Star‘s Ugandan reporter has a blog

Rodney Muhumuza is a reporter from Uganda working at The Kansas City Star under a fellowship program that lasts until September. He’s been here one month so far. I met him at a press conference Tuesday at the Jackson County Courthouse.

Muhumuza gave me the address of his personal blog, MadeInUganda. It’s impressive, which should come as no surprise — for his work at the Daily Monitor, Muhumuza was named 2007’s Reporter of the Year in Uganda’s Golden Pen Awards.

In the blog, Muhumuza writes about his discovery of “the beauty of voicemail,” how he doesn’t do cheese, and the culture shock he’s endured. The culture shock portions are especially interesting when he describes Kansas Citians’ reactions to him, like when his driving instructor asked him if he knew what a red light meant. (He did.) “Soon, to my utter

amusement (and relief), this white man would ask if I knew Idi Amin,” Muhumuza writes.

I really liked Muhumuza’s post about a homeless girl he sees often, near his apartment on Walnut Street:

The rare beggar who attracts you even in her sleep, she is the kind of

homeless person that most Africans cannot imagine would be a fixture on

a street in a metropolis as modern as Kansas City.

Greg Moore is the Star‘s 2009 Alfred Friendly Fellowship mentor, and he’s been working with Muhumuza. In September, Moore will travel to Uganda and Kenya to work as a visiting journalist in a cultural exchange. I hope he blogs about his experiences, too.