A Shilling for Your Thoughts

The daily rush of my self-imposed shooting schedule has slowed and now I must reflect on the footage. 
On a daily basis, I have been conducting interviews, participating in activities with fellow teachers, and working with Sam, a Ugandan film student, to film the daily activities.  Every other day we have language lessons for Lusoga.  Following that I conduct a regiment of downloading, syncing audio, converting and then reviewing footage and photos.  Then early to bed.

Now the editing phase begins.  I have a reel of "selects" from each of the 13 shooting days.  Played one after the other I have an hour of quality footage to choose from.  My to do list now is the following: (1) transcribe interviews, (2) create a reel of "VIP selects" aka the best of the best, (3) meet with staff from Fount to create a pitch for both the organization and the educational program, (4) film this pitch, (5) make a log of the footage for future edits, (6) write a revised script, and (Finally) edit the footage.

This process has given me a good chance to get back to documentary film work.  I still enjoy the process, the tools, the special access to locations and people, and the resulting product.   Years ago, a friend and I had discussed forming a company that does branding for NGOs, including websites, logos, photos and videos.  Any suggestions on how to get paid for doing exactly what I want?

"Sewing Hope"...by Polly

By the numbers it seems hopeless. In all we are 19 people including 1o students, 4 teachers, 2 translators, 3 small children and an occasional chicken or small rodent. The students include 3 physically disabled adults, 1 deaf woman, and 3 single mothers. For 10 students, we have 6 sewing machines that are in varying degrees of disrepair. It is chaos. The babies are wailing. They pee all over the floor and our laps, but we hold them anyways, bouncing them in our arms and looking into their curious eyes. We muzungus (white people) can only comfort them for so long before they demand their mother’s milk. The babies latch on and the mothers keeping sewing. The mothers who cannot use their legs, take turns with the hand crank sewing machine. In frustration, Lindsey tries to tune out the crying as she writes instructions to Victoria who is deaf. Peter, always on call for translation but forever restless, sits knotting a friendship bracelet and thinking up poems. I hurry back and forth giving pointers, fixing machines, and looking for misplaced tools. Usually we spill out of our allotted space into the porch, courtyard and unused adjacent rooms, but today, it rained so hard that we had retreat into just two small rooms. Huddled inside like that, I had to laugh at the sight. Everyone went on sewing, learning, teaching, and translating. And for once, the babies were all smiling.

Sew Far, Sew Good

Considering how unprepared most us felt, we had a very successful first day of class. We started by assessing each student with a sewing test. Next, we spent some time oiling and tuning up our three brand new Singer treadle machines. The machines are beautifully old fashioned looking with tiny little waists. Since they don't require electricity and are not very heavy, you can set them up anywhere. We dragged them out to the porch where there was more light and a nice mild breeze. I'm still getting the hang of them and learned a lot by watching the women set them up. In addition to the non electric machines, we bought a few old fashioned coal powered irons and some spray bottles to produce steam. This was after I observed that one of the main problems with the quality here is the lack of professionally pressed seams. Next, we demonstrated french and flat felled seam finishes and explained that they were a quality alternative to serging seams. (Only one woman has a serger and everyone else would have to pay someone in town to finish raw edges with a serger).

Next we broke the 10 students into 3 groups. I am in charge of teaching the two more advanced students. They are a disabled man named Emma and a very intelligent woman named Sarah. Both Sarah and Emma have their own shops. Sarah's business is doing particularly well. She just aquired a second shop front that is on a busy road and it is stocked fabric and machines. Emma, however, has only a bare concrete space with two machines where he makes a very small living making school uniforms and doing alterations. His craftsmanship is very low, but he is eager to learn. Since Sarah is sick with malaria, I worked one on one with Emma and our translator Peter to show him how to use cardboard, brown paper, straight pins and a tracing wheel to copy a patten off a shirt. Though his legs are crippled, he is able to maneuver pretty well around the table and he picked it up fast. He opted to copy Peter's stylish western style shirt, which is slim cut and accented with piping and hand embroidery. Peter seemed very interested in the process as he translated and eventually began to hint that he would like to have the new shirt when it was completed. I told Emma, " great, you already have a paying customer." In the morning, I am meeting Peter early at the fabric store so that he can choose his fabric.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Lindsey taught the beginner and intermediate students two different simple bag projects. Most finished their projects and left happily with their brightly colored new bags. Tomorrow, they will start making a simple man's shirt.

Kampala

I'm fine. Polly's fine. Everyone we know is fine. I don't have any news about the bombing in Kampala.

I've only heard about it from Americans who watched CNN and one Ugandan who mentioned it on the bus.

Internet service has resumed to jinja and I'll try to update some more about it later today after teaching.

Bike and Ike, aka Boda and Oda

Polly and I squished ourselves on to a small "Boda Boda" aka motorcycle-taxi.  It was booooring!  So, I decided to buy a bicycle, ride it everyday, and then resell it at the end of the trip.   

