Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

September 25th Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

It’s Friday tomorrow and I am looking forward to another weekend away in Kampala with my friends. I am heading into the city early this week as I have a very important meeting with youth government minister. I am going to present my case and will see what kind of funding he will be able to provide us. Who knows what we will get, maybe nothing, but having the interview is a good sign nonetheless. This week has gone by much better. I feel a little more at peace now however I am still trying to fit into family life here. There are nine youths including me, it’s a small house much smaller than I am used to at home…I though 5 was a lot. Sunday I took some time to reflect on my first week and figured out a few things, one I ate barely any protein besides the meat I consumed in Kampala on the weekend. I could see how this affected my physical strength as I found it very difficult to go on strenuous walks during the week. Two, I need to learn how to say no. Three I need to learn how to bargain with people, they are damn bent on charging me three times what things usually cost…and a few more things that I will mention along the way. So despite cost I have decided I am going to skip lunch at the house a few times a week and treat myself to some chicken or fish at the local restaurants. I actually have been going to the Hotel Colline which has great food for a somewhat fair price. I have yet to go there and leave dissatisfied with how much I paid and how much I got to eat, their fish is delicious! I noticed they have a pool and accept a small fee to use it, I am excited as next week I plan to go at least twice for a short dip.
On Wednesday Henry, the father took me out for a day in Kampala. He had desperately wanted to take me to the Tombs where the Kings of Uganda have been buried. Henry is a very funny, small man, 59 soon to be sixty and able to walk like a 20 year old, even I had a hard time keeping up with him. I was not sure whether he is totally fit or just crazy. I was told one time he had walked home from Kampala which is the equivalent to walking from Toronto to Bolton...haha, it must have taken him a long time. I assured him before we left that I would not be doing that. After a very mundane transition into the city Henry jumped out of the taxi (public transport) pointing in the direction we need to walk in to get there, he seemed so excited that I was interested in learning of his country’s history. On a side note, these public taxis are small mini vans that they cram full, 14 people can fit inside uncomfortably. They are hot, full of sweaty people and have zero seat belts or working windows to pull down. I feel like I am on the bandwagon to hell sometimes while riding in them, screaming silently in my mind,” Let me outta here!” all a while smiling and keeping conversation with the Ugandans in the van, they love hearing me speak…or shall I say attempt to speak their language, each person likes to teach me a new word or phrase, it’s hard to remember them all but I find it incredibly useful sometimes.
Back to the trip to the tombs. They were placed high upon a hill and as you could have guessed it Henry strolled valiantly to the top, say with much admiration, “these are the tombs.” As we reach the top. The tombs were located in a Kings house. It is apparently currently the world’s largest thatch roofed house, and I don’t see any reason to doubt that claim, it was massive. Surrounding this massive hut were several smaller ones which housed the kings wives, there were 84 of them. During the British intimidation campaign that stretched Africa in the 1800’s otherwise known as Colonialism the king had these 84 wives and more than 120 children whom all lived in the small huts around the Kings. Could you imagine if families were like that today? I wonder what kind of board games they played – it would be very hectic – who’s turn is it, 99, 102’s or 103, do we have to start over again!? Anyways the tombs seemed very simple, no glam. Inside the king’s hut were several interesting antiques. When the queen first met the King she sent him a very nice desk and two chairs, one for him and one for his wife, little did she know she needed to send 83 more. They also had the Kings pet stuffed and on display, it was a leopard which surprisingly for being 15 years old was in remarkable condition. I sat down and look around the hut was incredible, the last known reno job it had was 70 years ago. The roof was supported by these huge spiral rings each one represented a different tribe in Uganda, there are 58 different tribes here. The guide then proceeded to tell me all about the history of Uganda…here’s what I remember, some of it fitting for my current believes…First off all the tombs were hidden behind a huge curtain made from the skin of a fig tree, which is the traditional cloth Africans used before the British came. No one is allowed to go back to see them except the relatives, some of which still lived in the small village. The guide kept telling me that these kings disappeared, and then explained that when Kings don’t die in Uganda, they disappear, they walk into the forest never to return but always to be remembered their spirit always present in society, their bones remain but that fact appears irrelevant. While he described this to me, all I could think about was my sister, like these kings she too has disappeared, but will always be remembered, always in our soul. I found it to be a very moving and an incredible explanation of Ugandan History to say the least. The guide talked about many different kings, how they dealt with the colonialism of their country, some going to England to study, others resenting Christians and attempting to retain their own culture.
