Being a supremely non-religious participant of this world, I never thought I would live on Church grounds. However, it’s the easiest place for me to live while working with BOSCO, as we share facilities (but not beliefs, as it is a non-denominational organization) with the archdiocese, an establishment based out of “the Cathedral,” a massive beautiful church a few kilometres outside of Kampala. The Cathedral, in turn, has a hostel with regular meals, free water and what seems to be a few Club beers in the refrigerator.
I finally arrived yesterday morning after taking the bus from Kampala. A quick round of introductions and the Board Members visiting from the USA went around to visit Invisible Children (just as bizarre of a place as I imagined) and World Vision. I tried to remain fairly neutral, but I have my qualms with marketing poverty and quoting the Bible.
In the evening, we went out for dinner at a restaurant owned by the Minister of Energy. Humorously enough, the lights went out several times. The group here is quite fun – there’s limited restrictions on the consumption of alcohol (which I found highly surprising) and a lot of camaraderie. Following this, a co-worker, a visitor and myself went to BJs where I met up with a friend.
I spent most of that time wondering about the rape warnings on boda-boda drivers transporting single foreign women. I managed to find someone to take me back without incident, but he also told me that he hated driving on the long stretch of empty road between Gulu and the Church as people sometimes throw rocks, knock you off your bike, kill you and take your possessions. Living in Nairobi, I have an easy mind for believing these stories.
Gulu has grown massively. Lots of new shops, beautiful women in flowing dresses on bikes, a significant increase in wazungu presence (the guys in the MTN shop tell me that the wazungu don’t seem to like Acholis, which I blame on A. US government restrictions that might include limited interaction with non-foreigners, and B. economic disparity, it’s hard to combine activities like going out for food and beer).
Well, we wake up here to the sound of a huge bell clanging around 6. This is followed by a smaller bell for breakfast. Lots of footsteps and activity. We also live next to the Catechists Training Centre, so there is the most beautiful music around 7 am, as well as in the evenings.