4th November 2008

From my journal, 4th Nov, 8:41pm local time.
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Mwa Amerika, abantu balonda ku presidenti. Mwa Uganda, abaana bamaaze ku p.l.e. Kati, nkoye nnyo nnyo. Kubanga, Uncle Moses nange tubadde tusomesa nnyo nnyo nnyo ku ebibina nya, taano, ne mukaaga. Ne nfumbe keki wa Amerika ku kibina musanvu ne abasomesa. Tugenda kulya emerre, ne ngenda kwebaka nnyo. Enkya, abaana wa kibina musanvu baja kugende ka.
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Translation: In America, people are voting for the president. In Uganda, children have finished the P.L.E. Now, I am very very tired. Because, Uncle Moses and I have been teaching very very very much in the classes of primary 4, 5, and 6. And I have cooked an American cake for primary seven and the teachers. We are going to eat food, and I will go and sleep very much. Tomorrow, the children of primary 7 will go home.
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Back to today...
Although I can only write short portions of coherent Luganda, I am consistently pleased with my progress in language learning. Today, as I wandered around the Masaka market, I could understand most of the comments being thrown my direction, from the woman who asked for money to the women (and men) who complimented my braids [pics to come later, but right now, my hair is twisted into 78 long black braids made of yarn :)]. I had multiple conversations with vendors, did most of my bartering in Luganda, and bought a pineapple for the local price (approx. $0.66 USD) rather than the mzungu price ($1.00 USD). School has kept me really (really really) busy lately, as noted in the above excerpt, where I and Moses were the only teachers for 3 classes for 2 days; thus, my language sessions are happening less frequently, but I continue to learn and to use what I am learning to communicate when I get the chance. Most locals that I talk to refuse to believe that I've only been here for less than 3 months [they also refuse to believe that I'm only 22, but that's another topic]; they tell me I speak Luganda better than most bazungu who've been in the area for a few years. I don't so much consider that a compliment, though. It's more of a sad critique on the low importance too many foreigners place on actually learning the language and culture of the people they intend to serve.
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Before I got side-tracked talking about language, I also meant to include a brief comment about the recent presidential election in the US. I'm still processing how I feel about it, helped along the way by many the thought-provoking post-election blogs of many friends that I read today, so my own thoughts will have to come later.
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But, all ye Americans, know this: Ugandans as a whole seem to be very very very very very happy with your choice of president. I still receive congratulations from random people at least daily. I have discussed multiple times with my classes (to no clear outcome) the fact that Obama is not actually an African, but people here generally consider him a brother. Prior to the election, I knew two Ugandans who preferred McCain; most liked Obama not only for the colour of his skin and racial ancestry (his father was Kenyan, did you know?), but also because they remember the policies of the Clinton administration [very random thought: I'm glad my hair has finally grown long enough that people no longer compliment me by telling me that I look like Clinton, primarily because it was just weird to be compared to a middle-aged man]. Our eastern neighbour, Kenya, declared a public holiday to celebrate Obama's victory, and most East Africans seem to assume that his administration will be kind (and monetarily generous) to the region in memory of his family background (I also fail when I try to explain that US politics aren't so family/clan/tribe-based as ours here). People expect monumentous things to happen both within the US and around the world as a result of this new appointment. Generally, I would bet that Ugandans were even more excited about the election results than the general population of America.
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So, America, Obama, Democratic-controlled House and Senate, you have a huge task ahead of you to fulfill the expectations of the greater world. I wish you the best, and I pray that you will live up to the hopes of all my friends and neighbours.