erin.

While all of you play with your fancypants iPhones and fool with whatever this “Twitter” business I’m hearing about is, I am content with the perfect technological solution for my Ugandan life: the Ka-Torchi. In Uganda, “ka” is the word used to refer to something that’s small. “Torchi” means torch (or flashlight). They add the i to most words for no particular reason. For example, I am often called Erini. It reminds me sometimes of Italy, where people couldn’t resist adding a vowel to the end of everything.

So, the Ka-Torchi. It is a sturdy little Nokia phone that has…a built-in flashlight. Whoever designed this thing and marketed it in countries with unreliable power supplies deserves a prize, as s/he has probably literally saved my life many times over.

It’s another dark African night at my house,

And I’m thinking that rustling could be mouse.

It’s too inky-black to see what critter may lurk,

So I put my handy Nokia 1100 Ka-Torchi to work.

I have no power, no sink, no washer, no dryer-

Forget other gadgets, it’s Ka-Torchi I desire!

With the click of a button, the room comes alive-

With all corners bright, I’m sure to survive.

I prowl around cautiously hunting my invader,

On this eve, I’m a bazillion-watt, lit-up crusader!

I reach the spot that sounds like the creature’s lair,

And swivel my torch-phone, casting its beam there.

And there lies the beast- carefully placed:

A lizard, asleep on my tube of toothpaste.

It seems this particular lizard has made my house his home. Every day I find him somewhere new- snuggled in my shoes, climbing my clothes, curled in my laundry basket, scaling the spokes of my bicycle. Maybe I should name him.

Last month, I was fortunate to have an opportunity to travel to Northern Uganda. When I arrived here in 2007, Peace Corps volunteers were not allowed to go to the north at all, due to security concerns. Now, Peace Corps is opening up the north. I was part of a small team that helped scout out some possible sites where the first post-war PCVs will be placed in the north. This was my chance to see the one region of this country I had yet to visit. The trip was unforgettable- an intense and wonderful experience. Instead of trying to tell it all, here are just a few thoughts, photos, and stories:

on hope.

Northern Uganda was the battleground of a decades-long civil war between Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and Ugandan government forces. Peace has come, bringing renewed hope to a region that has experienced incredible tragedy- the kidnapping of children as soldiers, the arbitrary mutilation of landmines, mass killing, displacement of innocent civilians into internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps, the terror of systematic abductions and rape. Visible and invisible scars will haunt this place for a very long time- in Kitgum town, while awaiting transport one morning, I saw a woman with no feet. But, I am reminded how strong and resilient people can be- somehow, that woman was walking. All over the north, I was amazed at the kindness of strangers, and a feeling of optimism, that there is promise in what lies ahead.

we have a winner.

T-shirt hunting in Uganda could be a sport. There are some truly amazing ones out there, but the real prize is the losers’ shirt.

So every year, two sets of winners’ t-shirts are made for the Super Bowl. One set is worn by the celebrating champions. The losers’ t-shirts are quickly whisked away from American soil, to places where people don’t even know what American football is. Like Kitgum, Uganda!

While eating lunch, L. spotted a young man wearing the shirt below. Thrilled at what he saw, L. called him over and bought the off him (literally) for about $2.00 (plus traded t-shirts).

Good reading on how losers’ shirts get here: Far Away, Super Bowl’s Losers Will Be Champs (Interestingly, Major League Baseball has a policy of destroying its losers’ shirts so that there’s no confusion anywhere in the baseball-ignoring world who the “world champions” are.)

Also, I highly recommend reading How Susie Bayer’s T-Shirt Ended Up on Yusuf Mama’s Back, a great article that follows an ordinary t-shirt across the world.

a shifting home.

Seeing the IDP camps at a time when they are in transition provided me with a very unique look into a complex and challenging human condition.

Through years of war, much of the populace chose or was forced to relocate into IDP (internally displaced persons’) camps. Most of the camps are not as make-shift as you might imagine. They are clusters of huts, built tightly together for security purposes. Some camps are very large and have become somewhat like towns, since they’ve been established for over 15 or 20 years. In some ways, the camps are very convenient for providing residents with services. Most were constructed near an existing school. International aid has helped a number of these schools develop the facilities to deal with a large student body. In some ways, it is easier to deliver things like clean water, vaccinations, and health education to a concentrated population. But people do not live this way. Living in an IDP camp, losing land and security and home, a person loses the dignity of work (for most people, work was agriculture). Poverty is the best friend of disease (particularly HIV), and many people living in close proximity raises huge sanitation challenges.

With peace, people now have the opportunity to “go home” from the camps. This is an extraordinary change, particularly for children who have never known any other home outside of a camp. There are some small incentives given to people to move back to their villages, and many have jumped at the opportunity to return. As the camps empty out, the community remaining is mostly made up of people who are either too old or sick to move back, or those who have nowhere to return to. In the coming months and years, it will be interesting to see what happens to what is left of the camps. It will also be worth watching what happens to the re-forming villages, as people try to pick up and rebuild.

guest spot on luo fm.

The trip took us to Pader, where my former counterpart and very good friend from Tororo, E, now works as the manager of a major radio station. We asked E. if we could go on air and hold a call-in “Ask a Muzungu” show where people could ask us what it was like to be an American, to be a white person living in Uganda, etc. Of course, she said yes!

We were on the air within a few short hours. Many callers just wanted to greet us and welcome us to northern Uganda. Some tried to teach us some words in local language. My two favorite call-in questions were:

1. What is a prom party? The guy who asked this had seen American movies and didn’t really understand what it was all about. (L. proceeded to try to describe his prom and may have further confused the poor caller by telling him it had an under-the-sea theme and ending up trying to explain what a mermaid is…)

2. Since everyone in Uganda has begun naming their children after Obama, do Americans name their children Museveni?

Visiting E. in Pader was wonderful. It was great to see my friend again, so in her element, and the radio show left me laughing.

what’ve you got under that gourd?

It’s…a baby!

It is traditional in Uganda (and many, dare I say all, other parts of Africa) for mothers to carry babies tied to their backs. I cannot truly get across how hard African women work, but suffice to say they are unappreciated superheroines. The hands-free baby-on-the-back system allows a mom to do all sorts of other things- ride a bicycle, load firewood on her heads, haul water, cook, etc. while keeping the smallest of her little ones very, very nearby.

Northern Uganda is notoriously hot and very dusty, so women have developed an innovation. A big gourd is positioned to cover the baby’s head, to provide shade and protection. I wonder what it would be like to experience a lot of early life bouncing along in calabash-induced darkness.

Some of you may have heard or read about recent events in Uganda. I am and have been very far from any violence or unrest. There has been an ethnic element to the turmoil that does not involve the people of my region.

Last week, violent and deadly (just how deadly depends on who you ask) riots broke out in Kampala. I should not make any public comments of even a faintly political nature about any of this (so I can’t tell you what I really think in blog form), but for those who are interested, one explanation of what has happened is here and some background as to why is here. Things in Kampala have been calm for several days now, and most Ugandans I’ve talked to sound confident it will remain that way, at least for the time being.

Very shortly after things set off in an unstable direction, Peace Corps Uganda took serious precautions to get all volunteers to safety. They are still approaching things with extreme caution. They tell me that the best way to stay safe is to stay home. So I’m sticking around Tororo, spending quality time with my blind, sneezing cat, until further notice.

Places to check up on Ugandan news in general: The Independent, The Daily Monitor ,New Vision

BBC also generally has good Africa coverage, though (as with most outside news agencies) they can be slow to pick up on a story.