Ok... I'm back.

If you didn't get a chance to read the last post, that was just earlier today. I was a bit pressed for time so things weren't explained very well, but I thought I should expand on Acholi culture and people a little more. I mentioned we had an Acholi meal (I had goat in a "sim sim" (sesame) and peanut sauce with millet bread and sweet potato) but the Acholi people are actually the group of people we're doing our homestays with here in Uganda. They are generally from the northern part of the country and have been one of the groups most affected by the ongoing 22 year civil war in the north. They are largely a Christian group of people because as one woman put it, "it is the only hope they have." They are also largely a poor group of people due to war and the government's policies towards Acholiland (Museveni, Uganda's president is from the south).

On that topic, just yesterday in the local paper, they government reported that it wqould resume military operations in the north which had been suspended in hopes of reaching a peace deal. So a very interesting time to be here. On top of that the local media is not very regulated so much of what the government does is in fact questioned. Last night was Museveni's state of the nation address and in todays papers, some of the reviews were rather scathing. And on top of all that I found out today that my host father is actually a MP (member of parliament) from the opposition party (Freedom for Democratic Change). It will all be very interesting I hope.

To add to my explaination of boda boda's, all I have to say is they're dangerous. 60% of all casualties in local hospitals are from boda boda accidents. Just last night 5 people died in a boda boda accident in the city. Again, I promise not to ride them for all of you concerned.

Well... that's all for now. If anyone ever wants any more explaination of anything just write a comment and I'll be happy to answer questions.

Weraba (bye) for now

Peace,
Matt