For
so many unexplainable reasons, this is going to be the hardest experience to
write about. Unexplainable because there is no explanation for something that
it's beyond our imagination.
But... here we go...
There are some words that I want you to keep in mind while reading this post: hunger, contaminated water, no toilets, no clothes, smiles, friendship and love! You all might think that it cannot all coexist at the same time in the same place... but it can! These are the words that highlighted our last 4 weeks here in Uganda.
The big question of most of you all is "why Africa"? The answer is "why not?"
When we first started this amazing trip in September 2015 our initial plan was to cross all Asia from India to Indonesia by road and on a budget, 10$ a day each. We planned to visit India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. We wanted to be out of our comfort zone as much as possible so we could grow as a couple and as an individual. The road was not always flat, but we look back and the road we did was just magical. After getting inspired in India, being in the most beautiful places in Thailand and getting "lost" in Laos... Africa came as the next step to take us to another level of consciousness. Rather than just crossing countries and being surrounded by westerns all over the most well known places in Asia, we wanted to be in places where "western" does not come in the dictionary.
I would be lying if I say that we were not nervous or afraid about this idea of coming to Africa. We were afraid... everybody speaks about Africa as a dangerous place so of course we were afraid!!! But we also knew that the people who say it are the ones who have never stepped in this beautiful continent. So, yes!!! 'Bias' was injected in our mind by a blocked society that prefers to listen rather than to see to believe.
We wanted to see!!!
After the decision of coming we bought our flight tickets, we took the yellow fever and Meningococcal vaccines, and bought Mefloquine pills for Malaria. So far we have not been tacking any Malaria pills, though in Africa it is better not to take risks, particularly because we are traveling with no travel insurance.
Some of you are now thinking "How crazy can you guys be for going to Africa with no travel insurance?" Craziness is taking all the preventions and hardly believe that something is still going to happen to you - lock your front, back and side door of your home and cover yourself with a blanket than you will be safe.
After going through all the legal and bureaucracy things we were ready to start "planning" our trip. We wanted to start with volunteering, that way we would be able to immerse ourselves in the real culture and problems of the country. It took us weeks to find the perfect volunteering that would fulfill our intentions. There were plenty of volunteering organizations on Google Search but all of them seemed so deeply immersed in so many questions... Why would we pay big amounts of money to volunteer? Where do they apply that money? What kind of people/intention is behind those organizations? We wanted to find something genuine and pure on its essence, so after a long research on 'WorkAway.info' (platform we have been using to work in exchange of food and a bed) we found Rural Health Care Foundation to be our gateway to this amazing continent.
Rural Health Care Foundation is an organization currently lead by a Ugandan guy called Willy. The principle of the organization is 'Good Sanitation for all'. They are a very small organization, 10 to 15 people that get their hands dirty with stuff that usually people do not care about. They care and they do a beautiful and inspiring job. The organization is settled in Mubende town. A small town that also gives the name to the District - Mubende District - which has thousands of small villages/communities that live with no access to water, electricity and to the majority of them a simple toilet is just a handmade hole dug on the ground. Their mission is to assist this people with clean and safe water, latrines and support the communities by giving them some good hygienic principals, and sometimes just hope. Hope because their willingness to change something always hits on the necessity of getting funds to support the projects.
Kenya Airways, was the air company responsible for our flight from Bangkok to Uganda. Great!!! This company is just the one with the worst record on crashed airplanes! I was freaked out!!! I always get really nervous when I fly...I guess I don't like it... But well... there was no other way, that was the cheapest flight we found so we had to make it.
On the day we were leaving Bangkok, we were so excited, nervous, feeling butterflies in our belly, afraid, curious and alive!!! It was the second time we felt like that during this year, the first one was when we left Portugal towards India. The flight had a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, before arriving in Kampala, Uganda, where we had Willy waiting to welcome us and pick us up. Despite, the 2 hours delay of the first flight, losing the second flight, being relocated in a flight 6 hours later and losing the track of Kika's backpack during the flight ... everything was perfect... well at least we had free breakfast at the Nairobi airport :)
After meeting Willy, he drove us to his home some miles away from the airport, where we were able to meet his family. His wife prepared us our first African meal, that we had the pleasure to taste it with his kids company. He has two kids plus two adopted kids. Don't you dare to think he has money... Because what he has is love! All his family lives in their house which is still under construction. The livable part of the house is still a small room, which is small for his family, so he kindly arranged us a guesthouse to sleep a few meters from his place. We would go tomorrow in the morning to Mubende, where all the action will happen.
Next day, early in the morning, Willy came to pick us up on his Land Cruiser from 1990, with him was Irene, a Ugandan girl that also works in the organization. Before going to Mubende we went to the airport to pick up Kika's backpack! It was found!!! We were then ready to go in a 3 hour journey to Mubende. However, because we are in Africa... unpredictable things happen, so a few minutes after starting the journey, the car got a problem on the engine!!! Boooomm!! Our first adventure in Africa! We had to call a mechanic who had to take the car to the garage to be repaired. The four of us had to stay there in a restaurant having lunch. In a blink of an eye we were far from all we have since we started the trip, our backpacks!!! Two hours later the mechanic brought us the car, with our backpacks :) we were on the road again...
