Hey there! Thanks for tuning in for this recap post. I have been nonstop busy since moving to my site (about a month and a half ago). I’m just beginning to feel like I’m settling into my new life and my new living space now, so I thought I would check back in and let you all know what has been going on! Here’s my brief recap of the last two months. Since you last heard from me, I have completed 5 weeks of intensive language training while living with the most wonderful host family. I had a host mom and eight other family members in the household. During this portion of my training, I spent Monday through Saturday in school to learn Luganda with 17 members of my fellow cohort and 3 language and cross-cultural facilitators (LCFs). After school each day, I would go home and help my host mom prepare dinner, play with my host siblings, and eat and eat and eat. (Side note- Ugandans eat a LOT). After those five weeks, we spent a week shadowing current volunteers doing “technical immersion training.” With help from the hosting PCVs, we were given opportunities to carry out needs assessments, lesson plan, and facilitate to real-live groups of people. It was great experience! Following that week, we spent our very last week of training in administrative training sessions. This week concluded with a supervisor’s workshop where the supervisors from our newly assigned organizations came to collaborate and establish our goals for the next two years of our partnership. As Pre-Service training came to an end, we celebrated with a swearing-in ceremony held at the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda’s residence. During this event, we took an oath of service and officially gained the title of Peace Corps Volunteers!!! We had a really nice time enjoying the speeches from members of our cohort, the U.S. Embassador, our Peace Corps Uganda Country Director, and our guest speaker- Uganda’s Minister of Health. I was volunteered to speak at the ceremony on behalf of my language group. Naturally, I didn’t know quite what to say so I wrote a comical poem about our time as trainees for the previous 10 weeks. I’ll share it with y’all, but hold your judgements on my lack of cadence and over-reaching rhymes!!

 

A very short 10 weeks ago,

We travelled to a land unknown.

Delighted we were as we stepped off the plane

To be greeted by the nation of the Crested Crane.

Bright smiles, big hearts, and matooke aplenty

Is our new home Uganda, where the welcomes are many.

We skipped no beats and went straight to work,

Spending 3 weeks at MUZARDI full of flip charts and teamwork.

Though we couldn’t have done it without the Peace Corps staff,

Between both Airtell and training, they guided our path.

It wasn’t long before our Grand Olympic Games,

When 18 of us would soon gain our Buganda names.

The Lu-GANG-Da names we got, and to their clans we belong:

Namali to Lumala, Sakajja to Najjuka, Lubega to Ntume, Nakimoley to Katende-

Just to name a few.

Off to Kayunga, we traveled not far.

We packed waaay too much in that tiny car.

Led by none other than Herbert, Joseph, and Mary,

Our LCFs were nothing short of extraordinary.

Soon we were greeted by our most welcoming hosts,

Whose families we joined- we love them the most.

Many things they did teach us,

Peeling matooke was a must.

Although we did struggle, the cold bucket baths were many;

The pit latrines were new to us, but we didn’t mind any.

To our host families we’re indebted forever and beyond,

 We can’t thank them enough, we’ll always be fond.

Those 5 weeks, oh man did they fly by!

And soon it was time to take the LPI.

“Wampolo goma ssawa mecca,”

We chanted to tell the time!

“Ffe tuli embatta ento,”

We sang to learn the numbers.

Many a night we did study and stress,

But our LCFs helped us pass the test.

We experienced many a struggle and trial,

The hardest being flip flops floating down the Nile.

Alas we did make it to our swearing-in,

I’d like to congratulate you; now may our service begin!

**Special shout out to all of the assistance from my co-authors, you know who you are!

WORK WORK WORK

Since this swearing-in, I have officially moved to Nyendo, Masaka, Uganda where I will live and work for the next two years. If you were to look on a map, I’m located in southern Uganda near the coast of Lake Victoria and about 90 kilometers to the Tanzanian boarder. I have been partnered with an NGO (non-governmental organization) called the Foundation of Hope (FOHO-Uganda). FOHO has many ongoing projects, so I felt like I stepped into a small tornado. I’m still working to find my best-fit place amongst the chaos. Since I have been here, I have helped with several HTS outreaches (HIV Testing Services), where we collaborate with health workers from nearby health facilities to go into the field for spontaneous HIV testing. These are very informal testing services, but they have proven to be a very effective way to reach certain populations of people. I’ve been really grateful to participate! We also have 9 “street boys” living here on the compound of our office. These adolescents are either affected by abandonment or strained relationships with their families and are classified under the umbrella of OVCs (orphans and venerable children). My organization works to provide them shelter, necessities, and a place to attend school while our social workers help to counsel and reconnect them to their guardians when the time is right. We have done lots of activities with our FOHO boys! Together we have worked on re-vamping our FOHO recycling project in the community of Nyendo, we play volleyball on the grass court at our org, and we’re currently working on a gardening project to grow our own vegetables. For the time being, I’m here to learn from my coworkers and understand the processes and functions of my organization. After our in-service training (IST) at the end of October, I will have more flexibility to help initiate and lead projects of my own through FOHO. In a future post, I’ll explain our work in more detail as our projects continue to grow and develop.

SO YOU LIVE ALONE?

Yes!! So I am living alone for the first time in my entire life… in Uganda! But “alone” is a little bit of a stretch. I’m constantly surrounded by people, so I never really feel like I’m truly living alone. I live on a small, enclosed compound where there is a main house and six renting units in the back. I live in one of these units and share facilities with my neighbors. We share a clothesline, 2 pit latrines, 2 bathing areas, an outdoor cooking area, and access to a rain collection tank that serves as our water source. I have two small rooms that came with a twin bed, a couch, and….. (drum roll please) ….. decently reliable electricity!! Since moving in, I have had a really great time collaborating with our friendly, neighborhood carpenter who has built for me the rest of my furniture. All I had to do was sit down with a pen and paper to draw out how I imagined my home looking, and this man brought it to life! With no running water or kitchen area to myself, I decided to transform my living room into my cooking space. I designed two countertop pieces, one with drawers and a large hole cut in the top surface to fit a large basin. This is where I wash my dishes, and it is probably my very favorite piece of furniture in the house. My second countertop is long (for food-prep space) and has open shelving on the bottom for my plates, bowls, pots, and pans. I use an electric, double-eye stove top and an electric percolator for boiling my water. I also have a custom table designed to hold my large water filtering system. For my bedroom, I had my carpenter make some simple shelving and a wardrobe for my clothes. All in all, it is the most modest of living conditions I have ever had, but it’s so cozy. Little by little I’m making it feel more like home. A recent package from a dear high school friend included some simple house decorations that have seriously made all the difference! I think within a month or two I’ll be fully settled in and comfortable, fingers crossed!

I don’t want to ramble for too long and bore you all to death, but I had a little catching up to do in this post! I’m already working on a follow up post to explain more about my day-to-day life! Thank you for sticking with me through this process, and extra thanks to all the overpouring of love and generosity I have received in the form of texts, letters, and packages from home. I genuinely could not be more grateful for the support!!

Until next time,

Beera bulungi mikwano!

Cowan

I now live about an hour past the equator in the Southern Hemisphere!

This is a photo from our Swearing-In Ceremony. Each language group wears their own matching kitenge!

This photo was taken at a shrine I toured with my coworkers after an HTS in the field! Very cool experience!

This is a picture from our tech-immersion week in the Rakai District, the southern-most district of the Central Region where Uganda shares a boarder with Tanzania.

*The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps