Keep Uganda in Your Thoughts and Prayers

So I had somewhat of a crazy adventure yesterday...I never thought I would ever experience the things I saw driving to and from Kampala.  There were 4 of us Mzungus driving into Kampala for the Friday markets.  It took us about 2 hours or so to reach the city, and we made a pit stop in a local shopping center before heading over to the markets.  As we reached the markets, we noticed that everyone was already beginning to pick up shop even though it was still morning time.  But of course, as soon as they saw 4 Mzungus step out of a van they immediately started unpacking their merchandise.  We thought nothing of it, but after we had been there for about 15-20 minutes we started hearing popping noises in the background.  Gun shots were being fired in the streets near to us.  Now we realized why the people were packing up everything...the riots had continued over from the day before.  We got word that the rioting was quickly spreading through the town so we thought it was wise to head back home to Jinja.  We got in the van and started heading out of town.  Pretty soon we saw many cars turning around and going back the way we had come from.  So, we had to find another way out.  Soldiers and policemen were coming out of the woodwork, and roadside shops were closing up.  We ran into many traffic jams and man-made roadblocks.  The stretch of road going out of Kampala was filled with smoke, but it was the only way out so we continued on our way.  Soon we came upon burning tires, telephone poles, trash, and everything else piled into the middle of the streets.  The protesters had begun to throw all of this debris into the roads to make it difficult for the government vehicles to get through as well as everyone else!  For the next however many miles, we zigzagged around the burning material until we reached the city limits.  Overall, it was a pretty scary experience, but we are all okay.  It was later learned that up to 5 people were killed and over 100 were injured in Friday's rioting.  We were a little shaky when we returned home mainly because there were rumors going around that Besigye (leader of the rioting) had been killed.  If that were to happen, it would be advised that all of us volunteers should move our flights up early because things could escalate quickly.  But soon after we got back, those rumors were proven false.  More rumors began coming in via the radio, phone calls, etc.  But latest we've heard (that we are pretty certain about) is that Besigye is just in his home healing from pepper spray that was sprayed in his face.
Right now, we are still waiting and hoping to see whether or not things will die down.  So what I ask from all of you is to keep Uganda and its government in your thoughts and prayers right now.  Hopefully, the president will be meeting with Besigye in hopes of peace talks.  Things in Jinja are much much more peaceful than in Kampala.  Riots tried to start up yesterday morning, but they were quickly stopped.  Everyone at Amani is safe and doing well.  Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I will try to keep you all updated on the upcoming events.
Here are some pictures we took from our drive through Kampala...