MLK Day (belated)

MLK Day (belated)

How could I forget?

Perhaps it's because I'm out of the classroom.  Otherwise, I'd have had students dreaming and writing their  dreams for a better tomorrow and making their dream books out of cut-out card-backed photo-copied colouring sheets of Martin's head.

Instead, I forgot.  So, I went to YouTube this morning, downloaded the "I have a dream" speech and made everyone in the admin office listen to it with me.  When Dr. King began with, "I am happy to join with you today..." our business manager asked, "Is that Mitt Romney?"

In an effort to promote a greater understanding/appreciation of the ideals Dr. MLK promoted, I sent the following email to the teaching staff:

This week's PSHE theme is 'Accepting differences/Inclusion'.  I invite you to take a little time and watch the YouTube video below; it is of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream" speech.   

You may choose to have your students watch it (years 5 and 6) and discuss the ideas of integration and equality.  With younger children, the "I have a dream" statements (towards the end of the speech) can be a jumping off point where the children can talk about their dreams for a better--more inclusive--world.

I also came across my current favourite MLK quote:  ‎"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education." 

Training for the Paris Marathon is coming along wonderfully.  Yesterday I had my first enjoyable run!  At the end I wanted to keep on going.  Wisely, I didn't.  You know, too much of a good thing.  The biggest challenge I'm facing now in booking a flight.  I've literally got to finish the run then hop on a plane back to Uganda.  School starts back the following day (16th April).  The school has generously granted me that day off, but many of the airlines that go between Entebbe and Paris either do not fly back on the 15th or they leave too early for me to make the flight after the run.  And the ones that do... well, I'm trying to work out my best option.  This weekend it will be done.  Hopefully.

Finally done with It

Finally done with It

The year is 1990 and we are all terrified in the back TV room at Robbi D.'s when Pennywise proclaims:  I'll kill you all.  After regaining our wits and courage, "I'll kill you all!" became a sort-of catch phrase for us tweens and teens.  Similar to Bill and company, twenty-plus years later, I was summoned back for another round with It; this time in book form.  And today I finally conquered--all 1104 pages of It.


To answer those gnawing questions (Timothy, why now?  Why this book?) I'll quote myself as quoted by Beatrice Lamwaka in the Books They Read article of the 17th December edition of the Saturday Monitor:


I watched the movie while I was a child and the movie was horrifying. The movie meant a lot to me and my friends when we were young so in a way, I am reminiscing my childhood. I haven't read Stephen King in 15 years.


I agree with the brief review on amazon.com that 'King's depiction of youngsters is extraordinarily accurate and sympathetic. But there is enough material in this epic for several novels and stories, and the excessive length and numerous interrelated flashbacks eventually become wearying and annoying', except, I'm not sure if I ever found anything annoying.  Truth be told, I had no idea how long the book was when I began it--one of the benefits of a Kindle--and after much reading and little progress in the percentage area, I had to use the internet the look up the quantity of pages.  Truth also be told, that I occasionally took breaks from reading It, most humoursly to read The Santa Land Diaries in the Semien Mountains.  Maybe, like Richie, I needed the dose of humour to conquer It--all 1104 pages of It.  (I also just downloaded the 1990 miniseries, so a movie night is on the horizon.  Join me?)

Perhaps now I'll give Understanding Girls with AD/HA another go.  I even put Rushdie on the back burner during my affair with Mr. King.  Hmmm... I wonder who I'll be taking to bed tonight.

I did not hate myself 98% of the distance

I did not hate myself 98% of the distance

Today's was the first run that I did not hate myself 98% of the distance.  That's a good thing, I guess.  Hopefully, I'm getting over the hump, and my runs will become fun and inspiring once again.  I realise I've not mentioned the distance of any of my runs so far.  That is in part due to the fact that the wristband broke on my GPS watch, and I'm procrastinating instead of getting it repaired.  It's also due in part to the fact that I'm quite embarrassed by the short distances of my runs.  I think by next week, I'm be more on track and, therefore, a bit more open about my mileage.


Kampala is hot these days.  Really hot.  So hot that friends are sending my messages admitting fears of melting.  So hot that teachers are requesting amendments to the school's dress code to allow shorts.  True to form, I did a little research, and this is what I found out about keeping cool in hot climates (click on the links to read the full source article).

