Flight to the hills

After a wonderful Christmas and New Year break in snowy Bicknacre (see our back garden above) catching up with friends and family, we are back in hot and sunny – well apart from the odd tropical thunderstorm – Uganda. The journey was very good and we were pleased to find that Kathy, an old friend of Sabrina’s that she did her nursing training with, was on our flight. In the too short time of the flight and over breakfast in Entebbe, they were able to do some catching up and exchange details of what they were doing. Kathy runs a charity called ‘BirthLink’, which provides support and education around the world for all those involved in the care of low birth-weight and sick babies.

After 2 days back in Kamwenge, we were invited by the District Education Officer, Eric, to go and visit his family home in Kisoro, in the far south-west (bottom left hand corner for those of you who slept during geography) of the country. It was an 8 hour drive and we climbed 2200 feet to get there but the scenery was stunning. Kisoro itself is in a bowl surrounded by mountains, with several large lakes around the town and we climbed to over 8000 feet, round a twisty steep road, to get over the lip of the bowl.

The area was formed by volcanic action and it is littered with caldera – extinct mini volcanoes as in this photo – that are all extensively farmed. This is because the area is very heavily over-populated as it is bordered by Rwanda and the Congo. Both of these countries have had internal conflicts in the recent past and many refugees have settled in Kisoro to escape the fighting. We went to the border with Rwanda and after shaking hands with the Rwandan border guards and smiling sweetly, were allowed to walk across and have our photos taken in front of the sign. We then walked back again! Still counts as a trip to another country in our book.

Sabrina was pleased to find this pub in Kisoro town. We are now back in Kamwenge preparing for the new term, which starts on February 1st.