Congratulations to those who’ve been following our blog from the beginning - the word count when you finish reading this will be 65,000.
As I write this, Jordan Kira and I have been in the UK for three weeks. Jon is still in Uganda.
There was a lot to do before we left, so finishing schooling the children in mid-July gave us the time to be able to get things done. Like work commitments, and sorting out our plot.
Some people that we know are setting up a gardening business so we asked for their advice regarding our land. It became clear that we needed to get it fenced, otherwise people could go and squat on the land (in Uganda ‘squatting’ may include things like planting crops) and then it would make things difficult. So Jon has been doing a lot of work making sure everything is OK.
Along with John Bosco and Geoffrey they have put up wooden fence posts and barbed wire.
We have an agreement with Mukasa the blocker (estate agent) who sold us the land and who is very pleasant, that he will graze his goats there and take as much fruit from the trees as he wants, in return for looking after it for us.
Jon has been trying to see the LC1 (first level of local government) in the area to make sure everything is OK. He managed to see him recently but the man was too drunk to register him, so he has to go back again!
The children had many invites to go out with friends, and Kira went camping at Hairy Lemon Holiday Island with Jinja Explorers Club as a ‘goodbye’ to her and to celebrate one of the other girls’ birthday.
The removals people took our 17 boxes of stuff in early August, so to keep us going, I bought four plastic bowls, four plastic plates & four plastic cups, and borrowed some cutlery and bedding.
We have also arranged for our furniture etc from New Zealand to be sent over, to save us having to buy yet another house-load of things. Our Uganda furniture is being stored at a friend’s place.
To help the landlord, we have been advertising the house to see if we can get it rented for him. An American missionary family were due to move over in early Sept, so people from their church came round and arranged to rent it for them. People always laugh when they see our bedroom as it is absolutely huge!
We also had to arrange for someone to take the dog, Lotte. The German couple who asked us to look after Lotte for them have been overseas for 18 months and were due back in August. However they have decided not to come back so we had to find another home for her.
When we bought our car from the couple the day before they left, they hadn’t really arranged for anyone to take Lotte, so asked if we would look after her. We took her on the day they left. It was a real last minute affai
r. She is a lovely dog, very pleasant to have around, very friendly. It’s been great having her.I had been trying to find a home for her for quite a while but without success. However I had a feeling that everything would be alright.
I ended up contacting a very helpful lady in Kampala who works for the USPCA and she kindly put up adverts around Kampala for us. We needed a home for Lotte by the time we left on Saturday 14th as Jon was going to be working in Kampala from Sunday.
An American family contacted us a few days before I left, and arranged to pick her up on the Saturday as they passed through Jinja on their way home from Kampala to a place called Mbale. It’s a family with four children who were very much looking forward to having a dog. We were all upset at having to say goodbye to her. I couldn’t decide if it was less upsetting for us to actually see the family who were going to take her and know she would be OK, or for them to take her once we had got on the plane. As it happened they came on Saturday evening after we had left (and before Jon left for Kampala the next morning), which I think was probably better.
Jon has never been a dog person, and had been a bit afraid of dogs when he was younger, but Lotte won him over and he was very sad to see her go. Apparently she jumped in the family’s car and sat on the seat looking happily out of the window. I had a real sense that she had chosen this family.
Jon spent a week working in Kampala then was back in Jinja for another week, on his own. He missed the dog, and said he could even feel her presence when she wasn’t there.
Anyway, given that we’ve said we may only be in the UK for two years, I will not be getting another pet as it’s too upsetting having to say goodbye. I miss my cat in NZ, and also Lotte. Kira and I don’t cope very well with the goodbyes, so if I seem to be on the verge of taking on another pet, someone please stop me!
Talking of pets, our resident frog, Boris, seemed to disappear a couple of weeks before we left. A while later a much smaller frog came into the house. Kira called it Borisina. However, it got a bit upset when people were around it and kept trying to escape by jumping into walls and banging its head, so we kept having to put it outside.
Kira’s teacher Vicky invited us as special guests to her church, the Jinja Miracle Centre, to celebrate its14th anniversary. Other local churches also attended, so it was quite a big do. It was a very nice event, with singing and lots of food.
Other than a couple of visiting missionaries, we were the only muzungus there, so we felt very special. While we were sitting there, some Ugandan girls sitting behind me were feeling my hair! They do that to Kira sometimes, as our hair is quite different to theirs and they want to know what it feels like.
