Skip to main content

From Uganda: Arrived!


I have arrived safely in Uganda after about 35 hours of traveling. All of my flights went very smoothly and my baggage made it with no problem! AND I got my visa without any trouble! I think all of the locals were laughing at how many bags I had, but I promised them most of it wasn’t my stuff.

When I made it to Ethiopia, I made friends with a girl who was from Uganda but studying in the USA. It was nice to have someone to talk to and laugh with since I had been traveling alone for so long. We were the same age and she was getting her degree in nursing so we had a lot in common. We spent a good amount of time giggling over a newly wedded Swedish couple that was traveling to Africa for the first time. The couple apparently thought we all wanted to watch them make-out and give each other “butterfly” kisses. The best part was when the couple complained to the people at the check-in desk for Ethiopian Airlines that the toilets in the airport were only “squat toilets” and that there was no toilet paper or soap. My new friend couldn’t resist but tap the lady on the shoulder and say, “Welcome to Africa!” I almost died trying to hold in my laughter.

I went from the airport to Entebbe Backpackers Hostel and booked into a dorm for the night. I was the only tourist there for most of the day until a girl from Ireland arrived in the middle of the night. It felt so good to finally be in a place where I didn’t have to climb over three people and squeeze around isle food carts to try and reach the bathroom. I took a much-needed cold shower and changed out of the stale outfit I had been wearing for so long. After assuring my mom I had safely arrived, I went and climbed into my sleep sheet and slept from 4pm to 5am soundly. When I woke up, my arms were so numb from sleeping on them… I don’t think I budged once in the night. I am laying here now talking to the girl from Ireland and waiting for the sun to rise.

Originally, I was going to fly to Bwindi this morning but Momma Eve and Denis are coming to Kampala and we are doing some wedding shopping (Eve and Denis are getting married in July and I am a bridesmaid) and getting supplies for the centre before heading back. My little sister (their daughter), Jade, is on vacation from school for the week so we are going to spend a few days with her and Eve’s family and then head to Bwindi on Saturday. I am so excited to see all of them today!

Sutter Allen, undergraduate, Human Development, UC Davis

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting the New Roots Farm, By Stella Sappington

At this point in my project I have incorporated my supervisors notes into the first draft of the survey, asked questions regarding his changes, and begun to survey clients. Many of the changes he made were for the purposes of brevity and clarity. He removed the questions I had in place regarding favorite foods and whether the interviewee was the primary shopper, as well as an experimental question about community meals. He also managed to consolidate the multiple questions I had regarding food insecurity that were separated whether they interrogated price, unavailability or distance. I questioned these changes as I was concerned about the knowledge gap between shopper and interviewee that one report mentioned and elucidating rich responses to all aspects of food security. However, I ultimately incorporated each of his changes. At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good gu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sky-High Natural Dyes by Jennifer Hoover

In June of 2014, I was bracing myself for my last few days in the Himalayan village I had come to call home. I had spent 3 months there, befriending a few women with whom I worked on various textile projects. As we wrung out the last of our skeins of yarn over a dye bath, Nirmala commented, “You will always remember the time you had only two students.” “No,” I countered, “I will remember the time I had two teachers.” “Three students, three teachers,” we agreed. This, to me, is the power of participatory action research: we are all students, and all teachers; all researchers, and all research subjects. And so I am thrilled to be back for further collaboration, with the support of the Blum Center. I am here in Kullu Valley working with some participants in a women's self-help group (www.whims.in) who produce textile goods as a way of generating some independent income and preserving traditional craft skills. Although the women have started working with the acrylic ...
5 comments
Read more