Get Schooled - Helping Kids in Uganda Succeed

When I was little, my family went to Yellowstone National Park. I was excited to see Old Faithful and had made sure my camera had a new roll of film in it. I have 24 chances to capture the magic of the infamous geyser. If you don’t know, it’s a thermal geyser that is erupted faithfully every 90 minutes or so for years and years. We had waited patiently and the water began to spray up a bit and I got so excited. I started snapping pictures even though my mom warned me that it would be bigger and better if I could just wait. Well, the beginning of it was so impressive to me that I continued to try and capture what I was witnessing. Well, then it erupted for real – the shooting sulphuric steaming water shot up over a hundred feet in the air. I was shocked at its magnificence. But, of course, when it erupted for real in all its glory, I had run out of film.

I was reminded of this story today. We are in a town very close to Queen Elizabeth National Park and both of us have always wanted to see an elephant and a lion in the wild. We had both seen other animals in the wild on previous trips to East Africa, but these two animals eluded us. We thought we should try again to see these animals while we’re here and just so close. We knew that bicycles are not allowed in the park because it’s too dangerous so we talked to Dorothy, our hotel hostess (that we ‘bought dinner’ for last night and seen in a picture below) and she had a friend who had a friend who was willing to drive us into the park today to have a look around. Jackson picked us up at 6:30 this morning and took us out in his van that had a top that popped up. He was delightful company with an easy laugh and a good eye for seeing animals. His driving skills were on fire (he even helped another car out of the deep mud) and he was very kind.

Just like when I saw Old Faithful so many years ago, I got overly excited when I saw my first elephant and his buddy. I snapped a lot of pictures right away even though they weren’t that close and there were only two. Well, by the end of the day, I had seen too many elephants to count and doing such cool things as scratching themselves on trees, drinking and throwing water on themselves and reaching high into the trees to gather leaves with their trunks. Thank goodness for digital pictures so I could snap away to my heart’s content and not worry about running out of film.

About thirty minutes after seeing the first elephants, we saw a lioness. She had just eaten a kob and was lazily licking her paws and rubbing her face to clean up. I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing. I’m the kind of person that gets excited to see any kind of animal in the wild, be it bear, deer, elk, moose, whatever! So to see what I saw today, I just had to ask myself, “Who’s life is this that I am in Africa with my best friend and seeing such amazing things?” My heart swelled with gratitude. I think my feelings were magnified when I saw two teenagers in the backseat of another vehicle, one with ear buds in, trying to sleep and his sister curled up looking totally bored. It struck us as so funny for some reason (teens are the same around the world) and we watched them almost as much as we watched the lion. We saw not only so many elephants and that lion, but also cape buffalo, kob (the national animal of Uganda), water bucks, crocodiles, hippos, warthogs, meerkats, various birds including snake eagles, fish eagles, vultures, storks, king fishers, pelicans, cranes, spoonbills, egrets, and get this… a leopard in a tree. I’m not even lying.

After having such an excellent day, we returned to our room to make oatmeal, mashed potatoes and ramen for dinner. Yum yum. Those carbs should get us to Rubirizi tomorrow and the best part is that we get to ride along the border of the park and just might get to see some of those amazing creatures again.

On the picture of the map below, John marked the location of the lion (dot) and you can see that the road is actually pretty close. According to the park attendant, a motorcyclist was surrounded by a number of lions yesterday and only survived because another vehicle came along. John is carrying all the gear and I am getting faster, so I should be good.

Today’s ride was for five of our youngest students who started either nursery school or preschool. Their names are Kaikara Hezed, Namugerwa Josephine, Lubega Stephen, Makumbi Elivis, and Kisakye Maureen.

Today was weird, and although both of us thought this separately, we are still unsure as to why. We started riding at 8 in the misty, cool air and we were quickly out of town after dodging around the trucks and weaving in and out of bodas as they drove kids off to school. We were expecting an amazing day of scenery and we were not disappointed. We moved from tea fields to banana plantations. There were huge stacks of harvested bananas piled onto bicycles and motorcycles hauling them to big drop off points where they were loaded onto trucks.

We only road about 80 km today, but it was mostly on very slippery muddy terrain as we moved through the rolling hills. There was a huge storm last night and another is building for tonight – sheets of rain and loud thunder. It’s pretty cool. I love thunder.

