| | This trip in Uganda has been beautiful. It's the closest to the equator I've ever been! I think we are just 40 miles from it and apparently there is a line on one road marking the equator and they have a toilet on each side of the line. One toilet flushes and the water rotates one way, in the other toilet the water rotates the opposite direction - amazing!
We've visited two different program partners, both of them doing amazing work. One of the days we were taken to a remote island where they built a school and do feeding. This island is about a 20-30 minute boat ride from Kampala. It has no electricity, is tropical as can be and has about 6,000 people that live on it - most in GREAT need. They have to take a boat to the main land to get petrol for the handful of motorcycles that help transport people around the island and as is typical with every African country I've visited, even the poorest of the poor have their cell phones! haha. They are so cheap now though - about $10 and all incoming calls are free so while airtime costs a lot, most of them just receive calls. That said, they have to go to the main land to charge their phones!
This island was the most like "Lost" that I've ever seen - no noises except birds and people, green and lush like you can't believe and just breathtaking. The ride there was gorgeous too! Although that very gorgeousness is the problem. A plant called "water hyacinth" has infiltrated the lake causing excessive growth of other plants on top of it and it has clogged up all of the fisherman's shallow fishing areas and has virtually left the island jobless.
So, here are a few photos! For once I got a few of me too! hehe :)
We took off from Gaba Port on market day so it was busy!
Entering the path into the overgrown area before the island.
so serene and peaceful!
ridin' along...
our welcome when we landed on the island
the boda-boda ride several miles inland to the school
Then we ate bugs called Nsenene prepared by our hosts back on the mainland and I really had to overcome my mental blocks on it! It was tasty but the head was just too crunchy and the antennea's too pokey!
Here the are before being cooked (minus their wings and legs, plucked by the person selling them)
And a few post-cooking...awwww
about to try my first one. Trust me the smile is a concerned one, not an excited one ha!
Feeling the crunch and pokes - ick!
|
| | Posted 5/19/2009 8:12 PM - 31 Views - 10 eProps - 5 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
