Saturday 21^st March

Today was the official opening of the café. The visiting group arrived at around midday and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their visit. It was a very mixed group with Members of the Uganda Tourist Association, a journalist from the Daily Monitor, some tour guides, tourism students and even a male model!

Posing by the entrance sign

We had been anxious in case the water wasn’t working as it had been off yesterday. There still hasn’t been any rain so the water situation is getting rather desperate.

On the front steps of the Cafe

The staff working in the café did extremely well today coping with the largest number of visitors they have had to manage on one occasion. The food was great and everyone seemed very happy with what was on offer!

The group enjoyed time to look around

Afterwards we took the group to Ekiwumulo to let them see what the profits from the café will be going to. Some of them seemed genially touched by what they saw and some of them were asking about coming back for a day to do some work gardening or spend time with the children at the site.

The visit to Ekiwumulo was a great success

The children really enjoyed all the visitors

All in all it was a very successful day. We now have 2 days between Kampala and Entebbe to sort out some things such as getting some additional paper craft items and meeting up with some of the University students who are being sponsored. We are flying back overnight on Monday night. It has been a well worthwhile trip and we have felt very well adjusted to being here particularly in the last couple of weeks.

Thursday 19^th March

We have been spending a lot of time and effort on getting the café ready for Saturday so on Tuesday and Wednesday we spent time at Ekiwulumo watching the teachers teaching and generally getting updated about what needs to be done there. The sixth house which was recently opened is full to overflowing so much needs to be done to make sure all the children have a bed, mosquito nets ect. We were able to get a sand water filter for the sixth house and also replace one that had become blocked yesterday so at least safe drinking water should be available but water is in short supply as apart from a couple of brief periods of rain it still remains very dry.

Tuck shop for mornig break run by Henry and Farida

Break time

The sixth house "Teya House" with some of the resident children and the new water filter in the background

Today we have been back at the Café. It has now been possible to get the kitchen properly sorted out as the storage cupboards are now up. Ann was very well organised by Nora as the cupboards were filled up!

 

Ann being organised by Nora

 I seem to have spent much time going backwards and forwards to town by Boda Boda for essential supplies. We have had a couple of groups of local resident Mzungus come to the Café today including one young man who spent a gap year in Mityana 4 years ago and has returned after completing University to teach for a year. He is from Hastings so it’s a small world!

Reception waiting for any visitors

All the craft is priced ready and waiting for customers

All our attention is now focused on the official opening on Saturday. Simonpeter has managed to get a group of 15 tour operator representatives to come and also representatives for the main tour operator’s organisation here in Uganda. It should be a good day and hopefully will result in the operators using us as their main stop on the way to and from Western Uganda.

The Café interior. Now well and truly ready

The front of the café looking very splendid!

Sunday 15^th March

The final day at Kagando was unfortunately eventful. There was a major road traffic accident involving 6 people who arrived on Thursday evening. Unfortunately a 13 year old boy died and some of the others had arm fractures and lacerations to suture which kept me and others busy until midnight.

On Friday I travelled down to Mityana and stopped at the Cafe for some lunch. This coincided with the most torrential downpour which showed up some persistent leaks in the roof which will need sorting out.

We spent Saturday morning at the Café sorting out various things. We have a week to get everything finally finished before the tour operators come for the official opening next Saturday.  A blackboard for the menu of the day, shelves in the kitchen and a rack for some of the many paintings are all nearly completed.

Saturday lunch at the Café was lemon fish and sweet potato chips. Excellent!!

 

In the afternoon we went to a graduation celebration for Dan Douglas who completed his Clinical Officer training a few months ago. We were glad we arrived about an hour and a half after the start as the speeches were still going on!!

Dan's graduation

Chatting to Dan's good friend Rita who also studied at Ishaka

Mothers Day wasn't forgotten today

 

For the last 3 days Ann has walked 45mins to the café from the middle of Mityana. The last scenic part of the journey is where Great Blue Turacos can be seen flying with the café in the distance. At the café, situated on the main Mityana to Fort Portal road, she has begun the task of making sure that the menu can be achieved by the team of Ugandans working there. Despite the fact that most Ugandans have never seen, let alone used, an oven the cakes and biscuits at the café are now extremely tasty. The cooking of savoury dishes is improving although it is a challenge for those cooking to get lemon marinated fish fillet and chips both hot at the same time! The fish today was as delicious as it sounds, but would have been even better if it had been hot! Storage of cooked food has been very much hampered by lack of electricity over the past 3 days. There are many workmen finishing off assorted jobs and today the first signpost was put in place marking the entrance of the café. A number of local people subsequently popped in to have a look. A low key "opening" is planned for March 21st when a friend of ours, Simon Peter, is going to bring about 8 or 9 tour operators to visit the café. Hopefully soon after that tourists will start to visit the café in larger numbers.

