We're still alive!

Hello everyone! It has been brought to my attention that our avid readers have been disappointed in our lack of blog posts lately. Deepest apologies. We have just been having too much fun to spend very much time at the internet cafe! Or, the computers are hopelessly slow, but mostly the first reason. ;-) We are currently in Namibia, and we are leaving this morning on a week long camping trip throughout the country. When we get back, I will do my best to catch up on all the blogging. So, you have blogs from the islands in Lake Malawi, Victoria Falls, and Namibia to look forward to! Please check back in a week or two.
Until then!

Chizumulu Island and Likoma Island, Lake Malawi

I realize that I have fallen quite far behind on my blog postings! We did not have internet access while on the islands and since then we have been on the move. My apologies.
We spent a glorious week and a half on two islands in Lake Malawi. They are both part of Malawi; however they are much closer to Mozambique. They are both rather remote, and very beautiful.

We took the Ilala Ferry out to Chizumulu Island from Nkhata Bay on the mainland. The ferry left port around 8pm. We rode on the top deck, which was 'first class' seating. Seating is the wrong word for it, however, as there were only about 5 plastic chairs spotted around the deck. So, like most people, we rented a couple mattresses and laid them out on the deck and attempted to sleep. There were a lot of other backpackers on the ferry, as well as the owner of the place we were heading to on Chizumulu Island. So, it made for a fun experience, and it was nice to have someone to tell us exactly where to go when the ferry pulled in to the island at around 1am. The ferry is not able to pull in to the port, so they lower a lifeboat down to take people in to shore. It was pretty chaotic. You have to go through second class, where people are crammed in with cargo, chickens, etc. It’s very crowded below deck. So after wading through all the mess downstairs, we made our way to a boat. Luckily, Nick (the owner), was able to have his little motor boat come meet us, and we all piled in.

We ended up staying on Chizumulu for about 4 days at a great place called Wakwenda Retreat. It was dirt cheap- about $12 a night for a hut right on the beach. It was also beautifully landscaped with a lot of natural stonework. We spent our days exploring the island and just relaxing. We swam, snorkeled, hiked, read books, and met some of the local people. It became an adventure, trying to find the one lady on the island who we heard sold bread. Or looking for a shop that sold snacks or candles. We also ate at a local restaurant a couple times run by a nice old lady named Agnes, where we had nsima and veggies. The island’s 2 generators were broken, so we were without electricity the whole time we were there. But, that meant we had dinner by candlelight every night, which was neat! One of my favorite parts about Wakwenda was the dinners- they were served communal style, so it gave you a chance to meet other guests and chat. We met a lot of interesting people and had a really nice time there.

Wakwenda Retreat on Chizumulu.

After our 4 days there, we decided to take a dhow (a traditional sail boat) over to Likoma Island. Likoma Island was a bit bigger, and we thought it would be fun to explore. The dhow ride was about an hour and a half and was an experience in itself. They let us off at a beach in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. We asked around and got pointed in the right direction to our hotel- Mango Drift. It turns out that Mango Drift was about 3 km away over hilly foot paths in the hot sun with heavy backpacks. I was VERY relieved when we finally made it. As it turns out, Mango Drift was another awesome, inexpensive place. Again, we were right on the beach. The managers and workers there were all helpful and friendly. We knew right away we would like it a lot.

The beach in front of Mango Drift around sunset.
Our hut on the beach at Mango Drift.

That first afternoon, we decided to try to walk into the main town on the island and check out the market. It turns out that it was another long walk, but we had a fun encounter which shortened it a little. After we got to a main road, we were walking along and heard a car (rare for either of the islands). The local ambulance pulled up next to us and told us to get in! The driver, Edward, was very nice and told us where things were in town. I peeked in the back, and luckily there were no ill passengers back there wondering why the driver had stopped to pick up hitchers. In fact, there was NOTHING back there- the ambulance didn't have any medical supplies in it, which is curious. But that’s the way things are around here.

The next day, we made the hike back into town to attend the Easter service at the famous cathedral on the island. It was an old Anglican church, and very beautiful. It was an amazing feat to build such a magnificent building on a remote island in the early 20th century. A Bishop (presumably English) presided over the service. The church was packed to overflowing. Curiously, men and women were segregated to different sides of the church, so Andrej and I were unable to sit together. The women's side also had most of the children, so it was really full and many women were sitting on the floor. They had made an attempt at decorating the church for Easter. The decorations included blue, white, and pink toilet paper strewn about from the ceiling, as well as red balloons that I can only assume were from Valentine's Day which said 'I Love You.' It seemed almost a bit disjointed when compared the grandness of the church. Anyways, the service itself was another long one- about 3.5 hours. There was no organ or any other musical instrument, but they had a nice choir. This service was also quite formal. After the service, we went out for a spaghetti lunch at a little place on the water called 'The Hunger Clinic.'

