Uganda - Kampala & Kabale with KIHEFO Week 1/2

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Hello everyone!

So...I’m now in Africa! I’ve been slow (again!) with photos and updates because I’ve been behind with my Uni course, sorry!

In my last update we were getting ready to leave Brisbane… in typical style it was pretty hectic which was good in a way because it stopped me from getting too emotional… L

Tuesday 1^st May - BRISBANE to MELBOURNE (Australia) and then onto DOHA (Qatar)

We finished packing in the morning, not easy! I’d sent a lot home and to New Zealand but still had far too much. The challenge was packing for cold and warm climates (both in Uganda and back in Melbourne and New Zealand) and I wasn’t 100%!s(MISSING)ure on appropriate dress for Uganda – would vest tops be ok or would it need to be T-shirts? Gem & Geo – I needed you to help me like you did when I left home!

I got sorted in plenty of time (makes a change!) and headed to say our final byes to Anthony’s family. We’d visited Tony and Maria (his parents) and brother and sisters the night before. I’d found that emotional as they’d been our family and friends in Australia for 6 months. Our first stop this morning was Anthony’s grandparents, Joe and Josie who are amazing, so loving and kind. Josie fed us our last Australian meal (something delicious and Italian) and waved us off to Uncle Robbie’s house where we said a quick bye to him and Uncle Frankie. I was starting to feel really sad saying all these byes. It got worse when Drew took Mildred to the garage to be sold, gutting as we were very fond of her and would miss her loads, she’d done us proud. At home we chilled for a while before it was time to leave Dansie Street...

We loaded up the car, handed our keys to Hannah and Anthony and set off. There was a very sombre mood in the car, I don’t think it’d hit me I was leaving until then. Every time I’ve left Brisbane before I’d always known I was coming back to live for a while but this time I knew that was very unlikely. I’d visit again for sure but I wouldn’t be living and working there again. We’d had some great times and met such lovely people, like Anthony’s family and friends like Amanda and Phil, and those I’ve made through work. We’ve been lucky to have a nice place to live, and I’ve LOVED living with Hannah and Anthony. I am so thankful for the kindness and generosity they have shown us. It would be nice to stay in that bubble forever (I’m writing this 3 weeks later and still feel the ache) but I know it’s not possible, I miss home and my family and friends there too much. I just quite simply love Brisbane, I feel so at home, happy and content there. There’s such a nice feeling about the place, the climate is fantastic, there’s so much to do and so many prospects. Brisbane is my favourite city in the world, every time I go into the city and see the skyline I hear that tune ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ and sing in my head “I love this city”.

It made it easier that Hannah was coming us for 10 days so we didn’t have to say bye to her yet but saying bye to Anthony was horrible and so emotional, I felt awful leaving him to go home on his own to a house that’d been full of 4 people making noise and mess. I love that guy so much. That’s all I can say about that now else I’ll upset myself!

Anyway, then there were 3 – Drew, Hannah and I! We were flying Brisbane to Melbourne with Virgin Atlantic to connect with our Qatar Airways flight to Entebbe (Uganda) via Doha (Qatar) – it was much cheaper to fly out of Melbourne than Brisbane straight to Entebbe. We checked in with no problems which was miraculous as I was sure my bags were massively overweight and went straight through for our flight, a nice 3 hour trip which involved a bit of sleeping, a bit of reading and a lot of watching a beautiful sunset that made the clouds below us look pink.

We collected our bags and a strap on mine had started to break which was a worry as didn’t want it to come off again between Australia and Uganda! We checked in with Qatar then tried to chill out with some food and a drink. I got myself a bit stressed out, think it was the emotion of leaving and fear about the long flight ahead and was not helped by there being no phone signal in the airport and me needing to make important phone calls! I also had a really bad migraine which was not helping. I got all sorted but missed out on a nice relaxed dinner with Hannah and Drew. I also had a big decision to make – take migraine tablets (for the migraine) or Diazepam tablets (for fear of flying)? I went for the migraine tablets, it was so painful and I figured they’d make me drowsy enough to sleep. I immediately regretted that decision though, when the fear of flying panic kicked in – I couldn’t mix the tablets so I’d have to just deal with it! I was quite proud of myself, calming down without any help. The flight from Melbourne to Doha was almost 15 hours and passed quickly. Qatar Airways are great and I managed to sleep really well, any awake time spent eating (although I actually passed on the dinner service (not like me!) because I was too full) and watching The Iron Lady (thought it was brilliant, Meryl Streep did a great job) and Breaking Dawn Part 1. I think I got a good 7 hours in but it wasn’t very comfortable and I got a crick in my neck.

