-Namuli, 2009

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-Muyembe, 2009

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-Katunda, 2009

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Being here in Uganda – and when we traveled to Tanzania on a free weekend – we have noticed very subtle aspects of this. Though never malicious about it, people always turn to the one male in our group to discuss money, rates, plans, etc. In Zanzibar, for example, our amiable driver would ignore the females when it came time to discuss his payment, and he would pull the male aside to have a discussion – even if it meant waiting for the male if only we females were with him for the moment.

Additionally, our Ugandan home-stay mother remarked the other day when she picked us up how strange others on the road thought it was to see a young woman like her driving. She explained it is simply expected that the man drives, and that he is usually the one who owns the car if a family has one. Even with the younger generation, this discrimination is apparent. At a culture week party, as one of the females in our group began to play soccer, a young, male Ugandan remarked that girls do not play sports. Again, it was not said maliciously, but such remarks, regardless of formality or tone, demonstrate a bit of the degree to which women’s empowerment has lost its struggle.

The positive aspect is that females here do not seem to have given up. We have come across many Ugandan women whose strength is impenetrable, who seem a separate world from the one in which a patriarchal society has tried to dominate them. Still, in the United States especially, feminism has taken on a negative connotation, and this has hindered the fight for gender equality. Many would take feminism to mean females struggling to be better than males, rather than the two achieving a balance. It is one of the social disparities that may be losing its cause, for people unfortunately do not always realize the benefit nor the need for gender equality.

-Nantale, 2009

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So when one of our Contemporary Uganda site visits included a voyage to the Kasumbi Tombs of the Buganda Kingdom, I was quite flabbergasted because I had never heard about the existence of any Ugandan kingdom. Our guide went on to say that the current king lives in a palace a few miles away. He also informed us that the descendents of the wives of the 4 original kings live on and still look after the palace. I asked where the women are now. The guide looked around and said nonchalantly that one is sitting in each corner right now. I felt a surge of fascination because I know that creating the appearance of importance has great potential to modify an individual’s behavior. These women were of royal blood and yet nobody was reacting like they just found out that Prince William is jogging down the street shirtless. Obviously the Buganda kingdom has not quite received the attention that Queen Elizabeth and her entourage has, but I wonder what might be different if these women demanded our homage? What if we were made to kneel down in front of them? What if they were dressed in regal robes and flashy jewelry while sitting on thrones? Would we call home to tell everyone we know that we met Ugandan royalty?

But these women neither required us to alter our behavior, nor did they attempt to change theirs. After all, if no one told us, we would have thought these ladies dressed in common clothing were just ordinary citizens. To a considerable extent, I think this unique sample is a fair manifestation of Ugandan society. In general, you will not encounter intimidating masses of pompous or pretentious people here. People are pretty genuine and they don’t make apologies for who they are or who they are not. There is something to be said about the humble… they “keep it real.”

-Ngezaako, 2009

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On a similar note, Professor Noah Kiwanuka, a world-renowned HIV/AIDS researcher, lectured for our group twice on public holidays (Good Friday and Easter Monday). So he spent time away from his family on Easter weekend just for our own benefit. Even though he must have agreed to work on his long vacation weekend, I still feel that we are somewhat taking advantage of our status as Americans to learn from his experiences. Our drivers Dan and Dennis have worked this past holiday weekend as well taking us to classes and to visit NGOs. These resources are very valuable and I think our group appreciates everyone who puts in their time and energy to make this program work, but at the same time it’s difficult to weigh our drivers’ and professors’ time with their families on a holiday weekend against our own motives to learn and experience Uganda as much as we possibly can during our short time here.

Uganda’s future looks very bright with the many connections that Makerere University and the School of Public Health (along with many other universities and institutions throughout Uganda) have with universities throughout the world (including Johns Hopkins, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Pittsburgh and many others). I hope that these professors and others who have been so instrumental in making this trip run smoothly feel that they are getting as much as they expected and as much as we have out of their time with us!

