week one: initial thoughts

Location: Makerere, Kampala, Murchison Falls

Living, studying, and interacting with people in the context of an unfamiliar culture requires considerable effort. Among other things, we must learn languages and customs and etiquette and how to move about a new city.
Having traveled abroad mainly in the developed world, I was expecting this. After all, learning these things - absorbing a new culture - is one reason why many people, myself included, travel abroad. In a foreign country that we visit, we are always outsiders for this reason, but, as I have found out, the degree to which we are seen as outsiders can vary quite widely.
In the context of Uganda, as I expected, we have been continually learning of culture and etiquette - a necessity, if we are to continue living and studying here. My expectations for what I would experience going to Uganda were therefore fairly accurate: The food, the languages, the transport, the people, and the city, were all more or less what I expected - a result of months of reading through my Uganda guidebook and hearing from people who went previously.
How my position as an outsider would affect my experiences in Uganda, however, was something that I have had to become used to. I have felt these effects numerous times, but they were particularly acute during our trip to Murchison Falls, where we stayed at the Nile Safari Lodge. I must begin by saying that this was a very enjoyable trip, and our accommodations were really very nice. We had a view of the Nile, and the place was spacious and airy and open, with good food and a relatively well stocked bar. There was a pool, and the gardens were beautiful and well tended. But, it was precisely this that made me more aware of a feeling of inequality that I have begun to increasingly feel while I am here.
This was the type of place that was made for foreign tourists, and unsurprisingly, all the visitors seemed to be either European or American. This was the type of place that very few Ugandans would have the means to visit. We were staying in a place with all the luxuries to which we take for granted, while a couple kilometers down the road, there were people living in small huts with thatched roofs, without the running water and electricity and modern toilets that we have become so dependent on. As I walked past a Ugandan man working in the garden under the midday sun, I almost felt guilty for the resources I have available to me, that I use everyday, and that I take for granted. Here I was in their country, enjoying their beautiful landscapes and wildlife at a place that seemed completely inaccesable to them. It did not seem fair to me.
We as American students are all privileged here, I suppose. I have truly enjoyed my first week here, but there are still many things that we all must become accustomed to. The way people stare at us and ask us for money ... I was told that this would happen, but it is definitely something that you have to experience and accept.

I look forward to the next nine weeks here. Ugandans are very friendly and pleasant to be around, and I already feel pretty comfortable moving about Kampala on my own, getting lost each time, but getting to know the city better as well.