Week 1 - Observations from a Bus Window

The air is warm and humid as we step outside of the airport and load onto the bus. A light breeze floats through the windows of the bus as we wait to take off for Kampala. We are all excited to be here and anxious to see our new home for the next ten weeks.

The Ride to Kampala: A full moon and the headlights of matatus, trucks, boda-bodas, and other vehicles are all that light the road. The absence of street lights, house lights, lights in general shocks me. Despite the darkness and the late hour, many small stores that line the road are still open. I can see inside the stores filled to the brim with trinkets, with crooked shelves, with a few items and one flat screen TV sitting on the counter. Some stores are lit by brights lights, others by a few candles. Power lines border the road, but many people cannot afford electricity. So it's dark.

The Ride through Makerere University: The students dress well, and I am surprised to see many of them wearing blue jeans and many of the women wearing heels. The main modes of transport around campus include walking and boda-bodas. Students seem to stare at the bus as it passes by. I try to guess what they are thinking, but I cannot tell.

Birds the size of young children stand in the fields, on the sidewalks, in the trees, and perch on buildings. These scavenger birds are called Marabou Storks. They seem to be a fixture on campus. The students do not seem to notice or mind when one of these storks stands close to them.

The Ride through Kampala: Matatus, boda-bodas, buses, trucks, cars. Honking, weaving, and dodging. The streets are filled with vehicles and potholes. The rain from the previous night has created red puddles. Boda-boda drivers park together along the road. They sit on their bikes waiting for customers, and they remind me of biker gangs.

The vehicles share the roads with people on foot. People walking on the sidewalk, crossing the road, selling passion fruit or phone cards. People walk quickly and with purpose. It is as if everyone has somewhere very important to be. School children in different uniforms walk together, laughing and carrying their backpacks. Men in uniform with large guns walk the sidewalk near Parliament.

Advertisements pervade the landscape of Kampala. Billboards four times the size of those in the United States market beer, cell phone networks, airlines, and public health announcements. Smaller signs advertising coca-cola line the roads and appear attached to storefronts. Often these signs look like they have been posted in these places for a long time. Even flower planters in the meridians advertise a paint store.

The stores are easier to see in the daylight. Faded signs above each store communicate what one can find inside - clothing, bags, groceries, medicine, photographs, food. Tiny shacks painted yellow, pink, or red and white sell airtime. Shopkeepers straighten displays, and restaurant workers sweep the floors. Sometimes the sound of hip-hop music floats from these stores to where we are stopped in traffic.

The Ride to and from Murchison Falls: Children run toward the road, waving and shouting as the bus passes. We wave back and smile. Their relatives and friends remain near the houses and look toward the road, but often they do not smile or wave.

A group of men huddle to see something right outside of the entrance to a roadside store. Children play soccer using frames constructed from branches for goals. Men, women, and children carry large yellow containers up the road. Later I see these large yellow containers next to a well and realize that they are used to carry water. On Easter, everyone can be seen walking along the roads in beautiful clothing as they head to church.

Strips of buildings painted yellow, pink, and red and white, again advertising various cell phone networks, line the roads. Old Coca-Cola signs hang on the sides of buildings and above the signs welcoming travelers to a new town.

One room buildings with plaster walls and thatched roofs flank the shops. These homes often lack doors. Children sit near the doorways, playing in the dirt.


Much of my experience in Uganda has involved my observations of everyday life as seen from the windows of our bus. I have seen a variety of environments and people. I have seen large, ornate buildings and the tiny, dilapidated shacks of the urban slums. I have seen people clothed in beautiful suits and others in barely anything. I have seen the city shops and the rural gardens. Everywhere I have seen advertisements.

I feel as if these observations have provided me with an interesting first view of the country, but I want to learn more. I am ready to meet people and learn about their lives. I am not satisfied by simply sitting back and watching Uganda. I know that I cannot understand how the environment has developed in the manner that it has or how people have come to occupy the places in society that they have without asking questions, without meeting the people, without getting off of the bus. I cannot wait to experience Uganda from the ground.

Location: Entebbe to Kampala, Kampala, Kampala to Murchison Falls