Of mountain and men, an African immersion in Uganda.

Nothing stays with you quite like the first moments in a part of the world that is completely unknown to you. One that has has seemed so unbelievably distant before, just a piece on a map across distant oceans. Your mind conjures images with planted stereotypes and questions ordinary functions of the everyday. No. Does it smell the same when rain touches the Earth? No. It smells better. 

Equatorial Africa is unlike its drier northern and southern sub-Saharan neighbours. The tropical climate boasts a leafy hue and dense vegetation which stems from rich crimson and fertile soils. The landscape is not flat and dry.  Nor is there savannah or a cloud of dust. The hillsides are jagged and green, occupied by tiny dots of people farming cassava, matoke bananas or coffee on the steep slopes. In Uganda, these are the primary cash crops and the only source of income for 85% of the total population living in the rolling hills of the rural landscape. My first experience in Africa was in a place where sweet potatoes and cassavas sat on rusted tin rooftops drying in the sun. Atop one of the lower Rwenzori mountains and on the boundary of the national park, sits a small village comprised of a single church, a school and a handful of houses made from mud bricks and tin roofing. Kids meander through grass up to their knees, attempting to find a level ground to play football. The main thoroughfare is an uphill pathway, where a few women in brightly coloured headwraps sit gossiping, next to their small pile of homegrown tomatoes, onions or sugar bananas for sale. A single store sells miniature packets of shampoo, razors and locally brewed alcohol for the men. The skin is darker, the smiles are wider and the shouts of 'mzungo', foreigner, are louder than anywhere else in Africa. The air is clean and fresh, blowing a gentle breeze through the crevices of the hillside. In the morning, the scent of dew on the earth is sweet and so unlike anything I expected to discover on my first week in Africa. 

villagehouse
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