Tubing on the River with the kiddies and the epic climb to Africa's rooftop: Mount Kilimanjaro

After running around Ndejje and making phone calls to all of the parents of the children who succeeded in Environmental Education it was time clean my house, pack up my belongings and say goodbye to a home that still felt new.

Sunday (8/14) was my last full day in Ndejje Village. Fabrice and Fabienne had moved out of Ndejje but came back to visit. From my understanding, someone in UNHCR offered them a house in a different village with no rent, so naturally, the huge family took the offer and moved. New York Cafe in Kampala was the last meal Fabrice, Fabienne and I ate together – their first time eating pizza! 

Me and Fabienne at NY Cafe

Sarah (a volunteer from Soccer Without Borders) was leaving the following days as was I and we both decided to have a small get together/cook out at her house to say goodbye to students and neighbors. Dark came quickly and I had to leave before it got too late.

 

Samuel and I

Acheal, his brother they call Japonai and me

The departure time for the Jinja Field trip was set at 6:30AM. I warned the children (and their parents while on the phone) many times that if they were late we would leave without them. Shandruki and Espoire definitely were NOT late; they showed up with their mother at my house at 4:45AM! They helped me back up the final things in my house and we walked to the roadside just as dawn was hitting. The taxi driver who Teacher Jacob had helped me arranged was not answering his phone and was nowhere to be found. Forced to find another driver, we negotiated a price and headed towards the school. There was only 1 student who was on time!! Time is nothing in Africa. People say “soon” but it really means sometime today. 

Kids on the bus heading to Jinja!

People use the phrases “now” and “now-now”, the latter one meaning sooner than “now.” My phone began ringing with parents on the other line telling me their child was on the way. 

After waiting another 15-20min and picking up about 8 more students we began to head towards Kampala picking up more children along the way. Finally around 7am the matatu (taxi/Nissan van) was filled with 1 driver, 3 adults (including me) and 16 children and we were heading to meet the Nile River Explorer bus in Kampala!! One of the mothers and a teacher joined the field trip as chaperones. Because of the inevitable traffic jams surrounding Kampala, we missed the bus and were forced to continue in the crammed matatu the rest of the way to Bujagali/Jinja (80km). During the ride I taught them how to play “I Spy” and handed out prizes such as stickers, toothbrushes/toothpaste, pens/pencils, and other fun things.

Getting ready to go on the river!

 

Paul was waiting for the van and ready for the pep-talk/briefing to begin! The children were so excited and were surprisingly well behaved. Half of the children went with Paul and Zen Tubing to go on the river, down the rapids, and see Bujagali Falls while the other group waited patiently swimming near the shores of the Nile River. Splashing, playing in the water and teaching some of the children how to swim was much more enjoyable than sitting in a classroom with a chalkboard. This was the teaching style I had been searching for. The kids actually seemed interested when I told them about the benefits and drawbacks of the Hydro Electric Dams in Uganda. Then the groups switched so that everyone was able to do the same thing. 

Tubs!

Students looking at Bujagali Falls. This epic rapid is set to be flooded
by the dam in October.

Brother and sister: Julian and Julie

When all the fun was over a early and light dinner was ready and waiting for them before they packed themselves back onto the matatu to head back to Ndejje. Prior to departure, the driver of the taxi and I had agreed on a price of the days driving and I gave that money to Catherine (the teacher who accompanied us for the day). We all said goodbye and after they left Paul and I began frantically packing for the next month on holiday; our bus was leaving in an hour or two! Before long, Paul had received a phone call from the reception desk at Nile River Explorers in Jinja informing him that the matatu with HOPE Primary School was there and the driver was demanding more money!! Needless to say, I was not thrilled and sped into town to sort things out. In the end they made it home safely to Ndejje and I did not budge on my price, I’ve been told several times that I am a good bargainer…I think I get that from my Dad.

Student of HOPE Primary School on Jinja Field Trip.

