I realize I am a bit odd about places I chose to travel to. I love Africa for a lot of reasons, and oddly enough, one is the aspect of uncertain danger. Granted I don’t look at the next hot spot for violent rebel group behavior, but I also feel that I am young and resilient enough to go somewhere that keeps me on my feet. When I was living in Nakuru I was right across from one of the slums that had seen some of the worst violence and destruction during the election clashes of 2007. However, during that time I typically did not feel unsafe. Now Uganda, I had heard nothing but good things. I truly believed that it to be one of the safest places to be in Africa. Ok…well, minus the whole war in Northern Uganda and Joseph Kony’s child soldier stealing, Ten Commandments following gang. But where I would be traversing about – Entebbe, Kampala, Jinja – I felt very confident that if I just used proper street smarts I would be fine. After the past week I have really grown to love Uganda. Jinja was amazing, met so many friendly people in Kampala, and saw some great landscape traveling through Mbale and Kumi to deliver sutures to the hospital. Eventually I began picturing myself coming back to Uganda to live, granted I found a job.
It isn’t hard to feel the comforts of home when you can go to Garden City and pick up the latest reading material, or whatever else you may need. Or meet up with friends for Thai food and feel comfortable enough to walk to the next meeting spot at 9pm down a dimly lit street. The other night out having beers and snacks at the Boda Boda bar I look around and realize I don’t even go to bars that nice in Pittsburgh. Then there is the time you meet someone for lunch in Lugogo Mall and see that the white people largely outnumber the Ugandans. Well Sunday night for the final World Cup game, just across the street from that mzungo-ridden mall, bombs went off killing over forty people. In another part of town, just down the road from the American Embassy and the little frozen yogurt place I stopped at on my way home from another fail at project planning, another bomb went off. Ashley and I, both starting to get sick, made the responsible decision to stay in that night…more responsible than we both had intended. Monday morning I woke up to the news – I couldn’t believe it. Granted something like this could possibly happen anywhere and at anytime, I would have never expected that I would hear that news after a week of being in this city.
On top of digesting this news was how I should react to it, seeing as the body count continued to go up throughout the day and the internet and phone connections were choppy if not completely severed. Seeing as emails were not an option and I didn’t have nearly enough credit to call anyone from my phone, I was lucky to get a facebook status in. It is then that my whole love for traveling, working, and living in Africa becomes harder to explain to friends and family. Sending out emails as casually as I can that I am fine, and there would be no reason to worry. It is much harder to explain when I know the threat really doesn’t end there, not when dealing with and rebel or terrorist organization. After talking to many locals, a student from Makerere, and of course Victoria (who never ceases to amaze me with her Intelligence background) it is evident that the streets of Kampala cannot truly be called safe. Not when in two weeks members of the AU, related organizations, diplomats and various development workers will gather in Kampala for the African Union Conference. Not when news stations and authorities call for Kampala residents to stay away from busy areas and not attend large gatherings. Not when I read the latest news article in which Al Shabaab states those blasts were only a “prelude” to what is to come. But this is not limited to Uganda, and people should not suddenly see Uganda as a hotbed for rebel and terrorist activity. It can happen anywhere. It happened September 11th 2001, it has happened over the past several years on trains, subways and national embassies. One cannot travel to any city center and realistically know that nothing could happen to them there.
And now, of course, I should reassure loved ones reading this that I do truly feel safe where I am staying. I am far enough away from the city center, but still close to everything I could need. Everything I usually do in a day’s work is within a 5 minute walk from my room. If I need to meet someone in the city I can go in the afternoon and be back before dinner. I feel that I have nothing to worry about. I also do feel that people not dwell on this tragic event as the only events to be concerned about in Uganda. There are still all the problems that remained before that cannot be ignored. More parents die of AIDS in a week than those that died in the bombings, leaving more orphans and greater problems for the people of Uganda to move forward. There are still issues to be worked out with rebel groups in the north that often seem to be ignored by its cosmopolitan neighbors in the south. I can only hope that threats will not materialize and no one innocent lives will be taken in the name of peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. And I will also remain aware of daily threats to people’s lives that can be helped – and hopefully others will continue to recognize them as well.
Stay safe Rhino!
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