French Toast With a Hint of Fish

Warning: Due to the sheer amount of chaos that I’ve been through in the last week, this may be my longest blog entry I will ever have.

While eating my French toast out of a paper bag this morning, I couldn’t overlook the fact that it tasted incredibly fishy.  Sure, I was eating it out of a paper bag alongside a congested Kampala road without any high-fructose corn syrup, but can you really screw up fried bread?  Yep, you sure can; especially when the bread is fried in the same oil as all of the fish and cow parts.  Come on meme!  TIA I guess.  Well I’m back.  I made it to Kampala, Uganda, and oh what a journey it was to get here.  It started on a Saturday at 5 am.  My first flight was delayed 2 hours, which put catching my next flight in DC at risk.  Because of the short period of time I would have to catch my flight in DC, United upgraded me to first class.  Awesome right?  Well, no.  The dream of being upgraded to first class had finally come true; however, once I boarded the plane I immediately realized that my upgrade to first class was merely a seat closer to the exit.  The plane was so small that the disparity between first class and economy was minimal at best.  I shrugged it off and sat back and enjoyed the flight.  Once I exited the plane in DC, while schlepping two bags in tow, I ran to catch my flight to Zurich.  I barely made it.  Whew, I got lucky.  Had I missed the DC flight it would have had a snowball effect on my remaining 3 flights to Uganda.  About 2 hours into the flight to Zurich the pilot came over the intercom and informed us that we would be turning around and heading back to DC due to plane maintenance issues.  Also, we would have to circle over Jersey for a few hours so we could burn off fuel and then dump the rest.  I became furious.  Not because they were going to crop dust Jersey with toxic jet fuel (in fact I felt that was kind of a bonus), but because that meant I was going to miss my flight to Kenya, and ultimately Uganda.  Once we finally arrived in Zurich, 6 hours after we were scheduled to arrive, I realized there were several of us who had missed connecting flights.  This is when we formed team Zurich.  There were a handful of us who missed the connecting flight to Kenya, and we all happened to be around the same age with completely different backgrounds.  We all hit it off, and made the best of our crappy predicament.  The team consisted of two Kenyans, a male and a female, who both lived in the states.  The guy was a medic in the Navy down in San Diego, and the girl was a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati.  They cracked me up.  In true fashion, the guy was getting hammered and being extremely loud, and the girl sat there shaking her head saying “oh, you are giving us a bad name.  All you Kenyan guys are the same” (they didn’t know each other until we formed the crew).   At about this point I began to realize that this was not much different than what I experienced in Namibia.  Anyway, they were great.  I really enjoyed their company.  Another member of the crew/team was Rashid.  He was actually heading to Dubai, but we welcomed him into the crew as we all waited for hours for new flights.  He is in his second year at Portland State, and a citizen of the U.A.E.  He cracked me up.  He told me stories about when he and his father would travel to Libya, and how Qadaffi would personally pick him and his father up at the airport.  Yeah, his dad is a big dog.  Then there was our so called team leader.  A Canadian girl around my age who lived most of her life in Eastern Africa with her missionary parents (she was fluent in Swahili…oh and yes she was white).  Then there was my fellow American from South Carolina who was heading to Kenya to work at an orphanage over her Christmas break.  She was a 20 year old version of Kim (for all of you who know her).  She kind of looked like her, but she acted exactly the same.  That was my Zurich crew, and that is why I love the adventures of travel.  You meet spectacular people when you travel.  These people made what otherwise would have been an awful trip into an event that I will always remember as one of my best. 

Three days after I departed from the Sacramento airport, and after I was re-routed through Kilimanjaro, which was a blessing because I got to see the sun rise over one of the tallest mountains in the world, I arrived in Uganda.  Disheveled as all hell, I managed to navigate my way through customs and get my luggage (yeah that’s right, after 5 airports my luggage made it…I took that as a good omen).  As my driver and I began to make our way to Kampala I realized that it wasn’t as hot as I expected.  It was not really humid either.  In fact, the climate here is pretty nice.  Apparently in Bushenyi, the town I will be living in, it is pretty cool and sometimes pretty cold.  Once we got to Kampala I finally realized that Windhoek, Cape Town, Harare, Maputo, and Johannesburg are a joke.  Kampala is so wheels off.  The traffic rivals Hanoi, Vietnam.  There are boda-bodas (motorbikes) everywhere.  They are essentially taxis.  It is nuts walking around.  I mean you really have to watch your ass or you will get ran over, fall into a hole on the sidewalk/broken-up trail of concrete, or be attacked by a 4’ tall stork (the Ugandans love the storks cause they are “scavengers”.  I was told this morning that they are nice because if a dog or cat gets run over by a car, the carcass will be gone in the morning because the storks will eat them.  They are the vultures of the city).  The city is incredibly congested, dirty, and big; essentially my kind of place.  On the hill across from where I am staying is the huge Qaddaffi mosque that was constructed during the Idi Amin era.  When one thinks of a truly big African city, this is it.  I went to the central open market yesterday and that was awesome.  The amount of fruits and vegetables there is unreal.  They have blood oranges, pineapples, apples, oranges, tangerines, avocados the size of my head (they only cost 10 cents and they are a staple here), watermelons, passion fruits, mangos, and so much more.   Of course the market was wheels off and pretty dirty.  I love it though.  Africa really does take a part of you.  As intimidating as it seems, you find a real sense of accomplishment conquering it.  It’s like you can do anything.  It stresses me out at times, but I always walk away from my experience feeling as if I gained a lifetime of experience from a single event.  Making it back alive from my market experience and being able to navigate my way through the chaos was a confidence booster.  If you’re not careful this city will consume you, and you‘ll be gone forever.

