Kampala Craziness!!

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for following my adventures, I can hardly believe it has been two weeks since I first landed in sunny, green Uganda. It has been a whirlwind two weeks, but probably the most exciting two weeks of my life, I really love it here and feel very much at home in Africa. So since I wrote in here last Jaque and I have accomplished alot on our campaign. Thurday morning we got up early and planned to spend the entire day in Kampala (the largest city in Uganda about 40 minutes from Entebbe) attemping to get appointments or actually meet with some major companies that may be potential sponsors. As we were driving up our street away from JGI we were shocked to see that a massive tree had falled over in the night right onto the AIDS relief organisation right around the corner from us. As far as we know there was no one hurt but the back part of the building is completely destroyed. I felt really sorry for them especially being a fellow NGO and working on one of the most critical issues in Africa.
The drive into Kampala by the way is an adventure in itself. I can't stress enough how drastically different they drive here than at home. It seems that there are virtually no rules of the road, for example if you want to make a two lane road a three lane road that is your perogateive and everyone else better just watch out!! Thankfully the drivers we have had so far seem to always know what they are doing so it makes it more of a funny experience than a scary one. As you drive into Kampala through the red dust you can see the number of people and poverty increase. There are thousands of little huts and shops that look like they would blow over in a windstorm. Cattle and people are always at the side of the road. One this trip I saw very briefly the biggest slum in Uganda. It makes the North End of Hamilton look like Beverly Hills. By the way you can taste if you have been to Kampala for the day, everyone says that and it is true!! Hahaha!

Jacque and I started by making a brief presentation to a manager at the Shop-rite (a grocery store chain). We requested that they become sponsors by providing us with 400 alternative bags (like you can get at home in grocery stores). They already provide them but it hasn't caught on to the public. Shop-rite was almost positive that they would be able to come on board on the campaign and provide us with the bags that we will then put the JGI logo and a catchy phrase like "I am not a plastic bag" on. The rest of the day we went to some more NGO's, one that agreed to come on board, and got appointments with "New Vision" and" MTN (a phone company as big as Bell) for next week. We stopped for lunch at Garden City, a mall like complex for lunch. I couldn't stop laughing because when you go to a food court here you have about 20 people rush to you and shove their menus in your face saying "you eat this, you will like this"! On the way home we stopped at "Tree Talk". Tree Talk is a small environmental publication that it put in New Vision a couple of times a year and we were hoping to get them to write something on our campaign. We pulled up to this beautiful little cottage with a blooming garden all around it. There we met the Farmers, an extremely nice British family who have lived in Uganda for the past 10 years. Bill Farmer and his daughter Jenny, who is around my age, run "Tree Talk" out of this cottage on their property. After they heard what we had to say we agreed to a partnership of sorts. They are longtime friends of JGI and of Dr. Jane's and we had a great talk with them. They also had 60 tortoises on their property for a project and they took me out back and I got some pictures...

Friday I spent most of the day in the office working on the campign and the information sheets. In the evening we got the house ready for Debby Cox to return from Australia. We set up a table on the porch with flowers and candles and when she got back 7 of us ate dinner out there. It was really nice, you could see every star in the sky that night just as if you were in northern Ontario. Debby seems really nice and tells great stories. She told us all about the devastating fires in Australia, it has really affected the country and is so tragic.

So that brings me to Saturday, February 14th(today) Happy Valentine's Day everyone (especially to Peter xoxo:))! This morning was beautiful but the hottest I have felt it, 38C in the sun!!! Beth and I were taking some photos on the porch and when I sat down in this one chair this large spider came out and made me jump sky-high! Beth got it on film and is still laughing about it upstairs! Hahahaha I got to get used to the big spiders. I am already used to the cocroaches and I love when the geckos are on my wall! Everyone LOVES the maple sugar treats I brought over...I think I have started a craze....they are requesting if I have more and I have run out!! Mom and Dad maybe I could get you to send more?? HAHAHA And Happy Valentine's Day to you too..I hope everyone is having a good weekend at the house...

By the way, I have not mentioned this before but there is supposively a resident ghost at JGI Uganda. It is a very old house and supposively the previous owner was murdered in the office and they tell me that I am staying in his old bedroom...none of the other volunteers want to stay there. Who knows, but I will be honest it does freak me out sometimes...

Well I think that is all for now...Beth and I are going to go to the zoo, into town and to the Botanical Gardens...should be fun, I will try to post some photos in a bit...miss you and love you all! the African Adventurer,
Shannon