Saturday, September 19th 2009
What a bizarre day! Soon after I woke up Emily asked Maggie and I if we wanted to go swimming at Johann’s house. His family has a beautiful stucco house on the side of a mountain in the rich section of town. The view was incredible – it overlooked the undulating hills and valleys of Kampala. On the hills cellular towers soared into the skies like needy fingers. Buziga loomed quietly in the distance (30 minutes away). Jerry, Angelica, Emily, Maggie, Johann and I sat on the porch drinking wine and coffee.
It was very enjoyable. We laughed all afternoon and played with Johann’s two dogs. At around 5:00 Angelica got a text message from Baati inviting all of us to come see a play at her father’s theatre. Her father is a prominent lawyer and respected community leader who decided to try his hand at producing plays. Baati said we could all get in for free. We were all concerned because we were dressed for a pool party and wouldn’t have time to go home and change before going to the theatre (oh yeah, this was the opening night). Out of everyone’s poolside wardrobe mine was the worst. Not only was a wearing a cut off t shirt (very American, not worn here) but I was wearing shorts which is something only boys wear…and only during recreation. If a Ugandan man were to wear shorts people would laugh at him. (Apparently its okay for me to occasionally wear them because the people will just think I’m a “weird mzungu”.)
So we pull up to this extravagant theatre and the street is CLOSED off, there is a RED CARPET laid at the entrance and there are ARMED GUARDS WITH HUGE GUNS standing all over the place. Immediately I went into panic mode – I was going to a marquee event and I was wearing casual and silly clothes. I thought the people would be offended that a mzungu would show up at such a highly regarded event dressed improperly. To avoid confrontation Baati walked us in the back door. I felt like a buffoon. I walked with my head down and followed the group. I didn’t want to see the other people in suits giving the short-wearing-mzungu dirty looks.
We sat down and ordered beers and beef pies (basically hot pockets filled with beef). The play was called, “The Trials and Tribulations of Love” and it was performed by “The Ebonies” (who are Uganda’s premier acting crew). Before the play began they showed the Ebonies touring the US (Las Vegas, Hollywood, New York City, Dubai). Now I know why so many people in Uganda think American’s are rich and famous. They showed clips of Disney World, Rodeo Drive, Universal Studio’s, parades, Las Vegas Strip, Times Square…it appears they are quite obsessed with American culture / music / sights. They also dedicated several songs / skits to Michael Jackson. It made me realize just how much Michael Jackson touched the world (pun intended). But really – he meant so much to so many people. I know he is not without flaws…but it made me sad he died. He was a tortured soul trapped in adolescence by the media and the fans.
The play wasn’t particularly well done and lasted FOUR HOURS. At the 3 hour mark I leaned over to Maggie and said, “I think we died on the way here and we’re in hell.” The play was basically a series of skits where the man cheated on the woman and was forgiven for his infidelity…not exactly a positive message for the community…and very sexist in my humble opinion.
Afterwards we went to an after party at Iguana…but it wasn’t that great so we left early. We got “I feel like chicken tonight” on the way home for dinner.
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