• Hugh Wells
  • Zachariah Wells
  • Kenya and Uganda 2019
  • Caleb Wells
  • Nathaniel Wells
Oct – Nov 2019

Kenya and Uganda 2019

Wells family trip Read more
  • Trip start
    October 16, 2019

    Heathrow

    October 16, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    At Heathrow - quite a lot of luggage...

  • Day in Doha

    October 17, 2019 in Qatar ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    An early arrival for a stopover in Doha. 25 hours between connecting flights meant we had to collect and recheck-in luggage, A simple task except that Doha’s ‘policy’ meant that 6 hours was the maximum luggage could be checked-in before flying! Eleven bags in a hire car was not going to be possible, so after a little persuasion we were allowed to check in the bags with the risk that they might not arrive in Nairobi
    😯.

    A tired drive to the hotel, a shower, a French breakfast in a patisserie and then we headed to the beach - it is hot - over 40 degrees, although apparently it gets to 50 degrees so today was fine! Katara beach was good and the water very warm - the best place to be as sitting on the beach was not really an option in the heat.

    After some ice cream to cool down we drove to Souq Waqif, the old traditional souq in Doha. A hive of busyness and trading, but not at all threatening with respectful traders who did not persist - perhaps reflecting the fact that Qatar is the richest country by GDP per capita. Much to Emma’s excitement there was a ‘Local Dates Exhibition’ where date producers brought their dates to be sampled - a welcome appetiser before dinner of local grilled meats and salads.

    Back to the hotel for a roof top swim. Qatar is a real mix of traditional and modern, with warm and friendly people. A night’s sleep and then to the airport to go to Nairobi, hopefully with our luggage...
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  • To Nairobi

    October 18, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    An early start in Qatar, leaving at 6 in the morning to the airport, but that didn’t mean it’s cold, 32 degrees as we left. We didn’t have loads of time to get to the gate, partly due to Nathaniel and Mum trying to find something to spend our last Qatari Riyal in WH Smith, but we did make it and had a 5 and a half hour flight to Nairobi. Landing in African sunshine and a much more bearable 20 degree heat was a lovely welcome back to Kenya.Obtaining visas wasn’t half as long as the last time but did still take time filling in all the forms for us all. Then going to collect our luggage, which was a great relief. Getting out of the airport and seeing Jose waiting for us made us feel right at home again here, we even got a welcome from some giraffes soon after exiting the airport. We then had the task of driving to Ken and Maz’s house in Nairobi rush hour, we stopped quickly to buy drinks for the journey tomorrow, but it still took almost 3 hours to get there. We were lovingly welcomed into their home and then went to a burger restaurant made out of shipping containers for dinner while it rained very very very heavily. We went back and played a couple of games, one with shoes and after went to bed after a long day travelling to get some rest for another long day of travelling to Mumias.Read more

  • Rain and Shine to Mumias

    October 19, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    An early start, Jose arrived at around seven but we didn't leave Ken and Maz's until quarter to eight. We drove for about two hours over the Great Rift Valley, roads which had steep edges with no railing. On those roads we saw some baboons and an unreal view. We arrived at Lake Naivasha, which we went to because Jose said we couldn't go to Africa without seeing many animals, so we stopped off for a short boat ride. There was waterbuck and lots of birds at the side of the lake, as well as locals standing in the lake fishing, a very dangerous form of fishing! We got into a small boat which the boat driver said a hippo could try and flip over if it had the chance, we saw lots of birds for the first five minutes before seeing the first pool of hippos with about 30 hippos, no more than 5 metres away, the scariest part was that you could only see some hippos at a time, so any could be lurking beneath the boat... We also saw some giraffes on a peninsula, where both films: Out of Africa and Born Free were filmed, as well as more hippos and lots more birds. Then the driver called a fish eagle in to a neighbouring tree to the lake. Then he chucked a dead fish into the lake and the eagle swooped down from the tree at a rapid pace and picked up the fish from the water. Then we had a relaxing boat ride in to shore. We continued our long trip to to Mumias with still 6 hours to go. The journey was smooth with better roads than 4 years ago. We also stopped briefly at the line of the equator, took a quick photo before getting on our way. The trickiest moment was when the beautiful sunset suddenly morphed into an electric storm with torrential rains, masking the road, meaning it was almost impossible to see the road ahead, fork lightning and booming thunder. We were very thankful for Jose getting us safely to Fred and Esther’s house where a lovely meal was awaiting us. We finally arrived at no. Seventy guest house in more pouring rain.Read more

