Training

I cant believe we have been in country for almost 8 months now!! Time has been flying by (only 19 more months but whose counting?)

We recently had our 3 months at site 6 months in country in-service training. This was originally supposed to be held for 2 weeks in January with our counterparts present for various trainings. Well the wall fell at the peace corps office and caused everything to be delayed. The training was cut from a week of inservice and a week of language down to two days of in-service and 2 days of language. It also just happened to be in the closed town to me which I was slightly bitter about due to the fact that I am there often to buy groceries and want to see other cities in the country but it was nice for everyone else to get to see the town and have the wonderful American style food it has to offer.  It was nice to see those who I have not seen since we swore in and moved to site and catch up on projects happening and the latest gossip…you think you get away from all the gossip after high school but peace corps brings it to a whole new level.

I was also given the opportunity to retake the language exam since I was just short of passing it the first time around. This time around it was much more stressful given the fact that it was pass or go home. I do like spring time in ohio and would love to see everyone at home but I am not ready to leave Africa yet. I worked with a tutor since moving to site (the first one was terrible and the second one was decent I guess). The loser group who did not pass stayed an extra 2 days after everyone else left to review and retake the exam. I could not have asked for a better group of people to be around for those days.  It was a very tense couple of days and many were not happy about the way some aspects of it were handled. I feel as though we should not have been threatened to be on the next flight back to America by some when others were saying there is no way they will send you home it just wont happen. Both were said by staff during the 2 days. I wish that it would have been more of a… we will see how hard you try and show proof that you have been trying and then decide whats going to happen…situation.  I feel those who do not try should get booted back to America and those who do try and just cant get it should be able to stay and keep trying. 

Another One Bites The Dust

Since coming to country my group that started at 46 has made its way down to 40. We have lost a variety of people for various reasons. One was crazy so she was sent back to the states just to reappear in country wanting her site back (I think you just proved how crazy you are with that move), another couple flew back to America and sent their resignation from there, another left because he felt his org and housing were not acceptable and admin was not doing anything about it and not returning phone calls. One has a mysterious illness and was medially evacuated and has since been medially separated and the illness has still not been fully diagnosed even tho he is seeing some of the best tropical disease doctors in the country. And last but not least another has been medially evacuated and has 90 days to get better and he will be able to come back. We are crossing our fingers that he is able to return.  

We have also had 2 others sent to South Africa for broken bones. No unfortunately I was not one of them even though I was voted most likely to injure myself on purpose to get to South Africa for mcdonalds. I was very close to being able to go when one of the broken bone people who just so happens to also be named Erin discovered her plane ticket did not have her last name on it but instead it was for me…they should have just allowed me to go pick up mcdonalds and I promise I would have come right back and even brought it back for others in the office who are lying if they say they don’t miss it!

Our group may set multiple records while being here...they told us we have one of the oldest most experienced groups in peace corps history...now if we keep losing people at the rate we are now we will be down to one volunteer at the 27month mark...and in just 3 months we had 3 people have to go to south africa (i mentioned 2 of them but the other was one who is now in the states and was first in S.A before being med evaced}... 

Uganda Little League

In January I was able to attend a baseball/softball camp for girls and boys. Baseball/Softball is not a well known sport and most in Uganda do not play it but an American man discovered the talent here in Uganda and decided to begin training coaches who can then train the children to play baseball. He built a beautiful complex just outside of the capital Kampala. On the complex there are 3 fields and dorms as well as houses where the individuals who run the programs here in Uganda live. Softball is newer here and not many people know the difference and the talent is new so myself and a couple other volunteers taught windmill pitching to girls and coaches for the 2 weeks of the camp. I never really pitched when I played softball but was able to work with the other volunteers to help teach these ladies how to pitch. We worked on basic fundamentals of pitching as well as how to coach and teach others how to pitch. We encouraged the coaches to watch one another pitch and point out what they were doing wrong and help the others correct their mistakes. 2 weeks was a long time for the camp and we were defiantly worn out by the end of each day between the hot sun yelling at the girls and actually doing stuff throughout the day (actually doing something was my biggest change since I had previously been at the orphanage where there was nothing for me to do other than nap and watch movies and tv shows and visit with the very few children who were there}. 

Uganda Little League has been in the news a lot in the past year as one of the teams made it to the World Series but then the visas were denied due to false birth certificates. Birth certificates are not a very common thing here and many parents here do not know the exact date their children were born but rather the month and the year so when someone asks them. Uganda would have been the first African team to make it to the Little League World Series that is held in the States each year. They would have played the Canadian team first in the series and when a Canadian woman heard about this she decided to take into her own hands and fundraised enough money to allow the Canadian team to come over to Uganda to play in the game that was supposed to be played. This created a lot of publicity for Uganda and their team even a couple Major League Baseball players came to show their support and help with the game and activities. Jimmy Rollins (shortstop for phillys} and Derrick Lee (first baseman for cubs but is now a free agent and im not sure if he has been signed yet} both came to show their support.  Jimmy Rollins came early and even participated in a softball game that we had every afternoon for the coaches and girls. I was playing catcher during the game and Jimmy hit me with his bat…Anyways overall it was a fun two weeks that I am glad I was able to be a part of and Uganda ended up beating Canada in the game and were rewarded with the equipment and prizes that they would have won if they would have gone on to win the world series.