Technology

ELECTRICITY

You will need a flashlight and a supply of candles and matches because the electricity goes out unpredictably, and fairly often.

Because of the power surges and electrical blackouts, make sure you have a surge protector for your laptop or it will blow out. Bright Ideas on Kampala Road, just before the Equatoria Hotel, is a good place to get a surge suppressor.

230/245 Volts at 50Hz in Uganda. British style plugs with three pins are used.

You can pick up converter plugs in London if you are stopping on your way to Uganda or you can get them from Magellan travel catalog among other places.

EMAILING

• Before leaving home, find out how to access your account from the web. If this is not possible, then open a hotmail, yahoo or some other account and have your mail temporarily forwarded to this account.

Cybercafes closest to campus:

• Club 5 on campus across from MISR

• Cyberworld Cafe on Kampala road

take minibus from campus and get off around Kyagwe road. Go upstairs to left to Cyberworld. (Across from Fidodidos). Can pay for a chunk of time and use what you need, logout and reuse the number they give you to log on again another day and finish the time. They also give money back for time unused.

Phone: 340-492, 077-503-281

Other cybercafes

• Globenet Cafe, Radio One Building, Kampala Road

• Frans.com, Shop 2, Pioneer Mall, Kampala Road

• Kiatec, 3 Cooper Road, Kisementi

• Microskills, 9 Grand Imperial

• Niagra Falls, 4 Pilkington Road

• The Source, 20 Main Street, Jinja

• Web City Cafe, 5 Kimathi Avenue.

• Gateway Resource Center – Cybercafe, Plot 44 High Street

• Kool Surfing, Plot 76, Ben Kiwanuka Street

• Can use MISR email in a pinch but it is a real bother to the librarian. Don't do it.

• If you have access to a phone line, go to Infocom (Plot 2 Clement Hill Road), purchase a one-month internet service. Then you may take a laptop down to the MISR telephone switchboard, plug in directly to infocom and draw up your email address. They can also be reached at sales@infocom.co.ug or call Infocom at 258361. Make sure you pay for your phone time. See "supplies" for info on wires

• Emailing from outside of Kampala: Telephone service upcountry is iffy. The trick is to do it at midnight when there is no competition for the four outgoing lines to Kampala. The baud speed can be terribly slow, so we one might need to advise friend and colleagues to keep the email messages brief since downloading can be slow, tedious and expensive.

FAXING

Most reliable place to send and receive faxes if you are at Makerere is Wandegeya post office (trust me!)

256-41-530412

HOURS OF BUSINESS

Business and Offices : Monday-Friday, 8am-12:45 pm and 2 pm-5pm

Banks: Monday-Friday, 8:30am-3pm (bureau de change close later, and all major hotels have forex desks).

Shops: generally Monday-Saturday, 8am-5/6pm

LISTSERVE

There is a Uganda Listserve for scholars of Uganda. Write to Holly E. Hanson" <hhanson@MtHolyoke.edu> and identify yourself, asking to be put on the list.

It is useful for research contacts, logistical information, research queries etc.

PHONING

The easiest is to rent a cell phone. Almost a necessity these days as it is not possible to call cell phones from all land lines and so many people have cell phones.

I found it easiest to rent from MTN at Sheraton. 6,000 shillings per day plus refundable deposit of $133. Need to purchase phone cards as well to use with cells.

Can use cell phones to phone US easily.

Ari Greenberg found that “it is cheaper to rent phones from BCE Brothers Plot 38 William Street in Kampala. (It is on the lower West end in between the bus park and Mengo) You can speak with Edy (Edward Sendikaddiwa) at BCE Brothers. He charges Ush 2,500/day with a refundable 120,000 deposit. Although you do have to pay 5,000 for the SIM card. The phones work great and he will give you multiple batteries and a charger. His number is 077 430 000. He is a great guy and was educated in England came back to Kampala to start his own business.”

Cell companies:

Celtel: 40 Wampewo Ave

MTN: 22 Hannington Road

UTL Telecel: Rwenzori Court, Lumumba Ave.

To phone the US from Kampala on a land line:

Go to Uganda Posts and Telecommunications on Entebbe Road.

To use ATT direct line, go to the back of the telephone office and pick up the black phone and wait for an ATT operator, then just dial calling card number and the number you are calling in the US.

Near College Inn on Bombo Road is another phone center in Wandegeya, related to Starcom. They also fax internationally. Call internationally with phone cards.

Can buy phone cards to call from Starcom on Ben Kiwanuka road (near where it intersects with with Kampala road/Kyagwe road.

Go to Uganda Posts and Telecommunications on Entebbe Road. Buy a phone card 50 units and call the US and tell whomever to call you at 256 41 232 793. Or arrange ahead of time for them to call you at that number (Uganda is 8 hours ahead of CST). Then go inside to the back through a grey door and wait for call.

• Telephone service upcountry is iffy. The trick is to do it at midnight when there is no competition for the four outgoing lines to Kampala. The baud speed can be terribly slow, so we one might need to advise friend and colleagues to keep the email messages brief since downloading can be slow, tedious and expensive.

PHOTOCOPYING

Can be done at MISR for a fee. Many copying centers all over campus.

Many business centers and xeroxes in shops all over town.

Going 2002 rate seems to be 50 sh per page.

RADIO STATIONS

BBC World Service 101.1

Capital Radio 91.3

Central Broadcasting Service 88.8/89.2

Power Radio 104.1

Radio One 90.0

Radio West 100.2/94.3/106.6/95.2

Sanyu FM 2000 88.2

Simba 97.3

Greater Africa Radio 98.3

Monitor FM 93.3

Radio France International 93.7

Radio Paidha 87.8

Radio Uganda Green Channel 98.0

Top Radio 89.6/99.6

Voice of Teso 88.4

Voice of Toro 101

Television Stations

Channel Television

Lighthouse Television

Sanyu Television/TV Africa

Uganda Television

WBS Television

Top Television

SUPPLIES

Things to take along that you might not have considered:

telephone jacks and wires for your laptops - these items are expensive and difficult to find in Kampala -- a trip to Radio Shack will do the trick.

large and small ziploc bags (great for storing food and keeping bugs out)

business cards

small coffee filters & small plastic coffee filter holder

umbrella

swiss army knife

flashlight

good walking shoes

large tote bag for groceries & stuff or knapsack

letter of introduction from department chair

6 passport photos for research clearance

2 passport photos for research affiliation

photos to show people your life in US, relatives

large manila envelopes

jiffy bags

envelopes for mailing disks

letterhead from department & envelopes

needles for injections (especially if working in rural areas)

large bandaids

surge suppressor (a must for laptops)

mosquito net (nice light one available from Magellan)

Gifts for women: perfumes, jewelry, handkerchiefs, earrings, purses, sewing material, scarves, cookies from airport, hairpins, colorful vinyl tablecloth, flowerseed, calendar

Gifts for men: wallets, solar powered calculators, handkerchiefs, picture frames, magic eye book or calendar

Gifts for children: jewelry, hairpins, crayons, felt tip pens, colored pencils, maps of world, plastic animals, toy cars

Academics: appointment book, liquor (give advisedly, non-Muslims), latest book of interest to their field

WEB SITES

General info on Uganda:

http://www.ugandaweb.com/

http://www.uganda.co.ug/

http://imul.com/uganda/index.html

Kampala info: http://cityguide.lycos.com/africa/east_africa/UGAKampala.html

New Vision: www.newvision.co.ug

Women of Uganda Network: http://www.wougnet.org/