Ending period poverty in Uganda
20 - 25 August, 2024
20 August - Day 46
Kampala - Queen Elizabeth National Park
Accommodation: Crater Lodge Campsite
The grass was damp when I stepped out of my tent in Kampala this morning. Cool air hit my face but it had a warm underlying breath to it, signalling that it was going to be another warm day.
Already few members of our new group had gathered by the camp kitchen. Our group grew from just two people to eight including two Portuguese, an Austrian, four New Zealanders and me!
It was still dark when we drove out of the accommodation at 0600 this morning but it made for a nice sunrise while driving through the outskirts of Kampala on the bus.
The town was bustling already with people gathered at markets either buying or selling. Bananas were the biggest commodity, with villages selling thousands of bananas which were all in bunches on the branch straight from the tree. Cars and taxis drove through the town overtaking us, with bananas strapped to their roof and even trucks filled with branches of bananas wrapped in the banana leaves flew past us.
We drove for hours stopping a few times for toilet stops and once to grab some supplies out of the truck to make our lunch on the bus. It was a great way to get to know some of the new people on our bus, bonding over the incredible sights we’d see from our truck windows.
We had been driving for a few hours after lunch when Frans, one of our new travellers, looked at this maps and realised we were going the wrong way. Frans quickly rang Vincent and we pulled over to look at the map. Turns out we had been travelling for 45 minutes in the wrong direction and had to turn around. The one positive was the spot we decided to pull over had an entire herd of Ankole Cattle grazing. It was exciting to see them up close with their giant horns.
Thankfully for all of us, Frans sat in the front of the truck with Vincent and Zeph, directing them where to go to get to our accommodation.
We arrived at last light, needing to travel down an incredibly steep, gravel road through a village to arrive at our accommodation. Small village homes, mostly made from clay bricks lined the street for two kilometres. Little children ran on the side of the road playing. A three year old child sat on a piece of rope, which had been attached to a frame as a swing, pushing themselves back and forth watching our truck drive past in awe.
As we continued down the hill, the last of the light disappeared and we could see the villagers huddled in their homes by a small fire. There was no electricity in the village and no other way to keep warm than by the fire. It was actually relatively cool here for the first time in weeks, which made me feel incredibly guilty to be driving past these people towards a place with running water, electricity and toilets. It was the first time it really hit home and I felt guilty about staying somewhere. However, I was pleased knowing that I would be camping the night, rather than in a room for the night.
Rain started to drizzle as I set up my tent and then ventured to the kitchen to help Vincent with dinner. We sat around the table for our first new group dinner with rice and veggies, before we all called it a night.
21 August - Day 47
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Accommodation: Crater Lodge Campsite
It’s a wonderful feeling waking up knowing I don’t have to dismantle my tent, just wake up get dressed and walk over for breakfast. With a quick breakfast complete ten of us, including Zeph and the tour driver, piled into the van, which was a nine-seater. Being small I drew the short straw and shared the three back seats with Bernadette, France and Suzette. Being squished together wasn’t so bad, it was the seat configuration with the curves of the seat pushing into all the wrong places, compounded by the huge bumps and potholes that threw us around in the back.
Read more about the chimpanzee hike here >>
We returned to camp for brunch, where Vincent had made the most delicious banana and apple fritters, among other things.
Some of the other group members decided they would venture out for a local coffee tour. However, Bernadette and I decided to pass on the tour and instead sat writing our notes from the days that had passed. The chairs were a little low to type on my keyboard though, so I had to improvise…
We were continually interrupted by the beautiful birds flying through the trees and stealing crumbs from around our table. Two gorgeous long-beaked birds came to check themselves out in the side mirror of the trucks while others would float past and land in the trees nearby. Even when we couldn’t see the birds the high pitched chirps and melodic songs from species surrounding us created the most beautiful raucous.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on a game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Read more here >>
We returned from our game drive around 2000, ate dinner and I fell into bed. Despite the beautiful surroundings of our campsite, which was very secluded. The sounds from the trucks shaking as they travelled over the speed bumps on the highway, travelled down to our accommodation. They sounded like thunder rumbling through the sky. Despite being two kilometres up from the valley we were in the rumbling from the trucks carried down to my tent and continuously woke me up.
Banana and apple fritters:
Mix all ingredients together and then fry off.
