First Days, Again!

My first days in Uganda this time were very different from the first time. As a start, I drove from the airport to the volunteer house. It was pretty interesting and nice to be driving in an environment more fitting of my driving style, but only at first. Since then, I’m actually concerned about my safety anytime I take a taxi long-distance now. Today while driving, we saw two truck accidents. One had driven off the road and crashed into a mud-house. The other had driven off the road and flipped somehow.

Driving: No hands, No eyes

Poorly done roads but better than many nevertheless

Anyway, I spent the first day just unpacking and showing them what I brought such as the laptops, grater and kettle, all of which they love. I installed games on these laptops which have already shown some potential to become addictive so I feel a bit bad about brining that aspect of my culture but it will be alright.  

The next day, we went for a drive to pick-up a volunteer from an orphanage she is working at and I used my phone’s GPS to navigate which was pretty cool.  

The chocolate I brought the kids melted in the car so we cut it like a cake

We went to a big shopping center in Kampala on the way back and it was so weird. It was so much like home it made me all giddy. I never saw such a thing last time I was here so it was weird to see a huge range of foods, appliances and even insanely large LCD TVs.

Curiously, this charity box in an up-scale Ugandan shopping centre is for feeding chimps

That night we went out clubbing with the volunteer was great. It was nice to be out and about and the bouncer recognized me. We got pretty drunk on the absinthe I bought in Qatar. The 70% is awesome and it seems like the wormwood may even be doing something as it’s above what I can get in Australia and it’s the only way I can account for the large effect relative to the size.

Anyway, it’s strange as I haven’t done any true volunteering yet. I’ve just kind of been living it up and doing western things. The volunteering will start next week on Monday so I’m pretty excited about that. Probably good to ease into things as I have.

Christmas in Doha

I left Australia successfully with around 8 kilos over the limit. My friend handed me additional carry-on after checking in. I am brining 6 laptops to help start a computer training center there as well as donate some to an orphanage in Jinja. Due to weight issues, I ended up carrying 2 of the laptops with me.

All was going fine until I landed in Doha, got my visa to exit and found out that the airport does not provide baggage storing services. I sensed hardship ahead as my carry-on was very heavy. First I got myself a 6 hour city tour for $150. This was really good as it included a car to carry my bags and it took me to:

The sea

A Mosque. Something has happened to my camera lense so it seems many of my photos will contain a black friend on top or on the side. Might be less noticeable in Uganda. 

Camel Market

An obscenely rich town where all the shops were expensive brands, like Gucci, Armani, Ferrari, Rolls Royce and some others I hadn't heard of. I didn't see any food…  

Did I mention that the sun was really bright?

A shopping Centre with a painted sky ceiling and river with boats. They had a strange rule where you aren't allowed to take photos of the shopping center unless you are in them. 

A museum that was pretty good. Much better than any Islamic exhibitions I had ever seen.

And a non-posh traditional Qatari food restaurant. The food was really amazing!

Afterwards, I was dropped off at a market where I was supposed to enjoy myself until the evening. However, after buying a few souvenirs, it quickly became clear that this was a barren place with nothing to do. At least not until I would soon have to go back to the airport.  I tried to find a hotel to store my luggage anyway but none could help me. I ended up being bounced around a few places, sometimes in circles trying to find either storage or fun. Due to the lack of taxis, I must have walked several kilometres under the hot sun with >10kg including the 2 charity laptop bag strap rubbing a nice red souvenir into my neck.

I eventually gave up and ended up going back to the airport where I was told that there was nothing to do there either. I was pointed in a direction of some hotel with restaurants and shops but couldn't get there due to long anti-pedestrian barriers dividing a road. After finally reaching the goal, the shops were quite standard so I gave up and ended up at a McDonald’s eating a Sundae. It was just too difficult to keep carrying these bags around to have fun. I knew I had over 8 hours left but I was spent. I just went back to the airport and bought some absinthe for pre-drinking in Uganda. It's got more wormwood than Aussie ones so hopefully it will be fun. Now just waiting 6 or so hours until my flight.

One of the taxi drivers asked me if I liked the city. I didn't actually, and he laughed saying no-body likes it. I guess the main reason is the lack of things to do. There aren't many attractions. I was looking forward to sand-dune riding but I didn't have enough time for that tour. When you walk around the city, there aren't even many people.. just cars and flashy buildings. You have rich Qataris and white people driving or waking around these flashy buildings or malls. Where you do see lots of people, it is usually Indians / Bangladeshi / Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Blacks doing all the cheap work. I know it's good they have jobs but it still didn't feel good to see this racial divide between rich and poor. Perhaps I hadn't seen enough areas but the whole place seemed very sterile without soul. In short, a bunch of guys found some fossil fuels and threw the money around.

