Yes the holiday hit this peaceful countryside county and all was silent for the most part. Why the hell am I bothering with this blogging thing....its not like anyone actually keeps reading my posts on a regular basis.
Anycase...Christmas here was a bit of a downer, partly cause of the bad food and mostly cause I was stuck here. The nites were awesome....so many stars and a full moon...clear skies and lots and lots and lots of drumming. Guess that the tradition here in Africana...drumming throughout the nite and day til what....the second coming? And guess what I had for christmas dinner...oh yes avocado soup and fried rice and some sauteed cabbages. Yew!!!
Sadly it was my own creation, or lack of inspiration.
It's Dec. 30 th today ...my B-day...the sun is out and bright which means plenty of power to run the computers and internet.
I was busy yesterday, making preparation to start my computer skills training courses which will start in the new year. I think the first lesson will to be teach people what a mouse it or in the case of a laptop, how to use a touchpad. Yes, I got my work cut out for me. But hey...I am going to try to get everyone to refer to me as the "professor." The "pro" makes it sound cooler. Much better than the "teacher"title students kept calling me in Vietnam.
Think I should bother to teach the participants how to use photoshop? I mean there is an embargo on downloading or viewing porn...or as the volcabulary here is call "indecent materials" so there will be a demand for it. Hmmmm paste herthis on tat and on t...... WHoA!!!
Speaking of zzzzzzzzI got the chance to observe mzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpeople!!!
Man...tzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz??? hmmm
Finally, yesterday I was hoping to be in on the observation of a live birth. Yes the blood and gore and screaming, too bad I midwivies wouldn't let me as I wasn't a medical personel..oh well...but one day..hmmmm
Maybe get one of the dcoctors to give me permission or slip on a white coat and pass myself off as a med student. EXACTLY!!!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Week 2 and the Boredom gets &^*%$@
Sure, working in the development field has the reward of knowing that if you ve done the work well then people who you set upon to train will carry on your techniques and skills thereby giving you the sense of leaving behind a lasting legacy. The work side of my IT VSO Netcorp internship is great, if not stressful at times. Daily I get bombarded by the questions of Der, can you teach me to transfer music to my mp3 player; Der, how to I close this application; Der, I can't access the server; or Der, why are my pictures downloading so slowly?
The plan here is to set up a work station/training centre for the staff at Bwindi Community Health Centre. I have already fixed up 4 laptops with a 5th on it way here tommorow. When I say fix, I mean the harddrives have been erased and only replaced with specific program designated by yours truely. Sufficit to say, I hope these laptops will form the backbone of a row of workstation computers to be used by the staff at Bwindi Hospital for their research, communications and entertainment pleasure. No Porn or Video downloads!!!! ALthought....nah!!!
Which brings me to my next point, pornography and abuse of internet rights. I just spent today researching on some microsoft program which will allow me to restrict access to certain programs and functions on these computers. Yes much of my day is spend in front of a computer. Quite unfortunate as it I am surrounded by some of the most awesome scenery in the world. I guess Churchill was right when he said Uganda to be the pearl of Africa. Or was it the Switzerland of Africa. Maybe New Zealand? In anycase, living in the hospital guest house situated beside the forest has advantages. I have made friends with some wayward monkeys around my tent (yes I live in a tent not the guesthouse) and we were getting along fine. I mean, I frequently handed out bananas and how do they repay me? They heisted an avocado from me. Grrrrr. I should remind them that in Vietnam people eat monkey brains there.
Apart from work, my off hours are quite boring. Blogging to people around the world just doesn't seem to be exciting anymore. I am little sick now, so not going for the physical activity of jogging or biking. And I don't have anyone to go with to the bar to get wasted. Hmmmm, just waiting for the next ..... to come my way. :(
OH yeah, I am still looking for a way to post my pictures on line. I am not using flickr nor facebook, and they seem to be the easiest sites available for upload. Fuck Facebook!!! and yahoo.
Well next post...
The plan here is to set up a work station/training centre for the staff at Bwindi Community Health Centre. I have already fixed up 4 laptops with a 5th on it way here tommorow. When I say fix, I mean the harddrives have been erased and only replaced with specific program designated by yours truely. Sufficit to say, I hope these laptops will form the backbone of a row of workstation computers to be used by the staff at Bwindi Hospital for their research, communications and entertainment pleasure. No Porn or Video downloads!!!! ALthought....nah!!!
