began to receive numerous text messages, many of them from the United States. Granny; the mother of my mother, had succumb to an ‘accident’ and was in the hospital and I was over 7500 miles away. Of course in making the decision to spend the next 2 years of my life in a distant country—putting myself in to having potentially devastatingly emotional breakdowns due to the difficulties in communication and the lack of those specific family and friends—I could never have imagined the feelings to have entered my mind and body as they did this day and the months to come.

I felt so alone; so distant from anyone who could comfort me from the pains I was feeling. I thought I had prepared myself for this. I had talked myself through this for months that there was a chance; a fairly good chance that something would happen to someone at home. None of that mattered in the end. I could not help either to imagine what all of my family at home were feeling, those who were there to see Granny; those to witness her looking to be some sort of extra-terrestrial science experiment with tubes and monitors surrounding her frail little body. Is it not strange how something that we know to be inevitable can pain us so much? Fortunately having Lisa by my side for so much of the time allowed me to vent, allowed me to be self-depreciating from time to time, but also permitted me to find a way out of these moments. Many times I felt so alone; unable to communicate even with those who I had come to trust and call my friends here. I felt scared, alone and had to find a way out of these feelings. Many of you who know me very well know that I tend to keep my thoughts to myself, I like to keep myself and my plans hidden away often even hidden from myself. This was very much the case with my plans to return home. Thanks to the support of Lisa here in Uganda and the efforts of Sarah in the US to look online for the best way for me to get back to the US the schemes were in motion for my return to US soil. The next person to come in to the picture was my brother; who would be the last to know of my trip home until my landing in the Minneapolis International Airport. If I had myself attempted to purchase the tickets; my parents would have seen a large purchase, and my cover would have been blown, therefore my brother was the best solution to allow things to be kept quiet. Why did I want to keep my coming quiet you might ask? Especially when the route of this sudden trip home was to chase a last-ditch effort to see Granny before the inevitable? For purely selfish reasons; I wanted my time to be my time. I wanted to do with it what I deemed necessary for myself to cope with the stresses that I deal with here and all the stresses that I had dealt with since hearing of Granny’s accident. If my journey had been made known prior I would have dealt with an extensive amount of planning minute to minute the events that would take fold over the 3 week period. I would have pushed more stress on to my already frantic self and knew that to come home I would need to first and foremost make it a selfish venture…I wanted to see Granny, I felt that something would have been missing in my life and would have regretted it had I not come back. At this point nobody else mattered and having made the trip already I would not have changed at all how it had been done.

Amazingly I was graced by many kind souls on my nearly 36 hours of traveling back to Portland…

Sitting between and aid worker from the UK and a grad-student from Zimbabwe on her way to volunteer in the UK for 6 months, I had the comfort of 2 complete strangers, to talk to and learn about different perspectives on our lives and to suddenly feel alive again, able to communicate with someone other than my own inner dialogue.

The waitress at the bar in Heathrow airport in London might have thought I was crazy, but to me she was such a comfort. Sitting idly at a table with a limited number of pounds to my name, I saw a quaint little couple on the end of their honeymoon walk to their table each holding a large glass of water. I was confused, for the life of me I could not recollect if water was free, or if it was safe to drink, or how to even approach receiving such a life-saving liquid. I had grown so accustomed to boiling water or treating it chemically or buying expensive bottled water that I could not accurately comprehend whether or not the water could be free. I slowly approached the bar and asked hesitantly if water was free or not. The waitress kind of snickered and assured me that it was free and even stepped up to the plate by offering me a cute little lemon wedge in this cool glass of goodness. I sauntered to my table, carefully carrying this first sense of reverse-culture shock and began to tear up, as I couldn’t help but to feel that I had forgotten how things work at home.

And nothing could have prepared me for this last woman, and I wish that I could somehow express to her how much this meant to me at this time. Maybe one day she will come across this page, in all likelihood she has completely forgotten about me, but this was just amazing. As I wandered through the Minneapolis International Airport, having just spent nearly 30 hours of flying from Uganda to Kenya, then Kenya to London/Heathrow and London/Heathrow to Minneapolis, I found myself without any money at all. The few Ugandan Shillings I had could not be exchanged, and I was remaining with only a few pence from London, therefore I figured I was left to pace the terminals for the next 4 hours before I took off, and still no one knew that I was coming back to Portland except for my brother who I could not even call because I had no money. Glossy-eyed and overwhelmed by the extravagant airport storefronts and restaurants, I found a set of payphones, which I figured this is the time that I should call Anna and let her know that I was coming home, and would be arriving in nearly 7 hours. Reading the instructions on the phone it said that long distance calls were 25 cents a minute. After carefully approaching a gentleman, telling him of my plight and needing to make a phone call, he granted me my wish of on quarter. I attempted the call and soon found that there was a $1.00 minimum, so I was SOL and couldn’t get myself to go around and find 3 more quarters to make this call. Feeling defeated and having this lone quarter in my pocket, I found a woman sitting on a bench quietly and something came to me that this was the woman who would help me. I approached her softly, describing my situation having just come from Uganda, having no money, and the only thing that I needed to do was make one phone call to my sister to tell her so that she could pick me up in Portland. For much of the past few months I had been stupidly planning to arrive in Portland at 11.30pm without anyone knowing, make my way to a Denny’s on public transport, and wait for daylight to walk to my parents’ house. At this point I knew I wanted someone to be there to find me. The woman at the Minneapolis Airport looked at me as if I was crazy, and claimed to me that her phone battery was dead. I said to her ‘Miss, but as you have your phone plugged in to the wall to charge it is possible to make a call at the same time’ and at this point I think somewhere in her she took me as not being some devious young craftsman but just desperate to finally break the silence, and tell someone that I was coming home. Not knowing that she had blocked her number as I pulled out my phone from Uganda and read her my sister’s phone number to call her, she handed me the phone and fortunately my sister did indeed pick up this (unknown number)! Thinking that I was simply playing some game, my sister did not believe that I was actually in the Minneapolis Airport but soon she came to her own senses. As I did not want to infringe on this woman’s generosity to allow me to use her phone, I made the conversation as quick as possible, and as looking up could see this woman having one of the most genuine, sincere smiles on her face, finally knowing for sure that she had helped me in such an uncanny way and that I was by no means going to run off with her phone. As I finished talking to Anna, the woman offered me her phone to call anyone else I wanted to call, but having overcome the stress and pressure of having held in this little secret for nearly 2 months, I was so relieved that I just wanted to then again, but happily have my piece of mind and not break in to conversation with others. Then the woman, out of the blue asked if I had any money, and saying know she immediately pulled out her purse and gave me more than enough money to purchase a hamburger dinner and a drink at the airport while also apologizing that was all that she had. I could not believe what had just happened, how sweet this woman had been and to have been so generous. I couldn’t help myself, but I immediately reached in to my bag to give the only material item I had, the only thing I could think of, but a paper bead necklace from Uganda, which she eventually accepted, and giving her a hug walked away feeling so much better about this world that I had just flown back in to.

