At the risk of evoking an “Enough about your trip to Africa, already” response, I promise this will be my last posting on the subject.

Thought I would share some random observations…

People work really hard in the countries we visited. Whether it’s building roads, collecting sticks to sell as firewood, or harvesting a crop, the work is very manual. They don’t have many of the mechanical tools/machines we have that would make the work easier.

Soft drinks are served in glass bottles (not plastic or cans)!

Deforestation is a huge problem, especially in Ethiopia and Uganda. A number of things have contributed to the problem including the use of wood for fuel and construction, prolonged droughts, and forest fires. Deforestation has significant environmental impacts. For example, warmer temperatures, which in some areas has contributed to the spread of diseases like malaria.

Women wear beautiful colourful wraps in so many creative ways…around their waist as a skirt, above the chest as a dress, as headwear, as shawls, and as baby carriers.

It seems when children are old enough to walk, they actually walk! I don’t remember seeing a stroller in any of the countries we visited!! The other thing I don’t recall seeing were diapers on babies!

We each had two pieces of checked luggage. When we left home, three of the bags had plastic luggage tags with the Canadian Flag on them. Our luggage arrived safely at the airport in Addis Ababa but the three luggage tags didn’t! Instead of being upset, we actually felt kind of flattered that someone thought our country’s flag was so beautiful they wanted it!

One night in Dibate, Ethiopia we got up during the night to visit the outhouse. On the way back to our room, we stopped and looked up at the stars. Without electricity in the area, there was no other light to detract from them. The stars were so brilliant they looked like diamonds sparkling on black velvet! It was phenomenal.

In Uganda we visited landmine survivors who have set up small businesses with CPAR Income Generating Activity (IGA) loans. When asked “What is the best thing” about their IGA, there were two common responses…that it helped them regain their dignity because they could support their families again and that their children would have the opportunity of an education.

One of the fastest ways to get around Kampala, Uganda is by motorcycle (referred to as Boda Boda). They dart in and out of traffic and it seems very dangerous! To curb injuries, the government passed a law requiring drivers & passengers to wear helmets. Our hosts told us that has prompted some creative attempts to comply. I’m not 100% certain but I believe I saw a fellow whiz by with a colander tied to his head!

We visited Amuru, one of the largest IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps in Uganda where over 40,000 people live! At one point we stood on a road overlooking the camp and we could see row after row of mud/grass huts that seemed to go on forever. There are schools, health centres, and small businesses within the camp. As people become more confident that peace in the region will last, they’ll leave this and other IDP camps and return to their families’ villages, which were abandoned when rebels attacked. The conflict spanned 20 years though, so for many people these camps are the only homes they’ve known. That may slow the transition.

In the town of Gulu in Uganda, while having breakfast at the hotel on the balcony overlooking one of the main streets in town, I noticed a tall naked man walking around. People didn’t seem to be paying much attention to him. Later when I mentioned it to one of our CPAR hosts, she said “Oh him, he’s just the crazy guy who walks around naked.” Ha ha.

While on our way from Gulu to Murchison Falls in Uganda we stopped on the road to buy some bottled water and the truck was quickly surrounded by people selling all sorts of things. One fellow pressed a (live) chicken, he was holding by the feet, up against my window, which was just slightly (thank goodness) open. I smiled politely and told him I didn’t need a chicken. He laughed and persisted in pressing the poor bird against my window, I suppose in the hopes I may change my mind! Apparently lots of people, travelling on public buses will buy a chicken this way and then stuff it under their seat for the ride home. Poor little chickens!

Although they seem out of place, cell phones are widely used throughout the countries we visited, except in the most remote regions. However even in those areas, it is expected to come soon. Seems they skipped right over land lines to cell technology. Advertising of phone service providers is EVERYWHERE…outnumbering even Coke and Pepsi! While we were in Malawi, the largest of their two major service providers had a serious fire at their head office. This left tens of thousands of people scrambling to switch to the other provider who had some difficulty keeping up with the service demand. Don’t know if it is back to normal yet, but there was speculation it could take months to fully restore the service.

Malawi has one of the highest AIDS rates in Africa. We passed so many little shops with the sign ‘Coffin Makers’ outside them. Very sad. Our CPAR hosts mentioned there were so many funerals that there was almost always one underway during their weekly visits to programs. However, lately there seem to be fewer so perhaps the education and drug treatment work being done in the country is having a positive impact.

Peanuts are an important crop in Malawi…did you know they grow underground, kind of like carrots? I didn’t know that! I couldn’t get enough roasted ‘Malawi nuts’ when we were there. In fact, of the ones we brought home as souvenirs, only a few made it to the intended recipients. Sorry!

Over the course of our 8 hour layover at the airport in Amsterdam we heard this announcement a lot “(Passenger Name) flying to (Destination), YOU are delaying the flight. We will proceed to offload your luggage.” How embarassing would that be!

Okay, that’s it, that’s all. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip!

We’ve had some requests to add photos to the Blog…

This photo shows a typical “road” off the main road to a project…very bumpy. This one was in Ethiopia but they were much the same everywhere we visited. Sometimes it felt like all my internal organs were bouncing around inside and I hoped they’d all end up back in the right place!!!

No matter where we went, children loved having their picture taken. These little ones at the Blue Nile Gorge in Ethiopia came running from all directions when they saw the car.

This young boy came along just after I took the previous picture and asked me to take a picture of him. The other children moved to stand beside him and he said “No, just me!” and then struck this serious pose.

I love this picture. Dwight is showing people from the Gumz tribe a DVD recording he had just made. The Gumz live in a remote region (Debate) and have had very limited exposure to anything or anyone outside of their own tribe so this may have been the first time they’d seen anything like this. The man in the centre is one of the tribe leaders and I think his expression is wonderful!

Our first mob of cheering kids! Wow, what an experience. This was taken from the car as we were leaving a school we visited in Debate.

When stopped to visit a water well project, I attracted my own little crowd. This was where they were asking my name and laughing when I’d say “Sue”.

I don’t usually take pictures of bathrooms but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget what they were like. A keyhole shaped opening in cement. The little jug outside the door is to dip in a rainwater barrel then “flush” away any remnants of your visit! I should mention, in case you’re planning a trip to Ethiopia, Uganda, or Malawi, that it’s BYOTP (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper) pretty much everywhere you go!

I bought some lottery tickets from this little boy in a small town on the route from Jarso to Addis. The big prize was 77,000 BIR (approx. $8,000 USD). I planned to donate it to the CPAR projects in area, if I was lucky enough to win, but unfortunately my success with lotteries in Ethiopia was the same as it is here in Canada. Compared to most other people in the area, this little boy is exceptionally well dressed…I wonder if somebody bought a winning ticket from him then came back to reward him with new clothes?!

We were often welcomed by women, who sang for us. This was a group of community volunteers who work alongside healthcare workers providing support to expectant and new mothers in northern Uganda.

This was a demonstration of an oxen yoke that a community group makes as an income generating activity (IGA). The woman, Carolina was so generous. After we left them, we walked over to look at an energy efficient stove in the area. Carolina went to a nearby store and bought us some soft drinks then ran over to give them to us for our ride back to Lira.

This group performed at the dedication ceremony, we attended, for the health centre in Uganda. They were amazing! The traditional stringed instruments are very basic but produce a beautiful sound.

When I said “Smile!” these little cuties, at an IDP Camp in northern Uganda, knew what to do!

More cuties at the same camp…

We took a day off to visit the Murchison Falls National Park in northern Uganda where we saw amazing animals like this giraffe.

This picture was taken at a school garden project in Malawi. The children take great pride in working in the garden, which provides them with a wide variety of nutritious foods and gardening skills that they share with their families.

Hundreds of children from the school were watching us from just outside the garden gates!

One of the many times on the trip when children ran after the car as we pulled away!

These children are orphans who attend a school recently built with CPAR’s assistance in the Chintheche area of Malawi.

This is a picture of Judith, whom I wrote about in my first blog posting, describing the program she is invoved with.

In all of the countries we visited there were merchants selling all sorts of things along rural roads. We stopped here to purchase Chambo and were quickly surrounded.

This picture was taken in the market in Lilongwe, where we had just purchased some wraps (material not sandwiches!). It was fun negotiating a price. I’m sure we overpayed (foreigner vs local price) but that’s okay.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Uganda is recovering from a 20 year civil war. We spent one night in the town of Pader in a remote district (Pader District) of northern Uganda. This area was right in the centre of the conflict and the people there suffered greatly. Until the truce began at the end of August, it wasn’t safe for NGOs (charitable organizations) to work in the area but now there is a strong presence and the process of rebuilding is evident.

There is one hotel in town where NGO workers/visitors would usually stay. Although I didn’t see the rooms, I suspect they meet a basic standard for facilities and security that most Westerners would expect. Unfortunately, due to a reservation mix-up, no rooms were available when we arrived. We ended up getting the last room in a guesthouse in the centre of town.

It was dark by the time we checked in to our little bare room with twin beds. A single lightbulb hung from the ceiling. There’s no electricity in Padar so generators are used in the evening when the sun goes down. The ‘lock’ was a bent nail on the doorframe, and ours was the only room without metal bars in the windows. Dwight, with McGyver like ingenuity though, fashioned a barrier out of plastic covered wire he had in his suitcase (go figure!) that allowed us to keep the window partially open. Thank goodness because even with it open, it was stiflingly hot in the room. On the plus side, the mosquito nets were in good shape!

