Uganda

Photography update

• Posted by Rob (#1) on October 21, 2006 02:03 CEST

Although I'm still not in the mood to post to my journal (evidently), I did upload more pictures of Uganda (my trip to the Bujagali Falls, to be more precise) as well Thursday's pictures of Panic! At The Disco.

Good gig by the way: they played a lot better than at Lowlands which I must admit wasn't all that hard. Saw some LL video on MTV the other week and Panic was terrible! But I guess you just don't notice screwups and a lost voice when you're having fun the mosh pit.. (Come to think of it, that seriously casts doubt on my recollection of Thursday as well.)

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• Tags: Uganda, photography, Panic! At The Disco
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Superstition

• Posted by Rob (#1) on August 29, 2006 09:36 CEST

Reading Ugandan newspapers can be quite funny. A letter published in this morning's edition argued against legalisation of prostitution and focused on the "would you want your daughter to be a whore" argument. Fair enough, that's probably not what anyone wants. On the other hand this is a country with 70% unemployment, so some people will be drawn to work on the streets regardless of morality and public opinion. Legalised prostitution as we know it in the Netherlands might actually be beneficial. It would generate tax income, enable workers to get health care, unions, and so on.. Anyway, that's not what interested me about the letter.

No, it was the argument that sexual intercourse is often used by satanists and witchdoctors to transfer demons and demonic thoughts. Sitting next to one of the many "Jesus Christ is the lord" churches, it's hard to ignore that religion is a major player in Uganda, but I had not expected such superstition even though there are plenty of nutters back home who want to ban rock festivals because of the unsavoury lyrics.

I'm kind of glad I packed my Satanic "God is busy, can I help you" shirt for religioun has a tendency to make me a rebel.

(No, not one for Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, who are ignoring the cease-fire a little bit according to the papers. Think of a Resist the Lord Army instead, using rock music and t-shirt catchphrases instead of torture and rape.)

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• Tags: Uganda, prostitution, religion, Satanism
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Hello from Kampala

• Posted by Rob (#1) on August 28, 2006 17:09 CEST

So far, Uganda is fun. I'm a bit tired because I couldn't sleep on the flight to Nairobi. Instead I watched Ice Age 2, Ultraviolet (Milla Jovovich is hot) and Final Destination 3 on the in-flight entertainment system. If you're not going to sleep, you might as well try and have some fun.

To make up for the lack of sleep, I had a quick power nap in the Sheraton earlier this morning, before walking around downtown Kampala during some light rainfall. It's almost Holland here and indeed there's almost as many black people as Rotterdam zuid. ;-)

Ordered a cheese/egg hamburger with fries from room service for lunch.. perhaps I'll dare to eat local cuisine later, but after a long flight it's time for reliability not experimentation.

I'm typing this from our client's wonderful office, which means that it's likely I will continue to have my on-line moments until Sunday when I'm leaving for Jo'burg. If however you fail to see me on-line, until Sunday feel free to text me at my local pre-paid: +256 712 071 039.

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• Tags: Uganda, Kampala, Africa
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Uganda cease-fire

• Posted by Rob (#1) on August 26, 2006 13:36 CEST

Visiting a country undergoing civil war would've made me "hardcore", but I don't think I truly regret that Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army signed a cease-fire. I suppose this means less to worry about for my friends and family.. and for the people in Uganda, of course.

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Peace in Uganda?

• Posted by Rob (#1) on July 31, 2006 03:13 CEST

There is hope for peace in Uganda yet:

The deputy leader of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Vincent Otti, has attended peace talks in a clearing on the DR Congo-Sudan border.

Glad to hear it. It's always good to hear when a country is on its way to make an end to bloodshed. Especially when I'm due to be there for work in a number of weeks. (Don't worry, the fighting doesn't take place in capital Kampala.)

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Personal quickies

• Posted by Rob (#1) on July 4, 2006 19:53 CEST

A few personal quickies:

1. I dreamed of Inge last night. I do not remember the context nor any gory details, but I do remember that at some point the dream involved holding hands.

2. Tomorrow morning I'm having a malaria vaccination. It's 99% sure now that work will send me to Uganda at the end of the month which might possible be my first birthday in Africa.

3. My friends are hot. (Okay we already knew that, I'm just pimping the new and improved profile pages.)

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• Tags: Inge, dreams, Uganda, user profiles
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