What’s Uganda Like?

What’s Uganda REALLY like?

I have no idea. I was only there for two weeks and mostly stayed in a semi-remote village most of the time. But I can tell you what I saw and what I experienced. If someone came to America for two weeks, would they know what America is like or what a visitor’s experience in America is like? My point is simply this, I don’t pretend to know a whole culture from a small experience, but I can certainly tell you what you will see and experience as a short-time visitor to Uganda, which may be the most helpful information you need. Admittedly I saw it through the eyes of a missionary partnering with an existing in-nation ministry.

So, here’s what I saw…

The city is crowded and busy. The villages are more peaceful, slower and spread out. I spent most of my time in the villages. Most of my time in the city was driving through heinous traffic jams, with traffic laws being more of suggestions than mandate and with motorcycle taxis flying in between cars on the edge of death. There were half -finished buildings everywhere. People were everywhere. Vendors walked the streets in between cars selling their wares: sugarcane, gum, sunglasses, etc. Up on the hillsides (it looked like the foothills of California) seemed to be the nicer houses and the wealthier folks. By the streets were concrete apartments and mud one-room homes.

Once you are out of the city things open up. The roads turn from pavement to hard packed dirt and rock.  The areas I traveled were filled with “low-level” jungle takes up the scenery. What’s low-level jungle? It’s my term for lots of vegetation that goes up to about ten feet high but no higher. It’s not the rainforest. There are very few canopies of trees (in our area), but there are lots of banana trees, plantain trees, high green weeds, papyrus plants and small palm looking trees. Small huts (dark brick one room homes) line the main roads. Goats, cows, chickens, an occasional sketchy-looking dog or cat, funky looking sheep are tied in yards along the way. The road slopes down on both sides for water run off into a small dry canal on the side. Potholes are abundant and you must remember to drive on the left-hand side of the road (the steering wheel on the right-hand side should keep you clued in).

You share the road with motorcycle taxis called ‘Boda-Boda’s’ (pronounced Bo, like “no”). What you can fit on a small motorcycle is shocking. Although I heard of one carrying a couch, I personally saw four men on one holding a ten foot ladder straight up, one with four twin mattresses on it, one with a family of five and one loaded with hanging live chickens. If it CAN fit, it WILL fit. Safety is secondary. The taxis are inexpensive but this is a poor culture, so you can’t waste one dollar unnecessarily. All the women are wearing skirts so most of them sit ‘side-saddle’ as the motorcycle weaves through traffic. The rule of the road is, the bigger your vehicle, the more of a right-of-way you have. Bicycles and pedestrians beware.

The cultural options to make a living seem relatively few. Either you work for someone in one of the main industries, or you are a small business owner in one of the few shop options. Think about what you would need to live in the country and you begin to understand why the industries are what they are. There are brick makers and brick layers. High piles of mud bricks are stacked in front yards with fires burning beneath to solidify them for building. There are farmers of potatoes, plantain, bananas, and a few starchy vegetables that I can’t remember the names of. In the village ‘center’ (main crossroads where the shops set up) there are concrete buildings usually with (3) 10’ x 20’ spaces. Each would house a business. The business options are few: Market, hair cutting salon (“saloon”), building materials (sheet metal), butcher, pharmacy, clothing, mechanic shops for cars and motorcycles and an occasional bank or gas station. In front of them are the kiosk and ‘stands’ for those who don’t need or can’t afford a full ‘store’. These are the chicken sellers, the Rolex makers (it’s a breakfast burrito, not a watch), cellular phone and money transfer booths. Row after row of the same businesses are in every village, sometimes duplicating each other every quarter mile.

There are children all over the place. Some are walking on the sides of the roads even at night, most are in their family yards waving at the cars going by. The closer you get to the city the more you see small schools and day cares.  In a country that’s smaller than the State of Oregon you have 41 ½ million people (Oregon has 4 million). The median age is 16 years old. Half the population is under 15. Only 2% are over 65 years old. It’s a very, very young country. The relatively recent wars (late 90’s) wiped out so many of the adults, especially the men (although Uganda is 50% male and female). Even now, the life expectancy is 53 years old.

Uganda is poor but it shouldn’t be. Once called by Winston Churchill the “Pearl of Africa” for it’s natural beauty, it’s loaded with resources. It’s soil is so rich that I was told the story of a man pulling sugar cane out of the ground cutting off a piece as they walked, to eat, and then shoving the rest of it in the ground in another location knowing that it would grow just fine. The people are smart (incredibly high literacy rate: reading and writing), they are industrious and hard-working. Then what’s the problem? Corruption. Take for example the condition of the roads in the village we visited: Toggo. On the government books, they are listed as ‘cared for’ and ‘paid for’, but they are atrocious. The authorities simply pocket the money and check the box. It’s maddening.

There were some things that caught me off guard and I didn’t expect to see. I’ll share a quick list along with a quick list of ‘cultural inconsistencies’ following.

