I spent the weekend in Juba, and before returning to Yei today I had to visit the big market in Juba this morning - intending to take in the atmosphere and take some photos without confronting an SPLA soldier with a Kalashnikov and a lethal thousand-meter-stare.
I managed to avoid the occasional, stumbling drunk - and truly scary - SPLA soldier. Instead a man (identifying himself as 'working for the government with anti-corruption') tried insistingly to put the message through that I was unwanted; You've got five minutes, and then I want you out of Juba!'. He was instantly dealt with by our local driver and other by-standers, who explained to me that the guy was traumatised. A category which is used throughout to describe the human impact of the civil war in Southern Sudan.
I backed...
The text on the billboard, which hangs in several places in Copenhagen at present, asks the question; If there were cluster bombs in Denmark.
If you are handicapped and living in Denmark - and able to drive a car - you are entitled to a free parking space. Imagine, if there were cluster bombs in Denmark, there would be a lot of these free parking spaces - and a lot of handicapped Danes.
This excellent illustration of how to make the Danes aware and support a very far-away problem is part of a campaign launched by the Danish Red Cross and Dan Church Aid. Read more about it here (in......
It happens that I run out of efficient and appropiate English vocabulary. In those cases I sometimes find myself using the few odd Serbian words which have stuck with me.
Serbian is spoken with exquisit intonation and pressure, making it absolutely excellent for exclamations. It even goes well along with big expressive arm gestures. Danish is too flat and doesn't serve any higher purpose in these cases.
Like yesterday at the improvised road pull-in at Kafu River, almost halfway between Arua and Kampala. What do you say when a dozen of enthusiastic street vendors try to convince you to buy their roasted goat meat on a stick, their coca-colas, their mineral water and their fried cassava - by pushing the items inside of the car?!
'Ej, ej, ej, polako! or 'Dozda!' Maybe I could also use...
Juba Arabic is a lingua franca spoken mainly in Equatoria Province in Southern Sudan, and derives its name from the town of Juba, Sudan. It is also spoken among communities of people from south Sudan living in towns in Northern Sudan. The pidgin developed in the 19th century, among descendants of Sudanese soldiers, many of whom were forcibly recruited from southern Sudan. Residents of other large towns in southern Sudan, notably Malakal and Wau, Sudan, do not generally speak Juba Arabic, tending towards the use of Arabic closer to Sudanese Arabic, in addition to local languages. Read more here.
...and these days you also find ex-pats speaking Juba Arabic or at least borrowing words from this interesting language. Words which says things explicitly better in your Southern Sudanese...
Besides CHOGM, Mabira, a World Bank donation (which must have given a few Ugandan governmental officials the similar feeling as the occasional events when my parents decide to donate a large sum of cash without me having performed extraordinarily), and the sudden death of the permanent secretary of defence (who also happened to be one of the guys who went to the bush with Museveni back in 1985, and whom the papers now indicate died 'mysteriously', which makes most people around here interpretate as 'murdered') - the talk of town is still the lack of diesel.
In today's Monitor I read through a page where people had been encouraged to give their opinion on why they think Uganda lacks diesel. However, I like my news kind of more factual. If I want a multiple human perspective on the lack...
One of Uganda's leading dailies, the New Vision, Saturday published an editorial titled; 'Opposition should have Uganda at heart'. You can read the whole text here.
In short, the editorial is about the Mabira Forest protests, the up-coming Common Wealth Meeting (CHOGM) and the opposition. In particular I paid attention to the last three paragraphs.
It is unthinkable that any opposition party in the UK would try to boycott an international event benefiting the entire country the way FDC has been doing. Already in Malta, the opposition tried to block Uganda from hosting CHOGM. You can disagree with Museveni and his Government on many issues. But you should do so in a constructive way, using the appropriate channels, and always having the interests of the country at heart. One...
Before the arrival of the British, the Buganda King, the Kabaka had chosen the area that was to become Kampala as one of his favourite hunting grounds. The area was made up of numerous rolling hills and lush wetlands. It was an ideal breeding ground for various antelopes - particularly the Impala. When the British arrived they called the area the Hills of the Impala.
