As we left the unbelievable home of the orphan children in Kazo, Uganda we knew that paying for one semester of school for all of them would only cost us $36. Less than we might spend on eating out for one night. Ultimately though, they need more than cash, they need sustainable income, free or affordable education, a profession, constant and advanced medical care for their HIV and related issues, sanitary living conditions. All of these are very simple necessities of life that we may take for granted in the developed world, could help give these children hope for a succesful life. Most of these things are ones that we have never gone without. This makes us richer than almost every person in these villages full of shacks, disease, hardship and unfortunate people. When we watch these children on television, we quickly forget about them when we change the channel, or it may seem surreal. When we walk through the villages, see the sights and meet the people, there is no forgetting them ever.
We walked back to our host's place where we decided to take a vehicle to the Bahai temple. The American volunteer, our host and his friend wanted to join us but there was no fuel in the car so they walked to the petrol station to fill a jerry can and feed the car. It took about twenty tries to get the car to start and its top speed was literally 10 kilometers per hour. There were children on foot passing us but we stuck by our driver and drove an hour to the temple less than five kilometers away. We were greeted kindly by the hosts of the temple, several National Assembly members and the caretaker of the building. They said they had been expecting us the night before because I had been communicating with them via email. They had stayed up late waiting for us, I felt very guilty about this but they were happy we were ok. They even invited us to stay at the temple during our time in the country. We spent some time praying and meditating in the temple and enjoying the beautiful surrounding full of greenery and gardens. We had also been in contact with one of my cousin's friends who lives nearby, she had arranged for her sister Judith to come to the temple and meet with us. Judith was waiting patiently for us and when we finally met with her, she took us into town to meet with Lillian as she finshed work for the day. They took us around the town and to the bus station so we could see about tickets to Nairobi, Kenya. They brought us to a local mall called Garden city where we ate dinner of Turkish food and talked. We tried to take out money from and ATM but our card did not work at any of the seven banks we tried. So luckily we had Kenyan money that we could exchange at at terribly painful rate. At dinner, we spoke with our new friends about the place where we were staying and they instantly became very worried about our situation. They said this is the "slum" of the country and so before we knew it we were in the car and heading back to Kazo to get our things. They could not believe that we were staying in a place that they would never normally step foot into.
None of us really knew how to get there so our kind driver David, hired a Bodaboda driver (motorcycle taxis) to lead us to our temporary home. As we were driving Tyson yelled to stop the car and him and David disappeared into the slum and were gone for a few minutes before emerging from the darkness with all our bags. We were amazed that Tyson could find this small little shack in the middle of this village in the dark. Our friends told us they were so worried about this place that they didn't even want to drive there. When we stopped, they all locked their doors and feared the worst. Nothing happened and we made it back to their home where we were greeted by the girls' parents and tea. We also tried some home cooked Ugandan food of corn meal, intestine stew and kale. I could have done without the intestines but the rest was pretty good. They set us up in our room and we passed out shortly after.
The next day Judith took us into town so that we could figure out a better way to get to Kenya, the local mini bus taxis called matundos. When she brought us to the downtown area, she warned us to watch our bags very closely and to be prepared for large crowds. She told us about the time her and her sisters came to this area and one of the sisters fainted because of all the commotion and crowds. This is also one of the most dangerous areas in the country for theft. The taxis vans are the way the locals travel because they are the cheapest choice, although not the most comfortable or convenient. So we parked outside of the taxi park and walked into the area. The closer we got, the seedier people began to look and the wierder glances we were getting. So we quickened our steps past the street vendors to the local transportation hub. There were thousands of white mini vans everywhere, each labelled with different cities in the country. We walked over to Busia and Malaba which are the two bordering cities that lead into Kenya. We got the information we needed, exchanged some Kenyan money into Shillings and got out of the area pretty quick.
After that we went back to the house to pick up Judith's twin sisters. Their family includes ten kids including six girls and a cousin who lives with them, so as you can imagine, the house is a busy place. The twins and Judith dropped us off back at the Bahai temple and arranged to pick us up a few hours later. We prayed, read some books and socialized there which was very nice. The temple is a very beautiful place, surrounded with immaculate gardens and a stunning Bahai center. This temple is one of the oldest Bahai houses of worship but it still appears modern looking. Inside, tourists came and went but were respectful of the quiet atmosphere. Volunteers attend to the visitors and the gardens all year round to keep it in the great shape that it is.