Wednesday 2^nd May – DOHA (Qatar) to ENTEBBE (Uganda)

We arrived in Doha off the Melbourne flight early morning. It was daylight and saw a lot of desert when flying in. The airport transit was pretty smooth; off the plane onto the tarmac into the searing heat (dread to think how hot it’d be later in the day) and onto buses to the terminal. We had to go straight through to the gate for the Entebbe flight and at that point I got a little apprehensive (we were three of six westerners on the flight) but soon forget about it as everyone was so friendly. Doha to Entebbe was 5 hours so I watched Assassins, had a sleep and looked at the flight map which was interesting as hadn’t flown that way before, over Ethiopia and not too far from Libya.

We were soon descending into Uganda! We could see Lake Victoria from the air; it’s another that is so huge it looks like the sea even from the sky! Entebbe airport isn’t very big, about the size of Guernsey Airport for anyone that knows it. It was hot and sticky and it took a while to clear immigration customs, $50 for an entry visa. We changed some money, walked out through to Arrivals and were relieved to see a KIHEFO sign bearing our names! We met Lillian and Enouk from KIHEFO in Kabale (the organisation we were volunteering with) and loved them straight away. They were so smiley and friendly and reassuring and very excited to see us. They were a great representation of KIHEFO and created a fantastic first impression (which I am glad to say has only got better and better over the weeks!).

They ushered us out to the minibus and we were soon on our way into Kampala, Uganda’s capital. The journey took about an hour and I was very excited to see a mixer within 5 minutes (Dad, it was my first photo in Uganda)! Drew was up front with Enouk and Hannah and I were in the back with Lillian. I felt completely safe and at ease with them. We drove along Lake Victoria and passed many fruit stalls (reminded us of Anthony, Drew hopped out and bought us some fruit with Lillian’s help) and green fields filled with termite mounds. As we got closer to Kampala it got busier and much hotter! Phew, we were roasting. There was a big police presence, all with guns – I’ve seen that in other countries but still takes a while to get used to. We arrived at the New City Annex Hotel, opposite the National Theatre, and were met by the famous Martin who we’d been conversing with over email (and who has the patience of a saint to deal with all of my questions!) The three of us settled into our room and we met with Martin to talk through our itinerary, which had been printed out for us. We also had to pay him which was a pickle; he wanted US Dollars and we didn’t have them… (I knew we needed them, but was told by a certain someone when I suggested it at Melbourne Airport not to be stupid), anyway we got it sorted but it cost us more than it would have done if we’d got US Dollars in Australia. Once Martin had left we went for a quick walk around the National Theatre craft market and then had some lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was a nice groundnut bean sauce thing. I washed it down with a Nice Special, a local beer which was so nice. And then it was time for bed. We all decided no point in having a shower so wrestled with the mosquito nets (not easy!) and headed for zzzzzzzzzz land. I had a really funny headache, think it came back from the bad neck I’d acquired on the plane. I slept well though.

Thursday 3^rd May – KAMPALA TO KABALE

We left at 10am for the long drive to Kabale (the town in South West Uganda where KIHEFO is based). The traffic was heavy; we passed the old and current palace of the Buyunda Kingdoms King* (I’ve written a ridiculous amount in this update, it’s my way of remembering things, so to try to make it easier to read I’ve listed useful facts and information at the bottom) and the Presidents city residence. Once clear of Kampala we were in beautiful countryside, passing through papyrus filled swamps and savannah grasslands, and it just kept on getting better throughout the journey. We were driving on the left, a legacy of British rule and reminder that Uganda is still part of the Commonwealth. We passed little homesteads, small towns, coffee plantations and so many cows including the Ankole Cattle (which have HUGE horns) and goats tethered at the side of the road.

All the way along we were learning learning learning. We had an unexpected surprise on the road alongside Lake Mburo National Park… ZEBRAS!!! And Cob (like deer) and more ZEBRAS! We were not expecting to see them and there were so many; we were lucky as they can be deeper in the National Park so would have had to pay to see them. We stopped for some lunch where I had some more of that nice nut sauce and had a look around the neighbouring Eriijukiro Museum all about the Ankole people. It was interesting; all about their way of life, the tools they used and there were mock ups of traditional houses. There were more Marabou Storks in the garden, we’d seen them in Kampala and I was fascinated by them. They’re everywhere, like pigeons, but so much bigger. You can see them on the top of buildings from way off; they’re like sentries watching…waiting. I find them a bit creepy. As we got closer to Kabale it got cooler and the scenery changed to became rolling hills that delved into deep lush green valleys. There were a lot of eucalyptus trees, not expecting to see many of them outside of Australia!