Taming Temperature

• Loose, light (in both colour and weight), long-sleeved shirts will keep you cooler than T-shirts. And, in most climatic conditions, cooler than other short- (and non-) sleeved tops as well.
• In very hot weather, though, most of the heat that your body is trying to eliminate has been absorbed from its surroundings. Light-coloured garments that cover your skin will dramatically curtail that absorption, greatly reducing the heat that must be dissipated.
• Sure, lots of people in New Orleans wear short-sleeved shirts; people often wear what they believe will keep them cooler, rather than what actually will. But I was in New Delhi, where the temperature was 115°F (46°C) when I first wrote these paragraphs, and the great majority of local residents were wearing long-sleeved clothing.
• In order to promote the circulation of air necessary to the evaporation of perspiration, hot-weather clothing should additionally be both loose-fitting and porous (air-permeable). How porous? Enough so that air can pass through it without serious restriction. Here's a simple test. Make an "O" with your mouth about the size of a typical beverage bottle (1" / 2.5cm), and stretch a piece of the fabric in question over it. If you can breathe comfortably through your mouth (not your nose), the cloth is sufficiently porous for decent evaporation; otherwise, it isn't.
• All of this holds true for the lower part of your body as well. Long pants/skirts/dresses of an appropriate fabric will keep you cooler than shorts of any length.

20 hot tips to stay cool

• Heat is trapped by synthetic fibres, but cotton absorbs perspiration and its evaporation causes you to feel cooler.  [So do linen!] 
• Eat spicy food. Although this may be the last thing you fancy in hot weather, curries and chillies can stimulate heat receptors in the mouth, enhance circulation and cause sweating, which cools the body down.
• Eat small meals and eat more often. The larger the meal, the more metabolic heat your body creates breaking down the food. Avoid foods that are high in protein, which increase metabolic heat.

How to cool yourself without air conditioning

• Wet your wrists and other pulse points with cold water. Use a piece of ice wrapped in a face cloth, to continue after the coolness wears off. Constantly cooling off the wrists will also cool off the body. Never use just ice; make sure it is wrapped in a towel or something similar. Studies show that this will reduce your core body temperature by as much as 3 °F (1.5 ºC). The relief is almost immediate, and will last for up to one hour!
• Drink water, even if you are not thirsty! You must replace fluids lost in perspiration to prevent dehydration. Oral re-hydration may be accomplished by drinking an electrolyte-balanced beverage. The electrolytes help to make sure you don't lose vital minerals through sweating. Adding ice will also help cool you off. Avoid lemonade, iced tea, and other sugary drinks (see the Tips below). Ice does not actually help you cool off if it is in water you will drink. Cool water does, but the colder the water the more energy your body spends making it body temperature so that it can use it.
• Try a few minty products to cool your skin: slather on lotion with peppermint (avoid your face and eyes); shower with peppermint soap; use a minty foot soak. Mint refreshes the skin and leaves a nice cooling sensation.

Personally, I love the heat, and I love to sweat.  I like imagine that the sweat pouring from my body during a good, long run is actually melted fat escaping my bulging belly, arms, thighs, back, etc.

Today's Plod

Today's Plod

I plodded along with marathon training today and got a run in this afternoon.  The stress release from such a run was much needed after today's failed attempt at a simple bank transaction.  Oh, Stanbic Bank, you are a mighty special institution!  

My running style lately truly feels more like plodding; I feel so tired, exhausted even after rest.  I'm having such a difficult time getting into this running thing again.  I hope I snap out of it soon.  While on my afternoon plod, I noticed this:

madman creative.  Wow!  Now that is creative (assuming it is an ad agency as I strongly suspect it is).  I've never seen Mad Men on Bravo, but I don't live on Mars, so I know that it is immensely popular.  So if the creator of this agency proves to be a creative as its name suggests, then I cannot wait so see ads like these hit the billboards:

Oh, and I think today I committed myself to buying a new sofa.  Blame it on the runner's high.

Right.

In the BARTH room?

In the BARTH room?

Yes, that's where Barth lives on.

Marathon training update:  there was no running for me today; I took a rest day.  I hung out at Fas Fas, still trying to finish It.

How could I forget this one?

How could I forget this one?

MFK:  Are you serious?  Do we really have to hike through this herd of baboons?

