What an eventful week it has been, and we have not even started our work... or have we? The experience of being in a foreign nation has still not sunk in fully and I don't think I can call myself an international traveller like Neil Cornelio whose passport is stamped with more visas than I can count! But even he was not spared of the culture we experienced in Uganda in this last week. Let me take you through each of the shocks and amazement one by one.
Chicken a la Pa-Kak
On the afternoon of 6th May, after an educational trip to Shumuk Aluminium Plant in Nakawa, we went back towards MUBS and moved further on to a place called Matt's Cafe for lunch. Now the place looked quite happening with the aroma of good food and the buzz of people all around. We joined the buzz for a quick lunch at a joint that was the youth hangout spot for good food close to the Business School Campus.
We sat ourselves down and decided to call for something from the menu. Then on second thoughts we decided to trust the good judgement of our friend and coordinator in MUBS, Sadat to get us a lunch. She called for the usual fare of Chicken, Mutton and Vegetables for the diverse groups of people in our Team Africa. As we eagerly awaited I noticed a family sitting at a table right in front our table with a candle lit and hands held together as if in prayer. It was wonderful to see such familial bond and for the first time I missed home.
However, things took quite an unexpected turn at our table with the food arriving for all of us. Our Chicken came in alright, but it looked like they missed some steps in the recipe book: Its colour pale with a hint of brown suggesting it was lightly fried before being boiled with some tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. The food has a distinct smell of raw meat in it and all of us were taken aback by the food we were served.
Yet we bravely made our way through the food: the meat, the rice, the beans and the veggies served. And as I ate, I enquired with Sadat behind this style of cooking. She said very simply that their philosophy was to maintain the originality and flavours as is and not mask it with other fragrances or flavours. Quite a departure from the Indian style of cooking which constantly looks to mask every flavour and odour with something else!
It made me realize something that day about cultural differences on a very intrinsic level: That we will never completely adjust ourselves to another culture entirely. It is never easy to reset all our learnings and begin afresh. But perhaps, a mid-way resolution could be reached at bringing a distinct blend between 2 cultures and build something completely new and completely unique for all generations to experience.
Gandhi Gaye Afreeka
This morning we left bright and early to see the source of one of the longest rivers in the world: The Nile. The river which flows through 4 countries and has 2 tributaries: one from Ethiopia and the other from Uganda, has the source of the White Nile close to the Jinja Valley about 3.5 hours from Kampala city.
All along the way we caught some interesting sights and sounds: chicken on sticks and fried bananas,the sounds of the buses and the silence of the woods, the crammed up traffic of Kampala and the expanse of the Jinja Valley upcountry. As we approached the source, the air got cooler and the atmosphere was filled with a sense of anticipation.
This is the source of the White Nile, the smaller of the two tributaries of the river Nile and the source of water forms the Lake Victoria too which is surrounded by the East Africa nations of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It was a lovely sight to see all the birds and greenery that surrounded the actual source: a calm spot that seemed to be bubbling from down below that resulted in the unrest of the Lake and river all around it.
We sat ourselves down and decided to call for something from the menu. Then on second thoughts we decided to trust the good judgement of our friend and coordinator in MUBS, Sadat to get us a lunch. She called for the usual fare of Chicken, Mutton and Vegetables for the diverse groups of people in our Team Africa. As we eagerly awaited I noticed a family sitting at a table right in front our table with a candle lit and hands held together as if in prayer. It was wonderful to see such familial bond and for the first time I missed home.
However, things took quite an unexpected turn at our table with the food arriving for all of us. Our Chicken came in alright, but it looked like they missed some steps in the recipe book: Its colour pale with a hint of brown suggesting it was lightly fried before being boiled with some tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. The food has a distinct smell of raw meat in it and all of us were taken aback by the food we were served.
It made me realize something that day about cultural differences on a very intrinsic level: That we will never completely adjust ourselves to another culture entirely. It is never easy to reset all our learnings and begin afresh. But perhaps, a mid-way resolution could be reached at bringing a distinct blend between 2 cultures and build something completely new and completely unique for all generations to experience.
Gandhi Gaye Afreeka
This morning we left bright and early to see the source of one of the longest rivers in the world: The Nile. The river which flows through 4 countries and has 2 tributaries: one from Ethiopia and the other from Uganda, has the source of the White Nile close to the Jinja Valley about 3.5 hours from Kampala city.
All along the way we caught some interesting sights and sounds: chicken on sticks and fried bananas,the sounds of the buses and the silence of the woods, the crammed up traffic of Kampala and the expanse of the Jinja Valley upcountry. As we approached the source, the air got cooler and the atmosphere was filled with a sense of anticipation.
This is the source of the White Nile, the smaller of the two tributaries of the river Nile and the source of water forms the Lake Victoria too which is surrounded by the East Africa nations of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It was a lovely sight to see all the birds and greenery that surrounded the actual source: a calm spot that seemed to be bubbling from down below that resulted in the unrest of the Lake and river all around it.