With about 2 hours to go it started to get dark and I started to feel nervous. The British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice had been not to travel at dark outside of towns in Uganda. I was immediately thinking about bandits (later realised it was mainly because of the bad roads). I felt vulnerable as I was in the front seat and although it was nice watching the sunset I was scared. Everything seemed more threatening at night and I was keeping an eye on the km markers counting down the distance towards Kabale. The roads were bad by this point, lots of pot holes and the road bumps were ridiculous, it took ages. I closed my eyes for the last ½ hour of the journey, realised it was better than stressing myself out. I was relieved to see the lights of Kabale nestling into the hills; we drove into the town and straight up to the Dr's house J

We got such a welcome! Patricia the housekeeper came out to meet us and give us all hugs and Drake the cook helped us with our bags. We were ushered upstairs and given a choice of 3 rooms; Drew took the double en-suite (typical bloke) and Hannah and I had a lovely little twin (I wouldn’t like to have slept on my own and didn’t want her to have to). We chilled in the living room and met Ronald, Martin’s number 2, who was very cool and would mainly be looking after us. He gave us the low down and said we could sleep in the doctor’s house or up in the volunteer’s apartments. We preferred the doctor’s house as there were no other volunteers in at the time and we thought we’d feel a bit isolated (little did we know that we were actually missing out, most of the KIHEFO staff live up there!). We had an amazing dinner cooked by Drake and then met Dr Geoffrey himself, Director of the Kigezi Healthcare Federation (aka KIHEFO). He impressed us immediately, such an inspiration. He gave us a summary of the projects and the two things that hit me most were 1) there are 6000 people living with HIV/AIDs in the KIHEFO catchment area alone and 2) KIHEFO is not funded by any major international donors, their work is based on their connections with the community, the contributions and work their volunteers do and some support through organizations like Rotary International. Dr Geoffrey has been approached by some major NGOs, but is concerned a partnership would place too many restrictions on the way he works. His model works, so why change it?

We headed off to bed early, the mozzy net was ready set up which made getting into bed much easier and the bed was soooooooooooooo comfy. The pillow was a bit too solid for me though, it would have been awkward to sleep on at the best of times, but it was agony with a sore neck that was gradually getting worse. There was a lot of noise, pounding music coming from some bar outside (was still going when I woke up at 1.30am) but other than that I slept like a log until 6am when I woke up panicking about Uni work! I had 4 weeks work to do in 6 days.

Friday 4^th May – KIHEFO ORIENTATION DAY

It was a bit chilly this morning, we were up the hills and had expected it not to be boiling hot but this was cold! We had a nice breakfast of coffee, scrambled egg, boiled egg on toast and toast with butter and strawberry jam. Then we headed into town with Dr Geoffrey for our KIHEFO orientation day. If you have not already, take a look at KIHEFO’s website: http://kihefo.org/. It will help you understand what KIHEFO is all about and explain it much better than I can, their mission statement sums them up perfectly. Dr Geoffrey is an inspiration; he comes from northern Uganda which has seen its fair share of strife. He didn’t go to school for 4 years during one conflict but worked hard and won a scholarship to study medicine at Kampala University. He put on his first pair of shoes for his first day at University. He first worked as a doctor in Kabale and established himself before starting KIHEFO 10 years ago. He is now dedicated to the cause and his lovely wife Silvia, a Nurse, and family supports the project, many work or volunteer there in some capacity. KIHEFO supports an area with a radius of 300km, for some it’s the only healthcare facility available to them.

We walked into town and first stop was the ‘Foundation of People with Disabilities’. We were met by Robert and the local specialist that volunteers there. We were shown around and into the workshop where everything from neck braces to prosthetic limbs to special stands are adapted to each individual. There was a stand with many pictures of people the Foundation had helped; some amputees who’d been fitted with prosthetic limbs, some who’d been born with deformities. There are so many people still to help. One prosthetic limb costs $1000USD; the average weekly household wage is $10USD. The people simply don’t have the money to pay for them. Thanks to a generous donation from Rotary International the very poor receive subsidies to bring the cost down to $100, better but still unachievable for most. And, even when someone can afford the limb they can’t afford the transportation into Kabale for the necessary fitting, physiotherapy etc. There are 500 limbs in the storeroom and enough people on the waiting list for all of them (and more) but they’re still there. The dedication of the people at the centre is unwavering, the specialist is a retired volunteer, and he spends months away from his family to support the Foundation. It’s just another world to what we’re used to, we take so much for granted.

