Escape From Kampala
Wednesday May 26th – it finally came. The day Adam and I were to leave Kampala for the villages of southwestern Uganda, where we will be working all summer. Being stuck in Kampala for five days without much to do except relax, I was so ready to get going. Sure, sleeping in was nice. I got plenty of reading done. And I was able to keep up my blog pretty well. But I’m here for a limited amount of time in Uganda, and I want to work.
So, Wednesday morning we arrived at the bus station excited to get going. Luckily for us, Sempa (a Nyaka administrator) accompanied us to the station and made sure we were taken care of. It’s easy to embrace my independent streak and think I can figure everything out on my own. But honestly, I would have been totally lost without Sempa. The bus station in Kampala is nothing like what you might find in the U.S. or Europe. It doesn’t have posted schedules or fares. There are no docking points. To my untrained Western eye, it’s just a massive dirt parking lot full of buses randomly dispersed throughout, mixed in with sellers trying to convince you to buy their bread, fruit plates, newspapers, watches, etc. Not wanting us to be thrown into that chaos blindly, Sempa made sure we were charged a fair rate and got on the bus headed to Ekiragiro (our day’s endpoint).
Now once we were on the bus, we only had one decision to make on our own – where to sit. Needless to say, we chose poorly. Very poorly. On one side of the aisle are two seats and the other side has three seats. We chose the three-seat side, hoping that we might be able to stretch out a bit. Not a chance. That bus was packed to its absolute max, with kids sitting on their mothers’ laps and us squeezed into the two inner seats of a three-seat row that was surely not designed for fully grown human beings. We also happen to have chosen the side of the bus on which the African sun would be casting its full gaze all day. Good job, white guys. And to top it off, we smartly chose the row right above the wheels, thus ensuring we felt every bump and pothole halfway across Uganda.
Seven (hot, foodless, sleepy) hours later, we arrived in Ekiragiro. Our luck completely changed once we got there. Well, I don’t think it’s really fair to call it luck. More like extremely blessed. We were picked up by a couple guys from Nyaka (Didas and Marias) who took us in a van to where we’d be staying for the night. One of the Nyaka volunteers named Jolly has a family home in Ekiragiro, and she graciously hosted us for the evening. She greeted us with a huge warm hug and invited us into her home. Besides the generous hospitality and wonderful conversation with all the Nyaka volunteers and workers, Adam and I also really loved the home itself. It’s a beautiful, lush estate sitting atop a mountain overlooking the hilly countryside. You can see a picture of the house to the right. The views are spectacular. The weather is perfect (mid 70s). And the air is fresher than you could imagine. It was so lovely I almost felt guilty.
Nathan, I really enjoyed both of your posts. I can relate to the grandmothers. I must be very rewarding to do something to make their lives more comfortable. Keep up the good work and come home safely.
Hi Nathan: You are really getting a taste of both worlds are’nt you . After you trip on the bus you probably thought you ended up in the “Garden of Eden.” What an experience tho–maybe most of America needs to have an experience such as that and then we would appreciate all the blessings we have and not just want more. I’m sure you were a little glad to get back to your familiar surroundings . Things are well here. Chris and your dad just left my house. Please keep your blogs coming, I really look forward to hearing from you. LOVE YOU. Ma