So, my Sunday consisted of a visit to Nakigalala (pronounced Na-chee-ga-la-la). It is about an hour from my home and stomping grounds on the other side of the city, off Entebbe Road. Now go with me down that 2-lane "highway" and turn onto the dirt road at Kajjanse. From that turn, you will first pass the dukas (shops) with huge 2-3 feet gutters on each side of the road. You really don't want to know what is in the gutters. Now, take the bend to the right. I'm not sure where the bend to the left goes; you can explore later if you want, but we've got a church service to get to. Pass the soccer (called football here) pitch (field) with the 30 or so red-shirted players. They must be one team practicing, or else both teams have sadly chosen the exact same color for their team. Now, slope down the hill, all the time holding on and trying not to crack your head against the car's windows as you jostle and lurch over the bumps in the road. You'll soon pass a rather pretty little glen of very tall, very straight eucalyptus trees on the right. As the road curves to the left, you start catching on that the city and even the "business district" of the roadside markets is being left behind rather rapidly.
Now, you'll see the brick makers ahead, making bricks by hand in a probably home-made brick mold, using the gray clay there. Holes, mud, bricks, and sludge are everywhere. They also have homemade kilns right there, but those of course are used only after the bricks are sun dried for quite some time (I've not asked- probably at least a week if not longer, since they stack the drying bricks in large, nearly toppling over stacks before they actually move them to the kiln). Okay, enough of the brick maker's visit. On to Nakigalala.
Well, about a half-mile down this bumpy road, with much overgrowth of plants/weeds/trees on each side, you find a guard's shack on the left. He has a job and it is to open the gate which lets you enter the Nakigalala Tea Estate. No questions asked, he opens the gate for you and you smile and wave as you pass through. Now head up the hill and take the first right (if you stay straight, you could get hopelessly lost on the tea estate, which is probably at least a 1000 acres large). At this point, you will be passing thousands of 3 foot high tea trees (they only pick the small leaves as they grow, and it is meant to always be 2 leaves and a bud of a third leaf which make the best ones to go into the tea process which end up on your kitchen table, mixed with ice, sugar, water and maybe lemon). Because it is Sunday, the pickers are not out in the fields. But come Monday through Saturday, they are there in droves, working 12 hour shifts and getting paid 2,000/= per day(Ugandan Shillings; today the exchange rate is 1750, so that 2,000/= is a little more than a dollar). Yep, how would you like to work for a dollar a day? Yikes. Well, on top of that you may get company housing-hoorah- which is usually a run-down shack off a run-down road. I am NOT saying this to belittle the worker or the nation. I am just saddened to know this fact- that people are so desperate for take-home pay that they will stand in the sun for 12 hours, make very little, and often never complain. This is just life to them. I need to learn from them about keeping my mouth shut. Especially since I am a millionaire compared to them. Forgive me for being discontented, Jesus.
Okay, mouth-shutting lesson aside, you are not very close yet. You've been driving about half an hour or maybe a little longer, depending on traffic out on Entebbe road. You've got at least 15-20 min. to go still. And this is the tough part.
Well, part of it is tough- you also get some awesome views. First, you pass the rose estate, which is located entirely inside the tea estate, and you see at least 5 unbelievably large greenhouse-type structures (definitely each is bigger than a standard Walmart). They are actually vast frames with thick clear-ish plastic over them. Underneath, inside the greenhouses, it must be about 120*F (degrees). Yikes. Well, the roses like it. There are thousands and thousands of the plants, all being trained to grow tall and straight. First you see the white roses building. Next is the red. Then yellow, then pink and so on. Wow. I never saw so many roses in one place before. They're all in bud and probably will be picked next week. Imagine the sales on those things in the USA or Europe- that is where they go- Europe. The UK mostly.
