Get Schooled - Helping Kids in Uganda Succeed

What a relaxing day. It reminded me of life on our lovely Kootenay Lake, except that there are Ugandan crested cranes flying overhead instead of bald eagles and geese. We woke to the sounds of lapping water, the songs of birds and the amazing singing of the woman farming in the next plot over. The sounds of the peaceful surroundings and the Ugandans waking up and getting their day started was just what I needed to make yesterday’s hellish ride worth every pedal and push. I can tell we needed a rest after yesterday because my legs hate me every time I walk up the four sets of stairs that climb to the hostel’s sitting area and out house.

I was overly excited to wash our clothes this morning, knowing they would have ample time to dry over the next couple of days. I was feeling pretty good about myself as I bent my body in half like so many Ugandan women and, listening to the neighbour still singing her heart out, I took the plastic basin and the soap and got to it (while deeply appreciating my washing machine at home). Well, I got schooled in how to do laundry African style. When I have washed our clothes before (as I was doing this time), I put everything in the tub with a little bit of soap and just slosh things around a little bit and squeeze occasionally. The water gets surprisingly dirty which makes me feel like I’ve done a thorough job. Well, Hillary saw me trying to wash one of John’s shirts and he quickly came over and tried to motion how I needed to move my hands in a much stronger and more vigorous way. I gave it a shot, but he must have thought I didn’t understand what he was trying to teach and that he could do a better job. He wasn’t wrong. He took the shirt and proceeded to scrub and twist and wring and splash. He got the dirt outta that dumb shirt that I haven’t been able to get out to this point despite many feeble attempts. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was feeling impatient with me. We have all, no doubt, tried to do a chore that Mom or Dad is trying to teach us and in frustration, they say, “Oh, just give it to me!” as they grab whatever-it-is out of our hands and proceed to do the job as we stand by somewhat dumbfounded and a little embarrassed. I learned yesterday that he is getting married on Saturday and I joked with him that he better not let his wife see how good he is at doing laundry or she’ll make him do it from now on. He laughed pretty hard at that concept because yesterday he was explaining to me the tradition about his new wife going to live with his mother for two months to learn “everything she needs to know about being a good wife.” I believe that the behaviours he listed were how to cook, how to sweep, how to treat and please a man, and how to make crafts. Yes, I guess that would just about cover it.

We spent the day swimming in and enjoying Lake Bunyonyi. Here are a couple of tidbits for you. It’s the only lake that is safe for swimming in the entire country (no hippos, no crocs and no viruses), and has twenty-nine islands, one which is called Punishment Island where they would take women who got pregnant out of wedlock and leave them there to die. This practice only stopped in the 1940’s! We also went over our map to make adjustments and changes because of our timing, laid on the little balcony overlooking the lake, ate ramen noodles and John is now dozing next to me as I text this blog into my phone as we do everyday.

We were talking today about how long the trip has seemed and we tried to remember all of the places we have stayed. I think it all gets convoluted very quickly because of the changes and contrasts we experience daily. There are about forty tribes here in Uganda and approximately fifty-four languages spoken. No wonder every village seems somewhat familiar, but also very different from the one before. The culture and different tribal traditions are deeply important, generationally revered and all so interesting to us. I feel like we will leave here with our heads spinning a bit as we step back into such a vastly different culture. I have gained such a deep respect for the people and seen firsthand how they rise above, again and again, always with a laugh or a smile despite their circumstances. It seems I could learn a thing or two, and I’m not just talking about how to clean my clothes.

Today’s crazy hard ride was for Nampijja Prossy, Muwanguzi John, Lukyamuzi Ronald and Namboga Faith. I needed their motivation today, although I was feeling pretty strong initially. We rode 95 kilometres and climbed 5400 feet today to 7500 feet elevation. I’m happy I can still breathe.

We left the-name-of-the-town-that-we-stayed-in-that-I-can-never-remember at 8:30 and the tarmac was glorious. It was cooler this morning than normal and really misty. We were ‘muzungus in the mist’ and surprised people as we approached out of nowhere.

