Advertisement
Greetings from Tororo!
I'm just about out of time here in Tororo and leave tomorrw to
rendezvous with my Canadian students in Kampala before spending the
following few weeks in and around Masaka in the south west corner of the country, closer to the Tanzania border.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Tororo and have learned many
invaluable lessons that could never be captured in a lecture hall or
textbook. I have found Ugandans to be some of the most open and
honest people I have ever encountered. Walking down the road entails
a buffet line of greetings and interactions. I think they have
genuinely appreciated my feeble attempts at learning Dhopadola, the
regional language. In a country the size of Washington State, there
somehow exists 53 distinctive languages.
My days here are spent primarily in the office or out in the field to
attend meetings and evenings are a cocktail of gatherings of
co-workers or more typically time for me to unwind and read or simply
think as the sun sets. (You have NOT seen a sunset until you've seen
an African sunset). At night fire is a sweet companion and the night
is filled with
noise of bats, insects and a low murmur of women
singing as they cook for their families while geckos scramble about in
a mad search for mosquitos hovering near the light. Funny how
firewood smells the same whether it is cedar trees in BC or some
random hardwood in Africa. I often close my eyes and can temporarily
convince myself I am on one of the Gulf Islands, drinking hot
chocolate with a friend or two. My friends here poke fun at my for my
firephilia because only weak or old men in Uganda will be caught
sitting by a fire.
One of my frustrations is that it is difficult for me to simply go for
a walk to get some time to myself. If anyone sees me leaving the
property they insist on escorting me which means a series of visits to
all of the huts along our route to meet with new people. On the odd
time I have snuck out undetected, I am the subject of intrigue as
people stop and watch while children scream "Mzungu!" (white-man:
apparently I am "white" in Uganda) wherever I go making it a bit
uncomfortable at times. People openly stare,
not out of hostility but
curiosity. Foreigners are very rare in Tororo, but absent altogether
in the villages lying on the outskirts of town.
Oddly enough, I have felt very much at home in the unostentatious
environment of Ramogi Village. Conversely, Kampala is a chaotic city
with incoherently laid out roads and smells of thick diesel fumes,
dust and sewage. I have so far only counted two traffic lights so far
and Kampala is home to over 3 million people resulting in a sort of
vehicular anarchy which paralyzes the city. Drivers surrender to the
impossibility of moving and sit in their cars with their engines off
while they doze in the sun.
The weather in Tororo is much drier and hotter than around Kampala
which is heavily influenced by its proximity to Lake Victoria. The
mornings and evenings are cool with intense heat emanating from the
sun which passes directly from east to west overhead. Though the air
temperature is quite tolerable, the energy from the overhead sun can
be oppressively hot.
Hot daytime temperatures often foretell the coming of scattered
evening showers. Billowing thunderstorms can be seen in the distance,
but it is far from certainty that it will pass over you. If a
thunderstorm does reach you, it comes with a ferocious torrent of
rain. The rain can be heard approaching as it begins with a distant
pinging as the rain falls on the corrugated steel roofs and becoming
increasingly louder until suddenly it becomes a crescendo of booming
thunder, unrelenting pounding on the steel roof and the skies become
perpetually illuminated by lightning which dances in all directions.
Within 10 minutes the dusty dirt roads become fast moving rivers and
stragglers dart for any shelter they can find, but just as quickly as
the storm arrives, it disappears, replaced by the setting sun.
Oddly, only 1 kilometre from where the storm beat down for nearly two
hours, the ground is dry, though lingering thunder can be heard in the
distance, serving as the only evidence to explain our soaked through
clothes. The following morning, the daily commuters must navigate and
re-learn new potholes, eroded banks and divots that have formed from
the temporary flood.
Needless to say the wildlife in Uganda is fantastic. Though the
charismatic creatures such as lions, elephants and zebras have been
banished to the game farms, I have been enthralled with hunting down
insects, reptiles, mammals and birds that I can find. My friends
laugh uncontrollably as I dart for my camera and become giddy at the
sign of any new creature that move, however I have failed miserably as
a birder. Though there is a continuous chorus of bird songs, I cannot
seem to determine where it is coming from and have in fact seen very
few birds, though I know there are many around.
During the day, lizards are superfluous as they bathe in the sun,
praying mantis' rest in the trees, but at night is when most of the
creatures come out. Geckos, bats, hedgehogs and a variety of beetles,
fireflies, spiders etc come out of hiding and hunt for the night.
Poisonous snakes are sometimes found in the trees as is the
ever-dangerous cobra patrols the tall grass. At home I have learned
not too show too much interest in any creature in particular. Many
nights I have spent watching bats swoop overhead as the feed on
mosquitoes, moths and ants and eagerly tried to snap a photo. Minutes
later I hear two "thwaps" and two of the boys call me over to show me
two dead bats they had shot down with slingshots for my photographic
benefit as they hold up their prize.
Sorry for the rambling onslaught of verbal diarrhea. I hope all is
well at home and that you are all enjoying a rejuvenating summer and
good weather.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0545s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb