Dirks fabulous adventures in Uganda: Meeting I

Today was busy day with no farm work. I had to attend a meeting at the school that the foundation supports in Kafu. We met the director, the board and some of the parents who we informed about future changes in supporting this project. Dennis and I left the Eco-farm early in the morning. As it’s still rain season and we do not have a 4WD at the farm, we could not use our car. So we had to walk to town where we boarded two Boda Bodas to take us up 12 km to Bweyale, the next bigger town from where we then embarked a public Taxi. It was the first time for me to travel by a public taxi. Those are usually small buses like VW buses with 4 tiers plus front row. With a bit of goodwill that results in about 20 people that can be transported, sometimes even more. So when we found one that would bring us to the town we had to wait until the taxi was almost fully seated. We were lucky; the taxi started it’s journey only after about 20-30 minutes during which the driver honked continuously and some other guys shouted the final destinations to make some more guests enter the vehicle. The driver would also stop from time to time to pick-up potential passengers.

People who regularly use this kind of transport know how to signal to which direction they want to go, which saves time for the taxi drivers to find out where all the people are heading for. Basically those gestures indicate the main direction. As there are not too many roads around here it’s pretty clear to where people want to go.

Anyway, after a 40 km drive we reached Kafu where we had to leave the taxi and again switch over to Boda Bodas, which is a bit more fun. When we had reached school we met two mothers and had to wait for about 2 hours before all the rest showed up. In the meantime I met some of the full orphans and some other kids who were around. One of the little girls instantly grabbed my hand and didn’t let go until I left that school. She was fascinated by my white skin and examined my hands, arms and fingers, my beard and hair very thoroughly. I took some pictures which usually amuses the kids a lot and soon found myself running around on the school grounds.

At noon the meeting started. The director opened up with a prayer. After that he held a speech. After that his brother, then Dennis. Then there was some Q&A section so everyone was able to ask questions that we answered. At the end of the meeting we shook hands with everyone. The staff then asked for an allowance for their attendance which I found a bit annoying.

We then met with Jeanne to discuss a few administrative things regarding the kids files, especially the ones from the full orphans. After that we headed to the main street where a Boda Boda driver was soon to arrive to bring us back to the place where the taxis would pick up passengers as we needed to continue our journey to Masindi where we ate a late lunch and later had planned to meet with an engineer who is supposed to hand out an offer for the renovation of an eventual future project.

A very good day so far! And with every minute I spend with the kids I realise, that these are the very moments that make it worth spending so much time and money and taking all the strain upon me being here in Uganda.

public transport – now I know how a canned sardine must feel like…