THE BEST OF UGANDA!

I am not sure if anybody is actually following me anymore, but as I am missing Uganda and trying to transition, I thought it a good time to reflect...

LESSONS:
1. Spicy lentil curry before engaging in Ugandan aerobics is a bad idea
2. Coercion works
3. No matter where your car breaks down or how stranded you might fear to be, somebody will always come to help you
4. Waragi goes with everything and every occasion
5. Say anything, but not the V-word
6. Germans really are obsessed with sausages

What I cannot forget:

1. My arrival at the airport and those wonderful African smells, sights, and feelings
2. Acholi woman in a Kampala Indian Restaurant who guessed that I was a Mexican national. Best compliment, no matter how outlandish.
3. My first Nile Special Beer, followed by my first Waragi.
4. Those first nights in Gulu, watching the children commute into the town to sleep at night, and those children who pursued me and shared their stories. Remember David? I have not seen him in so long and I often wonder/worry where he is.
5. The older woman in Opit Camp who tried to establish that I was indeed a woman and capable of nursing a child like her daughter by giving me a cheap grab.
6. Steffi and I on a motorcycle, cruising around Gulu town to the shock and awe of all – especially when I almost fell off the back.
7. In Alero Camp: the man attempting to pass as a soldier with paper badges who told me he would marry me if he were a bit younger. He seemed genuinely offended and taken aback when I suggested that perhaps I would not marry him.
8. Seeing baby Kelly Innocent for the first time.
9. Awaking to the shoot out in Kitgum in a puddle of my own sweat (from the heat, not the fear).
10. Nights of dancing (some things never change, I know).
11. When I was sick, homeless, and doubting why I ever went to Gulu.
12. The people who listened, consoled, and propelled me forward.
13. The first time my non-emailing brother Justin called me.
14. First marriage proposal – the others somehow don’t measure up to that first time.
15. Fiona, the young girl I met my first week in Gulu when I sat down among a group of youth at a conference. They all refused to talk to me, yet Fiona approached me afterwards and later would visit me and even wrote a very sweet letter with pictures of her and her family.
16. Learning to loosen (not cut) the umbilical cord to certain comforts – internet, electricity, phones, (hot) water, keeping time, functioning vehicles.
17. The young boy in the red jammies at Pabbo IDP camp.
18. Flying mutant crickets/grasshoppers in Gulu.
19. Huge mutant ants in Kampala.
20. The power of a rain storm in Gulu.
21. The woman from Kitgum who always saves the best bunch of bananas for me.
22. Sitting on the back of a boda boda, in the middle of a huge traffic jam, inhaling the fumes and smirking at those who make their snide comments about the mzungu woman who refuses to go side-saddle.
23. The woman with her baby we assisted in getting released from Kitgum Prison.
24. Sitting at a table with Betty Bigombe, the army commander, and a just returned LRA rebel commander.
25. Meatless chicken Thanksgiving dinner in Gulu.
26. The women of Roma Hotel (Beatrice, Annette, Grace, and for a time, Aisha) who took care of me, got to know my habits, and were always shocked when I broke the mold.
27. Eating and drinking at the Acholi Inn, the slowest, but most pleasant service of Tony and Steven (and the inappropriate jokes we shared and never tired of recycling).
28. The amazing friends and colleagues – Ugandans, Europeans, North Americans and all.