We spent the whole next week enjoying island life. I read a few books, we went for a few hikes, walked into town to stock up on food, enjoyed more great communal dinners, and swam in the lake. All in all, it was a very relaxing week. We had heard that the people living on Likoma Island are some of the friendliest people in Malawi. Unlike other places in Africa, they have also not taken to hassling tourists. This all makes for a very safe and pleasant environment. When we would walk around the island, many people would stop and chat with you, the most popular question being ‘Where are you going?’ I had some women tell me about the food they were cooking, and had some young girls show me how to get where I was going.

The view of Likoma Island while on a hike around the island.

The characteristic baobab trees that are all over the islands.

We had decided that we would rather fly than take the ferry off the island, and we heard you could get cheap stand-by flights back to Lilongwe. So we ended up playing the waiting game and staying a bit longer on Likoma than we intended (I’m not complaining!). Because we had a full week there, with not much to do but relax and enjoy the weather, Andrej decided to occupy himself by getting SCUBA certified. The cool, young managers at our hotel were both SCUBA instructors, and he got a one-on-one private SCUBA instruction over the course of 3 days. He seemed to really enjoy it.

Andrej on the boat ready to go on a dive.

Andrej and his instructor, Josh, about to dive in.

On Saturday, we heard that the president of Malawi was flying in for a campaign stop. This was our second encounter with him. What this meant was a lot of confusion over the ferry, and there was speculation that it wouldn’t run for the public because they would only allow government people on- essentially they were going to charter the ferry. So, Andrej and I decided to really make an effort to get on a flight, because we thought we might get stuck there for quite a while. As it turned out, due to the rally, there were many flights that day. Later that morning, our hotel manager got us confirmed on an afternoon flight. We were taking by a small boat over to the airport, found our plane, and waited under the wing until our pilot showed up. We had a nice little 8 seater plane, and enjoyed the flight over Lake Malawi back into Lilongwe.

Likoma Island from the sky. Andrej SCUBA dove out to that little island.

Andrej in front of our plane we took off the island.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Malawi. The people were friendly, and it had a very relaxing atmosphere. However, we decided that it would be time to move on the next morning to head towards Victoria Falls. You can read all about that in my next post!

Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi

After our week stint in Rwanda, Andrej and I hopped a 4am flight to Lilongwe, Malawi. We had a short layover in Nairobi, and the flights went well. Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi. We found a place to stay in town and spent the day resting and stocking up on supplies. We were hoping to head out to some national parks, so we bought a lot of food to take with us.

The next day, we took a bus to a town called Mzuzu, which is the nearest large town to two national parks- Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve and Nyika Plateau National Park. Without your own transport, getting to Nyika would have been very difficult and expensive. So, we opted to just go to Vwaza. We got to Mzuzu in the evening and spent just one night there before taking a minibus to a town called Rumphi. (I love the town names around here!). From Rumphi, the only we that we could find to get to the park was by matola, which is a pick-up truck. The road to the park was unpaved, and its the rainy season here. Which means, the road to the park is all mud, so you need a big, high clearance vehicle to get there. As usual, they packed as much people and luggage as possible into the bed of the truck, and off we went. It was a very uncomfortable and sometimes painful ride, but after about 2 hours, they dropped us at the park entrance.

Vwaza has some great nature and wildlife. As with most game parks in Africa, you are not allowed to go about the park unless you are with an armed guard or in a vehicle. So, we were ushered to our hut where we would spend the night, and were told to stay there unless we were going on a guided walk. Fine with us! The hut was grass thatched and clean with a small porch overlooking the lake where you would see hippos and sometimes elephants. One interesting thing though is that when we stayed in Kruger Park in South Africa, the camp was fenced off so the animals couldn't get in (except for some monkeys, impala, and warthogs). But, our hut area was NOT fenced in- this made for a little excitement later on...

Andrej outside our hut.

That afternoon, we decided to go for a guided walk through the park. A park ranger was our guide, and he had a rifle with, which would be used to scare the animals if need be (they do not go around shooting them unless absolutely necessary). It was a little rainy that afternoon, so we didn't see too much. Shortly after we left our camp, we saw some impala on the path and they started to run. They were followed by a group of about 10 elephants! That was fun to see a parade of elephants go past. Later on the walk, we also spotted some hippos lazily floating in the lake. That evening, we made a delicious Indian meal over a fire and went to bed early.

On our guided walk with the park ranger.

A 'sausage fruit' tree. The hippos like to eat these.

I had a little trouble falling asleep as I could hear some animal noises outside, but I did fall asleep eventually. However, at 11:30 I was awoken by more animal noises. I spent a while trying to figure out what was out there. Whatever it was was very close to the hut. I heard grass around the hut being ripped out and chomped on in very large quantities. It had to be elephants. Nothing else can rip out that much grass at a time. And it wasn't just one elephant, there were many elephants. I admit, I was scared. I woke up Andrej, who was not at all concerned that a hoard of elephants were surrounding our hut. He wanted to go back to sleep. But eventually, curiosity got the best of me, and I decided we should peek out the holes in the thatch and see if we could see any of them in the dark. After letting our eyes adjust, we definitely saw them. They were all around the outside of our hut, eating grass, tusks glinting in the moonlight. We tried to take pictures, but of course they didn't turn out in the pitch black darkness. After about a half hour, the elephants moved on.

