Nearing the end

I know I’m bad at keeping blogs going, and I guess this confirms it all over again. It’s the 30th of July today and I have much left that I was hoping to type about. We’re running out of time in Uganda, and today is the last full day Anna and I will spend in this beautiful country together. I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon to pursue my travel plans, and Anna leaves on Saturday to enjoy and relax at gorgeous Zanzibar for one week. But that also means it’s busy, very busy. I spent the last week(s) trying to get my last interviews done in the midst of going to places for ‘tourist’ purposes, and trying to get all interviews transcribed. I even resorted to early pre-breakfast and post-dinner work to get this mind numbing work over with before departure, because I don’t ever want to transcribe again. Oh. My. God. It sucks. Sorry. But it really does. You spend a whole day listening to yourself being incapable of asking questions, even though you’ve asked the same questions 10 times already and you have them spelled out on paper in front of you. You hear yourself stumble over basic English (while I regard myself pretty fluent…) and ask incoherent questions that, surprise, people don’t always understand. Okay, there are those ‘win’ moments too, when you are asking the right question at the right time, and typing-me is celebrating the interviewing-me for being clever. And of course there is the joy of reliving the interviews… the awkward silences because people were too busy looking at their laptops, probably missed half the question and thus start some story they hope suits. Realizing what seemed a good enough interview was mainly a lot of blah blah about irrelevant things, but also the joy of hearing things you are looking for, statements you forgot about and rediscover, and appreciating everybody who talks slow enough to allow you to keep up typing. Also, sorry, I don’t like ‘whites’, they talk tooooo fast! Haha, the country director of an international NGO managed to fill one page in less than 4.5 minutes… that means a 67 minute interview never ends in terms of transcribing and typing…

(I inserted some photos with people of the guesthouse)

Anyway, I finished transcribing yesterday, before we went out to ‘our local club’ one last time with some people from the guesthouse. We went to see Ragga Dee, a big guy with a big name in Ugandan music. At least… at some point in life… he’s not really hot anymore (in terms of music popularity and definitely in terms of looks). He was meant to perform around 01.00, and arrive well in time around midnight to the club. So far so good! He came and sat near us, easy to recognize with his dreadlocks, thick gold necklace in the shape of the African continent and sunglasses (I mean… a must in a dark club past midnight!). But then things got weird. There were random people lip-syncing/performing in the club as a build up towards Mr. Ragga Dee. Which was boring. Like… really boring. One person actually got made fun of for being asleep, this (wannabe) comedian guy stole his necklace and then his shoes (which is apparently the ‘standard’ treatment for when you fall asleep), which made him wake up. Another one got kicked out for being asleep. And while Ragga’s buddies were all going on stage first, he himself seemed to be dozing/spacing himself in his corner, playing with his dreadlocks and sipping Guinness.

It was a little past 02.00 when he finally got on stage, which for the Ugandans seemed to still be worth it, but we thought was ultimately rather disappointing. When he left after 45 minutes on stage (like… why wait 2 hours looking bored and then go on stage for so short?) we also left and went home, because today we’re of course busy at the office again, doing work (okay I’m not doing work now…) and trying to get as much done as possible.

(of course, ass shaking is always present in the club. These people can move their body... you wonder how they do it :P )

If you run into anyone working here or at the guesthouse, don’t mention this to them: we bought cakes! As a way of saying thank you for the help, support, friendship, guidance and care we received over the last 10 weeks (which, in fairness, is a pretty long period) we decided to get two big cakes. After a futile hunt for a good and affordable bakery in total secrecy we mobilized two people in the office (Rebecca and Loy) and with their help we managed to order two giant round cakes for a good price. We’ve got one fruit one for the office an one chocolate one for the guesthouse, and they both look too amazing to eat (though they also look so good you want to eat them). We’ll reveal one at the guesthouse tonight, where they have no clue, and one tomorrow (our last day!) at the office. Tomorrow there will be some form of small goodbye thing for us, organized by the people here. We’ve been warned people will cry… I guess after 10 weeks 9-5 (and beyond) you do get close to people working here, especially if you include the trips and bits and pieces we did with these people. In the end we did most of our things either here or with people working here (most which are also around our age), so it will be sad to say goodbye. Long live technology though, so we’ll be able to stay in touch.

In the meanwhile (I guess I can reveal my plans now, given that it’s unlikely I’ll get to properly write all other posts in time) I’m trying to plan my things for the last week here. I’ve booked a safari for the first three days of August! Whoohooo! We’re being promised to get to see the big 5 (lion, buffalo, elephant, giraffe and rhino) and many more during our visit to Murchison Falls National Park and Zwa Rhino Sanctuary. I drove past both locations while I did my ‘road trip’ through northern Uganda (which I hope to still talk about) and it should be a great trip! We (the tour) leave Saturday morning and are back Monday evening, spending two nights in the park. In order to get to the hostel where the tour leaves in time (it’s in the middle of nowhere on the complete opposite side of town) I’ll go there on Friday late afternoon, I get a free night as part of the deal anyway. So that means I also need to pack all my stuff, I’ll leave my room here after tonight! Somehow these things always end up being last-minute stuff… After getting back to Kampala I plan on spending Tuesday in town, before heading out west towards the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not that I’ll go there (of course, I don’t want to die) but I’m going to Kasese, a small town near the border in between Rwenzori Mountains National Park (“snow at the equator”) and Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda’s most famous). I’ll go there with David, one of the guys from the guesthouse (next to me in the group photo). We might stay at his place (I really still have no clue…) and visit his parents, as well as probably going to QENP for

a (half) day. No clue what else we’ll do… I’ll just see and let things happen! I want to be back in Kampala on Saturday for one last day here, and also to welcome back Anna after her trip to Zanzibar. We then have one (for real) last night in Kampala before flying back to family and friends on Sunday the 9th of August, ending this unforgettable experience in Uganda. Less than two weeks from now I’ll be somewhere in the south of Ireland with Jana (whoohooo!) and family… a weird thought while sitting here behind my desk in the CDRN office somewhere in Kampala…

I actually meant to write about our weekend to Kigali here, but yeah… next time!