The road to Bunia: Planes, buses and automobiles (also motorbikes and boats)

The road to Bunia: Planes, busses and automobiles (also motorbikes and boats)  


The trip from Atlanta, GA to Bunia, Congo all in all took 4 days.  I left Atlanta at 5:30pm EST and arrived in Bunia @ 7pm Congo time.  It was a 7 hour flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam where we had a 2 hour layover.  From Amsterdam we flew 8 hours to Kigali, Rwanda where the plane stopped to off load some passengers as well as pick up new passengers.  We then flew another hour to Entebbe airport in Uganda arriving in Uganda at about 10:30pm Friday night.  We drove about 30 min. into Kampala, the capital of Uganda and stayed at a hotel overnight.  The plan was to head to Bunia the next day with our friend and local contact from Bunia, Kalango, however, one of our bags did not make the flight so we ended up staying in Kampala an extra day to make sure we got our bag.  I can’t say I am big fan of Kampala.  It is very busy and crowded at all times of day and night.  Crossing the street there was like playing a game of frogger.  Being mzungus (foreigners), we also managed to get hustled a couple of times.  For example, we paid $10 for 2 pair of flip flops that should have only cost us about $3-4. 

                      

                        Amsterdam Airport                 Kampala, Uganda

From Kampala, the real journey to Bunia began.  We boarded a large bus with every seat filled that took us to Fort Portal in Uganda.  This bus ride can be anywhere from 3-5 hours and this particular trip took about 4 hours.  We arrived at Fort Portal in the evening and checked into a guest house. Fort Portal is a smaller yet still developed town that I enjoyed much more than Kampala.  The next morning we had breakfast and went to the post office to apply for a PO Box.  We will have to receive mail there in Fort Portal, as it is the closest, reliable city to receive mail (closest meaning we will have to take a 2 hour boat ride and a 2 hour car ride to get to the post office) so we will only be checking our mail about once a month.  People in Fort Portal were very friendly and hospitable, much more so than in Kampala. It reminded me a lot of Arusha where I lived in Tanzania.  It was in Fort Portal that I took my first motorbike ride.  I was too scared to do it on the crowded streets of Kampala, but it was not so intimidating in Fort Portal so I thought I would give it a try and it wasn’t bad. 

              

                                    Fort Portal, Uganda

From Fort Portal, we took a 2 hour taxi ride to Lake Albert.  Parts of the road were smooth, while others were very bumpy and dusty.  Apparently the Ugandan government has partnered with a Chinese company to fix the roads and it will be a 5 year project to pave the road from Fort Portal to Lake Albert.  Kalango informed us that you can sometimes be stuck on this road for hours as they clear away large boulders.  Luckily that did not happen to us today.  Once we reached Lake Albert, we had to clear immigration, as we were about to leave Ugandan soil and cross the lake to Congolese soil.  We boarded a motorboat with all of our belongings and it was another 2 hours before we reached Kisenyi, the town on the other side of the lake in the Congo.  I would have to say that the boat ride was my favorite part of the trip.  It was a little warm out there on the water but it was so beautiful.  We were surrounded by hills and green farming land.  The scenery was breathtaking and I really enjoyed being out on the lake. 

  

                                                            Lake Albert

Once we reached the shores, we were officially in the Congo!  We were met by immigration officers who stamped our passports and took down our information.  In the Congo, we also officially transferred from being in an English speaking country to being in a French speaking country.  Good thing my colleague, Stephen spent a year in Paris learning French or we would be in bad shape.  They also speak Kiswahili in the Congo but it is a little bit different from the Kiswahili that I learned in Tanzania but I am excited to learn more and hopefully become fairly fluent during my time here.  While in Kisenyi, we visited Kalango’s businesses that he has set up near the beach.  He has a restaurant as well as some guest houses that he is building to rent out to people when they travel to Kisenyi. 

Our last ride was in Kalango’s land cruiser from Kisenyi to Bunia.  The distance is only 56 kilometers, however, the roads are not good and very bumpy so it took us about another 2 hours to make the trip.  We finally made it to Bunia, our new home by about 7pm Monday evening and I was happy to be there.  From what I saw so far, Bunia is a small town like Fort Portal but the roads are not paved although they are very drivable.  It was quite dusty as we were driving into the town.  We arrived at Kalango’s house where we were greeted by his wife and his 3 daughters.  We will be staying with his family for a while until we get settled into our own place.  Kalango explained that he would like us to stay with him at least until Dec. because he feels responsible for us and would like us to learn more before we venture out on our own.  He stated that there will be elections in November which may prove for a more exciting yet unstable time and he would feel more comfortable if we were with him and his family during the time leading up to and after the elections.  Kalango has worked with Stephen’s family for many years on various projects and he is truly a man of deep faith in God which drives him to do the work he is doing.  He started the organization entitled Synergie Simama, which is in essence sponsoring Sports4Hope’s work in the Congo.  Without Kalango and Synergie Simama, it would have taken Sports4Hope many years to get through the bureaucracy within Congo to be able to do the work we are going to do.  Kalango believes in our project and backs it 100%.  His enthusiasm is encouraging because he sees the need for Sports4Hope to help bring about reconciliation in the communities where we will be working. 

At Kalango’s house we settled in a bit, bathed and ate dinner.  I have a room to myself and the guys are sharing a room and it is a little weird b/c we have all been together since Thursday.  As I write this blog I am settled into my bed surrounded by a mosquito net.  It is kind of like being in a tent and although I know it is necessary, I do not like sleeping under a mosquito net.  I feel too closed in.  Within my “tent”  I have the necessary items for the night: my head lamp (thanks EuniceJ), my computer, my head scarf, a book, a DVD and my mp3 player, all to keep me entertained until I fall asleep because I do not want to have to get out of the “tent” once I have gotten in it!  So with that, I say good night or lala salama as they say in Kiswahili. 

In peace,

Selina