Friday, March 23, 2012

Now now now

So it's been an awfully long time since I've posted. My parents may be my only steadfast readers left. You find me at this time in Uganda, Mbarara to be exact, a small (but major for the country) city in western Uganda which despite being at the equator has a perfect climate due to its 1400 m elevation.

I'm not going to be here as long as I would like to really get my anthropological hat on, but here are a few funny cultural things for you.

Brief ugandan phrase book:
"where do you stay" = where are you living
"are you getting me" = do you understand what i am saying?
"i am getting you" = i understand
"3, 3" = 3 twice = 6 (as in, there are two of you, you pay 6 total)
"flu" = runny nose
"malaria" = fever
"now" = god knows when
"now now" = in the next hour or so
"now now now" = immediately
"i have to make a short call" = i have to pee (long call is therefore its obvious partner, but never stated out loud)

Names
Most people near here are the Ankole people... and most of the patients speak Runyankole, a Bantu language, and often some English as well. They usually have two names, like Gloria Mbaze (I just made that up), a western name and a village name. The village name usually is chosen by the grandmother or grandfather, and interestingly seems to often denote some public neighborhood happening at the time of the birth or a way to communicate a message to the neighbors. I have heard of a names that mean "your goat is eating my plants" and "stop taking my vegetables". The other day I met a gentleman whose name meant "where did you take off from" and who explained to me that his grandmother was not sure whether his mom was faithful with his father at the time of conception. Very interesting...

In other news.
Today I learned that they have to write boy or girl on the maternity discharge papers from the hospital, which are used to make birth certificates. They used to write male and female, but people would white it out to say male and then tell their families that the doctors changed the sex of the baby...

Some powerful doctors, I should say.


No comments: