Peace Corps Cribs: Uganda

Welcome to our home as married Peace Corps education volunteers in Uganda! This MTV-style Cribs video was filmed by our friend and fellow PCV, Matthew Dahlberg, with special guest appearances by more friends/fellow PCVs, Carmen and Amanda.

Happy Easter!

Kris and I stayed at home for our second Easter here in Uganda. We had some PCV friends over and had a great time dying eggs in the morning. As we ate some really old candy bars Kris found, we listened to the songs and drumming floating in through the windows from the religious gathering at the school. The majority of Ugandans practice Christianity, so Easter is celebrated widely, with church gatherings, parades, and crosses of all sizes being carried around on display. It makes explaining how many Americans celebrate the holiday – with eggs and dye and chocolate bunnies – sound a bit like we’re just trying to see how ridiculous we can be and still get our Ugandan friends to believe us. “No really! We tell kids that a giant bunny comes in the middle of the night and leaves them colorful chocolate eggs! Yes, I know that bunnies don’t lay eggs. Yes, eggs aren’t chocolate. No, you’re right, bunnies aren’t really that giant…”

Carmen had the coolest egg, by far!

The local eggs we get in the village are brown, which we all forgot was different than the white eggs we dye back in the States, so the colors came out a bit differently.

Disposing of the dye.

In the afternoon, after the five-hour church service we skipped out on and after Ravi forced us to hide eggs so he could have an Easter Egg hunt, the neighborhood kids came around to play matatu, the popular Ugandan card game. It’s also actually the only Ugandan card game; Kris and I drew some blank looks in the beginning of our time here when people asked us to play cards and we asked what game they wanted to play. “Cards.” “Yes, but what game?” “…cards.” Matatu is a bit like Uno with added flourishing, posturing, and outraged sounds encouraged – in short, a lot of fun. We also taught the oldest, Manzi, how to play Guillotine. He loved it, especially since he won! All in all, this Easter was the perfect mix of Uganda and America.  

Ravi's triumph.

Kris shuffling on people's heads - always good for a giggle.

The kids enjoyed playing with the guitar and rocking Kris' $1 bus park shades. 

Good people aren't hard to find,

they're right around the corner

at the end of the line, it's true.

Good people got peace of mind,

and I'd like to spend some time with you.

- Great Big Sea

Life in Uganda, Part I: At Home

Welcome to House 11!

The front of our house - and our laundry. Doing sheets by hand has to be one of the most time-consuming tasks ever.

Our backyard with our latrine and what they call "our plantation" - we have two types of bananas, avocados, passion fruit, cassava, and sugar cane. And we haven't even planted our garden yet!

 We have a different kind of traffic here.

Gardening is called "digging" in Uganda, for a good reason.

Our gardening tools!

One of two avocado trees.

Our bountiful avocado harvest. We probably go through about six avocados a day.

Kitchen with our stove top and pantry area.

Living room!

Our bedroom, complete with a jury-rigged mosquito net.

Guest bedroom - come and stay with us! See, you get your very own net and candle!

Doing laundry out back - the ol' three bucket system.

 Someone trying to pay a visit.

With no power half the time, you have to come up with creative ways to entertain yourself...Celebrating my birthday with a Little Debbie brownie, candle, and snowflake plate sent from the States!

"Necessity is the mother of invention." Never was there a place where this was so true. Buying scratch-off airtime for our phones and some milk in a bag!

Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home... it's your responsibility to love it, or change it.

                                                                   -  Chuck Palahniuk