So why Uganda?

As is usually the case with international trips, so much has happened in an incredibly short amount of time.  It’s probably about time for me to catch you up on my first few days in Uganda!

But first, I should probably answer the most important question that I’m sure is probably in the front of everyone’s mind.  What exactly am I doing in Uganda this summer?  The long and short of it is that I got an opportunity to do an internship at the Rakai Health Sciences Program, one of the longest running comprehensive HIV education, prevention, and treatment programs in the world.  RHSP has been around since the 1980s and investigated the major HIV epicenters.  The center is located in Kalisizo, a rural town about 2-3 hours south of Kampala, depending on the road situation (and from what I’ve seen so far, the roads are not great most of the time). 

After some serious soul searching and exhaustive team meetings, my supervisor and I decided that I would research the association between mobile phone ownership and risky sexual behaviors.  Basically, they will give me a huge amount of data that I will plug into my statistic software of choice (STATA, for any curious parties) and then I will run logistical regressions and other types of statistical wizardry to determine if there is an association.  Sound exciting?  Of course it does.  J 

I only wish that I had paid more attention in my biostats class.  Eeek.

Dancing, dancing and more dancing!

If you ever find yourself in Kampala, the first thing you must do is head to the Ndere Cultural Centre.  At least, this is what we did on the first night we arrived – along with 60 of our closest foreigner friends from Australian, England, Denmark, United States, etc.  The Ndere Cultural Centre is located just outside the city and is home to the amazing Ndere Troupe, a traditional Ugandan dance/theatre group that performs songs and dances from all over the country.  We entered the outdoor amphitheater, ordered a couple of local beers (Nile Special!), and settled in for a spectacular evening. 

My, those wooden drums look heavy.

And, my, oh my, was it fascinating! The most amazing moments included (1) a drum dance in which the men pounded on heavy drums carved out of wood while carrying them on their heads and (2) the Acholi pot dance.  The Acholi pot dance is a traditional Northern Ugandan dance that starts with a lot of hip shaking and coordinated dance moves.  Then the dancers take it up a notch by placing a clay pot on their heads while continuing to shake their hips and wiggle around the dance floor.  They start with only one pot and keep adding them until they have five, six – no, seven! eight! clay pots balanced on their heads.  This dance is a strong testament to the control that these women have over their posture and torso as they continue to shake their hips.

These women have incredible balance.

The Ndere Troupe is made up of talented boys and girls from all over Uganda who learn and perform traditional music and dance in order to pay for their schooling.  As the maestro told us, every single person on stage is committed to not only a strenuous performance schedule but taking university level classes as well.  I can get behind this. 

If you want to see the dancers in action, here’s a video of the Acholi pot dance for your viewing pleasure.

Uganda, here I am

We are finally in Uganda!  After 18 hours flying on Emirates and an overnight hotel stay in Dubai, we arrived at the Entebbe Airport.  As we disembarked the plane, I got my first glimpse of the so-called Pearl of Africa – lush, green rolling hills covered with palm trees and purple flowers as far as I can see.  If this is what the rest of the country looks like, I could definitely get used to living here for the summer!

A Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP) driver picked us up at the airport. I have absolutely no idea how he managed to tetris our luggage into the van but somehow he did and then we started our journey towards Kampala.  Along the way, he pointed out the old Entebbe airport where abandoned and ancient-looking aircraft were resting on overgrown runways.  The infamous airport is most well known for the 1976 Israeli raid on Entebbe during a hijacking incident. There is a very powerful scene in the “Last King of Scotland” in which the former military dictator Idi Amin (as played by Forest Whitaker) storms through the Entebbe airport during the raid – if you haven’t seen it yet, you probably should. 

The rest of the ride to Kampala was a bit…overwhelming, to say the least.  People in Uganda seem to have a different idea of what the proper distance between cars should be. There were so many cars, matatus (mini-buses), boda bodas (small mopeds most notable for how dangerous they are), and bicyclists all vying for space on the road.  I grabbed the door handle a few times in panic as a boda boda weaved in and out of traffic directly in front of us. As someone who lives and occasionally drives in New York City, I feel like I’ve seen my fair share of pushy, crazy drivers but this particular drive to Kampala showed me a whole new level of insanity.

Fortunately, we arrived safely in Kampala about an hour later.  And I promptly fell asleep from a combination of jet lag and terror.  More to come about our first days in Uganda once I fix my sleeping schedule.