The Very First Encounter with Kazo

The only way you could encounter Kazo is by car or Bota Bota (The local name for Motorbike).

I arrived in Entebbe three days ago, a place where all international flights coming into Uganda have to land. Although it is more than 50km away from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, and even farther away from Kazo, where I'm going to work, there was just no other ways I could make it without breaching the law. Therefore, I told my colleagues in KICVOP(Kazo International Community Volunteer Programme) to pick me up there.

Before I start talking about the country, there was something interesting occured on the plane before landing in Uganda. As everyone who has ever travelled between countries may recall, an immigration card is to be filled before landing and presented to the immigration officer. Whether holding the visa to destination country prior to travel, the card is required. And the information written upon has to be true, otherwise one would have great chance of being refused to enter the country. I was told to get the visa at Entebbe airport, so I did not prepare any relevent information such as hotel name and address. I was also told not to get visa on volunteering purpose as the fee would go up three or fourfold(Crazy, but don't know why). However, after I was given the card on the plane, I noticed that hotel address is required since I was supposed to be a tourist and, of course, I could not say that I did not know where my hotel was. You could say that I must be sweating a lot at the time. Well, I was in fact too busy to sweat(and that's probably why people sweat unconsciously). I was looking around the plane for help! Cabin crews were first excluded as I would then be arrested on plane rather than at the airport. I then considered the option of asking passengers sat besides me, but the warning 'DON'T TRUST STRANGERS' poped up in my head. Therefore, I had to turn on my phone to send messages to Mac, the executive director pf KICVOP and Michal, the one who masterminded my arrival. Michal responded in less than 3 minutes. Without even looking into the message, I wrote the hotel name she provided on my card. After scribbling down the name, I soon found out that the hotel name came without an address in the message. I replied to Micahl at once with my concern. Without waiting too long for a reply, Mac send me a message with an address. I desperately wrote it down and then realised that it might be a different hotel from what Michal gave me. So I checked the message from the beginning and the name turned out to be different. At the same time, Michal's reply came and saying the address is not necessarily needed and I could tell the officer that the taxi driver would know the location. I replied to both with Thank Yous and sat in my seat with despair. For the sake of man's vanity, I did not ask for a new card and determined to push my luck a little bit further.

While the plane landed at the airport, I was still wondering if that was an emergency landing as I could not see any buildings and any other planes. After taxing for quite a while, three more planes emerged at the terminal, I was partly reliefed. Very soon after the plane stopped, we were allowed to get off. I felt like a VIP as I could move to the terminal on foot with ground staff pointing out directions, 'That way, that way!'

Well, it was the time to meet the immigration officer. I did not think about the possiblity of being arrested very much as I was busy looking for ways to go around the counter. I noticed that there was basically no one to stop people from walking away. However, fear dominated me this time. I quitely stood in the queue, waiting for my turn. Meanwhile, I was thinking about all my past experience of hiding anxiety. I possibly did my part too well. when it was my turn, the officer did not even look at my card under my big, innocent smile. He sticked the visa on my passport and wrote down my name and duration of stay very roughly on the visa. While he handed back my passport, I was totally reliefed.

I went straight to collect my baggage and out to meet my colleagues whom I had never met. Mac received me with 'You are most welcomed here!' I was too reliefed to even reply with Thank You. Mac and two local volunteers accompnied me to the car in the parking lot and we started to move our way back to Kampala. Well, It was their way back to Kampala. Only after settling down in the car for around twenty minutes, I fought back my normal sensors. The place smelled differently and so much fimiliar. I was the smell I encountered 10 years ago in Sudan. A smell without too many trees and an advanced economy; a smell where nature is more than just a part of people's lives.

On the way back, Mac told me in a very mischievous tone, 'you know, Landon, we only parked there for 9 minutes. 9 minutes!'

'9 minutes? why so precise?'

'Well, they charge us according to minutes.'

'That's crazy indeed!'

It was crazy. It was even more astonishing when proper roads started to diminish and were replaced by dusts. 'We are home now,' Mac announced. And I believed him. I saw Bota Bota anxiously passed by and even more Bota Bota anxiously waiting for customers. I saw people cooking outside with burning woods and unidentified cookers. I saw people's houses can no longer be called houses in terms of the privacy they create. I saw life here as a total integration of the nature of nature and the nature of human beings.

After made the first step getting out of the car, I firmly believed that a new world had been delicately discovered.