The Buganda Speak Luganda in Uganda

One misconception that I had about Uganda was that I thought the vast majority of people would speak fluent English because it is the country’s official language. Not so much. There over 40 indigenous languages spoken throughout Uganda, each associated with a tribal kingdoms that reigned before British colonization. For example, the Buganda kingdom speaks Luganda, which is one of the most widely spoken languages in Uganda. That’s enough ‘andas’ to make your head spin, I know. To make linguistic matters worse, the government is trying to introduce Swahili as an additional official language (even though the English here is so-so) in order to share a common language with the surrounding countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Berundi, and Tanzania. Ugh… enough with that. On to other things!

Due to a malfunctioning pyrometer (basically a fancy thermometer), my first attempt at firing the ceramics was a total failure. So much so that our broken pyrometer was seemingly mocking us as it displayed ‘FAIL’. Oh, how I hated that thing…

After an afternoon of learning how to fix electronics, we got the pyrometer working and were ready to put the ceramic filters in the kiln. And I have to say that once we got going we were KIL’N it! At work we are also working on providing 10 filter stations at a local primary school, serving over 1100 kids! I’m pretty happy about that. I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out!

In the past couple weeks there has been a lot of work but we’ve found time for play too… For starters, I made an appearance in a Ugandan movie that will air on a few local TV stations through one of our employees named Tina. Typecasted as usual, I played the drug lord haha.

This past weekend, we were also able to meet up with Emmie Mediate, a current Notre Dame student doing HIV/AIDS research throughout Uganda, this past weekend at a place called Sipi Falls. It was amazing!!! Truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Here’s just one of the waterfalls we got to see. Emmie and I are the tiny dots at the bottom!

Also, I’ve gotten many questions about Ebola in Uganda. The issues with Ebola are on the western side of Africa thus far and I'm on the other side of the continent. This past week there was a scare that a Ugandan traveler had Ebola, however, the man tested negative for the virus. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for any news though! Thanks to anyone who expressed concern!

Let’s Get Beard!

Last but not least, the beard is coming along well! I’m actually pleasantly surprised.

I hope things are going well stateside!