Week One - Personal

After an eight hour flight fraught with the mixed emotions of excitement and anxiety towards entering the unknown, I stepped out into the familiar smell and heat of Uganda which I remembered well after my two week expedition there in July 2010.  Despite this previous experience it was still quite daunting to grasp the realisation that this place was about to be my home for the next three months.  Despite my nerves and apprehension about the journey I was about to embark on; I was prepared to face the various challenges that lay ahead for Ashleigh and myself.  After all “challenges are what makes life interesting; and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” (Marine, J)  I was confident that this would indeed be an interesting and worthwhile adventure for us both.

We were collected at the airport by Dr Scott Wafula and James(our taxi driver), and it wasn't long before we entered the hustle and bustle that is the craziness of Kampala.  As we drove through the city Ashleigh and I sat in silence, both taking in the various sights and smells of the city.  This included the giant potholes(which we often dodged by weaving onto the other side of the road not considering the oncoming traffic), dusty roads, street sellers and tin shacks which are all typical sights in African culture.  After a short while we arrived at Nana Hostels and were both relieved to be greeted by the familiar face of Suzi Finlay.  It was such a comfort to have Suzi there for our first few days in Uganda.  However, it was clear that we were going to feel very welcome during our visit in Uganda as many of the local people were keen to give us a warm welcome in the form of a hearty Ugandan hand shake and a pleasant “hello how are you?”  It was clear from their greetings that Ugandans are very genuine and pleasant as people which made me feel at ease in the midst of such a different environment.

The street outside Nanas

Nana Hostel

This change of environment became an instant reality the next morning as we decided to go to garden city for a few essentials for our room.  Now if I was going to the shopping centre at home I would drive there in my nice, comfortable silver corsa, but this is not the case in Uganda, instead I had my first experience on a boda boda, a small motorcycle taxi.  It was an interesting journey to say the least considering that Ugandan drivers do not comply to the highway code and boda boda drivers are no exception.  But as the week has past I have adapted to travelling around in this way.

My first trip with Walter our boda boda driver

 During the past week we have made new friends with international students from Norway, Denmark and Sweden.  We hope that as our experience continues we will also make long lasting friendships with Ugandans.  We have found that Ugandan women can often be intimated by us, their white counterparts, and can be quite unfriendly whereas the Ugandan men are almost too eager to be our friends which can be quite exhausting at times.  Despite this I feel that through perseverance in trying to build solid friendships with Ugandans and engaging in their culture, I can help break the misconceptions that we each carry towards our contrasting cultures.  I have already found it interesting learning about the cultures of our European friends which provides me with the motivation to persist with my Ugandan peers to ensure that I gain a full cultural experience on this international placement.