back to reality...

... TV, that is. 
The Voice, Masterchef, The Block, Celebrity Apprentice, House Rules...
Was watching Masterchef - thinking that it's turning into 'one of those' reality TV shows. Wondering why 'reality television' is so annoying to watch while you're watching it (dramatic intensifying of situation / 'face-palm' jokes / "coming up after the break" previews) yet people can't seem to tear their eyes away.

What's reality?

The past semester when I was still teaching English at the Centre of Hope, I was allocated two out of four hours to teach the most advanced classes. All the other times I'd only been teaching the most beginner students, so it was a nice change to have meaningful conversations with a few of my students this time and to ask their opinion on debatable topics ^_^"

The reality is that they could tell me in English what was probably true for most of the students. They tell me which country/region they're from. Place names which mean much more than a dot on the map. Areas which have military coups and civil wars and border conflicts and genocides and humanitarian emergencies written into their history. They try to explain the social and political situation there. They tell me the family they've left behind: husbands, wives, sons, daughters. They tell of meetings at the OPM to determine their asylum-seeker status. They share their hopes of returning home once it's safe, or of bringing their family to live in Kampala, or of waiting and waiting for a nation's embassy to approve their visa so they can be reunited with family abroad...

The reality is that I've seen friendships form between Eritrean and Ethiopian students, Somali and Somalilander students, Northern/Southern/Western Sudanese students.

The reality is I hold a passport issued by a socially and politically stable (snigger all you like - I'm being relative) nation, and a boarding pass to get me there. Fare thee well and off I soar...

The reality is that a refugee student from the Centre of Hope was involved in an accident over the long weekend - leaving behind three young children. She's now HOME.

'cos the sweetest melody is the one we haven't heard

******************************

The Walk for Refugees / Lantern Parade / performance at South Bank tonight was awesome. I wish I'd brought a camera with me - not just a lagging phone...

assembling to walk

love it!   I asked my R&H students what their favourite
animal was, and 'camel' was by far the most popular

wangi? ogambyeki?

There have been countless times where I've asked people to repeat themselves 'pardon? what did you say?' though usually it's not because of loud external noise sources.

I guess I'm fine with all the roosters and goats, drivers who want business, quarry machinery, and "ice-cream bicycles" around Kampala - it's the mobile advertisements, bars, dance clubs, calls to prayer, certain pentecostal services, and blaring radio/music that are real distractions.

e.g. when your neighbour 30m away decides to throw a party for some kid's first birthday and turns up the bass such that you can feel it vibrating off the walls in your room and the whole thing goes for a sweet twelve hours: from 2pm to 2am. OKUSIRIKA!!

Are there noise control laws in Uganda? Perhaps, although in this culture it goes without saying that many laws are weakly enforced.

I love how this writer expressed it:
“Kampala hosts shouting contests of car hooters, rowdy taxis and bodabodas, amplified microphones and vuvuzelas”
“More despicable is the widespread violation of the city planning requirements... One wonders what happened to our city planners”
“According to health practitioners, anyone who spends more than five hours daily in garages, wielding workshops, Pentecostal churches, markets, taxi parks, on construction sites, night clubs, music studios, smoking places, bars and bibanda (video halls) will most likely be affected by several diseases such as headaches, deafness, heart failure, cancer among others”
“During examination time, you find university premises so crowded with the “balokole” (born-again believers) shouting their hearts out. Although I risk being termed a pagan, I doubt whether you honestly ask God to help you pass your exams by shouting the loudest! Someone needs to tell street preachers that there are lawfully designated places of worship to practice their trade”
HAHAHAHAHA

When a friend in Brisbane emailed me about a proposed mosque in their neighbourhood, I went online to see what kind of development it was going to be.

Lo and behold! Among 200 other files, a twenty-one page Noise Impact Assessment Report complete with reference to Council’s Noise Impact Assessment Planning Scheme Policy, the Environmental Protection Act and the Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy. It also included ambient sound pressure levels measured in accordance with Australian Standards, and finished off with a Glossary of terms.

