Two Weeks Off the Grid--Internship Update

Early Monday morning I’m catching a bus to Mbarara and from there a matatu (mini-bus taxi) to Ibanda and from there likely a motorcycle taxi to a village between 5 to 10 kilometers away. This will be the first of two villagers will I will be doing a week to two weeks of ethnographic research. For the sweet potato project I am helping with, they have asked me to delve deeper into the what, how and why people buy, grow, sell, cook and eat certain foods. The goal is to find a household in the village to take me in and let me live with them for my time in the village. During the day I will help them or at least tag along in going to the market, gardening, cooking and of course eating. I’ll mainly be with the women, but whenever relevant I’ll also be spending time with men. Toward the end of my stay I’ll try to organize a few group discussions to ask some more pointed questions about nutrition, health during pregnancy and breastfeeding and gender dynamics surrounding food choice.

I am a bit excited and more than a tad bit nervous. Here’s hoping for the best! I won’t be taking my computer so it’s likely you won’t hear from me for two weeks, but I’ll be sure to let y’all know I’m alive when I get back. If you need me, call my Ugandan phone number +256 075 371 1189. (256 is the country code). 

The Crazy Trip to Murchison That Had No Problems, Only Challenges

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend here in Uganda. Monday was Martyr’s Day a holiday that I don’t know what to make of. The holiday commemorates Christians in the kingdom of Buganda who protested homosexual acts committed by the Kabaka, the king of Buganda. For their faith he had them executed. This blog post really isn’t about Martyr’s Day so I’ll leave the commentary to another time.

Since it was a three day weekend it was a perfect opportunity to head to Murchison Falls. While not the best place to see any one animal, Murchison is described by many websites and guidebooks as the best one-off park in Uganda. Murchison is a place where you can hope to see three of the “Big Five” (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros). Murchison has lions, elephants, buffalo and along the way you can stop at Ziwa Rhino Reserve to see, what else? Rhinos! In addition to those “big 3” Murchison also has hippos, all of Uganda’s species of antelope, warthogs, numerous birds and much more not to mention a section of the Nile known as the Albert Nile which features a few absolutely stunning waterfalls.

On Saturday I, along with 8 fellow summer expats, left Kampala with our driver Badu in a light tan mini-bus van. Armed with snacks and camera we set forth to our first stop Nakasongola District which is about 2 hours away on the Kampala-Gulu road: the location of Ziwa Rhino Reserve. Apparently rhinos went extinct in Uganda, but thanks to the efforts of the Rhino Fund, they are slowly breeding rhinos with the intention of returning them to the wild once they have enough. Currently they only have white rhinos, but plan to eventually breed and also reintroduce black rhinos.

After paying our entrance fee, our sanctuary guide, Robert, climbed into our vehicle and we deeper into the sanctuary. Less than 5 minutes walking from where we parked and we ran into our first rhino. I forgot his name, but this guy was the alpha male who fathered all the younger rhinos at the sanctuary. Many times during this trip I learned to be thankful humans don’t live in an alpha male society! If you’re not the top dog, you’re nothing in Rhinoland.

Then about 5-10 minutes later we spotted three rhinos all resting in the shade. One of three was Obama named in part because his father (the alpha male) was from Kenya and his mother was the United States. We gathered for a bit, snapped a bunch of photos and our guide shared with us a bunch of facts such as the gestation period for rhinos is 16 months and that they can charge at 45 kilometers an hour. As Robert spoke, one of the rhinos let out some gas and he playfully scolded them, “We have guests!”

Obama, the rhino

Afterward we had lunch at the sanctuary and were on our way to Pakwach, a town on the north end of the park. A less popular destination than Masindi, but due to the holiday weekend we had to make the best of it. We got to Global Village Pakwach, which is a very nice guest house located essentially within a village adjacent to a very small town. After sorting out the room situation and the bill, the staff wanted to take our order for dinner. Their options were typical Ugandan fare, but with very few vegetables. Aside from starches they had cabbage. After a long trip we all agreed this was unfair to the vegetarians in the group so after some discussion with our driver and the staff we decided to go into the town for dinner. Because things take a long time in a group of 9 in Uganda, we didn’t set out until the sun was setting.