Guide:  No, they are not baboons.  Baboon is a negative name.  They are mountain monkeys.

MFK:  Ok.  Is there no other way?  Why are we hiking through this herd of mountain monkeys?  Do we really have to?

Guide:  Yes.

MFK:  Why?

Guide:  Because it's nature.


Timothy:  Here, puppy, puppy, puppy!

Today marked one week since I began running again (theoretically training for the Paris Marathon).  I'm not sure how far I ran, and since it was on the hash, I will not even try to map my run online--too many check backs and running through sewage ditches.  It was a fun/good run.  However, it is quite humbling to know how fit I was at the end of October and how unfit I am at the beginning January.  Stamina:  where did it all go?  Tomorrow might be a swimming day.  I'll be back on the streets on Wednesday.

not laziness

not laziness

Ok.  Many distractions.  Much to do.  Priorities out of sync.  Whatever.

A friend scolded me for not chronicling my marathon training experience for the Nairobi Marathon--which I completed on 30th October 2011.   A missed opportunity?  Perhaps.  Well, I'm registered for  the Paris Marathon, which will take place on the 15 April 2012, and I think I officially began my training program this week.  After taking a complete running break for the entire month of December to give my knees a much needed break (not laziness, I!), I've tried to get myself back in the streets this week.  I successfully managed to do this three times; I successfully managed to talk myself out of a run only once.  Overall, not too bad.  The biggest triumph was getting my rear out of bed and out on a run this morning.  True, it was a very short run, but, hey, where were you?

I have a tendency to start blog projects and stop before completion.  Let's just see how this one goes.

Paris.

15th April.

2012.


On the topic of missed opportunities:  Oops!  I almost did it again.  For two weeks in December, I took a trip with three FABULOUS friends to Ethiopia.  Somewhere along the way, I found the need to channel my inner cheerleader?  For a humourous account and lovely photos of our Abyssinian hijinks, read Robyn's blog.  She's definitely on it better than I am these days.  I'll simply say that I have never visited a more beautiful place on this planet than Ethiopia; this was the most special holiday I've taken to date.  And I'll leave you with my three favourite quotes that I overheard during our northern trek.

• "You should pay the people and get them out of the park," said the Norwegian man to who I interpreted to be his Ethiopian tour guide.
• "I liked that we did not see many people during our tour.  I guess that means you should keep the population low.  Yeah, that would be good," said the Norwegian man's wife to who I interpreted to be his Ethiopian tour guide.
• "Sit down!  Girl, this is not a matatu!" said Kelly to the young woman who stood up to get her bag from the overhead compartment as the plane was touching down in Entebbe.  The plane had not even slowed down to taxi into the terminal.

Easy. Breezy. Beautiful.

Easy.  Breezy.  Beautiful.

I've always had a thing for cover girls, and Cover Girl cover girls have really done it for me in the past.  My two favourites being

Drew Barrymore

and Niki Taylor,

in that order.

Ok, so Drew's stint as Cover Girl is still in the present, but isn't she lip perfection personified?

This month, October 2011, I add one more cover girl to my list of favourites:  Becca Schwartz.

Oh, WorkZine, you just became exponentially more welcomed in my inbox each month.  Thanks to this exposure, I'm sure Becca will attract quite a bit of attention, and she might have difficulty selecting only one guy among the many who will want to be her suitor.  Well, lucky for us, Becca has put thought into polyandry.

Imagine the law made it mandatory for you to marry four husbands and each had to be from a different country, which countries would you choose from and why? 

US - being American, I’ve found that it’s usually Americans who share the values and beliefs of mine that matter. Plus my mother has informed me that if I have her grandchildren and keep them somewhere in Africa, I will be dead to her - this way, my American husband could keep the grandchildren in the US, close to Jaja. 

Senegal - It’ll give me a chance to work on my French and Wolof skills and (assuming I also get citizenship in Senegal with the marriage) free travel within ECOWAS - important for business. When I lived in Senegal, I was proposed to at least 3 times per week so it may be good to actually take one of these guys up on it someday. To be clear, it wasn’t really that I’m all that, it was that I may hold the key to a magic visa/green card for them. Also, Senegalese men tend to be quite tall and handsome. 

Sweden - I’ve got the dark and handsome with the Senegalese fellow so I’ll even it out with light and handsome from Sweden, you know the model type. Plus the EU passport will come in handy. 

