Who Brings Their Wife to Africa to Dig a Trench…

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Sorry for the delay, don’t worry Ness’s blog is coming, we have just been busy the last couple of weeks, so it’s me again!

So two weeks ago I went on the Three Stone Health Preventive Training course. It was brilliant to see Alfred (one of the trainers) wearing a Welsh tie – he didn’t have a clue where it came from or what it was, but brought a smile to my face! As we drove from the Guest House to the village we saw Muslims outside each mosque having special services for Eid. As we passed a rather large outside service, Charles (the person from the village hosting the training) stated he needed to stop and buy the beef for the lunch. Next thing we knew the service was over as most people had got up and left and our car was besieged by inquisitive Muslims around the Muzungus. It was a brilliant experience attending 2 days’ training in a rural village. It was held in the local church, and as with most buildings here, it has a tin roof. As you can imagine, by lunchtime the room was baking and only became hotter as the afternoon session went on. It was really interesting to see how Ugandans learn. The training is designed to put them in groups and work together to present their answers. During the first exercise as I walked around the room there was silence from each group. It took a while, but as time went on they started to relax and communicate with each other about the task. It seems Ugandans are used to didactic teaching rather than group work.

Lunch comprised beef, rice and beans and, as the Muzungus, we were asked to sit at the table and were served chicken with our rice and beans. On the second day we were offered a treat as it is custom for the honoured guest to be served the innards of the chicken. Luckily we served ourselves the rest of the food and the Pastor of the church was happy to eat them afterwards.

Last week I went to Bugembe School, just outside Jinja. I took some gifts for the children - coloured pencils, sharpeners, footballs and chalk for the teachers. The Nursery has very limited toys and games for the children to play with, hence the footballs. I decided to take my laptop and a DVD for them to watch. Not really looking at the cover, I thought I was taking Happy Feet, but it actually was March of the Penguins. The children were fascinated, I think they hadn’t even heard of snow never mind seen a flightless bird walk on it. It was funny at one point the teacher said something in Ugandan and all the children put their hands up and became excited. When I asked what was said, the teacher had asked “Who would like to go and see the penguins?”

We then had a tour of the school and visited each class - 7 different year groups with most having two classes per year. Each time we entered a classroom all the children would stand and greet the Headmaster and the guests. After the introductions, I would say where I was from and that my wife was working in the children’s hospital. We were then treated to a song by each class. The voices were brilliant, I was itching to give them a rendition of Bread of Heaven, but held back. One song in particular, which was sung by the nursery school - “We are happy, we are happy!” I ended up singing last week on the building site. It was nice to see how grateful the teachers were to receive the chalk… it’s like gold dust for them.

I spent the rest of the week with Susan helping her with her finances. It was amazing to see what Susan does with eighteen thousand Australian Dollars in 3 months. Susan has around 20 groups in different districts where women are taught about 5 subjects from English and Maths to Sewing and gardening. I caught a lift to Kampala with Susan as she was flying home to Australia and I was going to pick up the in-laws from the airport!

So the Ma and Pa have arrived, for the purpose of this I’ll call them Roger and Sue… well they are their names. The first two nights they booked in at Mabira Rainforest Lodge. An amazing guesthouse built in the heart of the forest just outside Jinja. Each room is a separate log cabin surrounded by trees with monkeys in. Ness and I went to spend the day with them on Saturday. We did a guided walk through the forest, most of the walk we were trying to get a good photo of a monkey. We then spent about 30 minutes by the pool before a huge thunderstorm came. I did have a little swim with Roger before we ran back to the main lodge to avoid the rain. On to Jinja we went for a walk and ended up at the Source of the Nile. The plan was to take a boat ride to the actual source. As we were negotiating a price, we noticed the wind had picked up and a huge grey cloud making it’s way towards us. We decided to go for a drink and wait to see if whether the rain would pass. Lucky that we did as there followed an enormous thunderstorm with rain so hard you couldn’t see the other side of the river bank.

