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.