Joyce in Kampala

At Lake Albert with hippos in background

Joyce is a biomedical officer at the International Hospital Kampala - IHK.  In Manila, we were in the same batch of VSO volunteers who attended the pre-departure briefing and we traveled together to

View from her balcony

Entebbe.  Since then, we were always there for each other.  She lives in a modern condo unit provided  by IHK and her place has been a sanctuary and information

Food at her table

center for Filipino volunteers.  Her ref is loaded with all sorts of goodies as she has access to a Filipino store and

Filipino vols hang out

fully-stuffed supermarkets - and she cooks delicious Filipino dishes, too.  The rest of us Filipino volunteers are promdi (from the province) when compared to Joyce's accommodations.  She carries herself very well.  She does not dwell on problems, is very calm and composed.  But most of all, she is very caring.  Volunteers

Joyce with Red Cross

who seek medical attention at IHK would often look for Joyce.  Although she is fashionable, she travels light and can pack all her wrinkle-free stuff in her backpack, together with her food provisions.  She braved climbing Mt. Kenya (second to Mt. Kilimanjaro in height) when the rest of her company gave up because of hypothermia and altitude sickness.

In Lake Katwe, Kasese, Uganda

I was fortunate to have known Joyce, because other than what she is, I can always ask her to send me dried fish from Kampala to Gulu.

Let there be light

An extension wire connected to a generator

Power outage here is a daily occurrence.  Sometimes it runs for days but it is normal to have a daily black-out of 12 hours.  I have

It's overloaded

grown accustomed to the thunderous sound of generators and when everything is quite, I get worried.  The gas stations must  have ran out of petrol and Gulu could be powerless for days.  At the district office, there is a generator that is most often not running - either because the person approving the purchase of the fuel is not yet around, or the operator has not arrived, or as they say, there is just no money in the bank.  More on this in future blog posts. 

Going to town daily to buy petrol

In Uganda, the power distributor is a company called Umeme.  It is a Swahili word for lightening, but as someone said, it might as well mean "lack of it."  People just bear patiently Umeme's cruelty,

Umeme lineman

although in some places in Uganda intermittent protests occur.  Would you enjoy butter or ice cream that looks like a doughnut because it had been deformed by the intervals of melting and freezing?  I would not.

Oh, no.  Umeme disconnecting our office.

Filipino vols in Uganda

Last February, we had a Volunteers-Partners Forum in Kampala.  I had the chance to meet again the Filipino volunteers I visited during the Christmas holidays.

VSO volunteers in Uganda

If there is something unique about Filipinos, I'd say it is their capacity to have a good laugh whenever they are together.  Even the way one speaks or the choice of words is meant to elicit laughter.  Punning and bantering have become classical art.

Look at us, Generation Y but 1

Body language and facial expressions heighten the merriment.  But that is not to say that we are not a serious people.  In business meetings or in the company of strangers, we can be formal;  too businesslike even.  We can even cry a bucketful when mourning.

I was the photographer

Our warmth is undeniable.  I was even told here in Gulu, where locals are used to different nationalities, that the way I relate to people is just stunning.   Well, I said, it is not just me.  It's the rest of us.  I don't know whom to thank for this legacy of mirth - is it our Malay forefathers, or the Spaniards, or the Americans?  The Philippines used to be high in the UN Happiness Index, until I saw lately that the Indonesians beat us to it.  I guess, it is the Malay connection.  Am getting homesick. It is fun in the Philippines.

In a Filipino-owned restaurant in Kampala

Next posts, I will write about the life of the Filipino vols in their placements.

Some African quirks

Hereditary teeth gap

In previous posts I mentioned about African dressing, their cooking, and hair grooming.  In this post are new things I have seen or heard.  The first time I

1 of 10 has it

saw the teeth gap (between the two front teeth), I thought right away that their parents had neglected the dental care during infancy until I was told that it is in the genes.    There is also the sickle cells, a chronic hereditary blood disease common among Africans or persons with African

Behind the speaker's back

descent.  The red blood cells are sickle-shaped caused by abnormal hemoglobin.  The person suffers from severe anemia and medical journals say that because of the shape of the cells, it gives them immunity to malaria.  Recently, there is also an outbreak of a so-called nodding disease that afflicts children in the north. The nature of the disease is still mysterious and research is ongoing to learn more about the phenomenon.  On the lighter side, it is not unusual to see people reading newspapers either in church (while waiting for the mass to begin) or in public functions (while speeches are being delivered).

Hoisted bottled water for sale to bus passengers

Well recently, I developed my own personal quirk.  Coke does not cool me down anymore under the heat of the sun.  I have shifted to drinking beer and it works fabulously.