After now having been in Bujagali for a week and a half, everyone has well and truly settled in!!
We had 2 days at the beginning of the week without any power so this is the first opportunity since then that I have had to update you all. Although we have the laptops here and an amazing wireless internet connection I still needed electricity to charge the batteries!
The weekend was spent in the village with everyone enjoying getting to know the locals. It is such a buzz to have introduced all of our special Ugandan friends to 5 new Aussies and so nice to watch them all becoming great friends as well.
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Sue and Sam spend time with Rebina and Emma.
On Saturday Sue got to meet Robina (Emma's Mum) for the first time. The two families have been writing and getting to know each other for quite a while now and Sue has heard lots about Emma and Robina from me, so to meet each other in person was very exciting for both of them. After chatting with Robina (who is a hairdresser) Sue decided she was going to have her hair done. Robina said she should get her daughter Esta to do it, so Sue set off for the local Saloon, as they call it here. She came out looking like Side Show Bob!!!! She has since had it redone in corn rows which far more attractive but I really wanted you all to see how hilarious she looked!!!!
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Side Show Sue.
While this was all going on I was at the Art Department at the education centre. 04no is going to screen print some t shirt for HUG and D+ (this is the Ugandan NGO that David volunteers with a lot of the time - they used to be called AEW but have recently had a name change - you can read about them on our website) While we were there I managed to Skype Browny (my husband, a Signwriter himself) and he actually watched 04no while he was doing it!!! This is absolutely amazing!! I can't believe that we can be in Uganda and SEEING each other on the other side of the world!! The wireless internet connection is definitely changing how I am communicating with home this time. It is so much easier and I know that it is going to open up the world to the Ugandans as it becomes available to more people here. 04no and Silagi, and in fact all the kids that were around at the time, were thrilled to have Browny back there with them!
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O4no had a ball showing off his skills to Browny!
After all of the excitement during the day it was decided that we should head to the local bar so Sue, Yvonne and Annette could get a taste of what life is really like in the village. We walked to Invanamba (just a short stroll for the locals but quite a hike for us Aussies) where we settled in at Paris' Pub for a few rounds of the local brew know as karsib.
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Mmm, looks tasty Yvonne!
Sunday saw me set off with Silagi to visit Cissy and Nastaha (Silagi's wife and daughter) at their new house which now has a roof on thanks to Jess Ellis' great fund raising back in Kyabram. Natasha has grown so much since last year when we were here and took great delight in seeing Dada Helen (Grandma Helen!!!) from Australia. After that we set off further into the village to visit the piggery which HUG has helped to establish. It is fantastic to be actually seeing things we have helped to get off the ground. The photos that have been sent to us have been great but there is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes.
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The Silagi showed me around the Kybiriwa Piggery Project.
Sunday night we all set off to Teddy's 23rd birthday party. Teddy is a gorgeous Ugandan lady who has worked at Eden Rock for my past two visits here. She has now gone back to school to further her education but she didn't hesitate to ask the other Aussie volunteers to join us at her party even though she had never met them before. We had a great night and enjoyed a delicious meal of motooke, kasava, cabbage, chicken and meat with g nut sauce that her family had prepared for the occasion. We were also lucky enough to see her uncle propose marriage to his long time girl friend!! Everyone there was very excited.
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Celebrating Teddy's 23rd Birthday! (Teddy is on my right)
On Monday morning everyone else in our group set off for painting at a Soft Power school while I visited with the pre school teachers I had spent so much time with them during our last two visits. Kibbi bought the volunteers for the usual visit at the preschool while I was there so they all got to see the fabulous singing and dancing that the kids do. It was terrific to see some of the preschool kids still wearing the clothes that the KCLC craft ladies had made and sent last year!
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Singing and dancing for the Muzungus and Kybiriwa Pre School
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Painting with Soft Power Education's 'School Refurbishment Program'
As Tuesday was a public holiday in Uganda, Soft Power only worked for half a day so Annete and Yvonne took the opportunity to get out on the river. They took a two hour floating trip which is some what more sedate than the full on white water rafting. While they enjoyed the amazing sights of the mighty Nile Sue and I went back out to Watitaka for the day. Milly had invited us to the graduation of the adult education group when we were there last week and we wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was such a thrill to be the guests of honor and so exciting to see people ranging in age from young mothers to very old grandmothers (the eldest was 95!!) receiving their certificates. It felt sort of like being back at KCLC (where Sue works and I volunteer) with the CGEA group there. We hoping that when we get back home that we can make a connection between the two groups - it would be fantastic for both of them!
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Annette and Yvonne prepare to raft the Mighty Nile!
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The Watitaka Primary School Adult Education Class graduation.
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While the others have spent the rest of the week working with Soft Power, I have had the chance to catch up with lots of people. I've spent time organising various things for HUG and even spent the afternoon yesterday with Flo learning how to make various jewelry pieces so that we can pass on this knowledge on to the women of Masaka at Suubi next week.
Over all I think it has been a terrific start to our trip. Bujagali is a great place for everyone to settle in. Hopefully they will be able to make the move to Masaka next week where there is no running water or proper toilets!! We do however have power now because we have just had it installed at Suubi!!!!! Yippppeeeee!!! Very very exciting!!! I can't wait to see it all with my own eyes.
Until the next time I get a chance to chat to you, love to all you HUGgers out there.
HUGs from Helen
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