We parked in town and our driver and the nice lady from the lodge went to investigate our options. The first few places fell short so the 9 of us had plenty of time hanging out in the vehicle. As the sun had just set we weren’t surprised to be attacked by bugs, but that night the bugs kept on coming and coming. Finally we began to notice the lights were almost all turned off in town and when a motorcycle’s headlight flashed on we realized why. The town was literally blanketed in insects. That description doesn’t do it justice, whenever a light was on, the whole beams was almost extinguished by the amount of bugs flying toward the light. Finally the driver came back and told us they had found a restaurant. We got in there, ate fish, chapati, greens and cabbage in the dark paid the owner generously and headed back for bed.

The next day we got up early and headed into the park with George, a very happy man from the village who works at the lodge as a guide. Whenever we would encounter animals before telling us a lot of information about them George would yell out the window “Hello! Good morning, ____ (fill in name of animal). Enjoy your breakfast!” And usually as we were pulling away from that animal he would yell out “We love you!” To say George was adorable In his love of animals is to put it very mildly.

I could try to catalogue the various animals we saw, but it’s probably best to let pictures speak for themselves. The important thing to know is while being an excellent guide, George was on a mission. George claims to have only missed out seeing lions three times. My friends back in Kampala were skeptical because apparently it’s rare to actually see lions, but George was determined. Every car we passed by Badu and him would greet with a very warm hello or good morning and then proceed to ask about lions.

Click to see my pictures!

In one exchange emblematic of Ugandan humor a driver told us that all the lions had either gone to a party the night before and were sleeping or were at church. When my driver asked about the lions being at church to the next driver he said, “I think our lions are Muslim and are at the mosque!” All in all everyone from drivers, to guides, to tourists were all very happy and very pleasant.

One notable exception, though. I’m a little ashamed to write about this guy, but it’s an important part of the experience. As we approached a vehicle with what we all assumed was an American family the two cars were at a bottleneck. This is fairly common and happened to us countless times, but both drives would make an effort to veer slightly off the road and both would get by. The American man however responded by shooing us with his hand. Badu, backed up and was able to reverse into a shoulder giving the man space to pass. Ready with their smiles and greetings Badu and George set off their round of hello and good morning, but the man only replied, “Yes, this is what you get when you find your license on the bottom of a cereal box!” George and Badu seemed unphased, but it hopefully goes without say we were all annoyed and ashamed.

Shortly after this, George began to encourage Badu to off road so we could try to get up close to some potential lion’s dens. Each time we off-roaded I would turn to someone and say $16.50, the approximate amount each of us would pay if we got hit with the $150 fine for off roading. After a half dozen attempt, no lions. Thrilled with all the other animals we saw, but disappointed nonetheless we headed to the river. There we bought tickets for a boat ride and had lunch.

The boat ride stopped to let those, like our group, off who wanted to hike. We had a marvelous hike up to the top of the falls. Again, I’ll let pictures attempt to do this justice rather than prattle on.

At the top we met back up with Badu and George and hurried back to the river in order to get on the ferry and to head back to Pakwach for the night. George was also hoping for one last chance to see lions as the sunset. After our ferry ride it was about 7:45 and at approximately 8 as we were traversing the road out of the park, there was a distinctly ominous noise from the engine. I even remarked, “That doesn’t sound good.” Well…it’s wasn’t good. The timing belt had come off. At this point it was distinctly night and we were on a dark road in the middle of game park.

Luckily a handful of vehicles were still passing by getting visitors back to their lodges within the park and literally all of them stopped to offer some help or advice. Finally one vehicle along with a park ranger dropped off passengers and returned for us. We piled into the second vehicle thanking the driver profusely and were ready to be on our way. Easy, right? Well….we couldn’t leave our light tan mini-bus behind and it was too late to leave the park and come back for it. So for the next 15 minutes the two drivers, George and the ranger managed to tie together the two cars and we set out in the working vehicle with ours trailing behind. We went at a maximum speed of 20 kilometers an hour for a little over an hour until we got out of the park. Almost every time we went down a hill, the original car would bump our new car.

About half way through this saga, a small silver line emerged. Our new driver slowed down and just on the edge of our headlight beams there was a lion and lioness just strolling along content in their knowledge that not even the silly humans watching them were going to hurt them. Eventually they strolled off the road and off we went. In the town we left the original vehicle at a gas station where a mechanic would be the next morning and then off we were back to the hotel.

