On the way back from the U.S. for our Christmas Holiday, Sarah and I had a layover in one of my favorite cities. Here’s some pics of our outing that day.
Now that we are both back in Kampala, it’s business as usual. Sarah and I recently found and office space within walking distance from my house that we’ll share. In March I’ll be back in the U.S. to present at South by Southwest while Sarah heads off to Turkey to present at a water conference. Actually over the next month and a half we only see each other for a total of about a week!
Written by Jon in Photos, Travel ~
Last Saturday was the big “Facebook Developers Garage” at Makerere University that I helped organize here in Kampala. Someone from the Facebook staff (a senior engineer no less) actually flew to Kampala to run sessions about making Facebook Applications. You can find out more details about it all at the links below.
There were just over 100 attendees and everyone was focused, eager to learn and thrilled that someone from the company took out the time to come to Africa. IMHO, ICT is going to change this continent, we haven’t even seen the beginnings of what’s coming.
Project Diaspora’s Interview with me
My podcast the day before
Reactions from Uganda
Written by Jon in Life, Photos, Uganda, work ~
While out running some errands this morning I stopped to get some lunch to bring back for Sarah and I. We tend not to eat at the ’street’ vendors, mainly because the majority of them don’t come out until night time, well past normal dinner hours. I think this may because during the day the local restaurants are open but at night when people come out to party and enjoy music, the street vendors replace them. Still, today I managed to find one woman who had a stand making some weird concoction of…stuff.
On the left, we have spaghetti. Center stage, cabbage. On the right, we have chips (fries). In the back, obscured by the pink and purple lids, we have beef stew. Now, I know what you might be thinking. This will make an interesting plate. But no, mien friend, this meal doesn’t come on a plate. It ALL goes into the bag the woman is holding…including the beef stew!
First she places the chips in, then the spaghetti on top, then cabbage, then a healthy dose of beef stew. Here’s what the meal looks like when it comes out of the bag.
Oh, and here’s the bag it all came out of. The bag is pretty innovative in itself, it’s just a regular 8×10 sheet of paper, folded and glued to make it a lunch sack. It’s either someone’s homework or that last page of the Ugandan constitution. They line them with plastic, so they can pour large amounts of stew on top of your chip/spaghetti thing.
I asked the woman what the meal was called, and what the stew actually was but she didn’t seem to understand. She told me the stew was fish, but Sarah quickly pointed out later that it was beef when she took a bite. When I asked what it was called, she said something that sounded like ‘jingi’. But that could have also been her name. After going over the conversation in my head, I realized that she probably thought I was asking if ‘Beef’ was her name.
Perhaps next time I’ll opt for the bucket of grasshoppers.
Written by Jon in Life, Photos, Uganda ~
Friends from Kampala
Written by Jon in Photos, Uganda ~
View of Kabira’s rooftops - a large slum with an estimated population of over 1 million located in Nairobi, Kenya
Written by Jon in Photos ~
