Kampala - ya have to love it (",)

First of all let me apologise for the delay in up-dating my blog I know some people have been waiting with bated breaths by the internet!!!;

Kampala has grown on me more and more every day that I’ve been here. When we first arrived I never imagined that I could actually get my bearings in this huge city with its massive and varied population. But today I can get in a taxi (the Ugandian version of a dala dala – all be it more comfortable and less crowded!!!), or on a boda boda (a motorbike taxi – by far my favourite mode of transport) or walk to wherever I need to be.
The people of Uganda are very warm and welcoming – it takes a little longer to be accepted into their world as compared to the Tanzanians but it’s well worth the wait, and really the difference could easily be attributed to the difference between small towns like Moshi compared to big cities like Kampala as opposed to Tanzania hospitality versus that of their near neighbours in Uganda.
Ugandians are fun loving, outgoing people with a lot of enthusiasm for life. It seems no matter how difficult the situation there is always room for humour and this is what I love and respect most about them.

I am pleased to say the organisation we’ve been working with here has blown me away entirely. UYDEL – Ugandan Youth Development Link works with youths between 10 and 24 who have been affected by child trafficking, child labour, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and commercial sex workers. The organisation identifies at risk youths in conjunction with community leaders and local police officers and provides these youths with vocational skills to enable them to be rehabilitated into useful members of society. UYDEL works on every aspect of this process from one to one counselling with the youth, group counselling or BCC (behaviour change communication), resettling the youths back with their family or suitable guardian, educating the community about their experiences and the rehabilitation process they have completed, providing the youth with vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering, electronics, carpentry, welding, motor cycle repairs, tailoring so that the youth can support him or herself once back in the community. UYDEL also provide the youths with start up kits so they are in a position to start working once they have completed their training. The only thing that has impressed me more than the organisation is the people working in the organisation who are hard working, intelligent and dedicated to the work of UYDEL.
Besides the work Uganda has a lot to offer the first trip we took out of Kampala was to Jinja, the second biggest city in Uganda but could not be compared in any way to Kampala. Jinja is located on the banks of the Nile and is a popular place location to go and try out white water rafting... Yes people I got myself a life jacket, helmet and paddle and took to the water!!! We were part of a group of 9 that entered the water as the wild crew – but dispite our guides best efforts we never managed to capsize, however Julie and I did manage to fall out of the raft!!! Dispite having a slightly dull group and only an average guide and dodgy weather we still had a blast and I would go again in the morning (“,)

The knee knocking, hand shaking, nerve racking experience that really boosted the trip was a 44m bungee jump into the Nile below... Surprisingly enough an activity I previously had no intention of doing having heard stories of eye balls popping out and backs being sprained, whip lash and a list of unpleasant ailments but for some reason the allure of bungee jumping over the Nile was a opportunity I couldn’t turn my back on and oh boy am I glad I didn’t. As I was being tied into the leg straps my guide, Jack, explained that if I just jump straight out I’ll miss the water but if I dive straight down I’ll go straight into the water before the cord rebounds to pull me out again. I was clear that I wanted to just touch the water with my finger tips and so I stood up at the edge poised and ready to jump straight out and try and fly like a bird... but somehow my brain didn’t relay the instructions correctly and so I actually dove straight down like a child diving into a pool!!! My brain obviously registered what had had happened when I was at about 20m as I began screaming uncontrollable and then hit the water unexpectantly... Luckily I must have been in a good diving position as I didn’t come out with the black eye which Jack said was a risk of diving straight down if you adapt a poor position! Getting out of the raft back onto solid ground all I wanted to do was run back up and jump again... It is definitely in my top three best things I have done while in Africa, maybe even ever... I loved it loved it loved and would go again right now not to mention recommend it to everyone(“,)
We ended off our visit to Jinja with a speedy boda ride to the source of the Nile. A beautiful setting, where we got some nice pictures but not a whole lot to do unless you want to buy souvenirs from the many vendors...
And one final treasure we found in Jinja was a little cafe with a garden seating area and the best veggie burgers any of us had had in some time – a great way to end our excursion to Jinja: with good food...