The rest is history; history to be told at a later time. I made my way to Portland, friends and family surprised as ever heard of my being there and I was able to spend time and talk of all of our stories. More importantly I was able to be there for Granny; and even more so for myself. I spent weeks with her, seeing her trying albeit struggling to regain all that she had lost. Everything she had created though was right in front of her. All of her family coming, giving there all to help her get stronger, even though we all knew eventually our efforts would be defeat by some Greater Force. From her bed with all the tubes and monitors she made her way to taking steps, making jokes asking questions and showed an eagerness to pull through to the next day, but something else was calling her. You could tell she was tired, you could tell her body was tired, you could tell that it could be any day. I left America, back to Uganda, where my life was waiting, where so much in me had changed on May 27th. By June 10th Granny was away from the confines of hospitals and elderly homes. She was removed from the hands of a world determined to prolong life whether or not it could be considered a happy life. Granny was back at 1023, in Portland, an address coincidentally identical to her birthday of October 23rd. The home that I grew up in for 18 years and the home that my parents have lived in for 30 and now Granny’s place to call home before she left us. In the wee hours of June 13th, Granny left us to that Greater Force. She left it at home, with her family and love all around her. I so wished that I could have been there; but had I not gone to her before I could not have had her look at me and recognize me, to talk to me to hear her tell me that she loved me, and I could not tell her the same in this capacity. Had I not gone back I would have regretted my entire decision to have come, I would have felt a constant pain and pressure in me, that I do not know if there would have been any remedy for.

I love you Granny…

The picture above is a picture from Uganda. The afternoon of June 13th, shortly after I was informed of Granny’s passing, I placed this flower in to the waters of the Sipi River in remembrance of Granny…

I Stepped on an Airplane in Uganda and Ended up in Portland in Oregon

2009-08-06T04:55:00.001-07:00

I sauntered through the Customs Desk at Entebbe International Airport and immediately headed towards the seats near the eventual boarding gate...

I walked along the tarmac, up the stairs in to the Boeing 757 and waited patiently in my seat...

36 hours (16 of that layovers), 6 miniature bottles of wine, 5 international airports and 1 phone call to my sister allowed everyone at home in the US know that I was back on American soil—and was a surprise to everyone but myself.

To be continued...

Imbalu- 17th December 2008

2009-05-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

GRAPHIC CONTENT!!! WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK

Hello All! Here is an extended version of the Imbalu Circumcision Ceremony in Mbale, Uganda. The the second two of the three boys are sons of my colleague, Mabonga Deowood at the National Teachers' College Kaliro while the other is a nephew. The boys names, in order of appearance are: Deek, Bernard and Ambrose. Thank you to Mabonga Deowood for allowing this footage to be available.

Beautiful

2009-04-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Walking out the door
I find the skies
Caught my eyes
And I want more

Someday I'll return
Find you gone
When it's all done
I'll cure that burn

But when it comes down to this
The best thing that we can all do
Is to try, and do and live for ourselves
Leaving you alone is not what I meant
Because in leaving you found yourself
So let's try this again and see anew

Call with no answer
Losing the hope
You have no scope
To be a dancer

On the day I come
You've found yourself
Our things on the shelf
That'll be our sum

But when it comes down to this
The best thing that we can all do
Is to try, and do and live for ourselves
Leaving you alone is not what I meant
Because in leaving you found yourself
So let's try this again and see anew

Marching Bands of Kampala: The Last Year in Motion

2009-04-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

Marching Bands of Kampala
Walking from the taxi park up to Kampala road one day I heard a lot of commotion...tada! A Marching Band was walking right down Kampala road! This happens, oddly enough, from time to time that a marching band for some cause or another is just cruising on down the road. Actually I get excited every time I do see this, but the sound that is being produced (much to the sad condition most of the instruments are in) is as if it has come from some 1960s Soviet Propaganda film...

Driving to Kaliro
This is just a short clip of the drive between Iganga and Kaliro. Not much to it, just givin' you all a little glimpse what the villages look like.

A Rainy NTC, Kaliro
From my office window, I became stuck for a few hours until I could go home because of the torrents of rain that were disturbing me!

Dancing
In my first few weeks here at the National Teachers' College, Kaliro, I was treated to nearly 8 hours (it was a long day indeed) of the music students of NTC, Kaliro performing for their end of year exams. This is just a short little clip, but believe me when I tell you I have nearly 3 hours of footage from this day!

The Library at NTC, Kaliro
This is the library at NTC, Kaliro. Also this video was taken just after we began to transport all the textbooks donated graciously to the college by KPCB and Mari Baker.

Burn Piles
Just me...burning my trash...acting dumb like I usually do.

Sunsets and Textbooks

2009-04-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

Local Brew Break:
Lisa, myself and some of the staff at the National Teachers College, Kaliro are taking an evening to relax from our busy days out and about. We are drinking local brew (malwa) which is made from millet and drank from a communal pot with long straws. The local brew, especially to someone who has not become accustomed to the taste might describe the taste as warm, watery bread, but many people after taking a few times find at least some pleasure in relaxing and bantering over some malwa. These drinking circles often last for hours...

New Books:
After transporting the books to the Library at the NTC, Kaliro, many staff and students took an opportunity to get themselves acquainted with the new materials. Next to me are the librarians whom were marking the books with the college's stamp so that they are officially marked as being owned by the college, so to avoid unwarranted theft of the materials. NOTE: I was not intending to be pointing at the camera, the picture was just taken at the most inopportune time!

Students Aiding with Book Donation
Thanks to the many efforts of the people at KPCB and Mari Baker, a generous donation of textbooks was awarded to the National Teachers' College, Kaliro. Here we have a number of students taking time out of their day to help with transporting and organising the books at the college. The excitement on their faces in peering in to the bags was amazing and seeing these students (and staff) so enthralled in new materials was incredible.

Sunset over the River Nile:
The River Nile and its Mother Sun setting...I think that is all I need to say.

Zanzibar!!!

2009-01-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

Jambiani "Resort" Restaurant: Last morning at the Shehe Bungalows (NEVER STAY THERE) before heading to Stonetown for a couple of days. No one can deny the beauty (of us and) the Indian Ocean...

PALACE MUSEUM-STONETOWN: Me atop the Palace Museum overlooking the Indian Ocean in Stonetown, Zanzibar Island, Tanzania. The salt-water really did a number on my hair, making it frizz out for the next few weeks.

NEW YEARS EVE: Taking our dinner and drinks with the strong coastal winds flowing in, we were all preparing to countdown to 2009! As 3 of us set our cameras up next to eachother on timer some women with her 'man' ten feet further back must of thought we were all incredibly attractive people or something because she proceeded to also take a picture of us with her camera.

