Blogs from Uganda, Africa - page 128

Sorry it has taken a while to write again, my internet access hasn’t been great. Since I last wrote I participated in a two day workshop with religious leaders from Uganda, Sudan, the DRC (Congo), Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. It was in a beautiful hotel in Entebbe and was interesting. The participants were friendly and welcoming to me...a few even gave me their card. I spoke to a woman who is heading up an effort to form collaborations between women’s peacebuilding groups, which is great. She’s in Kenya and invited me to visit her office when I go there. I also spoke a lot to one of the facilitators who was great. He has worked on conflict resolution all over the world and was really friendly. He was also really great during the workshop at ... read more

I arrived into Entebbe Airport last night....I was going to take a picture but apparently that's illegal so I decided not to ;) The taxi driver met me out front and I strained to see Entebbe and then Kampala in the dark, although it was hard to see in the dark. Interestingly, even though it was 9pm on a Sunday night, lots of people were out walking on the street and it looked like stores were open and lots was going on. We drove by Lake Victoria, which is apparently pretty but just looked dark :). We went to a gated house in Kampala and I was let in by a Russian ex-pat named Natasha. She was very nice and showed me around. I have a room with a bathroom with hot water for the shower ... read more

Hi, I woke up in Africa today and it took me a few minutes before I remembered that I am twenty years old. Thats like grandpa status....I guess its a good thing. Well...happy birthday to me. This is my last week in Uganda. I don't even know what that means. I am so excited for everything ahead of me. Thats why it doesn't feel sad. Looking back to my original entries, I knew that Uganda was going to become a huge part of who I am. It certainly has. Its been an incredible couple of months here. How do you find words to conclude this experience? How do I explain how empowering it feels to know that I did this on my own? How do I say goodbye to my Ugandan friends, My leapyear group? ... read more

I'm in Armonk packing and trying to get everything together....I leave in an hour and a half for my 20 hour trip! Sorry to the people I haven't have a chance to connect with before I go...it has been really busy but let's catch up by e-mail! It's kind of funny, the taxi driver who will meet me at tthe airport's name is Gerald (my dad's name) and the woman meeting me at my apartment's name is Natasha! I'll try to write on Monday and let you know what the apartment is like. I took a cute picture of my nephew I'll post here (make sure I know how to post pictures :) )... read more

white water rafting, bungee jumping, a deserted island with a mad old hermit - only in Uganda! The next day after leaving the orphanage we hopped on a bus and headed to Jinja, Uganda. That bus trip has got to be the worst bus trip of my life. We headed to downtown Nairobi late at night, since the bus was due to leave at 11:30pm. But, since this is Africa of course, it didn't leave untill 1:30am. We collapsed onto the bus, ready for a long 12 hour ride and a good sleep - no such luck! We didn't realise that our back seats were possibly the worse seats to choose - you feel every pothole and bump in the road, and there were ALOT of potholes. the road was so bad that everytime i ... read more