Thanks:
-Mickler Family for hosting me these three months!
-"Safe" Matutus
- "Safe" Boda Drivers
- The Eye Magazine and their fabulous free map
-Garden City ( especially Karaoke!)
-Quality Hill
-Cafe Pap
-Doxycycline ( anti malarial)
-Ciao Ciaos ( Italian supermarket)
-Zinellos (best ice cream in town)
-Bus drivers
-Fabulous friends that I have met here: Wayland, Courtney, Kristine, Tyler, Liz, Blake, Charlie, Gemma, Lexi and Josh, Lindsay, Irene, Rachel, Grace, Claire,Karen, Randy, Kurt, Matt, Waverly, Sam, Tamila, James, Isabel and James, Jenny and Russel and family, Jordan House Staff, Naguru staff, and anyone I have managed to leave out!!
-To my parents, for their support, especially financially.
-To my sisters, brothers (and in law), niece and nephew. Thanks for cheering me on.
-To CRC Stratford. For your prayers, notes and support.
-To my friends all around the world. You know who you are and you know who I know you are. Thanks for your notes!


No thanks:

-Crazy matatu drivers
-Crazy boda drivers
-Bad roads
-People trying to rip you off because you are white.
-Owino and their claustrophobic market area
-Dirty streets
-Taxi park

The ROBBERY!!

So while we were gone to church yesterday, the house was broken into. The Mickler family had a dvd player, some shoes and some money stolen. I had my camera, wallet ( with credit card and debit card) stolen as well. Surprisingly , the Micklers and I were both very chilled out about it and fine with it. I just was SO grateful they didn't steal my passport, especially since I am leaving in a week. I already went ahead and canceled my credit cards and all is in place..All in all, I am doing super!

THE PREPARATIONS:

Now comes the closing of the week. Saying goodbyes, leaving people, packing bags, and doing Christmas shopping.

Let me just write a few thoughts to sum up my experiences here in Africa and how I have felt coming here.

MY SUMMARY:

Africa began as a dream in my heart, a yearning, a longing to come here. Something ( or SOMEONE* God) was drawing me here. It began when I was 7 years old. Life happened, experiences happened. I traveled, I met people,I had incredible and matchless experiences.Then there came a moment in my life where it was a crucial decision for me. I choose Africa. And I will be eternally grateful for that decision. :)

I came to Uganda. Within a week and half I knew I wanted to move here. I met the people, loved the people.Immersed myself in the culture and will not leave without being changed. The people I have met, all have different stories. Some have been privileged enough to have an education, others have lived under the average income and have suffered as a result of it. Some are open and loving, some are closed and reserved. Many desire to rise above and beyond and maximize their potential, others are satisfied with the monotony of their present circumstance and are unwilling to change. I cannot judge them.

God has opened my heart in this country. He has allowed me to see how selfish I can be sometimes. How I think that my life is complicated or hard, but how in comparison to some people's lives, I have nothing to complain about. He has shown me that I can reach out to people, even though I may not be the most knowledgeable in regards to the Ugandan traditions. God has shown me that love really does transcend through any borders whether cultural, physical or emotional. Love is the best and most extravagant gift we can give others. He has shown me that I need to work on trying new things. I volunteered for a savings and credit cooperative while I was here. I have had no past history of working with savings/credit or business development. :) But He has shown me that I am capable, though I have had plenty of mishaps!!

Overall, I love Africa.I love what I become when I am here. I love the culture, the country, the people.


I will return here soon, very soon. :)

All in a Day's work...

So today was quite a comical experience and I felt lead to enlighten you on a "normal" day for me here in Kampala....

1) My boda driver agrees to a set price to the location  and then upon arrival he tries to squeeze more money out of me..haha...do you think I really did??!? I'm Dutch people...if I agree to a price, that's what I pay...but I definitely give him props for trying to get it out of me...

2) I meet with market ladies in my most recent project of a " savings and credit cooperative". I strike up a personal conversation with them and Christine, one of the market vendors, offers to give me her daughter to take back to Canada. And then I joke with them that I will marry a African man and have six African children...don't you think that is enough already??? They thought it was pretty comical..

3) I have a interesting conversation with another boda driver on my way to another location about how I look too young and he is surprised that I do not have children yet. Let's just say that they put a lot of value on having children here, and at a young age. I just laugh, tell him that I will have children soon ( as in like 5 years, but he doesn't know that), because what else do you do?

4) I meet with my Ugandan friend Irene and together we work on a recent and huge undertaking- a center for SCI ( Spinal Cord Injury) Patients. We sit around a table and enjoy delicious capaties....( kind of like a tortilla, but much better). 

5) On our way home, we are yelled at by people saying ,"Muzugu" ( white person) and are nearly hit by crazy Matatu drivers who have no respect for pedestrians, even foreign ones. 

6) Upon arrival to my home here, I crash into bed and realize that I may potentially have the flu.......

All in a Day's work eh???

Day 6

We started this day off by catching the early bus and then a matatu to the Rwandan border. Upon arrival at the border, we were welcomed by boda drivers, money exchangers and taxi drivers. We opted for the boda drivers and as a result were taken by the (pictured above) to a collapsed mountain. The walk up the hill was steep, but the view afterwards was incredible. It was kind of a random journey, but totally the perk of being an independent traveler!!

