THURSDAY JUNE 7: JINJA

THURSDAY JUNE 7: JINJA

The trip to Jinja is always a long and tiring one and this year was no exception to the general rule! But before the day began, we had to call British Air. They told us our bags were here! They would be delivered later in the day to our hotel.

The van arrived promptly at 9:00 and we were soon winding through the morning traffic. When we finally got to Jinja Road, we found massive construction underway. It was conducted in the usual Ugandan way: half the road was closed! This means there is two way traffic with only one paved lane!! And cars still try to pass. And boda-bodas (small scooters which serve as taxis and sometimes carry two customers as well as a driver) dart in and out of traffic in both directions. And, of course, people still need to cross Jinja Road, so they do causing the whole crazy procession to stop only milliseconds from killing the crazy jay walker.

We had 38 children to see in and around Jinja. We turned off Jinja Road within a few miles of Kampala onto a road that was dirt when we first began visiting Uganda. It is now surfaced and in good shape for a Ugandan Road. It winds through the country mostly through swamps and tiny villages that almost look like the old American West. All of these villages have a strand of connected shops on both sides of the road, but here, there are no saloons, only clubs advertising gansta rap. And there is often coffee spread out along the road where it is drying in the equatorial sun. It is simply dumped out without any barrier to anyone or anything walking through it, or worse!

The kids in these schools are much less accustomed to white people. They are ecstatically happy to see us, literally falling over one another to get a better look at the Bazungu (several white people). If we look at them or walk toward them, they squeal and run away until the ice is broken by a brave boy or girl who either lets us approach or approaches us. As soon as the group sees that the brave soul won’t be eaten, kids come from everywhere to greet us!

Near Jinja, we visited a secondary school where five of our students attend. It was immediately obvious that we were in a Muslim school from the head coverings all the girls wore and the long robes worn by a few of the male teachers. We still use several Muslim schools in rural areas because there are very few schools in many of the rural areas we serve. We’ve usually had pretty good luck with the Muslim schools because they have written policies of religious freedom. We even had one that allowed one of our boys to speak at assembly from time to time and to conduct prayer meetings under a tree during Muslim prayer time each day.

But this school felt much different. I was asked to go and speak to a group of six teachers lounging under a tree. They greeted me, but they were rude by Ugandan standards, and they seemed to be laughing at me. The kids as they moved about spoke only in brief whispers, and there seemed to be very little of the typical Ugandan student joy that seems to bubble up in every school in the nation.

When we started speaking with the students, they were very shy at first. None said instantly that they liked this school, though all eventually said this. Finally, a sophomore said what we had feared, “I must be very careful because if I am caught praying to our God, I will be cained.” She said this had happened to many children and that she had been cained herself for praying.

Once she spoke with us, the others opened up. One girl said the oppression was stopping her spiritual growth because she was afraid. Two others reported caining for praying or making a comment deemed Christian in a class.

We spent a long time with the young men and women in this school. Our girls did not wear head covers. When I asked why, I learned that the head covers were required and if they weren’t bought by week’s end, the girls would be sent home. Vincent paid for the head coverings before we left.

We started talking as soon as we got in the van. Vincent had been concerned that there might be a problem at this school, but the administration claimed to practice freedom of religion and none of the children had opened up to him. The problem was the only other schools nearby were ridiculously expensive or of very poor acdemic quality. We agreed that we would have all our children out of this school by the start of the next term.

Our route took us into the round-a-bout at the city limits of Jinja from due east instead of south. The round-a-bout was also undergoing massive changes. It had always been very pretty with a sculpture in the center and flowers all around. The center part had been torn up and a paving crew as working to pave the huge open area of the round-a-bout. There was only one crew working, however, and it appeared to be making very little progress.

We exited the round-a-bout and crossed the Nile River on the Owens Falls Dam. Vincent pointed out the new dam as we crossed, a dam that would replace Owen Falls and add much needed power generation for Uganda. We soon came to LingLing, the best Chinese restaurant in Jinja even if it is the only one. There was only one car in the lot, but this was because it was already after 3:00. We took a large round table in the garden. We were surrounded by flowers and tress and we sat under a thatched roof in case of rain.

