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Published: January 29th 2009
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Well, maybe only some of you may have been asking that question…like my mom. If you haven’t, then, I just don’t know what to say.
I find it somewhat interesting how I can so easily become “comfortable” with my surroundings that I am not as likely to run home at the end of the day and tell you just about every small detail that I can think of.
I was debating to myself how to entitle this blog entry. I wanted to name it “This blog was brought to you by the phrase ‘Oh no!’” in light of my experiences from riding on the bodas (which are motorcycles). But, I don’t think that it would have warranted an entire blog entry. Instead, you just get what I have been up to.
I just returned a day ago from a 3-day conference in a city called Entebbe, which is about an hour south or southwest from Kampala (much of that time is spent navigating to get to the other side of the city than truly making progress in getting to the city). The conference was a meeting of many different research parties all united under one network called the
CAPT Network (which is an attempt to strengthen the relationship between Canadian researchers/funding opportunities and African researchers). I didn’t really contribute much to the conference but the intention was more for me to see the types of research and research partnerships TASO has and I think it was successful to that end. The cool thing about it all was that I got to stay at a nice hotel for free for 2 nights with all meals paid for. Better yet, the hotel room had air conditioning (cue the Hallelujah chorus). At dinner on the last evening of the conference we had the opportunity to watch a performance by a group of orphans who go around putting on shows that highlight traditional song and dance not only from Uganda, but all over Eastern and Southern Africa (there might have also been some Western Africa now that I think about it). But, the money they receive from doing the shows goes to fund their education, which was really awesome I thought.
Saturday, Valerie and I went to central Kampala and walked around the shopping/market area. Can someone say, “Wow!?” There were so many people on every street. It was just plain
crazy. Here’s what you would see, in regards to the shops, walking down the street: cell phone vendor, dvd store, clothing store, random assortment of items store, hair salon, repeat. Who would’ve thought that’s all people buy? I do have some other observations from being out and about in the city.
In regards to transportation, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Ugandans negotiating prices with the drivers. Maybe I’m just trying to make myself seem like a victim. Part of me wants to get a fair price without having to haggle too much but then I also think to myself…”well, I guess that’s only an extra $2” or something like that. Also, on an unrelated note, I saw an older man being scrubbed/showered out in the open. It was just really jarring to see such a thing. I don’t say that to say that the person should be ashamed, but it was just eye-opening for me.
There was something else that I really wanted to tell you about, but it escapes my memory. Anyways…
Last night, Valerie and I attended this cultural center called Ndere Center where a similar performance was put on. It was probably the
One of the largest markets in Kampala
Okay, I don't know if that's actually true, but it was huge (the picture doesn't really do justice to the size). best $5 (or 10,000 Ugandan shillings) I’ve ever spent in my life. There was an MC who attempted to introduce the meaning behind many of the songs/dances, although I don’t know if I believed all of the things about which he spoke, but he was entertaining nonetheless. There was actually one song where the women carried progressively more clay jars on their head. One of the women performers had somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 jars piled on top of one another. I was awestruck. Then they also had a group of guys who did weird gymnastics/circus routines. Somehow I don’t really think that was Uganda-specific/originated, but who am I to make that call?
Tomorrow sort of starts business for Valerie and myself. We will start going into work at the normal time. I hope that we really start making some progress on each of our areas of focus. I think that most people should be in the office for good by now and we will have the opportunity to interface with them. I am learning though, that more than anything, I am going to be needing a proactive approach throughout this fellowship, and I guess that it’s a really good thing as far as helping me to grow professionally as opposed to having everything just coming to me.
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