Rugby for Dummies - Ireland v Australia

Rugby Match: Ireland versus Australia, Saturday, 9.30am

Background.

The current Irish rugby team is considered to be the best we have ever had. Brian O’Driscoll at 13, the Irish captain, is widely regarded as the greatest ever Irish rugby player. Other stars include the workhorse No 8 Jimmy Heaslip, the line-out King No 5 Paul O’Connell, the No. 12 Gordon Darcy,  a Wexfordman and current UCD student, and the free running Full Back - No. 15 Rob Kearney. The Irish No. 7, Sean O’Brien, is a hugely explosive ball-carrier- and friend of Eimear Clowry!

The young Irish No. 10, Jonathan Sexton is a celebrated kicker - the No 10 or Outhalf position is like being ‘a quarterback with a boot’. He played horribly against the US so fingers crossed XXXXXXX he’s in good form again this weekend.

The current Australia team are regarded as the best team in the world on current form- just shading New Zealand. The match tomorrow stars some of the finest players ever to step on a rugby pitch - notably their No. 9 Will Genia, and their prodigiously gifted No. 10 Quade Cooper.

Rugby for Dummies By BILL RAYBURN [An American!!!][OK -I added some more detail too!!! [KW]

Most American know at least one very specific fact about rugby: We don’t want to play it. But for the moment, move past the visceral fear of a cranial collision with another human, and you will gain an understanding of this ancient sport. Peter Winder writes: "Rugby provides a suitable outlet for the controlled release of aggression within the structured framework of sport."

And legalized mayhem it is. There are no pads or helmets worn in rugby, and the collisions are often brutal, of a high-speed nature. Size is an advantage, but not as much as one might think. A quicker, smaller clever player can be invaluable. Injuries are accepted as part of the game. One is expected to play on even if hurt if at all possible. Clearly rugby is a sport for the lion, not the faint-hearted.

The terminology and jargon is revealing: scrum, ruck, maul, hooker. It sounds tough and it is, although there is much more to it, and modern rugby is a highly sophisticated tactical game. Here are the basics:

The game involves 15 players per side. The 15 positions include 8 forwards [numbered 1-8], a scrumhalf [9], an out-half [10], halfbacks, 2 centres [12-13], 2 wings [11 & 14], and 1 fullback [15].

The field, called a "pitch," is much wider and longer than an American football pitch.

The object of the game is to score as many points as possible by carrying, passing or kicking a leather oval ball, about twice the size of a football, toward the scoring zone at the far end of the pitch called the in-goal area, akin to an end zone in football. Grounding the ball (literally touching it to the turf with downward pressure of the hands or hand in the in-goal area) results in a try (score), worth 5 points. Tries are the big momentum switchers in a game.

A conversion attempt follows, a kick off the ground from 25 yards out but exactly parallel with where the try was scored - that puts a lot more pressure on the kicker than in American football, as many tries are scored out wide to the touchline. If the ball is kicked through the uprights, 2 more points are awarded. The ball is then kicked back to the other team from the half-way line and play resumes.

Points may also be scored from a drop kick during play - no easy feat with 30 guys swarming around - or a penalty kick, which is awarded after breaches of rules are spied by the single referee. Yes, believe it or not, there is only one referee on the field to monitor the actions of 30 players. The ref has the option to go to the TMO- Television Match Official- for consultation on tries being scored. If the drop or penalty kick is successful, it is worth 3 points.

Here are some basic rugby rules:

There are no "downs," as in football, nor is a "first down" required to maintain possession. In fact, possession can be exchanged often and quickly and turn-overs are frequent. There are few long, sustained "drives" toward the in-goal area- although the good teams are masters at retaining possession, especially through their groundhogs, who are proficient at turning over opposition ball when it goes to the deck. Progress up and down the field is achieved grudgingly, usually in short chunks.

The ball may not be passed forward from the hands, though it may be kicked forward. Players cannot be tackled unless they possess the ball. Once in possession of the coveted oval, one is fair game, dead meat, or an endangered species. Rugby supporters like nothing better than a big hit on an opposing player.

Once the player is tackled to the ground, he is expected to release the ball immediately. A common penalty is for ‘not releasing’ - ‘holding on to the ball after the tackle’ - usually for fear that the opposition will win it.[The Australian Number 7 David Pocock, is a famous exponent of winning the ball on the ground from a tackled player].

Players need to reach their team-mate very quickly once he is tackled and drive the opposing players back off the ball. This contest, called a ruck, is where the dark arts of the game are most fiercely practiced. Players wear cups to protect their vital assets and eye-gouging, ear biting and other fun stuff are not unknown - hence the leather scrumcaps that some wear. The ferocity of the ruck is almost primal, and the primary means of retaining and winning possession. “Turn-over ball’- where you win possession in a ruck after the opposition carried the ball into in - is highly prized, and often supplies the most dangerous attacking opportunities. Australia are deadly once they get quick ball. You are not allowed to play the ball with your hands once you are on the ground, but you can if you are still on your feet. Players are not allowed to enter the ruck from the side - only from behind the last foot of the players in it.

A maul is the same as a ruck, except that all the players grappling for the ball are still on the feet. A ‘Rolling Maul’ is one where the team with the ball are advancing rapidly - the current Irish team are expert exponents of this tactic. The opposition is not allowed to deliberately pull down a rolling maul.

Play stops only when there is an infringement, or the ball is kicked out of bounds, or when a try is scored.

When the ball goes out over the sideline, a line-out results, where the opposing players line up perpendicular to the sideline and jump for the ball as it is thrown back in play (similar to a jump ball in basketball). The players are allowed to hoist a teammate high into the air to better reach the ball. The throw in to the lineout is by a player from the team who didn’t kick it out. The throw is meant to be straight but a clever thrower will always advantage his own team. Teams would expect to gain possession on their own throw. Usually a really tall player knocks the ball back with his hand to the small light agile scrumhalf [No. 9], who then initiates the attacking plays.

Penalties, which range from tackling too high [no clothes-lining] to being offside (a player further downfield than the ball), can result in either a free kick for the other team or a scrum.

What, exactly, is a "scrum"? Each team's 8 forwards [the big burly bruisers on the team] link arms over their shoulders on opposite curves of a circle, like a huge round centipede at cannibalistic war with itself.

After the forwards are locked together, the No 9 - (scrumhalf) - carefully rolls the ball into the center of the scrum: again it is meant  to be straight but it is 99% crooked, so the team with the Put-In to the scrum should always win it. Once in the scrum, the ball cannot be touched by hand. Each team has a "hooker" in the front of the scrum, a player positioned forward of his teammates, who tries to hook his foot around the ball and drag it behind him, where his teammates then caterpillar it with their feet until it squirts out the back of the scrum. Then the scrumhalf picks it up and initiates play. The scrumhalf is always the smallest, nimblest and usually craftiest player. He is a major decision-maker as he has to decide whether to run, kick or pass. At times too, a team may elect to gain ground by pushing the opposition backwards in the scrum. The scrum-half passes usually to the No. 10 -or out-half - the quarterback with a boot. He has to be the most tactically aware person on the team, the creative playmaker and brains of the team. Above all, he has to be a quick passer and a great kicker.

The game consists of two 40-minute halves, with a brief half-time break. There are no time-outs, save for an injury. Tactical substitutions are allowed, usually occurring after about 60 minutes when you need fresh impetus.

Kate Hunger (Dublin alum): A little of her TFA experience

TFA jargon alert: Institute is the 5 week training period where we are sent away from our region to both learn how to teach and do a modified student teaching experience for a summer school.  The first week is just a series of session geared towards actually teaching (planning, management, execution).  For the next 4 weeks, we teach in the morning (split between our collab -- or group of teachers responsible for one class) and take classes in the afternoons.  Personally, I taught an entering third grade class with 3 other teachers (the 4 of us = a collab).  The children are adorable and precocious.  The first 2 weeks, I taught reading, and the second 2 weeks, I taught math.  

