Are we nearly there yet?

The sound of cockerels awoke us this morning; it was our first glimpse of Africa in the day light. The lush hotel gardens were filled with banana plants, exotic flowers and people sweeping the paths with palm leaves. We headed down to breakfast with Patrick, a manager from Global Care in Kampala. He talked to us about the amazing work his team does supporting vunerable children in the area, many of whom are orphaned due in the most part to aids (which is on the uprise again in Uganda.) He told us about the children the sponsors support and how they pay for their education, cothing and social work. An average mainstream class in Uganda is about 80 children to the one teacher 😮 we're very lucky to have MUCH smaller class sizes at Two Rivers. 

Breakfast at Hotel Byemi; fruit, sausage, omelette, toast and samosa 😳 Best samosa I've ever eaten though!

Meeting Patrick, Global Care manager in Kampala. 

Charles, our driver, arrived to take us to Soroti, a drive that would take us 8 hours north in this vast country. With the luggage all tied to the roof and our bumbags strapped on we set off. By the way not only were we all now the proud owners of bumbags but we also all took great delight in Laura's sun visor and clip on sunglasses 😎😆 Charles told us that it would be quiet today as it is Sunday and everyone would be at church. If this was quiet I'm struggling to imagine busy! The road through Kampala and Bweyogerere was an explosion for the senses. The dusty red streets and orange corrugated rooftops were speckled with bright colours from the ladies dresses and the wears that were being pedalled by the roadside. Cars, minibuses and trucks were as far as the eye could see, beeping (a lot) and the new road being built caused some extra confusion. The road was mostly smooth and tarmaced as far as Jinga, dotted wth petrol stations and the odd supermarket amongst the many shacks selling steel, shoes and bed frames. Some areas were much more developed and modern than you would expect, inbetween others were not! A minibus full of white people caused some looks, mostly from children excitedly waving and smiling through the windows or passing passengers on the backs of motorcycles. The minibus was comfortable but unair-coditioned so it presented the perfect opportunity for Collette to get her fan out and demonstrate her operatic skills. 

  

Jinga is the tourist epicentre of Lake Victoria, thought to be the source of the Nile. A new bridge was recently built that runs across the river. Unfortunately as we all whipped our phones and cameras out to capture the beautiful beamed structured, we were informed it is prohibited to take photos of the bridge! You'll have to believe us when we say it was impressive... and then google it! We stopped off at Java whilst in Jinga. It was our last taste of westernisation as we indulged in iced coffees at the starbucks style cafe. What wasn't so familiar was the jug of sugar syrup we got served with it! We also popped into a petrol station for a very touristic snack shop, marvelling at the 'African' pringles and the many flavours of custard creams; vanila, chocolate, strawberrry, mango, coconut!!!

From here on in we entered into rural country, firstly through acres and acres of sugar cane plantations and small towns built parralell to the road. You got a real sense of community driving past seeing groups of adults just hanging out on the street; something that is, sadly, deemed antisocial in the UK. Groups of friends sit listening to boom boxes, washing their cars together or playing board games whilst children play football or hoopla with tyres. Cows, goats and chickens also mill around the crowds whilst storks fly overhead. Women sit in the shade peeling vegetables and wash clothes in large plastic tubs, and occasionally we pass families collecting water from hand pumped wells. 

Leaving Iganga town we hit the tracks, intermittent soil and loose gravel bumped our little bus along in a plumb of dust. An array of small brick houses, mud huts and tin shacks lie sparaditcally among the trees and brightly painted shops stand infront. Churches, medical centres and schools too come in all shapes, sizes and colours; one junior school was made from scaffolding pipes with a tarp painted with numbers draped over the sides. Farm workers under wooden shelters dot the landscape harvesting rice and maize and the odd fire scents the landscape. 

Our last stop before Soroti was Mbale. Mbale was a big, bright and bussling town. It was a stark contrast to the last couple of hours of driving, there are streets upon streets of shops, cafes and bars. The noisy traffic and traders were back and armed guards were stationed outside of the markets. We stopped for lunch at an internet cafe/dry cleaners opposite the police station! The service was traditional of what we have come to realise is the Ugandan way of life; let's call it relaxed. We had 'sodas' and masala chips. We were under the impression they were seasoned chips but actually turned out to be chips covered in a spicy curry sauce; not to everyones taste but happily devoured by the rest of us 😋 and then it was on to The Ark.