I am sitting in the Washington Dulles airport, waiting for my first international flight — to Amsterdam, and then onward to Entebbe (the airport serving Kampala). I am not looking forward to the next 24 hours, but I hope it will be worth it when I get there. At least Dulles has free wi-fi. There is, of course, a child at my gate screaming as though it were literally being murdered. Repeatedly. Hurrah!
In more serious news, the leader of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, Kizza Besigye, is returning to Kampala any day now from Nairobi to face charges for the “walk-to-work” campaign that has been running for the past few weeks. Selfishly, I hope it doesn’t cause problems for me when I arrive… the government has announced they will put in place an “exclusion area” to prevent FDC supporters from rallying at the airport, so they’re apparently planning to gather on the road into Kampala instead. I have a feeling that the next week will be a bit dicey (Mousevni is being inaugurated as President tomorrow in Kampala — the result of a disputed election), but hopefully things will settle down after that. I don’t know whose “side” to be on with these protests — I’d like them to stop so things go back to normal, but I don’t particularly like the government’s overly harsh response that has been responsible for tamping down on them.
The plan for when I arrive is to stay in the town of Entebbe the first night, as I’m getting in fairly late. The next day, I’ll catch a taxi into Kampala and check into a hostel for two weeks. The hostel is in Old Kampala, which is the next hill over from downtown (Kampala is built on a series of hills), where my office is. I’ll have my own room, so it won’t be too inconvenient. Then, at the end of May, I’ll move into the apartment with a person who appears to be the nicest girl on the face of the planet, and the puppy! That is basically all I know, but hopefully details will come in the next couple of weeks. That’s all for now. Next post will be from Uganda!
In more serious news, the leader of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, Kizza Besigye, is returning to Kampala any day now from Nairobi to face charges for the “walk-to-work” campaign that has been running for the past few weeks. Selfishly, I hope it doesn’t cause problems for me when I arrive… the government has announced they will put in place an “exclusion area” to prevent FDC supporters from rallying at the airport, so they’re apparently planning to gather on the road into Kampala instead. I have a feeling that the next week will be a bit dicey (Mousevni is being inaugurated as President tomorrow in Kampala — the result of a disputed election), but hopefully things will settle down after that. I don’t know whose “side” to be on with these protests — I’d like them to stop so things go back to normal, but I don’t particularly like the government’s overly harsh response that has been responsible for tamping down on them.
The plan for when I arrive is to stay in the town of Entebbe the first night, as I’m getting in fairly late. The next day, I’ll catch a taxi into Kampala and check into a hostel for two weeks. The hostel is in Old Kampala, which is the next hill over from downtown (Kampala is built on a series of hills), where my office is. I’ll have my own room, so it won’t be too inconvenient. Then, at the end of May, I’ll move into the apartment with a person who appears to be the nicest girl on the face of the planet, and the puppy! That is basically all I know, but hopefully details will come in the next couple of weeks. That’s all for now. Next post will be from Uganda!
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