Friday we spent the day packing our luggage and our data. We shared photos, transfered video tapes and copied the files we've been working on. The way to the airport was quite interesting. We left the house at sunset time, when a big traffic jam takes place every day. Even there are no traffic lights and cars move slowly, I think drivers don't get stressed. Edward always seemed very calm. I haven't seen people screaming or honking. Actually I haven't seen anyone agressive at all.
Right now I hear people honking all the time here in my street in Berlin because they have to drive slower than usually. Today Fete de la musique takes place and some streets are for pedestrians only, so cars have to drive other routes. Sometimes someone even screams. Why are they so stressed?
While driving to the airport I found it sad to see a woman sitting on a dusty sidewalk grilling corn to sell. She was there with her small son that tried to climb on her. The kid smiled and laughed, and she played with him. Around her there was some trash. The corn was quite black after a long time in the small grill. I wonder if someone was buying any of it. It's strange that it felt sad for me while they seemed happy.
Edward took a different route to avoid the traffic jam. We drove on some dirt streets with huge holes and bumps. The car's bottom often hit those bumps. I saw the night life in Kampala. There were some pickup trucks with loud speakers, pool tables, bars and lots of people hanging out there. It was a busy and very interesting area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabalagala
In the photos, a mobile card shop. Then Sarah, Miquel with Conejo, Solomon, Hakim and I, and finally someone being driven around in a bicycle on the way to the airport.
It was amazing how bright the stars were on the road to Entebbe. You could see some even near the horizon.
Tuesday 60ºN :)
Today was our last day out there filming. We drove back to Rakai (across the equator), to the same place where we did the circumcision filming last week. From there we drove to the country side to visit some community health workers in a AIDS help center. I showed the phone application to a doctor and two other workers while Michael controlled the camera and Sal made the questions. We received positive comments and some good ideas for new features. On the way back I could not stop taking pictures from the car. I filled my card with 150 images. I enjoyed shooting at high speed (1/500s) while I turned my body quickly to follow objects and people at the side of the road. It was very hard to aim with the car moving at 80 km/h... a fun game :)
At the equator I checked using the phones GPS feature if the line was at latitude 0º, but there was a 12 meter difference, whatever that means :)
Today we said goodbye to Bob and his son Daniel. Tomorrow early Michael and Sal (filming crew) will leave very early in the morning, and Miquel and I will fly back to Amsterdam in the afternoon. This will be the end of my first visit to this continent. Hopefully more follow :)
During the last week every evening when I get back home I'm extremely tired after so much travelling and exciting events. I only have energy now to write these lines and upload some new photos to http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamoid/
Today the video shootings continued. First with the Dean of the School of Public Health. Bob and Miquel presented him the phone and the application, which he found very interesting. After this Bob and Miquel explained to the camera the project and the technology used. It was a bit tricky because it was outdoors and the wind forced them to repeat the takes a few times. After eating a pizza we attended (and filmed) a very interesting event (the Grant Rounds) in the same campus, at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI). In this event, they connect the local auditorium with another one in the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore using a satellite link. Cameras and microphones in each side transmitted live feed to the other side. 3 uncommon medical cases from Uganda were presented, the participating doctors in Baltimore tried to diagnose and give their opinions on those cases using the given data, and finally the local doctors presented what was the actual diagnosis, and interesting discoveries. So basically it was a videoconference between doctors in Kampala and Baltimore that brings new knowledge to both sides.
Finally we visited the Davis theater. There was a short discussion about the planned modernization that will bring the latest technology to the theater.
After a great dinner in a beautiful Thai restaurant surrounded by nature it's now time to sleep.
Only three days left here. I know I will miss it.
Today we showed the telephone application to other people for the first time.
In the morning we discussed all the video shooting locations and ideas for the coming days.
The morning was quite a stress, because we only had a few hours to do some changes and fixes to the application and server side, but the Internet was at its worse moment since I'm here. I tried to log in into our server for hours without any luck. We were running late for our appointment, so Bob, Michael and Sal left with one of the drivers. Meanwhile Hakim ran to a shop and got an UMTS stick. He arrived home and in seconds, I plugged the thing, logged into the server, edited some files typing at super speed, closed the laptop and left.
Sal and Michael came from the Bay area to create a video presentation of the project to raise funds. Bob is the director of our project. I heard he was a doctor in India for a very long time. The first video shooting was at Doctor Stella's office. She's the director of the Reach Out project near our place, and she's so nice and friendly! I was touched by her words. She explained the history of her project that takes care of people affected by HIV and TB, their difficulties, how it has evolved over time. Bob and Miquel presented her the phone application and web site to find out what she thinks about it. Her reaction was very positive.
