Mr. Bakyondoza (from wayyy back...)

On our last official night in camp back in Feb, (yes I’m already reminiscing a bit…) Bern generously bought a goat from the market, and we all had roast goat for dinner. Nancy organized some games, a campfire with some good traditional Ugandan tribal dancing, and of course, farewell speeches from the Canadians. Then, as is tradition, the Ugandan crew gave each of us a Ugandan name. Me, I was tagged with Bakyondoza (pronounced, Ba-Chee-on-Doza), or, since many of the crew refer to us with Mr. or Ms., it’s Mr. Bakyondoza. Translated literally, it means Mr. Investigator. Haha, and it’s not too difficult to guess how they came up with that name. But to spell to it out, the crew knows that, between me and Mike, we were the engineers who were in pursuit of the projects that the crew would be constructing over the next few years. During our time, we climbed more hills than I think anyone had anticipated. In retrospect, perhaps we were too willing to climb so far to find a source because it would be a logistical nightmare for the crew to transport materials to those far off sources. But anyway, that’s the story, and the reason why all the Ugandans now call me Mr. Bakyondoza.

And, of course, that isn’t the only nickname that I’ve picked up during my time here. In October, basically when we started roving, I kind of stopped shaving. So, by the time we returned back into camp in late November, I’d managed to accumulate enough facial hair for some to classify as a goatee or small beard. Many of the construction crew thought it was the funniest thing, and a couple of them couldn’t resist touching it. Gordon, one of the crew, accurately labeled me, Carigou, or, man with small beard. He told me that if I keep growing it, the next time I saw him I might become a Marigou, or man with big beard. Unfortunately, I think my “beard” is destined to never be much more than a small goatee. Nevertheless, Ugandans still think it’s the oddest thing and I often get comments on the street or in restaurants about how smart my beard is.

So, to add onto the list of names that people here often refer to me with (re: Who am I? blog) I will now also respond to Carigou and Bakyondoza. haha, just one of those things I've learned in Africa!

** Internet's not fast enough to post any pics right now but I'll soon be back in Canada so I'll upload pictures then!

Just Random Signage (also from wayyy back...)

Here in Uganda, you can find quite the assortment of signs. Many are small, handpainted signs but you can easily find signs from all across the spectrum, from funny labels on your food containers right up to catchy phrases on the huge, corporate billboards. And, many of them are entertaining, for one reason of another (among the top reasons are misspellings and awkward word choices). So here are a bunch of these signs that I happen to have pictures of and have also found amusing. Many of these were from the grounds of a local primary school and have a strong common theme...

Always remain smart. (and in the background: I’m punctual and smart.)

Be cool, Abstain from Sex…

Cross Generational Sex stops with you.

Life is Precious, Guard it well.

Speed Skills (you mean, Speed Kills??)

What have you achieved today?

African Woman on sale here! (African Woman is the name of a magazine in case you were wondering.)

You Rush, You Crash. Avoid HIV to stay safer.

…Shall not ferment or unless it is adulterated… unique, medical and nutritious...

Coming Full Circle

After a somewhat long journey back down the Kenyan coast, and then from the eastern seafront to western border, we've arrived back in Uganda. It involved three bus rides, the shortest of which was over eight hours, and the latter two, which were overnighters that we did back to back. So, it was quite a relief when we finally arrived back into the smog-filled, noisy, and considerably less than organized streets of Kampala. Haha, home isn't always the nicest or cleanest place, but it's still home; and I guess that's kind of the way I feel about Kampala, and Uganda as a whole, in comparison to the other countries we've visited over the past few weeks.

The return back to Uganda also completes our loop through all of the East African countries. It’s hard to believe that it’s already coming to an end, and yet, it’ll be nice to stop and stay in one place for awhile (which won’t actually happen until I get back to Canada in a couple of weeks). I’ll expand on that in a later post but first, a rundown of the last two weeks of our travels, basically since we left the Lamu Archipelago.

Looking back, they have probably been less eventful than some of the previous others, with fewer highlight-reel-worthy stories to tell. And I guess there are a few reasons or explanations that come to mind. One is that Lamu marked the final new destination on our trip, all travel thereafter brought us closer to our final, and also beginning point, Uganda, as well as, for the most part, covered road that we`d already travelled. Next, one of the things that I`ve been able to avoid is shopping for souvenirs. And I think that is also one of the reasons that we`ve had such a good time thus far, and have had so much time to do other things like partaking in incredible and, sometimes, crazy adventures. But unfortunately, one of the stipulations to not doing much shopping during the majority of the trip was that we would do it all at the end. Well, the last two weeks have been, well, the last two weeks, and thus, the time for shopping had inevitably arrived. So, somewhat reluctantly (for me anyway), we trudged through the countless craft stalls, almost all of which sold nearly exactly the same items and featured shopkeepers using exactly the same selling points. Haha, now it wasn`t all that painful, regardless of how I make it sound, I`m sure it would actually be quite enjoyable for some of you, maybe even highlight worthy you might say.

