Saturday, October 9, 2010
For Jacob, Wherever I May Find Him
Exactly as the title indicates (and as Simon and Garfunkel penned): Jacob Babu, thank you for being ever there when I need you.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Recent poll: If a worm crawled out of your guava, would you still eat it? Yes.
“Assist me to become upright,” Clovis said, gesturing with open palms as if seeking help.
“I’d like to assist half the country with that one, dude...”
“No, help me to stand up.”
“Oh. Yeah... No problem.” I pull her up. Guess that can serve as my Peace Corps Duty of the Day instead?
So being south of the equator and whatnot, it’s technically Spring here. But damn, winter might as well be approaching: the rains have come, and when it rains, people hibernate. True, the maxim “when it rains, it pours” garners its literal meaning here and tin roofs and a lack of windows fall so far short of the mark in providing a conducive learning environment in schools. Okay, yeah, the rains are making my summer squash, beets and basil sprout faster than I can clear away new transplanting land. But I don’t care! To me, this meteorological alteration signifies three things: unreliable power, the disruption of playing outside all day, and boredom, eliminating any excuse I’ve had for dogging it on the blog front. The more lengthy the span between posts, the easier I find it to offer up picking mud out from underneath my fingernails as a legitimate excuse for not blogging. It would help if I took pictures…
Okay. In the two months since my last blog, I’ve been mentally torn (not to mention physically; a big “Thank you!” to Peter for steering our bicycle into that barbed wire fence): is everything different or has nothing changed? As far as adjustments I’ve made in this country go, the ones I’ve had a go at in the past 2 months have been insignificant, inconsequential, negligible. I haven’t been forced to learn a new culture, move 8 hours away, nor lived out of a backpack for longer than a week. Congratulate me. I’m feeling pretty good about this accomplishment. I’m still teaching computers to 110 13-16-year-olds. I’m still failing at learning Runyankore. I’m still loving the pace of life in the village. My head is still reeling at the possibilities for this place that stare unblinking at me through the infallible sunshine. So nothing has changed changed; unless it’s me?
There are some obvious things that have affected me. Like people. Yeah, be careful, they’ll do that to ya if you’re not obstinate. Constant vigilance, Mad-Eye, constant vigilance… But in all seriousness, I’ve had a few people really change my outlook on Uganda. I used to think that the cultural differences were too disparate, the education level gap too vast for meaningful communication, until Peter and Sanyu. Peter, a Peace Corps Volunteer from Chicago (might as well be from Timbuktu: he’s a Cub’s fan), just finished his 2 years and is extending for a third year in Botswana. He and I became fast friends over a decades-old cross-town rivalry and a knack for sarcasm. It could have also been the Hare Krishna service we strolled into one lazy Sunday in Kampala that inexplicably bonded us, religion has that power I suppose (a free lunch is always delicious, even if they were fasting from beans and grains…). But really I think I just admired his non-condescension when interacting with Ugandans. It was really refreshing and it opened my eyes to a population that enjoyed wit, toyed with the English language, and could dish out sass as easily as the best (best?) spoiled brats from suburbia. A certain lightness has to be what kept him sane during his service.
But alas, Peter is out like the Cubs and the playoffs and Sanyu is in like a new Blackhawk’s lineup. Who’s Sanyu, you say? My neighbor/school secretary/Fr. Charles’ niece/my best friend. The villagers know us to be inseperable; can I even by a tomato without Sanyu accompanying me? Nope. Why would I want to? This girl, aged 23, gets me, gets me like I’d presumed only another American could. When she’s around (which is thankfully every day, all day), I’m reminded of how generous, how understanding, how amusing Ugandans can be. I buy us a jackfruit to eat until our stomachs scream in protest and she pays be back half the next day. I help her plant beans in her garden (not even kidding, this is how it’s done: shove a handful into your mouth, store them like a chipmunk, take a swipe at the ground with a hoe, spit a seed into the hole, move on and repeat) and she’s out the next week helping me clear the knee-high weeds from mine. It seems I forget about my garden’s existence easily… I want to turn my courtyard into a dance floor and she shows up with tunes. I want to play football, jump rope, do cartwheels and handstands, learn netball, run sprints across the field, dodging grazing goats and cows all the while, and she’s right there next to me. I could go on all day, but what you need to take away from my diatribe is this: Sanyu makes me view my time in the village as so much more than “two years of service”. Her only downfall is a relentless consumption of my gum, so thanks for the dozens of packs you all have sent her way!