-Muyembe, 2009

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While this is a Ugandan cultural way of life, and I have no right to judge a custom I do not fully understand, this custom has been one of the hardest barriers to overcome when dealing with HIV/AIDs treatment and research. Most Westerns would logically assume that HIV/AIDs is less prevalent in married couples but in Uganda as well as other African countries, research results have been counter-intuitive to these Western ideas. The research shows that HIV/AIDs is not less prevalent among married couples. Later research has shown that it is because of these semi-open marriages. A husband sleeps with a girlfriend who is HIV+, he thus contracts the disease and gives it on to his wife who gives it to her offspring. The wife is unable to ask her husband to wear a condom to prevent the transmission for it is a clear sign of disrespect and thus the epidemic is carried on. These semi-open relationships provide huge barriers for prevention of HIV/AIDs because now it is not just a virus we are fighting but also a culture.

-Namuli, 2009

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I, like many Westerners, constantly stress about not having enough time to complete tasks. Time often becomes a restricting menace that prevents, rather than enables, activities from occurring and ideas from coming to fruition. With an overly busy schedule full of classes, site visits for classes, NGO visits, and excursions coupled with household tasks, outings in Kampala, and personal work, we often wonder how we will have time to accomplish all of our goals while fully enjoying our experience here. This anxiety exemplifies the Western approach to time.

Ugandans on the other hand, and for that matter Africans in general, do not treat time as a prohibitive antagonist. They love to relaxingly enjoy meals, which can often last three hours or more, and other events. Introductions alone can take up to half an hour whereas they would take a few minutes, if not less, in the West. This much more tranquil and calm manor is very appealing, especially as a relief from the hectic daily life at Northwestern.

We live and work, however, in between the Ugandan and Western worlds. We are do not quite fully embrace either side’s sense of time. With our packed schedule and pressure to complete assignments, we approach the program from a very Western perspective, but during each of our activities, we always linger far longer than planned making the experience much more African. Performing mundane tasks such as laundry can take many more hours than anticipated, causing us to believe briefly that we are on Ugandan time. Although, realizing how much work must be done in the near future, places us right back in the Western time mindset. We are therefore constantly in limbo between the two concepts of time.

Interestingly, Ugandans also seem to experience some of this dilemma. They expect scheduled appointments and activities to start on time, but they most certainly do not expect things to end promptly. This apparent disconnect makes planning one’s day very difficult, especially because all subsequent scheduled activities begin late meaning they end even later.

Immersing ourselves in Uganda, we are beginning to grow accustomed to the Ugandan way of life with long meals, relatively strict start times, and nonexistent end times. This adjustment requires us to navigate both the Western sense of time with our packed schedule and the Ugandan sense of time with a more laid back and casual attitude towards time.

To better find the way down the center, we must reflect a bit on why these concepts of time diverge so much. I postulate the following reason. Most people share an overarching goal of survival. Many Africans, however, focus daily on the goal of ensuring their survival. In contrast, the majority who live in the Western world rarely worries about such issues. While still important, survival is not at the forefront of people’s minds in the West because systems are in place to allow for the diversification of society. The Western world does not have to be communally preoccupied with finding and securing food and water sources on a daily basis. The development of new technologies allowed people within Western societies to branch out from the subsistence way of life, and this development, in turn, led to an increased preoccupation with time. In many areas of Africa though, these technological developments did not occur as early as they did in Western societies. While this is a grossly broad generalization, it perhaps can help explain why Africans generally do not treat time as an overbearing, prohibitive concept like Westerners do.

With this in mind, we must embrace both concepts simultaneously while clarifying our goals and expectations for this experience. On one hand, we want to relax, slow down, and thoroughly enjoy our experience here in Uganda, while on the other hand, maximizing our limited time here to learn and seeing as much as possible is also very important to us. Hopefully, these two goals are not mutually exclusive. During the next eight weeks, I hope all of us will be able to enjoy the benefits of both worlds by finding that elusive middle ground between the two concepts of time.

