Quick Update / Bucket List
18 Aug 2011 2 Comments
Hey everyone!
It’s crazy to think about that I’ve been here for a whole year! It seems like such a long time, but it’s also flown by. I’ve made some great friends and had some really good times and of course I’m missing you all at home! When I lay in bed at night I think of all the funny stories and things that I did back in the US and it makes me smile. I just now find it odd that I’ve become so normal and neutral to living in Uganda that it’s not really a thought anymore when I wake up in the morning, I know where I am and frankly it will be weird again waking up in the USA.. and always having electricity, internet, post-paid phones, mailboxes.. so many things we take for-granted.
I’ve been on and off busy this week. There’s not a whole lot to do when there’s no electricity. I’m currently working on more staff issues, closing time, the lightning project and obtaining a grant for solar power. Also, we just got a new addition to our Access banking software, so we can import the information into Excel and make it so much easier to sort information, statistics, demographics and loan/savings/customer tracking. I’m beginning to write a proposal for the lightning project, but first I need to find out how much it costs to make a lightning rod and how much 200 pairs of shoes are and will it be enough for a signle primary school? But I want to move quickly because I’ve got a lot planned for the next two months. And I will also have to use some of the money to pay my fellow staff members / reimburse for travel expenses for when they do these trainings. But I will have a proposal up by mid-next week. Also, your input – what way would you feel most comfortable sending me money for the children’s shoes.. Paypal? Gofundme.com? Western Union? Know of any others? I think it would be best to set up a paypal account and when I get enough money to work on this school, then I will
We have the all volunteer conference, where I will get to meet the rest of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers that I haven’t met yet, and rekindle old friendships too! This will be a great break from Kamuli And we were also talking about going to Rwanda after this conference for my birthday! which I think will be cool. Then, I come back and we have a Board Meeting, Trimester reports are due and then our midservice conference.. which signifies that I’ve been in Kamuli for a year in October. I thought after this long amount of time that the unwanted attention would go away and people would get tired of screaming/staring/asking for money/muzungu-ing.. but no. It’s like they’ve never seen me a day in their lives. Kids are bad – but they have that innocent idea in mind.. but sometimes I get set off after a long day at work. One day I’m going to snap at someone badly lol Even people who I speak lusoga with for a year, still laugh when I respond to them in Lusoga.. Silly Country! I can’t wait to come home and be like a needle in a haystack and anonymous as opposed to being Britney Spears over here. Anyway, I’m going to continue watching Bones / Lost.. but I want to write a funny blog or a list blog or something .. like my dream last night that I was on a rollercoaster that baptizes you, but one a planet that had 4 moons. Or the dream where I was forced to impersonate Princess Diana and rondevous with someone, but I couldn’t get the British accent to work so I failed my mission! Anyway here’s my bucket list.. A lot of it has to do with Trance and Travel – the world is my stomping ground!
Regular non-music related:
- Study the Russian Language and visit at some point for practical use
- Learn the Arablic Alphabet (it’s so pretty)
- Live in a Spanish-speaking Country for at least 2 months
- Visit Siberia (from Lake Baikal eastward), preferably on the Trans-Siberian Railway)
- Visit one of the following place that you cannot get to on a road,. You can only take a boat back or fly in and out of these cities
o Iquitos, Ecuador (Pop. 406,340) (On the Amazon river)
o Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (Population -198,028) (Pacific Ocean, Kamchatka)
- Go to at least 30 of the 50 states…which includes the following states I’ve been to already:
o New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire
o Maryland, Vermont, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Florida, California
o Washington D.C., Virginia, , Tennessee, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
- Go Sky-Diving or bungee jumping (ideally over the Nile, but it’s a short fall compared to others off bridges into gorges, but other places are fine too)
- Spend a week in one or two in the Pacific Islands — e.g., Kiribati [for New Year’s, since they are the first people to see the New Year based on the rotation of the Earth and Sun], Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Tuvalu, Micronesia (!!!), Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu (!!), Samoa, American Samoa, or Guam. I would love to visit them all but for now Vanuatu and Micronesia are top priorities
- Spend a month or two in Goa, India (best time in January and February)
- Have a minimum of 2 kids (I love kids!)
