On the Bus in Uganda

Written 6/25

Currently sitting outside the very comfy Sohpie's Motel, the place we spent our first night in Uganda. The staff was extremely friendly, breakfast delicious and the rooms equivalent to US 3 star standards. Overall a great welcome.
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This morning we met some of the staff from the Uganda Orphans Rural Development Program, the NGO we are working with in Uganda. These few staffers are riding with us from Entebbe to Ramgoi and immedaitely their dedication and passion shines through along with their warm smiles.

We first stop in Kampala in order for the group leaders to buy snacks from the ride and for us to exchange money. The city is very similar to what I imagined in a developing country. Simultaneously signsof growth and moderity along with sings of subsistence. Goats, chickens and cows are seen all over, but so are vehicles (mostly motorbikes carrying 2 or 3 riders) are also abundant. Many Ugandans are on foot while others zoom by alll the stores and billboards. Coca-Cola, unsurprisingly, is as popular here as it is everywhere else in the world.

These signs extend well out of the city. The road we're on is lined with stores, resturants and gathering spaces. It seems every few minutes another building is brightly with colored with ads for Coke, paint, cell phones, cooking oil and even investment banking! Billboards are a constant sight as evident by the GIANT Bell Beer (a local brand) ad in what we could only describe as the middle of nowhere even in Ugandan standards.

About halfway through the drive we pass over the Nile in Jina, not from where it originates from Lake Victoria. After passing a police check and slowing down by some men who try to sell us corn via the windows, the stores slowly become fewer and structures more characteristic of developing communities. We even spot a few baboons in a heavily wooded area along the road!

Finally we turn off in Tooro, the roads degrade into semi-passable conditions and we're definitely no longer on a highway, Entebbe or Kampla. We're clearly in a bustling city nestled in a rural district nonetheless. Apollo, the executive director of UORDP, boards our bus . He is a strong looking man wearing a large glowing smile and a suite. After a quick hello we depart for Ramogi.

Update email to Family & Friends 2

Dear family and friends of VS Uganda,

I hope this e-mail finds you well.

I received an update from our volunteers in Ramogi Village . They are eager to tell you about their incredibly exciting week, full of new experiences, hands-on work and discussions about the community, the politics of the region and the Jewish motivation for doing social justice work.

I hope you have a wonderful July 4^th weekend. The AJWS office will be closed on Friday, July 3^rd, so if you need to reach me for any reason, please call the 24-hour emergency line at 212.736.XXXX (does not need to be posted in a blog), and ask to speak with me.

Best,

Alexis

VS Uganda – July 1^st

Yoga!

That is hello in Dopadollah, the local language here in Ramogi. We are all doing quite well, bonding with our fellow participants and group leaders, working hard at the work site, doing our daily chores, taking bucket baths, and interacting with our host community.

Our group has only spent 5 days in this village and we’ve already come face-to-face with many of the challenges and joys of being “the visitor”. The community has gone to great lengths to welcome us, especially through their singing and dancing. We have been greeted by dozens of children, who have offered their hands as we walk by the local primary school and in a formal ceremony with representatives from the local community.

Everyone from our group has acknowledged our privilege to be able to travel and live in Uganda for 7 weeks. We know that this cultural exchange experience is unique. This trip provides us with many glimpses into an extremely different life style that we could not fully appreciate from a university lecture or newspaper article. In spite of how remarkable the beginning of our journey has been, the group continues to grapple with many difficult questions:

How do we best express our gratitude toward our hosts who constantly tell us to feel at home? How do we strike the delicate balance between integrating our selves into the surrounding community, while still respecting others’ culture and space? And finally, what do the local inhabitants think of us, as Americans, as Jews and as representatives of the “developed world”? While these complex questions can sometimes lead to moments of frustration and discomfort, they also provide us with innumerable opportunities for personal growth and newly gained perspectives.

