Healing in Nairobi

I knew it is time to return to Nairobi for healing my distressed body and soul. I found bed bug bites from head to bottom and they are eating every cell of my body. I wanted to scratch the shit out of me. I headed back to Nairobi and it seemed an equal long ride to get back. I finally settled back in Nairobi Youth hostel and took a shower. A group of 15 Masai women shared room with me that night. They came all the way to Nairobi for a wedding. They seemed to celebrate along the way. They were dressed in Masai wraps and wearing heavy Masai beads accessories from head to foot. They brought a swirl of festive energy and left the following morning like hurricane.

I made it to Kibera slum, the largest slum in Eastern Africa which I attempted to go a few times before. I met a guy at Nairobi local market who gave me a tour to the slum. In Nairobi, a population of 700,000 to 1 million live in the slum. In contrast to Java coffee house and modern malls and supermarkets, the slum gives a visitor a glimpse of urban poverty. The local market guy took me to his friend's Josephine's apartment. Josephine and her sister's family share a dark one bedroom apartment. They are paying 1500 Shilling ($20) for such an apartment. These people moved from villages to metropolitan Narirobi for a better life. A lot of them haven't had luck of launching a job. The cost of living in Nairobi is very high for them. They most likely end up getting stuck in the slum.

Beaten up in Samburu village

A northward trip to Maralal and a visit to Samburu village pushed my limit. It was an ordeal ! My destination was meant to be Lake Turkana, the northern most border to Sudan and Ethiopia. I obviously underestimated the distance, the roughness of the road and frequency of transportation. The official Matatus only goes to Maralal, a city between Nairobi and Lake Turkana. It takes two Matatu rides from Nairobi to Maralal, changing Matatu at Nynahurm. The road turned to bumpy dirt road from Nynahurm to Maralal and the scenery turned to barren desert.
Maralal is as rough as the dirt road getting there. It's a dusty trade center with a couple of roundabouts. The tribe people (mainly Samburu ) come to sell their cattle to butchers and shop for daily necessities. I was obviously the only " stranger" in the town and soon followed by locals who tried to sell me something or beg for money or simply just wanted to annoy me. The moment I got off the Matatu, the whole town noticed me and the attentions cast on me.
To get to Lake Turkana, one needs to hitch a truck ride to Loyangalani first and then another truck ride to Lake Turkana. I was awaiting trucks going to Loyangalani for a couple of days and had no luck. I had some time to kill in Maralal and thought about a visit to a Samburu village. Samburu, similar to Massi are wrapped up with a piece colorful blanket and like to hold a stick.
I met Katherine at the local Samburu market and bought a couple of beads jewelry from her. She seems trustworthy and speaks decent English. I invited myself to her village- Kulapesa village and she happily agreed. The scenery is beautiful and peaceful pasture walking toward Kulapesa village. The green hills are dotted with lush tropical vegetation and Manyatas (Samburu's hut home made of mud and grass). Some young Samburu girls were fetching water and others, dressed in normal clothes walking back from schools. Katherine stopped and greeted to everyone. Samburu is a tight knit community and everyone in Katherine's village is related. Samburu people are huts man and their tradition is to herd cattle. They were nomads before. Now some men stay in huts in forest to herd cattle and leave their wives and kids in the village. They are proud warriors carrying knife, spear or stick. Others are working in city and send money home. Polygamy is common. A large family and relatives live together in their Manyatas. Some better off families send their kids to school till secondary school. Katherine and her sisters stopped going to school after the secondary school and they are making beads for some money.
Katherine's Manyatas is sitting on the top of a hill with a view over the pasture and the neighboring villages. Katherine's father has two wives and fourteen children. Katherine live with her siblings and her aunts. Men were not around. They were still in huts somewhere in the forest or working in the city. The consecutive years of drought have taken toll on fresh pasture. Katherine's father was looking for a job in Nairobi.
Following meeting Katherine's few female family members, we took a walk round the village and checked out an open spear workshop and visited a few her young male relatives who were attending the cattle. Samburu's boys have the initiation tradition of moving to remote huts and live there separate from women when they reach 15. The tradition is to teach boys to be as tough as warriors. The boys have little to eat during the initiation period  and they are usually rewarded with a big feast in the end.
 Family members started to come home after dusk, so did cows, goats and dogs. Katherine's two cousins Sammy and Jelemiah liked to talk about the pizza they ate in big cities and show me their cell phones. There was no electricity or running water in the Manyatas. Under a dim oil lamp, Katherine set up fire and cooked Ugali and Skumba for dinner. The cooking area is also part of the bedroom. There are no windows on the mud wall except a mall hole which is not big enough to let the smoke out. There was no furniture in the Manyatas. The bed is grass mattress on the top of a mud frame. I slept on the "bed" that night and felt things were moving beneath the mattress. Katherine told me that's rats and she rolled over back to sleep. With fears to be bitten by rats and the smothering smoke, I couldn't sleep. Animals were very loud at night. The night seemed so long and dark and I was counting down the dawn.
I left Katherine's Manyatas in the morning. I discovered that my back pocket was cut and a 1000 Shilling bill was gone. Then I discovered I was bitten by bed bugs. I felt itchy as hell. I was totally distressed.

