Experiencing Kampala Through Work

In a country where there are countless sites and iconic sceneries; work experience safaris are some of the least thought of yet they are some of the best ways to explore any given destination without falling victim to a staged experience.

Stage experience is where tour operators connive with the society to portray a certain lifestyle to meet the expectations of the guests even though life in that society is not what they portray. These are common when they are trying to portray a needy community to arouse sympathy among visitors which they later ride on to solicit funding.

Furthermore, it might be your first time to hear of a work experience safari and at this point you might be asking yourself; what is a work experience safari?

A work experience safari is a form of trip where you do not simply visit a community to know about it but rather; getting to spend some time doing some of the work done by the locals in the different parts of the town.

By engaging in this work, you get to know what the actual standards of living are; how much people earn, how they spend what they earn, how hectic that particular work is. In this kind of trip, you experience the city not only by observing but by engaging in what people in the city do.

There are several work options that can give the real experience of what it feels like to work in Kampala. These include but not limited to the following:

Working in Kampala Markets

Kampala has a number of markets some of which focus more on specialization while others sell almost anything a local downtown Ugandan can afford. Markets like Owino sell shoes, clothes, all local foods, spices, fruits, vegetables among several other items.

In this trip, you get to chance to be the stall attendant of the day while enjoying all sorts of conversation with the local people. During this trip, you also get time to play with the locals the famous market game “Ludo”

During the conversations, they will also open your eyes to places where you can go and have fun during the night.

Working as a Boda Boda Cyclist 

Boda Boda riders are some of the least respected people in town because you do not require almost any formal qualification to enter into this job to the point that most of the riders have no driving licenses.

It is a hectic but a fun way to ride around the city with the would-be rider simply seated at the back to direct where to go. This way, you will enjoy the city traffic since it is often the “Boda Boda” that rarely get stuck Kampala traffic unless it is exceptionally tight.

Working as a Taxi Conductor

This will be the most fun experience for you, it requires you to call people to enter the Taxi by simply shouting the names of your destination. Of course, it will make you draw a lot of attention because of the accents but that is part of the experience.

The conductor also collects money from the passengers while on the journey. So expect some disturbances from the customers who want to pay less than the actual charge. You must also be ready to be a menace to other road users because you will be parking almost anywhere even though it is against the law.

Taxis are not often the cleanliest, therefore you much be ready also for the passengers who will drop rubbish in the taxis.

Working as a Taxi Driver

Not a fun job but worth the experience; taxi driving grants you an opportunity to interact with people from almost all the trips in Uganda. On a daily basis, almost every tribe in Uganda is represented in the city.

The most intriguing experience of the Taxi driving is they are always a beat faulty. So some of your mechanical skills might be needed just in case.