Ode to Uganda...

Well, I can't really call it an Ode to Uganda... because I'm not familiar with all of Uganda... however, Tororo, Uganda, I know well.

So let's rephrase. An Ode to Tororo!
I bank with Novo. A nice Indian man who changes money out of his hardware store. It's like walking into a Bollywood movie. There is an aisle down the middle of the shop surrounded by a U-shape of desks. Busy workers pound on calculators and computers, barely registering your presence. Novo sits at the desk at the top of the U. He smiles when he sees me. "Where have you been? You've been gone too long." he says to me. The small talk commences. Then, "How much do you want to change?" I tell him how much money I want to change and he asks what demoninations I want it in. 50,000, 20,000; 10,000, 5,000, or 1,000... I leave Novo's shop a millionaire!

The money isn't the only thing that is different here. Food is called different things.
Ugali is posho
chai is milk tea
Food is starch (ugali, chapati, rice, potatos, matoke, etc.)
Soup is (meat, chicken, fish, etc.)

The people here are much friendlier than in Kenya. They will tell you that is because the English colonized Kenya and the English aren't very friendly either.

Tororo has grown leaps and bounds since I left. Novo and the rest of the Indian community have made money hand over fist ... and not completely legally from what I've gathered. But there are new hotels (not owned by Novo) and businesses and it feels less like a sleepy dusty village and more like a bustling town.

You do have to be extra careful as a pedestrian here. There are bike and motorcycle taxis everywhere and car taxis too. And then there are the matatus and private cars... and there are no stop lights in Tororo or stop signs for that matter... you really have to be vigilant. I have been driving in Tororo and it's not as bad as you might think sans traffic rules. I haven't hit anything yet. But Lawi has been doing most of the driving and tomorrow he is going to Kisumu. Will plan for tomorrow later! :)

My assignment here was to take photos of the Maari group. It is a group of disabled people who Give Us Wings is hoping to move out of the slum where they are living into new homes on their own land. GUW did this with the Nyio Ber Women's group a few years ago and it has been very successful. However, putting up a housing development, however modest it may be is still a huge financial undertaking!

I have been interviewing members of the group on video and photographing them. Many of them are disabled because they contracted polio as children. It is really frustrating to think that their disability is 100 percent avoidable and that vaccinations were not available to them, even though they were available in the west.

Most of them live in slums just outside Tororo. They make home brew in the slums and the air is thick with the smell of fermenting molasses. In many cases it is the only place they can afford to live. And rents even in the slums are increasing.

The progress and new businesses in Tororo has brought more people, putting demand for rental houses at a premium. This is forcing people to pay so much of the income for rent that they are unable to pay school fees for their children.

Tororo is hot. Beyond hot really. And when it rains, it's as if the sky opens and all the water rushes out at once. I've never seen rain like this.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the lorries (big trucks). There is a cement factory in Tororo (owned by Novo) and the trucks that haul cement are everywhere!

Did I mention it was hot...