Cassia Lodge Kampala

... br><br>Thankfully our border crossing went smoothly and we had our visas in less than hour - into Uganda we drive.<br><br>The Uganda countryside is lush and tropical. We drove past many sugar cane plantations and rice paddi fields &#8211; even seeing a Tilda rice factory. We learnt that the high rainfall is due to Lake Victoria, which combined with the rich volcanic soil and warm weather makes for perfect tropical growing conditions. The countryside is beautiful and ...

... almost right after Rachel blew them out the power went (as it does quite often in Africa). We lit them up again and then when the power came back on a little while later Rachel got to blow them out again!<br><br>That night we had a bit of a party in the bar. Around 8pm we noticed a lot of lightning flashes way off in the distance. We thought maybe that it would pass us by but by 10pm the heavens had opened. It was probably one of the heaviest downpours we have ever seen. For at least an ...

... change. I can&#8217;t complain though. After the meal is over, we all have to wash our own dishes in three separate buckets and proceed to flap like a bird. We have to flap, swing, shake, or whatever else to make our dishes dry before we put them back. How we sleep: We all have tents and they are two man tents and I share with a British guy who I&#8217;ve only actually slept with two times because the other times we are in our tents from the upgrading ...

... tells us about the pygmy culture, as they used to live here in great numbers before a plague nearly wiped them out. We still have not had the honor of meeting one &#8211; that will happen in a few days.<br><br> Our lunch is provided right on the banks of the Nile River in Jinja, were we enjoy bird watching and even see a river otter. After lunch we do a cruise to the source of the Nile River, where the water pours in great strength and volume ...

... local fishmarket. It is situated directly at the Lake Victoria. Basically, this market sold everything your heart desired, carefully spread out on small carpets on the ground. We bought this huge Tilapia, directly out of the water. First when we got there, I saw these fish and they were so big, I had a 'Darwin's Nightmare'-flashback! (Foor those oof you, who have not seen that documentary, watch it!) But the fish tasted good. Halima ...

... salty water started to stream down my cheeks, I was crying. I walked away with Fred, back to the office to sign the guest book. I am not sure what initiated it, but his conversation as we walked focused on the words of Mother Theresa, on our own, we are just a drop of water, but it is the collective drops of water that form an ocean. It is these words that I hung onto for the afternoon. What are my drops doing? Am I any closer to an ocean? Or even a puddle? I went back to the mainland ...

I went to meet Paul Kabanga today who is one of the grandsons of the Grand at the house in Kikandwa. I had met him briefly at the house while I was on project and he had said he would like me to come out and see another school and to see how things are being run there. <br><br> <br><br> It turned out that he was one of the directors of a school that had been founded by his father in the nineties. Paul's father had dedicated his life to education and founded a ...

... hours in the sun. I felt pretty rotten when we got home but it has steadily improved as the week has gone on and I've gotten used to the conditions a bit. The work is very slow though and Becky and I are both quite frustrated at being away from the main site s have decided to see what we can do about hiring some builders and buying some materials so some real progress is made while we are here. The four of us at site and the locals who come to help ...