Post-Nile

On our weekend off, we slipped away to the touristy town of Jinja. It's located about 2 hours North East of Kampala, so a total travel time of about 7 hours from Mbarara (see map above). Jinja's claim to fame is the Nile, and lots of fancy resorts have popped up on its banks. After a night in Kampala, we boarded a bus and headed out to Jinja. Before rafting, a couple of our croup decided to bunjee jump over the nile. I was not inclined to join them. Jumping off of really high things just isn't very appealing to me.

But who cares about that stuff. I need to talk about the Nile itself. For those of you reading from a certain Californian All Outdoors Whitewater Rafting, I will describe the river and its rapids as best as I can. The river is incredibly deep and wide, so the currents feel completely different than a California river. When I swam in the calm stretches, I could feel a bunch of different currents pulling me in different directions. The guide (Jeffery, a Ugandan who spoke with a strange mix of Ugandan and Australian accents, his use of slang (ie: weecked, Bro, cool, sweeeet) even more disconcerting) claimed that the river was 40 meters deep, but I don't really believe that. Maybe 40 feet? Chest high to a duck?

The rapids themselves were just ridiculously big. High water Merced stuff, but bigger than anything I have ever seen. They classified about four of the rapids as fives. I wouldn't disagree, but they weren't at all technical, just huge. In fact, our boat flipped on two of the big ones, and since the river is so deep, we just got pushed really far down and thrashed around a bit, but I didn't hit any rocks at all. The guide called forward paddles all day, once calling a back paddle but never calling a turn. But holy crap were those rapids big. At one point we went over a 9 foot waterfall, and all of the waves and holes we hit in other rapids towered over us. I do have some video footage from the trip that I'll show some of you, and if I can get this connection to cooperate I have some pics to post now.

Let me go over a few of the differences between this company and All Outdoors. First, and most unsettling, was that we were not allowed to wear shoes of any kind. We had to raft barefoot. This went against everything I have ever learned about rafting and I put up a good fight to keep my tevas on, but of course eventually conceded. And besides some walks through the mud and manure, no harm came to my feet.

The commands were pretty much the same, although we were told to get down in the boat on pretty much every rapid, another testament to the river's lack of technicality. The guides did not need paddlers at all, just a couple good J strokes and we were perfectly lined up. We were never told about swimmer's position, so when people fell in they just flailed about until a safety kayker came and plucked them out of the water. There was no high side command, a call that would have come in handy quite a lot. But that brings me to the strangest aspect of the company. I'm sure that the guides were flipping the boats on purpose. They'd line us up straight for any rocky rapids, but at the big ones, they'd turn us sideways to the waves, forcing us to flip. I'm not complaining. Flipping in those rapids was ridiculously fun, and makes for some great pictures and video. But boosting DVD sales by purposely putting guests in danger is a bit against AO policy.

But, they broke one more of AO's policies at the end of the trip, that being the famous no beer rule. We were each given 2 or 3 giant Nile Specials after the trip, which I have to admit was really nice, and made the bus ride back quite a little party. At one point, we passed another party of about 100 people running down the road. They surrounded the bus, caked in mud and playing drums. The guides explained that this was a circumcision party, and that it was a rite of passage for the 16 year old wearing a big feathery hat. The post-rafting energy from our bus mixed with their pre-circumcision energy to create a very loud, and incredibly unique party. That is not something that happens very often on the bus ride back from the South Fork.

Also different was the life on the sides of the river. We didn't see anything too crazy, but did see tons of monkeys, a couple river otters, and a whole bunch of crazy birds. There were people lining the edge of the river as well, although here they were bathing or gathering water, a very different use of rivers than that of humans in North America. About half way through the day, a rain storm broke out, drenching everybody. It poured and poured, which was actually kinda fun until the thunder and lightning broke out. Luckily it was a fairly brief storm and we managed to avoid being struck by lightning.

After the rafting trip, we had a delicious dinner at a hotel resort nearby our campsite. We met a man there who insisted we join him at a local night club to be filmed for a new video promoting tourism. Many of us were curious about African night life, so agreed to come with him later that night. We crammed into the back of a station wagon, and arrived at an unmarked door in a pretty sketchy part of town. There was one streetlight, and many people walking around the dirt roads. We figured we made a big mistake. We got out of the car and tried really hard to look cool, but it's hard not to stand out when our skin glows in the dark. As soon as we were allowed into the club, however, we were much more at ease. It was a pretty normal club, with lots of black lights, loud music and many bars. There weren't even that many groping prostitutes! We stayed for a little while and were filmed dancing (for who knows what). But, getting up at 6am and rafting all day really takes it out of you, so we headed back to the campsite in a crazy monsoon, praying that our tents would be dry inside. Mine faired well, and even though it rained for about 9 hours straight, I woke up dry.

