Gulu

Kopango? Kope! (how are you? fine! in Acholi). I am now back from Gulu and feeling refreshed. My friends Kennedy and Andrew, who are from Gulu, had told me that it was a big town, but I had never guessed that it was so big! It was like being in the big city-- not as big as Nairobi, but lets just say that they have air-conditioned banks!

We arrived there on Good Friday and stayed at a guest house that belonged to Kennedy's neighbor. The place doesn't seem to be used much and is definitely a family opperation. The bathroom is set up for running water, but just like out of an Ali Mzuri film (you know what I'm talking about IS grads), the water didn't work! So, we had to pour water into the toilet for it to "flush" and had to take a splash bath in the bath tub. Here in Ikotos I have to take a splash bath everyday, but we have the bath house set up for slash bathing, however when you splash bathe in a bath tub it is much more difficult. Although, we can't really complain because it roughly cost us about $2.50 a night--each and they provided us with an electric kettle for tea/coffee and with clean sheets.

We stayed there for 2 nights only before moving over to a more equipped guest house. At the new place, the Franklin Guest House, I had a single-- non-self-contained-- room and Kelly and Lydia shared a double-- non-SC-- room (non-SC means that the toilets and showers are shared by other guests). This place did have running water and the rooms were very nice and I had a great full-size bed. We stayed here for 2 nights at about $10 a night. whew, breaking the bank!

While there, we visited Kennedy's and Andrew's families. The first night we had tea with Kennedy and his wife Rose and met one of his daughters and his baby son. Later that night we had dinner with Andrew and his wife Dorene and their little daughter, Gifty (pictured above). Dorene is the best cook ever and we wished that they didn't have to go to Kampala to see their son, just so we could have dinner their every night. Dorene prepared for us: greens with peanut sauce, spicy lentils, Ungali, millet bread (like ungali), spiced rice, chicken (for those who eat meat), and fresh passion fruit juice. Later in the weekend, she showed us how to prepare greens (Bor) with egg,onions and tomato. Both nights at Andrew's house were warm and full of laughter.





Our Second favorite place to go while in Gulu was the Kope Cafe. It is a Mzuungu (white person) friendly place that serves great coffee and cafe-style food. 100% of the profits go towards the HEALS organization that supports healthy childhoods for the children of Gulu. One of their projects is implementing art into their life.




We went to Kope everyday for breakfast because they had the most amazing muesli (yogurt, mango, banana, honey, and corn flakes) and great coffee. Sometimes we went there for lunch or dinner too because we couldn't pass up the chance to try out there afternoon menu as well-- which was equally as good as breakfast.

The people who work at the cafe are just as great as the food we serve. Pictured at the top are two of our waitresses in their uniforms, who served us everyday, and the picture above is of Agnes and I. On the back of her shirt it reads: "as a child, I have the right to play."




One of my main goals of going to Gulu was to see the Invisible Children office. After watching the docuementary, "Invisible Children: the Rough Cut," I have volunteered a lot of time to publicizing the issue of war, night commuting, child soldiers, health conditions in IDP camps, and other issues in Northern Uganda; and lobbying congress and promoting letter writing to our congressmen. So, I wanted to see the field office and talk to someone about what they are doing in Gulu. We went there on Tuesday, the same day we left Gulu, and met with the PR officer. She showed us around the office and introduced us to some of the staff. I found out that they have Ugandan mentors who help former child soldiers with anything from pschyological issues to homework. The mentors go to the child's school, and the children will also come to the office when needed. They do many other things that are listed on their website, but this is one of the things I didn't know about.
At the end of the tour, we received a free copy of the film, which is great because just the night before, Andrew was saying that he had wanted to see the film. Sometime when school lets out, we will have a movie night at the LWF compound, where their is power and a projector.
To find out more about Invisible Children, click on their link in the list to the right of this page.

On Easter Sunday we went to prayers at a place called "Christ Church." Its an Anglican church that Andrew had recommended. We didn't know any other place to go, and we definitely wanted to go to a church that celebrated Easter (some African churches don't celebrate Easter-- we discovered when we returned to Ikotos that our home church didn't). The service was the MOST different Easter service sermon that I have ever heard. The Bishop of the area, who was on his way to Juba for a peace and reconciliation meeting, gave the sermon. He used the regular old verses from the gospels about Jesus' death, but when he spoke of Judas, he went off on an hour and a half tangent on how we betray the ones we love, just as Judas betrayed Jesus. He went on about Wives betraying their sons, children betraying parents, friends betraying friends, etc. It was looong. Lets just say that. Then, at the end of the sermon, he told all the IDPs to go home-- "the war is over! Go HOME!"-- that was his closing. ha, I was inspired-- to go home.


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One other aspect of Gulu that I would like to mention is the market. I have to say that the open, produce market is so organized. Ikotos could take a lesson in their organization. It was nice to walk to one area and see all the bananas, and another area: the rest of the fruit, and another area: all the beans and legumes, etc. Because outside of Sudan is where we have to buy all of our fresh produce and almost everything else besides onions and flip flops, the market was at the top of the list last weekend.

We returned to Ikotos on Wednesday, spending one night in Kitgum (the closest big town to Ikotos). The trip from Gulu to Ikotos is only a 6 hour drive, but unfortumately we got a late start from Gulu, so we had an extra night in Uganda. The roads in Sudan are so bad that a trip that would take about 3 hours in the US takes us 6. Plus, all the rocking and rolling down the road makes one tired at the end of the trip. I think all of us were ready to crash on the bed to and from Gulu. Otherwise, it was a great trip and I recommend Gulu to anyone!