The final African post... for now....

I am now in Entebbe tying up the last few threads of my travels.

I spent a few days on Buggala Island, part Ssesse islands on Lake victoria.  Ostensably to avoid having to go to Kampala.  Another interesting journey comprising of crowded coach, complete with chicken pecking at my feet for 4 hours.  Followed by a boda boda to minibus for ferry, this with two large bags and rucksack.  The driver was very young and small and I was a little fearful he could hold it steady on the rough track, but they are so strong these little guys.  Then  to the ferry, to find that some one needed to get a spare part from Masaka from which we had all arrived an hour earlier, very crushed and my knee permatly locked,  onto to the ferry for the most amazing African sunset (I will be adding phots to this blog when I get back) back onto the minibus, when my knee finally gave way and I had to insist on a seat where I could try to keep it straight.  not easy on a 14 seater bus with 20+ and assorted animals and bags of maize etc.  I expected I would get a taxi to my hotel, but no, it was very dark and no taxis and so another overloaded boda boda ride into to night all the while unable to properly bend my knee!. 

The island is very quiet, no internet, no phone at least until I bought yet another sim card, and few visitors, I was the only one at my hotel on my final night.  It is so peaceful and the birdlife amazing.  I managed to rest up and even get on a forest walk, until bitten almost to death.  Mother nature also provided the most terrific thunder and lightening storm with bits of tree and lumps of ice flying about. 

I arrived in Entebbe and decided to brave Kampala for final shopping and to join the hash.  For some one who has been avoiding capital cities because of chaos, traffic, noise and pollution; this might seem contrary, but I guess true to form.  It was a hilarious run around the rush hour of the Parliament area, and as I hadn't managed to do any sort of city tour, it ticked most of the boxes.  I suffered 3 down down, as a visitor; not having an appropriate song to sing: and the final one from my shoe, as infact it was a sandal and so mostly poured down me.  I had an interesting return trip through the Kapmpala night; drunk (much better on a boda boda) smelling of beer and managed to pick up another young admirer on the bus, who insisted on walking me home, even as I explained yet again I am old enough to be his mother; luckily we arrived at the hostel just as he was getting on to the subject of sexual healing.....   I am not sure the return trip from Cambridge hash will be so eventful, but at least I didn't miss the last train.

East Africa has afforded me to most wonderful array of experiences which I will take some time to assimilate and organise.   I know I will want to return, it has got under my skin, as I was warned.  I have so much enjoyed my travels but I know I will need a purpose for my return too.  So my final day will be spent researching the solar and renewable energies, which may shed some light (argh, couldn't resist)

Looking forward to a direct catch up with you all soon

Was it a Crocodile?

With slight sadness I returned to Uganda but was uplifted by catching up with friends from Uganda Lodge who are now at another project here in Jinja.  It is a usual gently decaying post colonial town located at yet another source of the Nile.  It is also a hub for white knuckle activities for this part of Uganda.  So it was good to have a little touristy pampering of, Mediterranean roast veg and hummus sandwiches and smoothies as a change from the high carb local fare.
I trekked out to Bujugali falls where much of the white water rafting takes placed and watched the local throw themselves down, attached to plastic jerry cans, or in kayaks.  I decided to take a trek down river towards a new dam being constructed, which will dramatically change this area shortly but provide much needed power to the country.  As usual I set off in the general direction, relatively easy as the mighty Nile on one side and construction site visible ahead.  I managed to get with in about 1 km when I ran out of path and as it is so large, visibility too when I decided to turn back and as usual managed to loose the return path, at one point leading me to a 5 m sheer drop with only a tree to hang on to to break my fall and then I got too close to the river and into the reeds, when I saw a large tail slither towards the water and heard a loud plop.  Initially I thought wow that was a large otter, but then began thinking was a crocodile, or even snake,  so I made a rapid retrace of tracks and got back to some sort of track, eventually  I got back to the falls; although not without having to negotiate my way around a local fishermen's drinking/ganja den by having to climb over their boats.

I visited the school my friends are now working in, I helped in classes of more than 100 and the largest is 167 students, all squeezed into a fairly normal sized class room.  What is amazing is that good quality, by local standards and even some UK schools, was taking place.  Students hardly have access to writing space to make notes or be able to see the board they do not have many text books so every thing has to be laboriously copied down.  They are quiet and attentive and will continue to work unsupervised to get tasks finished.  All of this whilst learning is English as a second language.  It certainly underscores one of my major frustration in my work with recalcitrant young people in Huntingdonshire.  Give them all a week in one of these schools and a week in the shamba and I am sure they will begin to appreciate the opportunities they have been given.

I am now back in Ruhanga at my original project.  It has grown enormously in terms of the numbers of volunteers.  Not surprisingly as the university holidays have started.  We were up to 24 this week.  It has highlighted my previous concerns about lack of organisation to cope with this growth; but hopefully meetings between the directors will acknowledge this and changes will be made.  There have been meetings with the School Committee and Community Board Organisation, to enable them to takeover the community and volunteer projects  which should ensure better use of funding, donations, resources and volunteers within the greater community.  Also that the community can determine what projects they need and can use and so lead to greater ownership and sustainability.

I am also catching up with some of the many friends I have made here.  They are so pleased to see me return and it will be even harder to leave this time.  So a big thank you to all: the lodge staff, Denis, James, Gerald, Robert, Didas, Resty, Justine, Beth, Sarah, Mode, Rove, for looking after me so well; Volunteers, too many to list, you know who you are; School staff Jamir, Alinda, Merril, Eunice, Kedrine and co; George,Gertrude and family,  Craft ladies, Jennifer and co; Solar Sisters; CBO and PTA Levi; Osbert and family and of course all the children and students of Ruhanga and Team college and everyone who has made me so welcome I hope to return.

