Taxis in Uganda

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How many people can you fit in a car in Africa? ----- One more.

That line pretty much summarizes taxi rides in Uganda. Today we fit 10 people in a Toyota Corolla to drive 35 km to Masaka. Luckily, the 9 people not including the driver were the 4 mzungus and the Ugandan kids we were taking to the clinic and to buy shoes. Normally, it gets kind of awkward when you're crammed up against people you don't know, but it's quite the experience.

So about half way to Masaka, the driver stops and we ask the kids why. According to them, there's a traffic jam. Jen and I laughed and looked at each other thinking "we're out in the boonies and there are no other cars ahead of us. What do you mean there is a traffic jam?" Turns out they meant there's a policeman up ahead so we had to rearrange the car to make it "more safe." Apparently having 1 adult and 1 small kid in the front passenger seat and 5 adults and 2 kids in the back is better than 2 adult size people in front and 4 adults and 3 kids in the back. To do this switcharoo, we were also stopped close enough for the policeman to see us rearranging so not sure what the point was.

Anyway, we stop up ahead by the police and the driver gets out. The policeman comes over, leans in the window and asks "Why did you agree to be carried like this?" I said, "We're all taking these kids to the clinic and to buy shoes" while really thinking in my head 'Because that's the way you do it in Uganda!' Apparently, it was a good enough answer and he let us go without a problem.

Upon arrival in Masaka, two mzungus took 3 of the kids to get school shoes, another kid went to the clinic and was diagnosed with malaria, and I took Betty to the dentist to get a tooth pulled that had decayed pretty badly. Her mouth was numbed but I was in pain just watching the dentist get it out with a screwdriver type tool and pliers. She was such a rockstar though! Afterwards, we took all the kids to lunch. One of the younger ones order chicken and chips (chips are french fries). He didn't know what chips were so when he got them, he ended up trading them with the others who got the "local delicacies." After eating his chicken, this same kid proceeded to eat the bones of the chicken! We all had a good laugh. I think these kids had a fun time getting out of the bush and receiving some special treatment for the day. Plus, I feel like we really made a difference for them health-wise and for school and they were all really grateful =)

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