ROBERT
So as most of you know my boyfriend arrived in the country almost 2 months back but he had been working in Kenya and had orientation with his organization so I hadn’t been able to see him nor msg him for the month he was here. We did speak on our 6 monthery which was great. So anyway I got a ride to Kampala with the school bus that was taking Beths family to Entebbe airport. It took around 4 hrs. I met up with Lydia in Kampala so Beth could farewell her family. I spent the day with Lydia just meeting her family in Kampala. (So Lydias mum and real sisters live in Kampala and her fathers second wife lives in Mbale.)
Beth came back to Lydias that night. When we were walking to get Beth I covered my head with a scarf as if I were Muslim as an attempt to protect myself from attention in the dark suburban streets. Lydias shoe then broke so I gave her mine so I was now a barefooted Muslim Muzungu wearing a skirt that showed my legs from the knees down, so I don’t think I did a good job in disguising myself.
We had a great chat, told Beth my testimony and got interrupted by Lydia cos she couldn’t handle the seriousness, and had some more funny chats with the girls. When we were going to bed, Lydia had to explain to me the potty system. As most Ugandans are afraid of the dark and toilets are always out of the house, they have a plastic bin that they use as a potty at night. I thought it was hilarious as I haven’t had a potty since I was a bub. So I had a good laugh when someone used it cos of sound effects(Lydia couldn’t understand why I found it funny).
The next morning Lydia had a job interview for a job that she just found in the papers. She told us how much she hoped it wasn’t one of those jobs that you go from door to door to sell things like shoes, saucepans and the like. So we jumped in a mutatu and tried to find our way there. At one point we thought it was still a good distance away and for the sake of time we would get a piki piki. So we got on and the cheeky men drove us 100m down the road and we were there. They demanded we give them 500 shillings and Lydia insisted we wernt going to pay them. They went and got the police and Lydia just instructed me not to pay at all. So I sat there waiting for Lydia to tell me what to do. My driver got really angry and grabbed my arm hard and said some rather harsh and angry swearwords at me and told me to give him the money. So I gave it to him whether Lydia wanted me to or not. Finally we went in the gate and it turned out it was just the job Lydia had not wanted. So there were all these poor uni graduates hoping for the best and would arrived, crack up laughing and walk away before anyone could see them there. Finally at 2pm we left for town center. So we had a look then decided to go to the market the following day for a shop.
So next day we got to the market had a brief shop for some essential clothes then I got a boda to go meet Rob.
I thought almost every second that I was going to die on this motorbike as the traffic is crazy in the city. Finally I saw Rob standing out as clear as anything being the only muzungu amongst many Africans. It was fantastic to see his smiling face again. We were not allowed to hug to say Hi so we had to shake hands keeping with Ugandan ways (ie nooo affection in public. It was cute and yet very refreshing when I read a write up in a newspaper today that stated “prostitutes dare to even kiss in public!” –it came with the exclamation mark.)
So we would have some explaining to do if we hugged. So Rob took me out for tea at a beautiful Italian Restaurant in muzungu land. We shared stories and photos. Ate some great pizza and risotto and just caught up. The next few days saw us talk, talk and talk some more. Shopped in the market. And just hung out together enjoying each others company. I stayed at some Americans that work for Robs organization. They live such a refreshing missionaries life with very little processions making it very easy for them to offer hospitality to Ugandans with out worrying they might steal something or make them feel more inferior than they already feel or making them long for something they will never have and be jealous. They are wonderful beautiful people that came from very tough backgrounds and have changed into the most beautiful people with all credit to God and the effects of his amazing love working through these people. They also have recently adopted a gorgeous little 4 year old Ugandan girl who is HIV positive. They are giving her a loving family and a chance at life. In the orphanage she had just been laid out on a mat to die but now with treatment and love she is a bundle of energy.
here is a snap in Robs work place. We just wanted a photo of us together in Uganda but it could be anywhere really.
Valentines Day & WHITE WATER RAFTING
So our Valentines day started very early as we were heading to Jinja (Which is the source of the Nile and is partway between Kampala and Mbale), to go white water rafting.
