Advertisement
Published: July 10th 2013
Hello all,
Almost a year to the day since we left Uganda, Drew and I were heading back!
We spent 6 or so weeks there last year, making many friends and experiencing first-hand the needs of the amazing people that live in such a beautiful yet disadvantaged part of our world. It was tough, physically and emotionally, but we left compelled to do what we could to support the communities we met. The reasons for their disadvantage are complex and whilst we knew we might not be able to change the world, we thought we could try to help some people – every little bit helps!
On the 1 May 2012 Drew, his sister Hannah and I left Australia for Uganda. We spent our first few weeks with the Kigezi Healthcare Foundation (KIHEFO), a small grass roots not-for-profit non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Kabale, south west Uganda, founded by the inspirational and innovative Dr Geoffrey Anguyo. You can read all about them on their website:
http://www.kihefo.org/. We learned about KIHEFOs work and were able to see them in action and as we weren’t medically trained we saw opportunities to help by re-painting the medical clinic and helping catch
The KIHEFO twins, Vanessa and Purity, in 2012
Vanessa is on the right, and Purity on the left. They're with Angela who was their carer at the time - she's now their foster mother. up on some administration in their nutritional centre (we managed to fit in a trip to Rwanda, so I could see the mountain gorillas, arranged through KIHEFO’s associated Kigezi Tours
http://www.kigezitours.com/). We met two beautiful twin girls, Vanessa and Purity, who were malnourished and under the care of KIHEFO and decided to sponsor them. Over the last year we’ve heard great reports of their progress and I was hoping to see it for myself on this visit. We also met a rural football team, who touched and inspired us all and told us not to forget them. So we were planning to take them some donated football kit to show them we hadn’t. You can read about our time at KIHEFO last year in my blogs from the time:
- KIHEFO in Kabale - Week 1:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-718870.html - KIHEFO in Kabale - Week 2:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-719553.html - Rwanda and gorillas with KIHEFO:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-721916.html - Saying bye to the inspirational KIHEFO:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-722894.html Drew and I spent the rest of our time in Uganda with our good friends Hugh and Becky who have been visiting Uganda for many years and raising funds to support the people in the
Drew, Hannah and I with the Kabale footballers in 2012
They asked us not to forget them, and we hadn't. This year we had some donated items for them. north through their North Uganda Outreach Project. The north of Uganda has been peaceful since 2006 but before then was devastated by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who between 1987 and 2006 committed widespread human rights violations. The LRA were pushed out of Uganda, but continue to murder, mutilate and abduct children in the Central African Republic where they’re now thought to be operating and where the Ugandan army are continuing to pursue them so they can be brought to justice. Thousands of people were displaced and had to live in IDP (Internally Displaced People). The camps have now closed and the people are gradually moving home but there’s still so much to be done. So, Drew and I spent two weeks with Hugh, Becky and their Uganda friends George and Moses and took part in the clothes distributions, medical outreach clinics and visits to St Jude’s (a school, children’s home and consolation home) they’d arranged and everything touched our hearts. We also had a very memorable trip to the Kidepo Valley National Park for a bit of a safari...! Any visit to Uganda can be balanced between helping and supporting people, and seeing what the beautiful country has
to offer. You can read all about our time with Hugh and Becky last year in my blogs:
- Gulu – Part 1:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Northern-Region/blog-728531.html - Gulu – Part 2:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Northern-Region/blog-729040.html - Kidepo Valley National Park:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/blog-733476.html - Leaving Uganda:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-734190.html Over the last 12 months Drew and I have established Believe In Better (a charitable trust registered with the HMRC, so all legitimate!) for which we act as trustees alongside Drew’s Mum (thank you Chris), dealt with the challenges of arranging bank transfers to Uganda (for the twins sponsorship!) and worked with Hugh and Becky and their North Uganda Outreach Project. We’ve taken the time to consider what we want to achieve, research the best way to approach it, built a network of contacts across the UK and overseas and spent a lot of time travelling to and from various locations to meet Hugh and Becky, especially over the last couple of months.
It’s been a long process and we’re constantly frustrated with the slow progress, and feeling like we’re not doing enough, but we are where we are. Hugh and Becky have had a successful year of fundraising and through working with George
Clothes distribution in 2012
Drew and Hugh giving out donated clothing at a medical centre in Gulu District. have come up with some great ideas for what we can do to help. So this year’s focus is on providing Sawyer Water Filters (
http://www.sawyer.com/sawyersaves/) that will support the provision of clean water to rural communities, AFRIpads re-usable sanitation pads (
http://afripads.com/) which will help girls stay in school and durable Flip-Flops that will help protect people’s feet. I’ll tell you more about all of that next time.