Teaching a class like this has some unique challenges, as the kids have to adjust to 4 different teachers every day.  Additionally, we have a CMA (TFA jargon alert: CMA = Corp Member Advisor, a wonderful person who edits our lesson plans, observes us and critiques our teaching) that helps us improve as teachers.  I've learned so much so far, but still have so far to go.

Lessons from teaching -- 

Lesson #1:  8 year olds need to go to the bathroom around every 3 hours, or when bored.  Disrupting that schedule has disastrous consequences.  

Lesson #2:  8 year olds are already mean to each other.

Lesson #3:  Passing out papers is a BIG DEAL.

Lesson #4:  8 year olds love telling you about their lives, especially if a story could have the same word as something that you said.  And yes, that word could be "go."

Lesson #5:  I had a really awesome childhood.  Like really awesome.  

Lesson #6:  There is no substitution for exposure to books.  Kids need to be surrounded by words and ideas all the time.

Lesson #7:  If you respect kids, they'll respect you.

Lesson #8:  Never hint at a personal story unless you are willing to tell the whole thing.

Living in the Mississippi Delta Lessons:

Lesson #1:  Everyone knows everyone in small towns.

Lesson #2:  Don't itch bug bites.

Lesson #3:  No matter how anti-pesticides you are, that can all change.

Lesson #4:  Blues Bars are so much fun.

Lesson #5:  Always find live music.

Lesson #6:  Bowling is cool and cheap.

Lesson #7:  Walmart has everything you could ever need.

Lesson #8:  Do what makes you happy.


Experiences and Ideas that challenged my mindset:

1.  Corporal Punishment.  Where is the line between spanking and child abuse?  How do we discuss this productively?

2.  High expectations.  How do you maintain the same high expectations for all children when you see the differences in starting points?

3.  Kindness.  How do you have a completely separate tone in your classroom than the rest of the school?

4.  Respect.  How do you earn respect from students?

5.  Machiavelli: Is it better to be feared or love?  Michael Scott: Um easy, both.  I want people to fear how much they love me.

6.  Working in teams.  What's more important: intentions or execution?


Really Awesome Experiences:

1.  Going to Morgan Freeman's Blues Bar.  It's pretty much everything you would imagine in a small town Mississippi blues bar.

2.  Having an entire town throw a crawfish boil for you.  

3.  Vacation in Nashville for July 4th

4.  Seeing your mannerism and values reflected in 8 year olds.

5.  Having students write you notes detailing what they like about your teaching.

6.  Being a real teacher.

Dublin no longer the most expensive city to live in

Dublin has dropped down the list of the world's most expensive cities to
live in, but it remains in the top 15 most expensive cities in the European
Union, a new survey says.

The Irish capital was 10th on the world list just six years ago, but thanks
to the property crash and the banking crisis it fell to 42nd place last year
and to 58th place this year, according to Mercer¹s 2011 Cost of Living
Survey. Mercer's survey measures the comparative cost of items such as
housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Mercer said that recent headline grabbing world events including natural
disasters and political upheavals, had altered the rankings for many regions
through the cost of inflation for goods and services, and other factors like
currency costs and volatility in accommodation prices. Senior consultant at
Mercer Noel O¹Connor told the Irish Times : 'We have seen Dublin drop from
42 to 58 in the worldwide rankings. Dublin ranks in the top 15 most
expensive cities in the EU with a ranking of 13 (down two places from 2010)
out of 40 EU cities included in survey.

Update from Uganda

Two weeks ago we traveled to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Western Uganda. Because we were are not too comfortable with public transport and didn’t have much time, we took a private hire. The private driver drove us the 4½ hour drive for less than $20 each (imagine taking a taxi for that amount of time in the States…) National Parks are MUCH different than in the United States. When we think of National Park, we think signs and roads and scenic points and officially sanctioned and organized things. Things are just a little different here. There
is no transport within the park (which is hundreds of square kilometers) so you need a driver to take you everywhere. This is because it can easily be an hour drive to get to what you want to do and because there are animals everywhere and you can’t just walk around. Even on our drive in we had to stop of a group of elephants crossing the road.

