I made my first Ugandan friends outside of work by playing pickup basketball at the University of Makerere (the biggest and best in Uganda). Women don’t play many sports here so they are always really surprised but welcoming. When I tried to rent a tennis racquet, the owner replied accusingly “who taught you??"
This weekend, by sweet serendipity, we additionally discovered the outdoor pool at the University of Makerere, which cost 3,000 shillings to the Sheraton’s 25,000. It’s beautiful with grass steps leading to the only slightly cloudy water. The first bizarre thing was that they were burning trash right next to the pool gate, which is normal here but still smells horrible. The second bizarre thing was that one end of the pool was being used for baptisms. Adults and children in nice outfits were being tossed into the water by a plainclothes preacher. There seemed to be very little ceremony, just a lot of splashing around.
After the baptisms were over, the only people at the pool were a very large, informal university men’s swim team. They ended up being super friendly and let us join in relay races. Most of them had only learned to swim in college. I was doing pushups by the side of the pool when a guy joined me, and it turned into a pushup then plank contest. By the time we were done, we’d gathered a crowd, and everyone was cheering.
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