Get excited......!!!

Hey guyz,

I am so thankful to those of you who have been in touch with us (I and Els) during our tour and stay in Uganda, esp to those who posted comments in English, the likes of Elke, Ine, Sara, Abdu and others. We arrived in Uganda at Entebbe international Airport midnight and welcomed by smiley faces every section we passed, temperature of 27°c, Ronald and we started hearing “eeh muzungu”….meaning white person in local language here.

We spent in 3 nites Entebbe and always travel to the capital Kampala. Excitedly at the hotel we were staying, there was no warm water…..so taking a shower each time was a struggle, esp with Els….alalalalala

During our stay in Entebbe, town surrounded by Lake Victoria, we did visited Botanical beach hotel located just at the shore of the lake with very nice gardens and habituating quite a numbers of different bird species (see photos of 4^th dec). We also went to Wildlife Education Centre more or less natural habitat for a lot of animals…it is not just a zoo, but educational centre often visited by students and other groups of researchers. At this centre we had the opportunity and fascinated to see a lot of animals we all had just been reading about; …monkeys, Lion, chimps, white rhinos etc, birds;….shoebills, crested cranes, peacock, yellow vented bulbul…etc and different species of plants as well...(see photos of Wed 5^th Dec).

While visiting Kampala from Entebbe, we also visited the Belgian Embassy, for Els to register, she was amazed with the number of cars Ugandans have….causing hours and a long queue of car….traffic Jam everywhere in the city. Crossing the streets was even fun…because you must run to have yourself on the other side of the road…the few Zebra crossing points are rarely respected by motorists.( See photo of the taxi park).

Immediately after leaving Entebbe on 6^th Dec, we headed to Kayingi Primary School in rural area of Mukono district few Km away from the capital Kampala, where we planted a hundred of trees named “peace trees” in the Headmasters garden. This wonderful event was sponsored by Uganda peace foundation Initiative thru Ronald and Y’smen club (YMCA) of Kampala. Here the Muzungu Els was the international guest…often swarmed and followed by the Kids everywhere….some wanted just to touch the Muzungu, others wanted to hold hands. Anyway, this was a touching and practical experience for many of us to help conserve the environment (see photos on 6^th Dec).

We then headed to the north of Uganda’s district of Kitgum( my home district) on Friday 7^th Dec, a journey which took us 9 hours by bus to reach our final destination; the road site views, of nature, landscapes, people selling food at some places we stopped made our journey a little easier to sit the bus for such long hours, however, seeing the hard living conditions of the people was kind of shock to Els. We started our journey at 8am and around 6 pm we were at my mother home. My mother was more than excited to see me and the international guest-Els. There was excited around the home as everyone kept running around spreading the news of our presence, within few mins my hands became tired of shaking hands of many people who came to greet us.

8^th Dec was a resting day for us, after the long trip the previous day and we didn’t do anything though.

On 9^th Dec, we went visiting my family (from my mothers side)at a place called gangdyang, only 2 km from Kitgum town, and it was such an historic visit that took us the whole full day, the entire village was excited and happy to see us around. People were already prepared to receive us around. A lot of food were prepared and each home we stop, there was food waiting for us….at the end of the day…I guess my weight increased ten fold that time due to eating all types of food; It’s a tradition that when a visitor comes in a home…he/she should always be given something to eat and you have to at least taste it otherwise, they will regard you as someone who is selfish and impolite. It was even more of a fun day for the kids around as they always wanted to be with the muzungu Els (see photo of Dec 9^th).

On Monday 10^th Dec, We organised our teddy bears, gave a few to kids in my family…..they were very happy, excited and showing their bears to anyone who cares to see. After giving the bears, we hired a motorbike to my ancestral home in Pajimo about 7 Km from Kitgum west of Kitgum town….here we only saw remain of only my grand father destroyed house; standing in a bush which used to be a wonderful place before the war, the rest of the homes are no more. No body lives there now. We proceeded to the camp to see my other uncles and made arrangement to give teddy bears to the kids there. It is in this village that we want to assist one of the primary school with scholastic materials. See photo of 10^th dec 07.

On Tue 11^th Dec, we visited and had a meeting with a women group at Gangdyang village whom I mobilised and supported with the money I got from some organisation, they are doing beekeeping for honey production. They have 30 bee hives- see photos of Dec 11.