The next morning, I went outside our hut to look at the grass. It was all trampled and half eaten in many parts. Later that morning, as I was getting ready for breakfast, I heard some screeching nearby, which sounded like some sort of massive cat fight. I looked over to the next hut, and saw a lot of very large baboons running around and having fun. They were pretty riled up, and luckily didn't come over to our hut. Later in the morning, we went over that way to watch some hippos in the lake, and to our delight, we got to see elephants going for a swim! We saw two different groups of elephants swim a short distance across the lake, trunks sticking out of the water for air. It was quite a sight! Who knew something that big and heavy could swim?

Elephants entering the water to swim across the marsh.

That afternoon, we walked a little outside the park and went on another guided walk in the park. It was a sunny day, and more of the animals were out and about. This is good and bad. It is one thing to see an elephant in National Geographic, or on TV, or even from a safari truck. Its a totally different thing to see a group of elephants very nearby when you are on foot. I have read and heard about how dangerous elephants can be if you irritate them. I didn't want to find out first hand. During our walk, we saw a large group of elephants at the lake, drinking and bathing. One of the larger ones stuck its trunk in the air and waved it around. Their eyesight is poor, but apparently their other senses are excellent. They use their trunk to sense things, and they sensed us. The elephant gave a low rumble (some sort of communication to the others) followed by a warning screech. That's when we took off. Our guide led us quickly through the brush and back to the main path. We had other similar close encounters with buffalo and more elephants on that walk, and it made me realize that I was grateful for their rule of no unguided walks in the park!

The group of elephants that we spotted at the lake during our walk.

We spent one more uneventful night in the park. If there were elephants eating outside our hut, they didn't wake me up this time! The next morning we took another uncomfortable pick-up ride back to Rumphi, and another minibus back to Mzuzu. When we got in to Mzuzu, we learned that the president was in town. Malawi is holding their elections in May, and he is running for reelection. This was his opening campaign stop, and people were coming from all over to hear him speak. Everybody was quite happy and excited- I didn't see any protesters. I was walking to the supermarket that afternoon, and I heard sirens. Everyone came running into the street, and we all watched and waved as the presidential convoy went by.

This morning, we took another minibus out to Nhkata Bay, which is a town on Lake Malawi. From here, we are planning to take a ferry out to visit a couple of the islands on the lake. It sounds very beautiful, and I will hopefully take a lot of pictures to show you all!

I will also be posting pictures from the park, but I am not on a fast connection now, so you may all have to wait a while for that. In the mean time, feel free to check my updated flickr site with some more photos from Tanzania and Uganda! www.flickr.com/photos/piratejill .

Rwanda

Bonjour! Andrej and I are currently spending our last day in Rwanda. We have enjoyed one week here, and it has been a good experience.

Not too long ago, Rwanda wasn't a place anyone would want to visit. There was a lot of political and ethnic strife, which culminated in the 1994 genocide. However, the Rwanda of today seems to be moving forward and has turned out to be a nice place to visit. It also has a lot to teach.

I am intending to share what I have learned in this blog. Some of this might be unpleasant. If you would rather not hear about the atrocities of the genocide, please stop reading.

We arrived by bus from Uganda. The bus ride was about 10 hours, but was fairly uneventful for once. The border crossing was slow, but again, no problems. We arrived in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Rwanda is the 'land of 1,000 hills,' and like Minnesota being the land of 10,000 lakes, its very true to its name. The city of Kigali is sprawled across rolling hills. The city itself is one of the nicest African cities we have been to so far. Granted, we have not seen terribly much of the city, but what we have seen of downtown is very nice. First of all, its much easier being a pedestrian here. In other African cities, pedestrians do NOT have the right away. There are usually no crosswalks, and traffic lights where pedestrians can cross are few and far between. However, they have crosswalks here. And to our delight, they will sometimes even yield to pedestrians! They even have the occasional walk signal. Its been a relief after fearing for our lives crossing other streets in places like Kampala, Arusha, and Dar Es Salaam. They also have a number of well maintained sidewalks, which can be hard to find around here. Otherwise, the city has a number of nice buildings and stores, and well stocked supermarkets. Public transport between other cities in Rwanda also tends to be much nicer than elsewhere, and fairly inexpensive.

Anyways, our first priority in Rwanda was to learn. We wanted to learn more about the genocide and its effects. So, on our first full day in town, we went to the Kigali Memorial Center. We were greeted by a staff member who first took us through a walk in the gardens before going in to view the museum part of the center. The gardens were large and meticulously maintained with beautiful landscaping. There were all kinds of flowers, some fountains, and statues. Inside the gardens, there are over 250,000 people buried in about 15 mass graves. Each of the mass graves is rather deep, and contains a number of coffins filled with bones of victims. Many of the graves had wreathes and flowers laid on them. Near one of the fountains were elephant statues. The staff member told us they were chosen because elephants never forget, and the genocide should never be forgotten. This was a sobering experience. In a country as small as Rwanda, with a total population of about 10 million, its very hard to wrap your mind around the fact that 1 million Rwandan people were killed in the genocide.
A couple of the mass graves in the gardens.

