Thanks to many kind donations Hands for Hope were able to
put on an Easter egg hunt for the nursery children. As you might imagine the kids loved it! As soon as they were given the go ahead they
rushed out to find all the eggs that we’d hidden. It didn’t take long for the children to find
them (with a little help) and to have their tiny hands full of eggs. It was hilarious to watch them running around
and even more so to see them savouring their chocolate treasures!
Happy faces all 'round
Conversely, the children on the Afternoon Programme
requested homework when told the Easter break was coming up! Their eagerness to learn never ceases to amaze
me – I can’t imagine kids in the UK asking to be given homework over the
holidays nor receiving said homework with a genuine smile and a ‘thank-you’. They particularly seem to like maths and are
getting better and better with their times tables and both long addition and
long subtraction – I’m so proud of all their efforts.
Over the Easter weekend I travelled with friends to Sipi to
see it's three waterfalls.
The journey was somewhat frustrating, taking us 3 hours to get out of
the city! I guess being an Easter
weekend meant everyone had the same idea of getting out of Kampala and add to
that heavy rain and terrible roads = massive traffic jams. Once we reached Mbale (6hrs after leaving Kampala
instead of the expected 4) we then had to sit in a taxi for an hour until the
driver was happy it was full to capacity: 11 people in an 8 seater car!
The long journey was forgotten when we got to the campsite
and saw the stunning view that it offered of Sipi Falls 1 (as opposed to the
imaginatively named Sipi Falls 2 & 3) and a beautifully lush valley. However, it wasn’t long before we realised
the campsite was run in a Faulty Towers
fashion, starting with them not having enough beds for our group, having dinner
served 2 ½ hours late, management having rather too keen a liking for alcohol
and no-one really being sure of what was going on! To be fair the staff consisted of mainly
school age boys, who I suspect have very little experience of hosting guests
and running a business, and they were all very polite and did their best to be
helpful.
View of Sipi Falls 1 from the campsite
Another campsite view
Peter was one member of staff who was very much involved in
the running of the place and seemed to know what he was doing, despite his post
being in addition to him attending school full-time. He offered to be our guide and took us on a
tour of the three waterfalls. The walk
took us through farmland where locals grow beans, coffee and plaintain. It was a really lovely walk with brightly
coloured plants and flowers, an almost constant view of one or other of the
waterfalls and meeting the odd animal along the way (including a turtle and
baby chameleon). Visiting three
waterfalls at different locations meant once we’d walked for a while and
inevitably got hot and sweaty we’d soon arrive at one of the waterfalls, which
we could get close enough to to have a bit of a shower and cool down. It was great fun to be that close and touch
the water pouring down onto the rocks.
Having a shower
Sipi 2 (or 3?)
Me pretending to have walked down a very steep hill!
Turtle going for a swim
Mr Blue-balls
Our accommodation
...and inside
Flowers at the campsite
A Sipi cow
The following day we engaged Peter’s services once more for
a coffee-making tour. He explained the
process of caring for the coffee plant then harvesting the beans before taking
us through the steps of making a very delicious pot of coffee. It took about an hour to get from dried coffee
bean to steaming hot cup of coffee, which I think is pretty damn good and the
end result was certainly worth the effort, although I must admit that Peter has
to take most of the credit for that despite our contributions to stirring the
beans in the pot and giving them a pound with the super-sized pestle and
mortar.
Coffee plants
Coffee beans
Our lovely guide, Peter, preparing the beans
Me having a go at de-skinning the beans
Beans being cooked
Me 'helping'
Roasted coffee beans
Putting in some elbow grease
Peter doing the real work
This smelt amazing
Nearly ready
Enjoying the finished product!
A friend of Peter's climbing to get us avocados
They were massive!
A beautiful chameleon
This month I also went to Jinja, a city east of Kampala,
which claims to be home of the source of the river Nile. Jens, Anja and I took a boat trip out onto
Lake Victoria and traveled to the point where the river Nile is said to
begin. We passed by many fishing farms
on the way, with many birds hanging around trying to get an easy dinner and
waded to a flooded craft shop on a small island close to the source of the Nile
– very conveniently placed for the numerous tourists they must get passing
by. The site of the source wasn’t all
that exciting as it was simply a spot in the water but of course we stopped to
have our photo taken by the sign as evidence of our having been there.
Posing at the source of the Nile
The flooded shop
Birds trying to find dinner
Enjoying the boat trip
The children are on holiday at the moment so the Holiday
Programme starts next week so keep the children out of harm’s way in the
slum. It also gives them a chance to be
kids and have a good time playing games with one another. It’s rainy season at the moment though so I
shall be keeping my fingers crossed that the rain doesn’t prevent lots of
outdoor games as the kids really enjoy these.
