So today has been a more typical Uganda day weather wise according to the locals. It started off a little cool and cloudy, then began to rain late morning and was on and off downpour until recently (dinner time). Despite creating a small mess and making it extra difficult to maneuver it was a pleasant treat because it briefly cleared the air of all the smog and pollution.
It was the final day of our orientation so the introductions wrapped up today and I feel ready to dive into the actual hands on phase of the program. We have classes all next week and some reading assignments before heading off to the north to get a little field experience and visit an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp. I also learned more about my homestay family today. It turns out that they have 10 kids between the ages of 6 and 12! Which seems impossible, but they're all adopted. Their biological kids have moved out and now they house 10 kids. It will be interesting to hear the story behind that.
I feel like I'm jumping all over the place but I'm trying to be brief and give you a little taste of everything... and speaking of taste I had another interesting meal for lunch today. It was a matoke and offals dish served hot. What's that you may say? Well, it turns out matoke is cooked plantains and offals is cow intestine! It was a little chewy (the intestine), but it was actually pretty good. I'm still feeling good so I think my stomach is handling all this change ok.
Then finally we dropped by an old open air market just outside the University and walked around for a while. One of the areas that intrigued me most was a section with rows and rows of fresh fruits and vegetables. It was colorful and really beautiful. I eventually decided that I needed a picture so I bought some bananas and an avacado and asked the lady if I could take a picture of her stand. After insisting that I not take any picture of her she said it was ok. So as I snapped the picture the flash went off which turned out to be frowned upon as everyone whipped around and a man yelled something at me. After the woman explained what I was doing I asked why people don't like their pictures taken. She said something to the effect of, "because you take the picture and you take it home." Interesting. As I think more about the ethics of it she has a point. When we westerners (privilaged) take picture of others (often underprivilaged) what are we trying to accomplish. It is solely for me? Are those people benefitting from me taking that picture at all? Am I in any way exploiting or harming these people? How am I portraying them and their culture? Maybe not with this picture, but the classic photo of the child with bugs on his face and snot in his nose... what about that? Does it help more than it hurts? I don't know. Just something to think about I guess.
Peace,
Matt
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2 comments:
Hey,
Interesting reflection about the taking and leaving of things. Hopefully you and the people there can discover many ways to share culture without simply resorting to mutual exploitation. The differences between those two perspectives may be more subtle that we want to believe.
As Frederick Buechner said, "What’s friendship, when all’s done, but the giving and taking of wounds?" Instead of sharing our wounds, I think we'd often rather keep them to ourselves. (Or cleverly disguise them by giving them another name...like offal instead of cow intestines!)
It sounds like you're learning alot. Interacting with all those kids at your host family will only deepen your insights I'm sure. I love you and I'm praying for you. Take care.
Dad
PS - at the risk of being painfully ironic, have you made any progress on figuring out how to post pictures?
Matt,
I hope you're getting all settled-in with your "family". I'm sure it's a busy household with 10 children. I'm assuming they speak English.?
I'm anxious to hear about your classes and the teachers.
We wait anxiously for you postings and pray you're safe, feeling well, learning a lot, not lonely, and using your hand sanitizer.
Love you, Mom
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