Lauren's Duplex

Off the main Kampala highway, Gabriel skillfully navigated us down a dusty red road toward Lauren’s duplex. The red dirt is a fine powder packed hard like a clay pot. Not only had the rainy season carved out some very deep gullies, the roads were dangerously bumpy. Bumpy isn’t quite the right word. Some of the peaks and valleys were better than three feet different and no two-tracks existed. It was a bit like navigating a labyrinth…then adding every neighborhood man, woman, child, and chicken to these roads while navigating.

Laruen’s duplex is behind a security gate that is supposed to be guarded. The space is about 600 square feet in size with two bedrooms. The tile floors are kept clean with a few sweepings every day and the white stucco walls are similar to what you’d expect in the U.S. The closet sized kitchen has a hot plate that keeps the tea water warm all day long, a small refrigerator that keeps the food warm all day long (yes, warm…it doesn’t always work as it should), and a sink awkwardly placed in the corner. And ants. The teeny, tiniest little red ants take every opportunity to swarm the slightest crumb. Ants in the bottom of my drinking class, ants in the toilet paper, ants on the toothbrush. I know…protein.