TWELFTH INSTALMENT 2017

FRIDAY FEBRUARY  10th 2017

I am back in U.K.
Left Masindi at 9am and reached Entebbe around 1:30pm, picking up Dorothy Mugenyi and arriving at Goretti's Pizza restaurant  on the bank  of Lake Victoria  for lunch before going to the airport. The traffic  around Kampala was terrible despite it being National Women's Day and Godfrey Taxi knowing all the back roads! Very sad to say goodbye to all the staff  at Courtview  Hotel our home for the last month!
There was a short storm as we ate our pizza  but there has been no good rain in the last three days - pray that The Rains really start so that the seeds people have already planted will prosper and come to fruition: if not Uganda will have a crisis  as the last harvest was poor, around 4,000 refugees continue to cross into Uganda every day and the Aid Agencies continue to buy maize and beans to deliver in South Sudan thus putting up the price  of food  staples.
The flight to Addis went well but the five hours waiting for our connection was a drag. Once on board for Heathrow we were served second diner of rice and chicken and had a variety of the latest  movies  to choose from in Ethiopia Airlines most comfortable  and modern Airbus

I only had three crises on the journey  but it ended up with me losing my little "Africa Phone" at Addis Airport - I think it fell out of my pocket!

The Internet was very weak during my last few days in Masindi  and I think my Tenth Blog all about visiting  the Refugee Camp at Kyriandongo has not published. That visit was an eye opener ,especially our visit  to the  primary school in the camp  -  we went into a classroom where 140 pupils were crammed,studying!

It was a P4 year group and altogether there are around  700 pupils in Year 4, taught in 5 sets! The Refugee Camp holds around 75 thousand refugees ,mainly now from Sudan  but also from Congo and still some  Acholi 's from the war in Northern Uganda and Kikuyu's  from  Kenya's tribal problems during the Elections there four years ago.

On our penultimate day in Masindi, Sallie insisted Pat and I plus Missionary Janine go to Amuka Lodge  in Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for lunch We did not see the rhinos but saw many bushbuck Thompson's Gazelles and loads of birds to and from the lodge. It was a great relaxation after rushing to get the girls knickers to a point whereTeachers Lucy and Scotia could finish them off with the girls and managing to get Francis Welder to hang the shutters in Olive's classroom block!!

Job done!

 

ELEVENTH INSTALMENT 2017

SUNDAY MARCH 5th 2017

Pat and I are spending a quiet day today although I did manage to get to church St 8:30am. Sallie has given us some Gabarol to sort out our tummies!

It is hot again, back to the thirties - midday  today it has reached 30.8 but it was tremendously hot in the Game Park on Friday. We got up at 4:30 am and I ended up helping Chef Walter pack the chicken and chipped potatoes into their containers for lunch! Then we loaded up the pickup with the lunches and the eggs,mendazi and sweet tea for breakfast. The schoolchildren ate their eggs etc standing up or sitting on the verandah as dawn broke then we loaded up the 5 minibuses and set off for Murchison Game Park!

Even before we reached the entrance to the Park we passed loads of baboons - troop after troop and I wondered if it might become necessary to cull some ( it seems they did kill some of the baboons that cluster around the ferry and Red Chili Camp). We also disturbed several flocks of black and white birds with big yellow beaks.

Entering the Park took some little time, but eventually we were driving to the ferry where the Uganda Wildlife Authority boat was waiting for us. We had a lovely passage down the Nile, and saw three or four big crocodiles basking in the sun as well as  many hippos and loads of gorgeous birds nesting in the  sandstone cliffs. We saw a giraffe amongst the trees and many waterbucks and warthogs  coming down to drink at the river edge.

Lunch back on land was not too much of a success as the Manager at Red Chili Camp was expecting a big group of contestants in the annual Fishing Contest to eat there. He very kindly allowed to use the toilets and wash our hands and fill our water bottles then showed us across the road to a camping site.Sadly there was no shade so we ate our chicken and chips quickly in the minibuses then drove back to the ferry .

Everyone enjoyed the Game Drive - we saw herds of Oribi and Jackson's Hartebeeste,bushbuck and waterbuck  buffalo and loads of giraffes .We drove down to Lake Albert where I managed to see a SHOE BILL bird through the Rangers binoculars across on the opposite bank!

Then on the way back to the ferry we came across a kill with vultures and Marabou storks and in a thorn thicket nearby we could just make out the shape s of six lions! Finally we could just about see the tail of a leopard hanging down from a tree branch!! Of course no good pictures but just the fact that we had been in the vicinity  of lions and leopards! The only elephants we saw were far away.

We managed to get back to school just before dark so that the children could get home in the light.

NINTH INSTALMENT 2017

WEDNESDAY 1st MARCH 2017

My head cold has gone but I am left with a hacking cough!

We have had some spectacular thunder storms over the past three days  especially at night with thunder and lightning and trees swaying and palm fronds being torn off!

I have been busy booking the transport,launchtrip  park entrance and food for Friday's educational trip to The National Park.Yesterday and today I have taught theP7s a couple of lesson s to prepare them for the trip. They told me that they will be seeing horses,jaguars,bears and caribou in Murchison Park! Ugandans do not have much knowledge of the world outside Uganda and in fact have never seen a rhino! Rhinos have been made extinct in Uganda but Angie at Ziwa has now bred 12 from 3 breedingbpairs from a zoo and from Kenya. Unfortunately I don't have enough money to take the schoolchildren to Ziwa to see these rhinos.

I walked down to the bank to get a daily allowance of cash so I can pay for the mattresses I shall hire tomorrow , ready for breakfast up at the school At 5:30am well before dawn on Friday. The P7s are so excited at the thought of beef stew  for supper tomorrow then a boiled egg, mendazi and tea for breakfast and chicken with roast potato for packed lunch. Sallie has a new chef ( wonderful coconut sauce last night with Nile Perch,)