City Centre Sunday

Recently I spent a Sunday afternoon exploring some of city centre Kampala with a new friend.  Derrick was the photographer at a friend’s birthday party and we got to chatting about pictures, life etc.  He has an inspiring story that I hope to share with you soon, but the portion that is especially relevant to this post is that he spent some of his childhood as a street kid.  He was given the opportunity to get off the street and into school and is now a 21 year old journalism student at Makerere University in Kampala.

I don’t want to spend all of my time in Africa in the comfort of the expat circle.  I want to see and know more of Uganda and it’s people, so I am thrilled when I get the chance to do it.  Derrick offered to take me through the slum to see some of the street boys. He regularly visits them and makes sure they get a little something to eat.

So we met Sunday around 2 at the city centre Cafe Javas, which is basically an African Starbucks.  I indulged my basic bitch self and had an iced caramel mocha, as usual.

We then headed out to explore.  Sunday there is a full on market on the city centre street so I was thankful I didn’t bring much money.  Can’t shop without currency!

We decided to visit the Uganda National Mosque.  It is a beautiful building and also has a tower that affords amazing views of the whole city.

The route Derrick chose to the Mosque took us through the slum area where the street boys hang out.  It may seem like a crazy thing for this Canadian chick to do, but Derrick goes regularly and I was perfectly safe.  Almost as soon as we walked into the area  a gaggle of boys descended on us, ranging from my shoulder height to several inches taller.  They were obviously familiar with and fond of Derrick.  The tallest (oldest?) took Derrick’ hand and they walked on ahead.  I followed immediately behind with the others.  They were respectful and polite.  Only one made a small overture for me to give him food/money, but only once.

Derrick led us to a small shop and ordered each of the seven boys a chapati.  I tried to quietly slip him 20,000 Uganda shillings to pay for the food but I was not as subtle as I hoped.  With the 20k, the boys all got a chapati and a bottle of water.  And there was change.  20,000 UGX is approximately $7 Canadian.  So for $5 they all had at least one thing to eat that day.  I know I failed at being subtle because all of the boys thanked me before they happily headed off to enjoy the fresh hot food.

I hope to do it again.  Derrick and I are planning a series of interviews/stories to introduce some of the boys.  I will ask for and hopefully get some pictures with them as well.  I also hope that Derrick will share his full story as well, maybe even write it for me.  His story shows there is hope for the others, with the right supports and opportunity.

After we left the boys the afternoon took a turn back to the touristy.  We walked over to the Mosque.  I paid a modest admission of 15,000 shillings.  A lovely lady wrapped a scarf around my legs and my head and shoulders and then we headed in to the building.  We joined a tour that had just started.

From Wikepedia:  The Uganda National Mosque is a mosque located at Kampala Hill in the Old Kampala area of Kampala, Uganda. Completed in 2006, it seats up to 15,000 worshipers and can hold another 1,100 in the gallery, while the terrace will cater for another 3,500. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya commissioned the mosque as a gift to Uganda, and for the benefit of the Muslim population. Uganda has many mosques but this one is a skyscraper mosque.

The completed mosque was opened officially in June 2007 under the name Gaddafi National Mosque, and housed the head offices of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council.It was renamed “Uganda National Mosque” in 2013 following the death of Colonel Gaddafias the new Libyan administration was “reluctant to rehabilitate the mosque under the old name.”

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The final portion of the tour took us up 304 stairs to the top of the tower.  The views did not disappoint!  This is just a sample.  You can walk around the entire circle and see the whole city.

After the tour we weren’t finished with the day.  We strolled over to the Kampala National Theatre to see what was going on there.  There was an event but it was already underway so we did not go in.  At this point we were close to 10k so we needed to push the odometer over that limit.  Obviously we couldn’t stop short of such an achievement.

We rested on the grass of the garden behind the theatre for a while and then decided to walk on.  All the way to Lugogo Mall to see if there was a hockey game going on.  *Canadian clarification – field hockey.

We watched a bit of a game and at this point I was ready to head home and rest up! According to the app on my phone we covered 12 kms!  I wish I had worn my heart monitor so I could how you the entire route we walked.  It was insane but very enjoyable.  A great Sunday.