Whenever I go on a trip I try to bring my dad back either a hat or a jersey from one of the local teams. He loves soccer more than almost anything, and it has been a bonding point for us since I was little. Whether or not he wears what I buy him ever he knows that I was thinking of him on my trip, and that I love him. Even if he wears it once it gives him the opportunity to brag and say, “Look what my daughter got me when she went to (insert country here).”
In Uganda the national team is the Uganda Cranes. Since I have been in Uganda I have noticed a plethora of the population, especially the male population, sporting Uganda Cranes jerseys. For the amount of the population that owned the jerseys though, there seemed to be a limited supply for sale. In Masaka and Lyantonde the two shops I found that sold the jerseys none of the sizes they carried would have fit my father (Ugandan men are a bit smaller so that probably contributed to the lack of sizes). I have two months left before I leave, but I still worried I would not be able to find a jersey that would fit.
Yesterday June 14th the six of us traveled down to Mbarara. Mbarara is just over an hour from Lyantonde in the opposite direction of Masaka, and is just under the size of Kampala. We were going for four reasons. One was to see Mbarara, two was to get away from our families for a bit, three was to celebrate Sandra’s 22nd birthday (which was on the 14th), and four to go shopping at the Knakumat, one of the two major grocery stores in Uganda (the next closest Knakumat is two hours away). We were running low on some basic supplies, and needed to restock.
The start of the trip felt more official than either of the two we had taken to Masaka. When we climbed into the matatu the man wrote out receipts for us. We left when the matatu was full, and did not pick up more passengers than there were seats. We drove into “matatu land” were drivers continued to ask our final destination as we climbed out of the matatu. We told them that we were at our final destination. We spent some time in the Nakumat where I bought a journal, chocolate peanut butter, water, and snacks for our class fieldtrip next week. After Sandra’s birthday lunch we walked around the market with everyone on the look out for jerseys for me. They knew that I wanted to get my dad the jersey for his birthday, which was also that day, so I could send a picture to him.
We finally found a store that had one. They also had one for girls that would fit me. The man wanted 50,000 shillings for them. I bargained them down to 40,000 shillings for the pair. That comes to around $10 American for each. They are nice Adidas jerseys that would be anywhere from $25 to $45 in the states. I cannot wait to see it on him. I called him later that day to say happy birthday and sent him a picture of it. I hope he likes it!
