#18 - June 22nd 2007 – Southwestern Uganda Trip – Bwera

Goodbye Bwera…

Two of the people I am here in Bwera with have been unable to go to the bathroom since we arrived. Yes, yes, I realize this is a strange way to start a journal entry, but for them it’s a strange way to start the day. The bathroom ‘facilities’ here consist of a small mud hut one must crouch down to enter. It is dark and dank and littered with tiny flies (cockroaches at night). You enter one of the two ‘stalls’, claustrophobia creeps into your mind and you remove the cover from the hole. This hole is less than a foot wide, a baseball cap could cover it and not fall in. You must then get in position by squatting over the hole at just the right angle or…ahem…you’ll have some cleaning up to do. Its not pretty. While you are “taking care of business” its not unusual to hear the giggles of school children as they peek through the door. It is completely understandable why my friends experiences some stage fright.

After a laughably large breakfast, seven of us piled into a five-seater Corolla and bumped down the road to where the bee-keepers reside. We were able to see some of the hives and taste the wondrously sweet honey. Right now they sell their honey at a market across the DRC border, but we’ve since set up a connection with a marketing company in Kampala, so hopefully this income-generating project can take off. It is great to be able to support these grassroots sustainable development projects. Lindsey and Andrea brought beekeeping equipment with them from Canada that will go a long way to enabling this project to expand.

Next on the agenda was a traditional concert downtown. In the community of Bwera there are seven singing/dancing groups; the best from each perform together for special functions. Natalie and Peter recorded the group on their last visit (which you can hear on their website www.partnershipsforopportunity.org), so I was able to hum along to some of the songs. The traditional dances were intriguing; they depicted a variety of different scenarios, including traditional hunting practices, modern family problems, circumcision rituals, and even a procreation dance that made us all blush. They all danced and sang with the biggest smiles and oodles of enthusiasm, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they would have continued had we not had to leave and hour and a half later.

After eating to the point of potential explosion, Andrea, Lindsay and I said our goodbyes and headed off to our weekend in Queen Elizabeth Park. In typical Uganda style our one-hour trip turned into five hours. I will update you shortly on the Park, and all that has been going on since I arrived back in Kampala.

Check out the new pics at:

http://uvic.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047988&l=35fd0&id=122501804

~Nicole