I know I keep mentioning the hills, but they just keep coming. We rode over three mountain passes today to get to Kabale. Three. On the first one, a young man riding a bike with colourful wheels and a beautiful smile came alongside us. We are used to this by now and enjoy the camaraderie. It never lasts long because usually we can outpace whoever joins us pretty quickly. This man was an exception. He was ridiculously strong and kept pace with us for miles and miles. John was lucky enough to hitch another ride from a slow-moving truck for a short time and this young man stayed right beside me the entire time to pace me back up to John. I am not sure if those laughing as they witnessed this were making fun of me or him, but he seemed to enjoy joking with people alongside the road. I didn’t mind one bit, because I thought it was so nice of him to not leave me as it was obvious that he was doing me a favour. If I slowed down, so did he. If I was able to speed up, he stuck with me. We could not communicate at all, but I did understand that he was also riding to Kabale, which is a heck of a long way to ride in flip-flops on a single speed. We did eventually drop him on the first climb, but when we started down the other side we looked back and he was at the top waving to us in celebration. We were wondering how he was progressing when all of sudden he had caught up to John on the second climb. I was ahead at this point when John motioned for him to go and catch me. He stood on his pedals and took off and John said he covered the 200 metre gap in about fifteen seconds. I was very surprised to see him in my rear view mirror and he laughed when I said, “No way!” understanding that I was impressed with his strength. I gave him my banana at the top and he stayed with us for about twenty kilometres before we left him for good when he stopped in a town (hopefully for some water) as we continued on. The third pass had a restaurant called The Food Station at the very top and because it was about 1:30 and we hadn’t eaten anything, we decided to stop. We shared a piece of chicken, fries and a cold drink and then headed down the hill into the city.

One very annoying thing we have found before and after every village and town is the speed bumps. There are two speed bumps, then four, followed by one large mound and for each set, we have to slow down to go over, or risk losing something off our bikes. Sometimes, if there is no one coming up from behind, we can either aim for the sections that have been worn down a little bit by car tires, or swerve around the edges in the ditch to ease the bumps. Most of the time, however, we just have to hold on, stand up on the pedals, and take it. I don’t know if it’s been the bad roads or the speed bumps, but so far I have lost a shoe, my Get Schooled trucker hat, and yesterday I lost my reading glasses. John has also dropped both of his sandals at different times, but I was behind him and saw them on the road and picked them up. Today, however, he went flying over especially large speed bumps and his bag of chips and his iPhone bounced right out of his bag and onto the highway. I think I ran over his phone a little bit, but everything seems to be OK. He was equally concerned about the chips as he was about the phone (our main navigation device).

Once we turned off the tarmac, we were so happy that we were almost to the lake. Oh.my.goodness. It took us three hours to go the last five miles according to John’s bike computer. It was STEEP!! Some parts registered at 15% grade and for me, pushing my bike was just as fast as riding. John’s bike is so loaded that he didn’t have any other option but to ride; it was just too heavy to push. There was an old lady who started walking up the hill at the same time that we started riding, and after three miles of climbing she crested the top only thirty seconds after us. We were super relieved to get to the top, but we had no idea what was coming. We had to now go down to the lakefront where our hostel was. And by down, I mean D-O-W-N. It was now too steep to ride down. It was single track at about 18% grade. We dropped almost a thousand feet in a little more than a kilometre and I had to have both brakes engaged while walking alongside my bike the entire time. The back tires were skidding out and it was all I could do to just try not to slip and have my bike land on me, or worse, go sliding down the bank beside me. Finally, we found the little path that led to the hostel. But now it turned upward and was so steep, narrow and covered in roots and rocks that we had much difficulty rolling the bikes up and over the last hill to the gate.

When we finally parked our bikes for the day, I just laid down in the concrete reception area and could have stayed there all night. The six-and-half-hour ride (over the course of nine hours) had done me in. What?! They have pizza? Ok, I’ll get up.

