A few lovely days in Mbale, Uganda with new friends!

We spent 4 days in Mbale with Mike and Deb, and had a wonderful time getting to know the local Ugandan villages and how people live there. It was really an amazing opportunity that we would never have had if we hadn't been put in touch with them. It's impossible to be here doing the touristy things and at the same time seeing how most of the country lives outside of the tourist destinations if you don't have somone to help you do that. So, we are eternally grateful to the Gilbert's for their hospitality and willingness to show us around! They fed us far better meals than I cook at home, that's for sure. We were spoiled, and then had to return to the not so good food at the various hotels and restaurants along the way, but that's ok. :)

So the day after we arrived in Mbale, we went to visit the Butta primary school, in a village called Sibanga, near Mbale, where Mike and Deb have done a lot of work with the community. They've built a health clinic and helped to rebuild a church there. The Butta primary school was quite small - only 7 classrooms for 1,200 students! And they only have one textbook for every 6 or 7 students, which is actually sort of lucky compared to other schools in Uganda. We met with David, the head teacher, and he told us all about the education system - primary school is free for all children in Uganda, but the government gives the schools only 4,000 Ugandan shilling per student. That is less than $2 U.S., for the whole year! The school had no electricity either, but they were working on getting electricity there. We weren't able to meet students because it was a national holiday (some former president had died), but 10 out of the 20 teachers from the school came to greet us, which was so kind because some of them walk for 5 miles or more to get to school. So they walked all that way just to meet us on their day off!

After the school visit, we stopped by the home of one of the artists that Mike and Deb have employed to make wooden crafts to sell through their Africa trAID marketplace that they are creating for the local villagers. The artist's name is Moses, and he has 6 children and who knows how many grandchildren living with him and his wife in a tiny mud-brick hut. Moses has polio and so he has no use of his legs at all, but he is still working and selling his crafts to support his family. It is such an inspiration to see. The children were so cute and friendly and very eager to shake our hands and greet us. Mike and Deb checked on a mask that Moses was working on while Ryan and I, and David the head teacher of the Butta School, and Paster Chicoli who is also working with Deb and Mike, played with the kids. At the end of the visit Moses gave Mike and Deb a huge bushel of bananas - though he is extremely poor, with no running water or electricity, he insisted on honoring them with a gift. Like I said before, the generosity of the Ugandan people is beautiful.

We had a traditional Ugandan meal at Pastor Chicoli's home after that, with matoke (mashed plaintains, sort of), rice, beans, cabbage, boiled eggs, chicken, and beef. Pastor Chicoli's wife prepared the meal but did not eat with us, it is not customary for the woman who prepares the meal to eat it with the others. She came out after the meal to introduce herself, though, and to show us how she peels matoke - which was incredibly fast and with a huge panga (machete)! We ended the meal with sodas - as usual. The soda consumption in Uganda is ridiculous, and pretty awful given the amount of sugar in sodas! But it is customary to offer your guests sodas on their visit, so I was in soda overload after a few days in Mbale! We chatted a bit with some of the local men who came to visit after dinner, about the Ugandan constitution and the government, which was very interesting for me.

The next day, Ryan and I went with Mike and Deb to meet another government official in charge of the Manafwa district at a beautiful hotel - the Mount Elgon Lodge - so that they could get a letter that they needed to reestablish their NGO - we have been lucky to meet severaly high-ranking government officials during our time in Mbale.

Just to prove that we were somewhat useful during our stay with Mike and Deb, other than just draining their energy with our questions, we helped them pack up 425 bags that they are sending to the States for a retreat with their local church in Tampa. So there, we did a little bit of work for our room and board! :)

We also bought some of our gifts to bring back from Mike & Deb, from their stash of goods that the villagers have made, that they will then bring to the US to sell when they go back in October. We figured that we will be buying gifts so we should buy the ones that are made from the actual people that we met!! So of course we are now lugging an extra bag, and it is only 2 weeks into our 9 week trip. Haha, Ryan will just have to deal with it.

So after 4 wonderful days in Mbale with our new friends, we headed back to Kampala with them - they had some work to do there and some artists to meet with, and we were planning on catching the bus from Kampala, Uganda to Kigali, Rwanda the next day to continue on with our trip. Of course we didn't get to the bus park early enough, the buses from Kampala leave very early in the morning, so we spent an extra day in Kampala. It was pretty great though, because that meant we got to spend an extra day with Mike & Deb and 2 of their friends who are living in the North in Kitgum, Uganda, and another couple who live in Uganda and run a tour company here. We barbequed for two days and enjoyed some wonderful company, so we were thankful for missing the bus. :)

And now onto Rwanda! I loved Uganda, the warmth of the people, and the beautiful countryside. But there are definitely serious issues that the people there are dealing with, mostly poverty and poor health, and also the threats of instability from the LRA, which waged a war for 23 years on the Northern part of Uganda. You should all watch the movie Uganda Rising - we watched it while we were here in Uganda, and it is an eye-opening account of what Uganda has gone through in the last several years.

I have some wonderful pictures of some of the children in the village that we met, but of course we can't find a computer that will recognize the card-reader to upload them. I guess when we find one, it will just be a fun picture & video post as a catch up!