Our next stop was the KIHEFO Clinic which provides testing, counselling and treatment to those affected by HIV/AIDs. There are currently 5710 individuals living with the disease in the area, a shocking statistic. The clinic is run by Margaret and all of the staff are amazing, all saying ‘You’re Welcome, You’re Welcome’ and so genuinely happy to see us.

We moved onto the Kigonzi Clinic/Nursing Home, a 24 hour facility with one ward, several twin rooms and one single room with an en-suite (we later found out it’s usually used for tourists using the facility). There is also a surgery room, X-Ray and Ultrasound room and laboratory on site. The main thing that struck me was how basic everything was, nothing like the white, sterile, supposedly ordered clinics and hospitals at home. The staff, again, are amazing (as all of KIHEFO’s staff are) and so efficient, organised and great at what they do. They have challenges though; most due to funding. For example the X-Ray is broken and not yet fixed because it will cost $50000USD. Again, so much we take for granted. We went into the laboratory where all the samples are tested, all recorded on paper. It was nice to see a huge Premiership Fixtures poster on the wall (they’re mad on football in Uganda!).

Last stop was the KIHEFO Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre, caring for malnourished children. It’s estimated that 40%!o(MISSING)f rural children in the region are malnourished, one of the main reasons why 1 in 7 do not reach their 1^st birthday. A child’s biggest challenge is birth (during 70%!o(MISSING)f births the mother or baby is at risk and only 30%!o(MISSING)f mothers deliver under a qualified medical practitioner) and 16 mothers die giving birth every day in the region (all figures obtained from a KIHEFO leaflet), due to not being able to get to hospital in the case of complications. There were only two children in at the time, orphaned twin girls who were so tiny they looked like new-borns when they’re actually a year old. I’ll tell you more about them later.

Dr Geoffrey had some patients waiting for him so he looked after them whilst Ronald got us organised with the location of the bank, and MTN (phone network) credit (he’d kindly given us 2 SIMs left over from previous volunteers) and buy a dongle and Orange credit so we could use the internet. We headed back to the house and tried to get everything working, the phones worked but not the internet, Drew was in charge of getting that sorted. We spent the evening chilling out in front of the TV (so lucky to have that, even got E! much to Drew’s annoyance) and had another great dinner cooked by Drake (he was turning out wonderful meals on 2 camping stores). I was struggling a bit because my back/shoulder/neck (I couldn’t work out where the pain was coming from) was getting more and more painful. Patricia talked us through her crafts (she makes bags and necklaces out of paper beads) and then Dr Geoffrey came and had another chat with us, he told us that we’d see a lot here and we had to remember we can’t do everything, that just being here and raising awareness is a help. He reminded us that often the poor see less of a problem in their situation than we do. KIHEFO’s main objective is to work with communities to empower them, do things like introduce vocational training e.g. he’s allowed some locals to use his yard to run their ventilation brick business (wondered what they were doing out there with all the bricks!). For me the major issue seems to be healthcare; I just can’t believe that in this day and age just a basic and fundamental provision is not available. There is so much we take for granted (I’ll keep saying it because we do), being just able to see a doctor for free for a start, and getting an X-Ray when we need one. The contrast is huge, mothers having babies on the floor with no help if needed; there are no ambulances here. A plastic surgeon visits the area every 5 years – from overseas – and that’s not for cosmetic reasons, it’s to help people with serious deformities.

