First day around Kampala

So here we are, day two….

The view from Vik's garden

After a nice chilling morning in the house (were I have to admit I am being super spoilt!) I went around town with my new best friend, Abdou! Abdou is a brilliant boda-boda driver and he agreed to take me around town for the afternoon. 

So one the back on this little motorcycle (he told me its name, I forgot, I like the name Lilly!) We started at Zain (telecom company) for some internet top-up in order for me to have a connection in the house. Met Patrick, a very sweet man with who I chatted a bit technical (a geek remains a geek sorry!).

Our second stop was the National Museum; a well done little thing but the most amazing part is that outside they have a huge piece of land where they re-created the various huts of Uganda with the utensils and all… Man the space you have in there is incredible! With partitions and all, they’re great. My favorite one is the Kigezi hut (the area where I’m going to teach so I hope to have the opportunity to visit a lived in one!). I’ll put photos up as well promise. In the museum a lady invited me to sit on a bench next to her and sing a song for me “I want to go back to Mukunya, if I don’t have money for the bus I have my goats…” It was nice…. I had to rush a bit as I had told Abdou an hour and it had been far more than that!

Next direction, the Baha’i temple; it tooks us forever to find it as it is in a remote part of town on Gayyaza road. It is a great area, you pass on a dirt track along all the car mechanics, the veg market and the kids around. You take some little uphill dirt tracks and get to this superbe green dome temple with a huge park to sit and mediate. I had barely stepped off Lilly that a guy came to speak to me. His name was Pot, told me a bit about the temple but that I should really come back tomorrow for a big Baha’i ceremony. As I walked uphill and stood there infront of this temple, another man who seemed to work there came by, I asked him whether it was ok for me to hang around for a bit; he was more than happy for me to be there and opened the door to the temple inviting me to go in, walk around, pray if I wanted to and then go back to him for questions.

A little Q&A (I didn’t invent anything, these are the answers I was given in summary!):

• Is Baha’i considered to be a branch of Islam?

No, Baha’i believe in that Mohammad, Jesus, Moses and all prophets were messengers of God who were there to carry out a message to their people in due time. Baha’is also believe each religion has its time and each one should come and go as to evolve with our era.

• Is your prayer similar to Islam?

No, Baha’is only wash their face and hands before praying a sign of respect and can pray standing up, sitting down or however. There is no kneeling obliged or any gesture.

Unfortunately, just then we heard storms and a black cloud showed up, considering I had an hour to get back home to Monyonyo, I apologized to this man for cutting this discussion short. But he gave me his number as he works in Kampala center and comes up to the temple in the afternoons so he kindly offer to meet me in Kampala one day and bring me back with him to the temple for a further discussion.

Of course, 10 mins after we left, we ended up under a shower of rain, so like most boda-boda and pedestrians, we found refuge next the gas pumps of a gas station, chilling there for a good 30 mins before we got home.

Home was dinner while watching The Last King of Scotland to refresh my memory on the history of Uganda (yes, that was about Uganda I had forgotten!)

That’s my story so far! Ugandans are super friendly, smiley and as opposed to Ethiopia, a white person can still walk around without being super starred at or followed by a football team who want something. I like Uganda…. Tomorrow’s the old Kampala….  

PS: I can't seem to upload photos so maybe later.... ciao ciao!