Final Exams

It's probably getting old reading an apology at the beginning of each of my posts for such a lengthy delay, so I'll say it one more time - I'm sorry! - and from hereon out we'll just assume that it is implied whenever there are long delays (which I can almost guarantee will continue to occur). Thanks though to those who called me out for taking so long to get another post up...it worked! :)

I am in the middle of finals over here. Instead of having everything condensed into one week, they are spread out over a couple weeks. It's nice in some regards and a pain in others. The biggest hassle actually hasn't been the studying but instead has been getting all of the projects and everything completed. Thankfully, I've enjoyed the work I've been doing, and have actually been able to make some real use of some of the projects. For example, last Friday morning I gave a presentation to a World Bank employee about speeding up a lagging rural electrification project. Granted, I think he had already reached every conclusion that I offered, but it was still a cool experience.

I had one final exam last Wednesday, have three this week, and then have two more during the week after. My last exam will be on Wednesday, December 10 - the same day when I fly out to come home for the Jorgensen-Connolly wedding & spend Christmas with the family. To say that I am excited to get home and see everyone would be an understatement! Besides, it just doesn't feel like Christmas season with 90º weather outside!

Although school work has been more demanding these last few weeks, I still have had some very cool experiences over the last few days. I'll give a quick summary:

Thanksgiving - I have gotten to know several other ex-pats in the area, and we organized a group of 25 of us to do our own Thanksgiving. The actual meal was at the home of the USAID Director for Uganda, an absolutely gorgeous place in a very nice part of Kampala. We had pretty much the entire Thanksgiving spread - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and even pumpkin pie! The food was delicious and a welcome break from the Uganda food that I have been eating nearly every day over here! It was a very cool experience since most of us were experiencing our first Thanksgiving away from family, so we adopted each other. It wasn't a home Thanksgiving, but it was about as close as I could get!

Marriage "Introduction" - In Uganda there is another step in the marriage process that is not included in our culture. After the engagement and a few weeks before the actual wedding, there is an official introduction of the families. I was invited to attend one of these introductions by one of my host Rotarians, whose niece was getting married. The event started at 1:30 with lunch. We sat down around 2:30 and didn't get up until about 7:30 - 5 hours of sitting...ugh! It was very interesting though. Basically, the entire ceremony is an opportunity for the groom's family to give gifts to the bride's family (who organize the event). The gifts were numerous and ranged from gallons of cooking oil to a live cow and goat. Both families were definitely in the upper tier of society, and it was interesting to see how traditional things like livestock were still included in the gift giving process. Overall, a great cultural experience, but not sure I'd like to sit through another one any time soon!

Bahai Temple - Instead of going to my normal church this morning I instead went to the Bahai Temple with a few friends. Bahai is a faith that is something of a mixture between Christianity, Islam, and Hindu with several other influences. Kampala has one of eight temples in the world, and the only temple in Africa. Services are open to anyone so we decided to check it out. After getting lost while driving there (why do I keep trusting the maps over here...?) and taking a detour through a few interesting parts of Kampala, we finally arrived at a gorgeous building. The service consisted of readings from the Bible, the Qu'ran, and from some of the writings of the Bahai founder. Different, but very nice to see religions from around the world combined in a constructive manner rather than what we're seeing in other parts of the world right now!

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now. Not sure if I'll get another post before I leave. If you don't hear from me before the 10th, hopefully I'll see most of you back in Iowa in the upcoming weeks!

Cheers!
Chris

Staying busy...

I realized that I have hinted at what is keeping me busy over here, but have never actually written about how I have been spending the majority of my time. Here is a summary of my projects/activities now that I’ve gotten into something of a routine:

Classes: I am currently taking six classes, all associated with some aspect of renewable energy: (1) Other Forms of Renewable Energy, (2) Entrepreneurship Development, (3) Project Management, (4) Energy Policy & Planning, (5) Optimizing Energy Systems, and (6) Solar Energy. Although the lectures have continued to be intermittent (overall, I would guess that professors have showed up for about 60% of the scheduled lectures), the 14 of us in the program have been busy over the last few weeks with several projects, papers, and tests. The lectures themselves have been fairly pointless, usually being directly from PowerPoint slides or out of a book, but the overall program has required a lot of self-taught learning. And the nice thing is that all of the topics are right up my alley, so I find all of this material to be interesting. It took awhile, but I finally feel like a student again!

