July 25, 2009 - Our Last Full Day in Uganda

We got an early start today. As I mentioned yesterday, our hotel doesn’t have food service yet so we had to go to another hotel of the same owner to eat breakfast. They had a toaster so I toasted my bread this morning!

A highlight of the trip so far has to be a visit we made this morning to see a woman named Carolyn whom we met in 2007. Back then she was a recent beneficiary of a CPAR program for animal traction. She really left an impression on us…first because she was so interesting in the presentation she did for us and also because of her generosity. As we were packing up to leave she came running to the truck with some sodas she had purchased for us…it was a hot day. That was so kind of her. So we hoped to see her again this trip. Dwight brought a picture with him and with the help of a really nice young man named Benson Gwom from the sub-county council; we were able to find where she lived. Benson rode with us and would show the picture to people along the road and ask if they recognized her.

She was as wonderful as we remembered her. She showed us around her farm, introduced us to her family, and we had a wonderful visit with her. The program allowed her to grow her farm from one acre in 2007 to seven acres today. It is a real success story. All of her kids are in school and her farm business is thriving. Being able to educate your children is an important measure of success here. 

(Above) Carolyn with her husband Benson, and one of her sons

After that, we met with two other people with similar stories, Calvin and Eunice. Both had been helped by CPAR over the past few years and are now quite successful. I was impressed by how they each used what they got from the programs to start building businesses. For example, Calvin received training and seeds to grow rice. He then used money from selling the rice he grew to invest in welding equipment and is now doing metal work…and training apprentices. Such an enterprising man. All of his children, except the two that are too young, are in school. Eunice has a similar story. She learned all about growing oranges from CPAR agriculture training and now has her own nursery. All of her children are in school AND her husband is attending university in an agriculture program. I am so impressed with the work that CPAR does. It’s not about handouts…they give people the resources to become successful.

After a great morning of visits, it was time to head back to Kampala. On the ride out of Lira we witnessed a car/motorcycle accident just ahead of us. A car nicked the motorcycle from behind and it went down. The driver of the motorcycle got up right away and ran to the side of the road but his passenger was lying on the road. Henry and Dwight got out to see if they could help and luckily when they reached him, the fellow came to and it looks like he will be okay…just some scrapes. Some other men helped him to the side of the road and we continued on. That was scary to see and I’m so glad it wasn’t more serious.

At the crossroads from Lira to Gulu (North) and Kampala (South), we stopped to pick up some fruit and the car was swarmed by people selling stuff…meat on a stick, bottled water, peanuts, fruit, cooked corn on the cob, live chickens. I told the young man I didn’t have anywhere to put a chicken and he said “In your suitcase!” Good salesman…offering solutions.

(Above) At the crossroads, any vehicle that stops is surrounded by vendors

We stopped for lunch in a “trading centre” (small cluster of small merchants etc.) along the highway. Dwight and I split an order of beans and posho. By the time we finally got to our hotel in Kampala, we were really pooped. We said goodbye to Henry and checked into our room. Then we walked down the road to a mall that Dwight had been to when he was here in 2005. It was really neat, but the prices are pretty high. I had thought about buying another pair of jeans because I could use one more pair on the trip but the ones I saw were all over $50 and I decided I didn’t need them that badly.

Actually what I need is to do some laundry!!! A week in very hot humid weather had depleted much of what I brought. But I think I will have that opportunity in a couple of days when we are in Tanzania so just have to hang on til then.

We ate dinner here at the hotel tonight and ordered Indian food, which was very good. And it’s a lovely evening so we ate it on the outdoor patio.

Tomorrow we leave Uganda. It’s been a great visit and I wish we had more time here. Here are some Random Observations about Northern Uganda…

- People are very friendly and very polite; lots of smiles
- When you arrive somewhere people say “You are welcome”
- Potatoes are referred to as “Irish” as in “I’ll have beans and Irish please”
- “Real Food” refers to Ugandan staples such as posho, matoke, beans, rice
 Added Aug. 1, 2009…
- When you visit someone’s home or community they ask you to sign their Guest Book
- There is always a pair of flip-flops at the entrance to the bathroom of hotels
- The shower is in the middle of the bathroom so pretty much everything gets wet
- No menus at the restaurants we ate at…server would just tell us what items they had left to offer
- “Short Call” is a pee break!