Less researcher, more tourist

Sunday, August 17, 2008

I feel like some of my most recent posts have been somewhat uninspired. Now, I feel inspired. Malaria free, and free to do whatever I wanted in the psychotic city of Kampala. Naturally, after not being a tourist for so long, I went to the traps.

On Buganda road there is a large craft collective full of very sweet and inviting people in each of the stalls. I went door to door like a good mzungu. I haggled a bunch and then realized that I didn’t really buy much at all; it was all about the bargain. Ok fine, I bought a bunch of things, I just didn’t spend very much money.

Meanwhile, my friend Jennifer, whom I met in Mbale with the Abayudaya, was waiting for me to go to her house and chill. I was offered hot tea, but steered us towards cold beer instead. Poor Jennifer has been without good (read “American”) music for a couple of years, so I helped her transfer a bunch from my computer to hers. We only got to the Bs.

On the way home, I really wanted to stop in an area called Kalerwe. It’s basically where the biggest market I know about is and there is a drum factory there. The word factory is used very loosely here; it’s a dark room and a half made with random slats of wood with space shared with a sofa factory. There are pelts of goat, cow, and lizard on the walls and there are drums in different stages of development all over the place. Samuel showed me around the place; prices were very fair (read “cheap as all hell”). I promised to come back in the next few days with my bag so I can see how many I can fit in.

The best part: On the rest of my way home, people in Mpererwe waved to me because they recognized me and I recognized them. In Namere, up the hill from Mpererwe, I got the same greeting. Later, when I went back to the Namere supermarket, the cashier and I had a great discussion about my stay here and she was sad to hear that me (Sebachwa) and Lauren (Nabachwa) were leaving so soon. As I walked out of the store, 2 local bodaboda drivers called “hey Danny!” I waited for one of them, Medi (short for Mohammed), to come back because I hadn’t seen him in a long time and wanted to catch up. He recently lost his day job, but is instead working all day as a bodaboda driver. He makes 20k Shillings a day, about $13.

It made me feel really good that I feel that I have become part of the community here. People ask me when I’m coming back and the only thing I can tell them is perhaps in 2011, when I am actually a doctor. They always answer “that’s too long!” It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be seeing these people for such a long time. Tonight, a woman whom I never met before thanked me for the osoma (research) that we are doing here. That made me feel the best.

There are many people here who are suspicious of any Mzungu who comes into town to do research. I was once asked by a deputy teacher to “Please do not just write a book about us and get your degree like some other people. Please come to us, join us in our communities, and really help us make a difference.” I hope to continue the work we are doing here and to really help the community that we have become a part of.

OK, shower break over. I could just feel really good because I am over malaria, though that cold shower was quite invigorating.