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the matatu is the east african version of public transport - a minivan converted into a mini-bus. unlike tanzania & kenya, the matatus in uganda aren’t overcrammed with people. rather, the drivers and conductors here (mostly) stick to the 14 passenger limit, which imo is a nice feature.

i took a matatu to the rugby game yesterday. when the matatu stopped to pick us up, the man i was waiting with nicely allowed me to get in first. then, he turned around to pick up the chicken sitting at his feet behind him. he stepped up into the matatu and the conductor said “no, you cannot come with us with that” pointing disdainfully at the chicken. the man was left on the side of the road holding his squawking, flapping chicken by its feet. i was saddened to the point of tears. with the little money he had this man was trying to either get the chicken home to feed his family or he was trying to get it to market to sell it to feed his family, and he wasn’t allowed on the bus. i almost got out of the matatu thinking, if he can’t get on the bus, i’m not going to get on the bus either. instead, i mutely watched as someone with little discriminated against someone with even less. i felt sad…both at the situation and at my inability to do anything about it. 101paige 101africa