Meanwhile at Kagando I went off for a visit to the hospital at Bwera near the Congo Boarder.

The hospital at Bwera opened in 2001

Patients outside the medical ward

 

Voted the second best district hospital in Uganda in 2013 it seemed quite well run in some ways although the doctors seem a scarce commodity. I particularly wanted to visit the laboratory to see what work they had been doing on antibiotic resistance. What I discovered was very concerning in that many of the commonly seen bacteria are now resistant to a wide range of antibiotics and as in the UK MRSA is an emerging problem. I took the opportunity to photograph their lab books for the past 2 years so that a more careful analysis of their results can be done over the next week or so.

 

The lab seemed well run and efficient

Travel was by public transport ie motorcycle (Bodaboda) at the start and finish and local taxi in between They do seem to kindly offer the front seat to mzungus. They are worried about seating extra people in the front seat and being pulled in by the ever active traffic police. They don’t seem to worry about the 5 or 6 people crammed into the back seat!!

View form the hill on which the hospital is situated of Bwera town and Congo beyond

I am leaving Kagando on Friday to join Ann in Mityana. It has been a very full and busy time which I hope has been of some benefit to the hospital.

Thursday 5^th March

Tuesday was a day out for Ann and I. We first were taken to Bwera where we travelled to within 20 yards of the border with Congo before turning right to a school set up in the vicinity of a local church. The school currently is for pupils up to P5 but is in very cramped conditions with small classrooms up to P1 but P2 to P4 meeting in the main church building and P5 in a small storeroom! Ann and I were asked to give them a message so with 2 puppets we told the story of Samuel and Eli which went down very well!

P1 class in some very cramped conditions

Over 60 children in the youngest class gave us an enthusiastic welcome

After tea and some pieces of roast pork we were whisked off to Kasese just under an hours journey in time to visit the 2 lunchtime prayer groups that we had been to on our last time at Kagando a couple of years ago. We were again asked to speak and shared about the resurrection and that Jesus is with us daily. The group in central Kasese has grown from about 30 two years ago to over 100 over 40 of whom have converted from Islam.

Yesterday we met with Canon Benson who is overall charge of the hospital to discuss the work we have been doing on drug movements in the hospital. The hospital has an excellent computer system but unfortunately much of the data isn’t quite so good! Ann also went to nursery school she visited last week with Jessi, Helen and Maia the 3 UK medical students who are here and was once again made very welcome. The school runs like clockwork thanks to the head teacher-if only he was available to manage the hospital!!

Today is Ann’s last day here at Kagando as she is travelling back to Mityana to supervise the Café over the next couple of weeks. She had the opportunity to visit another local school which had some excellent playground equipment economically produced from local materials.

Some excellent playground equipment that we need to copy for Ekiwulumo

 

 I will head back to Mityana in about one week’s time depending on who I can get a lift from. It’s certainly been a varied last 2 weeks that we have enjoyed together.

View looking toward the Ruwenzori hills from behind the hospital Rather a smoky scene because of many fires burning

 

Sunday 1^st March

It was double church for us today. We started off at John Murabyo’s church which we had not previously attended. It was very lively and all in the local language apart from a talk which I gave on the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We were taken straight from there to a new church which is currently meeting under the trees about a quarter of a mile from the Equator sign on the main road near Queen Elizabeth National Park. We were the first “Whites” to have ever attended. It was a communion service which is the first communion service we have ever been part of in Uganda. I was again asked to speak to the background of thundering lorries on the main road but fortunately with a PA system borrowed from Kasese.

Service out in the open at Kikirongo

As part of the offering people brought various food items which were auctioned off. We secured a pineapple for 2000UgSh.

Auction in progress

Afterwards we were unexpectedly given lunch. John said before the food arrived remember St Paul who ate whatever was put in front of him! In fact the food was excellent and we felt very privileged to have spent time with them.

Meal after church

Beans, Sweet Potato, Rice, Cassava sticky porridge and Beef

 

The local children seemed very entertained by our presence. They would have seen white people before but only speeding past in Safari trucks so it was a novelty to see us close up. They were busy trying to wipe the white off our skin to see if we were really black underneath!