Is a fox a wild animal?

Last weekend we visited some of our fellow VSOers who are working in Fort Portal, our nearest large town, which is about 1 ½ hours drive away. We stayed with a Dutch couple called Kees and Freddy. Kees works as a maths tutor at the local primary teachers’ college and Freddy helps at the local special needs school. She is also a serious walker and we did some serious walking over the two days. On Saturday we visited some caves and a beautiful waterfall which we could stand behind and listened to some interesting stories from the guide about kings and princesses that used to live there. In the evening we met a couple of other VSO tutors at the college – Hannah who is from Hull and Celia from Boston, USA.

On Sunday we were up and off early for a rigorous 4 hour walk up and around the local crater lakes. The paths were very, very, very steep but the views at the top were stupendous. We could see the Rwenzori Mountains on one side and back to Kamwenge – about 70 Kms away – on the other. Freddy has done lots of planting in her garden so Sabrina took the opportunity to take some seedlings and cuttings home with her. Why?

Well we are now the proud possessor of three large planters. We wanted to brighten up our courtyard, which is just plain concrete – very secure and private but very boring - and asked the next door hotel staff for some empty paint pots, which is what the locals use for flowers. To our amazement they carried in these huge planters – it took three people to carry them. The escari –night watchman – then got the soil from the roadside which he carried in a washing up bowl. Altogether it took 18 loads to fill them up. As it is now the dry season we are carefully watering them with waste water. The flowers and cuttings are all doing well.

On Monday Geoff went out to visit a couple of nearby schools with the district inspector, Willy. All very well, except that he had to go on the back of Willy’s motor bike – the first time he had been on one in Uganda. He met Willy clutching his brand new white helmet and put it on – much to Willy’s annoyance. He seemed to take it as an insult to his driving ability! Geoff had to explain that VSO insisted on volunteers wearing helmets on motor bikes and only then was Willy happy.

On Thursday Sabrina attended a school assembly to hear the HIV/AIDS message put over by pupils. The messages are very direct for our ears, although it must be remembered that a lot of the pupils at primary schools are teenagers as they move up to the next year when they are ready and not by age. It was very entertaining and there were some brilliant actors. The highlight for Sabrina was when the male star came out standing on a pair of sticks held horizontally by two scouts, like a stretcher without the fabric in the middle. They stood still and moved the sticks backward and forward and the actor moved his legs with the sticks so that it looked as though he was walking despite not moving! Even more amazing he remembered his lines all the time his legs were moving back and forth!

This weekend we went for a walk around a local environmental area, the Bogodi Wetland Sanctuary. This small sanctuary is an admirable example of conversation and tourism having a direct impact at grass roots level. Run by the Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development (KAFRED), all money raised from the trail is used for community projects in the local village. So far it has funded a library and a new secondary school. It is about 4.5Km long and lasts for about 3 hours, with lots of different birds to see with exciting names – we particularly liked the eastern grey plantain eater, the shining blue kingfisher and the olive bellied sunbird! We also saw 5 types of monkey from very close up. Our guide was Ivan and he was very knowledgeable and interesting about what we saw. There was a very high tree house looking out over the swamp.

When we were filling up with petrol the day before, we mentioned to the attendant that we were going to see monkeys; he said “Do you have monkeys in England?” When we said no, he asked if we had chimps, then hippos, then lions, then giraffes and then elephants. On being told no to all of them, he said, “Well what animals do you have?” All we could think of was foxes, which we felt did not really compare with any of the above so we just kept quiet! Fortunately another vehicle wanted fuel so we could escape without having to think of what in the UK compares with the animals here.

Going to schools

We drive along the murram roads of Kamwenge trying to avoid pedestrians and cyclists. Cyclists carry everything and anything . . . sugar cane, sacks of charcoal, beds, furniture, even coffins (empty) Pedestrians carry their water, produce and shopping on their heads. Children run barefoot along the side of the road with their exercise books and bags. Along the roadside the papyrus grows tall and graceful.

After being joggled about on the potholed roads, we see a school sign and turn off on to a virtual footpath through the high maize, banana trees and elephant grass. We drive for anything up to 5 Kms past mud huts, cassava, or bean plantations until the path widens and . . .

It is always enjoyable arriving at a new school, especially at playtime. First we see the bright colours of the school uniforms through the trees – all Ugandan schools have brightly coloured uniforms – and then as we turn into the school, a few children will notice that there are white people – mzungus – in the vehicle and will run up to greet us. Gradually more children will come out until by the time we park in the shade of a mango tree, the car is surrounded by smiling faces shouting ‘Hallo Mzungu, how are you?’, to which we reply ‘I am fine, how are you?’

As we get out of the vehicle they respectfully move aside and some offer to carry our bags. By this time the headteacher or another senior teacher will have hurried out and we will be ushered into the headteacher’s office where a visitors’ book will be produced. Every workplace and organization in Uganda has a visitors’ book and our first task on sitting down is to fill it in. Once we revisited a school the next day and signed our names immediately below our names from the previous day! As we sit, there will be faces peering through doors and windows to catch a glimpse of the white faces – in many cases in the rural areas, it may well be the first white face they have seen in the flesh.

Our business with the headteacher and staff finished, as we emerge from the building, more children will appear to surround our vehicle and offer to carry our bags. Unfortunately this also occurs during lesson times as teacher absenteeism is high for a wide variety of reasons and there are always some classes where children sit waiting patiently for a teacher to turn up. They are therefore glad of our appearance to enliven the waiting! As we drive off the children run up beside and behind the vehicle, sometimes so close that we have to stop and shoo them away. Once we drove to a house 1 Km away from the school only to find that three 9-year-old children kept up with us all the way!

The same story is repeated at the next school. The only exception is in the town centre schools, where pupils are used to seeing mzungus around and so adopt an air of world-weary sophistication as we turn up, as though nothing can surprise them!