Sue had arranged to do two days’ volunteering with a charity called Soft Power Education based in Jinja. Knowing that one of the opportunities was helping to build a school, Sue signed herself and Roger up for duty. I tagged along to see what it was all about. After a guide of the main activity centre, we were taken to the building site. This is an existing school with a new building being added to increase capacity. As we approached it looked like four men were playing with a seesaw, it turned out to be the brick making device. A wet sand/soil is mixed with dry cement. A couple of shovels are put in and then the lever is pulled over and forced down to compact and make the brick. These bricks don’t need to be baked and can be used after an hour and then go rock solid in the sun within a day. Roger and I had a go, our first one seemed very easy then the second very hard - I think they were changing the amount of mixture then put in?!?

Anyway the building is nearly complete, we were told the roof will be going on in two days, so there was a rush to finish the brick work. We were asked to help dig a trench which would be the foundations of a concrete path around the building. I really don’t think my parents-in-law had signed up for this, but they both dug in (sorry could resist the pun) and worked hard. The first trench we dug was along the back of the building and totally in the sun. We had to walk back to the town at lunch to buy more water. As we left it was funny as Roger said “They’re all staring at us… probably thinking who brings their wife to Africa to do some digging?!?” Well in one and half days we managed to dig around 3 and a bit sides of the building. We hope to go back next week and see the progress.

The building site is near Bujagali Falls where Ness and I came 2 years ago. This area was famous for amazing waterfalls which have now disappeared due to a third dam being built in the area. As a treat, we decided to take a sunset cruise up the Nile. This was an interesting experience as the guy who we booked it with turned up rather worse for wear having had too much Waraji Gin in the sun. Luckily he was only the salesperson and, having picked an argument to get him off the boat whilst miles from shore, we safely landed and deposited him on the bank. Also, we shared the boat with two lovely South African ladies as they had refused to disembark the boat as they were sold a two hour cruise and only received one hour. They were very interesting and it was funny listening to the one shouting at the naked Ugandan men bathing in the river. After that we had a delightful evening spotting different birds, a monitor lizard and monkeys. It was amazing to see the difference as the water is now much higher and the falls are no longer visible at Bujagali.

I've decided each blog will now have a photo of a Boda Boda. We have seen some amazing sights on these motorbikes. Last week was the sleeping Boda Boda Man, this week I found a rain proof Boda Boda.

Next week’s blog will either be Vanessa’s tales of the hospital or more likely, me excited about our trip on safari to see the solar eclipse...

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Comments

[Carolyn]

What an achievement!! Well done Roger & Sue (& Dai!) There\'s nothing like a nice relaxing holiday and this is certainly nothing like one by the sound of it! Though glad to see in another photo you are sitting down with a drink in hand! What amazing adventures you\'re having! Much love to you all.xxxx

[Tom]

Hey Mezungu!
Mezungu! How's tricks in Jinja? Just been caching up with your latest blog, still sounds like your having an incredible experience...keep up the good work on the blogs and pictures. The pictures are quality however I bet it only shows a fraction of how different life actually is over there. Sounds like you've been continuing your work with various charitable organisations, must be interesting to see how donations are spent locally and the good which can be achieved. Caught up with Graeme and Trish earlier following their 42 day med cruise, we were chatting about your trip. Ben says you can skype, let me know when might be a suitable time and we can hopefully get something sorted - weekends or Monday good for me. Things unsurprisingly the same over here, everyone just waiting for the cold of winter to finally kick in. Weird how that guy wended up with a welsh tie, no doubt someone threw it in the charity pile after another English thrashing! Look forward to hearing about the rest of your adventure including Ness' hospital experiences. Take care, Tom & Katie Vic

[Paul Jenkins]

I would !!!!!!
Sounds like it is just a jolly holiday. (Joke David!) Pics are great and the narrative excellent. I look forward to hearing Ness's exploits. I can imagine they are more strenuous than Dai's. Love to both.