Research: After consulting with a few advisers at Iowa State, I have narrowed down my topic for thesis research to biochar. Without going into a lot of technical jargon and putting everyone to sleep, biochar is the byproduct from extreme heating of biomass (through gasification, pyrolysis, or charcoal production). It has been shown to be a very effective soil amendment for increasing soil fertility and crop production. It also has the ability to capture carbon and store it for hundreds to thousands of years, making it a “carbon-negative” technology and potential source for climate change mitigation efforts. I’m specifically looking at the biochar produced from gasification of biomass crops from the humid tropics. In a nutshell, it’s a cool way to combine my interests in engineering and agriculture. I am still in the process of finishing my thesis proposal (something that has taken much longer than expected), but should hopefully be able to start with experiments in the next month or so.

Teaching: For the past 6 weeks, I have been volunteering as a secondary school teacher at a local school. I have been teaching chemistry and math to A-Level students (upper high school level), and have been loving it! I had a little drama when I originally tried to find a school where I could volunteer (have been meaning to write an entry about it but that’s never happened – long story short: a school founder tried to use me, the token white guy, primarily as a recruitment tool for more fee-paying students…add to that the fact that the school was over an hour away from Makerere and I decided that option would not be in my best interests). After some help from a contact at Makerere, I found the school where I have spent the last 6 weeks. It is located near a slum area of Kampala and is designed to give access to kids who normally wouldn’t be able to go to A-Level school. The students are starting their exams next week, so I gave my last lesson yesterday. They then have their long break until the end of January (their academic year matches up with the calendar year). Sadly, I might not be able to come back and teach next semester since I’ll be juggling two loads of classes and research. We shall see….

“Consulting”: I have helped out with a couple rural energy programs. I wrote about one of them awhile ago – using sunflower seed oil to power a generator that will supply energy for an off-grid trading center. The other was a jatropha project in a district just north of Kampala (I think I might have mentioned that one also). They have been very interesting projects, but both of them have basically ground to a halt due to organizational issues within the implementation groups. Frustrating…

Coordinating Pen Pals: Tracy came up with the idea to have her students pair up with students here in Uganda and do a pen pals exchange. I’ve been helping to get the logistics figured out with the Ugandan school, and the first set of letters should be arriving any day now from the U.S.! Tracy and her students are also gathering school supplies to send over to the school here in Uganda (it’s a rural school where the students literally have nothing more than a pen and paper). Plans are in the works to try to add a more sizeable fundraising project, but I need to see how things play out with some background research first…

Language Lessons: I have been taking lessons in Luganda (the main tribal language spoken in Kampala and surrounding areas) since early September. I am part of a group of 8 students – 7 girls from Norway and myself – that meets for 4-6 hours each week. The class has been very interesting since it incorporates many cultural aspects. Unfortunately, I haven’t put in the study time outside of class that I should have. I can converse in basic Luganda…but only if I have my class notes right in front of me!

Church: I found a church within walking distance of my home where I have been going almost every week. It’s part of the Church of Uganda (Anglican) and has a “traditional” style of worship service, but traditional is definitely a relative term. The services here are still much livelier than the different “contemporary” services I’ve been to in Iowa. I was actually singing in the choir for awhile but had to cut that out when classes picked up. Strangely, none of the other choir members seemed too heartbroken when I stopped coming to practices!

Travels: Whenever it works out with my schedule, I am trying to get out of Kampala and see the region. The travels have been great – it’s nice to get away from the chaos that is Kampala every once in awhile! My recent trip to Rwanda was the most unorganized things I have been involved with – but the country was still amazing! Eventually I will get a post written about it… Besides Rwanda, I have spent time in Kenya, Kamuli District, Entebbe, Kabale (far western Uganda), along with a few other day trips. Tomorrow I leave for a weekend in the Ssese Islands, the chain of 81 islands in Lake Victoria. I’m going with a Rotary group and will be helping to pour cement for a local school located on the islands. We’ll also be checking out a recently installed “bio-latrine” that uses the human waste produced by the school to produce energy for cooking and lighting. The Ssese Islands are supposed to be gorgeous, so it should be quite the weekend!

Friends/“Family”: I’ve met some awesome people over here through classes, volunteering, random connections, and sheer chance. I will usually spend a night or two each week out in Kampala with friends trying a new restaurant or sharing our weekly adventures. Beyond that, I see my “host family” most days, although it’s usually pretty short since I get home late from school and am out the door early in the morning.

