The Buses of Kampala

Typed on the 20th of May, late-night as well.

So, there are two general modes of transportation here in Kampala. You can ride a boda-boda, which is a little motorcycle with room on the back – faster, maybe a little more dangerous, but more expensive. The alternative, which is what I’ve been using, is a mini-bus or matatu. Think of a regular van with the two seats in the front and three rows behind. It’s stripped down to the metal, and the seats are modified so that there are still regular seats in the middle and on the right, but the seats on the left are fold-able so people can step over them and the front passenger seat goes across the middle where the console would be. Now, take that van and fill it to capacity. There’s a driver and a toll-man (who spends the whole ride telling the people he passes where he’s going to try to pick them up) and 11-14 other people crammed into it. Usually a full van is 4 people across in each row and 2 by the driver, and the toll-man usually just sits on the very edge of his seat since he’s hanging on the sliding door anyways. That’s my primary mode of transportation! It’s pretty inexpensive, but being a muzungu, or white guy, they’ve tried to get more out of me. Going into town with Morris has cost me 500UGX, and coming back today cost me 800, but he said it was because I got them at the stop-off station, but I think it’s because I’m a foreigner. Word’s still out on the real reason.

On my own

Typed on the 30th of May, late night.

Today was a big adventure compared to yesterday. Last night I wandered our neighborhood alone and spend the night alone (George and Morris were both out of town for the evening). Today, Morris tested me by saying goodbye to me in Wandegeya, a big shopping district where I’ve always eaten meals and used the internet. So I was online for about 20 minutes to check everything out (it was nice to get through most of my e-mails, e-mail Kim and my parents, and even update some social networks – I even got to chat with Angela a little!) before I had to find my way home! I made it okay, but since I’m a “white man” they hiked up the rates. Speaking of which, I’m still getting used to the money here.  Ugandan Shillings are roughly 1/2000 of a dollar, but certain things are way cheaper here while others are about the same price as back home.

Before that get-myself-home adventure, Morris took me to Makerere University, the biggest and oldest university in all of East Africa! It was really cool because it is a giant campus that covers several small hills and one big hill, and all of the campus is really pretty.  I took lots of pictures too, so you’ll get a slideshow :)

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Tomorrow is an even bigger adventure. I have to leave early to deal with traffic (it can a loooong time to get into the city center at the wrong time) and get to Morris’ work. He’s going to help me exchange my traveler’s checks (interestingly, even foreign exchange bureaus rarely take them, so I have to go to a Barclay’s or something) and then I will be going to the NACWOLA headquarters in Kampala. I will be putting in a few days there to better understand the organization before moving up to Lira this weekend to start my real internship.

Nothing Important

Typed on the 30th of May, late morning.

I slept some last night! Napped for a little before calling Kim and my parents, then went to sleep and got a good 7 or 8 hours rest, only woke up 4 times, and once it was raining! Now I’m up and trying to spruce up the room. It’s become a disaster of luggage, shopping bags, and papers in the passed day. Also there are tiny ant-like things crawling on my computer screen and it’s kind of annoying. Today’s pretty relaxed. It’s 10am and Morris said he’d be here in an hour or so, so I’m going to read and maybe play games on my computer or something.

But! You can see more of my room!

This is my bed, equipped with mosquito net!This is my big iron door. when I leave I have to reach my arm through that little door and lock it from the inside!

Welcome to Kampala

Typed on the 29th of May, late evening.

So, today was a busy day. I ran a few errands, completed a few tasks, and actually got to spend some time talking to both Kim and my parents. But the day started off kinda stupid, as I woke up after three hours of sleep and could not get more rest. Every time I laid down I missed my bed at home and got all emotional. This divide between my familiar realm and me is striking a little harder and little faster than I expected, honestly. But after some time I went into town with George and stopped at an internet cafe. The connection was slow and the place had several power outages, but I got to talk to Kim a little and read some of my e-mails. At the last second G-chat worked so it was nice to talk with Kim for reals, even if only for a moment. We then went to breakfast where I had the infamous MILK IN A BAG. Not a carton or a jug like I’m used to, but a bag. It was kinda weird.