I did enjoy the trip, including the difficulties in a way. Although I wouldn't really come back. Can't wait to arrive in Uganda!

Almost Ready

I've packed my large bag and am marginally over the limit I think but I think it should be fine. I can only hope now that the luggage handlers respect the fragile sticker I will put on it and don't break any of the laptops. 

The unfortunate thing is that I pulled a muscle in the left side of my back recently and it makes it painful and hard to breathe. I find myself gasping for air and breathing very irregularly. After having to mow the lawn today, this has only become worse. I will definitely need a few shots of alcohol on the plane to help me rest.

I really hope that I get to leave the airport in Doha as 18 hours on the inside would be severely boring. Anyway, very exciting even though I still have many hours before I must leave. 

Back

So after a food poisoning delay and expensive replacement flight, I just landed in Sydney. I keep getting upset when I think back to my friends in Uganda. I can’t believe I won’t be sitting chatting with them, riding the boda bodas through villages on the way to construction sites or clubs, or even running around doctors. It feels like I will be back again tomorrow but I know I won’t and it’s really upsetting.

Even eating the food on the airplane was upsetting. It just feels so strange to be amidst this amazing luxurious food, and having the means to fly. It feels crazy that somehow because I was born in a different place I get to live like I do. They are amazing, friendly and hard working people. I am still totally shocked that nobody mugged me for my phone (and camera) as I probably would have considered it in their shoes. It hurts that that they live such different lives no matter how hard they work. Yet they are still happy so I don’t know what to feel.

I am really happy that I met everyone I did, good or bad. I’m glad for everything that happened too, good or bad. It was an amazing, meaningful and very fulfilling adventure. I’m not ashamed to say I keep tearing up when I think about it. Only a very special adventure could do that.

Jinja Adventures

9-5 Quad Biking

This was the activity I was looking forward to most. It was a bit of a let-down but still really fun. I liked the ride and the various sceneries I came across though a lot of it was similar to what I had already seen. I forgot to put on sun-screen so I got really burned too. I was hoping for more difficult terrain but most tracks were quite fine, especially when going through villages. This in itself was uncomfortable for the first 1-2 hours as driving in a quad bike past children who are busy carrying water or working the land just felt really bad. Like I was parading my wealth around…

It was nice overall though and I really liked going for a dip in the Nile at one point.

9-5 White Water Rafting

This was incredibly awesome. Great mix of exercise, relaxation, scenery and extreme fun. We flipped twice and both time I was wearing Alina’s GoPro (head mounted camera) which recorded my struggle to breathe. Everyone seemed to fall out fine but I had bad luck which made it more fun in the end.

The first flip I went under the boat but instead of coming up underneath it to breathe, I got stuck in between some part of it and kept getting pushed down to the point where I started to breathe in water. The second flip was a bit better but as soon as I emerged from under the boat, I felt someone grab me and pull me under the water. I was able to avoid breathing in water but the entire struggle lasted 20 seconds. It turned out that a girl on my boat was really scared and grabbed on to me in a panic which pulled me under the water until one of the kayakers pulled her off me.

It was really fun and the Ugandan couple on our raft were able to buy the photos for $40 instead of $100. They gave me the photos and I will send them the videos when I return to Australia. I would say that this was my favourite activity.

Safari

Alina and I went on a 3 day safari which is really a must when you go to Africa. We were mostly really lucky as we saw all the animals including a lion which is rare. There were countless antelope, warthogs, buffalos, giraffes and hippos (when on the boat ride). There were even warthogs staying around our camping site! We got to see an elephant really really close at one point. It was really amazing and he was huge. We also saw rhinos and chimpanzees although the latter were high up in the tree.

Baboons were quite common and we got pretty close during one stop while waiting for a ferry. They are quite aggressive if you have food and often pull people’s bags off. They can apparently even open car doors!

At one point we also went for a hike to the top of a waterfall which was great. I opted to do it barefoot which turned out not too hard although I was apparently the first person the guide had seen do it this way.

It was a really good 3 days. We both liked the authentic safari jeep with the open top and our guide was pretty good too. And so concluded my week of tourist activities.

A huge moth I saw at our camp site

A few incredible days in Jinja

Before my week of activities began, Alina, another volunteer I met on a travel buddy site invited me to stay at the orphanage she was volunteering at near Jinja to make my schedules easier and give me a different experience. I accepted and it turned out really great and full of adventures.

The Orphanage

The orphanage contains 20 children and 2 helpers in addition to the facilitator and Alina. A few children were away but otherwise it was full of them. They were really cute, playful, hardworking and just great. I soon learned that all of them also have sad stories. In the best case their parents may have died and in the worst cases there’s stories of mothers just abandoning them because they found another man who didn’t want them around. Some kids were even sexually abused by their parents. 