Apart from this trip to Jinja our time has mainly been taken up with the inter house competition in Masoli. This had a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it where all the students were divided up into four houses the green tigers, blue zebras, yellow lions and my own team the red leopards... Points were awarded to each house based on results of sports including netball, football and volley ball but each house also had to prepare a presentation on the role of youths in the prevention of child trafficking. The Harry Potter feel was further enhanced when my team unfortunately were deducted points for playing someone who was not on the red team and another team was awarded additional points on the bases that they were the most disciplined and dedicated where other teams had failed to be. At the end of the two week long games prizes were awarded to individuals on the basis of their performance and trophies were awarded to the overall winners of each sport. The overall winning team, in this case the Green Tigers, were awarded a football strip which was to be held in trust by their house master. The games sparked a lot of rivalry between teams but by and large was all taken in good spirit, all the same I’m glad I won’t have to deal with any competition this summer in camp as emotions do run high, and where there is a winner there is also a loser!!!

I must admit the most memorable and heart warming visit we’ve had the entire time here in Africa has been to visit Denis’ family and friends in his home village just outside Masoki. I don’t believe I have ever been welcomed so warmly anywhere, we were brought in and given freshly squeezed juice and biscuits but more than that we were given a guided tour of the neighbourhood. In that we were guided around the local area and given its history but more than that we were introduced to the people of the area and given their stories. I don’t think I known people to open the doors to their hearts and share the contents so easily, with love and honesty and humour, the good times the hard times and all the times in between. It was an absolute pleasure and I sincerely hope I can return to visit them again some day soon. The funny thing was that all day people thanked us for coming to visit when it was us who were grateful not only for the refreshments and delicious food but the warmth and meaning behind every kindness they showed us.

The most recent excursion we have had was to Entebble where we had to say a sad farewell to Julie as she boarded a plane back to Dublin which will later take her home to the States. On the up side she is a lot more vocally patriotic now after having spent three months living with me – God Bless America!!! – so I’m sure she’ll be welcomed home with open arms...
Before we said our sad good byes though we spent a lovely day in the botanical gardens where Julie whipped off her top to do a spot of sun bathing, and received some questionable looks from the locals in the process. Eunice one of our newest and dearest friends here in Kamapala accompanied us for the day and kept our spirits high and our minds off Julies eminent departure with interesting stories about life in Uganda and romance and the like. We also met Denis later for dinner and more laughter and debates over the best soda’s etc...
We do miss you Julie if you are reading this...

Kampala, Uganda

Well it was back to the bus station to find our way to Kampala, but on this occasion the kind Mr Bertin came with us and needless to say we were in and out in 5 mins and didn’t pay Mzungu prises!!! We were also pleasantly surprised that we actually arrived in Kampala ahead of our estimated arrival time: wonders will never cease...
Believe it or not but the countryside of Uganda reminded me of home, green fields that seemed to go on forever, marked out by stone walls and ditches lining the road, it was a little surreal but very enjoyable.

As we were early our dear friend Denis was not yet there to pick us up but the bus conductors were genuinely really helpful and let us use their phone to call Denis and let him know we had arrived a far cry from the nightmare that was Dar Es Salamn. Denis arrived a couple of mins later and like a true gentleman helped carry our bags to the white jeep where his friend was waiting to drive us to our hostel. We had finally arrived in Uganda, Kampala and were again reunited with our good friend Denis. We were grining like Cheshire cats as we drove through Kampala and the boys pointed out the various places of interest such as McKerere University (the biggest and best university in East Africa) and the many slums... We arrived at our hostel a short time later and were gob smacked to find Denis had organised a triple room with 3 double beds, a full size mirror, wardrobes, desks and tables and lets not forget the hot showers with actual pressure just down the hall... Oh and facilities where we could get to hand washing our clothes – life was good, no life was great (”,)
We arranged with Denis to meet early the next morning to go and visit UYDEL the NGO that we were going to be working with and we couldn’t wait to get stuck into a new project – after nearly 2 weeks of being idle we were more than ready to start working...

