Who Let The Dogs/ Mzungos Out? — Creating A Home Away From Home
It is week 4 of our SAP Social Sabbatical in Hoima, Uganda and unfortunately, this also means that we are leaving in a few days to go back to our normal job and life. I never thought that I would feel sentimental leaving this place with all the challenges we encountered. Now, it kind of feels like home and the people around me have become my second family. Through our ups and downs and cultural encounters, we developed a certain team spirit.
To be honest, I did not feel very comfortable in our hotel the first few days and it took me some time to habituate. Not having a proper hot shower in the morning, several power outages per day, not being sure when and where to encounter the big 5 of our hotel (lizard, mosquito, cockroach, big ants, spiders), constantly waking up during the night because of the barking and howling dogs, the sound of the rusty gates next door, or the security guard passing right behind your bedroom window did not speed up the process of feeling “at home”. All the security briefings (e.g. “Always keep doors locked, and ensure entrance area is well lit”or “Be wary of unexpected visitors, especially after dark”) did not make it better. I still have to laugh when reading one of our group chats on WhatsApp during the first days in Hoima:
“Blackout?”
“Looks like it ….”
“Someone is running behind our rooms”
“Yes …”
“Did you hear that?”
“Creepy”
“This is super creepy”
“Yes”
“WT…”
“Let there be light”
“Thank gosh you ladies are right beside me”
I am now familiar with the sounds during the night and know at what time they occur so I do not worry anymore ;-). But without this experience, our rallying cry wouldn’t have been born: “Who let the dogs out” from Baha Men. It somehow became one of our theme songs for our Social Sabbatical and we all join in singing the “Who let the dogs out? who, who, who, who?” — part of the song J. The people around us hearing or seeing this must really think we are crazy foreigners (or “Mzungos” how we are called here). And in some parts, they might be right thinking that ;-). We are having a crazy good time and we are definitely not the typical hotel guests. We made our hotel (despite the challenges in the first few days) our home by bonding with the hotel staff, setting up our own chill-out area on the terrace, hosting a room party in our department to escape the heavy rains, taking over the kitchen to jointly cook a big meal for us and the staff, rearranging our furniture in the apartments to build up our own office space or to set up a small yoga studio :-p. But most importantly, we supported each other by speaking about our feelings or fears openly. Going through this together definitely made me stronger and strengthened my perseverance!
