First week

A lot, probably all of you, have already read part of this but come on, my life is interesting enough to warrant a second perusal right? Yeah it is. You know it.
So heres whats up.
Lacey, who attend Rollins with me, and I started working this week. But as expected, they didnt really know what to do with us. So we show up for a couple of hours a day and attend some meetings and tool around the office. We are only at the main office in Kampala, the capital city, until Tuesday so its not so bad that they dont have much for us. Wednesday was pretty cool though. We attended a meeting with several of the government officials from Swaziland, including the finance minister and the health minister. It was quite interesting to see how all the things that we are learning in class are actually applied in the context of government and policy. After that meeting, we met up with a former Humphrey fellow who attended Emory in 1999-2000. He was amazing. Really, AMAZING. I am going to assume that a lot of people dont know the history of Uganda so I am going to do a real quick recap and how this relates to Samuel...
After british colonization ended, Obote (I am not spelling most of these names right but bear with me) who was from the Northern regions of Uganda took over. He was widly corrupt though so with the aid of the British, Idi Amin, also from the north, arranged a coup. He basically engaged in ethnic cleansing throughout the Southern region of Uganda and killed some 300,000 people. Eventually he was taken out, Obote came back in, and then the current preseident Musevini, kicked him out. Now Musevini is from the South. As such, he filled most of his positions with Southern residents and took political revenge on the North, relegating them to much lower and less prestigious positions. Essentially, the South became educated and well off and the North became poorer and cut off from political power. So there has been a rebel troop, the Lords Resistance Army, operating in the Northern regions, near Sudan, for the past twenty years or so, attempting to overthrow the government. They have lost all support from the people however, and two years ago a cease fire was called and peace talks continue.
Now Samuel, is originally from the North. He is a doctor and he worked in a hospital there. During the Amin years, he was mistaken for a Tanzanian spy and held at gunpoint and interrogated. He escaped but the other two people who were being interrogated with him "disapeared". Some years after the rebels started the rebellion, they took to kidnapping children for soldiers and others for hostages, regardless of their tribal affiliation. Samuel was almost kidnapped twice, his sister was kidnapped and ransomed in exchange for his life (she was released), and eventually he escaped from the area. He told us so many stories like this, it was heart breaking. But he is so kind and so generous. Although I am sure that he is haunted, he is not vengeful nor does he hold hatred towards the rebels.
Anyway, we had lunch with him and it was so inspiring. Probably my favorite part of the trip so far. After lunch, Lacey and I met up with some friends of hers at a local bar and drank a few beers. One of her friends decided that he was really in the mood for some friend grasshoppers and got the waiters to go out in the street and buy us a bagful. So, with some prompting (and beer), I ate fried grasshopper. It really isnt too bad. They are really crunchy but then also a little soft. Kind of similar to shrimp. Im not sure that I will do it again, but Im definitely glad that I tried them.
Thursday, a bunch of people from Notre Dame came here (the place I am staying is funded by the church that runs ND) and a bunch of people went out to dinner. When they came back, we drank wine and had deep political and social chats until five in the morning. Thankfully, Lacey and I didnt have to go into work. It was interesting to once again debate issues of health since most people at Rollins share generally similar opinions.

As for just general impressions of Uganda...
I hate mosquitos. I am pretty sure I am am going to get malaria because I am bitten constantly but Lacey assures me that it really isnt that bad. Kind of like the flu. It rains a lot here, thus the mosquitos. The power goes out pretty often but not for very long at a time so thats nice. After washing clothes and leaving them out to dry, they need to be ironed so that the eggs that were probably laid in them are killed. People are really friendly, although as in India, they charge ridiculous prices and try to cheat us all the time. THe food is not nearly as good as Indian food, but I think that thats probably ok. Ugandan catholic fathers are awesome. I havent laughed so hard and so often in a pretty long time. (OK like two weeks but still they are really funny).

This has now become far too long. And I have to go socialize and finish ironing. Hope that everyone is happy and healthy!