By the time we reached Mubende, we had already gotten our first impression of Uganda. Uganda is green!!! Lots of nature, trees, bushes, jungle, etc... The roads are bumpy, muddy in some parts and dangerous. The infrastructures are mainly made from bricks but we also saw some houses made from sticks and mud. The Ugandans seemed friendly and the kids were everywhere, we have never seen so many kids of all ages on the street!!
Mubende is a small town on the west side of Uganda, there are some small grocery stores, fruit and veggie stalls, one or two small hotels and lots of people on the street. In addition, because we are now in the rainy season, the dirt roads that connect most of the corners of the town are pretty muddy everywhere.
The initial plan was to stay 2 weeks with them but on the first days we have decided to stay 4 weeks.
A BRIEF RESUME OF OUR 4 WEEKS:
During this 4 weeks we would pay $500 U.S dollar to cover our expenses with food, electricity, gas and help the organization to cover the gasoline cost for the Car. We slept in their office, in a small but cozy room full of geckos, which is really good because they eat the Mosquitoes that might have Malaria :P We had always breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by Rose, our cook.
The plan for each day was done in the morning of the day, we never knew what was going to happen next day. Inaccessible villages, because of the rain and the problems with the car didn't allow any plans.
We were into two big projects, the construction of a tank to retain water from the rain and a well, both projects in schools. In Uganda, because of the lack of sexual education and contraceptives, a house has an average of 6 kids, so our organization always tries to focus their projects in places where there are more kids, once they are the future of the country.
Since we were the only white people in town, whenever we were outside or just passing by in the car every single person used to stare at us completely hypnotized about the presence of 2 foreigners in the town. Though, after we smile to them they always open their big and sincere smile to us. Everybody calls us "Mzungo" which means "White person", but it's in a positive way :)
WEEK 1
This week was the most intense one, it was our first contact with the communities and I guess we were not prepared for what we were going to see.
Everyday, we left the office early in the morning to the school where we were building a tank that retains water from the rain, to supply a small community with safe water. We were a team of 5 people, Willy, Irene, Kika, James and I. James is the guy that is responsible for the construction work, he knows a bit of everything.
While driving to the school, the places where we passed by were just heartbreaking, it's unimaginable till we see it with our own eyes, I remember that Kika and I were so stoned by the shock that we never spoke a word on that 30 minutes drive, it was hard to believe.
To reach the school we had to cross jungle, pass through completely muddy roads where a normal car cannot pass, we crossed several communities some with only 3 houses others with 15 or 20 houses. The houses were all made by sticks and mud like in the old times. On the way we always saw lots of kids, aged between 4 and 12, carrying 20 liter bottles of water just by themselves. The majority of them were barefoot with just a piece of clothe covering their body and they were all coming or going to the closest pond to fetch water. This ponds were the hardest thing to believe.
This ponds are concentrations of water on the ground that never dry up. It is the only source of water that all these people that live in these communities have to drink, to cook and to bath themselves and to wash their motorbikes. Keep in mind that all the animals also use those ponds to drink and to wash themselves. As you all might imagine now, all those ponds are fully contaminated and dirty.
The school where we were, was just 2 small buildings made from bricks where the windows and doors where basically "holes on the walls". Each classroom was always full of kids, where the majority of them had to sit on the floor because there was only a few wooden tables and chairs. When we arrived for the first time in that school, all the kids that had never seen a Mzungo, where curious about us but at the same time they were really afraid to come close to us. However, after a few minutes they started to come closer and closer...some were starting to touch our skin while others were just staring at us trying to gain confidence to approach us. I tried to be a little bit colder to the kids than Kika. It is hard to build relationships with the kids knowing that we will never see them again. It is really complicated to manage our emotions on those moments, so I decided to focus more on the job that we were doing by assisting James constructing the tank. On the other hand, Kika left her heart on that school, since the first minute she was always with the kids. The kids really liked her, mainly her blonde hair. Everyday when we arrived at the school a little girl used to start running towards Kika, grabbing Kika's hand till our last minute in the school.
One of the days, our car started to have a leaking of oil. So every morning before leaving the office we had to refill the car with oil and water. Therefore, one day Willy decided to call a mechanic to try to understand the problem. The guy came from Kampala just to check the car, it was the only guy that could understand about this kind of vehicles. One day the mechanic went with us to the school, so while we were building the tank he was disassembling the engine of the car. The day passed and the night came, we were still in the school in the middle of the jungle with the engine disassembled. There were no lights as there is no electricity in those communities where we do our missions. A storm was coming and with it also the rain... we could hear the thunders coming closer and closer... It was a really nice moment that I will never forget. While pointing my phone flashlight to the engine watching the mechanic trying to fix the car and the kids surrounding us, I remember thinking about what we were doing there, the cause and the decision we did when we decided to come to Africa. I was extremely happy and proud of ourselves for having the courage to act more and think less.
