Yesterday morning I moved out of Jeliza hotel and prepared to meet my host family. Our group piled into a couple of vans (with one extra van for all of our luggage) and first went to Makerere University to take a driving tour of campus. When we were finished with this, we drove over to the largest public hospital in Uganda. Our program staff have been warning us all week to never ride a boda boda motorcycle in Kampala, so today they took us to one of the wards at the hospital to see some of the people who have been injured in boda accidents. Going to the hospital was a very interesting experience. In the ward, I was immediately struck with sadness as I saw such incredible overcrowding, poor sanitation, and crumbling facilities. There is nowhere for families to stay, so they literally bring mats and towels and sit around the beds. They have to bring their own food and water, so there is junk scattered everywhere. The whole scene was incredibly heartbreaking, and it really made me want to think about issues of public health more seriously.
After this site visit, it was time to meet our host families. We drove to a very nice hotel in Kampala and met them in an outside area with tents set up and food laid out. The whole experience was kind of hilarious. As we (the students) entered the grassy area of our meeting place, we stood in a straight line, shoulder to shoulder. Our host families fashioned themselves the same way facing us. One by one, each student’s name was read aloud into a microphone along with the host family’s. The student and family would meet in the middle, embrace (with pictures being snapped by an program assistant), and then walk over to the tent area for a snack and something to drink. My name was one of the last ones called, but eventually I met my family in excitement and anticipation.
After a little while we left to return home. My host mother briefly mentioned “the compound” a few times, and I finally found out what that meant. My host father is a Protestant Reverend and he has a good deal of power and responsibility in the community. We live in a humble home, but on the land composing our compound is his church, a clinic, a school, a dormitory for girls, a small plantation, and a bunch of houses for a lot of other people.
The day was incredibly exhausting, yet unbelievably amazing. If you were to ask a Ugandan woman how many children she has, she might reply, “We don’t count our children here.” Ugandan families include both biological and ‘adopted’ children. Adopted children to us might be cousins or nieces or nephews, but to the Ugandan people, they are all their children, brothers, or sisters. In my new family I have five other sisters, ages 26, 21, 7, 4, and 8 months. My “mommy” is 30, and my dad is 35. Since I am now part of the family, they gave me a name that signifies I am now part of their tribe: “Nalule” (pronounced nah-lue-lay). When I first heard it, I could never remember it, but I am often called by my new name that I actually remember to respond to it now.
In our house we have electricity, but no running water and no toilet. We use a pit latrine, and I use about a gallon or two of water to shower with. I scoop a bucket onto a cup to pour it on myself. Ugandans are very clean people. My host family requests that I shower at least every night before I go to bed, and I am invited to take another shower in the morning or earlier in the afternoon if I wish. Last night was my first shower, and I misjudged the amount of water. Today was much more successful. I have a room in the house that is used for my “shower”, but it doesn’t have a light in it, so I place my headlamp on a bench to light it up. The rest of my sisters bathe in an outdoor shower in a room next to the latrine.
The kitchen is located outdoors in a small building of sorts next to the house. We cook using a small charcoal stove, and some things are heated up with a gas stove inside the house. There are ants (of various sizes), cockroaches, and lizards inside the house and all over. These huge ants climb on the table in in the sugar, and there are at least two spots on my wall where hundreds of small ants are climbing in a straight line to some undetermined location. The first time I used the pit latrine was last night, and when I shined my headlamp inside, a cockroach came running out at me. This afternoon my host mom was sitting in a chair next to the wall and a small lizard appeared right next to her head. I actually squealed with delight and everyone thought it was very funny that I had never seen a lizard quite like that before. My older host sisters and mom label all these things as “harmless,” but I think it might take me a while to get used to some of them, namely, the cockroaches.
Our compound is really cool, and you can see Lake Victoria when you stand in the plantation. I asked my host mom if I could see inside the school sometime, and she asked me if I wanted to teach! Maybe I’ll be doing that in the future? We shall see. I’m also really interested in learning about the clinic. After going to see the hospital yesterday, I’m curious to know what it’s like. Also, we apparently live down the road from the president’s daughters, so I’m keeping an eye out. Even though I have absolutely no idea what they look like.
At several times during the past two days, I just smile with disbelief. I’m living in Uganda in a house with a family that is so very different than anything I have ever known. I carry around an adorable African baby, eat fresh pineapple with my fingers, and watch Mexican soap operas dubbed simultaneously in English and Luganda (like, one character speaks English, the other Luganda; I only understand half of what is going on at any given moment and my host mom whispers to me the plotline and what the characters are saying, thinking, and feeling). I’m currently sitting in my bed under a mosquito net listening to the crickets and the sound of the TV in the living room (that thing is on all day long). Driving through town, I see chickens walking on the side of the road and skinny cows with HUGE horns being herded around by an even skinnier man. I relieve myself in a hole in the ground.
