The changing marketplace

Sunday, June 22, 2008 6:30PM

After hanging around town with Lauren and Mike, Dr. and Mrs. Luboga picked us up and brought us around on errands. We went to a small supermarket at which someone follows you with a cart while you do the shopping. We then went to the open market where we picked up sugar cane through the window and picked out some beans and split peas. It was my idea to pick up the split peas because I want to make a big soup for the family. So tonight I am going to make one of their large pots kosher (by boiling water in it) and (hopefully) make a tasty hearty soup. I saw huge hollowed gourds for sale in the market and I’m thinking about getting my hands on a few of them. They look like big 3D commas with a large rounded bottom and a pointed top. I know, I know… I need to get pictures up. I am still debating in my head how to go about taking pictures; I don’t want to invade people’s privacy, but also don’t want the shots to be posed. You ever go into someone’s house and look at their pictures and realize that they are in the same exact position in every single one… I used to do that, then I stopped taking pictures so much.

We also stopped to see Mrs. Luboga’s business. She designs and makes clothing and graduation gowns in a factory near downtown Kampala. She specifically hires women with little skill so that she can teach them a profession and help them bring themselves out of sometimes dire straights. The Lubogas are people who live what they preach and are truly striving to make a better, more self sufficient, Uganda.

Also, on the way home we saw a bunch of those huge birds soaring over us and hanging out in the upper reaches of trees. They are called Malibu storks. They have a huge gullet that swings back and forth as they flap their wings.

Now that we are back home in Mperewe, I am tired and blame it on the pack of dogs keeping me up last night and the elevation here. (will someone please upload Dr. Eggena’s chart, would be classic). I would love to take a nap, but I hear people cheering so much, the cows are answering back with a regal MOO!… I think there is a football game going on.

About the cows… I read an article somewhere about how American black and white cows, which can produce almost 50 liters of milk a day, are taking over Africa slowly because of their milk-producing capacity. Because of this, many people who have African cows are breeding them with American cows to make a hybrid which is disease-resistant and makes lots of milk. I’m not sure how to respond to this because, on the one hand, the face of Africa is changing (good or bad, I don’t know), and more milk is being produced (definitely good). The question in my head, I guess, is: what is the price the world should be paying in order to preserve the cultures and standards of a country? Is it important to preserve them at all? Change can be good. Granted human life is most important, and there is so much poverty and starvation here that extra (insert resource here) is good for lowering prices and feeding more people, but should the world shoulder that responsibility instead of local economies so that people can maintain the culture they have had for many generations…? I’m not sure how easy my thought process is to follow, but I am trying to stay as true as possible to my linear thinking.

On a different note, I want to thank you all for reading my blog and for your wonderful comments. I always check them out and they make me smile. Keep on doing it.

PS, can someone find that article about the cows and email it to me? Thanks.