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Today we went to a local market. The market tended to be split into different categories, fruits and vegetables, meats, and clothes section. The clothes section was unique in the sense that each "booth" had a carpet laid out with one specific type of clothing. So one booth would only have dresses, another would only have shoes, and the next would only have pants. There were so many different types of fruits and vegetables. Bought a mango and tried jack fruit, which I now understand why past QES Scholars say it tastes like bubble gum. It's got a hint of that bubble gum taste. The mango is very delicious as well, but, in all honesty, it's not anything more special than the mangoes I eat in Taiwan or Vancouver. My fellow QE Scholars must not be able to get good quality, fresh fruit in Saskatoon (which goes to show the extent of the diversity of their cultural experiences. The title of this entry applies starting here. Once we were in the market, several kids started to crowd around us with plastic bags. They were selling the plastic bags to buyers to carry the freshly bought goods. One particularly endearing child came
up next to me and tried selling a plastic bag to me. When I asked him "how much", he replied with a timid "500". I haggled down to 300, but soon noticed that the lowest denomination I had was a 1000 bill. So I decided to give him my 1000 bill, knowing I wouldn't get any change back. After that, our group continued along. Several booths later did I notice that the child had been quietly following me, waiting in case I needed another plastic bag. However, that got me thinking of several issues. For one, I wondered if it was a good thing to overpay the child. The issue with it being that I could be conditioning the child to expect a donation from "muzungu" (the term for foreigners). Additionally, what I thought may be a kind act may create some jealousy among all the children selling plastic bags. And finally, I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was "taking advantage" of the little boy, perhaps because I'm so conditioned to western society in which children are never expected to have to go through such tough conditions of life, simply to make a living. As I'm writing this,
it also just made me wonder whether the money system is healthy for areas of poverty, and whether trade based systems would be better.
The next culture shock is the difference in treatment of men and women in Uganda. In Uganda, a male dominated society, women are treated, for lack of better words, inferior to men. Amongst our group of 12 scholars, I am one of only 2 males. So when our group was meeting a tour guide who was taking a few girls on a biking trip, Moses (the tour guide) acknowledged me immediately and assured me that he was going to take good care of the girls going on the biking trip. This occurred at Lake Victoria Hotel pool as well. We had invited Stella (the receptionist at our Green Valley guesthouse) to join us at the pool where we would teach her how to get over her fear of water and to swim. She was sitting in the pool when a Ugandan man came over to ask for permission to teach Stella how to swim. Rather than address our entire group, he only addressed us men in the group and would essentially only communicate
with us.
Finally, the last culture shock occurred as Stella and the group were walking back to Green Valley guesthouse. As we were walking back, I was talking with Stella and we were getting to know each other. Just as Stella made a bit of a breakthrough and said that she's beginning to realize that we muzungu are not that different from ugandans, we walked past a couple of mid-aged women which said something in the local language. I couldn't make anything out aside from the word muzungu in their quick remarks. However, Stella, who speaks several of the Ugandan dialects, translated. She said that the 2 women said "look at her, her appearance is just like us, but she hangs out and talks with muzungu as though she were a muzungu." This may not appear like much, but I could sense from Stella's suddenly changed demeanor and tone that this was, in essence, a backhanded insult. This was a great reminder of the difference in culture here in Uganda, as well as the distinction I get here as a foreigner. Additionally, it shows a side of the deep rooted characteristics of Ugandan culture. This is extraordinarily
hard to describe in words and in all honesty, has to be experienced. And even when experienced, every person "receives and feels" it differently.
I also realize how easy it is to get water in canada and how spoiled we are in comparison to here in Uganda.
Edit (same night) - Talking with Stella and my experiences so far in Uganda have made me realize something. Ugandans have this illusion that muzungu (foreigners) are something like more elite humans. They seem to have in their mind that foreigners can do everything better than them. This, however, is not true, as Stella quickly discovered when I tried learning the local language from her. Instead, my struggling prompted rolling eyes and seemingly impatience in Stella. I believe this illusion to be a result of long term "oppression" from foreigners. The fact that most foreigners often do not make an attempt to learn their language or culture means that there is a response from Ugandans to "worship" foreigner ways or simply being a foreigner. (There's probably two results these conditions would lead to in historical terms: oppression to the point of subduedness or eventual revolt or reform.
Some countries such as China or many other asian countries with western influence, which have also experienced something of the sort of a new age revolution, exhibit signs of this revolt/reform.
The key to this edit is this: I've always learned that in a new setting, it's important to learn and embrace parts of the local culture. But in this case, I feel my attempts to learn and adapt to the culture here is for the worse. This may ruin a status quo in the sense that Ugandans may not "worship" foreigners, thus leading to all kinds of problems (unable to name or list them), not that this is necessarily a bad thing. But I also wonder how this changes Stella's perceptions and how this will affect her days to come (though in all reality, chances are it won't really change much... i'm probably overestimating my influence and singular events on Stella's life). Just a thought I wanted to jot down before bed.
The next day, I spent most of my time visiting the Entebbe wildlife sanctuary! We did a behind the scenes tour, which meant we could handle or feed some animals and see them
up close. See the amazing pictures to get an idea of what it was like! =)
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