I arrived here a week ago today, and sometimes it seems like I’ve been here for much longer. I’ve already learned so much, but the more I learn the more I realize I don’t know.
til next time
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
This morning was our final day of official orientation activities, and we held our meetings outside on the campus of Makerere University. We were so very distracted by the giant storks walking around that it was at times a bit difficult to focus! We went over some of the rules and policies of the program and wrote a constitution for all of us to abide by. We got lunch on our own in groups, and it took about an hour and fifteen minutes to finally receive the food we ordered. As I’ve said before, time is just different here in Uganda.
We also received some of the information concerning the host familes we will be moving in with tomorrow. Each student has their own family, and we will be staying with them for about four weeks. We’re moving out of the hotel tomorrow morning, and I’ve got to say, I’m going to miss Jeliza Hotel! However, I’m really excited to meet my host family tomorrow.
After all of our activities this afternoon, we had our own free time. I needed to purchase a cell phone and a new power converter. I ended up buying a phone for less than $30, and haggled the “non-negotiable” price of the power converter down to about $1.75. Not bad!
I ate dinner outside in the garden of Jeliza, and got to spend some time with my classmates for a little while. I’ve just basically finished packing and I’m ready to move out tomorrow morning!
We also received some of the information concerning the host familes we will be moving in with tomorrow. Each student has their own family, and we will be staying with them for about four weeks. We’re moving out of the hotel tomorrow morning, and I’ve got to say, I’m going to miss Jeliza Hotel! However, I’m really excited to meet my host family tomorrow.
After all of our activities this afternoon, we had our own free time. I needed to purchase a cell phone and a new power converter. I ended up buying a phone for less than $30, and haggled the “non-negotiable” price of the power converter down to about $1.75. Not bad!
I ate dinner outside in the garden of Jeliza, and got to spend some time with my classmates for a little while. I’ve just basically finished packing and I’m ready to move out tomorrow morning!
til next time
Drop Off
Yesterday was a really big day for me. My classmates and I experienced our first “drop-off” exercise, in which we were paired and sent off on our own to learn about some topic in the city of Kampala. My partner and I were given the topic of transportation. Others had things like health, education, food, and entertainment. For our topic, we planned to visit the Old Taxi Park, the New Taxi Park, and ride in a taxi for the first time. All of the groups were also instructed to buy mosquito nets, which we will use when we move in with our host families tomorrow.
To learn about transportation, we first tried to look at a map to figure out where the taxi parks were. Maps aren’t very widely used in Kampala, and the one we had was not very helpful. So we decided to start walking in the direction we thought the parks might be in, and ask someone along the way. Our program staff had been telling us that Ugandans are very friendly and helpful people, and this was certainly confirmed. Using some of the Luganda language skills we learned the day before, we approached a man and asked him where the Old Taxi Park was. Ugandans absolutely love when Mzungus (white people) speak the local language because it seems to show that we’re really trying to be more than just tourists; we’re interested in the people and we want to learn their language to be able to communicate with them. We tried to greet each person we met with Luganda and also thanked them when we were finished. It truly felt incredible!
Using the directions offered by a few different people (directions here are funny: “you know the petrol station next to the pharmacy? Go down down down and turn right, then left, then slope down and turn right. It’s very easy and very close.”), we finally made it to our destination: the Old Taxi Park. The two taxi parks in Kampala are incredibly overwhelming to say the least. The only way I can attempt to describe it is to picture a huge dust-covered parking lot with vans crammed together in every which way as far at the eye can see. Different stations mark the departure routes for the taxis. Taxis in Uganda are kind of like buses in the US. They have a certain route that they take with a few stops, but basically you just need to yell something to the driver when you are nearing your stop. The taxi will pull over, and you will pay your fare. Taxis have 12 or 16 seats for passengers and a driver. The taxis cannot leave the park until they are full, so some people will have to wait a considerable amount of time just to begin to leave, not to mention the amount of time it takes to find a way out to get back to the road.
If this were not overwhelming enough, the area directly surrounding the taxi park is composed of a large marked filled with everything and anything. I saw clothing, shoes, sim cards, fabric, mangoes, small electronics, and so many other things, including mosquito nets, which we dutifully purchased (I got to haggle for the first time!). The area is so congested, and it is a place that requires special vigilance in all the shuffle, or you are almost sure to have something unknowingly snatched away from you if it is not secured.
Not only are there vendors with small makeshift shops set up around the park, but there are people walking between all the squeezed-in taxis peddling a variety of things like wallets and passion fruits to the people walking around and sitting in the waiting taxis. After taking all of this in, my classmate and I decided to head over to the New Taxi Park to see if it was similar. On our way through the markets on our way out, we began talking to a vendor named Muhammad that was selling shoes in his shop. He asked about America, and me that I should consider moving to California because he really likes Schwarzenegger (who we begrudgingly informed him was no longer in office). We asked him about life in Uganda, and told him we were students studying in Uganda for the next three months. He was really surprised we were here to study because, he said, most students in Uganda would give anything to be able to study in America. It reminded me how lucky I am. Altogether, the conversation was about 15 or 20 minutes. In the end, we asked him if he could point us in the direction to the New Taxi Park, and he actually left his shop to walk us there himself.