White water rafting is part of Robs Emi team bonding so two other girls and three other guys were with us. Rob was allowed to invite me along and he said it was my Valentines present. We got a bus to Jinja and were given a great second breakfast. With eggs and toast and chapatti and milk tea. It was fantastic. We changed into our rafting gear, jumped on the back of a truck and got to the starting point. By this stage I was starting to get a bit nervous even when I hadn’t seen the pictures I have showed you.
Anyway we learnt the ropes, were told what to do when we flip and we began a rather hair raising adventure.
It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun. We went down water falls that were maybe 2m long. We went flying through waves that were another 1.5m tall. We had a guide in our boat and he would shout us orders (like a coxwain …hmmmm I miss rowing), so he would should “GET DOWN” if we were likely to flip which was at every rapid. They were massive and we flipped a few times. I loved the flipping. It was great. There wernt any rocks so you just had to put up with being sucked under water for a few minutes at a time, coming up under the boat, or having limbs flying into you, but other than that its pretty safe. We did up to grade 5 rapids. I wonder if we even have them in Australia. I don’t think the Yarra moves that fast…just joking.
It was an all day adventure so we had lunch on the water of pineapples and biscuits. YUM. There were some still stretches and we had fun tying to race the other boats with our paddling even when they didn’t race us back. We still had pride in winning though…its all about team bonding. There were people along the side of the river. Some of them starkers as they were bathing on the shore. There were a few in homemade wooden boats fishing, and many women washing clothes on the banks. We asked our guide (who is a local), if the people on the banks thought it was weird that muzungus would raft down the river for fun and he told us that they think its just the same people going down the river every day. Hahah they must think one big family enjoys a ride down the river every day.
The best Rapid was the last one. It’s known as “the bad place” as it has massive grade 6 rapids followed by two grade 5 rapids. As novices we are not allowed to do the six so we got the boat out, and walked on the bank past the six then prepared for the 2 fives. The other girls got out so me and the boys jumped in. We were going along and the first rapid we couldn’t turn the boat around in time and over we went. We all got chucked out then sucked under. We were told not to fight against the water and try to swim to the surface as we might swim the wrong way and be stuck under water longer then we need to. So I let my life jacket do the work and after quite an extended period my head emerged. But if you think that that’s the hardest part out of the way then your wrong. As soon as you come to the surface the one thing your mind focuses on is getting some oxygen, but no hope cos as soon I got up I got sucked under the second level 5 rapid then flung through massive waves that come every second so every time you breath you get water, start choking then try to breathe again. It felt like a very long time. Finally when I was getting pulled to the edge by the natural flow of the water I saw (and still very clearly have an image of) Rob looking at me but he was still stuck in the very middle struggling to get a breath. Hmm at least I knew he was out of the worst of it. But he ended up another 200-300m away and had to get picked up by the life boat. Well I joked with Rob that I hadn’t yet seen a look of fear on his face and that I was expecting to on the rafting, and I did. I cant say at that stage I enjoyed seeing that look as we were both still fighting to breathe but now at least Ive seen it. What surprised me most was that after all that I still had firm grip of my paddle. I didn’t realize I was holding it until I got to the shore. I was like ha fancy that they told us to keep our paddle if we could and there it was in my hand I had no idea throughout that whole thing that it was there. My index finger had a cut on it as my grip must have been so tight.
So they fed us soda and chips while we waited for every one to come together, chatted to another Melbourne University Science graduate that couldn’t find work, then it was back to the truck and to the place where we ate dinner. It was a beautiful place with a great view of the river. We got western food and SALAD!!! Yummm
I left with sun burnt knees, great memories and a small amount of pride that we flipped the “bad place” and survived. Ok so only one person has died rafting in the last 10 years but still it was adrenaline pumping.
Thanks Rob! What a great memory we have for our first Valentines day, let alone our adventures in this far away land of Uganda.
