entebbe

Sometimes life just passes by and sometimes you get calls you do not expect.

May 2017

For that occasion, on the other end of the phone there was H. E. Grace Akello, the Ugandan Ambassador to Italy (she is currently in India).

Even if I didn’t know how she managed to get my mobile number, she invited me in Rome to discuss about a project in Uganda. Obviously, since I never had the opportunity to visit the “Pearl of Africa” country (we shall discuss about this motto in the future), I immediately agreed.

One week later I was in her office in Rome, she explained me that the Government of Uganda was in search of partnerships with European private companies for the development of the agriculture sector and she wanted me to visit Uganda in the upcoming summer.

July 2017

After 24h flight from Milano to Doha and from Doha to Kampala (including 10h stop in Qatar), I finally landed at Entebbe airport (it should be the only international airport in Uganda).

I was so happy with my special VISA that I thought I could be out in a couple of minutes. I was wrong.

Some funny facts from my 5h wait at the immigration office of Entebbe airport:

• a guy from Ethiopia started to shout against some policemen and tried to take their weapons. The result? In 5 minutes they sent the special forces from the army.
• a 5 members family (again from Ethiopia), who was just before me for the security controls lost all their documents (ID, passports etc) and they were immediately classified as terrorists (even if nobody knows the exact definition for this word). The result? Even more special forces.
• as common to a lot of other countries, the custom control is where they check if you did not steal someone else’s luggage, nobody really cares about what you take with you.

Security controls – Entebbe International Airport

So, after several queues of people (one for passport control, one to change some money, one to buy a local sim card, one for baggage inspection etc), I was finally able to meet my local guides: Robert and Foster.

Robert works for the Youth Development Program, Foster for the ideology and communication of the government. They both had to take me on tour through their country, show me the actual situation of the agriculture in Uganda and introduce me to local farmers.

END OF PART 1