Uganda Trip Oct 2019

After the rain yesterday afternoon we have had a dry night. We are in the hills and it is much colder here than in Jinja. I am grateful for the quilt on the bed and on my jumper. Graham and Jane have morning prayers and a staff meeting, so they stop by at the guest house and we say our goodbyes. We load up, the diesel engine on the pickup takes some time to start – I hold my breath..

William is on a quest to buy some green bananas for matoke, they will be much cheaper here than Kampala.

As we drive down the dirt road out of town we start to see boys on rickety old bicycles with three or four big bunches strapped to the back. William stops and a deal is struck. It must be 10km to the next town so the boy will be pleased to be relieved of this task.

As the dirt track nears the main road, we come out of the hills into more open countryside. Every few km we come across boys with bikes and motorcycles laden with more bananas. Once we are on the main road we can see they are going to roadside markets where the buyers with their big trucks from Kampala are waiting. The buyers will spend the whole day there and drive overnight to the central market in Kampala.

The traffic is light and we make good progress through Mbarara. We drive through the centre and I am impressed how clean and well kept it is compared with sleepy Jinja.

The long stretch through the savannah to Masaka seems to take forever. William stops at a roadside stall in the middle of nowhere to buy tomatoes and yellow bananas. The boy looking after the stall looks no more than 11 or 12. He must do this every day, the breadwinner for his family.

We stop for some chips in Masaka and on to Kampala, passing through the equator crossing and its tourist shops.

As we get into Kampala the traffic gets progressively heavier. After the quiet of Kisiizi the hustle and bustle of the market stalls and the traffic are a shock.

We turn onto the new expressway to Entebbe and the traffic melts away. There are toll booths, but these are not operating yet.

We turn into the hotel by the airport, it is an oasis of calm (i cannot work out how they have enough guests to make any money). It is 4:45pm so we have been about 8 hours in the road.

My colleague Rachel is waiting for us by the pool with a cold beer. Lake Victoria provides the perfect backdrop. It is several worlds away from the slum in Masese and the busy wards in Kisiizi Hospital. We both agree that we feel very out of place in the luxury of the hotel. That is something that we will have to get our heads round on the long flight home

After our late arrival on Saturday, we had a lovely meal Graham and Jane (my Doctor friends from

Sheffield). Jane knows that I have a sweet tooth and even made a cake (the housekeeper made it really, but it is the thought that counts). It was a long drive and the bed is comfy so I slept well.

The housekeeper, Amazaic, has laid out a light breakfast for us which we share with a couple of girls from Germany, who are travelling round Uganda. It is an open guest house run by the hospital to generate income.

Graham and Jane have come across to collect us for Sunday morning service in the hospital chapel. It is children’s Sunday, so there is a large contingent from the local primary school have joined us. It is a Ugandan Church (Anglican) service, so the singing is more restrained than in the free churches, many of the hymns are old favourites though.

Kisiizi Guest House, is run by the hospital. It is basic accommodation but has beds with nets and a hot shower, so is fine, even if the toilet is outside. The sun is rising and I go out for a short walk, we are in a valley surrounded by a hillside with eucalyptus and banana trees, it is a beautiful setting. This is lower Kisiizi, with the school, hospital, nursing school and a few shops. As you follow the road up the hill, there are more houses, then at the top there is upper Kisiizi with many more shops and small holdings. Even in a Sunday men are at work cutting up the eucalyptus trees. They use a wooden platform over a pit, the two men working a large saw. It looks hard work, but the finished product is impressive, neatly cut 12 foot planks stacked by the roadside.

After the service I have a tour of the hospital. It is clean, quite well equipped and run, a real contrast to some others I have seen. The hospital was established over 50 years ago by friends from the UK and there is still an active fundraising network.

