We left Masindi after a quick visit to the District Education Office to introduce ourselves, the program, and Roots and Shoots. They seem pretty willing to help with the logistics, the greatest issue being transportation. Masindi, where the matatu (minivan) will most likely be based is 40km from Busingiro; double the Bushenyi-Kalinzu distance thus making it more expensive.
As we were leaving Emma called. She was to spend the week-end with Ben tracking chimps but she had a relapse of giardia so came back to Entebbe with us. On the way back – actually quite a distance out of the way – we stopped at an IRC (International Rescue Committee) refugee settlement that had previously received funding from the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) for Roots and Shoots. They wanted to continue the program (read “funding”) which isn’t going to happen. Steph explained that it will be hard for Jacqui to get there and the responsibility for the Roots and Shoots program is theirs. Since there would be no money coming in anyway, they agreed to wait for a year. They have enough work with 14,000 Sudanese in the settlement. They live in little villages of bandas, have crops and animals and are pretty much self-sufficient. It seems to be the plight of many East Africans to move from country to country looking for peace and stability. In addition to Sudan there have been problems, including genocide, in Rwanda, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, and who knows where else.
We have our old room, Hornbill Hall, because there aren’t many in residence. Besides us and Emma there is Laura from NY/DC who has gone out of her way to let us know how important she is. We have done our laundry, packed our things away, answered e-mails and are waiting for Stephanie to unlock the safe so we can get our ATM card. In hard cash we have had 10,000/= since Easter - $5.50. But the stock market is up so life is good.
An aside – after six weeks sans electricity and running water we grew not to miss it. Here at HQ where one expects it, it is frustrating when the rolling power cuts hit. And there is a problem with the pumping stations for the water today. We learned that Uganda’s electricity is produced by hydro power from Lake Victoria. With the “use it now” mentality they have been producing excess and selling it to Kenya for several years and now Lake Victoria has dropped two meters and they can’t produce enough for their own needs. Oops! It looks as if the lake is on fire. What we thought was smoke is zillions and zillions of gnat-like lake flies.
After lunch we reclaimed our credit card and ATM – we’re saving the U.S. cash for Tanzania – and I took a boda-boda to the airport to get some cash, a trip that will be oft-repeated as there are as there are no foreign ATMs in Masindi. I took out 800,000/= although the machine claims you get 2,000,000/= at a time. Hint: if you want to become a millionaire come here. At 1840 Ugandan shillings to the dollar, it doesn’t take much.
