The Pearl of Africa

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I have been horrible at updating my blog, and for that I apologize to all my faithful readers (read: my mother). So back to it:

Ahh yes, the Pearl of Africa. I love when countries/cities decide to give themselves awesome sounding nicknames. Especially when they don't really make sense. I'm not saying that Uganda is decidedly not the pearl of Africa, I just don't quite understand how it acquired such a lofty name. Wikipedia was of no help. Anybody on the interwebs know? Either way I am now in possession of a sweet key chain that proudly states the above.

I went rafting in Jinja on Saturday on the Nile. It was a lot of fun, but I am now covered in bruises and may or may not have contracted this: from the water. We will see when I get tested in 6 weeks. Nothing says awesome like little worms inside of you. The rafting was mostly P5 rapids which are pretty intense, our raft fully capsized a number of times and we went down a 14ft waterfall backwards. It was about 6 hours on the water all in all. Everyone in my boat was also at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference (more about that below) so the topic inevitable came to the law. Half an hour later and a serious/hilarious conversation later we came up with the idea of "Sluttin' with Muttin" a program to decrease the levels of sexual assault in villages by importing "distractions." I'm going to leave the details of what that would entail up to your imagination but let's just say I don't think our rafting guide (who was from a small town in Ontario coincidentally) will be forgetting us very soon. Also, law school either made me way smarter than I used to be or I have completely lost it. In summation, it was a great day and I am now rocking an intense shorts tan.

I spent the last week at the ICC Review Conference which was really interesting. In a nutshell, when the Rome Statute was created (the statute that provided the basis for the ICC) it was decided that 7 years after the court was actually formed, a review conference would be held to evaluate how things were going and make any necessary changes (if possible) to the Rome Statute. Out of sheer luck both it and I are in Kampala.

The conference is taking place at a hotel/complex on the outskirts of the city on the shores of Lake Victoria. It was originally built for the Commonwealth Meeting in 2007. (Not so) coincidentally, the President is also a part owner so he is getting a nice cut of the 2 week extravaganza.

The conference is being attended by delegates from the State Parties to the Rome Statute (i.e. everyone who has signed on and ratified it) as well as non-State Parties (i.e. the US and Russia who are here to be Debbie-downers) and then a whole slew of NGOs and people who work in international law/the ICC or the tribunals. Also, people who are really into the crime of aggression. The conference itself is organized by the Coalition for the ICC (the CICC) which is a New York based NGO that brings together something like 2,500 civil society organizations interested/doing work on or with the ICC from around the world.

The Sunday before the conference started a few NGOs organized a soccer match between LRA victims (the rebel group that has been terrorizing Norther Uganda for years), NGO workers, Ban Ki Moon and the Ugandan President. The whole idea seemed a little tasteless but who was I not to go. So on a shared bus we got to the soccer stadium. After about 3 hours of waiting around, Ban Ki Moon and Museveni arrived and played about 15 minutes with the victims. Ban is surprisingly agile for his age. The teams were called "Dignity" and "Justice" with Dignity winning 1-0 in the end. I'm not really sure what kind of moral that is supposed to send but it was pretty entertaining all in all. A few days after I was reading through the Ugandan Constitution and came across this:

"XVII. Recreation and sports.

The State shall promote recreation and sports for the citizens of Uganda."

Right under the Recognition of the dignity of persons with disabilities... Needless to say, they really like sports here.

My biggest complaint about Kampala is the coffee. Every time I am forced to mix Nescafe with instant creamer and sugar a little part of my black coffee addicted soul dies. Instant creamer! If you know anything about me you know how much I dislike milk in coffee especially full fat milk. Makes me want to vom. Thankfully, everything else is swell here so I'll just grin and bear it.

I will try to upload some pictures in the near future. Until then, I leave you with some quotes from my co-workers that help illuminate Uganda and Uganda culture.

"I'm already a small woman - do you want me to grow smaller? Who will marry me! They want fat women."

“You can buy anything in Uganda. We are right next to Nigeria. You can even buy a Death Certificate.”

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Comments

[beebwa]

Pearl of Africa
This name/description came from one Winston Churchill when he visited Uganda in the early 1900s. As for coffe, have you visited Bancafe at Imperial Hotel??