At Last: The Pictures!

I literally think I have taken well over 500 pictures since I have been here...I am a bit afraid that I didn't bring enough memory with me for my crazy picture taking habits! I am sorry that this is such a small piece of my photos, but I tried my best to represent what I have been experiencing and doing. I promise to upload the rest of the pictures once I get back to the US when I am not being charged per minute and when the connection is a little bit faster! As a side note, as I add these pictures, they add to the top, so the first pictures I added are on the bottom of this page. If any of my explanations are confusing, keep reading on, and hopefully the confusion will be cleared up.

The local market in Bukoto, about a 5 minute walk from my house, on Friday. Pure chaos...that is all I have to say about that.

My trip to Mbale! A welcomed break from the chaos and craziness of Kampala! This is the town of Mbale. I loved the mountains in the background.

A woman selling bananas and other produce on the side of the road. This is very common wherever you go in Uganda. Women are always sitting by the side of the road trying to sell the produce they produce, whether it is bananas, plantains, mangos, maize, beans, etc. etc. Sometimes they are just sitting on the ground, other times they have a stand of some sorts set up, other times they are wandering around carrying their goods on their head.

This is the more rural area or the village of Mbale! It was so beautiful and peaceful. To the left of this road is where I was able to hang out with a local family.

Another view from the road in the rural area of Mbale. I felt so much at peace here. Again, the mountains in the background. And the children there in the road was the collecting crowd I was gathering by my presence. To be a white person..it certainly is an experience.

This is Ronnie's home. He and his sister, Grace, sleep on this mattress, while his son sleeps in a crib to the right of the suitcase. On the other wall is a chair, the front door, and various kitchen supplies stacked up in the corner. Grace just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who will join Don in his crib. Ronnie is stressed about how he is going to feed an extra mouth.

I know, I take a lot of pictures of kids! But they are so much fun and have so much energy! Plus, the adults don't like their picture being taken...they usually want a fee for the picture. Also, they are very hesitant to get their picture taken (the adults) because they often think that a white person taking pictures is a journalist who is going to make a profit off of the picture. Besides, the kids love having their picture taken and seeing themselves on the screen. Taking videos of them is a whole other amazing thing!

This is a dumping site in Kisenyi which surprisingly has a sign that says "no dumping." The upper classes of Kampala often throw their trash down here since it is in the valley which forces people in Kisenyi to live right next to it and make the best of the situation.

These children were playing right next to the dumping site...you just can't get away from it. It makes up their environment; it is their home. Their entertainment involved sitting on cardboard boxes and sliding down this hill.

Children living in Kisenyi, the slums of Kampala

A better view of the sewage that runs right next to all of the homes in Kisenyi. The mothers often cook right next to. Could you imagine cooking the food your family is going to eat right next to your own poop and whatever else is floating in the water near by?

This child was collecting water in the good old yellow buckets down seen frequently around Kampala. Ronnie told me that this water is the purest of all water because it is a natural source from underground. I am not sure if I trust that enough to test the water myself...

The grandmother and her three beautiful grandchildren that I met in Bukoto. I was able to develop pictures for them and take them back for her to have. I hope to be able to do the same for a couple of other familes I have met. It brought her so much joy to have the pictures. Most the people I have met have never had their picture taken, let alone seen a camera.

This is the boy that I mentioned in an earlier posting when I was talking about how a lot of the workforce here in Uganda, in Africa, is children. This child was collecting small pieces of coal off of the road to put in the sack on his back so that he could turn them in for extra money. He was so excited to get his picture taken! It just breaks my heart to see children so young working so that they can survive. They should be playing, running, being kids!

These three kids live in Kisenyi, or the slums of Kampala. The absolute C class of Kampala. Despite the hardships they face everyday, they had a lot of energy and spirit! I am not sure why, but a popular pose for the kids when getting their pictures taken is some kind of kicking pose or saluting the camara. It is very military...I wonder if it has to do with all of the war these people have seen.

