Uganda - Kampala & Kabale with KIHEFO Week 2/2

---

Hello hello 😊

I’m still trying to catch up with photos and blogs around Uni work but my computer is just so slow and frustrating! Drew’s seems to do everything really quickly. I’ve been about to throw mine out of the window several times but luckily Drew has saved it by doing something that speeds it up. We think it’s a combination of my camera taking 14Megapixel pictures (I guess that’s good, but now there’s dust in the lens which appears on every photo so I’m not too happy about that) and the amount of stuff in my ‘Rubbish Bin’ (at 7.5GB of data it was more than everything else on my computer put together, not sure what it all was). If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know!



Friday 11^th May – KAMPALA after saying bye bye to Hannah

I thought I’d feel better about safety with Hannah safely deposited in the airport but was still very very anxious. I was so jumpy I thought I’d lost my UK phone in the airport so went running back in only for Drew to call me on my Uganda phone to tell me it’d been in my bag all along. I was really annoyed with myself as hadn’t been at all nervous, nothing had happened to make me feel at all threatened and although I’d been alert I’d felt perfect safe. I understand why people were concerned about us and totally understand why, Uganda isn’t exactly a leading holiday destination and it’s a bit of an unknown but I’d taken things to the extreme in my head! Back at the hotel we had a snack (cheese and pineapple that reminds Drew of Fra) then some downtime before heading back for dinner. Drew bought me a red wine to calm me down; I was pretty much having a full blown panic attack, ridiculous. The wine helped me sleep well, although someone in the room next door was making a REALLY strange noise all night.

Saturday 12^th May – KAMPALA to KABALE

It was raining so hard and so loud when we woke up! We had breakfast and chilled out all morning, my only outing was to get cash from the ATM. It’s a 5 minute walk and I went on my own and was a bit jumpy, was all ok though. We left Kampala with Enouk and Dr Geoffrey at 11:45am. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam at a roundabout and it must have taken us well over an hour to travel half a mile, was amused to find a cow happily munching away on the roundabout when we got there though! Once we were through the traffic jam we flew down to Kabale, we got pulled over a few times by the Traffic Police, one of them was the guy that pulled us over our 1^st time and he had a chuckle with us because he remembered us. We stopped at a new rest stop for something to eat but they had no power so we moved on, past the Zebras again, to another. We had some lunch and after heading it started to get dark and I stopped being nervous, which was a miracle! The drive was just so beautiful, I really felt like I was in Africa. I love sunset and twilight anyway and this was just amazing, the Ugandan landscape is stunning and in the dimming light it seemed magical. The sunset was great but hard to take photos from a moving car. We stopped off to buy pineapples and tomatoes on the way, picked up Lillian who’d been visiting home and I tried to sleep but ended up laying back looking at the stars out the window. Drew had been asleep the whole journey but he had the most comfy chairs. Enouk, as always, got us back safely and we had such a welcome home! We gave Ronald his birthday/thank you present (the chess board) which he was sooooooooo happy with, had some lovely dinner cooked by Drake and it felt so nice to be back in Dr Geoffrey’s house.

Sunday 13^th May – KABALE

I had a bad night. I thought I’d got over my nerves but at 2am Drew woke me up because he heard some strange noises (concluded it was people leaving the pub) and that put me on edge whilst he went back to sleep. We got up slowly, visited Orange for an internet top up and went to do some painting. It was a Sunday but Drew wanted to check on progress and do a couple of bits. I don’t have much experience with painting but was put on skirting board duty, found it very difficult without marking tape to keep to the skirting boards. We did a few hours, headed to the shops for water and something to eat and headed home. There was no power… we put on the reserve supply and then that ran out (it charges from the mains, think Drew’s new plug adapter fused it). It started to get dark and I had to stop Uni work because my laptop battery was running low so I spent ages preparing myself for a night without power (the nerves put me into crazy organiser mode) and Drew and I headed out for candles and wine. On our way back we saw light on in the house, I was so happy, the power was back on! Ronald and Drew tried to follow the end of the Premiership season online; Ronald ended up being very upset because Man Utd didn’t win… we heard a big cheer and beeping go up down the town and knew something had happened but had to wait for the internet to confirm. I didn’t think there’d be so many Man City supporters in Kabale but the boys told me it was more that they were fans of other clubs that didn’t want Man Utd to win. Drew and Ronald played some chess. Drake was outside cooking on the fire and stoves. I did some handwashing and then we saw on the news that a LRA Commander, 3^rd in command, had been captured in the Central African Republic so we had a chat about Kony and Invisible Children, drank some wine, played some chess and went to bed.

