Spoiled

At the beginning of September, I moved in with my host family. I had purposely chosen to have a temporary residence when I first arrived in the country in order to give myself some time to find a good fit for a host family. That decision, in hindsight, worked out very well for me.

I met Henry Kizito Musoke (goes by Kizito) while traveling with the ISU delegation during my first 10 days in the country. He serves as the Executive Director for VEDCO, the NGO with which ISU is closely associated in Uganda. When he heard that I was looking for a host family, he explained that he had an open “guest quarters” at his house and invited me over to look at it.

The arrangement turned out to be exactly what I was hoping to find – even better, actually. I wanted to live with a Ugandan family to experience a little more of the culture than I would get if I lived by myself in an apartment or campus housing. Kizito and his wife, Agnes, have 5 kids, ranging from 17 years old to 4 months old, so I definitely get to experience Ugandan family life. And Agnes is originally from Kenya, which adds even a little bit more to the cultural experience. I get to regularly eat Ugandan meals and we frequently discuss current events in Uganda and the world.

This, like I said, was exactly what I wanted to find. However, on top of this, Kizito’s “guest quarters” is actually a detached guest house, with a bedroom, a study room, a storage room, a bathroom, and a “kitchen” (sink with several cupboards). It’s like I have my own small house, and I am still welcome to come into the main house at any time in order to watch satellite TV or get food. I am served breakfast every day (or given it to-go if we’re in a hurry) and am served dinner whenever I am home during the family’s dinner time (ranges from 8:30-10:00 PM), which averages out to about 5 times a week. I will say that with what they’re giving me, I am being a charged a very unreasonable rate…unreasonable because I think it is far too little! However, Kizito insists that I only pay for food and electricity since they have it written into their mortgage/lease that they will not rent out the property to anyone. Yes, it’s safe to say that I am spoiled over here.

The only real downside is that Kizito lives about 13 km outside of Kampala. This is nice since it’s much calmer with less people and less traffic (and I don’t inhale ridiculous amounts of car exhaust when running). The problem is that it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes to go to or from the city, depending on the size of the traffic jam.

In the mornings I catch a ride into town with Kizito and Agnes, or, if I need to get into town earlier, I ride with the driver that they hire to take their second-youngest daughter, Patience, to day-school. Three of the other kids – Peter, Innocence, and Charity – all just went back to boarding school (boarding school is very common for children over here). That leaves Gloria, the baby, who stays home with “the other Agnes,” who works as a nanny/maid/cook. The other residents are Lillian, whom Kizito also employs as maid/cook, and Sam, the security guard who is on duty from sunset to sunrise. (Cultural note: I know it sounds like Kizito must be rich with the nanny, maid, driver, and security guard, but remember that labor is much cheaper in Uganda than in the U.S. It is very common for “middle-class” (using the term loosely) Ugandan households to employee a maid/cook and security guard. Kizito and his family are well-off, but by no means live in excess.)

Getting home can be slightly tricky. Sometimes I’m able to coordinate with Kizito or with Godfrey, the driver that picks up Patience after school. When that doesn’t work out, I will take a mutatu home if it is still light out (I’m still not comfortable wandering around the taxi park after dark). However, since it always gets dark a little after 7:00 here, I usually end up having to take a special-hire taxi home instead. Taxi drivers are very willing to give out their phone numbers here, and I have two of them – Jimmy or Frank – who I can usually rely on to get me home. It’s a little pricey since it is so far outside of the main city, but I figure my situation is more than worth the price of a couple taxi rides each week!

I am also learning what it’s like to live without internet access 24/7, since Kizito doesn’t want to spend the money to get internet in his home (they’re building a new home and plan to move within the next year or two). It’s actually a good experience; it makes me find other projects to work on at night and ends up being just one less distraction for me. I can also use it as an excuse when it takes me a few days to update this blog! :)

Cheers!
Chris