Reaching Lake Bunyonyi has been a big goal for us. It is the only safe lake in which to swim in all of Uganda and we have been planning to take a few days off now that we are ahead of schedule. I had found this hostel online that was cheap with a little hut right on the lake so I called ahead to book it. Once again, we are the only ones here which allows for a lot of rest and privacy, but also turns the staff’s attention to only us. In some places that has become a little bit overwhelming, but these guys seem excited to have us but are still very chill and have the Bob Marley turned up. And by on the lake, I mean literally ON the lake – there is water lapping underneath us and we can hear the frogs and crickets outside. A shared outhouse and outdoor shower are just up the hill and there is a dugout canoe for us to try tomorrow. The other reason that reaching this place was significant to us is because when we leave here in a few days, we are heading back to Kasanda where we started.

Apparently, the national news and TV reporters in Kampala have heard about what we’re doing and want to interview us and do a story about why we are here and what prompted us to want to bike around the country. Because of this and the timing of the party we plan to have with the Get Schooled students and their care givers, we have to time our last days of riding to match up with these events. We have about nine days left mileage-wise and about twenty days in which to finish. So exploring Lake Bunyonyi by dugout canoe and maybe biking around a bit (if we can get our bikes back by boat) is looking pretty good. Our blogs over the next few days will just include some pictures of the area and thoughts as they come to us. Thanks everyone for sticking with us.

Today’s ninety-kilometre ride sprinkled with 4000 feet of elevation gain was for Kasumba Fabian, Kisuule Dan and Magadde Rodger.

It was a good day today from start to finish. After enjoying the organic coffee and awesome pancakes mentioned yesterday, we said goodbye to Dave the Cave and Sally and the delightful staff around 9. But not before David made one last request of us. Would we please plant a tree on his property to help the environment and to make sure he is planting at least five trees for every one he cuts down? Of course we would!! What a brilliant idea and good marketing for his lodge and it highlights just how much he cares for the earth and his home. When we were walking around the property the day before, I saw little signs with names on them. I assumed they were some kind of grave, but no. They were names of other “tree planters” before us. It was awesome. David makes a big production of the whole thing, getting every staff involved and having each of them film it and take photos from their various vantage points. They will label one with Stacia (which is how all Ugandans pronounce my name – so much so that I just introduce myself as that from the start) and one for “Mr. John.”

Then the hills. I thought my legs would be in sorry shape after yesterday’s little “walk” but I felt stronger today than any day so far. The kilometres and time flew by and hills that used to make me cry were seen as just part of the day’s ride. I think that’s called progress. We rode through a beautiful valley covered in bright green tea plantations and the people were amazingly friendly today. We have noticed a huge shift in the environment as we have moved west. Not only have we left the flats, but where we used to see hundreds of mud huts with thatched roofs every day, we haven’t seen one for over a week now. Instead, the homes are made of timber or concrete and have tin roofs – a sign, no doubt, of the affluence that comes with tourism dollars.

Although I really noticed the friendliness of the people today, there were a few exceptions. Most of them happened in a town that felt a bit threatening solely based on the whistles and aggressive yells coming from the shops. A man came out very angrily yelling something about white men not talking to black men and trying to get us to stop (yeah, right). One boda driver yelled, “I love you, baby!” from the side of the road. Although these whistles and comments make me really uncomfortable, I’m sure he would be mortified to find out that this “baby” is old enough to be his mother. At least. Whenever we stop to check our map or just rest for a few minutes, we have to be strategic to avoid the onslaught of unwanted attention that inevitably happens whenever we take a break. We have had pretty good luck ducking behind a wall or on the sides of buildings. Well, today we needed to get out of the sun and check the map. We pulled into a vehicle service bay and John struck up a conversation with a security guy with a gun to just talk about where we were going and have him check our map. We were quickly surrounded by about ten men, checking out our bikes and bags and wanting to know where we were going, etc. One man in particular wanted money for giving John directions (that John didn’t ask for). I think the price started at $10. John said he wasn’t going to pay him and the man quickly lowered the price. But he, of course, doesn’t really know John and his level of commitment to being thrifty. Eventually he gave up, shrugged, and said, “Well maybe next year when you come back, you can give me some.” Sure thing. One thing we have been encouraged by is that these requests (sometimes demands) for money are real (the men do come into our physical space and use strong gestures), but because honesty and kindness are real values here, they have never taken anything or even tried. They are not malicious and we feel no real threat from them physically.

