As we welcomed the first group of volunteers back from Uganda and second group was preparing to go out.
Again the group is made up of employees from Halton Housing and Chester District Housing Trust and they will keep us up to date with their blog.
Sarah Banwell from CHDT has been writing her thoughts from the first 13 days:
DAY 1 (THURS)
We all arrive at Liverpool airport at 4am, check in, have our photos taken and take a delivery of corned beef! Next stop Amsterdam. After a 2 hour stop over we set off on our 13 hour flight to Entebbe. Greek air space is closed so we take a detour via Russia. After some fairly severe turbulence we touchdown in Rwanda. Phil and I have no idea of this and prepare to leave the plane until the others inform us we’re in the wrong country!
1 ½ hours later we touchdown in Entebbe, delayed by about an hour. Cieran and Lynsey meet us at the airport and take us to the missionary in Kampala. There’s no electricity so we celebrate our arrival with a warm beer and go to bed.
DAY 2 (FRI)
After breakfast we have a meeting we call at the local timber yard and select 400 lengths of 2” x 1” timber for the roof. Phil was in charge of counting and he threw in an extra 15 for good measure!
We then set off for a 4 ½ hour drive to Fort Portal. The terrain is a little rough to say the least – dirt roads with speed bumps every few yards. We stopped off briefly to meet some local baboons and arrived shaken not stirred at Ruwenzori View Guest House to be greeted by the proprietor Ineke and her very friendly German Shepherd dog Zoe.
DAY 3 (SAT)
After another interesting journey in the van we arrived at St Peter & Paul’s Primary School to inspect the work of the previous group – excellent job guys!
We all signed the visitors register then set off to visit the Mountains of the Moon University but the road was impassable due to the rain so we went off to see Saka Lake and the Rift Valley and met some of the locals. Ste Bounds was challenged to play with a tyre and stick and failed miserably much to the amusement of the village and us all!
We then went to Nyakasura School to check out our project – wow! There’s so much to do in the 4 weeks we are here. All a little daunted we head out to the Mountains’ of the Moon Hotel for a meal and talk things over. Liverpool smashed Everton 2 nil and Man United beat Norwich 2 nil.
We returned to the guest house to a flurry of flying bugs so the electronic tennis racket came out and a swatting competition ensued! Sharon won! That night Denis and Steve went to bed and left their veranda light on and woke up to 100,000 pairs of insect wings all over the deck – the geckos had a wild party but don’t like wings!
DAY 4 (SUN)
We only just made it up to the Mountains of the Moon University – sideways in the van at one point, a scary experience but well worth it. We then had another site visit to discuss responsibilities then an early night for all.
DAY 5 (MON – FIRST DAY ON SITE WITH TRAINEES)
We left the guest house and made our first trip to the local hardware store – if you’re ever short of an avocado bathroom suite then this is the place to go!
We arrived on site and received a very warm welcome from the 26 trainees. We were then split into small groups and tasks were delegated – concreting, screeding, filling, sanding, painting, plastering and least favourite of all, sand-sieving which entails pushing sand through wire mesh with a piece of wood to get rid of all the stones – most laborious.
DAY 6 (TUES)
The wooden fascia was fitted to the back of the building but it was completely warped so had to be removed and laid out on bricks to dry out.
DAY 7 (WED)
What an experience the drive to work is – the trenches at the side of the road are 3 feet deep to collect the rain fall. When it rains, its rains!! We all swapped tasks and treated ourselves to a night out at The Gluepot restaurant for pizza.
DAY 8 (THURS)
We’re all starting to get to know the trainees and them us. There are several characters amongst them. The rain and mud are causing us major problems on site but we work around it. Steve fashions his own “market stall” style shelter above the sand sieving area so rain doesn’t stop play, much to the trainees disgust the work carries on!
DAY 9 (FRI)
After a third coat of paint (thinner than wallpaper paste) the walls are starting to take shape. The platform in classroom 1 has been screeded so we treat ourselves to steak and chips at the Mountains of the Moon Hotel.
DAY 10 (SAT)
Only a half day today. We all formed a chain gang to move the large boulders down to the dry stone wall area – a real test of strength and prowess for the guys. Sharon and I just went with the flow not particularly impressed with their display.
Uganda Independence Day was the following day so we celebrated with sodas after work and were treated to the Ugandan National Anthem by all the trainees.
We then headed off for a well earned break to Nkuruba Monkey Sanctuary. We were treated to a display of traditional dancing and got dressed up to join in. We then headed further up the mountain to Ndali Lodge for a candlelit dinner with the most fabulous 360 degree views. It’s one of Angelina and Brad’s favourite haunts apparently!
Sharon and I were lucky enough to be treated to an en suite hut much to the boys dismay only to find that we had no water!
We all went out monkey watching and Phil accidentally locked Ste in the hut (with no bathroom facilities) he managed to break out after an hour!
We trekked to “The Top Of The World”.
DAY 11 (SUN)
Steve and Denis were first to rise and ordered coffee for us all at 7.30am – it arrived at 9.15am! We all ordered poached eggs on toast for breakfast and half an hour later were informed that there was no bread ….or eggs. A trip to the local village was instigated and breakfast was served at 11am, giving us plenty of monkey viewing opportunities.
We arrived back at the guest house tired but relaxed to find there was no electricity.
DAY 12 (MON)
Back to work! The roof has arrived at long last and it’s all hands on deck! It’s cracking the flags and the rains don’t come. Still no electricity.
Ste’s last night so Ineke organised a camp fire and party to say goodbye.
DAY 13 (TUES)
No rain for three days so work on the roof is commencing at a swift pace! Sharon is screeding the apron and I’m back on painting – coat 4! I’m moved onto landscaping in the afternoon and the trainees are highly amused at my digging and hoeing technique for some reason!