Once upon a time in a land far far away.....

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It has been another varied and hectic two weeks since I last wrote so this may turn out to be an epic blog again. Apologies to those who don’t have time to read but those who do...enjoy!

So by the end of the last blog we were due to be heading into the forest to do some more surveys, this we eventually managed after being delayed by a massive downpour of rain and we were able to get some good information and to see wild chimps again (although briefly) which was really nice.

On Sunday we decided to go to the Catholic Church nearby, as we knew the bishop was meant to be visiting and we thought it might be an interesting service. When we arrived we found that it was actually a full day celebration of the parish and different events were happening throughout the day. While finding out this information they obviously noticed that I am white as they invited us to enter the church and sit in the VIP area!!! (There were hundreds of people there and marquees with chairs set up outside where crowds had gathered; inside the church was also jam-packed). Inside the church was beautifully decorated and the service they were going to hold included mass, first holy communion (ceremony where children take communion for the first time), confirmation (like baptism but when you’re old enough to decide for yourself), and a double wedding!!! We had not come prepared for such a long day and had not taken breakfast so around midday we snuck out for food. There was also due to be food and entertainment at the parish day but they had not even reached the communion by the time we left so decided not to stay any longer.

On Monday Paul was running errands in town that didn’t need my help so I opened up the office (which is nearly always closed) and did some work from there. The following day we were back into the field again and received a call that chimps had been sighted nearby. We headed to the area and met Gerard our guide, we walked a short distance in the thick forest and then were lucky enough to see four male chimps sat resting in a tree less than 20 metres from where we stood. This group are used to being surveyed and are practically habituated so they did not fear us at the distance we were and did not move away when we arrived. It was a lovely experience and we were able to see them grooming and relaxing. These areas of forest are so fragmented that large troops rarely remain together and the chimps spend most of their time moving in small groups. Following our chimp expedition we headed to KWEC (education centre) where we were due to have a meeting with the private forest owners. Along with the women from the bead group we are working with the private forest owners to encourage them/teach them how to generate income in other ways that are less damaging to the forest. We are due to run a workshop to teach them about some of these income-generating activities and then some money will be provided to support them in establishing their projects. To make sure they understand the importance of the project and so that we can monitor their progress and use of the money the forest owners have been split into groups and each group comes up with a project together and has to write a proper plan to understand the budget and the outcomes and who is responsible for what etc. This meeting basically went through the paper work for how they will present their ideas and what they want to happen. It was mostly in Runoro (local language) but I helped out where I could. On the way back into town we stopped off at the house of the chairperson of the bead group as she had just recently lost her mother in law and we wanted to pay our respects. It was a very sad situation but really moving to see all of the family, friends and community members coming together to support them through their hard time. That evening we then travelled back to Entebbe (5 hours ish) as we were due to have a meeting the next day and staff training later in the week. It was late by the time I arrived and I made my way straight to my accommodation for the evening - Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) - The Zoo!! UWEC is a very cool place to stay as you can look around anytime of day that you like, you can look out over Lake Victoria, and if the wind is blowing in the right direction I can hear the lion roaring at night!

The next morning I woke early to make the most of my new location and to watch the sunrise over Lake Victoria, which was very beautiful. I then went for a walk around the zoo before anyone else had arrived, the light was really low in the sky and I managed to get some really nice pictures of the animals, which was lovely. I then headed up to the office for my ‘meeting’ only to be told that the meeting wouldn’t be happening until later and the staff training had been postponed until further notice! They had decided not to tell us this before we travelled as they still wanted to talk to us and have a meeting....but if we had known we wouldn’t have travelled late at night. Anyway although neither Paul or myself like being in the office we both had some work we could get on with so tried to be productive while waiting for our meeting, which eventually took place on Friday (rather frustrating)!! They are missing some staff in head office so everyone is busier than normal, also on Thursday a thief broke into the building next door (rented by someone at the office) and was caught and brought back to our compound, which caused added drama. (If a thief was treated the same way in England he would have pressed charges - it was not nice to see). I passed the time by making the most of their internet access, editing and sorting photos, designing new products for the bead group to make and watching sunset and sunrise at the zoo. I was a little sad as the postponed staff training meant that I would no longer be travelling to the island and I had been looking forward to seeing the friends that I had made there.

