I was able to take 2 weeks off of working on the ship and make a trip to Uganda. That may sound crazy, but it was an amazing experience. I’ll start from the beginning…
When I arrived on the ship in August I made some new friends, one of these friends lives in the U.K. and invited me to join a group from her church and travel to Uganda with them. Well, it didn’t take much convincing, but I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to get the time off work. As it happened, I was able to get a 2 week vacation and so the planning started.
Finally, April 3rd arrived and I boarded the plane and meet the Chinese guys in Brazzaville (that story is in my previous blog). After traveling for the day I reached Entebbe International Airport in Uganda, where the driver from the Bed & Breakfast was waiting.
Colonial Residence (the Bed & Breakfast) was a lovely place to stay. The hosts were very welcoming and helpful, breakfast was excellent, the staff friendly, and the grounds were beautiful with a various trees and flowers.
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| Room at Colonial Residence |
I arrived in Uganda 2 days before the rest of the group coming from the U.K. due to flight availability and cost. I didn’t mind to much since I was able to have a couple days to explore the area. The first day I walked around Entebbe and checked out the Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful walk through the gardens, plus it is also on the shores of Lake Victoria.
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| Lake Victoria |
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| One of the many flowers at the Botanical Garden |
After leaving there as I was walking back, I got stopped by a local woman who wanted me to come into her restaurant and eat. Now, I wouldn’t have known what it was unless she told me, because to me, it looked like a wooden shed or barn. When you walked inside, there were tables and people sitting. The food was prepared out back a brought into you. It was a different experience, but I had food and water so I was happy.
The following day, I made a trip to Jinja to see the source of the Nile river. That was really cool, but I wasn’t able to get on a boat and to have boat ride on the Nile; which would have been really cool! After leaving the Nile river I went into town and walked around the craft markets of Jinja. There were some unique crafts for sale that I wish I would have had space to take home. Instead, I enjoyed chatting with the store owners. One of the shop owners, Ester, found out that I had been in Congo and asked what some of the differences were in the crafts that were for sale. The biggest difference that I noticed, was that they didn’t try to force me to buy something which happens all the time where I am in Congo. It could be as simple as the fact that I would stop look, and take time to chat with them.
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| The Nile River |
Later that night, I group that I was joining arrived and so I meet them at the hotel. After introductions and chatting, we went to bed. The next morning it was up, eat breakfast, and pack everything in the vehicle and drive to Kamatuza (around a 3 hour drive from where we were). On the way there we passed the equator, but of course there is a place to stop and eat, so lunch was on the equator.
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| I'm at the Equator! |
Finally, we arrived at the school where we would be staying and unloaded everything. The first week was a lot of sorting supplies and organizing. There were three containers of school supplies to sort and hand out the different schools. It was a lot of repetitive work. The second week was more exciting. After sorting out most of the supplies I was able to visit 3 different schools with supplies.
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| One of the containers that needed sorting, it is already partially sorted in this picture |
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| The first school that we visited |
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| The second school that we were able to visit |
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| The third school that I was able to visit. |
There is also a pediatric medical center located very close to the school where we were staying and so those of us in the group that are nurses spent some time in the clinic. The primary thing that they treat is Malaria, but there is also a physiotherapy room and so I spent most of my time in the clinic learning about what they do for therapy.
The best part of the whole trip for me happened almost everyday. I loved to play with younger kids in primary school. When the kids had break from classes where I was staying, more often than not I would be out playing with those that wanted to join in. Playing most often consisted of me chasing and tickling them, high-fives, counting, making circles, and whatever else we decided to do.
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| Some of kids who liked to come out and play |
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| The kids being just a little silly. |
Usually it was the same kids that would come and play, and so I may not have learned the names, but I could recognize their faces. One day we were able to go out into the village and hand out clothes to those who needed it. At one of the stops I saw a girl in her school uniform that I would play with, then a little later another one of the girls came by with her family in her everyday clothes and not in the school uniform but I was still able to recognize her. Needless to say, I started talking to and playing with them and let the other sort out clothes.
I loved it there!!! There could be many reasons that I loved it there so much, playing with the kids, language wasn’t as huge of a barrier (English is spoken in Uganda as French is spoken in Congo), the people seemed more friendly, probably because I could communicate. It’s amazing what communication does.
At first I wasn’t sure if I should go, but I am really glad that I did. It was an experience that I’m grateful to have had.
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| Roadside market: this stand was selling potatoes |
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| With all the rain the road turned to mud, and it was a little slippery in places. One of the cars that we were taking to our third school visit slid into the ditch. |
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| The kids would often start waving at us as we would drive by them on the road. |