Kampala Coach arrived nearly 2 hours late but finally we were on our way to Arusha, Tanzania; a place I called home Summer of 2007. It was a cold, bumpy and sleepless ride to the Kenyan border. Being welcomed by begging street children and intoxicated men trying to grab you at half past midnight was not ideal; one becomes very good at ignoring people here. Being in Swahili country now, my Lugandan words of ndakka (leave me) and pisa embi (bad manners) would not work – I needed to learn those phrases in Swahili and fast! As soon as we arrived in Nairobi we changed busses and sat from about 3:30am-5am and then continued on to Arusha getting there at about noon.

View of Arusha from our hostel.

The next two days prior to the Mount Kilimanjaro trek were spent walking around Arusha seeing old cites and restaurants that were still in my memory. The tribunals for the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 were being held at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Arusha but when we had tried to see a trial, it was closed to the public.

Only in Africa do you see a business that “specializes in motorcycle parts and used shoes” on one side of the street and a man advertising for a cell phone company by dancing with a microphone and a bright pink t-shirt on top of a huge van that is loaded with blasting speakers.

On the 18^th we headed to Moshi on a coaster (its bigger than a matatu but smaller than a bus) and then took a dalla-dalla (matatu/taxi in Swahili) to Marangu where we met with the hotel that we booked the trek with nearly 1 year ago. The hotel was amazing with a beautiful garden, self-contained rooms (hot hot showers!) and an amazing inclusive “last supper” before the hike. Having nearly nothing for the climb, we borrowed equipment from the hotel and met the 3 others that would join us on the mountain: 2 Dutch women (Pien and Linda) and a man from Prague who lived in Canada (Jerry). The five of us sat with a man named Shamus who briefed us on the next 6 days on Mount Kilimanjaro. Pole-pole is Swahili for slowly-slowly and one phrase he told us to get used to because the key to climbing Kili was going slow and drinking water. He was very thorough and very knowledgeable about the mountain and the climb – we were in good hands.

Day One:

Woke up a little nervous. After finishing the final packing and eating our “last breakfast” the five of us waited around for an hour or two while our crew assembled and our bills were paid – just in case something happened to you on the mountain they wanted to be sure they were paid haha. Five climbers = 1 lead guide, 4 assistant guides (including 1 cook) and 6 porters to carry everyone’s belongings. The 5 guides consisted of a father and his 4 sons. It was beautiful. The father, Emanuel, had been climbing the mountin since 1947 and was at the time 78 years old – amazing!!

The hiking was very very easy and slow. We moved like snails in the middle of a rainforest jungle with a hiking stick in one hand and a water bottle in the other. From the Marangu Gate to the Mandara huts (where we would spend our first night) we hiked about 10-12km and had an increased elevation of only 720m. The huts were the highest I had ever been – 2700m! Every step after that was an accomplishment for me J The huts were furnished with solar panels that provided lighting inside and also included 4 beds and mattresses.

 

Lunch on Day ONE!
Jerry, Linda and Pein on the left: Paul on the right!

pole-pole Paul!

Beautiful rainforest of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Day Two:

My nerves had calmed and the night wasn’t too cold. Tea at 7:30am followed by a full breakfast prepared by our wonderful cook with the help of our porters. We were one of the last groups, if not the very last group, to leave Mandara and head 12-15km up to Horombo huts. This day was longer than day one, but the scenery was just as beautiful and changed significantly with the 1020m altitude increase. We passed Maundi Crater along the path and vowed to take the side trail on the way down when we didn’t need to save out energy. Stopping periodically to drink water, use the bathroom/bush, and then to eat lunch, we finally arrived to Horombo at about 4/5pm. Time was of the least importance to us – we kept telling ourselves “pole-pole.” It was at Horombo where were were taking an extra day to help our bodies acclimatize to the altitude of 3720m

Frozen overnight...

Tea time all the time (Horombo Huts)

Our home for Day 2, 3 and 5.

Gangs all ready!

Day Three:

We slept in and started a light day hike before noon. We hiked towards Mawensi hut (used by climbers on a different route) and went past the famous “Zebra Rocks.” The guides said ‘you see zebras on safari, but you see zebra rocks on Kilimanjaro!’ Horombo was definitely the busiest of the huts – climbers going up, climbers on their “rest day” like us, and climbers coming down; stories were shared and although some eased out tensions, others made us all a bit more nervous for what was ahead. We saw many great views of Kibo (the summit) and also of Kilimanjaro other, more technical, peak Mwenzie. We all went to sleep early knowing this was going to be our last full nights sleep.