During this week we understood that our presence here wouldn't do anything special to change something in their lives, we could only give them hope. But we really wanted to help as much as we could, because hope it wasn't enough! So, we decided to create a fundraising to gather 4000$ to build one well to supply clean and safe water to one of the thousand communities from Mubende. A well could provide water to 600 people! We wanted it so much that we opened the fundraising and started to share it with friends and family immediately. We knew it would be difficult to reach the people because we all have to see it to feel it, but at least we had to try it.
WEEK 2
After completing the water tank project on the past week, this week the plan was to start a new project, but this time it would be a water well.
Our first goal was to check the place where it was planned to raise the well. So, the week started with one more beautiful, but thoughtful, drive through the small villages of Mubende District. While driving to the places and witnessing what we have been witnessing since our arrival, we felt so lucky for having the opportunity to be doing this mission with an organization that it's so genuine on its essence.
When we reached the place that we wanted, we realized that it was one more school. This school was even worse than the last one that we were, weather that is possible. One of the classrooms was just some woods giving some shape to the walls, there were no tables or chairs, the kids had to sit on the floor which was directly on the mud soil.
Some villagers were there waiting for us, as well as the kids that wanted to greet us. We could see they were all very enthusiastic about this project. So, on our first day there we ended up just having a meeting to discuss where to build the well, as well as checking the pond from where all the villagers fetch their water. On the meeting, one of the villagers that was responsible for the school, started to describe us a lot of things that needed to be different for the development of the kids, but unfortunately, all we could do was to listen, smile and say that we understand. Usually the heads of the villages look at us with a lot of hope and sometimes think that we are the solution for the problems but we were there as volunteers and RHFC is the one that decides what to do and actually they are doing a lot. We felt bad about it... but there was nothing that we could do. During the meeting we were greeted by two wild monkeys with white back, we were "in the wild".
After deciding the place where to build the well and engaging the population in the construction the next step was to actually build it. We took the next days digging and starting to build the walls of the well. James, the responsible guy for the construction work, had 3 villagers helping him, as well as all of us from the organization. The villagers are always requested to help on the projects so they can be instructed on how to maintain the water sources for the future.
We reached the water after 2 days of digging with a simple shovel, the hole was 3 meters deep. Those guys were digging hard and on a full speed for their life and for the life of their kids, wife and friends. It was clear the importance of that well on the lives of the villagers.
Another big event of this week, was the appointed visit of 2 people from Germany that were coming because they wanted to donate 9000$ to build a latrine.
But... here we go...
There are some words that I want you to keep in mind while reading this post: hunger, contaminated water, no toilets, no clothes, smiles, friendship and love! You all might think that it cannot all coexist at the same time in the same place... but it can! These are the words that highlighted our last 4 weeks here in Uganda.
The big question of most of you all is "why Africa"? The answer is "why not?"
When we first started this amazing trip in September 2015 our initial plan was to cross all Asia from India to Indonesia by road and on a budget, 10$ a day each. We planned to visit India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. We wanted to be out of our comfort zone as much as possible so we could grow as a couple and as an individual. The road was not always flat, but we look back and the road we did was just magical. After getting inspired in India, being in the most beautiful places in Thailand and getting "lost" in Laos... Africa came as the next step to take us to another level of consciousness. Rather than just crossing countries and being surrounded by westerns all over the most well known places in Asia, we wanted to be in places where "western" does not come in the dictionary.
I would be lying if I say that we were not nervous or afraid about this idea of coming to Africa. We were afraid... everybody speaks about Africa as a dangerous place so of course we were afraid!!! But we also knew that the people who say it are the ones who have never stepped in this beautiful continent. So, yes!!! 'Bias' was injected in our mind by a blocked society that prefers to listen rather than to see to believe.
We wanted to see!!!
After the decision of coming we bought our flight tickets, we took the yellow fever and Meningococcal vaccines, and bought Mefloquine pills for Malaria. So far we have not been tacking any Malaria pills, though in Africa it is better not to take risks, particularly because we are traveling with no travel insurance.
Some of you are now thinking "How crazy can you guys be for going to Africa with no travel insurance?" Craziness is taking all the preventions and hardly believe that something is still going to happen to you - lock your front, back and side door of your home and cover yourself with a blanket than you will be safe.
After going through all the legal and bureaucracy things we were ready to start "planning" our trip. We wanted to start with volunteering, that way we would be able to immerse ourselves in the real culture and problems of the country. It took us weeks to find the perfect volunteering that would fulfill our intentions. There were plenty of volunteering organizations on Google Search but all of them seemed so deeply immersed in so many questions... Why would we pay big amounts of money to volunteer? Where do they apply that money? What kind of people/intention is behind those organizations? We wanted to find something genuine and pure on its essence, so after a long research on 'WorkAway.info' (platform we have been using to work in exchange of food and a bed) we found Rural Health Care Foundation to be our gateway to this amazing continent.
