Living in Uganda

For once, here’s more of what I have experienced here in Uganda.

Living in Uganda
After I had landed in Kampala, my volunteer group had a chance to visit Makerere University which was a boda ride away from the city center. Makerere University was established in 1922 and is the oldest university in the Eastern Africa. We toured the campus and met friends of my staff/guide who were attending there…

Few days later, we drove from Kampala to Masaka where I am residing now. About half way through our 3 hour drive, we reached the Equator – Masaka is located about half a degree south of the Equator.

As seen in the picture below, there were three funnels – each located in the northern and southern side of the equtor as well as one on the Equator. We poured water and saw that water spun counterclockwise on the southern side and clockwise on the northern side…

The town of Masaka is a small town seen here – you can run into cows, storks, goats, etc while trotting around the area. You will also run into lots of schools housing tons of kids who call out “mzungu” every time you pass by.

And often times you see on the walls of schools there are slogans like this:

This is unfortunately due to the high rate of HIV / AIDS so it’s not uncommon to see ads that talk about “breaking the sexual network and living a healthy happy life.”

Here is my organization – FSD - which is located in the town.

My local FSD staff – Sarah – working hard here.

Here is where I live with my host family – awesome house that would be even better if it had a running water and in door bathroom….

Security in Uganda

In general, Uganda is very safe and crime consists of theft and pick pocketing. However recommendation is that you don’t travel late at night – here you will find street lights do not exist. Popular Nokia phones have an LED light built in…

On the third day here, we were negotiating a ride on a boda when my guide had his bag pack unzipped – he chased after him and tackled him to the ground… at which point the crowd came out to administer mob justice. Here due to a lack of strong rule of law, people become vigilantes and act accordingly. Often the thieves who get caught will be severely beaten, and some die. Our thief fortunately weaseled his way out and disappeared.