Food is a constant source of comment here. As you might imagine, food is different. The good news is Uganda has a rich growing environment. The bad news – for us anyway – is that it’s mostly root vegetables. A traditional Ugandan meal consists of: white potatoes, yams (yes – both in the same meal), Matooke (plantains mashed and steamed with no seasonings), posho (ground corn a bit like grits) again no seasoning) and ground nut sauce. We get all that everyday at training.
A traditional Ugandan meal consists of: white potatoes, yams (yes – both in the same meal), Matooke (plantains/green bananas usually mashed and steamed with no seasonings), posho (ground corn a bit like grits) again no seasoning, and ground nut sauce. We get all that everyday at training.
For American tastes, they have added some meat, and at much urging some greens (a bit like mustard or collard) and a bit of shredded cabbage – and almost always bananas. There are LOTS of bananas here!!! Sometimes we have pineapple, and I have to say it is the best I’ve ever had. My host family gives me a boiled egg every morning and a scrambled egg at night. And I am OK with that, because I DON’T want posho or Matooke or tiny little dried silvery fish or…
With every meal there is what’s called African tea – a smokey, wonderful brew of boiled milk, some tea leaves and maybe another spice. My drinking water is always boiled and this is done over a charcoal or wood fire, so everything tastes a bit smokey. Clothes smell smokey… Hair smells smokey… You get the picture.
So the generalization is that men lose weight and women gain. So far, the walking to and from class and everywhere else has balanced things out.
Other self care issues: HAIR. Thank goodness I learned to cut my hair when I was 13. I did it this weekend on the front porch while it was pouring rain. Still, I collected an audience. I hung the 3 inch mirror up on the iron grating over the window and saw some faces peering through the trees from the road. I waved – they waved back. The next look revealed two sets of eyes, then three – all the while giggling at the Mzungu cutting hair. Several people are now “in line” to get hair cuts when the weather allows the cross town hike to get here. Life continues, hair grows.
OK – enough. Lights and brain are dimming.