Blogs from Fort Portal, Western Region, Uganda, Africa

Continuing from the past blog, we arrive to some shades of paradise in the small part of the world. After few days, we buried the hope to get back our money and began to accept the fact that it is now long gone. Now we have faced what happened and what we went through which was a terrible, corrupted and never ending road, we began to laugh about the past and how the police work in the country. Well we are travelling through a third world country where hardly any norms, rules or laws exist. Everyone is doing what they want and if you have a few more Uganda shillings in your pocket than others, you’ll go far. We think our problem has been a great lesion to everyone – try to avoid Africa police. During ... read more

This place is absolute amazing and the scenery is indescribable, and it is why Fort Portal has been called the mother of pearl (if Uganda is Pearl of Africa), but our bad experiences, which we will describe in next blog, hasn’t changed our view of this amazing place on the earth but definitely changed our opinion about Ugandans. In the middle of Uganda’s mountains surrounded by crater lakes you will find lush forests, wild animals and view towards Democratic Republic of the Congo, there is a small village where did we stay with a family for one week. Fort Portal is a small town but the biggest in this area and it isn’t a big deal. When you need to charge your mobile phone, laptop, make shopping or you have some troubles to figure out (which ... read more

Friday 12th March - Last day of coaching As our time in Uganda drew to a close, we headed back to the Nyakasura School to host a tournament for the primary school children who had been with us during the previous two days. Four zones - each with four teams were set up to play a round robin format. Fortunately, the teachers had listened to instructions given to them the day before and we had about 140 children only. The winners of each group were to be decided according to the number of catches they took whilst fielding in the continuous cricket games. The standard of catching in my group was outstanding, and in one game the score was 12-11. However, during the drinks break, there must have been some serious team talk on tactics because ... read more

I leave Kampala in a torrential downpour on a bus that, despite having a supposedly fixed departure time, waits around until it is full. The first two hours have competing attractions. A well-dressed salesman somehow spends this entire period giving a pitch for various Chinese medicines. Unlike in the UK or US where he would be ignored - and quite possibly requested to shut up - by all passengers, here most are actually paying attention and he makes a few sales. The competition is the series of amusingly amateurish music videos playing on the bus's lone TV. The nadir is reached by Rude Boy Devoh, whose apparently serious rap entitled "Man-U" sees him name-checking various players who've represented Manchester United over the last 20 years. It's truly appalling. We lose the salesman at the half-way point ... read more

To me the real enjoyment of traveling is getting to know a place, not just superficially, but really getting to know a place. It’s about the relationships one builds, the ordinary daily occurrence one sees, and pulse of the community one feels. Ironically enough, no matter where you are in the world, there are a few human experiences that afford an outsider a unique cultural perspective, a window, into the world others live in. One of these is a wedding, and this weekend I was lucky enough attend one in FP. It was another great reminder how living in a community affords you opportunities you would never had if you were blowing threw town trying to see everything in a week during a whirlwind tour of the country. A friend of ours invited us and I ... read more