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  • Day 6

    My God in the mosque

    November 9, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today was my 'day off' so I was keen to see some of Kampala. I had the morning at the guest house just reading and relaxing before Aggrey picked me up at around 12:30. We drove to the national mosque which is the second largest mosque in Africa. I was given a kind of tunic to wear for the tour. Aggrey waited in the car while I was shown around by a tour guide, she took me into the main mosque, but first removing my shoes, and explained the history of it being built, originally started by Idi Amin and then knocked down and completely built by Gaddafi, opening in 2008. The mosque itself is very beautiful, with the materials coming from all over the world- carpet from Libya, windows and doors from Italy- it has stain glass windows and a huge chandelier in the middle. She shows me the Quran and tells me the story of how it was written, to which I politely nod along. She told me to walk up to the balcony where the women are allowed to pray, while she waited down the stairs to collect our shoes. We then walked to the minaret, and she I climbed to the very top alone, while she waited at the bottom! I'm not usually scared of heights but this was a bit different, the concrete steps were slightly uneven and my tunic meant that I couldn't step as I usually would. I prayed the whole way up (hence the title!), so God definitely got me to the top. Once I reached the top the view of Kampala was incredible, looking down at all the busyness of the city. After I reached the top a man and his son joined me, but he spoke very limited English and didn't understand any of my questions so just told me how great Kampala is! The way down was still pretty scary so I prayed the whole way down too! I reached the bottom of the 50m tall minaret and greeted by my tour guide asking about the Queen and thinking the Queen's great great great great grandson, or something like that! She takes me back to Aggrey, and on the way people are greeting me in Arabic, there were lots of people visiting as it was Muhammad's birthday.

    We then went to lunch and I then had a hair cut at the salon. They thought my hair was very soft and even washed it for me after, which they don’t do for me at home! Then a quick stop at the craft market again and then to church for the Saturday evening service at Downtown. Which was of course loud and full of dancing. Then back to the guest house and met the new girl who is staying there from Japan.

    Quite a busy day!
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