Mailtime!

Almost every Saturday, Kris and I wake up, fry up some eggs and toast, and then make the 45-minute trek to the nearest post office. It’s actually a really nice walk with beautiful views, and it passes by a place I suspect is a vineyard. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet gotten up the courage to follow through on my plan of climbing the mountain it’s on, knocking on the door, asking if they are actually a vineyard, and then gracefully accepting a few free bottles of wine.

After my weekly longing glance at Wine Mountain, we reach the post office and are enthusiastically greeted by the post master who we forever ingratiated ourselves with by speaking to him in hesitant, stumbling Runyankore when we first met him. He ducks into the back of the two-room building and, on the best days, comes out looking like a Ugandan Santa Claus, his arms full of letters and packages and his face beaming. We stuff our loot into Kris’s backpack, pay the delivery fees, and race back home where we allow ourselves to open one letter or package upon arrival. We then try to space out the opening of any other mail we’ve received for the rest of the day. Sometimes we even save a letter for the upcoming week when we know that one or both of us has a potentially rough or stressful day coming up. Mail from home is, without a doubt, one of the best outlets we have here.

Life is a new kind of stressful as Peace Corps Volunteers, and we have to find new ways to deal with it. A lot of outlets come from within – exercise, meditation, yoga, creative cooking, crafting, journaling, decorating. This inner dependence is not initially by choice; with unreliable electricity (I’ve discovered that I have the magical ability to make the house go dark by shaving my legs), limited grocery options, and expensive airtime, a lot of these are our only options for free-time activities. But those limited choices are actually one of the amazing things about being a PCV. You are pushed to reflect, rely upon yourself, and grow in a way that you have never been able to before.

However, there is only so much meditation and friendship-bracelet making you can do before you go insane. Luckily, we have incredible friends and family who have helped us to keep going, day after day, with our new-found appreciation of the lost art of mail. There is just nothing like a long, handwritten letter, the crack of the tape on a package as you tear into it, or the feeling of pulling one over on the postal system by stuffing as many things as possible into an envelope without having to add any more stamps.

This blog is a thank you for that appreciation, that outlet, that sanity. A thank you to not just those mentioned in this blog but to everyone out there who has brightened our day, helped us continue our work, and made us feel like we are still a part of their lives with a letter, a package, a card, a donation, an email, a Facebook message, a comment, or even a 12-year-old scotch. Webare munonga, banwanyi baitu.

Care packages galore! Ben, Laurel, Mom, Amanda, Grandma, Aunt Susie, Becky - you guys know how to pack a box! 

 Letters, cards, and assorted goodies from home - including several from Nita, our most avid pen pal.

 Pen, paper, and a wine cork, and Andrea made one of the most inspiring and treasured possessions we have.

A letter from Steve and Amanda doubling as both wall decoration and crazy awesome emotional support.

Unk Ritchie - making us laugh, think, and appreciate, all at the same time.

Every time I look at this, it makes me smile.

One of the best presents I've ever gotten, Shawn - really.

My pupils are reaping the benefits of our care packages too!

Although it is leading to the perpetuation of some American stereotypes...

Marilyn, Amanda, and Mom - they absolutely love the books you sent! My library is more flooded with excited readers than ever.

"Happiness is only real when shared." - Christopher McCandless

Letters to a First Grade Class

Before Kris and I left the States, we met with his mother's first grade class to talk about the Peace Corps and Uganda. It was a lot of fun and they had an incredible amount of questions, so we encouraged them to write to us while we were gone. We have written back and forth a few times since Kris and I have been in Uganda, and they have also become avid readers of this very blog. By now, they must know more about Uganda than any other elementary-aged school children in the U.S. possibly could. But they still have questions! Amazing, wonderful questions. I thought that we'd post their letters and our answers on here for one of the best first grade classes ever, and for any other inquiring minds out there that have been dying to know - does Uganda have Legos?

Dear Kris and Heidi,

Thank you for riding me that note it was very cool. I also wanted to now why the paper smells so good. I wish our paper was that good. About the papper I want to now how the peapole make it me and my friends love the smell. So do I. You guys are the best. I also love writing to you giys. You are the best peapole I have ever met. 

I love you giys,

Ella Louise

Dear Ella Louise,

We are glad that you enjoyed hearing from us so much! I don't know why the paper smells so good and unfortunately, I don't know how they make it either. I do know, however, that papyrus grows in Uganda. In fact, there is a lot right by our house! 

                 

Papyrus

The word paper comes from the word papyrus, which is a plant that was used to make paper in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Papyrus looks really cool; in fact, our friends and we call it the Dr. Seuss plant!

Thank you so much for your letter. We hope that you have a great summer!

Love,

Heidi and Kris

Dear Heidi,

Can you send a picture of the Uganda dresses the you wore thank you.

From, 

Gracie

Dear Gracie,

No problem! Here is a picture of me and my friends, who are also Peace Corps volunteers, wearing dresses that we had made in Uganda by a tailor. 

Getting clothes made by a tailor here is actually cheaper than buying them in a store or at a market! The fabric is called kitenge (kuh-tang-ay) and you can find it everywhere in Uganda and around Africa in many different patterns and colors. 

Thanks for your question!

From,

Heidi

Dear Kris and Heidi,

How is learning a different language. Can you teach me some. Thank you for the letter.

Love,

Ashleigh

Dear Kris and Heidi,

I love writeing to you. You tell me how to speak in the Uganda way. I love to learn how to speak different languages. Thank you for writeing to me!

From,

Kate

Dear Kris and Heidi,

Are you aloud to have pets there. It is going good hear is it here. I like the video you guys sent us. Can you teach me how to talk in your langweg. Thank you.