As we walk by the rehabilitation unit a young girl with Cerebral Palsy crawls across the grass to greet us. Jane helps her to her feet, she stands unsteadily but is pleased. I did see children in wheelchairs in the chapel and I wonder why she has not been provided for. I make a mental note to follow this up later.

In Uganda the patients are not provided with food, so relatives must cook for them. At the bottom of the site there is a building with a large communal cooking area. Smoke from charcoal fired drifts across the valley, it is busy as relatives come and go.

We walk down to the mental health unit at the bottom of the site, this where Graham and Jane are working. It is called The Ahumuza (translated Comfort) Centre. It is a mixed unit, with both adults snd adolescents. Most of the patients wear Ahumuza purple unit T shirts, they seem proud to have this, it also makes it easier to distinguish patients from visitors and for hospital staff to identify patients who leave the Centre. Mental illness is poorly understood and there is no proper treatment in the villages, so people who are violent are often chained up. Graham shows me a bowl full of shackles that have been cut off other patients. He recounts the sad case of a man who left his three children disabled after he attacked them machete. Even though he is on treatment and now better, people in his villiage no longer trust him and keep his hands maniclled.

Several of the patients follow us round as I am introduced to staff members. Some patients speak english well and one woman gives a continuous testimony of how good the staff are. As go out through the lobby a group of patients are dancing to some music on the TV. The centre seems a happy place, not at all what I was expecting.

After lunch we prepare to go out for a walk to Kisiizi Falls, this is delayed as a band of cloud moves up the valley bringing heavy rain. It is lovely walk up to the falls, we see weaver birds and even a Ugandan crested crane.

The falls are 90 feet high and swelled by the recent rain, are really impressive. There is a woodland trail and a large bronze sculpture, which was commissioned from local artists. In the pre 1900’s women who gave birth out of marriage were bound and thrown off the top of the falls. The scene is harrowing, but alongside there are a group celebrating the life of a child and a plaque celebrating founding of the hospital 50 years ago.

It has started to rain again so we make our way back to the guest house for a cup of tea. It has been a very relaxing english Sunday afternoon. Time has been short and we are already thinking about the drive back to Kampala tomorrow.

I am lying in bed in Kisiizi hosital guest house, where I have travelled to visit Graham and Jane, GPs from Sheffield who are helping set up mental health and addiction services. It has been a long day.

Rachel had got up early to have breakfast with me, the bags were packed, William was here with the pickup, but there was no Pastor Alfred to say goodbye. I wanted to leave at 8:00, it was 8:30 – should I stay or should I go? We left at 9:00 having said goodbyes and prayed with Alfred.

The drive to Kampala was good, just two and a half hours – it can take four. It was a Saturday and like any busy city there was congestion on northern bypass. In the UK though, we do not have market stalls on the roundabouts. We edged round BodaBodas with inches to spare – I was really glad William was driving.

Out through the SW outskirts of Kampala, then across the river/swamp at Kazira. It is only a few miles from lake Victoria. The locals had set up fish stalls and were standing in the roadside dangled fish out of one hand, while pointing to their stall with the other. The stalls were also laden with smoked fish, left over from the day before. As we drove on, a car passed us with a pair of fish tied to the wing mirror. William explained that (quite sensibly) you do not want them inside a hot car.

We stopped at a service area for a Rollex (Chapatti with fried egg, served rolled up) and a ‘Stony’ (ginger beer).

It was two hours to Masaka, long straight roads that gave way to rolling hills. Every 20km or so there would be roadside towns, with the obligatory speed humps, shops, market stalls and small children walking or playing along the roadside.

Then we had another two hour stretch to Mbarara – 100 mikes of flat savannah, the grass cropped short by the cows. This is real dairy country, a mixture of Fresian and Ankole (with big horns).

As we drove down to Ntungamo (another 90min) we began to climb into the hills. It is like a tropical Lake District, but with banana plantations.