A ZANZIBAR SUNRISE: Although looking like a sunset, this was our first sunrise in Zanzibar! The mornings would always be calm and surreal with the sun rising and the nights would bring strong winds and a choppy sea.

MT. KILIMANJARO AIRPORT: Our flight went from Uganda to Mt. Kilimanjaro Airport to Dar es Salam to Zanzibar...So we had about a 30 minute wait on the tarmac in Kilimanjaro to wait to fly out, and unfortunately when we were flying I was on the other side of the plane so I could not get a good picture of the mountain...

Christmas Hens and Footballs

2009-01-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

A WHITE CHRISTMAS: The closest we could come to having a white Christmas was for me to sit outside my window and sprinkle ashes in front of the window and peer out...kind of sad, huh?!

MAKING COOKIES: Much of Christmas Eve day was spent making cookies on this sigiri with Lisa..Honestly we were as American as we could be often just sitting and eating the cookie dough uncooked until we could make another batch...

THE GIFT OF A CHICKEN: In Mbale, prior to the Imbalu ceremony, a Mzee had his children come and thank me with the gift of a chicken. Just months prior I had filmed and documented his children's ceremony and created for him a DVD video that the village could show in their videohouse, and were incredibly happy. This chicken though, sadly, had its life come to an end on Christmas Day...it was rather tasty I tell you!

MZEE'S CHICKEN GIVERS: These were the children whom I had filmed in August, and along with my colleague from the NTC Mabonga on the right, we took to his village in Mbale again for his children's ceremony just after I was given the chicken.

FOOTBALLS:Thanks to a generous donation from home, the NTC acquired nearly 40 soccer balls, pumps, jerseys and socks for their use in Sports Science and generally conditioning and play. Myself along with many of the ministers from the college and college staff are here excitedly displaying the amazing gifts!

Giardia and Hope for USA

2009-01-15T00:44:00.000-08:00

So 2008 came and went faster than I could have ever imagined. Just nearly a year ago I was sitting in Corvallis, Oregon, wondering where my life was going to take me. Yes in essence the decision had been made to move to Uganda and join the United States Peace Corps for the next 26 months of my life, but there was absolutely no way to honestly foresee what my life had in store for me. Absolutely no regrets enter my mind on the decision to have taken this giant leap in the journey that I call my life. From Oregon to Australasia and now to Africa the years have taken me and I cannot imagine having taken any other road. Even me, I look back at decision that I have made over the years and how they could have, and would have altered where I stand right now…What if I had not transferred from USF to OSU. What if I had not left New Zealand to finish things up at OSU and move on with things? The fact is none of that happened, and looking back is the wrong way to go, and pushing forward is the best laid plan.
My time spent thus far in Uganda has been one of the most compelling and fulfilling experiences of my life and the end is no nearer than when I began and that is a good thing. True at times I wish I could run to a Taco Bell and gourd myself off the ‘Dollar menu”; I wish I could spend a Sunday evening Monte Carlo Bowling or even spending an entire evening and night filling my house and roommates nasal cavities with the smell of hops and barley as I brewed some new ale, but God only knows what sorts of things in 16 months I will crave and desire. Maybe I will crave Posho (which for those of you who do not know is a mixture of ground maize and water cooked to a consistency of an ever-too thick mashed potatoes-and incredibly bland at that) and beans for a meal, or maybe I will crave Matooke (which again is green, unsweetened bananas steamed to a mashed potato consistency). Who knows what the world will hold for me! But enough of this philosophical nonsense, now to tell you whatever comes to my head from the past few months.
I think the last time I really wrote anything or posted anything was right around when the election was going on, and amazingly in just under a week another historical point, the Oath of Office for President-elect Obama! So next week I plan to meet up with a few other volunteers at a guest house that has promised us to have CNN on all night for us so that we can sit on the edge of our seats, eyes tearing and mouths hanging open for the all-too-surreal moment when we officially have a new president! In fact I am getting the chills at this moment just thinking about it! Back to the past couple months though…School ended for the holiday break in early December, and this is also when the in-service students come to take classes. The past two in-service terms I have taught these students, but with all the chaotic stressful hard-work put in during the first 8 months of being at site, I was much in need of a change of pace. I opted to take a ‘holiday’ as well, and hold off teaching again until the ‘normal’ students returned in mid-February. During that time though I have still done quite a bit and kept myself busy.
Again I attended Imbalu (Circumcision Ceremony) in Mbale district, only this time two of the candidates were the children of one of my friend and colleague at the NTC. Such an incredible experience, and again soon I will have photos and video of the experience. I was also treated to a gift of a chicken, which is an honor to be given as a gift. The family who I had spent most of my time taking photos and filming the first time around in August presented me with a chicken for providing them with photos and videos of their ceremony. The Mzee (elder) of the family was so grateful and thankful, it is rare for someone, especially in the village there to have visual documentation of their life there, and especially of such globally-unique tradition. After spending a couple of days in Mbale, it was nearly a week until Christmas was to arrive.
For Christmas Lisa, the other volunteer in Kaliro, and myself chose to remain in town and celebrate at the NTC with my neighbors. Greg also made an appearance, so we could show the Ugandans some of our traditions. Christmas even we spent drinking local brew (I think there is a picture on this blog of me sitting around a pot with others, drinking an odd-looking substance) which is a a locally-brewed alcohol made out of millet and yeast and is drank around a communal pot with long straws. While drinking this brew with my neighbors we sat and watched African music videos and weird-boy band music videos from the UK and chatting while slowly realizing that the local brew was going to our heads! Ugandans love music videos, and could sit for hours watching the same ones over and over! After a nice little meal of pork and potatoes and greens, Greg, Lisa and I made our way back to my house for a good nights rest before a long day of cleaning and cooking commenced on Christmas Day. An early start to Christmas Day was necessary as in the late afternoon a family from Lisa’s organization was going to be coming over for supper. After spending the day cleaning every nook and cranny (actually we got lazy and didn’t do that much cooking), slaughtering a couple of chickens, boiling potatoes and eating deviled eggs, all while having the movie A Chistmas Story going on in the background, we successfully made enough food for 8 people, and had a nice meal! Even Gizmo, my cat, was provided with his own plate of food, which the locals looked at me like I was crazy giving Gizmo a plate of chicken and mashed potatoes! And so Christmas came and went, oddly enough, and was difficult as ever to believe that I had just celebrated Christmas. The boxes from home containing Christmas lights, and decorations refused to arrive, and the best I could do for a tree was some random bush that was growing in my front yard that had these little red berries on it…it was worse than a Charlie Brown Christmas tree!!!!
Anyway with Christmas come and gone, it was time to prepare for my next holiday in Zanzibar! Zanzibar is a small island off the coast of Tanzania where about 12 of use were going to vacation over the New Years’ holiday. Now slowly during Christmas I had begun to feel somehow tired, and my appetite was small and disappearing as the days progressed. Come the evening of the 27th, I did not sleep a wink! Nearly every 10 minutes I was up running to the toilet, fearing that some sort of bodily fluids were going to escape me! The pains in my stomach and the extreme water loss from the flushing of my intestines was somehow making me delirious…then I burped, and I swore that my burp smelled like rotten eggs…Giardia?! The next morning, after consulting my doctor, I acquired a few days worth of medication to cure what we assume was Giardia. Now Giardia is common, but to me from that point, and even in to being in Zanzibar surprised me how I could wake up feeling almost 100%, and then by the early afternoon was exhausted and even water going down my throat was painful and made me feel nauseas…now that I have that story out there, a little side note: I was going to be descript with this story, but I will leave this for your imagination…We have this saying in the Peace Corps that you are not officially a Peace Corps Volunteer until you have ‘crapped’ your pants; well I became an official Peace Corps Volunteer while walking…yes walking to the taxi park to head to Entebbe…
So Zanzibar! I must say it was strange getting on to an airplane! Felt like a completely different world. Every time in Kaliro that I hear an airplane I look up and am excited when I see them! Our flight stopped off in Mt. Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam then made its way to Zanzibar! We had an incredible view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and finally arriving in Zanzibar was such a relief! Immediately we made our way on a few special hire taxis to Stonetown to get a bit of money then made our way to Jambiani! Now I will not go until all the little weird stories that went on, as this entry is already long enough, but after a few struggles in getting our reservations and bookings settled, which just like how things go here in Africa aren’t always as solidified as they should be. Let me just say that our group ended out splitting in half due to accommodation issues, even though all of us had booked rooms. This ended out working fine though as having smaller groups of 7 worked out better, so we were less dependant and stressed in trying to get everyone together for meals and activities! Much of my time in Zanzibar which is amazingly gorgeous was spent lying in the sun, swimming in the beautiful turquoise Indian Ocean and walking the white sand beaches to find different little restaurants and shops. We also went out snorkeling on a dhow one day which was amazing! The water was so warm and at low tide the surf was nearly a kilometer out, so often we would walk out nearly a kilometer from the beach and find swimming holes to relax in. One day we came across a large group of children running and screaming! We noticed that they had caught a large snake maybe 8 feet long and much thicker than a grown mans fist and they had it tied around the neck with a rope and were running, dragging it along the ground. Unfortunately I was not able to get the exact story of all this, but the children would continuously run and jump over the snake and would try to make it touch people, but they would all get freaked out. When Eric and I approached the children they began to chase us with the snake and tried to make it touch us, but we successfully leapt over it! After sometime they began to dig a small little trench as if they were going to bury it in the sand, but then they stopped and started dragging it around more, which by that point we left. After about 5 days in Jambiana we left to go to Stonetown, which is the historical little town on Zanzibar island with amazing winding streets and architecture. We spent a couple nights here as we walked the streets and shops and were as much tourists as everyone else, even though we had just flown a few hundred miles to get here! It was amazing to finally be in Zanzibar and to eat seafood! Being in Uganda one does not really get seafood, so being able to have fresh prawns, calamari and octopus was amazing! If one ever goes to Zanzibar you must check out the night street food where there are tables upon tables of seafood for an amazing price! We stuffed ourselves two nights here until finally we had to wake up, and jump on a plane back to Uganda! Also on the last day in Stonetown, I was just taking a walk along the beach when I was confronted by a police officer telling me I had to turn around a leave. I was confused as ever, but it happens that I had walked on to the premises of the house on Zanzibar of the President of Tanzania…Of course no photography was allowed and I was immediately forced to leave!
So…wow…back in Uganda, was that all just a dream in Zanzibar?! Did that all really happen?! Of course it did, and in a heartbeat I would do it again! So back here in Uganda means back to work, back to the old life, back to the village, and although difficult to return to this world, it was surprisingly comfortable and was not shocking at all, which makes me feel happy. The feeling to me shows how comfortable and happy (in many ways ) I have come to be here in Uganda and how it truly does feel like I live here, not just visiting here. In about 5 weeks school will reconvene but until then I still do have much work to accomplish. In thank to all of your hard work my project was fulfilled and I am able to access the funds to complete the renovation of our Guidance and Counselling Office at the college. We have also received a very generous donation of textbooks which will be amazingly helpful to the students and staff at the NTC.
I just want to thank everyone for their hard work too in making many of my and my counterparts visions here in Uganda come true! Without all of you this would not be possible! If you truly did read through this whole message I thank you and if you did not, I still thank you for having at least supported me sometime in my life, because that is probably while you were directed to this page in the first place! Happy holidays to everyone again and I will write more soon, when we have a new president! Feel free, like usual to send me any questions you have, and I will do my best to answer them!