After touring the gardens, we were taken to the museum building. Downstairs is all about the Rwandan genocide. You can find much of what I learned at their website here: http://www.kigalimemorialcentre.org/old/index-2.html. I will try to give a summary of some of what I learned about the background of it and what happened. I will try to be as accurate as my memory recalls.

The genocide was a result of a conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. Back in the beginning of the 20th century, Rwanda was colonized by the Belgians. The Belgians decided in the 1930s that they needed to classify the people in Rwanda and form a ruling class of the native people. The native Rwandans had some of their own classifications, but they were socio-economic classifications, which could change in ones lifetime. The people spoke a common language and had a common culture. 2 categories in the socio-economic classifications included Hutu and Tutsi. The Belgians decided to use that in their classification system, and they said that anyone who owned more than 10 cows would be a Tutsi, and anyone with less than 10 cows was a Hutu. And you were that for life, as were your descendants. Seems a bit arbitrary, no? The Tutsis only comprised about 10 percent of the population, and they became the ruling class as dictated by the Belgians.

When you have an almost exclusive minority rule and privilege, that will lead to problems. When the Belgians pulled out in the 60s, the Tutsi minority was overthrown by the Hutu majority in terms of power. The Hutus has some resentment towards the previously favored Tutsis, and the Tutsis were likely none to happy to have their privilege revoked. Conflict was brewing.

Fast forward to 1994. The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were shot down in a plane and died. From then, the planned genocide of the Tutsis occurred. The Hutu military had death lists of Tutsis. If you were on it, they went to your house and killed you. They set up road blocks in the city so no one could leave. If you were stopped, and you were Tutsi, they killed you. If you were Hutu, but known to be friends with or married to or otherwise associated with Tutsis, they killed you. Media propaganda for the extermination of the Tutsis was prominent and effective. There was no discrimination between killing men, women, or children, innocent or not. In the first days of the genocide, 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers were killed, and the small amount of international troops that were in Rwanda, left. The international community seemed to turn a blind eye to Rwanda and left them to work it out alone. A Belgian colonel had even asked for assistance from the UN months before. No action was ever taken, something which the UN leaders came to regret.

In the end, about 85% of the Tutsi population was killed.

Also downstairs, there were personal exhibits. One room housed family photos of the victims. It really put a personal feeling and a face to the genocide. Looking at those pictures, I realized that they reflected things in people that I know and their photos looked very similar to photos in my own family albums. There were pictures of children standing outside of their school with their buddies. A man on his new motorcycle, cigarette in mouth. A woman in her new dress. Multi-generational photos outside the grandpa's home. A young boy near a banana tree. A couple on their wedding day, cutting the cake. There were lots of photos like that. Of regular, everyday people, murdered because one of their ancestors had 10 cows 60 years ago. And these photos were mostly in color. Not black and white relics of something long ago, that could have only happened long ago.

Another exhibit was of clothing taken from some of the mass graves around the city. Not the mass graves in the garden. The mass graves where people were left after they were mass murdered. The clothes were like anything you might buy in the store around here today. Bright clothes for the wrap around skirts the women wear. Men's t-shirts and pants. A torn sweater of a young boy, with a Superman bed sheet next to it.

Another room was another grave site. Only this one was viewable- behind glass cases were piles and piles of bones. A number of the skulls had obvious fractures. The machete was a weapon of choice, and it seemed that many died by a machete to the head.

Upstairs were two exhibits. One was a children's exhibit. Here again, there were many small snapshots of children who were murdered. There were also large blown up photos of a number of kids, as well as some personal facts about each one. Age, favorite food, best friend, hobby, favorite toy. And, how they died. This had to be the worst part of the genocide. The exhibit had young kids, but also babies. One who was featured was 9 months old. Not old enough to have a favorite hobby or a best friend. Certainly not old enough to be a threat to anyone. I believe that particular child's cause of death was being thrown against a wall. The other frequent causes of death of the children were machetes and bludgeoning. I still can't imagine how so many people were committing these acts and thought it was OK. I thought of those kids, and how many of them would be about my brothers ages. Making their way through high school.

The last exhibit was on genocides throughout history. For example, in Germany, Namibia, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and Armenia. It was another thing that made me wonder how in the world this can keep happening, over and over all throughout the world.

We left the museum having learned a lot about the past of Rwanda. I really don't know how the people who went through this and witnessed all of it can move on. But they do. Occasionally you see reminders of the past- people without limbs, people with large scars, etc. But otherwise, life has gone on here, and people seem to be looking toward the future and living quite peacefully. I guess when your past is that bad, there isn't anything else you can do.

