Lake Victoria Luxury

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Today I went back to the Ministry of Health, but I had a problem. I didn’t remember the name or location of the person/people whom I spoke to last time I was there. So, naturally, I smiled a lot, pretended to accidentally open the wrong door, and walked around the entire building faking epiphanies when I reached the end of a hallway and did not recognize anyone in the offices in that hall. Eventually, I found Christine who was so helpful to me. She was, of course, all business until the very last second of our meeting. “Are you a believer in Jesus?” (completely out of the blue, no religious discussion before this at all!)

I answered quite candidly, “No, I’m Jewish.”

“You’re JEWISH? One of the chosen people?!”

Immediately she started crying to me and told me about how much her church prays for the Jews and for peace in Israel. She hugged and blessed me with the priestly blessing of the old testament among other blessings for about 5 minutes, still crying. I was a bit shocked. After all that impersonal service and telling me that looking at our proposal would take at least another week, a complete breakdown of any boundaries. She then asked me to bless her. So, I blessed her with the same blessings of the old testament, but in Hebrew. She really liked that. I know because she thanked me… and because at 5:30PM I got a call from the Asst. Director of Health who approved of our study. My friend Mike decided that he is going to play the religion card here too, but he’s an atheist, I doubt he’ll have as much luck. I know I’ve said this before, but people are really religious and religiously motivated here in Uganda.

This is going to be a treat. I went to a hotel tonight. You see, going to Entebbe, staying in a hotel, and then getting a free shuttle to the airport in the morning is just about the same as praying that your private hire taxi shows up on time in Kampala. I am paying $55 for the night in a hotel where I can hear Lake Victoria’s waves crashing on the shore, and I have hot water in my shower. LUXURY! I just took my first hot shower of the summer. It’s nice to be spoiled like this. Though, I did miss eating dinner and relaxing with the Lubogas.

Before my shower, I went for a walk to the beach. There were bugs everywhere. I took some pictures and will attempt posting them (writing this one in advance). There were also no muzungus around at all. Just me. So, naturally, I hung out with the security guards and talked about the differences between American and Ugandan culture. (for some reason, every single dog in town is barking and howling now). They get paid 150,000 shillings a month…about $95. We talked about religion, that always seems to come up here, and kidded about starting a business importing obutunda, passion fruit. Passion fruit at 1000USh for 15, in the US they are about $4 each; that’s a 100 fold difference in price and you can get passion fruit much cheaper in bulk. They made me promise that if I started a company importing obutunda and omuyembe (mangoes, also really cheap here), they could work for me for American wages.

On my way back to the motel from the beach, I had a bit of a scare. It’s about a 4 block walk, but instead of paying about 33 cents for a ride on a bodaboda, I decide to walk; the streets were empty and dark. I thought it was an economical decision. Of course, I see someone across the street sitting on the curb who gets up just as I pass by. My prejudice precedes me. I figure, like a good New Yorker, that I’m about to be mugged while carrying my passport, all my money, and my ticket for tomorrow’s flight. So, I turn around and ask him where I can get a bodaboda even though I saw them about a block away. He pointed, but then asked me where I was going. I said Sophie’s Motel. He offered to walk with me. I think I wet my pants. I immediately introduced myself and asked for his name, Emmanuel. I then drove the conversation towards religion, figured that I could get lucky twice, and also spoke about my research “helping the poor children of Kampala.” I put that in quotes because it’s what I said, not because it was a lie. Naturally, he was a real sweetheart who had just finished his shift at the big hotel nearby and had to walk home. I felt stupid and smart at the same time and will probably react the same way if it should happen again.

Tomorrow, I’m off to South Africa; don’t worry, the blog will continue and I will still be working on research for Uganda. You see, Dr. Angela Mathee, in Johannesburg,did similar research and has been helping us all along. I want to get a good night’s sleep for the meeting, so I’m off to bed. It’s 10:20PM..