Category: Uganda

Finally, a much delayed recap of our weekend in Entebbe. Last Friday, after meeting up with Ali and Dai at their house in Katikamu (a neighbouring district), we took bodas to the taxi park in Wobulenzi (the town where we had our pedicures done the other week). From there, we got on a matatu to Kampala, and another to Entebbe. Kristen had already arrived at the Backpackers hostel by the time we arrived, so after catching up with her for awhile, the five of us headed down the hill to a restaurant for dinner. Lots of laughs later, we made our way back to the hostel, where we ended up playing cards until the early morning. Saturday Kristen had to head back to the airport to pick up her bags, which had gotten lost amidst all the itinerary changes she’d had on her trip back from Canada. While she was off doing that, Ali, Dai, Vanessa and I spent some time in town and eventually headed to Goretti’s, a restaurant on the shores of Lake Victoria. Quite a scenic spot to eat the much-craved pizzas we all ordered for lunch!

I’m writing this entry on Thursday night, after a completely fabulous day spent at the maternity centre and with the women’s group. Vanessa has been hard at work translating and printing the information for the educational posters that will be going in the birth house. Since formatting is her least favourite part of the entire process, and my type-A self loves doing that kind of stuff, I was helping her cut out everything and arrange pictures and text on the bristol boards.  We’ll head down to site early tomorrow morning to hopefully finish everything up, and then we’ll be catching a matatu with Ali and Dai later in the day and heading to Entebbe, via Kampala (travelling pretty much anywhere in Uganda generally involves going through the capital). Kristen was supposed to have gotten in today sometime, but we just heard from her that it’s been a miserable series of delayed and rerouted flights back, and that she’s now scheduled to arrive at 3:30am on Friday.  Luckily, the backpackers’ hostel where we’ll be staying offers shuttle service from the airport at any hour, so at least she’ll be able to head right to a bed and catch up on sleep before we meet up with her tomorrow night.

After spending last night in Kampala, Vanessa was back in Kasana Sunday afternoon, in plenty of time for her “birthday party”, such as it was.  She’d invited Khoon and Celia, two of the volunteers we met on the safari, who work at a hospital in Kiwoko, as well as Ali and Dai, and another Jaica volunteer who lives in Luwero. (Jaica is the Japanese peace-corps type group that Dai’s placement in Uganda is organized through). In the end it was the seven of us, plus another Jaica member, Micki, who lives in a nearby town.  We had a delicious potluck dinner, with homemade flatbread that Nancha, one of the Jaica volunteers made, and baba ganoush Vanessa whipped up on Friday. Ali and Dai brought pork from one of the stands near their house, I made potato wedges, Celia baked a vegetable and cheese bread, and Vanessa made coleslaw. Very delicious, and incredibly filling.

Vanessa, the other volunteer that lives in the house with me, will be finishing up her  placement with Shanti this coming Friday. She’s going to do some travelling around Uganda for a few weeks, and will be flying back to Canada in December.  Before that happens, she’s been busy finishing up projects and ticking items off her to do lists.  One thing that she’d been hoping to do for a while was to go to the market in Wobulenzi, a town not too far from Kasana.  Martha, one of the midwives at the centre, goes every Friday to have her toenails painted, and had encouraged us to come check it out with her sometime.  So on Friday Ali, Vanessa and I took a matatu to Wobulenzi with Martha, who led us to the tucked away spot where the nail people set up.  By the time we’d arrived there was already quite a lineup, so we sat down and made ourselves comfortable.  After leaving briefly to grab a market lunch, and playing a game of Ludo (the Ugandan equivalent of Sorry that Ali bought from a young vendor walking by), it was time for our pedicures.

My apologies for the long delay in getting this blog entry up. Given the slow upload speeds in Uganda, and the number of photos that I wanted to share from the safari, I had been waiting until I could go somewhere with a better internet connection to post anything. Unfortunately, electricity has not been on my side… I have managed to get things sorted out now, and have posted a Flickr album of the safari, which you can check out here.

After a busy end to October, with our only day off last week spent in a nearby hotel, Vanessa and I are very much looking forward to our three day safari trip.  We’ll take a boda to the Luweero post office tomorrow morning, where a bus will pick us up en route to Masindi.  Given the rarity of seeing Mzungus (or other foreigners) around the village, it’ll be interesting getting to know the other people on our tour.  The company we’re going with take a maximum of only eight people, which is nice since it will eliminate the need to travel around in a giant bus or the like.  According to the itinerary they sent us, Saturday morning (at 6:45am!!) we’ll head out from our camp on a four hour game drive around the Nile Delta area of Murchison Falls National Park.  After a quick lunch we’ll be off again, this time on a three hour boat cruise along the Victoria Nile to the base of the Falls.  And as if all the wildlife viewing wasn’t exciting enough, Sunday morning we’ll be going on a guided walk to the top of the Falls.  This will be the first time I’ve travelled anywhere to the north of us, and from the photos other volunteers have taken, it certainly looks like there’ll be some stunning scenery.

A bit of an administrative day around here. It’s just Vanessa and I in the volunteer house for the next few weeks, and today Ali wasn’t around either, as she went to Kampala and Entebbe with Ben, the Shanti driver, and Emma, the lab technician, to do some shopping for the centre and to mail another shipment of bags. We had lots of visitors around our place this morning; Ben and Emma came by to get the Shanti vehicle, and two of the textiles women, Robinah and Rose, also came over to drop off the most recent order of bags. Once we managed to get everything packed into (and on top of) the truck, Ben and Emma headed off to pick up Ali.

Vanessa and I just finished eating dinner, after spending a really nice day at the market and maternity centre.  Kristen left this afternoon for the start of her trip back to Canada (she’ll stay in Kampala tonight and then head to Entebbe Sunday before flying out on Monday).  It took a good chunk of the evening yesterday, and a lot of folding, and at least one compression bag, but we managed to get all 100 bags from the Fashion Week order into a piece of luggage Kristen can take on her flights.  Luckily she only had to carry her daypack in the matutu today, since Ali and the Shanti driver, Ben, will be heading to Kampala on Monday to buy supplies anyways, and can bring the rest of her suitcases then.

It’s been a busy few days around here, as Kristen (the project coordinator) is getting ready to head back to Canada at the end of the month.  She will be gone for two and a half weeks, so there’s plenty of work to be done before her departure.  We had a volunteer meeting on Monday to go over what everyone’s projects will be for November, and we certainly won’t be lacking for things to do!  Vanessa and I have one more weekend of the teen girls workshop to teach, which we’re really looking forward to.  Saturday’s topic is nutrition, so we’re planning on doing some cooking beforehand and taking snacks for the girls.  Sunday we don’t have huge amounts of content to get through, and since it’s Halloween, we’re bringing a Harry Potter film on one of our laptops for the girls to watch.  I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with this group of young women, and am looking forward to preparing and leading more of these workshops over the next few months.

This week Vanessa and I made two different trips to Kampala.  The first was just a quick visit with two of the members of the women’s textiles group, to purchase fabric for the yoga, shoulder and patch bags that Shanti sells in Canada.  A big order was put in for bags for Vancouver Fashion Week, so Kristen will be taking nearly a hundred bags back with her when she flies to Canada at the end of the month.