Arua was a pleasant surprise

Jun 29, 2009

EDITOR—My first trip to Arua was last week and came up with lots of surprises. I knew I was going to a miserable and backward place. To begin with, Gaagaa Bus staff provided excellent services which I have never seen in any other bus company in the coun

EDITOR—My first trip to Arua was last week and came up with lots of surprises. I knew I was going to a miserable and backward place. To begin with, Gaagaa Bus staff provided excellent services which I have never seen in any other bus company in the country.

It was like getting into a 5-star hotel.

I thought Arua district was backward and uncivilised, largely because most of the stories on TV and newspapers are bad news. Some of the headlines I had read were, “Arua residents survive on mangoes”, “Arua gets meningitis” and others like those. However, I was pleasantly surprised. We boarded the bus in Arua Park in Kampala at 1:00pm.

The conductor asked a volunteer to pray for before we started the journey. He also introduced the crew and welcomed all of us and requested us to greet our neighbours. This is unlike any other trip I have taken where for the whole journey you cannot even talk to your neighbour!

The whole journey was enjoyable and we reached Arua at 8:00pm. I asked my neighbour where I could find a good hotel and he directed me to White Castle or Slumberland.

I opted for White Castle and was amazed when I reached there. I had come from Kampala feeling big but on reaching White castle in Arua, I felt like a country bumpkin! The services were superb. Arua mesmerised me.

The following day I went through the town and found that there were more banks than people! Buildings are rapidly coming up. There are also many cars mostly with Congolese number plates although I was told they belong to the local people.

However, the fly in the ointment was the Arua District Administration building. It was a terrible disappointment for me.

The structures were built in the 1920s! Although I am not an engineer, I would have condemned those buildings 10 years ago. All the offices look as if they will collapse anytime! I asked a friend whether the district had an engineer and I was told that there are many engineers in Arua.

When I asked why such buildings were not demolished, everybody just laughed and said the district engineer was more interested in the sweet things of life than buildings. I spent two days in Arua and my stay was only spoilt by the district’s administration offices.

Richard Katongole
katongolerichard37@gmail.com

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