First Steps

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I have been in Uganda for just over a week now and already I have been amazed, confused, shocked, horrified, frustrated, intrigued, grateful and so many other things it is hard to believe that it has only been a week. Everything I was told was true and it partly as I expected, yet the reality seems so different.
The first thing that struck me as I came off the plane was the smell, hot and wet, which sums up the weather in Uganda well. It is dry season at the moment and we have not had much rain but it never feels far away, the weather forecasts never veer away from the safety of rain cloud with a sun peeking out of the top.

This climate makes for the thing that has probably surprised me the most, the food and the amount of it. Our orientation guide, Francis, told us on the first day, “Africans are always eating. The one thing we always have lots of is food.” On the basis of the news and charity appeals in the UK I am inclined to disagree with him but I have been told that Uganda is one of the few countries that can self-sustain on the food it grows and they seem keen to show off about it. I would say the average meal is two plates packed full of carbohydrates, though it is not uncommon for people to get through three.

Ugandans proudly say there is a lot of variety in their food and each region has its own staple but, in a nice recognition of other cultures, they choose to eat maize, mutoke (mashed plantain), rice, cassava and sweet potatoes with most meals, occasionally throwing in Irish potatoes (ordinary potatoes) for good measure. I thought I was just getting my tactics to survive a day when I came to stay with my host family. They eat four meals per day and I showed solidarity with Lauren (and my stomach) in refusing supper after we had eaten lunch and tea within the space of 2 hours, which seemed to be one of the few ways it was possible to cause offence (not that I've been trying particularly hard!).

While there are some things that I still do not understand about the culture and some I fear I will never understand, I have been overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people and their wonderful social skills. I consider myself a reasonably sociable soul by English standards but I have struggled with the constant greetings, introductions even from people in the street. It is something that I will happily get used to though.

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Comments

[Maggie]

Great description
Thanks -- your description is very vivid and I can almost feel how humid it is. Look forward to more news. How's the language learning going? Or does everyone speak English to you?