UYDEL – Ugandian Youth Developement Link is a really well organised NGO dealing with youths between 10 and 24 who have been involved in Commercial Sex Work, child trafficking, chil labour drug and substance abuse. The organisation focuses on given these young people vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering skills, mechanic’s, capentry, engineering in order to empower them to be able to support themselves and become productive members of society, while also providing them with councilling and BCC (Behaviour Change Communication). In many cases UYDEL also resettle the kids with their families and speak to community leaders to facilitate a positive response from the community when they return rehabilitated especially in the case of CSW’s.

Kigali

Well we stayed in the St Famille hostel as recommended by Mr. Bertin. It was very basic, owned by the nuns and well felt like a convent to be honest but there was hot water so we decided to stay... To be fare it was also in a great location and it was really cheap.

Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills... It is green and hilly and gorgeous but it has a harsh history...

The centre of Kigalii is very Western, 24 hour shopping markets, cafes with Wi-Fi
modern conveniences, to be honest it didn’t even feel much like Africa but a 30 min walk down the hill and the contrast was stark. The poverty was apparent and it was really the first place where I was always conscious of where I had my bag/ valuables...

As we arrived on the Thursday of Easter weekend everything was closed from Friday to Sunday so we spent quite a bit of time just arsing around. There was a lot of time spent in Bourbon coffee eating, drinking and surfing the web. On Sunday we went to Mass in St Famille church just beside the hostel, it’s a Catholic church filled to the rafters for 3 services in a row each no less than 2 hours long. It was an interesting experience, with some familiarity and some aspects a little alien like the language, the mass baptism in the middle of mass, more singing and clapping than we would be used to but altogether quite enjoyable, or at least it didn’t feel like 2 hours 15mins...

On Monday Bertin picked us up and brought us to the main genocide museum and then a church which was the sight of a mass murder and had since been made into a memorial site. The museum was very well set up with a really informative insight into the history of the genocide: when and how it started and the true atrocities that were carried out during that time. The reality of the horror was palpable in the museum especially as a group of Rwandans’ from outside of Kigali passed through while we were there and a number of the women were visible and audible very upset by the very vivid illustrations of what they and they families had experienced during the genocide.

Some of the most horrifying facts I learned about the genocide were;
People seeking refuge in their churchs were welcomed into the church but then the church leaders invited the perpetrators of the genocide to come and find their victims. In many cases the clergy were witnessed to aid the perpetrators in beating, killing and raping those who had sought refuge.

Another form of torture was where men known to be HIV positive were specifically chosen to rape women and this is one way in which people are continuing to suffer today.

In many cases were told how the victims would be attacked and have a limb chopped off and then they would be left to suffer and then their torturer would return a few hours later and cut off another limb – this slow agonizing approach to torturing their victims was stomach turning. In fact some victims paid their killers to use a bullet, effectively paying to be killed in a more humane manner and still it was not guaranteed.

Those who refused to take part in the bloodshed were made victims and so the blood shed continued.
1million men, women and children were killed in 100 days while the rest of the world did nothing.
There were some brave souls who hide people in their houses but they were few and far between and when caught they suffered the same faiths as those they were trying to protect.

The most impressive part of my visit was to learn that there is no residual hatred between the people of Rwanda - everyone is Rwandan and that is how they are rebuilding their country. But the bloodshed has left a lot of orphans 6 of whom Bertin is supporting through school, along with his own 4 children and 1 grand child.

