Way Better Than The Zoo

Baby Chimp
Originally uploaded by Orthodork

I recently chaperoned a field trip to Kibale Rain Forest in western Uganda. We were on a hike looking for Black and White Colobus monkeys when I stepped into a clearing. All of a sudden the entire forest sounded like it was alive. I didn't know that I was standing a few yards from a family of chimps who had just spotted a bush-hog and were attempting to scare it away. I let out a huge scream and took off running (not an easy task in a rain forest!) but one of the field researches collecting data on the chimps grabbed me and held me still. He hissed into my ear with full authority, "Don't run. Don't make any sounds. Look for a tree to climb." If his grip on me hadn't been so firm I'm sure I would have taken off running again. He repeated his command with a calmness that was infectious. I began to scan for a tree to climb and held deathly still. I'm sure I wasn't breathing.

After a few moments the field researchers confirmed that the bush hogs were gone and then welcomed me into the clearing where they stood. There in front of me was the family of chimps, eating and grooming passively as they looked at me and I looked at them. My heart thudded in my chest at the idea that I stood mere feet away from a wild animal with nothing for protection should it decide to attack. Then, after a moment, I went calm. Very calm. The forest sharpened around me and I forgot the researchers nearby. A slight smile tiptoed across my face and I found myself in awe. I heard the grunts of the chimps as they ate. I heard the birds overhead. I could smell the musty smell of nature and animals. I felt my breath go in and out of me calmly.

I have a really cool life.

Books, Books, Books

I'm not much of a fiction reader, preferring instead to read research journals and other non-fiction reads, but lately I've been on a fiction reading binge as I've traveled around East Africa with a lot of time on my hands in airports and on buses. Here's what I've been reading (in no particular order):




This was a good book about the Nigeria-Biafra war. It left a few loose ends, but over all I enjoyed it.


I may be the last person on the planet to have read this book. I can see now why it was so popular. The story about loyalty betrayed is gut-wrenching.


I loved this book! I read it in two days. It's an amazing story about friendship. It happens to take place in Afghanistan. What I love about both of Hosseini's books is that they make people remember that places like Afghanistan aren't merely places on a map where the Taliban live, but rather that there are people who live there with hopes and dreams and heartache. I hear it's being made into a movie -- yippee!

Hands down one of the best books I've read in a really long time. It's nearly 1000 pages long, but flies by amazingly quickly. It was recommended to me by a colleague and now it's sweeping through the campus like wildfire. It's a story that reveals a primal truth -- within each of us is the potential to be both good and evil. This book is also being turned into a movie -- with Depp playing the lead role.






Hands down one of the worst books I've read in a while. I loved "The Constant Gardener" another LeCarre book, but this book about a Congolese spy was amazingly boring. I kept pushing myself through it thinking that it would be redeemed, but it bored me until the last page when its ending left me utterly disappointed.

Postcards From Yo Momma

You have to check out this website: Postcards From Yo Momma

I laughed until I cried! One of my favorites:

Dear Child

Mummy has to go away on a boat that Daddy will be driving or floating or whatever one does with boats and what with sharks and stingrays and lord only knows what, and also with not being able to swim and with your father being the captain

I’m probably going to drown so I just wanted you to know that this is the sort of thing I go along with because I love daddy so much and I want him to think I’m a sporty, athletic, floatable kind of person instead of, you know, a middle aged lump of non-swimming-ness. Also I wanted to say that I always loved you best of all my children and you must fight for 80% of The Will (I’m taking your father down with me, if I go…. And name all your grandchildren Judith. Even the boys. If I had to put up with it they can too….

Much love

Mummy

Quote I Heard Today

The biggest capitalist in the world isn't as obsessed with money as the average socialist in the second world.

Vanity: The Global Language

Vanity: The Global Language
Originally uploaded by Orthodork

All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy

"One that reckons accounts all the day passes not a happy moment. One that gladdens his heart all the day provides not for his house. The bowman hits the mark, as the steersman reaches land, by diversity of aim. He that obeys his heart shall command."

--Ptah-Hotep (2400 BC)
*the ancient proverb giving birth to All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy*

Yesterday my friend and I were having a bit of a "I miss the comforts of home" kind of day. We opted to head to the mall. When I first arrived in Uganda the mall, also known as Garden City, would have given me none of the senses of home, but now my sense of "normal" has been dulled to accept a sketchy approximation. I would have preferred a margarita and cheese dip but the wonder of the Mexican restaurant is still a destination dinner for those living below the Sahara. Regardless, we made our way to the mall where we caught a movie (complete with ads for urinals on the wall) and perused the only real bookstore in Uganda. We bought bagel sandwiches from an "I Love NY Kitchen" and chatted with some army and navy men who were in between postings, before we headed home. At the end of the day we'd found just enough "normalcy" to give us both the boost we needed to re-engage life in a 3rd world country, which got me thinking about what local people do to recharge.

For the most part people here work long hours. Hmmm.. let me say that differently. People here are at work for long hours. There are certainly those who do back-breaking labor like field work and road repair (by hand -- I kid you not!), but there are also many, many jobs that seem mind-numbingly boring, like sitting at a kiosk or working as a night guard; and they do these hours, typically, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. I've rarely seen anyone carrying anything like a book or magazine. I suppose because those things cost money. You would think that this would be a great place for a library, but then you realize that corruption would end that pretty quickly. People would check out books and then sell them. Anyway...

All of this made me wonder what sort of recreation is available for those neck-deep in poverty. How do you refresh when there's no break from work; when your life is nothing but sleeping, eating, and working? For the men there's always a game of soccer, if a ball can be found, but sports aren't acceptable for women (last year my teaching team in Tanzania played frisbee together. The men were quick to join us but we only had a few female takers and it took a while to teach them the basics simply because they didn't have any basics for sports such as coordination and hand-eye control. They were willing to give it a go only because I was out there "playing with the boys."). I've driven and walked past so many people who have a lost stare in their eyes.

How does a culture change depending on its recreation? How does the possibility of having an "escape" lend itself to motivation, and when does it just lead to escapism?

Signs of Africa

Tanzania

I wake up in the morning to the sound of voices speaking a language I don't understand. Sometimes I can here singing off in the distance somewhere. I step outside onto the porch and I stare out at Lake Victoria which looks as though it is somehow embodying peace in itself. I love it here.

I'm now a familiar face at the border. The guards greet me with large smiles and ask me how things are going in Kampala. They share with me their struggles... no electricity, sketchy water, and the other woes of Africa. I feel as though we're friends.

I spent an entire day getting filthy in the back of a land rover with two other men. We were all covered in dirt from head to toe as we bounced along from church to church, saying a quick hello and moving on. We were near the Rwandan border when the rains came in and stranded us in a nearby village hotel. We verily got out the next morning. We received a call telling us that that it's still raining there and the roads are now completely impassable. Ah, life in Africa.

Slavery: 2008

One of the students at my school gave a presentation over this. It's a worthwhile cause in which to be involved.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx

Ugandan Proverbs

One of my colleagues has a woman who works for her who makes greeting cards with barkcloth and Ugandan proverbs on them. I bought three of them today:

* Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.
* He who has not traveled thinks that his mother is the best cook in the world.
* Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst.

My favorite is the first one.