A Day At African Pace

Look at the hill these ladies are carrying their water jugs up!

Today was a day of touring the community with Mayanje. I sat and had tea when I got to school - all the while feeling like I should be doing something - and tried to convince myself just to go with the flow. When Mayanje was ready to go, we started off up the hill into the  village surrounding the school where most of the students live. The only people reading this blog that can have any appreciation of the hills in this region of Uganda are my family members on Vancouver Island. These are some serious hills here that put Caledon to shame! On a side note, I feel as though I have not lost much of my fitness level because of it. Each of these people who live on this hill need to walk down to the community water tap and fill their jerry cans and carry them back home every single day. If there is one lesson I will remember always from Africa is how much we take our clean and plentiful water for granted.

We walked at a nice, slow pace. Probably more for my benefit as Maayanje does these  hills all the time. Each and every person we met along the way we greeted. Most with a handshake and a greeting of 'How are you?' and 'I am fine'. Some places we stopped and socialized a bit. Every time we stopped we were offered food. Several people here have told me that Ugandans love to eat and it is no joke. Here is a summary of the 'food tour'



One of the affluent families in Bubaare



Parents of a girl at Grace Children's Village


House 1: porridge, sweet potatoes and roasted maize
House 2: eggs to take home from their chickens
House 3: more roasted maize and a Mirinda pop
House 4: more eggs to take home
House 5: roasted potatoes and avocado

It was lunch time when we returned to the school and Mayanje actually took a plate of food. I couldn't possibly eat anything else. I was stuffed.

Every person we met along the way was very kind and truly happy to see us. I remarked how nice it would be if we knew our neighbours in my town and could just stop by anywhere and be greeted so kindly. The people here have no luxuries that we have, most of them don't even have the basics that we have and they are so happy and kind. We could all learn a lesson from that



A girl helps out by carrying her baby sister