So as most of you know my boyfriend arrived in the country almost 2 months back but he had been working in Kenya and had orientation with his organization so I hadn’t been able to see him nor msg him for the month he was here. We did speak on our 6 monthery which was great. So anyway I got a ride to Kampala with the school bus that was taking Beths family to Entebbe airport. It took around 4 hrs. I met up with Lydia in Kampala so Beth could farewell her family. I spent the day with Lydia just meeting her family in Kampala. (So Lydias mum and real sisters live in Kampala and her fathers second wife lives in Mbale.)
Beth came back to Lydias that night. When we were walking to get Beth I covered my head with a scarf as if I were Muslim as an attempt to protect myself from attention in the dark suburban streets. Lydias shoe then broke so I gave her mine so I was now a barefooted Muslim Muzungu wearing a skirt that showed my legs from the knees down, so I don’t think I did a good job in disguising myself.
We had a great chat, told Beth my testimony and got interrupted by Lydia cos she couldn’t handle the seriousness, and had some more funny chats with the girls. When we were going to bed, Lydia had to explain to me the potty system. As most Ugandans are afraid of the dark and toilets are always out of the house, they have a plastic bin that they use as a potty at night. I thought it was hilarious as I haven’t had a potty since I was a bub. So I had a good laugh when someone used it cos of sound effects(Lydia couldn’t understand why I found it funny).
The next morning Lydia had a job interview for a job that she just found in the papers. She told us how much she hoped it wasn’t one of those jobs that you go from door to door to sell things like shoes, saucepans and the like. So we jumped in a mutatu and tried to find our way there. At one point we thought it was still a good distance away and for the sake of time we would get a piki piki. So we got on and the cheeky men drove us 100m down the road and we were there. They demanded we give them 500 shillings and Lydia insisted we wernt going to pay them. They went and got the police and Lydia just instructed me not to pay at all. So I sat there waiting for Lydia to tell me what to do. My driver got really angry and grabbed my arm hard and said some rather harsh and angry swearwords at me and told me to give him the money. So I gave it to him whether Lydia wanted me to or not. Finally we went in the gate and it turned out it was just the job Lydia had not wanted. So there were all these poor uni graduates hoping for the best and would arrived, crack up laughing and walk away before anyone could see them there. Finally at 2pm we left for town center. So we had a look then decided to go to the market the following day for a shop.
So next day we got to the market had a brief shop for some essential clothes then I got a boda to go meet Rob.
I thought almost every second that I was going to die on this motorbike as the traffic is crazy in the city. Finally I saw Rob standing out as clear as anything being the only muzungu amongst many Africans. It was fantastic to see his smiling face again. We were not allowed to hug to say Hi so we had to shake hands keeping with Ugandan ways (ie nooo affection in public. It was cute and yet very refreshing when I read a write up in a newspaper today that stated “prostitutes dare to even kiss in public!” –it came with the exclamation mark.)
So we would have some explaining to do if we hugged. So Rob took me out for tea at a beautiful Italian Restaurant in muzungu land. We shared stories and photos. Ate some great pizza and risotto and just caught up. The next few days saw us talk, talk and talk some more. Shopped in the market. And just hung out together enjoying each others company. I stayed at some Americans that work for Robs organization. They live such a refreshing missionaries life with very little processions making it very easy for them to offer hospitality to Ugandans with out worrying they might steal something or make them feel more inferior than they already feel or making them long for something they will never have and be jealous. They are wonderful beautiful people that came from very tough backgrounds and have changed into the most beautiful people with all credit to God and the effects of his amazing love working through these people. They also have recently adopted a gorgeous little 4 year old Ugandan girl who is HIV positive. They are giving her a loving family and a chance at life. In the orphanage she had just been laid out on a mat to die but now with treatment and love she is a bundle of energy.
here is a snap in Robs work place. We just wanted a photo of us together in Uganda but it could be anywhere really.Valentines Day & WHITE WATER RAFTING
So our Valentines day started very early as we were heading to Jinja (Which is the source of the Nile and is partway between Kampala and Mbale), to go white water rafting.