Cheers!

Life Skills Training

2009-01-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are working on an activity at our Life Skills Training in Kampala. We were all told to draw an animal with using any words, and only actions. The difficulty typically was the group trying to agree on an animal because usually everyone has their own idea of what they want, fortunately ours came pretty easy and we all worked well creating our gorilla!

Bobbing for Apples and Pumpkin Seeds

2008-11-21T01:21:00.000-08:00

I know I know I know...you all think that I have simply ran away to another country and just forgotten about you, but that could be further from the truth! I will leave this short (I feel like I always say that) and just give you a few snippets of what's been going on, as I woke this morning at 4am to reach Kampala and it is 12.30pm now and I have only had 2 cups of coffee, a fruit leather thingy, like 4 cubes (size of dice) of mango, two fingerfuls of peanut butter and a bite of a nutrition bar. Although that seems like a lot, it has put me in to a frame of mind where work is not priority in my mind...food is! So anyways, now I am lost, I do not know what to say, other than I am going to put a few pictures on here now. Honestly the highlight of the past few weeks was the election though! Such an incredible experience. I had spent it with a number of other volunteers, watching and staying up and it was a surreal expereince to see so many faces identical, tearing up and a look of star-struck awe in their eyes! Unbelievable! Anyways remember these few sites to check out if you really miss me:
http://danielkoza.blogspot.com/ <
http://biology.science.oregonstate.edu/
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=617-045 <
http://www.cheese.com/ <
So again no new lengthy letter from me, but here are a few snaps which I have deemed significant over the past few months...

Hot Water Bath: Well coming back from town one evening we got caught in torrential rain, got soaked and rather muddy...My first though, I am going to boil some water and soak my feet in it for some 20 minutes! Aww, luxury I tell you...
OBAMA!: Sharing a congratulatory coffee and cheers with Brett, we took to the morning with broken sleep to the screams and cheers of President-Elect Obama taking the stage for his speech! Imagine if the opposing side had succeeded...these coffees might have been replaced with some other sort of stimulant?!

