Murchison Falls

September 28th, 2008 by Rachael Patton

Another week is all wrapped up…hard to believe I am two weeks in. Most of you probably know that the original plan was to volunteer for 4weeks and then travel after but I am excited to report I asked my director Betty would she let me extend my volunteering period until I fly home and she said yes, and seems very happy that I am staying. It also means by the time I head home I will have spent almost a full school term with the kids, which is exciting. This doesn’t mean that I’m not traveling at all, Betty is happy to let me take long weekends which suits perfectly!

Last week I headed up to Murchison Falls which is North West ( I think) of where I am now. before traveling up we spent the night in a hostel in the capital, Kampala and I was completely overwhelmed by all the mzungus. Apparently I’m not used to seeing so many white people altoegther anymore, and come wednesday when the other volunteer leaves I will be the only Mzungu in my village! ANYWHO….we had a seriously late night in the hostel in Kampala (11.30 pm- the latest I have stayed up since getting to Africa) and then hit the road early the next day. Most of the day was spent travelling, and the roads got a bit bumpy when we hit the national park…I was easily distracted from the bumps by all the baboons though. It took us over an hour to drive from the entrance of the park to where our camp was (in the south section of the park and right on the banks of the Nile) accomadation involved tents with proper beds inside….interesting! The next day we were up before sunrise, got our breakfast to go, and went down to the ferry to cross the Nile to the North side of the park for our game drive (Safari!!). When we reached the north side there was another bunch of baboons waiting for us, they immediatly spotted a slice pan of bread a girl was holding and had snatched it from her within seconds….crazily she ran after him tryingto reclaim the bread but failed.

The safari was amaszing. we saw heards of elephants, Girrafes, Buffalo, Ugnadan Cob (look a bit like bambi) lots of birds….all sorts of things! Generally people always want to see a lion….but they hide in the grass when the sun becomes too hot. so we searched, and searched, and then gave up, and then tried again and found one! A female cub perched on top of a rock just staring at us all in our cheaps and vans….HUGE even though she was only a year old. we had to go off track and into the grass to get a proper look, and as lions always travel in prides its likely her mam and dad were near by keeping a close eye on us from the long grass.

In the afternoon we took a cruise up the nile to the waterfalls. Saw schools and schools of hippos, and a few crocs!I was enjoying it so much i fell asleep!!but then I figured out it was the fumes makling me drowsy so went up on top of the boat for a proper look and managed to stay awake for the rest of it. The last day of the trip, which was just today, involved another hikle into the waterfall, and of course my favourite bit was being soaked by the falls as it was SO hot.

SO all in all the weekend was a complete sucess, the food was also great and I got enough portions of meat fruit to keep me going for the week! Now that I have extended my volunteering time with PACE, I am going to join a crowd of volunteers in Rwanda later this week, so that should be exciting.

It has also come to my attention (thanks amy) that I may not be writting enough about the project and my programme and that “the punters will want their money back” for that I’m sorry!! the volunteering is just as much of an adventure as the trips. PACE- the Passionate centre for children and the elderly- is doing wellat the moment. The two older grades are coming along nicely in the Tin whistle, and they are also starting to discover their creative side….which is difficult for them. Last week we got text books for the school which were needed but couldn’t be afforded. As well as that we set up a first aid kit and have done some demonstrations so the children know how to take care of simple cuts. I noticed one child in my class had an infected finger which was very slow to heal, and when I asked him if he would let me clean it he said no. But when we set up the First aid kit he had no choice but to let us clean it up….as he was the only one with a cut. I’m looking forward to seeing how he’s doing tomorrow. But of course, as soon as I cleaned up one cut he revealed four more…apparently he fell out of a tree, which doesnt surprise me at all see as he never stops jumping around.

On Tuesday we are going ot hold a sports day for the kids, relay races, balloon games and whatever else we can come up with. Everyone will get a prize including a pen, copy book, toothbrush, and some markers. we are also planning on getting a big stick of sugarcane to play limbo with….and then cut up for eating!!

PACE has a few projects we are trying to get off the ground but mostly we need to wait until we can buy our own land, which money is coming for in December. Patience is definitely the name of the game! Betty hopes to start a piggery (breed and sell pigs ) and a small vegetable farm for income and to save money for food. also hopefully in the future the school will also be able to accommodate some of the orphaned children in on site dormatories…..but we have a bit to go before that happens!

Robert is doing great, running, climbing, screaming, and claiming whatever he can get his hands on as his own. The food is delicious, lots of rice, some matoke (which i like to think of as mashed cokoed unripe banana-tastes good though) and plenty of beans!! The whether is great, either extremly hot or lashing rain. come Wednesday Tanith (the other PACE volunteer) will be gone….so it will be a whole new adventure from there!