Practicum

Never mind about not having a practicum. A short while after I published the last post, the UDN called me and I now have an organization to work with. I will start working there tomorrow so things are looking up. Back to the weekend, I spent Saturday just hanging out. We still don't have DSTV in the house but we bought some American shows on dvd so we just watch those. It's crazy how much I feel like I'm back in the US when I'm in the house. That ends pretty much as soon as I leave and see the hills. It has also started raining a lot and my sandals get ridiculously muddy. I tracked so much mud into the Resource Center on Saturday, it was disgusting. In my defense, I tried to wipe off my feet, but the mud gets into all of the little cracks on the bottom of my shoes.

On Sunday, I had a few religious experiences. I went to a Baha'i service just to see what it was like. It was pretty interesting. The singing was acapella and it was really beautiful. I got really sleepy during the service, probably becuase it was so relaxing with the breeze blowing through the open doors and the birds making noise in the background. I didn't really understand what was going on, but there were people reading things in other languages (French, Luganda). It seemed like quite a muzungu haven, though there were people there of all different types of backgrounds. The temple itself is gorgeous and has all this green space around it. I'm not interested in converting, but I am interested in picnicing on their lawn. After the service, I went to the mosque in Kampala that Gaddafi opened last week. I went on Saturday with some friends but we weren't allowed in becuase we didn't have head scarves but the guard assured us that they would provide head scarves for us if we came back the next day. As we were leaving, a man caught up to us and introduced himself as the guy who does the morning and afternoon call to prayer, Mahmoud (spelling is probably wrong). We returned on Sunday to find that there were no head scarves waiting for us, but Mahmoud met us at the entrance and took us around the outside. It's a really beautiful mosque and it's really new so it's quite clean. It's on a hill that overlooks much of Kampala so we got some great views. We took off our shoes to go up to the main part and just walked around. The architecture is beautiful. We didn't look around for too long becuase our guide had to do the afternoon call to prayer at 1:00 so we left. As we were walking down the street we heard him chanting/singing over the other sounds of the city which was really cool. I went home early and prepared for some interviews I had today, only one of which has happened so far.

This morning I headed into the city and met with a woman from an organization that deals with trade. We had a great conversation about trade and development and I may have found a focus for my project in examining trade vs. aid for development, or maybe the aid for trade program. I met another guy and got more contacts which will probably be helpful after I start my work with the Uganda Debt Network as an intern tomorrow. I don't know what I'll be doing but it should be interesting. Then this afternoon, I was supposed to meet with a member of Parliament about transparency and accountability in the government, but he's busy, which is understandable, and I will probably have the chance to talk to him at another time. Meanwhile, I'm just enjoying some free time becuase this is probably the last day that I'll have this time off. Anyway, I hope things are going well for everyone. I will try to keep this updated but things are going to probably be getting pretty crazy.