Luckily we were right next to the visitor center and were able to figure certain activities out there. Saturday evening we took a boat ride down the channel. From the boat we saw herds of buffalo and elephants, tons of beautiful birds, crocodiles, a few monkeys, and breathtaking mountains. We rode right next to herds of hippos, which was both scary and awesome. The tour was very easy going but great. The landscapes were amazing. I had no idea how diverse the park would be. We had dinner at the hostel and had a relaxing evening just hanging out.

In the morning we woke up early because it is best to see animals at sunrise. Some people in our group went on a chimp tour, but myself and a few others decided to do something cheaper. We hired a driver to take us to a forest where we could do a nature walk, but as we were in the car he got a call from his brother who is a safari driver. He said they knew where a pride of lions was, which is rare and difficult to find. So we scrapped the forest and did a driving safari. Tons of other safari cars were there when we drove up to the lions, but we waited for all of them to leave so we could drive up closer. And by closer I mean I was a few feet from a lion. It was unreal. We also saw antelope, herds of buffalo, more birds, and mongoose on the drive. It was great because it showed us the more savannah side of the park.

After we returned, we went to the nice lodge near by for a good lunch. I got a cheese pizza which was HEAVEN. American foods like pizza, even something as simple as cheese, is unheard of. Then we took the same private hire back this afternoon. I can’t believe it all worked out as well as it did. It was very relaxing but we got to see tons of things and I managed not to spend loads of money.

The past two weeks of work have been good at times, bad at others. It is often difficult to be productive because things move at a different pace here. However, I was able to do a great amount of research about SACCOs and Microfinance options in Masaka. I was also able to go into the field to see some of the projects people need loans. My favorite was the pineapple farm that had 17,000 pineapples! I was given a delicious pineapple as a gift... yum!

The other place I have seen is Lake Nambugabu. This weekend was the midterm retreat for all the FSD interns, and so we all went to a nice retreat center on the lake. It was extremely low key and relaxing. It was awesome to just hang out in the sun, go out on the boat and be in a quite setting.

Thats a lot of information for now, but believe it or not I'm over half way done and will be home 4 weeks from today!
Hope all is well,
Erin

Update from Uganda

by Erin Byrne

I have officially been in Uganda for over 2 weeks now. Already I noticed a huge difference in my level of comfort since a week ago. My week in a nutshell consisted of a slow first week of work. It took a while for the people I am working with to warm up to me, but things have improved each day, and I am sure they are going to continue to do so. On Friday the other interns and I rented a hotel room for the night, went out to dinner, and had a good evening being just us. It was a much needed break for some people after 2 weeks in our host families. I, luckily, am having a great time with my amazing family.

Questions people have been asking that you might want to know about:

What exactly are you doing for work?
I am working for South Buganda Teacher’s SACCO Microfinace. (SACCO stands for Savings and Credit Co Operation.). This week was for observation. I was taught their paperwork process, shown the computerized system they are trying to move to, taught their accounting methods, and briefed by each person on what they did for
the organization. This first week was less than exciting, but in the 7 weeks I have left I am sure things will get better. I am responsible for identifying an issue relevant to the organization, thinking of a project to improve the issue, creating a proposal and budget for the project, implementing it, and ensuring it is sustainable. There are some pretty ridiculously inefficient and ineffective things about the organization, so there are many opportunities for me. I should have the opportunity to go visit clients in the field more next week, which is what I am interested in. I hope to make my project assist those that can’t get loans currently by helping start a group loan option in the organization.

