goin to africa, brb

don't want to jinx it (still haven't purchased ticket, visa pending), but apparently i am going to uganda in about a month

:-)

I want to go with.

oh sweet

jeal

do u want 2 take me

what r u doin there

pretty stoked

how long? i wanna go 2 africa

friend of mine at school already had designs on making a film, had some ppl bail on him, learned that i had made a (single, amateurish) documentary, asked if i wanted to come along

so i am! we're gonna make a v short film. the plan is to meet up with dr. 4shis br4hma (very googleable) and document life in a sudanese refugee camp that has one doc for 27k ppl

there may be some, uh, side trips, but i'm gonna keep mum on those for the minute, as they may be....foolhardy

hey E that job I interviewed for yesterday - one of the projs I'd be overseeing is in Uganda!

wow awesome

Are you going to bless the rains down in Africa? You should take some time to do the things you never had.

(ie - waiting for some intel from a friend of mine who co-produced a short frontline piece on a neighboring country commonly referred to by its initials)

xp jenny did u know that i used to sing that song in a bluegrass band :-/

erica that is dope!

ha i was gonna make a Toto joke

Ha! Maybe I knew, but forgot? I love that song. Also, this is very cool. Also 1 doc for 27k ppl is hard to even comprehend.

i know, right?? no idea how he manages. apparently he went there w/MSF and a bunch of other docs bailed or something...still not totally sure

jenny did u know that i used to sing that song in a bluegrass band :-/

The real question, GBX, is whether or not you were able to fit Kilimanjaro and Serengeti in the same line as deftly as the lead singer of Toto?

:-/

frankly if u cant fit kilimanjaro and serengeti in those lines u dont deserve to go to africa

You should probably brush up on that in case they make you sing it upon entry to the continent. They very well may.

oh man, now im nervous

takin orders for AKs, btw, lemme kno if u want 1

I heard Africa on the radio this morning, and I swear I'd never heard the serengeti/kilimanjaro line before (I've never paid it that much attention, tbh). And now it's a thing on this thread!

Really?! The serengeti/kilimanjaro line is one of the best ever!

http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/a/a8/AIDS_is_over.jpg

I have done some preliminary research for you and found that while in Uganda you might see some of the following:

http://www.ugandatravelguide.com/images/kidepo-wildlife-safari.jpg
http://www.gorillatrackinguganda.com/images/wildlife_1.jpg
http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_apr05/images/hippocropped.jpg

and perhaps most importantly:

http://www.tavarestours.co.ke/images/lion2.jpg

If you see a hippo and it's looking at you like that MFer, I suggest you run.

no i will ride him, charging thru the surf

pics pls

good luck gbx! sounds amazing!

so i am! we're gonna make a v short film. the plan is to meet up with dr. 4shis br4hma (very googleable) and document life in a sudanese refugee camp that has one doc for 27k ppl

― i want to marry a pizza (gbx), Tuesday, June 16, 2009 7:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

for a second i thought you meant one documentary for 27k ppl

so did i

i was like is that some way of saying a lot of people have made documentaries about this place?

anyway... that is cool that you are doing this. i hope we can see some of your footage. my friend made a documentary about musicians who live in sierra leone refugee camps, you should maybe check it out

friend of mine at school already had designs on making a film, had some ppl bail on him, learned that i had made a (single, amateurish) documentary, asked if i wanted to come along

so i am! we're gonna make a v short film. the plan is to meet up with dr. 4shis br4hma (very googleable) and document life in a sudanese refugee camp that has one doc for 27k ppl

so deeply rad dude ^_^

that's fantastic, what an opportunity. good luc with all the visa and visit scheduling stuff.

friend just goin thru security, last call before he leaves oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

is your friend in country ok? when do you leave?

haven't heard from him yet, but i'm sure he's doing fine.

i just booked my ticket a few days ago, and i'm leaving july 19th, arriving july 20th. still gotta get my uganda visa, but that should only be a couple days, and nate i think was planning on getting his when he landed.

still gotta pick up the camera equipment, get my yellow fever shots (tues), get some appropriate clothing, and, uh, prepare a shooting script/plan.

goin tomorrow iirc

plans have been vexed by the realization that we're missing a v v important little cable that no one seems to carry. so if some ilxor happens to have a mini (3.5mm) to XLR that's only a couple inches long lying around and can get it to me by sunday morning then dope thx yr a bro

(JJ -- i was wrong about the mini to RCA thing, d'oh)

oh shit, really? is it a video out or something?

between this and M@tt ending up with a maybe not needed recone Eclipse is batting 0% for ilx in the past month.

nah, it's just that the audio tracks will only sync if the input is coming in channels 1&2 (the xlrs).

filmmaker bud here sent me to cin3quipt, so i'm hoping they can come through. gonna swing by radio shack in person, too, as i'm certain that the negs i got from idiot teenagers aren't necessarily reliable

nah, it's just that the audio tracks will only sync if the input is coming in channels 1&2 (the xlrs).

wau that seems kind of...stupid.

