Sunday February 5th.
Today started off by us getting up for the 7am sevice(!) before setting off to Entebbe.
St Philip's Cathedral at Gulu
During the journey Jeff, the person driving us was recounting the times when he drove up north of Gulu when the LRA were active. On one occasion the vehicle he was taking people in had a flat tyre and the spare put into the vehicle was not the right type which resulted in the vehicle being delayed and not being able to join the convoy heading south down towards Gulu. The convoy was in fact attacked with many people killed so he was very grateful to have been spared in this way. On another occasion the convoy he was in had to wait while a battle raged on the road ahead and he recalled seeing many of the captured LRA soldiers most of whom were children. That was indeed a very difficult period of Uganda’s turbulent post-colonial history. Gulu, while peaceful now, is still struggling to recover 5 years on from the end of the war with many people still living in very basic accommodation.
A typical scene on the road coming form Gulu.
The situation is similar all the way down to the bridge near Karuma falls nearly 100km south of Gulu which marks the southernmost penetration of the LRA during the war.
During the journey Jeff, the person driving us was recounting the times when he drove up north of Gulu when the LRA were active. On one occasion the vehicle he was taking people in had a flat tyre and the spare put into the vehicle was not the right type which resulted in the vehicle being delayed and not being able to join the convoy heading south down towards Gulu. The convoy was in fact attacked with many people killed so he was very grateful to have been spared in this way. On another occasion the convoy he was in had to wait while a battle raged on the road ahead and he recalled seeing many of the captured LRA soldiers most of whom were children. That was indeed a very difficult period of Uganda’s turbulent post-colonial history. Gulu, while peaceful now, is still struggling to recover 5 years on from the end of the war with many people still living in very basic accommodation.
The situation is similar all the way down to the bridge near Karuma falls nearly 100km south of Gulu which marks the southernmost penetration of the LRA during the war.
Tomorrow we intend to meet up with Akim from Mityana to look around some of central Kampala. Hopefully we will be able to fly back on Tuesday night as planned weather permitting at Heathrow!
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