- Do the polar bear/bare plunge (on Lake Champlain or in Iceland with hot springs)
- See a panda for real
- Sea a koala bear for real
- Bring a cardboard box and slide down the dunes of the Sahara or the Namib Deserts and Visit the Dead Vlei (picture below)
- http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmp4jbJn111qjsxq3o1_500.jpg
- Never under any circumstances buy or come to own a rooster
- Have a successful WWS partnership with my Aunt Sharon, make it a success:
- Swim in a hot springs
- Fast (not eat) for some reason or another (such as next year’s Ramadan)
- Own my own business (preferably a club in NYC, not unlike the old Crobar)
- Possibly own a sandwich shop, since everyone knows how good my sandwiches are (Schnurr and Vine-gar, especially)
- Spend $100 at a Wawa in one-go! I love Wawa so much that I could spend $100 on sandwiches alone there! Hehe)
- Apply to be on the Amazing Race (with Joanna) / Survivor
- Live in Europe for 6 months to see how I like it
- Eat at every major fast food restaurant in the US
- Have a six pack stomach for a period of time
- Go skiing out west on the open area bowls
- Go waterskiing
- Go to a Talk Show and be in the audience
- Ride on a weird animal (elephant, yak, camel, etc.)
- Get a graduate degree in either Business, International Affairs, Geography, or International Business
- Attend Burning Man Festival and have a crazy campsite to participate with!
Trance / Psytrance Related:
- See a solar eclipse, preferably at a psytrance party (November 2012 – Australia, August 2017 – Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Indiana, North and South Carolina, Kentucky (Greatest Eclipse viewed from there), Tennessee, and Georgia.
- Attend a psytrance festival on 5 continents
- Do the whole clubbing experience on Famous Ibiza (Club Space, Amnesia, Café del Mar)
- Throw a psytrance party
- See Kindzadza, Furious, Cosmo, Osom play
- Go to a hardcore only rave
- See as many of the following DJs play as possible:
o Trance: John Digweed, ATB, Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, Ferry Corsten
o Psytrance: CPC, Kashyyyk, Derango, Rawar, Megalopsy, Scorb, Xikwri Neyrra
o Drum ‘n’ Bass: Dieselboy, Skrillex, Dylan, Pendulum
o Hardstyle: Alpha Twins, Headhunterz, Lenny Dee
o See these DJs play again – Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Jellyheadz / Baba Jelly, Somarobotics, Electrypnose
- Attend as many of the following festivals as possible:
o Psycrowdelia (Germany)
o Full Moon Festival (Germany)
o Vuuv Experience (Germany)
o Full Moon Party (Koh Phangan, Thailand)
o Rainbow Serpent Festival (Australia)
o Boom Festival (Portugal)
o Ozora (Hungary)
o Goa Gil 24 hour set (California, Russia, India)
o Qlimax (Netherlands)
o Trance Energy (Netherlands)
o Dance Valley (Netherlands – this one’s for Jess)
o Transylvania Calling (Romania)
o Sonica (Montenegro / Italy)
o Antaris (Germany)
o Universo Parallelo (Brazil)
o Shambahla (Canada, sp?)
o Ultra Music Festival (Miami)
As you can see, I have a true desire to travel and to listen to music, music that I love with my full heart and it never fails to put a smile on my face. It’s also going to be expensive so I’m going to have to work my ass off, but I will do most of it! I guarantee it!
Love you!
Dan
New Project (Plz Read! Need Your Feedback/Help)
04 Aug 2011 1 Comment
So, I’ve been looking for a project that will help the community and of something substantial, rather than just doing small things around the office, this could be it – but I’m going to need your feedback, ideas and eventually if you’d like to help some kids in my district of Uganda – a few dollars. This idea struck me this morning (pun intended) while having tea with my supervisor, Edith and my counterpart, Isaac.
We were talking about whether it rained last night or not and Edith mentioned that a child in a rural village was struck by lightning during yesterday’s storm. Each time there is a storm in the Kamuli area, it seems, that someone gets struck by lightning and schoolchildren are especially susceptible. Considering it is the rainy season, we have these bad storms with thunder and lightning fairly frequently. In this blog, I’m going to outline the idea of this project and I need you, my dear friends and family, to give me some feedback/improvements and to let me know if you would be willing to donate a few bucks.
Background: It seems that recently lightning has been getting more and more dangerous in Uganda. Why? Ask the weatherman (there isn’t one). But, schoolchildren are the most susceptible because A. they’re kids, and they like to play in the rain, B. because many children don’t have [rubber/any] shoes to wear, C. schools don’t have lightning rods, and D. they walk home / play outside in the late afternoon with no shoes when it rains most. Here are some articles that I’ve found:
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/759775 –
“Recent incidents – 2011:
June 23: Three pupils in Luwombo P.S in Buikwe district
June 26: Three mourners killed and 15 others injured in Alebtong district
June 28: 18 pupils killed and 36 others injured at Runyanya P.S in Kiryandongo district
June 28: 31 pupils and two teachers injured at Paidha PS in Zombo district
July 1: Two pupils killed, eight others injured at Kalagala P.S in Buikwe
July 4: Seven head-of-cattle killed in Luwero district
June 21: Two pupils from one family killed at Nawangoma Primary School in Jinja District
June 22: Eleven students injured at Valley Hill Secondary School in Kaliro district”
Note: The last two incidents – Jinja district borders Kamuli district on the south, and Kaliro District borders Kamuli on the east. And most of the district is flat, un-forested farmland with no electricity.
