I thought I would send you this link so you can see that I have actually been doing work while here in Uganda. It hasn't been all fun and games, although the work I have been doing has been enjoyable.
If you go to www.ugandavillage.org and choose Projects then scroll down to Community School you will see my name mentioned and you can see some pictures of me teaching in Tekera as well as presenting the school's headmaster, Francis, with a gift we had for the school. The four of us girls also have an honourable mention in the May newsletter update and if you keep an eye out, I think I will be in the June update once it gets posted.
This is the NGO that our neighbours Bruce and Bridgitte have been working on. If you look at the sight you will see their pic's as well as lots of pic's of Einer as Tekera is the village he was living at.
Anyway, thought I'd pass that along if you wanted to take the time to peruse it. Talk to you again soon.
chandra.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
June 26 - July 2 (erin)
Monday June 26
Today was my first day at the secondary school in Kitengeesa. I was a bit nervous for many reasons. One, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Two, I’m usually not fond of teenagers. Three, I hate speaking in front of big groups as you well know by now. And four, I had planned to prepare a lesson yesterday but we got home so late and the migraine rendered me useless, and I hate to be unprepared. Fortunately I had some time when I first got there to add to some notes I had made earlier.
My first class was S.2 which is our grade 9 equivalent. There are 50 kids in this class! Somehow I managed to talk about career counseling for about 45 minutes. I talked about the importance of planning ahead for their future and setting goals to achieve their dreams. Then I asked them to share some of their goals and dreams with the class. Tonight I will research some of the jobs they are interested in to let them know what to focus on and what skills and personality is involved in those careers. After the break I did the same talk with S.3 (grade 10). It was funny when I had them share their dreams because coincidentally all the students that volunteered to speak had dreamed of going to Canada. Some of the boys even had dreamed of having a Canadian wife. Imagine that.
Caning is still really big in schools in Uganda. The children say that they often fail exams because they are caned so much. Dan the librarian and our contact for the school understands that this behaviour has to stop. He says that children are repeatedly hit until they get the answer right but he believes now that children will learn even if they are not beaten. Hopefully his way of thinking will catch on with the teachers.
Nasser and Chandra have gone to pick Einer up in Entebbe. He’s just been flown back in from Nairobi. Turns out he had a good case of worms so we have now been advised to not swim in Lake Nabugabo or drink the water from the bore hole in Tekera. Both of which I have done numerous times. Great, I am going to be full of disease and icky crawly things.
Tuesday June 27
Second day at Kitengeesa school. Visited the same two classes as yesterday and this time talked about 4 specific careers they were interested in. Then went to the other two classes, S.1 (grade 8) and S.4 (Grade 11) and repeated my presentation from yesterday. Talking with the S.4 class was really eye opening. There were only 6 students as opposed to the 40 and 50 or so in the other classes. These students are few because of the lack of school fees, many have to drop out at S.4 level. The students were asking advice on how to stay in school if they don’t have the fees and what encouragement I could give them. Well, I wasn’t really prepared for this and I didn’t have any very good answers. I told them to continue to work hard and continue to believe in your dreams. It’s pretty pointless to talk about becoming a doctor or lawyer if they don’t have any way of even finishing high school.
In other news, Einer went home to Philadelphia today. He had to say goodbye to all the people of Tekera and he was very sad. The Josephs are apparently quite distraught. We had one last meal with Einer at the Brovad so he could have his favourite steak and beer. Then we pushed him off with Nasser to Entebbe. The three of us then went to the internet café and came home in time for dinner, so we thought. It was totally not our turn to cook, but alas, nothing was made for us. So back to the Brovad we went. I can’t wait to start eating healthy again. Although the steak covered in garlicky cream sauce and the smooth creamy mashed potatoes are delicious, it is so bad!
The weather has been really nice lately. Kind of cool, and no rain all week. I hear that it’s 35+ in Vancouver this week! Aiiiiya! Bambi (sorry)!
Wednesday June 28
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIRIT! She is 14 today.
I am really going to miss my avocado on toast and fresh mango in the mornings!
Today at the school I talked to the classes about school fees and some solutions that I had come up with. I told them I wasn’t sure if they were good ideas because I don’t know everything about life in Uganda so perhaps the ideas would not work. I was hoping they would be able to help me out with some suggestions but the 1st class was still being shy. The second class went really well, however. They started asking questions about Canada and seemed really interested. Some of them got brave and asked big questions like how to prevent HIV/AIDS. It is so good that they are open to asking those questions and weren’t even embarrassed to hear the answers. It’s sad though that they aren’t being taught these things when it is such a huge problem here. It’s too bad Carli wasn’t able to work at the school with me because she’s the expert on talking to people about HIV/AIDS and getting tested. She was able to convince an entire team of professional rugby players to get tested! Thankfully they all were negative. It was a very cool experience for her.
Tomorrow I am going to just plan to talk about Canada and let the students ask whatever questions they want. Dan believes that if people from developed countries talk about how life is there, it will help people here to think of new ways of doing things. That’s a good way of looking at our influence rather than imposing our values. I will go to all 4 classes as it is my last day already. And the teacher, Joseph (of course his name is Joseph), asked me to develop a questionnaire on career counseling that they can hand in to him. He said that some of the S.2. students had been approaching him to learn more about career counselling! Wow. I really had no idea I was making any impact because they didn’t say anything and really sometimes I thought they were looking at me like I was nuts and not understanding anything I was saying.
On the way home I went on a big grocery shopping spree, taking advantage of being driven around in a car. Jen, Chandra and I prepared our best dinner yet. We had scalloped potatoes and onions in cheese sauce, stir fried fresh veggies with sesame seeds and beef sausage in a homemade BBQ sauce. All made in frying pans on two propane burners, I might add. It was fun and quite good. Fred had dropped in to say hi so he stayed for dinner. Then Jen went to the Brovad to watch a movie on the laptop and Chandra and I talked ‘til we were tired…about 10:00. That’s what happens on nights we have no power, we just get tired at about 8:30 and have to force ourselves to stay up to a more normal bedtime.
Just as we had fallen asleep, Chandra got a call from her family so I of course had to make my way out of my mosquito net to go to the bathroom. Well, I thought I saw one of those little cockroaches that had invaded my suitcase before but when I shone my flashlight on it, it was a huge ugly creepy beetle thing with two big long antennae! And it was coming to get me. But it ran away when I opened the door. Phew. I had trouble getting back to sleep after that.
Thursday June 29
Today is my last day at the school and I’m in the library waiting to go to a class. The library is full of students right now for some reason.
So, I just finished my discussion with S.2 on Canada and it was a lot of fun. They are shocked that we have thieves and prostitutes in Canada. And it’s difficult for them to understand why we don’t get malaria from our mosquitoes. It is very interesting to hear some of the boys talk about how hard life is here. For example that they have to walk 20 miles to fetch water and carry it on their heads. They asked me if we had night dancers in Canada. I assumed that they meant strippers so I said yes. And they all gasped and said really? You have people that eat themselves? I said “WHAT?!” They explained that night dancers were cannibals. Well, I had to clarify that we didn’t have cannibals in Canada, at least I really hope not.
The next 3 classes also went well. They all had lots of good questions, some of which I couldn’t answer. I tried to explain how big Canada is and that I can’t possibly know everything about it. Anyway, they seemed to have a good time. Although I enjoyed the opportunity to experience being a teacher I am also glad to be finished. It is tiring talking all day and trying to come up with answers on the fly.
I have just heard that the USDC truck is still not fixed in Kampala so Berna, Charles and Timothy are all coming back on different days by different means. So I won’t be having a last practicum day with USDC after all. But I will go say goodbye to Joseph (office Joseph) and take the gifts I have for his daughter and the other staff. Then I will go around taking pictures with Chandra.
This afternoon we went to visit our Josephs in Tekera because they were very sad about Einer leaving and now both have malaria. It was a nice visit and it was funny because everyone was joking that Junior was now cured of his illness because I was there. We took Joseph Sr. to Kitovu hospital to get medication and then when we got home we found Jen relaxing on her new mat on the grass on the front lawn. So we joined her and had some of our precious Pringles. We decided to not go to Tanzania next week as we were tired of traveling, lacking funds, and were not really excited about crossing a border. I will have to temporarily give up my dream of seeing a giraffe. Another year, I suppose.
Bruce and Brigitte made a really good dinner that rivaled ours the night before. He had even gotten boneless, skinless chicken breast and real soy meat from Kampala, both of which we thought were unheard of in Uganda! After doing dishes, we got really really bored. This was the first time that I’ve been utterly bored to the point of restlessness and the others were feeling the same. I think that means we have made ourselves so comfortable here that we are able to relax and get bored with the place. So we went to the Brovad where Jen and Chandra made a CD for Nasser and I did crossword puzzles.
Friday June 30
Last practicum day! Wow, it’s over already. First I found Joseph and gave him his presents. Then Chandra, Bonnie (hospital social worker and Chandra’s supervisor) and I went around the hospital taking some pictures. Then I went to the office when Charles arrived to open it. We just found out that Bonnie expected us to each write a final report so I had time to do that. Then Timothy came and we talked about what I had learned and what things I will take back with me to Canada. He also talked about ways in which they could use help if I was ever able to fundraise any money. I think I will use some of Auntie Susan and Auntie Trudie’s money to buy tools and materials for the graduates of the vocational school so that they can actually work once they are out of school. If anyone is interested in supporting the school, there are lots of things that they need money for. For example, they can’t afford to pay their water bills so they want to put pit toilets in which is pretty much commonplace for schools here. As well they want to get solar power so that the computers can run even when there is no power.
While I was talking to Timothy and answering his questions I realized that I have really learned a lot of useful information and that my experiences, however boring they might have seemed at the time, have become very insightful and will be useful to myself and my work back in Canada. Maybe I will post my final report to explain some of the things I felt I have learned from being with USDC.
Saturday July 1st/Sunday July 2nd
Happy Canada Day! I spent the weekend in Kampala again. My intention was to visit Carli but unfortunately Charles got summoned to work and because he was my ride, I went with him and wasn’t able to hook up with Carli after all. Not too much happened this weekend. I didn’t get sick! But it was a close call because when we were at a Chinese restaurant I got a bad water. We watched the server open the bottles like they normally do but when I tasted it, something was wrong. So after a few more sips I had Charles taste it and he confirmed it was bad. So he checked the bottom of the bottle and there was a small puncture hole where someone had injected tap water. Scary! So I thought for sure I was going to get sick again. Especially when I got back to Backpacker’s hostel and bought a water…I took a sip and thought, ya know what I’d better check the bottle just out of curiosity. Well it had a puncture in it too! AAAHHH! They are out to get me. Best sweet corn soup ever at the Chinese food place by the way.
Walking through Kampala at night is very difficult and kind of exciting. It was especially bad because of football (soccer) World Cup. It is very very big here. Because most people don’t have their own televisions, they often gather at cafes or outside of stores to watch the game through the window. In Kampala there was one big huge screen on one of the main streets so the sidewalks were full of people and boda drivers and people sitting in their cars like at a drive-in movie theatre. So there were hundreds of people on the streets and vehicles going every which way. The sidewalks are full of vendors and pedestrians so we had to pass on the street which was dangerous because of the boda drivers and taxi drivers. I even got nudged in the back by the side mirror of a taxi! How rude!
I also got to see the Buganda King drive by in his speedy motorcade. That was fun. My ride home in the matatu taxi was a lot more comfortable than usual. This taxi had cushiony seats but it cost 1000 shillings more…definitely worth it. And the driver was so fast that we got home in record time. My eyes were closed most of the way and I was so thankful I was not sitting in front!
Oh and I have a clan name. Nasser has given me the name Namatovu of the Kob clan.
Today was my first day at the secondary school in Kitengeesa. I was a bit nervous for many reasons. One, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Two, I’m usually not fond of teenagers. Three, I hate speaking in front of big groups as you well know by now. And four, I had planned to prepare a lesson yesterday but we got home so late and the migraine rendered me useless, and I hate to be unprepared. Fortunately I had some time when I first got there to add to some notes I had made earlier.
My first class was S.2 which is our grade 9 equivalent. There are 50 kids in this class! Somehow I managed to talk about career counseling for about 45 minutes. I talked about the importance of planning ahead for their future and setting goals to achieve their dreams. Then I asked them to share some of their goals and dreams with the class. Tonight I will research some of the jobs they are interested in to let them know what to focus on and what skills and personality is involved in those careers. After the break I did the same talk with S.3 (grade 10). It was funny when I had them share their dreams because coincidentally all the students that volunteered to speak had dreamed of going to Canada. Some of the boys even had dreamed of having a Canadian wife. Imagine that.
Caning is still really big in schools in Uganda. The children say that they often fail exams because they are caned so much. Dan the librarian and our contact for the school understands that this behaviour has to stop. He says that children are repeatedly hit until they get the answer right but he believes now that children will learn even if they are not beaten. Hopefully his way of thinking will catch on with the teachers.
Nasser and Chandra have gone to pick Einer up in Entebbe. He’s just been flown back in from Nairobi. Turns out he had a good case of worms so we have now been advised to not swim in Lake Nabugabo or drink the water from the bore hole in Tekera. Both of which I have done numerous times. Great, I am going to be full of disease and icky crawly things.
Tuesday June 27
Second day at Kitengeesa school. Visited the same two classes as yesterday and this time talked about 4 specific careers they were interested in. Then went to the other two classes, S.1 (grade 8) and S.4 (Grade 11) and repeated my presentation from yesterday. Talking with the S.4 class was really eye opening. There were only 6 students as opposed to the 40 and 50 or so in the other classes. These students are few because of the lack of school fees, many have to drop out at S.4 level. The students were asking advice on how to stay in school if they don’t have the fees and what encouragement I could give them. Well, I wasn’t really prepared for this and I didn’t have any very good answers. I told them to continue to work hard and continue to believe in your dreams. It’s pretty pointless to talk about becoming a doctor or lawyer if they don’t have any way of even finishing high school.
In other news, Einer went home to Philadelphia today. He had to say goodbye to all the people of Tekera and he was very sad. The Josephs are apparently quite distraught. We had one last meal with Einer at the Brovad so he could have his favourite steak and beer. Then we pushed him off with Nasser to Entebbe. The three of us then went to the internet café and came home in time for dinner, so we thought. It was totally not our turn to cook, but alas, nothing was made for us. So back to the Brovad we went. I can’t wait to start eating healthy again. Although the steak covered in garlicky cream sauce and the smooth creamy mashed potatoes are delicious, it is so bad!
The weather has been really nice lately. Kind of cool, and no rain all week. I hear that it’s 35+ in Vancouver this week! Aiiiiya! Bambi (sorry)!
Wednesday June 28
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPIRIT! She is 14 today.
I am really going to miss my avocado on toast and fresh mango in the mornings!
Today at the school I talked to the classes about school fees and some solutions that I had come up with. I told them I wasn’t sure if they were good ideas because I don’t know everything about life in Uganda so perhaps the ideas would not work. I was hoping they would be able to help me out with some suggestions but the 1st class was still being shy. The second class went really well, however. They started asking questions about Canada and seemed really interested. Some of them got brave and asked big questions like how to prevent HIV/AIDS. It is so good that they are open to asking those questions and weren’t even embarrassed to hear the answers. It’s sad though that they aren’t being taught these things when it is such a huge problem here. It’s too bad Carli wasn’t able to work at the school with me because she’s the expert on talking to people about HIV/AIDS and getting tested. She was able to convince an entire team of professional rugby players to get tested! Thankfully they all were negative. It was a very cool experience for her.
Tomorrow I am going to just plan to talk about Canada and let the students ask whatever questions they want. Dan believes that if people from developed countries talk about how life is there, it will help people here to think of new ways of doing things. That’s a good way of looking at our influence rather than imposing our values. I will go to all 4 classes as it is my last day already. And the teacher, Joseph (of course his name is Joseph), asked me to develop a questionnaire on career counseling that they can hand in to him. He said that some of the S.2. students had been approaching him to learn more about career counselling! Wow. I really had no idea I was making any impact because they didn’t say anything and really sometimes I thought they were looking at me like I was nuts and not understanding anything I was saying.
On the way home I went on a big grocery shopping spree, taking advantage of being driven around in a car. Jen, Chandra and I prepared our best dinner yet. We had scalloped potatoes and onions in cheese sauce, stir fried fresh veggies with sesame seeds and beef sausage in a homemade BBQ sauce. All made in frying pans on two propane burners, I might add. It was fun and quite good. Fred had dropped in to say hi so he stayed for dinner. Then Jen went to the Brovad to watch a movie on the laptop and Chandra and I talked ‘til we were tired…about 10:00. That’s what happens on nights we have no power, we just get tired at about 8:30 and have to force ourselves to stay up to a more normal bedtime.
Just as we had fallen asleep, Chandra got a call from her family so I of course had to make my way out of my mosquito net to go to the bathroom. Well, I thought I saw one of those little cockroaches that had invaded my suitcase before but when I shone my flashlight on it, it was a huge ugly creepy beetle thing with two big long antennae! And it was coming to get me. But it ran away when I opened the door. Phew. I had trouble getting back to sleep after that.
Thursday June 29
Today is my last day at the school and I’m in the library waiting to go to a class. The library is full of students right now for some reason.
So, I just finished my discussion with S.2 on Canada and it was a lot of fun. They are shocked that we have thieves and prostitutes in Canada. And it’s difficult for them to understand why we don’t get malaria from our mosquitoes. It is very interesting to hear some of the boys talk about how hard life is here. For example that they have to walk 20 miles to fetch water and carry it on their heads. They asked me if we had night dancers in Canada. I assumed that they meant strippers so I said yes. And they all gasped and said really? You have people that eat themselves? I said “WHAT?!” They explained that night dancers were cannibals. Well, I had to clarify that we didn’t have cannibals in Canada, at least I really hope not.
The next 3 classes also went well. They all had lots of good questions, some of which I couldn’t answer. I tried to explain how big Canada is and that I can’t possibly know everything about it. Anyway, they seemed to have a good time. Although I enjoyed the opportunity to experience being a teacher I am also glad to be finished. It is tiring talking all day and trying to come up with answers on the fly.
