A Day in the Life:

Rain Lee comes to the building, the neighborhood mad man (who might actually be a detective!?) throws corn cobs at me, brainstorming interview questions to ask spirits

Last night we got back after 10 pm from the Forest School, (the once-monthly all-night spiritualist class was Tuesday night, so fascinating and surreal! But not ready to write about that yet. Also, during the general assembly in one of the forest classrooms on Wednesday a little green and white computer was passed around to all Forest School trainees, a Swiss organization called “Infonet-Biovision” provides various organizations in East Africa with these little computers which can be taken out to farmers without electricity or computer access, and helps them diagnose problems that might arise with their crops, and how to organically deal with them, their website has lots of great info. about how to sustainably raise livestock, manage water and soil, and take care of common diseases-
http://www.infonet-biovision.org/
Anyhow, since we got back so late the coworker I usually work closely with said I could come to the office at 10 am if I wanted to (I am usually there by 9). So I was doing a bit of yoga in my room, when I heard someone calling out “hello, hello”. Since they were speaking English and not Luganda, I thought that there was a good chance that this person was looking for me, so I went to look out the window and what I saw outside was shocking- an Asian person! As far as I knew, I was the only non-African in my neighborhood. (my downstairs neighbors are from the Congo, which is awesome because some of them don’t speak English, and I can speak my awkward, halting French with them. They are about 4 really sweet ladies, a man, and several kids ranging from a baby to a teenager, all who live in the same size apartment that I do, which is not palatial or anything). I think pretty much everyone else for miles around is Ugandan; I’m worried that I am making my neighborhood sound like a really international place…it’s not.
Rain Lee was brought up to my apartment by a neighbor girl. He asked for my landlord’s phone number, and as it turns out he is going to rent the apartment on the first floor of the building I live in. He works for some kind of Chinese-owned door making factory down the road.
I am very excited about him being my neighbor for a couple of reasons-
He can help translate the kanji (Chinese characters) that are all over most buses and trucks here. Some of them are in Japanese, and if they are once in awhile I can read bits and pieces that are in katakana or hiragana. It’s funny because sometimes minibuses that say “kindergarten” in Japanese are carrying 15 adults…
Also, maybe he will cook Chinese food and give me leftovers, and it will be really interesting to compare how we are both treated in the neighborhood. Do all the kids call out “bye asian!” to him as he walks by?

So as I am still getting ready to go to work, the landlady’s nephew (a big extended family all lives in a house next door) came up to see about putting some hooks up so I can hang my clothes, so far I have my things folded on a mat on the floor because there is no place to hang anything up, and I don’t have any dressers or anything. Then a toddler came in, (somehow related to the landlord family) and indicated that he would like some of the sesame seeds that I was pouring into the “baby soya” powder that was going to by my breakfast. I was doing this on the floor of the corner of my living room, to get to my kitchen I first have to go outside of my apartment, and it is just easier to have my electric kettle inside the main part of the house. And actually the reason I was eating baby soya and not oats was that I found a bunch of small insects in the oats; my neighbor told them that if I want to still eat them I just need to put them out in the sunshine so the bugs will leave. As the neighbors were leaving, one of my coworkers who happened to be walking by came up to investigate, he wanted to make sure everything was ok because he had seen the neighbor guy in my doorway and didn’t know who he was. So I made him coffee, finished getting ready for work, and off we walked to the office.

Today at work we worked on a general grant proposal, and then continued editing the Traditional Healers Directory for Mpigi District. Then it was time to work on my questionnaire for my research project on the spiritualist healers who study at the PROMETRA Uganda Forest School. (I am doing an independent study with an anthropology professor in order to satisfy a research class requirement). This was super fun, especially the part where we listed questions to ask the spirits. The spiritualist healers channel spirits in order to help heal their patients. The questions included- “What do you think are the causes of mental problems?” “How many people have you channeled through in the past?” “Where do you live?” “What do you eat?” “Can you speak other languages?” “How do you prefer to be thanked?” We came up with 22 interview questions for spirits, and 15 for the spiritualist healers themselves.

