It is our 5th and final day in town. Somehow 5 days has felt like many more. Fort Portal has been a lot of fun and it will be missed.
This particular morning, Ineke joins us for our outing. We are visiting the basket weavers in Rubingo, a group that Ineke assists. She sells many of their crafts at her guesthouse and ships them abroad as well.
Our morning commute finds us navigating lush tea fields.
We make a quick stop to pick up Ineke's friend Nyika... then we are joined by some basket weavers heading to the same spot. This fills the van to capacity and makes for a very cozy ride.
We finally reach the basket weavers and climb out of the van - which I'm sure resembled a clown car.
At our first stop, we are shown an impressive basket that could easily fit a person or two.
A special order from the U.S.
Next we walk a few yards to a weaver's home to witness firsthand how these gorgeous baskets are made.
Along the way, we spotted a duck and ducklings...
as well as a bit of piggery...
We reach the weavers home and get a brief tour.
Bradford & Abdirisack
Dish drying rack
The pit latrine. Yes, I became quite good at using these.
Bradford & Abdi try their hand at crushing seeds.
Next, the women introduce themselves and give us a basket weaving demonstration.
They also explain and then demonstrate their natural dyeing techniques.
They extract the natural colorings found in roots and seeds to dye the raffia, which is the fibrous strands from the local palm trees. The baskets are made of this raffia along with papyrus.
First they pound the seeds or plant material:
Get the raffia:
Place the raffia in the bowl with the pounded plant and/or seeds, mixed with a little water:
Mix it all up...
and voilá - naturally dyed materials!
They let these sit in the sun for a couple of hours to dry.
While here, Ellen showed the weavers our Portland State University logo to see if they would be able to weave a waste paper basket. This prospect created quite a brainstorm session.
As afternoon approached we bid adieu to the weavers and headed to Mugusu Market for our next bargaining foray.
This market was much less intense than our last. We were each armed with 5,000 shillings (~$2.50) and unleashed into the market. Once again we were instructed to shop, bargain, and interview the vendors.
Mugusu Market:
One thing is certain, Ugandans love Obama. Once someone found out that we were American, most would immediately ask: "How is Obama?" or say "Yes, you can." If this doesn't convey their affinity, perhaps this will:
Obama jeans
Even flip-flops!
This shows the reach of Western politics and influence. Obama's face was literally everywhere. Some students, as I will show later, even had Obama's family on their notepads. It was definitely interesting to see our president as such a role model to so many people in Uganda. (Or should I say commodity?)
We continued to shop but encountered our greatest language barrier here, so our interviews were pretty non-existent. Shopping left much to be desired as well. A lot of these markets are similar to going to a local garage sale or even to Goodwill. I was scouting for fabric or a cool wrap skirt but coming up empty. Therefore, Jessica and I pooled our money and purchased a gift for Abdirisack. He's a huge Manchester United fan, so we bought him some MU socks.
On the way out of the market, I snapped a picture of this boda boda driver & his passengers - which includes a live goat.
We climbed back into the van and headed back to the guesthouse. Once inside, we gave Abdi his present.
He was very excited
After arriving at the guesthouse, all of us students (along with Sheila) decided to head up the road to the Mountains of the Moon resort. They have a bar, restaurant, gym, and pool here. We'd been a few times already to catch a World Cup game or grab a drink. This afternoon, however, we wanted to swim and lounge by the pool.
Now Abdirisack had never swam before...
So Bradford decided to give him a quick lesson.
Much to our amusement, Abdi got in the pool wearing his normal pants.
Swimming 101
Abdi had been in the pool less than 5 minutes when he breaks this out:
The above photo sequence is courtesy of Hanni
My jaw dropped in amazement. Bradford was there to make sure he didn't go under, but still... For a first timer, that's impressive. I should also mention that I was there for his first bowling game and he threw mostly strikes. The kid is good.
We definitely took advantage of our free time.
Don't ask questions.
We headed back to the guesthouse as the set was setting.
A memory that I won't forget involved a similar setting. Jess, Hanni and I were walking back on this same road a few nights earlier. It was almost dark and we approached a young woman beautifully singing to herself while chopping her grass, by hand. It was just one of those moments that you want to keep.
Tonight we would host another dinner guest. This evening it was Josephine Kasande, one of the leaders of the Ruwenzori Women's Forum and the Gender Action Learning System (GALS). For a very brief video overview on G.A.L.S., click here.
Josephine mentioned how many NGOs fail to penetrate households. In addition, government rules often conflict with cultural traditions. Many trainers failed in these areas as well or implemented programs that served no real community benefit. As Josephine so aptly put it, "They build bridges where there are no rivers."
To many Ugandans, visioning or planning was akin to writing your own will. However, G.A.L.S. and similar programs aim to break all these taboos. Especially those revolving around sex, HIV, etc. As she stated, "If you can find the origin, you can demystify the issue." So true.
Therefore, the Women's Forum and G.A.L.S. create village forums to facilitate conversation, promote advocacy and individual life planning. All of this eventually evolves back into the household, with that being the ultimate family planning unit.
Josephine was a pleasure to talk to and provided us with a lot of valuable information. Her group has been doing some great work. Unfortunately, no one got any pictures of her!
All in all, it was another full day and we went to sleep thinking about the day of safaris and boat rides that would follow.
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