After
another exhilarating but exhausting day I stagger towards my bed and crash,
entering a Sleeping Beauty like slumber before my head even contacts
pillow. When I open my eyes I am bewildered
by the mosquito netting around my bed.
I scratch my head as I here the bustle of the city below me, and foreign
voices filter through the open window.
Then it hits me. I am in
Uganda! This was my daily routine
for my first few days in country.
Every day has been filled with excitement and exhaustion, and every morning
puzzlement and exhilaration.
We
began our journey in the capital of Kampala, in the heart of the country. Cars
and boda bodas, small motorcycles that are used as taxis, swarmed by like army
ants after breadcrumbs. In Kampala there was barely a right side of the street,
little let a pedestrians right of way, and crossing the road was a task that
would make Felix Baumgartner sweat.
However, after we mastered the art of crossing (get behind a local and
pray) the city truly opened up.
We were able to explore a city full of too busy people, cheesy shopping
centers, and oddly all English advertising. It was surprisingly like the US in many ways. There were many other ways however,
both amazing and terrible, in which it wasn’t.
In
Kampala I found some amazing friends in my fellow researchers, even Ishaq, and
I finally had the chance to experience another country and culture for the
first time. I don’t count my trips
to Canada as real travel because it is basically just America’s hat. I have also found joy in seeing the
ways in which people live a happy existence despite their lack of material
wealth. Everyone but the poorest
dressed with a style that made me look like a derelict, and even houses made of
the most banal, grey cement were livened up by colorful trim or windows. The city also had lively open-air
markets in which we could test our haggling abilities and meet locals.
On the other hand, I was also
confronted with true, widespread poverty and inequality for the first time in
my life. Castle like compounds
stood just blocks away from corners in which half-dead people lied face down in
the streets. Mothers sat on
corners with young children dressed in rags whom accosted passerby’s and begged
for change. Because of these reasons, I was rather excited when we got to leave
Kampala early and head to our research site in Ishaka. Ishaka has been amazing, and it is by
far one of the most, if not the most, beautiful place I have ever seen. It may even give Glacier a run for its
money. Besides the beautiful scenery,
the people, food, and project that we are working on here are all also
absolutely incredible. Everyday I have been here has been better than the
last. This is going to be quite
the summer.
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