Field Report – June 2019

Travel to Epulu has become more difficult with DRC not allowing flights from Uganda to land at Bunia Airport. Getting into DRC now requires crossing the border by road which involves leaving the hotel in Entebbe at 5 AM for the MAF base in Kijjansi, flying to Arua in Northern Uganda, getting my first Ebola check, and then hopping into a van with a mix of passengers to drive across the border into DRC. Once over the border, I traveled through three more Ebola checks and my passport information was written down (slowly) seven times in various huts and buildings. I had to show my invitation letters from ICCN as they could not believe I wanted to go to Epulu. After 2 hours, we drove another hour to a dusty strip in Arua to wait for a MAF plane to Bunia. After another passport check, the plane landed, but the crew had teacher salaries which had to be delivered to the bank in town before we could board. A few hours passed, and with 6 passengers in their seats, we finally took off for Bunia where I was fortunate enough to catch a charter flight stopping in Epulu. A trip that used to take 2 hours now took 7 hours to get to Bunia, but at least the Customs thugs couldn’t check my luggage.  To read more, click here.