Transportation

One thing that is very different here is transportation. A very small portion of the population owns their own car. As well, here you learn to drive a motorcycle before you can learn to drive a car. We don’t have a car here so we can’t just decide at the last moment that we need to go grocery shopping or to the bank. When we want to go to Kampala as a family we need to hire a car and driver. This cost about 30 -40 bucks. If one of us needs to go into Kampala we can take a taxi. The taxis here are vans that have 15 seats. The taxis sit in one place until they are full (and I mean full). There is a sign on them that says 14 people capacity, but I have rarely been in one that has less than 20. The most people I have been in a taxi with is 22 and one live chicken. I think that Pastors Scott and Jon have a record that is even higher than that though. Not only is it uncomfortable and hot, it is incredibly scary! If you drove like they do here in Canada your driver’s license would be instantly revoked! The roads are covered in pot holes so everyone is swerving into oncoming traffic to avoid them, and at high speeds. They pass going up a hill, or around a corner….or both!! In Kampala the traffic lights are few and far between so it’s every man for himself. Luckily in Kampala you’re not moving too quickly because there is so much traffic, unless you’re on a boda! The bodas zip around Kampala very quickly, in between cars, thru red lights, on sidewalks…..whatever they can do to get to their destination quicker. It can be scary at times, but also fun!!

Normal Kampala traffic

Chickens on a........boda!

Taxi Park - what we walk thru to find the Mpigi bus