A City Tour

The past four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) have been spent with the most welcoming, kind hearted, and fun people. I have been typing my entries on my laptop. Instead of re-typing, I decided to wait until I had Internet for the computer. As a result, my postings are a few days off. I tried to condense everything into one posting, but there is too much to say!
On Friday, Alex picked Nick and I up around 10:15. Prepared in the van were two great folders about Kampala with a map, city guide, and book containing basic Luganda phrases. Kampala is even more exciting during the day. Gaba Road, which is the main street near our dwelling, is lined with sophisticated shack-like structures. There are restaurants and shops for everything. A series of furniture stores remind me of streets in Dallas with a lot of car dealership. Beautiful wooden beds, upholstered couches, and chairs are placed and stacked outside.
Being a passenger in a car (a role I am used too) here is much more exhilar ating than in the US. Cars, taxis, which are vans with multi-customers, Boda Boda – motorcycle taxis, and pedestrian dance around each other. Agnes –EAC’s program director explained to me today honking is not considered rude but a friendly reminder to get going. Needless to say, there is much more honking than in Dallas. There are also some intense potholes. In order to protect the bottom of their cars, drivers weave around these potholes – adding to the transportation dance.
Our first stop was at the Imperial Hotel where we exchanged money. Two Thousand Ugandan Shillings is roughly equivalent to $1. We then drove around the city for a while. Alex pointed out everything from the High Court to hotels to the city’s only golf course – an attractive area of green. We stopped at a shopping center. After going through the grocery store and Game – a superstore, we stopped at a coffee shop, Good African Coffee, for lunch. Our conversation was very interesting. Alex is amazing. He told us about his life – struggles and successes. He has been so courageous and persevered through more than I can imagine all while being so giving. He is a person who will go out of his way to do anything in order to help someone in need. We also discussed HIV/AIDS, malaria, education, and what we wanted to do while in Uganda.
Following lunch, we drove through Makerere University before going to the EAC office. Seeing the University was very cool. There are some beautiful buildings and like any college campus, it was bustling. One of my favorite parts of the campus, which I would like to bring back to Vanderbilt, is vendors selling pencils and other supplies outside near classrooms. I would never have to ask someone for a pencil again!
The next place we went was the EAC office. It’s not too big but very nice, and the people who work there are even nicer. Rose and Somali were there when we arrived. Somali is an intern who just finished her master’s degree and is trying to get experience. Rose is an absolutely wonderful, proud, and sweet woman who serves as the office’s administrative assistant and financier. After the office, we went to a bank to pay for our housing.
Going to the house where the EAC children live and practice for the Spirit of Uganda tour was the final destination of the day. The house is very nice. Simon, one of the students, gave an excellent tour after some encouragement from the US Scholarship students currently living in the home, a moment of empowerment. We left the home with a promise from Francis and Alex that they would call with our night plans in the next few hours. They did. Alex would pick us up at 8, and we would meet everyone at the house. Meanwhile, we ate our first Ugandan meal at the home where we are staying– beef stew, pumpkin, and rice. It was delicious except there was something crunchy in the otherwise very tasty rice (I’ll explain in the next post).
Alex picked us up on time, and we went back to the EAC home. They had waited for us to have dinner so what was for me a dream come true any day I had a second dinner. The food was prepared with care by a soft-spoken angel – Justine. She serves as EAC’s housemother. She made matoke – steamed green bananas—and cabbage. It was so delicious. I loved the cabbage, which had a wonderful taste when eaten with the matoke. The night was very fun. With Betty (a US Scholarship student), Gyavira, David (Spirit of Uganda choreographer), Alex and Francis, we went to two spots before retiring early. Alex drove us home. For a second night in a row, I fell asleep instantly.
- Feldman