The next day, we headed out to a smaller town called Butare. Its about 2 hours from the capital, and a nice college town. It was graduation weekend while we were there, and we saw many proud graduates in their robes celebrating with their friends and family. There is a national museum in Butare, and we spent an afternoon there looking at the exhibits on Rwandan culture. It was a beautiful, well done museum. This town seemed to have a rhythm of its own- opening late on the weekend, seemingly whenever they felt like opening. We found some nice restaurants in town and soaked up the culture.

One morning, Andrej went out to a genocide memorial in Gikongoro. During the genocide, many of the people sought refuge in churches, schools, and the rural hills. Usually the refuge was temporary, and they were mass murdered. This memorial, as like many all over the country, was the site of on the these places. It was a former technical college. They buried many people in a mass grave outside the college, but they also preserved many of the bodies with lime powder (for the sake of preservation for the memorial) and left them as they were in the classrooms. Andrej said many of them were children. He was shown around by a man who was a survivor. He had a big hole in his forehead where he had taken a bullet. That man was one of 4 who survived. Out of 50,000.

We spent one last day on a little lighter note. We attempted to go out to a national park where we could take some nice hikes and see a lot of monkeys. Unfortunately, our minibus we took out their broke down and we got there much later than we had hoped. When we arrived, the rangers told us the price had gone up considerably from what our guidebook had said. He also said that public transport home was sparse. So, we decided to just have a picnic, and turn around and try to get the 2 hours home. In Africa, you can stand at the side of any road and try to hail a bus or minibus. So this is what we tried to do. But we waited 15 minutes, and no cars came in our direction. We were about to give up hope when a full bus sped by, but stopped a bit down the road. Two passengers got off, and we were able to take their spots! We felt very lucky. Riding back, I noticed a lot of military personal along the road. That's when I realized that we were not far from the DRC, and that this was the road leading between the 2 countries. And a huge forest would be a great place for guerrillas to hide. I felt a little better when I thought back later to the military man who was standing outside the park entrance gate watching us try to hitch a ride, and how he smiled at us when we managed to get one. He didn't seem too concerned!
A view of the forest from our picnic table.

We made our way back to Kigali the next day. We have been doing a lot of planning for our future travels, and we decided it was once again time to get moving. Tomorrow, bright and early, we fly out to Malawi. Until next time from Malawi, take care everyone!

Jill

A map of our travels

I have been working on putting together a map of where we have traveled. It has taken me a while, and I am sorry I haven't gotten it up sooner. So, for those of you who are wondering where exactly in the world we are, this should help. You may need to click on the link to see the whole thing. Also, I have once again added some photos to some old posts that didn't get them the first time around. Enjoy!


View Larger Map

Mityana, Uganda

Andrej and I spent 5 days in Mityana, Uganda. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of our whole trip so far. I will do my best to tell you all about it, but I am afraid that my words won't do it justice.

A little background: As I mentioned before, I had met a man named Patrick at a Rotaract meeting last winter in Minneapolis. Patrick is a Ugandan Rotarian, Pastor, school director, and parent. He talked a little bit about the schools he runs in Uganda, and I thought that it would be fun to visit his schools if we went through his area. It turns out worked out for us, and that is what brought us to Mityana. We were strangers outside of our brief meeting in Minneapolis, but that didn't seem to matter much once we arrived.

I will do my best to describe the situation around the schools and the churches. I apologize if I get any information wrong, but I will do my best with the swell of information I received over the past week. At the center of everything is Patrick and his wife Eva. Patrick is a generous and friendly man with an easy smile. Eva is a confident, warm, and outgoing woman. They both have theological training and work as pastors (or other duties within the church) in Mityana. Soon after their marriage, they were called to be pastors in a new church in this small town. Their main church began quite small, but has grown considerably over the years. Somewhere around a decade ago, some of the church members began to die of AIDS. Unfortunately, this began to leave a number of children as orphans. Patrick and Eva were approached by these members of the congregation who were worried about the futures of their children, and they were charged with finding a way to take care of them. Between family members and the church, the children were looked after. However, education here is not free, and these children were often turned away from schools because they were unable to pay their own school fees. So, Eva decided they needed to start a school to help these children. The school started in the garage with Eva as the teacher. Word got out that these children were getting taken care of and we learning and succeeding. Soon, there were many more who wanted to be a part of it.

To make a long story shorter, they have, I believe, 4 schools now- 3 primary and 1 secondary school. And these schools are growing fast. They have around 1000 students total now. The students come from the local community. The students who have parents or relatives to stay with commute from home. However, they were recently able to build a dormitory, and now I think there are over 100 students who board at the school.

The mission of the school, outside of providing a quality Christian based education, also includes feeding the kids. They are fed porridge for lunch every day, which is made in a huge cauldron over an open fire.
The school cafeteria.

Once a week, they also get beans or eggs to supplement their diet with some protein. If need be, some students also take breakfast and dinner at the school. For those students, the school can become their home. Also, they seem to be involved in the health care of the students. Students with HIV/AIDS are taken once a month to a British hospital in the capital for treatment. So far, it has been quite beneficial.