Right, so people have changed me. But so has the universal Ugandan contentment. Sure, sometimes it manifests itself in an lack of concern for work, children, eating, bathing, or more generally, living. But it can also surface as a “happy here in the now” attitude. Some of the best shit comes from the times you decide to cede and acquiesce to let the wind take you where it will. The power goes out before a computer lesson and instead of holing up in my room, reading a book, I play a trivia game with the kiddos. Questions I’ve received: can you kill us because all Americans know karate? Do Americans need oxygen to survive? Are Americans immortal? Is your skin 100 times softer than ours? Pretty confident those ones’ll stick with me for a while.
General contentment comes with removing stressors as well. What does that mean for me? No marathon training! And safaris! Why take 10 hours out of your week submitting yourself to harassment and hills when you can be playing football with kids? Why put in extra hours working, the only one to do so, when you can get up close and personal with elephants and lions on safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park? Exactly. Exactly…
But don’t get me wrong, I am working! As proof, I’ll leave ya’ll with a little doozy from one of my girl students that left me staggering during my reproductive health and sex ed. lesson: “can you lose your virginity by riding a bike or climbing a tree?” Ha. Ha. Help me.
“I’d like to assist half the country with that one, dude...”
“No, help me to stand up.”
“Oh. Yeah... No problem.” I pull her up. Guess that can serve as my Peace Corps Duty of the Day instead?
So being south of the equator and whatnot, it’s technically Spring here. But damn, winter might as well be approaching: the rains have come, and when it rains, people hibernate. True, the maxim “when it rains, it pours” garners its literal meaning here and tin roofs and a lack of windows fall so far short of the mark in providing a conducive learning environment in schools. Okay, yeah, the rains are making my summer squash, beets and basil sprout faster than I can clear away new transplanting land. But I don’t care! To me, this meteorological alteration signifies three things: unreliable power, the disruption of playing outside all day, and boredom, eliminating any excuse I’ve had for dogging it on the blog front. The more lengthy the span between posts, the easier I find it to offer up picking mud out from underneath my fingernails as a legitimate excuse for not blogging. It would help if I took pictures…
Okay. In the two months since my last blog, I’ve been mentally torn (not to mention physically; a big “Thank you!” to Peter for steering our bicycle into that barbed wire fence): is everything different or has nothing changed? As far as adjustments I’ve made in this country go, the ones I’ve had a go at in the past 2 months have been insignificant, inconsequential, negligible. I haven’t been forced to learn a new culture, move 8 hours away, nor lived out of a backpack for longer than a week. Congratulate me. I’m feeling pretty good about this accomplishment. I’m still teaching computers to 110 13-16-year-olds. I’m still failing at learning Runyankore. I’m still loving the pace of life in the village. My head is still reeling at the possibilities for this place that stare unblinking at me through the infallible sunshine. So nothing has changed changed; unless it’s me?
