A Little Bit of Luxury

I've been on my first visit outside Uganda this week with a Regional Finance team meeting in Nairobi. With the security situation in Nairobi it was touch and go whether or not we would actually have the meeting but luckily it went ahead and we had a very good week.

The Uganda team of three flew to Kenya early in the morning on Sunday and I had a wonderful view of the snow capped summit of Kilimanjaro peeping out from the clouds. I checked on google maps and Kilimanjaro is 330 kilometres from Nairobi, a future trip perhaps? Then as we circled the airport to land I could see trains and motorways!

I've really enjoyed my travels in Uganda and have always found that as long as I have a working shower (preferably hot!) and a comfortable bed that is all that I need. However, the place we stayed in Nairobi felt very luxurious. Everywhere was beautifully finished with lovely garden areas around the buildings. There was a lift within the hotel and tea and coffee making facilities in the room.

However, there were no opportunities to explore Nairobi. We were told to stay in the compound because of the security situation. So apart from the taxi rides to and from the airport I saw nothing of Nairobi.

The meeting was very enjoyable. It was good to meet colleagues from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and to share experiences and good practice in the different countries. Compared with some of the areas we can at least visit our partner organisations as the distances are not too great, the roads passable and the security situation stable. It was a very different story for some colleagues.

We returned to Uganda on Thursday reinvigorated and keen to continue our work supporting our partner organisations.