An international evening

Today was pretty good. We have two people visiting from the University of Groningen (that's in the Netherlands) to work on a project in the good government area and this evening we had a dinner for them in the guest house. It was a lot of fun, there were three Ugandans, an American, the two Dutch and myself. Quite an interesting group to discuss politics with. I learned a lot about the political situation in Uganda and in Africa generally, and we also discussed drug legalization, Katrina, how much Bush sucks, etc.

And the American woman is very nice, and she is living here for two years, so I think it would be good if we could hang out some. Tomorrow I am going on a walk around the area with her, one of her friends, and the two Dutch. SO that is something to look forward to.

Another day in Nkosi...

Today was pretty slow, Max (my boss) introduced me to some more of the staff in the morning, and I spent the afternoon working on the Gender and Development course module. It’s a lot of writing, but I found some stuff in another module that can be revised for this one. The modules are around 100 pages each, so its going to be a lot of work.

After tea I went on a walk through the village and looked in the stores. I bought a pair of sandals for 5000 shillings (about $3), and some sweet bananas. So see, T-dawg, I can buy shoes here, and for so much cheaper!

And the men here are a bit too friendly, anyone have any ideas how I should politely say lets just be friends?

"Down with America!"

That was our favorite toast at the Spark last night. What you may ask is the spark. Well, to the unenlightened Westerner it looks much like the other shacks in the village of Nkosi, but inside there is a convivial atmosphere fueled by beer and debate. I made many new friends as we drank there by candlelight (cause the power was out, but like that would be a good reason to shut down! Not around here!)

And inevitably all that beer lead to bathroom breaks, and my first experience of a squat over the hole in the floor toilet! While balancing a candle in one hand to see! It was pretty gross, but honestly not that much worse that the bathrooms at the Alehouse (or almost any Halifax bar) on a busy night. Smelled pretty awful though. And since we're talking toilets (or I am, anyway) you'll be interested to know that the water just goes straight down in a flush toilet on the equator.

But the conversation made it all worthwhile. Did you know that when Bush met the Ugandan president last week, the first thing he said was "how are your cows?" An unintentionally ironic statement, I think.

Bats, Monkeys, and Locusts, Oh my!

Wildlife update, first of all the thing that swooped at me the other night was not a strange bird it was a bat! Yucky!

On Sunday a new friend here took me on a walk up a hillside past the local primary school and I saw Monkeys hanging out in a mango grove. I also saw banana trees! Actually, I've been seeing them everywhere, but now I know what they are!

At the top of the hill we could look down over the whole area, even see the misty outlines of the distant shores of Lake Victoria. The only thing I have to say is Verdant. Verdant is my word of the day.

And the same new friend stopped by my office today holding a locust he had caught to show me. It was actually bigger than his hand. So its been pretty eventful around here!

The sounds of Africa

The night is alive with the music of insects and birds... It is something like crickets, but in a thousand different rhythms, pitches, and paces. A lone owl (or something else?) calls softly from afar, such a lonely, pure sound. Choir practice drifts from the chapel, just notes and beats, too soft for words. And two girls walk by hand in hand singing in perfect harmony.

I woke up this morning to spirituals drifting from the chapel, loud enough now to hear. The lord of the dance has always been one of my favorite hymns, but you haven't really heard it till you've heard it with African drums.

Strange Birds and stuff.

Well, I've been here nearly 24 hours now. Its very strange. I take my meals in the cafeteria with the students, its kind of like being the new kid at school all over again, that nervous feeling trying to decide which table to sit at. The food is rather bland, which is too bad, I was hoping for spicy and exotic!

I encountered some small birds walking accross campus last night, they swooped at me and startled me. Between that and a beetle the size of my palm that was between me and the bathroom I'm not feeling quite so great about the african wildlife anymore.

I've spent most of the day in the office checking email and sending notes to everyone back home. I also visited the library and took out some books to start working. I'm going to be writing modules for the distance program in Good Governance.

My plan to quit smoking is not going so well. I'm feeling kind of lost and a bit lonely, and I cracked and bought smokes after lunch today. But I haven't smoked very many of them, so maybe I can at least cut back, and quit when I feel more at home here. Its going to be hard, the smokes and a coke cost only 3,000 shillings, which is about 2 dollars Canadian!

arrival in Uganda

I have arrived at long last! After 2 days in Halifax hanging out with the other interns and the great people at the St. Mary’s International Activities Office I flew to London Wednesday night. Spent Thursday in London, shopping for important stuff like mosquito netting and hanging out at a great pub in Nottinghill called the Swan. Staff was super nice and gave me a glass of milk for free cause the kitchen hadn’t opened yet and I needed to take my malaria pill.

