settling in to Mbale

Well, hello, friends! I hope this message finds you all well, healthy, happy, and loved. I am feeling rather well myself and don’t mind saying so. After last year’s woefully woeful loneliness, the condition in which I was to find myself in Mbale, my emotional and psychological states this year are so much more to be welcomed and appreciated! Thanks to the kind consideration of Meg North (shout out, girl!), I found myself at ease amongst new friends upon my arrival and have been happily busied with them since.

Of course, this happy arrival in Mbale necessitated a fond farewell and au revoir to my host family in Nankinga! After allowing me, vey generously, to stay beyond my initial set date, my host Dad and brother drove me to catch my “twilight cruise” Elgon Flyer bus. I rode and admired the sun setting over fields of sugarcane, maize, and what I fancy may have been papyrus.

Host Mom (Anne), host Dad (Wilson), and host bro (Aggrey) :)

view from my ride to Mbale

After chatting with my seat-mate, I arrived to be greeted by Freddie, radio personality and traveler host extraordinaire. Freddie put me up for two nights before I found and settled in to my current apartment in the heart of town (thanks to Zac), just steps from the Red Cross and managed by yet another friend (Abah, Zac's brother)! Their father calls me “daughter” and greetings abound most pleasant whenever one of the family is to be found around. :) My stint at Freddie’s found me with new friends in Alex and Tim (‘sup, dudes!) and Freddie’s sister Rhoda, who is great. Sadly though, she must away ‘ere break of day, rejoining the fray at Makerere (ahem). I have also managed to infiltrate the highly selective and secretive society known to insiders as the Wanale Hiking Club. This is a personal triumph. It not only affords me the luxuries of birds-eye Mbale views, waterfall frolics, and blistered feet galore, but also the much-sought-after and enviable friendships of such illustrious characters as Sid, Ayub, Musa, Juma, Massa, Uncle Sam, Oscar, Brian, Jacob, and a motley crew of brave ‘zungus! I am a lucky girl.

on the hike up Wanale

on the hike down from Wanale

Enough social chat, Kira, aren’t you meant to be disserting your dissertation? Researching your research? Indeed I am, impatient friends! It’s true. My friends and colleagues at the Red Cross (hooray for Joyce, Ken, Muzam, Stella, Yonna, et al!) are setting me up well for success. Not only do they help me to fit in (literally, fitting me up with a gomesi for this weekend’s introduction ceremony), but they are helping my work to move along, too.

at the Introduction-- lots more pics on facebook!

My schedule is completed, my contacts beginning to buzz, appointments are made, and interviews are happening! Cold-calling is definitely the thing, here, or cold-approaching, which is a bit nerve-wracking and feels horribly confrontational and direct to my retiring, New England-bred self, but is nonetheless effective. I’m getting better at it. And one of my recent interviews panned out and I’m going to get to attend a farmer training session next week! BAM! Super great. I’ll get to meet the farmers, and the trainers, and all that jazz. Everyone I’ve met has been incredibly helpful and generous and kind and it makes me feel even more that my research must produce some useful result for all those who have helped me. Hold me to it, friends!

view from Friends Restaurant, where I often go to eat alone, but end up with lots of new pals :)

This week, I’m in the field- up in Bududa and Manafwa. I’ll be attending a farmer training on Tuesday, thanks to the kindly folks at Mbale Farmers Association—can’t wait! I’m beginning to feel like I have a pretty good feel for the agricultural-development-complex around these parts… though I’m sure that is just my ignorance talking. There’s always more to know!

Other than that, life in Mbale town is lovely. I’m having fun greeting people in the Lugisu (Lumasaaba), and between you and me, I think it’s been helping me get “local” prices for my produce. Check out this pile o’ goods I got for 3000/= total! That’s about $1.20. Tropical living. Love it.

the aforementioned produce, 3k shillings only!

Some pronunciations I am completely loving here:

Sure is pronounced very distinctly as a two-syllabled “shoo-ah”, dear is “dee-ah”, and chairmen are “chee-ah-men”.

Further additions to the “list of thoughts I’d likely never have back in America”:

:: I should remember to take some shillings up to the hike with me, so I can buy carrots at the top and bananas on the way back down

:: If I don’t rinse my soapy clothes soon, I won’t be able to take a shower without standing in the laundry tub…

:: Never before have I felt so strange wearing such traditional garb that I’m serenaded by “wow! you look smart!” one night followed by a chorus of child’s calls of “mzungu! hey mzungu!” the next morning for wearing shorts in town. (I just don’t usually think about my clothes that much…)