“Uganda…first impressions”

Africa is pretty much the way you would expect. Driving to our hostel, there were roads and businesses just like any city in America, but with some clear distinctions. The roads are made of red clay dust (I think my feet are permanently red), there are NO painted lines and drivers have no concept of “single-file” or “personal space”. Everyone driving, riding bikes, riding boda bodas (motorcycles) or walking all pretty much do so at their own convenience and about 3 inches apart from one another. You look out the front window and think you are about to hit a person on a bike or a truck full of long-horn cattle…you wince…and then all of a sudden they are right next to you, safe and sound, but you could touch them if you had your hand out the window. There are no traffic lights. When you look out the window, you see that it is very poor here. Before coming to Uganda, I was told that things are looking up for the area because of the influx of businesses. I have to say that I was a little disillusioned. I had imagined business like those in the States…the ones that are smaller and poor, but up to code. This is no where near the case here. The businesses here are run-down buildings of about 10 square feet..maybe…if you’re lucky enough to have a building. Otherwise, there are families sitting along-side the road on blankets lined with produce or live chickens or goats and the such, selling their goods. But they are still functioning business that put food on the table...the perserverance here is amazing! There are cows that wander in the middle of the road….that one was strange. Sometimes you see young boys on the side of the road with a wheelbarrow full of raw sugar cane that they are peeling, cutting and selling. There are a lot of mobile phone stores, a LOT of chickens and more motorcycles than I could have imagined. Imagine the number of taxis in New York City and multiply that by about 100…that’s how many boda bodas there are, but that’s because they are one of the main means of transportation (an experience in itself that I’ll tell you about later). The smell is a combination of exhaust and B.O. :) That took a bit to get used to also! Anyway, our driver, James, got us to the hostel, we unpacked and went right back to town to see the new mall and then to meet with the Ministry of Education at the American Embassy to discuss the current status and future goals of education in Uganda, which was really interesting. Still on very little sleep, we had one more stop for our first day in Uganda…Liberi Secondary school.