Then George took me to Morris’ work and we rendezvoused for a moment before George left and Morris went back to work. I had intentions of wandering that section of Kampala, but that section was boring and I ended up walking for the sake of walking. Once Morris got off of work we went and ran some errands, exchanging some of my money ($1:2100UGX, if you’re curious) and picking up a cell phone, a replacement power cord, and a pillow. The pillow will be good help in maybe getting real sleep. The power cord probably cost about as much as shipping it here from home, but I thought it’d be worth the extra push to have my computer functioning for the first 2-3 weeks of this whole ordeal, especially since I don’t yet know my address in Lira. The cell phone, well that’s a whole other story.

In Uganda, cell phones are everywhere and you pay as you go. By pay as you go, I mean you walk up to booths and purchase “air time,” which are little strips of paper with codes on them. I text the code to a number and my phone gets credited with that much money. Problem is, it’s the only way I’ve really been able to contact those back home so I’m buying air time like crazy and burning through it even crazier. Somebody get me an internet connection with Skype!

Anyways, as the night wound down George was at a meeting out of town and said he might not come home. Meanwhile, Morris was going to run errands across town and might stay there at his parents’ house as well. So, it’s possible that I have this little house all to myself, and I don’t quite know how to feel about that. My first step was to go buy some more air time and then I left my parents a message before buying a soda and heading home solo. Then I took a nap before talking to both Kim and my parents. So glad I got to talk to Kim again, and as I said goodbye to my parents I got all weepy again. Boy am I a whiner! Alas, I’m working on my computer a little before I give up and go to bed. Tomorrow morning is kind of a mystery, but at least I’m starting to have plans for the week (NACWOLA headquarters for my internship orientation, and I’m going to do touristy things on Thursday as it’s a national holiday). Hopefully tomorrow will be time for me to actually get to an internet cafe with my laptop and post all of these pending blogs.

Here are a few pictures!

This was my first meal in Uganda! I’ll talk more about food some other time.

What am I drinking?! Oh, that’s milk in a bag!

This is Morris and George’s house. My room is on the left, their’s is behind the pole on the right, and the gate on the far right is the hall to the bathroom.

Uganda!

Typed on the 28th of May (late night in Uganda, morning in the US) in my new temporary home near Kamwakya.

Going on 30 hours of travel and 1 hour of sleep, I’m about to crash out of exhaustion and sudden realization that I’m on the other side of the world.

Landed in Entebbe on time, but I stood in line for an hour to get my passport stamped, which was lame. Then I grabbed my luggage and rounded the corner to see an odd spectacle of scores of people standing pressed against the doorway holding up signs. Flipping roles, I had a sign and my contact Morris found me. After a looooong drive and a small meal, we ended up at the place Morris shares with a guy named George (both swell guys so far!). I’m currently in the next room, hunkered down under a mosquito net typing. I’m postponing going to bed because when I laid down a little while ago I got all weepy. I’m excited to be where I am, but that doesn’t make me less settled about not being where I’m not. I got to call Kim for a couple of minutes, which beats the radio silence I was stuck with in Amsterdam and Entebbe.

Tomorrow should be a relaxing day, but I think that might translate to me being restless and wanting to do stuff, so we’ll see. I’ll be heading into the city center of Kampala to get a few things squared away. Side-note: the driving in Kampala is soooooo much crazier than in New York City, and that’s saying something. Also I’m conserving battery so this is all you get for now.

I’m on a plane!

Typed on the 27th of May, somewhere between Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Amsterdam/Schiphol Airport.

So, I’m on my way to Uganda right now.  It’s been an interesting day so far, and the journey’s only half over.

This morning a frazzled me tried to make sure I had everything packed in the early morning. Kim drove me around since I needed more last-minute things (I suck, but thank you Kim for helping me out!) and got me to the airport. Had to stand in multiple lines to get my boarding pass since I couldn’t check in online, then Kim and I stood around and said some sad see-you-laters.  We are a very close couple and the passed few days have been kind of surreal.  After working, living, commuting, schooling, and everything else together, we’ll be apart for a few weeks. Surprisingly we held it together at the security check where we hugged before I officially began my trip. I already miss her, so we’ll see how I’m doing come week six or something. Anyways, this will be a quick blog-post, and you’ll see why soon.

Fun short story: Apparently my book light is suspicious because they stared at the scan of my bag for a long time before removing the bag and swabbing it before searching it and then running it through again. Damn book light.

