“Africa, Land of preacher’s gold…Land for everybody young and old…The place that holds a bright future…But for other’s this future tends to torture…Ma’ Africa!” These were the lyrics that I sang to myself as I stepped onto the tarmac at Entebbe airport. Looking around, I took in all the beauty around me and felt immediately at home. When I had sung this song on stage a few years ago on the South African president’s visit to India, I had never actually imagined that I would get the opportunity to visit the continent. As I walked out with my luggage, I was enthusiastically greeted by Sister Peter-Paul who was joined by another woman and a little girl. I was honestly taken aback by their welcome as they made me feel like a celebrity coming to town. As we walked towards the car, they continually thanked me for having come to visit them which made me a little nervous as I wasn’t really sure what I could offer them. We’d come on this trip to impart entrepreneurial knowledge and ability to help create sustainable economic growth, but all of us felt a little unsure of whether we were really qualified enough to do justice to this purpose and these people. I in-turn thanked all three of them because I knew that they had been responsible for giving me this opportunity and that this was probably going to be more educational for me than themselves. As me made our way towards Kampala, I couldn’t help admiring the vast greenery around me. It was quite a wonder to actually be able to see so clearly. I had never seen grasslands before, and being able to see all the way to the horizon was like chocolate for the eyes. We stopped at a roadside restaurant to grab a quick bite, and I took this opportunity to explore the local food a little. I forget the names of the food we ate, but everything was absolutely delicious. There was a little chicken, rice and Spinach. The mystery was a mixture of something that was wrapped in a banana leaf. It was apparently a local favorite that was made from mashed and cooked bananas. All of this was eaten with a curry that went over the food. All in all, my food related fears were quite satisfactorily quelched.
We headed out once again towards Kampala. It was quite obvious that we were getting nearer to the city as the size of the potholes just seemed to get bigger and bigger. We took the longer way to stay on the outskirts of the city on our way to pick up Rita, another member of the group. We picked her up from the government hospital she was working at. Rita is a medical student from Wellesley college and had been in Uganda for a few days already working as an intern working in the casualty and the medical department handling HIV cases. From here we made the long journey to the hotel the group was staying at.
The Buziga country resort was situated halfway up a hill, and to get to it, the car had to travel over a disintegrating dirt road. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an enthusiastic staff and an equally tired out group of Babson students. The first person we came across was Professor Sullivan, the group’s advisor. He was waiting at the bar with a beer and a book waiting for people to arrive for the group meeting scheduled at 7 pm. (It was 7:30 when I arrived). As I checked in, Emmanuel, the only Ugandan student on this trip emerged from his room to sleepily welcome us. Slowly the other members of the group trickled out of their rooms rubbing the sleep from their eyes. After depositing my bags in my room, I went out to the dining room where the meeting finally took place over dinner. After a basic welcome and a reminder of health related instuctions, we all crashed out…
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