African Life

The highlight of everyone's day: the pit latrine (or choo, pronounced cho, in local language). This was one of the classier ones we encountered.

Uganda was hardest hit of all African countries by AIDS in the 1980's, but has managed to limit it's spread in comparison to it's neighbors. One way this has been accomplished is instituting public health campaigns in various media. We found this billboard on the airport road.

There has also been a lot of work by non government organisations in the last 15 years, educating people about the disease and distributing condoms.

There is usually a good supply of basic drugs in Uganda and Kenya, the problem is that people cannot afford them, or cannot afford to take a full course.

We arrived soon after a national referendum. Since 1986 the country has has a "no party" electoral system, power is supposed to derive from grassroots representation of people in local commitees, which elect representatives to higher government levels. It's a system that has worked reasonably well, but there's been a lot of pressure from overseas governments in recent years for multiparty democracy. The referendum was an effort to prove that the current system (under the umbrella name of "Movement") was still popular. The result was an overwhelming victory for the status quo.

We saw a lot of commercial advertising, almost all of it for beer, cigarettes, sodas and condoms. Many bigger stores are painted in the colors and logo of a product. The ironically named Sportsman cigarettes were probably the most heavily advertized product. The slogan "Yee Ssebo" is Swahili for "Yeah man".

This street scene is more typical of the main street of a small town, with small stores and services flanking the road. The bricks were made nearby and left until they are needed.

Some gas stations are much like those at home, but here's a more rural example. Gas/ petrol is expensive by US standards but cheaper than the UK. We made use of their toilet facilities as we passed!

People in Africa usually learn from a young age to balance great weights on their heads. You see a lot of people (mainly women) carrying firewood and water to their homes.

The young man in the foreground in resting on his "boda-boda" bicycle taxi. Behind him the men are cutting the grass by hand with machetes. Note the electric pole to the right which is gradually collapsing.

Everywhere we went we met children. With a low life expectancy and AIDS killing many in their 20's and 30's half the population is under 15 years old, and there are a lot of orphans.

In the villages people get their water at bore-holes, which may be at some distance from their home, but a lot safer than taking it from rivers. Here's a queue at dusk.

Most people in rural areas live in huts made by plastering clay onto a framework of wood or built out of unfired bricks. These are roofed with grass thatch. In some areas most traditional buildings are rectangular, here they are round. People with more money can build from fired bricks (which won't dissolve in the rain) with a tin roof. We saw a lot of brick making around Kampala, people earn money by making and selling bricks for the enormous amount of construction going on in the city.

You can buy fruit and vegetables (and many other items) at roadside markets all over Africa. Some markets are a regular fixture, in other areas people sell whatever is in season when it is available. These markets are found in town, at bus stops, at major road intersections and border crossings. They may go on by lamplight long after dark.

Cattle have been a major part of the economy in this area for many years, and even today they are a status symbol and indication of wealth. To the north several tribes still depend almost entirely on their cattle and rustling is common.

In the top picture a field of maize (the main staple food) struggles to survive in Eastern Uganda, while below it thrives at Nkhosi village, Kenya. We found good maize (which needs regular rainfall) near Lake Victoria and Mount Elgon, due to favorable microclimates, but drought conditions elsewhere. Central and northern Uganda, and north-west Kenya were both suffering even more severely from poor rains than areas we visited. At bottom are 2 more drought resistant crops, bananas which are picked green and used to make matooke (ma-toe-kay) in Uganda, and millet. The lady is winnowing millet to collect the edible seeds. Between the bananas and house is a pile of harvested millet.

Religion plays a large part in many african's lives, and the development of their countries. The story of our journey shows several of the christian churches we worked in, and in Kampala we found Hindu, Sikh and Ba'hai temples, a legacy of the strong influence of the Asian population in the city. Kenya has many mosques throughout the country, Islam was introduced by slave traders from arab countries Many people still practise traditional forms of religion, often alongside their christian or muslim beliefs.

Children in Africa largely have to make their own toys from whatever trash they can make use of. With soccer the main sport a ball made from bound up plastic bags is the commonest plaything, but here Effie assists in repairing a home made kite.

A "sausage tree", with it's unusual sausage shaped seed pods.

A tree full of weaver bird nests.