I have just heard that the USDC truck is still not fixed in Kampala so Berna, Charles and Timothy are all coming back on different days by different means. So I won’t be having a last practicum day with USDC after all. But I will go say goodbye to Joseph (office Joseph) and take the gifts I have for his daughter and the other staff. Then I will go around taking pictures with Chandra.
This afternoon we went to visit our Josephs in Tekera because they were very sad about Einer leaving and now both have malaria. It was a nice visit and it was funny because everyone was joking that Junior was now cured of his illness because I was there. We took Joseph Sr. to Kitovu hospital to get medication and then when we got home we found Jen relaxing on her new mat on the grass on the front lawn. So we joined her and had some of our precious Pringles. We decided to not go to Tanzania next week as we were tired of traveling, lacking funds, and were not really excited about crossing a border. I will have to temporarily give up my dream of seeing a giraffe. Another year, I suppose.
Bruce and Brigitte made a really good dinner that rivaled ours the night before. He had even gotten boneless, skinless chicken breast and real soy meat from Kampala, both of which we thought were unheard of in Uganda! After doing dishes, we got really really bored. This was the first time that I’ve been utterly bored to the point of restlessness and the others were feeling the same. I think that means we have made ourselves so comfortable here that we are able to relax and get bored with the place. So we went to the Brovad where Jen and Chandra made a CD for Nasser and I did crossword puzzles.
Friday June 30
Last practicum day! Wow, it’s over already. First I found Joseph and gave him his presents. Then Chandra, Bonnie (hospital social worker and Chandra’s supervisor) and I went around the hospital taking some pictures. Then I went to the office when Charles arrived to open it. We just found out that Bonnie expected us to each write a final report so I had time to do that. Then Timothy came and we talked about what I had learned and what things I will take back with me to Canada. He also talked about ways in which they could use help if I was ever able to fundraise any money. I think I will use some of Auntie Susan and Auntie Trudie’s money to buy tools and materials for the graduates of the vocational school so that they can actually work once they are out of school. If anyone is interested in supporting the school, there are lots of things that they need money for. For example, they can’t afford to pay their water bills so they want to put pit toilets in which is pretty much commonplace for schools here. As well they want to get solar power so that the computers can run even when there is no power.
While I was talking to Timothy and answering his questions I realized that I have really learned a lot of useful information and that my experiences, however boring they might have seemed at the time, have become very insightful and will be useful to myself and my work back in Canada. Maybe I will post my final report to explain some of the things I felt I have learned from being with USDC.
Saturday July 1st/Sunday July 2nd
Happy Canada Day! I spent the weekend in Kampala again. My intention was to visit Carli but unfortunately Charles got summoned to work and because he was my ride, I went with him and wasn’t able to hook up with Carli after all. Not too much happened this weekend. I didn’t get sick! But it was a close call because when we were at a Chinese restaurant I got a bad water. We watched the server open the bottles like they normally do but when I tasted it, something was wrong. So after a few more sips I had Charles taste it and he confirmed it was bad. So he checked the bottom of the bottle and there was a small puncture hole where someone had injected tap water. Scary! So I thought for sure I was going to get sick again. Especially when I got back to Backpacker’s hostel and bought a water…I took a sip and thought, ya know what I’d better check the bottle just out of curiosity. Well it had a puncture in it too! AAAHHH! They are out to get me. Best sweet corn soup ever at the Chinese food place by the way.
Walking through Kampala at night is very difficult and kind of exciting. It was especially bad because of football (soccer) World Cup. It is very very big here. Because most people don’t have their own televisions, they often gather at cafes or outside of stores to watch the game through the window. In Kampala there was one big huge screen on one of the main streets so the sidewalks were full of people and boda drivers and people sitting in their cars like at a drive-in movie theatre. So there were hundreds of people on the streets and vehicles going every which way. The sidewalks are full of vendors and pedestrians so we had to pass on the street which was dangerous because of the boda drivers and taxi drivers. I even got nudged in the back by the side mirror of a taxi! How rude!
I also got to see the Buganda King drive by in his speedy motorcade. That was fun. My ride home in the matatu taxi was a lot more comfortable than usual. This taxi had cushiony seats but it cost 1000 shillings more…definitely worth it. And the driver was so fast that we got home in record time. My eyes were closed most of the way and I was so thankful I was not sitting in front!
Oh and I have a clan name. Nasser has given me the name Namatovu of the Kob clan.
June 23 - 25 (erin)
Friday, June 23
Carli left for Kampala in the morning so I “pushed her off” as they say. Then I went on one last outreach with Timothy, luckily it was in Masaka. We went to a school to check up on a boy that was getting his school fees sponsored by USDC. What a strange school. There were boys guarding the entrance which was a big gate locked with a chain. We had to enter by ducking through a small door in the gate. There was only one teacher in sight and no one knew where the headmaster was. The students were all milling about, some still in their dorms. Weird. Anyway, the boy we met with was very friendly and had a good spirit. He has a problem with his legs and cannot walk but he gets around quite well by crawling. He was probably 15 or so and he had knee pads on his knees and used flip flops on his hands. He had a wheelchair to get to and from school.
The wheelchairs here are definitely worth describing. They are fashioned with bicycle parts and there are many people around town with them. There are two wheels attached to the sides of the chair and one in front. The pedals and chain are used as a hand crank to turn the wheels and the seat is usually just hard wood or sometimes a plastic chair attached to wood pieces (no cushion). There are a lot of people with very visible and very severe physical disabilities but from what I’ve noticed is that they are not discriminated against in schools or in town. Perhaps I have just not been here long enough or been in the right place to see negative attitudes. It’s probably worse in the villages where children don’t get to go to school because there is only enough $ to send able-bodied kids to school. Some people with misformed legs and feet get around by wrapping their leg around a big sturdy stick and using it as a type of crutch. Quite amazing how people get by.
The previous day, Carli and I had bought enough cinnamon buns for all the students at the vocational school and so on Friday I bought 70 sodas and we took them to the school along with some clothes we were donating. The plan was to discreetly drop the stuff off as a surprise but Timothy wanted to make a big production out of it. He gathered all the students and we all ate and drank together and they said a big thank you to Carli and I. He even made me say something. Why do people continually force me to speak in front of large groups? Is it some form of Ugandan torture? Anyway, it ended up being a nice time and they said they were very happy. Then they distributed the clothes to the girls and some pencils and pencil crayons one by one, by one, by one…
After, I had posho and beans with the staff and then did more errands in town with USDC. Finally I got home! I really felt like I needed some exercise and it was a really nice day after so much rain so Jen and I played badminton in the front until the birdie got stuck on the roof and it killed our fun. When Chandra got home we got ready to go for dinner at Chris and Nora’s (bank manager). Junior dropped by to charge his phone as there is no power in Tekera and Jen’s pal Richard also stopped by (he has the worst timing really) and so they two boys walked us to our dinner destination.
Oh my goodness, dinner was so fantastic. There were so many dishes that there was no room on the table for our plates! It is more food than we even have at our Christmas dinners. And the food actually resembled things that we eat at home including sauces with spices and everything! It was so good. Afterwards, Chandra and Jen went to the Tropic Inn for another exciting night of dancing. I had an evening to myself…sort of. Basically all I did was go to bed. But some nights I am just so excited to sleep!
Saturday, June 24
I set off early to Kampala all by myself. I’m getting very brave. I walked into town to the taxi park. I wanted to board a coaster (medium sized bus) but they were all empty and since they don’t leave until they are full I might have been sitting there for awhile. The taxi recruiter people convinced me there was room on the matatu that was just leaving. Well there wasn’t really room but I squished in anyway. I was stuck between two seats that were different sizes so my body was all twisted up. Most uncomfortable two hours ever. Dr. Carole come fix me! But otherwise the ride was rather uneventful…which for me is a good thing…I’m not complaining.
The taxi park in Kampala however, is another story. What I didn’t know is that the matatu pulls into this huge parking lot and squishes it’s way into a line of other matatus…so we’re amidst (no exaggeration) a hundred identical looking taxis. When I stepped out I didn’t know what to do or which direction to go but I was afraid to stop and look lost so I just kept walking and pretended to look like I knew where I was going. Somehow I made my way out to the street. I was still too afraid of stopping for fear of my bag being stolen so I kept walking. Eventually I realized I would have to cross a street which in Kampala, is no easy feat and it’s very dangerous (just ask Carli). But I figured it would be safest to get to the gas station so I just tried to walk when others walked. There are absolutely no rules of the road here, it’s just best to not look really. Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way.
While I was waiting at the petrol station for Charles to pick me up it started to rain, actually it was just a drizzle, but oh how the people ran! It was quite funny, the entire gas station was filled with people, even where the pumps were. A guard had to clear the way to let a car get gas. So there were some guys that came and stood next to me under the overhang. Two of them looked suspicious and I’m pretty sure that when I bent over they opened one of the pockets of my bag and stole my MP3 player as I discovered it missing later on. That was annoying, but here you learn that things are just things and there’s much more important things to be upset over. And you learn what to do and what not to do in Kampala pretty quickly!
The rest of the day was busy doing stuff for USDC. Taking the truck into the repair shop, taking a computer part to head office, photocopying etc. We taxi’d around in different matatus so it was kind of fun. We even saw a female matatu conductor which is not only rare but basically unheard of. Earlier on in the week I saw the only female taxi driver in Masaka as well which is a really big deal because women don’t often drive in Masaka. Come to think of it I’ve never seen a female taxi driver in Vancouver.
I went to Shoprite to buy some groceries for me and the girls. We even had a boda driver get contact solution from another branch to bring to us because they had run out. What service. You wouldn’t see that happen at home for sure. And I saw President Musevni drive by in his motorcade. They don’t drive by slowly like they would for our Prime Minister or the Queen. They speed by with police cars in front and behind and you’re lucky if you catch a glimpse of him.
Sunday June 25
I arrived home in time to go with Jen and Chandra to visit our friend Louise’s family home. It was a long drive into cattle country in the West. Her mother is caring for 11 orphaned children most of whom are from Rwanda. A lot of her family members were slaughtered in the genocide. Louise is helping to build a new house to hold all the children because there are only two beds in the home they have. They make money through their cattle. We learned that they are breeding English cows (the black and white ones) with local cattle (brown with huge horns) to get the best of both breeds. The local cattle survive well in the heat eating dry grasses and the English cattle give more milk. So it was funny to see our black and white cows with huge horns on them!
Louise’s mother cooked us a freshly slaughtered chicken (which I luckily hadn’t met beforehand) and matooke. The local chickens are very tough and I felt like a real carnivore ripping it apart with my teeth. Only because I was starving and knew it would be a while before I would get other food that I was able to chew the bones clean. Never again. I swear I will become a vegetarian again when I get home to make up for all of this meat eating. At least the animals here are free range and don’t take hormones or antibiotics.
We left one of Mike’s soccer balls, some tennis balls and children’s toothbrushes for the kids. The ride home was torturous for me because I had a bad migraine. And Nasser only has one tape that he plays over and over and over…
“…I’m not an actor, I’m not a star…I don’t even have my own car;
But I’m still hoping that you will stay, that you will love me anyway…”
It’s growing on us. Chandra and I can sing along now. I will always remember Ben’s comment on the National Park trip: “How come when the music comes over to Africa, all the good stuff gets filtered out?”
Carli left for Kampala in the morning so I “pushed her off” as they say. Then I went on one last outreach with Timothy, luckily it was in Masaka. We went to a school to check up on a boy that was getting his school fees sponsored by USDC. What a strange school. There were boys guarding the entrance which was a big gate locked with a chain. We had to enter by ducking through a small door in the gate. There was only one teacher in sight and no one knew where the headmaster was. The students were all milling about, some still in their dorms. Weird. Anyway, the boy we met with was very friendly and had a good spirit. He has a problem with his legs and cannot walk but he gets around quite well by crawling. He was probably 15 or so and he had knee pads on his knees and used flip flops on his hands. He had a wheelchair to get to and from school.
The wheelchairs here are definitely worth describing. They are fashioned with bicycle parts and there are many people around town with them. There are two wheels attached to the sides of the chair and one in front. The pedals and chain are used as a hand crank to turn the wheels and the seat is usually just hard wood or sometimes a plastic chair attached to wood pieces (no cushion). There are a lot of people with very visible and very severe physical disabilities but from what I’ve noticed is that they are not discriminated against in schools or in town. Perhaps I have just not been here long enough or been in the right place to see negative attitudes. It’s probably worse in the villages where children don’t get to go to school because there is only enough $ to send able-bodied kids to school. Some people with misformed legs and feet get around by wrapping their leg around a big sturdy stick and using it as a type of crutch. Quite amazing how people get by.
The previous day, Carli and I had bought enough cinnamon buns for all the students at the vocational school and so on Friday I bought 70 sodas and we took them to the school along with some clothes we were donating. The plan was to discreetly drop the stuff off as a surprise but Timothy wanted to make a big production out of it. He gathered all the students and we all ate and drank together and they said a big thank you to Carli and I. He even made me say something. Why do people continually force me to speak in front of large groups? Is it some form of Ugandan torture? Anyway, it ended up being a nice time and they said they were very happy. Then they distributed the clothes to the girls and some pencils and pencil crayons one by one, by one, by one…
After, I had posho and beans with the staff and then did more errands in town with USDC. Finally I got home! I really felt like I needed some exercise and it was a really nice day after so much rain so Jen and I played badminton in the front until the birdie got stuck on the roof and it killed our fun. When Chandra got home we got ready to go for dinner at Chris and Nora’s (bank manager). Junior dropped by to charge his phone as there is no power in Tekera and Jen’s pal Richard also stopped by (he has the worst timing really) and so they two boys walked us to our dinner destination.
Oh my goodness, dinner was so fantastic. There were so many dishes that there was no room on the table for our plates! It is more food than we even have at our Christmas dinners. And the food actually resembled things that we eat at home including sauces with spices and everything! It was so good. Afterwards, Chandra and Jen went to the Tropic Inn for another exciting night of dancing. I had an evening to myself…sort of. Basically all I did was go to bed. But some nights I am just so excited to sleep!
Saturday, June 24
I set off early to Kampala all by myself. I’m getting very brave. I walked into town to the taxi park. I wanted to board a coaster (medium sized bus) but they were all empty and since they don’t leave until they are full I might have been sitting there for awhile. The taxi recruiter people convinced me there was room on the matatu that was just leaving. Well there wasn’t really room but I squished in anyway. I was stuck between two seats that were different sizes so my body was all twisted up. Most uncomfortable two hours ever. Dr. Carole come fix me! But otherwise the ride was rather uneventful…which for me is a good thing…I’m not complaining.
The taxi park in Kampala however, is another story. What I didn’t know is that the matatu pulls into this huge parking lot and squishes it’s way into a line of other matatus…so we’re amidst (no exaggeration) a hundred identical looking taxis. When I stepped out I didn’t know what to do or which direction to go but I was afraid to stop and look lost so I just kept walking and pretended to look like I knew where I was going. Somehow I made my way out to the street. I was still too afraid of stopping for fear of my bag being stolen so I kept walking. Eventually I realized I would have to cross a street which in Kampala, is no easy feat and it’s very dangerous (just ask Carli). But I figured it would be safest to get to the gas station so I just tried to walk when others walked. There are absolutely no rules of the road here, it’s just best to not look really. Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way.
While I was waiting at the petrol station for Charles to pick me up it started to rain, actually it was just a drizzle, but oh how the people ran! It was quite funny, the entire gas station was filled with people, even where the pumps were. A guard had to clear the way to let a car get gas. So there were some guys that came and stood next to me under the overhang. Two of them looked suspicious and I’m pretty sure that when I bent over they opened one of the pockets of my bag and stole my MP3 player as I discovered it missing later on. That was annoying, but here you learn that things are just things and there’s much more important things to be upset over. And you learn what to do and what not to do in Kampala pretty quickly!
The rest of the day was busy doing stuff for USDC. Taking the truck into the repair shop, taking a computer part to head office, photocopying etc. We taxi’d around in different matatus so it was kind of fun. We even saw a female matatu conductor which is not only rare but basically unheard of. Earlier on in the week I saw the only female taxi driver in Masaka as well which is a really big deal because women don’t often drive in Masaka. Come to think of it I’ve never seen a female taxi driver in Vancouver.
I went to Shoprite to buy some groceries for me and the girls. We even had a boda driver get contact solution from another branch to bring to us because they had run out. What service. You wouldn’t see that happen at home for sure. And I saw President Musevni drive by in his motorcade. They don’t drive by slowly like they would for our Prime Minister or the Queen. They speed by with police cars in front and behind and you’re lucky if you catch a glimpse of him.
Sunday June 25
I arrived home in time to go with Jen and Chandra to visit our friend Louise’s family home. It was a long drive into cattle country in the West. Her mother is caring for 11 orphaned children most of whom are from Rwanda. A lot of her family members were slaughtered in the genocide. Louise is helping to build a new house to hold all the children because there are only two beds in the home they have. They make money through their cattle. We learned that they are breeding English cows (the black and white ones) with local cattle (brown with huge horns) to get the best of both breeds. The local cattle survive well in the heat eating dry grasses and the English cattle give more milk. So it was funny to see our black and white cows with huge horns on them!
Louise’s mother cooked us a freshly slaughtered chicken (which I luckily hadn’t met beforehand) and matooke. The local chickens are very tough and I felt like a real carnivore ripping it apart with my teeth. Only because I was starving and knew it would be a while before I would get other food that I was able to chew the bones clean. Never again. I swear I will become a vegetarian again when I get home to make up for all of this meat eating. At least the animals here are free range and don’t take hormones or antibiotics.
We left one of Mike’s soccer balls, some tennis balls and children’s toothbrushes for the kids. The ride home was torturous for me because I had a bad migraine. And Nasser only has one tape that he plays over and over and over…
“…I’m not an actor, I’m not a star…I don’t even have my own car;
But I’m still hoping that you will stay, that you will love me anyway…”
It’s growing on us. Chandra and I can sing along now. I will always remember Ben’s comment on the National Park trip: “How come when the music comes over to Africa, all the good stuff gets filtered out?”
