So, today was my first day of work. And I, of course, slept through my alarm. Thankfully, Brian called me to let me know it was time for breakfast, and I got up with plenty of time to spare. Ate a quick breakfast, then waited around for Diana (the motel owner/owner's wife) to be ready to take me to work. She drove me into town, but asked me to pay 10,000 UGX for gas -- which I guess means she didn't give me a free ride after all. Anyway, she dropped me off at the office a bit after 9:00am. When I went inside, there was no one there except Debbie, who sort of serves tea and coffee and makes lunch, I guess? She appears to leave after lunchtime, and according to my office mate, she makes lunch every day. In any case, people came in a bit after I got there, and my boss emailed me some things to read while she was on her way in. It was a summary of the organization's activities in 2009-2010 -- and they did a LOT. After I read it, I went and met with her about what I found interesting and the things she thinks I should work on.
Apparently some of the work is pretty politically sensitive -- some of the members of this organization have received death threats based on certain reports (sorry, Mom), so I can't really go into details (that sounds so mysterious), but generally speaking, there are three areas she thinks I could work on: 1) Rwandan refugees in northern Uganda; 2) the emerging East African Community; and 3) citizenship and belonging among Darfurians in the newly-independent Southern Sudan (which becomes independent on July 9 -- happy birthday, Mom! I got you a new African country.) She gave me some reports to read about Rwanda and Darfurians in South Sudan. A group is actually heading to Juba in South Sudan on Wednesday to do research interviews about citizenship for a new report, and there are going to be interviews among Darfurians in Kampala, too. In the afternoon, the researchers came in and we had a big (read: 4 hours long) meeting about research methodology. It seems that I'm going to type up oral/dictated translations of the interviews, which will probably all be in Arabic. Even though the conversation sort of went in circles, and there were some language barriers, it was actually a lot of fun and very informative. One of the Darfurian refugees who's heading to South Sudan walked me out to the road and got a boda boda driver down to a reasonable price to take me home. Unfortunately, I thought I recognized the spot where the motel is and had the boda driver drop me off... but I was wrong. At least I was only about 500m away (according to the estimate of a man working at the nearby supermarket). When I realized my mistake, I decided to go into the supermarket and see what I could buy. Now that I'm friendly with Brian, it feels strange to ask him to cook meals for me -- even though I know he loves to cook. It's still weird, so I bought some cereal and non-refrigerated milk (the kind that comes in packets, like in Europe), and walked back to the motel.
When I got home, I had a bowl of cereal and then hung out at reception and talked to the owner, Bruno, and Brian. I somehow ended up on the topic of the American Constitution and went on and on about the details and everything I know now after a semester of Constitutional Law, AKA I proved that I am a giant nerd. I stayed down there for the whole evening chatting with Brian (who tends to monologue, and ended up telling me his whole life story and -- once again -- about how corrupt Mouseveni's government is) without even realizing it. Brian works pretty much 24 hours a day, every day, but he promised that the next time he goes home to his village, he'll take me with him. It's only 45 minutes from Kampala, and I think it will be fun. He had better not just be agreeing to pacify me.
So that's pretty much it. I have to make my own way to work tomorrow morning, and I still don't know how to walk from the Wandegeya taxi stage to my office. I'll probably end up just getting a boda... I really need to find a place to buy a helmet so I don't feel like I'm going to die every time I ride one. The taxis are less expensive than bodas, so hopefully I'll figure out how to use them soon. I was going to wander around the area a bit at lunchtime to see if I could orient myself (hah), but since Debbie brought food to my desk, I didn't really get the chance. But tomorrow is another day.
Apparently some of the work is pretty politically sensitive -- some of the members of this organization have received death threats based on certain reports (sorry, Mom), so I can't really go into details (that sounds so mysterious), but generally speaking, there are three areas she thinks I could work on: 1) Rwandan refugees in northern Uganda; 2) the emerging East African Community; and 3) citizenship and belonging among Darfurians in the newly-independent Southern Sudan (which becomes independent on July 9 -- happy birthday, Mom! I got you a new African country.) She gave me some reports to read about Rwanda and Darfurians in South Sudan. A group is actually heading to Juba in South Sudan on Wednesday to do research interviews about citizenship for a new report, and there are going to be interviews among Darfurians in Kampala, too. In the afternoon, the researchers came in and we had a big (read: 4 hours long) meeting about research methodology. It seems that I'm going to type up oral/dictated translations of the interviews, which will probably all be in Arabic. Even though the conversation sort of went in circles, and there were some language barriers, it was actually a lot of fun and very informative. One of the Darfurian refugees who's heading to South Sudan walked me out to the road and got a boda boda driver down to a reasonable price to take me home. Unfortunately, I thought I recognized the spot where the motel is and had the boda driver drop me off... but I was wrong. At least I was only about 500m away (according to the estimate of a man working at the nearby supermarket). When I realized my mistake, I decided to go into the supermarket and see what I could buy. Now that I'm friendly with Brian, it feels strange to ask him to cook meals for me -- even though I know he loves to cook. It's still weird, so I bought some cereal and non-refrigerated milk (the kind that comes in packets, like in Europe), and walked back to the motel.
When I got home, I had a bowl of cereal and then hung out at reception and talked to the owner, Bruno, and Brian. I somehow ended up on the topic of the American Constitution and went on and on about the details and everything I know now after a semester of Constitutional Law, AKA I proved that I am a giant nerd. I stayed down there for the whole evening chatting with Brian (who tends to monologue, and ended up telling me his whole life story and -- once again -- about how corrupt Mouseveni's government is) without even realizing it. Brian works pretty much 24 hours a day, every day, but he promised that the next time he goes home to his village, he'll take me with him. It's only 45 minutes from Kampala, and I think it will be fun. He had better not just be agreeing to pacify me.
So that's pretty much it. I have to make my own way to work tomorrow morning, and I still don't know how to walk from the Wandegeya taxi stage to my office. I'll probably end up just getting a boda... I really need to find a place to buy a helmet so I don't feel like I'm going to die every time I ride one. The taxis are less expensive than bodas, so hopefully I'll figure out how to use them soon. I was going to wander around the area a bit at lunchtime to see if I could orient myself (hah), but since Debbie brought food to my desk, I didn't really get the chance. But tomorrow is another day.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI have become addicted to your posts! Keep 'em coming. Sounds like work is really going to be fascinatin on many levels. But PLEASE get a helmet already!!! :)