Things I have learned so far... Kampala (in the order that they are occurring to me at this moment)

Intermittent internet here – abbreviated post follows with pictures to come (soon?)

Today Dr. Jan Stewart and Dr. Lynn McBrien (Jan and Lynn forever more) finished our two days of acclimatizing and preparing with a trip to Jinja to paddle on the Nile. I felt a little bad about having so much fun on this work trip but Jan assured me that hard work starting in the morning will put it all into perspective. Tomorrow we leave at dawn for Lira in the North and begin our interviews. So, before all that work begins here are my first impressions of Kampala....

Number one:

Cars are in charge here, followed by buses and boda bodas (insane motorcycle taxis)  and then, maybe, pedestrians. I was crossing a spot that I think was even marked as a crosswalk and had a car come directly at me as if it was going to hit me – which it was. I learned from a kindly woman on the sidewalk that were I not to give way to cars I would “get knocked”.

Number two:

Nobody is old in Uganda. Very strange feeling to be 36 and quite obviously one of the older generation. I don’t know if it is the cumulative effect of HIV and war or something else but everyone is young here.

Number three:

If you drive along one of the roads that lead outside of town you will be able to buy anything. Today on the way to Jinja I saw things you would not imagine set up inside or in front of sales shacks that ranged from six to thirty feet wide.  I will keep a running list and post it later.

Number four:

Drive thrus are universal – sort of... Today on the way to Jinja we pulled into a roadside stand and were swarmed by boys and girls in official drive thru smocks offering us street meat, water, pop, newspapers, you name it – through the window of the car.

Number five:

AK-47’s and pump action shotguns are really threatening, at first. Then when you see them slung over the arm of every policeman and security guard they sort of get normalized. Then when you realize that because there are no old people here the policeman is really a police boy of the ripe age of 21 and you think about what you were like when you were 21 they become threatening again.

Number six:

Uganda is beautiful. Lush green foliage framed against rich red soil and improbably bright and audacious flowers adorn every valley and hilltop.

Number seven:

Sewage smells bad whether it is in North America or in Africa.