At Last I see the Mountain

Well I managed to survive Niarobi again through the consideration of the people I met, Virginia made sure I was on the Matatu for Nanyuki, before she would leave me.  The journey into Niarobi was again interesting, we were late to pick the next volunteer at the airport due to the jams but our innovative taxi driver just drove down the central reservation to a suitible dirt track turn off and then crossed the on coming traffic.  There is no manueover that is impossible here.

I arrived in Nanyuki to again be looked after in the rain until met by my friend Patrick, who I had met with his wife in Ruhanga.  He is a guide and they have a tour company here  (see link above right, I cannot recommend more highly) and are looking to start a volunteer programme here so I was keen to discuss all that I have learnt.

Nanyuki is a garrison town, with training bases from Kenyan military and police as well as British army, right on the Equator, I got my certificate and the water really did spin in opposite directions at either side; and the base of Mount Kenya.  Patrick assured my I would see it.  It was good to get a hot shower and a Tuna sandwich as well as the odd beer or two.

So early next morning we set off for a trek to the first hut.  There is a track up to this point but not a road so I was fascinated to see a motor cycle pass us, carrying several trays of eggs, along what looked liked a dried up, boulder strewn river bed.  When we arrived at the hut I had to shake his hand as he had managed to deliver them with only one or two breakages.

And yes I got fabulous views before the cloud came in again;  It is a truly beautiful place and I do not think I have ever been anywhere so quiet, even in Maasailand I was under a flight path for Niarobi.  There was little wind and no mechanical sound at all.  So still except for bird song.  We got to around 3500m high enough to see the giant lobelia and tree heathers.  Looking back across the plain, I could see acres and acres of polytunnels (and in the town some of the most beautiful roses ever, this is where those tescos are grown, but they are a poor relation to the ones here).   I was glad that I hadn't signed up for the full 5 day trek to the top, the altitude and my general lack of fitness would have made it very hard, but it has made me determined to come back and do it; so yes I will be cycling and walking around Cambs with those weight strapped to every available appendage again.

A highlight of my visit was to the school that Patrick and Naomi want to assist with volunteers.  It is called Melbon School and so I think it appropriate to try to link with it, not least because it is led by an inspirational principle; Pauline.  She had me teaching an English class with in an hour of arrival and Science after that.  The students are sooo keen to learn and just suck in any information you give them.  I have a list of those who want e pen pals in the UK so I will be looking for willing 12 to 15 year olds when I get back.  They also had me singing and dancing with them in the afternoon, all well before beer o'clock!  It will be a great base for a volunteering/voluntourism project.  As, although it is a small private school, Pauline tries to support as many poorer bright children from the community to give them the best chance at a quality eduction to enable then to go on to secondary school and university.  And she succeeds, as it is a very high performing school which also gives a good all round learning experience with very few resources.

I would have loved to have stayed longer but had promised to return to Ruhanga before I return to UK so it was with much regret that I left Kenya, particularly Patrick and his family and friends.

The journey in and out of Niarobi again was interesting.  All roads in and out are subject to construction, but non of this namby pamby coning and closing of section for this work, the traffic just finds any route through, around, under, over; at one point around 12 lanes (difficult to tell in these random conditions) had to constrict to 2 to go over half built bridge, it being the only way forward.  But there was no road rage or very little horn exercise, there is some form of rule but certainly not obvious to a muzungo like me.

Moving on from Masailand

Sadly my time here is coming to an end and I am moving on to visit friends near Mount Kenya, which I hope I will see unlike Kilimanjaro!

I have been given my Maasai name; Napishai which means happy person, and a Maasi blanket as well as a lovely thank you letter and certificate at a little ceremony this afternoon.  The people here at MEAC, see link, have been so welcoming and are so keen to help them selves to improve there lives of the Maasai people.   I have been helping in a school, giving lessons on HIV/Aids, Solar power and renewable energy and safe disposal of batteries, not easy when there is no rubbish collection.  I have also been meeting with womes' groups and how they are helping themselves by forming savings groupsand making and selling theri bead work etc. 

It has been a truley enlightening experience, to live a very simple life if only for a short period of time, and not as basic as many deeper into Masailand.  We ran out of tank water, which meant finding deisel for the generator to pump from the borehole a couple of kms away, we took the fuel to the man who pumps, opening 6 valves buried under various stones and bushes on the way; Jackson who I was accompanying had been part of the team who installed the pipe a year or so ago, and so knew how to find them, I hope he doesn't leave cos there is no way of mapping them in the bush!  When we got the pump man's house, he was away,so another days wait.  Then the generator neededto be fixed, then the valve had to be fixed, not surprising as they are all just buried in the earth with no protection from dust, grit, being dug up by animals or just stepped on and bent!

All in all more than a week of carry ing water from the dam for general use, very brown and murky; or from a neighbours tank for cooking, rain catchment.  I am now the expert at the 2litre shower, washing hair, body and underwear; I thought I was pretty good in Uganda, but this is a whole new level particularly when its only every other day or so and I am pretty filthy from the dust and the wood smoke from the fire; and the water is murky brown to start with. 

This is the end of the rainy season, and I have only heard one short shower, which barley settled thedust, it is very dusty and dry now so I am not sure how bad it will get before the next rains.  The people here consume so little because they have so little, but I think they are paying a much heavier price of global warming than those of us in the west who are enjoying the benefits of our capilatist, consumer culture.   I understand there is a drought in E Anglia now, but sure as eggs is eggs, the rain will come around june 22nd,when I return and I will not moan about the british summer, well for at least a week!