Judith picked us up and we were (again) late coming out of the temple to meet her. We all went back to the house for a while where we napped and got dressed up for the night. Several of the sisters, their friends and Tyson and I went to a very upscale restaurant/pub and had some Cokes. The place had mainly tourists inside and was set up very nicely. After that we went to a very trendy outdoor jaz club. On stage was a band with many different musicians and two female singers who were singing popular jaz songs. The place was so packed that they had to quickly set up a makeshift table and chairs for our big group. We ate huge plates of barbequed pork and beef and chips. This was some of the best meat I have ever tasted in my life. We enjoyed the music and chatted. At one point Tyson got singled out by a male band member who insisted that he come dance on stage. Tyson was very apprehansive but he caved under pressure and went onto the stage. The guy showed him some moves and Tyson tried to copy but lacked the rythym of the booty shake of his teachers. It was very entertaining for the rest of us and there were several youtube videos posted right away. We then headed over to an outdoor club for some dancing. The construction on the place wasn't even complete but it was already packed with rap music blasting through the speakers. Although we felt a bit out of place at first, we were quickly put at ease and danced for a few hours until we were all falling asleep on the dance floor. We head home and it did not take us long to pass out.
In the morning we did some laundry by hand in buckets and hung it out to dry. We fiddled a bit on the internet and then headed out to catch a taxi into a town called Jinja. It is near the water with lovely beaches and is popular with tourists. This is where the source of the Nile is located. We caught a two hour taxi van out to the area. The drive was nice and uneventful except for the bewildered looks we keep getting for travelling like the locals in the vans instead of using private taxis like other tourists. Most tourists take private taxis and only stay in the cities but we walked the ten or so kilometers to the source of the Nile. Along the way we passed through several small villages where again people stared at us as if we were the strangest things they had ever seen. Most of the children were not scared, but rather they got very excited to see "muzungus" (means "white", they use it to describe foreigners). They would scream and carry on and run after us trying to use the very few English words they knew. As we were walking, Tyson suddenly jumped back and I looked over to see a very large grey coloured snake. I am not sure the type but we took a photo of it. We figure it was poisonous because when the children saw it they ran away.
When we neared the source, we tried to follow people to the water but we were stopped and told that there is an entrance fee. It was strange because a dozen locals had just walked through and no one had paid anything but as soon as they saw tourists they created this fee. Sure enough they even had a sign with prices on it. So we negotiated and paid a bit less than what was asked but still felt cheated about it. Once inside, a couple of kids followed us singing and dancing for tips. We did not pay them.
The source of the Nile was quite beautiful and people were offering boat rides and bungee jumping in the area. We declined both of these offers and spent the afternoon sitting around the water. There were many locals doing their laundry there or just hanging out enjoying the scenery. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and we had to get going. As it got darker we realized that we should probably get a ride so we hitchhiked with two guys in a truck who kindly drove us to the main street. By this time it was dark and there were many people trying to catch taxis back to Kampala but every single one was completely full. Sometimes there would be one or two empty spots but the experienced locals would lunge themselves into the vans and snatch it up before we could even blink. There were also brokers there who tried to work to get us into the taxis for a tip. We finally hitched again with a very nice truck driver who was transporting twenty tons of steel to Kampala. Six hours it took us to get back! The truck was going at 5-10 kilometers an hour at times, struggling up hills with its weight. The guy brought us to town and did not ask us for anything, it was very sweet of him. During the ride he was telling us stories that the school next to his place in Norther Kenya is one of the ones that Joseph Kony attacked. Joseph Kony is a terrible guy who kidnapped hundreds of thousands of chidren from schools and homes in Northern Uganda and made them kill their parents to show their loyalty to his cause. He brainwashed them and turned them into soldiers and caused chaos throughout the area. He has still not been caught.
We finally made it to town and our hosts asked us to meet them at Nando's Chicken so we walked into the restaurant and a guy told us to follow him. We declined saying we were waiting for friends and he said that our friends were in the car and that we should follow him. It was suspicious to say the least but we cautiously followed at a distance and were relieved when our friends were waiting for us in the car.