Now that you have the background, I will tell you a little about the experience:

In our communication before our arrival, we tried to decide when it would be best to visit. Patrick told us that another group from the U.S. would be coming to help build a classroom block at one of his schools on March 18th. It seemed like a fun project, and we thought it would make things easier for him if we joined in with the group, so we decided to tag along. We ended up with some wonderful comrades for the week. Andy and Arik (father and son) are from Colorado. Their friend, Chris, from D.C., was with them. These 3 people are some of the most generous and genuinely kind people I have ever met. Just being around them was very uplifting and inspiring. Also joining us on occasion was Brian, a volunteer from California. He is interested in starting his own NGO for missionaries in war torn countries, such as Sudan. Right now, he is in Mityana helping Patrick out.

The first day we were in Mityana, Patrick took us to the schools at Mizigo- a primary school and secondary school. Their main church is also on that campus. Patrick seems to make a point to greet all the children in a way that makes them feel loved and special. It was after school, but we got to see some kids practicing drumming and dancing for a school competition- they were really good! We also got to take a tour of the new dorm, which looks great. The kids there have nice toilet and shower facilities as well. Afterwards, we were invited into Patrick and Eva's home for a wonderful dinner (or feast more like it) with lots of great local foods.

The next day, we wanted to get to work. Patrick took us out to the primary school in Kigalama, a small village. That school has exploded population wise, and desperately needed more buildings. Andy's family had raised the money for the building of a new classroom block (quite the feat if you ask me, but its not the first time they have done this), and we were hoping to get the chance to work on it. We found out the construction had already started, and they were moving really quickly! It is all brick, and the walls were almost done! After getting introduced to each of the classes, all of them with wonderful welcomes, often including songs, we put ourselves to work. We weren't sure how the 'real' workers felt about this, but they tolerated us at least. We mixed mortar and laid some bricks. I mostly did a little bit of brick laying. I was very slow at it, and probably didn't lay more than 15 bricks :-)
Jill the brick layer.

Afterwards, we got to visit the Nkonya primary school. This school is on a lake in a small fishing village. The school is smaller there, as the locals don't value education as much as they feel that they can just make their livings fishing. The children who do attend school however are very sweet and quite motivated. We met one child who is struggling with AIDS but desperately wants to become a doctor so he can help other people with AIDS. His father died of it, and his mother has it as well, so I would say he knows the tragedy of AIDS better than anyone. Patrick said this little guy comes to school whenever he can, even if they think it might be better for him to stay home and rest. He said that when he is in the hospital, he always somehow makes a recovery, and when he wakes up, the first thing he always says is that he can't die, because he needs to become a doctor someday. In my opinion, I think his dream might just come true.

That evening, we attended a staff meeting of the Mizigo primary school teachers. They did a short Bible study, then discussed the students. Each teacher reported if there were any students missing or sick. If they didn't know where they were, they were told to find out. These teachers really are like parents to these children!

The next day (still full from another great meal at their home the night before), we headed back to Kigalama. Andy, Arik, and Chris had all brought toys and gifts and candy for the children at the school. So, we spent much of the morning distributing pencils and candy. The kids were SO well behaved. They patiently and thankfully received their gifts.
The kids showing off their new pencils.
Andy and Arik handing out candy.

Later, during recess, they broke out the new toys, including balls, bubbles, and jump ropes. The kids just went crazy. When they started blowing bubbles, you would have thought they had never seen a bubble before, the way they laughed and squealed! Maybe they hadn't.
Chris blowing bubbles.

I was trying to stay out of the chaos and watch from a distance, but I soon found out that one wallflower attracts other wallflowers and I had about 20 kids surrounding me. Many of them just wanted to look at my hands and touch the skin on my arms and laugh at the freckles on my shoulders. It was pretty funny- I guess they must have thought something was wrong with me.
My funny, white hands got a lot of attention.
Yep, still white. You can't rub it off.

After a while, we got around to playing and I enjoyed having races around the school with them and swinging (and jumping!) the jump rope. The patient headmaster let them have an extra long recess, and we all got to play for a couple hours.
Playing in the school yard.

Once the kids went back to class, we tried to get another hour or two of work in. The workers had gotten so far with the brick laying that they were almost done. I scooped and delivered mortar that day.
Chris mixing mortar with the crew.
Andy and a crew member laying bricks.


The project nearly completed.
Posing for a group photo in front of our work.

After dinner as a group, Eva took us to a great little organic farm in town. We got to see all kinds of plants, mostly fruits growing here. I was really excited because they had strawberries! Those are hard to come by around here. I was so happy, and I left with enough strawberries for 3 days.
The next day was Saturday, and the work crew didn't come to work on the classroom block because they had finished the brick laying the day before. So, there was no work for us, either. Therefore, we took a slower day. We walked through town to Patrick's house in the morning. Once we got there, Eva and a friend drove us out to a plot of land outside of town in another village where they are hoping to build another school. They have a small church out there, and next to the church is a plot of land with a small tea plantation on it. The lady who owns the plantation is looking to sell her land. In this particular village, there is a lack of good primary schools. Apparently the villagers in this area see the value of a good education, and many children will run 5 miles in the morning just to go to a good school. This location would significantly cut down on the distance the kids have to run, which would be good, considering if its bad weather, they sometimes can't get to school when it is that far away. The plot of land for this school would cost about $3000, which they would have to raise.
Eva showing us the land for the (hopefully) future school.

