The capital city of Uganda is about an hour drive from Entebbe.
You may think driving in Houston is horrible. Ha! That’s a day at the beach compared to what I just experienced. Traffic lights are merely a suggestion. We just blew right through the red light… along with everyone else. There are hundreds of motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic, as well as hundreds of pedestrians. I will drive in Houston any time after this! Well, not really because I don’t personally driving in traffic. Thankfully we have a great driver that has taken us here and driven us around all week.
I would never venture out into Kampala alone. There were people everywhere, and Jumba warned me that there are pickpockets and that they will also snatch your cell phone out of your hand. I kept my phone hidden away and I also wore my backpack backwards to keep an eye on things. We had 2 escorts from Uganda who basically put us in the middle as we walked single file and wove our way through the busy street. I wasn’t too terribly nervous, but I was more aware of my surroundings. I only noticed a few people staring at me, and one called out to me (he called me white lady in Luganda). I ignored him, and he commented that I wasn’t talking today which made us laugh.
The reason for our adventure to Kampala was to purchase items for the school’s sports teams. The school principal chose one of the boys from the soccer team to join us and pick out what was needed. He even made a list the night before. A student and parent donated quite a large sum of money right before I left Texas. All of that and some money of our own money purchased complete soccer uniforms for both the boys and girls teams, goalie gloves, 2 soccer balls, and a net ball. In the United States all of that would have cost around $2,000. In Uganda that cost under $300 US.
It’s amazing how expensive things are in the US. Nonetheless, there will be some very thankful boys and girls when we return to school later today.