We left the tombs after about a hour and a half and proceeded to downtown Kampala where Henry was going to show me around to several different markets that he liked to go to. We stopped off at a place to eat and sat down, the waitress approached and handed out menus I feverishly glanced over it for any signs of meat, I am pretty sure my jaw dropped and I salivated all over myself when I saw Hamburger on the menu. I closed the menu and was overjoyed in thinking that in 10-20 minutes I could be eating a hamburger, Henry interrupted by thought process and said, “we must go, it’s too expensive here.” Uggh it was a little pricy and I felt bad making him stay and pay for an expensive meal, so we left and went to a place that served traditional foods…I ate rice and beans. I remember where that other restaurant is though and will return very soon. Henry and I also went down the local fruit market, he said he was going to buy me some fruit which sounded like a good deal to me. We left the market with watermelon, oranges and some carrots…it was a good day. Oranges, lemons and limes all have green skin here, and on top of that they call lemons oranges which is really confusing, the first time I sucked on a orange I was very surprised to find out I was actually eating a lemon, it sucked, literally. The actual real oranges taste amazing but I am still not sure what they call them, it’s weird.
It’s around 930 right now on the 25th of September. I was just called for dinner, they eat very late here, the reasoning is because the Mother has to come home from work, work some more, then work some more to make dinner. Incredible. This week the food has been mainly rice and beans, they have no flavor and it takes a liter of water to wash it all down. Although I am sick of potatoes I started to become full of beans too. I was debating telling them I was too tired and would skip dinner, I was just thinking that I would never actually refuse dinner that they had slaved to cook for me, never.…as I slowly meandered to the table the mom said they had a treat and hoped I liked it, hmm, maybe it was those white ants they keep telling me that are just smack your lips delicious. To my surprise it was fish, Talapia to be precise, fresh from lake Victoria caught just this morning by a local fisherman. The fish and the sauce on the rice was incredible. In my head I pictured myself rejoicing, I felt like Rocky Balboa after he climbed those steps in Philadelphia, raising his hands celebrating like a champion, however I was celebrating the food and the flavor it had. This one particular meal was probably the best meal I have had here yet, the fish was absolutely succulent. I glanced over and looked at Jacob, my huge slice of fish on my plate, his slice was small, in fact roundish…I looked closer to realize it was the fish head, gross. The youngest kid gets the fish head, that’s not fair, I would love to know what Mark would say if we handed him a plate with a fish head on it while everyone else had a nice fillet. I asked the mom if I could give him a slice of mine and she said that he liked the head. In fact a few minutes later Jacob had the whole thing in his mouth sucking on it like a giant gumball. When he spit it out all that remained was the skull, zero meat…the eyes were already out in case you were wondering.
…around 10pm…September 25th
I have just come home from a meeting with a women’s community group. They gather every Thursday to talk about different ways they can generate a small income. Each women must contribute a few hundred shillings towards the group in order to pay for small costs. Like feed for their pigs, cows and chickens. When I walked into the room they all pushed me over to this big arm chair and told me to sit, then proceeded to say something in Lugandan all I heard from it was Clinton. Then one of the women who spoke English told me that Bill Clinton had visited them years back and had sit in the same chair I was sitting in. He left quite the groove…Clinton bought the women’s group a cow and a few pigs which they were now making a good amount of money off of.

I feel like I am adapting a little better and plan to rent a dirt bike soon to investigate some roads nearby, it would be nice to get off my feet and enjoy the country via bike.
I think that is enough for now, I have just recently bought season one of 24 and season one of Rome the HBO series for about 2 dollars each, I plan to watch them and relax in the evenings, it is pretty crazy how cheap they are.