The last day we spent with them was Sunday. Andrej and I decided that we would like to go to Patrick's church for the Sunday service, to see what it was like. The rest of our group had another commitment at an orphanage. We arrived with Patrick at the church a little after 10am. The service was already in full swing (apparently starting around 9:30). We walked in a door that led to the front of the church, and Andrej and I were seated up front with the pastors for the whole service. The service was quite the ordeal. First of all, it was the longest church service I have ever been to (including CinCC for all you Gustavus people). All in all, it was 4.5 hours long. It started with lots of very energetic music. No hymnals or programs here. They have a small band with a drum set, African drums, and a keyboard. They have a couple singers with microphones, and often a choir or dancers as well. Clapping and dancing was the norm, and there was no Lutheran shyness in their singing! Following the praise, there was a number of announcements and prayers. The sermon was long (probably because Patrick translated it the whole time), and after there were more prayers, a 'dedication' of children (like a baptism, but not), and then there was some business to take care of. Apparently a couple members were getting married, and the congregation puts in donations to go towards paying for the wedding. They played some elaborate auction-type game for this that lasted quite some time. Eventually they took the offering, and church was over around 2pm. Apparently no one has football games to go home and watch on Sunday afternoon around here.
Our group ready for church on Sunday. Andrej, me, Arik, Andy, and Chris.

We stuck around for another wonderful meal at their home. While there, I got to chat with their daughter Cathy who also translated for me during the service. She is 24 and recently married and teaches young children at the school. She is very motivated, and is working hard at further studies in fashion. Some interesting things of note that I learned from her are that primary school teachers here tend to make only $50/month. That is not enough to cover basic living expenses, and that is why she is studying for a different career. She also told me that about 15 out of her 50 students have HIV/AIDS. It really is just a huge problem here, and she told me she is worried about the future of her country considering how many children have AIDS and how many of their parents also have it as well.

All in all, this was a very rewarding experience. It is wonderful to see what Patrick and Eva and their friends are doing here in Uganda. It seems that there is always more to be done, however. For example, the school where we built the classroom block is in an area with no electricity or running water. They have to pay someone 25 cents (US) per jerry can to ride in jerry cans of water 2km on his bike everyday. That adds up when you need enough water for around 400 people for cooking, drinking, and washing hands and eating utensils 5 days a week. They are also hoping to get solar panels installed someday so they can have electricity. Other examples are buying the land and building a new school, building more dormitories, digging wells for easy access to clean water, buying text books and supplies, etc. If you would like to learn more about what Patrick and Eva do, or if you would like to help, please check out their website and contact them: www.maranathauganda.org .

Just for fun...Jill and Andrej eating sugarcane outside Patrick and Eva's house!

Kampala and Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

Hello everyone, and sorry for the long delay in posting!

Someday, I will get Andrej to post on this blog again. But right now, he has more important things to do when we find a decent internet connection (file his taxes), so once again, you get to hear from me.

So, once again we had quite the transportation adventure. It really was quite memorable, so I might go in to a bit of detail (how unusual, I know...)
To get from Arusha, Tanzania to Kampala, Uganda, you can take a bus. It seems that all the bus lines run their route through Nairobi, Kenya and were supposed to take about 17 hours. We were planning to use a company that we had used before which has on-board toilets (unheard of in these parts, but oh so important) and air conditioning. Of course, we come to find out that company stopped their route to Uganda 2 weeks before. So, we went with another company they recommended. The bus was nice by Tanzanian standards, but was lacking in a toilet or a/c. Anyways, since we bought the tickets the same day as we were travelling, we didn't get the greatest seats. They were in the back of the bus, and the ride was incredibly bumpy. Many, many, many times we flew at least a foot off the seat. The road out of Tanzania was pretty much all under construction. Which means sometimes you are driving on a road, sometimes not, but you are always on a dusty, bumpy, gravel, one lane track (for both directions...). At the border, our bus driver told us we had 5 minutes to go through the Tanzanian side of the border crossing, and 5 minutes to go through the Kenyan side of the border crossing, and we should be back on the bus in 10 minutes. Well, if you have a bus full of people, and other people are also at the border crossing, and the officials issuing your stamps and visas are in no particular hurry, 10 minutes is totally impossible. So, while we were in no-mans land (between borders), we saw our bus pulling away. Andrej sprinted after it, and I just kept walking, mouth open, trying not to cry. But, lucky for us, we were just confused and our bus was just going to park at the other side of the border. Seconds after we got back on the bus, it pulled away and we were in Kenya.