As we took our first bucket baths and take turns pumping water from the local well, we are forced to reconsider water conservation. As we walk past Ugandan natives working in their fields without shoes, we are faced with people’s struggles for basic resources. And when we take our malaria pills, we realize that we are extremely fortunate to have access to medicines that many of the local Ugandans must live without.

While some of the images of poverty that we see every day in Ramogi are heartbreaking, we are also experiencing a plethora of warmth and joy. The connection we experience when we play “London Bridges Falling down” with dozens of Uganda children is undeniable.

Another powerful moment for us occurred at our welcome ceremony when the director of our partner NGO (non-government organization), Apollo Jaramogi, asked each of the AJW participants to explain our chosen majors in school, in hopes of inspiring the adolescent girls to continue their own schooling.

While we have begun to experience the lifestyle of the residence here, learned some of the local language, and received our native names, we have so many issues we still have to explore. We are eager to learn more about the community, through both formal and informal conversations.

The coming weeks will require much physical, mental and emotional stamina. The benefits we will gain are intangible.

Love from VS Uganda

Update email to family & Friends 1

This is from the official email from the AJWS for Volunteer Summer (VS) Uganda:

Dear family and friends of VS Uganda,

I am very happy to tell you that the AJWS Volunteer Summer Uganda group has landed in Entebbe , and everyone has made their way to a hotel close to the airport. First thing in the morning, the group will make the drive to Ramogi Village , in south-east Uganda , which will take roughly 5-6 hours.

I am also excited to share the first of many updates, written by the group. The Uganda volunteers wrote this particular update yesterday, just prior to their departure.

Beginning next week and for the duration of the trip, you will receive a weekly update from me, prior to Shabbat.

All the best,

Alexis

VS Uganda – June 23, 2009

Friends and Family,

We are at the end of Orientation, and are leaving for Uganda today! Over the past few days we’ve learned the importance of drinking water, making smart choices, building community, drinking water, creating cross-cultural exchanges and drinking water. Different speakers and sessions taught us how to act during our visit to our host country. We prepared ourselves by reading articles on how we perceive culture in general and how different cultures perceive us. We have already had a taste of cross-cultural exchange through conversations with one participant from London , Philippa. We can’t avoid learning more about our own culture with participants from London , Colorado , Florida , New York , Georgia , California , New Jersey , Pennsylvania , Washington and Texas .

While we have only spent two days together, we already feel ourselves becoming a close-knit community. We have discussed our community expectations in sessions and have found ourselves becoming friends outside of the programming. We explored a bit of New York City , visiting Time’s Square, eating frozen yogurt and even ordering-in sushi. We will only get to know each other better during our 16 hour plane ride.

The first evening of Orientation, Ruth Messinger, the president of AJWS, whose poise and insight inspired us all, spoke to us about the importance of social justice and activism. She moved us through her story of how President Obama recognized AJWS as a leader in the movement to end the genocide in Darfur .

As we prepare to leave with our newly bonded community, we are excited, anxious, and ready to finally get to Uganda w here we will meet the people of Ramogi Village and begin our work with UORDP (Uganda Orphans Rural Development Programme). Each week, several participants will write updates to tell you more about our experiences on the ground. We are about to embark on new adventure and we thank you for your support.

Mweraba,

VS Uganda

Arriving In Uganda--First Impressions

Smooth, uneventful landing in Uganda tonight after 8p.m. local time. The airport at Entebbe reminds me of a small regional airport in the states. Few stores, no thrills, but a clean and fairly modern terminal. Immediately though, one indicator we were in a developing country appeared: we were greeted by entry agents wearing medical masks and World Health Organization posters warning not of malaria or swine flu, but influenza. The flu can be a serious concern in the US, but is typically just a drain on productivity... in Uganda it seems to be a much more worrisome concern.