There are some obvious things that have affected me. Like people. Yeah, be careful, they’ll do that to ya if you’re not obstinate. Constant vigilance, Mad-Eye, constant vigilance… But in all seriousness, I’ve had a few people really change my outlook on Uganda. I used to think that the cultural differences were too disparate, the education level gap too vast for meaningful communication, until Peter and Sanyu. Peter, a Peace Corps Volunteer from Chicago (might as well be from Timbuktu: he’s a Cub’s fan), just finished his 2 years and is extending for a third year in Botswana. He and I became fast friends over a decades-old cross-town rivalry and a knack for sarcasm. It could have also been the Hare Krishna service we strolled into one lazy Sunday in Kampala that inexplicably bonded us, religion has that power I suppose (a free lunch is always delicious, even if they were fasting from beans and grains…). But really I think I just admired his non-condescension when interacting with Ugandans. It was really refreshing and it opened my eyes to a population that enjoyed wit, toyed with the English language, and could dish out sass as easily as the best (best?) spoiled brats from suburbia. A certain lightness has to be what kept him sane during his service.
But alas, Peter is out like the Cubs and the playoffs and Sanyu is in like a new Blackhawk’s lineup. Who’s Sanyu, you say? My neighbor/school secretary/Fr. Charles’ niece/my best friend. The villagers know us to be inseperable; can I even by a tomato without Sanyu accompanying me? Nope. Why would I want to? This girl, aged 23, gets me, gets me like I’d presumed only another American could. When she’s around (which is thankfully every day, all day), I’m reminded of how generous, how understanding, how amusing Ugandans can be. I buy us a jackfruit to eat until our stomachs scream in protest and she pays be back half the next day. I help her plant beans in her garden (not even kidding, this is how it’s done: shove a handful into your mouth, store them like a chipmunk, take a swipe at the ground with a hoe, spit a seed into the hole, move on and repeat) and she’s out the next week helping me clear the knee-high weeds from mine. It seems I forget about my garden’s existence easily… I want to turn my courtyard into a dance floor and she shows up with tunes. I want to play football, jump rope, do cartwheels and handstands, learn netball, run sprints across the field, dodging grazing goats and cows all the while, and she’s right there next to me. I could go on all day, but what you need to take away from my diatribe is this: Sanyu makes me view my time in the village as so much more than “two years of service”. Her only downfall is a relentless consumption of my gum, so thanks for the dozens of packs you all have sent her way!
Right, so people have changed me. But so has the universal Ugandan contentment. Sure, sometimes it manifests itself in an lack of concern for work, children, eating, bathing, or more generally, living. But it can also surface as a “happy here in the now” attitude. Some of the best shit comes from the times you decide to cede and acquiesce to let the wind take you where it will. The power goes out before a computer lesson and instead of holing up in my room, reading a book, I play a trivia game with the kiddos. Questions I’ve received: can you kill us because all Americans know karate? Do Americans need oxygen to survive? Are Americans immortal? Is your skin 100 times softer than ours? Pretty confident those ones’ll stick with me for a while.
General contentment comes with removing stressors as well. What does that mean for me? No marathon training! And safaris! Why take 10 hours out of your week submitting yourself to harassment and hills when you can be playing football with kids? Why put in extra hours working, the only one to do so, when you can get up close and personal with elephants and lions on safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park? Exactly. Exactly…
But don’t get me wrong, I am working! As proof, I’ll leave ya’ll with a little doozy from one of my girl students that left me staggering during my reproductive health and sex ed. lesson: “can you lose your virginity by riding a bike or climbing a tree?” Ha. Ha. Help me.
Ugandan Nutritional Myths
Here's an article I wrote for our monthy Peace Corps Newsletter. Not exactly the same thing as a full-fledged blog post, but one is forthcoming, scout's honor. Sorry that a good 3/10 of it can't be applied to the U.S....
Ugandan Nutritional Myths
Whether or not you worried about your diet in the States, I’m sure that in Uganda most of you have experienced some reservations, pangs of guilt, uncertainty, or sleepless nights for those in the high-strung group, over what you’re putting into your body. Sure, it’s a fact that posho makes you stronger than any other food, but what about the other dubious foodstuffs here? I don’t claim to be a nutritionist and some of my facts may come from questionable sources, or be entirely fabricated where research was dearth, but let me attempt to answer some of your burning (calories) questions about the Ugandan diet.