After leaving this town, we were speeding down a hill (as much as you can with potholes, ruts, loose gravel and broken pavement) and a car came speeding up behind me honking like crazy and blaring some kind of siren that sounded like a police car. I looked over my shoulder while still trying to maintain some level of control of my bike and was sorry to see that it was deliberately done to scare me because as they sped off, they were laughing hysterically. Thankfully, I was able to move out of the way and it didn’t shake me up too badly. I was too happy to be finally going downhill!

One thing that happened today that I thought was hilarious was a young man was riding a bike from behind me. Like many men we have written about already, he seemed bent on beating us up the hill we were climbing. I gave him a look when he was alongside me that made it clear I wanted to race him. He laughed and we both sped up. After a bit I realized I should be conserving some energy so I told him he was the winner and slowed down. He laughed and pulled ahead, letting go of his handle bars and swerving around to show off a bit to the people along the roadside. Well, pride really does come before a fall and his overconfidence got the best of him. He lost his balance and crashed hard. The people along side of the road laughed and so did I to just joke with him a bit, but I made sure that he was also laughing. Later he caught up to me again and I made sure he was OK and told him he was still the winner.

I don’t have much else to say about today. It was a long hilly day in the saddle, full of poverty and beauty, gorgeous views, comments and laughter made about us as we ride by that we don’t understand, chips, pop and now sleeping under a mosquito net that always makes me feel like a princess.

Our good friend, Christy Nichol, from Kootenay Athletic Therapy (Nelson BC), gave us a financial gift to use at our discretion because she is committed to giving to people and places that inspire her. As described in yesterday’s blog, John and I have been so inspired by Sally’s resilience and good attitude that we are paying her gift forward to this young man and his family because he has inspired us personally. We know Christy would love the philosophy behind this eco-space that David created with the help of Sally. He is a local man that saved this fertile slice of heaven from logging and has planted a wide variety of trees and bushes for medicinal purposes as well as those that keep away mosquitoes. All the food he serves is grown on site and he mentors other young men like Sally and supports a local school just over the hill.

We had a lazy start to the day, eating breakfast at 9, which was so big we couldn’t finish it. The coffee was amazing and I really enjoyed their unique pancakes with honey from their bees. Sally wanted to take us through the “cultural museum” which is a mud hut that’s a replica of the early Ugandan way of life. Interestingly, many of the traditions continue today in various tribes around the nation. It had multiple “rooms” and he took us to each one and explained the various artifacts in each room and the traditions behind them. It is definitely a male dominated culture which was symbolized by many of the artifacts and stories he told us. The one I got a kick out of the most was the tradition of the stools (see the photo below). When a man comes to meet a girl that he is interested in, he is given that small chair which means that the family does not know him as this is most likely the first time they have met. The next time he comes to the house, he gets that second seat which means they know him a little but he hasn’t “paid” anything yet. It’s kinda like he’s courting the girl but doesn’t have any skin in the game. Once he pays half the girl’s dowry, he gets that third stool. It’s not until he has paid the entire dowry and married the girl that he gets the smooth, strong comfortable one. If you look at its shape, it’s a symbol of the two families becoming one family. Maybe it’s because our kids are at marrying age that I found this tradition interesting, and maybe John needs to start carving the stools. After the “tour” Sally showed us the huge herb garden in the middle of the property and informed us about every.single.herb.in.the.entire.garden. It was actually quite impressive and he was proud of it and eager to share his knowledge. It almost made me want to start an herb garden at home. I’ll have to think about that.

