I arrived in Uganda on Saturday, May 25th and so did my checked luggage. I got there around the same time as Elena, a mechanical engineering fellow from McGill. After 2 hours, we made it out of the airport and met the other fellows who had arrived the day before and our program manager for a 9 hour drive to our guesthouse at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) where we will be staying for the duration of our fellowship. Our drive was very beautiful and we passed over the equator!
The next day, we made breakfast together and headed out on foot into the city. In the morning, we went to the Airtel store where we had to present our passports and Ugandan visas to get local sim cards. In Uganda, your sim card also acts as a bank account where you can deposit and withdraw money through the mobile money system. You can pay at stores using merchant codes, transfer money to your friends, or withdraw money at any of the many mobile money stands around the city.
In the afternoon, we went to the Mbarara Central Market and adjacent Fresco supermarket to buy some food to cook for supper. The Central Market has several floors and sells everything imaginable, from electronics to vegetables to esthetic services.
On Monday, we started our formal program with orientation sessions in the morning and the afternoon. We’ve been having a lot of long discussions about history, colonialism, and economic development in the region as well as health and safety training as a continuation of the foundation learning we completed before departure.
On Thursday, we went to tour the spaces available to us to work on our projects. While we have been staying on the town campus, the majority of our work will happen at the new main (Kihumuro), about 7km away. The campus is outside of the city and has beautiful views of the surrounding country. Kihumuro campus has a big library as well as the Centre for Innovation and Technology Transfer (CITT). The centre provides funding, space, and other resources to student design projects to help them move beyond the conceptual.
This was also an exciting day because for most of us it was our first time taking motorcycle taxis, called boda bodas. Our program requires that we wear the helmets provided and to only ride as a single passenger in accordance with Ugandan traffic laws. However, you don’t see many locals following these rules.
On Friday, we got to meet the eight Uganda engineering students with whom we will be working on our projects. Together, we attended workshops about community entry and cross-cultural communication given by MUST facilitators.
On Saturday, the Canadian fellows took the 7am bus to go visit the capital city of Uganda, Kampala for the long weekend. One of my favourite things about traveling by bus here is the many fresh food vendors available during the journey. During the six hours we were in transit, two times food and drink vendors came down the aisle with chapati, fruit, and drinks and at four other stops you could buy from vendors out the window. On Maritime Bus, if you forget snacks, your only hope is a bad gas station sandwich.
We stayed at the beautiful (despite the name) Bush Pig Hostel from which we found a great walking tour. We went to the Kabaka’s Palace where the Lugandan King conducts business, the Gaddafi Mosque (the largest mosque in East Africa), the central market, and the freedom monument. I could write an entire separate post about the historical learning, but in the interest of getting this post done I’ll just stick to some photos.
Thank you for reading this recap of my very busy first week in Uganda! I’m a little late with this post as I’ve just finished my second week here, so I will try to get a another post out soon.
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