What am I eating?
The food isn’t bad. Meals consist of what they call “food” and “sauce”. Food to them are basic starches like matooke, potatoes, yams, and rice. Then the “sauce” is the beans, nut sauce, or chicken broth you mix with the “food”. They taste fine, really, and things could be much worse if they served food that was crazy gross or didn’t settle with my stomach. But they don’t understand the concept of variety. It is not a matter of money- they really just don’t think a meal is acceptable unless it is served in this format. They could easily cook chicken with spices and steamed veggies, or mashed potatoes, or sliced bananas, or sandwiches, or pasta, but they have no desire to. They like to serve the same foods prepared the same way for both lunch and dinner, especially matooke. Matooke is a banana like food that comes in big bunches which they bake on coals wrapped in big leaves. The result is a pile of mush similar to mashed potatoes but with less
taste. Literally they make it twice a day. It isn’t easy or quick to prepare, it doesn’t stay good long, and it doesn’t have much flavor, but everyone here SWEARS by it. I don’t get it. Generally I have African tea (which is milk tea with tons of sugar= delicious) and bread for breakfast, a traditional meal as described above with my host family for dinner, and for lunch I usually buy a few oranges, a
chocolate bar and water because I am trying to diversify my solely carb intake. Other food related thing to complain about: eating times. Lunch is around 1 or 2 pm, tea is served around 730 or 8pm, and dinner around 930 or 10pm. On the weekends this is all even later. There is also no concept of snacks or leftovers that you can eat between meals (other than perhaps a slice of bread) and it is impolite to ask for food outside of meals. So my stash of peanut m&ms, nature valley bars, goldfish, raisins and peanut butter has been key to my survival. I
have been doing a pretty good job or rationing.  Craziest thing I have eat? Fried Grasshoppers. They are in season now and a delicacy. They aren’t my favorite, but if prepared right I can eat enough to be polite.

What do I do with my free time?
There is not that much free time like in the same sense in America. That is because it takes a long time to do anything here. Getting places takes about 20 to 40 minutes walking from my house. But the culture is generally very relaxed and I have rarely felt stressed.  I walk to town normally every day for work or to go to the internet café. At home, I usually watch NTV which shows ridiculous dubbed
Spanish soap operas, a few random American programs like old seasons of American Idol or America’s Next Top Model, hang out with my precious 2 year old sister, or spend time reading, journaling or watching Friends in my room.

I think thats enough information for now. Hope everyone is doing well in America (or Ireland or wherever you are that you are receiving these emails)!
Love Erin

On 20 September 1845, The Nation advertised: 

Frederick Douglas [sic], recently a slave in the United States, intends to deliver another lecture in the Music-Hall, Lower-Abbey street, on Tuesday evening next, 23rd instant, at eight o’clock.  Doors to be open at half-past seven o'clock. Admission, by tickets, to be had at the door.  Promenade - fourpence. Gallery - twopence.

The 27year old Douglass, an escaped slave, had rendered himself famous with the publication of his bestselling Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. He arrived in Dublin in August 1845, and he stayed in Ireland for four months. He delivered highly successful and well-received abolitionist speeches in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. His flamboyant and hard-hitting oratory, combined with sensational props - whips, handcuffs, and chains - made him a hit.

He met his hero Daniel O’Connell in September 1845, who introduced him to a Repeal Meeting as ‘the Black O’Connell’. Douglass had long admired ‘The Liberator’ for his principled stand against the ‘foul stain’ of American slavery, and the leading abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison had named his newspaper The Liberator, in his honour. O’Connell had contemptuously dismissed Irish-American money from slave states: ‘I want no American aid, if it comes across the Atlantic stained in American blood’. O’Connell never wavered on slavery, and sought to link Irishness and opposition to oppression ‘wherever it rear[ed] its head’. He asserted that  ‘Ireland and Irishmen should be foremost in seeking to effect the emancipation of mankind’, because the Irish ‘had themselves suffered centuries of persecution’. With Douglass in the audience he uttered the powerful words: ‘My sympathy with distress is not confined within the narrow bounds of my own green island.  No—it extends itself to every corner of the earth.  My heart walks abroad, and wherever the miserable are to be succored, and the slave to be set free, there my spirit is at home, and I delight to dwell’.