So it's official. I cannot post pictures here today. I may try again soon, but otherwise you'll all just have to wait until the weekend. I'll be back in town this Saturday, and will update again then. After that, I only have one short week left in Uganda. I'll be home (the California one) on December 12th.

From Hippos to Grasshoppers

I am attempting to actually give order to these pictures, instead of posting them as a mass at the top. There is a good chance I will butcher it. To start, this is me by my tent in Rubingo. It took some time, but as you can see, I've turned it into a pig sty like my room back home. Very comfortable. This is where I have lived for most of the trip, and that chair on the little deck is my favorite place to sit.


Here I am again! This time, I am planting a sack garden. As you look at this picture, it will surely become evident what exactly a sack garden is. For those who still don't get it, it is a sack with dirt in it, then holes in the side. We plant seeds in the soil, then they grow. Ingenious. It is, however, a great method of planting for people with little land. Since that picture was taken, the seeds have already germinated and have begun to grow. Everything here grows amazingly fast, with a perfect mix of rain and sun every day.




Here I am standing in front of the house I lived in for a little while in Kikagati (Chi-ka-gati), another ACTS project site on the border of Uganda and Tanzania.

We carried bricks from a nearby plantation back to the house to build bookshelves. These little kids decided that they would help us, and we scuffled to and from the kiln, John (another intern) and I carrying three bricks, the little guys each taking one. The man I am standing next to is named Johnson, and he is an ACTS worker. He is in charge of the widows groups, and he and I went down to Kikagati to help start up a similar project. We were able to make a deal with the arch deacon, and if ACTS approves, will be able to provide land for a communal widow's, widower's, and orphan's garden.









This is a picture of Kikagati. John and I lived in one of those cement buildings you see. Our little compound was shared with the owner of the property, Ezra, and his family. They had three little boys, and actually, come to think of it, a couple of them are in the picture above.







Here are the latrines at our place in Kikagati. To get to them, we had to walk by Ezra's home, then through the goats. His youngest is the kid in the pink that is loitering with the embuzi (goat). It's definitely a race to get in and out of those as quickly as possible. My bathroom comfort zone has been drastically expanded.


To the left of this text (ideally) is a picture of the crested crane. It's the bird that is featured on the Ugandan flag, and every so often we run into a pair. We saw this one on the bumpy drive from Rubingo to Kikagati.








Below is a picture of Stella, an amazing woman who ACTS trained to help distribute bio sand filters in the community. The sand filters are huge (4 ft tall) blue cement structures. Water is poured into the top, where it passes through a bio layer, then through sand, and finally rocks. The bio layer is formed from the bacteria already present in the water. Somehow, the layer catches other bacteria, and the water comes out much cleaner. Some of the uneducated Ugandans contribute the cleansing ability to charms or magic, and I can't say that I perceive it much more accurately. We tested some of the water for e. coli before and after passing through the filter, and amazingly, if not magically, the e. coli was decreased by about half. But back to the picture. This is a water catchment in Kikagati. It is a very dry area- pretty typical African savannah look, so there is no natural source in the hills. This means the people have no real way to get water. The catchment is meant to capture rain water, but unfortunately, people have to climb down a ladder to fill up their jerry cans, their poo covered feet contaminating the source in the process. The algae isn't that big of a deal, but the fecal contamination causes all sorts of trouble. They hike for miles/kilometres (keep in mind I am catering to an international audience) and fill up big yellow jerry cans with the brown sludge, then effortlessly put them on their heads and walk back. When full, those jugs are freaking heavy, too! I struggle to carry them at all, granted I am not quite rippling with muscle, but at least I have protein in my diet and generally eat a couple of meals a day!








Here are some hippos! We decided to go on a self-guided safari in Kikagati. We had heard there were hippos just up river of the border crossing, so we set out along a pseudo-road, dodging cows and acacias. The outing was called hippo hunting, and scheduled into our program for the week. John, Johnson, Elly (another Ugandan staff member- the one in the black bandana below) and I set out with our best hunting gear. Johnson wore a sweet poacher's hat, accompanied by John's Rwandan goat skin-sheathed sword. We picked up a local man to help direct us, and he brought us right to the hippos. In exchange he asked for food, blaming the current famine. We didn't have food with us, but were more than happy to pay him for his services.

We sat and stared like this for about an hour, watching the hippos sink into the Kyger river, then float back to the top. They roared and grunted like crazy. We were on a ridge about 20 feet above the river where they swam and I couldn't believe how well we could hear all their noises.