Surprises:

  • Sharply Dressed - Everyone walks on dirt and lives in poverty-style homes, yet dress ‘to the nines’ (very, very nice). The women all wear dresses and look like they are going out to a nice dinner. The young men are wearing soccer gear, red jeans, clean T-shirts and pressed clothes. Because the people are naturally beautiful and handsome, it makes everyone look even nicer.
  • Spoiled Missionaries - Pastor Steve’s home and accommodations for our team were comparatively luxurious to the norm. They have regular toilets, running water and some solar electricity, beds with mattresses, a living room with couches and they spoiled us with large amounts of food 3 times a day.
  • Super Safe - I never felt in danger. Sure, we had a lot of rules that we adhered to (always have a buddy when walking, don’t take rides from strangers, etc.), but just like any trip to anywhere, where you go and who you go with makes all the difference. Pastor Steve, his crew and our mission leaders did everything right to ensure safety and protection. I was peaceful everywhere we went.
  • Nice weather – I was surprised at how nice the weather was. It was breezy but warm. Sure it was humid a bit and if you were out in the sun too long you would get burned, but compared to my expectations of ‘Africa hot’, I was pleasantly surprised. I do have to say stopping in Dubai first lowered all expectations since it was 110 degrees at midnight with over the top sauna-like humidity. We went in late July, early August but I heard that it’s relatively consistent through the year. Sometimes it does a 10-15 minute rain shower and then clears up.
  • Pretty Scenery – it’s not stunning but it was far nicer than I thought. I anticipated a lot more flat, dirt, not rolling green hills.
  • Size of Ministry - Pastor Steve’s School and Ministry is way bigger than I thought. There is not only a big school (T.I.C.C) for primary and secondary kids with it’s own ‘pitch’ (soccer field) area, and dorms for girls and teachers quarters (and clinic, nurses’ office, kitchen, mini-shop, offices, etc.), but across the street is a dorm housing about 100 boys, and a nursery (4-6 yr olds) school. Additionally they are building the Toggo International High School down the road with it’s own pitch. When you put that together with Pastor Steve’s house compound that houses family, a dorm of girls and adult quarters, it’s a sizeable endeavor. Oh, and don’t forget the school in Gombe (GICC) that has 250 kids in another village. The vast majority of that was funded by Bridgeway Christian Church. I’ve never been so proud.
  • Enormity of the Grand Opening – I’ve already mentioned the Speaker of Parliament showed up in a helicopter landing on the pitch and brought in a Land Rover, to a tent next to ours (Americans), where we all watched a military band play (incl. the American National Anthem), drama skits, traditional dance, modern dance, regional educational and political speakers, cutting of the cake, unveiling of the memorial stone and planting of the ceremonial tree. They fed the over 1000 adults (not counting children) who attended. But before all of that, they did construction, put glass in the windows, repainted all the striping on all curbs and walls, cleared brush, weed-whacked the property, cut down trees, moved furniture, set up tents, put up a great sound system and generally got the property ready for visitors.
  • Odd Little Things:
  • You don’t pump your own gas – they have a Texaco-type guy.
  • You drive on the left side of the road – and I drove there, it’s weird.
  • Dogs aren’t valued as pets, only as alarm systems.
  • On the surface it’s a far less supernatural culture than I assumed (I saw very little). Down below it’s very spiritually intense (from what I heard).
  • Almost every website I visited about Uganda it said they were the nicest people in all of Africa.
  • Uganda has a good portion of the last remaining mountain gorillas of the world (made famous in the movies “Gorillas in the Mist”).
  • Like many countries of the world, the butcher has no refrigeration and lets the meat hang out in the open.
  • Although landlocked, Lake Victoria, the 2nd largest freshwater lake (largest in Africa & largest tropical lake), makes it look like it has a coastline since the water is so vast you can’t see the other side.
  • Although Uganda is considered an almost total ‘Christian nation’ (98%), I saw plenty of signs of other religions especially the influence of Islam (mosques, calls to prayer, women coverings/dress, etc.).
  • Uganda houses the (disputed) source of the Nile River (the longest river in the world). Mostly the water comes from Lake Victoria, but there is a portion you can boat out to and see the water bubbling/churning up from a massive natural spring that adds to it. It takes 4 mths to raft from the beginning to the end in the Mediterranean Ocean and it flows through 10 countries, eventually ending through Egypt for which it’s famous.
  • Although highly patriarchal and male dominated, the highest-ranking legislature member is the Speaker of Parliament and she’s a woman. She came to the Grand Opening of TICC while we were there. I would describe her as a ‘tough mom type’. She seemed like one of the good guys fighting for her nation, for women, for children and against corruption.
  • Our eating schedule was breakfast at 8am, lunch around 2pm and dinner around 9:30pm. Very different from America.
  • Water is accessible through personal well, rainwater collection, water pump or scooping out of the swamp areas.
  • Almost all the tiny stores had Christian names: Eden Saloon (hair salon); New Life Pharmacy; God’s Love Market; Tree of Life Building Supplies, things like that.
  • Get used to pit toilets anywhere but at fancy places or Pastor Steve’s house.
  • Uganda has a long-standing President (Yoweri Kaguta Museveni since 1986 – overthrowing Idi Amin, founding the National Resistance Movement, getting rid of term limits, and let’s just say not a good guy), but also has regional kings (tribal-based, more royalty than ruling).

 

The Bottom Line: A Mission with Yaaka Afrika and Pastor Steve

The bottom line to my trip was that I went to honor Pastor Steve and his incredible work for his people and for the Lord. Yet, despite me going to bless him, I was blessed beyond belief. It was a wonderful trip full of adventure, fun, deep times with the Lord, incredible hospitality, hundreds of hugs, lots of laughter, hard work, deep theological teaching and preaching, and tons of prayer.

For any of you who are considering going on a Mission Trip, this particular mission trip is a MUST for you! I can’t imagine a more effective and well-designed group to work with. Our leaders, along with Pastor Steve know what they are doing and they do it with excellence. You are safe and you will be stretched. It’s both a learning and a blessing opportunity. Although you should go to bless others, I doubt that you can return without a greater blessing than you imparted.

 

 

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