Monday 14^th May – KABALE

I was up late and took a long time to have breakfast, shower and get ready. I got myself all nice for work then it started tipping with rain as I was leaving (Drew had left earlier). Luckily Enouk was around and gave me a lift. I went to the clinic, which had flooded and got my feet wet, didn’t learn from Drew’s lesson where he had done the same a few days ago, I should have known it was deeper than it looked. There was no power at the office so I helped Drew and Grant with the painting until the power came back on. I then went to the office and entered more records, I was saddened because entered records for 3 people who tested positive for HIV, a 32 year old, a 20 year old and a 6 year old. I made it through April which was good as it helped Max catch up but had LOAD of queries. I wanted to work on the new system and had a practice but needed to talk to Max for help, she was registering for school. Drew and I both finished up and got chips for a late lunch…they were peeled, cooked in a hot pan and bagged in front of us. We got home and I got the washing in that Patricia had done for me because it was starting to rain and did some Uni work. The power went out again and it was still off when it got dark but miraculously I was not scared and stressed out, I’d felt calm all day. I pottered around, the power came back on for a minute then was off again for the rest of the night. Or so I thought, Drew was asleep and after 2 hours of me sitting in the pitch black on my own he woke up and turned the light on! The power didn’t stay on for long though so we had a candlelit dinner with Dr Allan, listened to the rain and thunder outside (thunder was so loud at one point it shook the windows!). Dr Allan is such a lovely guy, is related to Dr Geoffrey (said he’d inspired him) and we talked about his childhood, working the fields, washing in a basin and listening to his grandfather who taught him to be content with what he has but always strive for more. He still likes home and PREFERS cold showers. We talked about root causes of HIV/AIDS and the like. Ronald came up and took the mickey out of me for being nervous which was so helpful…how long had I spent on the stairs the other night (when we’d heard the banging and it turned out to be Patricia doing the washing up) listening out? We had a laugh and then went to bed for a good sleep.

Tuesday 15^th May – KABALE

I was so tired when I woke up, after a great sleep! There was still no power so I went to sit in the dark for a while at the office. I did some filing and looked through the instruction pages I’d saved to my phone. It was no good though, had to go and paint. I was pretty useless and got more paint on the floor than anything else but at least I was helpful! It started raining so we moved to paint inside but it got heavier and heavier. It ended up really obstructing what we were doing because we were getting soaked and the courtyard was flooding. It was really frustrating but I kept feeling for the Nurses and Doctors, as if they don’t have enough challenges already. They loaned me a pair of willies so I put them on and did the two and froing, cleaning brushes etc. It got so bad we had to stop. Drew went off to the cash machine and I stayed to help Grant finish off, he was painting the open window of the surgery in which a young lad was lying waiting for Dr Allan to stitch up his horrifically cut leg. Grant and I had a chat though we did struggle to understand each other and then the paint pots floated away! We popped to the local corner shop on the way home, to find a bit of a party going on! We had peanut butter and jam on bread and biscuits and the power kept going on and off. Once it was on for a while I took advantage and dried my wet hair and clothes with the hairdryer and did some Uni work and got a lovely call from my family at home. And watched some E!, Guiliana and Bill! Dr Geoffrey came up for a chat and told us we were guest speakers at his weekly Rotary Club meeting the next night, he’s the President and wanted us to talk about our experiences. He really is an amazing man, there’s so much good going on and few know about it, he needs us to spread the word (you can all help us…!). Patricia came to sit with us, Ronald was sick with a cold so headed to bed early and I wasn’t much later.