The toilets were outhouses with key-hole shaped openings in cement that you perch above. I had gotten somewhat used to using these when we were in Ethiopia however these ones were not very clean. I decided I’d rather risk dehydration than use them more than necessary, so limited my beverage intake accordingly that night! The sign on the shower door, written in chalk…’DO NOT URINATE IN HERE’…spoke for itself. Water for washing was in a big rusty oil can that you dip a plastic basin in and carry back to your room.

We hadn’t eaten so decided to go look for food. At the front of the hotel we met two young women, one from England and the other from Australia who are in Padar for a lengthy stays. Having lived a pretty sheltered life, I am in awe of young women who bravely travel the world on their own like that. The one from England was writing a thesis on the re-integration of child soldiers, and the woman from Australia was in the area to oversee work with a charitable program she supports. They often ate at a little place beside the hotel and recommended the beans and pacho (sp?), which I think was cassava. It was good. Just as we finished eating, our CPAR host from the Padar office came by the hotel to see if we wanted to join him for dinner at a nearby restaurant. Even though we had eaten, we went along and enjoyed chatting with him. He’s a really nice, soft spoken young man who grew up in the region which, for almost all his life, was a war zone. The reality of that didn’t strike me at the time but now I think how amazing it is that such a lovely person can come from such a harsh environment…and there are so many lovely people there.

We went to bed around 9 o’clock. It had been an exhausting day. In the courtyard of the guesthouse a TV, apparently a new feature at the hotel, blared loudly. At the front of the hotel was a bar and pool table where a large group of men were assembled playing pool, talking, and laughing loudly. This went on until the generator was shut off at around 1:30 am. We didn’t get much, if any, sleep. Throughout the night every sound seemed to be right outside our room. I even heard continuous squeaking, coming from a large opening in the ceiling, which I think may have been bats. Again I was glad to have good mosquito netting! And interestingly, there was traditional chanting and the sound of drums beating in the distance for most of the night.

I have to admit I was a bit scared…in the dark without a sturdy lock on the door, in a remote area, in a part of the country where months earlier attacks by the rebel army were commonplace. You start thinking crazy things like…Do bats carry Ebola? Do all the rebels know about the truce…maybe they didn’t get the memo? Who would help us if something happened…why didn’t I ask our CPAR host for his cell phone number?

In the morning, everything looked a little bit better…except the outhouses! We woke up shortly after 5:30 am but had to lay in bed til around 7 am when the sun came up. It was too dark to see anything before that. After a “birdbath” in our room we were ready to move on to our next adventure!

In case you aren’t lucky enough (ha ha) to get together with us in person so we can tell you ALL about our trip to Africa, complete with a few hundred slides, I thought I’d write a little about it in our blog!

As some of you may know, I wasn’t overly keen about going…a combination of fear of the unknown and just being a homebody. I hadn’t really talked about the trip before everything was booked because I thought if I didn’t mention it, Dwight might forget about taking me! Well, he didn’t forget. And now I have to admit, it was an amazing experience and I’m so glad I went.

We spent one week each in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Malawi. This was a work trip for Dwight. He’s with CPAR (Canadian Physicians For Aid & Relief), an organization that “works in partnership with vulnerable communities and diverse organizations to overcome poverty and build healthy communities in rural Africa”. Oh, I should say up front…just in case you were wondering (and it’s good if you were wondering)…that we paid for my trip and any associated expenses ourselves. The purpose of the trip was for Dwight to visit CPAR projects and meet directly with all the people involved, so he could most effectively represent them in fundraising appeals back here in Canada.

I have a great idea for a fundraising campaign. Buy everyone in Canada a ticket to Africa to see the situation firsthand. Okay, that may not be practical but I do believe it would be very effective. It is very difficult to come away from there without feeling you want, or rather have to do something to help people who are just like us except they don’t have the good fortune to live in a country that has the resources and social programs we do.

We met so many amazing people on this trip including dedicated CPAR staff, community volunteers who are working alongside them, and the beneficiaries of the programs.

For example, there’s Judith, who lives in rural Malawi. At 14%, Malawi has one of the highest AIDS rates on the continent. Judith, along with some other community members, recognized a need and stepped up to address it. They started by feeding AIDS orphans in the immediate area (now numbering 200+), then expanded to provide school fees for older children, then further expanded to care for seniors. They were finding creative ways to raise money to do this. For example, collecting sticks to sell as firewood. Judith matter of factly described the people they help as “less privileged”. Less privileged than Judith, who lives in a mud hut with no electricity, walks over a mile to a well for clean water, and who has personally taken 4 orphans into her home to raise in addition to her own family. There are so many generous people like her there. They made us feel like royalty when we visited…they sang for us and thanked us for the support they are now receiving from Canadians through CPAR. It was a very humbling experience.