June 19 - 22 (erin)
Monday, June 19
This week, Carli and I are devoting our time to work at the vocational school for young adults with disabilities (MVRC). So we spent Monday planning our activities. It is really difficult to get the group to talk so we thought of giving them exercise books with questions in them and having them write instead. It worked so well that we wished we had thought of it earlier on in the practicum and I could have spent so much more time with them instead of torturing myself on the outreaches. This first day, we had them write facts about themselves, what makes them happy and sad, what they like about themselves, what they want to do when they graduate, what they would like to learn and what they are thankful for. Carli and I had books ourselves too and they liked that we did it with them. This first day, we didn’t ask them to share because we could tell that things they were writing were personal. When they were done we went to watch the football game (the World Cup is huge here) but some kids were watching Scorpion King. Honestly watching that movie, I was so embarrassed to be from the same part of the world in which that movie was made. So bad.
Tuesday, June 20
Today we did more planning for our group and then ventured into town after waiting some time for the monsoon to stop. For some reason we felt really drained, I think physically and emotionally, so our walk was more difficult than usual. We were really grumpy. Between Carli’s fits of rage and my telling the boda boda drivers to leave us alone, we weren’t in the mood, we probably looked a miserable pair. Plus because it had rained all morning and Carli is bad at pre-planning, she wore her flipflops which splashed red mud all up the back of her beige pants (hence the fits of rage). She also just generally had trouble walking because the dirt here becomes so slippery when wet. She almost ended up on her butt a couple of times. We decided after visiting the market that if our bag of vegetables broke which it was about to, we would just sit on the curb and cry.
Later we went up to the office to see what was happening there. Carli typed up my proposal for me and I typed up some stuff in Luganda from the parent support group meetings. At least I hope that’s what it was and not some terrorist propoganda or something. I would never have known. In the evening we went to the school and we had entered more questions in their books. How they felt about leaving the school, how to keep in contact with school friends and we had them each write something nice about each other in each other’s books (good endings counselling Bob??).
Wednesday, June 21
It rained all morning again and into the afternoon. It was also another busy day. Carli and I first went to the secondary school in Kitengeesa that we were originally going to spend time at. I decided to not go on the learning retreat with USDC next week because I thought even though it would be nice to have time away I’d probably be bored to death (and really, bad things always happen to me when I go away). I had felt bad that we had disappointed Dan and the teachers at the school so I wanted to offer to come next week by myself. We also had school supplies to deliver, sort of as a peace offering. Well the drive into Kitengeesa was fun times. We were driving on a river of chocolate milk! It reminded me of the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. We tried to convince Nasser that we didn’t think we should continue but he assured us it was okay as he held a muffin in one hand and a bag of milk in the other and the rain poured down like nothing else. Well, we thought, “What could go wrong?” Carli really thought that this would be the end of us and so we figured that at least we’d die happy in a chocolate milk river.
It’s okay, we made it to the school. The headmaster and Dan were very thrilled with the school supplies. I told Dan that my aunt was also a librarian and that she had donated it all. He says thank you Auntie Jutta! When we were sitting in the library the rain was coming down so hard we thought the place would float away. On the way home Nasser wanted us to visit his mother so that was nice. She gave us eggs.
We spent some time searching Masaka for magazines but only found one and settled for some newspapers. We then hunkered down at the Brovad on the comfy couches and cut out pictures and words for the next project at the school. We had them make collages in their books and also gave them pencil crayons to draw and colour. They seemed to really enjoy it and time flew by. That evening Nasser wanted us to visit him at his home and I thought it would be nice to see his wife and daughter…well…that’s not exactly what happened. We went to his wife’s store to say hi and pick up his brother and then we went to their “bachelor pad” to watch music videos. That was weird.
Thursday, June 22
I spent the morning preparing the journals for the school. We had taken pictures of everyone individually and as a group and pasted them in the front cover. We also put in our email and addresses for them to contact us. We gave them each a postcard from home (thanks ma), a Douglas College pen and a Canada pencil. Then we put the whole package in an envelope so it was like a present. Unfortunately when we got to the school they were in class because power had gone out earlier and now was back on. They didn’t want to lose out on computer time so we just said a quick goodbye and ran to catch Charles before he left. We then invited him and Berna to the Tropic Inn for a drink as it was Carli’s last night in Masaka.
So we set off to the Inn after dinner and had a nice time. Berna gave Carli a pretty necklace as a goodbye present. We also had our special drink, the local Waragi (gin) and sprite. Carli absolutely refused to ride Charles’ motorcycle home so we had to walk in the dark…which we had already promised not to do by ourselves again…but no phantom ghost cows followed us this time. After dropping Berna, Charles drove by to make sure we made it safely.
This week, Carli and I are devoting our time to work at the vocational school for young adults with disabilities (MVRC). So we spent Monday planning our activities. It is really difficult to get the group to talk so we thought of giving them exercise books with questions in them and having them write instead. It worked so well that we wished we had thought of it earlier on in the practicum and I could have spent so much more time with them instead of torturing myself on the outreaches. This first day, we had them write facts about themselves, what makes them happy and sad, what they like about themselves, what they want to do when they graduate, what they would like to learn and what they are thankful for. Carli and I had books ourselves too and they liked that we did it with them. This first day, we didn’t ask them to share because we could tell that things they were writing were personal. When they were done we went to watch the football game (the World Cup is huge here) but some kids were watching Scorpion King. Honestly watching that movie, I was so embarrassed to be from the same part of the world in which that movie was made. So bad.
Tuesday, June 20
Today we did more planning for our group and then ventured into town after waiting some time for the monsoon to stop. For some reason we felt really drained, I think physically and emotionally, so our walk was more difficult than usual. We were really grumpy. Between Carli’s fits of rage and my telling the boda boda drivers to leave us alone, we weren’t in the mood, we probably looked a miserable pair. Plus because it had rained all morning and Carli is bad at pre-planning, she wore her flipflops which splashed red mud all up the back of her beige pants (hence the fits of rage). She also just generally had trouble walking because the dirt here becomes so slippery when wet. She almost ended up on her butt a couple of times. We decided after visiting the market that if our bag of vegetables broke which it was about to, we would just sit on the curb and cry.
Later we went up to the office to see what was happening there. Carli typed up my proposal for me and I typed up some stuff in Luganda from the parent support group meetings. At least I hope that’s what it was and not some terrorist propoganda or something. I would never have known. In the evening we went to the school and we had entered more questions in their books. How they felt about leaving the school, how to keep in contact with school friends and we had them each write something nice about each other in each other’s books (good endings counselling Bob??).
Wednesday, June 21
It rained all morning again and into the afternoon. It was also another busy day. Carli and I first went to the secondary school in Kitengeesa that we were originally going to spend time at. I decided to not go on the learning retreat with USDC next week because I thought even though it would be nice to have time away I’d probably be bored to death (and really, bad things always happen to me when I go away). I had felt bad that we had disappointed Dan and the teachers at the school so I wanted to offer to come next week by myself. We also had school supplies to deliver, sort of as a peace offering. Well the drive into Kitengeesa was fun times. We were driving on a river of chocolate milk! It reminded me of the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. We tried to convince Nasser that we didn’t think we should continue but he assured us it was okay as he held a muffin in one hand and a bag of milk in the other and the rain poured down like nothing else. Well, we thought, “What could go wrong?” Carli really thought that this would be the end of us and so we figured that at least we’d die happy in a chocolate milk river.
It’s okay, we made it to the school. The headmaster and Dan were very thrilled with the school supplies. I told Dan that my aunt was also a librarian and that she had donated it all. He says thank you Auntie Jutta! When we were sitting in the library the rain was coming down so hard we thought the place would float away. On the way home Nasser wanted us to visit his mother so that was nice. She gave us eggs.
We spent some time searching Masaka for magazines but only found one and settled for some newspapers. We then hunkered down at the Brovad on the comfy couches and cut out pictures and words for the next project at the school. We had them make collages in their books and also gave them pencil crayons to draw and colour. They seemed to really enjoy it and time flew by. That evening Nasser wanted us to visit him at his home and I thought it would be nice to see his wife and daughter…well…that’s not exactly what happened. We went to his wife’s store to say hi and pick up his brother and then we went to their “bachelor pad” to watch music videos. That was weird.
Thursday, June 22
I spent the morning preparing the journals for the school. We had taken pictures of everyone individually and as a group and pasted them in the front cover. We also put in our email and addresses for them to contact us. We gave them each a postcard from home (thanks ma), a Douglas College pen and a Canada pencil. Then we put the whole package in an envelope so it was like a present. Unfortunately when we got to the school they were in class because power had gone out earlier and now was back on. They didn’t want to lose out on computer time so we just said a quick goodbye and ran to catch Charles before he left. We then invited him and Berna to the Tropic Inn for a drink as it was Carli’s last night in Masaka.
So we set off to the Inn after dinner and had a nice time. Berna gave Carli a pretty necklace as a goodbye present. We also had our special drink, the local Waragi (gin) and sprite. Carli absolutely refused to ride Charles’ motorcycle home so we had to walk in the dark…which we had already promised not to do by ourselves again…but no phantom ghost cows followed us this time. After dropping Berna, Charles drove by to make sure we made it safely.
June 13 - 18 (erin)
While we were away at the National Park, both Einer and Carli got more sick. Einer has now been flown to Nairobi hospital to get treatment for pneumonia and possibly typhoid. We haven’t heard from him yet but hope he is getting good treatment and is recuperating. Nairobi is better equipped to do bloodwork and other tests. Carli had to go to Kampala to get more treatment for her malaria. At the national park, Catrin met an American doctor studying malaria in Kampala and she told Carli to go to her clinic to get more tests as sometimes clinics here misdiagnose or their test equipment isn’t clean. So she went. Her malaria was confirmed but what happened was that she had been mistreated the first time she got malaria. She had been given the strongest medication that they normally don’t use anymore so her subsequent episodes have not been cured because the other medications aren’t as strong. Therefore the malaria has never gone away! No wonder she’s been sick so long. So she got one more “super injection” and hopefully that will be all of her sickness for the rest of her trip. She has extended her stay in Uganda so that she has more time to enjoy herself being healthy and she can fly home with us.
Tuesday, I went back on another outreach with USDC. This time it was in Sembabule and this two hour drive is really brutal. You cannot understand how bad these roads are unless you actually experience them. It’s really unimaginable that this was a main road. It is literally 4x4ing all the way. Sometimes we were so far down a crevice that it felt like we were driving on 2 wheels. Other than that, not too much exciting happened on this day. It was the same presentations as last week so I mostly sat in the truck and tried to comfort myself by saying, “at least I’m sitting in a truck in Africa.”
This was Catrin and Ben’s last night in Masaka and boy were they glad to get out of here and away from the Curse! We were sad to see them go because they were really fun and we enjoyed having new people to talk to. I think they are the only other muzungus besides those we live with that are not fanatical religious missionaries. I hope the rest of their stay in Kampala goes well.
Carli came home from Kampala on Wednesday night and I was glad to see her. But I was also happy that she had made some new friends in Kampala and was able to have some fun times. I can’t remember what else happened on Wednesday or on Thursday. Must have either been really uneventful or so traumatic it’s been blocked out of my memory.
Friday, June 16, however was more memorable although not for good reason. I had woken up with a migraine and taken one of my precious pills from home. Then Carli and I went back to Sembabule with USDC. I thought it was going to be more school sensitization and thought it would be fun for her to see all the kids and feel like a movie star. Anyway, those terrible roads combined with my medication made me very ill. It was the worst 2 hour drive of my life. When we arrived at the centre I ran to the bathroom (or pit toilet) in case I had to throw up. But I think the bathroom conditions were not conducive to throwing up so I just suffered internally. So I lay in the backseat of the truck praying to feel better. Even my magical ginger wasn’t working this time. Meanwhile poor Carli was also suffering through a parent support group meeting all in Luganda of course. When it was break time her and Bernadette came out and we went for lunch. Soooo funny….we DROVE across the street to the restaurant….ahhh you can only laugh! I think I have it figured out why nobody walks here…kids have to walk so far to get to school, sometimes 2 or more hours and people walk so far to fetch water etc. that when they are adults, they take advantage of vehicles as much as possible. That’s my explanation anyway.
After lunch Carli didn’t go back in to the meeting so we sat in the truck bored as heck. I finally suggested that we go for a walk in town (this was pretty much a one street town so it took less than 5 minutes). It was so hot that we felt like we were in a desert in some kind of western movie. Carli managed to find some nice shoes that she had seen in Masaka and had wanted. Then we just counted the minutes until it was time to go. Such a long day.
The ride home was just as awful as the way there and I became very nauseous again. And my poor neck was saying, “what are you doing to me???” Everyone was quiet on the way home so I think everyone was feeling ill or at least really tired. We have declared this the worst day in practicum history. When we got home we dragged ourselves to the Brovad and forced ourselves to eat despite our sickness. Creepy men at the bar were staring at us and I kind of hoped that it was because we looked like we were dying. I took one of Jen’s muscle relaxants and went to bed really early. Chandra and Jen met up with the DFCU bank manager and his wife (Chris and Nora) for another night of Tropic Inn dancing.
This weekend was originally planned for Lake Mburo to see the zebras but ended up that none of us really wanted to go. We were all tired and full of adventures and sickness from the week before. So I went to Lake Nabugabo and spent the whole night throwing up again. I thought that would be a fun way to spend the weekend. Now I am really scared to eat anything! It wasn’t as bad as Erin’s disease but it was still unpleasant and makes me want to come home now! After some recuperation time on Sunday we went out for dinner with Louise and some of her friends. We just had to laugh (to avoid crying) when we were told (despite what the menu said) that there was no rice, no potatoes, no veggie samosas…and when Carli got her “veggie sandwich” it consisted of just peas!! Ha ha, her favourite ;p It became another early night for Carli and Erin while the party animals, Chandra and Jen lived it up at a Karaoke bar.
Tuesday, I went back on another outreach with USDC. This time it was in Sembabule and this two hour drive is really brutal. You cannot understand how bad these roads are unless you actually experience them. It’s really unimaginable that this was a main road. It is literally 4x4ing all the way. Sometimes we were so far down a crevice that it felt like we were driving on 2 wheels. Other than that, not too much exciting happened on this day. It was the same presentations as last week so I mostly sat in the truck and tried to comfort myself by saying, “at least I’m sitting in a truck in Africa.”
This was Catrin and Ben’s last night in Masaka and boy were they glad to get out of here and away from the Curse! We were sad to see them go because they were really fun and we enjoyed having new people to talk to. I think they are the only other muzungus besides those we live with that are not fanatical religious missionaries. I hope the rest of their stay in Kampala goes well.
Carli came home from Kampala on Wednesday night and I was glad to see her. But I was also happy that she had made some new friends in Kampala and was able to have some fun times. I can’t remember what else happened on Wednesday or on Thursday. Must have either been really uneventful or so traumatic it’s been blocked out of my memory.
Friday, June 16, however was more memorable although not for good reason. I had woken up with a migraine and taken one of my precious pills from home. Then Carli and I went back to Sembabule with USDC. I thought it was going to be more school sensitization and thought it would be fun for her to see all the kids and feel like a movie star. Anyway, those terrible roads combined with my medication made me very ill. It was the worst 2 hour drive of my life. When we arrived at the centre I ran to the bathroom (or pit toilet) in case I had to throw up. But I think the bathroom conditions were not conducive to throwing up so I just suffered internally. So I lay in the backseat of the truck praying to feel better. Even my magical ginger wasn’t working this time. Meanwhile poor Carli was also suffering through a parent support group meeting all in Luganda of course. When it was break time her and Bernadette came out and we went for lunch. Soooo funny….we DROVE across the street to the restaurant….ahhh you can only laugh! I think I have it figured out why nobody walks here…kids have to walk so far to get to school, sometimes 2 or more hours and people walk so far to fetch water etc. that when they are adults, they take advantage of vehicles as much as possible. That’s my explanation anyway.
After lunch Carli didn’t go back in to the meeting so we sat in the truck bored as heck. I finally suggested that we go for a walk in town (this was pretty much a one street town so it took less than 5 minutes). It was so hot that we felt like we were in a desert in some kind of western movie. Carli managed to find some nice shoes that she had seen in Masaka and had wanted. Then we just counted the minutes until it was time to go. Such a long day.
The ride home was just as awful as the way there and I became very nauseous again. And my poor neck was saying, “what are you doing to me???” Everyone was quiet on the way home so I think everyone was feeling ill or at least really tired. We have declared this the worst day in practicum history. When we got home we dragged ourselves to the Brovad and forced ourselves to eat despite our sickness. Creepy men at the bar were staring at us and I kind of hoped that it was because we looked like we were dying. I took one of Jen’s muscle relaxants and went to bed really early. Chandra and Jen met up with the DFCU bank manager and his wife (Chris and Nora) for another night of Tropic Inn dancing.
This weekend was originally planned for Lake Mburo to see the zebras but ended up that none of us really wanted to go. We were all tired and full of adventures and sickness from the week before. So I went to Lake Nabugabo and spent the whole night throwing up again. I thought that would be a fun way to spend the weekend. Now I am really scared to eat anything! It wasn’t as bad as Erin’s disease but it was still unpleasant and makes me want to come home now! After some recuperation time on Sunday we went out for dinner with Louise and some of her friends. We just had to laugh (to avoid crying) when we were told (despite what the menu said) that there was no rice, no potatoes, no veggie samosas…and when Carli got her “veggie sandwich” it consisted of just peas!! Ha ha, her favourite ;p It became another early night for Carli and Erin while the party animals, Chandra and Jen lived it up at a Karaoke bar.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Monday June 12, 2am (Queen Elizabeth National Park) - erin
My Night of Horror:
(this is directly transcribed from my journal as the night enfolded ? think Blair Witch Project)
The scariest thing in the world just happened. I woke up to what I thought was a lion?s roar, which isn?t as far fetched as it sounds because we were told they roam around here at night as well as hippos which are even more dangerous than lions. We didn?t know this last night and were on our way for a walk up to check out the fancy lodge when Chandra jokingly asked a hostel staff if we?d get attacked by a hippo. She told us very seriously that we shouldn?t walk and that we do so at our own risk! Gee whiz, you?d think there?d be some warnings somewhere. So tonight we ate dinner down the road but it took so long that it was 8:30 by the time we were done. We were told it was still early enough to be safe but it was still a scary walk.