We met Lillian and the twins at an ice cream shop where we paid seven dollars for a huge multi flavored sundae. We chose several flavors and they topped it off with many toppings and syrups. It was a great dinner. After that we head back to the house where our hosts had prepared more dinner for us and we happily ate the delicious Ugandan food. It was corn starch paste with vegetables and stew. We used the computor a bit, watched TV and slept under the mosquito net. I got up to go to the washroom late at night and it was an outdoor hole in the ground (as most of them seem to be around there). Tyson got up to flash a torch for me. As soon as he turned it on hundreds of fist sized cockroaches scattered around, startled by the light. Needless to say, I held my pee.
The next morning we ate breakfast and went to Sunday morning prayers at the Bahai House of Worship. There were many Baha'is there and it was nice to meet the local community in Uganda. They were very sweet and interesting to speak with. There were many young people volunteering from other parts of the country, a few Canadians and even an Egyptian man who told us about the hardships there. They had a Bahai choir perform, that was outstanding.
Lillian, one of her friends, Tyson and I went towards town and we had to stop at a handy man's shop to get the locks cut off our bag because Tyson accidentally locked the keys in our bag. We hid in the car so the guy would not jack up the prices for foreigners. We then head to the crazy crowded central taxi station in town. We tried exchanging money to pay for the tickets but all the legitimate forex places were closed on a Sunday. So we exchanged with a seedy looking guy on the street. As we were walking through the most dangerous parts of Central Africa with all of our baggage in tow, Tyson felt someone unzip our big backpack. When we looked at the guy, he shuffled away into a corner still eyeing us. We glared at him and felt a bit vulnerable but he soon left.
We chose to take a taxi van to the Busia border to Kenya. We paid the driver 30,000 shillings ($12) and waited until the car filled up. We tried to buy a loaf of bread from a street guy who tried to short change us but the guy sitting next to us in the van yelled at him to give us our money. The bread was stale but we have low standards. We closed our windows at his advice so the locals would not snatch things through them. We were soon on our way. The ride was surprisingly comfortable and both Tyson and I slept most of the four hour trip. At the border we exited the country without incident and when we entered Kenya we chose to get transit visas. Transit visas are $20 each instead of $50 but they are only valid for three days and we would be in the country for five so we were not sure the consequences for this but decided to risk it anyway.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
We walked back to our host's place where we decided to take a vehicle to the Bahai temple. The American volunteer, our host and his friend wanted to join us but there was no fuel in the car so they walked to the petrol station to fill a jerry can and feed the car. It took about twenty tries to get the car to start and its top speed was literally 10 kilometers per hour. There were children on foot passing us but we stuck by our driver and drove an hour to the temple less than five kilometers away. We were greeted kindly by the hosts of the temple, several National Assembly members and the caretaker of the building. They said they had been expecting us the night before because I had been communicating with them via email. They had stayed up late waiting for us, I felt very guilty about this but they were happy we were ok. They even invited us to stay at the temple during our time in the country. We spent some time praying and meditating in the temple and enjoying the beautiful surrounding full of greenery and gardens. We had also been in contact with one of my cousin's friends who lives nearby, she had arranged for her sister Judith to come to the temple and meet with us. Judith was waiting patiently for us and when we finally met with her, she took us into town to meet with Lillian as she finshed work for the day. They took us around the town and to the bus station so we could see about tickets to Nairobi, Kenya. They brought us to a local mall called Garden city where we ate dinner of Turkish food and talked. We tried to take out money from and ATM but our card did not work at any of the seven banks we tried. So luckily we had Kenyan money that we could exchange at at terribly painful rate. At dinner, we spoke with our new friends about the place where we were staying and they instantly became very worried about our situation. They said this is the "slum" of the country and so before we knew it we were in the car and heading back to Kazo to get our things. They could not believe that we were staying in a place that they would never normally step foot into.
