Mukono Town

well, i'm here. crazy. crazy is the only way to describe it

I wish I could describe Africa, but it's undescribable. You know how in movies you see trafic jams and old buildings and you think, well that's probably what parts of Africa look like sure! Well no, thats what all of Africa looks like. Really, it's impossible to imagine because it's exactly how you would imagine it to be.

Firstly, everybody is soooo friendly. I walked around with Leslie (woman running the program) for maybe like 20 minutes and people asked "hey Mzengu, how's it going?" more times then I can count. Seriously. oh, and by the say, Mzengu is Lugandan for "white person"

In Nairobi (where I had a 4 hour layover) i was just exhausted and sat in this little shop thing and downed as much water as i could. Well low and behold i got about three phone numbers. Just really nice random africans who talked about where they were from, and i showed interest, and they gave me contact information in case I ever want to come and visit. Apparently being a foriegner automatically makes you everybodies favorite... that is if you're nice and friendly. which i am. Oh and what is crazy is that there is this NGO in Rwanda that I looked up when i was searching for places to work. Well, it had to do with just computers so it didn't really interest me. Well guess who talks to me about his life in the genocide, escaping to LA and his love for Africa? Um, that would be the guy who started it. What a small world eh?

Trafic is insane in Kampala. You have no idea. People just do whatever the hell they want. The guy who picked me up, Paul, and I had a great conversation about religion and politics of Uganda. What he said was that in Uganda (*and i've heard this before) there is no hatred what so ever between Religions. Everybody is just happy to be whoever they want to be and respect each other for that. Plus Uganda is full of every religion imaginable. We had this long chat about developement. We sort of came to the conclusion that yeah, there isn't much structral development in Uganda, but the social developement is far superior to that of the Western world. So in finding materialistic development you loose out on social development. It's really intersting. He has alot of hope for less corruption in the future, it's really cool. Oh and he supports Bushes act thing to get African countries to supply the US. He says that if Uganda came about it the right way and exported fruits it would be awesome. And contrary to what some may think, and what i thought, everybody in Uganda is well fed. There is soo much food to go around that everybody is just fine... so why not export some surpluses?

Mukono guest house is pretty bare. But I feel in my element you know? THe bathroom is a hole with two cinderblocks to stand on. Shower is putting water into a bassin and then doing your thing. It's nice though, a friendly place. And lets face it, the point isn't to live comfterbly is it? Everybody lives like this. Personally, I love it... just like I love going on trip for days and days in the outdoors. But who knows, as i get more and more worndown that could change.

Finally, and this is because i'm running out of time, i have to mention how much i'm sweating. Yeah its rainy season but it gets above 40C every day. Why did i bring my big coat again?

Anyway, i hope that i don't die in a puddle of my own sweat and hope that Night of a Thousand Dinners goes well tonight.

Africa is beautiful, and if its possible, more wonderful and exciting then I thought it would be. Great adventures are to come