Anyway, this animal noise wakes me up at 1:30am and I realize I have to pee really badly. I was contemplating going to the bathroom which is right next door and really wishing there was a window at the front of our room when I heard the most awful sound. I thought it was a woman screaming and that she was being eaten by a lion (no joke). My heart stopped, I have never been so afraid in my life. By the second scream I realized it was not human but was probably some kind of animal being eaten by a lion. Then the third scream, I went to the window at the back of the room and Chandra finally wakes up and warns me to not open the door. Well, no chance of that! We figure it?s probably just a normal animal noise but it was blood curdling to us. It happened one more time, louder and longer and then it stopped. But then another sound started that is actually still continuing. It almost sounds like a human breathing really loud and wheezy. Then all of a sudden there was another really loud scary weird noise.
Then there was some weird bird noise that was kind of like a constant woodpecker pecking, that went on for a few minutes and another bird took over constantly with a strange chirp for another couple minutes that felt like forever. It?s happening again now. Sounds to me like a warning call. There are some hippo grunts too that sound really close. The snoring grunt has finally stopped but every once in a while there?s a rustling or other noise that scares me. I am so relieved that it wasn?t a human scream that I feel like crying and I?m a bit nauseous. I was scared to eat my banana but Chandra assured me that lions do not care about bananas. I sure wish we were given some protocol about what to do if a lion comes to our door! And why would there not be a window by the door for us to see if it is safe! So stupid! I don?t know how Chandra is able to get back to sleep, I?m still scared and keep hearing noises outside. There?s birds here that chirp all night, they can?t sleep either! It?s not just me. I will try to think happy thoughts.
Okay, so I?m not so good at the happy thoughts thing, my leg just went numb and I?m wondering how I?m going to run if I need to. And then I pictured our door popping open and me jumping into Chandra?s bed. I?m never getting back to sleep. Plus our cell phones are now on emergency only?isn?t this an emergency? But who would we call anyway? We could text Carli and Jen our last requests?please tell our families we love them. Ok, I gotta stop. I think I need to go look out the window because there?s crackling in the bushes. I take back the thought of it being cool to see a male lion.
Okay good news is I think the rustling is actually just water dripping from the rain earlier, well that?s what I?m telling myself. The interesting thing about here is that the sky stays fairly light out. I just knocked over my water bottle on the cement floor waking Chandra. Seriously, how can she sleep? The warning bird has started again and I still hear hippos. The grunting noise has started again too. Okay, I?m less scared?there?s a possibility of me lying down again but I?m not putting my earplugs back in. I?m so glad I?m not Nasser and Chris sleeping in the van! Reminds me of when Nick and I slept in the car on Salt Spring Island and I swore something was rustling in the bushes and walking back and forth behind the car. Great I?ve scared myself again. Next to tonight, that was my scariest moment. Ok animals, go to sleep now!
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts?
(this is directly transcribed from my journal as the night enfolded ? think Blair Witch Project)
The scariest thing in the world just happened. I woke up to what I thought was a lion?s roar, which isn?t as far fetched as it sounds because we were told they roam around here at night as well as hippos which are even more dangerous than lions. We didn?t know this last night and were on our way for a walk up to check out the fancy lodge when Chandra jokingly asked a hostel staff if we?d get attacked by a hippo. She told us very seriously that we shouldn?t walk and that we do so at our own risk! Gee whiz, you?d think there?d be some warnings somewhere. So tonight we ate dinner down the road but it took so long that it was 8:30 by the time we were done. We were told it was still early enough to be safe but it was still a scary walk.
Anyway, this animal noise wakes me up at 1:30am and I realize I have to pee really badly. I was contemplating going to the bathroom which is right next door and really wishing there was a window at the front of our room when I heard the most awful sound. I thought it was a woman screaming and that she was being eaten by a lion (no joke). My heart stopped, I have never been so afraid in my life. By the second scream I realized it was not human but was probably some kind of animal being eaten by a lion. Then the third scream, I went to the window at the back of the room and Chandra finally wakes up and warns me to not open the door. Well, no chance of that! We figure it?s probably just a normal animal noise but it was blood curdling to us. It happened one more time, louder and longer and then it stopped. But then another sound started that is actually still continuing. It almost sounds like a human breathing really loud and wheezy. Then all of a sudden there was another really loud scary weird noise.
Then there was some weird bird noise that was kind of like a constant woodpecker pecking, that went on for a few minutes and another bird took over constantly with a strange chirp for another couple minutes that felt like forever. It?s happening again now. Sounds to me like a warning call. There are some hippo grunts too that sound really close. The snoring grunt has finally stopped but every once in a while there?s a rustling or other noise that scares me. I am so relieved that it wasn?t a human scream that I feel like crying and I?m a bit nauseous. I was scared to eat my banana but Chandra assured me that lions do not care about bananas. I sure wish we were given some protocol about what to do if a lion comes to our door! And why would there not be a window by the door for us to see if it is safe! So stupid! I don?t know how Chandra is able to get back to sleep, I?m still scared and keep hearing noises outside. There?s birds here that chirp all night, they can?t sleep either! It?s not just me. I will try to think happy thoughts.
Okay, so I?m not so good at the happy thoughts thing, my leg just went numb and I?m wondering how I?m going to run if I need to. And then I pictured our door popping open and me jumping into Chandra?s bed. I?m never getting back to sleep. Plus our cell phones are now on emergency only?isn?t this an emergency? But who would we call anyway? We could text Carli and Jen our last requests?please tell our families we love them. Ok, I gotta stop. I think I need to go look out the window because there?s crackling in the bushes. I take back the thought of it being cool to see a male lion.
Okay good news is I think the rustling is actually just water dripping from the rain earlier, well that?s what I?m telling myself. The interesting thing about here is that the sky stays fairly light out. I just knocked over my water bottle on the cement floor waking Chandra. Seriously, how can she sleep? The warning bird has started again and I still hear hippos. The grunting noise has started again too. Okay, I?m less scared?there?s a possibility of me lying down again but I?m not putting my earplugs back in. I?m so glad I?m not Nasser and Chris sleeping in the van! Reminds me of when Nick and I slept in the car on Salt Spring Island and I swore something was rustling in the bushes and walking back and forth behind the car. Great I?ve scared myself again. Next to tonight, that was my scariest moment. Ok animals, go to sleep now!
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts?
Queen Elizabeth National Park - "What could possibly go wrong?" (Chandra)
Alright, so I'm sure I left you wondering what happened during our trip to the NP, well don't worry nobody was trampled by an elephant or attacked by a hippo. Really it was a good trip, we just had a few minor set backs. Before I begin let me give you a few words of advice, just in case you, or someone you know is planning a trip to a national park here in Uganda or anywhere on the continent of Africa.
Advice #1 - DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.
Advice #2 - DO NOT RENT A MINI VAN THINKING IT WILL WORK WELL AS A SAFARI VEHICLE.
Advice #3 - FULLY INSPECT ALL ASPECTS OF THE VEHICLE BEFORE LEAVING ALL MAJOR CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES BEHIND.
With those words of advice, let me begin...
When I left you last Catrine and Ben had arrived at our place at 10am sharp as was arranged. Poor Catrine and Ben had spent the previous night sleeping on the cement floor in Jen's room. They had changed hotels from The Brovad to The Laston (just around the corner) and when they got to the Laston later the previous night, the gate was locked and no one was around to let them in.( I guess the guard was passed out from drinking too much alcohol and he didn't hear them banging on the gate.) They had paid for a hotel room but ended up sleeping on our floor. I actually had no idea they had done so until I woke up early in the morning to find them exiting Jen's room and crossing our room headed for the door. I was so confused, I asked them where they had come from. Anyway, they went to the Laston, fought with the manager and got all of their money back. There trip here has definitly not been ideal.
So we headed out and along our way we filled up with gas, dropped Ida off with her mother and chatted about all the different animals we were going to see.
Our first night we were staying in Ishasha. It is in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and is known mainly for it's lions. Normally lions do not climb trees but in Ishasha they do. Nobody really knows why, but they think it has something to do with biting ants. I guess the lions learned over time that if they slept in the trees the ants would not bite them. Pretty smart lions. Anyway, I digress.
Just before we reached the road to Ishasha we saw our first animal. There was a baboon on the side of the road. We were all very excited so Nasser stopped the van for us so we could take pictures. I guess Nasser thought it would be neet to have the baboon come even closer so he decided to feed it a banana. The baboon jumped right up to Nasser's open window and took the banana right out of his hand. Okay, kind of cool I guess. So Nasser got a little more brave and the next thing we know the baboon was inside the van! It had come right in through Nasser's window and was on his lap! Really it only wanted more bananas, but we all started to freak out. You could hear us all in the back yelling, "get it out of the car!" "Nasser what are you doing!" Mind you, I think that Nasser was probably more surprised and scared than the rest of us, but I'll admit I did not want that baboon thinking there was food for it in the back of the van. Luckily, he got it out by starting to drive a bit which startled it and it jumped out with i's banana.
I wish I had gotten a picture of it. Looking back it was kind of funny, but I think we were all so shocked no one thought to get their camera out to take a picture of the baboon on Nasser's lap. I'm glad we moved on after that as another baboon was on the road looking at us and he was twice as big as the one that had come in through the van window.
After this excitiment we saw other animals, we saw Kobs, buffalo, other deer like animals, and elephants off in the distance, but no other animals up close and personal like the baboons.
Once we reached the road to take us to Ishasha we realized that the minivan was not the best vehicle to have brought. I don't know if I have explained to you the road situation here in Uganda, they are horrible. There are very few roads that are paved, the others are simply dirt roads riddled with extreme pot holes made by the rain. The road to Ishasha was no different. The whole way, until we reached the ranger station where we were staying, the van was bottoming out and it seemed to take all of the van's energy to make it through the potholes and along the road.
By the time we got to Ishasha we were all VERY dirty. The mini van only had two windows in the back that opened and they didn't roll down to let in a lot of air, they were the kind that you just push out, so needless to say the van was more than a little stuffy and very hot. To help aleviate the heat we traveled down the dirt road with the sliding door open. At first Catrine held it open then I switched her places and held it open. When we stopped the whole inside of the van was covered with dirt as well as all of us. Erin told me that it looked like I had a really good tan, but really I was just covered in dust.
We made it to Ishasha however and as soon as we got there a ranger came up to us and told us that if we wanted to see the lions we should leave as soon as possible. So we paid for everything we needed to pay for and the ranger hoped into the minivan assuring us that it would be able to travel over the road he was taking us on and we went in search of lions. The minivan had the same problems it had on the road to Ishasha but somehow it made it to the tree where we saw about 7 lions taking an afternoon snooze.
It was a pretty cool sight. They were really close to us and although we all climbed out of the van to have a better look, no one really got very close. You don't want to disturb a content, sleeping lion. All of the lions were female except one, but he was still a cub so he didn't have the big mane on him like a full grown male lion would have. We stayed for about 1/2 an hour and then our guide said we should leave as they would be waking soon and getting themselves ready to hunt for their dinner. I know that I didn't want to be out when the lions were looking for something tasty to eat. We drove back to the ranger station nice and slow with the van bottoming out and the sides of the van getting scratched by the dense bushes that were overtaking the road.
We got back and unpacked our things, settled into our rooms, and then decided to see if we could rent a different vehicle to take us out on the game drive the next day as we were all worried that the van would not make it. We talked to the warden and he said we could take the truck but it would cost us 2500 shillings a kilometre. Kind of expensive but after much deliberating we agreed that it's better to pay the money and have peace of mind then get stranded in the middle of QENP surrounded by wild animals. So we ate our meal of pasta and sauce and went to bed dreaming of the different types of animals we would see the next day.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early and we all piled into the flatbed of the truck with our ranger Godfrey and our driver who both came equipped with rather large semi-automatic weapons. I guess it is always better to be prepared.
We saw a lot of the same animals we had seen off in the distance as we were driving to Ishasha, only this time much closer to us. The buffalo were very interested in us and tried to intimidate us with their stares, horns, and digging into the ground with their hooves. The coolest thing we saw though was a lone male elephant who was only 30 feet at the most from our truck.
It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. We were all so excited. We were grabbing at our cameras and telling Godfrey to stop the truck so we could get some good pictures. We were yelling, "stop the truck, stop the truck."But at the same time that we were yelling this Godfrey was yelling, "keep going, I fear, I fear!" What none of us had realized was that the elephant had turned to face us and was advancing, slowly but straight for us. Who knows what he would have done, but Godfrey was worried enough to make sure we didn't stay there too long, he's the ranger with the experience so as much as we would have like to stay and stare at the elephant longer, we moved on.
We also saw a couple of warthogs but they didn't stay still long enough for us to get a good picture, mainly we say them running away as fast as their little legs could carry them through the tall grass to safety. All in all it was a pretty cool game drive.
When we got back to the ranger station we packed up our rooms, had some breakfast and headed off to our next destination of Mweya where we would spend two nights. We were traveling down the road away from Ishasha on our way to the main highway when we heard a horrible noise and something about the van did not feel right. We had Nasser pull over and when we got outside we found that the rear driver's side tire was completly shredded. I have never seen a tire do that before. Erin had told us when we started out that the tire wasn't going to hold but none of us had paid much attention to her, I guess we should have listened.
So we sat in the heat of the sun while Nasser and Christopher worked on changing the tire. They had a spare so no real problem right? Wrong. When they got the jack out the realized that although they had a jack, they did not have the correct piece needed to turn the jack so it advanced upwards lifting the van high enough to change the tire. We also found, once they got the spare out, that the spare itself had a hold in the tire that went so deep you could see the inner tubing of the tire. Not good. Luckily a man came along who was driving a Christian Children's Fund truck and lent us a jack, so despite the state of the spare tire we were forced to remove the shredded one and put on the damaged spare and hope and pray it would get us to the closest town where we could buy a new tire.
We got it all changed and started back down the road with Nasser going slowly, not as slowly as I would go, but whatever, when all of the sudden we heard a popping sound, the spare had blown. We were close enough to the main road that Nasser had no choice but to drive on the flat the remaining 2k's. When we reached the road he pulled over, hopped out, took one of the tires out of the van and told us he would be back in 50 minutes. He caught a ride into town with a taxi and the rest of us were left by the side of the road waiting for him to come back.
Well his 50 minutes turned into 3hrs and during that 3hrs Catrine tried to find a ride for us to Mweya with little success, Christopher got the van jacked up using the screwdriver that belonged to a man in a passing taxi (it cost us 1000shillings to use that screwdriver) and we were surrounded by a group of baboons. Caterine panicked when she saw them coming, ran into the van and yelled at all of us to come into the van. She then tried to get the windows rolled up and realized they were electric windows and the van was not turned on. It was quite funny to watch her. The rest of us were not too concerned, once the baboons realized we had nothing for them they grew bored of us and moved on.
It was around this time that we all started to go a little delerious from too much heat and lack of water. Christopher asked Ben at one point of we were gussed. (Christopher speaks english very well but he mumbles and with his accent it is often hard to understand him). So Ben said, "Are we gussed?" and Christopher said, "no gussed." Finally Ben understood and said, "Oh, are we cursed?"
It was also around this time that Erin was sure she saw a snake across the road in a ditch. She yelled out that she had seen a snake and her and Ben ran across the road to see it. There was nothing there. We figure it must have been a figment of her imagination but a little later on Erin said she wished we could have seen the snake, it was the prettiest red and white snake she had ever seen. Yup, I think we had all had a little too much sun!
Nasser eventually came back and we got the tire changed and made our way to Mweya. Just as we were approaching the main gate for Mweya I looked over and saw a hippo just standing there on the side of the road chomping on some grass. It was pretty cool and I yelled out, "look it's real! Nasser stopped the van and we all took pictures of the first hippo any of us had ever seen up close and in the wild.
We then continued onto our hostel, got there, settled in, had a bite to eat, unpacked and then decided we would go eat dinner at the fancy restaurant at the Safari Lodge. We were staying at the MUCH cheaper hostel just down the road. Now as a joke, I asked one of the women that works at the hostel if it was safe to walk to the lodge as it was dark and we didn't want to get eaten by lions or attacked by hippos. Much to my surprise she said that it was not advisable to walk after dark and we did so at our own risk. So we asked Nasser if he would drive us. He did. When we got there we found out that the buffet dinner was 27,000 shillings per person, a little pricey so we decided to come back in the morning when there was light so we could see the view and enjoy the much cheaper breakfast buffet.
We went back to the hostel and ate dinner at the canteen, had showers, and retired to our beds by 10pm. I loved our first night in Mweya, they actually had fans in each room and it was even a power on night so we had the fan blowing cool air on us all night long. I was in heaven!
Sunday morning we awoke andheaded to the lodge for an amazing breakfast. It wasn't much cheaper (20,000 sh each) but at least it came with a beautiful view of mountains and the lake. Breakfast was a buffet of bacon, sausage, fruit, eggs, toast and omlettes made to order. It was SO good. They even had brown bread! I was thoughouly stuffed when I was done eating and had enjoyed every bite. The bacon was cooked to perfection. It felt like I hadn't had bacon for years, it was SO tasty.
After breakfast we headed to the information centre to decide on what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We decided to go on the boat launch were we were promised to see hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. that wasn't until 3pm so we had some time to kill so we went back to our hostil and ate read, relaxed, and visited.
When it was time to go we decided for some reason we would walk to the where the boat launch was. We had been told that there was a foot path down to the launch area, we should have known better than to believe the ones who told us this. We walked out of the park, down the road, and came to the sign that said boat lauch. The "foot path" was a sheer rock face you had to somehow manouver down without tumbling to your death. Ben commented that he didn't remember reading anywhere that he was expected to bring his own rappeling equipment. We decided to continue down the road and eventually found the connecting road you could drive down to get to the boat launch. During this time about 5 vehicles passed us also on their way to the boat lauch but no once offered to give us a lift. That's alright, we made it there on our own.