From,

Landon

Dery Kris,

Can you show me how to me to speak Uganda.

Love,

Jonathon

Dear Kris and Heidi,

I hope you are having a lot of fun in Uganda! how do you talk over in Uganda! I like your vido!

Love,

Brianna

Dear Ashleigh, Kate, Landon, Brianna, and Jonathon,

We are so glad that you are so interested in other languages! We are going to answer your letters together, but first, before we talk about languages, we want to answer Jonathon's question about pets. We are allowed to have pets, but having animals as pets is not very common in Uganda. Here, animals are used for food or protection, not as friends. Many families have chickens, goats and cows for eggs, meat, and milk. Some families have dogs, but only because they want protection. Keeping animals as pets is a luxury, something that you do only if you can afford to feed both your family and an animal. There are also wild dogs, however, and there is one that comes to visit us that is colored like a fox!

OK, now lets talk about languages. In Uganda, there are 41 different languages spoken. As a Ugandan, the language you speak depends on the area you were born in and the tribe that you are from. The two most-spoken languages are Luganda and English. While we speak English in America too, here they speak "Uganglish," a form of British English that has changed over the years. For example, their name for pants is trousers. In fact, if you tell someone that you like their pants, they will think that you are saying that you like their underwear! Here, the word pants means underwear. That was hard for both of us to remember at first!

The language that we speak is called Runyankore. If you want to say hello in Runyankore, you can say agandi (uh-gahn-dee). Thank you is webare (way-buh-ray). The answer to webare can be kare (kah-ray), which means OK, or webare kusiima (way-buh-ray koo-see-ma), which means thank you for appreciating. Kris and I love that phrase! Other words that you can use in the classroom are:

ekiigo (ay-chee-go) - toilet

omushomesa (oh-moo-show-may-suh) - teacher

ekitabo (ay-chee-tah-bo) - book

sente (sent-ay) - money

ija (ee-ja) - come (a command)

handiika (han-dee-ka) - write

shoma (show-ma) - read

tugyende (too-gen-day) - we're going

kooka (co-ka) - chalk

hati (ha-tee) - now

hati hati (ha-tee ha-tee) - right now!

teekateeka (tay-ka tay-ka) - think

Thank you so much for your letters. Webare kuhandika (thank you for writing)!

Love,

Heidi and Kris

Dear Kris and Heidi,

Are there legos there.

Love,

Nick

Dear Nick,

Kris and I have not seen any Legos in Uganda. In fact, the students at the primary school that I work at do not have many store-bought toys. They do, however, love to make their own toys! For example, the picture below is a ball that my students made out of plastic bags. 

They use the ball during recess and play soccer or other games with it. Students also make cars out of wood, wire, and bottle caps, and they have fun playing with tires too. Sometimes they will take a bicycle tire and a stick and see how long they can keep the tire rolling just by guiding it with a stick! They can keep it upright for a lot longer than I can.

Thanks for your question!

Love,

Heidi and Kris

Dear Kris,

Thank you for answering my questions. I din't know Uganda had that much peple! What kind of animals do they have in Uganda? What types of plants do they have in Uganda? What kind of food do they have in Uganda? Do you like the food in Uganda? What kind of games do they have in Uganda? Do you like the games or do you not like the games? What game is your favorite game? Do peple in Uganda write difrently than us? Whats your favorite food in Uganda Do they have pencills in Uganda? Do you like Uganda? Do you like the house your liveing in?

Love,

Lily

Dear Lily,

We love answering your questions! They have lots of different animals in different parts of Uganda. Where I live now they mostly have bugs and birds. There is one bird called a marabou stork that seems almost like a dinosaur bird! 

                           

Source

They are also a lot of cows and goats here. One type of cow that they have is called Ankole, and they have huge horns.

                                      

Source

The area we were in when we first came to Uganda had monkeys running around like we have squirrels! I've also seen zebras, cows, water buffalo, and a cob, which is kind of like a deer. When Heidi went on a safari, she saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, lions, and hyenas!

They have a lot of food that is different and a lot that's the same. They have tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, bananas, mangoes, and potatoes, but their watermelon and corn are different than ours. They eat lots of beans, jackfruit, which is so sweet that it made me sick, and have a kind of banana that isn't sweet and that they smash to make matooke. In fact, they have a lot of different kind of bananas here, including a teeny-tiny one called kabaragara (kuh-bar-a-gar-a). Try saying that ten times fast!

Our friend Amanda with a kabaragara.

I don't like a lot of the food, but that is because I don't like eating food in general. My favorite things to eat here are eggs and avocado - we can pick avocados in our backyard!

They do have pencils here, but there is really only one card game. It is called matatu and is very similar to Uno, only you play with a normal deck of cards. They also play volleyball, soccer (although it's called football), and a game called netball which I've never played, but it looks a little bit like basketball. I love all games! We like living here and our house very much. I miss my home in the United States, but I am very happy to be here for this adventure. 

Thank you so much for writing!

Love,

Kris

Kris and Hide,

I am haveing a grat time how is it going in Uganda. tell me whay did you haf to go.

From,

James

Dear James,

We are glad you are having a great time in school! Kris and I did not have to go; we chose to join the Peace Corps. We decided that we wanted to join the Peace Corps because we wanted to help other people, live in another country, and have an adventure. Living in Uganda and working in schools here has been challenging but a lot of fun. The students are nice, the scenery is beautiful, and washing our own laundry by hand is definitely an adventure! We are learning a lot, and we are happy to share some of that with you.

From,

Heidi and Kris

Getting letters here is definitely one of our favorite things, so thank you to everyone from Mrs. Bryson's class who wrote to us! We also received some great presents in the mail - webare munonga (thanks a lot), Brianna!

"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question."

- Eugene Ionesco