This was a local market in Kisenyi; and to my surprise, not yellow buckets, but GREEN! (haha if this doesn't make sense, keep on reading....I explain the buckets later on.)

Another view of the lives of most in Africa. The ditch in front is the running sewage. Many of the children are forced to play right by it, and the mothers often cook right next to it.

I kept asking myself, where is the hope in this place? It is in beautiful children like this! If the children can be reached, as in educated, told about the dangers of HIV, not corrupted, given life, then I truly believe that Uganda, that Africa can rise out of the hole it is in right now. The kids really have so much joy despite the situations they are forced to live in and bear.

This is a typical home in Kampala. This particular home was somewhere in Ronnie and my journey between Bukoto and Ntinda. The most alarming thing, is that compared to a lot of people in Uganda, in Africa, this particular family has it pretty good.

Ronnie and I met this guy in Ntinda during his lunch break. He was working at the local lumbar yard. He let me take a picture because he was shocked that I knew he was eating matoke. Matoke is a local dish and it is so GOOD....it's basically steamed and smasked up plaintains. As you can see, it is often accompanied with beans, and sometimes posho or maize flour mixed in water. I am going to be missing my matoke when I get home.

This is the boy that I talked about in an earlier entry. He is the one who is about 5 years old and is unable to walk or to speak. Because of it, he has been pretty much outcasted by his family and his community, which can be seen by the fact that he hasn't been given any clothes. What worth does a person have when he can work to make money? He is a beautiful child if you ask me!

Another row of shops in Ntinda. Take notice of the yellow bins lying on the ground. They are EVERYWHERE....and for some reason I can't figure out why they seem to only come in one color. They are used for collecting water, washing, and storing food and everybody has one if not a few. Also, the MTN sign. MTN is one of the providers or air time for the beloved cell phones here. Uganda just kind of bypassed the whole land line thing and went straight for the use of cell phones. There are MTN booths everywhere where you can pick up air time cards or minutes for your phone.

The beloved boda boda drivers I keep talking about. They scare me to death and I have declared that I will never ride on one for fear of ending up in the ER (which is what majority of the patients are in Mulago's ER). They usually won't let you take their picture without a fee, but these particular guys kept hitting on me, so I felt taking their picture was a fair trade for their hastling.

This is Henry (on the left) and Nelson. They both work at the offices next door to the house I am living at in Kololo. These two guys, Florence who works at the home I am at, and Ronnie have quickly become my four closest friends since I have been here. I often go out in the morning and in the evenings to sit on the wall and talk with Henry and Nelson. Henry works in the yard and Nelson is a guard. They work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day for a mere 4,000 Ugandan shillings. That is the equivalent of $2.35 for 12 hours of work!

What is the best way to describe this? It is basically a mini store, and they are all over the place. You can buy bananas, pieces of candy, soda, cigarettes, etc. They kind of remind me of a dumpster with the side cut out for a window...which in all honestly, that might be exactly what it is.

This is a view of a row of shops right in front of the brown flats that I showed you guys in an earlier entry. They provide your basic necessities for life such as produce and clothing. I am not really sure what the random goats wandering around were all about. Take note of the consistency of the sidewalks...in all of the pictures for that matter. You can imagine how much more challenging life is when it rains. Everything turns to mud.

This is a home in Bukoto in the background with their cattle and livelihood wandering around their front yard. Cattle are extremely common to Uganda and wander freely everywhere. I was surprised to learn that the tradition of a bride price still exists in Uganda: when a man wants to marry, he must settle a bride price with the father of the bride first which is typically cattle.

This is the bathrooms for the community that I visited in Bukoto. I was kind of glad it was locked because I was a bit nervous to see what was on the other side of the doors. But these bathrooms or "toilets" as they call him here are for about 100 people. Don't say bathrooms here because you'll just get a lot of blank, confused stares.