Hello!!!!  After a fairly smooth trip here by way of Denver to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Entebbe, I found myself in the home of my husband’s cousin’s husband’s family.  During my last minute preparations at home, arrangements were unexpectedly made for me to stay with them for my first couple of days here.  Knowing nothing about me, they nevertheless went out of their way to take a taxi the more than twenty miles to Entebbe to meet me at the airport and bring me into their home where I have been treated with incredible kindness and generosity.  Needless to say, being able to spend my initial first nights in a real home, rather than some random hotel, has been a real blessing.

The trip here has me thinking of paradoxes.  How one can be a stranger, yet be considered a friend; how hopping on a few planes to arrive in Uganda in less than 24 hours makes Africa seem both near and very far from home; how the sights and sounds and smells of this place (thus far anyway) remind me of other places I have been on other continents and, yet, how this place is unique; and how I can feel both fear and eager anticipation for what lies ahead.

And, as always, traveling here brought into full relief the beauty our small planet contains. Flying the last leg from Amsterdam to Entebbe, I managed to awaken from my jet lag induced naps to glimpse Italy, and then the orange sands of the Sahara Desert that seemed to go on forever.  And then, during the last 40 minutes flying in, the most incredible orange sunset stretched in long thin lines across the horizon and enormous oddly shaped clouds created a somehow “Dali-esque” scene.  Below, against the black background of earth’s surface, I could see the silvery braid of the enormous Nile River.

The day before yesterday, with the help of Joe, the cousin of my husband’s cousin’s husband, I made my first foray into Kampala to take care of a few practicalities:  getting a local cell phone, sending e-mail from an Internet café, exchanging dollars into shillings, buying some bottles of water.  And, of course, seeing the city that will be my home for July and August.  But first, it’s off to the north.  Christine arrived yesterday, and so our work begins.  We are spending a few days in Kampala to get our bearings and meet some of The Advocacy Project’s connections.  Then we’ll find our way up to Gulu to begin work with GDPU.

In the meantime, I have been reading up on the enormous challenges the pygmy tribes in Central Africa face.  They are oppressed and marginalized on all levels and sides.  And their situation is largely invisible to the world.  Not to paint them solely as victims.  Who they are – their vibrancy, strength, and dignity– will, no doubt, also shape the picture of who they are in the coming days.  More about this soon.

It’s been about a month since I learned I would be going to Uganda to work with the World Peasants/Indigenous Organization (WPIO).  They will soon to change their name to Central African Association for Indigenous Rights (CAAIR), by the way.  In the interim, I have felt everything from elation to fear, equanimity to frustration… in short, the highs and lows one always seems to feel before embarking on a life challenge.

Already, I am learning the importance of patience, and that one must always expect the unexpected as, already, plans have changed, and changed again.  A few weeks after accepting the position, I learned the WPIO staff will be doing (very interesting and important) fieldwork on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo during the month of June.  They will be working with Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism, studying HIV/AIDS and orphan issues within the Baamba indigenous communities.  However, this means there will be no one in Kampala for me to work with during June.  Thus, could I come out in July instead?  Yikes!  I had already bought my (non-refundable and very expensive to change) ticket.  So, what to do?   The Advocacy Project quickly scrambled to find a solution and a new idea was born… perhaps I could join the WPIO in their fieldwork.   A brilliant idea!  WPIO was all for it, but they had to okay things with all who were involved.  However, as I already felt intuitively, this would not be feasible.  So, back to square one.

Now, however, a happy solution has been found.  I will spend 3 weeks up in Gulu with another AP Fellow, Christine Carlson, who has generously agreed to let me join her.  There, I will be supporting her work with the Gulu Disabled Persons Union.  Then, when July arrives, I will go down to Kampala to start my work with the WPIO.  They will be back with their research, and I am sure it will be full bore from there until I depart in mid-August.

Already, this is turning into quite an adventure!  I leave June 7th, so more soon…