Initial Impressions

We flew to Uganda by flying via London to Nairobi (Kenya) and then to Entebbe, Uganda.  If Entebbe sounds familiar, you may remember that in 1976 this airport was the scene of Israeli soldiers freeing over 100 hostages hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists.  In preparation for going to Uganda, we had watched the movie "The Last King of Scotland" (about Idi Amin) with Forrest Whitaker - the last part of which deals with the Entebbe events.   Landing in Entebbe and walking through the airport brought back disturbing memories of the end of that movie (if you have seen it, remember the meat hooks in the airport Duty Free shop).   

Coca Cola advertising in baggage claim

If you have not seen the flick and would like to learn a bit about the history of Uganda, this is a good overview (historical fiction) of that era.
 Entebbe Airport has since lightened it's image, with the help of Coca Cola. Check out the nice decorating in the baggage claim area.










 

Very tired travelers at Entebbe airport

Upon arrival, we were picked up at the airport by our Compassion Uganda trip coordinator (Grace) and our fearless bus driver (Fred).  We came to rely very heavily on them both for our well-being!  We were all very tired from 2 back-to-back overnight flights.   We headed toward our Guest House, where we had about 30 minutes to freshen up for a snack, after which we would leave for an afternoon at a local Child Development Center.

Initial Impresssions of Uganda

Eddie told me tonight that his initial impression of Uganda was "When can we leave?"  I must have suspected that, because I spent much of that first day reminding him of how exciting I made his life, and how dull and boring things would be if not for me finding great experiences like this.

A few things immediately caught our attention, even before we made it to our Guest House.

Lots of "bald-headed" kids

We saw a bus load of school kids at the airport parking lot.  The children really had shaved (not bald) heads, but all the same, somehow I had expected they would have hair!   Virtually all young Ugandans have shaved heads.  Water here is a precious commodity, and dirt is plentiful (probably little friends are plentiful too!), so shaving your child's head just makes things easier.  Girls don't grow their hair out until secondary school.  This makes hygiene easier, but it can make it more challenging to figure out who is a boy and who is a girl.  Thank goodness girls in Uganda normally wear skirts!  You can generally guess a child's sex correctly by whether they are in a skirt or shorts/pants.  Sometimes, you don't have to guess....

As odd and fascinating as their little shaved heads were to us, I am confident that the children found us just as fascinating.  Mzungus (white people) are not often seen there, and most children have never met one.  Several of us, myself included, over the course of our visit had Ugandan children come up to touch/rub our skin because they were so fascinated by our appearance. 

Driving!

Earlier I called our driver Fred "fearless" because driving in Uganda is, as you might expect, really challenging.  There are typically no street names, no street signs, no street lights, no lines painted on the roads, and apparently no crews to fix the frequent humongous potholes found on the paved roads.  There are no auto emissions rules, so cars and trucks spew exhaust fumes.  It appears there are no traffic rules - although I'm not positive if there really are no rules, or whether people just don't follow them.  In Uganda, the view from the passenger seat was unnerving, to say the least!  Here's a brief video of what driving is like driving:  

Lots of Dirt
Did I mention that only the major roads are paved?  If it's not a main thoroughfare, it's a dirt road.  Many of the roads have a heavy washboard effect from the rain, and there are often large patches of mud.  In fact, our bus got stuck in one on about day 2 of the trip.  Some woman we didn't know came running over with a hoe to help us - you start "hoeing" the mud into the puddle until you create enough traction for the bus to start sliding out of the hole.  And Fred managed to do this without getting any mud on him - very impressive!

Since most roads are unpaved, there is dirt - more like red clay - everywhere.  The air is full of red dust.  Most people's clothes are dirty.  Any pavement is red clay colored.  Urban or rural, the story is largely the same. 

So if you decide to go to Uganda some day, don't bring your nicest shoes - they won't be nice for long!  If you wear sandles, you will have a new appreciation for people in the New Testament and why foot washing was such a big thing to do.  You will just be plain dirty.


Sweeping dirt in front of shoe store





Nicely swept dirt

All this talk about dirt is not intended as a complaint - and is not in any way to suggest that the people are dirty.  In fact they spent alot of time trying to keep things clean.  They even swept the dirt to keep it looking nice.  But where there is so much dirt being blown around everywhere, it is a challenge to keep everything and everyone from becoming dirt colored.

Lots of Poverty

Last but certainly not least, there was poverty everywhere.  We have traveled in other areas with lots of poverty, but had never seen it so pervasive throughout a region.  We were in the region of Kampala (southern Uganda).  Later in the week, some medical missionaries were staying at our guest house.  They had just returned from northern Uganda, and said the north made our area look wealthy.