The rode in Kenya was much smoother, which was awesome. Nairobi seemed to be quite a nice city. The highway even was divided and wide enough for about 3 lanes on each side. However, they didn't seem to see the need for putting in actual lane markers, so it was just a really wide road with a hot mess of cars. We stopped at a small cafe in Nairobi to use the toilets and get food, and we were off towards Uganda.

This was an overnight bus, and we left Nairobi around 10:30pm. African countries seem to like having police checkpoints on all their rodes, but Kenya was especially fond of them. We were stopped about every half hour the entire way through Kenya. I was glad we were on a bus and not driving ourselves, because I would have been terrified being stopped by multiple guards with rifles every half hour all night long. We weren't sure what they were checking for- they only came on the bus a couple times and poked their flashlight around at the luggage, but didn't actually inspect anything. Anywways, it being a night bus, we had hoped that we would sleep on the bus. ha. HA! We soon realized how foolish we were. After leaving Nairobi, we were soon in the middle of never ending road construciton, much like in Tanzania. There were a number of times where I swore we were tipping over or that we had popped a tire. But we never did, and we kept plowing through, stopping every once in a while for the men with their big rifles. We also stopped once for a bathroom break. Which, in these parts, involves the men going out to the field at the side of the road, and the women going behind the bus, on the highway, hoping that no one comes along on the road. At one point, somewhere around 1 am, Andrej and I started laughing uncontrollably because we couldn't believe how bouncy the ride was. I have been on wooden roller coasters smoother than this bus ride.

We made it to the Ugandan border around 5am. We seemed to have a little extra time (either that or everyone was just too tired to care) and we made it through pretty smoothly. Once we were in Uganda, the road was actually quite nice, and we managed to get a couple hours sleep. About an hour or so outside Kampala, we went through Jinja and passed over the Nile River. The source of the Nile is apparently in Uganda. It was cool to see. Anyways, about 18 hours after leaving Arusha, we arrived, very tired in Kampala.
A monkey in the tree on the grounds of our hostel in Kampala.

We spent the rest of that day resting, and the next morning we decided to do a low key day trip to a nearby town on Lake Victoria called Entebbe (also home to the international airport). The goal of this trip was to go to the Wildlife Education Center, where the guidebook said they had a wildlife refuge for animals rescued from poachers and trafficing. It turned out to pretty much be a zoo, but it was still neat. We got to see a lion up close, as well as chimps, crocs, otters, snakes, rhinos, and others. There were also a number of monkeys and cool looking large birds (can't remember the name) that seemed to live in the park and roam free. There was a small playground that the monkeys took over later in the afternoon.
One of the neat cranes wandering around the park.
Another crane. This type is seen all over the city, especially at the garbage heaps.
Andrej at Lake Victoria.

The next day, we took off for a little rest and relaxation at a beautiful lake near the Rwandan border called Lake Bunyonyi. I think you have heard enough about our transportation adventures, so I will spare you that this time around, but I will just say that it wasn't what we expected or hoped for. Anyways, we decided to stay in a rustic cabin at a small budget resort on an island in the lake. To get there, we had to take a dugout canoe. So, we piled ourselves and our bags into a canoe made out of a hollowed out tree, and set out for the island (along with a 'driver' to show us the way and do a lot of the paddling).

About 45 minutes later, we arrived.

Our cabin had a nice view of the lake, and its own bathroom and shower. Although, it was rustic. The bathroom was a compost toilet outside, and the shower was also outside (but mostly enclosed, no one outside could see anything but a shower head) and lacking hot water. But, it was incredibly nice, peaceful, and simple.
Viewing our cabin from behind.

The island was small and very rural, so there were no stores on the island, so we always took our meals at the lodge restaurant, which was good and dirt cheap. The weather there was quite cool- probably in the 60s most of the time. We were apparently 6,000 some feet above sea level. We went for some walks around the island- enjoying the local birds and nice footpaths.
Andrej enjoying a walk around the island.
A school bus, island style! We came across this on a walk.
This is what a dugout canoe school bus looks like.

We also rented a dugout canoe a couple times and paddled around the island. One morning, we canoed to a neighboring island with the intent of attending a church service. We ended up going at the wrong time, but we had a pleasant walk on that island, and we enjoyed seeing the church.

Another highlight of our time there for me was learning to play backgammon. Andrej taught it to me, and it was so much fun! I wish we had a small travel board to take with us.

Other photos from our time on the island:

We also decided we wanted to spend a couple of days on the mainland side of the lake, because we heard you could rent bikes there. Unfortunately their bikes were broken, but we had an enjoyable time there still. We went to a small market on the lake one morning and bought fresh pineapple, sugar cane, and bread for lunch. We also hiked in the hills a bit around the lake. This was a little more grueling than I hoped for, so it didn't last all that long. We also got a little sunbathing in, although it was just a little too cold to go swimming.

We had arranged to visit the schools of the Rotarian I mentioned before and do a little volunteering starting on Wednesday, so we ended up leaving the lake after about 5 days and headed back to Kampala.