24hour bus trip from Dar to Kigali

Well the bus journey started out a bit rocky with us having to jump out of Mr Alpa’s taxi, grab our bags and run across the busy road in search of our bus in the hectic bus station in Dar. We found our bus paid the balance for our tickets and proceeded in trying to store our bags under the bus and get to our seats. This was where we first met the man we came to know as Chubs. Chubs appeared behind us at the bus stop informing us that we had to pay an additional 10,000 TnSh per bag that we wanted to store in the boot of the bus... we tried to argue but given the time and our tired state we paid him 25,000TnSh for the three bags and went to get on the bus. We were shown to three seats down the back of the bus, 2 beside each other in the back row and 1 just in front. We settled ourselves in and I was glad to find that everyone seemed to have their own seat, there were no baskets of fruit being passed back and there was no livestock on board so my fears of a 24hr dala ride were alleviated, thankfully...

Our frustration at having had to pay more for our bags were further confounded when we looked at our tickets and saw that we had been charged more than what it said on our receipt – the life of a Mzungu in Africa – people see money signs rather than people... In their defence though a fully qualified teacher here gets paid less than $80/ €50 a month which is what we would spend on average night out at home!
We stopped every 2-3 hours for toilette/ smoke breaks along the journey but we only got out at every other stop. Mostly we dozed or looked out at the changing scenery of Tanzania and tried to ignore Chubs who had made up a make shift bed in the isle of the bus right by us and spent many hours fondling his girlfriend who happened to be sitting beside Julie...

The journey that was supposed to last 24 hours turned into 36 not alone due to the 6hour stay in one bus park due to regulations which prohibit bus drivers to drive between the hours of 11.10 pm and 5.30 am... But despite the discrepancy in the timing and the additional charges the journey was pretty smooth and unexpectedly easy... We also met a number of interesting characters along the way including;
The engineering student from Brundi who was travelling home for the Easter holidays
The business man from the Congo who though Ireland was a great country because there is no war, people have security and a good standard of living basically all the things we take for granted...

And finally the Rwandian professor – our knight in shining armour. We starting talking on the boarder as we crossed over to Rwanda and he gave us the name of a good hostel in Kigali, directed us to the best person to change our money with and explained what the customs officers were doing checking all the bags. He even made arrangements with another passenger to make sure the taxi driver didn’t over charge us to get to the hostel as he was getting out at an earlier stop. He even gave us his contact details and told us to call him if we had any problems, in fact as he was on annual leave he offered to take us to the Genocide museums.

I just wante to let ye know I arivd in Kampala and Denis met us at the
bus station. The hostel is really nice there are three of us in one
room but its really big and we all have like double beds, plus there
is hot water and we were able to get a load of washing done today - mam
would be proud of my new found hand washing skills....

We visited the offices of our new project this morning and it seems
really well organised and really interesting.
Its for youths between 10 and 24 who are from disadvantaged
backgrounds, or are infected or have been affected by HIV/AIDS, also
child soldiers and those involved in the sex industry or have been
abucted/trafficed and then used as sex slaves or in child labour.
The only thing is that they might not peak much english but I'm really
excited about the whole project.
Kampala seems nice a middle ground between Moshi and Kigali which is
nice, and I will get to cook our own meal for the first time since I
left home tonight - I am actually really looking forward to it...
OK time is just abot up so I have to run but will try and update everyone again soon...

