Yesterday!

Today started off with a little breakfast at MUBS and then we traveled into Kampala to visit the Ugandan Parliament. I thought we were visiting the Bugandan Parliament when we were at the Ugandan Parliament, so I was confused the entire time we were there because the Ugandan Parliament has a President and the Bugandan Parliament has Kings and Queens. After I figured out where I was, everything made sense.

We started the tour of the Ugandan Parliament with a security check, because they don’t want us bringing in any guns, and then we proceeded on into the buildings. The Parliament consists of four buildings: the north wing, the east wing, the south wing, and the President’s wing. The north wing is where we entered and has a lot of offices, and the east wing has more offices too. The President’s wing is for the President, but he does not use the building, so the Prime Minister uses it instead. Then we went into the south wing, which is where Parliament is held. We went into the chamber and it had a center table with microphones on it and in the middle was the chair for the speaker and on either side of him was about 100 couch benches. On his left side sat the opposition, and the right sat the government. Parliament was not in session, so we did not see any live action. Then there was a gallery for the public to come and watch the sessions. After we finished touring the chamber, we saw the gold mace that officially means Parliament is in session, and then we walked back to the north wing and eventually back to the bus.

We went back to MUBS for lunch. This was the first time that we had real authentic Ugandan food. The main staple of their diet is Matoke, which is mashed up bananas. Although I do not like bananas, I tried it anyways and it did not taste like bananas at all, it actually tasted like nothing. But we also had beans, chicken, a pasta dish, and a pancake roll with plum jelly.

After lunch we went and visited the Bugandan Parliament. There we looked around, and then went upstairs into the cabinet room and sat down. Then we were introduced to the speaker, which was the Minister of Education for the Bugandan Kingdom. He spoke on what the Parliament does in Buganda and how they are more interested in building community involvement and character. The meeting with him was very formal. It started off with the Ugandans singing the national anthem, followed by introductions by both professors from MUBS and Drake. Finally we were able to listen to what he had to say. Once he was done, we went back downstairs and briefly into the chamber where they meet once a month, with the king only having to be there three times a year.

Then, we went down the street to the Bugandan Palace. All the women had to be in skirts and if you weren’t, then they gave you a sheet to wear around your waist. We only looked at the Palace, but we did walk down to the King’s Lake and then went inside some chambers that were originally used as army barracks, but were eventually turned into torture chambers where many Bugandans were killed as a result of them not following the Bugandan Parliament. When we came out of the chambers, there were kids running around. These kids live on Palace grounds because their families help out in maintenance. The kids were so cute and adorable, we gave them candy, but they really wanted to take pictures with us. Once girl in particular came up to me right away and grabbed my hand and followed me around. We took pictures together and when it was time to walk back up to the bus, she walked with me and did not let go of my hand until it was finally time for me to get back on the bus.

For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant where we had a variety of different Chinese dishes. It was pretty good for being a Chinese restaurant in Uganda. After dinner, we got back to Red Chilli at nine and chilled out for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow we are first meeting with one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Uganda, and then we are going to a soccer match. It is the Ugandan National Team versus the Kenyan National Team. I am looking forward to the game and taking in the atmosphere there too.