Some of our guides

Zebra Rock!

Paul and I with a clear view of whats ahead.

Day Four:

Another 12-15km to hike with an increase of another 1000m… pole-pole. Around us, the vegetation changed once again and became like an alpine desert…not many plants and animals can survive at this altitude and the cold temperatures that the night brings. The last watering point was at 4130m – everyone filled every container they had and the porters carried enough to cook with, wash with, and then some extra to fill out bottles. They are amazing men and they make Kili possible. This day was the most exhausting yet. Feeling out of shape by walking quickly to catch up with friends, I told myself it was the altitude and then again reminded myself: pole-pole. Kibo huts were spotted from a distance but it seemed after 3 hours of hiking they weren’t any closer, I stopped paying attention to them. We finally arrived at Kibo huts (4700m) around 4pm and got ready for the big summit not too far away. We had a nice dinner and were briefed on the events to follow in the next 36 hours. I felt like every other day had just been walk in the park but soon we would attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro with another 1195m and 6km to go. The plan: go to sleep immediately after dinner (6pm), wake up at about 11pm and have some biscuits and tea before we bundled up in ALL of our warm clothes and headed towards the summer at midnight in the midst of a dark and very cold night with only a torch/flashlight on our head to see.

Layering up, its getting cold today.

Day Five:

Tea had never tasted so bitter that morning, or should I say night (it was still before midnight). Beginning the summit wasn’t that bad: I had one three pairs of socks, 3 layers on the bottom, 5 or 6 layers on the top, gloves, hat and a balaclava over my face. Quickly becoming hot, I stripped some of my core layers and continued. After two hours of hiking I couldn’t feel my feet; my core was still warm and cozy but my toes felt like blocks of ice on the end of my foot. I continued to hike while wiggling my toes and hitting them on the ground to help the circulation. We were already passed by some people on their way down (they hadn’t made it to the top, they had decided to stop climbing). The pain in my feet became unbearable and the hike was suddenly not fun to me anymore. When I was told we nearly half way and not even at 5000m I made the executive decision and began hiking town back to my warm sleeping bag with one of our guides. Paul, Jerry Pein, and Linda continued up but soon Pein turned around as well. The three of them made it to the crater rim AKA Gilman’s Point (5681m) a bit after five in the morning and then continued onto the highest point, Uhuru peak (5895m), arrive just in time for sunrise. Paul was stumbling around like a drunk due to the altitude and the three began their decent back to Kibo huts for a short rest, a meal and then more hiking. Paul arrived back to camp about 10am looking exhausted. Apparently, one of his water bottles had a frozen cap and leaked water the whole time which froze down his leg – then he lost the top to his other water bottle leaving him with nearly nothing to drink. Good thing I was waiting for him at the bottom with fresh water, a snickers bar, and a big smile! After packing up and resting, the five of us continued down to Horombo huts.

Pein and I posing for our victory photo!

Kibo Huts

Day Six:

All of us were looking forward to hot showers and a cold beer (cider for me). We left camp early and began the 27km hike down the mountain which was no longer hiked at a pole pole speed. We went arakka-arakka (Swahili for quickly-quickly) and made it to the gate before 2pm. We stopped to see the crater and then again for lunch. Exhausted, we got on the back of a truck and headed towards the hotel.

This is what you will get wheeled down from the mountain on if you become
too sick/weak to hike yourself. One wheeled stretcher...we saw 2 people coming
down on these.

Back at the gate! We did it!

Back of the truck ride to the hotel.

SUMMIT MAN getting his certificate for making it to the top!
So very proud of him!

We enjoyed the hot showers, the good food and a nice bed. Our bus ticket was booked for 8am to take us from Moshi (near Marangu village) to Mombassa, Kenya so we weren’t able to sleep quite yet.

Doctor Toni, Dancing in the Name of CAKE, Ugandan Conspiracies and My 1st Exam!

Before leaving on Sunday (26), Paul went to Dr. Debbie one more time to have his leg “packed” with gauze soaked in hydrogen peroxide. He described the feeling as a sharp pointy lighter burning the inside of your leg….sounds fun. Dr. Debbie said that I would have to repack it the next few days until he returned to Jinja J So far, Africa has made me Teacher Toni and Doctor Toni…have I mentioned that I love it here?

