So, this one time in Uganda...

I feel like I'm starting to accumulate lots of stories that will start with, "So, this one time in Uganda," so I thought that would be an appropriate title!

This past week has been a week full of relaxation and very touristy things, but it's been great! I went on a 2-day safari at Murchison Falls National Park with 3 other girls (Rachel, who I live with and is another Suubi volunteer, and Jody and Tracy, who are Amani volunteers). We left Jinja at 4am on Wednesday, and finally got to Murchison at about 1pm. The roads here are paved (sort of/sometimes), but most are FILLED with potholes the size of a small car, so it was a rough ride. I took a lot of dramamine, so I slept most of the way! The first activity was a boat ride along the Nile. We saw tons of hippos, some elephants, and crocodiles, along with various species of birds and antelope. We slept in a campground near the river, and were woken up by the sound of hippos munching on the grass right outside our tent. It was cool to see them so close, but I was glad when they moved on! There were a couple really big ones, and a couple babies. One of the big ones was about 3 feet away from our tent at one point...we all agreed that they smell pretty bad! The next day we went on a game drive and saw tons of animals, and most were really close to our van! We saw a big herd of elephants that crossed the road right in front of us, several giraffes, lots of antelope, water buffalo, warthogs, a couple monkeys, and best of all, lions! We were able to get really close to a female lion and her 4 cubs, which was amazing! After some minor car repairs (a dead battery and a flat tire), we headed home. We stopped at a rhino sanctuary on the way and walked right up to 3 rhinos. Apparently they were killed off in Uganda in 1982, and they're slowly trying to reintroduce them. As of now, there are 8 rhinos in Uganda...6 in the sanctuary and 2 in a zoo. Since there are so few, I feel lucky to have seen them!

I also went on a day long rafting trip down the Nile with a bunch of people from Amani! There are 4 or 5 class 4 rapids, and 4 class 5 rapids in the stretch that we rafted on, so it was really fun! It wasn't quite as scary as I thought it was going to be, so I might go again later on if the rapids get a little bigger!

The rainy season has just started, which means that it almost always rains at night and usually rains for a while in the afternoon. Yesterday (Easter), it rained all day, which put a damper on the Easter egg hunt at Amani. When it rains here, it pours, and everything kind of shuts down. No one goes anywhere, and if you're on your way somewhere, you have to stop and find some sort of shelter to wait under. Other than the occasional rain, the weather here is always about 75 or 80 degrees, so it's pretty hot in the sun, but very nice in the shade. People here move really slowly with everything they do (and therefore don't really do much), and I always have to laugh at the huge groups of Ugandan guys just sitting under a tree. They'll be there in the morning when I leave the house, and they'll be there in the afternoon when I come back.

Rachel and I have been working on getting the English program for Suubi started, and our first class will be this Thursday. Neither of us has taught before, so it should be interesting! Betty, who is our Ugandan house girl has been helping us translate words from Luganda to English, which is going to be a huge help! We will have a translator, but it will be nice to at least attempt to communicate with the women in Luganda! They are very excited to start the class and learn how to speak and write, and we're excited to be a part of it! We have been going to visit the women during their Luel literacy program, which has been fun. A group of women meet every Tuesday afternoon and work on reading and writing in Lual, which is the native language for many of the Suubi women. It's fun to sit with them and have a glimpse into their lives for a while!

I was going to upload pictures, but I can't get it to work today for some reason, so I'll try again sometime in the next couple days!