wangi? ogambyeki?

There have been countless times where I've asked people to repeat themselves 'pardon? what did you say?' though usually it's not because of loud external noise sources.

I guess I'm fine with all the roosters and goats, drivers who want business, quarry machinery, and "ice-cream bicycles" around Kampala - it's the mobile advertisements, bars, dance clubs, calls to prayer, certain pentecostal services, and blaring radio/music that are real distractions.

e.g. when your neighbour 30m away decides to throw a party for some kid's first birthday and turns up the bass such that you can feel it vibrating off the walls in your room and the whole thing goes for a sweet twelve hours: from 2pm to 2am. OKUSIRIKA!!

Are there noise control laws in Uganda? Perhaps, although in this culture it goes without saying that many laws are weakly enforced.

I love how this writer expressed it:
“Kampala hosts shouting contests of car hooters, rowdy taxis and bodabodas, amplified microphones and vuvuzelas”
“More despicable is the widespread violation of the city planning requirements... One wonders what happened to our city planners”
“According to health practitioners, anyone who spends more than five hours daily in garages, wielding workshops, Pentecostal churches, markets, taxi parks, on construction sites, night clubs, music studios, smoking places, bars and bibanda (video halls) will most likely be affected by several diseases such as headaches, deafness, heart failure, cancer among others”
“During examination time, you find university premises so crowded with the “balokole” (born-again believers) shouting their hearts out. Although I risk being termed a pagan, I doubt whether you honestly ask God to help you pass your exams by shouting the loudest! Someone needs to tell street preachers that there are lawfully designated places of worship to practice their trade”
HAHAHAHAHA

When a friend in Brisbane emailed me about a proposed mosque in their neighbourhood, I went online to see what kind of development it was going to be.

Lo and behold! Among 200 other files, a twenty-one page Noise Impact Assessment Report complete with reference to Council’s Noise Impact Assessment Planning Scheme Policy, the Environmental Protection Act and the Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy. It also included ambient sound pressure levels measured in accordance with Australian Standards, and finished off with a Glossary of terms.

I couldn't help but laugh.