Log of my Placement in Ntungamo, Uganda

August  -  October  November - December  January  February  March - April

January 2004

January 1^st 

New Years didn’t turn out to be quite what we expected.  People weren’t up for going out to see Shaggy so we decided on dinner at Mateo’s followed by a quick stop at the casino to recover costs then onto the Sheraton where they had some local musicians playing,  followed by fireworks.  Nothing too spectacular.  As the show wrapped up we decided to go find a club with some dancing to wind off our night.  The 1^st attempt TLC failed as the line-up was really long. 2 Ugandan’s we met that night that were hanging out with us suggested another place called the Rock Garden.  As we began walking there it began to rain hard so Craig decided to get us a Boda Boda.  Had we been a bit more sober we would have realized this was not the greatest idea, 1. it’s wet and slippery, 2. there’s lots of drunks on the road,  3. we shouldn’t separate from the group.  

Sure enough disaster struck when a drunk girl wandered into the road right in front of the motor bike.  The driver hit the breaks which locked and the bike slid out from under us.  Sending us flying across the road.  Amazingly no one was seriously injured.  I skinned my arm and shin but no one else appeared to have a scratch.  So being stupid twice we climbed back on and were about to take off when Craig felt about 6 hands on him, on his watch and in every pocket. All I knew was Craig swearing and yelling something bout his wallet and jump off and give chase.  The driver took off with me and I had to beg him to stop.  He finally did and I walked back to see what was happening.  At that point I ran into Vix who was with everyone else that walked.  The group got back together and Craig told us they had caught the guy then discovered that Craig still had his wallet and told them just to let him go, so the guy took off running again and a man in a trench coat appeared pulled a rifle and took aim, Craig yelled “no! don’t shoot it’s fine let him go” and the guy didn’t shoot.  Craig did loose about 35000 out of his pocket but had won 55000 at the casino so it wasn’t the end of the world. 

The whole thing freaked us out and sobered us up pretty good so we didn’t stay long at the Rock Garden and headed home.  Got home and sat on the patio for a while reflecting on how lucky we are that things didn’t go much worse for us.  What a way to start the New Year. 

New Year’s Day we took it pretty easy.  In the afternoon we headed down to Garden City and had dinner at this Indian rest.  The food was SO good!  The chicken melted in your mouth.  After which we went to see Lord of the Rings 3 which we both really enjoyed.  That night I woke up in the middle of the night sick, stuffed up with a sore throat.  Friday I felt awful all day and other than running the errands I had to I took it easy.  Saturday I couldn’t get out of bed.  Today, Sunday, I am feeling much better.  Still stuffed up and what-not but the fever and aches are gone and I can function.  We are hoping to find a pool for the afternoon and in the evening watch Seabiscuit which Craig bought for me yesterday.  The American Club is still closed, been over a month now since they had a bomb threat.

January 4th

In the afternoon we headed out to the Blue Mango another muzungu type club on the other side of Kampala.  We were really impressed with the place.  The atmosphere was really nice and it wasn't all muzungus hanging out.  It reminded me of Thailand, lots of bamboo and soft lounging areas.  They also have a theatre set up with a big screen TV that was playing Pirates of the Caribbean.  Craig and I spend more of the afternoon there and were joined by Vix, Liz, Pete, Clair, & Corry later on.  Had a great burger for dinner and a very relaxing time.  Soon as it got dark the mosquitoes got really bad so we headed home and watched Seabiscuit.  I found the movie really disappointing after reading the book, but that's the way it usually goes.

January 5th

My meeting with VSO in the morning didn't got too well.  Steven was in a meeting and couldn't join us and it seems they thought I had a lot more time after my placement before leaving the country to work for them.  It's unfortunate because I do want to help, but I did tell them the dates in early December.  They asked me if I would stay on an extra 2 months to work for them.  Our current plans leave me with only 3 weeks in Kampala, Craig wants to get home for hockey play offs.  Hospice also wants me to work for them during that time.  It is much easier for me to work for Hospice cause it's just down the road so no commuting, I also know that they have lots of work to be done so I will be busy.  I feel bad saying no to either.  I am hoping to do 1 week for VSO and 2 weeks for Hospice.

In the afternoon I caught the bus home.  The wait at the bus park was long but the ride home was quick.  The bus was new and drove very fast.  Jan and Pete had dinner waiting which is such a relief to come home to after a long day.  They have been so good to me, I don't know how I would have made out here without them.