More time in Nairobi

On my 2009 African backpacking trip, I probably spent more time in Nairobi than any other cities. I had returned to Nairobi several times. On the second return, I felt I was really getting to know this city.
Java Coffee House is connected to a very nice and modern medical facility called Upperhill Medical Center and an upscale hospital called Nairobi Hospital.
A Kenyan man named Newton I met at Java Coffee House told me that very few Kenyans can afford the medical cares that these medical centers offer and that over 70% of Kenyans in Nairobi live below poverty. There is a biggest slum in Africa at Nairobi suburb - Kibera slum which I visited later. Newton was quite emotional when he talked about people's life in Nairobi.
All kinds of travelers stay at Youth Hostel in Nairobi. The typical types include: 1. volunteers for NGOs. They like to work at orphanages or schools; 2. tourists. They are here for Safari etc.; 3. curious youngsters who stay in Nairobi for some adventurous experience; 4. locals or Africans for new opportunities; 5 lost backpackers like me.
Two young girls shared a room with me. One is a football player from Nigeria, who is No.4 type and the other is a shy and pale Korean girl who is No. 3 type. The Korean girl told me that she is an exchanged student and thought it an exciting experience. But she already hated Nairobi.
I almost became local to Nairobi. I was frequent to the downtown and a computer center called " Lightwave Computer Internet Cafe" and a very good African restaurant " Highland". By now I have fallen in love with African food including Ugali and Matoki and Zukumu etc.

Masai Mara Safari

Masai Mara is a world renowned reserve. We did 3 day Safari tour in the national reserve.Our tour included Simon, his friend Fabien, one South Korean Neo, two Italian cousins and me. We did 2 hours game drive on the fist day, a full day game drive on the second day and 2 hours game drive on the third morning. We saw big 5 in that park. But the ultimate attraction is the annual wildebeest migration in July and August when millions of them move north from the Serengeti, seeking fresh pasture before turning south again around October. We didn't get to see the massive migration due to lack of fresh pasture in the north as a result of consecutive drought. Our jeep followed massive Zebras who attempted to cross the river to the other side. They were astonished by the tour jeeps and withdrew in the last minutes.
As colorful as the animals, the Maasai people are very interesting and their colorful tribal life is fascinating to tourists.
Our group of travelers got along very well and shared some nice Safari time together.

Back to Nairobi

Nairobi seems so modern, easy and pleasant on my second return. It's called second charm. It's where I would pamper myself for some fresh brewed coffee (the real coffee); stroll through high rise buildings not worrying about unwanted attentions; enjoy a variety of cuisines even including Chinese food, walk to the Chemist down the street to get medicine for cold and chat with the local professionals who seem well exposed to the world outside of Africa.
The down side of being a modern African city is that Nairobi is indeed more expensive than any other African cities.
Java coffee house, right across street from Nairobi Youth Hostel is my and other tourist's favorite hang out place. It's like Starbucks coffee in US. Beside tourists, professional looking and trendy locals hang out here. The pastries they sell here are just like those from western coffee shops for the similar price.
Even Nairobi downtown seems so modern dotted with high rise business buildings. While I was walking around and looking for a Safari tour and a place that can repair my backpack, I bumped into Simon whom I met on the airplane from Cairo to Nairobi. He was with his friend Fabien shopping for a Safari tour as well. We all signed up a Safari tour with  New Lodge Safari.
That same night I met a group of Chinese young students and a group of Kenyan women from a rural area.  The group of Kenyan women happened to share room with me. They were dressed in colorful traditional "Tangas" and seemed every excited. They excitedly told me that they traveled to Nairobi to present a shelter project in front of an NGO woman. It sounds the project of building shelters for women in need was funded by the NGO and the funds stopped. They were very chatty and hyped at the night and got up very early to get themselves ready for the big presentation.