After an hour of filling out forms and waiting in line we quickly got our bags and loaded up two motel vans. Heading down the road, again I felt as if I was riding somewhere that crossed between Israel and a developing area in the states. Overall Entebbe looks like a poor area in the US, but with retail, pavement and overall signs of modernity. Of course, though, signs of otherwise were evident. Many more people were walking along side the main road after 10 p.m. at night than I had ever seen before in the US.

Eventually the road degraded to the sterotype of Africa and was quite bumpy the last few mintues to the hotel. I am quickly finishing up here, need to go take my first shower (and possibly last that doesn't come from a bucket) in Uganda. I'll try to update soon, but it might be a while seeing we're heading to our village in the morning.

Flying Over Africa

At the moment I am 365 km above the border of Sudan and Uganda, about 20 minutes from our landing in Entebbe. It's a very unique experience flying in a plane with people en route to East Africa. While there are a few Ugandans on the plane and perhaps a few tourists, the overwhelming majority of passengers are volunteers, aide workers, NGO staff and a few researchers.

Next to me, for example, is a woman from a teaching delegation from a church in Connecticut en route to South Sudan. Traveling in itself is an incredible endeavor in my opinion, but I can't think of another destination other than Africa where the plans of so many are focused on the host community and not themselves.

En Route to NYC

Originally written 6/18

I decided to go to New York a few days early to see friends and family and it seems I picked the "perfect" day. The day started yesterday since I only briefly napped last night. Aside from expensive, hard to find malaria pills and my mom's car battery dying, Tuesday the 17th was a good day. The problem though was that packing for Uganda was even more time intensive than I had anticipated. I barely had time to finish my post-Uganda packing.

In typical Minc fashion, my mom and I arrived at DFW five minutes too late for me to check in my bag so my 8:40 flight turned into a 10:30 flight w/connection and many delays. Happy to say I am writing this on the tarmac in Philly at 5:30 EST and will be in NYC shortly.

A Thank You Reflection

I wrote the following as my Thank You Letter to people who donated to my trip. I thought I would post it on here for all of you since it is also a reflection on my trip and even though you may have not donated monetarily if you're reading this you deserve a thank you for being my friend.

I have been thinking lately about what the opportunity to go to Uganda means to me in order to better understand exactly why all the generosity of my friends has struck such a powerful emotional chord with me. A few weeks ago when discussing my trip with my mom she commented about how fortunate I have been as a child of a widow graduating from college with fairly low debt. She was making the point that perhaps going to Uganda should be seen as financially out of reach for me. While she certainly has a valid point, I know I am beyond privileged to have had many of the great experiences and opportunities I have managed to have thus far in life.

The more I think about it, the more I can see that a quiet determination has led me to the right choices to accumulate the past experience that may ordinarily not be available to a single mother average yearly earnings only slightly above the poverty level. Being in Plano as a stubborn teen probably contributed to this determination, I tried to explain to my mom that because I was in an unfortunate situation that shouldn’t ruin the chance to do things that would benefit me personally and professionally.

In the past I used this stubbornness or determination, whatever it may be called, to go to conferences, summer camps and even college without driving my mom or myself into heavy debt. I was fortunate enough to receive financial aid and scholarships to most of these activities. I even chose to intern in DC last summer ignoring the fact that I would deplete a good chunk of my savings doing so. It is horribly unfortunate that even great students have to sacrifice interning or traveling abroad because of financial constraints.

In the end, I also sacrificed traveling abroad so that I could spend a summer in DC. I do not regret it, last summer was an invaluable experience filled with great work and great people. Thanks to the AJWS Volunteer Summer, I may end up having the chance to have some version of the student travel abroad experience in Africa doing work that, as mentioned before, will be benefitting me personally and professionally.

I try to live my life by one of my favorite quotations from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison: "It's winner take nothing that is the great truth of our country or of any country. Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by playing in the face of certain defeat." We are all trying to make the world better in our own ways and I truly believe by playing in the face of certain defeat and by supporting one another we experience Uganda, build a school for HIV/AIDS effected orphans, end genocide, and all the other ambitions we each have as individuals and as a group.