What Do They Call You?

This is a question I get a lot from other volunteers and friends and family back home. What do they call you? By that they are asking, do they call you the local word for white person/foreigner "obujungu" or "muzungu", because...you're not white. This question always makes me stop an question...why are you asking me this? Do I really look like I am from here, is it assumed that everyone who is not the typical "white foreigner" is not from another country or could not be an American? I don't doubt that volunteers around the world get this same question all of the time; a person with a Hispanic or Latin background in South or Central America, a person of East Asian descent in East Asia or even a person of European descent in the various eastern European countries Peace Corps works in. 

What do they call you? 

For me, it's simple. They just call me Ashley, Ateenyi, or for this who do not know me I am an "obujungu" just like every other volunteer in country. It is true I have been referred to as a "MuHindi" or "MuChina" by some confused onlookers, but in general I am just a regular old Muzungu. Surprising? For me it's not. I stick out like a sore thumb in my village, even when I ride on the motorcycle to the village all geared up with only my hands and my face peaking out from my helmet, faces of children light up and they start singing "OBUJUNGU WANGE!" with their little dance and all.  The locals know I am not Ugandan. How? Simple they say, your skin is too white, your not black like us.... your hair is not the same.....your face is not like ours..  all responses I have gotten when I ask this simple question. It is true I have been known to play jokes on people and say I am from here as they look at me with confusion. "How?", They ask. "My father is an obujungu and my mother from here"..."oh...." they reply still a little confused. "So you grew up from here?", " No, from America. But now I live here", "Oh, you are studying?", "No, I am volunteering"....."......Oh?". 

In reality it doesn't really matter what they call me. The people in my village and those I work with know me as Ateenyi Ashley, the one from America, who is here working with us now. They have adopted me and given me my pet name and even refer to me as one of them "from this side" and it's a great feeling to be accepted in my community.

So, that answers the question.... What do they call you?

Cooking...?

For anyone who knows me, you know I cannot/will not/do not like to cook and for my first month back at site alone this was a huge problem. In short, no dinners for me. I was only eating breakfast and lunch and only because my org offers both meals. So what happens when you go from eating to not eating besides the obvious, you loose weight?... You get hungry...very hungry....upset.. and not a real pleasure to have in class. Basically, can you stay home today because your attitude sucks. Yes, this was me for my first month back at site. On top of the stress of deciding what was next for Matt and I, I was spiraling into a angry existence primarily from lack of food. Can I say I miss Matt and his awesome cooking skills or rather motivation to eat and cook every night....? YES

 In the States I would attempt to cook some meals in an effort to cut down on Matt's work but here it's a different story. My days are spent riding to and from the fields, working in the sun and getting home in the evening. It's tiring and by the time I get home I am plain exhausted. On top of that, I can't run to a grocery store to pick stuff up...well I guess I could run...literally but that means a 25 minute round-trip walk into town to the market. Cooking itself is a huge chore, fetching water for cooking and dishes, although it's not far away...I have it better than others, trying to light the sigiri with matches that were assembled who knows where....they seriously break no matter what. It was all just this huge task I was not willing to try, not at least every night....

So, what happened? I'm lucky to have some awesome Peace Corps friends who noticed I was struggling and encouraged me to start cooking with the help of some simple recipes even I can make. The difference....completely noticeable and I am on my way back to being me. Ya, I complain about how inconvenient cooking is especially compared to how it's done in the States, but ....I am not in the States. I am in a rural village in Uganda and this is how everyone else does it, and has done it, and will continue to do it for some time. I had to "get over it".

So what did I learn how to cook?

Some Awesome Food!

Yummy banana, peanut butter & honey pancakes...yes I just learned how to cook them, spicy peanut noodles, stir fry, homemade ravioli with ricotta cheese filling from scratch, mashed potato stuffed bell peppers with tomato sauce on the stove.....did I mention I made cheese?

The list seems to get longer everyday as I try out new recipes and push myself cook..and it has actually turned into something fun for me. Who knew coming to Uganda would turn me into somewhat of a cook...

Life Goes On

It's been awhile.....

These past weeks have flown by not giving much time to update everyone. Let's start with what has been going on here. 

My youth group continues to amaze me. While I was gone they kept meeting and practicing and after a few days back we headed to a local secondary school where they put on a drama about making good decisions and the consequences of risky behavior.  

My counterparts are amazing and have been the greatest support system these past weeks. Even though I was gone and they did not know if I would return, they continued on with our VSLA project. This meant the world to me because it showed that I don't need to be here for things to keep happening on schedule. They are just as invested in this project as I am, making the project even stronger.

A week later I hosted 8 new trainees for 1 week for a technical immersion. This has been one of my best experiences as a volunteer because it gave me a chance to show-off my site and my work while helping new volunteers learn what it's like to be a volunteer in Uganda.

A week later I traveled to our All Volunteer Conference outside of the capital for a few days, took a detour to the north to visit another volunteers site, then headed back towards the capital for our 1 year conference....A long couple of weeks to say the least but it helped me to push through what would have been even longer weeks of thinking and wondering what was next for me. 

So, to update...what is next?

I will continue my service as a volunteer until May 2016, when I will officially close my service. Eh! May.... But that is a long time to be without your husband! He is broken....he needs his wife. All things I have heard but when it comes down to it, this is the right choice and we have both come to accept it. Peace Corps has always been my dream and to not finish would always leave a what-if....I could have finished. So instead of what-ifs haunting me, I am saying I did. 

Decisions

Today marks the end of the journey for "us". 

Unfortunately, Matt's injuries require too much care that Uganda cannot accommodate, and as of today his 45 days of Medivac have expired making him a RPCV as he has been medically separated from the Peace Corps.

What does this mean? This is something we have been trying to figure out over the past month and a half. What does this mean for us, for him, for me? This has been an ongoing discussion. Back and forth as we have tried to figure out what we should do, or rather what I should do. It's hard to grasp the idea of a dream being ripped away. 

For Matt he has 2 options. #1 Wait until he heals and reinstate; he has up to 1 year from being medically separated. The downside, by the time he can reinstate our service would be ending.

#2 Realize that his service is finished and start a new journey. Easier said than done when you have been ripped away from a life you have come to love in the matter of seconds.

For Ashley, there are several options. #1 Take an interrupted service and go home to care for your spouse. An option many do not even questioned as they could not imagine sending their loved one home alone and broken. 

#2 Finish out the year and head home. This would allow time to finish up some ongoing projects and say the proper goodbyes.

#3 Stay and finish up the entire Peace Corps service and COS in May.

Decisions, decisions...