Lastly, below is a picture of the Kikagati radio station. It is run by ACTS, and sits on top of a giant hill overlooking the former Kikagati game reserve (the lions and other animals were all hunted out during the days of idi amin), and also the current game reserve right across the river in Tanzania. The DJ, Paul, has a small tape player with headphones where he samples the tapes and rewinds to the right spot, and a second tape player hooked up to an 80s mixer. That is the entire radio station, which the whole community tunes to every day. Pretty simple stuff, but completely functional.



So the week spent in Kikagati was very successful. We managed to set up a framework for new widow's groups and gardens, which went very smoothly. On the way back to Rubingo I met Perez (yet another Ugandan worker) and he and I bought 800 baby nile tilapia for two fish ponds in the Rubingo area. Last year, the agricultural intern made an agreement with the community stating that ACTS would provide fish fry for any farmer who dug his own pond. Two pretty wealthy groups complied, and we followed through with the deal. We also attached a condition to the agreement that allows any member of the widows groups a discount on fish as soon as the tilapia are mature. I have to admit I was a bit bitter about assisting the middle class farmers, when there are many many more needy people. But, in a place where one is considered wealthy if he has a concrete home, a bit of land to grow bananas, and two or three goats, I suppose I shouldn't be too picky about who needs help.

Back in Rubingo, things slipped back into the normal groove, where we work during the day and relax in the evening. Tenessa and I were the only ones at camp, so we initiated medical music nights, where each night we studied a topic. We actually only got through two topics- HIV and worms. I now have a detailed knowledge of the clinical stages of HIV and the many many many different types of worms here. Worms, by the way, are something I am almost sure to contract, mostly because of wearing sandals. There is manure everywhere, so if any cow had some worms, they can slip up under my toenails, enter my intestine, lay eggs which slip into my blood stream, then end up in my lungs. I'll cough up the larvae, swallow them (without knowing it) and start the cycle all over! Don't worry though, it just takes one pill to get rid of them.

As long as we are on the topic of health, yesterday at Rubingo, a man came to the clinic with his two sons. Both were obviously disabled, as they couldn't speak clearly and drooled a ton. Turns out they are epileptics, and rarely have anti-seizure medication. We agreed to drive them to a government clinic where they could get more medicine. In the hour that I drove the little family, one of the boys had four seizures in the back seat of the truck. It was pretty horrifying to be honest. Seizures are violent events, and in normal (north american) circumstances we would consider them to be a pretty big deal. Here, there was nothing we could do but keep driving. By the end of the day, the truck reeked of urine and I had lost my appetite. Luckily, we were able to get them more medication, and even were informed of a clinic near the man's home where he can get more medication for much cheaper.

On a lighter note.

One more important thing I almost forgot! And it's in the title! Grasshopper season has arrived. Grasshoppers are a Ugandan delicacy that people collect by the sack full. I bought a bag (about as big as a plastic grocery store bag) stuffed full with live grasshoppers for 2000 shillings (1.30). I took them back to camp and Tenessa and I were given a lesson on grasshopper preparation. We take the live insects in our hand, rip off their legs and wings, then throw their still wriggling limbless bodies onto a plate. The cooks were pros, they grabbed 10 at a time and had them de-legged and de-winged in seconds, while Tenessa and I struggled with the fighting bugs, often losing hold of them and having to chase our food. They then fried them up, but no need for veggie oil, the grasshoppers have enough of their own oil. They're heavily salted, and turns out in the end freaking delicious. I couldn't believe it, but I probably ate 40. They're crispy and tasty. I can't explain it, you'll all just have to come to Uganda to try for yourself.

2 minutes left on the internet. I'm going to attend a regional drama competion here in a bit where all the HIV/AIDS groups perform plays and music. Tomorrow takes all 11 of us to Kamala, then to Jinja where we will raft the NILE! I'll be sure to give you a detailed update later this weekend.

More Pictures!

So I don't have anything really new to write....I've been kinda sick all week so not much has happened. I will spare you the details of my current ailment, but if any of you are really interested just say the word and you can have a poo post.

So the pictures. Sorry they are quite graphic. I will describe them. The first few on the top are at the church memorial, the one where they didn't reomove anything. The one with all the clothes is a room full of the clothes of the victims at the church. You can see the skulls lined up on shelves, and inthe back corner of the church you can see another pile of bones. Outside the church, there are all of the femur bones on a tarp. There was a poster of the pope on the wall, apparently he came to visit and they put it up at the time. On a lighter note, you can see the taxi park in Kigali, and then me enjoying some delicious goat on a stick and a cold coke. It may have been one of the best meals ever. "Enjoy" the pics. I apologize again for their serious nature.