The ride from Jinja to Kampala and then from Kampala to Ndejje was more difficult that usual considering I had a giant box which contained a delicious smelling chocolate cake that read “Happy Birthday Toni!” Luckily I discovered my mistake of what matutu (shared taxi) to choose when going to and from Jinja. You must be INSIDE the taxi park to find the direct taxis. We arrived to my house just in time to take a nap and head up to Perrine’s house to get ready for the birthday party. They were all dressed very smart and I was wearing my new dress that Jacqueline had made for me!

cool dude

Soon the house began to fill with more and more children. There were two of them I didn’t even recognize…but the more the merrier!! The power had been out all day, so we partied African style. Jacques and his family couldn’t make it to the party, so after Paul and I left we stopped at his house to share the cake with his family.

Me and Paul excited for cake... (at least I was!)

Cutting the cake....

Waiting patiently for the goodies :)

Me, Paul, Peireen and Fabrice

Jullien and Eddy

Gradie (spelling?)

They made party hats :)

Gradie's party hat says "NOUS T'AIMONS TRES FORT" 

which in english means - We love you very strongly.

Here is a video that I edited which sums up my birthday celebration:

 

Monday (27), my real birth date, was amazing as well. I taught English as usual and then Paul and I headed to Kampala to eat at Lotus Mexicana Restaurant. We read about it in a Jinja/Kampala travel magazine and we couldn’t resist the temptation of margaritas. The passion fruit margarita was hands down the best drink I have ever had. (They used REAL fruit!!)

Enjoying an amazing drink with an
amazing man

Paul was having a great time too....

We took a boda back to Ndejje (we didn’t want to deal with the shared taxi) and the boda man clearly didn’t know where he was going and then he tried to over charge us – not going to happen. One thing that gets really old here is the consistency of people trying to rip you off and trying to get more money from you. One woman says 5,000ugx for a pineapple when I got one in Kampala last week for 900ugx!! They think white people are dumb and rich.

Tuesday (28) Paul came to school with me so Jacque and him could work on H.E.A.L – Uganda (the environmental organization they are trying to implement in Ndejje). I taught my two environmental classes and headed home at lunch because there was a huge storm that was about to hit. Jacques recommended that I cancel English class (no one would have came in the rain anyways) so Paul and I spent the afternoon with no power hanging out in the house. When it stopped raining Espoire and Shandraki came over to my house. Paul and I escorted them home when it got to be dark and their mother Jackie was home. She only speaks Swahili and Luganda, so we have to communicate through the boys. They all taught me how to make chapattis! It was fun. Chapattis are my favorite - they are a type of flat bread... between naan and a tortilla. They are good with EVERYthing.

Paul left Wednesday morning and since I had no classes in the morning I saw him off in Kampala. Wednesday-Friday the students at HOPE had their mid-term exams. I can’t believe how hard those things are! I didn’t even know some of the answers. The kids were telling me that all of the things that are asked on the exam aren’t always taught in class. Since there were exams, I only taught my English class to the adults, so now the P5 students are behind with the lesson. I had two new English students on Wednesday which was very refreshing. One of them finished school up to Senior-3 (which is probably similar to about 10th grade in the states). I think I will have to begin a separate class for this boy because he knows a lot of English and he can hold a conversation with me no problem. I told him that I wanted him to write me the story of his life, not so I could get to know him better, but so I could see where his weaknesses were in the English language and then we could go from there with our lessons.

This new student, Patrick, also told me some very interesting gossip about Uganda and Central Africa. He was explaining to me that Museveni (the current Uganda President) is half brothers with Paul Kagami (the current President of Rwanda) and that together they are becoming extremely rich and powerful because they are pretty much raping the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) of its mineral wealth (diamonds, gold, etc). The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been committing numerous crimes against humanity throughout Central Africa for nearly 2 decades and the leader of the LRA is supposedly a man name Joseph Kony. Patrick was telling me that there really is no more Joseph Kony anymore...he was around at some point - but he is non-existent now. He was telling me that the work of the LRA is actually the work of Museveni. I know that the government is corrupt, but I just am not sure how corrupt. He was telling me stories of Museveni cutting off the noses of people who are not in support of him.