After observing the area for a bit, he asked us where we wanted to go in the taxi and I showed him the address of our hotel that I had written down in my notebook. He took us to the right taxi, confirmed with the driver, and was ready to send us on our way. He even wrote down his two cell phone numbers for us to call if we got lost or needed any help with anything. It was a very different experience than anything I’ve had before, and his kindness really made me smile.
We were some of the last passengers to board the taxi, and when it was finally full, we still could not move for another 20 minutes. For us to move, several other vehicles in front of and around us had to move out of the way. There was a lot of honking, yelling from driver to driver, and even a couple of people started whacking the back of the taxi with their hands. As I looked around at all of the other passengers in our taxi, I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized this was simply commonplace; no one even batted an eyelash.
The taxi driver would turn the engine on, and we would move a couple of feet, then he would turn it off, and we would wait for a couple of minutes for the taxis in front of us to move again. More yelling. Meanwhile, vendors everywhere poked their heads through the windows trying to sell us leather wallets and yards of fabric. Finally as we began creeping forward at a slow, yet consistent rate, we entered the street of the market surrounding the taxi park. The taxi was only feet away from vendors on either side of the “road” with people walking everywhere. Once again, I don’t even know how to begin to describe such a spectacle. It was insane.
When we finally got out onto the real roads, I realized I didn’t even know when or where the taxi was supposed to stop in relation to our hotel. Like I said, taxis don’t take you to a specific place like a cab in the US, they each follow a particular route, and people yell to the driver when they want to get off.
Needless to say, we missed our stop. We eventually got off, paid the driver, and ended up walking for a very long time back the direction we had just come. Another “assignment” was to get lunch on our own, something that we would be doing for the first time. We saw a sign for a restaurant, crossed the road, and entered a compound-like area that housed the restaurant and a couple of other buildings. We looked for the “restaurant”, but found only an empty restaurant-looking building with no patrons and no food. We left and continued onward.
After consulting the map, we realized that we had a long way to go, so we began looking for a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Every taxi that passed us by was jam-packed. We continued walking of the dusty “path” next to the road. Once again, I couldn’t help but laugh: this “path” had bodas whizzing by, giant tree roots protruding, rocks, open man holes, and a plethora of other things to keep us on our toes (literally). However, this is how most of the “sidewalks” are in Kampala, so I’m learning to get used to all the new obstacles (though still tripping and falling on a couple of occasions).
We finally found a large taxi stop, hopped on a taxi, and rode right back to the hotel. We paid our fare, but were not given any change. We insisted several times for the “Balance” (using some of our Luganda) and were finally given our due change. As I’m quickly learning here, you have to be pretty firm if you don’t want to be taken advantage of.
We got lunch at a place close to our hotel (after walking up to another deserted restaurant in a weird alley), ate an carb-intensive meal, and headed back to our meeting spot in the hotel garden with about fifteen minutes before we were due back. Overall the experience was so much fun! It took a lot of patience, confidence, and a sense of humor, and overall I thought we did quite well!
Later that night, a group of about 10 of us decided to go to dinner at a restaurant called “Boston View.” We were seated at three different tables, and given one menu for each table. After about 15 minutes the waitress took our drink orders and brought out our drinks several minutes later (you have to say “waTer”, not “wa(d)er” or they have no idea what you mean). Before we could order our food, we had to pay for our drinks. Kind of strange, but we went with it. Several minutes later, the waitress took the orders of one of the other tables. About 20 minutes after that, she took the orders of the other table. About 25 minutes later she began to take the orders of our table. Whenever someone tried to order something, she said that they had none left. I eventually just asked her what food they did have left, and she informed me that had chips (French fries), sausage, and Chap (which has something to do with eggs apparently). That was all. We decided to leave and go to another restaurant.
We ended up at another restaurant that was incredibly delicious, had excellent service, and was quite charming to look at. The prices were much higher, but we were very grateful to be eating such wonderful food.
To learn about transportation, we first tried to look at a map to figure out where the taxi parks were. Maps aren’t very widely used in Kampala, and the one we had was not very helpful. So we decided to start walking in the direction we thought the parks might be in, and ask someone along the way. Our program staff had been telling us that Ugandans are very friendly and helpful people, and this was certainly confirmed. Using some of the Luganda language skills we learned the day before, we approached a man and asked him where the Old Taxi Park was. Ugandans absolutely love when Mzungus (white people) speak the local language because it seems to show that we’re really trying to be more than just tourists; we’re interested in the people and we want to learn their language to be able to communicate with them. We tried to greet each person we met with Luganda and also thanked them when we were finished. It truly felt incredible!
