this post measured in inches. not word count.

6/13/11
We purchased the fence. I wish that's where I could move to another topic. After blogging and doing coffee in the morning, Paul and I moved down to the hardware area of Jinja, where there are stores and stores of metal, lumber, and what have you. We monetarily purchased what we knew we needed for the fence from a store. It was quite expensive, but about what we expected. Our purchase was large enough to allow us to go behind the counter and pull out our money (all in cash) so we didn't have to count it at the counter. It was ridiculous having a total bill in the multi-millions of shillings. I felt like a big spender. Ow ow! Unfortunately it was for a fence and not a Lamborghini. We waited around for Oryagi (sp?) and headmaster so they could come help us figure out what else we needed and how we were going to cut our pole lengths and get them welded into the right shape. Thank goodness they showed up and knew what they were doing. What was originally going to cost us 25,000 UGX to cut each pole and shape them was reduced to 3,000 UGX per pole because of Oryagi knowing a guy who had done some good work previously. Yikes! Oryagi and headmaster, the Ugandans, were a big help in the afternoon. Many people were surprised to see two mzungus dealing down in the hardware/dock area. We were helping life supplies and even riding in the back of the truck we hired! We got a lot of looks, to say the least. Our original departure time from the port was 2pm. Our actual departure time was around 7pm. We took the boat across the lake under a pretty moonlight and finally set foot on Lingira around 8:30pm. After unloading all of the supplies, including 7 chain link rolls, 54 poles, 10 bags of concrete, barbed wire rolls and other wire rolls, Paul and were pleasantly surprised to see dinner still out and waiting for our return. I slept hard. Real hard.

6/15/11
After days of "negotiating" with headmaster over a fence plan, we finally have one figured out. We were able to make the fence entirely focused on the garden area. It doesn't have anything to do with any school buildings and separation of the sexes. I think we wore him out with our continual list of pros and cons for the respective plans. We finished digging all of the holes with the help of some classes during their breaks. The teachers have been bringing the kids out for half-hour-long periods to till and dig, which has been great! The kids keep in high spirits and are always laughing and having a good time. Some have even said they are excited for the garden!

6/15/11 - 6/20/11
The following is a random series of things happening. There is no order. Enjoy your b-sides and rarities…

The food is becoming monotonous here. It's tough to get through a day when you can know what to expect for lunch. Posho and beans are a regular, which I wouldn't mind but posh is really getting old. It's especially bad when you find the greens seasoned with plenty of good, natural dirt and sand that give it a nice crunch. Thankfully there is regular rice at dinner time, which I have been eating religiously knowing that I won't have it for another 24 hours. My bottle of Siricha hot sauce that is in a landfill somewhere sounds really nice right now…

I am almost done with my second book here. I am rereading the Golden Compass series, thanks to Erin Christmas and her quick thinking before leaving from Chicago. They are simple to read and are good for keeping my mind off of real, stressful things. I plan on finishing the second one in the next few days so I can start reading anotehr book I found in the library here. It is "The Geography of Bliss" which is written by an author who travelled around the world in search of what happiness is. I am excited to have a new book, plus I have heard some really good things about this one!

My video camera, yes the one that has been filming for the new EDGE video, decided to stop working. Along with my headphones and my new camera, my electronics have decided that they are best used as bookshelf ornaments. Thankfully Paul's camera takes some good video so our project isn't lost! Silver lining: the 160 videos that I did take on my camera were uploaded on the computer before I lost them. Paul and I have been continually buying soda from the shop in Lingira camp, which requires us to return our bottles before buying some new ones. It's a nice way of making sure we get over to the camps when all of our work is basically at the school. We made mandaziis with Mama O the other morning. Mandaziis are similar to donuts except they have much less sugar. They are sold and consumed all throughout the day on and off the island. Since they are super cheap, we have learned to enjoy them quite a bit! We spent a Sunday morning, after learning and while the entire island was at church, making a batch and ate the entire amount. Time well spent. We even got Papa O to miss church, which is a rarity, because we made them so well!

Robert, the man from Jinja who wants to design the garden, came to Lingira over the weekend to do a primary assessment of the land and the school. Basically, he said that if the school becomes invested with purchasing the necessary seedlings and tools (which are surprisingly cheap!) he promised to have a flourishing garden that could even begin to make a profit for the school. He has set up 98 school gardens in the Jinja area, which is incredible! This guy really knows what he is doing and has some great initiative. His knowledge of Ugandan soil and growing is rare to have with a man who is entirely devoted to making people's diets better. He also is really invested in this one on Lingira, because he wants to use it as the primary demonstration garden for the surrounding Buvuma islands. Since Lingira Living Hope Secondary School is the only one in this region of islands, it would bring in a lot of people and hopefully money for the school to start more projects and begin expanding for the children who aren't going to school. Eventually (this is ideal and long-term) it could lead to more looks from the government to provide more funding for the school, which has been coming in more steadily in the past year or so. EDGE has to work with the school to keep Robert coming. It is going to require a lot of talking from Paul and I, trying to get the school to begin budgeting for the garden. But I think we have started what can be a very good, sustainable project by putting up the fence to ensure crops growing.

Warning: Venting. Blowing off steam.

