The Bahai Temple

Friday afternoon, I drove with N.’s parents in search of theBahai Temple, which we had heard was a thing to see on a hill. To get there you take the left-hand turn just before Kabira Country Club. Now, I often drop J off at work and then go straight to Kabira to use the Internet, drink some coffee, eat some muffins, and often hit a traffic jam just before I get to the Club as there are so many cars coming in and out of that left-hand turn. This made me think it was a major sort road, what with so many people using it and all. Turns out, the pavement quickly disintegrates into ginormous potholes (nothing new there, right?), but then it quickly disintegrates into a dirt road. A dirt road with gullies running down the middle and branching out all over the places, ruts so deep I thought the under carriage of our car would drag on the ground, ditches four feet deep running along the edge, and always, always, the potholes. It was a serious drive.

The temple’s well-maintained driveway was a welcome change; it climbs steeply up Kikaya Hill to where the temple sits at the top. The temple itself is a nine-sided structure with a dome on top. The structure, both inside and out, is simple in construction and relatively unadorned—there are stain glass windows, but even these are quite simple in style. There are 7 ½ Bahai temples in the world, all of them with nine doors and circular in shape. They’ll tell you there’s one on each continent, but they don’t have one on Antarctica and I leave you to do the math. Uganda’s temple was the second built in 1962. The religion itself is only about 150 years old.

The grounds surrounding the temple were much more impressive. They extend for acres, are immaculately maintained, and there’s a terrific view of the city (not as nice as the view from Kololo, of course). I’d show you, but I forgot my camera and I’m not driving back there any time soon. It’s worth the trip once, but I was underwhelmed.