I've Left Copenhagen for Uganda

Idi Amin - the film

I have just received two copies of the Last King of Scotland from Los Angeles as I have promoted the film here on this very weblog. I have done so as I really liked the film itself  - in particular for having been shot in Uganda, for the use of the African light, the blurred colors and the sound track. However, it is obvious that making a film about a real and a very controversial person based on a 'fictional story' can cause confusion and interesting statements. Whenever the film is brought on, the Ugandans will say something like;

• 'Artistically this is not a very good movie'. That other one (The Rise and Fall of Amin - watch the trailer here.) is so much more better and realistic... (The film where Amin keeps the heads of his enemies in his fridge).
• 'Amin wasn't at all like that' - often followed by; 'he was much worse/better/different'.
• That one (the actor) who plays Amin, he doesn't talk like Amin at all...! I feel slightly stupid when I hear myself claim that I think Forest Whitaker does an amazing impersonalisation of an African president. Because who am I to know when a lot of Ugandans did meet the man face to face - and they all have each their impresion.
• 'Why can this film not be copied? Oh, it is right-protected !!' ( A dissappointed Indian shopkeeper investigation the DVD while also formatting an external harddisc for me in his shop in Kampala).

What is really interesting is that sometimes I can't help note a tone of admiration for the man, in spite of the hell he created for some. He actually did meet a lot of his people face to face, not many African presidents does that today (well, some of these people didn't survive the meeting). He changed the British names of i.e. the Lake Albert to Lake Mobutu/Lake Amin (half half Congo/Uganda). Anyway, now a 'rights-protected' DVD is donated to Arua Resource Centre, Idi Amin's hometown. And I keep the other one.

Everything you need to know to have fun in Kampala

Check out this blog - the Kampala bloggers have joined forces. Cool! Really interesting information about how to access wireless Internet in Kampala, cheap or free. Suppose that is what counts in a bloggers universe as fun.

Am thinking about how challengingly fun it could be to do the same up-country; Everything you need to know to have fun in upcountry Uganda ( - or how to avoid isolation, Kony, malaria!)

Reminds me that I have received quite a few emails (which I never got around to answer due to the malaria and subsequent, momental apatia) with questions regarding life in the upcountry sphere. I believe there is an unutilised potential here for promoting upcountry Uganda.

Leave a comment if interested one way or the other...

Juba Arabic Words - how cool is that?!

Juba Arabic is a lingua franca spoken mainly in Equatoria Province in Southern Sudan, and derives its name from the town of Juba, Sudan. It is also spoken among communities of people from south Sudan living in towns in Northern Sudan. The pidgin developed in the 19th century, among descendants of Sudanese soldiers, many of whom were forcibly recruited from southern Sudan. Residents of other large towns in southern Sudan, notably Malakal and Wau, Sudan, do not generally speak Juba Arabic, tending towards the use of Arabic closer to Sudanese Arabic, in addition to local languages. Read more here.

...and these days you also find ex-pats speaking Juba Arabic or at least borrowing words from this interesting language. Words which says things explicitly better in your Southern Sudanese context than English. I have learned some of the words which are the most frequently used. Some because they are usefull in daily life, but I guess, also because they sound really cool and powerfull in my Danish ears. (Apologies - I might not have spelled correctly)

• Shukran = Thanks
• Shukran khalis = Thank you very much
• Bukran = Tomorrow
• Insh'allah = God willing
• Malish = Sorry! (apparently this has many more meanings regarding contexts)
• Tamam = Excellent, OK
• La = No
• Khalas = Done! (my favorite)
• Khawadiya = stranger (the Southern Sudanese word for 'mzungu')

I also learned that South Sudan has an IBM syndrome which goes something like this; Insha'allah Bukran Malish - If God willing it will happen tomorrow but also it might not happen, and then we are 'sorry'...

About killing a goat, a million degrees and a little bit crazy Argentinians.

Tonight we are having goat for dinner. The two Argentinians around, at the Danish Refugee Council's compound where I stay (and btw have a feast enjoying the wireless Internet connection, the excellent company, and the real showers - no bucket showers or pit latrines!) have finally got around to find someone else to dig the hole in the ground where the goast is to be roasted.

They also managed to find someone else to go to Yei Town and buy it: Me. I allways seem to come in handy in situations like this. I think these guys will do anything to avoid the market in town. With good reason. It was a million degrees, flies all over, the air ranting of dried fish, and a lot of bargaining had to be done, before we could tie the goat, charcoal and matoke leaves on the back of the car.

We bought the goat from these guys above. Young lads, all with impressive tribal scars in the foreheads, and an interesting approach to bargaining; 'You buy all the goats!', they told me. Whereas I tried to get out of it with as few as possible and to the least embarrasing khawadiya price.

Then I watched the goat being killed. F...! With a slow knife. The goat cried. Didn't seem to bother any, so I thought nothing more of it, but felt a little happy that I grew up on a farm. But as one of the guys said; 'It is very fresh in this way!'.

Inshal'allah!

An African travel advice for the long-haired;

Don't forget your comb!

