Bujagali falls
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Bujagali (or Budhagali, according to the dialect of the Basoga tribe settling in this area) is a waterfall near Jinja in Uganda where the River Nile comes out of Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile.
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[edit] Proposed dam
The falls are the site of a proposed dam, the Bujagali Hydro-Power Dam. Initially proposed as a joint venture between the United States firm AES Corporation and the Uganda-based Madhvani International, it was subject to strong opposition from local residents and environmentalists. After the US Enron scandal, investments in energy projects took a turn downward, and AES's stock dropped dramatically. Following revelation of a corruption scandal on the project, AES withdrew from the program in 2003. In 2005 the government of Uganda announced that the project would proceed anyway.[1]
[edit] The Bujagali doctor
The falls are said by local residents to be the site of a spirit, called the "Spirit of Bujabald," who protects the community by performing rituals at the falls. The spirit is embodied in a man, Jaja Bujabald, who lives next to the falls; he is the thirty-ninth person to be the spirit.[1]
The more than 80 year old man works at the same time as a doctor using preferably local plants and herbs. Lots of people report to have seen him walking over the water. Indeed he seems to be able to pass the falls where others don't dare to go.
During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, dead bodies, dumped in the lake, remained in the rocks of the falls; Bujagali removed and buried them.
[edit] References
- ^ Linaweaver, Stephen (1999). Falling for AES's plan? Uganda debates damming the Nile. Multinational Monitor 20(6).