January 9th

Craig and I decided to try to find a place in the middle to meet for the weekend since neither of us could take a long weekend.  We settled on lake Nabugabo near Masaka.  About 4hrs of me and 2hrs for Craig.  We weren't really sure what to expect there except a lake that is supposedly Bilharzias free and some sort of restaurant.  We planned to meet in Masaka at 5pm but I didn't make it there till 6pm because my bus stayed in Mbarara for some time.  Surprisingly Craig had not arrived yet either and didn't till after 8pm because his bus didn't leave until 3hrs after he boarded.  After a quick bite to eat we set off walking to find a taxi tot he lake, had to walk a ways in the pitch dark and I fell in a hole. Scraped my hand and twisted my ankle a little but mostly bruised my pride, I couldn't get up again because my pack was so heavy, I think Craig was having a hard time not laughing at me as he pulled me up!  Anyhow got a taxi and managed to talk him down from 30000 to 15000 for the trip.  It was quite a treck in the dark but we made it safely just as a spectacular red full moon was rising.  We picked a spot to set up the tent and hurried through it while being attacked by insects who were attracted to our head lamps.  It was really hot and the 1st night camping that I didn't freeze sleeping outside.

In the morning we got our 1st look around.  Really nice set up and a surprisingly sandy beach.  The lake looked great and the place had donkeys!  They were so cute and friendly following us around hoping for treats.  We went over to the restaurant and asked what food they had "fish and chips" the waitress said.  Hmm, not what we had in mind for breakfast.  After a little more conversation it turned out they could make eggs, toast and coffee for us and when it arrived there was watermelon too!  At the end when we got our bill I was surprised that all that for the 2 of us was only 5000 ($3cdn).  Just as we were finishing our breakfast a bus arrived and a church service started it wasn't in English and the sort of took over the place so we headed out on a walk to see if we could find somewhere to buy mineral water.  When we returned the church service had turned into a full on revival with people falling on the ground and crying etc.  Craig had never seen one before and found it rather interesting.  Having taken part in such proceedings before I understand how it can be very emotional, but I have to admit that watching from a distance it did look rather comical.

After or lunch, of fish and chips of course, we went on another long walk in the other direction across a grassy plain along the lake.  It was picturesque, more how you would probably envision Africa looking.  When we returned we played a few games of pool and decided to head to Masaka after dinner to stay the night since there didn't seem to be electricity and the bugs were sure to be bad again.  Stayed at La Nova and decided to spring for the nicer room at 38000 (rather than 25000) and regretted it as the TV didn't work and the bathtub only let out a trickle of cold water.

Sunday we headed home.  I caught a matatu and at one point had 25 people in it with an infant on my lap. Good fun.  Didn't upset me since we rescued them all from a broken down matatu and I really felt for them.

January 13th

Last night Jan and Pete had a close call.  Jan had gone home and turned on the oven to warm for cooking bread and went back to work.  Turned out she had turned on the burner instead of the oven.  It had a wooden chopping board with a pan containing the bread covered by a tea towel on top.  An hour later when they got home after work the set was burnt to a crisp.  The tea towel didn't exist and the chopping board was ash.  The bread was however nicely cooked if a bit black on the edges!  They were really lucky the curtain was not closed or it would have caught on fire setting off most of the kitchen.  It's funny after the fact but could have been quite a disaster.  Prompted thinking about how we have not been supplied with fire extinguishers, fire blankets or smoke detectors and it's so easy to have an accident like this.  I start fires by accident all the time!

January 20th

HIV/Aids

In Canada I think people have a false sense of security about Aids, that "it'll never happen to me" attitude.  Having been here it's now scary to think of the risk many of my friends and even myself have put ourselves at times.

Here I very realistically think it could happen to me.  I always assume everyone in HIV positive.  I am afraid of medical facilities and completely avoid them.  I am very conscious about blood, a sort of heightened sensitivity to myself or anyone else bleeding.  Because I am in a relationship I feel safe from that avenue but I am more afraid of walking in the dark incase I was rapped because it would almost surely mean exposure to HIV and that is scarier than the prospect of the rape it's self.

Part of the reason I am sensitive to Aids here is the information I was given in training back in Canada.  But the much more prominent reason is because on a daily basis I have contact with people suffering from Aids.  There are 3 men in the Education department (my department) alone who are known to have Aids.  These people are real to me.  They have families, jobs, lives.

There is a lot of work being done in this country and in others to promote awareness and target prevention.  A good number of VSO volunteer placements are centered around that work.  Even Craig's work is associated since he is working for Hospice which is providing palliative care.

Although so much is being done Aids is still spreading here.  It is very difficult to stop when the cultural norms tend to be the opposite of safe sex.  For men here sex is their right.  Monogamous relationships rarely exist and often even though they may know they are HIV they will still continue having unprotected sex with their partners.

