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The Easter Holidays
At the end of term one we had 4 weeks holiday. Some of the volunteers went to Kenya for 8 days to renew their visas. During this time I stayed in Jinja and Entebbe.
We were in Jinja for about 3 days. Instead of staying at the backpackers we splashed out and stayed in a nice wee hotel called 2Friends. People used the time in Jinja to go white water rafting again because the course has changed sice we did it in November. Whilst they rafted i lazes around by the pool. We also did the booze cruise again and, as promised, we had a lot of fun.
Entebbe is a completley contrasting city to Kampala. It is clean, calm and has practically no congestion! Entebbe used to be the capital untill President Obote changed it to Kampala during his time in power.
We did some of the tourist things in Enetbbe. We spent a day at the Uganda Wildlife Education Center. I got to see more giraffes which made me happy. My favourite part of the day was watching the chimpanzes. They all got really excited when the knew they were going to have sugar cane and they all responded to their names. It is amazing just how similar they are to humans in the way the behave. The amused me for ages! We also went to the botanical gardens. There were so many plants and trees of all shapes, colour and sizes, they all had their individual uses. Most of them were used for medicine to help cure illnesses and diseases. Entebbe Botanical Gardens is where one of the older Tarzan films was set and filmed.
Unfortunatley, our holidays have clashed with the protests and riots in Kampala. The peaceful protests were about the rising food and fuel costs all over Uganda. The 'walk to work' campaign was to encourage President Musevini to lower the prices. However, oppostion leader, Kizza Besigye, took this as an oppourtunity to cause trouble. His suporters ran riots in the streets, setting fire, looting and fighting which caused riot police to take extreme action. Eight people were killed. Besigye was arrested for the rourth time in two weeks for breaking him bail rules and was tear gased so much by police he had to be taken to Nairobi Hospital for treatment.
Everything is a lot calmer now. The major issue here in Kizza Besigye, he wants to be president badly and because he lost the election he is now behaving like a child. Some say he won't stop until he or Musevini is dead. Another major argument that happened in the holidays was the bill about homosexuals (gay people could face the death penalty), although the arguments this time came from western countries. Stories at home made out like Musevini to be a heartless dictaor. Musevini did not suggest this law, the house of commons did. The sad, but true, fact is the majority of Ugandans oppose homosexuality and do not want it in their countries. If Musevini let the house pass this bill he would have stoped recieveing aid from the UN and othgers, and if he didn't let them pass it he would have been labled a dictator: he couldn't win. Fourtunatley the house didn't pass it.
Yoweri Musevini has done a lot for this country, he has completley transformed it from Amin and Obte time. I agree that he has been in power for too long, but would people rather change to a riot leading leader or keep the man who has done so much in their eyes. The President will change, when there is a better choice.
Once the others came back from Kenya, a group of nine of us decided to go to Lake Nabugabu which is around three hours west of Kampala, near Masaka. It was sooo nice! The was really still and peaceful. It was roasting during the day - manage to get some more tan! and at night we all sat around a rbig campfire. We all had a good time. :)
I went to the Equator in the west which was cool. I got my picture taken in the middle of the world! And I even had some chips too. I did attempt to go and visit Gadafi's mosque but they tried to make me wear a full on burqua type thing which made me a bit uncomfortable so i didn't go. "Gadafi is a good man...maybe not to his own people, but to us, he is good" - Random Ugandan man.
The last week befor i went back to work we decided to go back to Jinja for a couple of days. We ended up staying for four because it was nice and relaxing. We went swimming everyday either in a pool near backpackers or in the Nile. The rapids were really fun - i have a few scratches on my legs though from the rocks i didn't miss...
So that was my last holiday time in Uganda for now. I don't think I wasted a minute of it.
When Molly and I came home we found our neighbours children had been breaking into our house and stealing pretty much everything - phones, cameras, chagers, clothes, batteries, clothes... We took them to the police (they are aged 10 and 14) and they were arrested and put in prison. The police did a wonderful job and they got almost everything back for us. Needless to say we moved house, our kids from P6 helped us move all our things - it's amazing how much stuff they can carry on their heads! We've been living with Teacher Rachel who has been so good to us, then we are moving to the teachers quarters.
TIA.
Future Plans
- I am working at my school until the lass possible time i can, I am leaving work on Friday the 8th of July.
- 4th of June, the Uganda Cranes are playing Guinea Bissau for the Nations Cup qualifier
- 11th of June I have to go back to Jinja in an attempt to extend my visa
- 12th July I'm coming home.
- comments
susan clark What an amazing time you are having Justine! Hard to believe you will be back in just over a month. I know your mum and dad cant wait to see you!! Look forward to seeing you soon :)