“Uganda has one of the highest rates of lightning strike deaths in the world and its capital Kampala has more days of lightning per year than any other city, according to the World Meteorological Organization.”
My Idea:
Vision: Minimizing Lightning Strikes on Schoolchildren in Kamuli District
Mission:
- Sensitize families about lightning in Kamuli District
- Provide schoolchildren with rubber-soled sandals (kids generally wear these all the time here) to help prevent them getting struck by lightning (to children in the most affected, generally more rural areas)
- Help set up and provide lightning rods to schools in rural areas around Kamuli District
The Plan:
To start out, I’m going to visit the nearby hospitals, health centers and speak with the District Health Officer to obtain information on how many lightning strikes per month occur in Kamuli and in which areas are most common so we can begin there. Once I have this information, my co-workers and I can begin to plan “Lightning Strike Prevention” sensitization meetings for these areas. My co-workers will carry out these sensitizations.
Now, I don’t normally condone hand-outs, as they have the potential to be abused. So, we are going to work around this in a few ways:
- Firstly, I’m not going to be the face of these meetings, my SACCO and its employees will be, because when a village hears that a muzungu is coming, villagers come expecting to get something/money/handouts out of it
- My co-workers will also handle the purchase of the sandals for the children, so we can get the best wholesale prices available – because again when they see a muzungu you can see their eyes light up with dollar signs.
- My main role will be gathering information on lightning strike statistics, prevention and arranging the meetings.
- Also, with some donations (hopefully) I will be providing the funding with my SACCO contributing as well, and they will be able to put their name on this project, which will benefit my organization.
The only information given out to the villages initially will be a “Lightning Prevention Sensitization Meeting” provided by Kamuli Twisania SACCO. We will tell them tips and ways to prevent lightning strikes and tell them it is aimed at helping their children. We will set up a time and place for these meetings (of which I will not attend). At the meeting, we will take an attendance list and get a list of their names and their children’s names. We will then arrange for another meeting with those people and their children to bring only those on the original list rubber-soled sandals. This is the best way to get people generally concerned for their children’s safety while minimizing the potential for abuse. I will not be attending those meetings or putting my face on this project because I don’t like promoting the idea that when a Ugandan sees a muzungu – they automatically think that I am there to give them money or free things.
A few side effects of this project would be:
- Even if it doesn’t help with lightning strikes, a shoeless child will get a pair of shoes that they wear (Today I was walking around town and about 1/3 of the kids I saw weren’t wearing any shoes – and that’s in town, a more wealthy area)
- It will have a goodwill/socially responsible marketing effect on our SACCO
- Some people will abuse this project (not myself or my co-workers), but recipients of the shoes (Most people will not, but there are some very cunning Ugandans that will find a way, i.e., selling their children’s shoes – but we cannot control this, just a warning)
I Will Need Your Help: What I would need from you, my readers, friends and family is a dollar or two. I will donate some of my monthly salary. My SACCO will donate at least $50. But to begin, $150 dollars at the current exchange rate of 2600 UGX = 1 USD, we can buy 312 pairs of children’s shoes. If you would be willing to do this or have an improvement on this idea, just comment on this post or on my facebook post/wall or send me a message. The easiest way of donating a few dollars is probably through PayPal (which I would eventually transfer to my bank account) unless someone has a better way. So, once I see some sort of response and I think I could possibly get $100 minimum, I will set up an account and get this off the ground. Any help would be greatly appreciated by me, my SACCO, the Peace Corps and Ugandan mothers of Kamuli District. Thanks guys.
Lightning Rods:
It seems that many events like these are happening at schools and I will have to do a bit more research on how much it costs to build a lightning rod and at which schools are the children most susceptible. But if these kids at least have on shoes, it will increase their chances of getting injured. I will look into this and get back to you.
Also, to provide confirmation, my organization and I both have digital cameras where we will document all donations/costs/shoes/rods, etc.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!! I NEED SOME FEEDBACK!
With Love,
Dan
