Easter

Well, we had a nice Easter at Canada House in Mbarara. Ugandans definitely celebrate Easter – they do church-related and family things – but I don’t think they hide chocolates. The Ugandan staff had the holiday off, so Bern, Nancy, David and I had a nice relaxing weekend. David hid some chocolates for us to find, which was fun, and we played lots of Monopoly and Wizard. Nancy is also trying to teach me Hearts, but I have to say, I’m quite dreadful at it… Still, all in all, not a bad Easter.

Besides Easter, I’ve been helping Nancy out with her scholarship stuff, as usual. We went to check out a welding school in Mbarara that one of her students will be attending, and another day, we went out into the rural areas to buy a plot of land for a family. That was quite fun. It seemed like the whole village had come to witness the proceedings, all of them gathered in clusters on the field we wanted to buy. It rained a lot that day, and the Ugandans thought I was crazy for liking the rain. But my favourite activity this week was teaching the kids at Nyakyera Primary school how to play baseball with donated sports equipment. I was quite impressed with how well the kids threw and caught the ball for their first time. There weren’t many strikeouts either. After taking lots of pictures of the kids, Nancy insisted that the teachers should have a go, and so the head teacher (the principal) and all the others joined in. Then we presented prizes to the winning team – different coloured baseball caps from Canada. It was a good last day at camp. Oh – and I learned something interesting about Ugandan women – they never discuss pregnancies – it’s like a taboo. There is one very pregnant and very lovely lady at camp, and no one ever talks about the baby that’s on the way. They think it brings bad luck.

We left camp early this morning, and it has been a crazy day of packing cases and totes for the trip home to Canada. We’re taking the long drive to Kampala tomorrow, and I’ll probably visit the craft markets there. After that, we’re meeting Melanie and Michelle, both back from their holidays (Matt is going to be delayed, so I won’t see him before I leave, unfortunately. His mother came to visit him, and they’re exploring Tanzania together, I think). Bern, Nancy and I will be flying out on the 15^th and, if we make our connection in London (it’s very tight, we’ll have to run), we’ll technically be back in Canada late that day because of the time difference – weird.

            So, that’s about it, I’m afraid. I only have a few days left in Uganda. It’s been a good trip, and I’ve learned a lot about International Development – things I wouldn’t have understood without actually being out here – the corruption, the customs, the community-minded-ness, the way Ugandans think (although I’m sure I’ve only just scratched the surface of this). Our team has been awesome and, having heard about ACTS’ work growing up, it’s been nice to actually be a part of it for a short while. 

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll get in another blog entry, so if this is the last one, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back in Canada.

Lake Bunyonyi

This week has been good, although it’s been a bit weird without Matt, Melanie and Michelle, who have all gone their separate ways for the holiday. As for me, I’ve been hanging out mostly with Nancy and doing whatever needs doing (which is mostly typing – the one skill Ugandans lack). Last Friday, Nancy and I visited a hospital near Canada House in Mbarara (where I’m staying this week). First, we went to the maternity ward, which was dim because of a power outage (they are very common here), and passed out little toques that some kind people in Canada gave us to hand out. One of the women we visited had just given birth to twins, but, if we understood the matron correctly, one was in the emergency room because he had been born with his intestines outside of his body. They didn’t expect him to make it, which was sad.

Next we went to the children’s ward to pass out knitted bears and dolls, again given to us by people from home. Most of the kids had leg problems, and many had castes on one or both legs. When we arrived, the kids and their parents were all huddled around a TV watching King Kong. They we squealing and cheering and carrying on, though littlies in the front were watching silently with wide eyes. Nancy explained to me that most of them came from villages far away, and so they had likely never seen a television before. Although they were fascinated by the movie, they did agree to pause it so that we could hand them their toys.

I spent most of the rest of the week with Nancy, Bern and David on Bushara Island, in the middle of lake Bunyonyi. It’s about a three-hour drive south of Mbarara. David told me that the landscape near Bunyonyi is much the same as Rwanda (which makes sense, because it’s so close) – extremely hilly and green (Rwanda is known for its a thousand hills). Bunyonyi was beautiful. River rafting was my favourite activity in Uganda, but Bunyonyi was my favourite place to visit. When we arrived at the lake, we took a little motorboat to Bushara island, where David was greeted like a long lost relative. Many years ago, ACTS was involved in starting Bushara Island’s one and only hotel/campsite, and, together with the church nearby, ACTS still plays a role in its management.

The island was beautiful and peaceful, with wildflowers, a crystal clear lake, and a variety of birds that I had never seen before – yellow weaver birds (which look like finches), bee eating birds, speckled mousebirds (which eat mice – an incredible feat for such a small bird – I’d have thought the one I saw would difficulty flying with a mouse in its tummy), turquoise headed sunbirds, kingfishers, and blue flycatching birds with white, fan-like tails. We all had fun trying to spot the most birds. Nancy, Bern and I also took a dugout canoe out for a paddle on the lake when it was sunniest. I insisted that we check out Punishment Island, which was a pitiful little reed-filled pin-prick in the middle of the lake. I had heard from someone that, many years before, people used to chuck unmarried, pregnant women on the island, leaving them to die or get picked up by old men who didn’t want to pay the bride price. Some of them allegedly drowned trying to get away (most women didn’t know how to swim back then… well, actually, most women in the lake area still don’t know how to swim. It’s only in the last little bit that bazungu (plural of muzungu, white people) have been teaching the lake kids how to swim so they don’t drown on their way to school. But swimming, as I understand it, is still frowned upon for girls). 

Anyway, after I had heard about this island, I decided that I would swim back from it to prove I could have escaped. So I jumped out of the boat before Nancy and Bern could react and started swimming for Bushara. They paddled along behind me in case I got tired. I didn’t. It took me a little less than half an hour – a nice swim. It was only after I got back from the island that David told me that none of the women on Punishment Island had ever actually died. Their lovers almost always came to rescue them in dugout canoes after dark. One guy told me that missionaries who tried to rescue women on the island were often insulted for trying to interfere – the women waiting there would say something like “go away – I’m waiting for somebody else to rescue me.” I thought that was funny.

Now I’m back at Canada House in Mbarara. David and Bern left early this morning for a meeting in Tanzania, and I stayed with Nancy to help her with her scholarship stuff. Today we went out to check the progress on construction at Murago School, and to buy some land for a family Nancy knows. Other than that, there’s not much to tell, so, until next week!