I managed to bargain one shop to 125,000 Ush ($55), but at each store, the owner told me that I needed to go to the bike mechanic before riding.  I took the advice and found a bike mechanic who spent 90 minutes tweaking the bike for $5. 

The bike is a single-speed with a small cushion on the back to accommodate a passenger.  However, riding with a Polly is going to require some practice.

As I rode around town, riding a bike for the first time in seven years, I had to adjust to riding on the left side of the road and all the complications an intersection adds.  The traffic in Jinja is relatively calm and slow-moving.

There was an added degree of difficult today because we stayed out at a restaurant until after 10 pm.  FYI, at night time it is dark.  And, I took a new way home.  But, I only got lost once.

Thus far, Polly and I have saved the combined cost of three "Boda Boda" rides (between $1 and $2).  $2 a day for a month is the goal.

Handyman

Also, I held hands with two Ugandan men today after short conversations.  I was warned that this is common place, but it is still kind of awkward.

Gotta Dance... By Jamie

There is a rave somewhere in the neighborhood. I'd wager the ravers have more bass than they need but not as much as they want.

It's Hard Out There for a Chimp... By Polly

First of all, it really is hard out there for a chimp. All the chimps we saw today at the chimp sanctuary were orphans rescued from poachers.

To get there we waved down a shared taxi to the crowed taxi park in town and from there hopped on another matatu headed towards Entebbe. We had to wait on the Entebbe bound matatu until it filled up with passengers. When the mini bus had taken on another 15 adults, 3 chickens, and 4 wide eyed babies, we hit the road. About an hour later, we were close enough to walk and we were surprised to spot several monkeys before we even reached the wild life center. While we waited for the boat to take us to the island, we watched a mischievous little monkey with a black face and vibrant blue um genitalia snatch a banana from a young english woman.

On the island, we were warned that the chimps sometimes throw rocks and that occasionally, a chimp escapes. But it was clear that the care givers here really care for and respect these animals. As we watched them toss out fruits at feeding time, our guide identified various chimps by name and their different personalities. There was a chimp who acted out when he didn't get enough attention and another who comforted his peers by rubbing their back. And if the chimps weren't amazing enough, the island was also teeming with other types of wild life including hundreds of birds and a particularly large brand of lizard. We count it as a successful day.

Word of the Day
Matatu - A shared taxi/minibus that can only drive when it's crammed full of people.

KamPolly and jamie

We arrived at entebbe airport a few hours ago. We were disoriented and tired. We we had planned to hire a car to take us to Kampala but were concerned that we had forgotten to get the address of our hostel. Just then, we saw our names on printed sign. Our driver turned out to be a friendly man name is Moses and apparently he was expecting us. On the long drive to Kampala, I took in my surroundings between naps. I was struck by sight of people lounging in the shadow of trees while others carried heavy loads on their heads as they walked leisurely along the side of the narrow 2 lane highway. Meanwhile, our car sped along the left side of the road, turning frequently into oncoming traffic in order to pass cars on the right.

Du break it Dubai it

We expected an epic journey, but the flight passed quickly. There were dozens of good movies on demand. Unfortunately, we decided to watch "Date Night." Terrible. Then I slept through "Raging Bull" three or four times as it played on loop.

As we exited the air conditioned Dubai airport/mega-mall, we were struck by a wall of hot air that felt much like being assaulted by a moist leopard-print slanket.

The hotel was fancy but generic. It played Disney elevator music throughout the lobby/mini-mall. We joked that they should play music from Aladin, but had to settle for Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid. A late-night barber was readily accessible, but I managed to resist Polly's nudging.

Polly also discovered a night city tour operating out of the lobby. We boarded the bus with a group of tourists and our Bangladesh-born driver announce "i am not normally a tour guide." On the tour we stopped by the beach, the Atlantis hotel, and a quarter mile from the tallest building in the world. Polly was unimpressed, insisting that "it doesn't look that tall." The tour was dominated by descriptions of hotels, condos, the privileges of citizens and the difficulties of foreigners. All the significant buildings and man made islands here are shaped like something novel (replicas of the empire state building, the Sydney opera house, and twin towers, a giant fish and larger than life airplane.) Although it does not rain in Dubai the windows are drenched with AC condensation induced sweat so it appears to have been raining.

Also, there are a lot of birds in Dubai's airport.
Also, neither NYC or Dubai (twice) have found the knife I mistakenly left in my carry-on.
Also, Polly and I swear we heard a cat just now.

Journey to JFK... By Polly

Managed to get 8 bags packed, our apartment vacated and our cats accounted for.
We miss them dearly. I am especially sad to have abandoned them in an empty apartment, locked in an unfamiliar bathroom. Luckily their care takers will be home in a few days and in the meantime, they've got plenty of bottle caps to keep themselves occupied.
Next we fly 12 hours to Dubai and stay there overnight. Hoping to feel good enough to explore before our flight to Entebbe.