The UG Experience

"Joshua! Welcome to the U.G.!" These were the first words spoken to me as I arrived in Uganda a few days ago by my good friend Peter. Arriving in the Entebbe airport, attaining a visa, and hopping in the car to make the drive to Kampala (the capitol of Uganda) after a 20 hour flight was a bit hazy, but my adrenaline pushed me through, excited to catch up with an old friend and talk about the quickly changing country. I am staying at Xavier House, the Jesuit residence here outside of Kampala in Nsambya for at least the next two weeks before I make a trip to Fort Portal (about 5 hours west of here near the Ruwenzori Mountains).

The streets are jammed with taxis, cars and boraboras (motorcycles that serve as taxis: just jump on, hold on and hope for the best). Kampala has grown over the years and is a large, bustling city, and proves to be very confusing due to the absence of street signs. Luckily, Peter has the week off to show me around until I get my bearings. I did my best to take note of the route into the city, however, on our first trip in, Peter tested me by asking how I would get home from where we were standing. My honest answer was, "I wouldn't." However, it is only my second day in the city, so I am sure my familiarity with my surroundings will come with time.

Time is an entirely different idea here. We are ruled by the clock in the US, and here, it is anything but that. Here, time is more of a suggestion or a possibility. When someone says, "I will meet you at 1pm, it may end up being 3pm before you meet. Yet, it is not rude. It just happens, and one must be patient. Part of this is obviously due to transportation difficulties with traffic and roads. But, it seems as though people are not stressed by the rigidity of time here. Patience is the key. This alone, would be a wonderful change for the US: not to neglect time, but to accept the value of patience... in all things.

I am excited to begin filming tomorrow, and hope that the beginnings of this project will begin to take their course. I do not want to force too much of a label on the direction of the film too early, as much of what I have already seen here has been very different than my previous assumptions. So, my strategy for now is to listen. To hear the stories that people are telling, and from that, begin to search for the thread that binds us together. I know that I have much to learn here, and I am sure that others do as well.