Blogs from Uganda, Africa - page 146

Jinja lays claim to the source of the Nile, the mightiest river in the world as they say. The town lies on the shores of Lake Victoria, and it's out of this lake that pours the water to create one of the most spectacular white water rafting destinations in the world. Seeing as it was very unlikely that we would ever get the chance to come back here again, we decided to take the plunge and see just what the rafting actually entailed. So it was with a great deal of ignorance and excitement that we found ourselves hopping on board a red inflatable dingy. I teamed up with Kim and 4 other girls, plus a female instructor, which on first reflection put a smile on my face. It didnt last long as an hour in ... read more

MUNICH in KAMPALA, UGANDA It was Sarah’s birthday, and we took her and Nate to dinner at a fast food Lebanese restaurant in a multi-storied mall. The food was excellent, especially the garlic sauce for the falafel…a pleasant beginning to a difficult movie. Bill and I saw Schindler’s List in Bangkok; now Munich in Kampala. The movie, plus my readings, seem to come together... I have been reading from Granta, an English publication, Joberg, by Ivan Vladislavic and walls: Johannesburg is a frontier city, a place of contested boundaries. Territory must be secured and defended or it will be lost. Today the contest is fierce and so the defences multiple. Walls replace fences, high walls replace low ones, the highest walls acquire electrified wires and spikes. …walls tend to grow in increments. A stone wall is ... read more

Veronica was determined to make a dress for me...using the fabric that Sarah had given me. I explained that Sarah had been in the place where the fabric was printed. So, Friday afternoon, we left the material, and Veronica assured me that it would be finished late Saturday afternoon, in time for me to pick it up on the way to the Embassy Party. Saturday morning, Bill worked on his blogs, and I pressed all of the fabrics while Sarah and Nate were off to an engagement party. When they got home, they decided to come with me to Veronica's because they had discovered a framing shop near the Thousand Cups coffee house a few doors from Veronica's. Also, they knew that there was a woman's crafts market across the street. Nate added to his spear ... read more

Buying Fabrics in Kampala Another great day…now that we are wandering around, we are meeting people who live here, so we don’t feel so out of place. I’ve been meaning to write about how quiet people speak here, not just on their cell phones, but in ordinary conversation. Plus, the more into a bargaining situation, the more quiet they get. So, we are learning to be soft-spoken. Hussein was 50 minutes late; when I called after waiting 30 minutes, he answered, Marie I am coming, don’t worry. He said that he got stuck behind a broken down trailer hauling a freight container, and couldn’t get around. A plausible story, since we saw one truck with a container on the back, the container was so heavy that the front wheels barely touched the ground, towing another trailer ... read more

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 KAMPALA, UGANDA Okay, so now, we really meet Kampala…called Hussein on his cell phone, headed off to Owena Market looking for African cloths for quilts. We ended up in the second hand clothes market; dozens of shops all hawking used clothes from America. You know, when you give clothes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, what isn’t used in the States is baled up in huge bundles and shipped off to Uganda, for sure, who knows where else. Wandering through this market was so much easier than wandering in Asian markets, where the touts are constantly haranguing us. Here is it mostly greetings, and all have to be said: “Hello, how are you?” “I am fine, how are you?” and then usually, there is a question about how was your night? I ... read more