And yes, I know some of them sound ridiculous, actually, I know this whole thing will sound pretty ridiculous to most people. For people that doubt that this kind of thing is possible (to interview a spirit), I will just say for now that in my short time here I have already seen some crazy things, and they were not dark or scary, but just really interesting, sometimes hilarious. I had a dream when I was first starting my internship and I got a message that said that I shouldn’t put spiritual things on a paper plate, so I am not sure how much I should write about my spiritual research on a blog. But I can’t wait to do this research…I LOVE my internship! And I LOVE my coworkers, they are all fun, funny, witty, sensitive, interesting, already I can’t imagine leaving them, they almost seem like family…(although I do really miss family and friends from home)…

Anyhow, I walked most of the way home with my female coworker, and this is when the neighborhood mad man (that makes fires next to road in front of one of the elementary schools every day) tossed some pieces of eaten corn cobs at me. He laughed, and I laughed (none of them hit me). My coworker rebuked him, and asked if I was enjoying it. I said that it was kind of funny, especially since he didn’t hit me. Then she told me that she suspects that he is not fully mad, and that he is actually doing some research as a detective. I can’t really imagine what he would be researching there on the side of the road…

In Other News-
In order to satisfy the “Youth and Family Development” part of my “Youth and Family Development” Master’s program, I am in the process of setting up a couple of girl empowerment groups at a couple of schools, I think one in the rural area where the forest school is, and another in the area I live in, which is technically urban, but there are dirt roads and farm animals everywhere. I hope to model these groups after the GUTS! (girls using their strengths) groups that I facilitated in Missoula last year.
I also might do yoga with kids of various ages and both genders.
It might seem strange that I chose to intern with PROMETRA Uganda, an organization whose mission is to promote and support traditional medicine, when my master’s program is in youth and family development. Part of the reason is this- part way through the year I realized that I am actually very interested in medical anthropology, and might continue my studies in this field. I also developed some major doubts about international development work, especially those run in “developing countries” by those from “developed countries”. I like that PROMETRA is almost entirely African based and directed, although most funding does come from the West. And the other reason is a bit more mysterious, I felt really pulled to come here after finding out about PROMETRA Uganda in my Peoples of Africa anthropology class last spring and reading a previous PROMETRA intern’s blog where she wrote a bit about the spiritualist classes, within the first week I was told some interesting things by some of the spiritualist healers I work with…and it started to make sense while I felt such a strong urge to come here…

To be continued
*note-although I have mostly been writing about the spiritualist training at the forest school that is just one of 5 areas a healer can specialize in, the curriculum in most other classes is very scientifically based…but I am enchanted by spiritualism.

The King Visits the Forest School for Traditional Healers!

watching as the king's convoy speeds away

the King (under the umbrella) and Dr. Sekagya (director of PROMETRA Uganda)

*so below is the article I wrote to update the PROMETRA website, but the powers at be said we also need to check in with all classes at the forest school to get the spiritual significance of the visit, as well as interview the "royals", board members, spiritualists, and spirits!!! also I didn't include here how we stayed out at the Forest School all week to prepare for the visit, and on my first morning there (my 6th day in Africa, and after I had been told by one coworker that I could sleep in as long as I wanted) my boss came running down the dorm hall at 7:10 am shouting "Loud-a, Loud-a (Laura) everyone is already hard at work- digging!!!" I had been sound asleep, and in a daze asked "should i get up?". the answer was "yeah!". So I pulled myself out of bed, put some pants on, and stumbled outside where the "manager" woman asked me if I would like to use the hoe or the slasher. I pointed at the hoe, and then we hiked down to where the forest classrooms are. I ended up using the slasher to cut grass (which is like a golf club with a blade). We had interesting talks about spirits during the breaks...

"His Majesty" Visits PROMETRA-Uganda

On October 7th PROMETRA Uganda’s Institution of Traditional Medicine was blessed with a visit from the Kabaka of Buganda. He is the King of the Buganda Kingdom, the head of all Buganda clans, and the cultural leader of 7.5 million Baganda in Uganda and in the diaspora. It was a great honor for PROMETRA Uganda to be recognized for high achievement by the Kabaka.

Starting in the morning, large numbers of people starting gathering to greet the king when he arrived. There was traditional drumming and dancing for everyone to enjoy. Many women were dressed in elegant and colorful gomesis and some men were clad in kanzus. Some PROMETRA trainees and graduates were wearing their Institution coats, which said “Herbalist”, “Bonesetter”, “Traditional Birth Attendant”, “Mental Specialist”, or “Spiritualist” on the back. Children roamed around in groups, excited by the festive atmosphere.