Kids brushing their teeth in the morning

Super excited to receive a wafer biscuit

I spent a lot of energy playing with them which was really fun. I don't t think I'm good at playing with kids but running after them, picking them up and spinning or running around carrying them seems to be infinitely enjoyable :)

One day the house required water and I offered to help carry it. I set off with one of the children and soon it became apparent that I’d have to carry it a long way home and uphill. After waiting 40 minutes in the queue to fill up our two 20 liter jerry cans we set off home. This was hardcore. 1 kilometre uphill with such a heavy container was crazy. We stopped about 8 times to rest as it was so hard. The weight was mostly a problem for my fingers but despite the trouble I made it home without giving up. This was a great experience though and fully made me feel the ordeal that getting water can be. I was later told by the facilitator that he had to carry 2 jerry cans 7 km when he was younger…

Other notable thing was the 20 year old helper who had only days before sampled chocolate for the first time. I on the other hand, saw fireflies for the first time. I thought it was a dropped phone initially but no, there are amazing insects which glow really bright.

Finally, the facilities were not as good as where I stay. The children had only recently gotten bunk beds due to Alina’s fundraising but were previously sleeping like 4 to an old foam mattress on the floor. Now they sleep in pairs on beds 'like kings'. She also helped to paint the walls among other things. The before and after photos were amazing. The inside bathroom was quite an experience. It was not tiled, has no light and at night it is used as a toilet too. It was an interesting experience to sweep my pee into a hole in the side of the wall!

This always-ready flush never breaks

Possession

One morning the facilitator started to ask me if I believe in demonic possession. I don’t obviously and then he mentioned that one of the kids there was possessed. And he was right behind him in the bunk bed. This was strange indeed. It seemed like some kind of absent seizure as this kid was just lying there unresponsive for about 10 minutes. This apparently happens whenever he needs to go to school so they think the devil doesn’t want him to get an education. He sometimes speaks in this state apparently and claims he is possessed.

I checked his pupil reflexes which were present and later as his eyes began to open he seemed to flinch just fine as well. Pinching him really hard however didn’t get a response although this is hard to determine whether he was resisting although it didn’t seem like an act. He eventually woke up but seemed really confused and upset not remembering what happened.

It’s hard to witness and it’s clear he needs to see some kind of specialist doctor but they will take him to a priest instead for the second time. I guess it’s cheaper but I did find it really incredible to be faced with a situation where someone was actually considered to be possessed. I felt powerless to help although they can’t afford to see a specialist, or buy the medication he would need anyway. So it’s just a sad situation that’s not uncommon and definitely not the worst here.

Break Dancers

I will write about the activities and safari I went on later but I had quite a good last day in Jinja. Before going back to Mukono, I went for a walk down the road. When I reached the end of it, I saw a group of guys in a crowd doing something active in the distance. One who was close to the path called me over. I was a little scared of getting mugged as I had all my valuables on me but figured that I’d somehow be safe. Well, it turned out to be one of the highlights here.

This was a group of dancers and really amazing ones at that. They were breakdancing right there on the grass without shoes. It totally blew my mind and expectations. They asked me to dance which while usually alright in a club, was pathetic compared to these guys’ moves. I ended up recording a lot of their dancing which I will compile into a video when I get back to Australia. The organizer was originally an orphan fortunate enough to have a plot of land left by his parents and he works in the local community helping people with various issues like AIDS, jiggers and also trying to give the youth a creative and constructive outlet via this dance group. They are hoping to get more attention so I’ll try my best to help them when I get back. 

So random and such an amazing encounter. It really reminds me of the quote: “How much do we lose when we fear to lose anything?”. If I had just walked on like I initially was going to, I’d have missed a really amazing adventure. And having just a few such adventures is definitely worth losing your phone, wallet and camera one day. Otherwise, I will have my gadgets but without these amazing memories.

Random Adventures

Public Transport

There is no public transport system here. But in an amazing free-market fashion, a private one has materialized consisting of boda-bodas (motorcycles) and taxi buses. The boda-bodas are useful for short-trips of 1-2 people though I have been on one with 4 + the driver. 5 people on a motorcycle is crazy and funny at the same time. You can catch these anywhere although they tend to congregate at “boda stages” ~ 1km apart along most roads. They are akin to taxis back at home in that they just take you wherever you ask them to go.

This is an extreme example of a boda boda. There's usually only 2 passengers.

For longer trips people here use taxis. These are private vans licensed to carry 14 that manage to squeeze in 17 people + the driver and conductor. These taxis follow predetermined routes but each is a private and just travels around on its own. It’s amazing to me that a system of bus routes has emerged organically here and with anyone being able to buy a van and run these routes, they are pretty much always available in the right quantity based on supply and demand. The free market can be quite impressive.