We turn off into the winding Rukungiri road, it is 6:30pm and we are due at arrive at 6:00, but we still have to travel down a 30km dirt road. Remarkably there is a phone signal, so I call Graham to let him know we will be late. William is driving like a rally driver, he is worried that the bridge over the river will be flooded and he will not be able to see how deep it is. We are relieved to see that it is fine and we reduce speed to a more sensible level.

It is dusk now and we get held up with some cows being taken home. We see one or two lights on the hillsides, but nothing resembling a town. There is a Boba Boda, we stop him and check the way. Yes another few more kilometres. Another 10 km later we see cars, more lights and an ambulance with lights flashing (which is promising, as they come from hospitals).

Graham phones us with additional directions, but we do not know which road we are coming in from. Finally, we come into Kisiizi, now is the hospital on the left or the right?

We slow down and see Jane is stood at roadside waiting to direct us up the drive to the guest house. Phew – we have arrived!

PS There is no wifi in Kisiizi, further updates to follow.

A day surprises and mixed emotions.

I am due to visit Edison, the Director of Nile Vocational Institute. He has phoned to say that he has to go to Kampala, so can we bring the meeting forward to 10:15.

Having learned from our Wednesday experience I ask the Boda Boda to take the road bridge and not the railway foot bridge. I arrive on time and am called in to see the Director just as the previous visitor leaves. Edison is a lovely man, big and friendly. We have only just exchanged greets when Margaret (Deputy Director) comes in and reminds Edison that the students and staff have been waiting for his presence at the Crowning Ceremony since 9:15. We wrap up the conversation and Edison invites me to join him for the assembly. I don’t know what this is but am happy to go along with things (as one does in Africa). We enter through the side door onto the stage and we sit down in front of 1000 NVI students.

The Crowning Ceremony comes at the end of term, just before the main examinations and is where all the achievement awards are given out. The Ugandan National anthem is sung (with passion) and there are some formalities, Edison then takes centre stage to deliver a message (work hard, importance if team work, don’t be led astray…). He apologises for having to leave early but says that Professor Nigel, our distinguished guest from the UK will be pleased to hand out the awards on his behalf. He smiles, shakes my hand and departs.

It is quite nice job handing out awards and medals and fortunately, I am not asked to say anything (all though mentally, I did run through some options). There did seem to be a very large number and it felt like they covered most of the students present. Finally, the award to the best house (there are six, each different colours), this is a composite score based on sports performance and housekeeping in the dormitories. The tension mounted …. ‘and first place goes to red’, one sixth of the hall erupted, waving red flags and chanting. There was a large gold trophy that I handed over, the singing continued outside as the hall emptied.

I managed to find Ambrose the student that my wife and I are sponsoring in electrical engineering. He proudly showed me the three way traffic light system he had designed, we talked about the future, and finding jobs. I was sad that this is his final year and we may not see him again. Lunch had been laid on for me in the visitors lounge. The catering department excels on these occasions. There were some of my favourites; pink G-nut (peanut) sauce with matoke and fish tikka.

It was time to say goodbye and to get a Boda Boda back, into time to meet Rachel and Pastor Alfred. This is my last day in Jinja and so we went through some of the outstanding issues. Alfred shared how a gift of money from Trowbridge had helped Dickens (his young son very poorly in hospital), a student who was destitute and to provide for the hire of a vehicle for the motor mechanics exams (they needed a moving vehicle to practise on). Small amounts of money go a long way in Uganda).

Alfred had one final request. Would I accompany him to the dress shop to purchase me a kanzu as a recognition of our partnership and friendship. This is a traditional Ugandan gown that is worn on formal occasions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzu. It was a lovely moment and seemed very appropriate for my last day. I will be sad to leave tomorrow and have a long 250 mile drive down to Kisiizi Hospital in the South West corner of the country to visit my friends Graham and Jane.

Had a nice walk back to the hotel for dinner with Rachel and our friend William, my driver. Over dinner were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm with lightning forks across the river. I hope it will not be like this for the drive tomorrow.

