First impressions from Kampala

My apartment (shared with a Norwegian embassy trainee) is part of the Bukoto White Flats, a series of buildings built on a quiet, green plot of land near a busy road that roughly divides a valley of slums and a fast-developing hill with big views, country clubs, and ostentatious estates. This juxtaposition is strange, but it is not unusual. Almost any spot in the city, regardless of the SES of its residents, seems to share a border with both slums and mansions. (Add this further challenge: it must touch at least 1 but no more than 3 major roads.) I can picture it now - a build-your-own-Kampala brain-teaser, like "Sim City" meets "Settlers of Catan". You could spend all day rearranging the pieces to achieve such a complex configuration. It is no wonder that the street map is full of kinks and dead-ends. The main roads seem to change names every kilometer, which I suspect comes from many shorter segments that connected over time, as the city grows from both center-out and suburbs-in.

I have bought the Kampala A-Z Atlas, in the hopes of not getting lost at each intersection, as well as several books on the Lugandan language. Although my Luganda stinks, already it has been a rewarding endeavor. Everyone is so encouraging! And I challenge you to think of any words that tickle the tongue more than "Nze njagala" (I like) and "Yeetooloola" (You go round)!

Two days ago, I found a copy of "How to be a Ugandan" in our apartment. Cool!! This book, written by a local journalist, gives a brief history and analysis of 12 major professions in Ugandan society. I have so far read "Doctor", "Sex worker", and "President" - all fascinating. The author explains how doctors were driven into private practice to make ends meet in the hard times of the 1970s and 1980s, then started to charge more as demand for services became too great in the 1990s, and that obscene pricing scale been escalated by the fact that wealthy Ugandans may regard high consultation fees and medical bills as a sign of status. In another chapter, he defends the sex trade as an integral and well-respected part of the Ugandan economy, which has long enabled young women to pass their exams and earn items of luxury, and has only recently been sullied by professional sex workers who force men to haggle over prices and pay in cash. Hm. I'm not sure I agree with his points of view, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.