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Some of you may remember a couple months ago I mentioned that I was going on a short-term mission to Uganda. The similarities to the character Papa Moose from The Crystal City were surprising -- working at an orphanage, children of different race, place of civil unrest, threat of yellow fever. Wasn't a perfect fit, but it was kinda cool.
Well, there's at least one more. I found out only a couple days ago that despite the place effectively operating as an orphanage, there are specific legal ramifications to being called an orphanage, so they are instead a boarding school. Not a boarding house, so it's not a perfect match, but it's just one more striking similarity that Mama and I thought was really cool.
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Mostly they don't speak Swahili in Uganda - it's a coastal language, so far more prevalent in Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda has a range of different dialects - Luganda in the area around Kampala is probably the best known, but there are also regional dialects in the West and North.
Pop, let me know if you want my parents' address out there.
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Amira, I appreciate it, but our schedule (and the rules) do(es)n't afford us the opportunity. Anywhere we go, we must go as a group. And to be honest, even if there were more free time, I'd be uncomfortable asking the group "Hey, do you guys want to go meet some folks I've never met who are the parents of someone else I've never met that I know from over the internet?"
I haven't learned/am not learning any languages for this trip -- the national language of Uganda is English. (Of course, some would say that I as an American probably don't speak that, either.) I'll likely pick up a few words, but I'll still end up knowing more ForTran than any local language.
Noemon -- leg's fine, thanks for asking. I don't think the doctor who did my surgeries was named Alvin, but neither do I think he was named Philadelphia Thrower, so it's all good.
Oh, and yesterday somebody from another web forum offered me a laptop to use for the trip. Just a loan, but her son works in Camarillo so it'll be easy to get it and get it back. Now I can blog while on my mission! Er, I mean... I can journal.
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