Uganda held elections in January and the opposing candidate was a man named Kizza Besigye. Apparently Museveni and Besigye used to be very good friends - but then something went wrong and ended their friendship. Some say that Besigye was the true winner of the elections and that Museveni took the Presidency by force - other say it was a fair election. Either way, Besigye has been a major leader and contributor to the popular "walk to work" protests. A few months earlier he was tear gasses and had rubber bullets shot at him.

Not sure what to believe, I think this news can be compared with saying that Osama Bin Laden has been dead for years and he wasn't behind 9/11. It is quite an interesting story though. There is some saying like...every lie begins with a kernel of truth. So you never know!

The weekend (1-3) went wonderful. We had power for almost half of the weekend!! I completed my English Exam that I planned to give out this week. It was very sunny too, so I laid in the sun and spent a lot of time with the kids from school. I also took my braids out... I started to do it by myself, but it was taking too long, so I went to a salon (there are probably 30 in Ndejje) and they only charged me 3000ugx ($1.25) to take them out. It took about 2hours and I lost about 1/4 of my hair, but I survived!

Shandraki having fun with my camera.

Ester and her sister visiting!

On Monday I had planned to give the English Exam, but I think the students were scared because only 3 showed up - so instead I just reviewed everything I was going to test them on. The Soccer Without Boarders (SWB) volunteers got a third volunteer named Cory. Since it was our countries independence day...we decided to get together and celebrate!! It was the third time any of us had attempted to cook African style...but it turned out amazing!! We had corn on the cob (bought that on the street), I brought over fruit salad (passion fruit, pineapple, mango, and banana) with strawberry and vanilla yogurt, I also brought over some potatoes so we could make french friends. Sarah was the queen of the pasta salad and then we had cooked cabbage as well. I was extremely impressed with out fourth of July meal. The only down side...we couldn't find fire works ANYWHERE!!! The walk home at 10pm was not fun though. They live about 2km away and was pretty much running. Don't want to do that again.

Yesterday (5) I had my two Environmental Education classes and I introduced my reward system chart that would help me determine which students were the top students that would be coming to Jinja at the end of term! You earn points by completing homework, participating in class, volunteering to be "on duty" during lunch/break time to make sure no one is littering and you can lose points is you are caught littering, if you are being disruptive in class, etc. They seem very very excited about this :) I also handed out the English exam. It isn't going as well as I hoped. In class they seem to know everything, but when it is on paper...they move much much slower. In 2 hours, only 1 woman had completed the test. So I excused her and told the others that they could go home and study and that they would complete it today. We shall see how that goes today...

Burning Plastic, French Dreams, and Chocolate Cake for everyone!

Sometimes I forget how hard it is to get people to “change” their ways or make them understand a better way of doing things “differently.” Fabrice and Fabienne came to my house to help me learn how to use my new African stove that takes charcoal. I think it is extremely hard and tedious to get started. Previously I had seen many people start them by burning plastic bags all in the middle of the charcoal – I was not about to try that. All people do here is burn or dump their garbage…the smell of burning plastic is far too common here. Fabrice and Fabienne could not understand why I wanted to burn the paper pieces I had torn up instead of plastic. They kept saying things like “This is Africa” “This is the only way to do it” But I kept insisting that we start it with paper. I know that in Rwanda they have banned nearly all types of plastic bags so I asked them how people in Rwanda got their charcoal to start without charcoal! I tried to explain to them how bad burning plastic was and that the fumes were poisonous but they didn’t seem to understand.

Here is a tour of my house:

On Saturday (18) I went to the Soccer Without Boarders training near the school to play football with the kids from school. Instead I just talked to Bonji (a local who helps out and could possibly be getting a job with SWB). Afterwards some of the boy from the school came over to try to make paper – it was a complete failure. The frames I had made for me were way too big and didn’t fit into the wash bin were the paper was soaking. I searched all day long to try to find a wash bin large enough but it was nowhere to be found! The holes on the screens were too big, and we didn’t press out enough water so the papers came out like soaking wet mushy blobs. We are going to try again in a week or so.

I finally had my first French-speaking dream!! I don’t remember much of what was said, but I was at Richellie Park in Hurley, Wi with Ellysa Aijala, we were talking French together and she knew more French than me (even though she is a Spanish speaker).

When it rains, it pours... and then the electricity goes
out for the rest of the day.

Work never stops for the women (and some men) of Africa. Every morning by 6am the girls near my house they are cooking, washing clothes, bathing their little brothers/sisters, cleaning, etc! Even when it’s torrential down poor – they are still busy doing things while putting out buckets to collect what rainwater they can.

I audited one of Teacher Jacobs science classes for P5 so I could see the teaching style of Uganda. It’s hard to have authority here because the kids are beat by everyone –parents, friends’ parents, relatives, teachers, etc. I won't lay a hand on the kids, so I have no treat to them. When Eddy was walking home, he broke his 1,000ugx ($0.50) sandals. I fixed them with some duct tape when we got to my house and he said, “Thanks, now my mother won’t beat me.” Kind of shocking, and happy I could prevent a beating.

On Tuesday (21) I woke up early so that I could go with Perrine to the Owino Market in Kampala to buy some things for dinners. They cook for me at least 2-4 times a week so I wanted to buy them some food. That market is the most insanely stressful and overwhelming market I have ever been to. It is about 100-200 different venues on about 2 blocks or less or space with people from 20km away coming to buy or sell things in the countries capital. This market makes me NEVER want to live in Kampala – the city is far too crazy. I headed back early and made it in time to teach my 2 Environmental classes (my first day with P7) and my English class. 

I let the neighborhood kids have some fun with my camera
while Daniella played with my hair.

There are two people who work at HOPE school who have malaria right now…guess its pretty common – and one you have it I was told you will always have it. Good things my net is secured around me nightly and I haven’t forgotten a day of my malaria pills!

They had fun posing

Them they found "frames" on my camera.

I left Thursday (23) for Jinja and picked the wrong Matatu/taxi to take me. It was only 4,000ugx (last time the guy ripped me off and made me pay 10,000ugx) but it took over 2 hrs and we stopped all along the way! Matatus are these large 14 passenger vans (usually carrying more like 17 people) that either travel short or long distances – it is like a shared taxi. Ones around town stop as often as every 50-100 meters to pick people off or drop them off. In the taxi park in Kampala you can usually find one that goes right from Kampala to Jinja (about an hour drive) but I got on one that brought people anywhere in between Kampala and Jinja – so the entire ride the money collector (there is 1 drive and 1 money collector) had his head and hands out the window yelling something in Lugandan trying to fill up the seats of the taxi – we were constantly stopping to see if people needed a lift – sometimes we would pick them up and other times drop off people…it was not fun.

Paul had a massive spider bite/infection on his leg when I arrived. He told me it had been getting worse but when I saw it…wow! Looked pretty painful. Jane (his boss) and I finally talked him into going to the doctor (and not listening to the guys at the bar and letting them cut it open) so he could get professional help. I don’t want to go into details but he is on antibiotics now and is doing much better after the minor “surgery” and antiseptic at the visit to the doctors. He can't work for a few days because it’s a huge hole that needs to heal without dirty river water. 

This is a video of a bota ride when I went tubing with Paul's company - Zen Tubing - they are crazy little motor bikes that don't really obey the few traffic law that exist.

I ordered a chocolate cake for my birthday. Paul and I are heading back to Kampala then Ndejje sometime tomorrow (Sunday the 26th). I am going to bring it to Perrine’s house Sunday night and invite Jacques and his family and maybe some boys from school over to celebrate with us. Then on Monday (the date of my real birthday), after classes, Paul and I are going to go into Kampala to find a place to eat. I am very excited, because I think we found a place that serves margaritas… I really miss margaritas.

Next week I am going to introduce a coloring contest to the students in P5-P7 – winner gets their artwork as the logo for HEAL (Healthy Environment and Living) – Uganda. Which is the name of the organization that Jacques, Paul, and I are trying to start in Ndejje. We are also planning to start a compost area behind one of the buildings for the school. The students will help dig/build that as well. We think its important for them to be very involved for the whole process – start to finish – so that they can see the whole project.