Saturday 5^th May – LAKE BUNYONYI and a KABALE wedding

My shower this morning was not so enjoyable because the water and general room temperature was cold! And it was awkward because it was handheld, not great with a poorly shoulder. We were heading out for the day with Lillian and Enouk to see a local tourist attraction, Lake Bunyonyi (3^rd deepest lake in the world). On the way we stopped at a meeting about the Byany Batwa (Pygmy) community, the indigenous of the forests who had been re-settled when the forest National Parks were created. They’re struggling a little to adjust so that meeting was about supporting them. We then headed out of Kabale on the dirt hill. It felt very remove, lots of potholes! We passed little homesteads and all the children smiled and waved. We passed a stone quarry; men, woman and children were breaking rock by hand. It was horrible, like watching some sort of futuristic movie where people had been enslaved and forced to work. This is 2012 and men and women, let alone CHILDREN are doing such hard manual labour? The children were tiny but still waving happily and saying hello. We stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the lake and saw our first group of Muzungo’s (the locals name for any white person, it was often shouted at us, mostly affectionately) since arriving; they were pretty noisy and spoiled the atmosphere. The view was breath-taking; I loved the way the lake islands reflected into the water. We headed down to the lake shore and the Bunyonyi Overland Resort, where we wandered around and had some nice lunch. Then we headed back to Kabale, towards the lake, amusing moment of the day was when Enouk picked up a hair band, said to Hannah and I (who were in the back) “one of you has dropped this” only for Drew to pipe up from the front to say “actually, it’s mine”. He’s such a girl. We all fell silent when we passed by the quarry.

But, we had a wedding to attend!

We were ushered in whilst the reception was in progress to FRONT ROW SEATS! There was a lot going on; two compares were keeping a handle on everything, there were so many speeches, most not in English so we had no idea what was going on, Lillian tried her best to translate. The compares asked for our names because they all wanted to ‘recognise’ us, so when we were called we had to stand up, be introduced and clapped by everyone (it’s like we were royalty). There was such a great atmosphere and loads of dancing, the professional locals were fantastic. We lined up to present gifts to the bride and groom, watched the cutting of the cake and the tradition where the bride kneels in front of her husband to feed him some cake. There are a lot of formalities but it was so enjoyable.

We headed home before the evening party kicked off.

I was in absolute agony by this point with my shoulder. It was like having tooth ache in it. It was so bad painkillers hardly touched it and I had a bit of a hypochondria moment when I was worried I had a DVT in my neck, think even Drew was concerned so we did some Googling and eventually more painkillers worked. We had another great dinner and headed to bed, the family downstairs were singing beautifully, it was so nice going to sleep listening to ‘Bread of Heaven’.

Sunday 6^th May – KABALE

Drew and I went to Church early with the family, including Enouk and his lovely wife Gloria. We went to All Saints Church where they had an English service and it was packed out, there were even seats outside. We got a pew and thoroughly enjoyed the service. We had a good 20 minutes of singing at the start and they were not your usual hymns, it was all gospel rock accompanied by an amazing band and fantastic singers. I loved it and for the first time got a little emotional, so much love and hope coming from the room. They are so dedicated and although the preacher was interesting I felt it was less about preaching and more about community spirit. I felt privileged to be involved.

We spent the afternoon at home, I went to bed because I was in so much pain, I couldn’t move my shoulder or my neck L I later dragged myself through some Uni work, hard when you’re left hand isn’t working properly and had some dinner and hoped my Mum & Dad would call J We listened to Drake’s hopes and dreams for the future, so much like ours, then headed to bed.

Monday 7^th May – KABALE

I managed to get through a shower, water was hot but my arm wasn’t working. After breakfast we headed to the clinic to work out how we could best help during our time there. Dr Geoffrey and Ronald told us the medical records system was the No 1 priority and we met Max (Silvia’s sister) whose job it us to update the records. A new system is needed for the AIDS/HIV records and Nutritional Centre records and they hoped we could help. Hannah and Drew decided, probably fairly, that I was best placed to do that so I stayed in the office with Max and learned the ropes. Drew and Hannah were awaiting further instruction (Drew had suggested they re-paint the health clinic) and were properly introduced to the twins who were staying at the Nutritional Centre (where the offices are based). They were seriously underweight, KIHEFO were not 100% clear on their story but latest was they had been left with family who had moved on and just left them at home, on their own (it’s very common). The local Church were alerted to their presence and contacted KIHEFO (KIHEFO works in partnership with local Churches, have found it to be the most effective way of interacting with communities). I sat in the office with Max, and Flo (who does the accounts) watching them play whilst working and having the usual girlie office chat about clothes and boys. Then the power went off which stopped work (this became a regular occurrence)! And it started to rain sooooooo heavily (also became a regular occurrence). Enouk and Lillian picked us up; the plan had been to go to a local village but the weather was too bad. So we went to the nice bakery and then to one of the nicest hotels in Kabale for a look around. It was in a lovely setting and there was a great view. Hannah and I headed home to watch an episode of Revenge and Drew went out with handyman Grant in search of paint. He came back with several quotes, best was $320 which was more than we expected but not so much as it would have been at home. That would be our contribution to the project so I went with him to buy it then back to watch more Revenge.

