"Wascuzeyota" means "Good Morning"

After traveling 15,000 miles in 3 days, including a fabulous lay-over in Dubai where we stayed with my friend Adam, we arrived in Kampala, Uganda on Monday, May 31^st.  I can't even begin to explain what it felt like getting off the airplane and realizing we were finally in Africa.  We went outside the airport where we were greeted by hundreds of Ugandans, all with signs that had names and organizations on them.  It was frantic, terrifying, and exciting all at the same time.  Soon enough, we saw "EVAN WHITNEY JACKIE" written on crumpled notebook paper, held up by Enoch, our supervisor, Jimmy, our companion for the summer, and two other friends.  Enoch was wearing a suit, topped off with a Lebron James hat, which, we have realized, is his standard outfit of choice.  Together, the seven of us made our way to a taxi-van and drove to the Makarere University Guest House, where we have been staying all week.

Uganda is not at all what I expected it to be.  It is not better or worse, it is just Uganda, and it is perfect.  I don't know how to describe it but instead wish that you could all experience what I see and do every day.  I can't use American culture as a frame of reference because everything in Uganda is so different.  Uganda has a free-market economy; as Enoch told us, "anyone can sell anything at anytime."  For this reason, the streets are lined with shops, markets, stands, and people are walking in between cars selling everything from bananas to bed frames to belts.  It is chaotic and liberal, and appears to be highly disorganized from our perspective, but it is part of their culture and has been fascinating for us to observe.  Enoch told us that the concept of keeping time and maintaining organization is not high in priority in their culture; people here mainly speak of "today, tomorrow, and yesterday" instead of planning for next week, next month, or next year.  Even our concepts of sunrise, morning, afternoon, dusk, evening, and twilight are too much; "For us, the sun just comes up and goes down!" he said with a laugh.

Enoch is a fantastic man with so much to share about the Ugandan people and their history.  He wants so much for us to understand his culture that he is quick to explain, teach, and reflect with  us every day.  He seems to know exactly what we are feeling – a false sense of being rich when we exchanged $200 and got 40,000 shillings back, or shocked when we learned Ugandan schools are teacher-centered and students never question things but rather rely solely on the teacher's perspective.  He and Jimmy also both have a wonderful sense of humor; we have bonded so well in the week we have been together.

They had a hilarious time trying to pronounce my name; apparently a consonant, "T" followed by another consonant, "N," is impossible in their language, so they said either "Winnie" or "Whi-TTTAAA-ney" at first.  Jimmy and Enoch speak several different languages, Luganda and Lukonzo being the main ones, followed closely by English.  We have learned a few phrases here and there, but it is absolutely nothing like the English language so it is pretty hard to remember.

My skin has also intrigued them more than my red hair – Jimmy was fascinated with the fact that it would turn red, instead of dark, if I didn't put on my sun block.

Our days in Kampala have been full and exhilarating; we have seen wild animals (that's me and Jackie with a monkey at the right), attended a traditional dance ceremony, ventured out to see waterfalls and the source of the Nile river (the very first picture is the three of us with Enoch, our supervisor, at some waterfalls), and tomorrow we are going to a school visit followed by the market.  Saturday we drive to Kasese, and I am becoming more and more anxious to see where I will be living for the rest of the summer, and more importantly, the school were we will all be teaching!

This last picture was taken on a drive to the source of the Nile River in Jinja.  We drove past rural Uganda and these children were outside their homes in a village.  When they saw us drive by, we waved to them, and they joyfully smiled and waved back and began chasing our van :) It makes me so excited to see the children we will be teaching in Kasese!