Speaking of malaria pills, so far no funky side effects, keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way!

So last night I got on a plane to Dubai (really nice airport, wish I had more time there) then another this morning to Nairobi then on to Entebbe. In Entebbe I was met by a university driver who took me to the university, where I am now.

First impressions, its very odd being the only white person. Seriously, since leaving the airport I have seen only one other white person! And people kind of stare at me. Definitely a strange experience, but something I’ll have to get used to.

At the university I met Max who is the head of the department where I will be working. He seems very friendly, showed me around. I’m in the office of the department right now. It's pretty bare, bare concrete floor, 3 desks, and a bookshelf. My room is similarly sparse, but I saw a market on the way in that I can go to for some stuff. Maybe I’ll get a rug and a bookshelf. I doubt that there will be many opportunities to spend money around here.

The internet connection is very slow here, so it may be some time between updates and emails. Just know that I'm doing good, and I miss ya'll.

Party like its 1999

Its my last night in the ch-town, drinking up the dregs of my liquor cabnet at Heather's. Fun fun! Maybe Baba's later, party on and be excellent to each other!

I found my passport!

Finally, last night after spending days ripping apart my apartment, after checking every drawer, every box that it could possibly be in, after checking my bookshelf at least 5 times, and after giving up, being ready to cancel the whole thing, or at least delay it significantly, I was on messenger with Kara and the last thing she wrote to me was " Good luck. May you find your passport in the most obvious and overlooked place." And five minutes later I did. On the damn bookshelf that I had checked so many times, it suddenly appeared. So now its in the mail to the Uganda High Commision, and I'll still be able to leave as scheduled. Hooray!

Images from UMU Website

Crested Cranes, Uganda's national bird.
Gardens of Uganda Martyrs University.

Stuff to See

This is a list of nearby attractions from the UMU webpage (now a link on the left).

- the Equator crossing and market on Masaka Road;
- the largest and only crocodile farm in Uganda at Katebo on Lake
Victoria;
- the Mpanga Forest reserve for camping, nature trails, and walks;
- Ggolo landing site is an ideal site for camping and weekend
picnics;
- Sand Beach Nabugabo, a natural and beautiful lakeside resort is worth
visiting too.

Map of Uganda

Still haven't found a map sufficiently detailed to show Nkozi, but here is a pretty good map anyway. Nkozi is on the equator between Kampala and Masaka.

God, but I hope I can find my passport!

Trip planning is taking up much of my time right now. My ticket is booked and paid for, I'm leaving on September. 21, flying through London and Dubai to arrive at Entebbe Airport, Uganda on September. 23. It took some doing to get a flight that arrived in daytime hours, important because the road to Nkozi is not so safe at night.

The medical stuff is expensive and time consuming. I've been to the travel clinic twice now (Debbie the nurse there is super nice!) and I've been vacinated for hep a/b, tetanus, measles, and yellow fever. I also had to drink this raspberry flavored stuff that protects against cholera and E. coli. Kind of gross, but with some OJ and a splash of vodka it wouldn't be bad. one more drink of the raspberry stuff next week, plus needles for typhoid and meningitis I'll be clear to go nearly anywhere in the world.

And I found out today that 7 months of malaria drugs is going to cost me nearly a thousand dollars!!! But I suppose the money is really nothing compared to a lifetime of malaria. If I had the money, that is.

The moral of this post is that travel to Africa is really, REALLY expensive and takes a ton of planning. And the pre-trip advance that I'm getting doesn't cover everything.

Among the stuff I still need to decide is whether I should purchase Plan B and HIV prophylactics, which the clinic recommends, just in case I get raped. Yup you read that right, and if your mouth is hanging open in shock, that this is common enough to be recommended, and wondering what the hell I am getting myself into, that's about the reaction I had. Of course, if I don't need it (which I won't, I'm going to be super careful, never walk at night anywhere, always travel in groups, maybe someone could teach me to kill a man six different ways with my bare hands before I go?) then I can leave the HIV drugs at a clinic there when I leave. Other stuff that I will leave behind in Africa includes the old glasses that I'm taking as a backup, antibiotics, and any malaria meds that I don't end up needing. Apparently even extra bandaids and polysporin from my first aid kit will be helpful down there, so at least I know when I'm buying supplies that even if I don't use everything, it won't be wasted.

And my passport is still missing. I know that I have one, I know that it's somewhere in my apartment, I just don't know where. You see, I put it "somewhere safe." So if you were my passport, where would you be?

Going to Africa

Well, i'm starting this blog to keep people up to date while I'm travelling in Africa. I'm going to be going to Nkozi, Uganda for six months to do human rights work at Uganda Martyrs University. That's all for now, the post is really just a test.