We’d finally got the internet working so I checked emails and the like and did some Uni work whilst watching the news. We saw that some aid workers had been kidnapped in Egypt which made me nervous until I researched it and found they’d been in the most dangerous area. Whilst I was researching it I saw that the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had flared up; that made me more nervous as we were quite close, refugees were crossing the border into Uganda. I spent the evening re-checking Foreign Commonwealth Office advice (hadn’t changed) but I was still nervous. I went to bed with my mind playing tricks, there was a lot of noise downstairs and it sounded like the place was being turned upside down. Or there was a flood. I rang Ronald, he was asleep but very glad to hear from us (!!!) and was going to come down to check but I heard laughter so thought all must be well. I couldn’t rest so went downstairs and gave Patricia a fright, turned out she’d been doing the washing up!

Tuesday 8^th May – KABALE

It all looks better in the morning 😊 The office wasn’t open yet so I went to the clinic to help paint. I wasn’t much use as a) I wasn’t dressed for it and b) the shoulder was no better. Hannah and I went to buy paraffin from the garage, was an experience. We had to buy bottle of water, drank half/chuck half and then they filled it up. By this time Max was back at the office and got me started. I was entering records for every patient that came through the Clinic (that Drew and Hannah were painting). It was interesting but heart-breaking at times, seeing the ages of the children and the volume of tests for Malaria and HIV. I was listening to Max’s Gospel Rock Music, really need to download some stuff from a band called Hillsong. I was in there on my own for most of the day, although people often popped their head in to check on me. I had two little young visitors, must have been 4 and 5. They didn’t speak English but they wanted to type on the keyboard which stressed me out as I didn’t want them to break anything. They were so cute though, kept wanting to touch my hands and my hair (our hair fascinates them, so much softer than theirs). To distract them from the computer I got my camera out and tried to teach them to take a photo, it didn’t go well so I tried to get them to wave for the video. They got it in the end, bless them. Max came back and commented on how quick I was; as she said, it’s easier when you grow up with computer which I have and she hasn’t (I do think she was quicker though, she did more records in a day than me – I found it too hard to read the doctors writing!).

Hannah and Drew came around at lunchtime with hot chips, they were delicious, like chips from the chip shop at home. Then back to work, the power went off so there was no more record keeping for me, I did some filing until Drew and Hannah came to help me finish off before we headed back to the house. I did some Uni work, the Dr came for a chat and bought us a bottle of wine, we had some dinner and then the chess board came out. Hannah beat Drew most times, Drew beat Drake and it was his first time playing (Hannah did help him). Enouk came for a visit as needed some paperwork from the internet, it was nice to have him up there with us, it’s such a family atmosphere! We had a chat with Dr Geoffrey about safety and he reassured us. I slept easy from then onwards.

Wednesday 9^th May – KABALE and visit to LOCAL VILLAGE

We started work early, the clinic was looking good and I had a system to figure out! It looked like it should be straightforward, but it involved some computer programming and the instructions didn’t join up. The twins were playing outside again, they were having a bath and without clothes they looked even tinier, skin and bones. Han and Drew brought hot chips again for lunch; they go down well with the people from the clinic. I finished work a bit earlier due to the power so went to help Hannah and Drew clear up, I’ll be honest and say I didn’t want to get paint on my nice clothes but I tried my best. My shoulder was much much better, Dr Geoffrey had earlier given me some anti-inflammatories that had worked wonders. We headed home to get ready for our evening visit to a local village community that KIHEFO works with.

At 5pm we drove out of Kabale and into the hills; the village was about 20 minutes drive away and the scenery was as stunning as usual. It was an especially nice drive because there were so many people about, walking home from a day working the fields with their produce on their heads. And it wasn’t just people, they were moving their cows and goats and we had to wait for them, they certainly were not going to wait for us! We stopped in a deep valley and visited the homestead of a family that KIHEFO supports. KIHEFO have supplied seeds and pesticides so the family can successfully grow food for themselves and to sell, using the profit to pay for their children’s school fees. Their main produce is cabbages and they were very impressive. The houses were very basic, I wasn’t sure if one building was a house or was for animals, it was made of what looked like wood and mud; it was confirmed as a house. There were two adult men, one was married to the adult women, and many children although we didn’t really see them as they were busy doing their chores. They go straight from school to the fields and then home to feed the animals and cook for their family. They picked us some peppers fresh from the garden, and later when we came back through they ran after us with another bag, so so so kind. They are such humble hard working people. I decided I wanted to help them with a freshwater tank to capture rain water, I’d been studying it that week and saw it as a sign, they were still collecting water directly from their local stream. I’ll be saving for that when I’m home and have found a job…!