Uganda - I’ve lived here too long not to include one of you guys. I guess maybe you’ve grown on me :)

Isn't it so cute, the way she is able to speak using emoticons?  Not only is she cute, guys, but she can probably out sing all of us in a Rent sing-a-long, and she's an expert in solar power marketing.  She can light up your life.

Easy.

Breezy.

Beautiful.

Cover girl!

That's enough about Becca ( I gush, I gush).  I want to give a bit more credit to WorkZine.  I began receiving it around edition 28 (Becca's issue is 37).  I really like the concept and the platform they give to writers (seasoned and those learning the ropes, yet have something to say).  Check out their website:  www.theworkzine.com.  You can also listen to a podcast of an interview with the managing editor of WorkZine, Abid Were.

...the best dressed rebel in history.

...the best dressed rebel in history.

(Insert nominee's name here)

I'm just kidding.

The Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon is one week away!  Stacy and I have put in the training (she perhaps better than I), and it's hard to believe those four (plus) months of literally pounding the pavement have passed by so quickly.  Back are the days when 21 kilometers constitutes a "short run".  I wish I could say that gone are the days of extra flab on my stomach.  It seems I've become leaner in almost every other region of my body except the stomach area.  Lipo might be the only solution for that pesky area.

I declare this week a week of rest and healthy eating... Let's see how long that lasts.  I hope I'm more successful at this than living off of 300k for one month.  I only have seven days to try and live right.

I'm already sort of failing.  My goal is a 9:30pm bedtime, and it's almost 9:45.  To be fair, I am writing this blog post in my bed.  Wearing only a pair of thin boxer shorts.  (How's that for an image in you head?)  So technically, I've achieved my goal for the day.

This post will be short and sweet.

There's just one more book quote I'd like to share, then it's lights out.  Or maybe I'll squeeze in another few pages of The Satanic Verses.

"You're going to be the best-dressed rebel in history," says Gale with a smile.  (pg 43, Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins)

I read all the Hunger Games books earlier this year.  Please, believe the hype; it's a fantastic ride.  Gale gives my favourite quote of the entire series in the third book, Mockingjay.  I love the satire of our obsession with celebrity and style.

Seriously, though, a great book club discussion could be guided by the question:  Who is the best dressed rebel in history?

But no one ever asked mammy how she felt about it.

But no one ever asked mammy 
how she felt about it.

I recently finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  The verdict:  I liked it.  However, I wasn't sure I would.  It came highly recommended by Sybil.  However, I read one person's opinion that referred to one of the main characters, Skeeter, as "weak... when she finally started dating" and I didn't think I could handle a southern-belle version of Bella Swan.  Well, Sybil's recommendation and the hype surrounding the film version won out, and I downloaded the book.

I finished reading The Help more than a week ago, and I planned to blog about it, but I never got around to it.  This morning, I was lying in bed finishing up the second season of Glee, watching the prom episode, and the result of Kurt Hummel winning prom queen provided the catalyst for me to finally write this post.

So Kurt was declared prom queen, and he fled the auditorium/gymnasium/wherever the prom was held in tears, pursued by his boyfriend, Blaine.  And this is what Kurt had to say:   "We thought that because no one was teasing us or beating us up that no one cared. Like some kind of progress had been made. But it's still the same ... All that hate, they were just afraid to say it out loud, so they did it by secret ballot."  It's a very touching scene of the show, and I recommend you head over to Jezebel.com right now and watch it.

This scene with Kurt and his resulting sobs to Blaine made me think a statement that Mae Mobley makes to Aibileen on page 392 of The Help:  "Miss Taylor says kids that are colored can't go to  my school cause they're not smart enough."  This remark from a fictional child in 1964 to the woman who cared for her struck me like that proverbial ton of bricks.  1964.  In Mississippi.  I grew up in Florida, graduated from high school in 1994 (30 years after The Help is set), and remember being told very similar statements, in Sunday school of all places, as late as the early 1990s (a harsh reality to face, such bullshit was still institutionally passed on in America... how many years after the Civil Rights movement?).  Reading Mae Mobley's words in 2011 brought back a wave of memories I had repressed of the racist indoctrination I received growing up.  (By the way, the Sunday school teacher who pompously expounded on my intellectual superiority base on the lack of melanin in my skin, had a black dog named Ni**er and sons who trick-or-treated dressed as Klansmen in white robes.  Such fond memories of my home town!)  And being a fairly sensitive person, I really needed to discuss the feelings that were triggered by this.  I was surprised by my current naivete and a little shocked that the the same lies that were used to teach racism to children in the 1960s was still being used to teach racism to children in the 1990s.  My assumption is that the lies are still being propagated to children today.  (How's that for optimism?)  Since Sybil is the one who recommended to book to me in the first place, I went to her with my thoughts and emotions (I hate using that word).  And she said to me,  "It just goes to show you that despite all the progress we claim to have made, shit ain't changed."

