Over the past few weeks, I have been able to get away from Mukono and explore some of the country. Education is off semester this semester, but we are supervising student teaching. Since most of my students are here in town, I had some time to explore the country. I have a friend who is doing school practice in northern Uganda, so he accompanied me for security purposes and I was able to meet up with several of my students as well as work on my dissertation proposal. This map should give you a broader perspective. I live in Mukono, just outside of Kampala. My adventure took me north to Kitgum west to Arua and northwest to Koboko, with some stops in between. Uganda is landlocked. We have South Sudan in the north, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the west, Rwanda and Tanzania to the south, and Kenya to the east. I really wanted to cross over into DRC, but I don't want to bribe the border guards for less than it costs for a visa. My friend also didn't have his passport, so it would be a bit risky.
The first stop was to take a bus from Kampala up to Kitgum. Kitgum is a town in northern Uganda, about 45 mi from the South Sudan border. Now, I know this journey does not look far, only 441km (about 274 mi), but we left at 10 p.m. and arrived about 6 a.m. It was a long, long journey. The trip cost us UGX 30,000 (about $12).
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| My friend Daniel |
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| bus park |
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| This was the bus we took. |
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| I spy an elephant! |
There are many interesting things on the bus, including live chickens. You can buy one from a guy like this when the bus stops (like a rest area). I nearly stepped on a chicken's head when I got out!
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| This guy teased me about taking his pic instead of buying a chicken. |
There are about 60,000 people who live in Kitgum, with more coming to settle into the area. The area is very quiet and almost feel deserted.I wish I could describe the road system to you, but words just do not do it justice. If you look at the map and find Gulu and trace it up to Kitgum, you will see one of the most difficult spots to get to in Uganda. The roads are not developed and travel is difficult. Yes, you can travel short distances by boda, but it is a bumpy, difficult journey. The buses stop all along the way and pick up new passengers and drop off old ones. The journey is dusty and hot, with no air-conditioning on the buses. I really like taking the night buses because they are safer and cooler. There is not as much traffic on the roads so the journey is often faster. There are many busses that take this route, so it is very common. I relate the bus system here to our airports at home. Everyone travels by bus and it is the most economical and comfortable way to travel long distances. I couldn't get any good pics of roads, but here are some that resemble what we see daily.
This was one of the good stretches of road. I took this from the front seat on the bus. It was by far the scariest and best seat in the house.
After resting up a bit, I was able to see four of my current students who work at schools in Kitgum.We have students on campus who come to upgrade their diploma to a bachelor's degree. They come to UCU during holiday times (January, May, and August). There are all teachers and they are very hard working. Because of a textbook publishing problem, my class of students was unable to get their textbooks before leaving campus in January. Thus, I had told these four guys that I would come up to their area when my friend went for school practice and deliver the books and visit their schools. This was the first time I had visited a public school. The public school didn't seem that different from private schools I had seen. My students showed me around their schools and I talked with some of the other teachers. Then, it started to rain. Rain is a huge blessing here. It has been so hot and dusty here for the past three months. The teachers referred to us as a blessing because they said we brought the rain. It was my pleasure to visit the schools.
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| Library - Y.Y. Ocot Secondary School |
This is the only picture I took at the school. It is the school library of a public school. I really wish I would've taken more pictures especially of my students who are teachers there.
This is me doing laundry.
Yes, I am hand washing.
Yes, it is the first time I have done my own since being here.
Yes, I am spoiled. It is hard, hard work and I have piped water. I do not pay my housekeeper enough.
It was super hot in Kitgum that I slept with the door open. However, on the second or third day I was there, it rained heavily. I was so happy to see the rain. The temperatures cooled and everyone rejoiced.
I absolutely love, love, love the sugar here. It is "raw" like what we would consider organic at home and so delicious. I might eat it by the spoonfuls...which might explain my extra pounds!