Wednesday 16^th May – KABALE

It was our last proper day of work with KIHEFO today and I really wanted to sort the system. I was down in the clinic early then off to the office and there was power! I spent a good few hours trying to start a new system but I simply couldn’t do it, it was too hard. The instructions in the system help pages didn’t make sense in practice, the people who’d built the previous records database had locked it so nobody could copy it or try and follow their example. And it involved a lot of computer programming. I knew that Computing ‘A Level’ I started and didn’t finish would have come in handy someday. So I entered more records and finished up. I spent a good half an hour with the twins, they were doing so well. Vanessa particularly looked very healthy and she was so cute, grabbed my fingers and wouldn’t let go. Purity was still much smaller but could still see the improvement. So much hope in their eyes. I headed to the clinic to get Drew for lunch and he already had his…! So I helped him finish up then we headed back home to prepare our Rotary speech. It wasn’t smooth sailing as Drew’s a bit fancy free and I’m more structured but we got there in the end. We left at 6pm and went to the White Horse Inn, a lovely hotel. We were invited into the whole meeting, there were so many men and women there as it’s the most elite Rotary Club in Kabale. It was very formal, like a council meeting, a lot of laughing, some raised voices, some interesting points. An appeal from the family of a sick man needing to go to India for help made me cry, they needed $20000, has reminded me I meant to give something. Our speech went well, people were very quiet but that was standard throughout the meeting, the Vice President got up once we’d finished to gave us a lovely thank you, about how just knowing that we’ve seen and that we care is very important to them. We went back to dinner then to Ronald and his girlfriend’s birthday party. There was some lovely food and a nice cake and such lovely people. There were many formalities again but it was so fun! They danced to each other to hand over presents and we had a special prayer at the end. We had to finish early because there were students at the party and they would be locked out if not home soon.

Thursday 17^th May – KABALE and community outreach at IKUMBA

We were up early to finish some painting, but when we got there decided to give the work to Grant. He had been fantastic and deserved every shilling we’d given him for the work he’d done. We headed home and changed ready to leave for a community outreach at Ikumba, a village about an hour’s drive out of Kabale. Its primary focus was to check up on HIV/AIDs patients and provide them with their ARV (antiretroviral) medication. Enouk picked us up then we picked up Lillian and Annette and Julianne from the clinic. We packed up the van and set off. We were on a new route out of Kabale, out towards the Kisoro border with Rwanda and the drive was beautiful (we were promised it would be even better closer to Rwanda when we went tomorrow, we weren’t disappointed). There were a lot of roadwork’s, and school children in their bright uniforms. And a lot of buses, all coming past in succession. We learned they were carrying DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) refugees from the border transit camp to permanent camps near the Tanzania border, we’d seen UNHCR (United National High Commission for Refugees) cars in Kabale so knew there was activity going on. We travelled off the road down narrower and narrower tracks and eventually into a farm where the community centre was based. We were met by the community leaders and taken on a tour of the farm, it was so well organised. In the distance we saw some traditional grass huts that people were still living in. But Drew and I were a bit confused by the toilet… there was not a big enough hole to guarantee peeing in?! Anyway… we helped Annette and Julianne set up in the community hall and there was already quite a few people gathering. We helped count multi vitamins, Drew handed out patient files (they’re kept at the clinic) which was amusing for everyone as he couldn’t say their names. Annette started off the clinic by doing a health talk, about the importance of taking medicine properly etc. Then people came by one by one for weighing (my responsibility), consultation (Annette and Julianne) and dispensing (Drew). It was hard as they kept piling on the scales and I couldn’t remember their weights when Julianne asked me for them. In the end I had to write a description which was awkward when they asked me to show them what I was writing. I got asked by one guy about ‘protectors’, I had no idea what he was talking about and wondered whether it was something to do with me needing protection. I asked Lillian later and he was asking for condoms, felt bad we didn’t have any for him. We gave out lollipops and chocolate which people ate immediately. We gave the children Hannah’s stickers and kangaroo and koala key rings - they loved them. There were so many people with HIV/AIDs, just from one small farming community. There were also children outside, just staring at us, constantly – maybe they hadn’t seen muzungo before? There were so many not there, because of their perception they’d rather not attend but therefore sadly miss out on receiving their lifesaving drugs. Once the clinic had finished the group received a talk from their lovely elder, who was so proud and chuffed with everything. They had a small savings scheme for mosquito nets and were gradually saving for each other for mosquito nets which cost between 6000UGS (just over $2UDSD) or 15000UGS (about $6USD) for an impregnated (sprayed with additional protection) one. We had a talk from the ‘sister’ and a long prayer, again there were a lot of formalities and we had to be recognised and give a little speech. We were invited afterwards to the sister’s house for some of the local maize drink… I only wanted a little bit as was worried about my tummy, luckily Enouk helped out by drinking enough for us all (he loves it). We headed back out to Kabale and through a small village market, we stopped to get maize on sticks, like sweetcorn on sticks, it was a big tough for me. I was feeling poorly and had a migraine coming on so when we were home I had a nice sleep. I got up for dinner, Patricia joined us and talked through her schemes for supporting her home community back in Northern Uganda. I was so impressed with her, she had formal written up proposals, pictures and crafts, she just needed some good backing. Dr Geoffrey and Dr Allen came to see us for another chat. I slept soooooooooooo well!