Like Kurt said, "We thought that because no one was teasing us or beating us up that no one cared.  Like some kind of progress had been made.  But it's still the same."

The same.  Yeah, the hatred still abounds.

Below is a quote from one of today's online discussions about the recent death of Gaddafi and the reactions/comments of people from around the globe.

"Well, at least now i know that arab africans are called 'sand niggers'...oh, how developed is the west!"

Was that a vocabulary lesson she really needed to have?

It gets depressing.

Nobody likes to see a crazy lady with an axe in her hand.

Pink Cupcakes and Black Bosco

Pink Cupcakes and Black Bosco

Last weekend was better than I could have planned.  The 32 kilometer run that turned into 28 km instead still left me buzzing with endorphins for the rest of the day.  Becca was, as usual, a pleasure to meet for dinner.  Sunday's pink cupcakes bake and delivery left me with a smile and reaffirmed that I have amazing women in my life.  (Keep squeezing your boobies, girls!  Not just in October.)  Sunday evening I reconnected with an old friend, and that truly brought me happiness.  As Angela stated it earlier that day, "It's hard to find amazing people, but somehow we do.  And it's like a miracle every time!"

Another small joy that contributed to the culmination of a fabulous weekend was reclining back in my comfy-chair under a throw blanket and reading The Ballad of Black Bosco by Ernest Bazanye.  I mentioned Ernest on my blog once in a post back in 2007.  Keeping up with his blog address can become your new pastime.  But his writing and brilliant social commentary are the treasures at the end of the wild goose chase.

The Ballad of Black Bosco is a pretty impressive novella; it even has it's own facebook page!  According to which, it is about "two Kampala boys.  One becomes famous, the other becomes rich."  Bazanye describes the process of not finding a publisher in true Bazanye wit on his blog:

What does a novelist do when he or she (he in this case) finds himself in a country  where neither Penguin, Random House, Barnes nor Noble ever set foot? Does he fly to America? But he wasn’t given a visa. So does he then not write the novel. That’s what I did. 

Or that’s what I thought. Until the idle typing I had been doing in between bits of actual work at office began to take the shape of a real story and not a blog post, so I just went ahead and wrote it. I had a novel there. 

So, what does a novelist do when he has a novel and Random House, Penguin, Barnes and Noble still haven’t called? He lets the novel gather dust on a C-Drive somewhere.
Actually, I wrote this so long ago, the computer I typed it on is actually junk now. It was in 2007 those prehistoric ends. 

So what does a novelist do when he finds it on a backup CD and thinks, hey, someone might enjoy reading this? 

He puts it up online and says, well, if you want to read it, please take a look. It’s funny. You might like it.

Like it, I did.  

I even highlighted some quotes that left me LOLing and ROFLMAO using my new, nifty Kindle:

• "I knew that voice.  I had to turn the radio up really really loud for that woman I recall.  I remember I had to switch from the BBC to Capital FM to drown her out, and ended up having to listen to Celine Dion for an hour."

• "Al fresco means it is outdoors but there are no flies."

• "Doc asked the hooker on his lap to move her hairweave out of his face for a minute so that he could make his point that it was wicked and vile."

And my personal favouite highlight:

• "Why do we need Ugandans to sound like Americans?  The market for American accents has alredy been cornered.  By Americans."

Bazanye's masterful skill at writing in that horrible Ugandan-style-fake-American accent led me to wonder if he were guilty of penning the finger-nails-down-a-chalk-board irritating script for that ad from our-logo-is-the-colour-piss-after-several-days-of-not-drinking-water-and-you're-super-dehydrated-after-a-night-of-binge-drinking telecom company.