so you need 1/8" stereo to dual XLR male. if you get completely pwned finding one, i can cobble something together to loan you, but its going to be sort of overlong and awkward (only thing i can think of offhand would be modding a rca xlr 4 channel snake that i have). let me know tho.

oh no, sorry, i only need it into ONE XLR, that wasn't clear

that "&" should have been "or"

the thing is that the RCAs won't work. the guy at cinequipt knew exactly what i was talking about, as did my buddy who does post for F4llon, so this is a common thing for people working with wireless lavs and video. i'm just a little concerned that the guy at cinequipt is gonna charge me an arm and a leg, because technically they're closed on saturday and i had to call the emergency, on-call hotline. dude call back in like 2 min, tho, i was impressed

so i guess guitar center has something (sorry JJ :( )

I can't believe you're going tomorrow. You must be so excited!

right now i'm a little agitated and not yet packed, due to this vexing cable issue, but yeah: excited!

sort of only dimly aware of what i'm getting into

Yeah but that might be for the best. It's going to be amazing. How long is the flight from MN - like 15 hours or so?

9 to schipol, 5 hours ~~chillin, 9 to entebbe

my friend is supposed to pick me up, then we're heading to kampala for a day, then ???

Schipol is a pretty good airport to chill in tbh. I'm really jealous. I hope you have a good camera!

I don't have a camera!

Couldn't afford to get one before I left

Schipol is a pretty good airport to chill in tbh

this is true.

Have fun, sounds like a cool trip.

just remembered that i have one of these

better than waiting for tablets, iirc

Oh man if I'd known you didn't have a camera I would have sent you my old one to use! :-(

our plans have changed from my original posts, btw, but we'll probably be hanging at a hospital in n. uganda, and maybe tagging along with healthcare workers going thru IDP camps?? my buddy told me he met a dude that told him that there are districts in the country that have one doc per 500k, but i have serious trouble believing that. like, statistically. prob off by an order of magnitude, but still, yow

~brb~

have a great trip!!

i am in an airport

AHHHHHHHHHH!! So exciting. Have a WONDERFUL trip. :-)

schipol, reveal your secrets

what kinda videocamera u using?

did u find the cable?

sony pd 1?0

and yeah, i got the cable, but only after much gnashing of teeth and $$$

the only place that had it sold it for $45, because I guess they make them in house?

internet had them for $20 >:(

but i guess you get that homemade goodness

do u have a shotgun or decent onboard mic if things get wonky?

stock onboard, which is meh in my experience. but i did a shakedown on the lav after i got the cable, and things should be okay.

how's schiphol? i bet it's really good cuz if it was even a little off its game you know people would call it shithole

artisan cables

schipol is a tight airport imo

lol kampala u busy

my kingdom for a camera shoppe

(still cam...forgot battery charger lol)

d'oh! that sucks dude

what a disaster for snapshots

maybe someone here could get one and mail it to you? how reliable is the mail there?

you shld, without too many issues, be able to find a charger in kampala

i spent several hours looking for one the other day, got any hints?

also: it's a leica, which doesn't really help things

gbx - maybe try contacting leica direct if u have steady email access? theyre generally really quicky & helpful

will check with phtographer friends of mine who work there and will let you know what they say

ooh, thanks dudes. steady is sort of a relative term at the moment, but i'll look into it.

i think my dad may attempt to send his (i'm borrowing the camera), but getting UPS to Gulu may take a minute, you know?

anyway, since i'm on the internet: riding bodas in kampala is ill-advised, and brotally awesome. i saw only three traffic signals in the city (i'm sure there are more, of course), but the congestion is as thick as downtown chicago in rush hour, but moving 4x faster, and with motorcycles doing basically whatever the fuck they want, including but not limited to: riding against traffic, riding on the sidewalk, swerving wildly to avoid potholes (refrigerator big), and giving peds maybe 6" of room when passing. and yet, nothing seems to happen to anyone. i've been told that the orthopedic wards are stuffed with boda casualties, and a surgeon here (N4rd, Dutch, hilarious) was actually hit by one, but i've yet to see any actual collisions myself. it's like everyone on the road has traffic ESP, and operates like a school of fish.

ru teaching the people how to rock?

(also good luck and god bless forrealz)

godbless rock teachers u mean

nah, i am hanging out in hospitals and trying to make a short film.

in other news: we have already lost the fucking cable i mentioned upthread. we've got a guy that says he can get us one (either purchased or made), but it's still aggravating. oh well.

also: lol khat, we bought u behind a lumber yard. also u r gross tasting

is your life being changed y/n

E, I can't believe you're actually there and doing this. It's just so great. I hope it's as amazing as you had hoped.