Quick blog from Masailand

I am staying with a 'settled' Masai family who have a compound with tin shelters and a more traditional mud and stick kitchen.  We have a little solar power which provides either lighting for one room or tv.  All cooking is done over an open fire in the kitchen, which keeps us all fumigated from the flies.  We have little water but seem to keep healthy, even though there is little chance to clean hands or utensils, even after slaughtering the chicken and plucking it in the bowl we use to wash up.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger; and these people are mighty strong, both physically and mentally.  They rise before dawn, some of the children set off for school at 4am, and retire about 10pm although again the children are often studying beyond this. 

The day consists of milking cattle, taking them out to graze, along with the goats, feeding the chickens, growing crops mainly maize, cooking, and cleaning, very time consuming over a fire and heating water too; collecting fire wood and water, etc etc.  There is no machinery, just everyone knowing what is to be done, cooperating and getting on with it. 

Visits to the loo are interesting, across the cow yard, with or with out cows blocking the gate to the next compound and across another paddock, to the pit latrine, which is fine; but I have now been told not to go on my own after dark!,  but have been given a more convenient place behind the house for a 'short call' . 

My family are always cheerful, caring and considerate.  The children are a delight;  for all the hardship they are some of the most cheerful and relaxed people I have met, even those family members working in town with all amenities prefore being on the shamba as it is more relaxing.  I think 'modern life' will means something different to ma after this experience.

Hopefully this is a quick flavour of where I am.  I hope to blog more when I have more time.  This is my one visit to town, in the back of a pick up truck and I must meet with my volnterr coordinator and buy my essentials of water and loo roll before I have to get another matutu to get back

Spectacular Serengeti and Ngreat Ngorogoro Safari

I have managed to circle and step on Kilimanjaro but not actually see it.  The cloud has been down, but still managed to avoid getting too wet since loosing both my coat and brolly in Uganda.
I continued my 3 day trek to the end of the Usambara Mountains, through many villages, to Mtea in order to see Kilimanjaro, but it was not to be the fog was down and it was much like any other lake district view point, as cold too.  I had a great time getting there and stumbled upon a traditional medicine ritual to expel ghosts from a young man, it consisted of him being dunked in a pool below the biggest waterfall of the mountains, being yelled at and sprayed with water, burnt herbs and the blood of a decapitated chicken.  It was then the turn of a 4 month old baby, although she was only dunked in the water and sprayed.  When I asked how the ghosts manifested themselves, it sounded like a description of stress or depression,  triedness, anger, agitation etc.   Perhaps we should try this instead of valium!

I decided to move onto Moshi in search of Kili and literally bumped into Susana who I had volunteered with and she works in Windermere, and so had a fun day catching up and going to Marangu base camp on Kili, but again, shrouded in mist and not to be seen.
She did persuade me that I needed to go on safari, this being the low, rainy season, it was easy to arrange but I was concerned that it would be wet and wouldn't see much. 

Sure enough it poured and the cloud was down all the way to the rim of Ngorogoro but as we descended the weather cleared and the view of the plain was spectacular.  It is so vast and the air so clear you can see for ever.  As we continued we came across the Masai and their herds of cattle, goat and donkeys interspersed with herds of zebra antelope, gazelle and the odd Giraffe, quite odd.  We eventually entered the Serengeti National park, in which there is no farming or herding and were priveledged to see the migrating herds of wildebeest with zebra; they apparently lead the migration with their superior sense of small and intellect to remember and find the right pastures;  accompanied by antelope gazelle and buffalo.  There were 100 of 1000's if not millions, as far as the eye can see, and that is a long way here.   

We saw cheetah, a lioness so close we could almost touch her, monkeys, fabulously plumaged birds.  Our camp for the night was visited by mongoose, hyena and baboon, who made off with one of my  companions food.  In the morning we visited a hippo pool, pre-dawn (which was stupendous all you would expect of an African dawn) as they were returning from their nights foraging, they are silent and solitary on land but social and noisy in water.  The smell of the pool was about 100 times worst than a slurry pit and looked it.  You would think they would relieve themselves before they returned but no they seemed to take great pride in doing so as they got back, spraying the community in the process by spinning their tails like a fan.  They seemed to be having fun laughing a lot very noisily.
We also managed to see a leopard in a tree with her kill of a gazelle, apparently she had lost her cub, during the hunt to a hyena and so was still scanning the savannah for it.

We moved on to Ngorogoro, which magically appeared just as we began our ascent to camp at the rim, here we were joined by water buffalo which are very big and can be very aggressive, it does wonders for your nocturnal bladder control.   The crater was amazing, teeming with wildlife, although it is the rainy season, much of it appeared quite dry.  We saw a lion with his kill and again he walked right by us so we could see his bloody mouth, I also managed to see flamingos, which I had missed at Lake Mbeya;  And then we actually managed to complete the big 5 by spotting 2 white rhino, quite far away but still so big.  I am glad I was persuaded to go and I think even better in the low season as there were few others around only about 4 or 5 other vehicles where as in high season it is just a constant stream of 4x4's on the routes.

As we left our driver persuaded us to visit another museum, which we were rather reluctant to do as we were more interested in the animals, but when we got there it was where the Leakeys had done their work on the early hominids, it was really interesting, we just hadn't appreciated how close we were to the site.

So finally back to Arusha and onto Niarobi for my twoweeks volunteering with the Masia.  I am really excited now I have seem some of their culture on the trip through the Serengeti.  They are obviously a powerfully strong cultural group as they maintain their traditional tribal villages and dress.  They are stand out on the plains for miles and really stride out and cover great distance even as I watched them.
It is sad to leave Tanzania.  I have met somwe truly wonderful people and the country is so varied and dramatic, again it is hard to leave.