Sally had asked us yesterday if we were interested in going on a “nature walk” with him. Because these guys care so much about the environment, he wanted to show us what is happening locally in their forest that is threatening the local way of life and tell us more about how they are trying to better educate the community to take better care of their land. There is a local man named Vincent who is the chairman of the local project that is not only trying to educate the public and change their habits around harvesting firewood, but also create a new campsite by a crater lake for locals and tourists to enjoy. He cane with us and Sally as we needed to have a guide to go into the natural forest. Locals are only allowed to gather firewood on Wednesdays and Saturdays and they can only take dead wood from the ground. Sadly, in an effort to create ‘dead’ wood, they use their machetes to make gashes in the trunks of old growth timber and with time it will die. It is difficult to catch them doing this, but slowly the mature forest is being eroded and eliminating wild life habitat. Of course, they don’t have machinery or any large-scale ways of making this happen, but over time, the damage has been done and practices need to be changed in order to save the local wildlife, medicinal plants, and all that the forest provides for their way of life. Part of it is education and part of it is monitoring the forest for those breaking the rules and then fining them a lot of money.

Sally said it would take two hours for this walk so we thought that sounded reasonable. It is a rest day after all, but we thought we could handle a two hour walk. Well…after four hours, I told Sally that he is in excellent shape if he can do this walk in only two hours. I felt bad that we were so slow that it was taking us twice the time. “Oh no,” he said. “It usually takes six hours. The two hours of walking is just to get to the forest.” John and I shared a look that said it all. FIVE HOURS LATER we returned to the house. We hiked about twenty-four kilometres, in our bike shoes no less, slip sliding through the forest as we looked for monkeys and learned about the local flora and fauna. One thing I have noticed about Ugandans is that they are very protective of us and truly care about our enjoyment and our safety. Vincent noticed I was sliding all over the place and grabbing onto trees and roots to keep from heading over the steep banks. He quickly took his machete and chopped down a walking stick for me and then one for “Mr John.” That made things much easier and it was surreal for me as we hiked through the mud, tracking monkeys while it sprinkled refreshing rain and the thunder rolled overhead. We went to a waterfall and saw locals working, taking baths in the river (didn’t look too closely) and kids playing games in the forest. We saw four different species of monkeys and walked through what could only be called a ‘banana forest’ (32 varieties). As hard as the hike was and as badly as my back now hurts, it was still worth it and I am so thankful for the experience. I am just slightly more concerned about the hundred kilometre ride we have in store for us tomorrow as our calf muscles are feeling it because we realized we haven’t really walked anywhere in over a month!

Today’s enjoyable ride was for Nantaba Monica and Nabakioza Florence. Monica was our first student to get full sponsorship and the rest is history.

We woke up a little earlier in order to see some animals in QE park before it got too hot. The sun was out from start to finish of our ride today but we felt rejuvenated after yesterday’s rest day. We rode on the main highway (some paved and some not) right through QE Park. I was so much looking forward to riding over the equator today and taking some photos of the cool marker that I have seen in pictures. Unfortunately, we crossed the equator without knowing it because they took the marker down because of road construction. Bummer. We stopped where the Queen visited once and they named the entire park after her and the two lakes after her sons. The Queen Elizabeth Pavilion, which is also close to the road that leads into the Congo only 38 km away, had a great view and the worker let us take a picture of her map rather than making us buy it. I love Uganda.

So even though we missed the equator, we did ride by many cape buffalo and four elephants which was worth the getting up early. I even had the opportunity to ride over their muddy tracks on the road (pic below). I’m so thankful that we went to see animals yesterday because it was overcast and cooler and so that’s why many of them were out and about.

The 60 km ride today was pretty uneventful. We left the plains and there was one long hill at the end (see below), but I’m feeling pretty strong and John continues to amaze me. It’s strange to say that a 60 km day on fat tires up a huge hill seems like an easy day, but that’s just testament to the acquired fitness over time…and maybe to some of the difficulty of the days behind us.

The real story is about where we are staying tonight. We are at Dave the Cave’s eco-lodge. It is ultra-cool, but rustic on another level. Apparently, other cyclists have come through here and they were super excited to have cyclists. When we arrived they quickly brought us hot towels to wash our hands and faces (in part because of respect for Ebola). Then they made us a cup of hot herbal tea that was sourced from herbs grown on their property along with honey from their own bees as a sweetener. It was delicious and I had two cups, taking most of the honey for myself.

David asked if we would like a hot shower because when he heard we were coming, he “started the boiler.” Of course, the answer is yes, but little did we know that “starting the boiler” literally means he started to boil water over a fire in a huge pot with piping (picture below). It wasn’t until after John had taken a cold shower, that I noticed this and that they hadn’t finished heating the water. The shower is outside looking out over one of the crater lakes. The toilet is also outside and made of cement with the seat stuck to the cement. It is a composting toilet where you try to separate the poop and pee by aiming them both down different holes and then dumping some ash in the toilet down after #2. I haven’t tested my aim yet so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to oblige to the “rules” posted on the wall (see below).

We are the only ones at the lodge as guests, but just after we arrived, a high school field trip came through on a geography tour of the cave below. It was so hilarious to see them acting exactly like high school students everywhere. Taking selfies. Terrorizing the turkeys. Flirting. The guy in a hammock trying to act cool and the teacher trying to get their attention to get their walking sticks back and telling them not to go to the museum empty handed. Teens are so awesome.

We have our own cabana with a grass roof that looks out at a crater lake with monkeys and lots of different birds just outside. They don’t have music here so that guests can just enjoy the sounds of the birds and frogs. I really appreciate that after spending the last two nights directly across from a bar that played the same song on a loop for two hours. It wasn’t even a good song.

The monkeys keep eating up their garden so they have moved it to another location that I guess the monkeys haven’t found yet. David grows 84 different kinds of vegetables and we got a taste of them at lunch. I normally don’t like vegetables at all, but after a month of not trusting how they were cleaned and prepared, we took a chance today and ate a huge plate of cooked veggies and I only left out the eggplant. I hope I’m not spending the night outside at the concrete throne trying to figure out which hole puke is supposed to go down.

While this place is rustic, it is amazingly beautiful and clean so that for the first time we are anxious to even walk with our shoes inside. Normally, although we try very hard to keep the rooms clean, you can imagine what two dirty bikes and muddy clothes can do to a hotel room. I wonder if the cleaning ladies ever think, “What in the world happened in here?” when they see the tire tracks, the towels covered in red dirt and the trash overflowing with bottles of pop, water and empty noodle packages. I really do try to clean up a little after ourselves, but I still feel a little embarrassed by the mess.

Anyway, the owner of this place, David, and his main man, Sally, are exceptional at what they do. They are extremely knowledgeable about herbs, plants, bee-keeping, and local history and legends which I find fascinating. They truly are eco-friendly and have made a name for themselves in the community and also amongst cyclists. They introduced us to some children from the local school, took us on a nature walk to see the other places to sleep and camp and told stories around the campfire after dinner with us. The place is called “Dave the Cave” because the owner (David) purchased this land and it has an historical natural 800 meter-long cave down the bank by a little lake. There is another lake very nearby that has water that is very clear, but the lake we are on has muddy water because of the sediment that it gathers from passing through the cave and the black dirt at the bottom. The cave used to be a place that people would hide during tribal conflicts. As you would imagine, there are many legends about the cave, but it connects the two crater lakes. Sally told us an elaborate legend about how they became connected, something involving an angry god (he kept using the word ‘hungry’ instead of ‘angry’) whose son drowned. When we went to the actual cave, he told us the entire story again verbatim, which is probably a testament to the rote memorization that is typical of the Ugandan school system and English being his third (working on his fourth) language.

They fetched a chicken and killed it for dinner and paired it with some rice and broccoli. Sally sat on a fence post and just watched us eat so of course, we took the opportunity to chat more with him and hear his story. He is the real reason we are staying here another day. He takes guests on eco-hikes as a way to add to his income and we want to support his efforts. He is an amazing young man and we have enjoyed spending time with him. He had 10 siblings but one sister died from something they still don’t understand and he lost his dad when he was only four. So he grew up as an “orphanage family” and he still visits the orphanage every year when he goes back to Fort Portal to see his mom, brothers and sisters. This twenty-four-year-old works hard and is looking for a girlfriend, but he sends most of his money back home to his mom and to pay for his siblings’ and their kids’ school fees. What an honourable person. Hopefully our Get Schooled project will create more Sallies, strong resilient young people who see opportunities instead of roadblocks and hope when there seems to be little.

I