Anyway, that’s the cliff notes version of my life over here. Add to that the “fun” challenges that pop up with daily life (i.e. my hard drive crashing earlier this week), and it keeps me pretty busy. I’m trying to fit as much in as I can since I’m already done with three of the nine months that I’ll be in the country!

Cheers!
Chris

P.S. Without sticking my foot too far in my mouth, I want to clarify my last post a bit. As I read over the post, I realized that it came off with an obvious bias, which I did not mean to do. I am actually very moderate when it comes to politics, and I definitely want to avoid the potentially polarizing effect that political discourse can have – especially in this blog. The political atmosphere is naturally much different here in Eastern Africa than in the Midwest, which was reflected in my writing. So, that being said, yes, I am excited for the future, but I – like many of you – have my reservations also. The message I meant to convey was one of optimism, believing that we will need a positive approach to solve the issues we are currently facing, but knowing that we need to employ relative caution as we move forward with some of the changes that will inevitably come.


Pic: Football (soccer) match of Uganda vs. Benin (Uganda won 3-1)


Pic: Admiring the western Ugandan landscape


Pic: Lake Bunyonyi = gorgeous

U.S. Politics: An East African Perspective

I am sitting in class right now, battling to stay awake after staying up all night watching the U.S. election coverage.

It has been a very unique experience getting to witness this election from Africa. From the day I arrived back in August, I have been consistently impressed with Africans' knowledge of - and desire to discuss - American politics. Numerous times I have been asked to explain the electoral college or have found myself discussing topics such as which swing states mattered most and what each side was doing to try to win those states. Africans inherently have an interest in American politics since we supply so much aid to the continent, and the interest in this year's election was significantly magnified with our current standing in world affairs and Obama's ancestral ties to the continent. Of course, Africans had a strong preference for Obama. I would guess that I met a total of 5-10 Africans who supported McCain/Palin during the past three months. I think that I discussed American politics more often over here than I ever did while living in the U.S. (although I think I would have been frequently discussing politics no matter my location during the past few months).

The only frustration I have with African views on American politics is how some assume that Obama's heritage will directly affect them. I have heard several comments from Kenyan Luo's (Obama's father's tribe) who believe that Obama winning the presidency shows that their tribe is superior or that Kenya and Africa in general will now become a primary recipient of American aid and partnership. These views are by no means the sentiment of all Africans, but there are several individuals who have expressed them. It's frustrating to see tribal conflicts and selfish desires get brought into this election, especially when we know that the focus of the administration will be first to fix the problems within our country. If - and hopefully when - that is accomplished, it is still foolish for Africans to assume that they are going to get any special favors just because of Obama's heritage.

I spent the previous 10 hours sitting with several other Americans and ex-pats at a bar in Kampala that we had rented out for the night. We had CNN on the entire time and watched as the votes accumulated - using snacks and unlimited coffee to keep our eyes open during to slow hours at the beginning. There was a definite air of excitement as we experienced history being made, and it culminated with the excellent speeches from both candidates. As everything wrapped up, almost all of the individuals who were present and not of American citizenship commented on how impressed they were with American patriotism. Ugandans especially were impressed with our elections. Here in Uganda nationalism is still often overshadowed by tribalism; people consider themselves to be members of their tribes before being Ugandans (it would be like me considering myself an Iowan before an American). Also, many Africans found it hard to believe that I had full confidence in our elections proceding with no hints of corruption or rigging (disregarding hanging chads, soggy ballots, etc.); that is something that is rarely experienced over here. Knowing all of that, I had a powerful sense of patriotism as I walked out of the bar.

Although I am happy I was able to experience this interesting perspective on American politics, I am jealous of those in the United States right now. It's a very exciting time for our country; it sounds cliche, but even as I walk around today, I feel like the world has shifted. No matter whether you are liberal or conservative, we know that the world is going to go through some significant changes in the upcoming months and years, and it's exciting to think about the possibilities. There seems to be an optimism spreading among many Americans about the future that we haven't seen for several years, yet it is coupled with an understanding of the tremendous challenges we face as a nation. It's an exciting time to be an American!

Cheers!
Chris


Pic: The beginning. We stayed like this for almost the entire night, except that the beers changed to coffees approximately 5 hours after this picture was taken :)


Pic: It took awhile for those first results to come in...