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10 June 2001

No picture this week, I'm unable to download from my digital camera. I applied a Windows 2000 "service pack" at the recommendation of Dell because my IR port wasn't working, and now the driver for my digital camera doesn't work. Ugh. I know what's going to happen next - finger pointing. Dell will blame Microsoft, Microsoft will blame Canon, and Canon will tell me to contact Dell. Let the games begin.

Friday night we were out on the town. Askan introduced me to a very nice couple. I guess they're in their mid-30's, successful professionals here in Uganda. We initially met at the Kampala Golf Club (they're both passionate golfers) and moved over to a bar/restaurant "Mateo's" for a late dinner. The place was packed with yuppy Ugandans.

Both of them spent a significant part of their youth and attended university in the U.S. She described herself as one of the "lost children" of Uganda - children who were sent out of the country during Idi Amin's reign of terror and the civil war. They've returned, not only so that their own children can grow up knowing their extended family, but I had a distinct impression that they want to play a role in development and progress of modern Uganda. I think it must be very hard for them at times; she doesn't seem to feel completely accepted as Ugandan. I guess there are quite a few Ugandans their age with similar experiences, but not so many that have returned with the intention to stay. Nice folks.

I don't think I've ever explained what "Muzungu" means. It's Kiswahili/Luganda for white person. When we were in Benin, "Yovo" meant white person and you heard it all the time. In Kampala I don't here "Muzungu" that frequently, even from children. I think urban children must be taught that it's impolite to call someone a Muzungu to their face, but I still here it peppering Luganda phrases occasionally. I'm calling my website "Muzungu Diary" because of my own feeling of muzungu-ness here in Uganda. It's part of my self-image that I become more aware of in Africa, and which I was capable of contemplating more deeply for the first time when I lived in Benin. I don't mean any offense to Uganda or Ugandans by it, hope that they won't take it that way.