My Onion Harvest: Harvesting my onions with one of the village children Salif, we uprooted, gathered, cut the greens and began to dry the onions in the sun! So in total: my carrots were amazing but not enough, my onions were amazing and could still probaby have more, and my tomatoes failed! Next year maybe an apple orchard?!

Ugandan Halloween: Lisa and I spent Halloween evening teaching Agnes' family about Halloween and carving pumpkins. Although they thought we were crazy at first they definitely enjoyed!

Pumpkin Seed Roasting: Teaching Agnes' family abouy roasting the pumpkin seeds! So earlier in the day at my college I had the staff-or at least those willing to take a leap of faith on me-at lunch participate in 'Bobbing for Apples.' Let me tell you that the sight of a dozen grown Ugandan men laughing and playing bobbing for apples was an amazing sight! I only wish that I had had my camera with me!

Bugs Jackfruit and Carro

2008-10-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Dysfunctional Carrots: So the 100+ tomato plants perished (I was able to harvest about 30 green tomatoes before they rotted), and the onions are doing amazingly well, but my carrots, although a good harvest, were clearly too close to one another, so a few of the bunches turned in to this...
Stoning of Stephen: In our Guidance and Counseling Office (to-be) this piece of art? educational material?...I don't know...was come across. Maybe Stephen did something terrible, but this is a clear example of still to this day means of retribution...Scary thought...

Bugs on the Nile: Don't really know what this is, but maybe if you do then let me know. This was a bug that I found just down at the source of the Nile...

Inservice Lectures 2: This was a photo of me and my students from my second stint of Inservice teaching.

Jackfruit Bigger than my Head: The title says it all.

Munchin' Grass and Burn Piles

2008-10-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

Donkey Eats Grass...I Eat Grass: Found this guy just hanging out in a soccer field eating some lunch. I had yet to eat lunch, so decided I'd sit with him for a chat and partake in some nutrients.
Postman at Work: Here at our fine Postal Uganda in Kaliro, our PostMaster George is hard at work...

Burn Piles: My first burn pile, and a terrible one at that, was still quite a joy. Here we have a friend Simon and myself admiring the work...

TASO at Bumanya: Escorting an HIV/AIDS group from Kaliro, here we have a Doctor from Taso Jinja instructing some of the locals on proper use of ARVs.

Life: Waiting to depart to Bumanya, one of the typical sights: A man carrying a large oil bin (sans the oil) to somewhere?

The World I call Home II

2008-09-01T01:06:00.001-07:00

Music Students Cultural Dances: Although a few months ago, the students of NTC, Kaliro for their practical exam produced cultural song and dances, and I was given the privelage of sitting and watching it all. Although just being students and partaking in these activities for a mark to pass school, they all performed incredibly well and this was more than an eye-opening experience to the rich and deep cultures of Uganda.
Bigger than Art: An art student of NTC, Kaliro tries to decide how he is to arrange the lot of his art in order to show to the community his gracious talents.
Passing By: The view between two taxis passing by...
Gizmo and I: She refused to eat the ground nuts, but I still made a mess of my back porch, littering the ground with the shells of the tasty little morsels.
My Two Other Roommates: These two, currently pictured here on my table, not sit on a couple of shelves just near. Sculpted by an NTC, Kaliro student, the man in the foreground is entitled 'Man Taking Local Brew' while the other is titled 'Gorilla Eating Bana.' Although beginning to crack a bit due to the heat and many other factors, these are two notable figures in my home and I am sure if you were to visit, they would great you with their amiable poses!

The World I Call Home

2008-09-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

Me and My Library: Sitting here in the NTC, Kaliro Library, I am filled with joy being surrounded by so many resources whether a classic novel or a volume of literary journals on some out-of-this world bird. Unfortunately the condtion of most of these books include feasting silverfish and mold, while the ceiling above my head would be pouring water all over if it was not for the pleasant day outside. Even with these resources though, the majority of the students lack a(n) understanding/reason to use these books...one of my tasks for these next years is to prove to these communities how lucky they are to have such a facility and to motivate all to take these resources by the reigns.
My Daily Walk: With my home just behind me and Gizmo meowing for me to return, I walk myself to work (not more than 500 meters) through towering trees and maize fields to find myself welcomed ever-so-warmly by the NTC, Kaliro community.
We Know We Look Good: Greg and myself find ourselves 'forced' to sit behind the families of the bride and groom at an introduction ceremony (a ceremony to introduce the bride and groom to the community prior to processing to the church for the official marriage) in Kaliro. Both wearing formal Busoga garments, and of course being bazungu, there are definitely more photos than this one circling around the town of Kaliro...
Me and My Work at IST: At our technical training in Kampala, I stand here with my proposed project to create a Guidance and Counseling Office at NTC, Kaliro. This project stems from desires by students and staff-prior to my arrival in Kaliro-to develop a Guidance and Counseling Sector to focus on HIV/AIDS awareness amongst a number of other topics.
Not Even Phased: I did not know this photo was taken (Thanks Lisa Robbins), but upon seeing I became amazed at the types of things that are no longer shocking...What other time in my life might I by non-chalantly picking my finger nails (or whatever) I am doing while a truck of armed-personel speed by...

Reporting: Bagisu Circumcision—Imbalu—Sends Boy to Manhood

2008-08-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

Pre-Circumcision Procession: These boys—having been through hours already of processing—are making their last leg through the village after having been doused in yeast by the elders before they garner their last ounce of strength and courage to survive their fateful date with the elders to become men.

Jubilation Streetside: As the majority of the ceremonies are going on within the village on the opposing sides of this road, many of the village peoples are celebrating—with no end in site—by cheering on the candidates and consuming beverages with all their neighbors. This gentleman—one of the elders—carries this horn with him, and as a ceremony has come full-circle, with a boy having been circumcised and becoming a man, will blow the horn announcing to the people this event.

The Strength and Courage: Having just gone through a public circumcision with hundreds of villagers around, this young boy has just begun his journey to becoming a man. A condition of this ceremony is the strength and courage of the boy must be higher than one could ever imagine. By this I imply to you that to gain the highest respect and appreciation from your family and community, one must remain nearly motion and emotionless. Each candidate receives a 'percentage,' rating how well they showed strength, and courage, therefore each blink of an eye, each tear, each wince, each swallow of saliva and each little motion reduces this percentage...

Wisdomed-Tailor taking Local Brew: This elder sat, and spoke to us as we relaxed taking a bit of malawi bringing to the scene an outstretched-hand from the past. This old tailor was filled with story, after story, after story, in Lugisu unfortunately (though I was provided with rough translations), as the Imbalu processions passed by.

Bazungu Shrine

2008-08-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

From Left (Muzungus): Tim, Greg, Me

Atop the Bazungu Shrine just South of Iganga on Nenda Hill
Our Journey to this location began with 8 individuals crammed in to your average sedan and ended with an amazing view from atop this shrine. These children as well as others from the adjacent village journeyed with us to the top.

