Obama's Mistake, Figure 8s, and Insecurity Guards!

Yesterday, I made the long journey to Ikotos. This is the capital city (ok...it's really just a large village), of Ikotos county. Even though I had been to Isoke several times, I had never made it to Ikotos so I jumped at the opportunity to come here yesterday and the random conversations I've had have made the trip worth the bumps and lake-size potholes!

• One of the things I have noticed in the short time I've been in Sudan and even in Kenya, is that people here LOVE politics. Literally, a cab driver in Nairobi can tell you every detail about the political scene on a drive between the airport and your hotel. This is stuff that some can't even teach in a classroom because it is just so darn complicated! In addition, to loving their own politics, nothing seems to be as interesting for people here as the American presidential elections and of course the majority are rooting for Obama! But as a Ugandan told me yesterday, Obama has made a CRITICAL mistake which means that even though he has WON the nomination (imagine me doing a little celebratory dance!!!), he will never win the final prize - becoming president. What has Obama done in the eyes of this Ugandan??? Obama's mistake is that he is.....BLACK!!! Well, I almost fell on the floor laughing. He just made it seem as if Obama had actually CHOSEN to be a black man! Of course he also pointed out that Hillary's mistake was that she is a woman!
• After educating me about Democratics mistakes, the same gentleman started telling me about his family back in Ugandan. His wife has just had their third child and I asked if he wants more. He says that he only wants more if she can 'maintain herself' after 'production.' Just the terminology used was just unreal to me. The use of the word "production" just had images of a factory of birthing women running through my mind. Of course I had to asked what he meant by 'maintaining herself.' At first he seemed a little shy in saying what he meant but eventually he clarified by saying that she has to maintain a 'figure 8' (for those that don't know - this is big boobs, small waistline, and a big butt), so if having a fourth child meant that she would lose her figure 8 shape, then it just wasn't worth it! I swear I love listening to African men talk about women!!
• The last highlight that I want to point out, happened about an hour ago. As we are all standing on the porch waiting for the power to come on at the compound I've stayed at, several men passed by us carrying a heavy generator. When they reach the gate, the guards open the gate without asking a single question and just allow them to walk out the gate with the generator. While the staff here seems that have had some idea about who had taken out the generator, one immediately shouted out that the people at the gate were insecurity guards rather than security guards, because only insecurity guards would let someone take expensive equipment without even asking a single question! Another Ugandan called the two guards and immediately started doing the very typical finger wagging followed by the 'YOU GO!' statement that never seems to fail in making an already low staff member feel just a bit lower!

Anyway, I'll let you know about what other adventures this day brings!