Day 63: Better...

I'm doing much better than I was a few days ago. Hormones are partially to blame for my emotional state :-/ .....partially......

Anyway great news....We are finished with our gender based violence report! All we have to do now is do our final presentation and we are done!! WHoo hooo! So Glad!

Also I have yet to hear back from my advisor but all I have to do is finish my final presentation for that and you might as well call me Ms. Sombo Pujeh, MPH...holla!

I am truly looking forward to coming home. I have a little more than 3 weeks now and my last week here is going to be a blast. I plan on going to Rwanda to see the capital and the genocide museum, going to Kibale to see some of the natural beauty there, and then Kampala the capital of Uganda before heading back to DC. It should be fun and there's so much to look forward to. I can't wait!

Day 60: Homesickness setting in again...

So its been a little over two months here and I have a little less than a month (27 days to be exact) until I come back to the US. I was doing good for the longest time but now longer and more frequent bouts of sadness are starting to plague me each day. I have TRULY appreciated this experience because I have learned so much and experienced natural beauty as I have never done so before. Africa has a ways to go but it is just so beautiful!



With that being said. Home is home. And I miss my friends, my own room, food that I like, hot showers, no malaria scares, and my life back in the States. I now know the limits of what I can stand as far as international travel goes. I said it once and I'll say it again, I will appreciate everything I have SO much more.



Also its tough because even though I am very grateful for coming with another fellow, it gets hard sometimes. She is great and I like her and all but its tough to live with, work with, go out to eat with, and almost everything else with the SAME person EVERYDAY. I get annoyed from time to time and I wish I had more alone time to just reflect on things and hell bust out crying if I so wish. I do try to take walks by myself on the weekends from time to time but its but for only so long. I miss my alone time. And because I have to live with her I have to suck it up. Don't get me wrong I feel blessed to have had her on this trip and I will definitely keep in touch with her afterwards but I long for my me time.



Sorry for all this bitching and moaning yet again....but I've been getting sad a lot :-(

But I know God has a lot in store for me......I need to lean on faith right now....

Day 59: Hard Work Pays off!

So me and my roommate spend the majority of our weekends in our cave aka our guesthouse room. We both have to complete our thesis before this summer in order to get our MPH degrees but also avoid a $1,000 charge that GW greedily makes you pay if your thesis isn't completed by your last semester.



But I can announce that I have officially finished my Master's thesis draft!! :-) I sent it to my advisor so pretty much after he reviews it and gives me his input and then I make those changes I will be pretty much done. September 1st is the date when I will present it and officially have my MPH! I'll be 24 with my Masters!! Go me...Go me...its my birthday...get busy! lol


My Response to Comments:
Thanks Lenny! And Tina that's why I didn't even go to the graduation ceremony. I just want to get this thesis over and done with! Just mail me my degree!

Sorry I Can't respond to Comments

Hey everyone,

For some reason this week I haven't been able to respond to comments :-( I appreciate all of you reading my blog and helping me get through this homesickness. Hopefully the internet will gets its life together shortly here. Thanks again. Love you!

~Som

Day 53: Guesthouse shenannigans

So I had to take some time out to tell y'all about some of the foolishness going down at the guestouse we're staying at. So waaay back when I first got here I explained how they were trying to raise the price on us even after we were already paying higher than a Ugandan would. So ok....we resolved that.... so I thought everything was all good. But...no....little things have been happening that just make me so anxious to go back to my house with my own room and my own bed etc. Here they are (in no particularly foolish order):


1. I know I need to just suck it up but the random bugs and other creatures are so f'n disgusting. Now this isn't really the guesthouse's fault...and it is Africa...but we all have something in life that we're afraid of or especially makes our skin crawl. Bugs are it for me. (See Day 29) So last week I was so scared when we came home and found some nasty little creatures that I will refer to as roid roaches from now on. I will call them such because they had clearly been fed some type of steroids to be that damn big. I mean look at this pic and tell me them jawns aint on some eat-me-on-the-fear- factor-show type mess....Ugh....

Roid Roaches...cold chillin in my room

2. Things have been stolen from our room. Ok now nothing too major like my phone or laptop (y'all woulda seen me on CNN for killing everyone in this house if that were the case) but little stuff that really makes me suspicious of the people here. So at first it was these candies that we had sitting out on the side table. We would slowly see them disappear and then even the wrappers on the floor. Then one day I noticed that about 4-5 of the mangoes I had bought were gone and only one was left. It was pretty blatant and it was the principle of the matter that I was mad. The mangoes didnt cost that much (See Day 47) but to know someone was taking things without asking pissed me off. So I talked to the two guys that work here and they said they didnt do it, but the young guy that cleans the bathroom must have. They seemed pretty upset about it so I just kinda chalked it up. But then maybe a week later, the other fellow's converter went missing. It was in the powerstrip they gave us and when they took it back that's when the converter just disappeared. They say they don't have it but what the hell else happened to it? It didn't grow legs and walk away. We searched the whole room (i mean it aint that big) and it was nowhere to be found. So now we are careful to put away our valuables whenever we leave and check all our belongings to see if anything else gets taken.



