First day in Uganda

After a very long flight consisting of 3 parts (DC-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Nairobi, Nairobi-Entebbe, Uganda), we (me and my coworker Esther) are finally here. It is super warm and a bit humid, but the nice breeze from Lake Victoria makes it very bearable (besides, I would much rather be hot in Entebbe than freezing my tail off standing at the busstop in DC). Our hotel, for which we are paying a pretty penny, turned out to be a disappointment. While the original structure is good, it has not been maintained very well, and things just seem to be somewhat run down and old. The service leaves much to be desired as well.

Today was dedicated to the preliminary visit of the field trip sites, to which we will be taking the larger group next week. First, we went to a burial society about an hour away from the hotel into the Ugandan countryside. A burial (funerary) association is formed by people in the community who each contribute a small amount to the joint fund upon which they can draw when someone in the family dies. It is a form of life insurance and more and more becoming a form of health insurance, especially in the countries plagued by AIDS. We were very warmly by the leaders of the association, most of whom turned out to be women. They took us to a gravesite for one of the clans and explained a bit about how they operate. The gravesite was located on the communal land attached to one of the members' gardens, where I for the first time was able to see cassava and sweet potato plants. We also planned out the agenda for the visit.

Next we went to Kampala (the capital) and had a delicious lunch of matooke (mashed bananas or plantains) with peanut (groundnut) sauce and all kinds of tubers (cassava among them). After lunch we headed off to another site called Mabira Forest where we visited the forest association officials and planned out the group visit there. The forest has been made into an eco-camping ground and looked very serene and lush, resembling the rest of the Ugandan countryside.

Now we are back at the hotel, and, since my jetlag is kicking in, Im planning to put in a few hours of work before I drop dead onto the bed. Overall, even though so far Im not as crazy about Uganda as I was about Kenya, the people seem to be extremely friendly and jovial, the countryside very green, and the food very delicious. Besides, the view of the Lake from my windows doesn't hurt either:)