Ah Zanzibar

Zanzibar, I made it;  and it truly lived up to the hype, sun sand and.... well not quite, lets just say the place and the people are so seductive.

Stone town well deserves is world heritage site status.  It is a real working town but still retains the atmosphere of a intermingling of many cultures and trade.  The guest house where I stayed had a very happy chappie making the breakfast, singing all the way through to the point that his colleague serving, closed the kitchen door on him, when I asked why he was so happy, he said it was because he was going to give his first public performance on the violin that night as he had just reached grade I.  Coincidently, I visted the old customs house now renovated and turned into a cultural centre and  noticed that the Dhow Countries Music academy was giving its monthly concert that evening, so I went and sure enough he was there with the beginners, but it was nothing like the beginners recitals at Meldreth!   It was a  great fun local cultural evening.

Did I mention a previous local event I stumbled upon in Dar es Salaam and the Tribal Village museum. It was an amazingly talented troop of young performers, starting with drum, then singing dancing and circus acrobatics.  In the middle of which they staged a mini childrens' african dancing competition.  It reminded me of my times with Liz, at Helen and Megan's competitions, even the babies were grinding.  The leader of the troop insisted I went to meet all the members and would not let me leave until the end, so another night taxi ride!

And then on to the beach, it is all that I expected.  The snorkeling was stunning. Although it is now the low season and there was rain most days and some cloud, it made for welcome relief and enabled me to get some serious beach walking in, a young guide kept joining me so we ha a real hoot walking and swimming as we kept getting caught by the tides.  We had a great walk to an island but then again got caught by the tide and I ended up shredding my feet on the urchins and the rocks.  Not so sensible as I left for the Usambara Mountains the next day.

Another epic in its self.  I had spent an extra couple of days on the beach as I had hoped to get a boat to Pemba, but it was not to be so I took a local dhow back to the main land.  For someone who is not good on boats; I get sea sick when snorkeling; this again might not have been the best decision.  We all got on, straight from the beach. All the women and children got into the bottomof the boat, I decided to sit on the side, and so I could focus furiously on the horizon.  I was quite proud to be the only female not to be sick during the three hour journey, luckily there were plenty of buckets.  Their received wisdom is that it is better not to be able to see, I think I prefer mine.  The boats are fairly small and are wind powered, I am glad for the experience but probably won't do it again.

I am now back on the mainland and in radio contact, up in the Usambara Mountains, which are beautiful.  I have found myself another guide and have just returned from a trek where I felt positively cold when we reached the top. I needed a blanket last night too,it was wonderful after the humidity of the coast.  I seem to have fallen in with another community project too and so will spend and extra day or too finding out how things work here.

The Tanzanian people are just so warm, friendly and welcoming, it is hard to move on as planned, but hakuna matata, I am just going with the flow

Dar es Salaam

Well I though it would be a 12 hour bus journey, but it turned out to be 16 hours meaning that I arrived well after dark, which I really try to avoid, particularly big cities.  It seems a feature of Tanzania that the bus stations are outside of the cemntre, thus I had to get a taxi, which filled me with trepidation as I had heard all sorts of tails of unlicenced taxis.  In the end all was fine and I managed to find accommodation where I had expected, thank goodness for the low season.  I was again well looked after by my tavelling companion who lent me his phone and ensured I got the right taxi.

Dar is hot and humid at this time of year, the slightest effort, leaves you running, if only, for the shower and the fan.  It was very quiet during my stay due to the easter holidays and National day.  It is a vibrant mix of cultures and good fun to be in; I managed another night out, hooking up with a couple of other traveller to visit possible the best view across the harbour; very sophiticated and I hadn't even washed my feet, let alone change into the LBD which of course I always carry!  luckily it was too dark to notoice. 

But the call to Zanzibar is strong, and have treated me self to first class airconditioned seat.

and on to Tanzania

I had already extended my stay in Rwanda visiting and talking but now it was time to move on.

I had always wanted to 'do' Africa on public transport, so I set off on a smallish bus to the border at Rusumo Falls.  As it was Rwandan it was quite comfortable and only one person to a seat.  We approached the border where I had to walk over the bridge across the falls, quite spectacular; sorry I can't put in the photos.  Then the long trudge up the hill to the Tanzanian border, there was a Scottish truck waiting there.  Much hotter as it is lower and then on to another moto taxi to the nearest town ( I am quite the biker chick now).  I had expected at least a bank but no, so a little short of money, changing what ever currency I had, strangely $ and sterling are quite low rates here.  I managed to negotiate a bus to Mwanza on Lake Victoria, for early next morning and a room/cell, holey net, no air or electricity, although did eventually find some water. Nothing else to do but get some food and watch the world go buy.  Beneko is a former refugee camp and now a truckers stop to the border, very wild west as every one came in for the rum and brandy, some with rifles.  I had to give up and leave for my cell to avoid the drunks, a long dark night with slow reading to make the book last.

My bus set off earlier, unusual in Africa, but the man I had bought my ticket from came to get me and settled me on, I was very down cast to see it was small and I had to spend 8 hours on it! No breakfast or water we set off.  After a couple of hours, when there were at least twice as many passengers as seats and a cockrel, I was told to get on another bigger, although more ramshackle bus, Yippee I thought and celebrated with bananas and water, however we left the tarmac and had three more hours of bone shaking until we regained the tarmac, at least I had the comfort of a large man with a rifle sitting next to me. It seemed very poor compared to Rwanda and even Uganda although much more sparsely populated; it was a wonderful African sunrise over the acacia trees and scrub I expected to see Simba and friends at aany moment, sadly all I saw were a very few cows and goats. 