By the way, our experience was that Canada and Canadians are very highly thought of in the countries we visited. Some people I met told me it was their “dream” to come here. I always feel proud to be Canadian but I think this experience made me appreciate our country even more.

We learned some of the basic greetings and a few other words in the languages of the countries we visited, although it seemed just as we got the hang of it, it was time to move on. It surprised me to see how many people, even in remote areas, speak some English.

Sometimes while Dwight was busy discussing work-related stuff, I had the opportunity to wander around and hang out with kids. I kept forgetting that, because of our skin colour we were a novelty in some of the more remote areas we traveled to. In some cases this was fascinating for the children and I often drew a crowd. At one stop in Debate, Ethiopia I was surrounded by a bunch of children who for some reason found my name hysterical. They would call out “What’s your name?” I just had to say “Sue” and they all cracked up. In Malawi, one little boy named Biggers, passed me a piece of paper on which he had written the words “I want you to be my friend”.

Speaking of kids, I feel like I saw “millions” of them on this trip. They were everywhere. Tiny ones carrying even tinier ones on their backs was not an uncommon site. I lost count of the number of times our vehicle was chased by cheering, laughing kids as we drove away from a camp, a village or a school. We joked that we now know how rock stars feel! I actually wrote my very first song called “Little Child, Big World” based on my experiences with kids on this trip! We have actually worked it into our regular set list already.

I had an interesting experience when we visited the Gumz tribe in northern Ethiopia, a very primitive group of people that CPAR has recently begun working with. They present a challenge because their customs do not easily mesh with those of others in the region. They have lived a very isolated existence and have only recently become open to changes as they realize the benefits of education, health care, and clean water. Anyway, while Dwight was off discussing rainwater harvesting with the community leaders and CPAR staff, I was milling around with some of my new CPAR friends and a large group of Gumz people, none of whom spoke English. All at once an older woman came towards me and took my hands in hers and started shaking them and kissing them. That was cool but then she started tugging at the buttons on my blouse. Turns out, when they meet someone they like, they want to kiss their breast! Luckily my CPAR friends stepped in and politely declined on my behalf. During the same visit, one of the community leaders, through an interpreter asked me if I had something that could help him because he had a sore ear…he thought I was a doctor. I felt so bad for him. Ironically, he could probably be helped with some over the counter eardrops that we could easily get here.

I must admit I had been a bit nervous about going to northern Uganda, given that they’ve only had peace in that region for 7 months or so after 20 years of conflict. And, the truce between the Ugandan government and Lord’s Resistance Army ended while we were there so that was in the back of my mind. However, word is that neither side wants to resume fighting so hopefully that’s the case and peace talks will continue. Much of the work being done by CPAR in Uganda now relates to rebuilding a shattered society. Child soldiers (i.e. abducted children) are returning to their communities, landmine survivors are trying to rebuild their lives, and displaced person camps are slowly being deserted as people return to their villages and try to adjust to a life without constant fear of attack. While we were there, we were privileged to attend the handing over one of several new maternity health centres that CPAR and partners built for communities in the north. It was a big celebration, attended by local politicians, with lots of music, theatre, and dancing. A really wonderful event! However, over the next few days we would see things that were a complete contrast to the happiness of that event. Even so, what really struck me was the positive outlook and strength of people who have been through so much.

Let me tell you about the food on this trip…it was great!! We became especially fond of Ethiopian food (especially Injeera and sauces) and have actually craved it since our return home. Thankfully there are some really good Ethiopian restaurants here in Toronto. We happened to be there during Lent and since many of the folks we hung out with are Orthodox, we ate mostly vegetarian. The coffee in Ethiopia has really spoiled us. Even at the tiniest little rural “hotel” (restaurant) it was superb. We’ve had to wean ourselves off sugar though as it was often served with sugar already added. In Uganda we enjoyed, grilled meats (Choma), steamed plantains (Matooke), beans and a flatbread called Chapatti…Yum! The staple food in Malawi is a maizemeal dish called Nsima, which we had with several meals that included chicken, and pumpkin leaves, which were delicious! One of the CPAR staff members we traveled with in Malawi told us about Chambo, a very popular fish. We know it as Tilapia. We happened to be going to a region of Malawi that is known for serving it and were looking forward to it…except maybe the part where they serve it with the head on! Unfortunately during our three night stay there, it wasn’t available…the waters had been so rough the fisherman couldn’t go out.

I realize this is getting long so I am going to sign off for today!