{"id":19736,"date":"2019-05-05T02:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=19736"},"modified":"2019-05-06T11:00:58","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T18:00:58","slug":"coming-to-peace-with-the-fate-of-ugandas-white-nile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/05\/05\/coming-to-peace-with-the-fate-of-ugandas-white-nile\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to Peace with the Fate of Uganda’s White Nile"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had never been to Africa when Dr. Jessie Stone invited me to visit her at the White Nile in November 2018. Stone, a longtime member of the US Freestyle Kayak Team, is also the founder of Soft Power Health<\/a>, a nonprofit that promotes malaria prevention, family planning, and good nutrition in the local communities of Uganda\u2019s Jinja District. The Chinese had just finished another behemoth hydro project in Uganda, occluding for the second time in under a decade this massive tributary to the Nile proper. (The other, larger Nile tributary, Ethiopia\u2019s Blue Nile, is set to be dammed<\/a> within the year.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Large hydro firms\u2014many of them Chinese\u2014are building monumental dams on important rivers all around the developing world, altering watersheds and displacing entire communities in the name of \u201caffordable\u201d electricity. Often, though, as is the case in Uganda, this electricity is still beyond the reach of the people who need it most. The firms sell the power to interests outside of the dam-affected area, leaving the displaced or disenfranchised without access to power, and yet the dam changes their river forever.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Construction of the Isimba Dam, Photo: Eli Reichman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am always curious about how to reconcile the tragedy of stagnated rivers with the equally tragic and ever-increasing global need for energy. We know the ecological, economic, and emotional effects of dams, but we also know that we cannot expect nations striving for infrastructural stability to stop developing their resources. The questions surrounding hydro development are big and harrowing.<\/p>\n

And so, for this piece, I asked a few influential and inspirational characters from North America\u2019s whitewater community about their first and final experiences on the White Nile, their stories of and ties to this singular river. This is something of a retrospective\u2014a collection of memories, a tribute, a reflective celebration of the newly redirected power of one of the greatest rivers on Earth.<\/p>\n