Way worse story: I am somewhere between Detroit and Amsterdam and my laptop power cord is in Tempe.  Uuuuuuugggghhh. I can’t believe that’s the thing I forogt. Not, you know, a pen or a pair of socks. My freaking laptop charger. So what I thought would be a fairly frequent presence on the Internet will be postponed for a bit until I get it replaced.

Despite this delay, this is my first blog-post about the internship/trip/adventure while it is actually in motion. I’ll blog about more than just this for nine weeks, but all of my Uganda-Blogging will have this new fancy tag; welcome the “Live from Lira” series!  It will have a rocky start, apparently, but hopefully all will be streamlined and updating in due time. Until then, we’ll see how fast the internet cafes in Kampala are.

As I type, it’s 5:37pm, I think Arizona time and I’m probably over New England. I was expecting this flight to have internet, and would have been willing to pay for it for the 7.5 hours over the Atlantic, but apparently it has EVERYTHING but that. Since being seated, I’ve done a lot more than read my book on colonization. I’ve played Bejeweled (highest score of the day!) and I’m watching Pirate Radio while I type this up (“It’s a type of bird, but it’s wearing a hat.” “Robin Hood.”)  Once I finish typing up this blog (to be posted whenever) I’ll probably read with the Beatles in the background or maybe I’ll watch one of the movies I haven’t seen before. Or maybe more games! I can’t understand why I can’t have internet. Alas, I’ll turn off my computer now and post this later.

Eastern Seaboard, Out.

Jean Genie

On Tuesday, Kim and I went shopping.  I needed to get a lot of things purchased before I could leave on my trip, so we pushed a loaded cart around Target for about an hour and a half.  In the end, I have a weird new wardrobe that I didn’t think I’d be getting for a while, some important accessories for the journey, and a far lighter wallet.

I bought jeans.  This may not be a big deal to many (most, if not all) of you.  I have not owned jeans since I was around eight years old, I think.  A few months ago I tried some on but decided against it.  Working out in the field with limited luggage and probably even more limited washing opportunities, I thought jeans would be a good investment for this trip.  It’ll be interesting to see what my new wardrobe does for me.  Also denim feels kinda foreign to me.

In addition to that little endeavor, I expanded my two-shirt oxford collection and added a few plain Ts, which I very rarely wear.  And I bought Kim a shirt with one of the coolest designs I’ve ever run into.  The first time I ever saw it was at CB2.  In addition to looking cool, it’s got a really neat background.  It was a poster commissioned by the British Ministry of Information during the depression years immediately preceding WWII.  It was never published and was lost until a print came out in an auction recently.  (All of this is according to CB2, but I believe them because they also have unique one-of-a-kind maps and authentic Jain bowls that I want).  Anyways, Target commandeered the design and have a whole set of things that are awesome.

I should do some work, but I’ll post later about wedding things (we went to a tasting last night!) and trip things (ahhhh!!!).  The big news is that I leave in one week.  This next next week I’ll be over the Eastern seaboard of the US or Canada (not sure). Woah.

Dog Day Afternoon

Rounding out blog post #3 of my lunch break is a dog post.  It’s part sad and part happy, so bear with me.

On Saturday, Kim and I met Callista, the super-kind black dog that we really liked.  After talking with the foster family and making sure she was perfect for us (and boy was she!) we went home and called the rescue to set up a house-check and move forward with the adoption.  She said she’d give me a call in a few days and we could set everything up.  That night, Callista’s page on petfinder said “adoption pending.”  Whoo hoo, right?!

Days went by without a call.

I finally called the rescue and she gave me bad news and made me all mad news.  Apparently, someone else adopted her.  The rescue didn’t think that our work- and school-schedules worked well enough with Callista’s personality and a stay-at-home mom was interested and got her.  I honestly wouldn’t mind if we lost Callista to somebody else, but it’s the fact that the foster family said she did fine home alone for several hours (we specifically asked about our 8-hour workdays).  Plus, the foster family said we were the first ones to meet her, and that night it said her adoption was pending – we naturally thought that meant it was us.  And then someone else magically managed to contact, meet, and do a house-check before I even got a call-back.  Alas and alack.