Rural Health Care Foundation is an organization currently lead by a Ugandan guy called Willy. The principle of the organization is 'Good Sanitation for all'. They are a very small organization, 10 to 15 people that get their hands dirty with stuff that usually people do not care about. They care and they do a beautiful and inspiring job. The organization is settled in Mubende town. A small town that also gives the name to the District - Mubende District - which has thousands of small villages/communities that live with no access to water, electricity and to the majority of them a simple toilet is just a handmade hole dug on the ground. Their mission is to assist this people with clean and safe water, latrines and support the communities by giving them some good hygienic principals, and sometimes just hope. Hope because their willingness to change something always hits on the necessity of getting funds to support the projects.
Kenya Airways, was the air company responsible for our flight from Bangkok to Uganda. Great!!! This company is just the one with the worst record on crashed airplanes! I was freaked out!!! I always get really nervous when I fly...I guess I don't like it... But well... there was no other way, that was the cheapest flight we found so we had to make it.
On the day we were leaving Bangkok, we were so excited, nervous, feeling butterflies in our belly, afraid, curious and alive!!! It was the second time we felt like that during this year, the first one was when we left Portugal towards India. The flight had a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, before arriving in Kampala, Uganda, where we had Willy waiting to welcome us and pick us up. Despite, the 2 hours delay of the first flight, losing the second flight, being relocated in a flight 6 hours later and losing the track of Kika's backpack during the flight ... everything was perfect... well at least we had free breakfast at the Nairobi airport :)
After meeting Willy, he drove us to his home some miles away from the airport, where we were able to meet his family. His wife prepared us our first African meal, that we had the pleasure to taste it with his kids company. He has two kids plus two adopted kids. Don't you dare to think he has money... Because what he has is love! All his family lives in their house which is still under construction. The livable part of the house is still a small room, which is small for his family, so he kindly arranged us a guesthouse to sleep a few meters from his place. We would go tomorrow in the morning to Mubende, where all the action will happen.
Next day, early in the morning, Willy came to pick us up on his Land Cruiser from 1990, with him was Irene, a Ugandan girl that also works in the organization. Before going to Mubende we went to the airport to pick up Kika's backpack! It was found!!! We were then ready to go in a 3 hour journey to Mubende. However, because we are in Africa... unpredictable things happen, so a few minutes after starting the journey, the car got a problem on the engine!!! Boooomm!! Our first adventure in Africa! We had to call a mechanic who had to take the car to the garage to be repaired. The four of us had to stay there in a restaurant having lunch. In a blink of an eye we were far from all we have since we started the trip, our backpacks!!! Two hours later the mechanic brought us the car, with our backpacks :) we were on the road again...
By the time we reached Mubende, we had already gotten our first impression of Uganda. Uganda is green!!! Lots of nature, trees, bushes, jungle, etc... The roads are bumpy, muddy in some parts and dangerous. The infrastructures are mainly made from bricks but we also saw some houses made from sticks and mud. The Ugandans seemed friendly and the kids were everywhere, we have never seen so many kids of all ages on the street!!
Mubende is a small town on the west side of Uganda, there are some small grocery stores, fruit and veggie stalls, one or two small hotels and lots of people on the street. In addition, because we are now in the rainy season, the dirt roads that connect most of the corners of the town are pretty muddy everywhere.
The initial plan was to stay 2 weeks with them but on the first days we have decided to stay 4 weeks.
A BRIEF RESUME OF OUR 4 WEEKS:
During this 4 weeks we would pay $500 U.S dollar to cover our expenses with food, electricity, gas and help the organization to cover the gasoline cost for the Car. We slept in their office, in a small but cozy room full of geckos, which is really good because they eat the Mosquitoes that might have Malaria :P We had always breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by Rose, our cook.
The plan for each day was done in the morning of the day, we never knew what was going to happen next day. Inaccessible villages, because of the rain and the problems with the car didn't allow any plans.
We were into two big projects, the construction of a tank to retain water from the rain and a well, both projects in schools. In Uganda, because of the lack of sexual education and contraceptives, a house has an average of 6 kids, so our organization always tries to focus their projects in places where there are more kids, once they are the future of the country.
Since we were the only white people in town, whenever we were outside or just passing by in the car every single person used to stare at us completely hypnotized about the presence of 2 foreigners in the town. Though, after we smile to them they always open their big and sincere smile to us. Everybody calls us "Mzungo" which means "White person", but it's in a positive way :)
WEEK 1
This week was the most intense one, it was our first contact with the communities and I guess we were not prepared for what we were going to see.
Everyday, we left the office early in the morning to the school where we were building a tank that retains water from the rain, to supply a small community with safe water. We were a team of 5 people, Willy, Irene, Kika, James and I. James is the guy that is responsible for the construction work, he knows a bit of everything.
