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Published: February 10th 2009
So I am finally able to sit down and write. I guess I’ll start from the beginning:
To begin the trip, I arrived at SeaTac airport (after spending the day in Seattle with my housemates and meeting Colin for lunch) only to find out that my flight to London had been canceled. I was able to get on another flight, but had about six hours to kill. Luckily, two of my friends (love ya'll!) who had dropped me off at the airport ended up coming back. We went to Dennys, where we ended up spending far too much time.
Getting off the flight in London I met a guy in my program who is from Olympia, WA. We spent the next five hours hanging out in Heathrow until meeting up with the rest of the students in our program outside our gate. I had been planning on meeting Ashley for lunch in downtown London, but since my original flight was canceled it didn't work out.
Once we exited the Entebbee airport in Uganda (after two red-eye flights), a girl from my program and I saw some chimps by a fence and we wandered off to take some picture.
Monkeys!
The monkeys outside of the airport.Once a van was packed up with everyone’s luggage (I was proud to have one of the smallest bags), we were taken around town in a taxi. Taxis here are large white vans with four rows of seating behind the driver's seat. They are licensed to carry 14 passengers and almost always jam that number of people into the vehicle (plus the driver and conductor for a total of 16).
The program directors ended up bringing us to a resort outside of Kampala (which includes the most expensive hotel in all of Uganda) where we ate lunch. We weren't staying there but it was a means of displaying one end of the wealth spectrum here.
The next few days consisted of orientation. There are 28 students in my program and for the first half-week we stayed together in a hotel close to downtown. Part of the orientation was called a "drop-off." In other SIT programs it consists of dropping students (in groups of two) in random areas of town and having them find their way back to a general location. In our program, however, they split us up and gave us assignments. A girl and I were
assigned to explore town and come back to report on transportation. We were also told to visit the "old and new parks" in town. We weren't given maps but luckily my partner had a travel book in her room which we grabbed. It provided us with a robust map of the downtown area. After scanned the map for a minute we realized that we weren't supposed to visit parks (as one would generally think of), but rather taxi parks.
We made our way out of the hotel (it was our first time walking around town, the two previous days had consisted of being driven between various locations) and managed to get lost. Eventually we found our way to the Old Taxi Park. Old Park looks like a stadium parking lot jammed-pack with these large white vans. They were literally parked within a foot of one another, barely allowing for one person to squeeze in between them. I can't put into words how chaotic the place truly is. Uganda is said to have the worst traffic/driving in the world, and I don’t doubt that claim at all. There aren’t any lanes in the roads and it is not uncommon for
Looking at Kampala from one of the seven hills
Similar to Rome, Kampala used to be called the city of seven hills--it has since expanded greatly and encompasses many more hills. cars, taxis, or motorcycles to drive up onto the sidewalk or into the oncoming lane (even when there is oncoming traffic). Unsure of how the taxis really worked, we decided to take one to Makerere University (one of twenty universities in the country; it is the largest and the most prestigious), where we would have classes.
Fortunately everyone here is amazingly nice and some people led us to the area where the taxis to Makerere University leave from (every taxi is on a set path but none of them are marked differently so you just need to ask them where they are going). Within the taxi parks, the taxis are grouped by the location to where they are heading.
Once at the university, we walked around a bit and ended up finding a canteen on the campus where we ate lunch. Then we were fortunate to find a taxi back to the old taxi park. From there we used our map to walk to the New Taxi Park, only to encounter a similar sight. After walking around there and talking to various people (we stand out immensely--basically the only white people in Uganda are foreigners and there are
The Resort
The group looking out onto Lake Victoria. not that many of them), we made our way to the central bus station. From there, we decided that to ride boda-bodas back to the hotel. Boda-bodas are motorcycle taxis. We had been discouraged from riding them but decided that our topic of research was a legitimate excuse for the endeavor.
Once we got back to the hotel, everyone sat down to present on their topic of research. As we presented our section and I recounted our use of boda-bodas, the academic director's jaw dropped and she quickly informed the group that riding boda-bodas is strictly prohibited and that doing so will result in immediate termination from the program. Needless to say, my partner was horrified. I felt somewhat sheepish but ultimately it was the program directors’ fault for scheduling to go over program rules the day
after they sent us wandering around the city. They have since vowed to cover program rules before future semester's drop-offs.
On Sunday we were picked up by our host families. Just a half hour before we were picked up, I was informed that my host family lives further away from the city than any of the other ones. While everyone else
Charlotte, our A.D.
One of our Academic Directors showing us around the university. is scattered within two districts, I am all by myself in a completely different district. When I was talking to one of our taxi drivers he told me that he hoped I was "strong" because I would have to travel much further than everyone else and it would be easy to get discouraged. It was somewhat disheartening news to hear.
Nonetheless, I was very enthusiastic to meet the family. The family consists of parents and two sons (they also have a two older children who attend boarding school). One of the boys who lives at home, Tona, is one and a half years old. He screams bloody murder every time I get close to him. Part of the issue is that I am a stranger; the other factor is that I am probably the first white person he has ever seen. The other son, Timo, is four years old and in primary school. He is hilarious. He doesn't really speak English so most of our interactions consist of us making funny faces at one another. He knows how to say “what is that?” and will knock on the wall and say the phrase, trying to scare me. He also likes to dance (the boy can pop, lock, and drop it)and then burst out laughing.