White water rafting is part of Robs Emi team bonding so two other girls and three other guys were with us. Rob was allowed to invite me along and he said it was my Valentines present. We got a bus to Jinja and were given a great second breakfast. With eggs and toast and chapatti and milk tea. It was fantastic. We changed into our rafting gear, jumped on the back of a truck and got to the starting point. By this stage I was starting to get a bit nervous even when I hadn’t seen the pictures I have showed you.
Anyway we learnt the ropes, were told what to do when we flip and we began a rather hair raising adventure.
It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun. We went down water falls that were maybe 2m long. We went flying through waves that were another 1.5m tall. We had a guide in our boat and he would shout us orders (like a coxwain …hmmmm I miss rowing), so he would should “GET DOWN” if we were likely to flip which was at every rapid. They were massive and we flipped a few times. I loved the flipping. It was great. There wernt any rocks so you just had to put up with being sucked under water for a few minutes at a time, coming up under the boat, or having limbs flying into you, but other than that its pretty safe. We did up to grade 5 rapids. I wonder if we even have them in Australia. I don’t think the Yarra moves that fast…just joking.
It was an all day adventure so we had lunch on the water of pineapples and biscuits. YUM. There were some still stretches and we had fun tying to race the other boats with our paddling even when they didn’t race us back. We still had pride in winning though…its all about team bonding. There were people along the side of the river. Some of them starkers as they were bathing on the shore. There were a few in homemade wooden boats fishing, and many women washing clothes on the banks. We asked our guide (who is a local), if the people on the banks thought it was weird that muzungus would raft down the river for fun and he told us that they think its just the same people going down the river every day. Hahah they must think one big family enjoys a ride down the river every day.
The best Rapid was the last one. It’s known as “the bad place” as it has massive grade 6 rapids followed by two grade 5 rapids. As novices we are not allowed to do the six so we got the boat out, and walked on the bank past the six then prepared for the 2 fives. The other girls got out so me and the boys jumped in. We were going along and the first rapid we couldn’t turn the boat around in time and over we went. We all got chucked out then sucked under. We were told not to fight against the water and try to swim to the surface as we might swim the wrong way and be stuck under water longer then we need to. So I let my life jacket do the work and after quite an extended period my head emerged. But if you think that that’s the hardest part out of the way then your wrong. As soon as you come to the surface the one thing your mind focuses on is getting some oxygen, but no hope cos as soon I got up I got sucked under the second level 5 rapid then flung through massive waves that come every second so every time you breath you get water, start choking then try to breathe again. It felt like a very long time. Finally when I was getting pulled to the edge by the natural flow of the water I saw (and still very clearly have an image of) Rob looking at me but he was still stuck in the very middle struggling to get a breath. Hmm at least I knew he was out of the worst of it. But he ended up another 200-300m away and had to get picked up by the life boat. Well I joked with Rob that I hadn’t yet seen a look of fear on his face and that I was expecting to on the rafting, and I did. I cant say at that stage I enjoyed seeing that look as we were both still fighting to breathe but now at least Ive seen it. What surprised me most was that after all that I still had firm grip of my paddle. I didn’t realize I was holding it until I got to the shore. I was like ha fancy that they told us to keep our paddle if we could and there it was in my hand I had no idea throughout that whole thing that it was there. My index finger had a cut on it as my grip must have been so tight.
So they fed us soda and chips while we waited for every one to come together, chatted to another Melbourne University Science graduate that couldn’t find work, then it was back to the truck and to the place where we ate dinner. It was a beautiful place with a great view of the river. We got western food and SALAD!!! Yummm
I left with sun burnt knees, great memories and a small amount of pride that we flipped the “bad place” and survived. Ok so only one person has died rafting in the last 10 years but still it was adrenaline pumping.
Thanks Rob! What a great memory we have for our first Valentines day, let alone our adventures in this far away land of Uganda.
Here are some snaps of the crazy white rafting. It cost too much for me to buy photos of us so i just got these ones of the net but its seriously the same crazy rafting and flipping trip that we did. I think if I saw these photos first I would never had said yes cos it look far too crazy for me. But it was and it was FUN!
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