Owino Market Adventure

October 12, 2009

After such a full day on the Nile, we were all exhausted the next morning. I felt like I had been hit by a full dump truck or had just spent my entire day on the mountain riding and crashing on the slopes. I was sore in numerous places, and had a few bruises peaking through my tanned skin to demonstrate the abuse my arms had endured while on the river. Nevertheless, we all rose in good moods and got ready for the full ‘work’ day. The girls have to go to Kampala every other weekend to purchase supplies for the 31bits ladies. And as an interested on looker, I decided that going to Owino Market for paper hunting sounded like fun. 

Before we set out for the adventure that awaited us at the market, though, we all made our way to Cafe Pap to ‘fuel up’ for the day. This is a great little cafe really close to City Annex Hotel (where we were staying) with fast internet, legit coffee, and delicious food. Count me in! I had a latte and granola parfait and loved it. Its also a nice place because white people are not gawked at, as at some restaurants. 

After Cafe Pap for breakfast it was time for me to be introduced to the sheer chaos that is Owino Market. I don’t know how else to describe it but that way. As you near the entrance to the market  on the boda, the traffic and crowd becomes thicker, meaning more horn honking and more weaving between taxis, bicycles and pedestrians. Not entirely unsettling, but pretty close. Then we dismounted from our bodas  and attempted to enter the market. I say attempted because coming our way was a huge African style semi squeezing down the narrow road that is the entrance to Owino. It ended up requiring us to retreat back to the street in order to not get ran over. All of the Ugandan people around us began laughing as us Muzungus were running from the truck. I was not trying to get ran over today. Once that challenge got past us, I began the joy of trying to keep up with Jessie and Alli as the purposefully made their way to the paper aisle. About a hundred feet into the market (which took about ten minutes to get to because of all the people and goods being sold) we came to the treasure chest of the paper bead business. In an aisle that is just wide enough for two people to pass by one another sideways, and about thirty feet long there were veritable mountains of mistake paper that would we now got to sift and search through to find just the right color, size and thickness. I nominated myself as the bag and paper holder as I watched Jessie and Alli barter and deal for the best paper. It was an absolutely overwhelming, exhausting and exhilarating hour. Each vendor has a different sort of approach to their business  dealings, and each was as unique as the shades of paper we observed. One lady was the grandmother type, very welcoming and warm. Another was some what of a diva, though very funny and enjoyable to joke around with. And another was all business, stern and straight, no funny business. 

After an adequate amount had been found, we made our escape. The walk out was just about as exciting as the walk in, as we dodged puddles, some spilled g-but paste and the numerous vendors vying for our attention and resources, all while carrying large bags filled with the recycled paper. And the adventure didn’t stop when we arrived at the street. The group of boda drivers tried to get us to use them to get to our next destination, and some even came to ‘help’ us with our bags, which translated into them just grabbing the bags from us. Luckily, Jessie and Alli have done this before, so it wasn’t as much of a shock to them as to me. We finally figured everything out and departed from the market.

While the girls returned to the market for more paper, I made my way to a building near the Central Police Station, to buy x-ray films. I ended up purchasing two boxes from Grace, a petite little Ugandan lady with a big smile. She was very helpful, and I bought the filsm for 170,000 UGX, or $135. These films would hopefully last until the hospital could purchase more. I never knew I would come to Africa and purchase x-ray films to contribute to the hospital, but thats exactly what happened. 

After a few more errands we all convened at the hotel again and decided lunch would be a good idea. We found a great pizza place, and shared a delicious pizza pie and some salad. Definitely not something I had been able to enjoy here yet, so I was grateful for it. And then we decided to enjoy some American entertainment and went to the movie theater. We decided on “Fame” which I ended up loving. Though I don’t really watch that much television while in the US, it was nice to go and just relax in the theater for that hour and a half. Between the coffee shops, river swimming and movie theater, I don’t think there is much I still miss about the US. Well, save for my family and friends. Those things are sort of irreplaceable...