A Day in the Life

The other day I was realizing that my everyday normal here in Uganda is somehow different from that in Canada. I recognized that perhaps some of you who love us may like a glimpse into what it means to do life here. It becomes routine so sometimes I forget that this is not what life everywhere looks like.  I want to share and remember what a day in the life is like. Because I am realizing that it is far too easy to forget everyday moments that at the time seem so very ordinary. Perhaps in 10 years my ordinary might look very different.   

A regular weekday might look something like this for me

• Get up at 6:45 AM making my way through the mosquito net. Sneak out of the room as to not wake the baby.
• Open the door for Grace, our nanny to let herself in when she arrives, let Spots our neighbourhood cat in and feed him breakfast.
• Take care to greet Grace when she arrives remembering how important greetings are in this culture.
• Do my usual morning things that are too boring to expand upon here (eat breakfast etc.)
• Say goodbye to Grace and Savannah and head out the door to work
• Drive to the main road via a badly pot holed narrow side road that only one car can fit on at a time. 
• Get on the main road and deal with anywhere from mild chaos to mayhem when it comes to traffic.  It is not uncommon for motorcycles to be weaving in and out of traffic, public taxi vans to be weaving off the road to pick up passengers and then weave back on.  At first, this whole situation caused me a great deal of stress.  Now I find myself weaving in and out of traffic, honking at taxis to let them know I am coming up behind them as if it is second nature. It is all very organized chaos. People know what to do and rarely do I see any accidents. That being said, there are still sometimes the traffic stresses me out or I find myself calling someone a ding dong under my breath.
• Turn off the main road to the back road that goes to my office.  Some urban Ugandans call the area our office is located in “the bush” as it is removed from central Kampala. As part of my journey on this road it is a regular occurrence to have to dodge goats and be delayed or stopped by herds of cows.  There is also a lot of business that goes on a bit farther down the road with a number of shops, restaurants, schools, and guesthouses.
• After all this, I reach the turn off to Kajjansi Airfield where the EMI/MAF office is located. The police let me in and I proceed to follow through my work day.
• When work is completed, I travel home in the same circus fashion that I arrived. Traffic in the afternoon is generally a bit lighter than in the morning.
• After Savannah has her afternoon nap, we head out for an evening walk in the neighbourhood. First we must take care to make sure we start heating the water for the evening showers before we head out. Savannah is somewhat of a rockstar in the neighbourhood and it seems every person knows her by name.  Last night some lady went zooming by on a boda (motorcycle taxi) and started yelling “Hi Savannah.”  Who this lady is, I have no idea, but she loved my baby. There is one portion of the road that has tall trees where monkeys frequently reside.  Savannah loves watching the monkeys.  One night a big hairy male came down and sat on the fence and stared at Savannah.  Savannah laughed long and hard at that silly monkey.
• Arrive home, feed Savannah, bathe her taking care that she does not get any [contaminated] water in her mouth or stick her hands in her mouth during the duration of the bath.
• Put Savannah to bed and prepare dinner.  There is no such thing as express cooking here.  Everything must be prepared from scratch, which is healthier, but a lot more time consuming.
• Shower and head to bed myself.

In general, getting through an ordinary day in a foreign culture takes a lot more mental capacity than in one’s own culture as each and every task must be thought out with a lot more effort. In general though, I stand amazed at some of the ways I have adapted to life here over the last 2.5 years.  In other ways I still am surprised at how some things I would have expected to have adapted to still take so much adjustment.

To sign off, I thought I would finish with a list of things I miss about home, and a list of things I love about Uganda.

Things I love about Uganda

• It is green all year, as in amazingly green.  If you have seen Africa portrayed on National Geographic as a dry arid desert, know that Africa is a big continent and that was not Uganda.
• Our friends here
• The fruit is amazing and costs hardly anything. Fresh pineapples, mangos, and passion fruits are all an almost daily delight for us here.
• The people are warm and friendly
• Spots, our neighbourhood cat.  He is just excellent. Savannah delights in him.
• The National Parks here and the animals in them are nothing short of amazing
• Rolex (Street food of omelet rolled in chapatti flatbread)

Things I miss about Canada

• Peace and Quiet (Our apartment compound is loud during the day and there are non-closable screens on every window which means you hear everything whether you choose to or not)
• Food from home and Candy (I won’t start on specifics or this list will get way too longJ)
• Getting Mail.  As simple as it may sound, I haven’t received an actual piece of mail with my name on it for over a year.  I do miss opening the mailbox to see mail with my very own name on it. That being said, it costs $2.65 Cdn if you would like to send us a card or letterJ  Jaimee Sekanjako C/O Semei Makumbi, PO Box 3251 Kampala, Uganda
• Clean Air
• People I Love
• Wilson my dog

 

My trusty Rav4.  It may be old but we have learned how to drive in Uganda together.

 

The EMI/MAF Office where I work

The Taxi Park in Kampala.  I find downtown Kampala too chaotic for my liking so try to avoid going there at all costs. Paul on the other hand goes in several times a week.

Lake Victoria can be seen from several places in Kampala, including a 5 minute walk from our apartment.

The Road going up to our apartment

The Road from my office to the main road.  The cows and goats were all hiding because it was raining.