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1995

Uganda- Cairo to Capetown

Bec
2004-09-20 13:17:43

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Rwanda border. At each stop crowds of vendors would materialize offering not only food and drinks but also clothes, sandals and all kinds of goods. During the 6 hour ride, an elderly gentleman next to me told me how northern tribes were persecuted and how Hindus were run out of the country during Idi Amin Dada's reign of terror.

Kabale
A room is only 2.70 US$ and dinner only 3.00 US$ at the Visitours Hotel where I stayed before and after going to Rwanda. When I came back from Kigali I had the pleasant surprise of finding Matt and Scott, the two travellers I had met on the truck ride across the northern Kenyan desert from Moyale to Marsabit and who had travelled with me to Nairobi and Kampala.

This view from my hotel balcony in Kabale shows a line of trucks waiting to drive down the side road to the right to bring international aid to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. It was only 100km so I hitched a ride with one of them to Kigali. I had the luck of meeting a crew of IRC (International Rescue Committee) drivers who invited me to stay with them in the house that had been allotted to them by the UN.

Rwanda
Rwanda countryside. My hosts, the Dutch Glenn, the English Geordie and the Kiwi Moochie were of that unusual breed that thrive on danger. They had come here from a trucking job in Bosnia and still had the bullet proof vests they had to wear there. They were a hard working, hard drinking tough bunch that did not like to be photographed.

I took very few photos in Kigali but I did manage to take this shot of Geordie and three of IRC's four wheel drive 5 ton Bedford trucks that are built to go almost anywhere. The crew was making good money here but the situation was quiet and they were toying with the idea of taking on a trucking job in Angola where they would get a considerable danger premium. I could readily imagine these guys joining a mercenary group if there was a high paying civil war nearby! Meeting them was an interesting experience.

Bukalagi
After Rwanda I came back to Kampala and set off the same day in a matatu for the bush village of Bukalagi 150 kms to the north where I hoped to meet Father Pierre Landry, a friend of a friend of mine back in Montreal. I got there late in the day only to learn that Pierre Landry who had founded and built up this Catholic mission had moved away. I was nevertheless very well received by John, the headmaster and Father Vincent Bakkabulindi shown here in front of St Peter's church.

The school's children also gave me a warm welcome so I took their photo with Father Vincent and John before going back to Kampala and from there to Nairobi on my way to Arusha in Tanzania.

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