Kampala

I arrived in Kampala on Friday, or rather at Entebbe, which is more than just an airport; much more, in fact, as it was once the capital of Uganda so is a city in its own right. I can recommend Kenya Airways, not least for the fact that they allow two suitcases of 23kg rather than the usual one! Great was my relief when I discovered this last week and I had no trouble at all in filling both; in fact, still had to leave behind some books and a few other things for the school which I will have to bring next time.
I was met by Rev Hamlet Mbabazi who is in charge of CHIFCOD's work in Uganda. Typically for someone who achieves a huge amount he is a very busy man: chaplain to Parliament in Kampala, chaplain to the Cathedral, priest at All Saints Church in Kampala, as well as Director of CHIFCOD and also a company which organises micro-financing and work co-operatives around Uganda. He was an MP for five years but gave that up as he found he had too many political/moral conflicts to be able to do either job to the satisfaction of his own conscience whilst trying to do both. He is a charming, charismatic, energetic and visionary man who clearly has huge influence and is greatly loved and respected. He and his wife Kellen divide their time between Kampala and Kirima and I shall be staying with them, initially at least, in the guest room of their house when we go to the village tomorrow.
Here, I am staying in the Namirembe Guest House which is a friendly, unpretentious Church guest house on one of the hills which surround central Kampala. Like Rome, Kampala was built on and within seven hills although now other hills have been built on beyond and between the original number. Kampala is a typical African capital city, although greener than most, I imagine (it has a lot of rain both in and out of the rainy season) : shabby, delapitated shacks and shops and dusty fume-filled, traffic-choked roads side by side with the lush gardens and fine buildings of embassies and multi-national corporate life. Crowded, noisy, humid, the city is nevertheless miraculously civilised and orderly given its traumatic post-independence history especially during the Amin years. The people are wonderfully courteous and friendly and greet you with the widest of smiles. The official statistics, however, are depressing: average life expectancy is about 39 years and only 16% of the population have access to secondary education. The great majority of the people live in extreme poverty.

Yesterday Hamlet and Kellen drove me to Jinja, about 60km east of Kampala, where the source of the Nile (or one of them at least) can be found, where it flows out of Lake Victoria. Having spent my early childhood at the one end of the Nile in Cairo it seemed rather fitting to be standing at the other end of it at retirement age!
A quiet day in Kampala today before setting off tomorrow for the long drive to Kirima. Hamlet clearly has some ambitious ideas about what he hopes I can do and achieve - I only hope I can fulfill his expectations!