Using the directions offered by a few different people (directions here are funny: “you know the petrol station next to the pharmacy? Go down down down and turn right, then left, then slope down and turn right. It’s very easy and very close.”), we finally made it to our destination: the Old Taxi Park. The two taxi parks in Kampala are incredibly overwhelming to say the least. The only way I can attempt to describe it is to picture a huge dust-covered parking lot with vans crammed together in every which way as far at the eye can see. Different stations mark the departure routes for the taxis. Taxis in Uganda are kind of like buses in the US. They have a certain route that they take with a few stops, but basically you just need to yell something to the driver when you are nearing your stop. The taxi will pull over, and you will pay your fare. Taxis have 12 or 16 seats for passengers and a driver. The taxis cannot leave the park until they are full, so some people will have to wait a considerable amount of time just to begin to leave, not to mention the amount of time it takes to find a way out to get back to the road.
If this were not overwhelming enough, the area directly surrounding the taxi park is composed of a large marked filled with everything and anything. I saw clothing, shoes, sim cards, fabric, mangoes, small electronics, and so many other things, including mosquito nets, which we dutifully purchased (I got to haggle for the first time!). The area is so congested, and it is a place that requires special vigilance in all the shuffle, or you are almost sure to have something unknowingly snatched away from you if it is not secured.
Not only are there vendors with small makeshift shops set up around the park, but there are people walking between all the squeezed-in taxis peddling a variety of things like wallets and passion fruits to the people walking around and sitting in the waiting taxis. After taking all of this in, my classmate and I decided to head over to the New Taxi Park to see if it was similar. On our way through the markets on our way out, we began talking to a vendor named Muhammad that was selling shoes in his shop. He asked about America, and me that I should consider moving to California because he really likes Schwarzenegger (who we begrudgingly informed him was no longer in office). We asked him about life in Uganda, and told him we were students studying in Uganda for the next three months. He was really surprised we were here to study because, he said, most students in Uganda would give anything to be able to study in America. It reminded me how lucky I am. Altogether, the conversation was about 15 or 20 minutes. In the end, we asked him if he could point us in the direction to the New Taxi Park, and he actually left his shop to walk us there himself.
After observing the area for a bit, he asked us where we wanted to go in the taxi and I showed him the address of our hotel that I had written down in my notebook. He took us to the right taxi, confirmed with the driver, and was ready to send us on our way. He even wrote down his two cell phone numbers for us to call if we got lost or needed any help with anything. It was a very different experience than anything I’ve had before, and his kindness really made me smile.
We were some of the last passengers to board the taxi, and when it was finally full, we still could not move for another 20 minutes. For us to move, several other vehicles in front of and around us had to move out of the way. There was a lot of honking, yelling from driver to driver, and even a couple of people started whacking the back of the taxi with their hands. As I looked around at all of the other passengers in our taxi, I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized this was simply commonplace; no one even batted an eyelash.
The taxi driver would turn the engine on, and we would move a couple of feet, then he would turn it off, and we would wait for a couple of minutes for the taxis in front of us to move again. More yelling. Meanwhile, vendors everywhere poked their heads through the windows trying to sell us leather wallets and yards of fabric. Finally as we began creeping forward at a slow, yet consistent rate, we entered the street of the market surrounding the taxi park. The taxi was only feet away from vendors on either side of the “road” with people walking everywhere. Once again, I don’t even know how to begin to describe such a spectacle. It was insane.
When we finally got out onto the real roads, I realized I didn’t even know when or where the taxi was supposed to stop in relation to our hotel. Like I said, taxis don’t take you to a specific place like a cab in the US, they each follow a particular route, and people yell to the driver when they want to get off.
Needless to say, we missed our stop. We eventually got off, paid the driver, and ended up walking for a very long time back the direction we had just come. Another “assignment” was to get lunch on our own, something that we would be doing for the first time. We saw a sign for a restaurant, crossed the road, and entered a compound-like area that housed the restaurant and a couple of other buildings. We looked for the “restaurant”, but found only an empty restaurant-looking building with no patrons and no food. We left and continued onward.
After consulting the map, we realized that we had a long way to go, so we began looking for a taxi to take us back to the hotel. Every taxi that passed us by was jam-packed. We continued walking of the dusty “path” next to the road. Once again, I couldn’t help but laugh: this “path” had bodas whizzing by, giant tree roots protruding, rocks, open man holes, and a plethora of other things to keep us on our toes (literally). However, this is how most of the “sidewalks” are in Kampala, so I’m learning to get used to all the new obstacles (though still tripping and falling on a couple of occasions).
We finally found a large taxi stop, hopped on a taxi, and rode right back to the hotel. We paid our fare, but were not given any change. We insisted several times for the “Balance” (using some of our Luganda) and were finally given our due change. As I’m quickly learning here, you have to be pretty firm if you don’t want to be taken advantage of.
