My First Week in Uganda

So, here is first attempt at blogging. We'll see how it goes...

The first week or so in Uganda has been pretty eventful, except in regards to actually starting university, and all-in-all things are going pretty well so far. I have spent days trying to figure out when I start school, when I have classes, and when I have to pay/register. All of these seemingly simple questions have been difficult to find answers to. Everyone is very nice, and tries to help, but, honestly, does not really know what I am supposed to do. Quite obviously, some of the confusion has been verbal. I repeatedly asked different people about my schedule, and, it ends up, a schedule is called a timetable here. That was a major breakthrough; they told me I could maybe get it this Monday (the “first” day of classes?).

Outside of school, I have been welcomed into the Rotary community. I was picked up at the airport and arranged convenient accommodation for the first evening. On my first day, by chance, my host club had a meeting. I met some really nice people, including a member of the University’s Rotaract, Ian, who has been a great help. On Friday, I went to Jinja with a member of a fellow scholar’s Rotary Club. Thus far, it is my first and only trip outside of Kampala.

Through a chance encounter, with a Makerere professor, I have been invited to two organizational events. One was an annual meeting for the Foundation of Human Rights Initiative. There were over a 100 members of the community, all representatives and/or members of some local organization. I befriended a number of people, and now I have about 5 potential hosts throughout Eastern and Northern Uganda. One lady heads an amazing organization that deals with the rehabilitation of Women and Children affected by the war in Northern-Uganda. Very Interesting. I will visit her for sure.

At the annual meeting, I was formally invited to attend the launch of a new organization called “The Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda.” And, it just so happens, this event had major representatives from Uganda and the world. There were embassy representatives from the U.S., Britain, Sweden, and the E.U. From Uganda, there were district Governors, members of Parliament, NGO representatives, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, political party representatives, and, yes, the Speaker of Parliament (Edward Ssehandi). It was a very interesting and thought-provoking event that gave a great amount of insight to Ugandan politics. One of the most interesting speeches came from the Vice-President of the Democratic Party, Morbert Mao, who is a possible candidate for the presidency in 2011. He sharply criticized the government, talked about the fight for democracy, and had a quote about tyranny from Fredrick Douglas. To sum, he and many others are deeply upset about President Museveni changing the constitution before the last elections to allow him to run for elections again. Obviously, they are upset about other things as well, but this was a big issue at the meeting.