We live in Jinja, which is a pretty small town in Uganda, East Africa.
Jinja is a great little town. It’s a laid-back, gorgeous tourist destination, thanks to the source of the Nile River, Lake Victoria, white-water rafting, safaris and more.
But because it’s a small town, we don’t have access to lots of things we need. For example, we don’t have a “real” hospital, yet. We can get basic dental care, thanks to a dentist that lives here, but he only has access to basic equipment and is usually booked volunteering his time to help Ugandans who can’t afford dental care. The supermarkets here, are small, independently operating, limited shops with little selection.
So every now and them we have to make the trip to Kampala. Personally, I hate Kampala. It’s a rough three-hour drive on a good day, and it’s dirty, sometimes dangerous and disorganized, bustling with frantic activity. And once we get there, it’s not like we’ve magically traveled to the U.S… the options are still quite limited, and quite expensive.
Our son, Declan has had lots of dental problems and we’ve been back and forth to Kampala to get him sorted out. We don’t have insurance (it sucks here anyhow) and we pay cash to what we consider the best dentist in Uganda, Dr. Christine, a Ugandan-born UK-trained orthodontist. When we make the trip, we usually try to get as many supplies as we can, and make the most of the trip.
Here’s a look at one of our all-day trips to Kampala.
You may never complain about your dentist, malls, supermarkets or traffic again.