We got lunch at a place close to our hotel (after walking up to another deserted restaurant in a weird alley), ate an carb-intensive meal, and headed back to our meeting spot in the hotel garden with about fifteen minutes before we were due back. Overall the experience was so much fun! It took a lot of patience, confidence, and a sense of humor, and overall I thought we did quite well!
Later that night, a group of about 10 of us decided to go to dinner at a restaurant called “Boston View.” We were seated at three different tables, and given one menu for each table. After about 15 minutes the waitress took our drink orders and brought out our drinks several minutes later (you have to say “waTer”, not “wa(d)er” or they have no idea what you mean). Before we could order our food, we had to pay for our drinks. Kind of strange, but we went with it. Several minutes later, the waitress took the orders of one of the other tables. About 20 minutes after that, she took the orders of the other table. About 25 minutes later she began to take the orders of our table. Whenever someone tried to order something, she said that they had none left. I eventually just asked her what food they did have left, and she informed me that had chips (French fries), sausage, and Chap (which has something to do with eggs apparently). That was all. We decided to leave and go to another restaurant.
We ended up at another restaurant that was incredibly delicious, had excellent service, and was quite charming to look at. The prices were much higher, but we were very grateful to be eating such wonderful food.
By the end of the day I was covered in dust, but still no sunburn or mosquito bites! I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before I hit the pillow last night.
til next time
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
My first couple of days in Kampala
I arrived in Kampala two nights ago, and what a trip it was! Getting off the plane, I was immediately hit with the balmy, stagnant equatorial heat that enveloped me like a wet blanket (my favorite-no lie!). The first thing I noticed about the airport was its simplicity and overall lack of clear structured organization. On my way to the immigration desks, I literally walked past a pair of doors that opened wide to the runway. Making my way to passport control, my group of fellow SIT students and I had a decision to make. Since we had all already applied for and received our visas, we did not need to enter the long line to get them. We asked an airport security guard who directed us to the line for U.N. officials and other important people. Sweet! After this, a couple others directed us to the front of the line where we essentially cut in front of everyone else who had been waiting. None of us really knew why, but we just went with it, which I’m finding is a common theme in general here.
Eventually we made it through and picked up our luggage. I was so astonished that my two bags had actually arrived at Entebbe airport after all the trouble I had in Chicago that I didn’t complain about the newly broken handle on my suitcase (unfortunately it didn’t end there). We made our way out and were greeted by our SIT representatives, who ushered us to the parking lot. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the air. It smelled like a distant campfire, something that was both comforting and familiar in this strange place. Making our way to the van was an interesting experience. It was about 11:30PM, and the parking lot had very few lights. We began to pack the back of the van, and I couldn’t stop laughing because we were literally bumbling around in the dark trying to pack it up. When the back was filled, our driver climbed on top to place extra baggage up there. The sight of three or four girls struggling to lift up several over-stuffed and over-sized pieces of luggage into the hands of a man standing on top of a van in the extremely lit parking lot must have been an entertaining one. When we all piled in and drove away, I realized that the entire airport parking lot was probably smaller than the one at my 400-student high school.
The drive from Entebbe to Kampala was probably about 30 minutes, 29 of which found me clenching my seat or squeezing my muscles like a nervous wreck. Driving in Uganda is very different than the US. Not only is it on the left side of the road, but it’s completely insane. Cars pass each other right in front of incoming traffic. There aren’t sidewalks in many areas, so people (including children) are walking on the side of the street merely inches away from speeding vehicles. Boda Bodas, which are crazy dangerous motorcycles, zoom in and out of traffic, almost grazing other vehicles and driving so close they make my stomach hurt.
Even though it was late at night, people were still out and about. Unfortunately, in the dark we could not see very much, but the feelings and thoughts pulsing through me were quite vivid nonetheless. Entebbe airport is right on Lake Victoria, so I was able to catch a glimpse of it, which really made me smile.
As our van got closer and closer to the city center, I began to notice increasing levels of smog. I could see it in the soft glow of the lamps, and could feel it in the back of my throat. Ugandans burn much of their garbage. They also burn coal and wood for fire, which release increased levels of carbon dioxide into the air. In the capital city of Kampala, they have in incredible of cars, vans, and boda bodas on the roads, which I noticed emit black fumes. All of these things combined create smog, with the humidity and CO2 trapping it quite efficiently.
The rules of the road in Uganda are very interesting, or perhaps rather the lack thereof. The only stop sign I have seen so far was the one at the exit of the airport. I don’t think I’ve seen a speed limit sign, and most of the roads are not marked, even in the capital city. People just pull right in front of one another as bodas zoom around every corner of every vehicle. Taxi vans crammed with people are the norm in local public transportation. The city only has a handful of stoplights, which are even more inefficient than the madness that goes on without them. The streets are paved, but littered with potholes, craters, and horrific speed bumps. I don’t think I could ever drive in Kampala, but I certainly have a huge amount of respect for the people that do.
