So lately my writing has been a bit more serious in context,
but today I want to share with you a bit of what makes me love living in
Karamoja. As I've said before I want this blog to be a way I can introduce you to
life here, the everyday life that includes the serious stuff as well as the
drama, the fun and all those little things that make life what it is. There are
so many preconceptions about what Karamoja is like, and I am happy to say that
mostly all of them have been proven wrong to me, well except for the hot &
dusty part..it has been very hot & dusty lately…but you learn to live with
it, I feel like I've turned a slightly darker color as I am always covered in
dust and as such sunscreen is not as necessary as the dust offers dual
protection. The little things you learn to appreciate.
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| Goofy smiles in anticipation for the dinner |
Yesterday Karo and I had the pleasure of having 3 Karimojong
boys cook for us. Something I never thought would happen here. In all the time
I have been in Uganda I have never had a guy cook for me, so pleasantly surprised
that 3 guys actually stepped up and said they would make us dinner!
I have to admit I was a bit hesitant as to what these guys
would cook, but they showed up at the house ready to take charge, and cooked
for us a mix of meat, rice, pasta and potatoes. A bit of a bizarre mix if
coming from the Norwegian perspective, but it all tasted amazing. So very
impressed!
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| Before we were kicked out of the kitchen |
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| An amazing dinner with excellent cooking |
Sometimes I feel like the culture and just the social aspect
of being here is so different from back home, and I do have moments when I do
feel a bit left out, but yesterday just felt like normal. I know things are
different here, I mean things are different from Norway to France, so it would
be weird if it wasn't. People are different all over the world and our culture
and the way we are raised shape the way we interact with others. But it was
just so good to have a night where I just felt like the differences didn't
matter, I mean they shouldn't. I felt just as comfortable with these guys as I
would with my friends back home, and that is such good feeling.
I wanted to highlight that because I do think it matters in
the grand scheme of things. If you look at it from a distance, how much do you really
think a blond Norwegian girl from a suburb of Oslo would have in common with a
boy from a small village in Karamoja in Uganda? Our environment and the way we were raised are completely opposite, but you can put us in a room together and
we can become the best of friends and spend nights laughing, playing and
dancing.
This is what should connect us all together. I think the
more I've traveled the more I've realized how much we all have in common
around the world. I've found myself with Congolese refugees in Kampala arguing
over whether I can support Chelsea without being a football sell out, and I've
had the exact same conversation with powerful and wealthy politicians in
Switzerland. A general conclusion is that I should probably pick a better team
to support…The similarities should be what we focus on, not the differences. So
you might think Karamoja is far away and that the people are so different here
that you could never relate to them, but I guess what I want to show you is
that although there are clear differences, they don’t really matter. I mean it
is part of what makes it interesting to be here, but it’s more valuable to
understand how similar we all are.
So that was my non serious post that turned a bit serious.
So I will tell you about my night now. The boys cooked dinner, which was
amazing, and they could definitely compete with guys back home when it comes to
cooking skills, they might even be able to teach them a thing or two. After
dinner we played a game called ‘Jungle Speed’, which is kind of like an
advanced version of the ‘Krig’ or ‘Gris’ game we play in Norway as kids. It
doesn't require too much thinking, but just a bit of focus on shapes and colors
and then a bit of competitiveness to grab the stick in the middle. A game that
was made even more hilarious by a few drinks and Karo beating all of us over
and over again, with Teba not being able to stop laughing and Vitalis helping
me cheat when I was oblivious to the shapes in front of me. ‘Jungle Speed’ was
followed by a card game that proved to be a bit easier for the rest of us to
catch up on, the normal progression of how late it gets in the night the easier
the games become. Halfway through a game I walked out to use the bathroom and
returned to a full on dance party happening. So many laughs and interesting moves.
I have some videos, but as I’m sure this post already contains too much
information shared I will keep those private for now.
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| 'Jungle Speed' |
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| What I found when returning from the bathroom - surprise dance party in action |
I always feel a bit out of place with the dancing here, but
I do love it. I grew up dancing ballet and doing rhythmical gymnastics, so my
extent of dancing was just prancing around doing jumps by myself. I loved that
too, but it made dancing for me into something that wasn’t exactly fun, it was
more the result of tears of stretching too much and then finally being able to
do the split or flip or whatever was on the agenda for the day. It was never about relaxing and just going
with the music so I have a lot to learn on that front.
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| The basics in how to dance 'low' |
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| Any move goes, as long as you commit, too many laughs |
Here I feel like everyone dances like they were born with music
in their body. Everyone just moves with no fear and makes the music come alive
through their bodies. It doesn't seem to matter what moves you are doing, as
long as you can relate it to the music everything is passable. So the rest of
the night was an amusing combination of dance moves happening in the living
room. I don’t think I have laughed that much in a long time, I got some lessons
in how to dance ‘real low’ and it was just amazing to see everyone having such
a good time. When the night came to an end I had a big smile on my face walking
home under the most beautiful stars.
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| A smile worth a thousand words? I would say so |
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