Kampala to Mityana

Woke up today still craving more sleep. Took a much needed shower and made my way out for breakfast. We had a meeting scheduled for 1 pm where we would be finally introduced to our respective hosts. Before that however, we decided to head into the local town of Kabalagala to access the internet and walk around exploring the area. Meredith, Stefanie, John, Professor Sullivan, Alex and myself headed down the hill on foot. We took a shortcut over a narrower and even more uneven dirt path. Crossing through compounds and little garden farms we had our first encounter with the locals. While walking down, a few children waved to us from a distance, curious to see this strange mixture of foreigners on their hill. As soon as we took out our cameras, they were in hysterics as they came up close to get a better view and have their pictures clicked. By and by we reached the main road where we were immediately able to hail a local taxi called a Matata. This was not really a taxi as we are used to; instead it was a small van which served as a bus since the bigger buses can’t exactly travel over the rough terrains that are the so-called roads. We squished in with 7 other locals that were already occupying the Matata. For 300 shillings each (1700 shillings = 1 dollar), we made our way into town. It was interesting to see how much attention we attracted. Not a single head remained unturned as we were received by a smiling town of Ugandans. We were all aware of the attention we were attracting when we got out of the Matata even though it would be somewhat expected that a congregation of Muzungus (foreigners) in the middle of a small Ugandan town would do so. Some of these sights and sounds were very familiar to me coming from India, but for some in the group who were thoroughbred Americans, it was more than an adventure. The things which were familiar to me were the condition of the roads which were full of potholes, the presence of farm animals on the roads, the mothers chasing after naked children on the side of the streets, the food stalls, and so much more, all of which were completely alien to my fellow travelers. After finishing the chores we had come for, namely checking e-mail, we headed back to the hotel in the matata to prepare for a meeting with the project coordinators. The program started with lunch which was the first taste of traditional Ugandan food for the rest of the group. The meal consisted of chicken, fish, rice, yams, Irish potatoes, and most importantly Matuke. Following the meal , there was a formal introduction session where everyone got to know everyone else. After a small welcoming ceremony, we each split up into the groups we were supposed to be with. This is where me and Sarah were introduced to Noa, the coordinator of the HOSFA (Hope Sharing Family) organization. He gave us a brief synopsis of what his organization tries to do. Essentially, they have 4 major components that they run. These are a Vocational Training Institute, a Production department, a subsidized hospital, and a Social Service center. What we were required to do was to look at each of these departments and suggest ways of improving them to better serve the locals. After a brief chat, we packed up our bags and loaded ourselves onto the cars that were provided to take us out to Mityana. On the way there, I sat next to Mr. Emmanuel Senoga who was the project head for the Mityana College. Over the long journey to Mityana he gave us some insight on the Ugandan landscape and social norms. He told us to expect people to be shy and soft spoken as that was the way in which they had been raised. Just as he said this we overtook a pickup truck which had about 7 or 8 boys sitting at the back, all waving and shouting excitedly as we passed by. After passing by more greenery than I had probably ever seen, we arrived at Enro Hotel in Mityana. This was going to be our home for the next two weeks. As much as we’d thought we would miss the hillside setting of the Buziga resort in Kampala, we were pleasantly surprised to see a homely place set in an impossibly more beautiful setting. I literally threw my bags into my room that turned out to be a single, and ran out with the others to the dining room. A meal with Matuke brought a tiring but pleasant day to an end.