None of us really knew how to get there so our kind driver David, hired a Bodaboda driver (motorcycle taxis) to lead us to our temporary home. As we were driving Tyson yelled to stop the car and him and David disappeared into the slum and were gone for a few minutes before emerging from the darkness with all our bags. We were amazed that Tyson could find this small little shack in the middle of this village in the dark. Our friends told us they were so worried about this place that they didn't even want to drive there. When we stopped, they all locked their doors and feared the worst. Nothing happened and we made it back to their home where we were greeted by the girls' parents and tea. We also tried some home cooked Ugandan food of corn meal, intestine stew and kale. I could have done without the intestines but the rest was pretty good. They set us up in our room and we passed out shortly after.
The next day Judith took us into town so that we could figure out a better way to get to Kenya, the local mini bus taxis called matundos. When she brought us to the downtown area, she warned us to watch our bags very closely and to be prepared for large crowds. She told us about the time her and her sisters came to this area and one of the sisters fainted because of all the commotion and crowds. This is also one of the most dangerous areas in the country for theft. The taxis vans are the way the locals travel because they are the cheapest choice, although not the most comfortable or convenient. So we parked outside of the taxi park and walked into the area. The closer we got, the seedier people began to look and the wierder glances we were getting. So we quickened our steps past the street vendors to the local transportation hub. There were thousands of white mini vans everywhere, each labelled with different cities in the country. We walked over to Busia and Malaba which are the two bordering cities that lead into Kenya. We got the information we needed, exchanged some Kenyan money into Shillings and got out of the area pretty quick.
After that we went back to the house to pick up Judith's twin sisters. Their family includes ten kids including six girls and a cousin who lives with them, so as you can imagine, the house is a busy place. The twins and Judith dropped us off back at the Bahai temple and arranged to pick us up a few hours later. We prayed, read some books and socialized there which was very nice. The temple is a very beautiful place, surrounded with immaculate gardens and a stunning Bahai center. This temple is one of the oldest Bahai houses of worship but it still appears modern looking. Inside, tourists came and went but were respectful of the quiet atmosphere. Volunteers attend to the visitors and the gardens all year round to keep it in the great shape that it is.
Judith picked us up and we were (again) late coming out of the temple to meet her. We all went back to the house for a while where we napped and got dressed up for the night. Several of the sisters, their friends and Tyson and I went to a very upscale restaurant/pub and had some Cokes. The place had mainly tourists inside and was set up very nicely. After that we went to a very trendy outdoor jaz club. On stage was a band with many different musicians and two female singers who were singing popular jaz songs. The place was so packed that they had to quickly set up a makeshift table and chairs for our big group. We ate huge plates of barbequed pork and beef and chips. This was some of the best meat I have ever tasted in my life. We enjoyed the music and chatted. At one point Tyson got singled out by a male band member who insisted that he come dance on stage. Tyson was very apprehansive but he caved under pressure and went onto the stage. The guy showed him some moves and Tyson tried to copy but lacked the rythym of the booty shake of his teachers. It was very entertaining for the rest of us and there were several youtube videos posted right away. We then headed over to an outdoor club for some dancing. The construction on the place wasn't even complete but it was already packed with rap music blasting through the speakers. Although we felt a bit out of place at first, we were quickly put at ease and danced for a few hours until we were all falling asleep on the dance floor. We head home and it did not take us long to pass out.
In the morning we did some laundry by hand in buckets and hung it out to dry. We fiddled a bit on the internet and then headed out to catch a taxi into a town called Jinja. It is near the water with lovely beaches and is popular with tourists. This is where the source of the Nile is located. We caught a two hour taxi van out to the area. The drive was nice and uneventful except for the bewildered looks we keep getting for travelling like the locals in the vans instead of using private taxis like other tourists. Most tourists take private taxis and only stay in the cities but we walked the ten or so kilometers to the source of the Nile. Along the way we passed through several small villages where again people stared at us as if we were the strangest things they had ever seen. Most of the children were not scared, but rather they got very excited to see "muzungus" (means "white", they use it to describe foreigners). They would scream and carry on and run after us trying to use the very few English words they knew. As we were walking, Tyson suddenly jumped back and I looked over to see a very large grey coloured snake. I am not sure the type but we took a photo of it. We figure it was poisonous because when the children saw it they ran away.