Also, while traveling can be, and has been, wonderfully rewarding, it also can take a lot out of you. This is especially true in Africa, where public transport varies wildly between less than luxurious to `unbelievable that it still runs.` And, over the past number of weeks, as the miles traveled piled up, I think we’ve slowly been worn down a bit too.

So, we didn’t really do a whole lot, other than shopping and sitting on buses, between Lamu and Kampala. But we did spend a good few days once we reached Kampala, just seeing the sights and meeting new people, including a couple of crazy Israeli’s (that’s just what they call themselves), and even a couple we’d already met before. So Kampala has two popular places that caters to travellers, particularly budget travellers. We`d decided to check out the Red Chili, a friendly, European owned and operated place that attracts a lot of younger travellers as well as aid workers on holiday. And as soon as we stepped in the door, who did we see sitting in the corner, but the two girls from Canada who had been working in Ethiopia and who we`d met during one of the more memorable nights in Lamu. And that was the start of yet another memorable night, this time, in Kampala. Among the new cast of people we met on the night are a couple of guys from South Africa, here to set up the infrastructure for a new cell phone network; a girl from Victoria, BC, just travelling all over Africa; members from the reggae band that were on stage that night; the in house DJ; Robert, a national rugby player who graciously gave us all a lift back to Red Chili at the end of the night; and, Yotham and Yael, two Israelis who are midway through a long tour through pretty much all of the African non-muslim countries (Muslim countries are not recommended for Israeli citizens for obvious political reasons). We ended up spending the next day chilling with the two Israelis who, among other things, are hilarious both when telling their impressive collection of outrageous jokes, and pretty much just in their normal interactions with others. If it were not for their accents, we would have guessed them to be Americans by their blunt, and borderline rude (but hilarious) manners. For the record, while I know that obviously this is a stereotype does not fit all Americans, it happens to have rung true with the majority of the Americans we`ve met in our travels.

Continuing on, we spent a couple of days back at Canada House, which might as well be my home now, just to do a little packing but otherwise, a lot of nothing in particular. And then, it was back to Kampala, and the final adventure of the trip, white water rafting on the Nile river. Advertised as among the most intense rafting locales anywhere, and confirmed by many who have gone to be one of the most intense activity they’d ever done, we were expectedly pumped in anticipation for a crazy ride. Well, on the first big rapids, we lost our guide, as well as the one girl in the boat who hadn’t wanted to flip (ironic). But other than that, the Nile River wasn’t quite as wild as I’d expected it to be. I’d even say that the white water available in Alberta is comparable to the Nile. So, for all you adrenaline seekers, you don’t have to venture all the way to Africa to get your taste of intense water rafting, it’s pretty much right in our own backyards as well! Overall, It was a great day despite me not getting scared for my life (as others had described it); as always, we met some new people, some travelling, others volunteering, most doing a mix of the two. So, a little excitement, mixed with new friends, and it reads pretty much like the trip as a whole, suiting way to wrap it up I guess.


So, and sorry that this is long, and getting longer by the minute, and also very not concise... I realize that I haven`t updated in awhile and I have a computer right now while I`m at Canada House so I`m trying to string some words together in a somewhat coherent manner.

I went back to camp yesterday to visit the crew one last time and to see the progress that they`ve made on the current project. When we finished working back in February, the crew was still working on the protecting the source, where the water for the project originates. Now, just over two months later, they`ve protected the source, built the sedimentation tank, laid the pipe from the source all the way to the place where the reservoir will be, and are about to begin constructing five big reservoir tanks. It`s pretty impressive considering that the reservoirs are about ten kilometres downstream from the source! And it seems like the whole project is ahead of schedule and Tim even expects it to be completed by July, which is fantastic because it means that the Bwesumbu project that me and Mike designed may begin as soon as later this summer! Anyway, it was great news for me to hear, especially as it was as we left camp for the final time. Talk about leaving on a positive note! So yea, it was kind of my second good bye because we`d all said our good byes back in February when we officially stopped working. But nevertheless, it was still tough to say good bye again, even tougher I guess, because this time, I know that I wouldn`t be back, at least in the near future. But I have a lot of the faith in our Ugandan crew, I think they work really hard, and they`re so welcoming and friendly to whoever happens to show up from Canada. So, while it`s tough to go, I know that we can only stay a certain amount of time in order to allow for another team to come and continue the work. And, I`m eager for them to meet the crew, to see this beautiful country, and just to experience all the awesome things that I have during my time here.

I`ll be taking the morning bus back to Kampala tomorrow and heading straight to the orphanage, where I`ll have just five more days with the kids that I`ve grown to love before I fly out of Uganda on Wednesday. So I don`t know when I`ll be able to update again, I expect to be tied up with the kids as much as I can be; so maybe the next entry will be from a different country, or even a different continent! But yes, just in case, farewell from Uganda!

Blast from the past: Travels along the Kenyan coast

So after finally making our way out of Nairobi, we headed toward the coast.

