Volunteers age too

Volunteers may not age fast here because the days are slow - but they do not forget birthdays and anniversaries.

Angie's birthday

When Angie celebrated her birthday, she had a bash. The cake she is blowing was steam-baked by Liz, while the solitary candle was my contribution. She cooked the traditional pancit, a Filipino or Chinese dish made of rice noodles or vermicelli fried with a mix of meat, seafoods and vegetables.  Since rice noodles are not available, she used pasta garnished with vegetables.  She will definitely have a long life because it tasted so good.

Liz's birthday

Doug's birthday

Next came Liz's birthday. She did not bake a cake for herself, so Sandra commissioned an instructor from the school where she is assigned to bake it.  We had pizza, red wine and lemon juice.  Doug (Sandra's spouse) had his 66th birthday.  The cake was steam-baked by a newly arrived vol, Marian.

Jenny and Andy's wedding anniversary

Eve's birthday

During our recent training in Kampala, a couple in my batch of vols celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.  The cake came from a bakeshop, this time.

My birthday came. There would have been no celebration except that Liz baked a cake.  So I shared it with my house mates but not before blowing the candle. I then cut the cake, and offered the first slice to Jacob, our scullion.

My lone guest, Jacob

He surely got a big surprise that I served him first.  I think he felt so honored by the gesture because the following day, he brought me 2 pieces of sweet potatoes from his village.

Cooking is such sweet sorrow

Being invited for a meal is a welcome treat - but these occasions are few and far between.  This desire is not about frugality but lack of motivation to prepare what to eat.

  My breakfast tray

For breakfast, I have learned to eat avocado sandwich, but most often, it is these small buns where I put a bland spread and a trickle of honey to taste.

The spread is called Blue Band, whose packaging looks like a dishwashing cleanser or a laundry detergent.
I have long foregone the craving for brewed coffee.  I remember that Starbucks used to advertise that its coffee beans come from fair trade Africa, so I thought I had a worthy substitute - instant coffee - Africafe or Kilimanjaro both packed in Tanzania.  I am about to finish the two cans but I have yet to experience the taste of real good coffee. I am not sure whether the taste is spoiled by the water, sugar, or coffee mate.

A supermarket called Mega Shopper recently opened in Gulu and I am glad that it carries frozen bacon, cooked ham, and canned meat loaf.  These are my meals on weekends, and coupled with coffee spread over rice, it is quite a feast for me.  Eggs, I avoid because the egg yolk is anemic.

I have also forgotten the taste of fresh fish and seafoods that abound in the islands of the Philippines.  Since Uganda is a land locked country, the fresh fish (mostly tilapia, catfish, and perch) comes from Lake Victoria, a good 8 hours travel to Gulu.  Because of scarcity, smoked fish is a common substitute - but it tastes awful.

The smoked fish

At present, I am already delighted with sardines -  either fried or fresh from the can.   The sardines are manufactured in Thailand and packed for the United Arab Emirates, and exported to Uganda.

Cooking is not one of my skills to share.  To date I have burned two saucepans because I cannot fine tune the gas stove when cooking rice. 

Tip:  To avoid burning, mix cooking oil with water

As usual, I experimented and discovered that I can cook rice in a frying pan. To avoid the ever-present stress of cooking it right, I cook rice good for one week, store it in the refrigerator, and have fried rice at each meal.  (For a volunteer, a rice cooker would be a luxury, but a ref is a necessity - even if it costs more than your month's allowance.)

For the time being, I have set aside the quest for gastronomic delight.  In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I am in a place where the basic needs of food and shelter have yet to be satisfied.  I am already happy digesting the aroma of Angie's cooking,  as she is very creative in the kitchen.

For everything there is a reason

As an international volunteer, my organization constantly issues reminders concerning health and safety. 

Chipati on the roadside

Volunteers are covered by the appropriate insurance and given the required vaccinations but what is being avoided is a situation where adequate medical facilities may not be available in the place of assignment.
For example, eating streetside food is discouraged  - so I have not tried this chipati that she is cooking. Staying indoors after dark is strongly suggested to avoid bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes  - so I have not seen much of Gulu at night. 

Vols on motorbikes and helmets

Indoors, I always wear socks at night.  During the day, I also wear socks to avoid jiggers - a tiny mite whose larva lives on toenails.  

Use of boda-bodas (passenger-carrying motorbikes), the common means of transportation, is not encouraged - so I only to go places that are reachable by footing. 

If it does not turn right, blame the shades

Going to salons for a haircut or nail grooming is discouraged as one could get an injury and be infected. So what do vols do during off-hours and weekends?   

Plucking the adungo

Other than doing domestic chores,  going for church services or reading, some take a hobby, like playing the adungo, wait for a vol who can do a hair trim,

Next time, it will be my turn

Occasional cocktails

have cocktails before sundown at a nearby hotel or go to the forest to view the sewer dam,

Sewer dam

or the parade of Ankole cattle.

Parade of cattle

If this place had a Central Park or a Mall of Asia, then it would not need volunteers.  Perhaps, in the not too distant future..

The fruit and vegetable vendors of Gulu

Just beautiful

They say that here in Uganda, anything you plant grows.  This is likely to be very true as can be seen from the pictures of the produce that ordinary folks bring to market - but there is little variety.  Everyone seems to grow all of the same - tomatoes, avocados, cabbage, eggplants, amaranth, Irish potatoes and beans. 

As the weather is very similar to Tagaytay, and Mindanao combined, I plan to have some other seeds (such as pechay, kangkong) brought here from the Philippines. 

Sacks and sacks of beans

There is sweet potato but they don't eat the leaves - and I plan to introduce them to it.

On fruits, there is an abundance of fresh pineapples, lemons, and bananas. 

Fried bananas for sale

But sad to say, these are the ones that I do not relish eating back home.  

Avocados are plentiful and of very good variety - and I eat them frequently.

A sea of bananas

Garlic is a rare commodity here. I passed by a store once to look for garlic and the storekeeper said that one glove is 200 Ugandan shillings.  Since I wanted one whole piece, she just assembled the gloves like a jigsaw puzzle, and sold the reconstructed piece for 1,000Ugs.  The next day, my friend Pius, (a co-vol from Kenya) dropped by and plucked the garlic.  He chewed some (he says it is for his high blood pressure), and pocketed the rest.  There goes the dear garlic.

Wanna buy assembled or knocked-down?

Pius seems to be dancing