First Impressions

So I have now been to Igangatown, Ibulanku, and my parish of Kalalu, getting more and more rustic with each destination.

Igangatown: Where I will be traveling to for weekly coordinators meetings, as well as to buy house and project supplies/big groceries and use the internet. However, to get to this location from my village will be around a 2-2.5 hour journey filled with matatus (vans) and mboda bodas (motorbikes). Did I mention the 2-2.5 hour journey is only about 10 miles??? Such is life in Africa.

Ibulanku: This is the town where I have been staying since I've arrived in the district of Iganga (3 hour matatu ride southeast of Kampala). Jonathan and I have been living it up in quite the mansion near the Ibulanku Health Care Center, where Jonathan will be working since he is the health care project coordinator. The house has nice rooms and bathrooms, a refrigerator (!!!), and a dining room and lounge area with leather couches (!!!). The only thing really of difference between this house and a house from home is that you have to collect your water for washing/cooking/flushing the toilet from the borehole about 50m outside of the house. Every time we go there to fill up our jerrycans, it is quite the scene. The children already there to collect water from their families will stop what they're doing and come running at us mzungus. I have a video of this, it's pretty funny.

Ibulanku Health Care Center: Yesterday we took a tour of the Center; it is a grade 3. The biggest hospital health center (ex. Kampala Hospital) is a grade 6; grade 5 is any complex with surgical capabilities; grade 4 is the best you would get in a village. Jonathan's workplace is grade 3. The pediatric ward is right by the "reception desk" and consists of four cribs. Women and children were laying on the floor... The women's ward was a room with about six gurnies; men's ward was similar.

***(If this post stops abruptly, or any other post for that matter, it's because power went out or a virus took over the computer; I will continue later on or just give up on blogging...)***

You know you are in Africa when...

a) The pilot says, "Your flight from Roma, Italy, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be 5 hours and 75 minutes long..."
b) Your flight from Ethiopia to Uganda is randomly combined with 2 other flights, and they use the plane as a bus, making stops in Uganda (thankfully I was first stop), and then Rwanda and the Congo. People disembarked when it was their turn. Needless to say the Congolese were REALLY angry that they were the last stop and they were yelling the entire time, cursing the pilot, as I sat in the back wide-eyed, next to a village Reverend who was gripping his bible the whole time;
c) Your ride didn't come to pick you up at the airport until 1.5 hours after you landed, because "It rained".

So yes... after 5 planes, and one awesome 36 hour layover in London, I have made it to Uganda.

We spent our first night in Kampala, all a blur due to being severely tired. This morning, however, 5 of us (4 coordinators - me, Sarah, Jonathan, William - and Matt, the UVP boardmember/our guide) loaded up on a matatu (van), and made our way through Kampala to the one road that runs through Uganda and into Kenya (conveniently called Kampala Road). In leaving Kampala, I have never seen a place more congested. I was in shock. There's really no way to even describe what it was like - next time I will have take a video.

We drove 3.5 hours through the rolling, green hills of Uganda to reach Iganga, our working district. We are currently in Igangatown, and this is the place I will travel back to in order to obtain Internet and any type of supplies. Pretty crazy. We get followed around by all the children yelling, "Mzungu... hi! I'm fine!!!"

It's raining... gotta go before power dies...........

Did someone say I leave the day after tomorrow???

I am kind of sitting here in a weird state right now... I have said my goodbyes to friends and coworkers through various lunches/dinners/happy hours, bought what looks to be a whole CVS store, and collected a bunch of donateable items (thanks to everyone who helped!) for my soon-to-be village. However, I really don't feel like I'm about to leave all my creature comforts for the most simplistic of living conditions in just two days...

A huge pile of stuff, ranging from shampoo to packages of ramen noodles to mosquito bed nets, has just taken over my bedroom floor. Yes, ramen, hence "passtheramen.blogspot.com". I was told this might just become the most important item to pack of all... apparently Ugandan food is unpalatable. I've never brought food with me before while traveling, because I thought the whole point was to embrace diversity in every way, shape and form... but I have been warned repeatedly about Ugandan food, even from the most non-picky, laid-back of family friends. Hence I decided to fold and bring lots of ramen, protein bars and multi-vitamins, which will have to snuggle with the donated baby clothes, my water purifier/filter, and headtorch that will also be taking up a lot of space in my bags.

I am excited for what's to come, but nervous about being so far removed from the developed world. People keep asking me questions about life in Uganda to which I don't really have the answers, but ironically I'm about to go live there. I suppose I'll learn as I go...

For now though, I'm going to watch some TV... I'll pack tomorrow.