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!!!

Day 2
We began the day by getting up early (or what we thought was 6:00am). Something, we forgot to do when arriving in Rwanda, was to change our watches. It was one hour behind. So instead of getting up at 6:00am RWANDAN time, we got up at 5:00am. We had met a lovely Irish couple the night before and we had invited them along to tour the city of Bature and the Genocide Memorial in Gikongoro. We got up at 5:00am (haha) and we're privileged enough to capture a picture of the sunrise. :) Amazing!!! The day was a full one, with 5 hours of travel (in local transportation-i.e. matatus and buses) both ways, but totally worth the trip.
Our sleepy yet cheery (?) morning smiles

We had the privilege of walking with local townspeople on our way to the Gikongoro Memorial. The old man in the purple jacket tried his best to communicate to us in his broken English. It was priceless.

We also were greeted by 10-15 village kids begging us for money or to take a photo of them. This little guy just liked holding my hand....;)

Upon arrival at the Memorial, we entered the location and I could sense a sort of erieness and haunting feeling. The memorial has 8 rooms full of chalked bodies and bones for you to walk in and see. It's probably one of the most horrible things I have ever experienced. The smell was something that I can't even begin to describe. This past summer I watched a documentary about a Canadian Triage doctor who was in Rwanda during the genocide. And he had visited this memorial when the documentary was made. I was grateful I saw it, but it will not be a place I will revisit.

Later on in the day, after eating some lunch in the center of Bature, we head off to the National Musuem of Rwandan History. We found some pretty interesting exhibitions there including an entire section on the "making of the loincloth" to the national and tribal traditions in Rwandan history.

We also discovered this great house in the middle of the musuem. Let's just say, we made the most of the experience...

Umm??

Having some fun in an African style house

With our Irish friends Dom and Aly in front of the musuem.

Rwanda

Rwanda

The land of a thousands hills, a thousands lakes, and a thousand smiles...

The trip to Rwanda was nothing short of eventful with plenty of mishaps, laughs and great sights. I had the privilege of accompanying my great English friend Gemma for 7 whole days of fun and traveling. :)

Travel Day : Kampala-Kigali

Gem and I in the bus!!
In two places at once-Rwandan border

Our "luxury" transportation

Leaving Uganda and walking into Rwanda!!

We decided to be smart and get the early bus. It was a good thing we did, because 13, yes I said 13 hours later we arrived in Kigali. The trip was good all together. While on our one (and only) stop, Gemma and I decided to take turns going to the restroom. She went first, while I waited with the bags. Then when she promptly returned, I went. * Side note: *Something about the African ( or maybe Ugandan) culture is that when you stand in LINE for anything ( and in this case it was the bathroom) and wait your turn, you will be push away and be rudely butted in front of.* I thought that maybe I was being tried for my level of patience or something, so I calmly (???) let the ladies pass me. They did and soon I was in the bathroom. As I was leisurely exiting the bathroom back to the bus, I realize the bus wasn't there!! I frantically looked around ( at this point I have nothing on me-no cell phone, no money, no passport...NOTHING but myself and a bag of tissues) I was summoned by a man who yelled, "The bus is down there!!" I saw the bus and just as I was making my way over there, it was stopping. Apparently INSIDE the bus, Gemma had run to the front and shouted for the bus driver to stop. Let's just say that when I sat down I was more then relieved and decided to STAY on the bus for the remainder of the trip....:) We arrived in Kigali and thankfully had booked ahead. We found our beds and crashed into bed....

Day 1- Kigali

Our first morning we decided to explore the city of Kigali. It was extremely quiet and incredibly clean. We assumed that because it was Sunday, most of the people were either attending their religious services or just sleeping in.

Fresh and Ready for a new day...The city center...

We ventured to the famous sights, but at the same time took our time and did some random exploring. Our first stop was the Hotel Mille Collines. We asked the guard if we could go inside the gate and look at the hotel. We weren't allowed to enter the hotel because they were renovating it and there were toilets and construction all around us, but we did get to see the outside and take some pictures. It was kind of neat to go on our own "tour" as opposed to a guided tour. You discover so many more amazing things when you travel independently.To those of you who don't know, this is the hotel where hundreds of people fled to during the genocide. It is also where the film " Hotel Rwanda" was filmed.

We also went to the two different genocide memorials, a craft shop where we found a genius purchase for Gemma's boyfriend and then went back to the hotel. We walked all around town, so by the end of the day, we were wrecked. :) The main genocide memorial in Kigali was awesome with history going back to before the genocide, then following to during the genocide and then telling stories of hope after the genocide. It was quite a remarkable exhibition and I felt educated after I left, not to mention visually educated as well...it was a heavy thing to go and see, but I am grateful I did....

Later in the day....

Our genius purchase:

A giggling camel... On the other side it says, " I LAUGH you."

H-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s!

I will update with more pictures and stories later.....to be continued