We were very hungry and ordered a huge meal beginning with egg rolls and including an entrée for each person. We’d never tried the egg rolls, always ordering one of the excellent soups instead, but we were hungry today and so we changed things a bit. We knew we had made a mistake as soon as the egg rolls arrived. They were simply the largest egg rolls I’ve ever seen, and each order included two egg rolls! There was an excellent pepper sauce for the egg rolls and a very good duck sauce. When the two were blended, the result was incredible!

The menu here is completely unexpected. There are all the usual options available in US Chinese carry-out restaurants, but there are also fascinating options like goat with oyster sauce. I chose a mix of usual and less known dishes, and I couldn’t pass up the excellent goat dish! There was also an egg plant dish where the Chinese egg plant was cooked in a slightly hot vinegar based sauce.

We couldn’t eat one of the egg rolls, and though we tried desperately, we were unable to finish the entrees. Vincent packed everything away, however. He told us he would take the doggy bag to Michael since Michael wasn’t with us.

We got a call from Joseph during lunch. British Airways had called to tell him our bags had arrived and were en route to the hotel!

After lunch, we went to see children in the immediate Jinja area. We drove out a familiar road to the home of Steve and Vicki’s sponsored kids, a brother and sister. The girl was at home and she ran from us as soon as she saw the van. Her mother said she was sick. She had on no shoes because she said her feet hurt. Her feet were filled with jiggers, a worm that can penetrate the skin of bare feet and will continue to eat until it reaches bone. Her feet were knotty and swollen and she did appear to be having trouble walking normally. She had visited a doctor for medicine, and her mother said although the jiggers would take time to heal, she would feel well enough to return to school the following day.

Her brother, however, was not at home. We had checked at his school and they told us he had already left. But he wasn’t at home either. So we drove back to his school and found him in choir practice. He seems to be doing very well! In the past, he had seemed unconnected with school, but that was not the case this time. He also seemed very happy.

Our last stop was at a high school in Jinja proper. We have four kids there, and all four are good students and great kids. We put Samuel here in January after his grandmother died, and he seemed to be struggling with the change to a boarding environment. Alice, who has been with the program since the very beginning, was as loud and happy as ever, but she begged for a letter from her sponsors (we forget how much this means to our kids!!). She also said that the project leaders had told her that there wasn’t enough money for her to continue in boarding school. I told her not to worry about this.

It is true that we have had a financial crisis since a lot of families suddenly moved their kids to boarding schools this fall, but we have asked many sponsors for assistance. Hopefully, no needy student will have to change schools as a result of this, but some of the kids who are attending boarding schools for the prestige or for convenience will probably be forced out.

We finished here and drove through the sad streets of Jinja. This city, Uganda’s second largest, shows evidence everywhere of its former elegance. There are large homes and government buildings that have fallen deeply into disrepair. There are overgrown gardens, both public and private. The wide streets have very few cars. There are closed factories along the outskirts of town. We have met the mayor of Jinja, a very impressive young man with a lot of plans. I hope they succeed.

The drive home was a nightmare! It was already dark when we left the last school, so our entire ride home on the treacherous Jinja Road would be in darkness. Uganda allows transfer trucks to attach two huge trailers, and these vehicles are frightening when they roar past at very fast speeds. We saw a lot of these and other heavy trucks as we drove the highway, along with heavy vehicular traffic.

And about 15 miles out of Kampala, we found the road construction again. Merging over into one lane in the dark was truly terrifying! And beyond the first construction, we found very slowly moving traffic. It took over two hours for a trip usually finished in less than one.

When we got back, we found five of our six bags in the room along with a garmet bag that was old and dirty. Needless to say, it wasn't ours! We went to the front desk and they told us the drivier had first left eight bags for us, then returned and taken two away. The woman at the desk said one of the bags taken away was the black duffle we were looking for. She said she would call BA for us and the bag would be delivered that night.

We waited up until 12:30, but the bag never came.