Kamuli Water and Latrine Humanitarian Handover

Susan and I, along with Elder and Sister Squire, followed the Hannans ( the Humanitarian couple) to Speaker Kadaga's  district north of Jinja about 50 miles in Kamuli.  This is a rather poor district and these water and latrine projects were sorely needed.  It took us 3 hours to travel between 3 projects to commission each one and cut a ribbon to officially open them for use. There were many more completed but these three were chosen to represent the rest of the overall project. When we finished the driving, we went to a primary school for the  Handover, where there were over 500 village people who had been waiting for us to come for over 3 hours.  We felt so sorry for them, but no one seemed to care as that is the culture.  Time is not a big deal here.  It makes me crazy, but I have had to bite my lip and take things as they come. (Some of you may remember that my father was a stickler about time and I inherited that from him.)  Anyway, this was a big party with dancing and singing from the community and speeches from the government leaders.  The  Chief Administrative Officer (Governor), Proscovia S. Musumba, attended and was the star of the show.  I was very impressed with her and the support she has from the people.  Speaker Kadaga was not available to come but was honored for her work with the Church.  There are some very capable women in Uganda and both of these women are very strong for their people.  This was a very long day for us and we had to drive back to Kampala in the dark.  The traffic is impossible with the boda bodas (motorcycles) and taxis  as well as hundreds of people walking along the road as it is the only way they get to their homes.  Many times, the only thing you can see in the dark is their white teeth as many wear dark clothes.  I cannot tell you the number of times a person, who can see me, walks out in front of the pick-up and then looks at me like I am stupid for almost running over them.  Anyway, we loved being with the people of this district at this celebration for the gift of water and a better place to relieve themselves than the bush. This was our last official act as Public Affairs Missionaries.  We will say goodbye to some of our friends next week before we leave. They have treated us with great respect. I hope the few pictures I am putting in the blog will give you an idea of this event:

This was the commissioning ceremony of a 6 stall latrine.  The old latrine had 2 stalls, was filthy, falling down, sinking, and useless for the young women to take care of their needs.  The new ladies' side had 2 pit latrines and a washroom with a faucet and water that is provided by a tank supplied by rain water coming off the roof. Can you imagine what a blessing this will be for them?  On the boys' side there are 2 pit latrines and 1 stall for disabled students. 

 Chief Administrative Officer, Proscovia S. Musumba, commissioned this water source by giving a baby boy a good bath.

 

 This catchment tank will collect rain water from the roof of the school and will be a source of clean water for the village and the school.

 

 Elder and Sister Hannan joined the community in a celebration dance at the Handover.

 

 Women of the village danced for the community.  They have a fascinating hip motion in their dancing. 

 

 Sorry about the water bottle, but it probably belongs in the picture as the girls were singing an original song written in celebration of the handover of the water and latrines. All students here wear uniforms.  The school picks the color and all students, girls and boys, wear it.

 

 Notice the Ugandan dresses these dancers are wearing.  It is very typical and is called a gomez. The lady in the blue dress could really shake her hips as they danced.

 

 This older man, probably a village leader, came out of the crowd and walked across the field in front of the dignitaries and sponsors table to give us his own personal dance to honor our gift and thank us.  It was heart warming to feel the genuine appreciation these people had for this gift of the Church.

We were honored to be a part of this celebration as these people are easy to love. 

 We will miss these genuine good people.

 

Our Visit to the Source of the Nile

The Area Director of Public Affairs, Sean Donnelly, came to see us for one last visit prior to our departure next Wednesday.  He is an avid bird watcher so we took him to Jinja  for an African long boat ride to the source of the Nile.  We had a wonderful time and had invited a friend and Church member, Godfrey Lufafa, who is also a "birder" to join us and add some more detail to our tour.  The boat Captain , also named Godfrey was also very knowledgeable so we learned a lot about the area and the birds of Africa.  One of the major points we learned is that the name JINJA  means ROCK.  The two main Kingdoms of the area are the Buganda Tribe from west of the Nile and the Busoga Tribe from east of the Nile.  They would meet at Jinja (the Rock) to trade and deal with issues. We also learned that 30% of the water at the source of the Nile bubbles up from underground and the rest comes from Lake Victoria.  At the source, you see a definite rippling effect of the bubbling water and we were told that before they built the Owens Dam, there was a cascade falls of water down to the lower part of the river below the dam.  The area at the source of the Nile is the most populated area for different varieties of birds in all of Africa, over 900 different species.  Africans have not discovered it yet but there is an ever-growing number of birders that will come in the future to see this wonderful area.  It is a long way from Entebbe (where the airport is) and travel is congested so it remains a rather difficult place to visit.  Here is some of what we saw:

 I was really impressed with the size of this bee.  His body was the size of a quarter.

 

 My friend and companion 24/7 the past 18 months has been my co-pilot as we have journeyed.
 

 Touchdown !
 

 Timing is everything

 These pictures are taken at a tilapia fish farm on Lake Victoria where each cage holds over 30,000 fish. This farm goes on for a mile or so.
 

 Pelicans coming in for landing.
 

 

 

Ibis and Grey Heron

 

 

 

This Marabou stork  is a scavenger and cleans up the garbage around Jinja and Kampala.  This one is after tilapia.

 A fishing village near Jinja where they get gas and supplies for the boats

 

 Fishing village

Cormorant hang out 

 

 

 Woodland Kingfisher

 Kingfisher

Source of the Nile

 

 

Rippling at the source on the Nile

 

 Boat driver, Captain Godfrey, Godfrey Lufafa (guide) Sean Donnelly 

 

 Susan has an eye for the flowers
 

Flowers at the Kingfisher Resort

 

 

Couples' Conference at Queen Elizabeth Game Reserve

In the past 17 months Susan and I have traveled this vast mission from Axum in North Ethiopia to a refugee camp in South Rwanda.  We have crossed Uganda from the north to the south and east to west.  We have visited the four National Game Reserves and have seen all the "Big Nine" animals including the Leopard, Elephant, Lion, Cape Buffalo, Giraffe, Rhino, Hippopotamus, Gorilla and the
Zebra.  We have seen Warthogs, most antelope types: Kob, Water Buck, Topi, Wildebeest, Impala, Eland and more...We have seen African wild dogs, Hyena and Mongoose.  The list keeps going and we have been blessed to see so much of  the beauty and wonder of Africa. This past week was our Mission Couples' Conference and we traveled back to Western Uganda to the Rwenzori Mountains and Queen Elizabeth Game Reserve. One hotel chain has lodges in all four of the national parks and they are all high end hotels so it is a treat to have visited them all. The food is generally up to American standards and we feel relatively safe eating.  Of course, the water is not safe so we are very careful to make sure we drink only bottled water. This reserve had some beautiful scenery as it is surrounded by Lake Edward and Lake George with a canal between the two.  We saw some wonderful animals and birds.  Sue and I both have pictures in this blog so we hope you enjoy them.

 

 



Susan and I at the entrance to Queen Elizabeth National Park

 

President and Sister Chatfield have become very good friends of ours.  We love them and appreciate the great leadership they provide for this mission.

  Mweya Safari Lodge 

 

 Looking down from the safari lodge...

 

Swamp fly catcher



We have many varieties of very colorful birds. This is a village weaver



 The National Bird -the Crested Crane 

 

 The Crested Crane in flight

 

The canopy of Acacia  trees in the valley below is the home of the tree climbing lions in this end of the park. 

 

These tree climbing lions have easy access to the lower branches of the fig tree so they climb up the limbs to get away from the tsetse fly and it is cooler in the tree.  All lions can climb trees, it is getting down that is the problem.  The tree makes all the difference.

 

 

 

 

The Kob, like the Crested Crane, is on the center of the Ugandan crest or shield 



The Topi is an antelope we have not seen before.  They are bigger than most other antelope but not quite as large as an elk.  They are always running and can cover 80 km in an hour. Their hide is a darker brown than most of the deer-like-animals.

 

 We stopped for a potty break and to take pictures by this stream.  The white tree in the background  is actually in the DR Congo as this river divides Uganda and the DR Congo.

 

 We chartered a double decker open sight-seeing boat that took us down the canal between Lake Edward and Lake George.  It is on this canal that the Hippos, Elephants and Cape Buffalo gather.  As you will see, the Crocodiles and birds are plentiful as well. 

 

 These are African Long Boats used for fishing.  The fishermen go out at night and return at dawn.  Inside each one you can see the nets they use.  



 

A couple of baby Elephants

 We interrupted a town meeting 

 

This Crock was looking for lunch but was laying right in the middle of several Hippos and Cape Buffalo

 

This Hippo seemed comfortable socializing with the Cape Buffalo

The boat interrupted this pod of Hippos, but they moved out of the way.





This Fish Eagle was over looking the water looking for lunch 

 

 



This Crock was sunning on the bank but headed for the water as we neared the bank.  I got him just before he entered the water 



This was a large beetle...about 3 inches long with pinchers at his mouth.

 

 



This Bull  Elephant was eating by the road as we exited the park 

 



Near the park entrance

 



 This trucker lost his brakes and took out 3 other vehicles.  The bodies were lined up on the road after we passed.  This is a common site.  There is poor maintenance on all vehicles here so lots of accidents.  We also passed a dead body on the side of the road as we got  closer to Kampala...not related to this accident but probably a pedestrian. Pedestrians here do not have the right-of-way.  It is very difficult to see them when driving at night.  There are no sidewalks so they walk on the edge of the road.