The word Impala is used to describe a particular species of antelope (Aepyceros melampus) common across Africa - the word's origin is likely to have been from the Zulu language in South Africa. It was then adopted into the English language by the British. The language of the Buganda, Luganda, adopted many 'English' words from Buganda's interaction with the British.
In this case, the word 'impala' was adopted and the...
On arrival in Adjumani in June 2005 I sort of promised myself to stick to at least one thing regarding work, when the shit really hits the fan; not to take it personally. There is a handfull of explanations why the Sudanese refugees react the way they do, why things never happen according to deals, why promises hardly ever are made. Finally there is a tremendously amount of stuff I can't do a milimeter about (and better leave to others in order to keep sane).
I explored and learned to love this kind of emergency situation in Serbia. Here I am battling it. I have to admit that one or two things really took me by surprise at my worst meeting ever this Saturday. My first reaction was anger and pure disappointment, but eventually I was sad and found myself with a feeling of having...
In
What does a development worker do?,
northern Uganda,
Into Africa (or out of Africa?),
Miss Uganda = MS Uganda,
In between days,
Don't Mention the War,
Trying to catch the deluge in a papercup,
Uganda,
3rd World,
Lost in translation,
Bending The Rules Of Gravity
Yesterday I participated in one of the worst meetings ever. An executive committee meeting at my local partner organisation. The trouble of the organisation has been evident even before my arrival to Uganda, but as people in northern Uganda are extremely hesistant to speak their mind openly, afraid of confrontations and obedient to hierachy and authorities, it takes long before we can deal with the actual point.
People would rather talk in corners, and wrap accusations in polite phrases, so you actually forget for a while what is actually said. People accept bad leadership, lack of communication, and they accept to wait for things to happen by themselves. To be precise, the meeting took around 11 hours. I left it around 6 pm out of frustration. I remember I used the term 'ridiculous!',...
Arua and Koboko are the kings of avocado. Obviously everyone around just knows when an avocado is ripe, or if it isn't ripe untill in 12 or 24 hours.
We got caught in one of these discussions today - the man postulated that the woman was selling an avocado which wouldn't make it ripe today, but tomorrow.
And what do we know?
For most of the wazungu tribe avocado is mainly known from the green section in the supermarket. To the wazungu people it is always a nice surprise when they realise that the stuff grows on trees in northern Uganda....
The Southern Sudanese province gave inspiration to a bar off off the Port Bell Road in Kampala (also seen spelled Bar El Gazal, Bar El Ghazel etc.). I might be mistaken, but I think that will be the only......
My very personal interpretation of the Ugandan jungle of street, shop and other types of signs is that they primarily are written on a base of supernatural good intentions and an ideal situation which seldom applies to this part of the 3rd world.
It is about keeping optimism and a positive attitude in spite things around you might not appear in this way. I also believe the sign jungle can be used as an indicator for what's up and stirring a certain community - it is talking to you through the signs.
No rules without exceptions - this popular bar at Kisementi in Kampala doesn't overestimate it's own......
Some Ugandans don't pronounce the 'L' as in 'love', 'landlocked' or 'lost'. In stead they say 'R'. (I know it happens in Asia, too). However, when discussing democracy funny moments occur when the word election is being mentioned.
It is hard not to prefer the free, fair and frequent erections to......
I bet you also receive occasional mails asking for your help, which due to unbelievable circumstances will be rewarded with a utopian number of dollars. Quite often these guys put their write up into an African context, in particular I have received a countless amount of Nigerian versions. Well, the request might be obviously stupid to me, but people actually follow the encouragements in these mails and end up being seriously cheated.
When you have read the following, you google the email which the sender claims to be her lawyer, and then you google the sender. If you still haven't got the obvious, then try this link.Hello,
You may be surprised to receive this mail, as you read this, don't feel so sorry for me because I know everyone will die someday. My name is Mrs. Felicia Samson, a...
When I visited Russia back in 1989 someone joked that if you were to determine the degree of civilisation of a nation on the standard of their urinating facilities, Russia would find itself on the Neanderthal stage.
