Steve Forsyth, the Programme Manager, took me out for a brief driving assessment to check I was safe driving and advised me of the driving laws out here in Uganda. He also gave me helpful tips such as indicating left can mean many things out here other than turning left. It could mean, I want you to pass me, it could mean don’t pass there is oncoming traffic or I am stopping on the road. It’s crazy!
I passed my test and was allowed to drive. Woohoo.
We loaded up the vehicle with all the servers and rack and cleverly packed it with mattresses. Of course, we were transporting them via the roads of Uganda, very bumpy! 'Bumpy' and 'servers' do not go hand in hand and so the mattresses were great at absorbing all the shock to protect the servers.
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Meanwhile, the rest of the office were loading up their departments' office furniture and computers into cars and trucks. There were lots of people helping, so many, an entire office was loaded into cars and trucks in 3 hours. We were the first ready to leave the office, and so we went to report in to Steve, only to find he had in his office a bubble bath… no not really, it’s just a bad joke! He had a load of bubble wrap stored in the bath tub.
Driving... Kampala style
So off we set in the Land Cruiser. This was a big vehicle. So big it had 2 fuel tanks. It was quite exciting but at the same time quite nerve-racking. Firstly I had ‘precious cargo’ - all the data for MAF Uganda is on those servers - and secondly driving in what is quite dangerous conditions. There are all sorts of obstacles in the road: people who just run out in front of you, cows in herds or strays, dogs and chickens, cars who pull out from all directions, drive on the wrong side of the road, Boda-bodas swerving in and out from all directions... your attention has to be everywhere. It is quite an experience.
Server racks and switches
When we arrived at Kajjansi, we were lucky to see that our Cessna 208 'BIL' was firing up for a flight so we were able to watch it take off. It’s such a great privilege and exciting to watch our planes flying in action, knowing they are bring help, hope and healing to people in hard-to-reach places.
We unpacked the Land Cruiser into the IT office and first on the agenda was to build the rack and fit the servers in. I set up a camera to capture us building the server rack in time lapse so I am looking forward to looking at the final result. I also set up a camera to do a time lapse of the main office. This should be really fun to watch!
This took us most of the day, including rearranging some of the switches in the hangar to make room for the new internet modems and phone servers.
The rest of the office did really well to completely move in and most people had set up their desks and computers by around 3.30-4pm.
We finished around 4.30pm after configuring the firewall for the new network and headed home. At that time of the day, rush hour traffic is heavy and so Kalumba showed us some back roads. I can’t say it was quicker but at least we were moving the whole time. These were dirt tracks the whole way and the amount of dust was incredible. It has obviously been that way for so long that all the trees have actually turned orange from being covered in thick layers of dust. It was testing but pretty cool taking a 4x4 off-road! We were able to pass some of the slower vehicles that weren’t quite cut out for the off-road which made the journey more interesting, some would say I left them for dust.
A fun family
We had dinner with the Rogers that evening. Dave and Amy with their 6 children. The eldest 2 were actually at a youth group, but it was great to get to know the others. They are a fun family, originally from America and have served with MAF in Uganda for over 9 years!
I was introduced to Mountain Dew and love it! Amy apparently thinks it is better in Uganda than it is back in the States. Most things here are quite the opposite.
It was a great end to a very busy day!