A long journey back to Nairobi

Going back to Nairobi from Kabale turned out another long and rough journey. Traveling from Kabale back to Kampala was easy and painless. The Gateway coach was however late when it reached to Kampala. The only coach that leaves for Nairobi at night is Kampala Coach. In the hustle and bustle of Kampala downtown, I was misled by a couple of local guys. When I finally got to the Kampala Coach station, the price for the ticket to Nairobi was high. I decided to check back in later. When I came back from dinner, all the tickets for 8:00pm bus were sold out and the only tickets left were for 3:00am bus. That means 7 hours wait! There was a waiting room where hundreds of people sat or laid on the floor. I put down my backpack and made it a temporary bed for next 7 hours. After past midnight, a complimentary dinner was served that includes rice and delicious cabbage! Here I am , having dinner at 1:00 am in the morning with hundreds of strangers at an African coach station. Following the dinner I was roaming around on the street looking for toilet. There was a tea booth near the coach station where a few homeless people crawling and sleeping beneath the booth. A girl was selling tea at 1:00am in the morning. She followed me all the way to the station and tried to sell me her tea.
At 2:00am, I finally got on the bus heading to Nairobi.  I arrived at Nairobi at 2:30pm the following day.

Lake Bunyonyi and island tour

I made my way to Lake Bunyonyi Amagaya campsite. Lake Bunyonyi is a huge lake with terraced fields plunging into hidden bays and tiny islands dotted about. Amagaya campsite is on Itambira island, one of the big islands. To get to the campsite, I took a dugout canoe ride. Amagaya has a killer lake view.
After breakfast when I took a walk on the narrow path behind the campsite, I met a local boy named Don working on his tiny dugout canoe. Next think I knew was I was on his canoe for a guided tour. He first pulled his canoe to his grandmother's village on Itambira island and showed me around. Then we went around Bwama, Bushara and punishment islands and other a few small unknown islands. Following that we stopped at his home on the mainland. His home is a hut made of mud and grass laying on the top of a hill. He said his father and he built the home. His mother and a small kid were sitting in the front of home cleaning some sweet potatoes. He told me that his family only eat Posha (corn meal porridge) and beans on Sundays. They don't have lands and the only source of income is some labor work his father and he do for others. I met his teen sister who dropped out school. The school is on an island. It takes too much effort to get to school every day and she said she was too hungry to sit through the class. Walking out the hut, I was drawn to the spectacular lake view. This is 360 grand lake view. This is the poorest home with the best view I've ever seen
. On the way back down we stopped by a church where two young girls were rehearsing drum and dance for their church service. I joined them for a few beats. We passed the market where locals were boarding a canoe after shopping. Canoe is the local transportation.
Don dropped me off at Amagaya campsite. I wrapped up a day of grand de lake tour with a nice local meal that includes potato Chapati, Matoki and mixed veggies.

The day I was let down

It was one of the days I was let down. It was one of the days the whole solo backpacking seems nothing but stressful and lonely to me. It was one of the days I asked myself " should I keep going or go back?".
My backpack was destroyed worse than I thought. I broke my only sun glasses. There's no way to find such a good quality sun glasses in small cities, not mentioning African don't wear sun glasses. It was raining again. The hostel was not that nice and people were not interesting nor interested. 
I was angry and irritable. I listed the things that irritate me and what I can do to fix them:
1. Broken sunglasses.
2. Broken backpack.
3. Loneliness.
4. Rain.
5. Running out cash.

Then I saw a couple of Uganda kids carrying a basket of banana over their head walking in the rain and selling banana. They don't seem angry and irritable. Neither should I.

A rough birthday

I took a short side trip to Lake Nkuruba and stayed at a lovely campsite over night. Lake Nkuruba is a small crater lake. I got full blown cold at the camp site.
Having a short retreat at Lake Nkuruba, I decided to get on the road again on my 34th birthday. The moment I got on the road, my 34th birthday was set a tough day like many other travel days except this day was even more rough than other days. I got back to Fort Portal first and then took 10 hours and 4 Matato rides to get to Kabale. All the minibuses were over stuffed with enormous people like saltine and I was often sandwiched by the locals to the point that I can't hardly breathe. We were dumped from minibus and picked up by another to maximize the capacity. My backpack was thrown from one minibus to another. My backpack was burned by engine and a big chuck of it was melt. I finally got to Kabale. Right after I checked in, a thunder storm rolled in and rain was pouring down.
I had an

awful beef dish for dinner and climbed up to my bed in Home of Edirisa. One of the rough birthday I will remember for life!

