Modes of Transportation

Transportation here in this part of the world is quite different. Many, many people move two by two (aka by foot). Both women and men carry large, heavy items on their heads. Very few have cars. Mr. Lubega has an old Mercedes 250E that he’s been chauffering us around in but he’s an exception.

Many, many people ride bicycles. Rickety, old, dusty bicycles. Of course no helmets. They transport all sorts of things on the back of their bikes. Huge, heavy loads at times: People, piles of bananas, matoke, cases of soda, boxes of bottled water, huge milk cans and jerry cans, huge pieces of plywood or lumber. And the huge piles are very huge, like over their head huge.

Similarly the bodas bodas. These are the guys on the mopeds or piki-pikis. They’re a form of taxi transportation and they take a bunch of loads as well. Four is the most number of people I’ve seen on one. Yesterday someone was transporting an 8 foot plate of glass holding on to it for dear life, weaving in and out of traffic. Then there was the man with the goat on his lap, which reminds me of the woman we saw walking down the street with three live chickens in a plastic bag, their heads sticking out through poked holes. We had a short ride today on a boda boda. After coming back from Kampala and getting dropped off at Station 8 the boda bodas were waiting for customers. We figured that we had an opportunity here so we took it. Women ride side-saddle and off we were back to the Centre. My driver rode out ahead a little faster than the others. And ended up missing the turn to the Learning Centre. He was going to take me to the Lubega’s house instead. Vennie and her driver came chasing up behind us to catch up with us and get us back on track. Mr. Sekebembe was on the road waving and laughing as we returned back.

Taxi Buses. This is the preferred form of transportation for longer distances. We took one into Kampala today. It’s a bus like a VW bus and it’s filled to the brim with people most of the time. 14 should be the limit but more get squished in if possible. There are no bus stops. You basically stand at the side of the road and wait for one of them to stop. I imagine it’s harder to get one the closer into town that you get. I haven’t figured out how you know their routes and when to get off. The taxi stand to get out of Kampala is a huge square crammed full of these white with blue striped buses. Apparently you can see it on google earth. It’s the white triangular piece and the road getting to our village is straight up north from there. It’s the Gayaza Road. 8 miles up, the turn off dips left and then right and right again and you should be able to see the centre there.