Onward... you notice after the roses that the road gets significantly worse and clearly they are not as concerned about maintaining this portion compared to the roses area. The road does a switch back as you observe that yes, thankfully it is a sunny day. If it were raining, or even thinking of raining, you would have to stop here and turn around. The road is muddy, clay-like. Oh, wait- that is real clay. Yep, there are more brick makers on each side of the "road" again. Well, keep going. Another 10 minutes, or maybe a little more. Each time I go out to Nakigalala, I get to this point and think I'm nearly there, but this is the fooling-point. You may be able to see across the deep glen/valley, but really it is a long way off still. So down the road you go, waving to the brick makers and others there who call "Muzungu" to you (that is "white person" and this is their greeting to you EVERYWHERE in Uganda). You smile and wave, whether you like the moniker or not. It depends on the day for me if I "like" it or not, and if it affects a price increase (white skin usually makes prices rise).
Okay, take the left of the Y ahead, but if you need to, you can sort of go right a bit to get around that 5 foot round tree stump in the road. Then you'll have to shimmy the car up to the left so you do end up on the left fork. You do have 4-wheel drive, right? Is your cell phone charged and do you have a "break down" (tow truck) number stored in the phone? I hope the reception is decent if we do get stuck.
Well, there is the shaman's house- the local witchdoctor. Apparently the local medicine man here has a lot of power. So many people are suffering from curses and other ailments. Really, this is no joke. People get poisoned or cursed or attacked frequently here and most all of it can be traced back to the witchdoctor. Please don't take it lightly. Pray against his wickedness and for his soul and for the Nakigalala people as you go by. He is particularly not happy that there is an evangelical church in his territory. Many of those dear church people have been raped, financially injured, physically injured, or they've lost jobs, gotten sick, had property damage just because of this guy's work.
Okay, now although this first hill looks like the right one, don't forget you have to pass the hand-hewn quarry (it is large- a USA 2 story home with garage and 3 bedrooms could fit in the hole) and the quarry guys sit along the road or in the shade, taking a break from digging, chipping away at the stone there. Wave to them too. You never know if you will need their help with the car later, and honestly except for the church, I don't think other whites come out to this area at all. You are bearing a testimony just by your presence. Be sure you represent Jesus well.
Okay, final hill. Whew- you've nearly made it! Wait, turn here at these weeds. Yes, it is safe, but yep, the car will get scrapes from the bushes and branches. I know it doesn't look so good. Yes, well technically it IS a goat path, but people use it sometimes. Isn't it nice that the church people got out here and cleared the path a bit for us? No, not from weeds- those don't hurt. But they cleared a few boulders and some stumps so the car and tires don't get messed up. Okay, now as you come to the bottom of this hill, you'll need to VERY carefully maneuver to the left, around the large stump and by the corner of that house. Yes, cut so close you nearly knock your side mirrors. It is the only way through. Once I got stuck in the turn and slid quite a bit back into that small banana field. It was not an easy day, and my 4 wheel drive nearly didn't make it. Just a little further. Oh, look there is the church. Well, yes, you do need to carefully squeeze between the two stumps now, since the way we used to take was through a guy's corn field (we only would hit one plant- we were barely in the field) but the guy didn't like losing that one stalk- so he dug a hole about 3 feet deep and the hole could damage the car now if we go that way. Oh, good, Pastor Benard (pictured here with his family and some orphans they care for) is here to guide us through so we don't get caught on one trunk or the other.
Listen! The church people are yelling the "piga kalele" sign of joy- they are SO happy we've come!
One last thought- we have it rough driving to Nakigalala, but imagine walking at least 2 hours to get to your church. Much of it is even worse on foot. And all along the way you could run into some mongoose (or is it mongeese?), snakes, witchdoctors, drunken men and boys, Muslims and traditional African believers (this always means they are followers of the witchdoctor) who hate that you go to the Christian church. Yes, abuse DOES happen. But you so much want to worship Jesus with your Christian brothers and sisters, that it is worth it!
For me, it motivates me to pray for these dear people. Will you pray, too?