I have to say that John’s navigational skills have been stellar. I am amazed every day at the random trails and turns we take and it puts us right where we want to be. I trust him completely and we have hardly ever had to backtrack. Today was a challenge navigationally because there was a stream that interrupted every trail and some bridges were washed out. At one point he left the bikes with me and walked back down a massive hill we had just climbed to scope things out. I just sat in the grass and waited, trying to look nonchalant as I watched an older lady herding cows. There were four little kids ranging from about ages 2-7 who just stood there and stared at me. They had their arms all around each other and didn’t say one single word. I waved and the oldest one waved back but they wouldn’t come over to me despite my coaxing. I even offered them a banana but the oldest one just shook his head, “No.” This was quite the opposite behaviour than what I’ve experienced so far, so it made an impression on me. You can see me below just eating the banana myself.

We were riding past tiny little villages on a single-track muddy trail, trying to find our way when John looked left and noticed a warning poster slapped onto one of the doors of a home announcing “EBOLA.” He thought for a second that it would be a fantastic picture but he had second thoughts and wisely chose to just keep on moving past the quarantined house.

Maybe one of the reasons today was weird is because we experienced such a wide range of interactions and people in only the 80 km. Some were so kind and friendly while others were very hostile and came at us with lots of yelling, demands and threatening body motions. Some of the kids are so delighted to see us and wave and scream with all their might, “MAZUNGU! MAZUNGU! MAZUNGU!” Sometimes it becomes a chant that they just repeat over and over until we are finally out of earshot. And then other kids are demanding and sound rude (although I don’t think they mean to be). One girl today said in a very sweet voice, “Hello, Madam,” which was quickly followed by an aggressive, “Give me one of your bags!” As she stomped her foot. Whoa, girl.

Maybe another reason it was a strange day was the contrast in terrain. We got off the mud after awhile and rode a long segment where the shoulder was crumbling badly and dropped off abruptly into gravel. I had to ride close to John to warn him when trucks or cars were coming so that we could hit the ditch. The potholes are massive so you can hardly be frustrated when a vehicle comes tearing at you head on. It all seems to work – we haven’t seen a single accident yet.

Our hotel room is lovely tonight but in a horrible part of Kasese. We walked to get some water and snacks and saw a boy rummaging through a pile of trash on the road. It’s hard to say no to kids like this when they approach us with their hands out, but I’m trying to focus on our Get Schooled kids and tell myself that I can’t save everyone. Still…it bothers me and the images stay.

Our hostess at the hotel, Dorothy, is a lovely 25-year-old with two kids. She knew I wanted to go get some snacks so when I was heading out again to get some extra mangoes and bananas, she asked, “ Did you go to the supermarket already?”

“Yes,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Well, you know I also haven’t eaten anything yet,” she answered.

Taken slightly aback, I said, “Oh, well I’m going out to get some mango and bananas. Can I bring you one?”

“No, three,” she laughed, “one for me and him and him,” motioning to her two co-workers. I brought one mango and one banana… for her.

We took a rest day today and head to Kasese tomorrow. John wanted to clarify, thanks to his good friend, The Biologist, that sloths do not live in Africa. He did some Google searching today and found this sweet thing was actually what he saw. I say that it’s just as cool as a sloth.

Today’s ride into Fort Portal was for Suubi Esther and Mukisa Stephen. These two stars are Pastor Vincent’s children who are getting an education in order to teach and inspire others to rise above poverty and be independent. Esther is the one who travelled all the way from Kampala to our hotel (4 hrs) in a rainstorm just to see me before we left for our ride. She is beautiful inside and out.

I felt like I got my butt kicked today. Well, I DID get my butt kicked today. After yesterday’s huge day both mileage wise and elevation gain, my legs were tired but today was even harder – bumpy, rutted mud roads (a lot of which was under construction) and even more elevation gain. We rode 105 kms with 5000 feet of climbing and we were in the saddle for seven hours. Everything hurts. My butt, my back, my neck, my feet and believe it or not, I was even getting cramps in my left tricep for the last ten kms because of having to do so much bike handling and braking today on the crazy downhills. I knew we were getting pizza tonight, however, and I am always motivated by good food.

The road construction we went through this morning was chaotic. They have flag ladies (always women who wear elaborate hats) who have a green flag and a red flag that they just wave around sporadically. One particular lady was dancing with her flags just having a great time and sending a lot of mixed messages. Another one was waving her red flag because there was a truck coming from the other direction but then just waved us through. You never know what you’re allowed to do so you just go for it and it seems like everyone else is also just doing their own thing and it all works out.