First stop was Mombasa via an overnight trip on the train, billed as one of the remaining true British colonial-era experiences. And, although the food was a little disappointing (read: small portions and unbelievably bland), it was still cool eating the meals in a old style dining car, with tables still adorned with the original silverware from a hundred years past. We made a brief one day stopover in Mombasa to see Fort Jesus, supposedly the first building built in East Africa by foreigners and shaped to resemble Jesus on the cross; and the historic, and still incredibly Muslim 'Old Town' (complete with banners reading "Muslim Army for the Gaza Strip...").

Next stop was the town of Malindi, overrun by an incredible amount of Italians, with seemingly more restuarants serving pizza than local food. Main attraction there was the excavated (partially excavated anyway, the Kenyan government is still waiting for more international donors to help complete the considerable task) Gede Ruins, the remains of virtually an entire village from the fourteenth(?) century.

The whirlwind tour of the Kenyan coast continued with Lamu,the furthest we would reach along the coast, as well as on our trip as a whole. As is becoming normal, we ended up staying longer than planned, discovering more things to see and do as we, well, saw and did things. A thirty minute ride away from the mainland, on an incredibly overloaded (both with people and goods, as is the norm in Africa) of dubious strength, the island of Lamu has retained much of its history and culture to this day, making the city in itself one of the foremost reasons to visit. At first glance, the buildings appear to be just a seemingly random assortment of oddly designed, ramshackle buildings. But up close, with a little attention, you'll quickly (we did anyway) come to appreciate the intricate and unique designs of each building. Walking the narrow roads within the town is honestly, like nothing I've ever seen. The closest resemblence I can make to the town is something that I would imagine from one of the old Jesus films, or something similar that would have taken place in Biblical times anyway. One of the most unique, and quirky but oh so refreshing differences on Lamu, is that there are no cars, or motorised vehicles at all. Almost. We saw two small three wheeled vehicles labelled ambulances, as well as a tractor used for garbage collection, and a couple of motorcycles (which totally takes away from the ambience of Lamu) but other than that handful of vehicles, Lamu is a car free zone. The alternatives, walk, cycle, or, (no joke) ride a donkey. =)

Anyway, just wandering the streets aimlessly (sometimes on purpose, other times because we were just hopelessly lost in the maze of misalligned streets) was truly like taking a step back in time. It got even cooler when we were walking down the main street at night and the power went out (a clear indication that while Lamu is like nowhere else we've visited, it is still a part of Africa), plunging the town into near pitch black. Despite it being a full moon, the streets were too narrow to allow any light to get through. Just seconds passed though, before shopkeepers were lighting candles, or, for the slightly more technologically advanced, oil lamps, illuminating the shops, the street, and all the people in the welcoming gentle glow that light bulbs just can't provide.

Other highlights on Lamu include an overnight trip on a dhow, a traditional Swahili style sailboat. Although we didn't think the trip was all that it had been hyped up to be, it was still a cool experience sailing in one of the very unique dhow boats, that are only to be found on along the east coast of Africa.

The best day on the island may have been the day we found camels, or rather, we were found by camels. You see, we'd spotted four camels just lounging on the beach on the first day we went to the beach. Turns out that they're there for hire, imported from Somalia to give those who want, a chance to ride a camel. We weren't all that interested in riding the camels, but we'd chosen one of the only shady spots on the beaches and the camels weren't afraid to come and settle down right next to us. A short time later, we ended up befriending Fiki and Juma, the guys in charge of the camels, and we spent the afternoon just chatting, sharing a couple of beers, while using the resting camels as our backrest. We then stopped by their village on the way back to town for some fresh locally brewed coconut wine (really more just like coconut juice becuase it hadn't yet fermented, but still pretty good stuff, especially at just a dollar a bottle =p), taking the scenic route through some massive sanddunes (I don't remember the ones in Oregon even being as big as these) with Fiki teaching us how to do backflips down the sandy hills (I didn't quite master this one though).

And, as is always a highlight and one of my favourite parts of traveling, we met a bunch of really cool people on Lamu. From Juma and Fiki, the two backflipping, camel riding beach boys, to the crew on our dhow trip (we never did catch all their names), to Ali Hippie and his singing family (one of the most random nights on the island, but definitely one of the most memorable), we made a number of really cool and hospitable Lamonians (I think that's how you spell it..). Then, the long list of other travellers and aid workers that we met in various places, each of them with their own stories, experiences and reaons for being there. From a bunch of German medical students (there are an unbelievable number of them serving in East Africa!), to a couple of peace corps workers from California and their teacher friends, to a British guy who biked all the way to Kenya from England to raise money for an NGO (yea, crazy!), to a couple of Canadians who were working in Ethiopia until, thanks to Stephen Harper's new policies, CIDA cut their project's funding. I can't list all the people we met, mainly cause I can't recall all of them right now, but it really is one of the reasons to travel. And, for me anyway, it was really encouraging to see so many other people, some who had sacrificed substantial financial and other gains, working to improve the lives of others.