It’s hard to believe that I have been in Kenya for over two weeks now; there has been a lot of water gone under the bridge. I will have a new respect for the things that I have too much of and get thrown out. What a pity that I live so far away and the cost of getting it over here is not worth the effort, still I may try and save up and come back over here.
I have yet to check out the markets. I want to buy a few things to take home including booze and smokes if I can find it. Fruit is very sweet. I got the job of covering school books the other day for Makena then cooking pancakes for the group for breakfast. I’ve had some really relaxing days but I’m looking forward to going back to the tent camps, school and medical gatherings. I also get very spoilt. The head teacher has made me chai tea and porridge in the mornings when we visit the school and do profiling with the kids. It has been so much fun handing out everything everyone has given me. Especially the new pencils and sharpeners, I am sure the kids broke the leads, just so I could sharpen them again. Cheeky sods.
I’m currently in Uganda and am having a ball. I Have finally got to do one of the daring things that I have wanted to do for years, bungy jumping, the height of the jump was really high. I would like to have another go in eighteen months, on my 60th birthday or sky dive, anything to get the adrenalin pumping. I can’t remember having so much fun and with such a great bunch of young adults. There are only 14 of us, but you would swear that the whole camp belonged to our group. Eight members of our group went white water rafting, while the other half did bungy jumping or just relaxing or veging as they say.
The place that we are staying is called adrift, and is very popular with tourists because it is on the Nile River with a lot of things to do or to look at that’s on the go. I can’t imagine going back home to Karoonda and doing a lot of nothing, day in and day out. We still have one more day here before we head back to Kenya with that long bus ride and being searched by the border police again. Everywhere we go, all the money has to be changed into the currency of that country, and that seems like lots of different money with lots of different colours. I hope to take coins of each country for Trish and Steve from the deli in Karoonda who collect coins.
One of the group people called Izzo is his birthday. Tarsh went into town and brought a lot of gear, a cake, decorations and lollies, including balloons, fresh roses and streamers. He is the only true Kenyan amongst our group and their tradition is throwing water over them for their birthday – we kept his tradition including using water balloon. He also went bungy jumping. I like this place because of the shade and its very relaxing in their big couches even though you do have to keep tabs on what you buy. The monkeys here are very scared but if you try to take one of the babies, they will bite you and they have rabies here.
Almost every day there is something that surprises me, like the bicycle riders who hold onto the back of trucks going up hills. They do this on very busy roads and go so fast that if they fall off, they would surely die. It is also different how hard the children work here. They girls carry their younger siblings on their backs from the age of 5 or 6. They are also expected to carry loads of stuff on their heads. And they get beaten with a stick if they are late for school.
Will be sorry to say goodbye to Uganda tomorrow, it has been very relaxing.
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