Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jinja is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda, situated on the north shore of Lake Victoria near the source of the White Nile. It lies approximately 81 km east of Kampala, Uganda's capital, at an average elevation of 1,204 metres above sea level.
The name Jinja derives from the word "ejjinja", meaning "the stones" in both the Baganda and Busoga languages. It referred to the flat rocks at the source of the Nile, most of which were submerged in 1954 when the Owen Falls Dam was built and the Ripon Falls disappeared underwater.
After the fall of Kampala in the Uganda-Tanzania War of 1978-1979, President Idi Amin fled to Jinja and reportedly proclaimed it Uganda's new capital before retreating to Arua and going into exile. On the 22nd of April 1979, forces of the Tanzania People's Defence Force and the Uganda National Liberation Army occupied the city after encountering little resistance, and Jinja's residents greeted them with cheers.
Jinja was planned in 1948 by Ernst May, a German architect and urban planner working under British colonial rule. May applied the same "neighbourhood units" concept he used for Kampala, though the resulting development led to "slum clearance" that displaced more than 1,000 residents during the 1950s.
Kakira Sugar Works (KSW), a member of the Madhvani Group, is Jinja's biggest local employer. It is one of the largest sugar factories in East Africa and employs over 7,500 people. The factory generates 50 megawatts of electricity by burning bagasse, a byproduct of sugar manufacturing.
Jinja received city status on the 1st of July 2020, when the government of Uganda upgraded several municipalities. As part of the transition, Jinja expanded to include Bugembe Town Council, Mafubira sub-county, and Budondo sub-county, bringing its estimated population to around 300,000 as of October 2020.