Week 1- Kirabo

Where to start? This will probably be quite jumbled…

The room we are staying in is really nice; there is a living room, bathroom, kitchen area, and bedroom. We sleep under mosquito nets. There were a few cockroaches in others’ rooms but thankfully not our own! The lights don’t all work, the television doesn’t work, and our internet doesn’t work. Additionally, our “shower” is a little dysfunctional. The water pressure is low, and the warm water only comes out in a trickle. If you turn the cold water on with the warm to increase pressure, it just goes completely cold. So essentially, we take cold water showers but it really could be worse. I’m glad we have working toilets and a shower at all! At a gas station and a nice restaurant for downtown Uganda we’ve seen (and used) hole toilets. Basically it is a ceramic covered hole on a tiled floor. When you’re done, you pull a lever from above that flushes it out.

The country itself is beautiful; the grass and trees are really green, and the dirt is red. When it rains, everything appears really dirty because the mud gets everywhere. Rural Uganda is very different from Kampala- here, there are both shacks and American-style homes. In rural Uganda, there are various types of huts that most people would picture when they think of Africa. The city is extremely crowded, polluted, and congested with traffic- both cars, “matatus”, or vans, and boda bodas, or motorcycle taxis. (Which we are not allowed to take on penalty of being sent home.) Electricity is relatively common in the city but many shacks and stores do not have it.

Food is definitely interesting. We eat a ton of chapatti, which is basically Indian naan but thicker and prepared in palm oil. (Mostly everything here is cooked in palm oil) Breakfast, lunch, and dinner it’s served and I’ve certainly had it for all meals at this point. Ugandans eat a lot of meat, fruit, chapatti, rice, and potatoes. They have at least four types of potatoes they serve, I’m sure there are probably more, and they often serve them all at once. Most things are really greasy or sweet. The other day, on our trip to the safari (which I will discuss more in a bit) we took two roadside stops in rural places and ate roasted goat meat on skewers and roasted bananas. The bananas were great, but I wasn’t such a fan of the meat. However, many people on my trip really liked it a lot. When you drive by, the villagers come up to the car windows and try to sell drinks, food, or anything else they can. There are a lot of kids especially that do this.

The market, Wandageya, is really close to Makerere University (where we live.) It is basically a bunch of shacks tied together in an extensive shopping center. We’re supposed to bargain for fruit/vegetables but as of yet we’ve just bought stuff according to the price given…. It’s really cheap as it is and bargaining is beyond my comfort level in this first week. In the market, they basically sell everything from meat to baked goods to supermarket-style items to electronics. There are a lot of hair salons and clothing “stores” as well- but remember, it’s more like little shacks all next to each other. The area tends to be smelly as there is a lot of garbage (and a butchery) but it’s a pretty cool communal place.

A few days ago, we went to Mulago Hospital to tour it as well as the medical school of Makerere. The hospital tour was fascinating and completely unlike anything that would be seen in the U.S. We were taken all around the hospital, directly into wards and saw patients. (There was even a fistula ward!) It was a complete breach of privacy that doesn’t apparently matter as much out here. In some places, there were patients lying on mattresses on the floor where it was too overcrowded. There weren’t individual patient rooms but rather big rooms or open spaces with lots of beds. Outside of wards people would sit and wait on the ground- much of the hallways, walkways, and stairwells are outdoors. I wish I could have taken pictures. We even went into a children’s ward which was just pitiful and awful- lots of really forlorn looking children and babies, some with family members and some without. It is evident that the hospital staff is doing their best but they lack personnel and resources to meet such a great demand.. Overall, the hospital was what I expected. Run down, overcrowded, but a legitimate hospital with a highly educated staff.

We went on a safari this weekend- that was fantastic. I will post pictures or you will see them later! Baboons, elephants, giraffes, a lion, lots of hippos. The place we stayed at was also very nice but at the same time rustic- there was only electricity from 6:30 pm until 10:30 pm when it would turn off automatically. Also, the showers were supplied by a big bucket that was filled right before your shower from the outside. We slept under mosquito nets here too thankfully because there were tons of insects and we even heard a bat fluttering around in our cabin! It took me a while to fall asleep… Other than that it was an amazing experience and I would love to go back!

Also of importance, on the way to the safari, our van broke down. We spent two hours in a very small town and played with a bunch of kids. For a long time they just gathered together and giggled, not speaking to us. I tried talking to them in English and Luganda…(i.e. how are you, as that’s all I could say) and didn’t get a response for probably a half hour. Then one girl told us her name, and from then on, the kids just kept multiplying in number. They swarmed! We took pictures of them and they were fascinated with our cameras. We played games with them and even prayed with them, which they asked us to do. It was an incredible experience, and worth the inconvenience.

Afterwards, we went to a dance performance. That was super cool although it was four hours long. At one point, a nineteen year old girl danced with SEVEN pots balanced on her head. It was absolutely insane! We’re going to be taught an African dance and will be performing for Centurio’s (a Ugandan who assists my Professor and us) village- which will be quite interesting but a lot of fun I’m sure. I don’t really care how ridiculous I’m going to look!

After a week, I feel pretty comfortable! People are really nice and welcoming here and I don’t feel nearly as out of place as I had thought. The best thing I have experienced so far is driving through the rural villages- the little kids always wave to you. One time I even saw a little boy run a long-ish way just so he could say hello! Every little hut you go by, the little cuties wave. They never fail to make me smile with their enthusiasm.

Location: Kampala, Uganda