Oh wow! My cousin went to Africa (cause her dad, my uncle, grew up there) and had a blast. Sure you will too! At least I hope so. :-)

so apparently the cable has been found in kampala and is whisking to us via link bus. so that's nice.

last few days have been weird, but interesting. a friend of our friend here, 4shis, arranged a driver and translator for us a couple days ago. he was to drive us to the congolese border so we could interview people that lived there, but it was revealed that the border was 3.5 hrs away, that he didn't know anyone there, and that he didn't speak French. so we stuck around here, instead, which is how my friend ended up buying khat (qat) at the lumberyard.

we decided to follow up on that, and our guy here, gr4mma, said that he'd introduce us to a khat dealer, and maybe take us out to a khat farm. we headed to "the yard," which is just an abandoned lot in town, with some shanties at the back, where men (typically unemployed) sit in shacks chewing khat leaf and bubblegum. like all day. when we pulled in, the car was surrounded by pretty much everyone in the yard, most of whom were very surprised to see three mzungu sitting there with nice cameras. after a bit of negotiation, gr4mna convinced hi11ary, the dealer, that we were legit, and he allowed us to get out and have a chat. i was asked for my ID, strangely enough, and so my driver's license got passed around by fifteen guys until it passed muster. we interviewed H, with G translating when necessary, and everyone got a chance to demonstrated how you're supposed to go about chewing khat (left cheek, with Big G gum, don't swallow the plant just the juice, the red leaves are the best).

i'm runnnig out of internet time here, but later we visited a khat farm out in the country, which was dope. later that night, we got robbed.

:D

0h god the suspense!

nice cliffhanger!

did they steal yr v v important little cable

no my cell phone

:(

got a new one, fifteen dolla

now up in Gulu, so many WHITE PEOPLE

woah more stories plz!!!!
also be safe!!!!!!

not too much more to report, except for long busrides next to dudes with chickens.

also hung out with friendly iranians, who liked my green t-shirt

in uganda there is a problem with trans-port
so yesterday we helped two local docs dispense some meds at an IDP village out in the bush. we managed to see everyone (120 patients), but we ran out of pretty much everything. at least all the useful stuff: mebendazole, quinine, cipro. dudes are treating AIDS/HIV (words we were not allowed to speak, btw) with a broad-spectrum antiobiotic (cotrimoxazole), with the idea being that the pts will simply be on it for the rest of their lives, as a prophylactic.

we stayed later than expected (couldn't turn anyone away), so the ride home was in the dark. this was hilarious/terrifying because at least half of it was on a double-track path through the bush, and one of our motorcycles didn't have a light. also, it had rained the night before, and the ground was still muddy, which made traction more of an abstract idea than an actual principle with tangible benefits. the bike i was on stalled out a few times, and we nearly got run off the road by a truck, and the other motorcycle accidentally clipped a cyclist while ~they~ were getting run off the road by the same truck, but we made it. then, dinner in a hut, with a duck i saw a child plucking earlier in the morning. dericious.

i "snuck" out that night to have beers with dr justin (dr francis does not take beer, and mass was at 7am), and ended up staying out until 4am at a nightclub with a dirt floor and corrugated tin walls, drinking liquor out of packages shaped exactly like oversize ketchup packets. pajule doesn't have electricity, btw.

making it through the morning was a bit rough, especially since it took about 1.5 hours for our hosts to say goodbye. like, literally. old men giving speeches with translation, being made part of the family, the whole thing. it was genuinely really touching, but a bit of a thing to manage with a hangover.

we finally extracted ourselves, got a motorcycle ride to a town at the crossroads (Acholibur), and prepared to kick it for a few hours, since no one really knows when a bus might come through. as it happened, an old man with a pickup truck was heading to Gulu, so we paid him 16,000 shillings (8 dollars), and hopped in. nate rode up front, and i laid out in the back, fully intending to savor a few hours of relaxing in the northern ugandan sunshine, and enjoying the scenery.

but then the dude kept picking up people (duh), and by the time we got to Gulu there were ten of us in the back, half of whom were babies. everyone that saw me in the back was horrified (like, middle-aged women wagging their finger at me), simply because white people never, ever take the local transport. probably for good reason, but whatever, it was fun.

: )

Sounds awesome, E. When are you back?

dudes are treating AIDS/HIV (words we were not allowed to speak, btw) with a broad-spectrum antiobiotic (cotrimoxazole), with the idea being that the pts will simply be on it for the rest of their lives, as a prophylactic.

That's not a great idea on a cpl different levels, right? I can't wait to talk to you about all this. Hope it continues to be awesome and interesting.

the reason they do it, of course, is because anti-retrovirals are way too expensive. the usual courses of treatment simply aren't available to someone who is living in a v v rural village in n uganda. the docs are aware of the problems with over-enthusiastic usage of antibiotics, but if it's a cheap way to keep a fifteen year old mother from getting opportunistic infections, then you know

but yeah, nathan and i were both UH, simply because you run the risk of breeding something like MRSA, which would devastate a highly immunosuppressed population

is there much issue with getting people to take treatments (antiretrovirals or antibiotics) consistently and regularly? i've heard a lot about lack of education leading to this problem.

and also: this sounds like the most incredible experience! i feel proud of u!

