Paint, Earthquakes, Coffee, Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Hello all again, Been another busy week with lots to write.

Wednesday the 29th July was spent by me and Ben working on the playground that we started a few days previously. However this time it was only me and Ben working. This was a source of great amusement to the local kids. Two Mzungu (Westerners) doing physical labour is clearly a rare event (considering that there aren't many around anyway this is hardly a surprise). One of the teachers was amazed that we were going out to work at around 2pm saying to Ben "Ben you are going to become an African". We also watched a bricklaying practical exam and was very impressed with what the students made.

Thursday was spent preparing metal brackets for reinforcing drying racks at a coffee farm a few hours away. This involved filing the metal so that it was smooth and then painting them. We managed to pull another crowd of local kids who were clearly amazed by us. The afternoon was made slightly memorable by a minor earthquake. Me and Ben were in our room when the whole place started to shake. We thought something had run into the building but when it stopped we went outside to ask if anyone else had felt it. Idah simply stated it was an earthquake and they happen around once a year there. The whole thing lasted bearly 10 seconds in total.

Friday was spent painting the rest of the metal brackets. In total there were around 400 brackets that were painted and hung in a classroom to dry. Again we had our crowd but that was partially due to the huge rainstorm that occurred halfway through the afternoon. Many local kids used the storm to have a shower. The rain only lasted for around 30 minutes but a lot of rain fell to the relief of many as the school collects rainwater to use for washing, drinking etc. Following the storm I gave a guitar lesson to Richard one of the teachers. The evening was spent playing Hearts with Bob and Brenda where I successfully managed to pick up the Queen of Spades in every round apart from 2. If you don't know the game, that card is the worse card to pick up.

Saturday morning was spent doing washing. Again to the amusement of Sarah (Bob and Brenda's housekeeper). In the afternoon we walked up a nearby hill. Bob reckoned it would take us around 2 hours to reach the top. 40 minutes later we were there and admiring the view. The path ended around halfway up so we had to scramble up rocks to reach the summit. We were joined by two students who had never made the climb. We also found a large rock that was hollow. But we couldn't find a place into the rock to find out why.

Sunday was our last day in Kibbuse. We started the day by being taught to make american style pancakes with Bob. We then went to the church and got a photo of all the churchgoers with us outside after the service. We then went to lunch and then prepared to leave. At around 3 we left Nyamarwa for Kiziranfumbi around 2 hours north. We arrived and checked into our hotel (equivalent of $4 a night but had no showers) and went to a local restaurant for dinner. This restaurant like all the restaurants we had been to so far had no menu and in this case only one dish. Beef and rice, it wasn't that bad a meal thought and only cost around 3 pounds. Afterwards we met some locals who had just come back from a town council meeting and then chatted with Bob for a while before heading to bed.

Monday and Tuesday morning was spent at the Wombabya coffee farm installing the metal brackets that me and Ben had prepared earlier in the week. Initially we had planned on spending the whole two days there but we worked so quickly we managed to finish early on Tuesday (including a break to see two birds who had managed to get stuck in the truck and to get some photos). Tuesday afternoon was spent at Lake Albert which forms part of the border between Uganda and the Congo. After a fantastic lunch we sat around and relaxed in the afternoon and then went for a game drive at dusk. Me, Ben and Faith (the daughter of Jessica who owned the Wombabya farm) stood out on the back of the truck during the drive and saw many different animals including Kob, Waterbuck, Warthog and the Great Crested Crane (the national bird of Uganda). We then returned to Kiziranfumbi for dinner.

Finally today we left Kiziranfumbi and went to Hoima. Here we will be working for 2 days with a mission group from the states. Hopefully we will be helping out with the well-drilling team before returning to Kampala on Saturday to start our tour.

Thanks for reading and once again I haven't written everything as there is to much to write.

Till next time.