The boat we took out was named Simba (which means Lion in swahili). It was a neat little boat with a covered top and open sides so you could take good clear photos as we went along. We had a few avid bird watchers with us who came with some serious camera equipment. It was actually quite entertaining to watch as the only ones who put on their life jackets were the group of African tourists. The boat was not moving fast and the water was not very deep, and I figured, if I fell over and a hippo dragged me under, no life jacket was going to save me.
We saw tons of hippos, they were all around the boat, surfacing at random times. I told Erin it reminded me of the wac-a-mole game they have at amusement parks. We also saw buffalos cooling themsevles in the water, some neet looking birds, a couple of crocodiles on the shore and we passed right by an elephant giving himself a bath. I have a picture with Erin and elephant in it just to show how close the boat was to him. It was pretty neat to watch and really he couldn't have cared less about us. We learned that hippos, buffalo and elephants all live together on the banks of the river in harmony as they are all herbavoires. We also learned that elephants are really the king of the jungle as even lions won't mess with them. An elephant can easily kill a lone lion and it would take a whole pack of lions to take down one elephant.
After we had been on the boat for about an hour and a half it started to rain, not just a little rain, but a downpour. Everyone who was up top the boat came down and the crew worked like mad to get the blinds pulled down and fastened so those of us inside would not get drenched. it was kind of funny and added to the whole experience. We got back to shore and it was still pouring and we realized that we had no way of getting back. We had planned to walk, but with the rain we thought it would not be such a good idea. Luckily this nice british man who had come in a van by himself offered us a ride back with him. We were very grateful as everyone else had professed to be too full to help us.
We made it back to lodge and found out that Einer had gotten more sick and was being transfered via plane to a hospital in Nairobi. Catrine was a little panicked and was feeling very guilty about leaving him behind and coming on this trip. She phone Einer's wife, and it was decided that there was little we could do, we were too far away and it was raining to hard to head out on the dirt roads so we said we would see what news we heard in the morning and we'd go from there.
We also decided we would check out a different canteen, just down the hill from our hostel that was supposed to have good food for cheap. We headed down there for dinner and we were joking about all the crazy things that had gone wrong with this trip and commenting about all the good things we had down and the cool stuff we'd seen when Ben said thesix words that have now become historic, he said "What else could possibly go wrong?" Right on cue huge amounts of smoke started billowing out of the kitchen where our dinner was being made. We all looked to our left and then back at each other and just burst out laughing. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Dinner eventually came, it took a little longer than usual, but it was tasty. The only thing was, dinner took so long that when we were done eating it had become very dark and we still had to walk back up to our hostel. Remembering the warning the woman had given us the night before made none of us overly pleased to be walking back in the dark. We asked at the canteen if we would be safe, they assured us the lions would not be out hunting for at least another hour and that even though the hippos sounded very close, they really weren't as close as we thought. So we headed out, making a lot of noise as we went so if we did come across anything we wouldn't startle it, and we made it back to our hostel safe and sound, thankfully.
I was tired so I went to bed soon after we got back, Erin came in our room about 45 minutes later and I was all ready to have a good nights sleep but that was not too be.
About 2am Erin and I were awoken by some horrible screaming noise coming from outside. It sounded like it was very close to our room. I was still very tired and figured that whatever it was, it was too late for us to help it now so I was ready to go back to sleep, but sleep did not come back easily for Erin. She had to go to the bathroom but was not about to leave our room. She also wanted to eat her banana but was worried that the lion (or whatever was outside) would smell it and try to get into our room. I assured her that Lion's don't care about banana's so she was safe and I turned over and went back to sleep. I heard the next morning that sleep did not come as easily for Erin, I guess the noises outside scared her more than I realized. Myself, I was too tired to worry.
The next day we decided we were going to go on a nature walk on our way out of the park at Maramumbumgo Forest. We were going to walk to a bat cave that was famous for this rock python that was supposed to live there also. Erin was pretty excited as she had really wanted to see a snake so we headed out. Nasser and Christopher had put a new tire on the rim of the spare, so we now had a good tire on the van and a good spare just in case. Einer was being taken in the morning so we would never have gotten back in time to see him, so we headed out to enjoy our last day in QENP.
We found the road that would take us to our nature walk and read it was 22k's to the walk. We also found the road was worse than any road we had been down yet. Nasser drove slow, but the constant scrapping on the bottom of the van made us all nervous and we figured with the luck we had had so far we shouldn't push it. We decided to turn around, leave the bat cave for another time and just head back to Masaka. The road was pretty narrow and had small ditches on both sides so I got out to help direct Nasser as he was backing up, I don't think he paid attention when I told him, well in advance to stop, as he backed right into the ditch. So we then had to rock the van as he put it into gear so we could get the van turned around and head back to the main road. It took some effort but we did it.
Once we reached the main road, nice and paved, we thought once again, what else could possibly go wrong, we thought too soon. We were about 1 hour out of the park when the van started to smoke. Nasser pulled over, we all pilled out and we realized the van was seriously overheated. Nasser also found that all around the engine was a nice collection of grass that the van had pulled out of the ground as it scraped over the dirt roads.
So we sat once again by the side of the road while Nasser caught a ride into town to see if he could get some parts and a mechanic. Once again we were in the African heat, but at least this time we had water. We waited for an hour, Nasser came back, we waited for another hour while the mechanic, Nasser, and some other guys worked on the van. I think again there came a point when we all lost it. Erin started to laugh, Ben started, then me, then Catrine and we couldn't stop. I'm sure the locals were wondering what was wrong with the four muzungu's laughing like crazy people on the side of the road by a van with smoke coming out of it.
The van got started, it got filled with water and we made it as far as Ishaka where we pulled over at a gas station. We waited there for an hour and a half while they worked on the van and had a lunch that consisted of snacks bought at the gas station. After that we hopped in the van again and made is as far as Mbrara where we stopped at an actual mechanics shop where we sat for another 3 hrs while they tried to figure out what to do about the van. Luckily it was a nice clean shop with comfy seats and baby kittens for us to look at. We sat here and Nasser eventually came in and showed us the thermostat I guess it was malfunctioning and causing the van to overheat. His answer was to just leave it out. I don't know much about cars but it made me nervous to take out a piece that I'm sure was put there for a reason, but I didn't question.
Nasser told us the van would not make it to Masaka so he had his friend come with his car and pick us up in Mbrara and take us back to Masaka. We eventually made it back home safely and with some good stories to tell. At one point while Nasser's friend was driving us, Nasser called his friend and asked to talk to me and told me to tell his friend to drive us safely. I'll admit that made me a bit nervous if Nasser felt he needed to call and tell the man to drive us safely, but we made it back safely so I guess that is all that matters.
All in all it was a good trip. We had some set backs but like I keep telling everyone, it has definitly made for a good story and one thing is for sure our trip was not boring and it was full of adventure. Sorry it took me so long to get this email out. The computers here do not always co-operate so I've actually been typing this email for about three days.
I hope that everyone is doing well and I will email again soon. Take care.
Chandra.
Advice #1 - DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.
Advice #2 - DO NOT RENT A MINI VAN THINKING IT WILL WORK WELL AS A SAFARI VEHICLE.
Advice #3 - FULLY INSPECT ALL ASPECTS OF THE VEHICLE BEFORE LEAVING ALL MAJOR CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES BEHIND.
With those words of advice, let me begin...
When I left you last Catrine and Ben had arrived at our place at 10am sharp as was arranged. Poor Catrine and Ben had spent the previous night sleeping on the cement floor in Jen's room. They had changed hotels from The Brovad to The Laston (just around the corner) and when they got to the Laston later the previous night, the gate was locked and no one was around to let them in.( I guess the guard was passed out from drinking too much alcohol and he didn't hear them banging on the gate.) They had paid for a hotel room but ended up sleeping on our floor. I actually had no idea they had done so until I woke up early in the morning to find them exiting Jen's room and crossing our room headed for the door. I was so confused, I asked them where they had come from. Anyway, they went to the Laston, fought with the manager and got all of their money back. There trip here has definitly not been ideal.
So we headed out and along our way we filled up with gas, dropped Ida off with her mother and chatted about all the different animals we were going to see.
Our first night we were staying in Ishasha. It is in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and is known mainly for it's lions. Normally lions do not climb trees but in Ishasha they do. Nobody really knows why, but they think it has something to do with biting ants. I guess the lions learned over time that if they slept in the trees the ants would not bite them. Pretty smart lions. Anyway, I digress.
Just before we reached the road to Ishasha we saw our first animal. There was a baboon on the side of the road. We were all very excited so Nasser stopped the van for us so we could take pictures. I guess Nasser thought it would be neet to have the baboon come even closer so he decided to feed it a banana. The baboon jumped right up to Nasser's open window and took the banana right out of his hand. Okay, kind of cool I guess. So Nasser got a little more brave and the next thing we know the baboon was inside the van! It had come right in through Nasser's window and was on his lap! Really it only wanted more bananas, but we all started to freak out. You could hear us all in the back yelling, "get it out of the car!" "Nasser what are you doing!" Mind you, I think that Nasser was probably more surprised and scared than the rest of us, but I'll admit I did not want that baboon thinking there was food for it in the back of the van. Luckily, he got it out by starting to drive a bit which startled it and it jumped out with i's banana.
I wish I had gotten a picture of it. Looking back it was kind of funny, but I think we were all so shocked no one thought to get their camera out to take a picture of the baboon on Nasser's lap. I'm glad we moved on after that as another baboon was on the road looking at us and he was twice as big as the one that had come in through the van window.
After this excitiment we saw other animals, we saw Kobs, buffalo, other deer like animals, and elephants off in the distance, but no other animals up close and personal like the baboons.
Once we reached the road to take us to Ishasha we realized that the minivan was not the best vehicle to have brought. I don't know if I have explained to you the road situation here in Uganda, they are horrible. There are very few roads that are paved, the others are simply dirt roads riddled with extreme pot holes made by the rain. The road to Ishasha was no different. The whole way, until we reached the ranger station where we were staying, the van was bottoming out and it seemed to take all of the van's energy to make it through the potholes and along the road.
By the time we got to Ishasha we were all VERY dirty. The mini van only had two windows in the back that opened and they didn't roll down to let in a lot of air, they were the kind that you just push out, so needless to say the van was more than a little stuffy and very hot. To help aleviate the heat we traveled down the dirt road with the sliding door open. At first Catrine held it open then I switched her places and held it open. When we stopped the whole inside of the van was covered with dirt as well as all of us. Erin told me that it looked like I had a really good tan, but really I was just covered in dust.
We made it to Ishasha however and as soon as we got there a ranger came up to us and told us that if we wanted to see the lions we should leave as soon as possible. So we paid for everything we needed to pay for and the ranger hoped into the minivan assuring us that it would be able to travel over the road he was taking us on and we went in search of lions. The minivan had the same problems it had on the road to Ishasha but somehow it made it to the tree where we saw about 7 lions taking an afternoon snooze.
It was a pretty cool sight. They were really close to us and although we all climbed out of the van to have a better look, no one really got very close. You don't want to disturb a content, sleeping lion. All of the lions were female except one, but he was still a cub so he didn't have the big mane on him like a full grown male lion would have. We stayed for about 1/2 an hour and then our guide said we should leave as they would be waking soon and getting themselves ready to hunt for their dinner. I know that I didn't want to be out when the lions were looking for something tasty to eat. We drove back to the ranger station nice and slow with the van bottoming out and the sides of the van getting scratched by the dense bushes that were overtaking the road.
We got back and unpacked our things, settled into our rooms, and then decided to see if we could rent a different vehicle to take us out on the game drive the next day as we were all worried that the van would not make it. We talked to the warden and he said we could take the truck but it would cost us 2500 shillings a kilometre. Kind of expensive but after much deliberating we agreed that it's better to pay the money and have peace of mind then get stranded in the middle of QENP surrounded by wild animals. So we ate our meal of pasta and sauce and went to bed dreaming of the different types of animals we would see the next day.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early and we all piled into the flatbed of the truck with our ranger Godfrey and our driver who both came equipped with rather large semi-automatic weapons. I guess it is always better to be prepared.
We saw a lot of the same animals we had seen off in the distance as we were driving to Ishasha, only this time much closer to us. The buffalo were very interested in us and tried to intimidate us with their stares, horns, and digging into the ground with their hooves. The coolest thing we saw though was a lone male elephant who was only 30 feet at the most from our truck.
It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. We were all so excited. We were grabbing at our cameras and telling Godfrey to stop the truck so we could get some good pictures. We were yelling, "stop the truck, stop the truck."But at the same time that we were yelling this Godfrey was yelling, "keep going, I fear, I fear!" What none of us had realized was that the elephant had turned to face us and was advancing, slowly but straight for us. Who knows what he would have done, but Godfrey was worried enough to make sure we didn't stay there too long, he's the ranger with the experience so as much as we would have like to stay and stare at the elephant longer, we moved on.
We also saw a couple of warthogs but they didn't stay still long enough for us to get a good picture, mainly we say them running away as fast as their little legs could carry them through the tall grass to safety. All in all it was a pretty cool game drive.
When we got back to the ranger station we packed up our rooms, had some breakfast and headed off to our next destination of Mweya where we would spend two nights. We were traveling down the road away from Ishasha on our way to the main highway when we heard a horrible noise and something about the van did not feel right. We had Nasser pull over and when we got outside we found that the rear driver's side tire was completly shredded. I have never seen a tire do that before. Erin had told us when we started out that the tire wasn't going to hold but none of us had paid much attention to her, I guess we should have listened.
So we sat in the heat of the sun while Nasser and Christopher worked on changing the tire. They had a spare so no real problem right? Wrong. When they got the jack out the realized that although they had a jack, they did not have the correct piece needed to turn the jack so it advanced upwards lifting the van high enough to change the tire. We also found, once they got the spare out, that the spare itself had a hold in the tire that went so deep you could see the inner tubing of the tire. Not good. Luckily a man came along who was driving a Christian Children's Fund truck and lent us a jack, so despite the state of the spare tire we were forced to remove the shredded one and put on the damaged spare and hope and pray it would get us to the closest town where we could buy a new tire.
We got it all changed and started back down the road with Nasser going slowly, not as slowly as I would go, but whatever, when all of the sudden we heard a popping sound, the spare had blown. We were close enough to the main road that Nasser had no choice but to drive on the flat the remaining 2k's. When we reached the road he pulled over, hopped out, took one of the tires out of the van and told us he would be back in 50 minutes. He caught a ride into town with a taxi and the rest of us were left by the side of the road waiting for him to come back.
Well his 50 minutes turned into 3hrs and during that 3hrs Catrine tried to find a ride for us to Mweya with little success, Christopher got the van jacked up using the screwdriver that belonged to a man in a passing taxi (it cost us 1000shillings to use that screwdriver) and we were surrounded by a group of baboons. Caterine panicked when she saw them coming, ran into the van and yelled at all of us to come into the van. She then tried to get the windows rolled up and realized they were electric windows and the van was not turned on. It was quite funny to watch her. The rest of us were not too concerned, once the baboons realized we had nothing for them they grew bored of us and moved on.
It was around this time that we all started to go a little delerious from too much heat and lack of water. Christopher asked Ben at one point of we were gussed. (Christopher speaks english very well but he mumbles and with his accent it is often hard to understand him). So Ben said, "Are we gussed?" and Christopher said, "no gussed." Finally Ben understood and said, "Oh, are we cursed?"
It was also around this time that Erin was sure she saw a snake across the road in a ditch. She yelled out that she had seen a snake and her and Ben ran across the road to see it. There was nothing there. We figure it must have been a figment of her imagination but a little later on Erin said she wished we could have seen the snake, it was the prettiest red and white snake she had ever seen. Yup, I think we had all had a little too much sun!
Nasser eventually came back and we got the tire changed and made our way to Mweya. Just as we were approaching the main gate for Mweya I looked over and saw a hippo just standing there on the side of the road chomping on some grass. It was pretty cool and I yelled out, "look it's real! Nasser stopped the van and we all took pictures of the first hippo any of us had ever seen up close and in the wild.
We then continued onto our hostel, got there, settled in, had a bite to eat, unpacked and then decided we would go eat dinner at the fancy restaurant at the Safari Lodge. We were staying at the MUCH cheaper hostel just down the road. Now as a joke, I asked one of the women that works at the hostel if it was safe to walk to the lodge as it was dark and we didn't want to get eaten by lions or attacked by hippos. Much to my surprise she said that it was not advisable to walk after dark and we did so at our own risk. So we asked Nasser if he would drive us. He did. When we got there we found out that the buffet dinner was 27,000 shillings per person, a little pricey so we decided to come back in the morning when there was light so we could see the view and enjoy the much cheaper breakfast buffet.
We went back to the hostel and ate dinner at the canteen, had showers, and retired to our beds by 10pm. I loved our first night in Mweya, they actually had fans in each room and it was even a power on night so we had the fan blowing cool air on us all night long. I was in heaven!
Sunday morning we awoke andheaded to the lodge for an amazing breakfast. It wasn't much cheaper (20,000 sh each) but at least it came with a beautiful view of mountains and the lake. Breakfast was a buffet of bacon, sausage, fruit, eggs, toast and omlettes made to order. It was SO good. They even had brown bread! I was thoughouly stuffed when I was done eating and had enjoyed every bite. The bacon was cooked to perfection. It felt like I hadn't had bacon for years, it was SO tasty.
After breakfast we headed to the information centre to decide on what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We decided to go on the boat launch were we were promised to see hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. that wasn't until 3pm so we had some time to kill so we went back to our hostil and ate read, relaxed, and visited.
When it was time to go we decided for some reason we would walk to the where the boat launch was. We had been told that there was a foot path down to the launch area, we should have known better than to believe the ones who told us this. We walked out of the park, down the road, and came to the sign that said boat lauch. The "foot path" was a sheer rock face you had to somehow manouver down without tumbling to your death. Ben commented that he didn't remember reading anywhere that he was expected to bring his own rappeling equipment. We decided to continue down the road and eventually found the connecting road you could drive down to get to the boat launch. During this time about 5 vehicles passed us also on their way to the boat lauch but no once offered to give us a lift. That's alright, we made it there on our own.
