Outposts: Out of the Gate
Monday, May 05, 2008 - 02:21 AM
As we touched down at Entebbe airport on Sunday evening, we saw stars… thousands of them. Welcome to Uganda and to one of the challenges facing the country: regular rolling blackouts and a general shortage of available electricity. This should make blogging an interesting experiment.
Descending the airplane, the scene in front of me resembled a giant ticker tape parade, a million swirling white slips, spinning, spinning, furiously. As Kampala, the capital city, is in full bloom at this time of year, I asked whether it was exceptionally large white pollen particles enveloping us? A Ugandan informed me that they are insects that are churned up from the neighboring Lake Victoria and that they are pretty good to eat... Did you know that Lake Victoria is the planet's second largest body of fresh water and covers an area roughly equivalent in size to the Republic of Ireland? I like that statistic, but I'm from Ireland, so I would. It's about 65,000 square kilometers. I would have taken a photo, but there’s no photography or filming allowed anywhere in the airport.
I’m in Uganda as part of the International Reporting Project’s Gatekeepers Editors Trip to Uganda along with another 11 editors and producers from around the U.S. We’re here to explore issues of food security, agriculture, health in particular HIV/AIDS and malaria and poverty alleviation. If all goes accordingly to plan next week we will get to meet with the head of Uganda, President Museveni.
I'm off to the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in a few minutes, so more on food security later this afternoon.
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.