I couldn't help but laugh.

devotion: reflections

summary (plus some) of my self-interview which I shared at morning devotion the morning before the day of my departure...

>>> What I will miss most

• the PEOPLE: housemates, interns, EMI family, teachers & students at Refuge and Hope, locals
• three words at 1pm: 'laanch ees rehhdy!' :)
• enormous avocados and mangos that just fall from above
• bargaining for groceries/transport/anything at the market... haggling is such a joy :)
• glass soda bottles
• 'taking tea'
• boda-bodas: oh so dangerous yet oh so convenient

>>> What I won't miss

• potholes
• burning garbage
• red dust (or, when it rains, red mud); inadequate stormwater drainage
• mosquitoes
• when AutoCAD refuses to cooperate
• crawling out of my mattress-bowl each morning

>>> What I admire

• "In Uganda, the bus is never full!" -cheerful conductor when I peeked my head in to see if there were extra seats on a bus
• you can't greet someone without asking 'how are you?' and expect a reply
• seeing God's creation in places I've visited throughout Uganda: The Pearl of Africa

>>> What upsets me

• people living on the streets
• mob justice
• corruption

>>> What have I learnt?

• what a sigiri is, and how to eat soup without cutlery
• 'soda' AKA bribe
• new application of the word 'stubborn' (the shopkeeper/dog/rain/machine/bicycle is stubborn)
• indirect communication including 'eeeee' 'a-ah' 'mmmm' 'uh-huh' and raising of eyebrows/pointing of lips
• say "it's OK" to mean "yes", say "I'm fine" to mean "no"
• please extend /flash me /keep time /I am footing /start producing /my downer leg is paining /come pick me /I have reached /sorry! /you are lost /I fear snakes /you resemble her /what what /it was disturbing me /just there /give me balance /you come /ok please /reh-kor-gor-niise-de /ovakedo
• not to take things for granted - excluding power or water supply...
  e.g. education: not to assume a child of a certain age is at a certain schooling level 'cos you don't get to start studying until your parents/benefactors have saved up enough dosh to pay for school fees...
  e.g. basic stationery supplies: how can kids practise drawing/writing/release their inner creativity unless they have access to pencils and paper?
• there is no right or wrong ministry; there are many groups focusing on serving different areas of God's Kingdom--- because our Lord Himself is so big and wide and vast

>>> Who am I?

• a daughter, sister, no longer a student, very soon-to-be unemployed
• an Australian citizen of Chinese descent staying with Americans in Kampala while working with an NGO that seeks to serve God's people throughout East Africa
• on the side, I've taught English to IDPs and refugees from Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Somaliland, DR Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania

>>> Do I belong here?

• well... no! 
• I may be welcomed, but I certainly don't belong
• I may be able to say 'I'm going home after work' or greet every third person on Kiwafu Road, but that won't stop people from calling me mzungu
• ultimately, this world (let alone Australia/Uganda) is not my Home

on my way

Tell everybody I’m on my way

New FRIENDS and new PLACES to see

With blue skies ahead, yes I’m on my way

And there’s nowhere else I’d rather be

Tell everybody I’m on my way

And I’m loving every step I take

With the SUN beating down, yes I’m on my way

And I can't keep this SMILE off my face

Cause there’s nothing like, seeing each other again

NO MATTER what THE DISTANCE between

And the stories we tell, will make you smile

It really LIFTS MY HEART

So tell them I’m on my way

New friends and new places to see

And to sleep under the stars who could ask for more

With the moon keeping watch over me

Not the snow nor the rain, can change my mind

The sun will come out, wait and see

And the feeling of the wind

In your face can LIFT YOUR HEART

There’s nowhere I would rather be

Cause I’m on my way now

Tell everybody I’m on my way

I just can't wait to be there

With BLUE SKIES ahead, yes I'm on my way

And nothing but good times to share

So tell everybody I'm on my way

And I just can't wait to be HOME

With the sun beating down yes I'm on my way

And nothing but good times to show

I'm on my way

(yes, I like Disney)

jerry can you?

