Blog from Ashely

Jan 27th, 2009 – The rainy season is finally upon us. We came back to Mbita to dried up mud and the children telling us that while we were gone it had rained a few time so much that “the ground turned to mud”. We didn’t really get the full realization of this until yesterday when at about 9:30am the sprinkle started then turned to torrential downpour. The hard rains created a river in the trail to our room and a waterfall off the roof in a few places. It was such a welcome sight after never seeing rain in Mbita. It also brought with it overcast days, another welcome feeling. The only problem being that with the storms came the bugs.

I imagine my father already went into the bugs, but let me tell you my version. It all started when we were getting ready to swim and walking down to the lake. As I exited my house I saw what I thought to be rain moving in a really strange way. Not rain, it was bugs. A whole freakin’ storm of bugs, so many bugs that I had to turn my back to them and hope for the end of the swarm. One of the girls around warned me not to turn into them as they would get into my eyes. Thankfully not in my eyes, just in my nose and mouth. There was not an end for a quite a long time. But this wasn’t the usual swarm of bugs, this was a bug swarm so thick that you couldn’t really see through it. And then they stayed around on the house, in the trees, covering our freshly washed clothes. We finally made it to the edge of the swarm and looked across the lake to see 5 or so more swarms coming toward land. It looked like thick smoke wafting in from the islands. We got to experience the joy for 2 days. The family mostly hunkered down in our enclosed porch and in our room which was relatively bug free. It was pure joy when we woke up and they were finally gone. Especially for Mommasita, who at one point came down to our room in a fit, so sick of bugs she just had to get away for a few minutes. We learned yesterday that we should have called in the harvesters. These bugs are apparently edible, people make pies out of them. Yum.

But before the bugs and the storms and the mud we were in Uganda. Which was a great break from life in Mbita. Not that life in Mbita is hard, it’s just that it’s turned into “day-to-day life” and a vacation from life is always welcome. On our way we hung out a few days in Kisumu which is a nice city across the bay. Kisumu is not at all a tourist attraction and because of this there it seems that there is a bit more staring at the mzungu but also a lot less trying to hassle us and sell stuff to us. Mostly if people have the guts they will actually come up and start a pleasant conversation with us. The people seemed glad to have the mzungus around, even if we’re not buying anything. Spent time walking around town, visited our friend Elizabeth’s nursery school, and had real coffee and a few beers. The most fun, though, was exploring the Tusky’s, the local Target-like store. They have anything you could ever need. Solar-panels, underwear, sugar, and CHEESE! Cheese was pretty exciting.

Then it is was on to Uganda. It was a pretty nice trip, the roads were good, and the driver on the first half wasn’t too scary. Then at the border we had to switch vans, Travis and I got the opportunity to sit up front, usually a lucky position. As we were preparing to climb in we found a tiny baby mouse on the floor. Morgan fell in love with the little guy, named him Peter, and held him the entire trip. The entire jaw-clenching, poop-producing, scary trip. A piece of advice for anyone planning a trip for Kenya: don’t sit in the front of a matatu. I learned on that trip that you can tell how scary the ride will be in the first five minutes depending on how much the driver uses the horn. Our driver’s steering wheel had the foam-plastic completely rubbed off over the horn. The horn was going more than not. At one point our driver stopped at a check-point and got out of the van as the van started to roll backwards I thought I’d help, being seated right next to the driver, by pulling on the emergency break. About the same time the driver stuck his foot in and stepped on the break and put the van into gear so it wouldn’t roll. As he got back in he started up and drove off, e-break still engaged. I thought I’d do him a favor and took it off. He looked at me funny and continued driving. Not so long after that he pulled the e-break up again, while driving, and used it for an arm rest. So a lot of good it did pulling the e-break to make the van stop rolling. At another point we were trying to pass a big ol’ truck. The tarmac wasn’t in good shape so we couldn’t use the middle of the road, the truck was using the shoulder, and there was a car coming toward us half on his shoulder, half on the tarmac. What’s the only logical solution, oh, of course, fling ourselves across the oncoming lane, and use the part of the shoulder the oncoming traffic isn’t using to by-pass the both of them. I thought we were all going to die.

