New Experiences & Some Much-Needed Exercise!e

Aunt Gloria, Grace, Doreen, Irene & Rebecca

Sunday morning started with me walking into the taxi park in town and boarding a taxi heading to Mukono, about 20 km away. I got off at the road leading to St Michaels High School and then traveled by boda boda. Aunt Gloria was to meet me there but was a little late. So I asked random students to go and find Grace (S5), Doreen (S1), Irene (S4) & Rebecca (S4). They had not been told that I was coming so they were all very excited! Irene & Rebecca will be doing their S$ external exams next week so they are also studying hard. Grace & Doreen have both grown on confidence and assurance in the time that they have been at the school which s great to see.

I left at about 11.30am as we were to go and visit with Mildred, the former Sponsorship Coordinator. Miriam was about 30 mins late and then it took forever to get there by taxi and then boda boda - we were supposed to be there by 1pm but were probably about i hr late. She had prepared lunch for us and we spent a good couple of hours catching up on the last 3 years and getting to know her son Aaron. It was great to see her again! She is also caring for her orphaned niece, Joanne. I had made arrangements to have a coffee with Florence at 5 but that meant getting off the taxi in the middle of nowhere and getting onto bodas. I then had to race up to the guest house, pack, sort out my bill, leave most of my things and then rush to leave some things at Wakisa before getting to the bus terminal in time to get the 8pm bus to Kihihi - Miriam met me there. The road was great as far as Mbarara and then it deteriorated into basically a bush track. I don't think that either of us got much sleep and we arrived at about 5.15am. We met a lady on the bus called Honest and low & behold, she turned out to be Ismael's cousin!

I was pestered by guys to get a special car or a boda (which would have been expensive) but Honest organised for us to come with her in a taxi - I thought that meant the usual van for 14 but turned out to be a ute sort f thing. The owner, Mondo, loaded it up with all sorts of goods and luggage as well as maybe 10 passengers in the back. Miriam shared to front seat with Shallom and her baby as well as Mondo. I'm not sure how the vehicle stayed together on the horrendous roads and about 3/4 of the way there, we got a flat tyre! I prayed that the spare, which didn't look to good, made it to at least Buhoma, our destination - it did.

We met up with Ismael who showed us to our accommodation at the Bwindi View Lodge (and got our room charge halved to US$50 each - some lodges are charging US$520 per person per night!). We then saw his house, met his wife, Josilyn, and they showed us their chickens, ducks, goats and mushroom house. He works as a wildlife guide and works in Kisoro for 21 days and then has 8 days at home. They then took us on a tour of Buhoma/Bwindi which included their kids' school. The choir/dance group did a special presentation for us and you can see a short part of it by clicking here.

Next morning after breakfast, we got the appropriate permits and headed off into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

The forest were incredibly luxuriant and the track was very well maintained. At the end of about 2 hours, it was necessary to take off our shoes & socks and ford a small river.

After the river, we had to walk up the other side which was very steep. Half way up, we met a group of locals (men, women & children) cutting a new road with just hoes, spades and picks - and they were doing a great job.

At the top we were meet by a driver and car - and started 2 hr 60 km drive to Kisoro over a range of mountains on rough dirt tracks. We were tired by the time we got back, but it was the best A$50 I have spent so far! We booked into the Heritage Guesthouse and then went down town and ate at a local restaurant. We then met Mary and visited the Wakisa office which is Bishop Cranmer's personal home. I was supposed to meet up with Ezra, the Chair of the Kisoro Committee, but he was busy finishing up some things before he traveled to Kampala the following morning at 6am. An early night was much appreciated!