Life in a 90s Sedan

2008-07-15T03:41:00.001-07:00

With open-backed trucks spilling over business-clad, shirtless and screaming men; my slow breathing takes in a smell of street-fried pork and dust to find some gospel to preach. The current anxiety in finding the words to encourage your audience is not due to a shortage of power or the locally-foreign eyes cast upon me, but rather my own decision to pleasure my morning breakfast-desire with an all too sweet cup of dry tea and a Cup of Noodles. I only mention this because it has begun to give me a feeling that a daily routine of the unmentionable sort could soon become irregular therefore the mind tends to focus more on the potential disaster than expressing my life’s events; and with that the situation will be recessed.

Aside from the opening statement, my current sights focus on six construction men approximately 50 metres away and matching me being two-stories up. They seem to be struggling to get the small metal support rods (those ones that eventually are encased in cement) to be in place. As the skeleton of a structure—supported on all sides by scalfolding made from sticks that one might find covered in moss in a riparian zone—supports these six men the streets below are a collective mess of pedestrians, cyclists carrying 100 kilograms of maize, street vendors selling ‘quarter-machine’ novelty items and all too many types of motorized vehicles all with a mob mentality to get to their destination first whether it be 1 metre away or 100 kilometres. The thought of this parade of maniacs is reminiscent of today’s, and nearly every drive to Iganga. Whether the mode of transportation is your standard mid-90s sedan or a Japanese-made van/bus authorized to carry 14 passengers, I would give the opportunity a 95% chance of carrying nearly double the number of persons as the vehicle properly should. As the peke-pekes (motorcycles) zip by on all sides and every motor-vehicle honks their horn to command the road, our motor-car swerves to avoid a slow-moving vehicle while at the same time coming within inches of head-on colliding furniture set being pulled on a wheeled cart by a nearly life-depleted man. In finally arriving at my destination I too was part of the scene in descriptive development above; only soon I left to sit where I am now, finding my spirits high as my world-flipped-upside-down is one helluva story…

Although English is the official spoken language of this country, it is to my experience as far away from my dialect as any other dialect, therefore often a conversation in my mother-tongue and a Ugandan in their state of speaking from a collected of learned words turns in to a storm of confusion and frustration. So yes, I am fortunate to have the luxury of power (when it is on) and water in this country, that is by no means where my development of this story is intending to play its cards. The other day power had been out for some 36 hours or so, therefore the expectation existed that it would return soon. To my happiness I peer out the window to see neighbors across the street with their front light on and eagerly dash to the light-switch. To my ultimate sadness I find no light filling every tiny crevice in my front room. After a ten-minute manic state of trying every light switch and combination of light switches to see if I have missed something the past 3 months I have lived at my home, I call the neighbor to enquire if power was truly there or if he had purchased a generator…indeed power was there, but of course mine was not. So the evening ended with torches in hand, and yes spirits were still high and mighty; who needs electricity?!?! So the next morning I speak to the Estates Manager of the college, and he comes by to check on things. He brings me around my front, to the neighbor’s side of the cement wall dividing our houses, and shows me that my power had been disconnected from the wires—it had become disconnected when they neighbor hooked up their own wires to tap in to my power. Case solved, power was there, just a wire disconnected, not big deal. It is not even any big deal that the neighbor was tapping in to my power; I could care less that they do. In fact I was happy that they could do that and not be in any sort of trouble. ZOOM TO 3 DAYS LATER…Arriving home from a weekend away, as I am checking the outside of my house for any abnormalities, my neighbor (the one tapping in to my power) approaches me and begins to lecture me about leaving the lights on in the house. Not only is it a waste and a potential fire hazard, but with the power on there is more potential that future-burglars could look in to my house for items to take, etc. I proceed to explain in my slow-transformed Ugandan English that the reason the lights were on was due to the fact that when the power was out, there was confusion in to which direction some of the switches should be to determine power on/off, since some of switches are reversed. Also I pleaded to her the fact that she was tapping in to my power and she was the one who accidentally separated my power wires, that in reality it was partially the fault of her own because while power was everywhere else, it was not at my home. Again a lecture to me after I spill my case and one more time I explain myself to avoid defeat. To no avail I lost the Battle of Englishes (American West Coast English vs. Ugandan English) as neighbor (still friendly…she could never hate me!) left her post to take care of matters at home. The feeling of defeat in a position when the fault was lesser my own than neighbor’s was frustrating, but the post-thoughts on the evolution of language create all the more appealing feeling of a future post…

To all of you back home I hope that things are well, and hopefully going as well as things are for me, but until then Peace and Love.

Hello!

2008-06-22T05:17:00.000-07:00

And I am well!

Corrupt

2008-06-22T05:12:00.000-07:00

So the past couple of weeks I have been proctoring exams at the college. So for either 4, or 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for the past 2 weeks I have been meandering around a classroom, ensuring students finish their exams appropriately. Most interesting thing in regards to proctoring (besides the fact that rather than "proctor" they call it "invigilation") was seeing some of the exam questions. From Biology, to Chemistry practicals, to History, Geography and Development Studies, I was their to see them all. In Geography exam, the students were required to create a map of North America, outline the Cotton Belt, and explain the Cotton Belt's origins in regards to the slave trade and how things have changed since. In the Chemistry practicals, well let us just say wearing open-toed shoes and using one's mouth to pipette liquids is a common and recommended practice, because there are no other means to do certain experiments because of the lack of equipment and proper facilities. I felt as though my mind was wandering to an imaginary place as I was breathing in so many toxic fumes. Rat dissection in Biology Practical. Very interesting experience, and beneficial to see how exams were administered-in a very formal British-style (hmm...the educational foundation of Uganda is from who? the Brits). Anyways, sadly enough the students have all left now for School Practice-in essence student teaching-therefore the campus will be very quiet for quite some time. Typically the lecturers would all go out to a different distrcit and observe the students, and give them marks, but since I have a mandatory training for Peace Corps in the middle of July, this would cut in to my observing, therefore I will be given, or rather find my own work at the college over the next couple months. Fortunately there are a number of projects I can focus my efforts on. Still we are working with proposals to get internet at the college. The college has 10 relatively new Dell machines (though which is not nearly enough for the amount of students) but 99.9% of the staff and students lack proper instruction or knowledge in computers, therefore that is where I come in to develop a program. But in regards to internet we are working to get it but the school being so strapped for cash and in terrible debt, the money is not there therefore outside funding is key, but is very difficult to come by. Having internet would assist students in not only introducing the world wide web in general computer usage, but allowing students to search for modern information, etc. Also we are starting a Guidance and Counseling sector at the college, emphasising AIDS information and outreach, as werll as personal guidance. The school has never had any sort of sector, so myself as well as two of the other lecturers are developing this program, so I feel that within the next couple of months I will have many good opportunities to get this program rolling so by the time the students return in September or October, we can introduce it properly. Still of course looking to get newer books, etc over here and also, assuming that books will come some time, I will eventually begin looking for funding to renovate the library. One day I will get pictures for you all so that you can see the state and conditions of the college. In a nutshell, besides the whole of Uganda struggling in the education sector, this college specifically, NTC Kaliro is worse off than most. The Principal who currently is seated at the college has only been there for about 2 years, and the Principal prior was apparently one of the most corrupt people one could imagine (in regards to educational administrators in Uganda). During his decades of being Principal, he personally took many allocated funds to the college (helped by an insider high up in the Ministry of Education) and with that money built multiple houses and his own private secondary school in the city of Jinja, causing the school to fall in to the catastrophic state it currently sits in. From Academic factilities to the student/staff housing to the Admin Offices, these were all clearly top of the line facilities when they were constructed in the early 1970s by missionaries, but currently struggle to remain standing in a state reminiscent to a still-frame of a Hollywood-esque internment camp bmomb explosion. I hope that you can get the picture. Broken-glass scattered over walking paths and and plants growing out of cracks in the cement on the ceiling is not proper, nor is the economical battle that faces the whole of the Education sector here in Uganda.

