5/28/09 MBALE TO KAMPALA, UGANDA

Today I was both surprised and disgusted. Somewhat on the same lines though separated by general topic. Spending much of the day on the road, my job, I decided, was to observe. I was surprised today by how much politics came up – both in conversation and advertisements (the focus of later, unrelated disgust) and in regards to both Uganda and the US. Obama was everywhere on our drive back to Kampala. His name and his face plastered at least four or five signs. And then, on top of it, he named stores and institutions. I was made both curious and a little jealous by this. First, they seemed to care more about my politics than I did! They all think Obama is so great for the world and there was the rub because I refuse to see any politician or political agenda as my saviour. Because of this I often, though sometimes wrongly, stay out of political matters. I wonder if I should care more about Obama. At the same time, however, for all of the vested interest in the US, I was curious about whether or not they care any for their own political system. But they seemed to. Everyone today had at least some option of the job being done. There were signs for voting and using their voice. I will be interested to see how politics continues to play out on our trip.

Aside from seeing signs for politics, however, much as in America, the advertisements I saw along the road led me to a place of disgust. I pouted and fumed in my coaster seat for quite some time. All of the advertisements are VERY western in my opinion. Furthermore, well, okay, so maybe in a twisted way a country that desires to be more western is influenced by western style...but to what degree is that true? How much do advertisements need to reflect the culture in order to convince and shape it? And besides, the people in the advertisements...grrr! I waited all day and looked around Kampala – on the campus and in the mall – for people I thought even sort of resembled the people I saw in the ads. I have yet to find anyone who comes close. Comes close to women with very pale brown skin, died red straight hair and a steady supply of make-up. I have yet to see anyone with hair done the way saloons advertise and clothes which are a fair representation of those even sold. In America, in the states, I have a huge body image soap box. One where I comfortably, and I believe accurately, place large pieces of blame on media influence for creating an unrealistic and unattainable standard of beauty. I’m in Africa of all places – poor and destitute with my eyes never before so open to both inner and natural outer beauty of varying kinds and we’re dealing with exactly the same things. I would love to know about women here in Uganda and whether they struggle with body image as well. And I would like to know who makes such revolting unnecessary advertisements. And then I want know if they work and why. I have a feeling they do but I find it highly unfortunate!
*side note...a few days later I found out that there is a rising issue with body image dissatisfaction in Uganda, mostly related to more industrialized cities such as Kampala where there is a heavy western influence. Women in the villages have no mirrors and without the media influence have little if any reason to think something wrong with themselves. Thank you media for messing up yet another people!
5/29/09 KAMPALA, UGANDA

It was a hard day to digest. We’ve encountered so many people and so many stories on this trip... I don’t know. I don’t think they’ve ceased to affect me and I don’t want to say I’ve become numb – I don’t think that is it at all. However, I am feeling a bit like a boy who’s spent all afternoon glued to a playstation. My eyes are buzzed and I’m having a hard time engaging as I could be in the rest of life. (This aside from being extra sick...that has only complicated). I don’t know how to process the things I saw and felt in the slums today. I couldn’t take anymore in. It was just too hard to care about all of them and all of the stories and all of the lives I couldn’t fix...

Otherwise, I’m not sure. It’s been an interesting day. The idea of education here has been a different sort of thought process all together. Maybe because I haven’t really given it much thought. In the US, there is such a distinct difference in test scores and colleges and everything based on whether you are from Detroit or Spring Arbor. It shows. I was curious if the same applied here. Do the primary educations affect the rest of life? Will whether or not they received their primary educations in the slums of Kampala or the villages determine how ready they are for secondary boarding school? Will slum children, if they can get to secondary schools, find themselves far behind? Which all plays into the conversations with Thomas at the university yesterday. Ironically, education seems to be both the answer and the problem

I wish education would fix the slums. I still can’t deal. They were so hard to walk through. The one we spent time in today, I couldn’t handle. The smell, the sight, the status. I didn’t want to go into another house. I didn’t want to come to grips with the fact that I felt myself reaching towards my inability to care about everything retreating to a decision to care about anything. I couldn’t break anymore and make it out alive. I wanted to get of there so bad. How can such conditions be tolerated? Why doesn’t the government do something? What CAN be done? How is it the government can give free health care and not work to prevent the things that are causing the problems? Can you treat the symptoms and not the disease? Frustrates me a little. And it this point, I can’t tell if my frustration is legitimate...perhaps I am unnecessarily so.