The boat we took out was named Simba (which means Lion in swahili). It was a neat little boat with a covered top and open sides so you could take good clear photos as we went along. We had a few avid bird watchers with us who came with some serious camera equipment. It was actually quite entertaining to watch as the only ones who put on their life jackets were the group of African tourists. The boat was not moving fast and the water was not very deep, and I figured, if I fell over and a hippo dragged me under, no life jacket was going to save me.
We saw tons of hippos, they were all around the boat, surfacing at random times. I told Erin it reminded me of the wac-a-mole game they have at amusement parks. We also saw buffalos cooling themsevles in the water, some neet looking birds, a couple of crocodiles on the shore and we passed right by an elephant giving himself a bath. I have a picture with Erin and elephant in it just to show how close the boat was to him. It was pretty neat to watch and really he couldn't have cared less about us. We learned that hippos, buffalo and elephants all live together on the banks of the river in harmony as they are all herbavoires. We also learned that elephants are really the king of the jungle as even lions won't mess with them. An elephant can easily kill a lone lion and it would take a whole pack of lions to take down one elephant.
After we had been on the boat for about an hour and a half it started to rain, not just a little rain, but a downpour. Everyone who was up top the boat came down and the crew worked like mad to get the blinds pulled down and fastened so those of us inside would not get drenched. it was kind of funny and added to the whole experience. We got back to shore and it was still pouring and we realized that we had no way of getting back. We had planned to walk, but with the rain we thought it would not be such a good idea. Luckily this nice british man who had come in a van by himself offered us a ride back with him. We were very grateful as everyone else had professed to be too full to help us.
We made it back to lodge and found out that Einer had gotten more sick and was being transfered via plane to a hospital in Nairobi. Catrine was a little panicked and was feeling very guilty about leaving him behind and coming on this trip. She phone Einer's wife, and it was decided that there was little we could do, we were too far away and it was raining to hard to head out on the dirt roads so we said we would see what news we heard in the morning and we'd go from there.
We also decided we would check out a different canteen, just down the hill from our hostel that was supposed to have good food for cheap. We headed down there for dinner and we were joking about all the crazy things that had gone wrong with this trip and commenting about all the good things we had down and the cool stuff we'd seen when Ben said thesix words that have now become historic, he said "What else could possibly go wrong?" Right on cue huge amounts of smoke started billowing out of the kitchen where our dinner was being made. We all looked to our left and then back at each other and just burst out laughing. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Dinner eventually came, it took a little longer than usual, but it was tasty. The only thing was, dinner took so long that when we were done eating it had become very dark and we still had to walk back up to our hostel. Remembering the warning the woman had given us the night before made none of us overly pleased to be walking back in the dark. We asked at the canteen if we would be safe, they assured us the lions would not be out hunting for at least another hour and that even though the hippos sounded very close, they really weren't as close as we thought. So we headed out, making a lot of noise as we went so if we did come across anything we wouldn't startle it, and we made it back to our hostel safe and sound, thankfully.
I was tired so I went to bed soon after we got back, Erin came in our room about 45 minutes later and I was all ready to have a good nights sleep but that was not too be.
About 2am Erin and I were awoken by some horrible screaming noise coming from outside. It sounded like it was very close to our room. I was still very tired and figured that whatever it was, it was too late for us to help it now so I was ready to go back to sleep, but sleep did not come back easily for Erin. She had to go to the bathroom but was not about to leave our room. She also wanted to eat her banana but was worried that the lion (or whatever was outside) would smell it and try to get into our room. I assured her that Lion's don't care about banana's so she was safe and I turned over and went back to sleep. I heard the next morning that sleep did not come as easily for Erin, I guess the noises outside scared her more than I realized. Myself, I was too tired to worry.
The next day we decided we were going to go on a nature walk on our way out of the park at Maramumbumgo Forest. We were going to walk to a bat cave that was famous for this rock python that was supposed to live there also. Erin was pretty excited as she had really wanted to see a snake so we headed out. Nasser and Christopher had put a new tire on the rim of the spare, so we now had a good tire on the van and a good spare just in case. Einer was being taken in the morning so we would never have gotten back in time to see him, so we headed out to enjoy our last day in QENP.
We found the road that would take us to our nature walk and read it was 22k's to the walk. We also found the road was worse than any road we had been down yet. Nasser drove slow, but the constant scrapping on the bottom of the van made us all nervous and we figured with the luck we had had so far we shouldn't push it. We decided to turn around, leave the bat cave for another time and just head back to Masaka. The road was pretty narrow and had small ditches on both sides so I got out to help direct Nasser as he was backing up, I don't think he paid attention when I told him, well in advance to stop, as he backed right into the ditch. So we then had to rock the van as he put it into gear so we could get the van turned around and head back to the main road. It took some effort but we did it.
Once we reached the main road, nice and paved, we thought once again, what else could possibly go wrong, we thought too soon. We were about 1 hour out of the park when the van started to smoke. Nasser pulled over, we all pilled out and we realized the van was seriously overheated. Nasser also found that all around the engine was a nice collection of grass that the van had pulled out of the ground as it scraped over the dirt roads.
So we sat once again by the side of the road while Nasser caught a ride into town to see if he could get some parts and a mechanic. Once again we were in the African heat, but at least this time we had water. We waited for an hour, Nasser came back, we waited for another hour while the mechanic, Nasser, and some other guys worked on the van. I think again there came a point when we all lost it. Erin started to laugh, Ben started, then me, then Catrine and we couldn't stop. I'm sure the locals were wondering what was wrong with the four muzungu's laughing like crazy people on the side of the road by a van with smoke coming out of it.
The van got started, it got filled with water and we made it as far as Ishaka where we pulled over at a gas station. We waited there for an hour and a half while they worked on the van and had a lunch that consisted of snacks bought at the gas station. After that we hopped in the van again and made is as far as Mbrara where we stopped at an actual mechanics shop where we sat for another 3 hrs while they tried to figure out what to do about the van. Luckily it was a nice clean shop with comfy seats and baby kittens for us to look at. We sat here and Nasser eventually came in and showed us the thermostat I guess it was malfunctioning and causing the van to overheat. His answer was to just leave it out. I don't know much about cars but it made me nervous to take out a piece that I'm sure was put there for a reason, but I didn't question.
Nasser told us the van would not make it to Masaka so he had his friend come with his car and pick us up in Mbrara and take us back to Masaka. We eventually made it back home safely and with some good stories to tell. At one point while Nasser's friend was driving us, Nasser called his friend and asked to talk to me and told me to tell his friend to drive us safely. I'll admit that made me a bit nervous if Nasser felt he needed to call and tell the man to drive us safely, but we made it back safely so I guess that is all that matters.
All in all it was a good trip. We had some set backs but like I keep telling everyone, it has definitly made for a good story and one thing is for sure our trip was not boring and it was full of adventure. Sorry it took me so long to get this email out. The computers here do not always co-operate so I've actually been typing this email for about three days.
I hope that everyone is doing well and I will email again soon. Take care.
Chandra.
Thursday June 8 (erin)
Today I went on outreach with USDC. I was worried about leaving Carli while she was still so sick but Brigitte assured me she?d be well taken care of by herself and Rita. So, off I went?well not so fast?I had to wait almost 2 hours before I got picked up making me think I had been totally forgotten, but not so. It was Charles driving and Fred and Emanuel, the psychiatric nurses in back. I can?t remember where we went but the roads were really bad and it was about a 2 hour drive. The goal of the outreach was to sensitize school children on mental health, to help them understand what it is and that people with mental illnesses are normal and not to be feared or shunned. So we reached the first school and about 100 children gathered on the ground outside. The nurses, Charles and I sat on benches at the front. I?m sure it was a very interesting presentation as Fred and Emanuel are good speakers and really animated. But, alas, it was all in Luganda. Charles translated some for me but we got bored pretty quick. I kept myself entertained by smiling at the children and making them turn their heads and blush. I think most of them were too busy looking at me and not listening to the nurses. The best part was when we were driving away and I waved at the kids and they all waved back and yelled ?byeee?, so cute.
After that, we went to another school and when we pulled up in the truck, immediately we were surrounded by about 50 children. They just stood outside my door and stared and smiled. I didn?t know what to do! So Charles said something to them and then all the girls kneeled. It was like the wave at a hockey game. Then they got called over to the presentation. I stayed in the car because I just couldn?t sit through another hour of Luganda. When it was finished, we went to another school and the same thing happened?I was completely surrounded and it was kind of scary. This time I said ?Muli Mutya? (how are you) and again all the girls knelt. They are so cute. Then they got called away again. At the third school, the headmaster made me get out of the car and actually speak to the kids?talk about my worst nightmare, speaking in front of a hundred kids wide-eyed staring at me. The teacher said they would really love it if I spoke a few words in English. How embarrassing?but I did it. I just introduced myself and where I was from. Then at the fourth school I had to do the same. Gee whiz, you?d think I was Angelina Jolie or something the way they treated me. If I reached out my hand to them a hundred kids would run over to try to shake my hand. It was a long day but kind of fun.
When I got home I found out that Carli had been completely abandoned and almost died of hunger. She was so sad because all three of us were on outreach and our phones were out of service, poor girl! Chandra and I went to the Brovad and got 3 orders of spaghetti to go and brought it home to Carli. Well, it was the worst spaghetti ever known to humankind. But we were desperately hungry. After Catrin and Ben went to visit Einer and take him some dinner, they met up with some people they had met and then went to the Laston Hotel where they had booked a room. Unfortunately the gate had been locked and the guard was nowhere to be found!! Luckily they ran into Jen at the Brovad (the rest of us were already sleeping) and she let them sleep on our floor?our cold hard cement floor! Their trip has not been much fun so far as their first night with Einer was also spent on a cold hard cement floor with no mosquito net.
See Chandra?s posting of our weekend at Queen Elizabeth National Park!
After that, we went to another school and when we pulled up in the truck, immediately we were surrounded by about 50 children. They just stood outside my door and stared and smiled. I didn?t know what to do! So Charles said something to them and then all the girls kneeled. It was like the wave at a hockey game. Then they got called over to the presentation. I stayed in the car because I just couldn?t sit through another hour of Luganda. When it was finished, we went to another school and the same thing happened?I was completely surrounded and it was kind of scary. This time I said ?Muli Mutya? (how are you) and again all the girls knelt. They are so cute. Then they got called away again. At the third school, the headmaster made me get out of the car and actually speak to the kids?talk about my worst nightmare, speaking in front of a hundred kids wide-eyed staring at me. The teacher said they would really love it if I spoke a few words in English. How embarrassing?but I did it. I just introduced myself and where I was from. Then at the fourth school I had to do the same. Gee whiz, you?d think I was Angelina Jolie or something the way they treated me. If I reached out my hand to them a hundred kids would run over to try to shake my hand. It was a long day but kind of fun.
When I got home I found out that Carli had been completely abandoned and almost died of hunger. She was so sad because all three of us were on outreach and our phones were out of service, poor girl! Chandra and I went to the Brovad and got 3 orders of spaghetti to go and brought it home to Carli. Well, it was the worst spaghetti ever known to humankind. But we were desperately hungry. After Catrin and Ben went to visit Einer and take him some dinner, they met up with some people they had met and then went to the Laston Hotel where they had booked a room. Unfortunately the gate had been locked and the guard was nowhere to be found!! Luckily they ran into Jen at the Brovad (the rest of us were already sleeping) and she let them sleep on our floor?our cold hard cement floor! Their trip has not been much fun so far as their first night with Einer was also spent on a cold hard cement floor with no mosquito net.
See Chandra?s posting of our weekend at Queen Elizabeth National Park!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
June 1 - 7 (erin)
Thursday, June 1
After much confusion and miscommunication (as per usual), we headed off for Kampala. Nasser managed to get us 5 plus Einer our own matatu which is like a taxi van that normally crowds 20 people into 10 seats. We were able to stop at the equator so that was fun to take pictures and watch the flower flow down the water drains in different directions on each side of the equator, and straight down, right on the line. We stayed at the Backpackers again in Kampala. Jen and I got our same banda and Chandra and Carli got a bigger one with a loft that had a single bed and geckos on the wall…bonus!
Then a very exciting thing happened, a monkey ran by! And then another and eventually there were 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree. They were eating the fruit and throwing the pits at us. Then we met up with John at the Speke Hotel where he was staying. Very fancy. We had our dream come true…pizza! Very exciting. I also had the most strange pina colada ever, it tasted like black licorice. We went back to the hostel very satisfied though.
Friday, June 2
We hired our Kampala driver, James and he took us to Jinja. On the way, we stopped at the football coliseum. Einer sweet talked his way into letting us actually walk into the stadium. When we were leaving our driver made a wrong turn I guess and we got pulled over. James was able to sweet talk his way out of that ticket! When we arrived in Jinja we had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then visited the orphanage where Joseph, the abandoned baby from the hospital is supposed to go. It’s a really nice place with so m any cute babies. It is run by a Texan lady. It was really hard to not bond completely with some of those children, especially when they reached out to be held and practically climbed into your arms. After that we did some sightseeing. We went to the Source of the Nile and took a short tour in an old leaky, rickety boat (sorry Mom, I broke my promise). We saw mountain lizards and lots of neat birds. Einer, Jen, John and I climbed a big rock to get our picture taken and ended up completely covered in little ants and I got bird poo on my arm. Never a dull moment…
Then we went to Bujagali Falls. A guy offered to jump into the falls for a price but Chandra wasn’t thrilled about the idea so we declined. It was a beautiful place. Lots of school kids on fieldtrips. James picked us a funny looking thing from a tree that can be used as a rattle when it’s dry. Then we went to John’s hotel room and each took turns having a hot shower. It was heaven, let me tell you!! A real showerhead that you don’t have to hold and the magnificent water pressure that came out of it, my goodness. We were too tired to move after that so we watched The Bourne Identity on John’s fancy t.v. and he went downstairs and ordered pizza for us. What a gentleman he is…Lawrence are you taking notes ;) Only Jen and Einer were up for dancing at the Rock Garden downstairs so the rest of us went back to the hostel. I got to stay in the loft of Chandra and Carli’s room. It was kind of scary but fun too. The ladder was huge, I felt like I was in a giant’s house.
Saturday, June 3
I was dying to try the American pancakes at the hostel…but apparently that means crepes. Good nonetheless. Also freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Early in the morning Einer picked up his friends from Chicago (he picked them up in Entebbe, not Chicago) so we met them at the hostel during breakfast. Catrin and Ben. Very nice people. It’s kind of fun being the people who have been here for a while and can give advice to the rookies and laugh when they cover themselves with deet and put on seatbelts. We taxi’d in to meet John and headed to a craft market he knew about. It was great! Stall after stall of really great African stuff. Everything and anything you could want and very negotiable prices...John’s an expert at negotiation by the way. Me...not so good. We only got through about 1/3 of the stalls before we realized our new visitors had been patiently waiting for a long time. We decided to come back when we bring Carli to the airport.
Then we got a taxi to our favourite mall and had lunch in the best food court ever. Had my veggie burger which turned out to be a falafel but still good…nothing is as it seems here. Charles was just getting into town so he met up with us. After some more shopping we went back to the hostel to rest and then we had to say goodbye to John. A sad moment. Then the horror began…I started to feel sick. My stomach was aching. It got worse and worse and very quickly I was immobile on the couch in the lounge…except for when I had to run to the bathroom. I couldn’t even keep down water. Charles went to get me some medicine and it seemed to help so everyone else went out to the club for dancing. After a couple of hours I started to feel sick again. Our banda wasn’t exactly close to the washroom so it was quite a trek in the dark. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours but at 3am I felt so ill and weak I really didn’t think I was going to make it. I managed to make it to the first tree and had to lay in the grass despite the threat of getting eaten alive by strange bugs or being attacked by monkeys. At this point I really didn’t care. When I did reach the bathroom and realized I was probably going to die I texted the girls in a panic. I figured they were back already sleeping in the other banda but Chandra was the only one on her way home. My saviour! Thank God for cell phones and text messaging!! Unfortunately she found me at my worst, lying on the bathroom floor…dirty cement floor…of a hostel…in Africa…gross. (I had a really good shower the next morning). But that’s how sick I was. I even considered going to the hospital but I am sorry, the hospitals here are very scary, especially considering I find hospitals in Canada traumatic. Luckily Dr. Chandra suggested to stop drinking water even though I was so thirsty I briefly (very briefly) thought about drinking out of the toilet tank…but it enabled me to stop throwing up enough to make it back to bed.
The next day (Sunday June 4) was slightly better. I wasn’t able to eat much and was frequently visiting the bathroom so I stayed at the hostel and rested on the top bunk in a dorm room. They were nice enough to let me stay there with no charge. Everyone else went into town. Charles checked in on me bringing me food he forced me to eat. Then everyone came back and we headed home. Was a nice drive, a bit scary…I actually joined the Americans and put my seatbelt on this time.
Monday June 5
I was still nauseous but able to eat little bits of food. Poor Carli got really sick and it ends up that she has malaria again…or still. It’s really not fair! So we took the day off as we were supposed to go to the school in Kitengeesa.
Tuesday June 6
I took Carli to the clinic today and that whole scenario is quite funny. I don’t know if muzungus get special treatment or if we’re just helped cuz we look lost and don’t know the system but we were in 5 different line-ups and she was ushered in and out of 3 different rooms. Had to get 2 awful injections this time, not fun. While she was recuperating I wrote a proposal for USDC. They were requesting money to get a playground for the children in post-operative care at the hospital. I hope it is ok, I’ve never written a proposal before but John gave me an outline and Carli helped me too. At least I felt good about getting some work done and helping them out.
We had more bad news today. Einer was taken to the hospital in some sort of diabetic coma. He is stable now but was quite scary. His blood sugar was extremely low and he’s being treated for malaria and pneumonia. His friends are with him overnight. I worry about his boys in Tekera who look to him as a father figure. They must be worried.
