August 15 – 24th – Rick and I go to Uganda on business again
At the TechnoServe Uganda Country Director’s request, we returned to Kampala to support his projects, including visiting plantations which grow Uganda’s main staple crop: matooke (ma-TOH-kay) bananas. We were amazed by the changes that we viewed since our trip there in late April because of the upcoming international conference in November, CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, including Queen Elizabeth. All along the road from Entebbe through the downtown of Kampala, buildings were re-painted, landscaping re-planted, and neighborhoods cleaned up.
By the end of our visit, we observed (unfortunately) that all the refurbishing and new construction was mainly on the surface. Inside, most of the buildings were still, by and large, “not quite” or “almost” well done. Now back to the tale…
Fri. August 17
Since a couple of our meetings had been cancelled, and we were planning to visit the field on Monday through Wednesday, we ended up driving for almost 6 hours to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Southwestern Uganda. We were joining on this trip the son of TechnoServe’s founder, who had been invited on another related assignment by the Country Director.
As we left Kampala, we drove through Makerre University founded in 1922 where supposedly 600 faiths are celebrated. We also passed by the residence and Parliament of Buganda, one of several Uganda kingdoms which are still recognized today. Also of interest were the 3 major religious institutions each on top of their own hill in Kampala: an Anglican church, a Catholic cathedral and hospital, and the largest mosque in Uganda built by Khadaffi of Libya many years ago.
Outside of the city, we began seeing the unique Zebu cattle with horns so long and huge that the University of Texas Longhorns would be embarrassed. We stopped for lunch at the Simba Highway Café where we had a buffet that would be repeated twice a day for the next week. This included a couple of stews made from range animals (i.e. stringy and skinny) and ground-nut sauce on top of up to 7 starches: mashed matooke, rice, sweet potatoes, chapati (thin, fried pancakes), Irish potatoes, and possibly cassava and yams.
We continued on our way toward Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains on the border with the DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo. If I had known ahead of time that we would be only 30 miles from that country, I may not have gone. To complicate the uncertainties between Uganda and the DRC, apparently the official border is the Semiliki River which annually (or more frequently) fluctuates along its path.
Since everything was last minute, we were not able to stay inside the park so instead we arrived early evening at the Margherita Hotel just outside Kasese (kah-SAY-SAY) where our TechnoServe host had grown up. The hotel was trying to re-build its business to appeal to tourists to the park (30 minute drive) and gorilla trekking (well over an hour away) after the Kilembu Copper Mine had closed and the Kasese Cobalt Mine was slowing down.
Sat., August 18
As we drove to Queen Elizabeth Park, we noted that the road was riddled with both unmarked and marked speed bumps. Also, we crossed the Equator. We passed a herd of elephants, since we were quickly heading toward a 9:00 a.m. boat ride along the 33 km. Kazinga channel, connecting Lakes Edward & George. As we approached the channel, we learned that the first official boat ride was 11:00 a.m. because a few busloads of local school children were on the boats for a field trip. The park service encourages visits to help build support among the neighboring communities---and prevent poaching and other negative activities. In fact, when we finally took the boat ride, we passed Kazinga Fishing Village, one of the few communities of 500 to 1,000 still allowed within park boundaries.
The boat ride’s highlights included the Saddle-billed Stork with Ugandan flag colors and Great Pelicans, both white and pink, among the colonies of many birds. We also saw several crocodiles resting along the river bank with their mouths open to catch insects inadvertently flying onto the sticky tongues. We were told by the guide that Cape Buffalos are probably one of the dumbest animal species, definitely among the Big Five. Apparently they have poor sight, hearing, and memory and only a good sense of smell. Hence they always lift their noses in the air and face the most likely direction of possible danger. Also Cape Buffalo males who lose to the herd's alpha male in battle are shunned, so often seek the company of hippo loners and birds. So we saw lots of hippos and buffalo in their own herds and mixed in loser groups.
We had lunch and a brief nap on the deck at the Mweya Safari Lodge, then we picked up a Uganda Wildlife Guide for a late afternoon game drive. In the last 30 minutes, we saw the highlights of the whole drive. The sharp eyes of our guide spotted a pride of lions so well-blended with their environment while resting and playing. Our TechnoServe colleague saw tufts of 2 pairs of ears in the straw-colored grass, which belonged to 2 leopards. Apparently the always-single leopards only pair for 1 week per year to mate. We watched awe-struck while one leopard sat for about 10 or more minutes in a thicket while the other, probably showing off to attract its mate, practiced hunting skills by crawling on its belly in grass that was at most 15 inches tall, barely making the stalks move around it. Finally we will be eternally grateful to the lioness who may have seen us coming, wanted a better look, so climbed on the termite hill behind which she was hiding. We sat mesmerized while she posed perfectly for us and thankfully Rick was the quick-fingered photographer, capturing her beautifully.
