bum bum bum...

okay….

ugandan tv is…uh interesting? Most drama shows seem to feature about 3 not great actors (usually 2 girls and a guy) in one room and the whole story happens in that room in luganda (which i don't understand so I can't tell you about what's going on). Then there's news, which can be quite graphic and of course the Spanish novellas. Wait what? Yes, Spanish novellas. But wait! There's a twist. It's a Spanish soap opera featuring a Spanish title but the actors (who are terrible- worse than Kristen Stewart) speak in English. But that's not the worse part…there's a male voice over in luganda that is sometimes on top of the English, sometimes behind it and sometimes in front of it. And of course, the male voice is monotone for every line of the script, whether male/female, happy/sad/angry, etc. And he's loud -__-.

Bottom lime…I've given up on Ugandan tv. Not that I'm much of a tv lover to begin with.

But I did see an interesting ad on tv tonight while waiting for dinner (which was french fries and a scrambled egg courtesy of the family as they know I don't eat matooke). Here's the ad:

"Raising voices--because a violence free childhood is every child's right."

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above ad/quote.
-And yes, child abuse/domestic violence (and even more animal abuse) happens here. But there are TONS of organizations working on fixing these issues.

Moving on…

Yesterday, I went to a Japanese orphanage here in Wakiso. FYI, most organizations here are based on foreign funding and will fail without it. Somehow, it seems like it hasn't occurred to them to actually try to become financially sustainable? Anyways, I've posted a picture of some paper beads the orphanage is making to help raise a tiny bit of funds. They cost about $10 and are made by the workers/kids of the orphanage. These bead necklaces are common here and if you are interested in ones that are cheaper and don't help the children, I'd be happy to find some for you too. Let me know! Picture of the beads is on tibbyme.tumblr.com.

Today, we checked out a restaurant owned by a local female. The restaurant was started by her mother 25 years ago. Uganda has a high rate of startups and failures in businesses so we went to the community to talk to them to figure out the motivation behind the businesses and how the business is run.

So apparently, as a single mother, the only option you have to make money is to own a business. However, owning a business appears to be a last resort? At least, that's what the staff made it sound like. So for this particular business, which sells traditional food, they were one of the first restaurant (if not the first) in that particular location so they managed to develop a loyal customer base. I did ask whether they ever do any type of advertising or marketing or anything to attract new customers. Answer: no. Has it ever occurred for them to? Answer: no. Okay, record keeping? She (the owner), like many Ugandans, keep the figures in her head. Nothing is ever written down. However, she did know the exact number of plates she sold today as of the exact time I asked her (69 plates). Cool?

So…lessons learned from today's business training session:
1. Ugandans love to copy and paste. Ex: that business works, lets move across the street and make the exact replica. Obviously, their in business, they must be making money so I will too.
2. Feel free to take any knowledge you learn and make your own shop. Who cares if you steal someone else's recipes and use them for yourself.
3. Ugandans are afraid of change…hence copy and paste.
4. In the area I am to be posted, most likely the people have yet to learn algebra and have limited reading skills.
5. Everyone wants to start a business but no one thinks the idea out thoroughly. There may be 8 people who want to open the same thing in the same place at once. Or the ideas aren't feasible or sustainable.
6. I have ALOT of work cut out for me. Fun stuff!

Other facts I've learned about Uganda:
1. I live in a petri dish. Seriously, everything's here…Everything. And everything grows here.
2. For a place that can pretty much grow anything, they have seriously bland food. They have avocados, tomatoes, and tons of other veggies but it has never occurred for them to mix stuff together to make new foods instead of eating everything separately. So salads are an introduced item. And for a place that produces a ridiculous amount of bananas and pineapples, I have not seen any dried fruit…
3. If you figure out where Peace Corps or other foreigners live (not in Kampala), you can make a killing selling them American food/items. Seriously, in Wakiso, where I am right now, all someone has to do is rent out a store 2x a year (when the volunteers come in) and sell non Ugandan items and they'll make a ton (in Ugandan standards).
4. Don't touch the water. Seriously, you'll most likely get shiest if you touch any lake water. However, it doesn't mean you shouldn't go water rafting on the Nile. Apparently, that's worth it. You can self treat afterwards anyways. There's no need for prescriptions in Uganda. Everything's over the counter.
5. Oranges here are green! Try explaining to someone why oranges are called oranges =)
6. Greetings are VERY important. They can determine whether someone will help you if you ever need help.
7. If someone calls you fat here, it's a compliment. Following that line of thought, skinny is an insult!
8. Don't talk about homosexuality.
9. Prepared to be asked a million times about your religion by everyone.
10. Now I know how famous people feel when they have fans all over the place. Little children LOVE to yell and wave and jump up and down when they see foreigners. They usually say "see you muzungu (white person)" or "how are you china". I do get tired of waving at every single kid though…

Finally…I think I'm broke (unless I change money or wait until next week when I get allowance). I spent my funds on…Head and Shoulders Shampoo! Cost me 15000 Shillings!!! (divide by 2701 to get USD) But totally worth it over some generic brand here. I should still have enough money to get a coke or a chapati or other small snack (like popcorn). If not, well…hello friend! Thank you for sharing =). (Don't worry, I'll share back too…)

And that's all folks! For now….
-and I did post some pictures today (www.tibbyme.tumblr.com). It cost me $2-3 to post those pictures! That's how much uploading kills my air time. I'm going to have to find a better method to post pictures.

<3 Tiff