At our meeting we were introduced to a group from Scotland that would be travelling with us back to Hoima after the weekend. There was a journalist called John Leister-Kaye (writes for Times and most recent book is Nature’s Child), his son who is a professional photographer and his daughter who is on a gap year before university. They also had with them a guy from Kenya (but white) who was acting as their guide - but he was leaving them for a while as his sister has just got engaged. They are travelling through East Africa for four months and the main focus of their trip is to study how ecotourism can affect the local communities. John is due to write some articles and also a book using the information that they gather on their trip. Their study is focussed around the rift valley and they have been stopping at organisations and tourist sites along the way to try to define who is benefiting. It was decided they would travel to the island for a few days to see the tourism side of things, meet the staff and to see how the local island communities been affected by our work in the area. Then they will travel to Hoima to see how the funding from Ngamba is spread to the local communities and work that we do there. They were going to travel to the island the next morning and would spend the night at UWEC with me so I took them for a tour of the facilities and of the zoo. Paul and I also had a separate meeting to talk through our progress and our program, which was mostly positive but also challenging as there is little funding and we can’t do everything we want and the things we can do have to be tightly budgeted and well justified.

In the evening we went out for a meal with CSWCT staff and the visitors so we could tell them more about what we do. We went to a place just outside Entebbe, which had all sorts of food and I had curry, which was very exciting!! The meal was really nice and I got on very well with Warwick, Hermione (the son and daughter, from Scotland but with very English accents) and Richard (the guide) so it was really nice to have a change of company and interesting conversation. After the meal most people headed off but myself and the three others decided to stay for drinks. The place where we were had pool and old cheesy music to dance to and also a number of other muzungus (whites) who were all army or UN types. It was a very fun evening and felt much more like Durham that Entebbe, it was the early hours of the morning by the time we eventually found our beds.

The next morning I had a hangover, which was rubbish, but at least I wasn’t travelling over to the island like the others, which I was grateful for. In the afternoon I travelled over to Kampala to meet up with Paul and he gave me a min tour around, showed me some sights and a lovely African Market and in the evening I met his girlfriend which was all really nice. The next day I met up with a friend in Entebbe who drives the boats to the island and we took a trip to the beach. The sand is beautiful and white and apparently completely natural, in the day there was an international volleyball tournament there and in the evening there was live music and a DJ so it was a nice place to relax for the day.

The following day we were due to travel back to Hoima so after some time in the office and some errands in Kampala we headed off in convoy with the visitors (we had our vehicle back so I was driving - yey!). We took them to their accommodation for the evening (they have tents that fold out on top of their vehicles!! But it was dark so they decided to take rooms) and then we enjoyed a meal together, making plans for what we would show them in their time with us. There are many different community and school elements in place in Hoima which they were interested in seeing but they were only with us for a few days so we had to plan ahead. It was really nice to be able to share everything that we’re doing here with someone that’s not from Uganda, to hear their point of view and listen to their questions and to have someone see they affect our efforts are having. No matter how many stories I tell over this blog or when I get back home I can never really get across the real life situation so it has been good to be able to share that with someone for a short while. The next day we introduced them to the sub-county chief in Kyabigambire, took them to the education centre where they had a tour and talked with Godfrey, they did an interview with a local village lady who lives in close proximity to the chimps and relies on the forest and we did an outreach program at a combination of Kibingo BCS and Kibingo Muslem. It was a very busy but very interesting day. I love having the opportunity to be able to move in the community and to talk to individuals on a personal level and the questions that they asked were different from what I may have thought of myself. It was especially nice to have them at the outreach session, as this is something that I have organised and run myself and they were very complimentary and really admired the effort that we put in. The only problem mentioned was the size of the class but this is out of our control when the average Ugandan class size is 80+, but they said we kept their attention well. It was also nice to have Warwick there as he took pictures throughout and got some nice ones, which he’s edited and passed, onto us. That evening they camped in town and we went for dinner together again - they were also making the most of the different company as I think they had been driving each other a little crazy after two months together on the road.

The next day we took them out to see wild chimps which was a lovely experience for them but completely different from what they were expecting as they were right on the edge of a small forest fragment and they really saw the hard conditions they are surviving in. We then took them to one of the local breweries located within the forest. I think I have mentioned these before, basically they’re illegal but there is politics involved which makes them very difficult to stop and they are very damaging to the environment by polluting the water source and cutting down trees. We were able to talk to the guy in charge and he spouted off a bunch of (rather believable, well rehearsed) lies about what they are doing to help the environment. They also talked through the process with us and let us taste the end product - which was disgusting. We wanted to give them a full rounded picture of what the environment and people are like as the book will include a section on the work being done here so we want it to be accurate and to convey the right message. After this we went to meet with some of the women who are in the bead group and they were able to see the process and ask them questions about the benefits they have received and their views on CSWCTs work in the area.

