Hi again! Finding time to sit down and compile my thoughts seems to be a challenge for me. Things are going well here, and I feel like I have been nonstop busy. The beginning of November marks the start of month number FIVE in country! I’m not sure how this much time has possibly passed so quickly without my consent. It still feels like I just got here. At this point, I feel like I have been taught so much more by the people around me than I could possibly give in return. In this blog update, I’ll write about one of the most prominent lessons I have learned thus far in service.

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My last year in the states, I lived with my very best friend Maggie. She and I shared the cutest apartment in the Glen Iris neighborhood of downtown Birmingham, AL. Gosh I miss it so much. We lived in a very small apartment complex connected to a really cool neighborhood where we would walk or run almost every day. I could also walk or ride my bike to my classes at UAB from that apartment. I mean, ideal situation, right? It wasn’t until I moved here to Uganda that I realized I never met a single one of my neighbors. Not at our apartment complex, not on our weekly walks around the block, and not even in the corner market store. I would usually put in my headphones and mindlessly pass other people walking their dogs, watering their lawns, or raking their leaves without a second thought. It wasn’t until I began integrating here that I began to understand how differently we as Americans value community in comparison to that of Ugandans.

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In the very first class we took during language training around late-June, we learned how to greet before we learned anything else. “Good morning/evening, Sir/Madam,” “how are you,” “thank you for your work,” and “have a good day/good evening” were the very first words I could speak in Luganda. Ugandans place high value and loads of respect in the simple act of stopping to greet one another. My host mom during homestay once told me that you couldn’t bypass someone on the road and then turn around to ask them for directions when you got lost. She also added that she was a little girl, she said she would stop and greet every single adult on the way to school, sometimes stopping more than 30 times just to say good morning to each person. Also in this culture, it’s respectful for children and most younger women to kneel for adults and men. So, imagine yourself walking to school and kneeling 30 or more times along the way. It sounds like a lot, right? But it makes more sense to me now that I have lived here for a little bit. 

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When I first moved into my home here, I could tell that many of the residents in and around my neighborhood were both curious and skeptical about my presence. After a couple of weeks, I had at least made my rounds, introduced myself, and had a few simple conversations so they could get to know me better. Several months later, I can now walk through my neighborhood and I’m rarely called “muzungu” (common word for white person or foreigner). Most everyone now greets me using my Ugandan name- Najjuka. I can tell a noticeable difference in the way I’m perceived by the people in my direct community. They less often ask me for money any longer, and instead they now ask how work is going or how my day has been. This makes me feel safe, welcome, and even accepted! All of this I attribute to the simple act of stopping each morning on my way to work to acknowledge my neighbors and ask how they’re doing. 

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Comparing this experience to living in Glen Iris with Maggie, I would have rarely ever stopped a neighbor (all complete strangers to me) to speak with them. But that’s the whole point, we shouldn’t be living around complete strangers. What if you need to borrow some sugar or milk? On whose door are you going to knock? Maybe it was just Maggie and I being antisocial (lol), but I think this whole idea of formal greetings is a much less common practice where I come from. 

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Two more notes on community:

1) The other day I was sitting at my home, too lazy to cook and feeling hungry. Just around that time, the young woman that lives across from me (my closest neighborhood friend so far) knocked on my door. She had cooked extra lunch that day and was standing at my door with a full homecooked meal for me! I was so grateful for that kind gesture of friendship. At first, I thanked her and took the plate inside my house to eat it until I looked out my window and saw her eating alone on her porch. I walked over, asked to join her, and we sat for a whole hour eating, talking, and laughing. I don’t think she knows how much I appreciated that simple act of kindness. I told her I would return the favor and cook her American food to share with her sometime!

**On that note- any recommendations for an easy “American” classic I can share with her? Keep in mind, I don’t have an oven or access to cheese lol. I know that excludes quite a few dishes.

 

2) Another day, I was sitting at the desk in my office doing some paperwork when my supervisor approached me and told me my help was needed. He explained that we needed to move some wheelbarrows of dirt around to fill in some potholes on the main dirt road outside of our office. I think I was in a bad mood that morning because I remember really not being about it at all. I walked outside and saw a ton of people gathered around these two wheelbarrows. Everyone was taking turns wheeling down the road, shoveling in dirt, and wheeling it back to be dumped in a series of puddled pot holes. I was very confused but picked up a load of dirt anyway. After I had completed 4 or 5 trips, the group of people thanked me and told me I had done my part. Only after was it explained to me that the community had come together to repair this road. And I, as someone who uses that road to get to and from my office each morning and afternoon, am just as much part of that community as everyone else. I stood and watched as everyone else continued to take turns filling the holes until the road was flat and even once again. I had never seen something so communal take place! After that day, I understood the way Ugandans value community so much better!
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I hope this post gives everyone back home a little insight into one of the greater cultural differences I have experienced since being in Uganda! I’m hoping to bring these values home with me when I return and put them into practice in my future home! Thank you all for your interest in following my service!

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Until next time,

Cowan

Photos above and below were taken at a training on how to make juice as an IGA (income-generating activity).

The photo above was taken after an outreach in a fishing village on Lake Victoria.

Photo above was taken after a lunch with Peace Corps Uganda’s Country Director and visiting Peace Corps Director of Operations.

Photo above is of my organization (Foundation of Hope- FOHO)’s community recycling center that we’re working on re-vamping!

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