O’Connell called for ‘speedy, immediate abolition’ in 1831 and attacked the white republic and American hypocrisy, remaining consistent and principled on this issue even when it hurt him with the Irish-American constituency. In his opinion, shared oppression should have nurtured a political affinity between Irish Catholics and African-Americans and he was puzzled as to why the Irish embraced ‘cruelty’ in America by supporting the slavery cause O’Connell personally declined to set foot in the USA while it remained a slave society. His efforts were recognised within America. In 1833, the African American church in New York held a meeting honouring O’Connell: ‘the uncompromising advocate of universal emancipation, the friend of oppressed Africans and their descendants and the unadulterated rights of man’.

Douglass was enraptured by his Irish experience:  ‘I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country.  I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life’. He was also heartened by the success of the edition of his narrative printed in Dublin by the veteran abolitionist Quaker R. D. Webb.

Douglass had long wanted to visit Ireland. He credited his escape from Baltimore to the advice given him there by two Irish dockers, and he trained himself in oratory through studying the speeches in an American publication –The Columbian Orator of 1797 [‘Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book’], modelling his speaking style on that of Arthur O’Connor and Richard Brinsley Sheridan: ‘I met there one of Sheridan's mighty speeches, on the subject of Catholic Emancipation’. He was also inspired by O’Connell and the style of African-American oratory was forged when this flamboyant Irish tradition fused with the call and response and testamentary preaching style of the African-American church. Douglass bequeathed that style to Martin Luther King, his great successor in the civil rights movement. In turn that style also informs the oratory of Barrack Obama, who lists Frederick Douglass as his historical hero and role model. When the President spoke at College Green, he stood in front of a building, the Parliament House which could be regarded as the birthplace of his speaking style, and he spoke warmly of the relationship between O’Connell and Douglass.

In the same week, the direct descendants of Frederick Douglass were for the first time visiting Ireland, at the invitation of Don Mullan. His great great granddaughter Nettie Washington Douglass and her son Kenneth Morris were warmly greeted by the president of Ireland, attended the launch of a new Dublin edition of the Narrative, and visited Daniel O’Connell’s residence at 58 Merrion Square, now owned by the University of Notre Dame. It was a poignant moment. Like their ancestor, the Douglasses felt warmly treated in Ireland. On their taxi trip in from the airport, they were astonished when the driver refused to take a fare, saying that he regarded it as a honour to have them in his car.

‘Hangover Part 3’ could be made in Dublin

Speculation has begun on the location for the third installment of the “Hangover” franchise, and rumors are surfacing that it could take place in Dublin. The wolf pack could live their third and final wild night in the streets of Ireland’s capital, following their outlandish Las Vegas and Bangkok experiences. The star of the movie Bradley Cooper, said that although he did not want people to “get ahead of themselves” regarding a sequel, he admitted that he would “definitely” consider Dublin as their next destination. "We're just going to wait and see what happens with the second one,” he said. “Hopefully people will like it, but right now we're just focused on getting the second one out there." Although critics were not at all impressed, “The Hangover Part II” broke records for a comedy film’s debut in the United States by taking in $103.4m (€71.5m) over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, and an impressive $2.1 (€1.5m) in Ireland. Warner Bros is remaining tight-lipped about the possible third movie, but one executive was quoted as saying that a "third movie is all but a given." "I think if there is going to be a third one, it will be the final one," co-screenwriter Craig Mazin said. "We've got a couple of ideas we're kicking around." One of those ideas might have Dublin as the city of choice, which would surely please the cast members. If the movie executives choose Ireland’s capital as the next location, the Irish community is in for the queen of all “Hangovers.”