oh i never told the robbing story:

nathan and i were chilling on the veranda at like 3am in the morning, at the hotel in fort portal. we were talking about our ~feelings~ when these two dudes sidled up to us. they started asking for money and cigarettes, so we just deployed the usual techniques. then one guy started touching things on the table, to demonstrate that we had money ("but you have this beer, this water, this ~YOINK~"), grabbed the cell phone, and ran off. the other guy ran the other direction. we had a bag of stuff that wasn't really packed up, so i hustled everything into the bag while nathan chased the thief into the night. like, with a big ass knife.

it is worth mentioning, at this point, that nathan is a reformed coke dealer who used to sleep with a gun under his pillow. he is now a world-saving, jesus-loving, 30 year old medical student, but he's still got a short fuse. which is to say: he had his knife out, and he fucking meant it. like, ran around town, flagging down boda drivers and asking where thieves go at night, berating the armed hotel guard for not being there when it happened, telling me that he'd be willing to get his ass kicked by a bunch of ugandans if it meant getting this phone back. the phone cost us $15, btw

one boda told us that the nightclub down the street probably had thieves in it (UH), so nathan was gung-ho about going down there and straight confronting dudes about the phone. i went with, just to keep on eye on him. but only after we went back to the room to change into dark, stealthy clothing. UH.

from up the road, the nightclub looked like fucking thunderdome. people standing around fires, motorcycles tearing in and out, yelling, loud music, the works. so we headed down there (it's 430, btw). i just wanted cigarettes, and had no interest in asking anyone about the phone. so, we got there, and "people standing around fires" was just some food stands, and the motorcycles tearing in and out were just bodas taking drunks home. i bought some cigarettes, talked about football with some drunk dudes, nathan asked some other drunk dudes where people sell stolen things, and we went home.

we got another phone the next day, and have had no problems since.

this guy nathan has no sense

amazing thread!

one boda told us that the nightclub down the street probably had thieves in it (UH), so nathan was gung-ho about going down there and straight confronting dudes about the phone. i went with, just to keep on eye on him. but only after we went back to the room to change into dark, stealthy clothing. UH.

So I'm casting the movie in my mind for all this. Who directs, who plays GBX and who plays Nathan?

ned's casting couch

Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace

nice writing gbx!

kicked it with the iranian diaspora last night, ate some persian food, relaxin

leave tonight, and the next 1.5 days are going to be all valium and wine, all the time

skeptical, maybe a little sad

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/3818374269_a7dc2aba98_o.jpg

this girl did not seemed please in one bit to be riding in the back of a pickup truck. i tried to smile and be pals, but i think it just made things worse

what are you gonna do

stay real

this guy was a real dude, and let me take his picture when i asked. also, when the concerned girl pictured above got in the truck, he made a bed for her out of a sack of something (grain?) and held her head while she slept to keep it from bouncing as we rattled along towards Gulu. fist pound 2 u

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/3819192106_bd84e3c367_o.jpg

awww what a bro

incroyable

Hey gbx I think mpls/stpl peeps should have a bar related storytime w/you. Unless you have the dreaded airborne malaria or some such nonsense.

for a genereal of disease you know little of malaria

but yes: let's do this. i will make a slideshow???

i want to come :(

bring slide show to seattle

SLIDESHOW!

and also bring jj sideshow

I demand a webcast for the rest of us!

Okay I will think of something

dragons are cool around the world

wish the central figure was in focus (i was hip-shooting and had the focus set to infinity), but whatever. bro-down in the gulu market

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3457/3820819960_c20e0118a8_o.jpg

matthew barney exhibit at kitgum hospital: a limited engagement

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/3820823354_aae4d442c0_o.jpg

mosquito nets in the maternity ward, kitgum

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3820019009_4d5d832fe9_o.jpg

wheelchair in female surgical ward

currently not in use, administrator was unsure when it would be usable again

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2542/3820040753_66c620a48e_o.jpg

i forgot about this thread! i am going to read it over dinner tonight!

incredible stories, gbx

i need to do some proper, non-ilx-style write ups of some of this stuff, will post w/pics when i finish

gbx this whole thing, and you – completely fucking awesome

ghost child in pajule

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3821116136_07c4aefcc0_o.jpg

32s exposure taken from the front rack of a boda boda. this little girl kept walking back and forth in front of the frame.

wtf r u lookin @

so this guitar is nathan's, purchased just outside kampala at a fokalare layperson's monastery, hand-made by monks. the kid playing it is richard, who is very smart and needs to get the hell out of pajule and into school. the unimpressed little dude sitting next to him is probably named something, but i have no idea who he belonged to, he just sorta hung around the compound, coming and going as he pleased. this is sort of a general thing in uganda, btw, kids just kicking it wherever

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3821265198_fa03e48d81_o.jpg

this man does not play guitar

he just wanted to hold it for the picture. also he is an excellent, huge-hearted human being and all of you should know him and his family

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/3821290040_bb560bf679_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/3821300720_017e67d301_o.jpg

we'd just finished breakfast

~great~ thread

did you get the footage you need?

i hope so! i haven't looked at it yet. just got back last night, sort of daunted by how much we shot. nathan was not very, uh, judicious in his shooting

fascinating!

will you share the doc with ilx, too? or is it a big secret?

nah, no secret. it just will take a very very long to finish, i think, unless we can get funding to have someone log/edit for us. i mean, second year of med school starts in a few weeks, and will be ultra time-consuming. i haven't edited something in years, nathan never has, and we will be swamped with schoolwork 94/7. i'd rather try and secure finishing funds and have someone do it for us, you know

guys how do i get flickr to take my lol hueg versions of my photos? i try sending the full-rez and they just max out at 640xwhatever. do i have to pay for a pro acct?