The King’s convoy finally arrived in the late afternoon, after fierce sun, a long downpour, then fierce sun once again. By the time he arrived well over a thousand admirers lined both sides of the red dirt road.

After the convoy stopped the crowd ran towards the Kabaka’s car, trying to get as close as possible to him. He got out and went into a shrine with Dr. Sekagya. Afterwards he planted a medicinal and spiritual tree, and then Dr. Sekagya presented him with cultural gifts. They walked together over to the plaque he commissioned for PROMETRA. He signed PROMETRA’s guest book, and then shortly after got back into his car and the convoy sped off again.

After the King departed, those who came to greet him were treated to a big traditional Ugandan meal of matooke, cassava, ground nuts paste, cow intestines, beef, cabbage and tea. Some PROMETRA staff members spent 2 days preparing the meal. It was a tasty and joyous ending to weeks of preparation for the event.

For one who is not Buganda, it might be difficult to imagine the vast love that Mugandas have for their king. One Muganda explained that people would lay their bodies down in the mud for him to walk on. Another said that the visit was like when you are really in love with your boyfriend or girlfriend, and then you see them after a long separation.

Although tired after a long day, all in attendance were ecstatic after seeing their King.

“On a spiritual level, it was a very successful visit. On a material level, it depends on peoples’ expectations,” reflected Dr. Sekagya.

photos from my new neighborhood (Kawempe division of Kampala)

"We have already met spiritually" & "you people need to develop!"

photo: my new hood in the Kawempe division of Kampala

It is nearing the end of my second full day in Uganda, and it has been great so far! Yesterday (my first morning), I woke up slowly and for about 30 minutes wondered what to do with myself. And then everything started happening at once, there were calls from the receptionist (Zurah) about what I wanted for breakfast (even after I had already gotten it), I made plans to meet up with Laura, who did the same master's program in Missoula two years before me and is now doing the Peace Corps here, and then just as I was about to eat breakfast a small woman appeared in my doorway and started speaking Luganda. I smiled and shook my head, to indicate I didn't understand. "Don't you know who I am?" she asked. "No, should I?".
"Yes."
"Are you from PROMETRA?"
"Yes!". And then I realized that she is the one female employee I will be working with in the office here, but I couldn't remember her name (Hadija).
She said I was to come with her to the office, so we walked down the red dirt road for about 10 minutes. A few kids called out "bye Mzungu!" ("bye white person!"), and Hadija said I should respond because that is always polite anyway, and "who knows, they could become your friend." (later on that day a baby started chanting "mzungu, mzungu, mzungu" upon seeing me).
A woman called out to find out my Lugandan name, and Hadija responded that I didn't have one, yet.
To get to the PROMETRA office we went through a small door in a gate, which was just about Hadija's size (I am guessing she is about 4 foot 8). She showed me around a bit and then Omar showed up (the rest are out at the forest school preparing for the King of Buganda's visit next week!)
"We have already met spiritually" Omar said as he walked over to shake my hand. I don't remember what I said, probably something like "oh, really?"...and then he continued by explaining that their spirits at PROMETRA met with mine and determined that it would be beneficial to work with me. I probably stood there smiling and nodding my head like an idiot. He asked how my parents were, and how their connection with our ancestral spirits was. I said something vague about how I think my mom believes her parents are in heaven, and that I wasn't sure exactly what my father thought. At some point he said I needed to sleep to become more spiritually stable and to feel the spirit of Africa better.

After all this I went with the receptionist (Zurah) on a motorcycle taxi (or "boda boda") downtown to meet Laura. We went to eat with two of her Ugandan musician friends, and later they helped me get a cell phone. Then we walked through dozens of shops and many buildings to get Laura to a taxi park so she could head back to her village (which I think is about 4 hours north). Afterwards her friends helped me look for an apartment back in my neighborhood. They confirmed that American country music is very popular in Uganda (I asked about what I had read in the guidebook, that Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers are the most popular singers here). On the way back to Kawempe I saw a little hut-salon with a sign "new Obama haircut Sal--" I couldn't see the rest, maybe the last word was Sale?

When I got back to Kawempe Zurah told me that Hadija had requested me back at the office. She walked over there with me. I showed Hadija my new cell phone, and told her that I had never seen one with a built-in flashlight in it before. "You people need to develop! You are backwards!" she said, laughing.

