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A few months before graduating from Ripon College in 1961, I applied and was accepted to be included in the first wave of Teachers for East Africa (TEA).  I had traveled around the USA extensively but never overseas, so this was a great upcoming adventure.  My family, and especially my dad, were very apprehensive on this undertaking.  My dad even produced a National Geographic map of Africa and, pointing to East Africa, he said, "Jerry, look, there are not even any roads there!  How are you going to get around?"  Of course, he needed a Shell road map of Uganda, but where would you get that in Chicago?

During my US travels, as a young fellow, I always was on the lookout for souvenirs and that desire continued during my East African teaching assignment with TEA. Probably all persons in this program did the same.  As a maths teacher (TEA-1C) working at the governmental senior secondary school called Sir Samuel Baker (Sambaker), located in Uganda's northern province, I got out in the bush many times in my land rover during the two years I worked there.  

As there was virtually no commercial accommodation or restaurants available in northern Uganda, I had to have all the necessary equipment for sleeping, cooking and eating packed in my land rover during these outings (pictures 1-3).  It seemed everyone I met on the various outings always had something interesting to sell.  People had homemade musical instruments, self-protection items, wood carvings, fresh fruits, skins, food items etc.  And of course, wanting some souvenirs, I was always ready to buy or trade for interesting items and I still have them at home (pictures 4-9).  Most of my souvenirs were made for commercial sales, but I was able to find some real handmade locally interesting items.

Probably the most interesting item was a stool that many people carried around.  Since these stools were all handmade by their owners, they came in many different shapes and sizes (pictures 10-13).  I bought several during the two years I camped, fished and hunted in Northern Uganda's Karamoja District and Northern Kenya's Turkana District.  Now here's the kicker - these stools had a dual purpose - can you guess what the second purpose was? 

They were used as a pillow - that's right, a pillow. (See pictures 14-16)  Of course, they were not soft, but thinking about it, when sleeping on one's side, something is required to keep your head up and even with your body.  And these stools did the trick.