  • Sunday at Gospel Springs

    October 20, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    A good night’s sleep was needed, and apart from interruptions from a Saturday night party, a call to prayer and hotel noise it was just about had by most.
    The day started with Breakfast outside and then a trip to the church - we arrived to be greeted by many children outside, the church is now in its new building and is quite unrecognisable from before. We were introduced when we got there - the church had probably started at 730 and we arrived at 10 - and then were asked to preach, with 10 minutes notice! The problem with speaking is that any examples are very far removed from the day to day life of the people at the church - their worries are for food, shelter and clothes, much different from the worries we have. ‘Walking by faith and not by sight’ was the passage used with examples of driving in the torrential rain from the night before not knowing where we were going, but having faith that by following the road ahead we would reach our destination despite the conditions around (not even sure that example worked as they are very used to electric storms and heavy rain!) It was great to see friends from before like Christine and Tom as well as the children like Sylvia and Jefftha.

    For lunch time we were invited to a family connected to the church - a lunch of chapati, chicken, rice, ugali after which we went back to the guest house for a rest, run and watch of the Liverpool - Man U game! Followed by dinner at Pastor Wycliff and Mary’s house with their family.
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  • Off to Schools

    October 21, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    As yesterday ‘Heros’ Day’ in Kenya today was a bank holiday - however Light Spring Academy was open although slightly depleted in numbers. Our arrival was greeted with African tea and ground nuts after which we went to meet the children who were asked to introduce themselves. As they quietly spoke, some afraid of the strangers in front of them we knew that this shyness would not last. It was about 5 minutes after they had gone back into their class to practise for their end of term celebration. Their singing and dancing is really amazing!

    Their home lives however are often far from happy. Some have HIV, one of the brightest 10 year old’s father has died from it it, her mother is infected and she was born with it. Others have very chaotic lives. While the children were playing we went for a walk in the village to see some of the homes the children come from. We visited one home where only the ‘wife’ was at home, although she was very young and had only come yesterday. Polygamy is common and some ‘marriages’ the wife will only stay a few days. Poverty often forces young girls into these situations. Another family we visited make a living by cutting rocks into smaller pieces, it is hard work and if they manage to sell them, a whole pile is worth £3.

    After lunch we went to Booker Academy - a good boarding school where we played some ‘cricket’, however by this time it had started raining so it was indoors with around 100 children, not ideal!

    Dinner at Fred and Esther’s then bed zzzzz
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  • School Day 2

    October 22, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After a good nights rest we eventually got on our way to Light Spring Academy. When we arrived we went into their classes and taught them different things, Zach and Nathaniel taught them ‘Our God Is A Great Big God’ and the national anthem; Mum taught tenses in English, Zeph taught Maths and about clothes; Dad taught Maths and I taught some long division in maths to the older class. After that we played with the kids and then had a cup of tea with egg filled chipatis then we went into more classes and watched them do their graduation dances and songs, and even Nathaniel had a go at dancing, but lacked the African rhythm. We then played with them more and played some football. We met Sylvia’s grandmother and talked with her, after we had a very nice meal of chicken and ugali. We then went to Booker academy and taught cricket, outside unlike yesterday with only little rain, and did some games of cricket and catching practice. Then Zeph, Dad And I ran back to the guest house while Mum, Zach and Nathaniel took Jose’s van. When we were running back lots of children walking back from school joined in and started running with us.Read more

  • Teacher Teacher

    October 23, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The day started as usual, we went to Light Spring Academy and saw all the children. We again tried to teach them something but that was more successful for some more than others. Zeph was teaching the Grade 3s, who are older and understand English quite well. Whereas I (Zach) was teaching the PP2s, who are slightly younger and don’t understand us very well. This combination of the younger age and the lack of understanding meant they took full advantage of a Muzungu teaching them, stealing water and sunglasses from me and then snatching chalk off each other, and `I couldn’t do anything to stop it because they didn’t understand. Dad and Wycliffe went to the Mwale Medical and Technology City www.mwalemedicalandtechnologycity.com a supposedly $2 billion project nearby to the church. The bought some bricks from the church over 2 years ago and still haven’t paid - the amount outstanding is around $700. He went to the ‘mall’ where the office is located - this mall is a large business with large shelves mainly selling water as well as wellington boots and even hard hats, all very spread out on the vast shelves. After being told to wait for 30 minutes to see the manager, he then phoned to say he was very busy. Dad also spoke to him without too much success saying he’d pay by the end of November. The whole scheme seems a huge fraud with the mainly US investors unlikely to see any of their money, while the ‘chief investor’ and owner Julias Mwale seems to live in a luxury villa next to the complex (apparently in an office displaying photoshopped photos of himself with world leaders!)

    We then went to Booker and it didn’t rain that much! We had lots of children playing cricket on the field and (hopefully) they were all enjoying it. Some girls we had met earlier in the week tried to plait mum’s hair, using her brace elastic bands to tie the ends. We had to say goodbye to everyone at Booker as they were finishing school so we weren’t going back again. We had a photo and they all thought that Zeph’s hair was a wig so all started stroking our hair as ‘it’s so soft’! They then asked for our ‘autographs’ so we wrote a message on a paper and all signed it. We went back to the hotel and then went to Fred and Esther’s for a fish dinner.
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  • Graduation Day

    October 24, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Today was the graduation of the children in PP2 at Light Springs Academy, so the 5/6 year olds were all wearing their graduation gowns and hats, which was very cute. We left earlier so we were there in time for the ceremony, which was starting around 10. We sat down in the church, with the parents and teachers, as the ‘distinguished guests’. It started with a song from the older children in which they gave ‘flowers’/tinsel to Mum and Dad, it then moved onto the scores that everyone had scored and put them in order of their scores at the front and the head teacher commented on the changes in position that each for each of the children, something that doesn’t happen in England! All the children had performed very well, with most getting over 50% in their exams. We moved onto speeches from Wycliffe, the head teacher and then parents were able to voice their opinion of the school, it was quite incredible what the school has provided these children with and the parents stories confirmed that, with one student not being able to speak before he went to the school. We handed out lunch to all the children and parents and then we ate lunch ourselves. There were then there was some more songs from the children, one which you have to give money to them as a reward for sing and dancing so well. Dad then presented the certificates to the PP2 students who were graduating, and every certificate that was given got a huge African cheer. We gave out balloons and biscuits to all the children at the end which they absolutely loved and we then went on a walk to Wycliffe’s mum’s house because Wycliffe said ‘if we stayed then the children would never leave!’ We walked down the road to where Wycliffe grew up which meant that he knew everyone! We met his mother and other members of his family, including his 102 year old relative!

    We walked back to the church and lots of the children were still there to welcome us back. We couldn’t stay there for long as we were going to visit Tom’s house and business, who is a member of the church we met last time. He lives in the most incredible place, with beautiful views of the hills, we went into his home and met his family- his wife, mother, 3 year old son and his 1 week old son- who were very welcoming and gave us tea. His older son, Hope, wasn’t too sure of the 6 muzungus! He runs a computer business in the town and we visited his business to see it. We went back to the hotel quickly before going to Wycliffe and Mary’s house to cut the cake for Jephtha’s graduation, who entertained us all by feeding us all cake off his fork and singing happy birthday! It was a very short drive to next door to Fred and Esther’s for dinner, which was lovely as always. Back to the hotel for a much needed sleep after a long and busy day!
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  • Relaxing

    October 25, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    After a hectic few days and a proposed trip to Kakamega we decided to take it easier. After a leisurely breakfast we went down the road to a swimming pool. With only about 3 others in the pool we nearly had the pool to ourselves until 3 school bus loads of children turned up, about half of whom swam with the rest watching from the side! After a light lunch we went back to the hotel and took a walk through the back roads to Mumias to visit the market. A chilled day was finished with dinner at Wycliff and Mary’s with a pastor from Zambia.Read more

  • Hearts of Hospitality

    October 26, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We had a leisurely Saturday breakfast, not quite toasted sourdough, but the now familiar Spanish eggs (omelette with onions and peppers), warm weetabix, bananas and African mixed tea. We then headed to a nearby bar with a TV screen which had opened early so we were able to watch the rugby, along with Jose and a small table of Kenyans, one clearly a fervent England supporter!

    After the match, we drove up to Lubinu where the church were holding a School of Leadership training day, led by Joseph from Zambia, whom we had met last night. We arrived at around 2.30pm, at which point Mary said they were just ‘finishing up’ with the training... which actually did finish 3 hours later! We learned a new thing about African time from Zambia, that there is ‘normal time’ and ‘airport time’, as the only time you actually need to be on time is for a flight, otherwise any time is fine! Thankfully we fit quite naturally into African time, being rather good at being late, usually keeping Jose (who has adopted European style punctuality) patiently waiting for some time.

    In any case, whilst Hugh and Zach sat in on the ‘tail end’ of the training, Zeph, Caleb and Nathaniel spent time with some 20 or so village children, who were not particularly from the school or church, but just turned up when they saw the van arrive! The boys successfully encouraged them all to help pick up litter, which they very obligingly did (only for it all to be thrown back into a small ditch beside the church, clearly the normal rubbish disposal site). They then played volleyball (which is actually quite tricky with a cricket training ball!), but in true Kenyan style, they quickly picked up this new sport and amused themselves for hours.

    Meanwhile I enjoyed a Saturday trip to the salon.... or rather the salon came to me in the shape of 3 ladies braiding my hair as i sat just outside the church front door watching the children play and enjoying listening to ‘Bless the Lord, oh my soul’, on a speaker which a couple of lads were playing. The braids seemed a good idea earlier, although now as I turn in, my hair is aching somewhat and I’m not entirely sure how my head will hit the pillow. Zeph suggested I take a paracetamol and Hugh thinks it’s just like braces, sore for the first few days then it’ll settle down. Oh well, the boys will no doubt think it a great improvement that I can now keep them informed on braid woes instead of brace updates!

    It’s hard to believe we arrived in Mumias a week ago, and the boys are so sad to be saying goodbye to the children from Gospel Springs church and Light Spring Academy, especially a family of 3 little boys, Elohim, Emmanual and Levi (who can usually be found on Zach’s shoulders!). Nathaniel says he actually just wants to stay here, to live I think! It has been such a joy to see old friends again from last time, like dear Christine, who is an amazing interpreter in the services, switching effortlessly between English, Kiswahili and mother tongue, depending on who she’s translating for. She welcomed and fed 11 of us for dinner this evening as well as her own very extended family, with a delicious meal of rice, ugali, liver, chicken and mashed potatoes with banana. It has been so humbling to be welcomed so warmly and looked after so generously by people who genuinely have so little and yet give so much. And even more so as they feel the privilege is theirs in doing the hosting. We could learn much from their hearts of hospitality.
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  • African timing!

    October 27, 2019 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This Sunday we had planned to be at Fred and Esther’s church, which they planted at the beginning of this year in a town about half an hour away, called Bungoma. Fred told us that normally they meet for the service between 8 and 10am, but because we are here (and probably not as accustomed to being at church at 8am!), they would change the service to 10-12. This sounded a good idea and we even thought we might have time to call at Gospel Springs church after to say goodbye to some dear people, especially little Levi! We set off about 9.30, which would have got us to church in reasonable time, had it not been for the police pulling us over on the way. This in itself was not unusual, as they regularly pull people of the road (by quickly pushing a mobile set of road spikes in front of you, so you’re not tempted to keep driving), then usually they just have a quick chat with Jose, look in the van to greet us and send us on our way. On this occasion however, a larger than life policewoman was not content with just a greeting, nor was she pacified by the fact that we were on our way to church. In fact she was quite determined to find fault with something and got Jose out of the van with all his paperwork and kept him for some time. She then came to us through the window and asked Hugh and Zeph why they were not wearing seatbelts, (the rest of us had had the good sense to quickly put them on when we spotted the police!). Hugh tried to pull out the British sense of humour card and charm his way out, but getting round this formidable African lady was not going to prove that easy. He then tried to play the law abiding card and put his seatbelt on, but she told him off, saying it was too late for that and said she was going to arrest him and take him to the police station, and asked him, ‘Do you accept the charge?’. Even Zeph’s youthful charm had no effect, (‘I’ve had my seatbelt on for the journey, I just took it off when we pulled in, to have a little stretch’)! At this point we started to wonder whether we would ever get to church at all, as Jose was still at the roadside for quite some time under her interrogation. She was likely looking for a bribe to get us off the hook, but thanks to Jose’s calm and gentle nature and absolute integrity, she eventually let us on our way.

    So we eventually arrived at church about 10.30, but needn’t have worried about being late at all, as clearly the service was nowhere near starting, most people hadn’t arrived yet and Esther and some kind ladies were cooking lunch for everyone in huge pots under a tree behind the church. We were ushered to our seats anyway and a song called ‘Amen’ was playing on repeat. I started singing along and Zach asked if I knew it, I said I didn’t before but after a few runs through, it was getting quite familiar. (Little did we realise quite how many times through we would hear it and then subsequently actually sing along!)

    After a while of sitting, Zeph, Caleb and Nathaniel decided to venture back outside and have some running races with Marlon, and a little girl called Rachel who took a liking to them. Zach and I followed out a few minutes later, as Hugh had disappeared on a wander with Fred, and it didn’t seem that the start of the service was nigh! In the end the service was from about 11.30-2.30, which even by African standards was a far cry from 10-12! We then enjoyed a few minutes of beautiful sunshine whilst the church was prepared for lunch. Thankfully we had just got back inside the building when an almighty hail storm descended suddenly upon us. With hailstones bouncing around outside and a sound like gunshots on the corrugated iron building, it was a definite conversation-stopper!

    We were treated to a huge lunch of rice, ugali, meat, chapati and cabbage, with some 30 people being fed and more food to spare. The hail then stopped enough for Fred to announce that we would soon be starting our next service, which Hugh would be speaking at. The boys shot me an ‘I thought we were going home’ glance and I quickly whispered to Hugh that we really should get back to pack up in daylight ready for travelling to Uganda tomorrow. Hugh started his sermon explaining he would be brief as ‘my wife has said we need to pack, and in UK it is the wives who are the boss’.....hmmm, I’ll remember that when we’re home!

    We did manage to ‘wrap it up’ and be on our way by 4.30 and were sent off with some kind greetings and offers to return and visit people again. We took some mixed tea when back at Number 70 guesthouse to give us a bit of energy for packing up the van, then Fred and Esther came and joined us for dinner (more food!) and to say goodbye.
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  • Kenya to Uganda

    October 28, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We started of with an early morning waking up at 6:50 and had breakfast at 7:10 and met Wycliffe,Mary and there 3 boys to have breakfast.After planning to leave at 8 eventually left at 9:30 (African timing).It took us an hour and a half to get to the border in Busia and spent 2 hours there getting through customs it was an interesting 🤔.There were people in yellow jackets trying to get you to exchange money 💰 into Ugandan shillings but it wasn’t a great rate.You had to pay 20 bob to go to the toilet.Eventually we got through and had a 2 hour drive to Jinja where we stoped for some lunch.We then had another couple of hours to Kampala and then another couple of hours through Kampala due to heavy traffic which was very boring🙄🙄.Read more

  • Watoto

    October 29, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After the traffic of last night we apprehensively left the guest house at 9,15 expecting the worse. However traffic was not too bad (compared with the previous day!). Our first appointment was an orientation session at the Watoto downtown church. Here they also run a project where abandoned women can make a living by sewing. The church was once a cinema but during the time of Idi Amin it was used as a torture chamber, however during the subsequent war the founder of Watoto, Gary Skinner, saw it and saw its potential... Watoto is church based and currently helps abandoned women and orphaned children, although its focus is shifting toward the former as thankfully there are less orphaned children nowadays.

    Once we had finished down town we went to the Bbira Children’s village. The village is beautifully kept and on site is a school, church and accommodation where around 8 children live with a ‘mother’. The village also has a medical centre (where Zach will be spending much of his time for the next 2 weeks) and also provides vocational training such as dress making, hairdressing and trades.

    Once we had finished our time at Bbira we went downtown, where we put our bartering skills into practice at the craft market. On our drive back we appreciated the Kampala traffic before getting back to the guest house to play some garden cricket! Dinner and then bed!
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  • Suubi

    October 30, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    This morning we left the apartments at 8am (quite promptly in fact, as Watoto it seems do not operate quite so much on normal African timing, so we are trying to be good!). We headed straight to Suubi village, one of the main Watoto villages, about an hour out of Watoto (though probably only a few miles). Suubi is on a hill in a most stunning location with unbelievable views and surroundings. We had a tour round some of the classrooms, the on site goat farm (providing milk for the babies in Baby Watoto, as it is more nutritious and more easily digested), the church (where all 1400 or so children and young people worship every Sunday, and lead services with their music and dance skills). We met the pastor and spent some time chatting in the beautiful sunshine.

    The highlight for us all, especially the boys, was Baby Watoto, an amazing house, large enough to house 80 babies from pre-terms to around 2-3 years. It is also in a stunning location with amazing garden and facilities, including 2 little swimming pools for the children to play in, which is quite unusual as in Africa, most people are afraid of water and unable to swim, but they have recognised that for these young children, the water brings them great joy and they say they are trying to remove the negative memories the babies have usually arrived with, and replace them with positive experiences.

    Most of the babies come to them via the police or the hospitals, mainly because they have been abandoned at birth or worse. The unit has been able to house babies from as early as 28 weeks and often when doctors have thought there is no chance of survival. They had several sets of twins and have also had triplets and quads before! The stories are very moving. When the children reach 2 or 3 years, some are taken back into their biological families, if this is possible and many are taken to the main Watoto village, where they will become part of a family of 8 children and a Mama. There they will generally stay until they finish school, which can be anything from about 18 to 24, as in the Ugandan education system they repeat years until they can pass the year, so it is not unusual to be a year or 2 behind. Today we met Julie who told us her story and she is 17 but is in a class with some 15 and 16 year olds and others older than her. She would like to become a doctor one day, so she had a good chat with Zach!

    We had lunch with one of the families, a typical Ugandan meal of matoke, rice, chicken, cow peas and a delicious ground nut sauce, which Julie had been given a day off school to help prepare for us! It was here that we met Denis, a boy we started sponsoring just before Nathaniel was born, when a Watoto choir visited the island. He actually lives in another Watoto village in Gulu, several hours North, but they kindly arranged for him to come down for a couple of days. We have been (unsurprisingly) useless at writing to him over the years, but it was great to actually meet him, and introduce him to cricket, which we played with the children from the family we’d eaten with, and were then joined by lots of local children, as they all live in houses nearby. Nathaniel managed to hit the cricket ball inside a couple of the front doors, which was quite impressive as they’re quite well spaced out as well as onto a roof ! They don’t normally play cricket but picked it up incredibly quickly with their natural athletic prowess and were particularly impressive at pace bowling too!

    It was a relatively quick journey back to the apartments for a bit more garden cricket and a sit on the verandah, before going to enjoy David the chef’s delicious dinner.
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  • Back to Suubi

    October 31, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We had another good day at Suubi, starting in the Baby house, where Nathaniel spent more time playing with little Emmanuel and Caleb with Caleb! One of the nannies suggested we should bring Emmanuela home with us as she thought it was a bit unfair that I was the only girl and Emmanuela was so happy with Nathaniel!

    We ate our packed lunch (samosas) sitting on the staff balcony looking out over the most amazing view. We also visited the medical centre, where Zach will be based and met Dr Job, clearly in the middle of a clinic but carrying a baby outside to greet us! They have a dental surgery next door (alas no braces, apparently you have to travel ‘far’ for that!), but they did have some very advanced equipment which they demonstrated on Hugh, such that the patient has a tv screen where they can actually see all that the dentist was doing! The machine was a gift from Hong Kong. The only slight thing was the room was divided into 2 sections, just by a small screen, so a poor lady who was having some teeth extracted had all 6 of us in the same room, chatting about the wonders of the high tech machine, hopefully it provided her with a welcome distraction, if not there was also worship music playing , so she should have known great peace.

    We then went up to see Denis again and took a football and cricket stuff up on to the big football pitch where we played for a while and lots of the children joined in as they finished school.

    In the evening, David cooked us a lovely meal of goat and roasted pumpkin, then Judith the owner surprised us with a huge cake in honour of Zephie’s birthday tomorrow (5 layers of chocolate sponge, covered in cream and actually really light, unlike Ugandan cake would normally be, she had bought it from somewhere that bakes for muzungus). What amused the boys was that it was decorated with Happy Birthday Zach! I didn’t have the heart to say as she’d been so kind, but it’s going to seem a bit strange when Zach stays on next week and the Zach she thought, goes home! She’s a really easy character and will probably just be amused. She had us all laughing for the evening about how she loves fried grasshoppers, which are typical around this time of year. Hopefully we might get to taste some before we leave !
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  • Zeph's Ziwa Birthday

    November 1, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today started with a plan to leave early to get up to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary after Zeph had had some presents - no Kampala driving though on his 17th birthday. We avoided the worst of the Kampala traffic and got onto the Gulu road for a 3 hour drive. On arrival we had thought we had been booked into Ambuka lodge, however after being welcomed with drinks and cold flannels it transpired, much to the protestations of the welcoming team that we had actually been booked into Ziwa lodge. Eventually we arrived at our destination, a very basic lodge next to the headquarters and were warmly greeted by Winnie, who told us she was a Watoto child and had actually shared a house with Dennis!

    The Rhino sanctuary is located in 7,000 hectares of bush land. Rhinos were lost in Uganda in the 1970s and now through this programme they are being reintroduced into the wild. In addition to all the Rhinos there are many antelope, some leopards and many species of birds. After a quick lunch we went Rhino trekking. After a short drive we stopped and walked through some long grass to be see a mother and baby rhino ahead. They are docile when left alone and can only see around 30 metres, but can hear and smell a lot better. So we were told that they were unlikely to charge but if they did to dive behind a tree! Once we had left this pair we went to another group of 3 which we tracked on a loop until we found them back were we started next to the van!

    After supper we went on a night walk - a trek in the pitch dark amongst the noise of crickets and chicadas. Although we saw no leopards, we did see rabbits - which the guide seemed very excited about, us less so. We also saw some night birds and mole crickets which make a very loud noise.

    After about 3 hours we returned back to our lodge to find a group of 5 rhinos sleeping in our garden! We got to sleep quickly amongst the geckos on our walls!
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  • Hopping snacks

    November 2, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We slept the night at Ziwa lodge with the quite surreal experience of ‘guard rhinos’ outside our bedroom window and I woke several times to the sound of their snoring, actually very gentle and quiet, considering the size of them! Instead of being the huge, threatening animals that they can seem, when sleeping and just happily grazing in their own surroundings, they are incredibly calm and lovely to watch, I think they might now be my top of the big 5!

    We got up before 6, to make sure we didn’t miss the rhinos waking up, which was quite an experience, under the backdrop of an African sunrise. We all sat on the balcony, with the rhinos literally a stone’s throw away and watched them gradually wake up, all 11 of them! They seemed to have quite a morning routine, get up, eat a bit of grass and go the loo! Quite amusingly they all liked the same spot for the latter and seemed to use a makeshift rhino toilet, which resulted in a huge pile of rhino dung just beyond our garden path! We were about half an hour late for our planned 7am breakfast as we weren’t allowed to make the 30m walk across to the breakfast area due to rhino traffic ! Eventually we crossed with the assistance of a ranger, but we needn’t have worried as breakfast was on African timing !

    So our planned for departure time of 8 am turned into nearer 9, but we thought this was still allowing ample time to arrive back in Kampala for the rugby World Cup final at 12md our time... however that didn’t allow for Saturday Kampala traffic ! The proposed 2.5 hour return journey took roughly double that, partly because of going into town to collect Aggrey, who was taking us to a local rugby club to watch the match. We eventually arrived at said club for the second half of the second half.... not the best moment to be in Africa in a final losing to South Africa! Nathaniel and I nearly got landed on by someone falling back off their stool in jubilant enthusiasm ! Suffice to say we didn’t stay around long after the finish, preferring to get some lunch at a nearby shopping centre, in the rain.