When we finally arrived at our hotel, I couldn’t wait to get right into bed. My room is on the second floor (called the first floor here). It’s simple, yet comfortable. It is actually much more spacious than I thought it would be. A big wooden door opens up to a small hallway that leads to the sleeping area. There are two beds, one for me and one for my roommate, with mosquito nets hanging above them. On the right is a door to the bathroom. Our room even has a TV and mini fridge.
When I set down my things and began to open my bags and get organized, I realized it must have been an incredibly traumatic journey for them. My shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste had all exploded on my things! I really couldn’t be angry; all I could do was laugh. After all, it was kind of funny and I was kind of delirious from the long hours of traveling. In one of my suitcases I also had a bottle of permethrin spray. Permethrin is an insect repellent that is sprayed on clothing and other gear it is especially useful because it lasts up to 6 washes and it repels different kinds of insects rather effectively. I used some of this stuff to spray my clothes, and I brought the rest to re-spray after a few weeks. Unfortunately, this too exploded and soaked through a few items of clothing. Well, at least I’ll be super-protected with those.
We started bright and early the next morning (yesterday) and will be going through a sort of orientation until Saturday, when I will move out of the hotel and move in with my host family. We’ve been so busy for the past couple of days that I cherish any bit of time I get to myself. I got to exchange some of my US dollars to Ugandan shillings yesterday. The exchange rate is so ridiculous; it’s around 2300 shillings to the dollar, which will take me a little while to get used to. We went on a driving tour of Kampala yesterday, and got to drive up a huge hill where we stood before gorgeous panoramic views of the city.
We went to a restaurant for lunch that is right next to Presient Museveni’s Kampala residence. Unfortunately, I have no sightings to report. The food was delicious, but I’m beginning to see some interesting patterns in meal composition. Ugandans don’t seem to measure their meals and diets by the sorts of nutritional guidelines Americans use. They eat SO many carbs, and much fewer amounts of proteins, fruits and vegetables. Although these things are usually present, one meal could easily contain three or four types of carbs with one type of protein, vegetable, and fruit. I can already see this as being an interesting indication of health and nutritional knowledge in Uganda and other countries of Eastern Africa. Perhaps so many children are malnourished because they eat these filling carbs, but receive inadequate amounts of other important vitamins and nutrients? This is something I know will be explored further later.
We went to the SIT resource center, where we will be taking our classes, took a tour, and met some of the staff that will be helping us during the next 3 and ½ months. Toward the center of the city, there is some sort of problem with the water pressure. I haven’t heard many of the details, but what it means at this building is that if we use the toilet, we need to fill a bucket of water and pour it in the toilet to “flush” it. I’m going to try to avoid this as much as possible. I hope the problem is fixed soon. I’ve noticed it at our hotel, too. Fortunately, the toilet flushes, but only a small stream of water comes out of the sink and shower. I don’t know if this is just the norm or part of the same problem, but it definitely saves a lot of water.
The shower in our hotel room is the type that you hold and spray on yourself. The water doesn’t warm up, but I’ve found that it really isn’t that bad, and it ensures that I use much less! I asked our academic director where the water at our hotel comes from, and she told me they get it from Lake Victoria. This water is safe for bathing, washing hands, and brushing teeth, but we can’t drink it. We can’t drink any tap water, so for the moment, we only drink bottled water. This leads to many used plastic bottles, and I still haven’t found out whether or not they recycle plastic. I hope they do, but I’m worried they probably don’t.
The Uganda sense of time is very different here. No one is in a hurry. Any person on the street is willing to stop what they are doing and talk to you or help you find where you need to go. Making an appointment or reservation at 7:00 means it could basically start any time from one minute after 7 to one minute before 8, and still be on time. The traffic is so congested, that it usually takes a very long time to drive only a short distance.
Today we spent the whole day in the garden at our hotel under a shady tree continuing our orientation activities. We had two different doctors come to talk to us about caring for our own health and safety in Uganda. We then had one of the chiefs of police talk to us more about safety and the role of the police in the city of Kampala. We then had a course on social etiquette in Uganda, and followed with a yummy lunch outside. After this, we had “Survival Luganda” lessons for a couple of hours. I was so exhausted, but was relieved when we were granted two hours of free time before dinner at the hotel. Some of the others went out and explored the area around our hotel a bit, but I just had to rest a bit and felt much more refreshed afterward. After our 7:00 dinner (which began at 7:35), we stayed outside and chatted for a little while.
Right now I’m sitting in bed with my mosquito net around me. It’s 12:23AM and I’m listening to my iPod. The walls are paper-thin here, and just a little while ago I was inundated with the loud laughter of people in the courtyard and garden, speedy traffic outside, and blaring TV next door. It really doesn’t bother me, though. I’m just happy to be here. Remarkably, it’s pretty quite now!
Tomorrow is a big day. Thus far, we’ve been closely guided by our SIT staff, but in the morning we will be put in pairs to take on some sort of task in a “drop off” activity. I’m a bit nervous, but I’m ready for the challenge!
