in Uganda

In Uganda “it’s ok” means Yes.

In Uganda when you walk somewhere, you go by foot.

In Uganda when you go with someone, you move with them.

In Uganda you can bet that the muzungu price is twice as high as it should be. You can also bet that someone will stand up for your right to pay a fair price.

In Uganda the response to “hello” is often “I am fine.”

In Uganda food is starch.

In Uganda there are more varieties of bananas than I ever thought possible.

In Uganda Masau means: excuse me conductor, I’d like to get off the taxi… now!

In Uganda speaking any Luganda makes you a friend.

In Uganda communicating with rhetorical questions is pretty common.

In Uganda 10am means sometime before noon, probably.

In Uganda I bought the most beautiful fabric from an honest woman who told me... that fabric is NOT Ugandan.

In (my) Uganda, hot water is an occasional luxury.

In (my) Uganda, power outages that occur every other day are a fact of life.

In Uganda there is a tangible feeling of trying to balance peace, stability, and security with the prospects and potential that change might bring.

In Uganda poverty overwhelms me, but I remind myself that guilt is safe. Political and social activism, challenging global power dynamics, changing unfair policies, and dissecting the systemic causes of poverty are far more complicated, but necessary for sustainable and empowering change.

In Uganda I am making friends and enjoying my work; I am reading about reproductive health, gender, HIV, and the crosscutting vulnerabilities of disability in a developing country.

In Uganda I am constantly in awe of the salience of my public health education in every day life; Public health is everywhere.

In Uganda, I am relentlessly aware of how much the world is changing me.

Everything is going well in Kampala! I have been exploring the city, learning public transportation, and finding my way around by getting a little lost. In a way, being in a new place is like being a child again. It can be frustrating, but when you know almost nothing, everything you learn, discover, or master becomes the greatest accomplishment of your life. I love my life and work here and am learning constantly. There is nothing more fulfilling in life than that!