Uganda 2025 Day 22

Uganda 2025 Day 22

Today Jeff, some of his coworkers, and I did a walking tour of Kampala. We got an Uber driver to drive us to our meeting spot. Once we were all together along with the guide, we set off through the town. The nice thing is, the streets are normally super busy, but in a couple areas it was no car day. It made walking around those areas easier. We walked up to a monument, and she explained what it was. There used to be one in the middle of the street, but it is no longer there. The monument that is still there is a person holding a child. The legs of the adult look like they are wrapped in a fabric. The fabric I believe represents England. The person represents Uganda and the child represents freedom because it is not trapped like the adult. Next, we walked a little ways down the road to another. This one was for world war 1 and world war 2. The area that it is in is normally closed off. Today it was open. There we could see the court of appeal and the Supreme Court on the other side of the fence. The small park area the monument is in is the center of downtown Kampala if I am not mistaken.  Behind the Supreme Court there was a little park that I recognized. I pointed a direction and asked our guide, Mimi, if the village market was that direction. She was impressed that I knew. That was actually our next destination. We took the long way around as she showed us different areas along the way. She explained to us about the stores on different roads and why they were set up that way, but I can’t remember what she said for all of them. Once we arrived at the market, we split into three groups and wandered around. I ended up buying earrings to go with my outfit that Papa Moses and his wife got for me for my birthday lunch on Saturday next week. They were not super fancy like the dress, but the colors were perfect together. That was the last shop that we could go to in that section, so it was perfect to find them there. Two of the groups met up just before that and we waited for our guide and one of the ladies so we could go to our next destination. From there, we walked more streets and learned more details that I have already forgotten because there was so much going on. As we were walking, I looked around when I could, but was very focused at one point and then suddenly realized we were in front of Calvary Chapel Kampala. I braved taking my phone out and taking two photos. I figured with the group around and their watchful eyes I would be able to do that real quick. Mimi would take us to a viewing point of different areas and then we would walk through. The first one was I believe called a wet market. That is where they sell different foods and spices. Mostly selling fruits and vegetables. When we walked through it, it was so packed with booths that they were close to each other and that made people even closer to each other. It was kind of difficult to walk through. We walked through the street some more and found a temple that we visited. I believe it was a Hindu temple. Because I was wearing a tank top. They had to get a shawl to cover my arms. Everyone took off their shoes and we walked through the temple. There were spots to donate money to the gods that they worship and a couple areas had fruit in front of it. As we were walking out, someone had walked in. He went to pray and had to ring a bell to wake up that god. It really saddened me to think of someone believing in a god that they would have to wake up to get their attention. My God, the one true God, is always taking care of me and watching over me. 

From here, we walked through the taxi center. I don’t remember remember what they actually call it. It is where many of the taxi vans are parked to get passengers. Our guide took us to an overlook to see it and how close the taxis are parked. I can’t believe they get some of those taxis out of there without moving others. We went down and walked through the taxi center also. Then we walked through another market area. It was big and had a roof. It was also laid out in different sections. It was more of fruits and vegetables in one area, clothes and fabric in another, traditional items that they buy I  another area, and I think there was one or two other sections. Our guide bought us Uganda pancakes as we walked through. They are tiny (maybe the size of the palm of my hand) and I believe made out of mashed banana. From here, we just kept walking through the city. We crossed so many streets. We were on our way to the furthest point that we would walk. The spot was a mosque. It was an extra fee to go inside and a women had to have head coverings. thankfully, one of Jeff’s friends borrowed one for her and one for me from someone she knew. The other rule was you had to be wearing a skirt. Thankfully mine was long enough, but the other two ladies were wearing pants so they had to have a wrap put on. After we paid one of the ladies that worked there put the head covering on for us. Then it was time for the tour. We had a guy giving us the tour. He was very nice. Somehow I missed his name. We had to take our shoes off to go inside where we sat and he told us a little bit of the history. I believe the mosque was built because of Idi Amin. It is the fourth largest mosque in Africa. Everything in the mosque came from different countries. The chandeliers from Egypt, I believe the stained glass windows were from Italy, the carpet was from Turkey, I think the wood was from Congo, and the writings on the wall and one other thing were from the Middle East, but I can’t remember which country. I do have to say it was very beautiful and the carpet was super soft. The main floor, where we talked, is where the men pray. They face the direction that has the writing of the scripture on the wall. Also, around the walls are the names that they have of Allah. The women pray upstairs in the balcony. It has the same carpet, but the women are separate from the men. In the front middle is where the koran is read from. They have a big book up there. After learning about the mosque, we were able to go up into a spire. There was an overlook at the halfway point and the top where you could see all of Kampala. It looked beautiful from up there! I even say that as a girl who prefers the country over the city. We could see the biggest Anglican church from there and I believe the biggest Catholic church as well. I can’t remember whether he said it was the biggest or just one of the biggest. I couldn’t believe when I saw where the taxi center and the temple were. We had walked a long way. That was the end of the tour. We went back in and turned in the wraps and head coverings that were borrowed before heading back to the house for the evening.