Obama happier in Ireland than anywhere else

Top New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has written that Barack Obama appeared happier in Ireland than anywhere else he has been as president.  ‘As J.F.K. and Bill Clinton discovered before him, Irish love is all-encompassing, a mother’s milk for needy politicians,’ she wrote.  ‘On the streets and at the pub in Moneygall (still smelling of fresh paint) and again at his big speech in Dublin when he offered the Gaelic version of ‘Yes We Can’ ‘Is Feidir Linn’ Obama was transformed’ she wrote  ‘He dropped his diffident debutante act. He liberally offered all the Irish charm, wit and warmth that he had lacked in working-class bars and neighborhoods when he lost primaries to Hillary in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana in 2008.  But, she says the Irish are uneasy it was all just a one day stand.  ‘Swaddled in the afterglow, the Irish are trying to figure out: Was it true love or merely a one-day stand?  ‘The tall, dark stranger who bewitched an island didn’t say when he’d be calling again to help out with Ireland’s $100 billion debt.’ She referred to Irish leader Enda Kenny being so enamoured that he ‘offered an odd homage, a near-carbon copy of the opening of Obama’s victory acceptance speech in Grant Park in Chicago in 2008, changing the word ‘America’ to ‘Ireland’ and ‘founders’ to ‘ancestors’: ‘If there’s anyone out there who still doubts that Ireland is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our ancestors is alive . . . today is your answer.’ She stated Obama¹’s trip will help him domestically in America.  ‘Funnily enough, Obama had to take a foreign trip to seem less foreign to Americans. Even though he did a best-selling memoir about his roots, he has had a persistent and puzzling problem coming across as rooted. But with American reporters swarming Moneygall to examine and show off the long-form birth records of Obama’s ancestor Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker who immigrated to Ohio in 1850, the president suddenly seems more rooted in an ethnic working-class persona that even his critics can recognize.’

Volunteering in Uganda

by Erin Byrne (Dublin Alum, Spring 2011)


Hey everyone,
          SO I have officially been in Uganda for 1 week. It has been one of the most interesting, long, crazy, difficult and awesome weeks every. I feel like I am basically learning how to be a person again. Almost everything we take for granted is different. I am relearning how to take showers, eat, use the bathroom, talk to people, walk, communicate, and function in the world.
            I arrived Friday evening to the airport in Entebbe. Luckily my bags were all there and I eventually found the two other interns in my program and the person who was to pick us up at the airport. We were taken to the airport guesthouse where we spent the night in what is most likely a Ugandan resort. The only thing odd about the hotel was that we slept under a bed net. I got a good night sleep after 2 days of living on a plane or in airports and woke up the next morning to meet the other interns. There are a total of 10 other people living in Masaka and working for the Foundation for Sustainable Development this summer. On Saturday we were met by the FSD staff. We went to Kampala to buy phones and exchange money. That place was crazy. Insane. It is like Masaka but on steriods. We were just there for the afternoon and then we began the drive to Masaka town. It is about a 3 hour drive, but we stopped at the equator to take pictures. It is literally just a sign on the side of the road! Its not a big deal here.
       We spent the first two nights in a hotel in Masaka which was great for group bonding. The other interns are from University of San Fransisco, Emery, and Gettysburg. It is great having other people here going through the same things I am. We moved in with our host families on Monday. I really really lucked out. My host family consists of a young mother and father (probably both under 30) who are a postman and nurse. They have a 2 year old daughter named Blessing who is pretty
much the cutes thing in the world. She doesnt understand me much but she imitates everything I do and is full of energy. 
        Since Sunday we have gone through training. We have had several lessons on Luganda (the language of the region), safety and security, living with a host family, culture, government, political issues, sustainable development skills, and more. We also took field trips to see an organic farm and blanket making from tree bark. The sessions are sometimes overwhelming, but over all have been extremely helpful. We begin work on Monday. I will be working for a microfinance group called South Buganda SACCO. I am really excited to learn first hand how these groups which give small loans for poor people in the region work. There will be more on my work in later emails. Between now and then I have a Ugandan wedding to attend! Should be interesting.
        For now I would say the really good things are the weather (about 80 degrees every day), beautiful scenery (yes just like all the movies and  pictures... but a lot more green than I thought), my very welcoming host family, the unbelievably cheap prices, the delicious fruit, and the other interns. The not so good things have been the food (it is relatively plain and I like the meals but is pretty much the same thing every meal), being stared at and called a muzundu (white person) about 50 times a day, not having real toilets, and not
being able to communicate back home.
      I look forward to writing more. There is so much to talk about, and hope to get to a computer again soon. 
Erin