Later as Omar, Hadija, and I were walking down the dirt road to look at one of my apartment options, Omar explained that our ancestors communicate with us through our dreams. He said that if I write mine down he can help me interpret them. (I have always had super vivid other-worldly dreams and this opportunity is very exciting for me!)...

Anyhow, those are the highlights from yesterday!

Today has been less eventful, I needed to rest.
Earlier I was doing a yoga dvd to a soundtrack of the Muslim call of prayer outside, just after helping Zurah get an application for a Baptist university in Texas. Afterwards I stopped by the PROMETRA office where I informed Hadija and Omar of my apartment decision. "I had a good feeling in that one" I said, and Omar corrected me with something to the effect of "you did not have a good feeling, your ancestors were telling you that was the best choice"...which sent Hadija running out of the room exclaiming "I am out of this!".

Also, this afternoon I argued with Zurah about whether my sheets needed to be changed daily. "They must change them each and every day! Do you want to sleep in dirty sheets!?" she asked. "But I don't change them every day at home", I protested...deciding not to bring in the argument about waste because it might sound judgmental. Finally she agreed that they can just give me the sheets and I can change them myself, which I won't : )

layover in Amsterdam!

took the train from the airport and walked around this beautiful and interesting city, saw bikes galore, woman selling themselves behind glass in little booths next to the street, and of course canals and boats...

Two weeks with the Zapatistas!

Oventic, Chiapas
*note- for an explanation of the Zapatistas see last entry

Was lucky enough to get to spend two weeks in the Zapatista "Caracol" of Oventic this summer. (caracol literally means "snail") The Zapatistas have 5 Caracoles, or autonomous political and cultural centers, which house their uber directly democratic Good Government Councils, as well as Zapatista clinics, schools, cooperatives, workshops, etc. The Zapatistas have their own radio station, their own magazine, their own documentary production system, and much more. They even have their own lingo- teachers are "promoters", foreigners are "internationals", and paying (as in us paying for the language school and room and board) is "contributing" (but in Spanish). What is amazing is that they have created everything with no government support, in fact in the face of much government and paramilitary hostility and harassment.
(for a good description their system of government and communities check out: http://www.stateofnature.org/theZapatistaCaracoles.html)

Oventic is in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, and is often shrouded in fog, giving it a mystical, magical feel.
When I was in Oventic there happened to be a huge conference for new primary school promoters going on, so the brightly-muralled rustic dorms and their thin wooden slabs called bunk beds were all filled with young new Zapatista teachers. (Many of the young female teachers were clothed in colorful hand-woven huipiles, and I found out that the design and color tells you which municipality they are from.) Since the school kids were on vacation for the summer, the conference gave the Caracol a jovial, bustling feel when it otherwise might felt a bit vacant.

In Oventik I spent two of the most inspirational, fun, and fascinating weeks of my life...hard to summarize adequately in what is going to have to be a somewhat brief blog entry. Just to give a little taste of my experience there here are a couple of vignettes- one discussion in the advanced Spanish class was about how the Mayan language Tsostil (spoken by pretty much everyone in Oventic and surrounding areas) doesn't have words for friend, enemy, religion, or art, and how this has shaped their culture and the Zapatista movement..., for one of our daily "open activities" we sang songs such as "Lindo Oventic" (Beautiful Oventic) and "El Frijol Existencial" (the existential bean) (both composed by our teachers) while some played guitar and some of the young new promotores stood in the dark and watched us from outside the classroom...we were also serenaded in Danish, Hebrew, Turkish and English (British and American) by our international group of students. Also, we took a couple of trips to the corn field, where the internationals "worked" until our relatively soft hands got blisters (about 45 minutes!), and a couple of us toured the clinic which has everything from an optometrist and eyeglass making machine (sorry don't know the correct terminology for that) to a gynaecologist's office and delivery room, to a pharmacy which had about half herbal/homeopathic medicines and half synthetic "western" medicines.