Anyway those are some of my thoughts and experiences with Aids/HIV here in Uganda.  I didn't really have a point, just wanted to write just in case it may make anyone else think.  I don't know how HIV/Aids may effect your life but maybe spare just a second to thing if it does and what if any little thing you could do to help stop the spread.  That's all, we now return to our regular programming.....

February 2004

February 4th

Sad Chapter

On Friday January 30th Craig and I broke up.  The last while making this decision has been really hard on both of us and really put a damper on the events of the past few weeks.  It was a very hard decision as we have been through so many good and bad times together.  When you loose something that you treasure more than anything else you morn and I find myself in tears many times a day, I feel lost and very alone out here.  It's still such a new shock that it came to this and that my hopes for the future now all have to change.  People always seem to have the impression of me that I am tough, I always land on my feet, I'll be fine...  but inside the tough shell I put on I hurt as much as anyone else.  That said I am finding ways to cope.  Jan and Pete have been wonderful and Craig and I are doing our best to support each other.

Feb 17th I will be in Kampala for an IT Workshop we are hosting for our employer partners. Specifically I will be giving a database workshop and the Intro to the day. That weekend I will be meeting up with Craig and his parents on Lake Bunyoni for our travels. We are going to be trekking a volcano to spend an hour with the gorillas then going to Queen Elizabeth park for a game drive and boat trip. These are 2 events I have been looking forward to since before I left Canada.

After our travels I plan to spend some time in Kampala and go to Zanzibar, then I will be heading back to Canada. I didn't think I was ready to go home and wasn't looking forward to it but now the more I think about what it will be like to see you all and the things I miss from home the more I am beginning to get excited about going back. I'll be spending just enough time in Vancouver to hopefully visit everyone then I will be headed to Kelowna. I don't yet know where I will live, it will probably depend on where I find work. If you happen to hear of ANY IT positions please let me know as I am running out of cash quickly.

This weekend I am going to spend with some friends in Mbarara and on the Internet doing job searches. I should have time to check email most weekends between now and when I return and would love to hear from you. I'm excited about making plans for what to do and see when I return. Really looking forward to good food and some good beer!

February 13th

Farewells

Yesterday was my last day of work. The last 2 weeks have really dragged on, there hasn't been much to do. It's a good sign that there hasn't been much need for me, it shows the department is able to stand on their own 2 feet and my job feels complete.

On Tuesday they held a "cocktail" party for us after work in the center courtyard at the office. We weren't sure what to expect but it turned out really nice. The DEO (head of the department) gave a speech then the 3 of us were asked to make speeches. After that there were 4 more speeches by the top people in the District thanking us for our work. They gave us some really nice gifts and served a matooke and goat typical Ugandan meal. After the food and speeches finished they put on some music and we all danced a song or 2 in groups to wrap up the evening. I thought that it would be long and painful, speeches in this country tend to be very drawn out, but it really was enjoyable. The worst part was the spotlight and video camera about 1 meter from our faces through the whole evening!

Today Jan and Pete are treating the department to a day at Lake Bunyoni. I got up early to go to Kabale and use the Internet before heading to the lake. Got an exciting email, Total Care Technologies in Kelowna wanted a phone interview with me today, good thing I was able to check email. It's a nursing software company I have always had a keen interest in working for. I sent the info to set up the call but she hasn't called yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.

At 12pm the matatu we borrowed from Kiyora PTC to transport the staff met me at Mbuzi Mbiri to pick me up for the ride out to Overland where P & J had arranged a buffet lunch for us. Unfortunately on the way up the hill we hit a bump and there was a crunch but everything seemed fine. When we reached Bunyoni though there was a lot of slick black liquid pouring out from under the vehicle. Not a good sign. We left it to the driver (who came with the vehicle) to look after and went to have our lunch. The buffet was tasty and everyone really enjoyed it. David sat next to me and gave his typical go at trying to convince me to give him my camera. I gave him back my typical response of he makes more money than me so he should just buy one himself. A regular tiresome conversation of ours. It'll be nice to be home where people don't assume I am rich and ask for the world as if it's their right.

After lunch we took everyone out on a motor boat ride around Bushara Island. Most of the staff have never been on a boat before and none of them know how to swim. It was a chore rounding up enough life jackets for them at 1000 a piece. It was well worth it though to see their faces as they begun to relax and enjoy the ride. Jan had her binoculars and passed them around and that was a good source of wonderment too, once they figured out which end to look through that is. I sat at the front of the boat facing back to watch everyone. Took lots of pictures I can't wait to develop when I get home.