On my way to grab breakfast at a stand near the office, I saw a young girl standing on the side of the driveway, big yellow jerrycan at her side. I greeted her and asked where she was going.

'the stage'
'oh! I'm going there too. Can I take the jerry can for you?'
She nods. I pick up the jerry can; we walk down to the road.
'what's your name?'
'Belinda'
O__O
'wow! Do you know my name? (I don't know why I asked that... of course she doesnt know my name) I'm also called Belinda!'
'eeeee?' (a common sound produced by Ugandans to express surprise)

one of the most important items in East Africa

Most jerrycans hold 20L (sometimes smaller sizes), and for those who have no running water in their homes, it costs 100/= to fill up 10L from places that sell tap water. The iconic bright-yellow jug is found everywhere around Kampala - we also keep a few topped-up at home for when the water goes out.

They are HEAVY to carry. Actually, that was why I found her standing beside the driveway in the first place: to catch her breath and summon energy to go another 20m (she was half my height and the jerrycan was probably a good portion of her own weight). Anyway, I totally did not expect to meet my name-sake here in the same neighbourhood =P

blessings from abroad!

THANK-YOU to the brothers and sisters from BCAC!  ^_^

sugar hit  O_O

"clean-up" Kampala?

Walking back from teaching ESL last week, I noticed the footpath was clean and considerably wider - not that it had expanded, but simply the fact I did not have to dodge snack stands, clothing & shoe displays, wheelbarrows of fruit, street vendors in general. Stopping at one of the few tables set with ndizi (small sweet bananas that Australians call 'lady finger bananas') for sale, I asked the lady what happened to the stretch of market.

"KCCA" she whispered, with a disgusted look on her face.

"Just last week?" I asked.

"Yes, they came and they drove everyone out who did not have a permit" Then I noticed a patch of dirt where there previously had been a bright yellow MTN kiosk. Jimmy used to sell me airtime (mobile recharge vouchers) from there. "Even that MTN stand – it was demolished"

KCCA stands for Kampala Capital City Authority, and the Executive Director is Jennifer Musisi. Since been given the position two years ago, she’s vowed to transform the place into a “really nice city” worthy to be called Uganda’s capital. I saw her at the Good Friday worship & prayer night at Makerere University where she addressed the crowd, calling upon the church to spearhead the transformation of Kampala, and prayed that God would raise up the city like a phoenix from ashes.

addressing the attendees at the Good Friday prayer & worship night

When it comes to asking local Kampala residents  what they think about Jennifer Musisi and her work, some adore her, some say they don’t want to be involved in politics (even though I don’t think KCCA is supposed to be political), some seem reluctant to say much (at least, to me).

“She’s doing a good thing… but she’s harsh” in that the demolition and ‘cleaning out’ of market places has put many out of business and jobless, sometimes with too little time to collect their goods and relocate.

Perhaps it’s the ‘indirect’ ways of this culture. I was first exposed to the Executive Director through a song blasted from stereos around Kampala. Catchy tune, but I had no idea what it was talking about because it was in Luganda. Tugambire ku Jennifer (Please talk to Jennifer on our behalf) "summarizes the pain that the less fortunate people are going through under the new Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) headed by Jennifer Musisi, its Executive Director. The song highlights the resulting social discontent and ‘injustice’. It condemns Musisi’s approach in implementing her programs.” source

On the other hand, some places don't look too bad…

you had better keep off the grass else you'll face being fined

So how exactly do you “fix” so many years of neglect?

As someone mentioned during morning devotions this week: all the more reason to be PRAYING for our leaders who are in positions of responsibility – organisational, spiritual, political.