SO! Kim and I talked to the rescue that we looked at for Thor (the first one we liked).  She has another dog named Zeus that we actually wanted before Thor – he was adopted and then returned because the family’s other animals didn’t get along with him.  He’s on his way back to the rescue and Kim and I are going to go meet him today and see how things go.  Maybe a Callista lost is a Zeus gained!  We’ll find out tonight, I guess.

Global Students

This Wednesday, I took my German final (and finished my semester!!) and then met up with some friends at Cartel Coffee Lab.  Talking with friends from the Global Studies program really confuses my brain, but it makes me realize how insane all of this stuff is.

I always thought it was crazy cool that I had been to Europe once on a tour.  Meeting people in Global Studies has been humbling and inspiring because I hear about all of these cool things people are doing and I can’t wait to do my own stuff.  Our two tables at the coffee house were meeting for one last time because we’re all dispersing around the world this summer, and it’s always been fascinating to hear what everyone’s doing.

That table included people going to work in a total of four continents (and if Kevin made it it would’ve been five, but he’s already in Brazil).  It was really interesting to hear about what everyone would be doing and I got advice from two people who had already worked in Uganda for extended periods of time.  Even though most of us will only go a couple of months without seeing each other, it was saddening to see everyone for one last time.  Alli already left yesterday for Bahrain and won’t be back until the beginning of school.  Haneen and Yousef are departing next week to Palestine and Denmark, respectively.  Heidi’s going to Colorado for a summer job before joining up with the Peace Corps.

The whole idea of me going to Uganda in two weeks and staying there for two months is still hitting me slowly.  I’ve never done anything like it.  Unlike some internships, I’ll be the only foreigner in my group and I’ll be doing work with which I’m pretty unfamiliar.  I’m still figuring out the logistics of where I’ll be staying and what I’ll be doing.  All I do know if that I’ll be in Uganda for nine weeks, and that part will be very exciting, even if I’m totally unprepared.

Without Objection

Yesterday evening, the United States House passed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009.  I was at home watching C-SPAN and was elated to hear it pass.  A number of representatives made statements on the floor about the atrocities carried out by the LRA, including all of the original co-sponsors and both the chairman and ranking Republican of the Foreign Affairs Committee.  In theses statements, several representatives mentioned the work of advocates and activists.  And boy it’s been a long haul for a lot of the people I know.  Invisible Children made a sweet video breaking down everything I’ve written here, so feel free to get some visuals. In April of 2009, nearly 100,000 activists took to the streets in 100 cities around the world for a campaign that ended six days later in Chicago.  In May, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KA) introduced the bill, and a piece of partner legislation was introduced in the House by a trio of representatives.  A month later, 1700 activists descended on Washington, DC for two days – the most for any lobbying initiative.  The months since have been dotted by district meetings all over the country, and slowly the support trickled in.  In addition to lobby meetings, over 250,000 signatures were gathered for the Citizen’s Arrest Warrant for Joseph Kony and were hand-delivered to the State Department.  When Senator Tom Coburn tried to block the bill from passing in the Senate, a grassroots campaign led to activists sleeping outside of his office for 262 hours until he removed his hold (and the bill passed with unanimous consent). The bill gained the support of 65 Senators and 201 Representatives, the most of any policy bill in this session and the most for any Africa-related bill in either chamber in modern American history.  And on Wednesday it passed the House by voice vote and without objection. If you want to know more about what this means (and doesn’t mean), my friends at Resolve Uganda put together a break-down Q & A and John Prendergast wrote an article for Huffington Post about the bill as well.  The main thing you should know is that it will soon become law for the US to help apprehend Joseph Kony.

UPDATE (5/14) – Kim and I totally saw an Invisible Children ad on TV last night.  Totally weird, totally cool.  If you get Halogen.tv you should check out all of the IC films they’re showing. :D

UPDATE (5/15) – A couple more links for everyone! Senators Russ Feingold, Sam Brownback, and Jim Inhofe, together with Representatives Jim McGovern and Ed Royce issued a joint statement celebrating the passage of the bill that you can read here.  And, props to Resolve Uganda are in order.  The organization called for supporters to ask for statements from their representatives.  Their goal was five (only about 10 have made statements on this issue in the past ten years) and by the time the bill came to a vote fifteen statements had been made.  You can see a full transcript of the statements on Resolve’s website.