My favourite quotes may not make much sense right now, and that is because they are out of context.  I know.  So take advantage of the free download of The Ballad of Black Bosco and have a laughter-filled read over the weekend.  And as our friends over at The WorkZine say, "After you download and read, please go [to] the Facebook page of Black Bosco here and tell the writer to not make you laugh like that again."

Musing Over Moon Over Manifest

Musing Over Moon Over Manifest

(Or if you like acronyms:  MOMOM.)

I took advantage of the two days I've had to take off from work thanks to my viral friend, influenza (kind of a pretty name, don't you think?) and finished reading Moon Over Manifest. When I started the book, I wasn't sure I'd like it. Depression era and the Midwest do not make my favourite setting for a story. The Wizard of Oz was bearable because Dorothy Gale wasn't in Kansas anymore.


Well, I'm glad I read it. There's a reason it won the Newberry Medal and was a New York Times Bestseller. Some of the best writing is on page 144:

...I thought I knew a thing or two about people. Even had my list of universals. But I wondered. Maybe the world wasn't made of universals that could be summed up in neat little packages. Maybe there were just people. People who were tired and hurt and lonely and kind in their own way and their own time...

...I admired how Ruthanne knew what I did not. That Lettie hadn't had her fill of gingersnaps. With six kids in their family, she had more than likely given up her own cookie and traded something for an extra one to share with us... 

...If there is such a think as universal--and I wasn't ready to throw all of mine out the window--it's that there is power in a story. And if someone pays you such a kindness as to make up a tale so you'll enjoy a gingersnap, you go along with that story and enjoy every last bite. 

Moon Over Manifest was a story within a story that detailed the making of a story. Yes, that's right. You'll need to read the book to get what I'm lousily trying to explain.

The makings of a good story, as described in MOM 

• To write a good story, one must watch and listen 
• When she tells a story, she's sort of removed from them.   She's the storyteller. 
• Telling a story ain't hard... All you need is a beginning, middle and end. 
• As much as I had a need to hear her story, she had a need to tell it. It was as if the story was the only ablm that provided any comfort. 

Two more quotes I have to throw in for good measure:

"Sometimes, when folks move on, it's hard to look back.  It's not their fault."

"The Baptist church, normally home to only the purest of Manifest citizens--meaning the ones who had parents and grandparents and even great-grandparents born in this country--was suddenly filled with strangers.  Each held his or her own jar or jug of either Velma T.'s elixir or Shady's whiskey."

Reading Moon over Manifest was a real treat. Abilene Tucker is part Tom Sawer, part Jean Louise "Scout" Finch and altogether a very memorable character.  Part of the ending was perhaps sweeter than I would have liked, but there was a twist I did not expect.  And yes, I did have tears in my eyes as I approached page 342.

Spewing Words Like Spray Paint from a Can

Spewing Words Like Spray Paint from a Can

"Blogging's not writing.  It's graffiti with punctuation."

I saw Soderbergh's latest film, Contagion, yesterday afternoon.  It's been described as a 'cold' film, and that's probably why I enjoyed it so much.

Now, going to a public toilet to urinate after watching Contagion, I did not enjoy that experience quite as much.  The friend I went to see the film with would not use his bare hand to open the door to the restroom; he used a handkerchief shield.  Über cautious?  Or just plain smart?

I quit.

I quit.

After only nine days of my intended-to-be-month-long experiment. I quit.  I don't know how they do it.  I do now know how Ugandan school teachers live on their salary in the current economic atmosphere where inflation is 21.4 percent.  Even being generous, not including rent or house cleaning services in my budget, I found out I cannot make it on only 300,000 Uganda shillings per month, not in Kampala.  Sure people do it, but life should be more than just survival, and as I mentioned before, there is a BIG difference between filling one's belly and being properly nourished.

And properly nourished I've not been.  That was a hard reality for me to face on Thursday evening when I was on my evening run (of only 6.4km), and I found it almost too difficult to complete.  Skipping meals does not facilitate marathon training.  As I realised how spent I was and unhealthy I was becoming, I considered pressing on, like the guy in Supersize Me when he discovered the severity of the health risks that sprung up during his McDonald's experiment.  Then I came to my senses.  It's just not worth it.  Yes, it's easy to assume that I live high on the hog and that's why I failed.  Assume what you like, but even James Mwase, the chairperson of UNATU, Jinja branch says that a teacher's salary cannot buy them maize flour for 15 days.   

