Kampala

I officially arrived in Kampala about 12 hours ago! I made it through the crazy long medical check (everyone has to fill out an extra health form these days to document who’s bringing in the swine flu, I guess) and visa lines at the airport, gathered both of my checked bags that amazingly made it all the way here, and jumped in the taxi that Medair had waiting for me. We made it back to the Medair Kampala house in about an hour, which is really good considering a few traffic jams we hit & the overall craziness of Friday-night life areas we have to pass through on our way. After being welcomed by the current teamhouse guests, I was able to give a quick call to the parents to let them know I was alive & well and to top it all off, have had a successfully good night’s sleep after only a few hours being caught while in transit. That is a productive 12 African hours!

It’s so good to be back! On the drive from the airport last night I was taking it all in again: the thick, humid, diesel-filled air, the crazy traffic of motorcycles whipping in & out and people dodging all forms of vehicles like a game of frogger, the horns beeping and dogs barking and loud African pop music being blared from who knows where. One thing Uganda is not is under-stimulating! And I love it! (most of the time)

Most impactful, though, was the reality that washed over me of how far this world is from the one I live in back in the US. I was reminded of the vast separation of classes here – how the poor are deeply in poverty and the rich are living in luxury – and the difficult tension of being white, aka ‘rich,’ in the midst of that reality. How the lifestyles I’m seeing around me here in Kampala don’t even compare to where I’m headed in Karamoja… And how I had forgotten these things, or rather chosen to not think on them much back in my own comfortable life. Now, I get to wrestle again. Somehow try to bridge my world with this world, try to make sense of what never will.

The goal today is to keep going & not take a nap…so we’ll see how that works out! I don’t fly to Kaabong until Wednesday, so I have a few days to get over jet lag and get oriented and briefed in the office. Hopefully I’ll get over to Nansana tomorrow to visit Come, Let’s Dance for a bit – that’s always a highlight for me!

I’ll try to get some pictures of the Kampala chaos up here later. Thanks for reading!