I was sitting on my terrace one afternoon and noticed that this lovely tree looks an awful lot like one that my friend Ryan had in his Queens apartment. I figured his tree was droopy looking because it didn't like apartment life, but it seems that that's just how this one grows. I don't think his ever managed to grow such amazing dreadlocks, though.

Baby! Baby! Baby!

Oliver Miles Arkin is here! Rebecca, one of my oldest and dearest friends, delivered her and Jeff's first child at 11:34pm on September 25th. Can't wait to meet him!

I haven't been writing much on the blog about goings on in the country, but given my line of work this article caught my eye today.
Uganda: Catching Aids is Treason - Museveni

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has said contracting the deadly HIV/Aids virus is "treason."
"To die of Aids is treason. Why? Because you (would) have betrayed your family, which had invested in you and had hope that you would help them," the President said on Monday while addressing hundreds of Student Guild Council officials from 12 Ugandan Universities in Kampala. He said most youths get ruined by "running after women".

"Instead of being an asset, you become a burden (when you get infected). And afterwards, they announce (over the radios) that he died after a very long illness...is that not treason?" he asked a hushed audience. He said it was also "treason" for soldiers trained by government to die of the scourge...

(full article in The Monitor)

It's Kody's last day, and my shipment FINALLY arrived from the US. I was exicted to see what's in it. Since I'd packed up 5 months ago, I wasn't really sure anymore what I'd sent.

Somewhere along the long and winding path to my Kampala home, my crates got covered in oil. I was less than thrilled with this, as you can imagine. Not exactly the condition that I'd shipped things in! Still, it's nice to have some of my things from home here. Like my eyeglasses (mistakenly packed), bedspread, photos of family and friends, and cooking tools (I was getting really tired of cabbage salad dinners).

After helping me unpack, we went for a last walk around the neighborhood, picked up a pizza and got ready to say goodbye for now. It will be lonely around here when Kody's gone. See you in December for a frigid Maine Christmas!

Well, the trip to Murchison Falls fell through. We got up at the crack of dawn and made our way to Red Chilli, only to discover that 5 of the 8 people registered for the trip bailed out. Sending only 3 people was double the cost we'ed expected to pay, so the game drive/Nile float trip/ walk to the falls was off.
Instead we organized a trip to raft the Nile in Jinja, about 90 minutes away from Kampala. I'd never been whitewater rafting before, but wasn't really scared until we were putting our helmets. And getting instructions to follow when the boat flips.

Well, we "only" flipped 3 times, but man did I get bruised! Kody and I managed to end up in exactly the same place each time the boat flip.

Flip #1: nowhere near the boat, dragged down in the green, green water. Trying not to panic! Really nice bruise on my arm from the trip down the waterfall (Yes, we rafted a waterfall). Flip#2: holding onto the boat, bobbing along the side of the boat.

Flip #3: underneath the raft, after flipping in the rapid call "The Bad Place". Then trying to get out from under the raft, and make it to shore without cutting scraped up too badly on the rocks. Really nice bruise on my face from that one!

We saw the source of the Nile (not much to look at after the dam was built), and we went horseback riding, too.

After stopping at the Red Chilli backpackers to pay for a Murchison Falls trip, Kody and I went to the Uganda v Niger football (soccer) match. It was a qualifer for the 2008 ANC, so everyone was very excited. We arrived just before the match started, and had to crawl our way up the stands to find seats.

"Sports philanthropist" Michael Ezra made quite a spectacle sitting on the pitch in in his red tracksuit, surrounded by white track-suited guards and a huge umbrella á la Puff Daddy.

After Uganda defeated Niger, he went out to congratulate the players, flanked by the guards.

We headed back home on a boda boda - second scariest ride of my life. Check out the video Kody took from the back of the bike.

Apparently, there’s an organic grocer in my neighborhood. And they deliver!

We spent our last day on the island in Stone Town – a fascinating old Arab/African/Indian trading town of labyrinthine streets, ornate doors, jeweled lights and otherwise amazing architeture.

Public buses - check out the wood siding

We skipped most of the museums to spend the afternoon walking around. Finding ourselves at the Anglican Church, we went in to hear about its history as a slave trading post. The church’s alter was laid on the spot where the slave market ‘whipping post’ once stood, a tree where slaves would be whipped to test their resilience. Although the chances that my ancestors came through there are slim, I couldn’t help but stand there, crying, wondering if this might be where we came from…

Slavery memorial

The whipping post was located where this altar now stands

After we finally made it back to Uganda, the final adventure of our Zanzibar trip was a car accident between our taxi driver and the matatu ahead of us...All escaped without serious injury. After the crash, the matatu conductor hopped into our taxi. Instead of calling their insurance companies, the drivers will head back to Entebbe to negotiate a settlement!

Off to Zanzibar…one of those places that always sounded much too far away to actually be visiting. Kody bought underwater cases for our cameras, so check out his flickr for more snorkeling pics.

testing the waterproof cases

The Goat Races is Kampala’s answer to the Kentucky Derby. Big hats, betting, and racing farm animals. The goats don’t so much race one another, as get pushed around the rink by the ‘jockeys’. We thought about buying our own goat to race, but it turns out you don’t get to take them home. Sounds more like ‘renting’to me.