I’m starting to learn the importance of patience here. Things are just a little bit different. I received a wireless modem at the SIT center, which didn’t work. I finally got it up and running this afternoon. Cereal is served with warm milk. I patched a couple of holes in my hotel-issued mosquito net last night. I cut my finger trying to open a bottle with a fork. There’s reddish-brown dust all over me by the end of the day, especially in my hair (as I found out when I washed it an hour ago). I have to take my malaria prophylaxis every day with half a bottle of water or I will feel sick. These things might have troubled me before, but the general mellow attitude and happiness around here keeps me at ease.
This post is very voluminous and disorganized (sort of like traffic in Kampala!), but I hope it fills you in a little bit about what I’ve been up to for the past couple of days!
I’m so tired, and I know I’ll have even more to share after tomorrow. Nighty night!
til next time
Eventually we made it through and picked up our luggage. I was so astonished that my two bags had actually arrived at Entebbe airport after all the trouble I had in Chicago that I didn’t complain about the newly broken handle on my suitcase (unfortunately it didn’t end there). We made our way out and were greeted by our SIT representatives, who ushered us to the parking lot. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the air. It smelled like a distant campfire, something that was both comforting and familiar in this strange place. Making our way to the van was an interesting experience. It was about 11:30PM, and the parking lot had very few lights. We began to pack the back of the van, and I couldn’t stop laughing because we were literally bumbling around in the dark trying to pack it up. When the back was filled, our driver climbed on top to place extra baggage up there. The sight of three or four girls struggling to lift up several over-stuffed and over-sized pieces of luggage into the hands of a man standing on top of a van in the extremely lit parking lot must have been an entertaining one. When we all piled in and drove away, I realized that the entire airport parking lot was probably smaller than the one at my 400-student high school.
The drive from Entebbe to Kampala was probably about 30 minutes, 29 of which found me clenching my seat or squeezing my muscles like a nervous wreck. Driving in Uganda is very different than the US. Not only is it on the left side of the road, but it’s completely insane. Cars pass each other right in front of incoming traffic. There aren’t sidewalks in many areas, so people (including children) are walking on the side of the street merely inches away from speeding vehicles. Boda Bodas, which are crazy dangerous motorcycles, zoom in and out of traffic, almost grazing other vehicles and driving so close they make my stomach hurt.
Even though it was late at night, people were still out and about. Unfortunately, in the dark we could not see very much, but the feelings and thoughts pulsing through me were quite vivid nonetheless. Entebbe airport is right on Lake Victoria, so I was able to catch a glimpse of it, which really made me smile.
As our van got closer and closer to the city center, I began to notice increasing levels of smog. I could see it in the soft glow of the lamps, and could feel it in the back of my throat. Ugandans burn much of their garbage. They also burn coal and wood for fire, which release increased levels of carbon dioxide into the air. In the capital city of Kampala, they have in incredible of cars, vans, and boda bodas on the roads, which I noticed emit black fumes. All of these things combined create smog, with the humidity and CO2 trapping it quite efficiently.
The rules of the road in Uganda are very interesting, or perhaps rather the lack thereof. The only stop sign I have seen so far was the one at the exit of the airport. I don’t think I’ve seen a speed limit sign, and most of the roads are not marked, even in the capital city. People just pull right in front of one another as bodas zoom around every corner of every vehicle. Taxi vans crammed with people are the norm in local public transportation. The city only has a handful of stoplights, which are even more inefficient than the madness that goes on without them. The streets are paved, but littered with potholes, craters, and horrific speed bumps. I don’t think I could ever drive in Kampala, but I certainly have a huge amount of respect for the people that do.
When we finally arrived at our hotel, I couldn’t wait to get right into bed. My room is on the second floor (called the first floor here). It’s simple, yet comfortable. It is actually much more spacious than I thought it would be. A big wooden door opens up to a small hallway that leads to the sleeping area. There are two beds, one for me and one for my roommate, with mosquito nets hanging above them. On the right is a door to the bathroom. Our room even has a TV and mini fridge.
When I set down my things and began to open my bags and get organized, I realized it must have been an incredibly traumatic journey for them. My shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste had all exploded on my things! I really couldn’t be angry; all I could do was laugh. After all, it was kind of funny and I was kind of delirious from the long hours of traveling. In one of my suitcases I also had a bottle of permethrin spray. Permethrin is an insect repellent that is sprayed on clothing and other gear it is especially useful because it lasts up to 6 washes and it repels different kinds of insects rather effectively. I used some of this stuff to spray my clothes, and I brought the rest to re-spray after a few weeks. Unfortunately, this too exploded and soaked through a few items of clothing. Well, at least I’ll be super-protected with those.