A beautiful morning, so I decide to walk into town for our meeting with Harris Nambutebi (no I did not know Harris could be a girl’s name either) the local Amplify Change Project Manager. She is based in Mukono, which is at least an hour away by minivan taxi, Christine and mercy were impressively on time. Harris was a little late, so we sat outside the Source Cafe (iconic tourist cafe) on Main Street and had some breakfast. Christine tells me that they visited a villiage in Iganga to do some training on sanitary pads, they noticed that there was no secure water source and were working with the community to build a well. I was impressed that they had departed from the women’s work to address this basic need.

Harris was impressive, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and very happy to share information, this is unusual in Uganda as many charities feel they are competing and are very guarded about their funding. They are running three main programmes; ending child marriages in rural communities, sexual and reproductive health in schools, ending sexual violence in schools (funded mostly by USAid). They have a team of 14+ and work in many of the rural communities around Mukono.Harris gives use good feedback on the reusable sanitary pads. There is a high quality locally made reusable product called Afripad, the manufacturing is subsidised with grant funding, so they are quite cheap. MVA reusable pads are made by local self help groups using materials available at local markets.

MVA have been also been trying to run a disposable pad production business to make a surplus, which may not be realistic. Harris suggests we should consider wider benefits like employment of disadvantaged women.
Harris has a lot to share and we talk for two hours, the MVA youth programme is just two people part time. The Amplify Change programmes are non religious, the MVA work has a Christian Foundation. Given that 80% of Ugandans are Christian, there are opportuntities here, but also tensions around some of the teaching.
As we walk back to the bus stop, I feel frustrated that MVA are not able to do more when there is so much need. But the initiative and drive must come from within the Ugandan MVA team, not from us in the UK. But one step at a time, we will have to wait till the time is right

Slept well, but quite tired after yesterday’s travels. It is a beautiful morning with no hint of the heavy rain from last night. I wanted a change from omelette, so was adventurous and went for the fish goujon’s and aubergine bake (the Paradise catering menu is still mystery to me even after all these years).

Today we will cross the river and go up the hill to the Nile Vocational Institute. NVI is the leading independent provider of vocational training in Uganda, with over 1000 students.Nile Vocational Institute-Jinja – Home | Facebook

The UK charity Ugandaid sponsors young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who would not normally be able afford the fees. Through a network of UK sponsors they support over 150 new students per year. http://www.ugandaid.com/

There is a path from the hotel down to the river where there is a footbridge under the railway bridge. It is normally a 25min walk. 1. Today there were two problems. We were not aware it had rained overnight so the path was soaking wet and very very muddy. 2. Word had got round that the police were stopping and checking vehicles on the old road bridge. This ment that all the motorbike traffic to and from Njeru was travelling along this narrow muddy path. The walk took almost an hour and the scenes could have been taken at a motorcycle scramble. Rachel (dressed in sandals for a formal visit) was not at all impressed. We are so pleased that some of the children from MVA have now been sponsored.

We were very warmly received by the staff at NVI and caught up with the latest news over a cup of tea in the staff room. The xMVA children Ruth and Agnes, are in their first year of catering, they are getting good marks in their assessments, which is fantastic achievement given their backgrounds. They have exams next week and urgently needed some items of practical equipment, so they were very pleased to see us.

We decided to go back by Boda Boda, the road bridge was open, traffic was light snd it was a lovely ride.

It was a quick turn round for me, as I needed to drop some items of donated ladies clothing at the young women’s project in Masese. This has been teaching girls how to make re-usable sanitary pads. This is a really big issue, as young women can miss one week of school per month, get behind with their work and then drop out. With support from a US charity, they also have one of the Indian machines that can be used to manufacture a disposable product, from locally sourced materials. The project is stuck at the moment as the cellulose fibre is not available locally and needs to be imported from India or the UK. At present, the costs of this are too high. However, the work with the re-usable continues and thanks to contacts in the Uk, I have been put in touch with another local group and have arranged to meet them tomorrow. So I needed to make sure there were samples available for the meeting tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow how we get on.

