I woke up this morning to the sound of monkeys crying, fighting and playing. and then i got to talk to kevin. sigh. it is so good to connect with someone from home and still amazes me that we are speaking from around the world. I have completely failed to update you all on the rest of my work with Sewing Hope, my safari, and everything in between. Let’s just say it was a lot. We had another death in the group. A woman who was a member of Care and Share died of AIDS. again, another punch in the stomach to the hardships here. The days with the woman was good though, and they completed a handbag and started a mans shirt which i heard 2 completed very well. We left Jinja, which was very sad to leave Lori’s house which i had been staying at. Lori has been living in Uganda working full time for Fount of the last year and has been granted another 2 year work permit to continue the work. It was great staying in her home and it was beautiful! even with a full house of 7 girls there still seemed to be plenty of space.
I’m sure i have mentioned before the pace in Uganda. it is slow. things happen when they happen and thats just the way it is. this was never more true than when we were trying to leave for our safari. What should have been a 5-6 hour drive turned into a 10 hour one. Lack of planning on the part of the staff here results in delays, mixed up cars, etc. etc. etc. its frustrating to say the least but there is really nothing you can do. you just sit at a gas station and wait.Its really only the lack of responsibility that people take here that makes me giggle a bit. in america we would demand money back. we would complain and demand something in return, but here, you dont get an apology, they just assume it is the way it is, and so what is the use of worry or complain. this was the only time on the trip that i felt that new yorker wanted to jump out and scream at people. this was quickly subsidded with a beer and some lunch. yes we had many beers on the long 10 hour drive with all of its completely unnecessary stops.
last day in Uganda
I woke up this morning to the sound of monkeys crying, fighting and playing. and then i got to talk to kevin. sigh. it is so good to connect with someone from home and still amazes me that we are speaking from around the world. I have completely failed to update you all on the rest of my work with Sewing Hope, my safari, and everything in between. Let’s just say it was a lot. We had another death in the group. A woman who was a member of Care and Share died of AIDS. again, another punch in the stomach to the hardships here. The days with the woman was good though, and they completed a handbag and started a mans shirt which i heard 2 completed very well. We left Jinja, which was very sad to leave Lori’s house which i had been staying at. Lori has been living in Uganda working full time for Fount of the last year and has been granted another 2 year work permit to continue the work. It was great staying in her home and it was beautiful! even with a full house of 7 girls there still seemed to be plenty of space.
I’m sure i have mentioned before the pace in Uganda. it is slow. things happen when they happen and thats just the way it is. this was never more true than when we were trying to leave for our safari. What should have been a 5-6 hour drive turned into a 10 hour one. Lack of planning on the part of the staff here results in delays, mixed up cars, etc. etc. etc. its frustrating to say the least but there is really nothing you can do. you just sit at a gas station and wait.Its really only the lack of responsibility that people take here that makes me giggle a bit. in america we would demand money back. we would complain and demand something in return, but here, you dont get an apology, they just assume it is the way it is, and so what is the use of worry or complain. this was the only time on the trip that i felt that new yorker wanted to jump out and scream at people. this was quickly subsidded with a beer and some lunch. yes we had many beers on the long 10 hour drive with all of its completely unnecessary stops.
I have to say that it was all worth it though. We got to the red chilli camp grounds and i was immediately greeted by warthogs! big and small! they live on the grounds so they are unavoidable and totally cool with people it seemed. We also saw TONS of baboons on the drive up.We watched the sunset over the Nile and saw and heard hippos swimming around. The most beautiful sunset ive ever seen in my life!! When it came to the safari we work at 6 am before the sun had risen and went down to the boats where we were crossing the Nile to reach the other side when the safari would take place. Michelle warned me to hold my bag close because the baboons were WAITING for us on the other side. there were SO MANY. michelle had to toss her left over breakfast to one so it wouldn’t come after her. we saw babies, adults and juveniles. You could be insanely close to them by foot, and while it was scary it was really exciting. I saw a father playing rough with a baby and a huge female came out of nowhere and ripped the baby from the male and ran off into the tall grass with it. it was AWESOME! the driving was a few hours with our top up in the van and use all standing on our seats with our heads out as we drove across the most beautiful landscape with the sun rising. We saw water buffalo, springbok, antelope, blesbok, and a million other bucks. More monkeys, and then Giraffes!! I saw so many giraffes on this trip, and they were so beautiful. The biggest highlight though was the lions!! its extremely rare everyone says to actually see any of the cats. we saw 5! 2 babies and three mothers! lucky for us they were active as well. a mother lion went to get a drink from a watering hole just 15 feet from me, crossed my path and slowly looked up and walked past us. This was an incredible sight. I cant recall all of the animals i saw, but it was many and incredible! After we braked for lunch we headed out to the boat portion of the safari. Riding down the Nile! i must have seen over a few HUNDRED hippos!also alligators, amazing birds, and finally elephants!! we caught some by bincoluars on the driving portion but it wasnt the same. here we were watching them eat and walk around from a close view. It really puts you back in your place though when a tour guide tells you to be quiet or it can charge and kill us all. ha.yea. we traveled down the nile til we reached Murchison falls. This is when all of the Nile gets its power. There are two separate falls that all meet in one place. the force is so strong and created foam like sculptures in the water. We hiked to the top of this fall the following day, got soaked from the mist and took in easily, the most amazing views of anything in life! i’ve never seen anything so beautiful. This is something everyone needs to experience.
there are about a million other aspects to this trip and my work yesterday with ORM (Orphans rescue ministeries),biting flies, and many other things but ive got some people waiting for this computer so, until next time!
We leave for Amsterdam very late tonight so I am going to just soak in my last day in Uganda (until next time! :) )
Lots of love,
Michelle J
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