bombings

Wow, there is soooo much to write about, I don’t even know where to start. But I guess I will start with the most important thing, and probably what most people are wondering about most: the terrorist attacks.

I honestly probably know less about what exactly happened than people in the United States do, and I feel a bit too far removed from the whole thing to act like I am an expert on it. In fact, my sister was the first person to tell me that something happened; I was in Katosi at the time (thanks Lauren!!). After she text messaged me that the New York Times said there was a bombing in Kampala, Avery and I went outside to ask Maama Gertrude if it was true. Maama Gertrude looked at me funny, then non-chalantly said “oh yes, there were bombs. People died” And then she turned and walked away, and Avery and I were like WHAT THE HECK!!?

I know that al-Shabaab, a group from Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attacks; the leader even said whatever makes Ugandans cry makes him happy. Uganda is one of the African Union countries (along with Burundi) that has sent troops to Somalia to try to fix the utter anarchy that has occurred there. Al-Shabaab (which apparently has links to al-qaeda) is clearly opposed to that; they basically “declared war” on Uganda. Three bombs went off, two at a rugby stadium (where I had actually been thinking about watching world cup finals) and one at an Ethiopian restaurant. Another one was supposed to go off at a club, but apparently it didn’t work. They found a bag with a bunch of bomb vests there a few days after the attacks.

I have been trying to pay attention to get a sense of how people are feeling about the attacks. It seems like people in Kampala are scared, and people in Katosi are not. I have not been to Kampala since the bombings, but people I have talked to said there is a lot of uncertainty and everyone is nervous. People in Katosi are sad that such a thing happened, that innocent people died. But even just a few days after the bombing, people stopped talking about it here. I guess the sad truth is that things like that happen here, whether it is from political violence, rebel attacks, or even disease. I mean, I guess it just happens everywhere. But it shouldn’t be like that; it makes me mad.

I’m mad because it is cutting my summer short. I am mad because my parents had to pay a lot of money to change my plane ticket. But mostly I am mad that so many people died; so many people that just wanted to enjoy the world cup finals. The newspapers showed the stadium after the attacks. There were people walking around wearing “Africa United” t-shirts and carrying vuvuzelas, wondering what to do. There were dead people, still sitting in plastic chairs with beers in between their knees, with blood all over there chests (newspapers here like to show pictures of dead people, for some reason). If there was no blood, they would have looked like they were still watching the game. It was nauseating. Why did they have to die? They were just trying to have fun! They were just trying to have fun.

And now people in Uganda, especially in Kampala, have to live in fear. The day after the bombs, apparently hardly anyone left their homes. Then almost every day the next week, the news would talk about how there was a bomb scare, where people thought they saw a bomb every time they saw something shiny (like in an ice cream container). There are so many crowded places where something else could happen, and it is scary.

Anyway, the whole internship kind of went up in the air for a few days, because everyone in my group from UNC was trying to figure out what to do. Five people have left Uganda already, including Avery (the girl who was in Katosi with me)! Her parents called last Wednesday, and told her she had to leave on Friday. So now I am alone in Katosi. I feel totally safe though. If anything happened here, I would be floored. My parents want me to come home early too, since everyone else is. I don’t want to leave, because I love it here and I really feel like it is my home. But I guess I don’t want to be here alone for too long, in case something crazy happens. So I am coming home early, at the end of July. Come visit me!!!

Love colleen