Is sugarcane good for you?
Heck yes! Sure sugar is derived from it, but in the raw and unprocessed form sugarcane has a very low glycemic index, meaning that it produces only small fluctuations in your blood glucose and insulin levels. Hence, good for diabetics, reduces the risk of heart disease and beneficial in weight loss. With a high water content , it beats soda and beer as a hydration agent. High in potassium, it works as a decent laxative, should the need arise here… Claims have been made that sugarcane strengthens the stomach, kidneys, heart, eyes, brain and sex organs, prevents sore throat, cold and flu, fights cancer and speeds up the recovery process after jaundice. Hallelujah, no more living in constant fear that your eyes are yellowing!
Ugandans never eat raw vegetables, probably to avoid germs, but does cooking eliminate all of their nutritional content?
Cooking actually boosts your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients in some vegetables. For example, the cancer-fighting nutrient lycopene is stronger in cooked tomato sauce than in raw tomatoes. However, overboiling veggies results in nutrients seeping out into the boiling water. Steaming and roasting vegetables, or using the water to make a soup, can help retain the most nutrition.
With the massive quantities of salt Ugandan’s throw into the pot, are we ingesting more salt here than we would be in the States?
Up to 75% of the sodium Americans consume comes from sodium added to processed food by manufactures. Americans on average consume 3,436mg of sodium daily. The recommended amount is under 1,500mg per day. This is equivalent to about ¾ tsp of salt. That’s not a lot, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about your own individual diets. Sure, processed cheeses, canned soups, packaged chips, and crackers are no longer available readily, but Ugandans probably could be encouraged to use spices, herbs and lemon (why do they call them "oranges"?) juice to flavor fish and chips.
Matooke: high in carbohydrates and devoid of nutrients, or does it have redeeming qualities?
Let’s get this straight, tell all your Ugandan friends: matooke contains no protein. It contains no fiber. What it does have is water, vitamin C and potassium. In fact, one matooke banana allegedly has as much potassium as 2 ½ yellow bananas. However, the method of cooking matooke in Uganda completely squanders these redeeming nutrients; it should be steamed in its peel (n.b. my writing is clearly biased here). But here’s a little known fact: matooke bananas do turn yellow when ripe and can be eaten, but are not as sweet as Kabalagala or Bagoya (baby and bigboy bananas, respectively).
Let’s here the same verdict on cassava. Add on sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and posho while we're at it, too.
With about 330 calories per cup, cassava is a pure carbohydrate. Sure it has neither fat nor cholesterol and does contain fiber and vitamin C, but cassava has no protein and is “good for weight gain”. As far as Irish potatoes go, it clearly makes a difference whether they’re baked or boiled, with skin or without. Ala Uganda (boiled without skin), they’re more carbohydrate dense than cassava but contain more nutrients, specifically vitamins B and C, fiber and potassium. Bake 'em with skin, and they’re teeming with vitamins and minerals. What normally accompanies posho is beans. Taken together, amino acid intake is complete but protein and vitamin levels are nowhere near met. Posho doesn’t even have the calories needed to impact weight gain. What posho lacks in Vitamin A, which correlates with malnutrition, is made up for by sweet potatoes. High in calories, true, but more vitamin-dense.
Speaking of bananas, can a person consume a health-jeopardizing quantity of yellow bananas?
No. Unless you’re popping Potassium pills at the same time. But the big ones pack about 100 calories per shaft, so 5 or more a day can add up…
Ugandans seem to think that pumpkin is a “food” (read: carb) like matooke or potatoes. True or false?
Pumpkin is actually a vegetable, more akin to the American acorn squash than anything. That said, it is extremely low in calories (about 50 of the little guys per cup) and contains a heap of vitamins and minerals: A, B, C, K, Dietary Fiber Potassium, Folate, Riboflavin, Copper, Manganese and Iron. Pumpkin contains a high dose of the essential antioxidant beta-carotene, which may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer, protects against heart disease and stalls the degenerative effects of aging. That being said, you should probably try the recipe at the end of this newsletter to get your pumpkin fix.