After the boat ride I was tasked with organizing a pool tournament, J & P had 2 prizes to offer. As a talked to everyone to find out their skill level I discovered that really only a couple had ever played pool before. This didn't look too promising and seemed it could take all day to get through all of us. So then I had an idea and decided to teach them a game that we have nick-named Suicide that Craig has taught all the VSOs. Everyone can play at once and since I'm the only one who'd played before it was a level playing field. Well the game was a huge hit! Everyone was grinning and running around the table like crazy people in no time. The spirit of competition was fierce and a couple of fights almost broke out, mostly when people played out of turn or didn't quite grasp the rules. I was eliminated early and played the ruthless umpire. In the end we played 2 rounds and everyone had a really great time. The prizes were flasks (that's a Thermos for you Canadians) something everyone in Uganda uses a lot since tea is the most common drink here.

When the pool games were over it was 5pm and there was no sign of the driver and vehicle which had disappeared during our boat trip. I decided I had better make my own way home since I had arranged for that phone interview to happen anytime after 7pm. They sent Dan with me to get dropped in Kabale and try to hunt down the mutatu. We ended up waiting forever to get a special back and I was able to leave Kabale by 7 reaching Ntungamo and power for my phone buy 8:30pm. I never did get the call and I really hope she didn't try and miss me.

Jan and Pete didn't get home till 11:30 that night. Turns out the mutatu came back not long after I left but that the staff insisted on going to a hotel in Kabale to have speeches and give gifts. Well most people were in a very drunken state at this point and apparently it was appalling. Glad I missed it, but still feel a little like I missed out. Some of the speeches sounded really nice, tears and thank you's, others kept interrupting though with very bad comments. Eg. From a subordinate to the head of the department "That man is a thief! A crook!" something you would loose your job over back home and much worse things said as well. Here everyone just pretends it never happened.

Just another crazy day in Uganda.

February 17th

Tuesday I packed up all my stuff and moved to Craig's in Kampala.  Wednesday night I had my final meal with Jan and Pete and my 1st Interview with Paulette HR at Total Care.  Needless to say a big low and a big high.  J & P have become such special people to me and it will be so strange not seeing them everyday.  They are headed home to live in Whales hopefully in a house by the sea.  I hope to go visit them there one day.  In the meantime we will be keeping in touch over email.  Without them Ntungamo would have been so different for me, I own them so much and will treasure the friendship we developed forever.  My interview went well I think even though it was at 4am!  She has scheduled a second interview with the manager for the position for Thursday, again at 4am.

February 19th

IT Employers Workshop

After a lot of work and a little preparation today we had the employer's workshop and it was a huge success.  I think we had about 35 attendees in the end from all over Uganda.  The workshop was designed to educate the decision makers (upper management, financial officers, potential IT people) on planning for IT in their organization.  All the employers are using IT already but have no IT experience and in most cases no budget.  We did 4 small group sessions on Database, Financial applications, Networking and file management, and Internet/Email.  I was responsible for the group session at the beginning assessing their current positions and presenting the goals and objectives for the day etc.  I then facilitated the group on Databases.  I really enjoyed the day personally and the employers were so keen.  We got a lot of good feedback and hopefully they will be able to make the workshops a regular thing.  That night I had my 2nd interview and I think it went ok.

Traveling Uganda

February 21st - Mburo

http://www.visituganda.com/go/parks/mburo.htm

Let the fun begin, all the work is over and it's holiday time!  Today I headed south to Lake Mburo with Craig and his parents.  We have been to Mburo before, its the park with zebras where you can do a walking safari and camp on the peninsula with the animals.  Our night here we did not get too much sleep.  2 hippos have been having a turf war and carried out their battle right next to our tent all night.  You wouldn't believe the noise of a 2000lbs+ hippo charging past your tent sounds and feels like.  I awoke thinking there was an earthquake! 

We did the boat trip Saturday afternoon and the morning walk on Sunday. The was was good we got pretty close the zebras this time and saw lots of baboons.

February 22nd - Bunyonyi

http://www.acts.ca/lbdc/bushara/

Sunday we headed south to Bushara Island.  Bushara has been Craig and I's favourite place in Uganda and I recommend it as a must do for anyone looking for peaceful relaxation in Uganda.  It was sad being my last trip there since I have been so many times before.  The sun came out for us on Sunday afternoon and Craig and I relaxed on the floating dock talking about life.  It's one of my best memories that will stay with me forever.

