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July 31, 2006
The river and The city
School children admire the mighty river Nile.
31 July 2006 I was on 'holiday' in Kampala to celebrate the end of our TEACH program. We stopped at the source of the Nile river in Jinga en route. Jinga, decorated with palm trees and whitewashed colonial homes, sits on the Nile river and welcomes many more tourists than Mbale - my new small town home in Uganda. A group of primary school children were visiting the Nile also. I enjoyed watching them watch the powerful, ancient river flow.
Kampala-Jinga road fastfood restaurant.
The road from Jinga to Kampala is very busy and narrow and scary. Semi-trucks and VW buses and tour buses and small cars and motorbikes - all speeding, all trying to pass, all risking the lives of their passengers to get to the source of the best truckstop food. Nearly everyone traveling the road knows where to stop for a snack - we'll just call it the chicken-on-a-stick drive-thru.
Chicken-on-a-stick.
That's where we had dinner. Before the car was in park, hands jabbed bunches of chicken-on-a-stick, cokes, and passionfruits through the windows. Women carried roasted plantains in baskets atop their heads. Kids carried sodas and waters in shower caddies. Liver and intestine on a stick was also offered through the window.
I had huge bouquets of meat in my face, and I thought of my sister and imagined her horror.
Goat meat-on-a-stick and in my face.
I took some plantains - a bag of 5 for 500 shillings (no liver for me). You bargain with the meat men, if you don't like their price, there's someone near the bumper with a better offer. That is the drive-thru on Kampala-Jinga road - fast, friendly service.
A boda boda driver gives a woman a ride.
As we got closer to the city, I started getting dizzy. Cities fascinate me, and have since I was a little girl. I get overwhelmed when I see a city for the first time. I want to see it all. I know there isn't enough time. I try to figure out a way. I fail. How can I maximize my time here? How can I get a taste of Kampala? How can I understand and know this city in 5 days? And the shopping...when would I get to Owino market? I totally lost control of my mind - I forgot why I came to Uganda. Cities do this to me, but only if I'm intrigued at first sight. Kampala was one of those cities. I looked longingly out the window, wanting to jump out, wanting to explore each block, each street, each market we passed. I was trapped in the vehicle, though, alone with my worry of not being able to 'see it all'. The fruits were aligned on the streets in neat, mountain piles. Atop a truckload of foam mattresses, I saw a Chinese man laughing with Ugandan men. Boda-bodas everywhere. Traffic. Noise. Music. COLOR. Beautiful women walking with their babies on their backs and baskets of bananas on their heads. The school kids in uniform. An Indian man standing outside his electronics store. Muzungus walking with their Northface backpacks, flowy skirts, and Chaco sandals. Tall buildings, colonial buildings, mosques, and cathedrals. Women perched on sidewalks selling candy, peanuts, jewelry, nail clippers, books, and hankerchiefs. Men shining shoes. Another man sitting behind a sewing machine, putting the last stitch in some woman's dress. I love Kampala!
(read Moses Isegawa's Abyssinian Chronicles for impeccable descriptions of Kampala and a look at life in Uganda during the Amin years).
Taxi park.
A few weeks ago, I heard about the Owino Market. It's the biggest market in East Africa with close to 100,000 people shopping/selling at the height of business on any given day. I heard that Owino was where you could buy a circa-70s Dior belt and a pair of shelltoe adidas for $1. Owino is a thrift store heaven with leftovers from closets from all over the globe. Owino is opposite one of Kampala's taxi parks, where taxi's set off for all destinations in Uganda. Kampala sits on seven hills; the taxi park and Owino lie in one of the valleys.
One of many entrances to the Owino Market maze.