Now Jen and Chandra have what they are calling Erin’s disease…but I tell them that it’s not Erin’s disease until you I see you lying on the bathroom floor! Since I was the only one not sick today, I made some soup for dinner. It turned out pretty good considering I’d never made soup before from scratch. Then Charles took me to his house to meet his brother and nieces. The girls kneel on the ground to me out of respect. I understand it’s tradition but it’s difficult to not get embarrassed about it. Anyway, they are all very nice.
Wednesday June 7
I have just now come to the complete and overwhelming realization that I am in Africa. It just hit me as I sat on the bench next to Einer at the hospital. The beautiful people walking by, the sun shining, babies crying. Why is it here and now that it has sunk in, I’m not sure…perhaps because it is just so real. I am Einer’s companion for the day as he rests in the hospital and I have had lots of time to think. It’s really the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve had time alone to just do that. I was worried before that I felt I hadn’t done anything yet, that I hadn’t accomplished anything and I was panicking because time was running out. But now I feel content that if I needed to I could go home now and be happy. But I am also excited that I still have more time.
I was happy to be able to look after Einer while his friends had some respite. I fed him some of my soup as patients do not get fed much in the hospitals. It’s hard for me to be in a hospital because I hate hospitals normally, even in Canada. But at least it isn’t quite as bad as the referral hospital where we work, which resembles a MASH unit. Einer has his own room which we learned is reserved only for priests and other religious figures. Not a single nurse has walked by since I have been here and he has to have an attendant 24 hours to provide food, clothing and blankets. Even water is not provided by the hospital. And this is a private, upper class facility. I hope he gets better for the National park trip this weekend, he was really looking forward to it. Sometimes here I feel like I am in a movie…right now it is the English Patient.
After much confusion and miscommunication (as per usual), we headed off for Kampala. Nasser managed to get us 5 plus Einer our own matatu which is like a taxi van that normally crowds 20 people into 10 seats. We were able to stop at the equator so that was fun to take pictures and watch the flower flow down the water drains in different directions on each side of the equator, and straight down, right on the line. We stayed at the Backpackers again in Kampala. Jen and I got our same banda and Chandra and Carli got a bigger one with a loft that had a single bed and geckos on the wall…bonus!
Then a very exciting thing happened, a monkey ran by! And then another and eventually there were 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree. They were eating the fruit and throwing the pits at us. Then we met up with John at the Speke Hotel where he was staying. Very fancy. We had our dream come true…pizza! Very exciting. I also had the most strange pina colada ever, it tasted like black licorice. We went back to the hostel very satisfied though.
Friday, June 2
We hired our Kampala driver, James and he took us to Jinja. On the way, we stopped at the football coliseum. Einer sweet talked his way into letting us actually walk into the stadium. When we were leaving our driver made a wrong turn I guess and we got pulled over. James was able to sweet talk his way out of that ticket! When we arrived in Jinja we had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then visited the orphanage where Joseph, the abandoned baby from the hospital is supposed to go. It’s a really nice place with so m any cute babies. It is run by a Texan lady. It was really hard to not bond completely with some of those children, especially when they reached out to be held and practically climbed into your arms. After that we did some sightseeing. We went to the Source of the Nile and took a short tour in an old leaky, rickety boat (sorry Mom, I broke my promise). We saw mountain lizards and lots of neat birds. Einer, Jen, John and I climbed a big rock to get our picture taken and ended up completely covered in little ants and I got bird poo on my arm. Never a dull moment…
Then we went to Bujagali Falls. A guy offered to jump into the falls for a price but Chandra wasn’t thrilled about the idea so we declined. It was a beautiful place. Lots of school kids on fieldtrips. James picked us a funny looking thing from a tree that can be used as a rattle when it’s dry. Then we went to John’s hotel room and each took turns having a hot shower. It was heaven, let me tell you!! A real showerhead that you don’t have to hold and the magnificent water pressure that came out of it, my goodness. We were too tired to move after that so we watched The Bourne Identity on John’s fancy t.v. and he went downstairs and ordered pizza for us. What a gentleman he is…Lawrence are you taking notes ;) Only Jen and Einer were up for dancing at the Rock Garden downstairs so the rest of us went back to the hostel. I got to stay in the loft of Chandra and Carli’s room. It was kind of scary but fun too. The ladder was huge, I felt like I was in a giant’s house.
Saturday, June 3
I was dying to try the American pancakes at the hostel…but apparently that means crepes. Good nonetheless. Also freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Early in the morning Einer picked up his friends from Chicago (he picked them up in Entebbe, not Chicago) so we met them at the hostel during breakfast. Catrin and Ben. Very nice people. It’s kind of fun being the people who have been here for a while and can give advice to the rookies and laugh when they cover themselves with deet and put on seatbelts. We taxi’d in to meet John and headed to a craft market he knew about. It was great! Stall after stall of really great African stuff. Everything and anything you could want and very negotiable prices...John’s an expert at negotiation by the way. Me...not so good. We only got through about 1/3 of the stalls before we realized our new visitors had been patiently waiting for a long time. We decided to come back when we bring Carli to the airport.
Then we got a taxi to our favourite mall and had lunch in the best food court ever. Had my veggie burger which turned out to be a falafel but still good…nothing is as it seems here. Charles was just getting into town so he met up with us. After some more shopping we went back to the hostel to rest and then we had to say goodbye to John. A sad moment. Then the horror began…I started to feel sick. My stomach was aching. It got worse and worse and very quickly I was immobile on the couch in the lounge…except for when I had to run to the bathroom. I couldn’t even keep down water. Charles went to get me some medicine and it seemed to help so everyone else went out to the club for dancing. After a couple of hours I started to feel sick again. Our banda wasn’t exactly close to the washroom so it was quite a trek in the dark. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours but at 3am I felt so ill and weak I really didn’t think I was going to make it. I managed to make it to the first tree and had to lay in the grass despite the threat of getting eaten alive by strange bugs or being attacked by monkeys. At this point I really didn’t care. When I did reach the bathroom and realized I was probably going to die I texted the girls in a panic. I figured they were back already sleeping in the other banda but Chandra was the only one on her way home. My saviour! Thank God for cell phones and text messaging!! Unfortunately she found me at my worst, lying on the bathroom floor…dirty cement floor…of a hostel…in Africa…gross. (I had a really good shower the next morning). But that’s how sick I was. I even considered going to the hospital but I am sorry, the hospitals here are very scary, especially considering I find hospitals in Canada traumatic. Luckily Dr. Chandra suggested to stop drinking water even though I was so thirsty I briefly (very briefly) thought about drinking out of the toilet tank…but it enabled me to stop throwing up enough to make it back to bed.
The next day (Sunday June 4) was slightly better. I wasn’t able to eat much and was frequently visiting the bathroom so I stayed at the hostel and rested on the top bunk in a dorm room. They were nice enough to let me stay there with no charge. Everyone else went into town. Charles checked in on me bringing me food he forced me to eat. Then everyone came back and we headed home. Was a nice drive, a bit scary…I actually joined the Americans and put my seatbelt on this time.
Monday June 5
I was still nauseous but able to eat little bits of food. Poor Carli got really sick and it ends up that she has malaria again…or still. It’s really not fair! So we took the day off as we were supposed to go to the school in Kitengeesa.
Tuesday June 6
I took Carli to the clinic today and that whole scenario is quite funny. I don’t know if muzungus get special treatment or if we’re just helped cuz we look lost and don’t know the system but we were in 5 different line-ups and she was ushered in and out of 3 different rooms. Had to get 2 awful injections this time, not fun. While she was recuperating I wrote a proposal for USDC. They were requesting money to get a playground for the children in post-operative care at the hospital. I hope it is ok, I’ve never written a proposal before but John gave me an outline and Carli helped me too. At least I felt good about getting some work done and helping them out.
We had more bad news today. Einer was taken to the hospital in some sort of diabetic coma. He is stable now but was quite scary. His blood sugar was extremely low and he’s being treated for malaria and pneumonia. His friends are with him overnight. I worry about his boys in Tekera who look to him as a father figure. They must be worried.
Now Jen and Chandra have what they are calling Erin’s disease…but I tell them that it’s not Erin’s disease until you I see you lying on the bathroom floor! Since I was the only one not sick today, I made some soup for dinner. It turned out pretty good considering I’d never made soup before from scratch. Then Charles took me to his house to meet his brother and nieces. The girls kneel on the ground to me out of respect. I understand it’s tradition but it’s difficult to not get embarrassed about it. Anyway, they are all very nice.
Wednesday June 7
I have just now come to the complete and overwhelming realization that I am in Africa. It just hit me as I sat on the bench next to Einer at the hospital. The beautiful people walking by, the sun shining, babies crying. Why is it here and now that it has sunk in, I’m not sure…perhaps because it is just so real. I am Einer’s companion for the day as he rests in the hospital and I have had lots of time to think. It’s really the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve had time alone to just do that. I was worried before that I felt I hadn’t done anything yet, that I hadn’t accomplished anything and I was panicking because time was running out. But now I feel content that if I needed to I could go home now and be happy. But I am also excited that I still have more time.
I was happy to be able to look after Einer while his friends had some respite. I fed him some of my soup as patients do not get fed much in the hospitals. It’s hard for me to be in a hospital because I hate hospitals normally, even in Canada. But at least it isn’t quite as bad as the referral hospital where we work, which resembles a MASH unit. Einer has his own room which we learned is reserved only for priests and other religious figures. Not a single nurse has walked by since I have been here and he has to have an attendant 24 hours to provide food, clothing and blankets. Even water is not provided by the hospital. And this is a private, upper class facility. I hope he gets better for the National park trip this weekend, he was really looking forward to it. Sometimes here I feel like I am in a movie…right now it is the English Patient.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
May 28 - 31 (erin)
Sunday, May 28th
We tried to stay up Saturday night to wait for John's arrival because we were really excited to see a familiar muzungu face and also to receive our presents from home! But he was late and we needed sleep after a pretty sleepless night and so we conked out early. We met up with him the next morning and it was like Christmas opening up our bags of clothes and treats! He took us to the other fancy hotel in Masaka, the Hotel Zebra. It was a pretty good menu, at least different from the Brovad which we are pretty much sick of and only go when desperate now.
Then we met up with our friends Charles, Louise and her cousins and went to the Recreation Field for the Jose Chameleon concert. He's a local artist whose music we like. When it started to get dark we were very glad tohave our Uganda friends with us because the boys there were trying to get pretty close. Most of the music was good, lots of different local artists, some we recognized. But we found out that Chameleon was not going to show up because his arch rival OB1 was there and singing songs about their fight. So we left around 10:30. John had left earlier because it had been a very long day for him. I was worried about him going alone but he's brave. We were also very tired from standing there since 5:00.
Monday May 29
This was an office day for me so I typed up 3 reports that I had written. Got to take advantage of when there is power. We found out this day that John is afraid of rain...oh sorry, just afraid of being cold. Quite humorous. Rita who is the midwife for the Tekera project made us dried fish and g-nut sauce for dinner. Then Carli and I ventured to the internet cafe in the dark...not a good idea. Carli and Erin should not be adventurous together. We were afraid of the phantom cow that seemed to follow us across the field. It mooed really loudly but we couldn't see it with the flashlight!! Was really scary, I practically jumped into Carli's arms; have I ever mentioned my fear of cows? And we have learned that when we are scared, we just laugh hysterically, so we couldn't even run away if a ghost cow had really been chasing us. The man across the street was probably thinking we were nuts...no more evening excursions for us!
Tuesday May 30
John, Carli and I went to Kitengeesa to the school we will be spending time at. We met up with Dan, the librarian and the headmaster and teachers. Sounds promising, I'm excited about the change. We are going to help with English and teach some classes for girls to stay in school. It rained so hard while we were there that a river started to flow outside the library door. I was afraid John would set up camp there for the night. But he made it to the car without melting. Our taxi slipped and slided along the road...kinda fun...except maybe for Carli who had to sit in the front. Nasser (our driver) took us home and then we went out to Tekera with Bruce, the landowner and the school headmaster. Kinda squishy. John got to see the project and eat in the restaurant. We also got to say hello to our Josephs too. We met up with Chandra who has started teaching at the nursery school. Back in Masaka we took John to the market for the experience of shopping and I got to practice my bartering skills. Yah me.
Then we headed home and Carli and I prepared for our session at the vocational school. John came to observe. The day was very windy and the pupils were cold so we didn't keep them long but we talked about how their work experience had gone and what they learned etc. Then we played dominoes of course, for what seemed like forever. Charles and Berna (coworkers) picked us up and we went for drinks at the Tropic Inn. It was a nice evening talking with them. It was a very busy day!
On Wednesday (31), we all joined Jen for the Schizophrenia Fellowship meeting. It was interesting but at times very difficult to sit through because of language barrier and the heat. Chandra was really sick and I was worried the whole time she was going to faint or something. After about 3 hours John had had enough and indicated we needed to go. We got some pictures of us with the whole congregation and then left Jen and Chandra at the hospital to do their work. Somehow, Carli and I got to go to the beach with John and visit our donkeys. It wasn't as warm as last time but the water was so great and refreshing. We saw two fisher boys pull in their catch of the day from their boat. I'm not sure who was more fascinated by who, them in their underwear or or us white people in our swimming suits! That evening we held a special dinner for our practicum supervisors and any friends that had helped us out along the way. It was good and the food was great!!
Remind me to never become famous...I know I've mentioned it before but I can't stand being constantly stared at. I made my first trip alone to the internet cafe and now i dread the walk home. Lawrence, thank you for letting us know you are alive by responding to the blog. Seriously I thought you had forgotten about us completely!
We tried to stay up Saturday night to wait for John's arrival because we were really excited to see a familiar muzungu face and also to receive our presents from home! But he was late and we needed sleep after a pretty sleepless night and so we conked out early. We met up with him the next morning and it was like Christmas opening up our bags of clothes and treats! He took us to the other fancy hotel in Masaka, the Hotel Zebra. It was a pretty good menu, at least different from the Brovad which we are pretty much sick of and only go when desperate now.
Then we met up with our friends Charles, Louise and her cousins and went to the Recreation Field for the Jose Chameleon concert. He's a local artist whose music we like. When it started to get dark we were very glad tohave our Uganda friends with us because the boys there were trying to get pretty close. Most of the music was good, lots of different local artists, some we recognized. But we found out that Chameleon was not going to show up because his arch rival OB1 was there and singing songs about their fight. So we left around 10:30. John had left earlier because it had been a very long day for him. I was worried about him going alone but he's brave. We were also very tired from standing there since 5:00.
Monday May 29
This was an office day for me so I typed up 3 reports that I had written. Got to take advantage of when there is power. We found out this day that John is afraid of rain...oh sorry, just afraid of being cold. Quite humorous. Rita who is the midwife for the Tekera project made us dried fish and g-nut sauce for dinner. Then Carli and I ventured to the internet cafe in the dark...not a good idea. Carli and Erin should not be adventurous together. We were afraid of the phantom cow that seemed to follow us across the field. It mooed really loudly but we couldn't see it with the flashlight!! Was really scary, I practically jumped into Carli's arms; have I ever mentioned my fear of cows? And we have learned that when we are scared, we just laugh hysterically, so we couldn't even run away if a ghost cow had really been chasing us. The man across the street was probably thinking we were nuts...no more evening excursions for us!
Tuesday May 30
John, Carli and I went to Kitengeesa to the school we will be spending time at. We met up with Dan, the librarian and the headmaster and teachers. Sounds promising, I'm excited about the change. We are going to help with English and teach some classes for girls to stay in school. It rained so hard while we were there that a river started to flow outside the library door. I was afraid John would set up camp there for the night. But he made it to the car without melting. Our taxi slipped and slided along the road...kinda fun...except maybe for Carli who had to sit in the front. Nasser (our driver) took us home and then we went out to Tekera with Bruce, the landowner and the school headmaster. Kinda squishy. John got to see the project and eat in the restaurant. We also got to say hello to our Josephs too. We met up with Chandra who has started teaching at the nursery school. Back in Masaka we took John to the market for the experience of shopping and I got to practice my bartering skills. Yah me.
Then we headed home and Carli and I prepared for our session at the vocational school. John came to observe. The day was very windy and the pupils were cold so we didn't keep them long but we talked about how their work experience had gone and what they learned etc. Then we played dominoes of course, for what seemed like forever. Charles and Berna (coworkers) picked us up and we went for drinks at the Tropic Inn. It was a nice evening talking with them. It was a very busy day!
On Wednesday (31), we all joined Jen for the Schizophrenia Fellowship meeting. It was interesting but at times very difficult to sit through because of language barrier and the heat. Chandra was really sick and I was worried the whole time she was going to faint or something. After about 3 hours John had had enough and indicated we needed to go. We got some pictures of us with the whole congregation and then left Jen and Chandra at the hospital to do their work. Somehow, Carli and I got to go to the beach with John and visit our donkeys. It wasn't as warm as last time but the water was so great and refreshing. We saw two fisher boys pull in their catch of the day from their boat. I'm not sure who was more fascinated by who, them in their underwear or or us white people in our swimming suits! That evening we held a special dinner for our practicum supervisors and any friends that had helped us out along the way. It was good and the food was great!!
Remind me to never become famous...I know I've mentioned it before but I can't stand being constantly stared at. I made my first trip alone to the internet cafe and now i dread the walk home. Lawrence, thank you for letting us know you are alive by responding to the blog. Seriously I thought you had forgotten about us completely!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
May 22 - 26 (erin)
USDC was holding a conference about Mental Health Projects the different districts across Uganda have implemented. So I was there Monday to Wednesday. Carli was with me on Tuesday and Jen on Wed. Some of it was interesting. On Monday at lunch, my life changed completely. I ate grasshoppers...not just one, but 3. Yes 3 grasshoppers. But really only because a cute boy bought them for me so how could I refuse? They were pretty ugly looking (as John says, they look pretty much like maggots). I refused to touch them, they still had beady little eye on them. Some fo them still had antennae and little wings on them so I made my friend Joseph (another Joseph) pull them off for me first. I have to admit though that they didn't taste too bad. They were fried and salted. But when you bite into it, it's pretty gross. There's a bit of a crunch, okay more than a bit, and then a squish and the grease (i'm assuming or perhaps just hoping it was oil and not guts) squirts out. Then it feels like little bits of body are stuck in your teeth. Ya, I'm not sure how I managed to choke down three but like I said, there was a cute boy involved. Anyway, here they are very much enjoyed as a treat. They are caught bya big strong lights that attract them and when they get too close, the strength of the light fries them and they slide down a sheet of metal into a big bin. Just down the street is a "grasshopper field". It's pretty creepy looking at night. We've heard that some kids go for their first time to watch them and their eyes get burnt looking at the lights. Carli wants to bring some grasshoppers home for her friends...anybody want some?? We also had the pleasurable experience of seeing a little girl eating big black live ants out of a cup. She gladly enjoyed grossing us out by showing us what she was eating!