After arriving in the little town of Kosoro, we were escorted to a "shared" taxi. This is a system where 6 people split the cost of a car and take it to a specific location. Because there were only two of us, Gem and I, we had to wait for the car to fill up. Let's just say that 3 hours later, we were finally on our way. And neither of us were in the best mood. Haha. We finally arrived in Kibale were we had to take another boda to the boat dock. Upon arrival the boat dock, we had to negotiate a price for a boat to Bushara Island. At this point, thundering rain clouds were on their way and we were ready to be at the island. Finally we arrived and met up with Sam, Charlie, Irene and Claire.



Our destination!


Can you see the clouds behind me?

Day 5

Taking some fun snaps!!



Who would have ever thought, judging by the pictures, that we were at a lake!?!? It looks so much like the beach! Lake Kivu was interesting in it's own way, words can't really describe what this place felt like. I think the words "eerie" and "illusive" come to mind, but I don't quite know. Lake Kivu kind of felt like an abandoned haven. It was a beautiful location, beautiful weather, but so serene and so very quiet. Some people who have gone there before have told me that they felt the same way, so I don't quite know. It also didn't help that the Congolese border and Congolese city Goma was only 1/2 a mile away and the only vehicles that passed us were Aid workers and army patrols. We decided to go for a walk to see what all the commotion was about and we ended up walking to the Congolese border. It's strange because if you hadn't have read the news, you wouldn't have known that there was war happening just on the other side. We decided that our adventure was a noble one, but our lives were much more valuable. We decided to stop at a posh ( Gem's phrase) hotel to eat breakfast as our options were quite limited. We were once again surrounded by French Aid workers talking on their cellphones and trying to connect to the internet. Let's just say that it was a surreal experience. You hear about these things happening on television, but you never imagine that you'll be in the heat of it. I think we were still there in the beginning stages of the outbreak, so we were relatively safe. The afternoon was spent lounging in the sun. Glorious.

In the evening we finished off our day with a 5 course dinner at the Serena hotel. We kind of made an executive decision and opted for a nice dinner as we were feeling a bit odd from our experiential (?) day . While seated at dinner, I saw an umbrella, bright lights, a news reporter and a camera man on a far porch. Gemma didn't believe me that they were actually filming a live television report, but later our "argument" was settled. Two Channel 4 reporters approached us and asked us some questions. They were just making conversation of course, but they were curious. Were we coming from Goma or were we on our way to Goma?!? When we informed them that it was neither, they kind of gave us a blank stare and just laughed. What could we do?!? We decided to laugh along with them, because honestly, who comes to vacation so close to a raging war?!?!

Our evening ended by entering our $3-a-night dorm and finding every other bed in the room filled with female Congolese refugees. That's when it really hit home for me. Incredible.

Day 4

Isn't he beautiful?
This day started out a bit differently. It was the first day that Gem and I weren't doing something together. She had decided to go gorilla trekking and I had decided not to go because of the price. Anyhow, so she left early in the morning and I had decided to go on my own adventure. I had met Greg, a Rwandan tourist guide who had set up a community based orphanage just about 7 km away from where we were staying. He invited me to come along and told me that it would be best if I took the "scenic" route instead of taking a motorbike there. I was really up for anything as I pretty much had the whole morning. I set off with a German girl named Kaddi as my tour guide and we walked through little villages and saw rural Rwanda. Kaddi had been traveling around Rwandan and had met Greg which resulted in being recruited as a volunteer to assist at the new orphanage. The orphanage was were our journey was completed. We were warmly greeted by the children and were immediately asked our names. They took out their notebooks and asked for us to write down our names. I was a bit confused, but later on was swarmed by children giving me intricate and detailed paintings and notes saying things like :" I love you Annette, thank you for coming." It was a lovely gesture and I wish I could have stayed there longer. :) We also helped out on their recent project which is the construction of a tennis court!! We had to remove LARGE stones from the red dirt and make sure that it was perfectly clean of rocks!!The only mishap of my day was that while I was on my journey to the orphanage, I had a minor sunstroke. Never had one before, but thankfully Gem had some re hydrating powders and I was all right!! Nonetheless the day was wonderful, ending in lunch at Greg's house and then meeting up with Gemma once again.

We hopped on another bus and headed to Lake Kivu ( which borders Goma-the Congolese city that is in civil unrest at the moment and was also when we arrived there ...I'll explain about that later).

Some of the kids giving me a hug...

My German friend Kaddi and some of the kids...

Our rural and scenic view

Day 3

Day three started off with a breakfast ( which was free!! we didn't realize this until the day we left!!) As we were engaged in our morning conversation, we realized that there was a group of ladies at the table opposite us who were, guess again, IRISH!! It's amazing how many interesting people you meet on your travels...we talked to them a bit and then headed to the bank. Of course we never assumed ( or did we????) that we could just go to the bank, take out some money and be on our merry way. Nope. Life is a tad different here. Let's just say that after 2 hours of searching and waiting, we were finally had our money and were on our way!!! The trip to Musanze was scenic and spectacular to say the least, with a waterfall in the crevices a mountain top and fields and fields of patchwork looking farmlands. It's was so inspirational and breathtaking.
Upon arrival at our destination, we dropped off our bags at a local dorm/nunery where we were staying and headed out to explore the mountains and villages of Musanze/ Ruhengeri. We were surrounded by 5 main volcanos and it was a rare occasion for you to actually see the very top of them. I think the last day we were there, I saw the very top!!! On our endeavor, we met some nice school girls, explored two caves and had a bike ride on the back of the bike!
Our awesome view!! The village girls
Gemma speaking to them in her limited( in her opinion) French ( I thought she was awesome!)

And to top of the day, we went on a bike ride!!! Seriously, one of my best experience in Africa thus far!!!