There's a lot more the salary cannot buy.  At the point of quitting, my flat was without:

• fresh vegetables;
• eggs;
• laundry soap.  (A friend recently questioned the frequency in which the drivers employed by her agency washed their clothes, pointing out their odoriferous state.  I asked how much the drivers were paid.  She wasn't sure but speculated around 400,000 UGX per month.  I replied, "Exactly."  If she wanted better smelling drivers, their earnings would either have to be altered or the soap could be provided to them.  When you can barely feed your family, fragrant laundry soap is not a priority.) 

Basically, I was out of the basics.  Nothing fancy.

Other things that really cannot be afforded on the current salary are newspapers and books.  I strongly believe that keeping up with what's going on in the world and sharing it with my students is a very important role I have as a teacher; therefore, access to this information is crucial.  Reading culture, reading culture, reading culture.  I've heard this term thrown around in Uganda since I arrived in 2002.  How are teachers going to recommend or get children excited to read books they've never read, seen, heard of?  How are people going to find time to read if they are too busy battling starvation and just trying to survive?

It has been said that an increase to the teachers' salary would be 'subversive to national development'.  It's also said that an increase of less than 50 percent can heavily impact the economy.  We're talking about an increase or salary of less than 300,000 UGX (just under $100 US) each month.  Is it really the teachers' salaries that are subversive to national development and heavily impacting the economy?  Come on.

Quality education comes with several price tags, and one of the greatest investments a school, district, nation has to make to deliver a quality education is in its teachers.  

Dogooding

Dogooding

Under the headling:  Teachers Divided Over Strike was this photo

with the caption, "An American volunteer helping to teach pupils... on Monday."

I still hope this is a stock photo with an incorrect caption.  In case you're unaware, teachers have been on strike, demanding a salary increase.  To sensationalise it, the media are reporting that teachers are demanding a 100 percent pay raise, emphasising the 100 percent.  The reality is, considering what they currently earn (273,000 UGX per month before taxes), even after doubling their salary, it will still be very low; they're actually not asking for much, especially when you consider that some people working in public office earn 15,000,000 UGX or more each month.  100 percent of very little is still very little.

It would really make my blood boil to know that this volunteer whose 'intentions were so pure', instead of relieving poverty, is actually tightening its grip by undermining teachers' efforts to earn a livable salary in Uganda.

Call it what you like.  I call it a scab.

Whose needs are being met?  The children's to learn?  The woman's to feel she's doing good?  The teachers' to be able to eat and support their families?

Where are Jack "Cowboy" Kelly and David Jacobs when you need 'em?

...that we got a ton of rotten fruit and perfect aim.

A summary of today's expenses:

3,000 UGX for lunch

Total: 3,000 UGX

Remaining with 199,700 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  keep busy at work.  The more you work, the better you can ignore hunger and the less time you'll have to go somewhere you'll be tempted to spend money.

Pre-8pm Crash

Pre-8pm Crash

So, I'm reading this fantastic book,  Moon Over Manifest.  Problem is, I'm suffering from exhaustion.  8:00pm, and I'm out like a light.  The plus side:  I spend no money.

A summary of today's expenses:

3,000 UGX for lunch

Total:  3,000 UGX

Remaining with 202,700 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  go to bed early.  Boring?  Yes.  Inexpensive?  You bet your ass.

Back on Track

Back on Track

Well, sort of.

A summary of today's expenses:

3,000 UGX for lunch

5,900 UGX for dishwashing soap

Total:  8,900 UGX

Remaining with 205,700 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  birthday parties are manageable with loans from friends.

Expensive Diversions

Expensive Diversions

I never really realised how expensive my running pastime was until I restricted myself to a very limited budget.  I run.  I'm training for a marathon.  I assumed that after covering the biggest training expense, the shoes, running would be pretty cheap.  

One word:  hydration.

I blew 9,700 shillings today on rehydration/refueling alone.  Then there was the expense of getting from the ending point of my 21km run back home.  I did public transport, took a taxi, and that cost me an additional 1,000.  So just over 10,000 shillings, my maximum daily budget, was spent before midday today.