The language center and "2012"
In order to stay in Oventik you need to be a student of the language center (http://www.serazln-altos.org/eng/celm.html), and you can take either Tsotsil or Spanish. I took Tsotsil the first week and Spanish the second. I was the only one in my Tsotsil class and I took advantage of this by asking ridiculous questions about things like whether the Mayans really believe something major will happen in 2012. My promoter said that they know something will happen between now and 2012, they just don't know what. I was using the Spanish verb for believe ("creer") when I was discussing this, and suddenly my promoter exclaimed "no lo creen, lo ven!". (They don't believe it, they see it!"). Meaning that the prophecies are based on visions...
She also said that right now the Maya are focused on human rights struggles, but hopefully someday will once again be able to focus their energies on intellectual pursuits like they once did (the Mayans made extraordinary achievements in math and astronomy, and had an advanced system of writing.)

The "Internationals"
There were 4 other language students the first week, a woman from England who was writing her thesis on the Zapatistas and their relationship to the environment, a woman from the Flathead Reservation near Missoula who found out about Oventik from her adviser in Norway, (funny coincidence, we have had some of the same professors in Missoula) she got a fellowship to study Indigenous Education in Norway, a university student from Massachusetts who stayed in Oventik for a month and went through the Mexico solidarity network ( http://www.mexicosolidarity.org ), I was paired with him for our last activity-we had to develop a plan for after the of all of capitalism in the U.S.), a Turkish master's student who is currently studying school counseling in Missoula, and me. The next week the first two left and we were joined by two women from Norway who had just been volunteering with FRAYBA, the Zapatistas' official human rights organization, (http://www.frayba.org.mx/index.php?hl=en), they were human rights observers at a Zapatista-occupied hotel on the road from San Cristobal to Palenque, and an activist and teacher from Israel (another funny coincidence- she had just been hitch-hiking through Missoula!)

Sometimes there are large groups of students, especially from the Mexican Solidarity Network mentioned above. They are usually the ones that paint the bright murals that you see everywhere in Oventic.
We were often joined by a skinny mother of 5 kittens, and a dog with dreadlocks that had a penchant for coughing up hairballs.

The Main Point (?)

I could go on and on about Oventic...but I think the most important point that I want to make is that the Zapatistas have dramatically improved their quality of life in a dignified way, through organizing. They don't wait around for charity or let foreign governments or NGOs decide how hey should best "develop". They are an inspirational example of how communities can determine their own political systems, health systems, education systems, etc without help from the government. They are an alternative to monoculture, to sweatshops, to big box stores, to mindlessness in general...

Who are the Zapatistas?

(You might be asking- who are the Zapatistas? Basically the Zapatistas are indigenous Maya who have been screwed over for 500 years by a series of conquerors/governments/companies, and who decided to organize and fight for their rights. In the resource-rich state of Chiapas, the indigenous population there has suffered massive inequality and poverty- in one documentary we watched in Oventic called "Zapatistas: Cronica de una Rebellion" (or Zapatistas: Chronicle of a Rebellion)we learned that in recent years 1/2 of the indigenous of Chiapas didn't have access to clean drinking water, the majority of children didn't finish school and many didn't even have access to schools, and that there is widespread disease, hunger and mal-nutrition.

Why they rose up is best described in their own words:

"We have nothing to lose, absolutely nothing, no decent roof over our heads, no land, no work, poor health, no food, no education, no right to freely and democratically choose our leaders, no independence from foreign interests, and no justice for ourselves or our children. But we say enough is enough! We are the descendants of those who truly built this nation, we are the millions of dispossessed, and we call upon all of our brethren to join our crusade, the only option to avoid dying of starvation!"

- Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) Declaration of the Lácandon Jungle, 1993

Here is a short description of the movement from the website "Archaelog", the website also has an interesting explanation of the Mayan symbols (like the snail) that are incorporated into the Zapatista movement.
http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/archaeolog/2007/08/caracol_de_la_resistencia_zapa_1.html
"The Zapatista movement began officially in eastern Chiapas, Mexico in 1983. The movement derived its name from Emiliano Zapata, a hero of the Mexican Revolution. The Zapatistas are often characterized as the first post-modern revolution, perhaps unjustifiably so, and have abstained from violence since a cease fire was brokered in 1994 (Johnston 2000). The movement is most often associated with anti-globalization, anti-neo liberalism, and indigenous rights. Zapatistas gained much attention by vociferously opposing the NAFTA free trade agreement in the early 1994 (Rich 1997). The outside world recognizes Zaptista rebels by their black ski masks (pasamontanas) and red bandanas (pallacates). ")

Oventic mural...