Friday 18^th May – KABALE to Uganda/Rwanda border at KISORO

We were up early to get ready for our couple of days in Rwanda! We packed what we needed which was awkward because Rwanda has banned plastic bags. I thought we meant this couldn’t take any at all, turns out they do let us take them in, just not allowed to leave them there. We got sorted and stopped off at the clinic to print off our Visa acceptance, I wasn’t convinced we needed Visa’s but KIHEFO had recommended we complete the application to make sure, they came back saying we did need them and they cost $30 at the border. But the British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Rwandan websites said British Nationals didn’t need them; we printed the forms anyway. We got some lunch supplies and then headed on our way. OMG the scenery was STUNNING! It was amongst the best I’ve ever seen, the valleys were so big and vast and the hills were covered in a patchwork of different crops; it was like a patchwork quilt had been thrown over the hills. We a different view of Lake Bunyonyi, there was a cow perched on the side with the best view, he was pretty nonchalant about it though. We gave out Hannah’s last koalas/kangaroo key rings and some sweets to children that were walking along the road whilst we were taking photos. We received a lovely call from Hannah whilst we were up there, but awkward as no signal. We passed through a small foresty area and then back out into a vast viewpoint where we could see the volcanoes of Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. We could see the border town of Kisoro in the valley which has is the gateway to Rwanda and the Congo. Drew, Lillian and Enouk stopped for more maize on the cob and I had a giggle at a little girl who’d somehow got herself sat up in a tree, she loved it! The roads were all being re-done so most of it wasn’t surfaced, there seemed to have been a lot of landslides. Kisoro seemed to be a chilled out town; on the way in we see the transit came for the Congolese refugees, it was so so sad. There must have been thousands there, waiting to be bussed to a more permanent camp. How so very sad, they come to Uganda because they trust them. We stopped for the toilet and a drink and then headed to the border…! It was pretty typical of the land borders I’ve seen, not a lot to stop people just walking on through. We went to immigration first, whilst Enouk was clearing the van through customs and were pestered a bit by people wanting to change money. Once we’d got our stamps we were free to walk on through the barrier to Rwanda, what if we hadn’t though?! Uganda would have thought we’d have left but we hadn’t? It’s the same everywhere unless you’re going onto/off of a boat or plane. There was a guard on the gate checking passports, he stopped us, checked our stamps, and waved us past the barrier into Rwanda!

Miss you all so very much.

Xx



*USEFUL FACTS AND INFORMATION

· The fruit in Uganda is amazing, I’d thought Australia was good but this on the whole is generally better. They struggle to compete on the international stage though, because of the international standards expected in terms of the perfect size and shape.

· Goats provide one of the most successful means of socio-economically empowering a rural family. One goat can breed many year after year after year.

· There is a big push on planting Pine Trees because of the positive effects on the environment; people are paid per tree planted on their land.

NOTE: I use these updates to capture my memories and share what I'm doing on my travels with friends, family and anyone who is interested enough to read. The views are my own and I try my best to ensure any information I share is fair and accurate but I do sometimes get things wrong. I welcome any feedback so I can make improvements and corrections for future readers. Thank you.

---

Photos

Me, Hannah and Drew
Bye Hannah :(