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| typical transport in the north |
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| typical transport |
I am completely fascinated with Kitgum and northern Uganda. I have read so many books about the war with the LRA and Kony. This was the area where he occupied. In fact, one of the schools I visited was a safe haven for children to sleep at night. The children were referred to as "night walkers" because would walk from their villages in the early evening to these safe havens and spend the night so they wouldn't be kidnapped by Kony's thugs. The movie "Machine Gun Preacher," gives you a good idea of the way things were about ten years ago. Nearly 40,000 children would make this journey every night according to some estimates. My friend tells me that things because really stable back in 2010, which is just shy of four years ago. It is haunting to hear the stories of the people here. I know it is peaceful now, but I couldn't help wondering what it was like just a few years ago. I was standing on living history. This is the second time in my life where I have actually been in a place where a significant historical event took place. The first was when I visited a concentration camp in Germany and now here in Uganda. MINDBLOWING!
After the time in Kitgum, we headed to Karuma to catch a different bus to Arua and visit with Daniel's brother, Emmanuel, for his birthday. I've been to Karuma before to visit an NGO called Restoration Gateway in which Daniel's brother takes care of the animals and agriculture. It just happened to work out that we could see Emma while we waited for our next bus. On the way to Karuma, though, we stopped in Gulu and I was able to meet up with another one of my students to pass a workbook through the window. It was good to see and connect with him. The majority of my class is men because it is mostly composed of high school teachers. However, there are some primary school teachers, which are predominately women. Karuma is very interesting because it is on the River Nile and everyone passes through that point to the northern districts. It is also the location of one of the largest hydropower projects in Uganda.
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| Karuma Falls |
Once we finished lunch in Karuma, we headed to Arua. Arua is the northwestern part of Uganda, close to the South Sudan border in what is considered the West Nile region. It is a meeting point for most of the NGOs which support South Sudan and DRC. Arua is a very interesting down because it is large, but I was working on my school work while my friend was supervising, so I didn't really see much. I did see a vehicle parked at the hotel that had a red flag sticking out of it to warn the South Sudanese government that they were there to help and not fight.
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| My favorite lunch of fried whole fish and chips. |
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| Typical housing in the north |
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| I've seen these as square/rectangular shapes too. |
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| see the flag? |
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| Alvaro pear |
This is my new favorite soda. It is like eating a fresh pear!
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| Yummy! |
I did manage to find a cheeseburger and pizza at a neighboring hotel. It was so delicious!
I have definitely seen some interesting creatures and have taken my share of mosquito bites. One morning, there were 17 mosquitoes in my very holy net. I never really knew the importance of a net until that night. I have mosquito bites everywhere. Now is the time when I wish I was taking my malaria meds!
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| Love these fabrics. |
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| Monica in front of her fabric shop. |
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| Arua |
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| Arua |
I did get a chance to go to the market to get fabric. This is Monica and her shop. The market is difficult to navigate with long, hot corridors, so I am glad Daniel knew the area. The fabric here is coveted because it comes directly from DRC and is much cheaper than those in Kampala. I bought so many cool fabrics. I will have skirts, dresses, and a few suits made and then I will upload pics for you! I did ask Monica for her contacts because I will back in this area next month and she said she did not have a cell phone and I would just have to remember her face!
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| main road - Arua |
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| I got some sun that day! |
After my time in Arua, I had to make my way to Koboko. I was interested in seeing the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Daniel had to do some school supervision of a student. The picture on the right is the road to Koboko. The bus only comes by this area in the early morning and late evening, so we took a "taxi" to the town. Several of the bridges were out, so we had to go the long way around. The journey took about two hours and should have taken about 45 minutes (about 34 miles). We were STUFFED in the car with four of us in the backseat and our luggage in the trunk. The road was so, so bad - as you can see, but we made it.
The dust you see here in these pictures is from the wind. It was so strong, similar to desert weather.
I tried to snap a quick picture with the town behind us, but it was too sunny and dusty to get a good picture. Yes, I got some sun.