The next day, Badu was confident the repairs would be complete and we’d be on the road by 10:30. Well…at 10:15 we found out otherwise. To his credit by 11:15 we had a forest green mini-bus van pull up driven by a friend of Badu’s. WE piled in and by 12 we were on the road back to Kampala. Big sigh of relief, we’d be getting at night, but we were all healthy, safe and on our way home.

Almost, but there was one last hiccup…fitting of this trip when we were entering Kampala a cop on a motorcycle noticed our high beams were on. Using you high beams is fairly common for drivers in Kampala, but perhaps hoping the car full of foreigners would give a good bribe, the guy pulled us over. After 10 minutes the drivers came back in and we were able to finish up the trip. When I asked they said “we talked to him” and that there was no punishment. I hope they were right!

As George said while the car was still broken down and stranded, “there’s no problem, only challenges”.

Eating with Uganda's Middle Class

               On Thursday my bed was being delivered so I needed some more shillings in order to pay the carpenter while making sure I could still pay for my commute, so on Wednesday I caught a boda to Freedom City. The Ugandans have such great names for their shopping malls: Oasis, Garden City and Freedom City to name the three I know about in Kampala. As far as I could tell, Freedom City is a great place to find Kampala’s middle class. The stores sell modern electronics, high end shoes and the latest western fashions (well as far as I can tell…clearly I’m no expert on fashion). Despite the pricey items, I was the only mzungu there and the wealthier class of South Asians in Uganda was also not present which is why I would classify the customers as middle class. For better or for worse the upper class are almost all foreigners, political elites and Asian descendant Ugandans like those whose families were originally from India.

               

                After getting my shillings I decided to take the opportunity to eat something other than the Ugandan food at and near the office or the food I cook at home. I first option I found a take-a-way which best translates as a Ugandan restaurant that’s prepared to give you a to-go plate. The next was a fried chicken place that sounded better, but still not quite what I was in the mood for. It looked like a local or at least regional chain, but they clearly had studied fast food joints in the west: bright colors and full color menus with pictures of their various value meal combos. Like other western inspired restaurant, though, as well as chicken they also sold pizza.  I mean, why not? I wandered a bit more and went up some stairs to a still under construction portion of the mall. Half of the floor was a construction area, but the half I found had a restaurant set right in the atrium of the mall adjacent to a “kidz corner” where there was a play area as well as a small swimming pool. The manager greeted me warmly and I asked to look at a menu. A lot of western dishes: hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, pizzas (of course) among other items. I didn’t want to spend too much and settled on a hamburger.

                I took my seat. You’d think a hamburger should only take a few minutes when a restaurant is empty, you’d be wrong. In Uganda patience is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity. Which was alright by me, I read and took in the scene. In this restaurant they had a multiple flat screen TVs, almost all on the same channel. When I sat down they were playing Nat Geo Wild showing scenes of the African safari. Times like these, it’s hard not thinking about my African studies classes and how many Americans almost immediately think of scenes of the safari when thinking about the safari. Not long after getting lost in those thoughts, they changed the channel .They turned to E! in time to catch the E! Entertainment News. Perhaps this was their caricature of our culture: white people doing reckless shit, but becoming ever more famous for it. We went from their safari to ours.

                Between the fried chicken restaurant and this continental restaurant (what I think they call American/European dishes) I also starting to wonder if income made Ugandans or anyone better off nutritionally. Ugandan food is very starchy often some combination of potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, posho (a porridge made from corn meal) with a sauce or a few sauces made from g-nuts (groundnuts, their name for peanuts), a meat broth or a sauce made from beans that have been cooked down. Occasionally you also get some highly boiled vegetables. The diet is great at filling you up cheaply and based on only a few staples, but—as the project I’m working on this summer is trying to address—the diet does not do a very good job getting people micronutrient. Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals that may not be necessary to keep you alive in the short term, but a lack of them will make you really sick or kill you if deprived too long.

                As middle class Ugandans go out to eat more at restaurants like those in Freedom City, the menus look as if they are eating traditional dishes or eating meat, cheese and carb centric dishes like hamburgers or pizza. I can’t say with certainty, but from my limited observations I wonder if eating like Americans in this less than ideal way is part of living the middle class dream in Uganda. Except for establishments catering to expats, I never see salads or vegetable dishes offered on menus. So I keep pondering why money doesn’t promote better dietary choices and if so what can be done to change that? That and whether these observations are correct!