Albino

While going to carry some water back to the construction site, we passed by a house where I suddenly saw a white child that turned out to be an Albino. My friend John asked if I could take a photo with this child and they agreed if I could just spare 1,000 shillings for milk so I gave them 2,000 which is still less than a $1. It was really interesting to see all the Ugandan facial features on a white face with bleached looking hair.

I felt a bit uncomfortable though as I didn't want to make them feel like their child was some kind of oddity on display. However, everyone seemed happy and amused so along with the 1.5 litres of milk they will get, I guess it was ok. 

Forced pose

Barefooting

Last week I decided to try walking barefoot since I always wanted to do that at home where it’s not socially acceptable. Everyone said I’d give up and start crying but it’s been 3 days at the construction site (including the trip there and back) and 1 day on a bushwalk and I’m mostly fine. It’s actually really enjoyable. Sometimes the rocks can hurt a little and I've been attacked by ants on two occasions but that's a much more interesting experience than I'd have if I had worn shoes! Many people ask me where my shoes are as it really confuses them to see a muzungu (white person) walking barefoot alongside Ugandan with shoes. 

Bushwalking without shoes was incredible

When I told my facilitator Isaac he was shocked again and begged me (at partly in jest) to stop trying new things. He says I'm the most adventurous volunteer ever and that he will avoid warning me not to do stuff as it means I always end up doing it. I’m glad that I am the most adventurous volunteer he’s had :) It means I am making the most of my experience!

No Bins

It’s very strange to me and I still don’t quite feel comfortable with it but there are no rubbish bins here. Basically, anytime I have an empty bottle or plastic wrapping I just throw it on the floor (or out the window of the bus). If it’s in a town, the council is responsible for cleaning the streets regularly but even a little further out and then there’s nothing. Some people may pick up a few things to recycle them like bottles but otherwise, it just lies around, hopefully bio-degrading.

Meat and Hygiene

The butchers here seem to just have their meat out in the sun and on not very clean pieces of wood yet it's alright. I haven't had any hint of food poisoning so I guess as long as it only stays out for a day or however many hours then it's fine. It must mean that people are a bit too paranoid back at home.  

If you look closely, you can even see the flies.

Hygiene in general is different here. People rarely wash their hands and when they do, it's often with water that isn't clean or even remotely drinkable. And despite me being used to the clean environment back in Australia, I haven't had any issues with this either. I guess it shows what I always thought: we didn't evolve to need anti-bacterial soap and unless you're dealing with wounds, we can handle a surprising amount of dirt.

It get's worse!

I have been struck with a cold in the last few days which has put me out of action for 3 days so far. I should be well for next week though.

I learned something interesting recently. What I thought was really poor flooring in houses (flat / chipped concrete) is actually not so. I recently went into a house where it was just uneven dirt. It's hardened but still quite an uneven floor of packed dirt. This is the low end.

I was told that if you have the means, you can get cow dung to smear over such floors regularly so as to avoid jiggers, a parasitic flea that can burrow into your feet and cause some serious problems (google for images of Chigoe Flea). It only smells when it's fresh I'm told. Life is tough when having cow dung smeared over your floor counts as lucky...

Daytrip to Kampala

I went on a daytrip to Kampala recently. I visited the museum and then a large mosque which is the second largest in Africa. Both of these were quite interesting and I learned a bit more about Ugandan history. The museum seemed dark, dingy and low budget but I later learned that this was due to a blackout (a common occurrence in Kampala) which killed all the lights. It wasn't huge but I really enjoyed the museum.

The mosque was interesting. It was nice inside, especially the chandelier type stuff hanging off the ceiling. The ceiling itself looked painted but was actually all carved as well. I particularly liked the large tower which allowed a great view of the capital. I was really surprised with how undeveloped it is. There are no skyscrapers and no obvious CBD.

The most developed view of Kampala

I walked quite a bit through various parts of Kampala as well and I can’t say I liked it. I’m strongly leaning towards spending my last free week in Mukono after this day. The problem was that it was just really crowded and the air was more polluted. I prefer the more relaxed and simple Mukono. The only advantage was the common and cheap western food which Mukono lacks. Though overall I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay there especially since it’d probably be more expensive. I guess the last factor will be the travel buddies I met and where they will stay but even so, it’s just a one hour bus to Kampala.

A really strange peculiarity about Kampala is how many reasonably busy sidewalks have uncovered manholes in the middle of them. I am certain many people fall into them by accident as they are just everywhere without warning. Some are small, some are huge and one was even filed with water giving it a deceptively flat appearance. Interestingly, one nightclub in Mukono had a similar thing which was funnier since alcohol and darkness don’t mix well with random holes in the ground. My fellow volunteer Cynthia even fell into the same one twice!

A typical Kampala street with regular manhole traps