At breakfast learned that Don had become ill during the night. We were all worried, but our leader and Don had good support from GUW and clinic staff. The problem turned out to be severe dehydration possibly exacerbated by over medication resulting from the time change; all was resolved by a day's rest and lots of water. We were all grateful the situation ended so well.
The rest of the group went to the Give Us Wings office where we were given an overview of the Ugandan program, problems and accomplishments, and met the Chair and two members of the Board. Also at the office was Anika's dog, Foxy. Since I'm missing my Katy, it was good to have a cute dog to fuss over a bit.
We had lunch at the office, a typical Ugandan meal prepared by the woman who cooks and cleans for the clinic. Foxy wanted treats, but wasn't indulged.
The bus then left to take us to one of the GUW projects, the Ngiyo Ber Women's Estate. GUW built homes which were sold and ultimately given to the Ngiyo Ber members who moved there from rental housing in the Bison slum of Tororo. The women remain very grateful. We were enthusiastically greeted by them and taken to a community space (very small) for welcoming speeches and two songs by community children. This would have taken place outdoors but rain was imminent, and actually started as we were listening to the speeches. Pounding rain on the tin roof made hearing the speakers a little difficult.
Once the rain had lessened, we went to the home which we were to help repair. The interior of the brick home needed tuckpointing badly. Professionals had been contracted to do the repair. Our "help" was probably unnecessary, but it did show us some of the complexity of Ugandan home maintenance and provided much fun as many proved their home repair ineptitude. The process was reasonably straightforward, but difficult to execute for beginners.
Cammie did pretty well; her backhand was better than her forehand.
The best and most enthusiastic plasterer, Sue, ended up with a quantity of mixture on her as well as the wall.
The homeowner was quite grateful for all efforts. She is an elderly woman on her own who let maintenance get away from her, a situation made worse because the original construction had some problems.
After a couple of hours of work, we were invited for more entertainment and dinner. Since the weather had cleared, this was held outside. The children played music and danced then presented a "drama" which somewhat resembled an Amelia Bedelia story where many problems and much hilarity resulted from too literal use of language. It did lose a bit in translation.
After another typical Ugandan dinner, we left on our bus at 6:30 p.m. Although Uganda appears to be quite safe, the government "encourages" transportation companies to have their foreign visitors home before dark. That's fine with me. Not being out to all hours is a benefit!
Bus, with all 8 of the travelers and all 16 of our pieces of luggage, plus backpacks, etc., took off at 9:30 a.m. We drove to Kampala, stopping at a Nakamat (Ugandan Target) on the way to buy sugar, rice, and cooking oil for the families who will host us during our "Day in the Life" activity later in the week. After stowing our purchases, we left for Jinja, the town located at the source of the Nile. (Actually, this is the source of the White Nile which eventually joins with the Blue Nile to become THE Nile that we know from Egypt.)
When we were here two years ago, people talked and were upset about a dam being built which would flood out some beautiful rapids that were a tourist site and provided income for some residents. The power plant which would utilize the dam would provide no return for the area. The dam had been built so the site which was the "source" was pushed further north, and the lovely rapids were no more. Quite sad.
It's good to know that locals get a reduced price for admission and students even more. I have no problem with a "soak the foreigners" approach for such things. Especially since the price for the "rest of the world" equates to about $4.00.
Here is the whole group. Back: Don, Laurie, Sue, Patty, Shirley. Front: Pat, Cammie (looking down, I know not why), Mary. We're in front of the sign explaining the significance of the site.
Shirley, Patty, Don. Behind us (past the island visible on the right) is an inlet of Lake Victoria which is the source of the Nile.
After this sightseeing we were ready for lunch so went to a restaurant known to our guide Samuel named the Two Friends. It was started by two friends, a Ugandan and a woman from Sweden. It is now owned and operated by the son of the Swedish woman who considers himself a Ugandan. It was very pleasant.
Left Jinja at 3:30. Well past the midway point of the ride, Sue spotted a large number of baboons playing along the road; her alerting us to this sight woke me up from my doze which enabled me shortly after to see the St. John's clinic in sufficient time to alert my fellow travelers. After partially settling into the room at the Prime Hotel in Tororo, we went to the conference room for dinner and a briefing on our proposed schedule. Give Us Wings staff, Anika, Sarah, and Katie, had done a good job of organizing activities, trying to accommodate our individual interests and needs and yet accomplish some needed GUW work.
Was in bed at 10:45 but was kept awake by a noisy party on the patio just outside the building. Thank goodness for earplugs!
Made it from Amsterdam to Entebbe. Flight wasn't great in that my aisle seat had a box for the personal audio and Video on the floor reducing footroom by about 40%. The seat next to me wasn't empty. The person occupying it was small but active. She seemed to have no notion of personal space (mine, anyway) so kept hitting me with her elbow, hand, foot as she shifted in her seat thus awakening me frequently from the not-great sleep I was getting. At one point she fanned herself with her pillow which hit me 3 or 4 times before I complained. I think it was a cultural thing; her intent wasn't bad, but the result was (for me).
The flight went into Kigali, Rwanda, where we sat on the ground for an hour, unable to leave the plane, while some minimal cleaning was done and Kigali to Entebbe passengers loaded. It was hot, and we were all tired. Arrived in Entebbe on schedule. Luggage collection and visa purchase went fine, but we had to wait about half an hour for our ground transport. Arrived at the Imperial Golf View Hotel at 11:30 p.m. This is the same hotel we stayed the first night of the 2011 Give Us Wings trip. It's quite nice, but the luxury is somewhat wasted since we're there such a short time.
The same carved gorillas were there to greet us.
The hotel must be doing well since they're building an extension.
To bed at midnight.
It's Saturday, 9 a.m. Amsterdam time ( 2 a.m. in Minnesota). Plane trip here was fine -- uneventful which is the best way. I lucked out and had an empty seat next to me so had some room to stretch out and put my legs up, a nice benefit. The flight to Entebbe (via a stop in Kigali, Ruwanda) will leave in about an hour. We won't arrive in Uganda until about 10 p.m. tonight (am not sure that time that is in Minnesota).
The adventure continues. . . .
The departure for Uganda is Friday afternoon, January 25, on Delta to Amsterdam then a transfer to an even longer flight to Entebbe, Uganda, arriving late Saturday evening. This is a volunteer trip with Give Us Wings, a Twin-Cities based non-profit, with which my church partnered to build a clinic in Kayoro, a rural area near Tororo a city of about 50,000 population at the eastern edge of Uganda.
The clinic building had just been completed at the time of my visit in 2011. In the two years since, staff have been hired (a very lengthy and complicated process in Uganda), the staff and building have been certified to operate by the government (an even more lengthy and complicated process), and the clinic has opened (March, 2012). There will be a formal dedication of the clinic during our visit this year.
There are eight of us going on this trip, five from my church, St. John the Evangelist in St. Paul, MN. In addition to the dedication ceremony we will be undertaking a variety of volunteer activities, but our primary mission is to listen to and get to know a little the people living in Kayoro so that we can carry their needs and their joys back to the U.S.
One of our trip participants lives in Washington, but the remaining seven of us were given a blessing and send-off on Sunday, January 20, at St. John's. This is a photo of us (I'm holding the Ugandan flag) taken in the church undercroft in front of a painting of the clinic building presented to the church by Give Us Wings.
