Location Location Location

Recently, I’ve discovered that I may not have accurately described my whereabouts.  I managed to make this discovery because my mother still refers to my trading center as the middle of nowhere or “the bush.”  Yes, there are volunteers that live in the middle of nowhere, but I’m not one of them.

I live in something called a “trading center.”  That doesn’t really mean much back home, in the states, but here, that means it’s kind of a big deal.  In my district, we have multiple trading centers, the largest one being Busolwe, which has the largest hospital, guesthouse and Saturday market.  Busolwe is my connection to Jinja and Tororo “towns,” which we would call cities, but in Uganda, the only “city” is Kampala, the capital.  Busolwe is only a 15-minute taxi ride from me to the west.

The next largest and it could be argued, the most important trading center, is Butaleja (that’s me!).  Butaleja Town Council is the headquarters for the district; therefore it has all the district offices for education, health, justice, etc.  It also means that we have the district prison.  Side note: our prisoners wear yellow.  Thankfully, none of our schools have chosen yellow as their school uniform, otherwise it would be total chaos!  I honestly have no idea how many people live in the trading center.  The only indicator I can give you: we have two huge government primary schools, which each have about 1000 children.  In addition, we have a number of private schools, which have about 100-300 pupils each.  Also, we have two secondary schools, although I have no idea what their population is.

Most of my trading center’s business is along the “main” road.  This road is not tarmacked, which means paved, but it’s the road that takes us to Mbale, the nearest town.  I’m one of those lucky volunteers to live off the main road because we have taxis coming through every 20 minutes going in both directions, to Mbale and to Busolwe.  I just have to wait on the side of the road until one comes, and I can just jump on and go!  Many volunteers have very limited means of transportation, such as only being able to get a bus out of their site at 8 am.  For me, I can get taxis from 6:30 am to 7 pm.

The shops along the main road extend for about 500 meters- that’s an estimate, and I’m really bad at estimating distance, so that’s the best I can do.  We have shops that sell all your basic needs, such as eggs, flour, soap, candles, cooking oil, soda, etc.  We have shops for medicines (humans and animals), a small dairy shop, clothing shops, bike repair shops, music shops- I actually don’t understand these, but they have huge sound systems that play music during the afternoon.  I guess they rent the sound systems to weddings and functions.  As you enter our trading center, you’ll pass our new gas station.  It looks like an American gas station (I could actually be wrong considering it’s been a while since I’ve seen one) complete with the overhang, four pumps and a “supermarket”- a convenience store.  Currently, they don’t stock anything in their supermarket, but I’m looking forward to the day that they do!  Directly next to the gas station, we have a lovely “hotel” that always looks so cool because the patio is covered in vines.  I say “hotel” because I actually don’t think they offer rooms, but it is a restaurant with satellite TV to show the football games.  I’ve actually never been there, but I’m sure it’s quite nice.

On both sides of the main road, there are parallel streets that are not as busy, but do offer a variety of things.  On the south side, we have a daily outdoor market that sells vegetables and fruits.  Everyday, I can find onions, tomatoes, cabbage and eggplant.  On good days, I can find green peppers, avocados, greens and “oranges” (it is a very bizarre blend of an orange and a lime.  With some salt, it’s quite nice).  On the very best days, I can find bananas, pineapples and papaya!  On Mondays, the market comes to our trading center, which means vendors bring used clothes, basins, pots, towels, etc. to sell.  It’s a big deal, and people come from pretty big distances to go to the market.  I pass the market every day as I go to my center school and office.  On the way, I find what I can only describe as the “sugar cane party.”  It’s a clearing where everyone comes to eat sugarcane, and it’s always busy!  If you’ve never had sugarcane, it’s quite an experience.  From my point of view, if you’re not used to it, I think it can be a very unpleasant experience.  You have to first strip the sugarcane with your teeth, and then you try to rip off bites.  Once you’ve sucked all the juice from the fibers, you spit it out.  Believe me, there’s no graceful way to eat sugarcane.  Plus, if you’re a newbee, like me, you usually end up with bleeding gums, which turns your piece of sugarcane noticeably red, which you try to hide as sugarcane juice drips down your arms and face, which just makes everything sticky.  When people saw me struggling, all they could say is “oh, sorry.”  So, despite everyone’s calls for Madam Negesa to come and take sugarcane, I don’t partake any more.

The side street to the north is where I live.  On our street, you’ll find two more guesthouses that offer food, although one is expanding to actually offer rooms!  We also have two small private schools, so as I eat breakfast in the morning, I can hear kids yelling their ABCs at the top of their lungs.  I technically live in a shop, therefore my front doors face the street.  My back door faces the side of my landlady’s house.  From my back door, if I go right, I come to a gate, which leads outside the compound.  If I turn left and follow the alleyway, I will come to the veranda of my landlady’s house, an open space in the compound where we hang our laundry, the bathing areas, the latrines and the main gate to the compound.  I love the fact that I live in a compound!  It means that I feel safe at night, I never worry about my laundry being stolen, and I can walk around in trousers without feeling completely inappropriate because I’m still at home.  As for fetching water, my borehole is located on the main road.  Like I said, I can’t estimate distances, but I would guess it’s maybe 100-200 meters.  If I’m feeling strong that day, I can manage to carry my 66 lbs of water to the front of the compound without setting it down!

Even to other Peace Corps Volunteers, it can be difficult to explain exactly what my site is like.  Well, any site for that matter.  But, to answer your questions, I don’t look out my window to the rolling green fields and swaying banana trees.  Actually, if you look out either of my windows, you’ll be staring at a boring wall.  Most days, I just see orange dirt roads, shops, schools and people.  On lazy days, I may only see the inside of the compound walls.  Only on my runs do I actually get a chance to appreciate my surroundings and the beauty of the district.

So, I hope you have a better idea of where I live.  After I post this, I know the response I’ll get from my family.  “I just can’t picture it.  No matter how much you describe it, I still can’t picture it.”  Well, sorry, I can’t provide pictures of the whole trading center.  Plus, during most daylight hours, it would look like a ghost town because people are avoiding the heat.  The best I can do is put up photos of my house!

This is the main gate to the compound

This is the compound that I stay in.  The veranda to the left is not my veranda, but that is my land lady's house.  See those blue doors?  I live in one of those "shops."

This alleyway is how I get to my house everyday.  My "backdoor" is the last one on the right.  I say "backdoor" because I never use my frontdoor!

This is my "kitchen."  The yellow and blue jerry cans are where I store all my water.  I use a gas stove.  The green basins are where I wash my dishes.  The front is wash water, the back is rinse water.  And no, I don't think I'll paint my house again.  I think it gives it character, don't you?