Entering Owino reminded me of going into a haunted house. It's an intricate labyrinth of wood stalls with clothes everywhere, shoes hanging from the rafters, and iron sheets and tarps blocking the rain and sunlight. Men sleep on their piles of fake Timberland boots. Women rest on a cushion of baby clothes. Other vendors holler for you to look at their skirts while another vendor grabs your arm to pull you towards his treasures. There are no aisles or straight paths. The trail winds like a snake through stalls, with the entrance lost and the exit nowhere to be seen. You suddenly feel trapped. You can't decide where to look. You want to keep moving to see what else lies ahead, but you know that you'll never find your way back to where you are now. You want to take pictures but there aren't many smiles here. It's a tense environment - competitive and mysterious. Julia and Barbara wanted to leave. I admit, I did too. My eyes hurt, my head throbbed, and I needed to rest my overworked senses. We pushed towards an exit, and we emerged safe and free from the Owino abyss. The Dior belt wasn't $1 (2000 shillings), not for me (muzungu and unable to bargain in local language). The second hand merchandise is prized and pricey, while the new stuff, imports from China and India, is cheap and disposable. I decided that proper Owino exploration required two full days, fluency in Lugandan, and lots of water. Since I lacked some of those vital Owino shopping requirements, I retired my desire to search for all the treasures I might find within the magical mazes of Owino. I'll come back later...
Rainbow of belts at Owino.
I am back in Mbale with loads of work to do. Charles' house needs to be rebuilt. I have soccer balls, courtesy of my boyfriend - Colin McEwen - to deliver to various children, including the kids that live up on the mountain. And this poultry project – must buy vaccinated birds, organize training session, and get all supplies delivered to each family before I leave on August 22.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Camp Sunrise still needs donations to make the camp happen. There are so many children living in Northeast Ohio that have been affected in different ways by HIV/AIDS. This camp is their time to have fun, to be children, and to leave the stresses of their lives behind, if only for one week. If you can, please help make this camp possible for these children.
Here is a list of items that Camp Sunrise still needs:
Giant Eagle and Michael's Gift Cards (easy, fast way to donate, if you don't have time to go to the store for these items:)
Board games for the cabins - as many as we can get (jenga, catch
phrase,monopoly, uno, etc.) - these are helpful when it rains.
Supplies for free time activities - friendship bracelet floss,
lanyard,beads, stationary)
Supplies for cookie decorating - for 25 kids
Supplies for scrapbooking - for 25 kids
Dixie cups - 500
Kleenex - 4 boxes
Kotex maxi pads - 2 large packages
Tampons - 2 large boxes
Pull ups - 2 large bags (one for boys and one for girls)
Socks - boys and girls
Boys' bathing suits - 2 small (ages 6-8)
Girls' bathing suits - small sizes
Contact Katie McKee to find out how to get your donations to Camp Sunrise:
Katie McKee
Camp Sunrise Program Manager
AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland
3210 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
kmckee@atfgc.org
Office: 216-432-9544
Fax: 216-622-7788
Posted by kmf23 at July 31, 2006 09:35 AM
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Comments
It wasnt a cadaver exhibit it was a boring exhibit :-P
i love you Kelly
Theresa
Posted by: Theresa at August 5, 2006 12:37 AM
this is my 1st BLOGING.........
couldn't understand are those ma-DD-ers on a stick?
Anyway, fun reading about a world away. good luck...
Posted by: C. at August 2, 2006 06:10 AM
it was the cadaver exhibit
Posted by: emily at August 1, 2006 10:44 PM
Kelly
Great blog entry. Also, the shoutout from Case is pretty impressive. I am enjoying reading about your time there and I think that what you are doing is amazing. Your parents and Theresa were in town this week just in time to see the "skinned human" exhibit at the science museum. Emily loved it...me and Theresa did not. I love you.
Joe
Posted by: Joe at August 1, 2006 10:00 PM
That was a traumatizing blog entry - thank you for the goat-on-a-stick picture, i felt like it was posted just for me. Try to relax and have fun during your last couple of weeks - you will get everything done!!
Posted by: emily at August 1, 2006 02:31 PM