Obviously, everyone here is talking about the results of the election. One of my students put it oddly but very succinctly. "Everyone knows that the president of the US is the president of the world. Of course we are interested in your election!" There is considerable dismay here in Africa, and astonishment that it happened. Enough.
Thought it might be fun to show a couple of pix. The first is my PG-1 residency group. I couldn't ask for a better crew. Smart, dedicated, making every second of learning count. It's really inspiring, and I'm genuinely so glad that I came and had a chance to work with them.
 |
| My crew |
The second picture is a bit more complicated. So, Africa is very poor and some of the clothes and other items you see here are just jaw-droppers. Lots of commercial castoffs. As an example, when the world series gets down to the two final teams, T-shirt makers make a run of T-shirts for BOTH teams so they can come to market the second the results are available. The losing team, well, they are sold for a pittance in Africa and you'll see people walking around in the loser's T-shirt. One really weird thing I saw was obviously an overrun of T-shirts made for some celebration in Sanford, Maine.
Anyway, talking about stuff that doesn't sell and ending up in Africa... This one isn't so much weird as utterly ironic-- a throw blanket that if you don't recognize it, is a Confederate battle flag. I asked my residents if they recognized it and they said no-- they thought maybe it was the US flag or the Union Jack. When I explained, they just laughed and laughed.
Saturday morning I leave Mbarara and go traveling. Posting will depend upon my energy and physical connectivity. Home in a week.
No comments:
Post a Comment