"Yoga" From Uganda

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("Yoga" meaning "hello" in the local Djopadhola language)

I hope everyone back home is doing well. I arrived in Uganda yesterday after a very long journey and already I have visited and met many people in Kampala and here in Tororo. Tororo is a 4 hour drive away form Kampala but is actually not very far, however the roads here are incredibly poor. They are paved in sections but there are long stretches of dirt roads and are full of potholes larger than a watermelon.

I am staying in the house of the director of the organization in a wonderful house that he built. I share it with his family as well as 4 goats, chickens and a dog named Tiger. The home does not have running water and depends no solar panel for electricity, so power is intermittent. "Showering" is with the use of a bucket and "flushing" the toilet is accomplished by pouring water in to the toilet once you've done your thing. It is definitely a change for me but am enjoying the opportunity to leave behind many of my western privileges and live in a truly authentic African home. The people here have treated me with unbelievable hospitality and am being toured around like a rock star.

Needless to say the African landscape is beautiful. Forests give way to lush wetlands and rolling hills planted with corn, bananas, sugarcane and cassava. The African sunset is unreal with as the sun descends and blends in with red soil at your feet. I feel at peace and excited about the challenges ahead of me. Tororo is a small town, but is full of villagers on the road.

I am truly inspired by the vision of Apollo and admire his drive and desire to improve the lives of his people. He holds a wealth of knowledge of the realities of Africa and also wonderful understanding
of the economic realities he is confronted with. He recently returned from Milan where he completed a Master's degree and similarly to me wishes to work internationally as an advocate for human rights.

The drive has been the most harrowing experience of my life. I had to close my eyes simply to prevent myself from audibly screaming as cars zip down the hazardous roads at frightful speeds and dodging potholes while sharing the road with pedestrians, bikes, trucks, chickens, goats and every other hazard imaginable. The cars pass each other in the oncoming lanes but do not wait until there is not traffic coming. I cannot count the amount of times I have seen cars speeding straight towards us in our lane and playing a frightful game of chicken until one car has to swerve around at the last moment with inches to spare. All this seems very normal to them, but I simply had to turn away to resist the urge to scream. I will have to get used to this.

Apollo has been incredibly hospitable and we are designing the projects that I will work on. More on this at another time.

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