Wed, May 24
Carli, Chandra and I went to a bible study. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it's true. I WENT TO A BIBLE STUDY! I was enticed by the potluck idea and some singing, but it ended up being pretty intense. I didn't mind it really, it was something new and we made friends. Very nice people. It was at an orphanage run by a Canadian couple. There were also Danish, Swedish, British and Ugandan people there so it made it quite interesting. Chandra's convinced I will be converted by the time I leave here. You never know.
Thur, May 25
Today there was no practicum for Carli and I because the conference was ending and everyone was going home...we sat at home for a couple of hours waiting to be picked up before we received a message that we were not needed. So we went out to Tekera with Bruce to take the new puppy to Einer. She is so cute. They named her Kujo but I renamed her Daisy. Much more appropriate I think. She ran to Einer right away. I guess she knew he'd be her friend. We are getting very excited for John coming on Saturday!
Friday, May 26
Nothing was planned for me at my practicum today as well, so I initially joined up with Chandra. But as we were waiting in the male surgical ward for someone to interview, we got a call from Carli. She had a bad morning at Uganda Cares and needed to go home, so I went with her. Einer and the boys from Tekera (Joseph and Junior) were coming for dinner and dancing at the Tropic Inn so we spent the day cleaning up and getting groceries. Einer cooked us a delicious spaghetti and Jen and Carli made their famous garlic bread.
Then we all hung out at the Brovad until it was time to go dancing (about 10:30). It was a real treat for the boys to be at the fanciest hotel in Masaka so it was a fun evening. Now let me tell you how funny it is for 3 Lugandans, 4 muzungus and 1 Chilean muzungu to trek down the path in our best clothes in the pitch black! The paths are narrow and speckled with cow pies. We call this area of grassland that we cut across the National Park. But the sidewalks are even worse...they are completely broken up, cement chunks everywhere, mostly it's packed dirt that sometimes rises up in big mounds and craters and ditches to each side that you have to be careful to not fall into. And remember, there are no street lights and no one to sue if you get hurt! Anyway, you probably had to be there to realize the hilariousness of it, but it was quite the sight to see, I am sure.
We had a really good time at the dance and we got home at 5:00!! We closed the place down. The boys had mats on our floor to share. For some reason though, we all woke up at 8am! Carli had a sudden burst of energy to go downtown and get groceries for breakfast. Einer and Chandra made delicious avacado and egg sandwiches.
Later in the day when the boys had gone home, Chandra went to the clinic with a really bad sore throat. At first we thought I had just passed my cold on to her but the doctor confirmed she had tonsilitis of all things!! She also has a nasty creepy looking bite on her arm that I could swear was a bat bite. There were 3 little holes like teeth marks and it was hard and swollen. The doctor didn't know what it was except to say it was not a mosquito. His exact reply was, "Who knows what kind of things we have here that bite," and had no further advice. Speaking of bats...we had a bat in our courtyard the other night and our guard found it necessary to torture and kill it in front of our eyes...very traumatic. Speaking of our guard, where else in the world would you pay for someone to guard your place at night but let him sleep the entire time on a makeshift bed!!! Really, I tell ya, sometimes I wonder...Speaking of guarding our place, we had a boy try to break into our bathroom one day. He jumped our really high wall and our neighbour caught him. He had visited us the day before looking for Brigitte but she wasn't home. I think I'm done with my speaking of's...
Wed, May 24
Carli, Chandra and I went to a bible study. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it's true. I WENT TO A BIBLE STUDY! I was enticed by the potluck idea and some singing, but it ended up being pretty intense. I didn't mind it really, it was something new and we made friends. Very nice people. It was at an orphanage run by a Canadian couple. There were also Danish, Swedish, British and Ugandan people there so it made it quite interesting. Chandra's convinced I will be converted by the time I leave here. You never know.
Thur, May 25
Today there was no practicum for Carli and I because the conference was ending and everyone was going home...we sat at home for a couple of hours waiting to be picked up before we received a message that we were not needed. So we went out to Tekera with Bruce to take the new puppy to Einer. She is so cute. They named her Kujo but I renamed her Daisy. Much more appropriate I think. She ran to Einer right away. I guess she knew he'd be her friend. We are getting very excited for John coming on Saturday!
Friday, May 26
Nothing was planned for me at my practicum today as well, so I initially joined up with Chandra. But as we were waiting in the male surgical ward for someone to interview, we got a call from Carli. She had a bad morning at Uganda Cares and needed to go home, so I went with her. Einer and the boys from Tekera (Joseph and Junior) were coming for dinner and dancing at the Tropic Inn so we spent the day cleaning up and getting groceries. Einer cooked us a delicious spaghetti and Jen and Carli made their famous garlic bread.
Then we all hung out at the Brovad until it was time to go dancing (about 10:30). It was a real treat for the boys to be at the fanciest hotel in Masaka so it was a fun evening. Now let me tell you how funny it is for 3 Lugandans, 4 muzungus and 1 Chilean muzungu to trek down the path in our best clothes in the pitch black! The paths are narrow and speckled with cow pies. We call this area of grassland that we cut across the National Park. But the sidewalks are even worse...they are completely broken up, cement chunks everywhere, mostly it's packed dirt that sometimes rises up in big mounds and craters and ditches to each side that you have to be careful to not fall into. And remember, there are no street lights and no one to sue if you get hurt! Anyway, you probably had to be there to realize the hilariousness of it, but it was quite the sight to see, I am sure.
We had a really good time at the dance and we got home at 5:00!! We closed the place down. The boys had mats on our floor to share. For some reason though, we all woke up at 8am! Carli had a sudden burst of energy to go downtown and get groceries for breakfast. Einer and Chandra made delicious avacado and egg sandwiches.
Later in the day when the boys had gone home, Chandra went to the clinic with a really bad sore throat. At first we thought I had just passed my cold on to her but the doctor confirmed she had tonsilitis of all things!! She also has a nasty creepy looking bite on her arm that I could swear was a bat bite. There were 3 little holes like teeth marks and it was hard and swollen. The doctor didn't know what it was except to say it was not a mosquito. His exact reply was, "Who knows what kind of things we have here that bite," and had no further advice. Speaking of bats...we had a bat in our courtyard the other night and our guard found it necessary to torture and kill it in front of our eyes...very traumatic. Speaking of our guard, where else in the world would you pay for someone to guard your place at night but let him sleep the entire time on a makeshift bed!!! Really, I tell ya, sometimes I wonder...Speaking of guarding our place, we had a boy try to break into our bathroom one day. He jumped our really high wall and our neighbour caught him. He had visited us the day before looking for Brigitte but she wasn't home. I think I'm done with my speaking of's...
Monday, May 29, 2006
Sunday May 21st (erin)
We (minus Jen who was sick) went out to Tekera where our friend Einer lives. We hired a driver, Nasser, who is really funny. He sang the whole way but it was good music that we knew from the Tropic Inn. It was also funny because Nasser didn't know the way to Tekera but every person that he stopped along the way to ask for directions (children, boda boda drivers, grandfathers on bicycles...etc.) all knew the muzungu Einer and pointed us in the right direction! He is a legend out there. Einer had two of the boys (Joseph and Joseph Jr...popular name in Uganda) from the village take us into the jungle to look for monkeys. We came across the deadly black mamba snake in our path! It was very small but apparently if it bit us we'd be dead in 5 minutes. We weren't really scared until the local boys ran away!! And we found out then that our driver was also deathly afraid of snakes and for the rest of the adventure, he carried a big stick with him. It was very entertaining. Especially when he kept saying, "any snake that wants to come near me, I will kill you!" Even though we knew he'd be running at the first hint of a snake.
After having to retrace our steps a few times and having to hack our way through the bush with a machete (don't worry the machete was not in any of our hands!), we found monkeys! They were small but cute. Kind of far away but fun to watch them leap from tree to tree. Some big birds there too, kind of like toucans Carli thought. We came across some freakish looking bugs on our journey as well. Can you believe that out of the three of us that I was the bravest one in the forest???....really I think Africa is agreeing with me more than I care to believe. We got to try a new fruit too that was very very very sour, but I loved it! I was the only one who didn't spit it out and asked for more. Yum. We also had some berries that were guaranteed not poisonous. Trusty guides we had. Then the boys picked some flowers for Einer and for us. Very cute. We then had lunch at the local restaurant (the other Brovad, haha, inside joke). It was a little wooden hut with benches. Good food with huge portions, ridiculous big really. Chandra and I politely refused the big hunk of fish but Carli was brave and had some, minus the guts and pooh that was still in it...they don't guy fish here before cooking.
So things here are well. Missing White Spot, Joey Tomatoes, Lhy Thai, veggie burgers etc...but other than that it's ok! Is it true that Canada has agreed to go to war with USA against Afghanistan?? Please update us on the local news.
After having to retrace our steps a few times and having to hack our way through the bush with a machete (don't worry the machete was not in any of our hands!), we found monkeys! They were small but cute. Kind of far away but fun to watch them leap from tree to tree. Some big birds there too, kind of like toucans Carli thought. We came across some freakish looking bugs on our journey as well. Can you believe that out of the three of us that I was the bravest one in the forest???....really I think Africa is agreeing with me more than I care to believe. We got to try a new fruit too that was very very very sour, but I loved it! I was the only one who didn't spit it out and asked for more. Yum. We also had some berries that were guaranteed not poisonous. Trusty guides we had. Then the boys picked some flowers for Einer and for us. Very cute. We then had lunch at the local restaurant (the other Brovad, haha, inside joke). It was a little wooden hut with benches. Good food with huge portions, ridiculous big really. Chandra and I politely refused the big hunk of fish but Carli was brave and had some, minus the guts and pooh that was still in it...they don't guy fish here before cooking.
So things here are well. Missing White Spot, Joey Tomatoes, Lhy Thai, veggie burgers etc...but other than that it's ok! Is it true that Canada has agreed to go to war with USA against Afghanistan?? Please update us on the local news.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
May 12-19 (erin)
My supervisor and colleagues were in Kampala on a business trip all week so I was given a plan for my week. Monday I wrote my report but couldn't type it cuz no power. Tuesday, Carli and I were supposed to go on outreach with the Community Health Team to Rakai district where the first incidence of AIDS was diagnosed. After waiting for 2 hours though, we asked when we'd be going and they said they are still waiting for the doctor to come and he might not come at all. So it was suggested we come back another day. So we picked up Jen and went to Nyendo market. It is the town just outside of Masaka and their market day is much bigger than ours. It was huge! Lots of fun. We got lots of good deals on clothes and cloths. We didn't even have time to shop in the food part. We managed to cram 8 people in our taxi!! I don't know how the driver drove with three other people in the front!
On Wednesday, Carli and I did research for our first big teaching session at the vocational school for young adults with disabilities. She was sent home from Uganda Cares b/c her blood smear still showed she had malaria even though she felt fine. So I was lucky to have her with me because I did not want to do this alone. We decided to talk about self esteem. Well, I was already nervous for my first teaching experience, but it was worse when the whole school was rounded up...about 50 people!! Overall it went well, but it was a bit confusing because we had a Luganda translator and a sign language translator. They seemed to enjoy it though and asked us to come back everyday. My dog friend, Bonzo was even there to lend support...yes people, there is a dog here that follows me around and I have to admit I don't mind...only in Africa would I befriend a stinky dirty canine.
On Thursday, the four of us met with a probation officer which is someone who handles adoptions, not convicts. We just asked questions about adoption processes and what happens with abandoned children because Chandra has one as one of her cases at the hospital. It was interesting. I find it funny that every place I visit, whether it's a school, health clinic, or county office, they have a visitor's book that we fill out...even the locals fill them out, not just us from out of town (or country).
I had my first night out by myself that night as well. A colleague took me out for a soda at a local "joint". That was nice, you get less stared at when you are with a local person. Also, I got to ride my first motorcycle...and don't tell Mom, but I wasn't wearing a helmet! Don't worry, it was just down the street :) While I was away the girls had an opportunity to try grasshoppers and sugar cane. Only Carli, the vegetarian tried the bugs though! (ironic???)
On Friday I visited the Physiotherapy clinic and saw a 5 month old twin girl get treatment for cerebral palsy (seems to be a lot of twins here). She was very cute. The best thing that came out of that was that her mother at first did not blieve that the girl's sight was good but when I was playing with her hand, my bracelet caught her attention and it was enough to convince her that her sight was ok. Yah, I finally helped!! I also visited the orthopedic lab and was introduced to a boy with a misformed foot. I was told to interview him...well okay, that was a bit awkward. Luckily, a co-worker, Joseph, translated for me and he asked a lot of good questions. I told him he should be a counsellor. He's very helpful.
Friday night, I finally got to go dancing at the Tropic Inn. I had another bad headache but I refused to miss another night out! So I forced my body to cooperate and had a great time. The club is different here because guys and girls both dance, maybe even more so the men. And people just dance with whoever and there's no competition among the women to look the best and among the men to act macho. It's really fun.
On Saturday, our friend and Luganda teacher, Fred, introduced us to a nurse at the hospital that Chandra's been working with, Sister Prossy. She showed us around the hospital staff living quarters. You would never believe what nurses and accountants and medical assistants live in. They are basically little round tin huts. Unbelievable. You can imagine how little they are getting paid if they live in places like that. Our nurses and doctors should take a visit to Africa to realize how good they have it! We also met a 15 year old boy Vincent who is living by himself since his parents died. He has been working hard to keep everything going and support himself but because it's hospital land, he may be kicked out any time. He says he is even scared of his house at nighttime, very sad story. But he was all smiles for us and was looking forward to a better future. After that we went to the manager of a local bank's house. Much different lifestyle. It was an apartment above the bank and so big compared to anything we had seen so far. They were a very nice couple, and except for the baby peeing on me, it was a nice visit. Please answer this...why would they not put a diaper on their baby, I'd really like to know??
I was just warned by the internet staff that they power will be going out soon so I'd better save my work. To be continued...
PS. Congrats to Helen and baby Denae from all of us!!
On Wednesday, Carli and I did research for our first big teaching session at the vocational school for young adults with disabilities. She was sent home from Uganda Cares b/c her blood smear still showed she had malaria even though she felt fine. So I was lucky to have her with me because I did not want to do this alone. We decided to talk about self esteem. Well, I was already nervous for my first teaching experience, but it was worse when the whole school was rounded up...about 50 people!! Overall it went well, but it was a bit confusing because we had a Luganda translator and a sign language translator. They seemed to enjoy it though and asked us to come back everyday. My dog friend, Bonzo was even there to lend support...yes people, there is a dog here that follows me around and I have to admit I don't mind...only in Africa would I befriend a stinky dirty canine.
On Thursday, the four of us met with a probation officer which is someone who handles adoptions, not convicts. We just asked questions about adoption processes and what happens with abandoned children because Chandra has one as one of her cases at the hospital. It was interesting. I find it funny that every place I visit, whether it's a school, health clinic, or county office, they have a visitor's book that we fill out...even the locals fill them out, not just us from out of town (or country).
I had my first night out by myself that night as well. A colleague took me out for a soda at a local "joint". That was nice, you get less stared at when you are with a local person. Also, I got to ride my first motorcycle...and don't tell Mom, but I wasn't wearing a helmet! Don't worry, it was just down the street :) While I was away the girls had an opportunity to try grasshoppers and sugar cane. Only Carli, the vegetarian tried the bugs though! (ironic???)
On Friday I visited the Physiotherapy clinic and saw a 5 month old twin girl get treatment for cerebral palsy (seems to be a lot of twins here). She was very cute. The best thing that came out of that was that her mother at first did not blieve that the girl's sight was good but when I was playing with her hand, my bracelet caught her attention and it was enough to convince her that her sight was ok. Yah, I finally helped!! I also visited the orthopedic lab and was introduced to a boy with a misformed foot. I was told to interview him...well okay, that was a bit awkward. Luckily, a co-worker, Joseph, translated for me and he asked a lot of good questions. I told him he should be a counsellor. He's very helpful.
Friday night, I finally got to go dancing at the Tropic Inn. I had another bad headache but I refused to miss another night out! So I forced my body to cooperate and had a great time. The club is different here because guys and girls both dance, maybe even more so the men. And people just dance with whoever and there's no competition among the women to look the best and among the men to act macho. It's really fun.
On Saturday, our friend and Luganda teacher, Fred, introduced us to a nurse at the hospital that Chandra's been working with, Sister Prossy. She showed us around the hospital staff living quarters. You would never believe what nurses and accountants and medical assistants live in. They are basically little round tin huts. Unbelievable. You can imagine how little they are getting paid if they live in places like that. Our nurses and doctors should take a visit to Africa to realize how good they have it! We also met a 15 year old boy Vincent who is living by himself since his parents died. He has been working hard to keep everything going and support himself but because it's hospital land, he may be kicked out any time. He says he is even scared of his house at nighttime, very sad story. But he was all smiles for us and was looking forward to a better future. After that we went to the manager of a local bank's house. Much different lifestyle. It was an apartment above the bank and so big compared to anything we had seen so far. They were a very nice couple, and except for the baby peeing on me, it was a nice visit. Please answer this...why would they not put a diaper on their baby, I'd really like to know??
I was just warned by the internet staff that they power will be going out soon so I'd better save my work. To be continued...
PS. Congrats to Helen and baby Denae from all of us!!
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