April Showers

The last few days have been cooler and the rains have started so it is not dusty just muddy! There is power this morning and the computer is working so only a day late with the blog.
The Gift Shop at the hotel is thriving. Word is getting around and people are coming out of the woodwork (or, more accurately, the bush) to sell me their work. Some of it is really creative and good but some is less so and I don’t like having to turn people away. The aim of the shop is to provide good quality, Ugandan crafts and to provide an outlet for people to market their products.
This week I decided to stock up on certain things but, like everything else here, that is not such a simple task. One of our suppliers is a project for women producing beautiful bas-ketware. Everything is made from natural resources, including the dyes. The women are taught the necessary skills and then they work from home and have a guaranteed income. The only problem is that their village is near Fort Portal which is an 850k round trip from Masindi via Kampala. As Sallie was going to Kampala early on Tuesday morning I ar-ranged a lift down with her. We eventually set off at 4 p.m. and arrived late in the evening and booked into a hotel for the night. Sallie’s driver, Godfrey, was taking me from Kam-pala to Fort Portal the following morning - we finally left at 4.30 and arrived at 8 p.m., far too late to go to the village. The bonus was that I got in touch with our VSO friends based in FP and they were celebrating Barbara’s 70th birthday. I gatecrashed their dinner party and stayed the night with them! It was great to catch up and hear how they are getting on. Unfortunately, Godfrey had to return to Kampala early that morning (we’re now on Thurs-day!) so on Wednesday night another driver, Sulliman, had to come all the way from Masindi to pick me up and do the last leg of the journey. He had a dreadful journey down - the road is made of marum (no tarmac) and treacherous when wet. His brakes failed about 50k out of FP so he had to rely on his handbrake. Consequently, the vehicle spent a couple of hours in the garage in FP on Thursday morning. This was the vehicle I was re-turning in so I didn’t feel too confident about the journey home. The garage, along with it’s mechanics, didn’t exactly fill me with confidence either though it was quite amusing when a lady brought out a stool for me and asked me to sign the visitor’s book! Late Thursday morning, after all the frustrations, we finally set off to the village to buy the bas-kets. After two days of travelling I was relieved to be able to do what I had come for - or so I thought………..we arrived at the shop to find it was closed! So Sulliman and I just did what every Ugandan would do and sat and waited. A lady from a nearby shop produced two chairs and I was harassed the whole time by a gentlemen who had obviously been sampling the local brew and seemed to think I was his Auntie. Quite entertaining actually. Patience paid and the shop did eventually open. I practically cleared the shelves - I had no intention of coming back for a long time! We took the short route home but had a 5½ hr bone-shaking journey along very wet, muddy, hilly roads with the car sliding all over the place, but at least the brakes held out. This road is only really passable with a 4 x 4 but the other option is a two day journey back via Kampala. I can sense all my friends in the UK reading this blog and wondering why I didn’t just order the goods by mail order. Things just don’t work like that here and nothing is ever paid for by credit card, only cash.
The one compensation is that the scenery in that part of Uganda is stunning. FP is in the foothills of the snow-capped Rwenzori mountains, also known as the Mountains of the Moon. The climate is cooler with more rain, but very green. It’s home to Uganda’s tea plantations, established in the 1930s by Europeans and Indians. Mineral water from the mountains, cooking oil and soap are also produced there.
Chris is still pleased with his vehicle, the Pajero, for work. It’s been spotted all over the place delivering goods, etc. but, more importantly, taking staff out into the rural communi-ties. Chris and Pam have been able to get out to the district health centres. It has been used for outreaches and this week in one clinic over 200 people were seen. The Pajero’s had three punctures this week because of shonky tyres but we can’t get hold of any new ones until May due to lack of funds at the district. Hopefully it will keep on the road next week.
Our motto is mpora, mpora (slowly, slowly, in the local Runyoro language) but sometimes you think you are not going slowly but going backwards!