Burritos and Churros in Kampala?!

My direct supervisor’s family is in town so he was only at work briefly on Thursday. During Thursday morning I worked a little bit with the qualitative research consultant, but mainly I was left to read my first 2 days. Actually my first day I didn't know how lunch worked so I missed my opportunity to visit the cafeteria. On Friday a woman came by in the morning asking if I’d be eating in the cafeteria that day. Not knowing my other options I said yes. She took my info and gave me a ticket. At lunch time I showed up in the cafeteria and waited in line. None of the other mzunugus (expats/white people) were there except for the Bangladeshi staff (BRAC is a Bangladeshi organization). The fare was typical Ugandan food: rice, boiled cabbage, chicken and potatoes covered in a broth. Everyone was eating with their hands, well their right hand. I was preparing to do the same and would've if need be, but happily one of the Ugandan woman got a plate of forks and I happily accepted one!

After a lot more reading, I joined some folks in going to the Little Donkey, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Kampala. One of the Bangladeshi staff gave me a ride, which was great. I really didn't want to ride a boda all the way through Kampala during rush hour. He told me traffic and driving in Dhaka was 10 times worse than in Kampala!

Dinner was surprisingly really good. Still not Chuy’s or even Pappasito’s, but it hit the spot. A lot of expats joined us with loose connections to one another. One is a journalists, two works at private companies and a DC based guy works for OPIC, the Overseas Private Investment Cooperation which is a quasi-governmental US organization. At dinner some of the expats told me where to get a good helmet and some other tips for riding bodas. They both agreed they’re dangerous, but also told me to worry. Mixed signals, much?

Well I had to take one home. We essentially had to go the length of Kampala so it was a longer ride. The guy was a speed demon, but in my judgment really safe. He slowed down when needed and maneuvered around potholes skill fully 9 times out of 10. Those 2 small potholes still weren’t fun though! I made my way from where he dropped me at the main road to home, but was a little turned around. I tried calling Paul, but my damn cell phone wouldn’t let me because of low battery. Luckily a few minutes later I recognized a few landmarks and was fine.

Now I’m just having a lazy Saturday. I spent far too long napping. I think I might go to one the expat coffee shops tomorrow and read there with the hopes of meeting some people, but if nothing else doing some exploring. I’m also hoping to do a weekend trip next weekend. I’m thinking Murchison Falls, but need to find out if that’s doable in just a weekend trip. I’ll let y’all know.

First Day: Navigating Public Transportation In Kampala

As many of you know, I was in Uganda in 2009 with American Jewish World Service on a volunteer program for seven weeks. For most of the time we were in a quiet village in the Tororo state in southeast Uganda. At the very end of the trip we were in Kampala for 2 and a half days. With that experience I thought I knew what I was in for, but Kampala is a beast I am very slowly figuring out. I arrived Wednesday night, got my luggage and along with Jen, another AU student working with BRAC this summer, found our driver. He took me to Paul’s place which is also where I’m staying this summer.

It was late so there isn't too much to tell about that first night. Paul lives on the outskirts of Kampala fairly close to the BRAC office. As far as I can tell, we’re the only white people in our immediate neighborhood. His place is inside a gated area where several house/apartments (not sure which to classify them as) face a common courtyard/parking lot. He has 2 bedrooms, a living room type area, a kitchen and a bathroom. Recently the power surged and he lost lighting. The electrician fixed every room, but the second bedroom. Hopefully the landlord will fix that soon, but for now I have a mattress set up under a mosquito net in the living room. Electricity seems fairly consistent, but we did have a brief outage Thursday night.

The two most exciting things, though, is that the shower has hot water through an electric heater: you have to flip a switch to activate a heating 10-15 minutes before showing. I was prepared for bucket baths and while a small part of me was a little excited at being very conservative water like 2009, overall I am thrilled. The other great thing is that he has a water filter. He said it kills about 95% of whatever was in the water. I think I’ll risk it since bottled water is so wasteful and costly.

