Where In The World Is Uganda?

The other day, I received a slightly frantic request from Froggy regarding guest blogging while she was traveling to Uganda. In true form, procrastination had taken over and the question came a bit last minute, hence the frenzied undertone. In even truer fashion, I responded with an incredibly late, "hell yeah!"

Now it was my turn to be worried because I thought she might've gone to sleep and oh-my-goodness what if I missed her and she's already en route to the airport or at a friend's house or shut down the computer for the trip or changed her mind and aaaah. Apparently, we are two peas in a pod... or something.

I have to admit, not only was I honored to have been asked, I was completely nervous. I still am, actually. I spent the last couple of days seriously trying to think of something fabulous to discuss. Then I thought, "well, what if I say something stupid or outlandish and it upsets her??"

After that I figured, "hey, I could always talk about a current event!"

[insert the crap in Kenya, the constant disorder in Sudan, the shitstorm in Pakistan, the two wars, the Iowa Caucus results, the train wreck that is Britney]

Uhm, right... now we're back to the initial concern. It's one thing if I put my foot in my mouth in my own blog. It's a whole other story while guest blogging.

Sidenote: I do realize that the Britney fiasco should not be lumped in with the other topics, but tell that to the 4 news conglomerates.

So, then I decided I'd simply post a map of Africa so we can see exactly where Froggy is. If I were to be completely honest with you, I didn't really have a flipping clue where Uganda was, except somewhere over the ocean.

I'm horrible. I know this.

For that matter, you don't want to know how long it took me to figure out that Egypt was actually in Africa. Oh, how I love Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego ? She sure did help broaden my geographical know-how. Apparently, just not well enough.

<center><img src="http://www.africaguide.com/images/africa_map.gif "></center>

Notice, Uganda borders two of the countries having some of the worst upheaval in Africa at the moment.

Great. Now I'm slightly concerned. I'm sure she's completely fine but there are traces of my mother in me that I can't shake. She worries obsessively. I thank my father for ensuring I'm not that bad.

Anyway, here's some background information courtesy of the CIA ( source):
The colonial boundaries created by Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962. The dictatorial regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives. The rule of Yoweri MUSEVENI since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections.

Last but not least - one more map. This time it's just of Uganda.

<center><img src=" http://i.infoplease.com/images/muganda.gif"></center>

On that note, I think I shall end this entry. I'm pretty sure I've written enough. One might call me long-winded.

...and they would be correct.

_Deutlich from Speak On It