First days

Travel time and my senses as we arrive in Kampala, Uganda
Written on June 1

We made it! travel was rough I woke up at 4 a.m. on monday and did not get real sleep until about 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Let me begin by saying that I got sick to my stomach during my last night in Phoenix and have not lost the feeling of nausea since. I'm not saying this because I want sympathy, I'm saying this because it makes my food review that much more impressive. The trip from Phoenix went relatively smoothly, but was about as stressful as you would expect from a two day journey to the other side of the globe. I slept a little on each flight and about 4 hours on the flight from brussels to uganda. When we arrived in Uganda all any of us wanted was a shower and sleep. Once we cleared customs we were met by the Amizade on-site coordinators and left Entebbe airport to drive about 40 minutes to our hotel in Kampala. It was about 9:30 at night when our flight landed so during the drive we could not see much past the side of the road ( very few street lights). as we passed through the streets of the city one of my classmates asked me if the buildings we were passing were what I had expected . No, Kampala is much larger than what I had expected to find in Africa. I guess I had expected huts and smaller buildings. According to one of the Amizade coordinators this is one of the largest metropolises in eastern Africa, and the area where we will be volunteering in Tanzania is much more what I was expecting. Kampala is amazing. Our hotel is much nicer than I expected. It is probably the equivalent of a cheap motel in the states as far as room size and amenities go, but the service is exceptional. We had dinner last night around midnight. It was buffet style but the women serving the food insisted on large portions, and I'm prod to say I ate everything including the cabbage. It all tasted great we had: mashed bananas, peas, beef, cabbage, chicken, rice, and two types of beans. the meat was juicy and tender and they put the gravy from the beef onto the bananas. Even though our airline food was not bad, we all ate as if we hadn't eaten in a month. After dinner we were all so tired we went to our rooms to sleep and shower. each section of the building has a switch to turn on the hot water and each room has its own shower. We were not sure of the amount of hot water so the three of us rooming on my hall decided to take turns using our showers. While I was waiting for my turn to shower I stepped out onto the balcony and was met with a breathtaking view, the lights from the city hung in the distance like hundreds of floating sparks. A fog ( which I was later told was smog) hung over the city and reflected the lights perfectly. One thing that really struck me as I looked over the city was how quiet it was the only sounds were crickets and dogs. Even at 2 a.m. no city in the states would be so quiet. Sitting there looking out over the city it was as if I could feel the stress draining out of my body. As I lay in bed last night, surrounded by my mosquito netting, It seemed so odd to me that something so thin and that seemed so insignificant could save so many lives. It brought me back to reality and I felt guilty when I thought of how much we consume and waste in the united states and how little effort it would take on our part to solve this issue. I couldn't shake the thought that while I was laying protected in my hotel room most of the people in the country around me had no protection. I am writing this in my journal on wednesday June 1st at 8 in the morning, I have been up since 7. we will be loading our stuff onto the bus before breakfast and then leaving on a 6 hour bus ride to Tanzania. During the bus ride I plan to study KiSwahili. I cannot wait to see where we will be staying for the next three weeks.

Uganda, The Equator, and Arriving in Tanzania
Written on June 2nd

I'm sure a large portion of this blog will focus on my senses because the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes here are so overwhelmingly different from what I am used to. Yesterday, after breakfast which included the sweetest banana and pineapple I have ever tasted, we got on a bus to travel to the Tanzanian border. nothing had prepared me for the sights of the trip, possibly the most beautiful green countryside I have ever seen. We are at the end of a rainy season so everything is lush and green. While traveling through cities and villages we saw hundreds of unfinished buildings and construction projects. Also along the road were hundreds of tiny shops in small shack like buildings. many appeared to be selling the same types of products. It was strange when we would pass a modern looking building in the middle of all the half finished buildings in the city, but many oil companies and banks had offices along the road. In Uganda we crossed the equator and stopped to take pictures. while at the equator a local gave a demonstration using funnels and a flower to show that in one hemisphere water drains clockwise and in the other it drains counter-clockwise while directly over the equator the water does not spin while draining. The border between Uganda and Tanzania was interesting to experience there was very little security you could walk across with no-one asking you questions. We first had to stop in one building to get an exit stamp in Uganda. There was a long line and many people tried to cut in front of us and we tried to stop them by staying close together. Getting into Tanzania was much easier and didn't take long. The drive from the boarder to Kayanga was beautiful and while on the bus we received an informal lesson in Kiswahili. During the bus ride, I had a very interesting conversation with Dr. Hartman and one of my classmates about the strategies of foreign aid organizations and how our readings compared to what we were seeing on the ground here. Am really excited because I can already tell that many of the assumptions we make as westerners will be challenged. I think that one of the points being made by the course is that while we love "one-size-fits-all" solutions to our problems, this strategy does not apply to the issues facing the developing world. Another point is that if we are going to provide aid, we must try to understand that we may create new problems while trying to solve old ones. We finally arrived in Kayanga and it was amazing. The hostel where we are staying is much nicer than i expected and we have real toilets and a very comfortable bed. Last night after we got settled in and had dinner we spent some time creating a grope contract to make sure we are all on the same page concerning our group behavior. We all seem to get along well and I think we have a great grope of people with similar interests. Right now it is about 7:30 and I have been up since 5:25 when a rooster crowed outside my window. Today we plan on exploring Kayanga and running errands to the bank, internet cafe, and cell phone store. tomorrow we will visit one of our work sites.

note: June 7th
Im having a great time. Sorry the updates are so far behind access to computers are limited and I have to buy internet access 30 minutes at a time. I will post more updated entries ASAP.

Also I blame any spelling and/or grammar mistakes on my rush.