Teso Cultural Night

We spent the afternoon of Valentine's day at a Teso Cultural event which was arranged for some visitors that had come in from the US.  It included different local Iteso musicians from the area around where Soroti is situated. (Fun fact: The Iteso people are from the land of Teso, and they speak Ateso).  

The cultural night performers included a man named Lazarus, a blind musician who played the thumb piano.  Lazarus also happened to be a former grant recipient from many years ago.  

Lazarus playing the thumb piano 

There was also a pretty zany group that seemed like they may have gotten a bit intoxicated before their performance. 

Wild musicians suspected of being inebriated

All of the music was amazing, fun and energetic. So much so that we had to join in the dancing at times. 

As a side note, I found it interesting that there was a guy there wearing a 'Kony 2012' shirt. Since the Teso region was one of those impacted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), it makes sense that he might have had some involvement with the campaign or known someone who did. 

Musician in a Kony 2012 t-shirt

Overall, the Teso Cultural Night was another amazing experience as I prepare to depart from Uganda. 

BYOB with Sackets!

Before departing from Uganda, I wanted to be sure to try sackets. These are little pouches of alcohol conveniently purchased at the local market.

During my final weekend in Soroti, we planned one last night out at Trends, the local dance club. In preparation for the big night out, we hosted dinner and drinks with the oh-so-classy sackets. I was so excited to finally try them! The quality of the liquor was not so good (I can't say that I was surprised), but it was definitely fun to try something different.

Vodka and gin sackets

And as one of my Peace Corps friends pointed out, they are easy to tuck into your bra to carry with you to the club (although I just took her word for it).

Some final quotes from Uganda

I love the way my friends and colleagues here express things. There is both beauty and humor to how they say what they say that I will miss hearing on a day to day basis.  Below are a few favorites I've heard over the past couple of months. I really should have kept a pad of paper with me to capture everything. 

Plump Like Oranges! When driving to the field one day, we had a full car and four of my female coworkers were squeezed into the back seat of the vehicle. At one point, one of the men with us said, "Ah, these women!  They are all under 30, and they are plump like oranges!"  The ladies did not seem so amused. Though being plump here can be seen as a sign of good health and prosperity. 

Sunburned. On another journey to the field, I unwittingly offering my Ugandan coworkers sunscreen after applying my own.  Their response" "We were burned by the sun a long time ago."  Not surprisingly, there were no takers for the sunblock.

Denying salt. East Africans typically prefer more salt in their food than I tend to cook with. When a coworker tried my cooking during work one day, he said "It is good.  You have just denied it salt."  Then he, and everyone else who ate what I prepared, proceeded to add a generous portion of salt to their dishes. 

Portable women. While walking to town one time, one male colleague asked another, "Is she portable?" which I learned meant, is she thin?  I asked if that was meaning that she was light enough that you could throw her over your shoulder? They laughed and said "Yes!"  Though I wasn't quite sure what to think about that...

Shedding tears. While driving to the field on a particularly hot day, one of my coworkers said to the other, "Your water bottle is shedding tears."  Meaning, your water bottle is leaking. 

I too will be shedding tears as I say goodbye to all of the friends I have made here.  It's hard to believe that today is my last day of volunteering in Africa.  

Tomorrow I depart to meet my family for a safari, and then we'll be returning to the US on February 24th. 

I want to thank everyone for all of their support while I have been here, and for taking the time to read this blog and share in this experience with me! 

Eyalama noi, wevale muno and asante sana!!   Which means "thank you very much" in Ateso (for Soroti), Runyoro (for Hoima), and Swahili (for Kenya). 

Jose Marti'inn

This blog about my time in Africa would not be complete without a post dedicated to Jose Marti'inn. I believe it's one of my favorite places here. This is where I have spent almost every Friday night (and some other nights) during the past 4 months that I've been in Soroti. I was fortunate to be invited to hang out with a group that consists of the Soroti area Peace Corps volunteers and a PhD student that was here doing anthropological work. 

Even after many visits, I'm still not quite sure how to pronounce it. I've heard a Hispanic sounding version (Ho-zay Mar-teen) and also what I think is the local pronunciation (Joe-zay Mar-T-in).  

I think I may have mentioned JM in prior posts.  This is the place where tables are set up in a little dirt and grass palm-tree lined alley situated between two 1-2 story buildings in town. It is technically a bar, but there are street food vendors positioned outside on the street to take your order.  Your options for street food are chicken and chips or fish and chips, unless you want to walk a block or two away to find a rolex (eggs rolled up in chapatti) or some fried cassava. 