Fort Portal and Semuliki National Park

I headed to the west from Masindi. It's 12 hours of journey from Masindi to Fort Portal. Moving from one city to the other is of a trial. I first took 9 hours of minibus ride to get to Hoisma and another minibus ride to Kagali and then a boda (motorcycle) ride to another town and another shared taxi ride to a town near Fort Portal and another minibus ride to Fort Portal. The rides are usually insanely crowded and rough.
West of Uganda is amazing! The terrains are mainly lavish rainforests and mountains. This region offers the world class chimpanzees and gorilla safari and therefore it's a main tourist area.
Fort Portal is sitting in such a sublime scenery. Based in Fort Portal, I wanted to take a side trip to Semuliki National Park. The scenery en route to Semuliki National Park is breathtaking. The best part of any trip around the park is the magnificent views over the rainforest and savannah of the Semuliki Valley and DRC beyond. I slept at one of the bandas at a campsite. I felt the humidity of a rainforest and heard tropical birds. I climbed up to a tree house, eating my apple. The forest is so quiet and noisy. Another human on the same camp site is Afle from Israel. He is a quiet guy.
The sound of drum and songs broke through the quietness of the dark night in the distance. The African rhythm was soft and conforting. I woke up and listened for a while. It's like meditation for me. It traveled through from somewhere far away. Out of curiosity, I followed the sound all the way to the foot of a hill. It was a small church with broken brick walls, where a group of people were singing prayers at a vigil to their deceased pastor.
I took a 4- hour guided tour in the Semuliki National Park. It was extremely humid in the forest and I felt awfully sticky. I saw a good variety of birds and a few moneys.I started to feel sick since the night before. After the tour, I decided to skip the afternoon program and head back to Fort Portal. There's really no proper transportation between the forest and Fort Portal. I caught a pickup truck and sat in the truck through the winding and dusty road all the way back to Fort Portal. I was hold my breath and hanging on to the edge of the truck and praying that I don't get tossed to the valley on this crazy dangerous ride.
Back to Fort Portal and checked back in "Visitor Lodge" , While sitting at the Garden restaurant, I met Alfe again. He had been traveling for nine months.
I officially caught cold that night.

A scheme vs. A good cause?