While driving to the school, the places where we passed by were just heartbreaking, it's unimaginable till we see it with our own eyes, I remember that Kika and I were so stoned by the shock that we never spoke a word on that 30 minutes drive, it was hard to believe.
To reach the school we had to cross jungle, pass through completely muddy roads where a normal car cannot pass, we crossed several communities some with only 3 houses others with 15 or 20 houses. The houses were all made by sticks and mud like in the old times. On the way we always saw lots of kids, aged between 4 and 12, carrying 20 liter bottles of water just by themselves. The majority of them were barefoot with just a piece of clothe covering their body and they were all coming or going to the closest pond to fetch water. This ponds were the hardest thing to believe.
This ponds are concentrations of water on the ground that never dry up. It is the only source of water that all these people that live in these communities have to drink, to cook and to bath themselves and to wash their motorbikes. Keep in mind that all the animals also use those ponds to drink and to wash themselves. As you all might imagine now, all those ponds are fully contaminated and dirty.
The school where we were, was just 2 small buildings made from bricks where the windows and doors where basically "holes on the walls". Each classroom was always full of kids, where the majority of them had to sit on the floor because there was only a few wooden tables and chairs. When we arrived for the first time in that school, all the kids that had never seen a Mzungo, where curious about us but at the same time they were really afraid to come close to us. However, after a few minutes they started to come closer and closer...some were starting to touch our skin while others were just staring at us trying to gain confidence to approach us. I tried to be a little bit colder to the kids than Kika. It is hard to build relationships with the kids knowing that we will never see them again. It is really complicated to manage our emotions on those moments, so I decided to focus more on the job that we were doing by assisting James constructing the tank. On the other hand, Kika left her heart on that school, since the first minute she was always with the kids. The kids really liked her, mainly her blonde hair. Everyday when we arrived at the school a little girl used to start running towards Kika, grabbing Kika's hand till our last minute in the school.
One of the days, our car started to have a leaking of oil. So every morning before leaving the office we had to refill the car with oil and water. Therefore, one day Willy decided to call a mechanic to try to understand the problem. The guy came from Kampala just to check the car, it was the only guy that could understand about this kind of vehicles. One day the mechanic went with us to the school, so while we were building the tank he was disassembling the engine of the car. The day passed and the night came, we were still in the school in the middle of the jungle with the engine disassembled. There were no lights as there is no electricity in those communities where we do our missions. A storm was coming and with it also the rain... we could hear the thunders coming closer and closer... It was a really nice moment that I will never forget. While pointing my phone flashlight to the engine watching the mechanic trying to fix the car and the kids surrounding us, I remember thinking about what we were doing there, the cause and the decision we did when we decided to come to Africa. I was extremely happy and proud of ourselves for having the courage to act more and think less.
During this week we understood that our presence here wouldn't do anything special to change something in their lives, we could only give them hope. But we really wanted to help as much as we could, because hope it wasn't enough! So, we decided to create a fundraising to gather 4000$ to build one well to supply clean and safe water to one of the thousand communities from Mubende. A well could provide water to 600 people! We wanted it so much that we opened the fundraising and started to share it with friends and family immediately. We knew it would be difficult to reach the people because we all have to see it to feel it, but at least we had to try it.
WEEK 2
After completing the water tank project on the past week, this week the plan was to start a new project, but this time it would be a water well.
Our first goal was to check the place where it was planned to raise the well. So, the week started with one more beautiful, but thoughtful, drive through the small villages of Mubende District. While driving to the places and witnessing what we have been witnessing since our arrival, we felt so lucky for having the opportunity to be doing this mission with an organization that it's so genuine on its essence.
When we reached the place that we wanted, we realized that it was one more school. This school was even worse than the last one that we were, weather that is possible. One of the classrooms was just some woods giving some shape to the walls, there were no tables or chairs, the kids had to sit on the floor which was directly on the mud soil.
Some villagers were there waiting for us, as well as the kids that wanted to greet us. We could see they were all very enthusiastic about this project. So, on our first day there we ended up just having a meeting to discuss where to build the well, as well as checking the pond from where all the villagers fetch their water. On the meeting, one of the villagers that was responsible for the school, started to describe us a lot of things that needed to be different for the development of the kids, but unfortunately, all we could do was to listen, smile and say that we understand. Usually the heads of the villages look at us with a lot of hope and sometimes think that we are the solution for the problems but we were there as volunteers and RHFC is the one that decides what to do and actually they are doing a lot. We felt bad about it... but there was nothing that we could do. During the meeting we were greeted by two wild monkeys with white back, we were "in the wild".
After deciding the place where to build the well and engaging the population in the construction the next step was to actually build it. We took the next days digging and starting to build the walls of the well. James, the responsible guy for the construction work, had 3 villagers helping him, as well as all of us from the organization. The villagers are always requested to help on the projects so they can be instructed on how to maintain the water sources for the future.