Of course one of the best parts of Bushara is the food!  I had a couple more of my fav. food the crawfish chowder.  I think I'll be emailing to get the recipe for that one.  Mmmm Mmmm good.  Any of course Craig had mac n cheese for every meal.  And can't leave out the bliss of waking up in the morning to coffee on the deck watching the lake wake up and easing into to the day.  Did I mention this is the best place in Uganda?

February 25th - Gorillas @ Mgahinga

http://www.gorilland.co.ug/touruganda/mgahinga.htm

My dream.  The day I found out I was going to Uganda I also found out that you can go visit the mountain gorillas.  I have waited a long time for this day.  There are only 600 gorillas left in the wild, these are the same gorillas studies by Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist", a book I highly recommend.  The gorillas are found in the volcanic mountains in the south-west corner of Uganda and the cross over into the Congo and Rwanda.  There are 2 parks in Uganda Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga just out of Kisoro.  We went to Mgahinga because it was a lot less expensive, I've been told that the price for this trip is to go up to $375 in Summer of 2004 so we are lucky to have paid what we did.

The day was incredible.  We started off at 8am and trekked for about an hour through the jungle before we found them, although it felt more like they found us!  Our tracker up ahead was slashing a path for us through the jungle so I'd become used to crashing noises but I suddenly realise the noise and crashing branches to my right were not our tracker.  Suddenly a huge Silverback gorilla, the dominant male, fell out of the sky! And there he was, landed on his bum, looked at us with boredom and began snacking on plants around him.  It was the most amazing moment, I was totally overwhelmed and grabbed onto Craig half petrified half thrilled.  We both just stared at him in awe.  As we moved along we found the rest of the family of 11.  They were pretty active moving through the jungle in search of breakfast.  There was a little baby who chest beat displayed to us then ran right up to Craig, grabbed a vine next to him and climbed up into the tree above to give us a full acrobatic show, frequently falling out of the trees and tumbling around.  The hour went really fast and I loved every minute of it.  It was so special to spend time watching these incredible animals.

All pictures are blurry cause we weren't allowed to use flash.

February 26th - Ntungamo

After our morning with the gorillas we traveled to Ntungamo to spend the night.  My last night in Ntungamo.  All my stuff had already been moved out and there was only the VSO stuff left to be moved over to Sarah's place to store for VSO to pick up.  Craig's parents stayed at Jan and Pete's house.  We went to Sky Blue for dinner and I had my last fish and chips.  In the morning I went by the office to say my final goodbye to everyone then we went for a hike up the hill behind my house.  At 11am our driver picked us back at the house and we headed off for Queen Elizabeth National Wildlife Reserve.

leaving Ntungamo for the last time.

February 27th - Queen Elizabeth and Mweya

http://www.mweyalodge.com/ - beware they have loud music that starts playing when you go to the site.

On our way through the park to our accommodation we saw a few new and special animals.  1st we had a family of baboons come right up to the van.  I was out the sky roof and was actually quite scared they were going to jump up and come through the roof!

Next after passing the gate into the park I spotted an elephant.  My 1st Elephant!  Then we discovered there was about 11 of them.  The closest one we saw was about 30ft from us.  It was so cool to watch them, they are huge!  They were feeding on Acadia trees, their favorite.  These trees have huge thorns about 3 inches long but it doesn't seem to deter the elephants.

Then we arrived at Mweya.  Boy did we arrive!  The place is dreamy.  As soon as we walked in the door we were brought cool damp cloths on a silver platter, followed shortly by fresh squeezed passion fruit juice!  The rooms were incredible and there were warthogs and mongoose running around right outside.  The pool is out of this world and they made these cocktails called Pink Elephant that were SO yummy (and so expensive, 8000ush)

Mweya Safari Lodge

The next morning after coffee and a muffin provided in the Lobby we headed out on our game drive.  We saw a new antelope called the Ugandan Cobb.  In the middle of hundreds of Cobb we found our 1st pride of lions.  There was 1 mother and 5 cubs, only 2 of which were hers.  The other mother was off looking for the male lion to mate again.  The cubs were about 10months old and almost as big as the mother.  While we were watching them 2 male cobbs started fighting and got their horns locked, they were spinning in a circle and the mother lion couldn't pass up the opportunity and went after them.  Both Craig and I were cheering her on but they broke free and got away just in time.  A little later on we saw another pride, 7 cubs and 2 mothers, they had a fresh kill and we got to see the mother drag the antelope's head over to the cubs.

Lions

Friday afternoon we went on the Kisizi Channel boat trip.  Of the 3 boat trips I did while in Uganda this one was by far the best.  We got the closest to the animals and saw the largest quantity of animals.

Click on March to view the conclusion of my overseas adventure.

March 2004

Home About my Placement Training Pictures Log1