From Abu Dhabi to Katosi Town

Started on August 2nd in Dusseldorf, there were two transfers planned. In Serbia, I almost missed my connecting flight and when I arrived in Abu Dhabi, I found out that there was no available space for me on the plane! There was a huge line at the customer counter and after 12 hours of travel, my nerves were slightly strained.

Fortunately, this hurdle turned out to be a stroke of luck and the airline had to provide me with a hotel. So I was able to spend a day for free in Abu Dhabi. I received all meals and a business class room. I spent my time by visiting the open-air museum (where I could see the life and craftsmanship of the Bedouins, a desert people), visiting the mosque (said to be the second largest and most beautiful mosque), and testing out the shopping mall. It was 45 degrees there, even for me as a heat enthusiast, it was unbearable to be in the sun for even two minutes.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of Abu Dhabi. It was cool to have the opportunity to experience and visit it, but it completely lacks charm for me. You can literally feel that a few years ago, it was nothing but desert and then a few rich Arabs built some great hotels, malls, amusement parks, and skyscrapers to attract rich tourists and sheikhs or something. There is nothing more than highlife and shopping, and I find that quite boring (well, a little luxury is nice but not only that!). Well, that's all about Abu Dhabi!

The next day, it finally continued, via Nairobi to Entebbe (Uganda). I landed around 5pm and immediately received the next piece of bad news: my backpack didn't arrive. Completely stressed, overwhelmed with the situation (I didn't even have an exact address to provide for them to contact me), a few tears flowed. But then I pulled myself together, waited until everything was sorted out, and then looked for my contact person, project manager Tony. After 20 minutes, I finally found Henry, the second manager, and he became my contact person from that moment on.

The journey was long and crazy, the traffic is insane in Uganda (30km takes 3 hours).

When I arrived in Katosi Town, the next bombshell came: power outage. In itself not a problem, but then I was lured by a completely unknown person into a dark corner that led to a narrow hallway in a half-destroyed house. In the darkness, I could see a few drunken figures and my only thought was 'okay Lisa, your sense of adventure has brought you this, now your final hour has come, surrender to your fate!' Well, in the end it turned out that this was the best guesthouse in Katosi Town and the drunken figures were actually friendly neighbors. :p

The next two days were the weekend and there wasn't much to do, I slowly got used to the hygiene conditions, my pants (which I had been wearing for 4 or 5 days by the way) had slowly become attached, the other volunteer Nichole from the USA had already left me after a day, and I hadn't heard anything about my luggage yet.

My main problem during these days was the transition from absolute hustle and stress to complete idleness. It may sound like a luxury problem, but under all these circumstances, it was almost unbearable for me.

I was just looking forward to finally getting to know the projects and getting started with the work!

Katosi Town was, well, probably a typical small town in Uganda. Dominated by the fishing business, no tourism, dirty, plagued by AIDS. A lot of poverty but also 'rich' fishermen and many people hoping for their own business and a better future.

I was very strongly stared at, which I completely understand. Many people there maybe have seen a white woman in real life maybe once in their life! And in the end, I couldn't understand what the men were shouting at me anyway. Most women smiled at me or waved at me kindly, and the children were absolutely amazing! Some of them danced and shouted and laughed, you can't imagine it. Every time I was sad or desperate, 10 children cheered me up!

So, those were my first days in Uganda, stay tuned!