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We just finished dinner on what seemed to be a normal Monday evening. Quinton whipped up some vegetable dish that would make any vegetarian want to convert back to meat. We all felt like something sweet to rid the taste from our mouths so I decided to drive down to the corner store. We also had to pay William, the night guard at Akanyijuka, his wage for the month so it made perfect sense killing two birds with one stone. Just as I left home I heard what sounded like fireworks and thought to myself, Kabale is catching up in the entertainment department. Little did I realise it was something much more serious.

I rocked up to the Royal Supermarket shortly before 20:00 and the staff seemed to be in a frenzy. I grabbed a couple packs of biscuits and placed them on the counter. Sultan, the co-owner, asked me if I was going straight home. Before I could tell him I was off to pay the night guard he told me there were several young men in town with guns, shooting at random. I couldn’t look at him with a straight face. Sultan is a easy going, laid back Indian who enjoys a joke. I told him he sounded a little crazy, all the while he was yelling out to his staff to turn the lights out and close the shop. Just as he was yelling out to his staff I heard 3 shots fired. They seemed to be a fair way off so I grabbed the cookies and made my way to the car outside. When I got outside there were people running in every direction. I thought surely the cops would be all over this by the time I come back from paying William.

I drove out to Nyakambu (5 mins from the main town) to pay William. While there we had a bit of a yarn about this and that - I don’t usually get to speak to him that often because he is on night duty. After a little while I decided to head back home.

On the drive back into town I noticed there were people running away from the direction I was heading. I thought this doesn’t look good. There were people running everywhere. For the first time since being in Africa I was concerned. The way people were scattering looked like a scene out of Hotel Rwanda. It was hard to drive due to poor visibility as the whole town had pretty well shut down at this point. All I knew was the shots were getting louder and louder. Then, without realising, I passed one of the crazy gunmen while he was shooting his rifle into the air. As far as I could tell he wasn’t aiming for anyone, just shooting in the air. I thought this is probably a little too close to the action and hooked the car down a back street.

All this certainly made for interesting discussion over cookies and coffee afterwards.

The next morning I put the car in for it’s schedule service and a chassis check for bullet holes. On the way to the garage I drove past the RDC’s office and noticed a large congregation of students from Kabale Secondary College out the front protesting. They were so many in number I had to lean on the horn to get them to move off the road. When I reached the garage I had a chat to the mechanic about last night’s events. It works out there were a group of students from Kabale Secondary College protesting over the imprisonment of 5 fellow peers who had been linked to a student murder. Instead of sorting the problem out in a civilised manner they took to the streets firing guns, causing mass hysteria, just to show a display of disapproval towards the Ugandan authorities (like firing guns into a crowded street will help their cause). Apparently, the murdered student was linked to a number of thefts on campus so a group (the one’s imprisoned) collaborated and allegedly killed him for it. I asked the mechanic if anyone was injured and thankfully no one was. Apparently the armed youth intended to go to the college and shoot the place up but the police intervened just in time, which was surprising because it was a good 30mins before we heard any sirens!

I wonder what my next visit to the corner store will hold? Maybe I should try something else other than cookies!