My parents speak English and own a shop in Kampala. When they informed me that they owned a retail store in town I was expecting a large location. I was surprised to find that their “retail store” is actually a small hole-in-the-wall shop (literally, one person can walk in and spin in a circle—maybe two people if they’re feeling adventurous). They sell random items (e.g. bottled drinks, laundry detergent, sandals, plastic buckets, etc). There are two such shops that they own; they are located across the street from one another. Nothing has marked prices, as bartering is the means of negotiation in such street-side locations.
Once we arrived in our neighborhood (Seeta, Mukono--which isn't actually part of Kampala) they brought me to an inn that they also own. They began building it in 2005 and it is still under construction. Currently there are thirty rooms. I was informed that it costs 20,000 shillings a night (a little over 10 dollars). That is quite a good price, as the hotel located next door charges 100,000 shillings a night. I was kind of surprised to learn that there is such a large demand for temporary accommodations in Seeta.
At our house I was introduced to the maid and the nanny (who is in charge of caring for Noma). It is rather interesting-—the family has both of these women working for them yet they do not have indoor plumbing or running water. They also have a cow, calf, roster, chicken, and hens.
On the first night, we (not including the maid or the nanny) all ate dinner, which consisted of the typical Ugandan dish. Food here consists matoke (steamed and mashed plantains), chicken or beef in broth, white rice, peanut sauce (not like the kind we have in the states), beans, pea sauce, sweet or “irish” potatoes, avocados, posho (corn flour mixed with water—it’s gross), fried bread, eggs, and fruit (pineapple, mango, passion fruit). It’s all really good, except for the posho. Nonetheless, I fear that I will get bored with the limited selection. The above listed foods are literally the only things we eat.
My host parents work all day at the shop so I don't see them very often. When I return from school, only the children and the domestic help are home. None of them speak English. Thus, it makes for quite an interesting dynamic. Most of the other students on my program say that watching TV is a very common activity in their household; however, my family does not have a TV. I don't really care about not having a TV but it would be nice to have something to do with the rest of my household (since we can't communicate). I am currently in search of a deck of playing cards to teach them some games. I figure that is something that we could do that doesn’t involve language. Generally my host mother doesn’t get home until
after 10pm, so I have a few hours of awkwardness every evening. My host father generally returns late at night, so the only time I have seen him was during the first day. I don't see either of them in the morning--it's only the maid, the nanny, the kids, and me.
Traveling between Kampala and Seeta takes between 1-2 hours each way. The large majority of that time is spent in a taxi. Seeta is about 14 km outside of Kampala (5km further than the other two districts where the rest of the students are located). Traffic is so horrible that it takes forever to get anywhere in this country. Some of the luckier students only have travel twenty minutes to get to school. The taxis are cheap (the one I ride home costs a little over a dollar and it's more expensive than any other taxi I or anyone else in the program has ever ridden) but tend to get uncomfortable, hot, and stuffy. With 16 people in a cargo van, those outcomes seem rather inevitable.
Due to the long time of commute, I wake up every morning at 6:45am and leave by 7:15am. It had been interesting getting ready in the morning without the conveniences of things such as toilets and sinks. As I said, we have no indoor running water so we use a pit latrine to go to the bathroom. It's located outside. I was thinking that it wouldn’t be that difficult to use--I had imagined a large hole in the ground but was quite surprised to find a very small one instead. It is about a ten inch by six inch rectangle. Unfortunately, that has caused me to miss the hole on various occasions.
To shower, I fill a small bucket with water and use a cup to scoop out water and pour it on me. It was a rather difficult operation at first but I have gotten better at bathing in such conditions. Hopefully I have similar luck with the latrines.
We have class at Makerere University. In the morning we have Luganda classes. English is the official language of Uganda and is used in most professional and educational settings. However, when most people speak to one another on the street or at home they use local dialects. The most commonly used language in the central region (where I am) is Luganda. It is also the language that is spoken in my host family’s household. So far I only know how to say “how are you?” (Oli Otya Ssebo/Nyabo?) “my name is..” “have a good night.” etc. My living situation is really pushing me to learn more of the language and I think later this week I will go buy an English-Luganda dictionary.
In the afternoon we have lecturers come in and discuss various topics relating to development studies. So far the lectures have proved to be rather boring and not very insightful but hopefully that will change as we get further into the semester.
In six weeks we will be embarking on our practicum. The practicum consists of interning at a development organization and doing independent field research. At the end of the six week practicum period we present a detailed (30-50 pages) research paper. Currently, I’m not quite sure what I want to do with mine. Right now I am leaning towards either going up north to live and work in a refugee camp or stay in Kampala and see what is being done to battle corruption within politics. Education is also a big interest of mine but I am somewhat confined by the fact that I have to present my final research to my academic advisor within the Political Science department at my home university to receive credit for my work. Thus, my research has to relate to politics in some way or another.
Well, I need to catch a taxi home. I hope that everything is going well with all of you.
Much love,
Eric
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Shevy
non-member comment
Eric, I always enjoy reading your accounts so much! I love your writing style- and I feel like an idiot right now sitting in my kitchen laughing hysterically at what you have to say. You are so brave. Darling, you truly inspire me. Miss you and hope you are well. Love, Shevy