We walked back to the van and one of the guys came with us (after changing his shirt and shoes) because we were going to visit a local youth group. There were a lot of children so Drew and Hannah handed out the stickers and sweets they had. The children were shy at first but ecstatic with the stickers, as we were driving off we saw them all huddled together sharing them, such simple joy. We were told that most of their feet have never seen a pair of shoes.

Our next stop was further up in the hills from which we had the most spectacular view. I have been to some pretty spectacular places but that view is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Both sides of the road dropped steeply down into huge vast valleys, on one side there were small homesteads far in the distance and all you could hear was the sound of happy, excited children, and life. And on the other there were fields and fields of crops; it was like patchwork. We reluctantly headed back down towards the village and on to the youth group, who just happened to be in the middle of a big game of football. There must have been 40-50 lads there, ranging from 10 to 20 years old and it looked like quite a serious game. We’d met up with the two of the youth group leaders on the way down, they were about 20, and they walked us down to the pitch as Ronald asked us if we were ready to give our speech….! We thought he was joking, he was serious but as he hadn’t pre-warned us and we didn’t have clue what to say he did the speech, once EVERYONE had been called over, 40 odd strapping lads running towards us and surrounding us in a circle. We introduced ourselves and Ronald explained why we were there, talked about KIHEFO and reminded them they hadn’t been forgotten. One of the young leaders then gave one of the most eloquent and passionate speeches I have ever heard, ever. It was amazing, telling us about how grateful they are to KIHEFO, what they hope to achieve and how thankful they are that we’ve taken the time to meet them and just know about them. I was very emotional, I was so touched. We got so many claps, don’t think we deserved it, think they do for being so amazing. We all gathered round for a group photo, and it could have been intimidating but it wasn’t at all. We all have the same hopes and dreams, the only difference is where we were born. What amazing young people, again I felt privileged to meet them. They wanted us to come to their drum and dance practice on Sunday (we didn’t go for reasons beyond our control, felt awful). On the way home we thought about what we could do to help them… my idea was to get them a TV they could watch football on. It’s so important to them and as we know it creates great community spirit. At the moment they have to WALK what is a 20 minute DRIVE into town to watch a game, and pay for the privilege. We talked it through and thought that if we could set up something sustainable (everything KIHEFO does has to be sustainable) where they raised funds to pay for subscriptions etc, perhaps by growing crops on their communal land and charging entry fees for games, it could work. Ronald is looking into it.

We headed back to the house for some dinner, it was Ronald’s birthday and he spent the evening with us which was lovely. Drew, Hannah, Ronald and Drake played chess; I got in stress about my Uni work until I managed a successful call to my tutor and got an extension. I helped Patricia with her homework which was ridiculously difficult. It was about computers and everything is learned from a textbook, no practical lessons at all. We did it together on mine so she got some practical experience. We kept positive even though it was Hannah’s last night in Kabale and we had a lovely talk with Ronald, about the poverty. They had all seemed so happy in the village and I asked whether they were really, he said they learn never to be content with the situation but learn to live with it and continue to hope it will get better. I went to bed thinking ‘I’ll play my part’ to help them. If everyone in a more fortunate position did a little bit, it’d go a long way.

Thursday 10^th May – KABALE TO KAMPALA

Hannah was flying out tomorrow so Drew and I were accompanying her back to Kampala. I’d had a good sleep; have found that earplugs help because I don’t wake up to the littlest noise. We headed out at about 9ish after Hannah had said her goodbyes; I had to stay away so I didn’t get emotional myself. We stopped at the bank, got fuel, checked the type pressure and then we were on our way. Enouk’s wife Gloria was travelling with us as she was heading back to work elsewhere in Uganda. It was such a beautiful day, sunny but the beautiful valleys were shrouded in thin mist. I spent a long time looking at the people as we passed; small homesteads with children running around happily in rags; women, working the fields with their babies strapped to their backs; a guy in a town running to pick up his goods then desperately after us hoping we would buy something. I also kept noticing Singer sewing machines, so many of them about.

The journey to Kampala passed quickly, it was busy once there though because we hit rush hour. At the hotel we dumped our bags and headed for a beer, it was Hannah’s last night after all! Martin joined us and we had a brainstorm about our ideas for KIHEFO and then Dr Geoffrey joined us and we had some dinner and a really nice interesting evening. Then we went to bed, I was a bit drunk to be honest, that Nile Special is strong and had to wrestle with the mozzy net.

