Our Trip to Uganda January 2010

Hi there - here is a short story about our trip to Uganda written for those who want to travel there, are interested in background information and to preserve some precious memories. Included are some photos covering our journey from Kampala to Kyazanga (a third of the way from Masaka to Mbarara - see the little google map for directions).


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Arriving in Kampala was a quite a shock as we drove through congested, blocked roads filled with sellers, the smell of cooking fires and blaring music. Roads in Uganda can only be called roads in and around Kampala. Outside of Kampala the roads are covered with mini moon craters. You have to negotiate a small track around the deep craters, wheels teetering on cliff faces. Be careful to have a local Ugandan friend negotiate taxi fares anywhere in Uganda and it is probably not a good idea in your first few weeks to take the very cheap 12 seat mini bus taxis unless you you want to be compacted with 22 others!!! Our hotel accommodation was nice sitting behind 3 metre walls in the midst of extreme poverty and myriads of children. Hotel fees in Kampala were($62US (115,000 shillings)or $100NZ a night including breakfast - a bit expensive but very clean and comfortable, the water was clean to wash in but we did not drink it - we did not drink any Ugandan water FROM A TAP OR WELL. Our supply came from wholesalers at about 10,000 shillings for 24 1 litre bottles - 12,500 shillings from a supermarket). We did not have any tummy problems over our three weeks in Uganda as we maintained strict hand washing routines - we cleaned our teeth in bottled water. Kampala has some nice restaurants with reasonable prices - we went to a pizza place and spent 45,000 shillings($30nz) for two large pizzas and a fanta each.

As we left Kampala on our three hour trip south to Kyazanga across thousands of mini moon craters we were confronted by the most immense traffic jam caused by a rubbish truck losing its load in the middle of a busy shopping road - problem was the road was one way but thanks to many willing voluntary! traffic wardens we wound our way south and finally onto the daring, dangerous, murderous sometimes one lane main road south. Beware of monster speeding buses who completely dominate the road - just get off the road if they are coming towards you! The main road south is lined with banana and maize plantations, people with roadside stalls, and old bikes carrying huge loads of bananas. Fish stalls pop up with sellers reactivating the life of a large slimy SWAMP fish before your oncoming windscreen - best purchased early morning!! We ate fish regularly at our hosts and never paid any serious consequences - mainly because it was well cooked and hot!! Road side fruit stalls are abundant and sell an exciting array of melons, bananas, papaya, tomatoes, oranges, apples and every other fruit imaginable - $3,500 shillings ($2.40nz) for a watermelon. On our journey south we stopped at a western type restaurant and ate fries - yes chips - the Matoke (type of green banana rolled into a larger ball and steamed) looked a bit old. If you are going to eat a local dish of pork, vegetables, noodles or fish make sure it is piping hot and fresh that day!! We stopped in Masaka once and had a lovely traditional meal in a humble cafe for 4,000 shillings each including a Miranda drink - just make sure there is some toilet paper and flushing water in the loo before you go!!! and oh don't forget your hand sanitizer - treat it like treasure in your pocket and don't look at the kitchen on the way back from the loo - you may never eat again!!!. It is highly likely the taxi driver will refuse to put the air conditioning on saying it does not work but this is merely a ploy to safe gas. We got sucked in on our first taxi - the car was not a taxi but a tour car for tourists and much more expensive - the fare for the three hour trip - 280,000 shillings ($200nz) - a rip off - not to happen again. A stop at the Equator is a must, take the photo and negotiate a good price for your Uganda (35,000 shillings) shirt and carry bag - toilet is only 100 shillings but just watch the large insects waiting for you in your little cellar!!!
Our arrival at Kyazanga was greeted with great celebration and a school brass band. Africans believe in celebrating the arrival of friends. We were seated as Kings and Queens and entertained by 120 children singing and dancing outside the orphanage.

And so began the most awesome adventure of our lifetime in a small community called Kyazanga made up of mostly very humble folk living in mud houses and cooking their maize or Matoke in an outside kitchen. The community consists of the orphanage and primary school which caters for 440 children from new entrants to intermediate age. We stayed in the leaders house, a lovely brick home which acts as the hospital and central meeting place for all folk seeking council or just a chat - a busy place!!! We visited and chatted with families who have lost their parents to AIDS, where Grandmothers and Aunties are looking after 6 - 9 orphans, where malaria is a weekly curse, where education is not available to children because of the need to survive and homes are very run down and in a state of decay because of the loss of earnings due to sickness.

During our stay we managed to stay healthy because we drank only purchased water and ate local vegetables and fruits. Rooster was on the menu each week, fried cabbage and noodles, maize bread, matoke, bananas, pineapples, and sometimes pork or fish. We always carefully washed our hands with sanitizer before eating. We had good mosquito nets at night although the NZ made ones were the best because they are coated with an anti-mosquito chemical. We washed in a basin using water from the water tank and some boiled hot water. With no lighting a torch is a must in the washing room - luckily our hosts had built a western style toilet over a drop hole for guests which still required you to pour water down it after finishing!!!Jandels are a good idea - light and cool and easy to take off a hundred times as you venture out to the washing room or kitchen or visit local houses that are close. I wore shorts all the time and covered myself with mosquito lotion every day. The heat gets unbearable around 1 pm to 4.00pm so light cool cottons are the best - night time is still very warm - I never wore a jacket or jersey, just a T-Shirt.

Children are very respectful of adults - all girls bow/kneel before and an elder or visiting adult, leader or teacher. They never speak over the top of you and always wait to be spoken too. It was difficult to converse in English with the local children and rural folk - children at school are taught to write English with correct grammar but find it hard to understand conversational English. An interpreter/friend is a must for important communication, teaching, shopping, making arrangements and travel. We were privileged to know Joseph (a leader there) and now secretary to the Vice President. His well educated brothers and sisters could also speak English although we had to speak very clearly and slowly using practical examples and simple sentences for them to understand.

It is very customary to accept drinks and biscuits when visiting a home, to be offered the best seat and to sit and converse as best as possible. We always took little gifts like a calendar of NZ, food items, clothing or even a board game or pack of cards.

All children love playing games and especially Ugandan children. We were playing soccer one hour after our arrival at Kyazanga. We took a cricket set which was a real hit as well as rugby and soccer balls. Games like Midnight Moonlight were popular outside. Sharron played netball with the girls and I played soccer and cricket. The level of throwing and catching and general ball handling skills is incredible - Uganda children are very athletic, fit and fast. All girls and boys can throw accurately and powerfully - so our games were very competitive and full of aggression, arguments and laughter!!.

Sharron spent some time with Christina a little four year old who has missed out on some of the basic needs of life very early. She has significant disabilities. When we visited her we found her very hungry and lying on a urin soaked mat and dressed in a long uncomfortable dress that I remember seeing on her a year ago! At 4 years old she is under 40 cm height. Her bedroom is a dark dirty room in a mud hut that leaks. We made sure she was going to be fed regularly and had clean blankets but unfortunately we cannot afford the $100 US per month hospital fees to have her looked after. This is a difficult situation because for that money she and the other orphans in her family could be supported in many ways at home. Sometimes life dishes up seemingly impossible suffering!