Source of the Nile

On Saturday, the international theologians went to Jinja (about 60 kilometers east of Mukono) to visit the Source of the Nile.  Before coming here, I had no idea that the Nile originated all the way down here in Uganda.  It takes, what, three months for the water to flow from the source to the Mediterranean?  We spent a few minutes down at the banks, and would have taken the boat tour except the tour guide saw the two bzungu (plural of mzungu, which I’ve been misspelling), and hiked the price enormously.  It should have cost about 20,000 shillings ($10), but he was asking 60,000 ($30).  So we walked away in protest, as my friend Amos would say.  But not before my friend, Rev. Haron, asked if I knew how to swim.  As we were standing on the dock.  I do, but I also made it clear that there would be no swimming demonstrations.

We took a group photo with the marker (memorial?) about Gandhi’s ashes being scattered in the Nile, which surprised me; I’d’ve thought they’d be in the Ganges (need to do research on that one – perhaps it was just some of them?).  We took photos of each other on the banks of the Nile, and standing in the middle of the river.  I’m sure there’s a joke about a bunch of clergy standing in the middle of a river just waiting to be written… but we’re Anglicans.  Would be WAY more funny if we were Baptists, yes?

There’s a memorial obelisk on the west bank of the Nile, marking where Speke first viewed the falls (that were submerged when the dam was built) and “made them known to the world.”  Well, clearly, all Africans knew the Nile was here.  And we know exactly where he stood?

Then we went to Rev. Omona’s wife’s house, about 50 kilometers away.  She teaches at a school there, and it’s rather common for couples/families to work apart, and maintain homes in both places.  In the seven or so years they’ve been married, they’ve never been together consecutively for more than three weeks.  Wow.  They have three kids, and some stay with her, some with him.  Their daughter, Ruth (age 2) decided that she wanted to come stay with Daddy, so we brought her back.  It was a long, though fun, day.  And somehow, my assignments were still waiting on my desk.  Hmph.