3. I'm still kinda mad about how much they are charging us. So we recently told another TASO member about how much we pay and he was very shocked and even asked what services they were giving us. We said they give us breakfast 4 days a week and clean the room. He said thats rediculous. That we should def get breakfast everyday and even dinner for that price. Now I know I'm from the US and the cost is not much in our terms but I am a student who's working here for free and has no job waitin on me when I get back. I mean I'll get over it but its still annoying. And this leads me to number 4....



4. The fact that they think I am made of money and moreover they should get a piece of my "fortune". So two quick stories. One time one of the guys at the guesthouse was walking me to the local market in town. On the way back I asked him does he have an address so I can (and I quote) "send him something" when I get back home (i.e. a letter or a card). This man had the nerve to say well we have Western Unions in town. Slow ur roll homie.....I aint sendin u no money (this is what I was thinking). And these guys are living very nice here in Uganda...they are not struggling by ANY strecth of the word. Story number 2: So this weekend he comes into the room to change our sheets. I had a lot of stuff on the bed so I began to move my things. He sees my Palm Treo cell phone and here is the conversation that ensues:



Him: "What is that?" (As he picks it up)

Me: "It's a cell phone" After I notice him eyeing it a lil too long, "But you can't use it here in Uganda, it doesn't use a sim card"

Him: "Oh there's people that can break the code on it" (Continues to look at it and starts pressing buttons)

Me "Oh really?" (Not really caring...just kinda making conversation)

Him: "Yeah, how about you leave this one for me and you buy another one at home?"

Me: (nervous laughter) "Um.. no"

Him: "It is powerful!"

Me: "Yeah" (Reach over and slowly take phone away from him)....

This dude had the nerve to tell me to leave him my $600 (I didnt pay that much for it ...but still thats how much its worth) phone. Are u F'n kidding me?! What do you need a palm for? He literally sits in the guesthouse all day watching TV...maybe changing the sheets every few days. And what makes u think I can afford to be giving phones away all will nilly? You are not family or a needy person (he has a cell phone). You take my money for me to live in your guesthouse...thats the basis of our relationship...why the heck would I give u my phone??

Ok sorry I had to go off there for a bit....but that ish ticked me off. So that is a snapshot of what I'm dealin with here...LOL

Response to Comments:
Wendy: Wow @ the phone proposition and Yeah Ted told me :-/
Tina: Its crazy how rich they really think I am. I am a broke grad student that desperately needs a job when I get back....it def all evens out

Day 52: I got my hair did!

I got my hair did! It took about 4.5 hours and I only paid 10,000 shillings. Thats $5!! Are u F'n kidding me?

Me on the floor getting my hair done....

Me with the African outfit I bought with my hair done. Man I wish I could have my eyebrows done (lol)....that always goes great with a new hairdo....ah well....

Day 51: A bit of randomness

I thought I would take the time post this entry to show some of the randomness that is Uganda:

An ad on a building: Testes tho? Really? Spell check please....

A wooden dildo TASO uses to show clients how to use condoms

YES that is an Ostrich....with NO type of fence in between us....next to the road in a neighborhood (There are also camels at the Mosque around the corner)


Two Ken dolls and T rex in front of a store...posed.....like this...

I guess this is their brand name...at least there's no tree (=copyright infringement)

When u add y to end of words doesnt it mean full of ___(the word)? Help me out I'm not a grammar genius... So does this mean the store is full of ass?

A chicken with its chicks at one of the hotels we stayed at early on...cows, goats, and turkeys also roam the streets everywhere

There's really not even a need for captions for some of these pics...they are hilarious on their own...


Note: This is just a fraction of the random things I see, hear and experience everyday

Day 47: The Price is Right

So here in Africa the cost of living is hella cheap. When I really take the time to convert the shillings (Ugandan currency) into US Dollars its crazy how little you can spend to get by. Here are some examples of prices of things:







This case which I use to carry my camera in was 1500 shillings (75 cents)












These ear bud headphones were 3,000 shillings ($1.50)











This bunch of mangoes was 500 shillings (25 cents- about 4 cents each!). You can get a pineapple for 30 cents, a head of cabbage for 15 cents













This traditional Ugandan meal was about 2,000 shillings (1 dollar)








A meal when we go out to a nice Indian restaurant including an appetizer, an entree, nan (flat bread), rice, and a soda is no more than $6.50.


