{"id":962,"date":"2015-02-21T13:35:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T18:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/?p=962"},"modified":"2015-02-22T15:57:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T20:57:11","slug":"uganda-little-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/2015\/02\/uganda-little-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Uganda: Little Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"
They look like little grown ups.<\/p>\n
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The Ugandan children wear miniaturized versions of adult clothing, hold siblings in their arms, and stand proudly next to vegetable stands. I stare at them for hours as the van drives through Uganda, my forehead pressed against the window.<\/p>\n
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A little boy, about the height of two milk crates, reaches up to his older sister who has just put a lollipop in her mouth. The girl, about the height of a chair, gives her brother the lollipop without a fuss.<\/p>\n
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Kids with huge, gaping smiles chase each other around produce stands and store fronts, running through the legs of adult society. Participating in a way that American children rarely do.<\/p>\n
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Many stores don\u2019t have lighting so people hang outside of them. A woman sits next to a bowl with ten organic tomatoes and two locally-grown pineapples to sell. Pesticide-free corn is spread on tarps on the ground. Free-range goats walk around. Young men in blue shirts run around selling hormone-free meat on sticks. Society thrives and pulses with the energy of a beehive.<\/p>\n
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I was only in Uganda for 8 days but ghosts of the little Ugandan children haunt me as I walk down the ascetic and uninhabited streets of Boston. I notice the well-finished sidewalks and baroquely designed buildings. I walk out of an event at the Microsoft NERD center with superfluous quantities of organic, pesticide-free, free-range, hormone-free Whole Foods platters and catch my breath.<\/p>\n
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A breeze is blowing from the Charles River. The sidewalk is empty and well paved. I wonder where all the people are. I wonder where the Ugandan kids are running now.<\/p>\n
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Scenes from driving through Uganda<\/p>\n
http:\/\/youtu.be\/HIdrnFhtsd8<\/p>\n
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<\/a>From Uganda to the Microsoft NERD Center in just one day…<\/p>\n
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