I did once. All I could buy was this type, obviously made for curly hair afro stylie.

Not for mzungu straight hair.

The one carved in wood is obviously the traditional one.

The one made in blue plastic can be bought in Uchumi supermarket in Garden City in Kampala.

I still use it.

Sometimes things actually complete...

I have been working on this pamphlet for our civic education programme 'Education for Peace'  (for what has felt like a 100 years). But now it is here and to be distributed. I love concrete results!

Ugandan fast food - can you stomach it?!

If you are on the move and feel hungry, an easy snack is to buy a hardboiled egg and add some salt. These eggs are - on line with meat sticks, fried grashoppers and white ants (when in season), deep fried cassava and sweet potatoes, roasted mealies, samosa, the cake-like mandazis and fruit (for dessert?) - the most frequent snacks all through Uganda.

Some wazungu see it as a problem that the food comes without any valuable information of how long ago it was produced and then kept in 30 degrees heat. Some question the fact that a lot of merchants stick to the rule that if the food is not sold today, why not try to sell it the day or the day after? You would hear me say that it is up to you and your stomach. People also get severe stomach infections from eating in expensive restaurants in Kampala.

I have always travelled the Balkans and Africa with the slightly naïve approach that occasional roadside food might toughen me up, harden my immune system, and make me blend in. I have even confused my menthal health with the one of my stomach, having an idea that if my brain could cope wiht the harshness of Africa, so could my stomach. But after having suffered from various infections, and the subsequent yeast infections caused by the antibiotics, I began using both parts of my brain, slowly admitting that maybe I shouldn't take it as a test of how good I am at making it in Africa...

I am longing for dansk smørrebrød!

4th Ugandan Bloggers' Happy Hour

It is an interesting phenomenon - this Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hour. In how many African capitols do people get together for a few hours on the last Thursday night every month for a beer and a chat? Just because they blog. Or as someone said to me last night; 'I'm here because I read blogs', which I find just as good a reason.

Jackfruity asks today 'for those of you who blog under your real names (Baz, Pernille and Dennis come to mind), do you ever worry about the effect blogging may have on your personal life?'. - Good question. I think I rely very much on the Danish freedom of speech (notoriously know from the Muhammed cartoons) when I write about general stuff.

Originally, I wanted to blog seriously and deep down to the point about the personal side of being a Danish development worker, I always missed the personal approach and political incorrect view on development work in Africa. However, in spite I often take it to the edge, I realised there is a lot I simply can't say. Firstly, because it would be too internal (boring to the majority), and secondly because it would compromise the people I work with and the organisation I work for.

There are quite a few topics I would like to be able to write more personally about - i.e. the frequently asked questions I constantly get regarding how I cope as a single woman in northern Uganda concerning sex (!!); or what exactly I am doing to get my next job. (Believe me the answers are not going together). I am afraid it would compromise myself to an extent I wouldn't like to chair. Hence, I also realised it is necessary to state that whatever I blog is on my own account, not the organisation I work or the people I work with.

I think the UBBH is quite unique. For me personally - I prefer that there is more to it than just the chatting and drinking beers. And I think it is gradually coming. But maybe it could be facilitated a bit more, excuse me for bringing my development worker background into this - but maybe we could exchange more technical ideas on blogging (writing, technical stuff, photography)?

I believe the UBHH has inspired more people in Uganda to blog. I also think that the mix of waungu expats and the local Ugandans have generated inspiration and discussion which might enhance the quality and range of blogging in a Ugandan context. It has definitely created a network which has a life outside cyberspace.

I have learned a lot. For one thing I have seen that Ugandans express themselves directly. Ugandans observe and comment on things I had no clue about, but which has helped me understand Uganda. I believe there is a huge potential - information- and influencewise to integrate blogging in development work. On the other side I think my observations feed the other way back. I get a lot of reactions on the fact that I travel and live in a 'no-go-area', which even Ugandans no little of. Many have noticed Willy Akena's blogging in Gulu, and I hope we can inspire more Ugandans to blog from these areas to give first hand information.

Woman selling matoke, some tomatoes and a hen

...and then she was smiling very shyly when I asked if I could take her photo.

To me this is northern Uganda in one photo; a woman dressed in a mix of kufa ulay and vitenge, on the way to Arua market with green matoke and a kawera with tomatoes from her shamba, a hen and the purse for small change.

Poverty comes in many versions. Never ignore the dignity, pride and beauty - of what we call 'common people' in our policy papers.

Uganda's Black Conscience

Yesterday I visited Willy Akena from the Diocese of Northern Uganda in Gulu. We went to Amuru IDP Camp anout 40 km North of Gulu. I will write more about it, when digested. It is heavy stuff.

Don't let yourself fool by the Ugandan friendliness and the so-called progressive president - Uganda still has one big problem: the about 1,6 mio. internally displaced persons in the camps in Northern Uganda, the abducted who are now returning, trying to integrate, and too many governmental representatives benefitting from a drag-out of the Peace Talks in Juba.

And for the record - for these people in the IDP camps there isn't a touchable outcome from the peace talks yet, though they have been going on since August 2006.

See more photos here.