Sun., Aug. 19th
We left the Margherita Hotel near Kasese and drove to the Lakeview Resort Hotel in Mbarara where our TechnoServe satellite office and the matooke farmers were based. Aptly named for looking over a man-made lake, the hotel exterior was nice enough though a new wing was under construction, again to host CHOGM guests. The inside was being refurbished everywhere, and we ended up moving rooms 2 or 3 times due to something(s) not working properly. We ended up next to the new wing addition with workmen busy from 8am to 8pm daily, the sink hot water faucet never worked, the screens had holes, and the towels were skimpy at best. We stayed there for 3 nights, having the starch-and-stew buffet for dinner (a repeat of lunch).
Mon. to Wed., August 20th to 22nd
We accompanied 2 TechnoServe representatives who work full-time with matooke farmers around Mbarara to visit 3 different formalized marketing/ business groups they organized in the last couple of years. There were recognizable patterns among them, including that with their “united” front the group they negotiated and received much higher prices per bunch—even the smallest farmers—than non-members. All were able to now send their children to school or better schools. They had begun to diversify their crops, pool savings, make loans among each other, and improve their homes and farms. All of them seemed to be shocked that we could not help open matooke markets in other countries, especially the U.S. because no one else uses matooke. Please see detailed descriptions of our field experiences on the Uganda Work webpage.
Overall, we all the farmers we met were extremely grateful to TechnoServe and taught us so much about matooke, dessert/roasting bananas, livestock, and the Ugandan culture. For instance:
- Banana palms grow 2 bunches from 3 stalks annually, called the grandmother, mother and baby stalks. The grandmother bears the 1st bunch then is pruned back along with others’ dead leaves. The mother bears the 2nd bunch 6 months later. To allow greatest productivity for the next year, the best-placed daughter is selected from several possible little stalks.
- Ugandans do not eat eggs so raise and slaughter chickens only to eat their meat—apparently they suspect anything emerging from birds.
- Goats are also for meat only.
- Despite their also raising dairy cows, Ugandans generally only drink the milk and do not process or eat cheese, yoghurt, etc.
- Animal skins are dried to be sold but the hair and feathers don’t seem to be used in by-products such as yarn.
- Despite the abundance of matooke, up to 40% of the children in the region are malnourished because their diet lacks enough protein and is so high in starch.
Wednesday night to Friday, August 22 – 24
After recovering from our long journey on Wednesday and the Kasese and Mbarara hotels, we (ok, I) requested that our last 2 nights be at the lovely Kampala Serena Hotel. What we didn’t remember was that the Aga Khan (the leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect) was in Kampala to celebrate 50 years of partnership with Uganda—it’s where he was crowned. So he and his entourage were staying at the Serena since he owns all the Serena hotels in the world. So Erastus had been working with his hotel contact all day to find a cancellation. This woman, the Training Director, was customer service personified. She stayed with us in the bar at the end of her work day for 1.5 hours until we got our room, treating us to drinks until that was accomplished. If only all the other non-Serena hotels in Africa could clone her then take her training, tourism would probably rise across the continent.
On Thursday morning, we said good-bye to our companion, the TechnoServe founder’s son. We then accompanied Erastus and presented TechnoServe Kenya project information to current and future partners and funders. The meetings helped them understand the range of programs that could be established with TechnoServe Uganda also. We requested that that our last dinner with Erastus and William be at the first restaurant from our Kampala visit: the best Indian restaurant in the city, Khana Khazana.
Then Friday mid-day, we said good-bye to Uganda until October when we go gorilla trekking with Adrian, Diana and our long-time friends, the Hubers!
August 13 - Some phrases in Kiswahili
NOTES: “e” at the end of a word is a syllable pronounced as “ay”. M and n in front of words are almost an extra syllable or a hum. “A” is mostly broad as in “ah”. Almost all letters are pronounced, e.g., “asante” = ah-SAHN-tay”. “I” is prounced “ee”.
