Uganda Runs On Matoke

This past week I saw more matoke, green bananas or plantains, than I could have imagined grew in one country. Trucks full barreled through the towns we passed; young men pushed bikes through the hills to smaller villages: two bulky bunches strapped above the seat and two more hanging down next to the wheels. Western Uganda’s terrain is shaded by countless banana trees and it’s no wonder that matoke is served each night by every homestay family.

I’m still pretty excited about the four new stamps in my passport. It was our first excursion week and the SIT group traveled to Western Uganda, then spent 2 days in Rwanda, and finally stayed overnight in Queen Elizabeth National Park back in Uganda. It was the few days I was most excited for leading up to study abroad and any trip that lets me see elephants can’t be a disappointment.

Our Sunday morning drive abruptly stopped at the center of the globe. We took turns posing in the tall white circles labeled “UGANDA EQUATOR” that I’ve seen so often in photo albums and facebook profile pictures. It was wonderful to take a deep breath away from the Kampala haze. On Monday we drove the narrow red roads that navigated the tops of hills and hills and hills to Ruhiira, the site of the Colombia-sponsored UNDP Millennium Village Project. After hearing the about Notre Dame’s initiative to sponsor a similar village, the site visit helped connect rhetoric to the acts actually involved in development. We saw the improved water source, a few clinics, a bank just starting to give loans, and the woman selling beads made of banana leaves in the next shop. Each part was a small start, scattered with the population throughout the region. I suppose it will just take time to find out if the program that attempts to enhance so many aspects of the village can succeed in leaving a sustainable community.

We crossed the border into Rwanda, which with a Ugandan accent sounds similar to “Rhonda.” Kigali itself was a great contrast to Kampala. The streets were lined and smooth, traffic laws obeyed, crosswalks used, and most surprisingly boda boda (motorcycle) drivers wore helmets We visited the Kigali Genocide Museum as well as two churches that are now permanent memorials to the thousands who died there. The solemn concrete of the mass graves, holes in church walls, bones and clothes, will stay with me in a deep unarticulated way. It was a day that I’m still processing and will continue to reflect on. Having visited a settlement of Rwandan Hutu refugees (in the same site that decades earlier generated the RPF that fought the government in the ’94 genocide) two days previously further challenged me to connect what I’ve read and seen with the people I was personally encountering. We spent a morning exploring Kigali, mostly picking our way through stacks of vibrant African fabric.

The trip concluded with an overnight in Queen Elizabeth National Park. One of the initial highlights was the white guy in a full khaki safari suit (hat included) on our boat ride. Between the boat and the game drive the following morning, we saw warthogs, water buffalo, crocodiles, egrets, Uganda kobs, hippos, water buck, pelicans, distant hyenas and hart to spot lions, and elephants. On the drive back to Kampala, I stared every time I saw an animal by the side of the road, only to realize that outside of the park, these were cows. Though their horns are impressive, they’re no waterbuck.

The vacation was both incredibly enlightening and simply fun. I’ll miss the pineapple that concluded every meal, but I was also okay to be back to matoke at the homestay last night. This morning I spent some much needed quiet time walking around Kampala and saw a man wearing a Hawaiian style shirt printed with incredible lime green and turquoise flip-flops. The amount of secondhand clothing circulating through Uganda ensures that you’re bound to see some truly unique outfits, but occasionally it’s enough to make you look over your shoulder to soak it in.