Welcome to Uganda!

It is just before 6am and I am listening to “call to prayer” from the neighbourhood Muslim temple. It’s one of my favourite sounds here as it is so calming and peaceful. The sun will be up in about an hour but the community is already waking up. I can hear more traffic, the occasional car horns, the roosters are crowing and another day is beginning. 

My day began at 3:45am after about 3h and 45 minutes of sleep but hopefully this will mean that I will sleep well tonight and be fully over my jetlag. I slept a full 11 hours my first night which was glorious after 51 hours of being up and having only two small 4 hour naps on my flights. 

 

Uganda has not changed since March 2011 (surprise surprise!) and I feel like I have returned home. We have already had our share of ‘minor dramas’ including a flat tire, running out of gas, losing 2 pieces of luggage, no internet, no toilet seat, no ability to get my ipad or iphone to connect to the wireless, and a few items that have gone missing like cell phones and power bars. But these are such minor issues that all can be remedied (apart from the no connectivity for my Apple devices but luckily I brought my netbook and I still have my books on my ipad and my camera on my iphone!) and all of the them have been remedied  apart from the lost luggage. We are hoping those will arrive on the flight from London today. 

The centre has children from the time it opens its doors until the time they are chased out at 6pm. I was up yesterday at 7am and there were already students in the garden studying. By the time we left the centre at 9:30 there were several older students studying and younger ones doing puzzles and reading books. The internet café is full every time I walk through and while I curse the slow or lack of connectivity, the Ugandans chat and catch up while they wait for their pages to load. 

It always takes me a few days to switch from hectic Canada mode to “no hurry no worry” Uganda mode. This call to prayer is helping me get there. It’s soothing to my spirit. I am so happy to be back in Uganda.