It is only about three miles to the Democratic Republic of Congo border (as you can see on the map). The dark line about Koboko is DRC. Koboko is interesting because it is very isolated and the roads are terrible. Population estimates are around 50,000. The people are very friendly, although I don't think they have seen too many white people around because they starred at me properly! Choices were limited here on most things including food. They don't even receive the newspaper until about 11 a.m. and there is only one place in town to buy it. The hotel was nice, but they ran out of water during the second day there. At this point, I was really, really tired of dealing with either no electricity or no water. Koboko does not have electricity, so they run on generator and solar power. The hotel turns on the generator at night for a few hours and then switches to solar. The solar power doesn't power the sockets, so we just had a two hour window to charge our electronics.
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| rolling through Koboko |
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| Koboko town |
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| See the wires form the generator? |
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| primary school |
I am not sure if you can tell in this pictures, but if you look at the wires and the large sticks holding them up, you will see how the town gets power from generators. They sway in the wind. I can't believe these sticks actually hold up the generator lines.
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| water truck |
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| kerosene lantern |
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| water tanks |
I loved, loved, loved this kerosene lantern. It gave plenty of light at night. The biggest downfall of this lamp was the smell. My room smelled like gasoline 24/7. My Kindle has a light on it, but I really liked the glow from the lantern.
If there is a lantern in your room, then it means you will probably need it!
Reserve water tanks behind my room that were EMPTY. There were filled the day before I left, just my luck!
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| basin |
This is the basin that I used to bathe in during my time in the north. All of the hotels have basins in their bathrooms. The hotels deliver jerrycans of water each morning and evening. If you are lucky, the jerrycans are warm. They are my favorite. It has taken some practice to wash my self using a basin, but I think I finally got it. Needless to say, I really enjoyed my low-pressure shower in my apartment last night. I will never complain about the water pressure again!
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| jerrycan |
I celebrated my birthday in Koboko and it was so nice. I received a jersey from my friend Daniel and the chef made me pasta and veggies. My meal cost UGX 9,000, which is about $3.50. I know the prices back home will be a shock!
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| pasta and veggies |
Several of my friends signed my card :)
After my birthday celebration, I had to pack to return back to Mukono. As we began walking towards the bus park, the bus came driving my us at 7:30. They told us to be there at 7:30 and the bus was supposed to leave at 8:00. Apparently, the bus runs early, which is the only thing here that runs early! We jumped on the bus and claimed our seats. I was really excited for this journey because we had booked the front seats.
This journey was 580 km (360 miles) and took us about 9 hours. Then, it was another hour back to Mukono via a taxi and motorcycle. Yes, travel is rough, but you have to do it. I did see some interesting things along the way being in the front seat.
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| bridge before the Karuma falls |
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| baboons along the road side |
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| Karuma Falls |
Road Rules
1. Construction communication - See the stones on the left side of this road. Construction crews put stones on the road to prevent people from driving on it.
2. When a vehicle breaks down, the stranded party puts leaves on the side of the road on both sides of the broken down vehicle to warm oncoming parties.
3. Hand signals and flashing lights between bus drives are vital. They warn oncoming drivers of oncoming traffic and traffic stops.
4. Many different horn sounds signal vehicles to move over, warn people to get out of the way, and signal we are barreling through at 110 kph (nearly 70 mph). It is very scary to see a huge bus going this fast along a very busy street with kids running beside you.
About three hours into our journey, the police followed us and made us pull over. Apparently, we had a cracked rim. The bus crew changed the tire and we were on our way again. I can only imagine what would have happened if the rim broke? Yikes!
I always wondered why people say, "travel mercies" when you travel, but now I know the saying first-hand. After the number of boda rides, bus rides, and walking along busy streets, but I am safe back home in Mukono.
I have the opportunity to travel to Arua and Senegal in April and Kabale in May. You know there will be pictures!
Thanks for sharing in my journey. Love to you all.
