After breakfast this morning we head to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This amazing National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and rightly so considering the species diversity and richness of its eco-system. Bwindi is also home to half of the world's mountain gorillas, which I find particularly fascinating. Then again, I do love my primates. Unfortunately though, we would not be going on a gorilla trek as the fees are steep and require advance booking.
Off to Bwindi!
The drive is gorgeous as usual.
Our first stop is at the lodge for a briefing by the Bwindi staff as well as a few members of the UWA - Uganda Wildlife Authority, who also own the park.
They talk to us about the different challenges they face, duties, education, and briefly highlight crop raiding on the borders of the forest. For a brief synopsis on this challenging issue, click here!!
(Above & Below photos courtesy of Dr. Richard White)
We also reviewed the details and statistics of the local school district.
(Note they only have 1 pit latrine)
Finally it was time to hit the trails. All of us, except for Richard, Donna, and Josephine, would be spending our morning on the waterfalls hike and tour. A guided hike (as all are) that would take roughly 3 hours start to finish. We were all very excited for the exercise!
(Photo courtesy of Jessica)
We're not too far in when we spot a red-tailed monkey.
Our guide telling us about the strangler fig, which overtake trees such as this one.
Our first waterfall...
Our 2nd
and our 3rd and last!
It was gorgeous
Jessica and I
After our many photos, we headed back to base camp.
There were a ton of butterflies in the forest.
This was one of my favorites:
Back at camp we meet up with the others, who are looking considerably less sweaty than we do.
We eat lunch here before moving on to our next stop.
Which was a tea factory.
Technically, the factory was now closed as it was getting late in the day. So we had an abbreviated tour and discussion of their process, mission, and marketing.
While we're waiting for our guide, we have a little fun outside.
Enjoy - our tea factory mugshots/line-up.
(Above photo sequence courtesy of Dr. Richard White)
Ok, time to be serious again.
Ellen explaining some of the different teas and market prices.
Inside the factory
(Previous two photos courtesy of Dr. Richard White)
(Photo by Dr. Richard White)
Next we head inside to catch a glimpse of their quality control and tasting process.
Here is where our guide slurps, tastes and then spits out the tea... all of them. Quite an interesting process to watch.
(Above photo sequence by Dr. Richard White)
While some head to the shop to purchase tea to bring home, Abdi finds some employees and children watching the World Cup outside.
It is now early evening and we head back to the Joy Guesthouse to pack up for our local home-stays.
We were originally going to split up individually for our home-stay experience but in the end they decided to keep us in pairs.
Our professors wish us luck and we are chauffeured by George, Josephine's driver, to our host families. Bradford and Abdirisack are the furthest away and so get dropped first. They comically rode in the back of the truck, along with Sheila. Next off was Hanni and Jessica. Last but not least, was Ashley and me. We grabbed our stuff and entered our new home for the night, anxious, nervous, and excited all at the same time.
Betty was the name of the woman that we stayed with. Her 24 year old son Allan was also living there while on break from university.
Betty lives in a very modest home - no electricity or running water. The home was originally just one room, the main living room (~8x10),
but her and her son have since added on to it.
On her living room wall were 2 posters of Josephine (who is up for re-election, I'll explain all this on day 18), a wall calendar featuring the Obamas, and a framed picture of Rambo. I would inquire about the latter later. Evidently, Allan is a huge Rambo fan, specifically Rambo 3. There you go.
I slept in the main living room in a bed behind a curtain, which had a lovely mosquito net.
Ashley got her own small bedroom which was off the main living room. This would be the first time that we slept privately since we started the trip.
Betty's story is a difficult one. Her first husband died. She would remarry and have 4 children with her new husband. While pregnant with her 5th, her husband decided to abandon her. He would leave her their small mud home, in favor of a newer & nicer house, but he took the plots of land that she gardened. This is something called property grabbing, a subject I coincidentally have written about extensively. She was able to get one of the plots back but not without strings.
Betty and/or one of the children he knows must be the ones to tend the garden, or else he'll run you off. He has also threatened her with violence and even death. He hasn't supported her or the kids at all. "Not even giving them one pencil," she would say. Thus, Betty has had to raise all 5 children herself and pay for their school fees. This is a difficult task for someone in such poverty. She could not afford the school fees for one daughter and so she had to marry, as it is the only other option.
Betty, in her 50s, physically seems older as she is now mildly disabled. Her face may fit her age but her body is giving out due to her long hours, hard work, and physical stress. She can no longer walk long distances which makes gardening, her main source of income, extremely difficult. Yet, she has to make the trek to the garden to sit while neighbors help harvest to avoid any potential altercations with her ex-husand.
She tries to sell women's clothes on the side but it is not very profitable. She has been struggling for most of her life and seeing all of this firsthand was the most humbling thing I have ever experienced.
Her son Allan is amazing and he takes very good care of Betty. He always stays with her during his school breaks and built the additions onto her home. He does all of the main cooking while there, helps with the garden, and fetches their water from the local well - 2 miles away.
Betty speaks very little English, so Allan does a lot of translating, though his is not perfect yet.
It is dark when dinner is served and so we eat by candlelight in the living room/my bedroom.
Ugandans are always very generous with their food, as being their guest is a great honor.
Our dinner - From top left to right: Potatoes, g-nut sauce, beans,
Bottom L-R: Matoke, rice and carrots, and dodo.
After dinner we talk some more. Betty is involved in a few local organizations. One of them is the church choir. She sings us a few songs and Ashley and I return the favor by singing her one. It happened to be the "Star-Spangled Banner," which we also sang in the van earlier. We explained that today, the 4th of July, was an American holiday, which is what prompted that selection.
Betty would go on to say that she couldn't believe that we were there, that she was actually hosting white people in her home. She kept stating what a great privilege and honor it was for them. She thanked God for this opportunity and actually said, "Who am I to have you here with me?"
Wow. Who am I?
I can not even begin to articulate the emotions that these statements produced. Needless to say, I th ink both Ashley and I went to bed with tears in our eyes. I know I did. The privilege was most definitely ours.
I fell asleep, not only to the sounds of bats in the ceiling above me, but with the realization that this experience, these two people, would forever impact me.
