New Kids on The Block

One look at these guys and I immediately identified them as our good neighbors to the north:- height, skin tone... enough said. I could tell they were fresh as cucumbers.

The Train Ride

It happened again.
I stepped up to the train rails and as I waited a man came up to me and said "hello! Where are you from?" I'm thinking oh no! Not again! He was clearly an African - that comes with a certain familiarity that lowers my guard. I smiled and said "Uganda". I thought that was the end of it.

Butterflies in Fall

A Foreigner at Home

Intent on taking shots of Kamokya, I made my way to the roof top of Acacia Mall.

I asked one of the guards if I could take pictures and he politely agreed.
I went snap, snap, snap. Another angle, snap, snap, snap when I noticed from the corner of my eye 3 guards walking towards me.
Guard 1: excuse me madam, you are not allowed to take pictures here.
Me: But I just asked your colleague 
Guard 1: Yah! But it's not allowed
Me: why?
Guard 1: it's not allowed. For security reasons.
Me: Ok, may I go then?
Guard 2: but madam, it seems you are not from around here.
I told him I was visiting but that I came from Serere.
He was visibly delighted.Turned out he was from Kumi.
"God loves me. To find a sister like you, my heart summersaults in my chest. You make me so proud". You've got to hear that phrase in Ateso to grasp his excitement. At this point his hands were all over the place ... on my wrist, on my shoulder ... I had to step away.
But I digress. This is a semi aerial view of Kamwokya with Gapco petrol station at the bottom. Lots of new buildings have sprouted in the area.

Little Artist

On a busy Tuesday morning, on Kampala road pavement, she huddles. Dust rises as people walk to and fro, it settles onto her mats of art but she is not frazzled. She covers her head with a hood to shut the world out but leaves a small window to her soul. It is written on one of her mats "My name is Nansubuga. My mother and father past away and now I stay with a relative who doesn't have enough money to care for me. Please buy my pictures they are only shs 5000/-. Thank you very much".