World Cup in Kampala

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Due to recent events I'm going to have to rush through the week to last nights events. I wasn't sure if it would make news but this morning when I woke up the first headline that I saw on CNN was "Death toll rises in Uganda bomb attacks".

I'll start by saying that last weekend I went to the Uganda v. Kenya rugby game. It seems that rugby games are more of a social activity than sporting event. After the match the rugby pitch turns into a giant night club. We were too tired that day to check it out but it's apparently a very popular spot to go to.

On Sunday we all went on a "safari" which really ended up being 6 hours each way on a bus only to find no animals. It was absolutely horrible but it was cheap so I guess we got what we payed for. However I would have payed to not go on it.

Throughout the week I was very busy with giving sessions so there isn't much to write about. It was pretty ironic that right after discussing the functions of a mouse an actual mouse ran up the electrical wires along the wall into the ceiling.

On Saturday we got a group of us together to play a game of soccer. It was a great time until around the end of the game I jumped up for a header and landed strangely on my leg. It definitely hurt and for the rest of my Saturday I was pretty much immobile. I'm pretty fortunate that in our group we have someone who studies medicine. We made sure that nothing was broken and I was told to just rest it and keep it elevated.

Sunday (yesterday) I woke up with my leg stiff and in lots of pain. It was hard to walk around on flat surfaces. Stairs took some time which was the real pain since the bathroom is on the second floor and I reside on the third. I spent most of the day in the TV room just keeping off of my leg. I was able to do some French reading and just passed the time. I wasn't able to walk all the way to the university. I wasn't sure whether or not I would go out for the World Cup Final. Since we did have 2 Dutch people at our hostel (both named Tim) I decided I would go with them for the game. I wouldn't have to do much walking since we would take a boda there. I hobbled along and used people's shoulders and crutches when I was going down steeper parts of the road.

We got to the bar around 7:30pm (game started at 9:30pm). It was already packed and I was a bit worried since I didn't think that I would find a seat. Luckily we found a stool so I could join the crowd and wouldn't be stuck standing. As it got closer to game time more people crammed into the bar. I wouldn't have minded so much but many brought vuvuzelas which if you think are annoying on TV imagine having them blaring next to your ear inside a crowded bar. Fortunately the vuvuzela playing didn't last long. The match started and everyone instead kept all eyes on the screen. I must admit that the first half was very boring. Not much happened apart from the absurd amount of yellow cards handed out. The second half at least the game started to pick up. The second half ended and we were headed to extra time. The crowd was shouting "Hup Holland Hup!". It was so close to going to penalty kicks when Spain ruined the party by scoring. Everyone shouting hoping for an offsides. The combination of the red card and the goal that it looked hopeless for the Dutch. Tim (Brown Hair) went up to the bar to order another beer and some tequila shots. As he was up at the bar I noticed many people leaving. The game wasn't over yet but maybe they couldn't stand to watch the disappointment of losing. Tim (Brown hair) came back from the bar and told us "we need to go now, two bombs have gone off in other bars in Kampala". We headed towards the door when the management stood up and told everyone that they must leave due to the bombings. I thought that this was a pretty good plot to get upset Dutch fans out of the bar before they start doing some damage. As we were outside of the bar I got a call from Thanasis who was in a different bar in another part of town. He said "where are you? you need to get out of your bar right now". Then I knew that it wasn't a hoax. We gathered our group and tried to get a cab. We saw Tim (blonde hair) who was a bit confused. He told us that he was so focused on the game that when he turned around he was shocked to find the bar almost empty. He left not because he had heard of the bombings but because he was wondering where we were. There were many rumors going around about bombings and shootings at bars some people saying that they were targeting foreigners. This put everyone into a bit of a frenzy. We got a private hire taxi and he charged a normal price so I'm assed that he hadn't heard about the bombs. Others had said that boda and taxi prices immediately sky rocketed taking advantage of the situation.

As we got home someone had an internet card (since there is no internet at the hostel). We read the news report and found that two bombs went off at the rugby club and one went off in the Ethiopian restaurant in Kapalagala. It made people very nervous since the rubgy pitch is probably less than 2 kilometers from where we live. One of the Ugandans was there when it happened. He was fine though and said he heard it but at the time of the bombings he was already outside the bar.

I sent a text to my parents just saying "Im fine just in case you hear any news about Kamapala". I didn't want to go into much detail because I didn't want to scare them incase the news didn't make it to the US but I didn't want them to worry if they did find out about the bombings.

We all sat around talking about the bombings and what's going on. Why did they do it? I knew that there probably wasn't going to be any reliable news on it until the next day. In the middle of the group discussion Tim (blonde hair) walks in and says "well I talked about it with my father and he said it definitely wasn't a red card". The bombings were enough to take the Tims' minds off the game which they never got to see the end of.

There were other people from AIESEC with us where weren't from our hostel but ended up bunking with us since we didn't know how safe the streets would be tonight so for the first time in about 3 weeks I had a roommate.

This morning I woke up with my leg still hurting so I decided to not go to my sessions. I thought that I should at least get to the internet to discuss what had happened so I waited for some people to go to MUBS so that I could use them as a crutch up to the university. One of the other interns, Elizabeth, got a news paper and we saw some of the most horrible pictures. I doubt that they'll make them into the US press. If you look at "Daily Monitor" you might see them. In the photo you see lifeless bodies covered in blood still sitting their seats. It's eery and almost looks as though they were placed there. Thanasis didn't believe that it was a real photo.

Right now I'm just using the internet at the university. I doubt that too much will change though in terms of the daily routine. Martin, one of our project leaders, recommended that we walk around with our documents just incase the police start asking for them.
I will let you read the latest news reports as the story might change. For now they think that it is a Somalian militant group in retaliating against a previous attack by Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia. I suppose we will find out more later though.

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