Upcountry

My trip to Gulu this past weekend was a bouncy and exhausting one but one that is well worth the bumpy bus rides, lack of electricity, icy cold showers, and long days. Gulu is the second largest city in Uganda. It is in Northern Uganda about 338.8 kilometers (210.5 miles) from Kampala a ride that would take approximately 3.5 hours on US roads but takes anywhere from 5-7 hours depending on traffic and road construction. The road to Gulu is not great to say the least. It is riddle with pot holes and in some parts the pavement has been worn down to a small strip in the middle of the road barely big enough for one vehicle. There is construction being done currently which is promising for the future but a pain right now.

Once you finally make it to Gulu it is quite lovely. It is small town that has come a long way in a short time since the years of LRA control and general political strife and civil war in Uganda. A friend just shared his experiences of Gulu in 2006 with me and explained it as having little infrastructure and one restaurant with C+ food. Now Gulu has many restaurants and some even have A+ food (A+ for Uganda that is which is an entirely different rating scale). When I arrived in Gulu I hopped off the bus and headed to a popular restaurant to enjoy their delicious brick oven pizzas. After a late lunch I made my way to the girl’s home HALO supports. I rode a boda (motorcycle taxi) and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The air is so much fresher in Gulu and I found myself sucking it in trying to clean out my lungs of the gross Kampala fumes. The ride was also quiet which is such a treat for me. In Kampala I am assaulted daily by noises from all. Such is big city life.

Ahhhh, peace

When I got to the girl’s home I was greeted with smiling faces running towards me bombarding me with hugs. It was so great to see those girls again. 

We spent the evening doing art as we always do and taking pictures. We had a delicious traditional Ugandan dinner prepared by the girls. 

It was a lovely evening but I was ready to turn in early after the long bus ride. I feel asleep immediately (which never happens to me) but woke up in the middle of the night to the rain pounding on the tin roof. Despite being woken up I was happy for the rain because it brought the temperatures down and made everything less dusty. It hasn’t rained in Kampala in months and the dryness is getting to be too much. The plants on the side of the road are no longer green but have a thick coating of reddish brown dust stirred up from passing vehicles. It was nice to smell the rain again.

In Kampala

Poor plant, it was once green.

Dust Prints

The girls were in school all day Friday so I did some work and charged my electronics at the same restaurant I went to the day before. I ran into some people I know so I ate breakfast with them and we spent some time catching up. It was nice to see them at breakfast because I never really have time to socialize with the people I know in Gulu since I only go for a few days and I spend them working. That afternoon I went to see our girls who are in boarding school. The school they attend is called Restore Leadership Academy. It is a great school inspired by the visionary Bob Goff and run by a few people who I am proud to say are my friends. Check out their website for more information. http://www.restoreinternational.org/

Restore Girls

The view from the school

Me waiting on the side of Juba Rd, the road that goes from Uganda to Juba, South Sudan, for a transportation opportunity. A boda eventually drove by.

I only had an hour with the girls since they had to get back to class but we had a good time catching up.

After visiting Restore I had a meeting with the mentors who manage the Gulu home. I was so happy to hear everything is going really well and they didn’t have any major problems to discuss. Finally the girls got home from school around 5pm. I did some art with the girls who were not busy preparing dinner. We had another delicious dinner and after eating the girls treated us to a few performances. First the girls performed a danced they choreographed themselves. Then they did a news broadcast that I really loved. The girls wrote stories about what has been going on in Gulu Girls home and reported them like they were newscasters. One girl read the headlines then the other girls read the in depth stories. It was adorable and I actually learned a lot about what the girls have been up to! To end the night we watched Shrek on a laptop. The girls loved the movie.

The Neighbors 

The Neighborhood

Main water tap at the house

I left early the next morning for Kampala. I was able to catch a ride with someone I’ve never meet but heard about many times. His name his John and he worked for Restore International in Uganda for five years. He left last May about a week before I came to Uganda to attend law school. He was back in Uganda visiting and working with Restore. He shared many stories with us on the ride down to Kampala and I really enjoyed hearing about what Gulu was like six years ago. Six years may not seem like a long time to you but a whole lot can change in six years in Africa. Gulu has definitely changed a lot in the past six years.

I am always happy to be back in Kampala because I am not much of a small town girl, but I always wish I could spend more time with the girls in Gulu.