Ki kati? from Kampala
I arrived in Kampala Friday morning. There was a slight mix-up so my ride did not pick me up from the airport in Entebbe. You may remember that I have never travelled in the developing world before. I was terribly frightened! I waited for a few hours, and then took a special hire (private taxi) to my room in Kampala.
Uganda is unlike anything I have ever seen. There is greenery almost everywhere. Where there is not greenery there is red dirt, the dust from which sticks to everything, including your clothing. I was in complete shock for the entire drive to Kampala. Barefoot children. Goats and chickens on the roads. No traffic laws to speak of. Tin shanties. Scaffolding made of thin tree limbs. Roaring around on motorcycles with no helmets. Huge piles of matoke (savoury bananas) everywhere you look. And that barely scratches the surface of the strange and (sometimes) wonderful things I’ve seen!
There is a British volunteer here at the Law Society (Julia) who took me under her wing. She and her partner Ron took me out for dinner the first night and took me around town the next day. The power had cut out, so I used my flashlight to find my way out of my hostel room. That was fortuitous, as I needed to use it on the walk to the restaurant to avoid falling into the uncovered manholes.
The next day one of my supervisors (Brendah) took me to my house. It is in a fairly posh part of the city called Bukoto. My house is on a street with no name and it has no house number. It’s a very pretty semi-detached with two bedrooms. There is a nice yard with a garden in both front and back, with a papaya tree and a banana tree. Unlike most flats in Kampala, my house came furnished. It is very luxurious, with television and hot water. It's surrounded by a high wall. Power cuts in my area are rare –in fact there has only been one since I moved in. Apparently an important person lives in my neighbourhood so the powers that be make extra efforts to keep the power on. I have a nighttime guard and a groundskeeper. It’s very strange to have people working for me and it makes me uncomfortable. My guard is Congolese, so I get to practice my French. Although it is a rich neighbourhood, all neighbourhoods here tend to be mixed, so right across the street there are people living in wooden shacks.
After dropping off my things we went to Julia and Ron’s place; they took me around town to buy things for my house. We took matatus (shared mini-buses) the whole way. It’s very exciting! After shopping we went to a barbecue with members of Julia’s volunteer organization. I met a bunch of people there, and we went for brunch together Sunday and out for traditional Ugandan dancing Sunday evening.
I started work yesterday. My colleagues are very warm and friendly. I think the work is going to be very interesting. My supervisor has not been able to meet with me yet, but I have found some other work to do in the meantime. I don’t want to only spend my time hanging out with expats, so I am trying to make some Ugandan friends as well. To that end, one of the young lawyers here went with me downtown yesterday. She took me for a soda and a banana and we had a nice chat. I hope to continue to develop these connections. I’m also looking for Luganda lessons. Swahili is useless here (it reminds people of the days of Idi Amin). I feel imperialist walking up to impoverished people who have not had the benefitof education and expecting them to speak my language. So Luganda it is.
All in all, things are going well. Although I am very privileged here, life is still difficult compared to Canada. Doing something like buying coffee can take the bulk of an afternoon. It will take time to get used to life here, but I think it will be worth it. Part of the adjustment means dealing with my new identity as “muzungu.” That is what white people are called, and people yell it to me as I walk down the street. It’s cute when it’s little children. It’s less cute when it’s a group of men standing in the shadows. I hope that learning to communicate in the local language will make me a little less of an outsider.
Uganda is unlike anything I have ever seen. There is greenery almost everywhere. Where there is not greenery there is red dirt, the dust from which sticks to everything, including your clothing. I was in complete shock for the entire drive to Kampala. Barefoot children. Goats and chickens on the roads. No traffic laws to speak of. Tin shanties. Scaffolding made of thin tree limbs. Roaring around on motorcycles with no helmets. Huge piles of matoke (savoury bananas) everywhere you look. And that barely scratches the surface of the strange and (sometimes) wonderful things I’ve seen!
There is a British volunteer here at the Law Society (Julia) who took me under her wing. She and her partner Ron took me out for dinner the first night and took me around town the next day. The power had cut out, so I used my flashlight to find my way out of my hostel room. That was fortuitous, as I needed to use it on the walk to the restaurant to avoid falling into the uncovered manholes.
The next day one of my supervisors (Brendah) took me to my house. It is in a fairly posh part of the city called Bukoto. My house is on a street with no name and it has no house number. It’s a very pretty semi-detached with two bedrooms. There is a nice yard with a garden in both front and back, with a papaya tree and a banana tree. Unlike most flats in Kampala, my house came furnished. It is very luxurious, with television and hot water. It's surrounded by a high wall. Power cuts in my area are rare –in fact there has only been one since I moved in. Apparently an important person lives in my neighbourhood so the powers that be make extra efforts to keep the power on. I have a nighttime guard and a groundskeeper. It’s very strange to have people working for me and it makes me uncomfortable. My guard is Congolese, so I get to practice my French. Although it is a rich neighbourhood, all neighbourhoods here tend to be mixed, so right across the street there are people living in wooden shacks.
After dropping off my things we went to Julia and Ron’s place; they took me around town to buy things for my house. We took matatus (shared mini-buses) the whole way. It’s very exciting! After shopping we went to a barbecue with members of Julia’s volunteer organization. I met a bunch of people there, and we went for brunch together Sunday and out for traditional Ugandan dancing Sunday evening.
I started work yesterday. My colleagues are very warm and friendly. I think the work is going to be very interesting. My supervisor has not been able to meet with me yet, but I have found some other work to do in the meantime. I don’t want to only spend my time hanging out with expats, so I am trying to make some Ugandan friends as well. To that end, one of the young lawyers here went with me downtown yesterday. She took me for a soda and a banana and we had a nice chat. I hope to continue to develop these connections. I’m also looking for Luganda lessons. Swahili is useless here (it reminds people of the days of Idi Amin). I feel imperialist walking up to impoverished people who have not had the benefitof education and expecting them to speak my language. So Luganda it is.
All in all, things are going well. Although I am very privileged here, life is still difficult compared to Canada. Doing something like buying coffee can take the bulk of an afternoon. It will take time to get used to life here, but I think it will be worth it. Part of the adjustment means dealing with my new identity as “muzungu.” That is what white people are called, and people yell it to me as I walk down the street. It’s cute when it’s little children. It’s less cute when it’s a group of men standing in the shadows. I hope that learning to communicate in the local language will make me a little less of an outsider.
posted by Cara at 12:27 PM
1 Comments:
Oh my! I'd have freaked out if my ride hadn't showed, that must of been somewhat freaky.
I'm really hoping the internet cafe's in kampala are good enough to let you upload a couple pictures to this here blog, it sounds like a beautiful country.
:)
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