In Kenya and Uganda most people in hospitality speak English (more British than American) and even people on the street speak a bit of English if you speak slowly and with gestures AND smile.
Useful phrases
Asante Thank you
Asante sana Thank you very much
Habari? How are you?
Hamna matatizo No problem
Jambo Hi!
Karibu Welcome
Kwa heri Goodbye
Lala salaama Sleep well
Mimi naomba I want_________
Mizungu /Wazungu White person / white people
Nzuri sana Very Well
Pole Sorry
Pole-Pole Slowly
Saa ngapi What time is it?
Salaama Peace (also hello)
Tafadhali Please
Toilet /Gents / Ladies Bathroom, men’s & women’s bathrooms
Tutaonana kesho See you tomorrow
Unapenda & Ninapenda Do you like ______ and I like ______
Wapi Where is?
Numbers
Moja = 1 Tano = 5 Nane = 8
Mbili = 2 Sita = 6 Tisa = 9
Tatu = 3 Saba = 7 Kumi = 10
Nne = 4
Food & Drink
Chakula Food
Maji Water
Kahawa Coffee
Chai Tea
Maziwa Milk
Mboga Vegetables
Matunda Fruits
Nyama Meat
Samaki Fish
Kuku Chicken
August 10 to 12 – Watamu beach for a weekend with friends
Kenya's coast is beautiful and only an hour's plane ride away if you don't count almost 3 hours extra each way for Nairobi traffic and airport hassles. So with almost the same group with whom we traveled to Tsavo, we rented a very Alice-through-the looking-glass beach house south of Malindi and north of Mombasa. After food shopping several kilometers away, we drove down a long dirt road in the jungle, and were greeted Friday late afternoon at the house by the cook and cleaner responsible for making our weekend stay comfortable. The plan was lots of relaxing, fun, drinks, and great fresh seafood cooked to order!
The Kitengela Glass Factory owners rented us this house. The whimsy of their factory, artistic efforts, and menagerie of weird pets outside Nairobi (seen on the updated Nairobi webpage) continues in their beach house in Watamu. The house is colorfully painted inside and out with people and animals and mosaic glass on everything. There are wine-and-beer-bottle wind chimes and weird blown glass perched everywhere. The back of the house, painted with bright geometric patterns, monkeys, fish, and African people, overlooked the nearby beach which could be reached by a dirt path through a thick jungle about 300 yards behind the house. The beach views were amazing from both levels of the house: the water was deep turquoise and dark blue, the beach was very white and pretty much ours alone--almost no people could be seen much of the time.
Other local characters were the huge geese that roamed up to the back porch when we were lounging outside, noisily honking in conversation at us. If we ignored them they left little “gifts” of poop and pee on the back step. Just a little more than local color…
We thought that we had purchased enough food for 12 not the 6 of us and we seemed to eat almost every 2 hours. Also our cook connected us with the local fish monger, fruit seller, and even a masseuse to be delivered to the house. Dinner on Saturday night was an absolute feast of 4 Kg. of fresh, garlic-cooked prawns and 6 kg. of local lobster. Before dinner both Friday and Saturday nights, Rick and Greg created “dawa (Kiswahili for medicine)” drinks, made with vodka, sugar, and muddled limes. Despite a bottle of vodka, 4 bottles of red wine, a 6-pack of beer, and a small bottle of liqueur (Amarula), by Saturday 10:00 p.m., we actually ran out of alcohol. By that time, Rick was playing ventriloquist with a just-eaten lobster. We got him laughing so hard, we really thought he’d pee in his pants. However, we stopped him just in time to play really silly card games until midnight.
The weekend was great fun, food, beach and relaxation. Then we flew back to the reality of our jobs in Nairobi just slightly hung over.
August 7 – The adventures of walking to and from work
Since Rick and I came back from the U.S. in late June and early July, we have been able to walk from our apartment to work. This sounds like healthy exercise, right? It is actually hazardous, not from a security point, but from the perspective of nasty pollution and crazy traffic. The one kilometer walk is truly a challenge in avoiding obstacles: running creeks next to and frequent huge holes in dirt “sidewalks,” matatu drivers that are testosterone-poisoned, trucks that spew black smoke, darting pedestrians, and “regular” drivers who turn into maniacs just to survive the other bumper cars. This is a daily African adventure we did not have in mind before we arrived in Nairobi.
