Road Trip in Uganda

JULY 12, 2010

Let me begin this with assurances that Steve and I are both fine and well.  We were saddened to hear the news this morning that there had been two bombs in Kampala at locations where people had gathered to watch the World Cup.  Such a random and senseless act of violence is hard to understand, and we are deeply saddened by it.  We are on a rod trip far from Kampala, and won’t return until next Saturday, so be assured we are alright. 

We are on the second day of a road trip to visit Ugandan Organizations with whom MCC partners, to familiarize ourselves with the projects they implement, and to meet MCC volunteers who are seconded to these organizations.  The Mennonite Central Committee does not implement projects in Uganda, but rather supports Ugandan organizations who are implementing projects of peace, reconciliation, trauma healing, and community development.  We loan, or “second” volunteers to some of these organizations to help build their capacity in areas such as program planning, implementation, financial accountability, and technical expertise.  Many of our partners are with the Ugandan Anglican Church, while others are with the Catholic Church, and some have no religious affiliation at all. 

We left Kampala yesterday afternoon to drive to Hoima where we partner with the Bunyoro-Kitara Diocese of the Anglican Church, one of our longest standing partnerships.  The drive was somewhere in the neighborhood of four hours over a paved road.  There were a lot of major potholes and also speed bumps to slow us down through the villages, so the drive took longer than it would otherwise, but we got to see a good deal of the Ugandan countryside.  It becomes more and more beautiful the farther you get away from the congestion and haze of Kampala.

We met with the Anglican church partners today, opened the morning with devotions and an introduction to staff and then made a tour of projects they implement both with MCC and with other organizations.  It was a very impressive array of programs in the areas of health and education.  The program we support there is the Living With Shalom project.  I discussed that in an earlier entry, so won’t go into it here other than to say it is a peacebuilding and youth empowerment project  for youth from all over the country.  The volunteer who is seconded to this project is Patrick Monk, a delightful guy from Virginia who is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University.  The key partners we met with were Reverend Samuel, Sister Rose, and Reverend Paddy.  What a fun and committed group of people they are!  I think I am going to love it here!

Today we continued on to the town of Masindi where we met with Bishop Stanley of the Masindi-Kitara Diocese.  This diocese has sent youth to the Living with Shalom Trainings, has hosted a SALTer (a college grad from the US who comes for a year of service), and has also sent a young adult to Canada for a year through MCC’s IVEP (International Volunteer Exchange Program) program.  We will have dinner with Bishop Stanley and his wife in about an hour. 

View of Masindi from Hotel Bijja Balcony

I am sitting on the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the rolling green hills behind Masindi town.  There is a lightening storm off in the distance and a hint of rain in the air.

Tomorrow we travel to Lira to meet another long-standing partner, the Stella Matutina school.  More on that later.