Weddings, Water/Food Safety, Ants, and Canadian Thanksgiving

I am leaving for Mbale tomorrow to conduct some workshops with other professors here at UCU, so I thought I would do a quick post of some things that have been happening over the past week. Then, I will post about Mbale over the weekend.

Weddings
People in this culture are very interested in getting married and having kids. They cherish marriage and rarely divorce, at least on this campus. Being here at UCU reminds me of my LCC days because everyone here wants to get their "MRS" degree. It took me by surprise during my first meeting when someone asked me about my status. I wasn't sure how to respond because I connected status with Facebook (I guess that is due to my social media addiction). I actually remember asking someone what was meant by "status" and quickly learned that it referred to marital status. People here are usually single and content; single and searching; or married. The single and searching is what you really need to pay attention to because these guys are on the prowl. They are established in their career and are looking for a suitable woman to bare children. After all, the average number of children to a woman here in Uganda is a little over 7. In fact, we come in second in the number of bearing children out of all of Africa! So, all of this searching eventually leads to a wedding and you know weddings are expensive. In order to afford a wedding, a couple hosts meetings which are used to fund raise and plan the wedding. In order to estimate how much they will need, the wedding couple proposes a budget, which is then discussed and debated in the first meeting.

 I know it is probably difficult to read the information in these the pictures especially because of the updates, but you can see they have the item, quantity, rate, amount, status/paid, and balance. Now, in this economy, the numbers look huge, but keep in mind that there is about USH2500=$1. The wedding total was about $10,000 for 300 guests, which I thought was really expensive, but I think that size of a wedding would be about $20,000 in the U.S. Some things are already covered including the wedding rings and clothing for the bridal party. Most people here just wear a plain gold band instead of diamonds and a ring like we

do at home. They also give out pledge cards. I don't know how well you can see the pictures, but they ask for name, amount, date of collection and contact information. This is the way the couple pays for their wedding and EVERYONE contributes.

 These are the pledge cards that all of the couples give out to their family and friends. It's very similar to "Save the Date" cards at home, except you are expected to contribute. I really like that weddings are a community effort and not one person has to carry the burden of funding a wedding.

Novida 
This is my new favorite drink. It is pineapple goodness. I can't get enough of it. I especially like that it is less than $1.

Ant Update
I am still struggling with the ants as this pictures shows. This chicken was actually in my refrigerator overnight and when I opened it the next day, it was covered in ants. Yes, they crawled into the CLOSED refrigerator. So, I turned the temperature up and my house help, Sarah, cleaned my entire refrigerator. I think I am going to have her clean it every week so that I don't have any issue. My apartment is also being fumigated tomorrow when I am gone to Mbale. I am sure I will come home to many dead bugs, but I would rather them be dead than alive. Still looking for a solution to these stupid ants. It seems that I need to keep everything super clean and sweep the floor after I cook. Oh, and I must immediately pick up any bugs I kill because the ants will carry them away within minutes.



Water/Food Safety
Apparently I am not boiling my water adequately. I discovered this last weekend when I was over at my neighbor's house for Canadian Thanksgiving and she boiled her water for 10 minutes. She is a nurse and says that I must boil for 10 minutes. I have an awesome little tea pot that boils water and I usually just drink the water after it boils. It automatically shuts off once the water reaches the boiling point. I haven't had any real issues yet, except for the occasional bout of traveler's diarrhea. Yes, I know it's gross, but it is a real part of life here. We'll see if I have any issues. I also usually use the regular water to wash my fruits and veggies, but I do use soap! I am very sure my immune system is going to be awesome when I leave Africa!

Canadian Thanksgiving
The girls next door to me are from Canada and work with our Save the Mothers Program. They offer various degrees in health for leaders to come and earn through modules and then pass on the knowledge to their various communities throughout East Africa. They have Thanksgiving in Canada, but it is in October. The girls had quite a spread including chicken (can't get turkey), stuffing, corn casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. I attempted to make peanut brittle with ground nuts, which are like peanuts. It was quite tasty. I ate so much that my stomach hurt, but it was totally worth it!

The food here is delicious, but sometimes I get tired of rice, beans, and mashed bananas. I am looking forward to hosting American Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner!