Week 1

"When two elephants fight, it's the grass that gets injured." - African proverb

Yesterday we had our first real day of "school." We were in the forestry room at Makerere University (yeah trees!) in a room next to the office of the head of the forestry exports, Prof. Banana (yes). We first had a lecture from a professor at the university in the history of Uganda, which was interesting. The highlight though had to be his SHORT-SLEEVED suit. Best thing I ever saw!

Then we had a lecture about constitutionalism from the deputy spokesperson of the Buganda Kingdom who just had a presence about him. It's like you couldn't not listen and just respect what he was saying. He was a big critic of the government and apparently had been imprisoned and tortured last year. Crazy. But it was really interesting to hear what he had to say. Finally, we watched a documentary about the war in the North called "Uganda Rising" - watch it if you can. It was incredibly moving. It sort of hit home that this is what we're studying. These are the people we're going to meet in Gulu.
One of the hardest seens in the movie is when they interview a woman whos ears and lips were cut off by the LRA. Although I've read about that in some books, actually seeing her was heartbreaking... How do you even make people commit acts like that... It's terrifying, heartbreaking, disgusting, and so many other emotions, all at the same time...

Other than that, the first few days in Kampala have been really good. We had a cool assignment the other day where we were put in pairs and were given a topic and just had to go into the city and find out as much about it was we could. Matt and I were given "The Media" so we went around talking to newspaper sellers, we went to a radio station, and talked to a TV store business owner. It was really fun just being on our own to explore and get lost.

The food has been pretty good. My favorite is matoke, which is mashed plantains. You basically get a starch - rice, matoke, sweet potatos, etc, and then add a sauce, which could also include a meat or fish. I really like it so far.

Still have a sinus infection and my tonsils hurt like a mofo, but hopefully it'll go away soon. Pink eye is slowly leaving my body too. Victory!

Anyway, we're about to get on a bus to Gulu. I'm so excited to meet my homestay family and to spend time in the North. It'll be interesting to see the contrast between te South and the North since it's supposed be crazy. Also, Gulu is a town of about 200,000, whereas Kampala has 2.5 million. I'm really excited!

I can't believe it's the end of the first week.
I love Africa.