When we neared the source, we tried to follow people to the water but we were stopped and told that there is an entrance fee. It was strange because a dozen locals had just walked through and no one had paid anything but as soon as they saw tourists they created this fee. Sure enough they even had a sign with prices on it. So we negotiated and paid a bit less than what was asked but still felt cheated about it. Once inside, a couple of kids followed us singing and dancing for tips. We did not pay them.
The source of the Nile was quite beautiful and people were offering boat rides and bungee jumping in the area. We declined both of these offers and spent the afternoon sitting around the water. There were many locals doing their laundry there or just hanging out enjoying the scenery. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and we had to get going. As it got darker we realized that we should probably get a ride so we hitchhiked with two guys in a truck who kindly drove us to the main street. By this time it was dark and there were many people trying to catch taxis back to Kampala but every single one was completely full. Sometimes there would be one or two empty spots but the experienced locals would lunge themselves into the vans and snatch it up before we could even blink. There were also brokers there who tried to work to get us into the taxis for a tip. We finally hitched again with a very nice truck driver who was transporting twenty tons of steel to Kampala. Six hours it took us to get back! The truck was going at 5-10 kilometers an hour at times, struggling up hills with its weight. The guy brought us to town and did not ask us for anything, it was very sweet of him. During the ride he was telling us stories that the school next to his place in Norther Kenya is one of the ones that Joseph Kony attacked. Joseph Kony is a terrible guy who kidnapped hundreds of thousands of chidren from schools and homes in Northern Uganda and made them kill their parents to show their loyalty to his cause. He brainwashed them and turned them into soldiers and caused chaos throughout the area. He has still not been caught.
We finally made it to town and our hosts asked us to meet them at Nando's Chicken so we walked into the restaurant and a guy told us to follow him. We declined saying we were waiting for friends and he said that our friends were in the car and that we should follow him. It was suspicious to say the least but we cautiously followed at a distance and were relieved when our friends were waiting for us in the car.
We met Lillian and the twins at an ice cream shop where we paid seven dollars for a huge multi flavored sundae. We chose several flavors and they topped it off with many toppings and syrups. It was a great dinner. After that we head back to the house where our hosts had prepared more dinner for us and we happily ate the delicious Ugandan food. It was corn starch paste with vegetables and stew. We used the computor a bit, watched TV and slept under the mosquito net. I got up to go to the washroom late at night and it was an outdoor hole in the ground (as most of them seem to be around there). Tyson got up to flash a torch for me. As soon as he turned it on hundreds of fist sized cockroaches scattered around, startled by the light. Needless to say, I held my pee.
The next morning we ate breakfast and went to Sunday morning prayers at the Bahai House of Worship. There were many Baha'is there and it was nice to meet the local community in Uganda. They were very sweet and interesting to speak with. There were many young people volunteering from other parts of the country, a few Canadians and even an Egyptian man who told us about the hardships there. They had a Bahai choir perform, that was outstanding.
Lillian, one of her friends, Tyson and I went towards town and we had to stop at a handy man's shop to get the locks cut off our bag because Tyson accidentally locked the keys in our bag. We hid in the car so the guy would not jack up the prices for foreigners. We then head to the crazy crowded central taxi station in town. We tried exchanging money to pay for the tickets but all the legitimate forex places were closed on a Sunday. So we exchanged with a seedy looking guy on the street. As we were walking through the most dangerous parts of Central Africa with all of our baggage in tow, Tyson felt someone unzip our big backpack. When we looked at the guy, he shuffled away into a corner still eyeing us. We glared at him and felt a bit vulnerable but he soon left.
We chose to take a taxi van to the Busia border to Kenya. We paid the driver 30,000 shillings ($12) and waited until the car filled up. We tried to buy a loaf of bread from a street guy who tried to short change us but the guy sitting next to us in the van yelled at him to give us our money. The bread was stale but we have low standards. We closed our windows at his advice so the locals would not snatch things through them. We were soon on our way. The ride was surprisingly comfortable and both Tyson and I slept most of the four hour trip. At the border we exited the country without incident and when we entered Kenya we chose to get transit visas. Transit visas are $20 each instead of $50 but they are only valid for three days and we would be in the country for five so we were not sure the consequences for this but decided to risk it anyway.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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