About three hours later I could see Lake Victoria so was looking forward to finding somewhere comfortable to sit and eat when it became apparent our destination was across a bay.  The scrum for the tickets, should earn me a place with the Lions or even the All Blacks.  I emerged with a ticket and both rucksacks almost in tacked, will be finding gaffer tape later.  What was most comforting about this journey was that I was handed over from one transport to the next, no common language but caring and curteous all the same.

I was heading to Mwanza, for a bank and to get a bus to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, I was somewhat perturbed to see the buses for Dar going in the opposite direction.  I think the lesson for to day is more research and available cash.  So I am off to the bus station to negotiate my next 12 hour journey.

Kigali Rwanda

What can I say
It is a totally bewildering and beautiful place.  It is almost european in looks, set upon many hills.  There are few road names or adresses, interesting when you are trying to get to your accomodation on a moto taxi, but every thing is located by landmark as you can see for miles across the hills.  The roads and landscapes are very well maintained, better than London, and it is clean and green and in the middle of a building frenzy.  I hadn't appreciated that I had arrived in the genocide remembrance period which appears to last from 7th April for 100 days.
I set off to visit the Nyamata and Ntamara genocide memorials, two churches south of kigali.  I caught a local mini bus and got talking with a young agricultural student who was on his way to visit his family at Ntmara.  He very kindly, got me a bicylce and showed me the way.
It is the site of a massacre of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who had gathered in the local church for safety, they were all killed with hand grenade, machete and what ever else was available.  The church and associated buildings have been preserved, including the clothing and books of the victims.  Many remains are still there awaiting burial in mass graves still being prepared by the government.  It is a peaceful site.  I later learned that a young lawyer I had met at my lodgings, was infact a survivor of this massacre, he was a baby and asleep and found underneath his parents.  My guide's family was also affected by the genocide.
I returned to Kigali and met another student, when asking for direction, as there are no road signs he kindly showed my the way again, we took shelter from the rain in a cafe.  We talked of many things, studies, politics, love, hopes for the future, music; he is another hip hop artist, and in fact knew the artist I had met on the lake, very spooky.  It wasn't until we got on to families that it emerged that he too lost both his parents in the genocide and was responsible for his three brothers.
What is amazing is that all these young men that I spoke with did not define themselves by this trauma, but by their present, which is working and studying hard to provide a safe and secure future for their families and their country.  They showed no anger or hate, although sadness in the loss of parents and family and the struggle to provide and education; but talked of love and trust in others and their country.
My accommodation was with Solace Ministries which provides anti-retroviral drugs and support for widows and orphans.  I met an engineer who is looking to provide small scale clean water systems and solar power.  He asked me to accompany him to some of the projects, one of which was at Ntamara.  Also a technical school specialising in solar technology supported by a german charity.  It has inspired me to consider going back to my technical roots and perhaps look at how to package and provide this technology in these poor rural communities, it should be transferable throughout the world, so more travelling opportunities for me.  Even in Rwanda promoting renewable energy is controlled my the multinationals.  However there are great opportunities in the provision of simple small scale solutions, which can be maintained and controlled directly by the users who have little access to the grid or fossil fuels. 
I also visited the national memorial centre in Kigali, which is so moving, they are still constructing the mass graves for those remains that are still being found.  Again there were many floral tributes from the families of those buried there,  It is a testimony to hope that this never happens again.  I hope that Rwanda's forward thinking approached with respect for the past and as western aid reduces as it must; the people have regained the strength and dignity to ensure this is the case for this beautiful place.

Hello From Rwanda

 I have made it safely to Rwanda.  I made the right choice of coming via Kisoro to Ruhengeri.  It was over a high mountain pass with fabulous views over Lake Bonyonyi where I left my fellow volunteers;and another lake, towards the Virunga volcanoes and into Rwanda.  It was a fabulous journey althoug not great for those with travel sickness, which two of the eight passengers in the saloon cars were suffering, strangers sharing the same carrier bag.  Every one was very understanding and helpful, waiting more than 15 minutes for change for a bottle of mineral water purchased at a remote highland village, where it was difficult to find the 300 shillings, (|10p) change. It was also interesting that before each police checkpoint, two of the passgengers had to decant on to push bikes to be collected on the otherside to ensure our driver was not arrested; the comment from the remaining ones "this is Uganda"

At Kisoro I had to take a boda boda to the border, down a dirt track road, with magnificent views of the virunga volcanoes.  Sorry there are no photos as I have not brought the camera connection with me.

It was strange to just walk across a land border, but very easy, with minimal fuss at either side.  I was then into francophome Africa and into a minibus on the other side of the road.

Rwanda is very beautiful and very safe due in part to a high military presence and a huge amount of external aid.  It is much better developed and I think less corrupt than Uganda.

The roads are well built and maintained; not too much overcrowding in the minibus and an almost european feel to the towns.  The rural areas seem to be much better off too.  My hotel had a plat du jour,  three courses for apprx 5 pounds and a steaming hot shower and flushing loos every where.

I have just spent a pleasent day chilling by Lake Kivu, with yet more famous Rwandan musicians; a rap group call Tough Gang; who are also artists and I shall try to visit their gallery in Kigali when I get there tomorrow.  That is another striking impression of the country, there is a much greater level of craftsmanship, artistry and general imagination.  It is difficult to believe that from such a tragic recent history the people are so warm, happy and creative.  I hope that once the external funding for reconstruction, diminishes as it should; the purpose and peace of the population can be sustained.