We started bright and early the next morning (yesterday) and will be going through a sort of orientation until Saturday, when I will move out of the hotel and move in with my host family. We’ve been so busy for the past couple of days that I cherish any bit of time I get to myself. I got to exchange some of my US dollars to Ugandan shillings yesterday. The exchange rate is so ridiculous; it’s around 2300 shillings to the dollar, which will take me a little while to get used to. We went on a driving tour of Kampala yesterday, and got to drive up a huge hill where we stood before gorgeous panoramic views of the city.
We went to a restaurant for lunch that is right next to Presient Museveni’s Kampala residence. Unfortunately, I have no sightings to report. The food was delicious, but I’m beginning to see some interesting patterns in meal composition. Ugandans don’t seem to measure their meals and diets by the sorts of nutritional guidelines Americans use. They eat SO many carbs, and much fewer amounts of proteins, fruits and vegetables. Although these things are usually present, one meal could easily contain three or four types of carbs with one type of protein, vegetable, and fruit. I can already see this as being an interesting indication of health and nutritional knowledge in Uganda and other countries of Eastern Africa. Perhaps so many children are malnourished because they eat these filling carbs, but receive inadequate amounts of other important vitamins and nutrients? This is something I know will be explored further later.
We went to the SIT resource center, where we will be taking our classes, took a tour, and met some of the staff that will be helping us during the next 3 and ½ months. Toward the center of the city, there is some sort of problem with the water pressure. I haven’t heard many of the details, but what it means at this building is that if we use the toilet, we need to fill a bucket of water and pour it in the toilet to “flush” it. I’m going to try to avoid this as much as possible. I hope the problem is fixed soon. I’ve noticed it at our hotel, too. Fortunately, the toilet flushes, but only a small stream of water comes out of the sink and shower. I don’t know if this is just the norm or part of the same problem, but it definitely saves a lot of water.
The shower in our hotel room is the type that you hold and spray on yourself. The water doesn’t warm up, but I’ve found that it really isn’t that bad, and it ensures that I use much less! I asked our academic director where the water at our hotel comes from, and she told me they get it from Lake Victoria. This water is safe for bathing, washing hands, and brushing teeth, but we can’t drink it. We can’t drink any tap water, so for the moment, we only drink bottled water. This leads to many used plastic bottles, and I still haven’t found out whether or not they recycle plastic. I hope they do, but I’m worried they probably don’t.
The Uganda sense of time is very different here. No one is in a hurry. Any person on the street is willing to stop what they are doing and talk to you or help you find where you need to go. Making an appointment or reservation at 7:00 means it could basically start any time from one minute after 7 to one minute before 8, and still be on time. The traffic is so congested, that it usually takes a very long time to drive only a short distance.
Today we spent the whole day in the garden at our hotel under a shady tree continuing our orientation activities. We had two different doctors come to talk to us about caring for our own health and safety in Uganda. We then had one of the chiefs of police talk to us more about safety and the role of the police in the city of Kampala. We then had a course on social etiquette in Uganda, and followed with a yummy lunch outside. After this, we had “Survival Luganda” lessons for a couple of hours. I was so exhausted, but was relieved when we were granted two hours of free time before dinner at the hotel. Some of the others went out and explored the area around our hotel a bit, but I just had to rest a bit and felt much more refreshed afterward. After our 7:00 dinner (which began at 7:35), we stayed outside and chatted for a little while.
Right now I’m sitting in bed with my mosquito net around me. It’s 12:23AM and I’m listening to my iPod. The walls are paper-thin here, and just a little while ago I was inundated with the loud laughter of people in the courtyard and garden, speedy traffic outside, and blaring TV next door. It really doesn’t bother me, though. I’m just happy to be here. Remarkably, it’s pretty quite now!
Tomorrow is a big day. Thus far, we’ve been closely guided by our SIT staff, but in the morning we will be put in pairs to take on some sort of task in a “drop off” activity. I’m a bit nervous, but I’m ready for the challenge!
I’m starting to learn the importance of patience here. Things are just a little bit different. I received a wireless modem at the SIT center, which didn’t work. I finally got it up and running this afternoon. Cereal is served with warm milk. I patched a couple of holes in my hotel-issued mosquito net last night. I cut my finger trying to open a bottle with a fork. There’s reddish-brown dust all over me by the end of the day, especially in my hair (as I found out when I washed it an hour ago). I have to take my malaria prophylaxis every day with half a bottle of water or I will feel sick. These things might have troubled me before, but the general mellow attitude and happiness around here keeps me at ease.
This post is very voluminous and disorganized (sort of like traffic in Kampala!), but I hope it fills you in a little bit about what I’ve been up to for the past couple of days!
I’m so tired, and I know I’ll have even more to share after tomorrow. Nighty night!
til next time
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Word
I don't think I've said "malaria prophylaxis" so much in my life.
Actually, I know I haven't.
til next time
Actually, I know I haven't.
til next time
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Official Countdown Starting NOW!
I just inserted a countdown to my Ugandan departure!!
Just over one month to go!
til next time
Just over one month to go!
til next time
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