Blockbuster

I've been wanting to post pictures of our local DVD rental store. This is one shop, and then there's one a little further away that's in a building, not just a kiosk. Both have a limited selection, and both are entirely stocked with pirated movies, I'm sure. On one of the first movies we rented, you could actually watch the shadow of a guy carrying his drink walk in front of the camera that was being used to videotape the movie in the theater. Yesterday's newspaper had an article about the thriving DVD pirating trade in Kampala. It seems that it's a booming business, but still too small for movie producers to pay attention to, so the pirates (is that what you'd call them?) operate openly. The article blamed the business on the lack of theaters in Uganda, and it could be right: I think it said there's one theater in the entire country. I'm afraid we're guilty of putting our ethics in our back pocket on this one, since we rent movies from time to time.

As a side note, you can see if you click on the first picture to enlarge it that there are several ads for cell phone companies on the kiosk. Virtually no one has land lines here, and everyone who is able gets a cell phone. Even among the low-income women we help at Bead for Life, one of the first purchases they will make if they can is a cell phone. No one has prepaid plans, in part because there's no functioning system for credit cards (which is in part because few people have street addresses and thus there is limited capability to deliver bills). Everyone buys airtime as they need it, and EVERYONE sells airtime, from the tiniest vegetable shack on up.