Travelling 3 hours on a business class flight and booking into the best hotel around, I am protected from what Uganda really is. Protected or confined? hmm…
The people of Uganda are extremely polite, respectful, cultured and humble. What stands out most for me is their simplicity. Simple in actions, dress and this indicates the simplicity of their mind. But don’t celebrate too soon. Like the rest of us, Uganda is following the leading nation of world and so this simplicity will turn to arrogance and simple living will turn into a complex rat race.
The first day here we visited a client of ours to do installations and training of the new product we are launching into this country. This product is web based and will eventually be replacing the current CATS system being used. My role is to observe the problems picked up and how the BAs resolve them. Why come all the way here to observe that? I’m still trying to figure that one out.
Anyway the visit to the client was an opportunity to go into Kampala town. Driving in Uganda is similar to that of India: you drive wherever you want. I think India is worse though. The shops vary from being tiny to double story (simple) buildings. The main trade seems to be clothing and material and there are lots of bureau exchange places. The streets are tarred and quite spacious if no motorbikes and cars keep rushing past you. The sidewalks are not paved but just cemented. Even though it is town it is quite hilly even entering the shops you sometimes have to walk up a steep section or climb lots of stairs. The shops aren’t dirty but not exactly speaky clean either. Let’s just say you feel quite comfortable sitting around but you’d think a hundred times before accepting anything edible from the people no matter how friendly.
Yesterday we saw, from the 10th floor of the bank building, a storm brewing. Below the dust lifted of the ground and covered the area with a sandy haze. But it only rained a little and than the sky cleared. One of the other girls showed me pics from her previous trip when it was raining so hard that you could only see the tops of the cars on the road.
The current hot topic in the Uganda newspaper is the disease Ebola that has just broken out in some parts of Uganda. The disease is apparently airborne which means that if we pass an infected area we could get it. The other way it spreads is that if an infected person touches you or coughs or sneezes on you. Yikes! This is what it means to live in the Pearl of Africa. This also rules out any touring we might have had in mind. By the way there is no cure for this disease. Haribol, you all, it’s been great knowing you.
Besides for all that’s been going on in the bank that’s as far I’ve been into Uganda thus far. BUT let me tell you about the “larnie” hotel I’ve been staying in. Better still why not look at the pics.
You like? All I can say is the bank is paying.
