Ki Kati (Hello) from Uganda

Steve and I left Logan at 7:10pm on July 29th and flew to Amsterdam. We then had a three hour layover in wee hours of the morning. During our lay over in Amsterdam we met a woman named Carol and a man named Thomas who work for a small NGO, called the Harambee Centre, based out of Portland, OR. From what they told us the Harambee Centre facilitates partnerships between high schools in the U.S. and high schools in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. They then chaperon the trips of students that consist of students who participate in a pen pal program. They were both very positive about Uganda, the people who live here, and the foreign volunteers who come over here. Thomas is Ugandan and he caught me practicing my Luganda on the plane. He said that it would be easy to pick up once we hang out with young children who speak more slowly. I am skeptical, it has been very hard to learn :-/. Anyways, we got on our flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe at 11:00 am and arrived in Entebbe at 8:10pm on July 30th. The flights were long and had terrible food, but we made it.

Once we arrived in Entebbe we went through Passport Control. Despite the fact that I have a nine month visa, the passport control woman only validated my passport for one month. I have no idea why this is, and she would not explain. However, she said that after the next thirty days, there is some sort of government office in Masaka that will validate it for the remainder of the time. After going through Passport Control we were able to pick up our bags. Luckily everything arrived at the same time we did.

After getting our bags we thought we would have to go through customs, but when we followed the signs that said customs it led us to pick up and the shuttle driver from the Backpackers Hostel was already waiting for us. The ride back was quite interesting. First, they drive on the left in Uganda. While I have seen this before, I have not seen it since I learned how to drive. It is a little unnerving. Second, they drive much more aggressively then I am used to. For example, when we were on a two lane road, our driver did not hesitate to squeeze between the car in front of us and the car traveling the other direction to pass the car in front of us. But after about 45 minutes of this we arrived safely at the Backpackers Hostel, got our room, and got on the internet :).

Once at the hostel we meet two more interesting people. One was an American girl who is getting her masters in Dublin, Ireland. She is at the end of her three to four week trip here. She is studying the effect of eco-tourism on local populations. She spent most of her time in Bwindi National Park. The second person we meet was a guy from California who was here working in micro-finance for four months. He is currently starting his fourth month. He lives about 35km from Masaka which is somewhat close to where we will be. He told us about a group of about 20 Irish volunteers who are working at various clinics in the same area.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of those people who have posted comments. It is so great to hear all your positive comments and supportive thoughts. I am both very excited and very nervous and it is nice to know that you are all flowing me through this journey.