The Guidebook says ‘don’t stand out in a crowd, be discreet and don’t draw attention to yourself. Very difficult to achieve when you are the only white person in town!
On Sunday I preached at the Central Police Chapel in Nairobi, on Jesus talking about setting the prisoners free. Always an interesting subject to preach to Police Officers about setting prisoners free, as we spend all our time at work locking them up! Nairobi is more expensive then Kericho – but I have been able to find real café lattes – so I am happy. I went to the Thorn Tree Café at the Stanley Hotel and enjoyed my latte and a piece of cake.
I am staying at the Hilton, as its in a central location, and I have hot water and air conditioning – a luxury. There is a nice Italian restaurant there – but I find the food a bit rich as I am used to a staple diet of rice!
On Monday, I left for Uganda, it was chaos at the airport, and took an hour to book in. The plane then left late but it was only a 50 minute flight. Kenya airways are fairly good (for an African Airline!!). It was a bit of a shock arriving at Entebbe, as they are redoing the terminal, and so the arrival side is several portacabins joined together. It was pretty quick, as I already had my visa. I then was picked up and taken to the Hotel – The Shangri-La, which is next to a Chinese restaurant (strange with a name like that) and behind the Kampala club. It has free internet access in the rooms and they also do your washing for free – so I have plenty for them!
I am now back in the Northern Hemisphere – and it is very warm and humid here. It is a small capital, built on seven hills, and my hotel is at the top of one of them. I went for a walk, got totally lost – mainly because the receptionist marked the hotel wrong on the map. It took 45 mins to walk into town – and 5 minutes to get back. It is much safer here, and people are more friendly, although you can’t go out at night. I found several coffee shops and tested their coffee.
Today, I have been to a Hand in Hand project at Katwe. A slum area, where they are building a new school, and Clinic for the local people. It used to be an area, where criminal lived – but the church has turned it around. I managed to bang my head on a nail in a bit of wood, as I was looking at the floor to check I didn’t tread on any nails! Nothing there to hurt – just a little bit of blood. I was introduced to a retired Policeman Patrick, and we had a chat about the different type of policing in our countries. I am going back tomorrow to meet the children, I was asked if I could sing- but I think the kids have enough problems – without subjecting them to my singing!