We reached the water after 2 days of digging with a simple shovel, the hole was 3 meters deep. Those guys were digging hard and on a full speed for their life and for the life of their kids, wife and friends. It was clear the importance of that well on the lives of the villagers.
Another big event of this week, was the appointed visit of 2 people from Germany that were coming because they wanted to donate 9000$ to build a latrine.
WEEK 3
With our batteries recharged, we were ready for our 3rd week. On Monday morning Irene met us at the hotel in order to get a boda-boda (motorbike taxi) to meet Willy and our dear car. The ride started really well with a car hitting our motorbike but the driver was good enough to not let it fall. Yes, I said "our motorbike", in Uganda, as in India, we can be three on a motorbike. We met Willy and hit the road again, when everything seemed to be perfect the car broke again. We tried to fix it one more time but with no success, we had to get a taxi to Mubende again and trust me, taxi rides are not the most pleasant ones. For multiple times we had to close our eyes and pray not to have an accident not to mention that there were 19 people in a taxi for 14.
Without a car, we knew the week was going to be softer. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to the well site by boda-boda and helped as we could. Despite the fact that boda-bodas are a little dangerous the rides were beautiful, we always ended up thinking "we are riding a motorbike in the middle of Africa" it was a really good feeling.
Almost forgetting the episode with the rat on Sunday, during the week we were surprised by another unwanted friend. On Wednesday, at more or less 4am we woke up with a bat sleeping on our mosquito net. For two hours we didn't know what to do until we decided to get ride of him. As we sent him away, the crazy bat got into Irene and Rose's room. Poor bat, after a few minutes Irene stabbed him with a stick.. it was definitely not the most pleasant noise.
With the week almost getting to an end, we finished it in great style. On Friday it was the National Sanitation D
ay so we were going to attend an event in a village close to Mubende. It seems simple but Africa had a big surprise for us. Still without our dear car, we had to take a taxi to the event. Everything was fine until we got to roads, in the jungle, where the taxi was not able to pass. As we were 1.5km away from the event we decided to leave the taxi and walk, but as soon as the taxi left, we were surprised by a huge thunderstorm. We walked as fast as we could but we were absolutely soaked. The road was getting muddier, the rain heavier, the lightnings more frequent and we couldn't see any type of shelter. After a few minutes and absolutely wet we found a little school and the teacher gently invited us to get in until the rain passed. We couldn't believe what had happened. And the kids from the school also couldn't believe in what they were seeing... two aliens in their school in the middle of a thunderstorm.
As soon as the rain stopped we walked to the event that ended up being really nice with a lot of kids performing small plays about hygiene and basic sanitation. We couldn't understand what they were saying but it was nice. Of course we were the only mzungos in the event and the head of Mubende district had to thank us for being there and acknowledge our presence in front of the entire village. At the end of the event they offered a meal to the participants, we started to eat it but went we realized, we had a lot of kids around us looking at our plates so we ended up offering them the food. It was a nice way to finish our third week.
With our batteries recharged, we were ready for our 3rd week. On Monday morning Irene met us at the hotel in order to get a boda-boda (motorbike taxi) to meet Willy and our dear car. The ride started really well with a car hitting our motorbike but the driver was good enough to not let it fall. Yes, I said "our motorbike", in Uganda, as in India, we can be three on a motorbike. We met Willy and hit the road again, when everything seemed to be perfect the car broke again. We tried to fix it one more time but with no success, we had to get a taxi to Mubende again and trust me, taxi rides are not the most pleasant ones. For multiple times we had to close our eyes and pray not to have an accident not to mention that there were 19 people in a taxi for 14.
Without a car, we knew the week was going to be softer. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to the well site by boda-boda and helped as we could. Despite the fact that boda-bodas are a little dangerous the rides were beautiful, we always ended up thinking "we are riding a motorbike in the middle of Africa" it was a really good feeling.
Almost forgetting the episode with the rat on Sunday, during the week we were surprised by another unwanted friend. On Wednesday, at more or less 4am we woke up with a bat sleeping on our mosquito net. For two hours we didn't know what to do until we decided to get ride of him. As we sent him away, the crazy bat got into Irene and Rose's room. Poor bat, after a few minutes Irene stabbed him with a stick.. it was definitely not the most pleasant noise.
With the week almost getting to an end, we finished it in great style. On Friday it was the National Sanitation D
ay so we were going to attend an event in a village close to Mubende. It seems simple but Africa had a big surprise for us. Still without our dear car, we had to take a taxi to the event. Everything was fine until we got to roads, in the jungle, where the taxi was not able to pass. As we were 1.5km away from the event we decided to leave the taxi and walk, but as soon as the taxi left, we were surprised by a huge thunderstorm. We walked as fast as we could but we were absolutely soaked. The road was getting muddier, the rain heavier, the lightnings more frequent and we couldn't see any type of shelter. After a few minutes and absolutely wet we found a little school and the teacher gently invited us to get in until the rain passed. We couldn't believe what had happened. And the kids from the school also couldn't believe in what they were seeing... two aliens in their school in the middle of a thunderstorm.
