In Uganda...

After 3 weeks there, I observed that in Uganda...

• they don't eat lunch


• they are very patient and don't need to discuss what is about to happen...


• they love African tea (hot milk, ginger, teabag)


• they say 'ehhhh' or 'heyyy' to acknowledge listening or sympathy and 'mmmm' to mean yes or listening


• women wear long skirts


• they have a soft handshake, and gently point to or grasp their right elbow with their left hand
• they wear fabrics with bright interesting attractive patterns!
• women don't squat and never sit on the ground cross-legged
• they ride boda boda bikes to get a cheap lift
• they eat much bananas (matooke)
• they grow casava, beans, bananas, sweet potatoes
• Stoney and Novida are popular softdrinks
• they don't put screens on windows or doors but give out free mosquito nets
• rural folks get water from borehole wells with hand pumps and yellow jerry cans
• they use bicycles to transport matooke, water, firewood and charcoal
• their bikes are all similar heavy metal bikes
• charcoal is made from acacia and sold in towns, while country folk use firewood
• bugandans kneel to elders
• babies have beads around their waists and seldom any pants or diapers
• there are many babies
• they don't use donkeys, mules or horses for transport or farming and few machines, just human muscle for work
• they live out much of their lives in front of their house
• there are certain fruit reserved for children (jack fruit, tamarind, mango?)
• people speak english
• they sweep the dirt with little small hand-made/held brooms
• children love to see mzungu, say the word and giggle and wave
• cows in towns often look healthier than cows in the countryside
• there are lots of cows
• people are uncynical
• people usually have Christian names: Frank, Grace, Evelyn, Andrew, Gilbert, Isaac, Hilda, Moses, Francis, Lawrence, Elizabeth, Daniel
• women put wraps around their heads to keep dust from the road out of their hair
• women wear lesu wraps around their waists to keep their dresses clean
  
• clay content of soils is 39 to 59% so they turn their land into bricks and homes