Trip to Bountiful Bukedea

Visiting a friend’s home in Uganda is an important event that is usually seen as a gesture of trust and caring for the host and guest.  Principal Stephen, the leader of the Bududa Vocational Academy (BVA), comes from the Bukedea area, about 3 hours northwest from the school.  He, like several other BVA faculty that live a distance from school, rents a room in Bududa during the week and returns to his family each Friday-Sunday. Stephen invited Karen and me to visit his home some time ago and we finally organized a visit last week.  We decided to not only visit Stephen, but to take the opportunity to visit several other vocational schools along the way. 

Stephen and his wonderful family: Wife, Dorothy, and Faith, Elijah, Elisha, Grace and Caleb

Any journey in Uganda, even a walk to school, can be filled with the unexpected and always demands some greater effort than we typically face at home.  At home, by jumping in our own car, we can usually plan on a fairly exact arrival time and the trip is pretty smooth.  Here is a brief unfolding of our journey to Bukedea and it is not your typical US roll-on-down-the-road excursion.  Enjoy the journey as we certainly did:

Trip summary:  Distance covered: round-trip about 120 miles; Time taken: about 7 hours in total; Vehicles taken:  3 different Boda-Bodas ( 200 CC motor bikes), 2 Mutatus (14 passenger van-style taxis usually filled to 20-22 people), and 2 hired car rides with Rashid,  Wait time in between various rides: about 1 hour.

We begin our journey to Bukedea by walking from the guesthouse to the main road to hail a Boda Boda, a 250CC passenger motorcycle. Boda Bodas are usually driven by young men and the country has seen a huge increase in their use since we were last here in 2006.  Once a Boda is hailed, then you have to make sure the price is set before taking off.  We ride the 3 miles on the Boda to the Bududa Hospital entrance where we wait for a Mutatu, a 14 passenger Toyota van taxi that is usually filled with 18-22 people and can include big bundles and even chickens.  When the Mutatu arrived, we set out to Mbale, our regional city.  Mutatu fares are pretty fixed, but you must always stay alert to being over charged as a Muzunga. The ride, much of it on poor dirt roads, takes about an hour and there can be many stops to load and unload passengers and goods.  The day we traveled was very dry, so the roads were very dusty.  We finally arrived in Mbale with enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee while we waited for Rashid, a terrific man who has driven us many places during our stay.  We have arranged with him to drive us from Mbale to Bukedea.  He picks us up at the appointed time and we journey about 45 minutes on a tar road to Bukedea.  Once there we meet Stephen on the main street and walk about 15 minutes to his house on a quiet side street off the main tar road. 

Approaching Stephen's house on the back streets of Bukedea

A Bukedea group enjoying the local brew 

At Stephen’s, we sit in his front room that has a few chairs, a mattress and mosquito net in one corner and the records and files for his church in several large cabinets.  There we met his family and a few friends and eventually enjoy an afternoon snack of rice, Irish potatoes, and fresh fruit juice.  As is the custom, his wife, Dorothy, and female children prepare the food and remain in the back of the house while we visit and eat in the front room. Stephen and Dorothy have 5 wonderful children ages 3-17.  After our meal, we go on long, leisurely two-hour walk around the town.  The land here is flat and open, a bit warmer and drier than in Bududa.  This is a place for farming in larger plots of land and raising cattle and other livestock. At one point we must seek shelter under a roof to get out of a rain shower.  Stephen showed us a plot of land he owns with plans one day to build a home.  He and Dorothy currently rent the space they are living in. On returning to his home we take some family photos and we are surprised to have an evening meal, complete with chicken, which is usually reserved as a special treat for guests.  It’s now past dark and we go across the street to bed down at the Barak Hotel.  With a house full of children, there is little room for guests.  The hotel was very comfortable, but my feet hung out of the bottom of our short bed by a foot!

On the front porch of Stephen's home

The end of a beautiful day in Bukedea

The following morning we head back to Stephen’s for breakfast and to once again greet and thank his family for hosting us.  We then take a walking tour of the Bukedea market, one of the biggest markets in eastern Uganda.  It is a feast for the senses! Then, after saying goodbyes, we walk to the main road and board Boda-Bodas for the 20minute ride to the Bukedea Comprehensive School.  This is a brand new school funded by the local Minister of Parliament to be both a secondary school and a vocational school.  The buildings under construction are impressive, but there are just a small number of secondary students and only tailoring and construction/carpentry courses have been offered.  The school is founded on a good concept, but they have a long journey ahead of them.  After our tour we headed back to the main road to hail a Mutatu for Mbale. An hour later we arrive again in Mbale, take a short coffee/lunch break and hail Boda-Bodas to take the 15-minute ride to Mbale Polytechnical School (MBS). MBS is a vocational school in Mbale that has six Children of Bududa students attending and Teacher Paul, our BVA Math Teacher, working there.  Once at MPS we are met by Teacher Paul, get a nice tour with him, and meet and photograph four of the COB students.  The school offers several vocational courses BVA does not and it is a government school that has been in existence since 2004.  It is a good school, but a bit worn around the edges. After our tour Rashid meets us again and drives us to first shop at BAM, a larger Mbale supermarket and then we all finally head back to Bududa.  With Rashid at the wheel we dropped Stephen off in Bududa and arrived up to the guesthouse in Konakoyi by about 5pm. 

Ankole cattle at the Bukedea market.  Their horns get tied up in the truck for safety 

The cabbage section at market

The colorful fabric section at market

The smoked fish section at market:  mudfish (catfish) and talapia

The tomato section at market

Agriculture class at Mbale Polytechnical.  Ivan, from the Children of Bududa standing in class

Luke, a Children of Bududa, stands in front of his auto mechanics workshop at
Mbale Polytechnical

The equipment room for auto mechanics at Mbale Polytechnical

We had an amazing two days traveling and experiencing the way things are done in Uganda.  We had a very good night’s sleep to end our trip!