Time for a little update, trying to stratch my head and remember what I've been up to.
Weather wise, it has been very much the rainy season still... some parts of Uganda get 400-500mm rain just in April-May. So this morning was a good example. The first rain drops started falling, each one covering 5cm of ground and within 2 minutes the ground was covered with flowing water. Sure enough, it was soon gone and sunshine returned. The weather has been a little overcast and cooler and behaving a bit unusual according to some Ugandans. Still haven't been cole enough to want a jumper of any sort, not even close. Still sleeping on top of the bed with no sheet over me most nights.
Its been hard to find time to post here as I've either been away on weekends or working/busy. I visited Maz for her 21st birthday (May 8th) and got four days off to stay in Mbale, that was great to see Maz and have a chance for some conversation. Long distance relationship is quite challenging in many ways, I think most people would testify to that, but it makes your relationship stronger in some ways also.
I did leave my camera with her, so there will be no photos for a while til I catch up with her next (probably in June sometime.)
I would like to post photos of Sipi Falls (but can't obviously). We went there with Maz's Ugandan family, and they were really beautiful. The view from the mountain is magnificent looking over a vast amount of land and there are three waterfalls... I could be wrong but I think 90, 75 and 68 meters high. There is also a 9 meter deep natural swimming pool which we didn't get time to see. We went up there a little late, so didn't have heaps of time, but it was well worth it. One place charged us 75c each to go on to their land because we are Whites.
There were some caves / openings behind the falls that you could walk behind the water. We only saw the smallest fall up close.
The only downer was the travel time, about 8-9 hours each direction for ~300 km. The buses both broke down, there were random driver changes and the police fined us. At one point on the way home, I was getting ready to sleep the night on the broken down bus, as it was stopped for maybe 30 minutes and they were loudly hitting the engine with a hammer. The Ugandan next to me went to sleep using me as a pillow, so I couldn't even stretch my legs.
So I ended up going to do some prison work also, which was quite moving. I went to the youth remand home where 108 'criminals' are held. Some are there for getting caught kissing a girlfriend, some are there for stealing 5 million shillings (3500AUD). Sometimes the police will take them to jail without even informing their parents. Some of them wanted us to phone their parents to say where they were.
I went with a bunch of students form Makeree University and another man who I had met previously (and loved) called Eric, a Kenyan. I didn't know he would be on the trip so it was quite a nice surprise. We basically sang some songs, and handed out bananas (bagoya) and bread buns which the kids liked. The conditions there aren't very nice, but they teach them some studies while they are there which is good. I had some great chats with a few of the guys. They were really interested to hear some truth from the bible, especially one muslim guy, who was interested in hearing the claims that Jesus made about himself. Since they have to be either truth or false, lies or realities.
I enjoyed hanging with some peers too. My focus coming over here was to try to develope several friendships more deeply as opposed to getting to know many people at a more shallow depth. But it was still nice to catch up with some guys and girls and spend time finding out about them. Its hard culturally to have good gender balance in friendships here, AKA I've spent my time getting to know guys, but it was nice chatting to some sisters too for a change. The uni students seemed pretty keen in their faith and it reminded me of university work back in Australia in some points.
I'm trying to remember if I posted about Mukono. If I did you can compare the two and spot the difference as it is less fresh now.
A ministry up there is known as Reach One Touch One Ministries (ROTOM). It reaches out as a service to the elderly. Started by a Ugandan guy only a few years ago, it now involves 276 elderly folk and the 100 orphans under their care. Kenneth is the founder. He had got to know just one woman, and had gone to the USA to study and had a job there (rare). But he gave up the job and came back to focus on helping the elderly. They get together once per week to do training / life survival / coping with elderly living sessions. They also have some regular bible studies and visitation. They also get meals provided and sometimes help building huts etc if they become homeless.
It is sponsored through the US, Canada and Germany mainly I think, but I loved seeing money going to a great project and being used really well to rapidly expand into the local community. They are really well respected and everyone around can see that they really care for the oldies.
Social welfare is a very different concept here. Traditionally the economy was built for survival here... if you have any money, help someone who is in a worse spot, and they will help you when you are inevitably struggling. With the increase of western thinking, and individualism and capitalism, some of those structures are breaking down and leaving people less cared for. there are no government programs to help (as far as I know) so it is pretty hard for them, as elderly care and services just don't exist almost.
What else is news? Well the Kenya Baptist University project is winding up fast, we will hopefully publish by Wednesday next week, leaving time to complete remaining tasks after publishing with the final date set for May 29.
On May 30, I leave for another project down in the south west of Uganda, in a place called Kabale. That will go for a week and a half, and I will be doing surveying, the water system design and some sections of the report, which will keep me fairly busy until I come back to Oz in July. So you can be praying for that project.
I've also been applying for jobs back in Australia. Thats been going ok, with some phone interviews etc. I'm keeping my options open and if I can't get something lined up I'll focus more determinedly when I get home. If anyone has any good housing opportunities for me, coming up in Melbourne around July, let me know!
I'm currently an illegal immigrant, but only because I'm waiting for immigration to approve my special pass to extend my Visa. They still have my passport which I think is dodgy, but no other way around things. And to think Maz got it for free!! I had to pay $60. (which is the official price).
The peace talks have resumed in Juba a little while ago (regarding the LRA rebels in the north.) Tom is the professor from the US who I have been working on the water system design with. His wife Jill is going up next week sometime to be at the peace talks as someone who will pray, so that is exciting and I hope the peace talks can really make progress. The ICC still has Joseph Kony as the #1 wanted war criminal in the world I think, which is slowing down the talks as he and his commanders know their necks are on the chopping block. One of our guards went back to his village to rebuild, which happened in two weeks. I was so grateful and thankful that he could finally go and build again. The LRA burned down his home and lots of death occured around him (he was even shot at personally and friends running close by didn't make it). Its just a story of new beginnings, even though he lost friends, family, home and buisness.
Its crazy thinking back to my life in the last few years and realise that none of my concerns or stresses are even worth comparing to the struggles some people have had to go through. Sobering thought while you are partying away or chilling out, that somewhere, someone is going through extreme hardship and suffering, beyond our imagination.
So other random tidbits. We have no water, something has broken outside our property. The water we recieve here we boil anyway as stagnation in pipes and pollutants etc as well as the nasty growths in the tanks. When we do water quality tests around the nation it often fails human consumption quality standards.
Our landlord didn't pay his bill so they put a notice on our property that there would be a public auction in 1 month to sell the place. But he paid the bill so that drama was averted.
They also found 2 fully loaded AK-47's buried across the street. (they are fully automatic assault rifles for those who don't know their guns.) The guy made bricks during the day time, but was a black market trader. Rumor has it that the police tortured him quite severely. Just one of those things that doesn't have much impact on daily life, but an interesting story to tell.
I had a mexican party at Steve and Melinda Hoyts too. The food didn't seem too mexican to me, but its harder with limited ingredients. There some salsa's, refried beans, etc. I just made a pineapple, banana and mango fruit salad... Cheap and easy to make over here. :)
Still enjoying soccer, I make it there most weeks, sometimes I miss a few in a row though. Good friendly games.
As you can see, the news is getting shorter, primarily because I'm getting very tired. Benny Hinn (famous for his religious TV show.) is coming to town tomorrow (Saturday). I'm quite skeptical about him, but wouldn't have minded getting along to check him out for myself for free. But a friend is going along and He'll tell me all about it (I'm working instead with the project deadline so close.)
Thanks for reading, watch this space for more pictureless updates!