Blogs from Kampala, Central Region, Uganda, Africa - page 22

Hello! Long time no speak! I am now in Kampala, Uganda, having arrived from Kenya just over a week ago. Uni friends Alex and Suzie have been traveling with me since December 28th, though Alex flew off to Ghana yesterday leaving me and Suzie with a few more weeks to explore Uganda and Rwanda. I get home February 15th! Kenya was great, and whilst I didn't feel as though I really got 'under the skin' of the country as much as I had in Ethiopia, I had a lot of fun. After a very hot and sweaty Christmas in Mombasa, it was great to relax on the breezy beaches of Lamu - a ramshackle island village on Kenya's north coast, not far from Somalia. After a few days kicking back, we headed for Nairobi, via a ... read more

Eradde. I think the coolest thing I learned at my first Luganda class last night was the greeting “Eradde?” It is a shortened version of “Ennyanja eradde?” It means “is the lake peaceful?” If all is well, the response is “eradde.” It is peaceful. For the Baganda people, the presence of Lake Victoria was an enormous factor in their economic, diplomatic and spiritual lives. At 68,000 square kilometers, it is the second-largest lake in the world by surface area (and yet its deepest point is less than 300 feet, compared to 900 feet in the 6-mile stretch between Bainbridge Island and Seattle). For you sailors and kayakers out there, you know what this means…chop. The fetch (the distance the wind travels across open water) is enormous, and with strong monsoon winds the lake can easily get ... read more

I hope that you all picked up on the movie title hinted at in the title of this blog entry and shame on you if you didn’t. Okay, well, you don’t have to feel ashamed. Anyways: So I have been in Kampala now for almost 4 days and I figured it was time to talk a little bit more about my experience thus far. To get some more menial observations out of the way, the nightlife is booming. I haven’t actually been out and don’t necessarily plan on it anytime soon but I have noticed that the party continues much of the night. There are at least 2 clubs in proximity to the hotel at which Val and I are staying. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning 2 nights ago and still heard music ... read more

Greetings from a sunbed by a pool at a resort at the shore at Lake Victoria! You can not swim in the lake though (you might then catch bilherzia- a small parasite Åsa knows all about since her last visit in Uganda) The resort is not far from our house and has become our oasis. Another week has passed and we are still enjoying life here in Kampala, although we mostly have seen the inside of our house since we have been writing on our theis. Tomorrow we plan to do the first interview with a nurse at Mulago Hospital, if everything is coming as it should. Thuesday evening we had dinner with our contact nurse Josephine and a collegue of hers from the hospital. It was great to sit under the starfilled sky and have ... read more

Yeserday we went to see the Kerssemakers old housekeeper Norah, who lives near Entebbe, in an African village off he main road. We spent an hour driving around trying to find her, though the village which was an experience in itself - your driving along one of the main roads to the airport and you could be anywhere in the world, then you turn off onto a dirt track and suddenly your in an African village. We went to see the village Chief to see if her knew where she lived, and every time we stopped to ask someone directions all the kids would stare at me, and dare each other to touch my legs which they thought were amusingly white (which they are). Everyone was so helpful and happy, all the kids waved and shouted ... read more