From our Italian correspondent in Uganda

hi all,

welcome to the Pearl of Africa. where I'm right now, outside world is secured by the white shade of the mosquito net. nothing can pass through. nothing but music from the neighborhood. drums, chants. sunday here is an happy day. it's God's day.
since i've landed in Kampala -ten days ago- my life is spelled by warm and dusty days. everyone the same. slow. regular. here there's no winter, no spring. sun rises at six and at six regularly disappear down in a lake, or behind a mountain far away west.
with sunset comes the rain, held by the wind. the early gusts breaks sultriness, forecast a wet relief from the heat. wind blows and roads became empty, first drops comes. rain catches only the few that can't posticipate their duties. only who hasn't got enough time to stop under a shelter, and safely watch roads become streams and streams become rivers. it's a matter of minutes, sometimes hours. everyday, at sunset. they call it rainy season.

since two days I'm in Lira town, north part of the country. here I will stay for the next 4 months. somebody told me that being at home means being able to move around without a map. if so, well, I'm already home!
the town rises along the only main road of the region, and is the furthest point of it. beyond only paths and dirt roads. mango, banana and avocado trees. the highest place is the fourth floor of one of the rare cement buildings downtown, and the three-floors twin blocks of a well-known hotel really deserve their high-sounding name of 'towers'.
national currency is the shilling, and you need almost 2500 of them to buy a euro. with fourteenhundred shillings you can taste a 'chapati' -traditional flat bread- and a big glass of insipid mango juice. for two thousand you can extra-size it with a sausage.

everything flows according to precise and undefined rithms. like the african step. slow but steady. sure to get there but nobody knows exactly when. smiles and elegance are endemic here, just like malaria. nobody hassle you, neither wants something. but if you give nobody says no.
i hope this introduction has arouse some curiosity in you, or maybe nostalgia. and i hope you wouldn't mind to receive, now and then, the continuation of this story.

cheers filippo