Muzungu In Uganda

Ever just have those moments where you are overcome with peace? For me, it's a different feeling than happiness. Happiness comes in the form of ice cream, fact. Peace is the feeling I get when I recognize that at this exact moment, there's no where else I'd rather be than right where I am that very second. Sometimes the feeling comes when I'm by the ocean, on a run, swinging in my parent's backyard, laughing with my favorite people, or, as was the case this week, riding on the back of a stranger's motorbike through remote Ugandan villages.

Let me rewind. Before I left for my trip to Entebbe,Uganda, I received an email from a fellow crew member informing me that through a website she had located a tour guide that would be willing to show us around Entebbe. Always up for an adventure, and in need of redeeming myself after being a lame-o in India, I eagerly signed up!

Just an hour after our arrival, we met our tour guide, Walter, outside the gates of our hotel. Walter also brought along three other drivers, so that all four of us crew members could have our own limousines. And by limousines, I do mean motorbikes, or as the locals call them, boda bodas. My driver, a very sweet Ugandan man who introduced himself as Johny, and after a five minute discussion over the pronunciation of my name, settled on calling me Kels for the remainder of the day.


My driver, Johny.

 

We quickly signed waivers promising not to sue Walter's Boda Boda Tours in the unlikely event that we were injured and or killed that day. We were fitted with our very own bike helmets (safety first), and away we went!

 



 

The first stop along the tour was to a large mosque. Following with Muslim practices, women must wear skirts and cover their hair in order to enter the mosque. Although skirts and a scarf wrapped around my head is not my usual look, I obliged.

 

 

After I was all suited up, we entered into the mosque, and climbed a tower connected to it that led to an awesome view of the city. It was neat to have different areas pointed out to us, so that we would somewhat know where we were during the rest of the tour.

Before we left the mosque, Walter took a moment to explain the next point of interest along our tour. We would be driving through the slums, but because of safety reasons we would not be stopping. Houses, many made of leftover plywood scraps, lined the dirt roads. Children, no older than ten, with dirty faces and no shoes, carried babies on their backs. And every few feet blankets were spread out on the ground that were covered with clothing items that were for sale. They all appeared to be used clothing, and many of the tee shirts I saw had logos such as Miami Heat and Iowa State University printed on them. Many people shouted, "Muzungu, muzungu," (white person), as we drove past, and we definitely were among the minority in this neck of the woods.

After driving through the slums we reached an area that served as a torture camp during the 1970's. Over 300 people were tortured and died inside of the champers. The victim's hand prints, created from a mixture of the mud and feces they were forced to stand in, remain on the walls. Being inside of the chamber was eery, and I was more than happy to get the heck out of dodge, so to speak.

After our stop at the ol Disney World of Uganda, I was beyond exhausted and ready to head back to our hotel. Nightfall had set in, as had crazy amounts of traffic. Although all four of us left at the same time, we all were soon separated due to the every man for themselves style of traffic. After about eight minutes into our thirty minute drive, Johny and I came to a street that was blocked as far as the eye could see with vans, taxi's, and bota bota's. There was no other choice for movement, even the sidewalks were blocked with vehicles, so we turned off our motorbike, and sat. And sat. And sat. I took my camera out from it's hiding spot in the front of my shirt in order to capture this craziness on film, but Johny was quick to tell me, "Kels, not safe. Camera away." Noted.

With that, I did become slightly frightened. Girl, check. Only white in sight, check check. No cell phone, check check and check! All while humming the tune of "Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh dooooo remember me," I slowly started to pull down the sleeves on my rolled up shirt so that I could tuck my white hands inside, and ever so slightly shoved my long braid inside of my helmet. Anything to minimize the whole extreme tourist look I had going on! Within minutes we were rolling again. I was literally squeezing my knees together so that my long legs would not scrape the other vehicles as we zipped past them. The traffic was insane!

 Eventually we reached an open rode, and picked up speed. The wind was blowing, the moon was shinning, and I was smiling and holding on tight to Johny (my knight and shining armor), in a brand new place I had never been before. I'm not exactly sure where we were or how we got there, but I do know that for those few seconds... there was no where else in the entire world I would have rather been.

And that my friends, is peace!