In oppose to what many might think urinating facilities in northern Uganda or Southern Sudan can be no worse or better than the ones in Russia or Southern Europe. However, a few things are good to know regarding this when visiting Africa:
In rural Africa we don't use the word toilet. You will discover this (maybe too late) when you find yourself in an African village asking for one. Flushing toilets are simply not very frequent when you go to the rural areas, for obvious reasons. In stead we have the pit latrines.
You don't ask for the toilet, and you don't need a...
Do you know the relationship between two eyes..? they blink together, they move together, they cry together, they see things together and they sleep together BUT THEY NEVER SEE EACH OTHER.. that's what friendship is!!! If I called you and asked you to pick me up because something happened.... would you come?.... If I had one day left to live my life... would you be part of my last day?.... If I needed a shoulder to cry on.... would you give me yours? This is a test to see who is your real friend or just someone that talks to you when they are bored. . .... I care! Do you?
How come I receive these kind of lines on my Skype - all the time? From males on the African continent. What is wrong with you......
Talking about Kafa Ulay - clothes from the white dead... Here comes an example completely out of place. The guy on the motor bike with the comwboy hat wears a T-shirt saying 'Follow Me To The End Of Breast Cancer!' while he cruises down the Avenue Road in......
Yesterday I learned that politics is above grammatical rules. No surprise. But the only education I ever completed was as an English teacher, which might explain why I suddenly felt a compulsion to work this out. I have been working on an information flyer for our civic education programme Education for Peace. People use the terms n/Northern and s/Southern/s/South inconsistently. Nobody didn't even notice my previous - stupid - mistake here.
So - hold on tight....
'Northern Uganda' or 'northern Uganda'. Well, you can't hear the difference. Grammatically correct, 'northern Uganda' is spelled with a little 'n' as it is referring to a geografical part of Uganda, which is not as such independent (though Kony might have wanted the capital 'N'). However, the funny thing is that we have...
In the blogosphere I am very often being referred to as an aid worker. I am not. I am a development worker. And more specifically my job description says 'Information Advisor and Organisational Capacity Building Facilitator. Most often that one is too long to use for any good, so I usually call myself an 'organisational advisor'. Sometimes I refer to my original education 'teacher', which in Africa still has some social value...
Considering the developing world, we most often hear about the disaster or emergency areas. The place where I work, north western Uganda, is/used to be such a place, depends on which way the Peace Talks in Juba are going. It is close to Sudan and the areas affected by LRA, and it shares a lot of characteristics with those areas.
But aid workers are...
I can't possibly be the first one to suggest that the Tanzanian airline company should opt for a far more realistic name. Saturday night when I thought I was leaving Tanzania, in KIA Airport at Kilimanjaro, my name wasn't on the departure list. And I wasn't the only one, in fact Precision Air had overbooked the plane to Nairobi with about 20 passengers.
In stead of letting it all out on the nearest person with a Precision Air tag, I congratulated myself for all the other times I have flown in Africa - where no irregularities happened, and where I really needed/wanted to be somewhere in time. As I counted, I realised I have been extremely lucky. This Saturday night, I had none waiting for me in the other end, and nothing which couldn't be postponed.
However, I was the only one in KIA...
Nominations for the best blogs - and various other categories - the competition is now running. Vote here. What I find the most interesting is that my blog is the only non-Ugandan among Ugandans - in the category of the best blog of the year (At least, I think so. I mean, some of the bloggers I believe to be Ugandan state to origin from Planet Earth, but don't we all...!?)
Maybe I should take that as a......
The 27th Comrade has commented on my blog several times. I have been seriously wondering about his name, not to mention his comments and his blog. I actually thought he was an American on some sort of a sidetrack.
But no. He is a young Ugandan, and tonight we met at the UBHH at Mateo's. He also explained the meaning of his blogger name - the 27th Comrade; When Museveni came in from the jungle to take over Uganda in 1986, there were 27 of them - comrades. I don't know how to come up with a similar Danish example, but I like the imagination behind this blogger's name. (Not sure that I would want to be one of Museveni's 26 comrades, though).