Over night Ferry from Zanzibar to Dar

As it came time for us to move on from our air conditioned room in the White Sands Hotel and head for an overnight ferry to Dar Es Salamn, we knew we leaving luxury behind and heading for the unknown. We of course went for the cheap tickets on the ferry – seats but no mattresses... We were pleasantly surprised when we were shown to our deck though, it was air conditioned with a television and reasonable leg room however it soon became clear that the matreses were worth the extra €5... The ferry left the dock at 9.30 – 10am and arrived in Dar at 6am so it was a relatively long night moving between chairs to the bare floor to try and ascertain some form of comfort and at least a little sleep... On arrival at Dar it lived up to its name of being busy, with lots of venders trying to sell you everything from biscuits to taxi’s, but we were lucky in finding Mr. Alpha who would be our guide and taxi driver to the city for the 24 hours that we would stay there. We went to check into the YMCA at about 7am and waited around the cafeteria till 11.30 when our room was finally ready. As I was all stuffed up and basically feeling miserable I slept for about 20 of the 2 hours we spent in the Dar. The girls went to check out buses to Kigali while I slept in the room and when they returned they had already bought the bus tickets for the next morning at 6am and had no desire to spend any longer in Dar than was absolutely necessary. Our evening did improve however as we discovered the Holiday Inn across from the YMCA which was like a little slice of heaven... A completely modern, air conditioned hotel with actual menu’s and fancy dinning room – it was like we had stepped through a vortex into a parallel universe where all the best in Western cuisine had found its way to Tanzania. I had the best tomato and pesto pasta of my life, as well as a cold coca cola and a huge chocolate brownie with ice-cream for dessert. It was pure indulgence and it was wonderful.

The next morning Mr. Alpha picked us up at 5.15am to take us to the bus stop for the next le of our journey...

Zanzibar

Well we decided to splash out on one last flight before we resigned to our faith of spending literally days travelling by bus... But true to form Julie and I along with our other travel buddies almost missed our flight... We were sitting in the lounge sipping our coffee with the screen saying our flight wasn’t due to take off for another half hour when a flight attendant came running up the stairs asking where we were going. We calmly told her Zanzibar and that’s when we realised they had been calling our names over the inter com for about 20 Min's and the plane was just about to start off down the run way... Oops

The flight was delightful – a 40min journey where we got free drinks and cashew nuts – Precision Air all the way.

On arrival in Zanzibar the heat hit us as we got off the plane and we could understand why the locals always shivered when we said we had come from Moshi...
Zanzibar is an island apart – completely different to mainland Tanzania in architecture, rhythm, language and people but it is stunning. We spent a few days in Stone Town and went on a spice tour on the first day and got to taste all their local fruits and spices directly off the tree’s or from the ground – like ginger, cloves, banana’s, grapefruits and much more... We also got to sample some of their home grown coffee beans and curry powders... I also got to taste Zanzibar pizza in the gardens in Stone Town which offered an array of food stalls from fish fresh out of the water and crepe’s with nutella and banana fillings – really cheap and unexpectedly cheap...

Following stone Town we moved North to Kwenda for a few days on the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar. These were easily the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen with the warm water of the Indian oceans lapping up on their shores. Although it was very beautiful and relaxing I did get itchy feet after a day on the beach and went in search of something a little bit more adventurous than sun bathing and found a number of dive centers on the coast... After speaking to a few of the guy’s I settled with the Spanish Dancers to do my 3-4 day open water diving course. Although I’ve never been scared of the water I did find myself unprepared for the experience of breathing under water. I got a bit panicked on the first day with completing some of the really basic skills but once I got out in the open water on the 2nd day and could see the underwater life in all its glory I quickly forgot any concerns I had... day 2 wa therefore far more successful and on day 3 I got to go to Nwemba Island about an hour off the west coast of Zanzibar where I was literally swimming in waters surrounded by hundreds of different types of fish. The one that sticks out in my mind the most was a trigger fish about the size of a football and in no way afraid of us... The final day I sat my exams but as I woke up with a head cold I was not in a position to do any deep dives, as I couldn’t equalise effectively and found myself in a lot of discomfort at only 3metres! My instructor Allan, from the States, was very pleased with me though by the end especially considering my dodgy start... So I’m now fully qualified and can’t wait to go on a dive just for fun without having to complete any tasks like removing my equipment under water and then putting it back on again, taking off my mask and then replacing it and expelling all the water from it etc etc etc... So if anyone is planning any diving trip in the near future let me know what the deal is...