I started writing a blog about my travels to update my friends and family on my first travelling trip in 2010 – people seemed to enjoy reading so I kept writing and have found it a useful way to capture my memories (the ones I’m happy for anyone to read anyway!!!) and personal experiences and ramblings! A few people have asked if I’d be writing about this trip so I thought I might as well. Hugh and Becky write a more comprehensive blog about their work and you’ll learn a more from there
http://outreachuganda.blogspot.co.uk/ so take a look, they’re regularly updating it.
Friday 7th June 2013 – Home to Entebbe It’d been a hectic day. I was working from home until 4pm at which time we had to leave for
Drew, Hugh, Becky and I with some of the children at St Judes in 2012
The pushchairs were donated by Hugh's parents for the children in the St Jude's Consolation Home. London Heathrow. As I’d been busy with Uni (studying International Studies with The Open University) until this week, and then been collecting all the donated items we were taking with us, my Mum and Dad packed pretty much everything for me – for which Drew and I are very very grateful J So at 4pm I finished work, and Drew arrived to pick me up at...4.30pm. Chris and Greg took us to the airport and it was tense for a while because there was A LOT of traffic but we made it just in time. We got checked in, through departures and went on the lookout for a wallet and handbag for me because I didn’t have one suitable... and we couldn’t find any! Drew tried his best to suggest options but I wasn’t really looking for something from Harrod’s... why isn’t there an Accessorize in Terminal 4?!
We flew Kenyan Airways to Entebbe via Nairobi. You can fly direct to Entebbe with British Airways but only three times a week and the days didn’t fit our plans. We were pretty chuffed with our seats for the overnight flight to Nairobi, three near the window between the two of
2013 - Hugh and Drew packing the truck!
Not really sure what to do with the rope... us, until we realised our screens didn’t work! They offered to move us, and the nice girl sat in front offered to swap, but we decided to make do with wine, chatter and sleep. We landed at Nairobi in the dark and spent an hour there – it’s not the nicest airport... hot, stuffy and crowded. I saw a woman stripping in the middle of the toilets and then got chatting to the girl who’d been sat in front of us from London; she was on her way to meet her brother who worked in Uganda. The flight from Nairobi to Entebbe was just under an hour and before we set off the pilot came into the cabin to say hello and have a joke with us – I’ve never seen that before but it was brilliant! Once we’d taken off it was nice to see a bit of the Kenyan countryside...
Saturday 8th June 2013 – Entebbe to Gulu We landed at Entebbe bright and early and after quickly going through immigration and collecting our bags found Becky waiting for us with a taxi driver (Becky and Hugh had arrived a few days earlier and been busy
2013 - Bex and I on route to Gulu
...I had just got off of a night flight... hiring a truck, picking up the Sawyer water filters and AFRIpads sanitation pads). The drive into Kampala took ages, the traffic was worse than I remember! It was great to catch up with Becky and the familiar sights and sounds, and it was nice and warm! We arrived at George’s house for a rest and freshen up (Drew and I made an executive decision not to have a shower...) before the long drive to Gulu. Once George and Hugh were back we said our hellos and got straight onto packing up the truck – a pick-up with 5 seats in the cab. We had ALL of our own stuff plus 6 boxes of water filters and sanitation pads so it was a mission - a bit like a game of packing Tetris!
We eventually got it sorted and headed out through Kampala. We were dropping George off on the way and he helped direct us through the shortcuts because the traffic was TERRIBLE! We told George about the recent Topgear ‘source of the Nile’ episode where they say they spend the night in their cars because of the Kampala traffic. The Kampala traffic is REALLY bad but it’s not
THAT bad. We made it to the other side of Kampala and stopped for money and snacks and before saying bye to George heading out on the road to Gulu. Hugh did the driving (he’s experienced in the Ugandan ‘local style’ and it was a long drive. Drew and I were really tired but managed to stay awake for most of it, just kept having quick power naps. It was so nice to be back so looking around at everything, and the bumps and dust, kept us awake. It was nice and warm and we were only stopped by the traffic police once, who were friendly. However I’m sorry, but not surprised, to report that the road conditions and driving practices in Uganda have not changed. There are still the most ridiculous pot holes everywhere and the crazy driving makes you want to close your eyes all of the time (thankfully Hugh didn’t). It’s the buses that get me, they travel SO fast and you can see them coming towards you at a weird angle (what is that about?!). If you don’t get out of their way you’re in trouble.
