Uganda Tour Update

Hello Family and Friends
Sorry I haven’t been updating as frequent as I should but the internet here is scarce and we have to share with every student here which makes it more difficult. These past two days have been amazing! Friday was full of education. Friday morning I woke up and took a great shower with our cottage gecko. Yes, a lizard was in my shower while I was using it. We then went to Makeeree University to eat breakfast with the students. Breakfast was great! After breakfast we went downtown Kampala to tour the Ugandan Parliament. This building is equivalent to the capital building in Washington D.C. This is where the Uganda Government passes laws. We got to look inside the actual cabinet room. This room is sort of like the American House of Representatives where all of the State of the Union Address is taken place. It was really cool to see inside of this room where few are allowed to enter.
After the Ugandan Parliament tour, we then stayed downtown and went to lunch. Downtown Kampala is NUTS! Imagine it as New York City without driving regulations such as traffic lights, pedestrian signs or a speed limit. I witnessed many people coming close to being struck by taxis.
After Lunch, we then headed to the Buganda Kingdom. The Buganda were once the most powerful tribe in Uganda. They have been in existence for over 700 years. They are still a very proud tribe. There are many present day Buganda here with us who are descendents of the original Buganda. The first stop in the Kingdom of Buganda was their parliament. We got the chance to meet and visit with the Minister of Education of the Buganda Kingdom. He was a very interesting man. After we toured parliament, we headed up a mile long hill which they call the Royal Mile to the King’s Palace. The King’s palace was pretty large! The palace sits atop one of the largest hills in Kampala so the view of the city is amazing. The king has many acres. He also has servants who work as peasants on his land. These people are dirt poor but they consider it an honor to be on the royal land in the presence of the king.
After the palace visit, we headed back downtown to eat at a Chinese restaurant called Fang Fangs. Yea, I didn’t know there were Chinese people in Uganda either. But the food was great and we ate on the rooftop terrace so we had a great view of the clear Uganda night sky. After dinner, we went back to our cottages and called it a night.
Saturday was just as awesome! We started off with breakfast with the Uganda Students. After breakfast we then got to meet one of the richest men in Uganda. He is a multi-millionaire. He is an entrepreneur who got his fortune from providing cell phones to the people of Uganda. He didn’t stop here; he is also involved in many other industries. He owns plenty of real estate, almost half of Kampala. He owns all of the upscale neighborhoods that are occupied by ambassadors and politicians and other highly wealthy citizens. He has recently built a hotel which was NICE! It looks like a hotel that we see every day in the US. He is extremely wealthy. He is currently working to revitalize Uganda’s most historic school which has gone to the dumps. He lectured us about entrepreneurship. I found this insightful and inspirational because my second major is Entrepreneurial Management. After this session, we went to lunch. At lunch a local artist came and brought many of his paintings. I bought a ton of pieces of artwork from him. They are really beautiful paintings! He would make a ton of money selling his work in the US.
After lunch, we went to a soccer game. Uganda played its biggest rival, Kenya. I thought the Chiefs games were exciting. American Football has nothing on soccer here in Uganda. The game was the least entertaining compared to the crowd dancing and chanting. It was amazing! I have plenty of pictures and videos. After the game we headed back to the cottages to eat dinner.
Sunday we will leave Kampala and head down south to Kabala. We will go on a four day adventure there. I believe the first stop tomorrow is to the equator. After the equator we will go to the source of the Nile River. Tuesday we will head to the National Park to see many animals.

I will try my best to keep you all posted,
Talk to you later.
Matthew