I made a really dumb mistake today. After a drink stop, I figured I would get a head start on John as he talked to some kids and finished his drink. But I set off in the wrong direction, going back where we had just come from but failed to recognize anything. John went the right way and after about two miles of riding I pulled over because I didn’t see him coming. I waited a full five minutes, thinking maybe he had to pump up his tire again. He never came so something prompted me to ride back. He wasn’t at the little store we had stopped in and they told me he had left in the other direction. I then realized my mistake and couldn’t believe I had done that. I chased after him in a slowly rising panic, knowing that he was probably just thinking I was feeling strong and kept going after me, not knowing I was behind him like an idiot. Unbeknownst to me, a critical intersection was only about two km ahead of our original stop. So when John didn’t see me waiting at the intersection he sped up, racing in the wrong direction to keep me from going too far out of the way. After riding about five kilometres out of the way to find me, he found some school girls and asked if they had seen me and they hadn’t so he headed back. At that critical intersection, I saw him heading back towards me and if I hadn’t seen him at that moment, he would have thought I had made the turn and chased me down in that direction. Neither of us were too happy about the wasted energy and I felt bad for being so careless. He forgave me, of course, and we pedalled on.

With a large hill looming, John saw an opportunity to grab onto the back of a another slow-moving water truck. After a few hundred metres and with the truck edging him into the ditch, he was forced to let go. But at the same time a young man saw an opportunity to ride along side of him. They exchanged fist bumps and a few brief words as the riding intensified. After about a kilometre they entered a town and the young man sprinted ahead of John with all his might to the cheers and excitement of the local bystanders. Of course, this man is on a single speed (in a picture below) and once he was out of town, he slowed his pace. As the hill steepened he got off and ran alongside his bike like a cyclocross racer. When John passed him again he quickly jumped back on and pedalled with all the force he could muster. They continued riding together side-by-side, as big trucks passed, visiting about their destinations. Eventually John had to pull over and wait for me at the top of the hill. The young man was disappointed that he had to stop but he tapped his chest and thanked John for the time they spent together. These are the kinds of exchanges that we get strength from for the day.

In one picture below you can see a young man sitting beside the gas pump. He is literally pumping customers’ gas by cranking that wheel.

After the construction area, we rode through my favourite road on the trip so far…if I ignore that it was mostly uphill. It was a tiny part of Itwara Central Forest Reserve and was a canopy of green and butterflies. There were so many different kinds of trees and plants, vines and flowers, birds and bugs, and we saw some monkeys and baboons again. John took a little side path and even saw a sloth. I was too tired to bike even an extra quarter mile, so sadly I missed it!!

We stopped for yet another drink today and this old fella came over to us and I shook his hand and introduced myself, asking his name. Instead of telling me his name, he was quick to tell us to not worry about Ebola, that it hadn’t made it over this far from the Congo yet. After he said it, the man and John both thought of what he had just said and fist bumped each other with a laugh rather than shake hands. I think I’ll do that from now on too.

I can tell we are getting closer to Rwanda and the Congo as the tea plantations popped up all over the second half of the ride today. The road really narrowed as we left the main roads and became more of a footpath for local farmers working their fields. The plantations employ hundreds of workers and it was awesome to look out across the land and see the bright speckles of their clothing against the bright green tea leaves. It was probably the most scenic ride we’ve done so far and although the hills took away a little of the enjoyment, the scenery also served as a distraction from the pain.

Our guesthouse is clean, spacious, cheap and close to a place that is known for their pizza so guess where we had dinner. We are going back tomorrow too! Our waitress, Eve, told us that she had “escaped” from her parents’ plans for her in Mbarara and moved to Fort Portal to work rather than go to school. She is happy, but thinks she will soon do what her parents want her to and attend college – maybe to take something having to do with tourism. We were the first Canadians she has ever met and she was eager to hear about our country and what we thought of Rwanda and Uganda. Most of our servers have been young women in their twenties and are so sweet and interested in conversation. For most, it’s their first job away from home and they are excited to launch – must like the twenty-somethings we know at home.

Because we have time and fit three day’s mileage into two, we are going to rest our bodies and butts tomorrow in Fort Portal. John got a head start by jumping into the shower fully clothed and with a cold drink. Oh, and this is also how he does his laundry.