Mashed banana
Grated apple
Egg
Salt
Sugar
Flour
Cinnamon
22 August - Day 48
Queen Elizabeth National Park - Lake Bunyonyi
Accommodation: Lake Bunynonyi Overland Camp
My lunch and breakfast were packed in the truck by 0645, ready to zip out into the village just outside our campsite. Suzette and I were waiting for Derek who was going to escort us to the woman’s shop because he had explained her store doesn’t open until 0730. We waited for Derek by the campsite for fifteen minutes before Suzette and I decided to venture into the town without him. Time was fading quickly and the bus would depart at 0730. As we reached the gate, some of the staff at the campsite said that Derek was still bathing but they would send another person with us who could speak the local language to ask the lady to open her shop.
We walked through the village and up the hill, which was already bustling with women carrying supplies on their heads, children running around and some of the shops starting to open.
I had spotted two African patterned dresses with spectacular greens, reds and oranges running through the fabric. I had been looking everywhere for dresses like this since Zanzibar and not been able to find any, or have the opportunity to stop.
We arrived at the shop where I had spotted her dresses and the doors were shut. The man from the accommodation walked around the back of her house and shop and a minute or so later, a young girl opened the shop doors. An old sewing machine sat on the left of the shop, with dresses piled high on a rack to the right. She instantly had a grin on her face when she saw us. I introduced myself and explained that I wanted to purchase some of her dresses and she took me through the patters she had made and their sizes. I picked two, the two I had seen when I drove past the village yesterday and paid her $50,000 Ugandan shillings, the exact amount she had asked for. After knocking on her door and requesting to see her dresses, while it certainly helps her out, I didn’t want to bargain with her. I also thought it was an incredibly fair price.
We walked back to our accommodation and got on the bus just before 0730, our scheduled departure time. It was interesting to think about the money that tourists bring into small villages like this one. Not only does our tourism money help, but so too does the money for their dresses. However, it made me wonder if the money I had paid that lady would ever leave the village, or if it would just circulate throughout the village people and their market stalls, never really leaving once a tourist handed it too them.
We drove for several hours, stopping in a small town about eight kilometres from Lake Bunyonyi while Vincent did some shopping. Here we walked around the town, looked at some shops and enjoyed stretching out legs. I even managed to find another African dress and fabric shop to marvel over. Mum, check out the Singer below!
We arrived at the accommodation and we were all shocked by the superb view from the communal balcony. We could look directly over the lake and onto the sloping grass of the property down to the waters edge. Two sets of steep stairs led down to the waters edge.
After you reached the bottom of the first set of stairs another deck area appeared with a giant chess board, small clothing store and bar. Then descending to the next level, was another communal eating area, grassed lawn for camping, volleyball net and the waters edge.
After spending a few hours settling into our new home for the next three nights we jumped into a boat and crossed the river to Little Angels Orphanage.
We arrived on the last day of term, so all the students had been involved in a day-long tournament competing against one another in poetry, traditional dance, anthems, maths and creative writing. Duncan, who founded the orphanage in May 2012, showed us around the property. We had climbed up some very old, flimsy wooden stairs to get up to the accommodation area. Here there were two rooms with ten or so beds in each - one for the girls, the other for boys. 57 children stay in these rooms. Next we saw the classrooms, which have whiteboards and small tables and chairs. The kitchen was small for the number of students they were feeding and wood fired.
We were then led into the classroom where all the students were gathered for the end of the day presentations. We sat with the children, who were so happy to see us and just wanted to play. I showed them different clapping routines and others let them take photos and play with their phones. The prizes for the winners of the end of year games were 4th prize: one chicken, 3rd prize: 2 chickens, 2nd price: 3 chickens and 1st prize: a goat.
The are about 150 children at the school currently, ranging in age from 3 - 14. Each of these children are fed at the school everyday. The boat we had arrived on was purchased through fundraising efforts and allows the orphanage to pick up about 200 children everyday. Sadly though, the orphanage has had to turn away hundreds of local children because of the lack of funding. Sadly, the government doesn’t assist with any support. Thankfully after covid they are rebuilding and will be purchasing a bigger block of land, due to the safety concerns of being right on the waters edge.
While I couldn’t afford to donate money or food at this point in my trip. I hope that when I return home I can send some clothes, books or other supplies to help the school.
It’s incredibly challenging being confronted with these dilemmas day in day out while travelling through African countries. It’s incredibly eye-opening and brings me to tears to see how so many thousands of people live here. However, it’s also a balance of being able to donate and help because you cannot help everyone. Walking down the street or through a village people will see you are a white muzungu so they will stop you and ask for sweets or money. Or you will arrive at places like this, where you are again asked for donations. Of course you want to help but it’s incredibly difficult to help everyone.
Before we left, we joined in with the classes with some African dancing for a good 20 minutes or so. It was the most exercise we had done in weeks, so we certainly worked up a sweat. It was so lovely getting to dance with them all.