Following this we headed back into town and John decided he wanted to see Murchison Falls, but Warwick and Hermione decided they would rather stay and see more of our work (they were so inspired by what we were doing/wanted a break from dad). This decided Paul and I spent the afternoon making preparations for the workshop while Warwick edited pictures for us. In the evening we decided to all stay together so parked the cars in our compound and Hermione slept in the spare bed in my room, Warwick in the roof tent. We had a very nice relaxed evening sat around drinking beers and chatting away, after dinner Paul came back but the rest of us decided to stay out and it again turned into a rather late night.

The next day was the beginning of our two-day workshop to teach the local women’s group and the private forest owners about income generating activities and to practically demonstrate some to them. We had made all the arrangements and planned everything but had got other people in to do most of the facilitation. This turned out to be rather lucky as we ended up being ‘otherwise engaged’ for most of the day. When we arrived in the morning we heard the chainsaw in the nearby forest again. This time when Paul told the Chairman Local Council (who was due to come and open our workshop) he decided to take action. They spoke to a number of local officials and eventually I drove then to the nearby village where we picked up an armed police guard and a lady from the National Forestry Association. With these people they then went into the forest (I stayed behind to help make break tea for the workshop), found the guys who were cutting, stopped them and arrested them! We then took the men to the village police post where they were taken into custody and our statements were taken and then later in the afternoon once the report we compiled we went back to pick them up and take them to the town police station for security! (The ‘convicts’ were in the boot and the chainsaw upfront so they couldn’t turn it on!). Although it is a positive thing to take action and not do nothing while the forest is cut down this still does not solve the problem as the lady who owns the forest still doesn’t understand why what she’s doing is harmful and she could easily get someone new to take over the cutting.... it will be good if because of this event we are eventually able to talk to her and asses the situation - she has so far refused. The rest of the day was spent over seeing the workshop, sorting out lunch and saying goodbye to Warwick and Hermione who headed off in the afternoon.

The next day the workshop was more practical and they got out around the site and also at a local homestead nearby demonstrating organic farming and kitchen gardens which was one of the examples of a popular IGA they would be able to set up at little cost. It was a very interesting day and really nice to see how involved the people were and how appreciative they were to learn new things. I also had to take another trip to the police station with the people from yesterday so they could continue moving the case along, but Paul decided not to come as he didn’t want to be involved as it’s a tricky situation (I was just driving and stayed in the car). It is very hard to tell who is being truthful and who is actually involved but doesn’t want you to know, apparently there is a lot of corruption in local government and politics here.

Yesterday we travelled to a different sub-county called Kitoba. This is another area that CSWCT is planning to work in but little had been done there so far. The visit was to attend a local community meeting to talk about the prospects of initiating similar programs there and working with the forest owners and community to establish a committee that can work to help alleviate the problems they are facing with wildlife. However it was not received well, these people have had a long history of conflict with wildlife and due to us being CSWildlifeCT they do not trust us. All of the projects that we talked about that we have been doing elsewhere they saw as us trying to take their land away from them or to try and set up a sanctuary (I don’t think it helped a white person was with them). A lot of work will need to be done in this area until they are ready to receive help.... but you have to start somewhere so they first steps are being taken. CSWCT will now take more of a backseat for a while and get local council involved, as there is not the same distrust there. The most important thing is not to rush into anything so it will be a long process.
Paul had to travel to Kampala yesterday evening to buy some things for our tree nursery at KWEC so I was home alone in Hoima for the evening. After the hectic week it is nice to have some time to relax and be by myself to go over everything that’s happened recently. Today I went to a service at the Catholic Cathedral which was really nice and I wasn’t really alone as the girl who was sat next to me kept holding my hand and asking me questions - I think I made her day!

If you managed to get to the end of that epic story congratulations, I hope your eyes don’t hurt from staring at the screen! My work is often tiring and sometimes frustrating but also very rewarding and interesting. I can’t believe how little time it feels like I have left now as it will shortly be Christmas and we won’t be able to do as much work over that period. Anyway I shall continue to make the most of it and will, as always keep thinking of you all back home.

Oceans of love

x X x Hannah x X x

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Photos

Crested Crane
The national bird of Uganda - picture taken at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre

Sunrise over Lake Victoria
This sunrise was after a really stormy night and was stunningly beautiful

Sunrise on the pier
The pier is currently under renevation but I really liked the way is looked

Baby Vervet Monkey
The monkeys at UWEC have no fear of people, one even came and took and apple out of my hand when I wasn't looking!!

Keeping the environment clean
The vervet monkeys are much more likely to cause trouble that the clean up the rubbish

Who are you looking at
Close up shot of peacock at UWEC

Chimp tracking
Hermoine and myself observing the wild chimpanzees

Teacher Hannah
Children from Kibingo BCS and Muslum learning about the forest and the great apes

Teacher Paul
Who can tell me the difference between and plantation and a natural forest?

IGA Workshop
Training the local women's group and the private forest owners about income generating activities