Before I arrived at " Family Spirit", I was told that it's an orphanage/nursing home, where most of kids are orphans or abandoned by their families because their AIDS. It sounds there's a campaign called " live positive"  going on in this city to fight against AIDS. The mayor Joshua told me that the principle, who has AIDS himself,  founded this school as a good cause. Madam Susan told me that they have received financial supports from foreign friends ( Mozugos). The principle was away while I stayed at " Family Spirit".
The suspicion on the claim occurred to me starting with some chats with some older students who told me that they paid school fees to study and live here. Most of them came from the north, the war ridden regions. They told me the school principle recruited them and convinced their parents that the school will provide an excellent facility for them to study and stay. They told me that they were forced to do labor work and even sometimes beaten up by the principle. They further told me that most of the kids are students who pay the school fees to stay and there are only a handful who are orphans or have AIDS.
I was not shocked with what I heard. Their information just confirmed my observation. Madam Susan told me that she's pregnant with the principle's baby. They are lovers. Upon being asked if she's worried about the AIDS that her baby might get from his father, she seemed very sad and told me that she also has AIDS from her lover and that all her family died of the tribal war and she just wanted to have her own family. In the contrary to what she told me, she seems to live a comfortable life. Her room is at the end of the dorms, where all the food for school is stocked and the only TV is placed. She eats separately. I got invited to have meal with her a few times. Students served her to wash her hands before the meal. Her meal includes a variety of staple food and meat and veggies. She would give the leftover to her favorite students. I also noticed that the food I bought for kids are stocked in her room and only half of the bread I bought was distributed to kids in the morning. She added some sugar to the porridge for kids and kept the rest.
The Mozugo friends she refers to are mainly a British couple, a Danish lady and some random visitors. Susan showed me the album of photos the kids took with Mozugos. She liked to talk about that. These Mozugos are her sources of income. Most of them have come and donated some money and food and then left. The British couple have been in Masindi for a few years. They have provided funds to build the toilet. When the wife Megan was visiting, Madam Susan told her that they fell behind on the utility bill. Megan told me that she bought them a couple of sewing machines but Madam Susan was not interested to learn. I visited the husband Chris at the local hospital where he worked and shared some "inside" information and my concerns with him. He didn't seem surprised. Having lived in the culture for a while, he understands this is a part of the culture.
I caught the Danish woman Vivian's visit. She brought her daughters and their boyfriends. They came in a jeep in a swirl. They asked all the kids to line up and take a photo. They were making a website for Family Spirit. The old kids told me they don't really like this type of publicity. They don't think they are orphans or AIDS victims and they don't need the donor's money. I accompanied Vivian to the local market to get kids eggs and banana. That day all the kids got a hard boiled egg. What about the next meal?
During my stay at Family Spirit, Rosemary came and visited me once. She insisted taking me for a fun day trip to the nearby Kinyana Sugarcane Factory. Sugarcane is a proud local industry. The plants seem large and formal. The workers live on the campus. Depending on their seniority and ranking, some of the apartments have their own water faucet inside, Rosemary told me. Rosemary's friends seem upper middle class in Masindi. We hang out at a private club afterwards where there were a pool table and a bar.
Joseph, a 20 some year old girl who shared the room with me at Family Spirit. She told me she is an orphan and was displaced from her hometown in the north where all her family were killed during the civil war. I thought there must be something horrible that happened to her. She goes to church every weekend. She is a big believer in God. All the African believe in God. Their religion keeps them going. Joseph likes to braid my hair. I let her and other girls do my hair.
I have my two children at Family Spirit. They are sisters. They are Massi and Precious. I adore them deeply and they made them smile when I saw them in the morning. I thought about sponsoring them. But Madam Susan told me the story of a sponsored kid at Family Spirit. A French sponsored a boy at Family Spirit through a church. The boy occasionally goes to the church for a good meal or some play. He brought back some new clothes or school bags. But I know that boy is just as starving as other kids because no one knows where the sponsored money went.
The night before I left Family Spirit, the stars were very bright. It was a lively party night. Kids set up a stage where they played their band using their self invented instruments such as water bottles and barrels as drums. Everyone was singing and dancing along. Some rock stars were not shy to show off their amazing talents on the stage.
Under the dark sky and glowing stars, are there these beautiful  kids full of energy and passion for life. They just barely started their life, a rough beginning of their life. What type of opportunities are awaiting them? Are they as promising as their singing and dancing?

A week at " Family Spirit"

I started a week of teaching and volunteering at " Family Spirit". There are about 100 kids here ranging from one and half year old to 17 year old. It's called orphanage/nursing home/boarding school depending on the circumstances where it's being asked. I felt in love with these kids quickly. They are lively, expressive and adorable. They are also very obviously hungry. It was quite overwhelming for me in the beginning. I went through lots of heavy emotions. It was difficult to see how little and poorly they are fed and how poorly they live.
There wasn't much teaching that they need me to assist. Shortly after I arrived Madam Susan made it pretty clear that they would rather me to provide "financial" assistance.
 They pretty much need anything from firewood, exam sheets to food.
I was so overwhelmed in the first day that I had to escape for a visit to market to get food for kids.
Everyone is hungry here. Lacking of food is a daily challenge. Food is on the top of everyone's mind. For breakfast kids lined up to get their breakfast routine - a couple of spoons of  "porridge" ( a sort of very thin soup made of maize flower); they usually eat Ugali and beans for lunch and dinner. Everyone is given only one spoon of Ugali and one spoon of beans. Porridge and Ugali are not guaranteed. There are days no breakfast or a combined lunch and dinner are served.  Food like a couple of banana, a slice of bread or a couple of biscuits will them their day. I bought beans, rice, cooking oil, sugar and bread for kids.
The school was out since the second day after I arrived. Some kids went back home and most of them hung out. There's really no play ground at the school. Kids found a "soft" ball  and kicked it like soccer. Most of the time they sat around and killed time. Older kids are also labors. They washed cloths and dishes. There's a little garden where a few tomato and corns grow. They also raised a few goats. One goat died one day. All the kids were excited to see the dead goat was taken away to a local butcher. Everyone received a bit of lamp meat and soup for dinner that night.
I lost my appetite when I stayed at "Family Spirit". But watching the kids eat and lick off the last bit of food in their bowl was part of my daily life. I enjoyed serving them meal and watching them to eat. Kids soon found out I have some snacks in my room. I started to give away some snacks to some kids, which caused some problems. Kids started to scout around in my room. I had to tell them to leave. Then I felt terribly sad. These kids are innocent. They don't steal. They beg for food. It's so hard to say no to them. But there are so many of them. How can I feed everyone of them every day? I was torn and felt powerless.