The second video shooting was with two health workers, while some chicken ran under our feet. You can see some photos taken while the phone was presented. Their reaction was also very good. I expected they might be much more skeptic, but they said it could save lives! After filming kids were amazed with the camera, laughing with joy and making silly faces in front of it.
Until yesterday I thought this phone application is a good idea, but it was just software in my test phone and the server. That changed today. Hearing the comments from Doctor Stella and the two health workers made it obvious that what I've been programming can have a real impact in people's life's. I don't know how to describe it, but I'm surprised.
Amazing how many interesting people I meet here :)
Yesterday morning very early, while it was still night, we started our car trip Kalisizo (southwest) where we were supposed to do a video and photo shooting.
Still in the city I could see hundreds of people walking in the darkness towards their jobs (there are no street lights). Others used some kind of motorized vehicle. After we got out of the Kampala I started writing about the things that called my attention, sometimes taking photos.
Since I spent most of my time in Kampala and in our nice house, I'm not always aware of how much my situation is different, and how Kampala is different from the rest of the country. Things seem quite familiar when we walk to the shop to get some food. There are cars and motorbikes, a street, houses, people...
But yesterday after over two hours in the car I realized some things. Normally there are no side walks, only red dirt. There is no electricity. Some are lucky and have a generator. Only some people have a car or a motorbike. There is no distribution of water. I saw hundreds of adults and children with big bottles, walking or pushing a bicycle, to get some water. There is no postal service. You can have a p.o. box, but mail won't come to your home. You only have trash pick up if you have money to pay for it. Cell phones are more common. It was strange to see that dozens of towns had houses painted with bright colors. They included cell phone company logos. I guess companies paint the houses as advertising. So every town had one or more yellow houses, one or more pink houses...
I saw guys with rifles. It's a normal thing here. They are the security guards. They wear uniforms, and I see lots of them often walking in or out the headquarters of the company. Sometimes riding a bicycles with their rifles. I haven't seen yet a single person that looked agressive.
A tall pile of car engines on my left, maybe 20 or 30 of them. Lots of car parts. Front parts of trucks, like truck faces. Most cars are asian here. Many are second hand korean cars, with korean texts written on them. Sofas and beds for sale in the street.
Containers used as a shop. Kids walking to school in the middle of the road, maybe for kilometers.
Bicycles with a pillow in the back side for carrying someone. Bicycles carrying 4 water containers, or lots of banans, or banana tree leaves. Women with long colorful dresses. Women sitting on the back of a motorbike, both legs to the left side. Trucks packed with bananas, people on top. Woman sweeping a dirt ground.
I think when people go cut their hair here they probably choose between 0.5 mm and 4 mm. Some women have longer hair.
Termites create big piles of red dirt, maybe up to 1.5 meters high. They look like little volcanoes, and you see them very often.
We crossed the equator. We discovered a nail in one of the wheels, which stayed there for the rest of the trip.
At times I had my eyes closed and slept. Then I took some photos again.
Roads have huge speed bumps to make you slow down. They are so high that often the bottom of the car hits the bump.
The time in the medical / research center was very interesting. I talked to doctors, to a very friendly Sister (nurse). Miquel and I changed our shoes and clothes for the typical doctor clothing, including hats and masks. We were shown how a adult circumcision is done, beginning with washing the hands, putting gloves one, wearing the clothes correctly, the tools and environment, the anesthesia, the operation, and the post operation talk to the patient. I was a bit worried I would faint when seeing blood, but I was so concentrated on my work and interested in the doctor's explanations that I had no problem at all. I used the Flash pointed to the ceiling and a 20D in manual mode with a stabilized zoom lens. The images resulted very sharp with good lighting. I learned that this operation can reduce 60% the chances of getting HIV, that's why we create learning material so it can become more widespread.
After many hours of work, we got out. There was a small bird sitting in the power cables, and it seemed to be laughing time after time. Every day I see and hear a new bird :)
We drove back for a few hours. A great sunset. A big traffic jam at the entrance of Kampala.
Next week I will probably go there again. I will try to record some video so you see what I described.
Two days ago I woke up with these beautiful sounds.
After 17 hours, finally back home (in Kampala). It was a very long day. I spent 4 or 5 hours on the road. You can see some photos I took from the car. Today was the first time I could see a live operation. I took almost 400 photos from the whole procedure and the tools used. Here you can see two. I guess the others you don't want to see :) I didn't faint! :) Tomorrow I will describe what interesting things I saw today.