Friday 11^th May – KAMPALA and bye bye Hannah

We woke up late and were all in a sombre mood because Hannah was leaving later in the day. We had a wander around the craft markets where Hannah and Drew brought some gifts (I’m not close enough to coming home yet, too much to carry as it is) and we got a chess board for Ronald for his birthday and as a thank you. We headed back to the hotel and gathered up Hannah’s stuff, she deposited anything she didn’t want and we might find useful with us which was very kind and we were very grateful 😊 We were all feeling very sad on the ride to the airport, I was also very nervy as people had been contacting us about safety in Rwanda, so I was on edge all the way to the airport looking for any sign of danger my imagination is WAY too active! I also wanted to get Hannah safely there as had promised Ant I’d look after her! We passed back by Lake Victoria and all too soon were at the airport. We parked up but couldn’t go inside the terminal as they were only letting people with boarding passes in. So we said a teary bye, and that was that. I am going to miss that girl, she’s so lovely and special with an incredible heart, again…something else I can’t dwell on at the moment! Once we’d said bye I headed into the airport to change the Australia Dollars Hannah’s friends and family had kindly given her as a donation, Hannah had decided to gift it to the KIHEFO Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre to support children like the twins that had really touched her heart. It was a mission, nobody wanted Australian Dollars but I got there in the end.

And then it was Drew, Enouk and I driving back into Kampala for another night before heading back to Kabale.

Lots of love.

Xx







*USEFUL FACTS AND INFORMATION

· There were many kingdoms across what is now Uganda before the British colonised it in 1894.

· The Buganda Kingdom was one of the strongest; the British kept the kingdoms in place and called the country Uganda. The Kingdoms were abolished by one President then reintroduced by another, although some Kingdoms did not re-establish their Kingdoms at that time. The Kingdoms now work closely with the President, agreeing big decisions together. The people of each district have their own name and language, the people of Buganda talk Ruganda.

· Uganda gained independence from Britain in 1962.

· There are traditional drums, carved out of wood, which have different meanings. For example, some signal marriage, funerals or act as a warning.

· The full history of Uganda is taught in schools, which is refreshing as so many countries try to hide their past. There is a view that you need to learn from past mistakes so they don’t happen again.

· There is a huge problem with HIV/AIDs in Uganda, I knew it was a problem in Africa but the scale surpassed what I’d imagined. The official figures say just under 7% of the population is living with AIDS/HIV. There are so many issues to consider to understand the root causes and possible solutions. The HIV/AIDs population is currently supplied with free Antiretroviral Therapy (ARVs), funded by the USA but this funding will be withdrawn in 3 years. The annual cost of an individuals ARV treatment is around $180USD although Uganda is now beginning to produce their own.

· Petrol in Kabale was 3800UGS per little (about 90p), expensive in comparison to the wages.

· Government doctors earn around $300USD a month.

· In Uganda a typical wage for a small rural family is $5USD a week, inside town it’s $10 a week and for a large urban family $20 a week – this income isn’t enough and just covers the basics (i.e. food). The majority are living on $1 a day.

· A hoe (for farming) costs 15000UGS (about $6USD) and this is often too much. 6000UGS (about $2.50) for a sack of seedlings. 70000UGS (about $28) a 3 month term for school lunches.

· Some children walk for 3 hours to get to school.

· People walk what’s a 2 hour drive to get medical care.



NOTE: I use these updates to capture my memories and share what I'm doing on my travels with friends, family and anyone who 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.

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Photos

Drew, Hannah and I
On our way!

The big plane that took us to Doha
Thank you plane :)

Ugandan mixer!
First photo in Uganda, for my Dad :)

Drew up front with Enouk
On the drive from Entebbe Airport to Kampala

Drew, Hannah and I
The journey from Kampala to Kabale with KIHEFO

Enouk and Lillian
Our fantastic driver and guide

Zebras...
In Lake Mburo National Park but we could see them from the road.

Drew and Hannah
Dinner at the Drs house

The specialist and John
At the Rehabilitation Centre

The twins
At the KIHEFO nutritional centre

Lake Bunyonyi
Too vast to fit in one shot unfortunately.

Enouk and I
At Lake Bunyonyi

Max, Fleur and I
Working hard in the office!

Excited children.
Pouring over the stickers Hannah gave them!