This really got me thinking.  If I'm spending this much money on simply keeping myself healthily hydrated, how is the average teacher in Uganda able to keep a healthy diet?  There is a BIG difference between filling one's belly and being properly nourished.

In only the four days I've been conducting this experiment, I've caught myself cutting back on or skipping meals entirely in order to keep my daily expenses low.  I'm discovering that it is exceptionally difficult, if not next to impossible, to eat adequately on the salary that the teachers are currently earning.

So, it's been reported in the paper that "the government, beginning tomorrow, will use its head teachers to roll-call all its teacher" and that absent teacher are to be punished.  But who's going to roll-call the head teachers?  From my own experience, I'd expect it to be more likely to not encounter a head teacher at school than there be absent teachers.  I worked at a school where the deputy head teacher pretty much only showed up on the first day of school and never appeared again, yet he still drew his salary every month.  There was another school I worked with where the head mistress missed 13 out of 20 school days, repeatedly.  I won't deny absenteeism of teachers also being a problem.  However, many times when I'd discover the whereabouts of teachers who was not at school, I'd find them digging in a garden.  Hmmm...  I wonder why?

I must be honest and confess that I splurged tonight.  My friend, Barbarah, is in town from Malawi.  I've not seen her in over a year.  Another friend from Uganda who lives in the US is also in town, so we all got together at Katja's Kitchen in Bugolobi.  How could we not, right?  Yeah, my budget for the next week is ruined.  I spent 25,000 on my meal and drinks.  Yikes!

A summary of today's expenses:

9,700 UGX for hydration
1,000 UGX towards transportation
25,000 UGX for dinner splurge
6,300 UGX for milk and tomatoes

Total:  42,000 UGX

Remaining with 214,600 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  stay away from restaurants of any form.

Day Three, with Failure in Sight

Day Three, with Failure in Sight

Day three of my little experiment has left me less-than optimistic about it's outcome.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to fail to get through this month on the 300,000 shilling budget I gave myself, and that might be a good thing.  I'm thinking that might be what I intended to prove in the first place.

While staying on a tight budget is proving to be very difficult to me, my determination has led me to be a bit more creative with my Saturday activities.  Staying at home would be too simple, and, let's face it, dull.  So free activities I found myself doing today:

• visiting Afriart Gallery and drooling over new works of art by Ronex;
• visiting Ivuka Arts and narrowing down my search for an Anwar painting to three;
• and a book orgy at Isha's.

Babs has arrived in KLA and is as gorgeous and fabulous as ever.

A summary of today's expenses:

5,000 UGX for beverages with a friend
20,000 UGX towards tranportation

Total:  25,000

Remaining with 256,600 UGX

I'm going to end this post with a clip from Maurice's show last night.

I'm afraid I'm gonna need an angel to carry me through the rest of this month.

Tip for those low on cash flow:  adopt the mantra, Free is for me!

Maurice's Night

Maurice's Night

Completely spent and exhausted after only two full days with the kids back at school, I went home to catch a quick disco nap before the Maurice Kirya concert at the Serena Hotel tonight.  (No, I've not fallen off the 300k wagon; I've had my ticket to the show for weeks now.)  Over the years, I've seen Maurice perform several times and in various venues.  Maurice is a gifted live performer; his talent and the energy from his shows has not yet been captured in his recorded music.  His has always been a fantastic show to catch, and tonight was no exception.

madandcrazy did a live blog of the build up to the show and then the show itself.

If you were not one of the fortunate ones who attended the show last night, head on over to madandcrazy for a periodic breakdown of the evening.

At one point in the show, Maurice channelled Chris Kattan's SNL Antonio Banderas.

Yes, when the performance hall was boiling, Maurice threatened to unbutton his jacked... and. then. he. did.  Too sexy!  Too sexy!

I've also got to mention that when the bodas came on stage during the performance of, you guessed it, Boda Boda, I was taken to the arrival of Maureen Johnson to the 11th street lot during a live performance of Rent (at 5:30 in this clip).

The only thing to do is jump over the moon.

In order to continue with my experiment, I skipped any and all after-partying and came home.

A summary of today's expenses:

3,000 UGX for lunch

6,000 UGX for beverage at venue

Total:  9,000

Remaining with 281,600 UGX

Tip for those low on cash flow:  make friends who know people.