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..