We made it safely, though, and rolled into the Adrift camp later that night. Adrift was the best part of the trip. Once again I thought I was going to die a few times while hurtling ourselves into multiple class 5 rapids with a guide who thought it was good fun to flip the raft. Looking back on it I had a great time, but being under the raft in “Big Brother” for what seemed like an eternity got the adrenaline pumping good. We had a great guide named Mic and his crazy girlfriend MaryLou came along with us. We ended up becoming close with them and hope to see them again sometime. MaryLou saved us a few times pulling me into the raft or grabbing me and making sure I held on. Good people. The other guides were also great people and great fun. We had a ton of fun with them in the bar back at the camp. Taking upside-down shots in the Kayak hanging from the rafters, playing drinking games, and just hanging out eating, drinking, and being merry. We all considered staying there for quite some time. We did have to bury Peter, the little mouse, at the Adrift camp. He made it through his first night, but then as we were preparing to get on the river he took a last gulping breath, twitched a bit, and gave up the ghost. Elly said a nice prayer for him and we had a moment of silence. I hope he’s happy in mouse heaven.

After relaxing at Adrift with our new found friends we moved onto Kampala, the capital and biggest city by far in Uganda. Chaos of course, but pretty friendly people. The main goal was to see the child my mom and dad sponsor through World Vision, a charming little guy by the name of Joseph. It was great to get out into rural Uganda and see their way of life. Their home was tucked back off the beaten road nestled amongst banana and pawpaw trees, surrounded on all sides by lush greenery and their livelihood. Joseph lives with his grandparents, an absolutely adorable couple, his sisters, and his brother. Joseph is the eldest and his parents live just down the road. When we inquired about his living with his grandparents despite having living, healthy parents they told us that often children will live with their grandparents so the grandparents don’t get lonely and have able hands to help with the gardens. The visit was great. They fed us steamed groundnuts, jackfruit, and a steamed tuber of some kind. They also showed us their gardens. Banana trees, pawpaw, pineapple, maize, and many other things. It appears they grow what they need and live off the land. Using banana leaves for a multitude of things, even for making toys. Joseph showed us his skill and had a doll and ball made for us to take home. He was a shy little guy but absolutely adorable. He picked me as his favorite for some reason and from then on kinda stuck by my side. We took photos, tried to communicate a little, and entertained all the neighbors. I guess mzungus don’t usually get out that far.

That night we spent the evening watching the inauguration of President Obama! People from all over the world collected in our hostel to watch the proceedings. It was neat to see the excitement of the world for Obama.

The last thing worth mentioning from the trip was our tour of the Nile Breweries, home of the Nile Special the best beer we’ve tasted in East Africa. In a phone conversation to set up the tour, that was longer than the tour itself, Travis was told that we had to have closed toed shoes before we could enter the brewery. It being Africa and all, not all of us packed close toes shoes. So we stopped in the market and most likely got “Mzungu prices” on a few pairs of shoes. Another tip, never trust a shoe salesman in Uganda, they’ll pick out shoes for you and swear they will fit, but when it’s held up to your foot you realize you’d have to cut your toes off to even have a chance at getting your foot in it. We found shoes that fit and made our way to the brewery. They gave us safety goggles and a 20 minute look at the grounds. We pretty much only saw the bottling room. We learned more while sitting in the waiting room reading their publications than in the tour itself. Kind of a flop, they didn’t even have a tasting room or schwag. But now a kid will have a new pair of shoes as I’m defiantly not keeping the closed toed pair I bought.

Well, there are some tid-bits from our last few weeks. Hope all is well in the States under the reign of our new president!

Peace, Ashley