Dancing with the Women

I’m not sure I could have a more perfect day for research. My arms are going to be huge from the car’s non-power steering. It drives. . .that’s all that counts right now. I can get from point A to point B and get this all done.
Abe called this morning—still jetlagged and up at 2:30 am. Our printer is basically broken. It needs the “ink service module” replaced—like I’m going to find that in Africa! He called to tell me that it would be about $200 to replace. I guess people get new printers before then. But ours isn’t that old. I guess other people don’t print as many pictures as we do. So it looks like we will be printing these bad boys off from the US and sending them back and give Erimos a few more days of work returning them. I wish I would be with him to see their faces.
So you must be asking, why was this such a perfect day for research? Well, I thought it wasn’t going to be great. I didn’t get the best interview out of a lodge that I thought would be pretty promising yesterday and I was expecting the same from this one. They don’t get many tourists at all but it’s beautiful. I also thought they would have forgotten that I was coming. Further, I thought I would hear more from the manager/guide who really just annoys the hell out of me. And I didn’t think he would have the women’s group organized. Boy was I wrong.
The owner did most of the talking—taking time out of his busy schedule to do so. He talked for about 1 ½ hours and gave me some interesting insight on issues with tourism—apparently it’s not all roses, which I appreciate. He had some good ideas too and I enjoyed hearing him talk about Amin’s time and his views on tourism. A very insightful interview. Then we started talking personal and I showed him a picture of Scott. He asked me why I chose to be with a giant. I just laughed. He said he understood why I would be interested in someone so strong. Then he asked when we were both moving to Uganda. Some people never give up on this idea. . .
Erimos and I had our lunch. The place is quiet and beautiful—and with flushing toilets (a total surprise!). Then I saw the parade of women coming. We started getting their information—the demographics and there were some men in the group because it wasn’t actually a basket group but an orphan and widow’s care group. The women just happen to be the ones making the baskets. There were several women over 60. I swear some of them look like they are in their 40s. Many of them had over 7 children. One woman there was 82! The interview was informative but the fun was about to start. We got them out for pictures and they were laughing at me for asking them to smile. They thought it was great. Then they said they wouldn’t be complete without having me in the picture with them. So we did that. Then Erimos translated that I had a small gift for them and I hope that they would take it in thanks for spending time with me. We passed out the soap and they were SO THANKFUL! They were smiling and blessing me. They were so lovely! Then they decided to sing for me. This also meant dancing! Since most of them were Bakiga, they did the traditional women’s dance. It’s my favorite! You can’t help but move. The song is haunting but happy and inviting. They have this choreographed stomp and jumping move they do and it’s so happy! They continued to sing and dance and I took pictures and then I just couldn’t help myself, I jumped right in! I had no idea what I was doing and I knew I was making a complete fool of myself but it felt good to jump around with these women yelling encouragement and jumping and dancing around me. It sounds dumb but I felt like I belonged. Erimos was laughing his ass off at me. I loved it!
After that, the 82 year old woman came up to me and gave this bear hug—she was so strong! I had no idea what she said but I know she loved me. We said our goodbyes and as we were leaving she came up to me and gave me this mat that she made. It’s beautiful! I couldn’t believe it—all her hard work and this is her only source of income and she gave it to me. What do you do? Then the chairperson came up and gave me a millet basket. I love it! I am so lucky to get to do this kind of research. I get to talk to these women who work so hard for so little and care for large families, some who are not their own. They care about these children and want the best for them. Who am I to get to share a little bit of their world? I’m surrounded by people doing really scientific research that spits out lots of quantitative data. But I get to talk to people. My data reacts and smiles and laughs and I couldn’t ask for anything better.
I never thought I would be one to really enjoy this gender type research but I’m liking it. I love talking to these women. Research on basket making hasn’t been done in this area—at least that we are aware of. Everyone has been forthcoming with information and we hope that it continues. I can definitely get used to hanging out with the ladies all the time—it’s way too much fun. No one should have this much fun doing research or work! In fact I think I have a little too much fun. Aerin and Colin are going out with me tomorrow to check out some women’s groups, the king’s tombs (which we aren’t sure are receiving tourists or not), the king’s palace and we have an interview with another women’s group. Melissa, my new neighbor, is going out with me on Saturday. I would never have dreamed that I’d be doing something that others are interested in.
Because of the issues with the car and time running out, we won’t be able to bring back any of the information that we’ve collected. I hope to come back next year and do that though. I owe it to them.
On Sunday, Aerin, Colin, Melissa, and I are heading to Semiliki. We’re going with Kabarole Tours (one of my informants). We’re going to the game reserve, the national park and staying the night. We’re also going to visit a Bambuti village (one of the pygmy groups). Richard gave us a serious discount though he’ll still make plenty of money on us. We’ll be back on Monday. Then the following Sunday we are going to go chimp trekking. I figure that if I’m studying tourism, then I should be a tourist once in a while. That should be fun and cool.
Well, I do have to get up early. I hope all is well. Can’t believe I have just over 2 weeks left to get my interviews done and then it’s packing and heading to Kampala. Wow. This is nuts! I’ll see many of you before you know it!