Now to explain the real reason for my trip, work.  I found out this week that I am essentially the US government s guinea pig.  I am essentially here to pioneer a new global initiative.  I have 4 different government and private apparatuses that I am reporting to.  My main focus is a five district region in western Uganda.  I am essentially the man on the ground analyzing the impact malaria prevention has in the community, how well village health teams are acquiring statistics, and to provide any feedback regarding how well the program is running.  I have a guy in DC who I have to talk to on a monthly basis, plus two different guys at the embassy who also want feedback on a monthly basis and who have also told me that money is not a problem so if I need anything I can just call them and they will make it happen for me.  Coming from two years in the Peace Corps to having someone basically tell you that you can have any resource your little heart desires to get the job done is a miracle at the very least.  DC is sending me to Senegal at the end of January for two weeks for a global training on malaria.  Yeah that’s right West Africa.  They said they want me to essentially become an expert in malaria.  The guy in DC was like “would you be ok if we sent you to Senegal next month for a 2 week training?”  I almost screamed out with joy.  I thought “you want to pay me to go to Senegal, and train me in a global health field?”  Senegal it is then.  This job is such a rare experience, and I think it might really help my career in the end.  Only time will tell I guess. 

I head to Bushenyi town in a few days to begin work, and begin my settling in process.  From what I have been told, my house is fully furnished and beautiful.  It is pretty much the opposite from my experience in Namibia.  Next time I hope to provide everyone with information about my job, house, and the town I live in.  Also I will try to post pictures.  Cheers and Webare munonga!

Anticipation of the unknown

I have approximately 3 weeks until I leave for Uganda.  The anticipation I have is rife with unknowns: How many days will I spend schlepping my bags and tired self through chaotic hot airports?  How am I going to get enough food on the plane without friends surrendering their treys of processed airplane food to me?  What will my house/flat/hut be like?  What is the town of Bushenyi like?  How overwhelming will it be to navigate my way through the overcrowded streets of Kampala?  Will I have access to good coffee?  How much of my stuff will get stolen out of my luggage as I pass through Johannesburg?  And of course, is the beer good?   All these unknowns consume my thoughts for about 2 minutes each day.  You see, having already spent two years in Africa and reading others' accounts of their experience in Uganda, I believe it's all just about the same.  One will encounter very nice and hospitable locals who are willing to show you kindness, and help you with any problem you are faced with.  Over time, certain "African" idiosyncrasies will begin to burden your sanity and ability to separate someones constant nose-picking and line-cutting from the way you judge that person.  These little things about Africa are what make ones experience genuine and authentic.  It's not the elephant or the lion you see on a safari, but a true acclimation into African society. Having already experienced the general "African" idiosyncrasies, there is not too much mystery as to what kind of culture I will encounter (I don't intend to imply that line cutting and nose-picking is a reflection of an entire populations rich historical culture, it's just something that stands out in everyday life).  That is to say there won't be much "culture shock".  Of course there will be specific things that distinguish the Ankole people of the region, such as art and history, but in a general sense they won't be much different from their Bantu brethren, the Kwangalis or Caprivians.  They will grunt during greetings, enjoy food that is boiled, mashed, and dried, try to get the most space out of a vehicle while transporting paying customers and their numerous goods, enjoy sweets,  and make the best out of what they have been given by their debilitating ex-colonizers.  One thing that truly does resonate throughout Africa is the peoples ability to make the best out of what they have, and to always maintain hope.  So it's back to Africa for me.  This time it's "The Pearl" of Africa.  I'm sure I will accumulate many absurd and interesting experiences throughout my journey.  Because of the amount of traveling I will do for my job, I'm certain I will see and come across things that I will surely share.  Lastly, I will post pictures on my flickr account, and there is a link on my blog wall for you all to access those pictures.  Cheers!