kampala, day two

(written 9/16)

Well, today turned out to be much different, and by different I mean better, than I thought it would be. When I arrived at WellShare’s office this morning, I discovered that staff from the Ssembabule and Mubende offices had arrived. Jessica, the other volunteer/intern (I’m not sure which one we technically are, so I’ll probably alternate using those terms when referring to what I do) was there, who I had previously spoken to via email. Coincidentally, Jessica is from New Berlin, WI… imagine that. Today was my second day of orientation, but Jessica insisted that we make some modifications to the orientation schedule and cut out the things that she didn’t think were worth going to (i.e. the snake park). I was more than happy to heed her advice (this is her second time in Uganda, so she’s much more experienced than I). We ended up going to a few places – the fruit and vegetable market, and the craft market – with Azida and Richard, and then they dropped us off and Jess and I went off on our own. We had a long, leisurely lunch at a great café that served many types of food (I had phenomenal chicken fajitas). I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am that Jess is here and will be in Ssembabule with me until December. She had so much advice to give, and she knows a lot of people (mostly expats) in Kampala who will be good travel buddies and people to hang out with when we come to Kampala on weekends. I immediately felt totally comfortable around her, as if we had known each other for a long time. After lunch,we walked around downtown Kampala, and she showed me some important places (banks, hotels, etc). We went to Aristoc (the same bookstore I went to yesterday, but a different location) and bought three books to pass some quiet, electricity-free nights in Ssembabule; I’m sure I’ll be buying many more in the future. We also went grocery shopping for things to bring with us in Ssembabule. There is no refrigerator in Ssembabule, so we basically bought dry goods – crackers, cookies, chocolate, pasta, juice, water, olive oil, spices, candy. I’m glad we got to stock up before we got out there, because it sounds like the options are pretty limited out in the field. The grocery stores here are pretty well-stocked, and I realized that I actually can buy a lot of things here that I didn’t think I’d be able to – i.e. legit face wash, Nutella, muzungu (white person) shampoo, etc. After grocery shopping, we walked around down the main road, and then stopped at another café to have a soda while we waited for the WellShare truck to pick us up again.

Oh! I took my first boda-boda ride today. A boda-boda is a motorcycle that you can take to places around the city for a small fee, and they’re much faster than other taxis. They’re notoriously dangerous, but if you tell them to go slowly they’re actually not TOO terrifying, and locals take them all the time, often with numerous children/infants/chickens in hand. Anyway, Jess and I took a boda-boda to the café. Normally, local women wearing skirts ride side-saddle on a boda-boda for the sake of modesty. I was wearing a skirt today, but to me, living is more important than being lady-like, so I hiked my skirt up and straddled that driver, and Jess straddled me. When in Africa…

I’m currently sitting in my hostel, drinking a Nile beer and typing this into Word, due to the sketchy nature of the internet, but hopefully I can post it quickly in a moment of semi-strong internet. Tomorrow I pack up my things, take them to the WellShare office, meet with Laura, the country director, and then head to Ssembabule with Jess.