Oh, that's it - free account = 2GB/month upload limit, you can only see yr last 200 pix and, although the 4000px images are there, you can't see them. Odd that these are 640px though, thought the Flickr "medium" size (the default size for free-account holders) was 500px.

Worth $25/year for a pro account, maybe? Not sure of other solutions; I know we talked elsewhere about me working them up a bit (though they don't need much - that last one is perfect) so perhaps I could host the full-quality versions on my stream as a private set, but I'm not sure that you'd be able to see the hi-res versions (viewing on a Guest Pass), which would defeat the point.

It's terrific stuff though, it really is.

gibs, if you had, say, a photo blog with one awesome photo + story per post, i would add u to my google reader.

i'm herdin, wtf r u doin

met these little dudes on top of a hill, walking around with sticks and cows

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/3829848727_2909e3942a_b.jpg

don't even think about it

i dare you to try riding your bicycle thru the kampala bus park

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2491/3830637300_f1d7c24328_o.jpg

aw lil cowboys :,)

i wanna see the one with the kids carrying stuff across the street again!

i run this

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3830675002_b8ea9c0f1c_o.jpg

awwwwwwwwwww

ask you and you shall receive

excuse me, pardon me, v v important business to attend to

no time to talk, good day, sir

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3444/3829893297_d9a2dab2c2_o.jpg

The one bringing up the rear is awesome. He is on a mission.

yes!!

btw this is probably tacky, but if wtfever:

while nathan and i were up in kitgum/puda, we learned that one of the classroom's at negri brimary, in gulu, was gutted in a fire. nate's organization sponsors several boys there, and they all lost pretty much everything: mathsets, pens, pencils, shoes, etc. basic, penny-ante shit, but necessary for their education. like, if they don't have it, they don't have anything to finish the year with, and it may mean starting from scratch next year.

his org, i n v i s i b l e c o n f l i c t s dot org is sending out begging letters for emergency funds, so if any of y'all are feeling charitable, let me know and i will put you in touch with the appropriate parties

anyway, /obnoxious panhandling

classroom's = classrooms

brimary = primary

jesus what the hell is wrong with me

gbx, is there a paypal? I'll bet if you made it pretty easy, ilxors would start throwing in $5 a piece and that could really add up.

i'll look into it, good idea, laurel!

where did the pictures go :(

aw crap i was worried that would happen---i "replaced" them on flickr with the full-rez versions, and i think that must've broken the links :(

tza, u r a mod, i know how you can fix this

I can see them!

yeah, i can see them, too, but that's probably because they're cached

yeah, not showing up here :(

are they now new img links, though? or the replaced images have the same address?

They get new addresses when you replace them. Which you know, doesn't match up with "replace" imo.

^^^^ yeah, this. which is annoying.

tza i could basically go through and pull the new addy's from their respective pages, and you could manually replace them, or i could just post a link to my growing flickr set.

(though then that invites crepes)

http://www.finestchef.com/Crepe_Peach.jpg

yum

i can fix them for you if you like. not that hard. and you could post the flickr set link. or not.

dispensin meds in the peds ward, kitgum hospital

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/3831352182_d79a5f7f94_b.jpg

gbx, I have a young friend who happens to be British Ugandan and she has just finished an Eng. Lit degree at university. I met her because she was doing work experience; she wants to be a journalist and might like to report on this. Can I send her to your flickr, for now?

of course

i'll be writing something up soon-ish, myself, that will have actual capitalization and proper grammar and the like

wb whole thing sounds really dope

oh what the hell: http://www.flickr.com/photos/giboyeux/sets/72157622065551948/

Cool! Will sort you guys out soon via the magic of Facebook. J is from Kampala. I will now stop trying to art-matchmake my friends and go back to work on my own looming proposal.

Would you still like me to work these up a bit, gbx? Have made you a contact, btw.

just saw that.

def have a go, if you like. some of these i may crop yet...i'm still sifting thru the nearly 600+ i've got and trying to cull them down into some sort of slideshow

well, a few slideshows, really: one that's narrative ("first i did this and then i did this") and another that's more just good pics for an article/presentation that's more....topical? i guess? basically i'm winging it.