Leaving Ruhanga…for now

 I have decided to move on from Ruhanga for a while, I need to renew my visa and I have got itchy feet to see some more of East Africa.  I am planning to go to Rwanda then across Tanzania to Zanzibar, who hasn’t dreamt of visiting this fabled island; then up to Kenya, hopefully as far as Lake Turkana, again I have wanted to see this since reading Laurens Van der Posts’ books in my youth;  and then back to Ruhanga for my final month.

I feel I have done as much as I can here for now and the experience of volunteering has been rewarding and fascinating.

I have never been any good at fund raising, except for projects I know directly, and even then not that good.  So it was one of my aims of this trip to see how these projects work on the ground.

 

As usual it is down to the committed and hard work of a few passionate individuals, who want to make a change for the better.  And that is surely the case here, the school is up and running, the lodge is providing an excellent base for volunteers to experience the life and country; and a source of employment for the community. The first stage of the water project is well on the way to flowing in July.

However it is likely to become a victim of its own success in that the organisational skills and structure have not kept up with the pace of change.  I have been working with the founders and community to help them develop this, hopefully they will be able to look at this and we can work on the next stage when I return. This will ensure that the good work so far is not undone by the unmanaged influx of muzungoes and their money and customs being superimposed onto the culture rather than subsumed into the community.

I look forward to my return as this is a most beautiful place and wonderful warm people.

I am looking forward to visiting Rwanda, particularly as I was privileged to interview a journalist who was working on both sides of the border during 1994, for one of the major Ugandan daily papers; on behalf of Ruth for her final year dissertation.  I am interested to see how the reconstruction is progressing on both the physical and national character of the country.

Posts may be a bit more sporadic from now as I am leaving the computer behind and relying on internet cafes, please keep in touch but accept my apologies in advance of any delay in reply

Nakivale Refugee Settlement

Nakivale Refugee Settlement is one of Africa's largest and oldest refugee settlements. It houses more than 63,000 refugees from countries including DRC, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya and Burundi

We stopped in Mbarara to buy soap, mosquito nets for the camp; then back on the road back towards Ntungamo and then the turn off which said 75km to Nakivale.  It was a dirt road and so slow progress ~ 2 hours through a very fertile region, lots of cattle and pretty towards the lake.  As we approached the camp there were more and more people travelling by foot in either direction, also a scatterings of flimsy housing, stick, mud and plastic.  These apparently belong to refugees who have been given some land and permission to stay in the area. 
On entering the camp we were shown to the commandant’s office and greeted by one of the assistants.  As we had not made an appointment or got the relevant letter from the office in Mbarara, we were not expected and so could not see specific areas.  We were asked to which group we wanted out donations to go and had we had previously informed of our choice we would have been able to give directly.  We agreed that the donation should be to vulnerable women and children at their discretion.  The asst commandants would not give specific information on numbers of refugees as we did not have clearance.  We were then allowed to tour the area on foot, and were guided by some residents.  The camp is divided into national areas, and we were mainly in the Congolese and Ethiopian areas.  Some of those we met had been there for 5, 8 and 16 years as a result of various conflicts.

They spoke of the lack things to do, not enough food and money for education, there are schools on site which are free but better schools are off site.  The residents looked better clothed than those in Ruhanga and certainly as well nourished. But they are with out a home or prospect of moving on although they have their cultural groups for support.

It would have been good to have had lunch at one of the restaurants but we were all too polite to suggest it.  The settlement looks reasonably well organised some residents are employed in this organisation, those we spoke with have command of up to 7 languages and appear reasonably well educated,  there did seem a lot of babies, the birhrate is a problem but although health care is available it is often some distance away and birth control not always readily available.

We returned to the bus after about an hour, and were given the option of taking the ‘short cut’ home!

This consisted of more dirt track road, we eventually saw a big swollen river and James informed us that this was the Tanzanian border, some short cut, we continued beside and above it for some time and then moved away from it, at which point we turned around and asked directions and then took off on what looked like only a foot path.  Apparently to take us right down to the river and a crossing, via punt, not quite as gentle as on the Cam; no one had a passport, not that any was there to check, and so did not cross.

We then had to get back to the road; this was not a 4x4 we were in, expert driving by Nicolas and continued on the dirt track, we were then informed we were looking across in to Rwanda.









James, and the rest of us were a little concerned about where we were so Nicolas passed over a bank note, upon which was the map of Uganda that seemed to be our guide! We  boneshakingly continued, until we came to a halt, to check, something under the front wheel, it was then a very slow drive to Ntungamo to the gorge, where they fixed the breaks.

Murchison Falls

 These are supposed to be the most spectacular falls in West Africa, so anticipation was high.

We decided to go with the Red Chilli Company, which has a rest lodge in Kampala. We had a fairly uneventful if long and bumpy bus ride in to the capital, just as dusk was falling, we had to walk a little way to exchange money etc, however it was the most terrifying experience so far, it is just a chaotic mingling of people, stalls, bicycles, taxis and huge coaches all vying for every square inch of space, there is little definition of road, pavement etc. At one point there was a huge coach trying to leave the bus park, across which there was a row of boda boda (motor cycles) through which pedestrians were crossing and across which the normal traffic was crawling along.  The coach decided it was time to leave and just kept ploughing through, albeit very slowly, the boda bodas were trying to scramble away, leaving the pedestrians (that was me) to be pushed into the flow of other traffic, I just held on to the boda until I could see a gap to get out.   

