By: Hannah Nemer

What the strangers sitting nearby at a local Minnesota Pizzeria really wanted to talk about was not the quality of my full plate of food, which was in fact delicious, but instead the Ugandan travel guide that I had hardly set down throughout dinner.

Eventually the conversation moved from pizza-predicated small talk to that very guide. One of my fellow diners had recently returned from Jinja, Uganda – my ultimate summer destination – and was more than eager to share her experiences. She told me about Jinja’s red dirt that would cake her face as the day progressed; she told me about Jinja’s street lamps that don’t light up (they use to have actual bulbs until the city realized the futility of putting up lights only to have them stolen and then sold back to the town); and she told me about Jinja’s people – some of the nicest and most welcoming that she had ever met. Her stories transformed this guidebook-town (over 8,000 miles in flight away from Minnesota) into a town that I cannot wait to call my two-month home.

Surprisingly (at least to me), such a meeting has become fairly regular. When someone hears about my summer plans, I’ll hear about a friend of a friend who just got back and already wants to return, or I’ll hear personal accounts of adventures in that area. I shouldn’t be so surprised, I suppose, as Jinja is considered one of the region’s larger tourist hubs.

Though I will be living in Jinja itself, I will be be working in a smaller, less visited village outside of the town. I imagine the juxtaposition of poverty and tourism will be eye-opening.

Lindsay, my travel-buddy/partner-in-crime, and I hope to spend the summer documenting that which opens our eyes.

Until then, I should probably close my eyes a bit more often so that I can catch up on sleep and avoid that nasty jet-lag of which I’ve been warned!

For now, mweraba – goodbye in Luganda.