Okey-doke - lots of work to do this evening, but I'll keep grabbing the originals and do something later. Not really sure how to go about getting the tweaked originals back to you (fairly sure a private set on the JerryBones stream would not let you see, and therefore download, the largest size).

this is francis

he is a fifth year medical student, and one of the few ugandan doctors-to-be that plans on staying in the country. the rest will have their brains drained to S. Africa or the US or the UK, where they can actually get paid. also, i just learned about an hour ago, that due to the very recent hospitalization of his father (Dr. Alex, the ONLY doctor at Kitgum, a referral hospital serving a district of 500k), he is short about 1M UGX in tuition money

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3437/3831479674_bc10eb9c46_b.jpg

speed champion

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3838924260_7c5506eb4e_b.jpg

would rather have the 'safety champion' tbqfh

quality bananas
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3838924814_c8fa0fb4fb_b.jpg

btw these are all from my flickr set, linked upthread, as are all the rehashed 'jokes'

naps

the bus is so fucking boring, even on the speed champion

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/3838926626_a037d56bee_b.jpg

bus stop

every time we pulled into a town, there was a scene similar to this one

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/3838947582_7774c8b01d_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3838184887_12488a4116_b.jpg

~shudder~

glad i didn't get a pic of what was going on at the time

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3509/3838991646_ec770a4e28_b.jpg

all business

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/3838896768_6e47ff3a5d_b.jpg

it's like that one, with the dude on the bike, with the kid and the baguette, in france

you know the one

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2427/3838925390_6791c3c287_b.jpg

courtyard of kitgum hospital

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/3838218063_c848cfa943_b.jpg

fillin scrips

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/3839025688_d541d8bc82_b.jpg

think baout things

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/3838235899_9647d49c7a_b.jpg

pediatric ward

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/3838254897_ca2fdba19b_b.jpg

byobedsheets

gotta bring yr own

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/3838257433_26241f9e14_b.jpg

a delightful old man

pleased to meet u

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3485/3839058826_d23295d047_b.jpg

lots of people think baout things in uganda

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3486/3839059502_ac0817e1d6_b.jpg

dumb photo of stuff

notable mostly because this was the spread nathan and i received at francis' house. this probably represents a decent portion of the family's monthly income.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/3838269857_9d6ce4d7b7_b.jpg

btw, not that anyone cares, but we have successfully raised $800 for francis' tuition, yay

aw

should probably go under 'in every travel photo album, ever' but f u anyway

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/3839069246_1be4369ec3_b.jpg

this is usual

sometimes you can swap out the kids on the back for a lady seated side-saddle with a baby on her back

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/3839080508_f47399390e_b.jpg

where's that thread

for white guys throwing that hand gesture, don't we have one of those

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2535/3838291817_b149572c2b_b.jpg

pajule

mainstreet

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3839088880_69d72fa4ee_b.jpg

are you shitting me

uh, hey guys, i don't want to be a dick or nothing, but maybe this isn't the best spot for you

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/3838299583_da313ec90f_b.jpg

chapati i <3 u

hello chapati man, good morning!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3838300281_2311cf0368_b.jpg

these are cows

they were next door to the place we were staying. just, you know, fyi

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/3839098306_9c1f886488_b.jpg

hang on

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3537/3838308821_3b05b538cd_b.jpg

not long for this world

hey duck, i ate you

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/3838310039_7a2184e5dc_b.jpg

not the boss of me

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3839100618_f7be394f94_b.jpg

see u later

l-r: "huh?," cautious, hi dere!, "u disgust me," funny face

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/3840456444_e9ece64325_b.jpg

u got a bag on yr head

why are you doing that

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3840457998_79f2e9b6bf_b.jpg

waiting

this was part of the crowd waiting for medical treatment out in puda, the IDP village.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2524/3839669091_2d00e957c6_b.jpg

Nice photos and all, but perhaps a link to your flickr page might have sufficed?

a most excellent human being

this guy jumped in as translator for nathan and i while we filled scrips and tried to explain to people how to take their drugs. he was invaluable, and is the sort of person that ought to be in school somewhere, but isn't. i never got his name :(

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2660/3840459734_ae3b60300c_b.jpg

the link has been posted several times, do as you please

I prefer captions and links from here

that is just me

i think its more fun to post them here anyway

meta

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/3839685803_982792bff1_b.jpg

dr justin

just gonna cp from my flickr, i hope this does not offend anyone's delicate sensibilities:

i went out to meet dr justin for some pajulean nightlife, after everyone else went to bed in preparation for a 7am mass (no, thank you). even though this is blurry because of the long exposure time and poor light, it could also be said to represent the experience of staying out until 4am in a rural african town with only generators for electricity, drinking waragi out of bags that look like oversized ketchup packets

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/3839687183_cfab19ff82_b.jpg

it is good format and I approve, high five, brb

in da club

ok, outside

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2514/3839688993_3cd0af070a_b.jpg

what is it

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2503/3840497094_7179cc837d_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3840497848_3419d2dcb7_b.jpg

beef

this kid kept making an 'X' with his arms and shouting "twenty twenty!" at the camera (the viewfinder was flipped around). still completely baffled as to what this could mean---is there some gang in some movie called the twenty twenties? or was he just reppin for john stossel??

