Hello, Mzungu

Clearly I have some catching up to do.  We've done so many things in the few days we've been here, it's been hard to find time to post anything!  On Wednesday we got an introduction to downtown Kampala.  I took a lot of pictures while walking very quickly through dense crowds, over streets and sidewalks full of bumps, potholes and questionable puddles - so please excuse the photo quality.  Needless to say our group stood out a bit.  Some people stared, others greeted us with a smile, a wave, and "Hello Mzungu!"

  'Mzungu' means white person - it's not at all a negative term, though it definitely comes with the assumption that we have endless amounts of money.  We were offered everything from Bibles to mens dress shoes to grasshoppers for sale.  Standing still for too long in some places was an invitation for street children to approach us, touch our arms and put their hands out begging for money. 

Relatively, of course, we do have endless amounts of money here, which is a strange feeling.  It's difficult not to give anything to children begging, but that has to be my general rule.  (If tourists' money makes it more profitable for parents to send their children out to beg than to send them to school, we would be doing more harm than good.)

Kampala - downtown especially - is a busy, dirty, noisy, exciting place.  It's overwhelming but I kind of love it.

The Kampala taxi park and a market.

 The minibuses are called matatus - to take one, you just dive into the crowd 

and start asking people which one of these is going to your destination...

Fruit for sale in the taxi park.

The market sells every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable,

as well as beans, meat, fish, live chickens... one-stop shopping! 

 It also smells very interesting.

At the market.  The women on the right aren't 

shelling peas... those are grasshoppers.  They're 

a delicacy, which I hope to try before I leave.

That, and grilled field mouse on a stick. 

This is an ad for soap...  which is "100%
proven to reduce cases of sickness".

I also saw a bicycle carrying two people and a 50 gallon metal drum.

The Rakai program and Makarere University set us up with a local guide, named Ronald, who has become our source of knowledge on all things Uganda.  For example: 

• 'Kampala' comes from words meaning "Hill of the Impalas" and the city was originally built over seven hills.
• "Thank you" in Luganda is "Webale"- a word that somehow took the four of us three days to master, and is definitely not pronounced "wobbly".  
• Bargaining is expected when buying anything not marked with a price, including paying for taxis.
• And watch out while crossing the street, because drivers "don't have much regard" for pedestrians...  

via Oh MG

Crossing the street here is like playing a game of chicken 

with five cars and ten boda-bodas at once.  

via Oh MG

Group shot!  Leigh, Megan, Ronald, Elizabeth and me