In respect to the fact that some Ugandan bloggers want to be anonymous I took a photo of their feet. However, it was really interesting also to put...
There is one thing I find hard to look through fingers with and practice in an African mode: the Ugandan way of queing. Wether it is shopping or waiting to take out money at the ATM, my Scandinavian milimeter democracy usually freaks out. People are beyond queing in this country.
Like today when I did my shopping in the Kenyan-owned supermarket Uchumi in Garden City - I went to the till, joined the line and got ready to line up my groceries. Suddenly this guy appears from nowhere and moves swiftly in front of me. He gives me a broad smile. I don't interpretate his smile as a friendly approach but as being stupid and impolite. So - the following conversation erupts and pisses me off for the rest of the afternoon:
Me: - Hey you! Get back in the line.
Him (shrugging his shoulders): This...
...
This morning I was interviewing Claire for a Danish youth magazine - Zapp. But before we even get started, the office at Arua Resource Centre wind up in a discussion, where the aim is to enlighten me on how much sugar to use in the tea...
I take the tea with 'No sugar, PLEASE!', an attitude which during the discussion occurs to me is considered very much odd in......
Yesterday I visited two of the Sudanese refugee settlements in Adjumani District. Alere is one of the oldest and dates back to the beginning of the 1990ties. The refugees here are mainly from the Madi-tribe - and mainly originating from the area around Nimule - just on the other side of the border. Most came to Uganda around 1989, where they were 'repatriated' by UNCHR this way - into Uganda, when the Kharthoum regime bombed their homes.
I went there to get an idea of how far our civic education programme 'Education For Peace' has reached, and to speak to some of the participants.
Officially, there is peace now in southern Sudan, and asking any Sudanese refugee if he/she is to return, they answer positively. Asking 'when that would be more specifically?', they whirl into...
In
Peace,
Sudanese Refugees,
civic education,
What does a development worker do?,
northern Uganda,
Don't Mention the War,
Trying to catch the deluge in a papercup,
Uganda,
3rd World,
Sudan,
Lost in translation
- When do you come and visit us?
- When do you invite me?
I witnessed the above conversation between a Danish mzungu and an African the other day. The cultural divergence stroke me instantly and reminded me of previous conversations between other Danes and people I know in the Balkans.
Outside Scandinavia, especially in Southern Europe and Africa, people give away hospitality in open king-size doses. In Denmark we are more sceptical, if we invite someone we attach it to specific details (as in 'when', 'how long' and 'how many').
Hence, we also expect these answers sorted out when someone offers us the hospitality. In spite the African above actually does give away an invitation, we can't help asking for something more specific for us to know that we are truly welcome,...
This afternoon I put 2/3 of my Danish visitors on a Yellow Taxi to Entebbe Airport. The third took a plane this morning to Juba, equipped with a rucksack, dollars, high-heeled shoes and a big smile. Important acessory, I guess, if you want to keep the level of fun we have had in Uganda...
My visitors adapted two standard phrases during their stay in Uganda, which they kept repeating whenever one of us suggested something; 'Will it make me horny?' (as in 'we won't do it if not') and 'Thank you to MS!', when something was extraordinarily good. I heard both phrases a lot, and I was both surprised and really delighted with their fondness for Uganda. I really enjoyed their stay and their ability to squeeze the good stuff out of Uganda.
It also made me think a bit.
If you only have three...
Southern Sudan is a country in its' own category. Well, actually it is not a country, but a region of Sudan. Together with Northern Sudan it makes up Sudan. If I used the term South Sudan I would be indicating that it is a country in itself. Using the term Southern Sudan sticks to the geographical term indicating it is part of something else - Sudan - not an independent size.
Seen from a political perspective, this is crucial, as this difference is more or less the essence of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In 2011 the citizens of Southern Sudan are to vote wether this system is to continue or if Southern Sudan should become an independent South Sudan.
Got it?! I myself am confusing the terms over and over. However, the terms are important in order to understand Sudan. And when...
'Don't let yourself fool by pseudo romantic hotel names in Uganda.
Here reality is always somehow......