After my first day at the office I went deeper into Kampala to get a sim card for my phone and a USB dongle for internet. I made a few probably cliché first timer mistakes. I got in a mini-bus taxi that took me much further than I intended and dropped me off in less than helpful part of Kampala. I walked for a long time until finally finding a promising cell phone store. What I needed wasn't there, but the lady nicely directly me to the Orange store (where I was going to get my internet stuff) and to the Airtel store where I was getting my sim card. It was getting late and I needed to get back to the office since Paul was likely waiting for me. It was approaching rush hour and I wasn't totally sure how to get the right mini-bus taxi so I took a boda boda.

A mini-bus taxi goes down a specific route, but I have yet to find a good guide or map of these routes. They stop every so often to try to get additional passengers and to let others off. These are big vans that hold about 12-16 passengers. So far all the information I have found is right, the authorities have actually been able to limit the passengers so it’s not super crowded at least in Kampala. I’ve read outside of Kampala you still have mini-buses crowded with passengers, their stuff and often an animal. In Kampala it seems for a short trip you pay 500 shillings (approximately 20 cents) and longer trips are 1000 shillings (~40 cents).

A boda boda is a motorcycle taxi. These guys are even less regulated and often a little bit more expensive, but they are EVERYWHERE. You negotiate the price with them, climb on and off you go. I was incredibley hesitant about them and am still a little terrified, but getting more comfortable and more resigned to that fact I’ll need to use them. Since mini-bus taxis don’t go everywhere and they get stuck in the “jam” you more or less need to take motorcycle taxis most places. Private hires (a.k.a. the taxis we’re used to in the states) cost a lot. From what I understand over $10 and likely near $20 per ride. And then of course there’s the option of a driver but that would be well over $50 a day and the cost of gas. Obviously not options on a non-paid intern grad student salary.

Boda bodas often hang out at stages, which are a group of riders who pay a fee to a stage boss. The stages are said to be where to find slightly safer and more accountable riders and if something happens you can return to the stage and talk to the boss. Then there are free agents  in a manner of speaking who just ride around picking passengers up. I’ve been told these guys are often cheaper, but are more reckless and have no accountablity at all.

Sometime this weekend I’m going to get a Yamaha helmet for about $35 and I’m only using boda riders who operate at stages and going to try to pick riders who wear helmets. Still less than my ideal mode of transport, but hopefully those precautions will keep me safe.

Back to the story… I got a boda at a stage and tried to tell them where I needed to go. They weren’t sure, but finally the rider took me to another stage where 6 guys gathered around to look at the address and discuss where to go. In the end they figured it out and I was on my way. It seemed like a long trip and they were all so helpful I expected to pay the equivalent of 5 or more dollars. When we got there he asked for 1000 shillings which is 4 dollars. Turns out I overpayed by about $1.25. Oh well.

After some boring details we were off to the grocery store, but first ate some pizza. The grocery store seemed to be an area with nicer homes and I assume more expats live there especially because it was all expats eating at the pizza place. I ordered a marghertia pizza, which actually meant a straight cheese pizza, but it was actually quite satisfying. The store seemed to have quite a good selection and a good majority of items I might want were available. Most things were near U.S. prices—not sure if it was because items like milk, yogurt and butter are less common in Uganda or if it’s because this is a more expat friendly grocery store that could charge higher prices. Some items were clearly more luxury, like tea. The local brands are a fairly good price, but there are some exorbitant prices for brands we’d recongize in the U.S. like Twinings. Name brand cereal are definitely priced at a premium.

After the store, Paul called a boda we used earlier since apparently the stage near the store isn’t very good. Unfortunately only 2 riders came and not three so Paul and I had to share while holding our bags. Definitely not my ideal in an already less than ideal situation, but in some ways I felt more safe since I was in the middle. 

The Journey Begins

Hello friends and family,

This evening I set off to Uganda to work with BRAC's research unit in Uganda. I will be conducting focus groups to find out people's attitudes on taste and food preferences to help BRAC's agriculture and food security team to better promote the growing, selling, buying and eating of a high nutrient orange flesh sweet potato.

Unfortunately I need to finish packing, but I wanted to share a few details in case anyone wants or needs to contact me.

Gchat and e-mail: LeranMinc@gmail.com
Skype: Leran.Minc
Google Voice: (213)537-2686 (You can call to leave a message or to send a voice-mail)

I'll be back on August 1st and would love to catch-up in person then. For now I'm aiming to blog once a week so anyone who is interested can see what I'm up to.

Wishing you all good eats and a cool summer,
Leran