Waterfalls, Rock Climbing and Goat Killing. Just another weekend :)

---

My trip thus far has been incredibly informative, yet a bit of a different experience from what I was expecting. During the week I have become a part of a consultative team which has been travelling all over central Uganda to visit different centres funded by UORDP. Essentially our job is to collect data and take note of grievances, challenges, successes etc that the various centres are experiencing. UORDP is now working on a new strategic plan and will use this information to guide their planning. The details may be a bit dry, but it is less "hands on" than what I was expecting but this is an excellent opportunity to research and learn about the reality of the situation on the ground in rural Africa and speak with many different people who are working with AIDS to young children to agriculturalists etc.

One frustration is that meetings and scheduling works on "African Time". An 8 am meeting usually means we leave the house at 9, make 3-4 unscheduled visits to various organizations for a short 5 minute pow-wow which becomes a full tour, photo-op, organizational meeting, village meeting, formal addresses by the leaders and a concluding impromptu speech my the Mzungu (me) before reaching our destination 3-4 hours late. I have enjoyed the visits but they can also be very exhausting. Furthermore, I am very uncomfortable being in the position of guest of honour. It is not a role I enjoy, though it is an honour.

This weekend has been incredibly eventful. Two of Apollo's friends from Italy are in town so we have been site seeing. Sipi Falls is in the mountains near Mbale and have enormous waterfalls which we were guided to. Wonderful scenery and cool mountain air were a welcome break from the arid plains below. We were very near to the Kenyan border and discreetly walked across the bridge past some indifferent guards into Kenya. We were to walk into the border city but our Italian friend decided that a Kenyan jail is not a very good tourist destination so we had to cut our visit short. We next visited Peri Peri Rocks which is a series of limestone columns. Some children convinced me to free climb up an enormous rock face which in retrospect was not the wisest choice without ropes, but I'm not always known for common sense.

The weekend was concluded with a goat roast with yours truly slaughtering the animal (sorry vegetarians). Quite a weird experience which left me quite nauseous but it is a great honour that I could not refuse.

---