As soon as the rain stopped we walked to the event that ended up being really nice with a lot of kids performing small plays about hygiene and basic sanitation. We couldn't understand what they were saying but it was nice. Of course we were the only mzungos in the event and the head of Mubende district had to thank us for being there and acknowledge our presence in front of the entire village. At the end of the event they offered a meal to the participants, we started to eat it but went we realized, we had a lot of kids around us looking at our plates so we ended up offering them the food. It was a nice way to finish our third week.
WEEK 4
We stayed the 4th week mainly because we wanted to finish the water well. We knew there wasn't much to do and that the days would be really calm but we wanted to finish the project. Unfortunately we were missing one piece that was needed for the well and Jimmy had to go to Kampala to buy it.
While waiting for the piece, Willy kindly showed us a touristic site in Mubende, the Nakayima tree. There are a lot of legends associated with the tree and people worship it. They prey to the tree to get their problems fixed. It was an interesting tour.
On Wednesday afternoon Jimmy returned with the piece. To celebrate the fact that we were going to be able to finish the well, Willy and Jimmy invited us to go to the only club in Mubende. We knew we were going to be the only mzungos there and there were high chances that people would stare at us but our curiosity made us go. We went and we were actually surprised, the club was much nicer than we thought and we loved to see Africans dancing, we tried to make some moves but we were far from their technique… They really have the rhythm inside... and Jimmy definitely surprised us with his flow!
On Thursday we went back to the well site to finish our job. The installation of the pump was extremely fast, Jimmy knows what he is doing and faces any little issue with calm and efficiency. In a blink of an eye and we were pumping water. It was a very emotional moment, we could see the happiness in people's faces. Kika actually lost the control of her emotions when one of the villagers went to her and said "thank you, you gave us life". We were really happy but at the same time we had some sad thoughts. It is unbelievable that in 2016 people still struggle like this. They were so happy for something that we don't even think about when we are back home.
We got home by lunch time so we had a lot of time to prepare our backpacks. It was weird, we were going to be back on the road and we would be by ourselves. We were used to have a Willy and Irene to help us in whatever we needed but now it would be different. We were excited about the adventure but we were really sad because we would have to say goodbye. Friday, as we expected, wasn't easy. The kids came to say goodbye and even ran after our car waving their hands. It was really hard... Kika tried to hide it but she was obviously crying.
We stayed the 4th week mainly because we wanted to finish the water well. We knew there wasn't much to do and that the days would be really calm but we wanted to finish the project. Unfortunately we were missing one piece that was needed for the well and Jimmy had to go to Kampala to buy it.
While waiting for the piece, Willy kindly showed us a touristic site in Mubende, the Nakayima tree. There are a lot of legends associated with the tree and people worship it. They prey to the tree to get their problems fixed. It was an interesting tour.
On Wednesday afternoon Jimmy returned with the piece. To celebrate the fact that we were going to be able to finish the well, Willy and Jimmy invited us to go to the only club in Mubende. We knew we were going to be the only mzungos there and there were high chances that people would stare at us but our curiosity made us go. We went and we were actually surprised, the club was much nicer than we thought and we loved to see Africans dancing, we tried to make some moves but we were far from their technique… They really have the rhythm inside... and Jimmy definitely surprised us with his flow!
On Thursday we went back to the well site to finish our job. The installation of the pump was extremely fast, Jimmy knows what he is doing and faces any little issue with calm and efficiency. In a blink of an eye and we were pumping water. It was a very emotional moment, we could see the happiness in people's faces. Kika actually lost the control of her emotions when one of the villagers went to her and said "thank you, you gave us life". We were really happy but at the same time we had some sad thoughts. It is unbelievable that in 2016 people still struggle like this. They were so happy for something that we don't even think about when we are back home.
We got home by lunch time so we had a lot of time to prepare our backpacks. It was weird, we were going to be back on the road and we would be by ourselves. We were used to have a Willy and Irene to help us in whatever we needed but now it would be different. We were excited about the adventure but we were really sad because we would have to say goodbye. Friday, as we expected, wasn't easy. The kids came to say goodbye and even ran after our car waving their hands. It was really hard... Kika tried to hide it but she was obviously crying.
"We
are what we eat"
After losing a lot of weight since we have started the trip, on this four weeks we were able to gain some healthy weight.
Rose was our cook. During our stay 90% of our meals were vegetarian, with different combinations of local vegetables and roots. Yes, it is possible to gain weight just eating vegetables!! Every morning she used to prepare us some eggs, bread, tomatoes, onion and milk with soya powder. The lunches and dinners were always prepared with sweet potato, cassava (mandioca), yam, banana, pumpkin and rice. All of them used to be boiled on coal in a small clay pot. Even the bananas were boiled but these ones were boiled in vapor wrapped in banana leaves. As a sauce the famous beans and Gnuts were the specialty. It might seem a little bit unbalanced for the occidental appetite, but believe us... it really had all the nutrients we needed!! Yam, cassava and sweet potato are really rich in nutrients. This was a truly African experience and we loved it!!!
