It’s been a long time…

---

The reason why neither of us has written anything in the last few weeks is because we haven’t had internet at home. We don’t know if it’s because our hosts have failed to pay the bill or if the internet company have done some mistake or both, it’s quite difficult to get any straight answers.

Nevertheless you haven’t missed all that much. We haven’t gone on any more excursions or done much sightseeing. We have mainly been working. The reason why we have spent so much time working is that we are planning on leaving next week and want to get everything done. Our main project has been the new webpage. We have pretty much been writing the entire content, taken all the pictures and formulated the composition. Now it’s all in the hands of our web designer in Jinja and we are happy to say that he seems very good at his job. So with some luck and African Voodoo magic we will get the webpage up and running by next week. Thus we can also take the opportunity to thank the sponsor behind the webpage, Annelie Nordstrand, aka My Mother. We have also had the privilege of being here during the elections, which has been interesting. It has in no way been scary, but there were some riots in Jinja, with tear gas and stuff. However nobody seemed too worried, so neither were we.

As I said we are leaving next week. We have decided that we have done our share here and would like to spend the last few weeks of our African adventure actually seeing some of the continent. We have seen many amazing sights here in Uganda and have therefore decided that we would like to go to Kenya and see some more and then maybe even head off to Tanzania and Zanzibar. The whole trip is a bit undecided and we will make it up a little as we go. But the first destination is already decided. Some people say “leave the best till last”, I say f*** that I’m starting off with the best. So our first destination is going to be one of my life long dreams, Masai Mara! I know that hyping something before seeing it may lead to disappointment, but I doubt this will be the case on the Mara. But I have some goals during this trip: become friends with a lion, ride a wild African elephant, catch a cheetah and wrestle a crocodile. As for you skeptics, just wait for the blog entitled “Masai Mara Baby!” and you will see!

As we still don’t have internet (in a web café) I don’t know if we will have time to write any more blogs before we leave. Therefore I would like to summarize our Ugandan experience. I know I have been very positive in my last entries and you should know that they were in no way exaggerated; however I do have some things that I do not mind leaving behind. So I have created my Top 5 things I hate about Uganda 😊

1. African Rats – These “little” bastards have been haunting me the whole trip. They have bitten holes in our clothes (mainly Ewas); woken us up at night; jumped in our beds; and one ran over my foot.

2. The dust – The dust here is something else. The ground is a reddish brown color and most of the roads are not paved. So it is impossible to walk outside without getting dirty. I mean it is impossible! I thought it was a good idea to bring white t-shirts to hot Africa, didn’t realize they turn brown after 2 minutes outside. And I don’t even want to talk about the state and color of our feet.

3. Posho and Beans – Some people (Ewa) are not too concerned with what they eat, probably cause they eat only twice a day. But for us normal people food is quite important. I don’t mean this to sound spoiled or insensitive (since we understand that they don’t have much money down here). But nonetheless I am going crazy from eating Posho (a paste made of corn flour and water) and beans, for lunch and dinner EVERY SINGLE DAY. The things that most people (including Ewa) actually think it is quite nice. I can eat anything, trust me, but just not over and over and over again!

4. Mzunguuu – In fairness it is quite endearing when kids shout at you and wave; and their “Mzunguu Byeeeiii” is very sweet. But when grownups do it, it is not as endearing or sweet. When a grown man says “Mzungu, I want your wife” and then asks you if you want a ride on his Boda Boda, then you can’t help but saying “Are you f***ing kidding me?” (Note this is in no way a generalization, just a few rotten eggs)

5. Dresses – Ewa is going to kill me for writing this, but I have to. We have been looking for a few presents for the kids in the house. So we decided to buy sandals and a school bag for everyone, shirts and shorts for the boys and we are getting dresses sewn for the girls. It is the last part that is killing me. We talked to some ladies down in our town of Bugembe who said they will get us some dresses. It has taken I don’t know how many weeks and still they are not all finished. The funny thing is that we go past the shop every day and we haven’t seen them working once. Today is there last day. If there not done I’m going to release some Viking fury in that place!

It wouldn’t be fair for me to summarize our trip here with a Top 5 hate list. So what I do love about Uganda is….. EVERYTHING else! This is an amazing country, beautiful and filled with very nice people. Yes, there is room for improvement. I think that as soon as this country gets a working political system, with fair elections, no corruption and above all stability, then all the other things will flourish as well: industry, tourism….

What I can say is that it will not be easy to say goodbye. Not to our regular Chapate guy, not to our Coca-Cola lady, not to the people we have worked with and especially not to the children. It may seem cliché or even corny, but they are really, really amazing and I feel so proud that we have been able to help them (at least in some little way) and that even our friends and family have been so involved and enthusiastic.

So as my last blog entry in THIS country (more will come from Kenya and Tanzania), I would like to bid farewell to UUUUganda (it’s important to emphasis the U apparently) and say that I hope one day I will be back!

---