Just for a taste of the lack of rationale in this country. Students every day get pousha (excuse my spelling, but essentially rather than mashed potatoes, dried and cooked corn flour in this state) and some beans for lunch and dinner, they also get tea during the day. Well due to the international food crisis the prices of foods have risen dramatically, especially for many of those living in the village, or those severely struggling to survive. The students at the college were told one day that their last weeks of classes/exams there would be no more sugar (for porridge and tea) and that the Ministry of Education has actually cut funding, therefore seeking added funding for food was necessary. HONESTLY?!@?!?! What is the sense, where there is already a food crisis, to LOWER funding?!!!! I just get speechless at the thought, and tehre is no rhyme or reason to act in this way...but it happens this way, and people live, and die this way, and I don't know. I don't know what is wrong. Why, on many other instances or occasions do the actions of others fall in such an analogous way to be so indecent to the rest of societies and others.

Speechless

2008-05-24T02:13:00.001-07:00

"Mr. Daniel, I...and the rest of the class...can not find the words to express to...you...how much we thank you...and have appreciated your time...and energy in teaching us. We can not thank you enough."

- DEP student at commencement of Ecology course prior to departing

Were You Lost?

2008-05-21T04:59:00.001-07:00

So if at anytime I am not in attendance at the staff lounge for tea and lunch...or if I am missing from my office during a day...or if I am not seen around my house for many of those I am come to be associated with I am 'lost.' Maybe I have been in my office and no one has noticed...maybe I am working from home..maybe I have gone down south to Iganga to do research online for some of my projects...maybe I have simply gone in to Kaliro town to the market or to meet with other members of the community, but nonetheless the sentiment if one has not been seen throughout the day is that they have been lost. Now of course this, as with much of what is said, is of direct translation from the mother tounge spoken here being Lusoga (or if in other language regions the sentiment is similar). Now this does not bother me so much, as one of my colleagues at the college explained to me that the reason why the inquire of my whereabouts is that "You are one of our associates now and we care, so if you were to be away some time, and nobody knows where, they we are concerned." This reasoning is definitely appreciative, but at the same time it makes you have the feeling that you are always being watched, and therefore judged by all those around you, which is likely what is happening. With that, I take the judgmental aspect with a grain of salt and hope for the best that there is more emphasis on the care for my well-being, and this being more of a cultural aspect. Things have been going very well for the most part, and time right now seems to be flying by. Having taught the past few weeks I have taken opportunity this week to attempt to get my house in order some-which really has not happened-especially with the two kittens Gizmo and Virtue (Lisa's) running around with their heads cut off in my house. Today-the reason that I am on the internet now-is that I was to head off to a workshop for Secondary School Teachers of Sciences, put on by the Ministry of Education, on newer and more creative methods of teaching sciences in the schools here. Upon arrival, me and the other volunteer Melissa find ourselves...well...there a bit too late. The fact is this workshop began on the 15th of May, but we just received the information on the 20th, therefore we were rushing to make it for the last few days as it was suppose to end on the 23rd. As we walked in to the room, we were warmly greeted, but the unfortunte sentiments came to us of the cancellation of the workshop. Now let me tell you the frustrations...deep deep frustrations...arose when we were first called out of emergence in the morning of the 20th that we were to be attending this workshop. To think that we are to be attending this workshop-made of of probably 98.7% Ugandan teachers and 1.3% Peace Corps Volunteers-more than middway of its completion is completely ridiculous and disrespectful, so the hesitation and frustration and yes, anger was in full rage in the morning of the 20th. So I tied up loose ends, cleaned up a few things, and this morning woke at approximately 5.45AM, to make my way to Iganga from Kaliro. And that is the reason why you all find me here, writing, because the workshop was cancelled due to lack of funding. Therefore all the teachers who were at this conference left...Majority of the funding that is allocated for these conferences is the travel reimbursement for the teachers who have signed up for the conference. So...Teachers come to this conference...They are not refunded for their travel...The teachers, in dire need of educational teaching-style reform leave...Therefore nothing is changed. So where is the problem? (In regards to the educational system here and its inability to push intellectual thinking out of the box) Is it at the highest body, the Ministry of Education? Is it at the lowest with the students? Could it be the parents? The teachers themselves? Could it be that the core of the syllabi have not been changed for ages in this country, and their style is still reminiscent-in detrimental ways-of the British style of education from the 60s and further ago? All of these to an extent are much of the issues. It is a comprehensive problem where much of us struggle to see an honest change.
I did see the potential for change in the eyes of the students I taught. At the end of my last day of teaching the Diversity of Living Things and Classifcation (covering for a teacher that was not in attendace)-the 7.30Am morning after I was doing expediated lesson planning and note preparation for nearly 9 hours-I was commended in the most amazing way possible. As the students slowly began to exit the classroom-a room walled with cement and roofed with tin and rotting wood-two remained behind, gathering their belongings. Each expressed that they were going to miss me, that the next term they hoped to have me as their instructor and that I helped them very much. Then one, casually flipping through his notes stops, looks me in the eyes and in his broken english says "Mr. Daniel, I...and the rest of the class...can not find the words to express to...you...how much we thank you...and have appreciated your time...and energy in teaching us. We can not thank you enough." The most I could say, as I grew teary-eyed departing to my home was "Thank You," leaving a trail of chalk billowing in my path.

I hope all is well with you all back home! Tonight, I shall spend my time watching the Manchester United v Cheseal Football match, and then return to my modern life of proposal writing, eatching lunch (one of the best parts) in the staff room, and teaching whatever I can find. I love you all and I miss you all. And yeah...GO OB!!!!! OB is what they call Barack here, so yeah, I even have my good ol' American Propoganda in my "Vote Barack" pin on my bag. Peace and love.

