Beautiful Uganda: Lake Victoria and the Nile River

Greetings from Singapore!  Last year I met a wonderful sister in the Lord at the Beyond Business Conference in Hyderabad, India, and she invited me to Singapore and Indonesia to share the message of DML.  She has been working with universities and Bible schools across Southeast Asia teaching entrepreneurship and has many connections who need to hear the message of "work as worship."  So when I had a week between the Ugandan conferences and the Lausanne Congress in South Korea, she jumped at the opportunity to schedule some meetings.  I will speak at three Bible Colleges on the island of Batam, which is about 70% Muslim and 20% Christian.  This sister is also going to Lausanne, so we will travel there together on Saturday. We expect to have an amazing time as the global church sits down to work out how to be a healthy body of Christ!

Last week in Uganda, we had a wonderful time with the Pentecostal Theological College in Mbale, Uganda and they are hoping to integrate our courses into their curriculum.  We thank God for this! 

I then had the joy of spending a couple of days with a friend who joined me on the Uganda portion of this trip, and we visited the source of the Nile River and a beautiful island on Lake Victoria covered in birds.  What an amazing creation God has made!

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world (the first being Lake Superior).  It covers almost 60,000 square kilometers and connects to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.  Many rivers flow into Lake Victoria, but there is only one outlet to the (White) Nile River.  At that point, you can see the water bubbling up to the surface from the springs below (see picture below).  About 33% of the water that flows from Lake Victoria from the Nile is from the spring, and the rest is from the lake.  

The water then travels 6,800 km (4,000 miles) over 90 days to reach the Mediterranean Sea, traveling through South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, joined by the Blue Nile River, coming out of Ethiopia.  Tributaries contributing to Lake Victoria are also in Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea, and the DRC, bringing the number of African countries impacted and impacting this water source to twelve.  This means there needs to be lots of cooperation relating to this very important water source!

We learned that close to where we were, on Lake Victoria, were two prisons, built right on the lake.  We were told that many Ugandans do not swim, therefore the lake served as a natural protection against escape.  The crocodiles are also a big part of that deterrent.  Many factories have been built along the waterfront for easy access to the ports for export to neighboring countries; unfortunately, many were abandoned after the reign of Edi Amin and are still not functioning.

I don't usually do much tourist stuff so this was fun for me!  (BTW, a little promotion of tourism for Uganda - they have bungee jumping and ziplining over the Nile if you are into adventures!  Plus kayaking, fishing, and more.  A beautiful place to visit!)

The water bubbling up from the springs at the source of the Nile.

Rapids further down the Nile from the source.  We met several people worshipping other gods here - praying to the river.  That has been happening for many centuries - we pray for all to recognize the power of God in this river!

These trees are FULL of birds - all around this small island.  So beautiful.  (It's also a bit dangerous to walk under the trees, as there are a lot of droppings!  And yes, that happened to me.)