{"id":525,"date":"2012-11-12T18:04:50","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T15:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=525"},"modified":"2012-11-12T20:16:16","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T17:16:16","slug":"kampala-uganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=525","title":{"rendered":"Kampala, Uganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/strong>s I start writing this, I\u2019m currently in Kampala, Uganda.<\/p>\n

I have been sent to Kampala to help out with some issues at the Embassy and to train some of the local guards on using a new piece of equipment.\u00a0 After going through the usual screw-up at the airport (to remind me I am still in Africa), \u00a0I arrived in Entebbe.\u00a0 In 1976, Idi Amin gave refuge to a hijacked Air France plane at the Entebbe airport.\u00a0 After it landed and released only the non-Israeli passengers, the Israeli Special Forces, in a heroic move flew in and freed the passengers.\u00a0 The operation was a success considering the time frame used to plan and execute the rescue.\u00a0 Several movies were made about it.\u00a0 In the past decades, the Government has changed several times.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I was sent here, is to train about 30 local guards on a special piece of equipment used at Embassies.\u00a0 I love watching these people up close.\u00a0 The ones I taught are some of the senior guards who has been working at the Embassy for several years.\u00a0 I have learned to speak to them in ways they understand, which requires many hand gestures and noises.\u00a0 I\u2019m normally not a noisy person (unless you ask my wife), so making sucking and blowing noises to illustrate the function of this machine tends to make me feel a bit foolish.\u00a0 But I prevailed.<\/p>\n

I taught the same class last year in Kigali, and it was then I became amused by the way the guards interacted with each other.\u00a0 No way would that work in the States, as both males and females stood around in a group as I explained the machine, with arms on each other’s shoulders, some holding hands, and others with their heads actually resting on the shoulders of the one in front.\u00a0 I found it amazing and beautiful to view this innocent behavior toward each other. \u00a0I have seen this interaction between Africans so many times in several countries, but only in Central Africa.\u00a0 Go up to the Northern part, where the African is more likely to be Muslim, or down in the South where they are more westernized, and you will not see this.<\/p>\n

They are actually a quiet people who will provide a service with a subservient smile and nod.\u00a0 Very polite and always smiling, and apologetic when someone mistreats them, like the way the Europeans and Asians do at times.\u00a0 That itself will be another posting \u2013 how people from other countries are so arrogant.\u00a0 People in the United States will tell you that Americans are the worst, as if they want to find another fault with our Country, and yet they really have no idea.<\/p>\n

Because they are quiet, many Africans view noisy people as a sign of ignorance. \u00a0At least until they celebrate with music at a time to dance and show their love of life.\u00a0 While in Kampala, several of us went to a nearby bar that specializes in Mongolian BBQ.\u00a0 After a delicious and very inexpensive dinner, we headed back to the hotel. \u00a0Passing through the bar, I see one of our Ethiopian Techs dancing with a hooker.\u00a0 We walked past and then we all stopped and said, was that Ayten?\u00a0 One of us walked back and stood next to him to look, since it was fairly dark there, and realized it was indeed Ayten.\u00a0 He is a short round man who does his best to keep up with his mind as it runs ahead of him, like a child chasing a balloon in the wind.\u00a0 Ayten had his eyes closed with his arms in the air, rotating his body back and forth like a witch doctor.\u00a0 He was totally unaware of us walking by and if he knew the hooker was dancing with him, he couldn\u2019t care less.\u00a0 He just loves to dance.\u00a0 Below is a picture I took of Ayten with Solomon last year in Kigali.\u00a0 They asked me to take their picture and just as I pressed the shutter, Solomon said, \u201cAyten is my father\u201d.\u00a0 Hence the look on Ayten\u2019s face.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let you determine who is Solomon and who is Ayten.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to be careful what I say to these guys, because many times a casual comment will be construed as a command.\u00a0 On our way to Kampala I stood in line in the terminal wondering aloud what was taking so long.\u00a0 Ayten took off to the counter to get to the bottom of it and I had to catch him and drag him back. \u00a0\u201cAyten, no!\u201d<\/p>\n

The traffic here is not like Addis, which is both bad and bad.\u00a0 Motorcycles dominate the roads, all of them carrying people and goods.\u00a0 At an intersection they will swarm the vehicles like flies on watermelon, and if there is a break on the intersecting traffic they will take off against the traffic lights.\u00a0 Kinda like throwing a rock at the watermelon.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen them carrying: mattresses, furniture parts, parents with 3-4 kids, DHL boxes, chickens\/goats\/dogs, plastics jugs, old women sitting side-saddle and I saw a guy in back holding what appeared to be a long section of stovepipe sticking up in the air.<\/p>\n

Forget the traffic laws.\u00a0 They are only for non-motorcycle vehicles.\u00a0 I worked with a Seabee from Kenya who told me, traffic lights in Nairobi are only obeyed if a traffic cop is present.\u00a0 As soon as he leaves, it\u2019s a free for all.<\/p>\n

While riding the shuttle to and from the airport every day, there will be venders who stand at the congested intersections to hawk their wares.\u00a0 I would see several of them carrying a clear bucket of what I thought was chopped up pieces of a plant.\u00a0 Ayten told me they were grasshoppers and tasted terrible.\u00a0 Terrible!\u00a0 He repeats things like that. \u201cHave you tasted of them, Ayten?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u00a0 No! They taste terrible!\u201d\u00a0 he replied.\u00a0 “Terrible!”<\/p>\n

Also, along the side of the road we traveled on, I saw many pieces of furniture for sale.\u00a0 I mean, a lot<\/span> of furniture.\u00a0 It took several trips to and fro, before I realized, they were actually building the furniture right there on the side of the road!\u00a0 And it was good looking stuff.\u00a0 Some upholstered, and some just wood, but nice looking stuff.\u00a0 \u2013 just right there on the side of the road and left it there to sell.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been through several airports overseas, but the one in Uganda was most unusual.\u00a0 It is the first time the officer at any passport control, actually pronounced my name correctly and casually visited with me as he did his check. \u00a0Made the trip seem so much more pleasant.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019m home, I uploaded several of the best pictures I took of Kampala.\u00a0 I have what I call, flying shots.\u00a0 They are taken very quickly from a fast moving vehicle of the side of the road.\u00a0 Many of them turn out blurred, but those that did not are posted.\u00a0 Look over to the left side of the page and you will find a link to our Flickr site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I start writing this, I\u2019m currently in Kampala, Uganda. I have been sent to Kampala to help out with …<\/p>\n

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