Paul and I were hauling aggregate from the front of the school to the other side where the fence is, when the children started to gather near the entrance. We were interested to see what was going on while people formed a semi-circle around an area when headmaster began to speak. There was a child next to him. He went to the secondary school but was recently suspended for a number of things. Pretty high crime such as yelling for a teacher in the middle of the night to get inside his dorm because it was locked; having a love letter from a girl in the school, and accused of stealing a book. It was pretty blatant that the headmaster and the teachers were enforcing their control by making a public case for this kid. He had served two weeks of suspension at home without being able to attend school. Paul and I were still taking in the information but found it interesting that the kid stole a school book. Yes, one to read and to study for class. Presumably he wasn't able to afford them or had lost his but the fact remains that he was stealing for his own education. I'm not advocating thievery at all here, but find it wholly screwed up when a kid has to steal from someone or someplace to be able to read a book for classes to a school that he is attending. An interesting and ethically confusing irony.

So, here we stand, taking a break from our work and all of a sudden the head master has a teacher whip out a couple canes (basically branches of a tree) for a good ol' genuine caning. It brought a crowd, to say the least. It was the epitome of humiliation, which is probably one of the least successful forms of punishment. His mother, the teachers, and the headmaster were all included in the lineup for a whack at the kids lower back and bottom. First, the mother. In a place where family relationships are utterly mixed up and family planning is a key source of domestic healing on the island, the school just lost 40 points in their attempt to fix domestic violence by making a game out of the caning. Next, two teachers. Probably the most influential people for this kid, next to his family. The people who he has the chance to learn from are now associated with pain and humiliation. I can't imagine wanting to go to class after having my teacher whole-heartedly smack my backside. Finally, the headmaster. After having the child stand up, the headmaster made him say in front of everyone watching, "I want to be caned again." Well, why not?! Bam. Caned. In a school that is so completely ambiguous and conspicuous about its vision and drive, they didn't didn't take minute to even consider the fact that pain as punishment cannot equate to authority. All respect in authority is lost when the authority has to resort to a means of caning to get a point across.

His next form of punishment, which was not at all brought up to Paul and I beforehand, involved having to hoe part of a termite mound in the garden. Yay, now the garden is associated with pain and punishment for this child. It is no longer a new, exciting project for him to learn and prosper from. Thanks a lot headmaster for finally taking some initiative in the garden. I'm glad the EDGE project could invest enormous amounts of money in an area where manual labor will come in the form of naughty children and unhappy work.

(Sorry. I needed to put that somewhere.)

6/21/11
Our work on the fence has been quite difficult, but consistent. We finished digging all of the holes and cementing the poles. Saturday was our first day of pouring concrete. We had the help of two students, Moses and Henry, who worked for four hours. They did some pretty laborious work for a handsome 10,000 UGX total. This is what the teacher bargained for them to work for. It was originally 3,500 UGX each, which is near $1.50. Paul and I felt weird only paying that much for tough work, so we increased it to $2.00 each… Ugh, sometimes it's so weird following the normal flow of money here, where that work wouldn't have been done for anything less than $30.00 in the states. We have been working from around 9am till lunch around 1pm, then go back to work for four more hours until 5 o'clock rolls around. It's like a full work day, but filled with dirt and rust and metal and cement. The levels (for making poles straight) that we have been using, or used, are completely off level. The couple guys we hired to help build the fence are persistent on using them, when the bubble level is noticeably tilted and the poles themselves are as straight as spaghetti. It has worked better to eye out the poles and make sure they are in line. Concrete has been quite difficult to work with. I never knew how much stuff goes into making the binding concoction. I know the difference between cement and concrete, and the types of sand and aggregate that should be used for different projects. I'm a grind working man with a killer farmer's tan. We have been dirty. And it has been awesome. No showers. Grizzly hair. Bruises. Cuts. Sore backs. Toes that want out. It's all for the fence. Which will be finished. Just you wait.

Paul and I have been working well with each other. Unfortunately, we are the only ones we can really vent and complain to, so sometimes we are at each other's throats. We both like to do things our own way, which can be arguably different sometimes, but we make sound and productive decisions for the EDGE project. We have talked about this, which was good, because we are seriously the only people who we can really talk to about anything that is annoying us. It would be nice to have a few more people travel next year, just so one can spread out their time to not have to continually go to the same person for ventilation. At days end, though, we enjoy each other's company and take comfort in the fact that we are both doing this together. Not to mention our tradition of watching a bit of Lord of the Rings on the computer before sleep. It's another way of taking our stressed minds off of the island before resting. Upon our return to Madison, I think our partnership will work quite well within the EDGE project as co-directors. A little bit of the old mixed with a little bit of the new. Some sugar and spice. It's a concoction meant for glory.

After another long day by the school, Paul and I are sitting on the front porch of the shim building, listening to Sharon Van Etten (thanks to the lovely Livy Baldwin and her musical addition to my life). Overlooking the lake. The sunset. The birds. The watermelons. The marigolds. The children running down the path. Termite mounds. Dirt. Trees. Haze. Dragonflies. Breeze over our sunburn skin. It's a very romantic scene to say the least.

To end on an entertaining note, here are some questions that Paul and I have been asked about America:

Can everyone walk around with guns?
Is rambo living there?
Do people actually get killed in movies? I was always confused when I saw a man die in one movie and then alive in another.
How do you know if Osama is dead?
Won't people look for his body in the ocean anyways?
There can't be poor people in America, can there?
Why do taxes exist?
Does everyone have a car for work?
Have you heard of swizniga - i heard he's the governor of california…
Has Ghadaffi been attacking people from where you are from? Why does Obama want to attack Libya then?
Can the military jets brought over to Libya flip a car over?
Are there forests in America? Green space?
Do you have goats and cows? How do you get the cows so big?
Do you have pigs? (laughing hard when asked)
Did Vietnam happen?

Sorry for the delay in posts, and the incredible length of this one. I promise that I will do it again.
Love. Laughs. Bagels. Cheese.

(ps: someone, please have a cold spotted cow ready for when I get back. You will be my best friend for it.)