The rest house even though it was still in Kampala it was very quiet, it has flushing toilets and hot showers, the best.  We joined a disparate group of other travellers, which is always fun and set off for the north.  It takes the best part of a day to get there and we were grateful for a really comfortable camp, with proper beds, we were warned not to keep food in our tents as both the warthogs and hippos have a sweet tooth or two.  The camp was founded by a British ex diplomat, Steve Willis, who was killed in 2005 whilst helping a marooned raft, by the LRA, the company still provides funds to support water projects etc for the local community.  It is strange to think that such terrible conflict was waged in this beautiful area so recently, from which both the human and animal populations are still recovering.

The tour consisted of early morning game drive, with a dawn crossing of the Nile.  

We were fortunate to see lions, including one female with a kill, elephant, many waterbuck and other antelope, hippos and my particular reason to have this safari, giraffe they are so graceful, the last one we saw leaving the park appeared to have a broken leg.  I also saw a one eared antelope, and other limping badly, I guess these are the survivors, for the time being anyway.

In the afternoon, we took river trip 17 km up to the falls, we had seen the foam generated by the turbulence even as we got on the boat, the river is so wide here, wider than Lake Albert in places, even now at the beginning of the rainy season when it is at it’s lowest.

We saw more elephant, swimming this time; hundreds of hippos and some 3m crocs.  We eventually approached the falls and were able to climb out on to a rock to get a more central view, they are tremendous, 6000l/s through a 6m gap.  We couldn’t get too close because of the turbulence generated.  

We had a gentle cruise back and I thought it appropriate to have a Nile Special on the Nile.

The next morning we went on a walk to the top of the falls, we could hear them even as we arrived, as we got closer I could feel it in my chest.  I am not sure the photos do it justice I have video which is better but can’t upload it until I find a broad band connection.  

It was definitely the highlight of the trip although seeing all the game in their natural habitat was fantastic too.

New Venture, Help Needed

Further to my previous post on out ‘African Evening’ we have had an enthusiastic response to setting up a water skiing school.

One of the major local industries here is brick making, the local soil is clay and all around the area, this is dug out, individually moulded into bricks.

 

They are first air dried and stacked

Then they are restacked into a kiln for firing, there are two holes in the base which are filled with eucalyptus wood, the whole is encased with mud and fired.

 

Theses are generally made and constructed by the road side for easy access for potential purchasers.  They are also often made in situ; the clay removed for levelling a site or digging foundations, is used to make the bricks for the house etc, as is the case in the new class rooms, see previous post.  This cuts out all transport costs and middle man.  The bricks are not of the highest quality or consistency but are more substantial than the wattle and daub which many buildings are still made of; which are subject to rapid degradation during the rainy season, but easily repaired during the dry.

The consequence of all this activity is that there are many deep pits by the road and indeed right up to the boundary of Uganda lodge.  

These are of course filling up with the rain, so we see potential synergy by creating a Cable Waterskiing Centre, particularly as we have the services of a qualified instructor. 

 If you feel you can support this venture, please donate using the above links, we are particularly looking for a cable system rather than boat as well as skis and boards.
I may have published this a little prematurely, british time, but you get my drift..

Ruhanga Beaders

Ruhanga beaders

 Some of you will be aware of the Meldreth Beaders (or possibly not unless you are on thread!) and it was an aim of mine to create a twin here in Uganda.

A group of ladies already meets to produce local crafts for sale at their stall on the side of the road here in Ruhanga.  I hope to expand their market by developing their skills in basket making and weaving more easily transportable items for volunteers to buy, and perhaps bringing back to the UK for sale with profits returning to the project.  The group are also part of a saving circle in which they can save any surplus profit to plough back into materials or create another business, perhaps become a solar sister as mentioned previously.

We meet on Wednesday afternoons, to share our craft skills and have a giggle too, unlike Meldreth Beaders; the strongest beverage is tea, although I expect the craick will be equally as raucous.

the finished product

Available at a store near you soon

An African Evening

George, the headmaster, of a neighbouring private senior school invited all the volunteers to his home.  He acts as advisor to our school and has been assisting in providing to teacher training to address the fast expansion of the school in the last term.

We set of in good time to arrive at his school up the hill, we saw a newly constructed fish pond which is used in agricultural studies and fish should be ready for harvest in April, so I look forward to that as we haven’t had any fish here since I arrived.  

We then went to the school which is for 16 to 19 year olds, which if they complete the national exams they can go on to university.  We had an interesting question and answer session, explaining all our work experience.  We have a life guard in our midst, as land locked Ugandans, don’t swim or have many swimming pool, the purpose was difficult to explain, but when it came to describing what a water skiing instructor does… well the best we could come up with was rollerblading on water!

We were then treated to a performance of the school choir, which was fabulous, the pitch, rhythm and harmony was perfect all seemingly effortless and delivered with sincere enjoyment, there was a traditional welcome song, gospel music and a finale of a tribal song and dance, with innovative drum and pipes from what ever was around.  Just real good fun. I am sorry I can't upload a video so you can get the full enjoyment

We were then invited for a ‘cup of tea’ at the head masters house.  We arrived to be introduced to his immediate and extended family.  We had tea, biscuits and yellows (little sweet bananas).  The house is situated further up the hill in the plantation and vegetable gardens commanding and amazing view of the hills all around, further from the road and so really peaceful.  It soon became apparent the there was a lot of other activity going on, with two fires lit and cooking various dishes, pealing and chopping of many ingredients and another two fires burning in the cooking banda.  As the house is so far from the road, there is no electric power and so although the house is beautifully appointed and furnished, food preparation is still done in a traditional way.  Propane gas is available locally and is used for lighting, but it is a steep hill to  carry many gas canisters up and eucalyptus wood is readily available nearby.