You can buy a pair of shoes or a 1.5 liter bottle of water for 1,000 shillings (50 cents)

This lady at TASO got micro braids for $6! I am going to get my hair braided twice before I leave...



I could really go on and on....

Day 43: Learning so much....

I am learning so much here at TASO! So pretty much we met with the center manager here and told him that there’s was no way we’d be able to finish this project AND 2 other ones with the 6+ weeks we have left. So we asked him if we could just focus on this Gender Based Violence project and then work on rolling out their Leadership training course at the center. He agreed and I am so glad! Finally I feel at ease because we are really going to produce a great report that they can use to improve their gender mainstreaming programming.

So between me and the other fellow, we already looked through 350 files’ counseling sessions from now back to 2004 for instances of Gender Based Violence (GBV). Now that we have the remaining weeks to work on this project we are going to interview counselors and clients about what they think is needed to address GBV at TASO. I am learning so much through this project because we looked through the files and we interviewed all the counselors we need to today. It is so interesting how the inequality of women in Africa affects their ability to seek out effective HIV/AIDS information. Many of the women’s husbands refuse to use condoms, force them into sex, have numerous co-wives or partners and abuse them. The husband will blame the wife for bringing HIV to the home even though he refuses to get testing and is the one that most likely gave her the virus.

And much of this is accepted as the norm. Its truly sad how little power many women have over here to protect themselves. Some women believe their husbands only loves them if they beat them (A sad and sobering thought that some women even have in the US). Or that it your fault you got raped just because you didnt feel like having sex with your husband. Women have so much farther to go in this world.....

I am grateful I was raised in a family full of strong women who all have their own opinions and don't take shit from anybody. Clearly it rubbed off on me...lol Ironically, the only woman (considering Mom, Aunts, and older female cousins) in my family that's still married is my sister. Is it that an African/Black man cannot handle a strong woman? Does he feel his manhood is threatened when a woman wants to take charge? Or can we really be that overbearing and controlling? Hmmmm.....

Day 42: I hate goodbyes

So yesterday was the last day the BC girls were here in Uganda. I was genuinely sad to see them go. We spent like every day and most weekend with them. They were some really cool ladies. I respected them because even though they are both really different from me they maintain who they are and what they think no matter what. I respect that alot. I got so many different perspectives from them on so many issues and it really made me realize that I need to open my mind to being friends more kinds of people.

I will miss them!

Also just wanted to share that on Tuesday I went to this store where they sell traditional African outfits and fabrics. I got one! Its so pretty and it was like $20. Thats crazy bc I know that people in MD that sell those outfits for like $150-200!! Go me!

Day 38 and 39: Rafting!

OMG! Rafting was WAAAAAY too much fun! I have never done anything like it before. I was so scared at certain times but I would definitely do it again!

I went on the grade 5 course but of course my raft ended up flipping on a grade 3 rapid :-? It was so SCARY! I though I was gonna drown or at least swallow a hellevu alot of water. But neither happened. LOL. I just almost had a heart attack...that's all. Me and the people I went with split a DVD and we're gonna try and burn it so we each have a copy. If you are my friend and live in the DC area...you WILL see this evidence of my rafting experience MANY times.

Me in my helmet and safety jacket before going rafting....I have no other evidence b/c I wasn't going to have my camera destroyed while falling in the water.

So besides the scary rapids, there was alot of calm time on the Nile just floating along. And man we did SO much rowing .....my arms are still sore (I know I'm outta shape). The natural beauty again is just so breathtaking. There were also alot of birds and even a gang of bats along the way. Man I am so glad I got to have that experience.

Pic of the Nile from the Bus :-/...still beautiful tho....

Also while in Jinja I got to do so much souveneir (sp?) shopping. I wanted to get like everything I saw. But I had to use self control but I think I'll be going back there before I come back to get more stuff.

All in all it was a great July 4th and we even had a BBQ the next day! Still can't wait to be back home but all these experiences have made this trip all the while!

We were gonna celebrate July 4th no matter what continent we're on!

Day 37: Rafting in Jinja this Weekend!

I'm excited becasue this weekend will be a major trip for me. I'm going rafting on the river Nile in Jinja, Uganda. Please pray for me because this is the first time I've done anything like this so it should be an experience I'll never forget! It will be a group of like 17 of us from the US and British Columbia so we're also going to be celebrating Independence Day and Canada Day. So the BBQ should be good times as well. You'll get updates and pictures on everything on Monday :-)