"Eat what you need not what you want" - an important lesson!
While traveling we meet lots of people on the road. Willy is one of those persons that make the decision of travel make sense. His story of life, that I am not going to expose, is just inspirational and I will take it to inspire my food habits for the future.
In addiction, we were also introduced to an awesome tropical fruit. Jack Fruit!!! The villagers from the villages where we were working used to offer us this fruit for break time. A new tropical taste... and what a taste!!! It was tremendously good!!!
"The eyes are the language of a soul"
We have never felt so much truth in someone's eyes, as we have felt in Ugandan people. People here look at you as they were showing their nature. It is deep and sincere. Impossible to describe it... you only know it when you open the shades of your heart that were created by a broken society.
We will keep in our heart all the amazing people we met in Mubende, to some we even haven't spoken a word, but we looked each other in the eyes which was more than enough to share the knowledge and love of our souls.
"The children are the face of the society"
We have never seen so many kids per square meter in our lives. Due the lack of information about contraceptives and other entertainment each family normally has 6 or 7 kids. So you can imagine how many kids are playing outside. The kids were always greeting us with their beautiful and genuine smile while yelling "Mzungo Mzungo Mzungo!". Even though, the kids were in a completely dirty shape, barefoot, ripped clothes and with no access to clean water, they were beautiful, happy and have always welcomed us in a very warm way.
During our stay in Mubende, when we were at the office the kids from the houses around used to come just to be with us. Sometimes, there were 12 kids with us where some of them used to bring us some gifts, such as, flower bucket, fruits, etc. We bought paper and coloring pencils so we could paint with them. Besides the paint activities we also danced with them. Kika shared much more time with the kids then me, I decided to be colder to them in order to do not get too much attached, it can be a selfish behavior... but after almost one year traveling getting attached to kids and then saying bye it's hard to deal with. Nevertheless, we all had great moments and their smiles we will never forget it!!
"A smile happens in a flash but its memory can last a lifetime"
After losing a lot of weight since we have started the trip, on this four weeks we were able to gain some healthy weight.
Rose was our cook. During our stay 90% of our meals were vegetarian, with different combinations of local vegetables and roots. Yes, it is possible to gain weight just eating vegetables!! Every morning she used to prepare us some eggs, bread, tomatoes, onion and milk with soya powder. The lunches and dinners were always prepared with sweet potato, cassava (mandioca), yam, banana, pumpkin and rice. All of them used to be boiled on coal in a small clay pot. Even the bananas were boiled but these ones were boiled in vapor wrapped in banana leaves. As a sauce the famous beans and Gnuts were the specialty. It might seem a little bit unbalanced for the occidental appetite, but believe us... it really had all the nutrients we needed!! Yam, cassava and sweet potato are really rich in nutrients. This was a truly African experience and we loved it!!!
"Eat what you need not what you want" - an important lesson!
While traveling we meet lots of people on the road. Willy is one of those persons that make the decision of travel make sense. His story of life, that I am not going to expose, is just inspirational and I will take it to inspire my food habits for the future.
In addiction, we were also introduced to an awesome tropical fruit. Jack Fruit!!! The villagers from the villages where we were working used to offer us this fruit for break time. A new tropical taste... and what a taste!!! It was tremendously good!!!
"The eyes are the language of a soul"
We have never felt so much truth in someone's eyes, as we have felt in Ugandan people. People here look at you as they were showing their nature. It is deep and sincere. Impossible to describe it... you only know it when you open the shades of your heart that were created by a broken society.
We will keep in our heart all the amazing people we met in Mubende, to some we even haven't spoken a word, but we looked each other in the eyes which was more than enough to share the knowledge and love of our souls.
"The children are the face of the society"
We have never seen so many kids per square meter in our lives. Due the lack of information about contraceptives and other entertainment each family normally has 6 or 7 kids. So you can imagine how many kids are playing outside. The kids were always greeting us with their beautiful and genuine smile while yelling "Mzungo Mzungo Mzungo!". Even though, the kids were in a completely dirty shape, barefoot, ripped clothes and with no access to clean water, they were beautiful, happy and have always welcomed us in a very warm way.
During our stay in Mubende, when we were at the office the kids from the houses around used to come just to be with us. Sometimes, there were 12 kids with us where some of them used to bring us some gifts, such as, flower bucket, fruits, etc. We bought paper and coloring pencils so we could paint with them. Besides the paint activities we also danced with them. Kika shared much more time with the kids then me, I decided to be colder to them in order to do not get too much attached, it can be a selfish behavior... but after almost one year traveling getting attached to kids and then saying bye it's hard to deal with. Nevertheless, we all had great moments and their smiles we will never forget it!!
"A smile happens in a flash but its memory can last a lifetime"
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