Cheers,

Daniel Koza

May Day

2008-05-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

I'd like to say that I am filled with unconventional wisdom for the rest of the populace to tap in to; I'd like to imagine myself on stage as the focal point of a hit show; I'd like to believe that each and every star I cast my eyes upon each evening has as solar system of its own not so different from ours, and I choose to have enough confidence in myself to convince myself that the latter are not simply blanket desires, instead reality...
****************

Young boy, I thank you for the biscuit. Where you acquired your manners I do not know. Where you learned to smile on of the most genuine smilse I will never know. But again I thank you, from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done thus far in your short life. You remind me of myself-young and curious in this world-not too many years ago.
-Webale, the young boy said.
-Kale, I say in response, garnering a nervous if not awe-filled laugh from the boy.
Young boy I truly hope you can take this poisoned world and turn it good. The undeserved ignorance that has plagued not only yoru land but many othrse shall be an obstacle not easily overcome, but I can only hope this moment in your life inspires you to know. There is a day in my memory from nearly 20 years ago where I stood, face buried in a rusty chain-linked fence, gazing at airplanes taking off and landing. I was a pre-kindergartener, taking my recess to let my my wander over these large obnoxious machines, rather than partake in a game of four square or kickball. Spurring my curiousity, this catalytical moment has brought me through Australasia and now to Africa. I tell you though, having curiousity is only a piece of the puzzle-let us say merely the endless blue sky of a scenic picture-as searching for the meaning of this curiosity is where this world begins.
-Mpaku Eagle, nnyabo.
-Eagle?
-Yi. Webale.
-Kale.
Letting my own mind wander, staring out this barred canteen window, I find a life that I have simply...

Well my train of thought has been derailed worse than...well I can't think of any well known train derailment, but I assume you understand. Now the cause of this terrible loss in concentraion is due to the canteen owner's young daughter, who no doubt could see me from miles away (well I guess most Ugandans could, because, uhh, I'm white?) has chosen to take any and every effort imagineable to talk to and see me...
-Osibye oty'eyo, I asked.
-Bulungi, responded the young man staring at me from 4 inches away through the barred window. Osibye oty'eyo?
-Bulungi. Jebale I say.
-Kale, wena jebale.
-Kale ssebo.
And yes, you see how no matter how hard one tries to have their own piece of mind (while in public) is I must say a sure failure.

Young boy, you must realise something. Take a look around you. You see the man pulling the goat? The three boda drivers next to the tree? The chickens walking through the bush? You have been privelaged with an incredibly unique life, and you have seen me and with my best hopes wish that you have an eternal line of questions racing through your mind of why or what this muzungu is doing here, and hopefully t6hat is yoru ticket towards fighting ignorance. Run young boy, take your eswiti I gave you and on't change who you are, because yoru mind is so beautiful and open to new and amazing things.

Now Margaret, canteen owner's daughter, I do not even know how to satisfy anything you say...If I teach you something i teach you, if your mind has become corrupt to outsie teaching, especially by the thoughts that muzungus will save the world, then I fear to become a friend. Young boy; canteen owner's daughter; boy who ruined my concentration by starting at me from 4 inches away, just take this with you: To think is to live, to live is to love. And think for yourself and don't let anyone else tell you how or what to think. Believe that you have the ability to change somebody's-anybody's- life, and you shall smile everyday as you do when you see a muzungu.

EAGLE...rain?...maize...EAGLE...Yes, in a nutshell the progression of the past hour, with the whole lot of previous garbage being sandwhiched somewhere in the middle. And yes, it had to only rain for 2 minutes, and I have a full beer now, and all I want to do is go home, light my gas stove, and concoct some dinner involving eggs, cabbage, eggplant and tomatoes. In essence an omelet, but something more interesting is very much desired. But for now, I will struggle through this beer-not because it tastes bad, or because I have had too many or because I have an audience of 7 people watching me (which I do)-but because my simple couch, while listending to Chrias Koza's ne walbum and eating an omelet seems far more appealing. And to that, cheers, so I may take my last sip, and exit this alternate universe of the young boy, boy who ruined my concentration and teh canteen owner's daughter.

"Straight to Video"

2008-04-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

Shout out to my brother Christopher Koza and his band as I am sitting here writing this and listening to his new CD which I just received here in the mail in Uganda...yes, Chris Koza even has his music as international as Africa....So that means anyone who reads this, go to http://www.chriskoza.com/ and pick up a CD...Anyways, on to Peace Corps now...

<--Myself, greasy as after a long day with my little brother Hassan and Namakula at homestay

Having spent these past few weeks-post training- to get accustomed to life on my own and in a new environment has been grueling and difficult at times, but also a blessing in truly realising how adaptable the human species is...Although individual personality is also a key attribute in determining one's ability to adapt, in essence it amazes me what we as a species are truly capable of. True I still hold many ammenities with me from me that I have taken here as well as photos on my wall to remind me of my life thus far, but to be able to move 7,684 miles away to a truly different (yet clearly livable) world is an incredible and daring feat in itself. I have met many incredible people over these past few months, and while I dearly miss all of you back home, these relationships are truly my lifeline...The stresses that overtake one's mind in being ask for candy dozens of times a day by the same children or being glared at by a local (honestly though most of the time just a simple wave brings the biggest smile!) is often followed by a text or call to another PCV to gain confidence in oneself again. Living in Kaliro has been an experience in itself. The town is rather small, which makes it incredibly easy to walk through in a matter of a few minutes and see every member of town, often sitting in their dooka (store) selling the same exact thing at the same exact price as another 10 metres away. I walk a gorgeous walk everyday and find amazement in the fact that I could easily go hours without speaking English. Although my Lusoga reminds me of my family's Japanese exchange student Ikko trying to speak English when I was young, it invigorates me to have at least a complete greeting and short question and answer in a different language, and the Ugandan people absolutely love this! Some of the greatest smiles come when you surprise a Ugandan in speaking their mother toungue and that also brings out one of the biggest smiles I could have here.

I will leave this at that, and will hopefully post in a week or so again. One other note though, I have a new postal address now, so SEND ME MAIL to:

Daniel Koza
c/o Lisa Balland
PO Box 161
Kaliro, Uganda

Also be sure to write Air Mail and Par Avion on it, and also write RELIGIOUS MATERIALS and draw a cross or something on it! Good chance it will arrive with less trouble faster!

Well until then peace and love from Uganda to yo all, and I miss you all!

Here is a little poem for you all:

For the moment each and every star
Is their for your own unique dream
In 500 years maybe some other truth
Will change what we hold true
But for the time now and even then
As living is so short and often a battle
Take every smile and every fright
To heart as what makes this
World so beautiful and evolutionarily
Tangible to each and every being
Forgetting who you are will not be
The end of it all but just remember
That someone, 7684 miles away from you,
Is thinking about you and loves you...