Kamuli Town is the center of government for Kamuli District – think of it like a state capital…but much smaller. Official statistics (not sure how “official” they actually are) place Kamuli at having just over 20,000 inhabitants. The vast majority of people in the district still live rurally, and there isn’t too much going on in the city beyond a couple small supermarkets, random stores, and lots of boda-bodas.
Location of Kamuli
A line of shops in Kamuli town
Coming with me were Justin List & Mitra Miri, two of my best friends over here who have offered to help me with the mosquito nets project. When we set off early Friday morning, I was a little apprehensive about how my car would take the trip. I have traveled to most parts of Uganda, and there definitely are some roads that my little car would not be able to handle. But I had checked with Kizito beforehand, and he said it would be fine.
The ride over there turned out to be no problem. We didn’t have to deal with much traffic since we were going against the flow, and we made it to Kamuli in about three hours, about an hour ahead of schedule! We were happy to find that the road there had recently been redone, and we felt like royalty driving on the relatively obstruction-free path.
The primary reason for the trip was to continue work on the mosquito nets project. Before getting to work, however, we made a stop at the VEDCO guest house, our lodging for the one night in Kamuli. There, I was able to catch up with Dorothy, my self-proclaimed Ugandan mother with whom I stayed for my first month in the country. She had recently moved to Kamuli from Kampala due to the vast majority of her work being based there. We then spent the afternoon in meetings with Benon (the VEDCO nutritionist who is the organization’s coordinator for this program) and some district government officials.
The highlight of the trip came late in the afternoon when we were able to visit the schools at Namasagali and Nakanyonyi. These are the schools that are paired with Tracy’s 6th graders in a pen pal exchange, and they will also be the recipients of the mosquito nets. We first went to Nakanyonyi, the closer of the two schools, where most of the school’s 50 pen pals were waiting for us. They had recently received their first two letters from the Iowa students along with several boxes of school supplies, and they were happy for our visit. The three of us got to address the group of students briefly and then I excused myself to run to my car and bring back one more gift for the kids: a new soccer ball from the Gilbert students! The Nakanyonyi students loved it! We then tried to excuse ourselves to head to the next school in time, but the teacher insisted that we stay for at least one performance from the students. We agreed and were treated to a very nice song before we had to say our goodbyes.
Justin (back left), Mitra (front left), the pen pal teacher/coordinator (far left), the pen pals, and I pose for a picture with the new soccer ball.
Nakanyonyi students performing a song for us
We arrived at the Namasagali school a little bit later than hoped and caught the students as they were lining up to be dismissed for the weekend. The teachers asked us to speak to the students so each of us said a very brief hello and encouraged the kids to keep studying. We then watched them quickly scatter as their teachers let them go for the weekend; anticipation for a weekend of freedom is something that definitely is constant across our cultures!
A few of the pen pal students were still around, and we were able to see them receive their letters and school supplies. They were very excited, and even more excited when I presented them with their own soccer ball from the Gilbert students! We got a few pictures, a short tour of the different projects at the school, and I was able to see the finished product of the school rooms that I had helped paint back in August…they looked really nice!
The Namasagali students were very excited about their soccer ball
One of the pen pals poses with his letters from a Gilbert student and his new pen/pencils in his shirt pocket
By that time, the four of us (Benon had been going around with us as our guide) were pretty beat. We piled back in my car, made a quick stop in Namasagali town to admire the view of the Nile, and then drove back to Kamuli where we had a very tasty Ugandan meal waiting for us at the guest house (the price included full board). Benon took off to head back to his home and the three of us spent a relaxing night in the guest house sharing stories and catching up on some reading. I should point out that a significant portion of the stories we shared involved food in some facet…apparently we were all craving some good American eats!
The next morning was filled with a planning session and a visit to a local farmer who had a biogas digestor installed by some ISU Engineers for a Sustainable World volunteers. He gave us a quick tour of the operation and then I passed on a message from some of the ESW students back in the States regarding new methods for operation. After that, it was time for a quick lunch before hopping back in the car to head back to Kampala.
The drive back was a little more eventful. To say that Ugandan drivers are aggressive would be a definite understatement. Twice I had to take my car completely off of the road since an oncoming driver was taking up my entire lane. With my small car, I don’t take any chances messing with the big trucks on the Ugandan roads!
We made a short pit stop about 50 km outside of Kampala at the Mabira Forest, a 300 square kilometer stretch of undisturbed rainforest. Well, “undisturbed” might be a stretch since a significant portion of the forest was cut down in the 1970s while Idi Amin was in power. Either way, it’s a very beautiful area that I had driven through several times and had been meaning to explore.
I had read about trails in the forest, but had no idea where to go to find them. I opted to just follow signs to a forest lodge, and we ended up finding a place with gorgeous - and correspondingly costly - accommodations. We only had a few hours, so we found a guide who led us on a 30 minute walk through the forest. He had been working there for well over 10 years, and it was obvious that he had lost his enthusiasm for the job a ways back. Still, we saw a few cool things like monkeys jumping through the forest canopy and a green mamba snake. It was definitely worth the stop, and it would be a nice place for just a day-trip in the future…we’ll see!
The view through the canopy of Mabira
The rest of the trip back to Kampala was uneventful (not necessarily a bad thing when driving). That day was actually Valentine’s Day (which, strangely enough, seemed to be a pretty big deal in Kampala). Almost all of my friends already had plans for the night, which left Justin and me on our own. We opted to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a man-date of our own. We tried a new steak restaurant for dinner (some of the best food I've had yet!) and then caught a movie. Uganda still has a very socially conservative culture, so the two of us got quite a few interesting stares/reactions from people throughout the night! Oh well…it was worth it for that steak! :)
Cheers!
Chris
P.S. Update on the mosquito nets program: we recently were able to set up online donation capabilities. Feel free to check it out at http://www.srl.ag.iastate.edu/gift/
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading about your adventure to Kamuli, and also some of your other trips, as I was going over some of your previous posts. I certainly can see why the highway death rate is so high. Not only do they drive like maniacs, but they over load the vehicles. The road to Jinja and then north to Kamuli were in pretty good shape when we were there in Nov. 2007. They actually had ditches to help the rain run off rather than ruin the roads. In contrast, the "paved" road to Wolbulenzi was full of huge holes, and then in that town, several roads were about 5 mph roads because of the erosion. There was a big sign about how the road was going to be improved. Said sign was pointed out to us by our driver every day! We didn't see any road equipment. The only time I felt homesick in Uganda was when we were traveling on the "highway." Yikes.
African time: Yep, learned about that too. I don't know how they can function when they need to prepare food for expected guests. I'm surprised to hear that the University also runs on partial African Time. Have you seen the poster about being on time instead of on African time?
There was a ceremony in our honor that started about three hours after the scheduled time. At the scheduled time, we were taken for a walk in the neighborhood. I was uncomfortable being led away when we were supposed to be the honored guests at the ceremony, but that walk to meed the neighbors of the Royal College was a highlight! We also attended a soccer game that didn't get started until a half hour before dark... just par for the course.
If you took the Kamuli - Jinja road you probably went right past the Royal College of Kamuli. They have (or had anyway) stone gate posts and a sigh. I heard from the director again today. He wants to visit us late 2010.
I hope you have time and electricity to post now and then, as I'll be looking for you to show up on my bloglines page.
I like the way you think. Give me some more.
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