Keeping Busy in Kampala

The pace of life for us in Uganda seemed to pick up a bit once we returned from our October travels to Northern Uganda. Z returned home to a 6-week stretch of school that included quick deadlines to complete a series of summatives for school, which can be described as similar to mid-term exams. The 6 weeks were shortened to just 5 weeks due to national efforts to address the Ebola outbreak, so that meant the week of final exams for the term was pushed earlier to this past week of November 28th. Mid terms and final exams, oh my! 😱 We believe adapting and developing these study skills will be beneficial in the long run, but it sure is baptism by fire with a lot of growing pains and stress for Z.

 

I have been keeping busy with a bit of teaching, the winding road in pursuit of local ethics approval of my research, writing and reading, connecting with a fellow American who has a 5-year research program here in Uganda I might contribute to, and a field visit to a fairly rural area with a Ugandan colleague who has implemented Photovoice here for many years and graciously invited me to witness and learn about the process in this context. More details and photos on my work blog coming very, very soon!

Noah has continued to manage things in the household and serve as the Chief Procurement Officer for the household. As we mentioned, you can get *almost everything in Kampala, but you never know which store location has which item at which time, so procuring items on the grocery list or other household items is a full time job. 

Just as it often happens at home this time of year, our weeks and weekends became busy. Z's soccer games were canceled due to the Ebola outbreak, but she continued practice three days a week until the end of November. One Saturday she hosted 5 friends from school. They crowded into her bedroom to make Tik Tok videos, went swimming, and enjoyed delivery from KFC- all while Noah and I were banished to to our bedroom. We made the best of it.

Other weekends included meeting up for a second time for dinner with a wonderful Ugandan family of 3, with whom we have become fast friends. They lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years and like us, have recently resettled in Uganda-shout out to my friend Laura Fitzgerald who I haven't seen in almost 25 years who connected us. Then, with Noah in the driver's seat for the first time out of Kampala, we ventured for  a quick weekend trip to the Source of the Nile in Jinja. We stayed at a scenic spot on the shores of Lake Victoria and were able to take a relaxing boat ride down the Nile to see the "source". This was yet another thing that had vastly changed since I was last in Uganda and took my parents and other visitors to the same spot. It used to be a destination that we would walk to and enjoy, but a hydropower dam built in 2012 led to flooding of the popular tourist site of Bujagali Falls and the area formerly marked as the 'source'. In any case, we enjoyed the quick trip out of the hustle and bustle of Kampala and were happy to make the time to explore the sites of Uganda as our 9.5 months has quickly turned into just over 6 months. 

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Noah and I ran what we called a "modified Turkey Trot", which was the 10K race of the MTN marathon in Kampala. It was definitely a workout with 4000 feet elevation and the many, many hills involved, but an amazing and one-time only opportunity to run freely on the blocked off streets of Kampala without fear of traffic. It was the first time they held the race since 2019 due to Covid, so festivities were lively with a good crowd, music, food and celebration. 

    

That same evening the World Cup kicked off, which has been fun to experience in real time in Uganda. I joked with Noah that I strategically secured the Fulbright in a World Cup year when he has a leave of absence that has allowed him to support the U.S. and to enjoy many more games than he normally would due to working and the time difference at home.

Thanksgiving week led to a last-minute invitation to a grand Thanksgiving on the actual Thursday at the home of a U.S. government official. The U.S. Ambassador to Uganda joined the celebration and it was great to socialize with a diverse crowd of Americans and expats. 

We hosted our own more casual Thanksgiving that included Ugandan and American friends- with some from both groups who had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. Noah worked hard for over a month to procure several of the traditional Thanksgiving foods from an American woman who has a business making some of the items for expats and trial and error at numerous shops around town. We ended up with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pies...all with a Ugandan twist and the added local foods of chapati, nakati (bitter, salty greens) and African samosas. We definitely missed our family and traditional festivities at my brother Ryan's house, but it was special to host guests and something we are not likely to do again during our time here.  (photos)

Z is now off of school for just over 4 weeks, so we planned what we hope is a good balance of downtime soaking in the holiday season in Kampala and seizing this unique and special moment in our family history to travel both abroad and locally. Updates on the next blog and happy, happy holidays to all 🎄🎆