AUTHOR: Nancy TITLE: The Contrast DATE: 3/20/2009 02:31:00 AM ----- BODY:
I've returned a day early to The Speke Commonwealth Resort for the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air conference, and the contrast is a bit unnerving. Last night I took a long, hot shower to remove the layer of yellow grime. My room was spotlessly clean and although there was a net over the beautiful bed, there was not a mosquito in sight. The bed with clean sheets was turned down for my arrival with two bottles of fresh water placed in the small refrigerator. The hotel took my pile if filthy t-shirts and washed them and returned them promptly by 6pm. I dined on fresh red snapper although I had a choice of Indian dishes, salads and fruit plates. The internet worked effortlessly and the television had a choice of BBC, CNN, French News and programs from Asia and the Middle East. There is an electric kettle in my room, replete with a selection of teas and coffee.

This morning I walked past the conference center and the stables of 24 beautiful stallions and swam alone in the Olympic sized pool while uniformed staff provided me with a beach towel and tended the tropical gardens. I walked along the marina with twenty motorized boats, a resort tour boat and small sailboat.

As I sat outdoors at breakfast watching the weaver birds build their nests the only other visitors were three Japanese flight attendants, an Indian couple, and two loud, overweight American couples planning their safari trip. Other than those few and the staff of more than twenty, I was alone. The resort can hold over a thousand people, but I've hardly seen a soul other than the few at a separate small conference.

The contrast with the busy city of Kampala is incredible. I hardly know I'm in Africa, and if I had only driven from the airport to the conference center I wouldn't really know Africa. I wonder what those people in the large NGOs and the government really see when they come to Africa.

Nancy

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