We passed over Karuma Bridge, with its waterfalls, over
the River Nile. The river and falls are incredibly beautiful and it was made even more stunning because the sun was setting down river and catching the water cascading over the rapids. We’d have loved to take some photos, but you’re not allowed to without the army’s (who guard the bridge) permission and we didn’t have time to stop. So it just has to be one of those sights that is captured in the mind. We drove on past the monkeys and baboons and further up the Gulu road which just gets worse and worse and worse. It was bad last year but we all agreed it was much worse this year. You’ve not seen potholes until you’ve seen Ugandan potholes, they are ridiculous. And along certain stretches of the road there are deep ravines (either the road has receded or it was never there in the first place) and it’s so dangerous, especially when you have a bus coming towards you and nowhere to go. It started to get dark and it took a long time – can totally see why the British foreign office advises against travel at night. I was quite happy really because travelling at that
time is my favourite; watching the sun setting, the light silhouetting the trees and the people going about their business at the end of the day. Eventually we saw the lights of Gulu, and heard a dodgy noise from underneath the car... we’d have to sort that out tomorrow. Gulu was busy and it felt nice to be back in the bustle. We drove straight to the Bomah Hotel, where we’d stayed last year. It’s more expensive than others (in Ugandan terms, it’s probably the difference of £5 a room a night in UK terms) but it’s comfortable and secure and has a good restaurant. We unloaded the bags and boxes and checked in before going straight to dinner. Bex and I were happy that our favourite Goan fish curry was still on the menu! We didn’t stay up late and after the joy of wrestling with the mosquito nets (I’ve not missed that!) we headed to bed.
Sunday 9th June 2013 - Gulu Hugh and Becky had said Drew and I could sleep in so we did and I didn’t wake up till 10am! We got sorted and had some breakfast whilst watching the Heroes Day TV
coverage (the cameras love picking up the sleeping dignitaries) then headed into the town to meet Hugh and Bex who were getting the truck fixed and buying 70 big and 70 small buckets to distribute with the water filters. We got some supplies in the supermarket and headed to the market to look for shirts for Drew (all too tight!) and some durable Flip Flops (to distribute as we were driving through rural communities). Drew did some good negotiating and got us 32 pairs (thank you Jonny Hale for your donation) for just over £20. We met up with Hugh and Becky and headed to Coffee Hut (a nice local restaurant) for some lunch. It typically took ages but was very nice.
Later that afternoon we headed to see Gulu Youth Football Club, run by a young guy called Sunday who Hugh and Becky met a few years ago and have been supporting since. They’ve previously taken over donations of footballs and shirts (some donated by Liverpool Football Club) and this year they had football boots (more than teams worth) and other items. Sunday welcomed us and we settled down to watch the team, with Sunday calling them off
every now and again to try on some boots. I was given the job of videoing the good players that Sunday, Drew and Hugh pointed out (he was hoping we’d be able to do something to help them get ‘spotted’, even I could see some of them were fantastic). Once the game was over we left the field with Sunday and Francis (one of the fantastic players) and headed to Sunday’s house where his Dad, family and friends welcomed us and gave us tea, sweet potato cakes and savoury donuts. We put the world to rights and Sunday’s Dad, a retired minister, said a prayer before we started. I’ll always remember some of his words, “thank you for bringing us together, as one” he said. Back at Bomah we re-packed our stuff for the next few days in Agago District as we needed to limit space now we’d have 140 buckets with us and before dinner Becky gave me some AFRIpads training, which she’d received from AFRIpads when picking up the order in Kampala. We were all in bed early because we had to be up early for another long drive to the Pader and Agago Districts!
You’ll learn
2013 - evening tea at Sunday's
Tea, sweet potato cakes and savoury donuts. more about our distribution of Water Filters, Sanitation Pads and Flip Flops next time!
Thank you for reading.
Rachel
Trustee, Believe In Better
NOTE: I use these blog updates to capture my memories and share what I'm doing on my travels with friends, family and anyone who’s 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.
If you’d like to support Believe In Better, our Charitable Trust (HMRC reference XT37841) and our work in Uganda you can do so in various ways: · Donate (thank you)
-Bank details:
Lloyds. Sort Code:
30-67-53. Account number:
21000468. Account name:
Believe In Better.
You can stay anonymous, but if you let us know you’ve donated we can re-claim Gift Aid on your donation if appropriate. You can also tell us how you’d like your donation to be used (e.g. for water filters).
· Fundraise
· <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
2013 - AFRIpads training
Becky getting me up to speed! normal;">Volunteer or visit Uganda
…with or without us… Anyone is welcome and whilst you don’t need any specific skills or experience, anyone with a medical background (e.g. nurse, doctor) is always in high demand. We can help you plan a trip that includes a balance between volunteering, project work and seeing the sights of this beautiful country (that include mountain gorilla trekking and safari).
· Show your support
-‘Like’ the ‘Kigezi Healthcare Foundation (KIHEFO)’, ‘Kihefo (Kigezi Healthcare Foundation)’ and ‘North Uganda Outreach Project’ Facebook pages
-‘Subscribe’ to Hugh and Becky’s ‘Reaching out in Northern Uganda’ blog ‘
http://outreachuganda.blogspot.co.uk/and KIHEFO’s blog
http://kihefoblog.wordpress.com. If you’d like to know more, or have any questions, please get in touch. We’ll have a website set up soon but in the interim - if you don’t know us - you can contact me through TravelBlog.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.232s; Tpl: 0.033s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.075s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