Masindi - meeting the mayor and Rosemary

I left Kampala and took a Matatu ride to a northern city " Masindi". After checking in a hotel, I came to the balcony and chatted with a local guy who turned out to be the city mayor named Joshua. Upon hearing my inquiry about  volunteer opportunities in the city, he offered to connect me with some organizations and asked me to go to see him on the next day.
I did go to see him on the next day at the city hall. He introduced a nursery home called " Family Spirit" to me. At the city hall I also met Rosemary who works there as a clerk. She was extremely social and friendly. She told me her story. Her husband died, leaving behind her and two kids. Her brother died and she adopted his two kids. She adopted two other kids from someone. She is raising six kids by herself. We almost became friends right away.
Rosemary took me to the "Family Spirit" , which is about 20 minutes motor bike ride from Masindi. I was told that Family Spirit is a nursery/orphanage and most of kids have no family or abandoned because they have AIDS. Susan, the principle of the school welcomed me and told me that I can help her teach and grade B1 class (kind like first grade). There are about 100 kids in "Family Spirit", aging from 1 to 17. I walked in the B1 class. The kids were very excited to see visitors. They are beautiful and lovely. English is the official language in Uganda and by and large I had no problem communicating with the locals. I told Susan I would start my first day of teaching tomorrow. I was quite excited about the idea of spending time with these kids.
I stayed over night at Rosemary's. I bought food at the local market with her for her family. She lives in a tiny and dark two bedroom apartment made of bricks. The toilet and water hose are shared by the neighbors. Rosemary's kids are quiet and hard working. I can tell heavy chores are part of their daily life. They started the fire over charcoals and washed food in a pot of water. Water is precious and is always reused for different things. The apartment is dark and only the living room has a dim light on to save on electricity bill. The dinner was a really nice treat for Rosemary's family as meat and potato are considered "luxury food" . Their daily diet are mainly Ugali and beans. I did notice Rosemary treat her own kids differently than her adopted kids. Her only boy didn't need to do any labor work and he was served by his sisters over the dinner.
I quickly understood that Rosemary invited me over to her apartment not just to be a good host and that she told me she needs $400 for her new home roof not just for the sake of a casual chat. She looked at me as a potential financial opportunity.  I understand her mentality and even understand this kind of mentality more later on during my stay at Family Spirit.
I crashed on the couch at Rosemary's apartment. I couldn't sleep that night. The mosquito don't bother Rosemary's family. Their life is still


much better than a lot of Africans.

A polygamy talk and rolling to Kampala

On August 1st, 2009  I rolled to Kampala. On the day before I was awaiting for an opportunity to visit a local orphanage in Jinga. It fell through. I hung out with a few local women at their street vendor booths where very limited veggie and a couple of bunches of banana were lying for sale. There were no customers. Women and their kids were hanging out by the roadside. A few cooking pots were sitting over the wood fire. They can't afford charcoal for fire. Wood fire is slow and it took half day to cook Ugali in the pot. But they were not in a hurry. I chatted with one of the women who is quite open about her life, a typical Muslim African woman's life. Her husband is working in Kampala and comes home once a year or every other year. Her husband has other wives and he sends money to support her and her kids. The Muslim tradition is man should have four wives. All the women have the same story- husband working in Kampala and living with other wives and kids. They raise their kids on their own and supplement the family income by selling some self grown veggies and fruits.
I moved on to my next stop in Uganda- the capital city "Kampala". Kampala is a modern and "confident" city. I stayed at Red Chilli Hostel by mistake. Red Chilli seemed a fully packed summer camp where young students from UK and volunteers and travelers rushed in and out. I was not very interested in any of the tours they offered, let alone they were fully booked anyway. Instead I spent a day in the city, joining locals at a local favorite eatery spot "Antonio's" for lunch, shopping at a local clothing store for a summer dress and having the best fish curry at Haandi. Haandi's fish curries are truly divine and I haven't found better fish curry  else where since then.


There are a lot of "Bozugo" (white people) in the city. Most of them are involved in  some NGO projects. As much as I have a very different view on the volunteering work in Africa, I thought I should probably have some such experience on my own to justify my opinion. Also I would like to stay somewhere for a bit longer on my next stop.  I was on the look out for this type of opportunity.