Families are very important. Pastor Alfred wanted to show us where he grew up and to visit his Mother, who is in her eighties and recently had a stoke.

The village is some 2 hours drive East, almost half way to the Kenyan boarder.

A friend and neighbour agreed to drive is. Rachel and I were taking bets on how late we would leave. She won, an hour later than planned.

The road is good, but there are bicycles, motor bikes with fridges, gas welding bottles, pipes and small children (not necessarily all at the same time, but there again not totally ruled out), cars, minibuses and large articulated lorries. It is mostly single carriageway and as I sat in the front, I tried not to think about going at 80mph.

The fields are very green, there are one or two hills, some towns, but mostly field after field of sugar cane are maize. We saw some rice fields, they were quite flooded after all the rain. It made me realise just how big the country is and sparsely populated.

It was a two hour drive. The family home (a collection of brick and traditional house) is set in maize fields and Alfred’s brothers grow Cassava, potatoes, beans. Around 30 acres all dug and seeded by hand. It was a lovely peaceful setting. We were introduced to all the family members. Freda, Alfreds sister in law had a 9month old baby, who cried when she saw us, never having seen a white person before. It took some time to prepare dinner, which was rice, potatoes, sauted cabbage, millet dumpling and chicken. At intervals the pigeons, hens and cat all came in and join us in the living room.

Alfred told us he used to walk 7km and back along the main road to town, to attend Primary School. It was the late 70’s when Amin was at he worst. Sometimes there were bodies just lying by the road side. Many Ugandans still remember that time. They acknowledge the failings of the present government, but deep down are just thankful for peace snd stability.

Monday

We had a lazy Sunday, but were back in business mode today as we had interviews to recruit a new child outreach coordinator.

The walk through the slum always has surprises. Today I liked the ducklings paddling in a very muddy puddle in the middle of the path. Rachel had the honour of being escorted by one of the small children, she had a very sticky hand, but it is difficult to refuse as they look so pleased to be friends with a ‘Muzungu’ (white person).

We were due to meet Pastor Alfred at 9:30 to coordinate questions, ready to start interviews at 10:00. He arrived at 10:40 very apologetically (‘I had a long line of families at my door asking for their children to be admitted to the programme’). We began at 11:30, the candidates were all waiting, sat nervously on blue plastic chairs under the mango tree.

I am pleased to report that the process was quite formal, with agreed questions and scoring system. We interviewed four candidates, finishing around 2:30. There was a primary school teacher (who avoided the questions and could not say why he wanted the job), a bright new graduate who looked like Will Smith (he was doing volunteer work at the HIV Centre and was getting up at 5:30 to make Chaptis to earn money), an impressive social worker who could not summarise her career history (she had raised three children on her own and had come by motorbike taxi from 8 miles away), and a chap with a diploma in social work (but was working as a security guard). You can guess who we appointed and we probably did not need to spend 40 minutes with each candidate, but it is important to follow due process. Rachel and I are very excited as we think he (Silvest) will be excellent, as he is an ex-Compassion sponsored child and has a real heart for childrens work.

As we walked down to Alfred’s for lunch I looked back, the cook was washing up the pans. Her two small children were playing outside. She was singing quietly and was clearly enjoying her work, even though she must be paid just a few pounds for s very long day. Perhaps she was content in having a secure regular income, but it seemed more than that.

Outside the gate there were a mix of boys and girls playing football, another group were training by jogging round the outside of the pitch. There was a real sense of community. Even though I come for just a few weeks of the year, I am pleaded to be a part of this.

Nile Baptist Church this morning. It was loud.

After lunch coffee at Igar’s

Watched the football on the way back to the hotel.

Saw the sun set over the Nile.