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Journeys into the Unknown
wanderingfeet
Back at school in the motherland. On a hiatus until my next travels!
Please be aware that the views expressed in this blog are my own and are not shared by the organizations that I work with. In addition, this is merely a blog - please do not take what I say as fact or view it as journalistic reporting.
Unfortunately there may be a shortage of pictures due to slow internet but hopefully you can all figure out how to read my spelling errors. Enjoy!
Travel Blog Posts
August 16th 2010
Just returned from an amazing two week trip to Tanzania where I climbed (most of) Kilimanjaro and spent a week on Zanzibar. Both deserve a bit of time so in the interest of this entry not being incredibly long I'm splitting them up. First on the agenda: Zanzibar! Zanzibar is pretty much what one imagines when conjuring up images of a paradise beach vacation. Sugar like white sand, impossibly blue water, amazing scuba diving, beautiful sunsets... you get the idea. But first, how we got there. After Kili we spent the day in Moshi showering (alas no hot water) and then boarded a bus to Arusha where one of my friends from U of T, the lovely M, had been living all summer working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. We had to wait, as ... read more
July 29th 2010
As I sit in the office on my last day of work, I ponder the question, "How many times can one person re-write their resume?" Seriously though, I can't even count the hours that I have spent moving things around, adding a word here or there, bolding, un-bolding and then re-bolding successively. What a nightmare. As some of you may know, today is my birthday! Wooo. One year older and most likely none the wiser. Birthdays are always a good time to stare out the window glassy-eyed and reflect on one's life and the experiences that have comprised it to this point. And so, as I stare out into the mid-day torrential down pour that is 100% going to have to stop before my outdoor party tonight, I bring you my reflections on Uganda (and by ... read more
July 22nd 2010
I spent the past 5 work days inside one of Uganda's larger prisons which is located about an hour outside downtown Kampala. We are doing a study on pre-trial detention of prisoners. According to the Ugandan Constitution, the maximum amount of time one is supposed to be detained before the commencement of one's trial is 60 days for minor crimes and 180 for capital crimes (those that carry a sentence of death or life imprisonment). The goal going into the prisons is essentially to look at every file of detainees on remand (i.e. in prison before sentencing) and record what they are charged with, how many times they have been remanded (i.e. sent back to prison by the courts to await trial) and how long they have been on remand total (along with some other info ... read more
July 14th 2010
(these photos have nothing to do with the post, but photos are always good so I have attached them. Here are some photos of the best signs and ads I've come across in Uganda) It's been a week since the bombings but they largely remain the centre of the media attention here. The front page of today's newspaper had the photographs of two of the suspected dead bombers (bloody faces and all) as well as computer imaging mock-ups of what they probably looked like before the blast. Apparently the FBI has a number of operatives here who are working with the Ugandan police force to find the bombers. As of Friday, the reported death toll was: 62 Ugandans 11 Ethiopians/Eritreans 1 Irish 1 US 1 Sri Lankan 1 Indian 1 Kenyan Museveni has responded to the ... read more
Update from the Life of a Recluse
Published: July 14th 2010Africa » Uganda » Central Region » KampalaJuly 14th 2010
I'm sure you will all be happy to hear that I have become a hermit and spent the last two nights at home watching E!. I now know more about their many reality TV stars than I ever thought I would. For example, did you know that Bordy Jenner is Kim Kardashian's step-brother? Well now you do! I also straightened my hair for the first time since I felt I had to look presentable at the ICC Review Conference in early June. And I painted my nails. Although I don't actually go out every night and have been known to stay at home and watch Kendra (I know, horrible) there is something about the self-imposed restriction of movement that is making me very restless and resentful. I did, however, go to the country club to go ... read more
July 11th 2010
Below is my original post from last night, followed by updates including the new death tolls: I just wanted to give everyone an update of what is happening in Kampala right now. I’m not sure when/if this will hit the international news sources but 2 bombs just went off in the city. One at a restaurant called Ethiopian Village, one at the Rugby club. So far I have seen reports of between 23 - 33 dead with a higher number of injured, both of which are unconfirmed and may rise. Ethiopian Village is as close as a “regular” viewing spot for games for me - my cousin and I discussed going there tonight but in the end I didn’t want to go to the other side of town and he opted to go to another place. ... read more
July 6th 2010
Last weekend I attended an Introduction. As I think I mentioned before it's a traditional ceremony that takes place before the wedding for the families of the bride and groom to be to meet each other. Well, let's just say it was a real Ugandan experience. My roommate has known the groom for a while and he called he up about a week before the wedding and invited her and a friend. Lucky me! Little did we know that this invitation also meant we were a part of the groom's party. So on the day of the wedding we are supposed to meet the groom, let's call him S, at a roundabout outside of Kampala to get our gomesis (as featured in my last post), dress and the head to the wedding. The first meeting time ... read more
June 22nd 2010
I’m almost positively sure that I am living next to a deaf insomniac. Nothing says “have a great sleep” like the television blasting Nigerian soap operas at 3am at ungodly volumes. Or a bunch of the neighbourhood dogs (those dogs!) howling at each other like the 13 year old campers at the end of the summer to whom we used to chant, “You’ll never see your friends again, you’ll never see you friends.” Wait… I think that can probably go on the list of things that probably make me an awful person. In my defence however, at least I wasn’t the one jumping into photos of them balling their eyes out with a huge smile and a thumbs up. That was done by my lovely co-staff. But back to the deaf insomniac: (a) not cool in ... read more
Things I'm Pretty Sure Mean I'm an Awful Person
Published: June 20th 2010Africa » Uganda » Central Region » Kampala
June 20th 2010
Ever think something to yourself and then realize if you said it aloud people would just think you were an awful person? No? Hmm. Yeah... happens to me all the time. Since it's not like this is on the internets for everyone to see or anything, here are some of the things I have thought about recently that make me think I may be an awful person. 1) I hate dogs: I think this to myself about every 3 minutes when the dog who inhabits the same living space as me comes searching for attention. Seriously, all I ever do is ignore the dog and ask it to leave me alone but the thing follows me around like I have salami stashed in my back pocket. We took it on a walk today - AT NOON. ... read more
June 18th 2010
I’m going to put off the issue of race for the moment to talk about sex - an equally controversial topic in Uganda. I had a very interesting conversation today with a high ranking prison official. We were waiting to talk to his boss (who was over an hour late, typical, there is definitely not the same sense of urgency here as there is at home). While we were waiting he started to ask me a whole smattering of questions about Canada - what is the prison system like there? Is there corruption? What about parole? Death penalty? Etc, etc. you get the idea. Then he asked me how many people in Canada have HIV/AIDS. I didn’t know the answer off the top of my head but guessed less than 1%. A quick internet search reveals ... read more
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