What made a brief stop in Kitgum memorable ?
On our way to Kidepo in North-Eastern Uganda, we stopped in Kitgum – the last reliable fuel stop before the road turns to murram, and where the mobile network slowly fades into a diesel generator running low, sputtering on and off.
Kitgum is just a practical stop for me – nothing more, nothing less.
But this time, it felt different.
Fueling up, we stepped into a nearby shop to stock up on mineral water. Though he had plenty of boxes in stock, the shopkeeper told us not to buy from him. Instead, he directed us to a depot across the road where we would likely get it at a better price.
He could have just sold it, but he didn’t. Never see such happen back home.
We made it to the depot and were told we couldn’t buy any boxes from there. They showed us the way to the main road running through town. Kitgum’s High Street, lined with old buildings from a bygone era.
We found a few shops with cardboard boxes displaying the mineral water logo of the brand we were looking for, but what they had inside was different. They were mostly used for storage of other items. Onions, bottles of cooking oil – tins of curry and sachets of Royco.
Finally, we found one.
In the shop with bags of purple beans on the verandah, giant artisan deep frying spoons hung from the roof. Colorful plastic basins lined the pathway.
An Awilo Longomba song was blaring from the radio inside.
Since we’d be out of reach for the next few days, we decided to buy a newspaper too. The woman behind the desk didn’t even look up and gave us a choice between today’s or yesterday’s edition, as if that was the most normal thing to do.
It’s little things like these that make going long distances by road all the worthwhile.
Kitgum was never meant to be a memorable highlight, but these small, unexpected moments definitely elevated its status for me.
Let’s spend some more time here on the way back, I thought.
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