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/3840513742_ffbb1057a7.jpg

who are you

what do you do all day

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3494/3840515508_9b7684b9b6_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/3840516850_f45f6d853b_b.jpg

making my job easy

i just let the camera roll while these kids clowned around for it, watching themselves in the viewfinder

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2594/3839727105_7e4566c454_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3504/3840526238_704f5e072e_b.jpg

me and francis, bros

lol manboobs, jesus you can even see the nipple, gross

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2538/3839738863_4e56ed2175_b.jpg

the only remotely plausible 20-20 thing I can think of is cricket-related and not super shoutable

stately

this guy was so awesome, he gave a very long and gracious speech when nathan, francis and i left that morning. he then asked if i would take his picture in this chair

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/3839759377_b63bae05d7_b.jpg

oh brother

really? a picture of your sandaled feet in the back of a pickup truck? u disgust me

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2607/3840570672_11f4507a1f_b.jpg

i love the pics with captions here, too!

these are really great :)

on the road

the guy that picked us up, according to nathan, had served in the military under amin, left the country due to the rampant corruption, returned and served again under obote, left again, and is now back, driving a truck and giving people lives

or at least that's the gist of what i got.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3433/3839783125_39b56fc42e_b.jpg

giving people lives should read "RIDES" but you know, maybe it scans both ways, you be the judge

fellow passengers

most of these women and their children were on the way to hospital

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/3839784321_07d40e5bcf_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/3840584714_e8cbecdcd8_b.jpg

loving these, post away, megafauna if you aren't into it don't click the thread obv

so khaki

i was told there was a dress code

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/3840585442_0c6bba874f_b.jpg

more of the gulu market

i got a machete and a bunch of animated barack obama belts. on my customs form i wrote:

novelty belts (2x) -- $3.50
machete -- $6.00
------------------
$9.50

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/3839797679_8bdd245742_b.jpg

thanks guys ;)

i <3 my job

praise god, imo

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3839798587_1c4eba6414_b.jpg

too dark

really wish this one was a little brighter. i love the lighting in both shoppes

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/3839799215_fd306a0e76_b.jpg

(oh, what confusion: when I said I prefer links I meant the links that show up for me when gbx posts them here, i.e. what he is doing. 2020 4 life)

khat/mirra/murangi

there was a sign on the wall that said 'no chewing of murangi' but nathan and i had never heard it called that

so, l-r: khat leaf, oloya patrick, lee foster. we met these guys earlier in the night (my last night in gulu), when nathan decided he wanted to get some more khat (despite the fact that the last bunch, purchased in fort portal, had made him ill for four days). just as we were approaching these guys---who were just hanging out by a burnt-out pickup truck---a boda boda clipped a pedestrian. nathan and i went into full-on useless medical student mode, and tried to assess the situation, but luckily no one was really hurt. the boda, drunk, suffered no injuries, and the ped just had a scrape on his hip. we were initially nervous that there would be some kind of altercation, but this sort of thing happens with enough regularity that no one got TOO upset. the boda get sent on his way (yikes) and i gave the other guy some cigarettes (nicotine is a sort of medicine, right?). anyway, the whole experience and our participation in it really brought us all together, and OP and LF decided to hang out with us. OP asked for money a few times, but LF really just wanted to hang out with americans, and practice slang (he said this). so, we went by the buganda pub, which really ~did~ look like thunderdome, with about sixty bodas out front, decided against it ("you don't want to go there right now"), and went across the street, where this pic was taken.

after a while, we decided to head home. we opted for walking because a) it was a nice night, and my last in town b) at 3am it seemed a mortal lock that 80% of the boda would be drunk and c) we were carrying two machetes, and feeling tough. plus it was only 6km and we had a few bags of waragi left, and a bundle of mirra.

nathan later told me that our mutual friend, obediah (young-ish ugandan raised and educated in london), was horrified to hear of our decision, and basically said we were retarded for making such a brash decision. whatever, OB, we had MACHETES

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/3839814043_5fba3d1cdf_b.jpg

last day in kampala, last shot

man see you

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3223/3840603340_e5a4e5a0f2_b.jpg

here is a link to the flickrs again, so you don't have to read this horrible thread

http://www.flickr.com/photos/giboyeux/sets/72157622065551948/

it is an amazing thread!!!

(oops that was me reading with images on under other login)

this thread is magical

more like you are

fantastic pics gbx, I can almost smell the place.

really just wanted to hang out with americans, and practice slang (he said this).

this is so OTM, it's basically what every foreign young person I have ever met has ever wanted to do ever. (I usually tell them using 'ever' as many times as possible is a good first step.)

btw, added you as a contact on flickr

rough riders mount up

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/3843238280_54a8d7780f_b.jpg

rocks are safe, everything else is lava

be careful, little goat

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3445/3842449669_cced8f1275_b.jpg

salad days

this is like some hokey painting on the wall of some rural english pub, imo

anyway, go ahead and gambol through the yard, you two, you're just gonna end up on a stick someday, pushed brusquely through the window of an idling speed champion. live it up

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/3842450663_7bb40ccec1_b.jpg

(plz note that the goat on the right is in ~mid-air~)

where did i go wrong, i never expected this

i'll pour one out for you, doggy

;_;

