January 13, 2003

Hello to all of you again

Well, I spend 20 minutes typing this letter, almost finished when the damn internet went beserk and I lost it all. So this is my second effort. I started at 11pm and it is now 11:30pm. Returned from Uganda late last night and tried in the morning but the internet was down then so this is now my third effort. Such is life here.

My purpose in going to Uganda was to work with Rotarians from Beaverton (Portland) Oregon who have a matching grant in the works to re-build an antiquated water system at a college and hopefully expand it to supply 20,000 villagers about a kilometer away with good, clean, safe, drinking water. There were four volunteers there busily unpacking a container of over 50,000 educational books for distribution to 34 regional libraries, each handling dozens of rural schools. Quite a project.

But first, my flight up there. Four countries in 6 hours of flying. Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and on to Uganda. Good old Air Zimbabwe did not disappoint me as they cancelled my morning flight, meaning I had to take an evening flight, overnight in Harare, Zimbabwe and then re-book all my flights, arriving a day late. Their reason for the cancelled fllight was that there were not enough passengers to warrant a light!!!.So much for air regulations on scheduled flights.

Staying in Harare meant paying $158.00 US for a hotel which the airline would not pay. You must pay in foreign currency if you are not a resident of Zimbabwe (which I officially am not yet).

I arrived at Entebbe, which most of you will remember was where Idi Amin kept all the passengers from a hijacked flight and the Israel Air Force made a sneak attack and freed the hostages. It is the major airport for Uganda, right on the north end of Lake Victoria and right on the equator. About a half hour drive into their capital, Kampala, which is a ustling, bustling city of activity. Then 2 hours east to Jinja, which is the source of the Nile River and another 30 minutes to my college site through lush, green, countryside with lots of crops, especially sugarcane. ( Please excuse my typing mistakes at this point but I am just too tired to fix them all).

I arrived to find a 50 year old water system losing over 50% of its water to leaks in the piping and a cistern on top of a 40 ft. tower. I spent the next five days travelling to town daily to pick up repair materials to fix the leaks and worked with the resident plumber and two assistants. We dug up pipes (all 2" Galvanized pipe), hacksawed out leaks, hand threaded the pipes and installed new pipes and unions. Got the cistern

welded and now have the leaks under control. Then I did an assessment on putting in a new well with a submersible pump and pressure tanks to take over from the old pump which is a motorized hand pump pushing water up to the tower cistern from 65 metres in the ground. Wrote a complete report (using a laptop computer and laser printer if you can believe it) on what they needed and how to install it.

Now a bit about the country. Much more vibrant and economically active than

Zimbabwe. No shortages, especially petrol which is at the crises point here in Zim. Robert Mugabe promised to personally intercede and solve the problem here so people could have a "good Christmas holiday season" but here it is Jan 13 and the problem is worse. I am personally out of diesel and had a man in a que all day with my vehicle and he came up dry. We will try tomorrow. In the meantime I am without vehicle and relying my walking or friends to get around.

Back to Uganda. Bicycles and motorcycles are in the thousands.Bicycles are a major method of transporting trading goods in the rural areas. They heap up their goods on a rack on the back, about 4 feet wide and 6 feet high. It includes sacks of charcoal for cooking, wire cages full of live chickens, sacks of sweet potatoes, corn, pineapples, etc.l

The roads are full of people walking and you use your horn to let them know you are coming and they move off the road onto the sides. Unfortunately, with the thousands on the roads the inevitable happens and I witnessed a man being hit by a big truck going about 80kph and killing him right before my eyes. The truck never even stopped. My guts were in absolute turmoil for hours. It was not a pretty site.

The market places are busy all day but really come alive from about 5pm until late into the evening. You can not comprehend the economic activity going on as anything and everything is for sale. Fish, meat, guts from animals, banannas, pineapples, potatoes, tomatoes, spices, beans, spare parts, nuts, bolts, you name it. I just loved it and took many pictures which I hope turn out (I will know tomorrow) as my trusty old Pentax is acting up and no hope of getting it fixed in this country. Chicken and goat are the main meats to be eaten. The beer comes in 500ml bottles which is great. Costs about 85 cents US for a bottle.. The roads are full of potholes about 6 to 10" deep so you are constantly on the lookout for them. My driver is really professional and knows them all. In each village you pass through they slow the traffic down with huge speed bumps, often 6 or 8 in a few hundred metres.

The method of cutting the lawns and grass at the side of the roads here is manpower. Each person has a hand scythe about the size of a golf club with a sharp curved blade about 6" long at the bottom and they swing it back and forth. And they do huge areas, acres of grass this way.

On my final night there I went to bed at 10pm so I could get a good sleep as I was on the road back to Entebbe at 7:30am to catch my flight. It was Saturday night and the students disco started up at 10:05. It went till 4am and I slept not a wink. A dog slept outside my door each night and he howled at the music. When it quit a 4 am I got to sleep and at 4:30 am the roosters started up. Finally slept through that until 6am when the church choir started practicing their hymns for the 8am service. Then the drive to

Entebbe and 4 flights through 4 countries to get back. The good news was that good old Air Zimbabwe was late on their flight from Harare to Bulawayo and I was able to connect and did not have to overnight in Harare on the way back.

All in all, a marvellous experience and again, it was the people who made it so. Ugandans are kind, loving, helpful people and I made some great friends who all want me to come back.

To end, here is some local news. The news this morning has reported that Mugabe is in Thailand and Malaysia on a working holiday. His own party (ZanuPF) has requested that he not return, seek asylum in another country and they want to form an "interim government" with the opposition here and try and get this country back on its feet. The rumour is that Mugabe has agreed if he is guaranteed asylum somewhere without fear of prosecution for past deeds. Who knows what will come of this but it is good news. Hopefully it will not lead to bloodshed.

Well, I am dead tired and it is past midnight so I will sign off.

Love to you all. I am well, enjoying all my experiences, and living a realitivly good life with my friends and "family" here.

Doug