Monday, January 2, 2012

Adventures in Africa: Part 12 - OBSERVATIONS

OBSERVATIONS

I was walking this evening, and it suddenly occurred to me that there are some things I haven't seen or heard since arriving in Uganda two months ago. This is not a judgment or indictment in any way....just an observation.

1. planes flying overhead
2. trains
3. robins, bluejays, or any other birds I'm used to seeing
4. McDonalds, Starbucks, or any other American franchise
5. oranges that are actually orange in color


Things I LOVE about Uganda:

1. the dark nights where street vendors still have candles lit and people continue walking along the road (see video clip below)
2. the people -- the friendliest people on the planet
3. the climate -- temperatures mostly in the 70s year-round
4. the children
5. the dignity of people who may be living in hopeless situations



Things I've seen here in Uganda that I had never seen back home:

1. people walking around carrying dead chickens they just purchased
2. vendors walking around selling fried grasshoppers as a snack
3. traffic jams with motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians winding through
4. a bug that looks like the "golden snitch" from Harry Potter
5. everyone well dressed and looking extremely well groomed
6. thousands of black people and I'm the only white one in the crowd
7. goats wandering along the roadside
8. huge, waist-high vulture birds
9. young men riding bicycles stacked with 8 crates of soda pop to sell, or carrying huge truck tires, or a mattress or bed frame, or long poles of metal re-bar, or several large sacks full of charcoal, or several big bunches of plantains for matooke
10. a driver, plus two adult riders and two children all on ONE motorcycle
11. brooms with no handles
12. matooke (the main food eaten here)


Things I will never take for granted again when I get back home to the United States:

1. fresh air
2. drinkable, good tasting, safe and free tap water
3. freeways, freeway lighting, road signs, painted lines on roads
4. stop signs, stop lights, sidewalks, relatively few potholes
5. electrical power 24 hours a day
6. fast internet
7. a variety of restaurants with different ethnic foods available
8. getting to choose which pieces I get when I order fried chicken
9. ordering food and not fearing food poisoning
10. cold milk
11. free education
12. variety of breads and other foods
13. stores with new clothing rather than used, dirty leftovers from thrift stores from other countries
14. excellent medical care
15. the U.S. Post Office and postal service that actually DELIVERS
16. reliable garbage, recycling, sewage, utilities services



Sunday, January 1, 2012

Adventures in Africa: Part 11 - DANCE!

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE....

Well, no, to be quite honest, I DON'T think I can dance! In fact, I know I'm quite bad at it!! But yesterday I was invited to an end-of-year party out in the village of Bbira. In attendance were some of the children and their parents and teachers from the school that I am helping support. After some speeches and songs and dramatic performances-- all under a small tent in the pouring rain -- the weather cleared up and we all danced!

Like I said, dancing well is not a talent that I possess! But I just tried to mimic the moves the kids were showing me, and just had fun with it. Here's a clip with music from three different Ugandan tribes: Lusoga, Lutolo, and Buganda.




We also ate "mbuzi" -- goat meat. It was the first time I had ever tasted it. I found it to be extremely tough and chewy, but interesting! Even more interesting, I was later told that the older boys in the group had slaughtered and roasted the goat that morning, and the girls in the group had prepared the cabbage/carrot salad they served with it.