We arrived back at our accommodation and I was quite drained, so took it easy for the rest of the day.
Lynley and I decided we would venture out the gates of the accommodation to the village for a quick look around. We stopped at just one shop, which seemed like it was fate we found it. The shop was called Happy Girls Project. Harriet was the beautiful face behind the store, which sold souvenirs, dresses and jewellery but it was much more than that. The proceeds from the shop go towards ending period poverty in Uganda. Happy Girls Project provides menstrual health education, access to menstrual hygiene products, and supports sustainable menstrual hygiene management practices. Harriet shared her story with us and all three of us were in tears.
It was such a privilege to meet Harriet and hear about her efforts to increase access to menstrual hygiene products and de-stigmatise menstruation in Uganda.
I spoke with Harriet about the work she is doing and even shared information about Days for Girls in Australia, which she already knew about! I hope to connect with Harriet and help to increase awareness around the work she is doing and potentially try and help her from Australia when I return home.
23 August - Day 49
Lake Bunyonyi
Accommodation: Lake Bunyonyi Overland Camp
As usual, it was an early morning as we piled into our transport at 0500 ready to trek into the jungle to see the gorillas.
Read about the gorilla trek here >>
We stopped at a bank on the way back to our campsite, which seemed to cause more harm than good. While we all were able to get money out of the bank safely and with no issues, our driver received a parking ticket while we were inside. While this wasn’t a major issue and our driver paid the fine, as soon as we walked out of the bank and got into the car, the parking inspector tried to increase the price of the ticket. It was as if he had seen all of us tourists and decided our driver should pay more. This didn’t go down so well but our driver was professional and told the man no, which after some disgruntled conversations, ended with the man apologising and us driving away.
We drove towards our accomodation, beeping people and cars to move out of the way as we drove. Until we started driving through a village where our driver didn’t beep and hit a pedestrian with his side mirror as we drove past! Thankfully the guy he hit was completely fine, although we didn’t stop to check.
We arrived back at the campsite in less than perfect shape after a big day, enjoyed a shower, dinner and early-ish bed.
24 August - Day 50
Lake Bunyonyi
Accommodation: Lake Bunyonyi Overland Camp
It was the first time in weeks that I didn’t have to set an alarm to be awake by a certain time and boy it felt good. I only emerged from my sleeping bag when I felt ready, which was at 0800. I had a peaceful breakfast by myself on the balcony overlooking Lake Bunyonyi when I spotted an otter swimming around in the lake.
It was a gorgeous little creature that would dive under the surface and pop back up wherever it pleased. It was fishing as it dove down and would emerge shaking the water off its little head, before flipping onto its back and swimming on the surface holding a fish with its paws. Occasionally when it popped up close enough to the jetty I was standing on I could see its teeth and little tongue as it munched on its fishy breakfast.
The rest of the day was spent enjoying the occasional sunshine, speaking with family and relaxing by the water. The rest of the group had ventured on an expensive day trip to Rwanda, which I would have loved to have joined but didn’t have the spear change for. Thankfully I was ready for some space to myself and a day of rest.
I did meet a beautiful lady, Daphine and her gorgeous 7 month old daughter Nina.
Daphine took me for a walk around the village and I made sure I supported her by buying a few things from her shop… and encouraging my friends to also.
25 August - Day 51
Lake Bunyonyi - Kampala
Accommodation: Red Chilli Camp
We left Lake Bunuonyi, traversing the steep bumpy mountainous road towards the main town just after 0600 this morning. Thankfully we were just edging slowly down the mountain, making the blows from the bumps less painful. I was trying to get some more shut eye after only getting about 6 hours sleep, with noisy campers chatting while I was trying to get to sleep. It’s never easy sleeping on the bus, it’s always difficult to get comfortable and then when you finally do you get thrown out of the position you were in with a sharp jolt. The one positive about not getting too much shut eye was being able to see the purple and orange sky through the eucalyptus trees as we descended the mountainside.
We continued driving, stopping at the equator where we ordered a coffee and looked at some of the small market stalls.
Today was meant to be a ten hour drive and we were all holding our breath that for once we would stick to time and not arrive after dark. Thankfully, we arrived at a reasonable time of 1800, just before dark.
It was our last night as a group, so we all gathered in the camp restaurant and ordered dinner and beers. A little gecko on the wall next to us provided some short lived entertainment for a few of us as it slowly stalked and then pounced on an unsuspecting insect. We enjoyed our meals together, some opting for traditional chipati with a filling and others ordering pumpkin curry, before saying our goodbyes.