Which brings me to my next point, pornography and abuse of internet rights. I just spent today researching on some microsoft program which will allow me to restrict access to certain programs and functions on these computers. Yes much of my day is spend in front of a computer. Quite unfortunate as it I am surrounded by some of the most awesome scenery in the world. I guess Churchill was right when he said Uganda to be the pearl of Africa. Or was it the Switzerland of Africa. Maybe New Zealand? In anycase, living in the hospital guest house situated beside the forest has advantages. I have made friends with some wayward monkeys around my tent (yes I live in a tent not the guesthouse) and we were getting along fine. I mean, I frequently handed out bananas and how do they repay me? They heisted an avocado from me. Grrrrr. I should remind them that in Vietnam people eat monkey brains there.
Apart from work, my off hours are quite boring. Blogging to people around the world just doesn't seem to be exciting anymore. I am little sick now, so not going for the physical activity of jogging or biking. And I don't have anyone to go with to the bar to get wasted. Hmmmm, just waiting for the next ..... to come my way. :(
OH yeah, I am still looking for a way to post my pictures on line. I am not using flickr nor facebook, and they seem to be the easiest sites available for upload. Fuck Facebook!!! and yahoo.
Well next post...
Saturday, December 8, 2007
First Week in Bwindi Impenatrable Forest
Hello, I am Der, yet another Canadian yuppie who just can't bear the thought of staying home. Which is why for the second year in a row I have decided to go work abroad. The first time around I was posted to the "not so war torn country afterall" location of Hanoi, Vietnam. Now I am writing from the misty mountain forests of Bwindi National Park in southwestern Uganda.
About my work?
I am a what the Canadian government calls a young professional, someone whose graduated from university and looking for work experience. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funds volunteer placements around the globe where young talented Canadians like your truly are dispatched. The Netcorp program sends young IT (information technology) dudes and gals to help NGOs in host countries establish their computer systems and train people on basic function. This is a mouse, double click to open an application. Upload pictures on to harddrive. This is the stuff the average Canadian kid takes for granted. In anycase, I am under the auspieces of VSO Canada (Voluntary Service Overseas) an NGO hell bend of providing human resources in the form of actual humans and their knowledge rather than material resources. So instead of getting 15 new laptop computers, a NGO in Uganda can expect 1 Canadian yuppie (me) to train their staff and lecture them on what antiviruses and USB sticks are.
I am Der....reporting from the edge of the Bwindi National Park near the Impenatrable forest..home to half the worlds gorilla population. In the coming months, I hope to share my experiences and views and pictures and anything else that can transmitted via satelite internet from the middle of a remote, isolate valley to you. I hope to enlighten people about Africa, share tips on managing a computer class in the middle of no where, and above all inspire people to go out and see the world. But at least, you should be made aware of what goes on in places not so close to your backyard. So damn right, your lucky that internet doesn't transmit STDs.
About my work?
I am a what the Canadian government calls a young professional, someone whose graduated from university and looking for work experience. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funds volunteer placements around the globe where young talented Canadians like your truly are dispatched. The Netcorp program sends young IT (information technology) dudes and gals to help NGOs in host countries establish their computer systems and train people on basic function. This is a mouse, double click to open an application. Upload pictures on to harddrive. This is the stuff the average Canadian kid takes for granted. In anycase, I am under the auspieces of VSO Canada (Voluntary Service Overseas) an NGO hell bend of providing human resources in the form of actual humans and their knowledge rather than material resources. So instead of getting 15 new laptop computers, a NGO in Uganda can expect 1 Canadian yuppie (me) to train their staff and lecture them on what antiviruses and USB sticks are.
I am Der....reporting from the edge of the Bwindi National Park near the Impenatrable forest..home to half the worlds gorilla population. In the coming months, I hope to share my experiences and views and pictures and anything else that can transmitted via satelite internet from the middle of a remote, isolate valley to you. I hope to enlighten people about Africa, share tips on managing a computer class in the middle of no where, and above all inspire people to go out and see the world. But at least, you should be made aware of what goes on in places not so close to your backyard. So damn right, your lucky that internet doesn't transmit STDs.
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