Well the Internet has been down this week. Why? Well apparently a ship outside of Kenya dropped anchor in restricted waters, directly on a one of the three main Internet cables that connects East Africa to the rest of the world. I didn’t believe that at first, but it’s been all over the news! Only in Africa…
Sunday night, Ashton and I were talking about how we wish there would be some excitement on campus. Well, the next day, we definitely found our excitement! Campus elections were this week, and I’ve never seen anything like it!! Campus was completely covered with the signs of the candidates, and all the Ugandans, who take great pride in their professional appearance, completely let loose. There would be mobs of people on the street, followed by big trucks with speakers playing Ugandan music, and plastered with their candidates posters, and they would go up and down the streets to all the hostels, dancing, shouting, and blowing whistles! Well, after speaking with all three candidates for Guild President (like Student Council), Ashton and I decided that Emmanuel was definitely the one to vote for. So we joined in the campaign, carrying his posters, yelling, “vote for Emma!” We even joined his campaigners in the streets and danced with them! Then to count the ballots, they had police armed with tear gas escort the boxes to the chapel hall, where everyone was squeezed in to watch them count. The way they do it is they have some one read each ballot out loud, individually, and then they put a tally on a piece of paper with the candidates name. They do that for all one thousand and some votes!! After they say the name, all the people supporting them yell and cheer, and go crazy. They finally announced that Emmanuel had won at 1am, and then all the excitement began!! So now Ashton and I are known as the first mzungus to ever participate in all the election festivities. We even got our picture in the paper, and someone told us they saw us on the news! But now that we joined in all the fun, I think the Ugandans see us as more approachable, and people were very thankful we got involved! I kind of see it as a turning point in our time here, and I am so so glad for it!
So elections pretty much sum up my week, and that’s about all I have to talk about it. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!!
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