Juancho in Uganda

This week has been full of meetings with 6 focus groups with people of different ages. The information that we got has been invaluable since we probably underestimated the villagers in certain aspects and we expected to tackle some problems in a more profound way that they perceive them. For sure we will be doing a big job regarding safe water, malaria, family planning and HIV/Aids education and testing. The village feels more like home everyday and even now in Iganga I am craving to go back tonight because of the peace you feel at night and just the wonderful wonderful attitude from absolutely everybody there. The week started a little bit hectic. I finished staying the night in Jinja and watching the USA-England game among a bunch of British and American fans in a very nice restaurant called 2 Friends. After this we found out on Sunday that we were supposed to move to Iganga for 2 days due to the bat problem. We stayed that night in a very weird guest house that had the Toi (understand square room with a hole in the middle) full of cockroaches. The girls were freaking out and the next night was spent at the Canaan Compound, which was very nice and provided an awesome location to watch night football (sorry guys, I am in Uganda and I refuse to call it soccer!). We finally came back to Bunio on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week doing the focus groups mentioned.

There has been a topic not mentioned before that should be talked about: Rolex. Rolexes are the local fast food in Iganga (and since yesterday in our household!). They are a spanish egg omelet wrapped in a corn flour (pronounced fla in Uganda) tortilla that is fried and thicker than regular Mexican ones. They cost UGX 900 (USD 0.45) in the street and they are wrapped in old newspapers for you to carry. They have been saviours whenever you are hungry and they are pretty much sold anywhere in Iganga town. By the way, after I finish posting this I will buy one to go with me on the trip to Bunio.

Now Rejab. He is the son of our cook and the brother of Idi (yes, like Amin!). He always says hi to us and even goes with me when we play football. He is the nicest and happiest kid ever and just yesterday we taught him how to play Frisbee with the top peel of an orange (it is possible, believe me!). Idi has also helped us a lot collecting water once in a while and organizing the teams when we play, even though they are not as balance as we would wish.

This week I was also told that they will give me a piece of land and with the Lusoga I know I could leave among them. It was amazing to hear that when it was translated, even more so coming from the main mobilizer woman in the village. In addition, she gave us a couple of eggs (maggi) that were properly used in the rolexes.

Lusoga word of the week: Juanji = Answer to anybody when your name is called. Since the girls joke that my name is Juanji I turn around every two minutes.