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3842451371_8e7ae2d963_b.jpg

also worth noting: this cage is just a few feet left of the frame with the two capering goats. they are fated to be eaten someday, but get to spend the meantime playing around. this guy's job was to delight despicable tourists like myself, so he's locked up. this was the only time he really sat still---otherwise he was doing loops around the cage like a motorcycle in one of these things
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/1589552341_f93ef37abd.jpg?v=0

also is that a beer can in the foreground? hard times, man

gorillas in the mist

i guess this pic is only interesting at full-size, but anyway. those are the rwenzori mountains in the background, and gorillas live there. and that's not mist, it's haze, but wtfever

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2477/3843241402_67ea09ffc8_b.jpg

i can see my house from here

j/k, that's not my house

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3570/3842688075_2a01920156_b.jpg

do we have a woman wearing yellow?

check

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3842757671_be0ca11b07_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2642/3843196685_1793d32989_b.jpg

nard

this is nard. he is a dentist and a physician ~at the same time~

he graciously lent me a white coat while we rounded at fort portal hospital, and is, in general, a hilarious and wonderful human being. he also walked directly into a four-foot deep street gutter without seeing it, slapstick comedy style. these were thenceforth known to nathan and elena and i as 'nardholes'

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3845765089_35d84d48c7_o.jpg

also he is james bond

okay but what kind of a name is "nard"???

dirt is good

i am not so sure, myself

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/3846473294_9ba9b21962_o.jpg

oh probably short for "bernard" nm

yeah its short for bernard

oh whoops

:|

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3847071340_f342c8b524_o.jpg

hospital
_aboratory

lots of people, waiting

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3452/3847077504_46aaa5c55f_b.jpg

Γ

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2484/3847083192_d4751783e7_b.jpg

tb ward

this is the tb ward at kitgum hospital

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/3846292157_317eaeafd8_b.jpg

female surgical ward

closed, for some reason

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/3847085132_b729cc2322_b.jpg

psychotrauma

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2514/3846299557_66a9972535.jpg

GBX IS THERE A PAYPAL FOR THIS YET? IF "Y", I WILL GIVE $5 AND PUT IT ON FACESPACE AND ETC.

we're working on it! thanks!

awesome photos, looks like a great trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLe6oBoy5TM

this happened before i got there, but nathan shot it with his little point-n-shoot digi

lol @ little kids

this was the front yard of where we lived, btw

^^^^ love this btw

bump for matt dc

AWESOME. Thanks dude.

Flying out in four days, snow permitting. Where else is good to eat/drink in central Kampala?

(Amazing pictures btw)

thx dude

let's see....other than Tuhende and Flaming Chicken (which will be tricky to find, I'll see if I can dig up the address/location), I didn't eat really anywhere else in Kampala. Aside from stuff i bought on the street (avocados and flatbread, mostly).

But srsly, Tuhende is run by this ex-pat Canadian and it's all meats (safe), all the time. The Flaming Chicken is run by these Iranians, who are friends with my pal 4shis. They are so friendly and welcoming---Tuesdays they serve homemade (like by dude's mom) Iranian food, every other night it's rotisserie chicken (also delicious). Plus you can chill and smoke shisha and drink beers on the patio and watch the late night street action.

are you planning on riding on bodaboda? i took them cross town to Tuhende both times and it was O_O, esp at night

Boda-bodas look frankly terrifying, I might give them a miss. My girlfriend's best friend is Ugandan and has gone back there for a couple of months, hence us staying over. She's teetotal and has a car so hopefully we won't need to worry about taxis too much.

A++. Love the video. Thanks GBX and good luck Matt DC. What is shisha is it what I think it is ie: the sticky green?

I totally want to go to Haiti but husband is OMG no you can't.

nah it's just hookah

really good thread

ty

trying to think how I can brb to africa

also is it ok if I pimp my charitable/fundraising org itt

anything that keeps these pics on site new answers is a-ok w me

ok!
www.justhealthnetwork.org

pls ignore stilted copy/lack of actual website, we're still working out the kinks

also, matt DC: did u make it to Tuhendes or FLAMING CHICKEN

cool! if you need help with the website then hit me up after i drunkenly announce that i've finish phd ~Q3 2010.

so apparently i've got a Possible Hot Opportunity in Rwanda...for like 9 months, between my third and fourth year of school. still have to go thru the application process, etc., but here is where i turn to you ilxors:

how do i shot funding

generally the idea in this situation is that i join this org fully funded. they are not research-oriented, but that's generally the funding their student partners receive. i really want to make this happen, but haven't the slightest idea where to begin

talk to your school they shld be a really good resource. also mb talk to some of your professors at least for me they were a really good resource when i was attempting something similar for next year. well not similar similar but y'know

yeah, i've been trying to call the int'l experiences office all dang day but no one's picking up

kickstarter?

rich parents?

i'll see what i can do

xxp was just going to say Kickstarter. I know you'd probably get a pretty penny from us!

hxxp://ben-pederson.blogspot.com/2011/09/tb-burden-in-east-africa-in-motion_06.html?spref=fb

buddy of mine in kenya doing TB work on a year off from med school. p interesting. not really sure where else to put it tbh