Photoblog from Rulindo, Rwanda
{ September 3rd, 2008 }
When word’s don’t quite suffice…
A Series of Small World Moments
{ August 25th, 2008 }
Our first month in Kampala has been a series of one small world moment after another.
These moments started in the Amsterdam airport on our way from Denver to Entebbe. Jon and I had just gotten into line at the gate to pass through security. Jon went off to find a bathroom, and as he was walking away, I spotted my thesis advisor from Emory, Rafa Flores. Since I was holding our spot, I imagined that he would pass by, and I would send him an email when we arrived in Kampala.
When Rafa got off the moving sidewalk he was on, he didn’t continue in the same direction. Rather, he turned my direction, and walked right toward me. We exchanged hellos and hugged. “So you’re going to Entebbe?” “Yes, Kampala.” “Us too!” I explained that it was amazing that we met on this day in particular, because it was that day that Jon and I were moving our worldly possessions to Kampala to begin our three-year stint. Rafa was heading to a meeting in Kampala for his new job at CDC.
We chatted until we boarded the plane, and agreed to meet later in the week for dinner.
Small world.
Our second moment happened at Appfrica. In Jon’s audience were two men from Georgia: a professor from University of Georgia and a PhD student from Georgia Tech. The Tech student had been in Kampala for most of the summer doing research, but the professor was just there for the conference. We talked for a while during the conference, but then they went on their way.
Small world, nonetheless.
While preparing for Appfrica, Jon met a woman named Megha online. Megha is working on a project called Assetmap.org. Jon and I met her a couple of times to talk about Appfrica and Asset Map. As she is a student at Notre Dame, she was set to take a quick vacation in Mombasa and then leave in the beginning of August. We said our goodbyes and suggested that we might see her next summer.
A few days later, I went out to Rakai for a field visit. On the way back, Jon called to say that we were going to have dinner with some friends and potential co-workers of Jon’s. I went straight from the field to the office. It took me considerably longer to get back than I’d anticipated, and so by the time I got there Jon and company had been seated for a while. On my way in, I spotted Megha at a table with some of her fellow schoolmates. “I thought that you were in Kenya.” “I decided not to go so I could finish my work.” “So when are you leaving?” “Tomorrow!” She was also surprised to learn that Jon was inside. She came in and we all said our goodbyes again.
Small town.
A few weeks ago, Jon and I had some other friends over to dinner. Eric works for Grameen, but is based at a local cell phone provider. He is working to design mobile application for cell phones that will provide information to and from people in villages. His girlfriend, Clara, works as a consultant to the Government of Uganda. Her training is as an engineer. When we invited them over, Jon was giving directions, and Eric said, “Oh, I think I know right where you are. I think you’re living in our friend’s house.”
They arrived, and sure enough, until recently, the house had been occupied by a woman, Kirsten, that Clara worked with. As the conversation went on, I realized that the Kirsten that they were talking about was a woman that a colleague of mine from CARE had tried to hook me up to. I knew that we were about to miss her, and so we probably wouldn’t meet her. Instead, we ended up, accidentally, living in her house.
Small town in a small world.
Last week I was at Bubbles O’Leary using the internet and having a beer. While I was waiting an inordinate amount of time for my documents to download, a guy came in an we exchanged gripes over how slow the internet was that day. A normal question is “Where do you stay?” He asked it. I said, “Kintintale.” He literally did a double take, “I live on Mutungo Hill!” Now it was my turn to do a double take, “Really? We live on Muntungo Hill!” In fact he’s just down the road from us. We exchanged numbers, and we agreed to hang out sometime soon.
A few days later he called and asked what I was up to. I told him that Jon and I had just finished dinner and were getting ready to go to a party. He said, “Oh really? I’m at a party.” Half joking, I said, “Which party are you at?” He also half jokingly said, “It’s this party in Muyenga on Tank Hill—my friend Pia.” I laughed, “Hah! That’s the party we’re going to, we’re friends with Pia’s roommate, Glenna. See you in half an hour.”
Very very small town.
When Jon and I arrived to the party, we ran into a guy that we had met a few nights before. We were having dinner with a professor from Berkeley, Eric, the professor’s research assistant Julius, and eventually another friend of both Eric’s and the professor’s came. Her name is Jess. Julius, the research student was there as he knows several of the roommates. Shortly thereafter, Jess also strolled in.
In some ways, it’s comforting to see familiar faces. In many ways, really. The degree to which the world is small is often boggling. That Kampala functions less as a city of 2 million and more as a town is less surprising. I guess in some ways, I expected that to be the case in the expat community. That it also happens with Ugandan friends is more surprising.
That said, I do see us beginning to make a circle of friends, both Ugandan and international, and that’s very exciting.
Written by Sarah in Life, Uncategorized ~ Comments