Kampala...in December

Once again I’ve been in my favorite east African hub – Kampala, where we all started many months ago, where I awaken to the Muslim call to prayer, where bodas and taxis do not move silently along like boats on Lake Bunyonyi. The drastic differences between the rural southwest and the urban center of Uganda are comparable to what Alaskans sometimes call the urban-rural divide. It’s a worldwide phenomenon – people leave their villages to seek livelihoods in the cities (for better or for worse). But this city, right now, is HOT. When the bus pulled out of Kabale, the air was still cool. The temperature steadily rose as we moved north.

Kampala is where I get to enjoy the company of my Ugandan family. Saturday night I had an Indian dinner with Charlotte and Malko, whose Introduction for marriage will be in March (wish I could be here for that occasion). Yesterday we hung out at Ted’s house just to enjoy his company before he leaves. I had thought Ted was going on another business trip. Turns out his position is being transferred to Paris, so he and Brenda and their sons are moving to France – today.

I’m headed to Masaka and Rakai with the intention of making the most of my last week in Uganda. But a weekend pause in the city was a nice boost. I splurged and got a room at the Speke Hotel where I’ve been taking luxurious showers and eating big breakfasts and spending time on the wireless internet. Hanna found me on gmail this morning and we had a live chat – with Heather too. I called my parents on Skype, and Don twice, and now I want to call Carla. I walked over to Web City Café to print some photographs, and the guy helping me pointed to my photo of Marie and Christian and said, “I know that guy, he works for the U.N.” Big city, small world.

One of the best days during my Lake Bunyonyi interlude was visiting Beatrice, who runs a program in Kabale called Women in Small Enterprises – WISE. I met Beatrice in August at the agricultural workshop in Kenya, where I also met Josephine who runs an organic farming NGO in Masaka called St. Jude’s where I’m headed next. Agriculture and sustainable communities are some of the things I want to write about when I’m back in Alaska, and it’s great to see more of what these amazing women are doing.

Because Charlotte will be in Burundi doing refugee work when I return to Kampala to fly out next week, she asked me what I wanted to see or do this weekend. I told her I hadn’t been to Namirembe Cathedral, which sits atop one of Kampala’s hills. I thought it might be nice to check it out since I’d read that the view of the city was lovely from there. What a lucky day for a visit! The Kampala Singers were doing a concert of Christmas Carols, just as the sun was getting low. Both the orchestra and the choir were wonderful, especially a soloist whose voice was a clear, deep, gorgeous baritone. But how strange to sing about holly and ivy and snow while sweat rolls down the back! So it really is December, my birthday month, and my first time to sing Christmas Carols on the equator.