Riots in Kampala

Some of you are now beginning to see reports of violence in Kampala on your news reports. For the last two days there have been riots in downtown Kampala which has spread to other areas. Thankfully we are all well and appear to be free to move around again.

On Thursday we were told not to go downtown as there were violent clashes between the police and supporters of the Kabaka (King). Rather than me try to explain it all I will post the BBC version of it for your interest http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8252043.stm On Friday I drove down to the MAF Guesthouse with a friend, Sharon Brown, who is visiting from home. We could see the evidence of where burning tyres had been but all seemed calm. Just to put you in the picture we hadn't had power for about three days and for some people it is a lot longer than that. The guesthouse remains without power and will probably not be fixed until next week. Due to the lack of power the freezer had defrosted so we asked Shiella to cook all the meat and then I could come down later to put it in our freezer. However, it was not to be as Shiella called me later that afternoon to say that there were gunshots very close to the guesthouse and that it wasn't safe to be out.


On Friday morning I had a call from a MAF colleague to say that Rainbow School was closing because of the violence. Sharon and I raced to school only to find the main road to school was blocked by burning tyres, a tree and also gun shots could be heard. We took the backroad into school and were able to pick up Joshua and Zara along with some other children who lived close by whose parents were still on their way to school. We drove out in convoy and arrived home safely. Gun shots could be heard throughout the day some far away and some close. We remained at home and waited it out. Today, Saturday, there has been calm and we were able to go out again. We drove to Entebbe and went to the Zoo. All was quiet and life seems to have returned to normal. We pray that the Kabaka and the Government will be able to come to a peaceful resolution regarding the issue at hand.


We would value your prayers for this situation and that we have no further problems. Thanks to all of you who pray for us regularly including praying for our safety. It makes a difference!