Protein can be somewhat of an issue for Ugandan kids. What are the daily protein requirements of a growing body (that also digs, treks two miles to school and carries jerrycans of water on the head)?
The daily recommended intake of protein for children aged 1-3 years is 13 grams; aged 4-8 years is 19 grams; aged 9-13 years is 34 grams. One cup of beans/cowpeas has 14 grams of protein, as does 2 oz of meat, fish or chicken or 2 oz of nuts. One egg has 6 grams of protein and one cup of milk has 10 grams. I’d recommend tacking on some grams to the recommended intake, as these numbers are for American children, who are a great deal more sedentary than Ugandan kids. So, acquiring enough protein could be an issue for older Ugandan children, if not all children.
“Glucose is a nutrient that needs to be supplemented.”
No. Glucose is the physiological name for a simple sugar. It does not need to be supplemented; Ugandans get enough of it in porridge, tea, cakes and fruits. Glucose packets: probably not a good idea.
None of them are particularly good for you, but what’s the worst of the worst: Kimbo, Blueband or Ghee?
Here’s my translation of these products: Kimbo = Crisco vegetable shortening, Blueband = Land O Lakes margarine, Ghee = butter, somehow. Therefore, Kimbo has a higher fat content (100%) compared to Blueband and Ghee (about 80%). Ghee is unprocessed and is solely comprised of milk, according to some semi-reliable Ugandans. However, both Blueband and Kimbo are fortified with vitamins. A negligible benefit when considering the trans fat, calorie, sodium and cholesterol contents.
Ugandan Nutritional Myths
Whether or not you worried about your diet in the States, I’m sure that in Uganda most of you have experienced some reservations, pangs of guilt, uncertainty, or sleepless nights for those in the high-strung group, over what you’re putting into your body. Sure, it’s a fact that posho makes you stronger than any other food, but what about the other dubious foodstuffs here? I don’t claim to be a nutritionist and some of my facts may come from questionable sources, or be entirely fabricated where research was dearth, but let me attempt to answer some of your burning (calories) questions about the Ugandan diet.
Is sugarcane good for you?
Heck yes! Sure sugar is derived from it, but in the raw and unprocessed form sugarcane has a very low glycemic index, meaning that it produces only small fluctuations in your blood glucose and insulin levels. Hence, good for diabetics, reduces the risk of heart disease and beneficial in weight loss. With a high water content , it beats soda and beer as a hydration agent. High in potassium, it works as a decent laxative, should the need arise here… Claims have been made that sugarcane strengthens the stomach, kidneys, heart, eyes, brain and sex organs, prevents sore throat, cold and flu, fights cancer and speeds up the recovery process after jaundice. Hallelujah, no more living in constant fear that your eyes are yellowing!
Ugandans never eat raw vegetables, probably to avoid germs, but does cooking eliminate all of their nutritional content?
Cooking actually boosts your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients in some vegetables. For example, the cancer-fighting nutrient lycopene is stronger in cooked tomato sauce than in raw tomatoes. However, overboiling veggies results in nutrients seeping out into the boiling water. Steaming and roasting vegetables, or using the water to make a soup, can help retain the most nutrition.
With the massive quantities of salt Ugandan’s throw into the pot, are we ingesting more salt here than we would be in the States?
Up to 75% of the sodium Americans consume comes from sodium added to processed food by manufactures. Americans on average consume 3,436mg of sodium daily. The recommended amount is under 1,500mg per day. This is equivalent to about ¾ tsp of salt. That’s not a lot, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about your own individual diets. Sure, processed cheeses, canned soups, packaged chips, and crackers are no longer available readily, but Ugandans probably could be encouraged to use spices, herbs and lemon (why do they call them "oranges"?) juice to flavor fish and chips.
