Masaka

Masaka is the fourth largest town in Uganda. It has little in the way of tourist attractions, a few decent hotels and plenty of hills. This Easter weekend, Brian and I journeyed across the Equator to this place with our friend Keneth and a new friend, Patrick. These boys have worked with a small church that Keneth's grandmother attends. This church is made of mostly mud and sticks and a lot of love. Keneth's dream is to make this church a beautiful expansive church to reach everyone in his grandmother's village. This will take a lot of work but it is his dream and he is dedicated.

Us in front of the first church we visited in Masaka with some of its members. The church pastor is the one standing between us.

The church children welcoming us with a song.

Brian and I spent Saturday there, teaching about hygiene, nutrition, and of course, AIDS. We were greeted by the people at this church with open arms. They sang us songs welcoming and thanking us for coming. We were touched and a little uncomfortable as we weren't sure that we had really done anything to be worthy of their praise. After introducing ourselves, Brian and I split into two groups. He and Keneth went to another area to work with the kids, Patrick and I stayed to teach the adults. Keneth and Patrick were our interpreters and it went incredibly well. The questions ranged from how to make water clean and safe to drink, what foods are healthy to eat, alternatives to toothpaste, how HIV is transmitted, how to protect oneself from HIV, and ways to child-space. Brian's questions from the children included "Do people die in America?" After the group session, we split into groups with some of the church members and went door to door answering villagers' questions about health. We met an old woman around the age of seventy, she had stomach problems and was very constipated. I told her to eat pineapple but of course she had no money to buy pineapple. I promised that we would return later on with pineapple from the market. I told many about the importance of boiling water before drinking it and natural insect repellents. The kids here just get eaten up by mosquitoes and probably fleas. Of course later we returned to give the old woman her pineapple. She accepted it with surprise and tearful gratitude. I'm not sure if she believed we would come back. We returned Masaka town and had a nice dinner and discussion.

Renee answer questions about health from members of the community on Saturday.

Brian talk with a family in the village about how to keep their growing children healthy and strong. I know, this picture looks like something out of a Peace Corp brochure.

Us with our Jjaajaa (Our African grandmother who is also Kenneth's grandmother).

Easter Sunday, we went to a village a ways further from the first one. We were late but incidentally so was everyone else. The program was slightly different on this day. We went to the kids first to teach them hygiene and nutrition. Brian led the show with Keneth translating. It was great seeing Brian teach children and see how rapt they were. We passed out candy and pictures of Jesus for them to color and then joined the rest of the parishion to hear the sermon. It was in Lugandan of course so another guy stood on the stage trying to translate but the pastor was loud and passionate and so most of his words were drowned out. Oh well, we got the gist. Afterwards, we were introduced and they sang us songs with a dance performance. It was all pretty cool and a bit overwhelming. Then it as time for me to stand at the pulpit and answer people's questions about health. These ranged from what meats are healthy to eat, how often should they eat, and what to do about aching muscles. At this point I demonstrated some useful stretches to help ease their pain, to be done before hard work outside. Then some people with personal questions came up to me and I did my best to answer. Some things just need doctors and that is something I am not. One poor woman was laying on the stage to show me her swollen foot. She explained that she had high blood pressure and her ankles always swelled and it hurt to walk on one foot. I got down beside her and asked if I could touch her, when she agreed I began massaging her foot, ankle and calf. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I suggested for her to soak her feet and get a walking stick as her knee was also quite damaged and possibly needed surgery. I would have done more for everyone and had it not been Easter Sunday we probably would have been there hours longer.

It was amazing.

Brian and Patrick explaining the importance of brushing your teeth to a group of Sunday School children.

Saint Renee massages the sore foot of a village woman.


Brian and I discussed our trip on the bus back to Kampala. We agreed that it had exceeded our expectations. These people at those two villages are amazing. They have so little but work so hard to help each other. They have a tiny well that provides cloudy water, that they also take their livestock to drink from. They want to expand it and make it safer but that requires money that NGO's nor the government seem willing or able to provide. A lot of organizations exist in or near Kampala but that's the big city and there are so many people that are doing without and need help. These are good people and Brian and I were so happy to meet them and do what we could to help their small village.