Georges family comprises of at least three generations, and in the youngest, several pairs of twins.  Each member seems to have there own job and each gets on with it with ease, some chopping wood, others vegetables, cleaning pots and others cooking.  I know when I am trying to put together a family meal, there are times I feel it is necessary to hide all sharp implements to prevent internecine warfare braking out.  Here all was running so smoothly, which is essential as darkness falls and there are so many fires and sharp implements about, axes, pangas, skewers, as well as the normal knives etc we would expect.  The boys were preparing BBQ bananas over a charcoal burner, and the were stuffed with Cadburies dairy milk chocolate!  Hence the interest of all the small children in preparation of this dish

The Cooking banda  and inside

We had a lovely time sitting around the fires watching and occasionally helping with the preparation, chatting with the children and grandma, showing them photos of  gorillas, zebra, warthogs, hippos which they have never seen, even in their own country.

  Grandma loved having her photo taken

We then went indoors, to eat; the amount of food was mountainous, (the photo was taken as I was going for seconds) but the flavours were so marvellous.  All locally produced, except the chocolate.  Mashed plantain, something like mini kumquats, ground nut sauce, sweet potatoes, maize meal rice, meat stew, bean stew……. And the banana desert perfect, when ever I try this the bananas remain hard and the chocolate melts and runs out.  How do they do this in the dark, over open fires and charcoal.

We had a wonderful evening and when we left in the dark, we hadn’t expected to stay so long and so had no torches, we were escorted by most of the family, down the hill across stream in the rain, with grandma at the back wondering why we were going so slowly!

If anyone does ever venture in this direction, George and family do have rooms available to extend this African experience, you can email georgekaramira@yahoo.co.uk.  It will be a really uplifting and warm welcome from the whole family in the most beautiful and peaceful setting.

Solar Sisters

I think I may have mentioned that there are frequent power outages here, but as I type, we haven’t had one for a couple of days now and so I guess it will go any moment now, particularly as is getting more humid by the second, or is that another hot flush, no I think it is the next storm brewing.

Back to the point; we are on the main road from Kampala to Kabale and Kigali on Rwanda and so are on the main power route too.  Villages only a couple of kilometres from the road do not have power and so rely on paraffin for light, wood and charcoal for cooking and heat.  There are few appliances which require any power except of course the ubiquitous mobile phone.  It is the technology of choice for all; they use it for music, radio, games and camera.  However in order to charge them they have to go to the local trading centre, often a couple of kms walk up or down hill, pay Ush 500 and wait 2 hours for it to recharge, which they will have to do every couple of days, funds being available.

The lamps

We hosted the introduction of Solar Sisters by Evelyn Namara, from Kampala, who was born in the region, and speaks the local language, which is funded by an American  NGO, which is providing a business opportunity to village women to start a business selling solar lamps and solar lamps which can charge mobile phones.  It works by providing a sample of each which the women can demonstrate to the rest of their community, secure orders and send the cash via mobile network and retain part of the profit themselves, they costs are ush 40,000 (£12) just for the lamp and ush 120,000 (£36) for the phone charging version.  These are very significant sums for women to find, but the benefits are that they is safer that candles or paraffin, brighter, cleaner saving about ush2000 per week on paraffin and not having to carry it from the trading centre; but with the 120,000 version they can also start a business charging phones at ush500 at time. 

There was a lot of interest from the women invited and all took away some samples; a number of men also wanted in on the scheme, but it is being reserved for the women to give them some economic autonomy and increase safety in the home.

More information can be found at    http://www.solarsister.org

Women with their lamps

I hope that they manage to make the scheme work; however there is a strong expectation that ngo’s will provide these things for free with no expectation of any input from the Ugandans.  It is very hard to find a way to get the local community to work with and build on the resources provided by the muzungo’s (white people) and NGOs.  I will follow with interest how this works  .

The most perfect place

Lake Bunyonyi

I have been here a month now and realised it was time to explore a bit more of the country and recharge my batteries.  With had a four day week end due to further elections and International Womens Day (why do we not celebrate this in the UK?, another blog entry I think)

It is always a challenge to move from A to B and so we waited for almost two hours outside the lodge for a bus, the hitched a lift to Ntungamo and waited more than an hour again, but eventually we were off.  We arrived in Kabale and treated ourselves to coffee and cake, sitting on a breezy balcony, feeling very civilised.  Then came the scary bit; the boda boda ride down to the lake.  It is many years since I have been on the back of a motor bike, and it wasn’t a happy experience then, I like to be in charge of the steering and more importantly the breaks.  We negotiated a rate and thought it would be one bike each, but no it was both of us on the back of the same bike.  Actually I felt much better about this as it had to go a lot slower with the weight.  In fact it was a great journey, a long way up hill slowly and then a long way free wheeling to the lake.  I have to admit that my legs were still a little wobbly when we dismounted and my thighs are still in spasm.

The next part of the journey challenged the upper body coordination, a dug out canoe to paddle 2km up the lake to out island retreat.  Worth every paddle stroke.

Byoona Amagara Island Retreat is run as a not for profit ecofriendly retreat.  It has amazing open fronted goedomes to sleep in as well as the cheaper bunk house accommodation we were staying in.  It uses solar power and so there are no generators and it is sooo quiet.  Lake Bunyonyi me and the lake of hundreds of small birds.  And it is certainly true, the come in all colours, pink, blue, green, orange, black white and any mixture of all, including of course the LBJ.  The beauty and tranquillity of the area is more than I can describe so I will let the pictures speak for me.

Another major highlight was the food and wine, yes red wine and cheese and avocado and cray fish and pizza…….  And all this for less than £15 per night.  It is free to for the canoe to get you there but you have to pay to leave; I am not sure that have it the correct way round!

 

I will return