Matooke: high in carbohydrates and devoid of nutrients, or does it have redeeming qualities?
Let’s get this straight, tell all your Ugandan friends: matooke contains no protein. It contains no fiber. What it does have is water, vitamin C and potassium. In fact, one matooke banana allegedly has as much potassium as 2 ½ yellow bananas. However, the method of cooking matooke in Uganda completely squanders these redeeming nutrients; it should be steamed in its peel (n.b. my writing is clearly biased here). But here’s a little known fact: matooke bananas do turn yellow when ripe and can be eaten, but are not as sweet as Kabalagala or Bagoya (baby and bigboy bananas, respectively).
Let’s here the same verdict on cassava. Add on sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and posho while we're at it, too.
With about 330 calories per cup, cassava is a pure carbohydrate. Sure it has neither fat nor cholesterol and does contain fiber and vitamin C, but cassava has no protein and is “good for weight gain”. As far as Irish potatoes go, it clearly makes a difference whether they’re baked or boiled, with skin or without. Ala Uganda (boiled without skin), they’re more carbohydrate dense than cassava but contain more nutrients, specifically vitamins B and C, fiber and potassium. Bake 'em with skin, and they’re teeming with vitamins and minerals. What normally accompanies posho is beans. Taken together, amino acid intake is complete but protein and vitamin levels are nowhere near met. Posho doesn’t even have the calories needed to impact weight gain. What posho lacks in Vitamin A, which correlates with malnutrition, is made up for by sweet potatoes. High in calories, true, but more vitamin-dense.
Speaking of bananas, can a person consume a health-jeopardizing quantity of yellow bananas?
No. Unless you’re popping Potassium pills at the same time. But the big ones pack about 100 calories per shaft, so 5 or more a day can add up…
Ugandans seem to think that pumpkin is a “food” (read: carb) like matooke or potatoes. True or false?
Pumpkin is actually a vegetable, more akin to the American acorn squash than anything. That said, it is extremely low in calories (about 50 of the little guys per cup) and contains a heap of vitamins and minerals: A, B, C, K, Dietary Fiber Potassium, Folate, Riboflavin, Copper, Manganese and Iron. Pumpkin contains a high dose of the essential antioxidant beta-carotene, which may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer, protects against heart disease and stalls the degenerative effects of aging. That being said, you should probably try the recipe at the end of this newsletter to get your pumpkin fix.
Protein can be somewhat of an issue for Ugandan kids. What are the daily protein requirements of a growing body (that also digs, treks two miles to school and carries jerrycans of water on the head)?
The daily recommended intake of protein for children aged 1-3 years is 13 grams; aged 4-8 years is 19 grams; aged 9-13 years is 34 grams. One cup of beans/cowpeas has 14 grams of protein, as does 2 oz of meat, fish or chicken or 2 oz of nuts. One egg has 6 grams of protein and one cup of milk has 10 grams. I’d recommend tacking on some grams to the recommended intake, as these numbers are for American children, who are a great deal more sedentary than Ugandan kids. So, acquiring enough protein could be an issue for older Ugandan children, if not all children.
“Glucose is a nutrient that needs to be supplemented.”
No. Glucose is the physiological name for a simple sugar. It does not need to be supplemented; Ugandans get enough of it in porridge, tea, cakes and fruits. Glucose packets: probably not a good idea.
None of them are particularly good for you, but what’s the worst of the worst: Kimbo, Blueband or Ghee?
Here’s my translation of these products: Kimbo = Crisco vegetable shortening, Blueband = Land O Lakes margarine, Ghee = butter, somehow. Therefore, Kimbo has a higher fat content (100%) compared to Blueband and Ghee (about 80%). Ghee is unprocessed and is solely comprised of milk, according to some semi-reliable Ugandans. However, both Blueband and Kimbo are fortified with vitamins. A negligible benefit when considering the trans fat, calorie, sodium and cholesterol contents.
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