The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of East African music, current-ish pop and random stuff from the 80's.  Its often too loud but always entertaining.

My typical routine is:

• Show up sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.  
• Join the group at a table and order a Club (my favorite Ugandan beer).  
• Then at some point, meander to the street and cross to the other side to see Patience, who is my favorite street food vendor.  She is very nice, has a kind smile and appears to be in her mid 20's. She sells fried whole tilapia, and it is unanimous that she has the best chips (french fries) of all of the vendors.
• After placing my order, I return to the table and continue conversing and enjoying my Club
• At some point, Patience will come to the table with food for those who have ordered from her and a pitcher of water (made from an old cooking oil container) with a bucket with some soap. 
• She will then pour water on our hands, and we'll wash them in preparation for our meal. 
• We then eat our meals with our hands in semi darkness (depending on how close you are to one of the few standing lanterns.
• I make sure to apply plenty of Top Up sauce, which is kind of like ketchup, but runnier, and maybe a little sweeter and less tomatoey.
• Once done, we just kind of chill and wait with our greasy hands until she returns again with the water, soap and bucket to wash up. 
• Then, within the next 30 minutes or hour, she'll return to collect payment.  For the small fish, which I always get, and chips, it is 5,500 shillings (or about $2.00)
• Depending on how tired I am, I'll stay for a little while longer, and maybe enjoy another Club, and then head home. 

Fish & Chips with Top Up sauce. Delicious!! 

View of fish & chips with Club and Top Up bottle, and eating by hand 

JM at night with a view of its characteristic palm trees 

There are a lot of things I'll miss about Africa when I leave in a couple weeks. Jose Marti'inn is definitely one of them, along with all of the friends I've made here--expat and East African. 

A Tisket a Tasket, to Market for some Baskets

On Thursday, we had our last excursion with the photographer and videographer, plus some other visitors from the US and a couple of my Ugandan colleagues. I drove the party wagon to the Arapi market (pronounced Uh-rah-pie), which is about a 20 minute drive out of Soroti town. It’s a large market that takes place on Thursdays, and is complete with produce, livestock, prepared food, housewares, hardware, and second-hand clothing. It was a short and easy drive, but the road was packed with pedestrians and people on bicycles and motorcycles making their way to market.

Our main objective was to visit some business owners who had diversified their businesses and started making baskets. The baskets are made from local materials, which mainly consist of local grasses and palm fronds. On market day, they are strapped to the back of bicycles and peddled to market. However, transporting the goods can be a challenge, so some business owners have made arrangements to sell in bulk to people from Kampala who come with a big lorry to pick up large quantities all at once from the village.  

The baskets were quite lovely. Some reminded me of Easter baskets and some were like big hamper-style baskets.  

The Easter-style baskets (I bought the green & purple one at the top left of the photo) 

Hamper-style baskets

Purse baskets

Hamper style close up

While being interviewed, the business owners were busy putting the finishing touches on their baskets. Since we took up a lot of their time, I felt I should buy something, so I went with one of the Easter baskets. I’ve actually seen this style of basket used in restaurants and bars here to carry sodas and beer to the tables for serving; so if I do get it back intact, maybe I can use it for something like that!  I’m still not sure how I’ll carry it through an 8 day safari trip with my family and then on the flight home, but I figured it would be much easier than one of the large baskets. 

Wrapping palm front strips around the edge of  basket lids

How baskets are brought to market on bicycles 

Afterwards, we went through the rest of the market and visited with other business owners who had received grants from the organization. Most of the businesses we saw were actually different from what the business owners had originally received the grants.  But after making profits through their original businesses, they were able to borrow small loans from their business savings group (kind of like their local village bank) to start another small side business.

First we visited with a business owner selling mandazi, which is kind of like an East African doughnut. They are served from a platter by skewering them and then dropping them into a plastic bag. They are very tasty! We then visited with business owners selling oranges and tamarind, and another selling packaged peanuts and soynuts.

Business owner skewering mandazi (notice use of a similar basket)

Business owners selling tamarind and local oranges 

Business owner with child selling packaged  nuts 

When one of the women was being interviewed about starting this additional side business, she said “We are doing what you taught us. Business! Business! Business!”