-Mwambu Kalule, 2009

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It makes one wonder where the aid money Uganda receives goes. We’ve actually met several groups (such as an aids organization) where the people have listed the United States government as a contributor. And yet, it’s difficult to formulate a stance on United States aid. In one instance, it seems like our government donates a lot, but at the same time, it seems like, with donations of so much money, the United States should be able to make a difference in Uganda by wise investment. I don’t know nearly enough about economics or the United State’s microscopic involvement in Uganda’s economy to formulate a valid judgment, but the US government has a track record of primary exploitation, and I wonder how, in the larger picture, we have affected Uganda.

-Nantale, 2009

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Ntingoli dance troupe

Scenario 1: We were at a community-based organization (Afrique Troupe) that is run by a two locals. They take in orphaned children and try to put them through at least primary schooling. The funds for schooling are obtained by performing African dance for different events. During the introduction the head lady mentioned “This girl has been with me since she was young, she went to school for a little but mishaps happen. We are talking to the boy’s parents to take care of the child so she can go back to school.” One, that is a very VERY optimistic statement, and two, the girl looked about 18-20 years old.

Scenario 2: We wanted to check out the nightlife of Kampala and took Dr. J.B., one of the doctors at Mulago (one of the largest hospital in Uganda) with us. One of the locals, Davis, came up to us (very very drunk) to make conversation; we were after all the only “Musungu’s” (white folks) present at the time. I was trying to figure out what Davis’s lifestyle looked like. I asked him if he had girlfriend and if so why she wasn’t here with him. Davis replied “I do have a girlfriend, she is at home taking care of our kid,” a little while later, “But I don’t want to marry her, she is not a woman.”

Scenario 3: When we did a home-stay (afternoon lunch with a professor at Makerere and his family) he was curious about what the Americans did. The 35-40 year old professor asked us, “Do Americans have multiple wives?” When we asked him if a lot of Ugandans had multiple girlfriends he replied, “oh yes, you can have as many girlfriends as you want.”

In the past couple of weeks, I have had the most difficult time understanding the very often referenced Ugandan culture of multiple partners and a good percentage of the population having kids before marriage. Many men usually have kids with their girlfriends and marry them afterwards. This is often due to the issue of not having money for a wedding. But a lot of the times, the couples have no intention of marrying any one of their multiple girlfriends or boyfriends. In the light of the AIDS epidemic (or rather endemic AIDS now), this culture is really difficult for me to understand. Not only do unmarried couples have multiple partners but so do married couples at the discretion of their spouses. Plus, there is data showing that discordant marriages are often the highest risk factor for obtaining and spreading HIV. Also, with the wide availability of ARVs (antiretroviral drugs), there seems to be much more ease with HIV and an increase in the incidence rate of procuring HIV. I really don’t understand how this culture of non-commitment and multiple partners came about but it is persistent in this part of the world. What is my place, as an outsider who probably doesn’t really understand the culture, to tell the Ugandans that their way is not right or that it is causing them problems?

Another thing that I have been trying to understand is why there is such under-development with so many funds being injected into this area. As Centurio put it, the funds are “injected into the Politicians stomach instead.” The rest of the funds that do not come through the government and are dispersed through NGOs, seem very highly focused i.e. for ARVS for victims of HIV mostly. The funds also try to give micro-loans and develop attractive venues of income like bead making for the HIV positive patients. Although keeping the population with HIV alive is important, so is to develop them so they can sustain themselves. There is also the debate with the World Food Programme providing food in the North. Although there is much need for this, a lot seems to have calmed down and there is an even bigger need for developing the displaced persons by perhaps handing them farming tools. The fund money, although a lot of it goes to politicians instead of development projects, can definitely be managed better. How can someone who has never been to Uganda know where to invest? Is there a better way of collaborating with anthropologists who know the country and the culture to make better use of the development funds? The point is to provide the support to develop the country so that eventually the country can develop independently, isn’t it? The funds are not supposed to continue as some sort of a permanent income, are they?

-Nantale, 2009

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