    We had planned to go back to Suubi for some more cricket but it was a bit late in the day, so we had another visit to the craft market then headed back to the mission apartments, which felt somewhat like ‘coming home’ after our night away. We enjoyed a lovely dinner, as usual, with a starter of fried grasshoppers, as recommended by Judith from the apartments, who said she can eat a whole tub whilst driving along. They are generally sold at your car window along the edge of the road and as we’d sat so long in Kampala traffic, we decided it would be a good time to try them. The only slight snag was, we saw some cooked ones and decided to have some, but by the time we were ready to wave the £1 equivalent out the window, traffic had moved on. So the next time we saw a box of them we were quicker off the mark, but as the seller handed me the sandwich bag full of them, I quickly realised they weren’t quite ready to eat, as they were still hopping around, albeit with their legs having been removed ! Caleb quickly took them on as pets, but as they then sat for several hours in the hot van before we arrived back at the apartments, they were somewhat less alive, in spite of Nathaniel’s amazing efforts at CPR. Not to worry though, chef David was happy to still fry them up and they were actually quite edible, almost a bit like savoury popcorn... sort of!
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  • Church Watoto Style

    November 3, 2019 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Three church services today - the first was a local one near our guest house - apparently starting at 7.30, although we were told it was realistically 8am - we arrived at 8.10 to realise the pastor wasn’t there - after a walk we arrived at 8.30 for the real start! After a few songs we left for Watoto church - this one was much more on time - to the dot! - we were given seats at the front of a huge auditorium, where we had to stand up as we were introduced. A really good sermon and great worship. Jose enjoyed it, but saying it was more Muzungu style.

    Lunch was at a local African restaurant consisting of goat, beef, matoke, rice, yams... all very good. Then back to the guest house to relax in the beautiful garden. At about 6pm we heard lots of singing outside and we went to investigate to find another church service which we join for a bit, Zach proving popular as one of the children gave up holding Emma’s hand in favour of Zach’s, then she wanted to be picked up and promptly went to sleep in his arms!

    Another dinner of goat, packing then bed.
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  • Leaving

    November 4, 2019 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The day dawned to say our goodbyes, which we weren’t looking forward to, least of all Nathaniel! Zach went off to the medical centre first thing, so we saw him off (Nathaniel would hardly let go of him, and to quote Zach, “It was almost cute”, which is praise indeed from an older brother!)

    The rest of us packed up quite leisurely, enjoyed a last morning at the lovely missions apartments, where Judith and the team had made us feel so very much ‘at home’. It’s hard to imagine a nicer place to leave Zach and although sad not to be coming home altogether, it’s an amazing opportunity for Zach, which he’s very much looking forward to. (By the end of day 1, he has already put in and taken out canulars and administered IV drips....hmmm, I’m pretty sure you need to be a bit more qualified for that in the UK!) We look forward to his ongoing Find penguins to see what else he gets ‘trained’ in (delivering a baby maybe?!).

    For us, it was dear Jose who drove us to Entebbe and although sad to say goodbye, we assured him we’d be back (on Nathaniel’s insistence!) and left him on his long drive back to Kenya. We realised we’d got the flight time wrong by an hour, so far from African timing we were actually 3 hours early for a flight that was then an hour delayed! Not the most exciting airport to spend an afternoon in, but we did enjoy some final Ugandan samosas at the cafeteria before finally taking off sometime after 4pm.

    We were ‘treated’ to 3 flights in 1 for the journey home, which for Matti would just add to the excitement and be worth booking just for the extra time in the air, whereas all I could think was why take 18 hours getting home, when a direct flight would take 8! Decided to embrace the moment though (thanks to my newfound almost enjoyment of flying for the purpose of this trip), and so followed a 36 minute flight to Rwanda, then a brief stop to let more people on, then a 6 and a half hour flight to Doha (slightly cutting it fine for the connection but got there in time in the end), then a final 7 hour stint to Heathrow.

    Now as I write from the air, we are about to start our descent, and have just been told it’s 8 degrees in London, hmmm could be interesting as I’m in a sleeveless summer dress and flip flops, alas with no ugg boots left in the car, which was an oversight. Have twiddled my way through most of my braids now (to keep me calm for take off and landing) so alas the African hair will not last until you get here, Dad. Zeph says it’s more hippie than African style now and to quote him, ‘We’d better just hope we don’t see anyone we know on the boat!’.

    So homeward bound we are and shortly coming in to land, how technology has come on that we can chat from the air!
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    Trip end
    November 5, 2019