People from around the world visit Uganda to see the source of the River Nile for themselves. However in biblical times the source of the Nile was unknown and mostly mystical. Ancient Egyptians and their Pharaoh's considered the source of the Nile to be "the realm of the gods". The Nile has always been considered as a divine blessing in one way or another. Even to the indeginous peoples with pagan beliefs who lived along its banks. All human activity in Egypt evolves around the Mighty River Nile. And without it, Egypt and most of Sudan are a massive dead desert. But Ancient Egypt never knew that the River Nile originated from a Lake called Nalubaale (now Lake Victoria) in present day Uganda. While Ethiopians claim to have a Nile also coming from their country, anyone who has visited the Sudanese capital Khartoum can attest that whatever it is that is flowing from Ethiopia, in reality it is a different, smaller river joining the main one coming from Uganda. But "ancient Ugandans" also didn't know that the Nile travelled through half of the continent from Lake Nalubaale upto an even bigger lake around 4000 kilometres away called the Mediteranean sea. As for the Bakonzo tribesmen in the Rwenzori mountain of Uganda, they only knew that clouds always came to cover the top of mountain, and when the clouds moved on, they left the snow at the summit. And when the sun appeared, there were little streams of natural, crystal clear, fresh water from the melting white ice, flowing down the mountain and nourishing the entire ecosystem in Uganda. Mount Rwenzori (previously known as Mt. Stanley, left on this colonial map attached, just above the equator line) is where the Nile really starts before those little streams pour into Lake Edward, Lake George, the Katonga river which flows into the big Lake Victoria. Then the Nile itself starting from the Ugandan town of Jinja into Lake Kyoga at the center, then to Lake Albert on the left and finally on to South Sudan, then North Sudan, and all the way up to poor Egypt which always gets everyone;s left-overs. Of course Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya who are all around or near Lake Victoria, also have rivers that supply the lake with the fresh water that will also become the Mighty River Nile. Today Egyptians see the source of the Nile as a matter of national security. Indeed it is an existential concern for which they threaten war with any country that reduces the amount of water they receive at their tail end of the river. All countries around Lake Victoria have a diplomatic desk of the government of Egypt tasked specifically to monitor usage of Lake Victoria. They might as well also establish an office up on the Rwenzori mountain slopes next to the Bakonzo people. Maybe send an engineer from the Muhandiseen suburb of Cairo with some winter clothing, a tea kettle, and a small telescope, sitting in an igloo to monitor how God sends the clouds to deposit the Nile waters as snow at the top of Mount Rwenzori. The day climate change hits the area and He stops sending his divine cloud, let them wage war with Him instead. Meanwhile, imagine the posture and attitude of "Ancient Ugandans" if we arrived in Ancient Egypt with the knowledge that the people there and their Pharoah considered our land as "the realm of the gods". It would possibly be the exact posture and attitude that European colonialists had when they came to Africa with the knowledge that we were flabbergasted by their "bigger God" and their Holy book. In fact a good example that proves the correctness of this theory is Ethiopia. One of the reasons why Europeans failed to colonize Ethiopia is possibly because when they got there, they found that a people already believing in the same God, reading the same Holy book, and practicing the very same religion that they were planning to utilize to control Ethiopians. In fact they found Ethiopians with a very rich and ancient culture, and practicing the real, original orthodox Christianity from biblical times. A people more religious compared to the watered-down Christianity from Europe. Therefore there was no way for the Europeans to appear holier than the indeginous people here, and the colonialists couldn't use the Bible to control, exploit and colonize Ethiopia. The same for Japan. They first Portuguese colonialists who arrived in Japan found a people with an advanced faith (Bhuddism), with Holy scriptures, an advanced literature of their own, and a fiercely cohesive and well organized society with a strong army and a strong culture. The colonialists then decided to settle for doing only business with them. Today in Uganda, that situation of the Japanese and the Ethiopians vis-a-vis the European colonialists is locally known as "osanze ndaba". Basically meaning "There is no fool here my friend. You found my eyes wide awoke my brother".
Written by Hussein Lumumba Amin 1st March 2018
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