Travel with Ken: Leaving Gulu Uganda tomorrow, hope to be back

Today is my last day in Gulu Uganda where I’ve been working on the Internet Now project. Over the last several weeks I have really learned a lot about Gulu and I like it. It’s still a hot, dusty, lack of different food type of town. But as you spend more time in any location you get to start to peel back the outer layers and see what’s really inside be it good or bad. Having my bike has allowed me to go places I would not likely have gone in a vehicle, and at a much slower pace.

I think it’s been meeting the people in Gulu that has really changed me and my outlook about Gulu. There are several Gulians that I have spent time with here they have shared with me their insight of Gulu the history of the town and the area. Thank you Mildred, Joran, Alfred, Grace, John, Winnie, along with many others and the group at the SuperCenter.

School behind my house, getting ready for the day. Teacher: "how many months in a year ?" Students: "there are 12 months in a year"

Recently, I was doing a site survey and came across this not so nice set of buildings, as I walked through I thought it was used for storage or animals. I was stopped by the principal and asked “why are you here, you need permission to be here”. I immediately apologized and spent some time with the principal. This was a displacement school for one of the rural schools.

A few years back the children were afraid to be in the rural areas, so they moved to Gulu town, during the day they would go to these schools, at night they would sleep on the streets of Gulu where 1000’s of other “night traveling” children would come to town to sleep. The children were worried that if they were caught by the LRA, they would never return. I have heard roughly 30,000 children in this area have disappeared and have never been seen again. The school is no longer used, it’s a hub for other projects and for storage. The children, what are left, have moved back to their village to attend the regular school.

Typical village houses

Building a new house in the village

National Park

Last Saturday, after a site visit, we went to Chobe Lodge, it’s about an hour drive south of Gulu. Since we were already south of town it made nice little stop off. After you turn off the main Gulu-Kampala highway (not really a highway or anything like a highway, maybe a step up above a good quality dirt road with asphalt and lots of potholes) you drive about 20kms through the outskirt of the Murchison Falls National Park. There are reports of Giraffes and Elephants in the area, sadly we did not see any, this was likely due to the late arrival at the park. We then arrived at the park entrance, paid the fee, checked-in and traveled a short distance to the Chobe Safari Lodge. This is an old government lodge that has been privatized, remodeled, which really means the prices have gone up, a lot. But it’s beautifully laid out with rooms facing the Blue Nile River. There is an amazing swimming pool and great lunch buffet.

For me the best part of this place is the location on a bend of the Blue Nile River. This is like a huge Hippo singles bar, where 100’s of Hippos spend the day staying cool in the swift flowing water. At night they come out, to find vegetation. We heard stories where the Hippos have chased around some of the guests and staff of the lodge. I spent a lot of time watching the Hippo’s heads emerge out of the water for a few minutes, before they would hide again under the safety of the Nile. A short walk around the corner there was large area where the hippos just hung out waiting for the night eats.

Driving around in the Land Cruiser

On this project we drive around in Land Cruisers, this is due to rough roads we typically travel to get to the remote locations. One LC is the better than the rest, it has a great off-road suspension and good AC. We try and take it on each trip. Even with the good suspension, it’s a pretty rough ride. So it’s bouncing around from location to location, its helping the core muscles, sucking them in so you don’t fall over or hit your head on the side windows. I always seem to be in the back seat, but it’s my preferred spot.

One of three of our Land Cruisers

Music all night

Where I live is on the main road from Kampala to Juba South Sudan, making it a trucking mecca, it’s also home to some of the local bars. Some of these bars are open all night playing loud thumbing music. I don’t mind music until midnight, but when you wake up at 4am and it’s still playing that is pushing it. But as soon as school started again, Feb 4, the music is cut off at about 11pm, guessing some of the local moms of the students may have had a word with the bar owners. There is one place that plays really nice music until about 11pm, great level and I've fallen asleep to it more than once. But at the end of the day, still have to wear the earplugs to sleep through the night.

Camera Issues

Looks like the rough roads have finally done in my camera, you may see a slight line through some of my pictures, arrggg. Looks like it’s time for a new camera.

My Bike

So I have been spending a lot of time on my bike, meaning a bit of maintenance too. Good thing I know how to work on a bike, but this more like working on a car than a bike. I think a hammer would be one of the main tools I’ll need to have in the future. The brakes are solid metal, but not very effective, starting to get some popeye arms. There is no way in hell I could stop quickly, but that is not a big issue, I’m not going very fast either. The last two weeks I have been riding my bike occasionally to work. I keep getting comments about why didn’t I get a bike with gears. Today I had to replace my bike tire, one month and already wore one out. Bad roads or bad tires -- both.

We have three trucks for the project, last week the drivers were out front of the office washing the trucks. They saw my bike and washed it too, it looks really great, thanks guys!

Most weekends I get up and ride my bike to The Coffee Hut, they make a great breakfast. I get the express breakfast and a banana smoothie. After breakfast I stop at the bakery next door, they have the most amazing banana bread. I always get an extra piece to give to the two little girls that live at our guest house.

Haircut

If you read my blog regularly I usually have something to say about getting a haircut in places around the world. In Gulu, I get my usual number 2 clipper cut, afterwards a woman walks me over to a sink and washes and massages my head, felt so good, all for 5000UGX or about $1.90USD.

SuperCenter

The Internet Now Project includes a training center at the large Gulu University campus. I have spent a bit of time at the SuperCenter (SC) this last month working on their network and helping with the 50 computers that are networked. The workers at the SC are being trained on applications that will be installed at the 100 sites around Northern Uganda. Some of these people will actually run the remote centers. Almost all of the trainees are students or recent grads of the Gulu University, many of them with ICT/computer backgrounds. Several of the students have been interested in what we are doing with the larger network that is about to be built. This week I did a training class to this group, talking about how we design and install this upcoming network. A few days later we have to install a new router at the site and 6 of the students stayed afterwards to see the install.

This week I received an email that has made my think about the work we are doing in Uganda.

I think there are always amazing journeys where we meet different people. These people have different talents and great skills with the zeal to work but no opportunity. I am sure that when you go back, this should be on the menu for your friends and partners across the Globe so that opportunities like this one (Internet Now!) can be created to create more opportunities especially for an African child.

We are installing 2 containers of computers at 100 sites, my work is to connect them to the internet.

Came across a building where people can used computers in a secure housing. Because the y are secure, they can be used day and night. An amazing organization, BOSCO, runs this computer center.

Heading back to the US

Sunday February 10, I start my journey back to the US. I leave early in the morning for the 4 hour drive from Gulu to Kampala in one of the Land Cruisers. I’ll spend a few days in Kampala. On Feb 13, I’ll fly from Enteppe to Dar es Salaam, then later that night I will fly Dar to Amsterdam and on to Seattle.

I WILL be back to Africa very soon again.