travels

Random and Sipi Falls Adventure

Sunday, June 20th

This weekend we travelled to Sipi Falls, near Mt. Elgon. We left around 7:30am on Saturday morning and after a boda boda ride and two matatus later we arrived at the Crow’s Nest (hostel like accommodations started by a peace corps volunteer) around 1:30pm…it was a crazy ride and very uncomfortable. However, the view and the hiking was worth the trip. We had lunch when we arrived and then hiked around to the top most waterfall and continued down to the second highest when we suddenly found ourselves in an absolute downpour! We speed walked back to the hostel and were soaked! Fortunately, we had a hot shower and even though I didn’t have super dry clothes to put on…the hot chocolate made up for it.



The waterfalls come from a spring up on Mt. Elgon, which I believe is the highest volcano in Africa at maybe some 14,000ft? don’t quote me on that. Anyway, the people in Sipi live and farm on the hillsides and it is incredible. The beauty is awe-inspiring. It is lush and green, and the views astonishing.



The waterfalls are extremely powerful and people collect water, bathe, and do laundry in the streams between the falls. I went hiking again on Sunday morning (you have to have a guide to navigate you through the small paths hidden by tall crops such as corn and matooke. There were also eucalyptus trees and cabbage. One of my favorite photos is from the top most waterfall where the light hit the spray to create a rainbow…just beautiful. My second favorite is probably the bee in flight…the insects here are HUGE! On Sunday, I also went a little way into a cave on the hillside where we saw a few crystals…not many and then I saw a bat fly by and said, I’m out of here!



This week we have our first large sensitization on sanitation and safe water. I’m excited to see the turnout and be able to start distributing WaterGuard (chlorination purifier) to the village members. I also met with Nurse Nalwoga at the health center on Friday of last week to talk about my Nutrition sensitization and she like my ideas. I figured we would have a large meeting and then find 3 or so women who have a keen interest in nutrition to train even further. We would then have them lead smaller group sensitizations within their area of the village on how to have a balanced diet, make baby food, nutrition for pregnant women, etc. I hope that it works out although…you never know here in Africa. There is no rush and rarely efficiency…so we’ll see!

Friday, June 18th

Today we visited a couple of schools after a morning meeting with the LC 3 (sub county political leader) and Nurse Nalwoga (nutrition lead at health center). We visited Bulanga Children’s center (school and orphanage) just a few minutes north of our village, Namungalwe Rural. The headmaster had come to our front door earlier In the week to introduce himself and invite us to visit his private school. So we went this morning and the children were so so excited to see us. They were the most respectful and polite (as schools we’ve visited have been) and absolutely adorable! They ranged in age and after introductions sang us a song and some of the children danced…one of them I found out later was one of Esther’s girls (the women who gave us the yams )…so so cute (she has earrings on in the video). The older kids also recited a poem on Aids, which makes me think at least they are talking about the problem as most of the village is in denial about its affect on the community. Most people don’t get tested and if they do and end up having HIV/AIDS they don’t disclose the information to their partners, which is so unfortunate. It is hidden and in the darkness…which makes me think that most aren’t getting treated, aren’t taking any preventative measures and will likely die from the disease or complications associated with a compromised immune system.
After visiting the primary school, we had a delicious lunch prepared by our pseudo-mom, Mutesi, and then went to the local secondary school to watch a music competition. As distinguished visitors we were escorted to the front to watch the performances as students sang, danced and acted out skits about HIV, family life and social issues. I couldn’t understand everything, but I definitely could pick up on some of the story line. After a couple of the performances they invited us to share a meal with the teachers/administers…I’ll remind you we had just eaten a huge meal at home so of course we weren’t hungry at all! However, it would be rude to decline so in line we went…buffet style. I asked for just a little bit of rice and no matooke and some cabbage…a huge pile of rice and cabbage later I looked at my plate in desperation thinking I am never going to be able to finish all of this (which also was rude, in my opinion). So I grabbed a sprite and looked for the silverware…oh wait…they eat with their hand! Cool. So I take a seat and do my best to scoop up rice with my fingers and shovel (best word to describe) it into my mouth without making a mess…I’m sure you can picture it. Well…a few bites in and one of our hosts comes in with a big thing of matooke (plantain like…not much flavor). He noticed we missed out on it in the buffet and wanted to make sure we had some. We all smiled and laughed and graciously took a helping. At least, it’s sticky and helped me pick up all the rice and cabbage. After finishing the last sip of my Sprite I literally though I was going to lose it…a couple burps later and I was okay…but definitely was thankful for the digestive walk back home….oh Uganda.