-- Renee

Jinja- the source of the Nile

Brian and I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Jinja about 90 minutes or so outside of Kampala. What makes this town so special? It is in fact the great source of the Nile. So Brain and I arrived in the late afternoon and incredibly found our hotel without needing to ask anyone for directions. With great pleasure we discovered they had a swimming pool and charter boat rides to the source of the Nile. The ride was short but interesting. The water from lake Victoria rushed along and then at the point of the source there was a noticeable shift in current on one side. The two bodies of water did not seem to merge. It was the true source our guide explained.

The glorious source of the River Nile.

Further up the Nile is where a lot of tourists are led and told to be the source of the Nile but in fact it's just a convenient location for restaurants and shops. Our guide then offered to show us where some monkeys lived. Well, we had seen monkeys and though we wanted more of a ride we wished to see something else. That is when we discovered that Gandhi's ashes were scattered near the source. It seemed many years ago he had visited Uganda, namely Jinja, and had seen this source of the Nile and the surrounding beauty and was so overcome he decided then and there that when he died his ashes would find their home there. We saw the monument erected in his honor and to commemorate the event. It was a surprise and pleasure to discover this fact.

Cruising on the Nile.

Afterwards we went swimming and then after watching some news and music videos (we are TV starved out here) we enjoyed some yummy Mexican food. Yes that's right I said Mexican food, only one place in Uganda has Mexican food and we were so lucky to find it.
Saturday we ventured out the see the Falls. I was picturing Niagara falls or something along those lines but these would be more accurately called rapids. Still, very beautiful and we got to go on another boat ride with a guide who charmed Brian with his adorable pronunciation of certain words such as island. We even hiked a bit as the small islands the guide took us to has some steep hills to see various falls.

One of the many rapids at Bujagali Falls.

Afterwards we made our way back on a boda boda that we would never ride in Kampala as we would surely die but in Jinga it is much less hectic and so we made it back safely. If we haven't mentioned it before a boda boda is like a moped or sometimes even like a motorcycle. If we had had a choice, we would have taken a taxi there and back. Unfortunately this was not available. It was kind of fun though...
So that was our great Jinga adventure. It was quite relaxing and a enjoyable experience, especially the hot showers and flushable toilets.

Oh and Muammar El-Gadhafi was in town. We walked right past him on his way to a Muslim rally. It was weird.

--Renee

The sights we seen.

Here are a few picture of what we have been doing the past two Saturdays. We first went to the Kasubi Tombs to see the burial place of the last four Kabakas. This was a treat for the historian in me as the guide was full of information on Buganda History. The actual tomb itself is located in the former palace of Kabaka Mutesa I, the first of the four Kabakas buried inside. The ancestors of the Kabaka's many wives take turns living on the grounds and sleeping in the tomb. Each shift last a month.

Here is Kasubi Tombs.

The next weekend we visited the Uganda Wildlife Education Center (aka the zoo). At visit I felt rather dubious about visiting the zoo as I generally disagree with the conditions the animals are forced to live in. However, before going I read that is in fact an animal sanctuary for animals that can not survive in the wild on their own. The grounds were quite generous and the animals looked well taken care of. There were many types of birds, a lion, ostriches, zebras and monkeys galore. There was even a family of monkeys that were freely roaming the grounds completely unafraid of humans. At lunch they would jump up on the table and try to steal food off your plate. They managed to take one of the other customers sandwich. The zoo was located right on the shores of Lake Victoria so I got a chance to go swimming. It was a nice added bonus. Entebbe is beautiful I can wait to go back to see the Botanical Gardens.

This is the Crested Crane, the official bird of Uganda. Its likeness even grace the country's flag and currency.

The Shoebill is one of the birds Uganda is best known for.

Two of the lest mischievous monkeys we encountered at the zoo, but easily the cutest.

Us and our friends Suzan and Keneth who accompanied us to the zoo.