the kampala diaries: day 15, national hug your garbage man day.

Today we had a really busy morning taking care of project stuff, and trying to finish homework (LOTS of reading- good reading). We’re currently reading three books, and my favorite is: We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We will be Killed with our Families by Philip Gourevitch. It’s a really thorough (and heavy) narrative of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I’ll be honest- the first day I started reading the book, I had a hard time getting to sleep, but remembering, as Gourevitch argues, is worthwhile- even necessary.

Around lunchtime, my friend Matt and I decided that we needed a break. We couldn’t just sit there… doing that just makes us all feel guilty, because there’s way too much to do, so we walked to the grocery store. On our way there we encountered one of the many burning garbage piles on the street. There isn’t really a garbage system here, so most people just burn their trash if it doesn’t just sit in a pile. And it SMELLS. It’s just another one of those things that I take for granted in America.

So in keeping with a week of holidays, I deemed it National Hug Your Garbage Man Day in America. Trust me, if there were a garbage man here in Uganda, I would have celebrated too, but instead, I’m going to have to rely on all of you to celebrate for me. Seriously, this is one of those things that I’m going to try to never take for granted again, someone to collect the trash, laws against littering, and a system to manage our waste is really something that we’re lucky to have.

We also spent most of the day without water. After discussion with my friends we decided, yeah, no internet can be a bummer, no electricity sucks, but no water is the absolute worst! All I wanted to do all day was to wash my hands, but nope. I had to wait until I made it home from dinner, but boy, was that a glorious experience to turn the faucet, and to feel cold water rushing out. 

We also ended the day out to dinner at a place called Cafe Java's, which has the most American food we've been able to find since coming here. It was superb. Happy belated 4th of July! More on this tomorrow.

I was feeling adventurous, so I wore some lipstick to dinner. :)

By "mushroom burger" they meant: We'll give you a double
cheese(ish)burger with creamy mushroom sauce on top.
Also cajun fries? Best thing I've put in my mouth since
coming here.

Uganda got it pretty close with this milkshake, but
the ice cream tastes malty here.