15-16 July: Jinja,Entebbe, Kampala

I rose early to get in the half day of rafting one of world's most exciting rapids - those of the White Nile, the source of the Nile, in Jinja. En route, I sat next to a young woman going for her Ph.D. in forced migration (small world)! So I gave her my card, and she said she would be in contact with me. She is from Oregon but lives in Norway, and we thought we might write a comparative paper on policies for resettled refugees in our countries. (Even relaxation can include work!)



I was surprised that the Nile level is up, given the terrible drought in the lakes region. We did two level 5s and two level 3s. The one that was the worst was our third rapid, a level 3, because it was slow moving, so hard to get out of when we capsized the boat! (see our picture). The last one, called "the bad place," is situated alongside a level 6 - not to be ventured by amateurs. It looked like our raft was heading straight for the gaping hole in the middle! I've never paddled so hard in my life. But we came out clear and no one fell overboard.

Good thing I settled for half-day: the traffic in Kampala was so bad that it took over three hours to get back (should take 2 tops). Three hours later, I was back in a car to meet my project and research partner, John Woodall. John and I met when I was still at CNN and he at Harvard, and we have wanted to do a project like this for 15 years. We are so excited to begin, and we spent much of Saturday morning and early afternoon solidifying the plans. We hope to meet with our Makarere colleagues tomorrow.