Vicky also took us to see the new house she had moved into. She had to leave her other house as the landlord had sold it. She now lives in a couple of rooms in the ‘boys quarters’ at the back of a big house. The boys quarters are generally where the maid and other house workers live.
She has two rooms, each about 3m / 10 foot square. One room is the living room-cum-dining room-cum-bedroom for her three children and the other is the bedroom for her and her husband, with a separate bed for the maid. They cook on a charcoal burner in the yard and share a toilet (probably long drop) with people living in other rooms in the boys quarters. For a bathroom there is a small outdoor paved area, screened by a brick wall, but with no roof, where they take their bowl of water so they can bathe. She is very happy living there.
Before we left we gave the children a couple of treats. Kira wanted to go horse riding, so I took her with a group of friends to Nile Horseback Safaris and six of us had a wonderful ride along the Nile. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was extremely beautiful. There are little islands in the Nile covered with lovely green foliage. You can also hear the sound of mini waterfalls. I wish we’d done it sooner!http://www.nilehorsebacksafaris.com/nhs_about_us.asp
Jordan wanted to go quad biking so Jon went too. They had to get kitted out in jumpsuits. Jordan looked like a World War 1 flying ace! They had a practise ride on a training circuit, and then went for a ride on tracks which took them around the local villages, and of course along the Nile. A great time was had by both of them. http://www.atadventures.com/ata/ATA-PHOTO.html
And so, we had to say au revoir to people.
I have been moving places and countries for 33 years, and having to leave people doesn’t get even the slightest bit easier. Even saying goodbye to the lady who owns the fruit and veg stall at the market was quite sad!
One of the mini supermarkets we use ‘American Supermarket’ gave us some chocolates and said ‘Thanks for your custom’.
Sandy, Jordan’s homeschool tutor arranged a leaving do for us at her house, which was really nice. She gave us a locally produced African painting which people signed on the back.
The two hardest ones for me were Vicky, Kira’s teacher, and Lotte. As I’m the homeschool coordinator, I see Vicky on an almost daily basis and have spent a lot of time with her, and also learnt a lot from her. She is a lovely person, very warm and caring, and very dedicated as a teacher. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to work alongside or be a teacher for the children.
I’m not very good at saying au revoir to people and had considered sending her a text the day before I left saying it would be too upsetting to see her, but she asked to see me, and came to the house. Anyway I crumpled up into a heap of tears when she left, but I’m glad she came.
The next day when we left, I managed to just about say goodbye to John Bosco. I was OK saying goodbye to Jon as it’s only a month till he’ll be with us, but it was hard saying goodbye to Lotte. We got a taxi to the airport as it’s about a three hour drive away. Kira and I said goodbye to Lotte and got into the taxi in tears. Geoffrey our gardener was waiting at the end of the drive to say goodbye, but I was crying so much I couldn’t say anything to him, not even ‘goodbye’ or ‘thank you’. All I could do was shake his hand. It was terrible. He’s been working for us for 18 months tirelessly, hardly having any time off and I couldn’t say anything to him. However, I’d left a gift for him, and Jon was going to give both Geoffrey and John Bosco something when he left.
So we left on 14th August and arrived in Manchester on 15th. Jon’s work contracts are now all based in Kampala and so he kept the house on until the end of the month so he could sort out the plot and then put our stuff into storage. Our landlord bought the car off us, so that was a big help. Jon is now staying with friends in Kampala until he leaves on 10th September.
Just before he moved out of the house he had to eat out in the evenings, as we had sold the cooker. We don’t have a proper TV, and while he was at a café one evening he realised he must have missed watching TV as he found himself watching the news in Luganda!
Remember
the caption contest last month? The winner is Neil from New Zealand, with his caption ‘Tea pot with Jack Fruit’ A painting by Jackassoo And here we are in the UK. When we arrived at Manchester airport and got to passport control I felt like crying. It seemed to mark the end of our Africa life (for a while) and it feels like I’ve had to come back to the ‘real world’.
We had booked a taxi to take us to my Dad’s in Liverpool. We emerged from the airport with Jordan pushing the trolley with all our suitcases on it. The taxi driver looked at him and said in a strong Liverpool accent ‘Orright der?’
Jordan had no idea what he’d said.
‘You have to learn a new language now’ I told him.
Although the children have visited several times, it’s the first time they have lived here. The first week was cold, grey and rainy even though it’s summer. The children sat huddled in front of a gas heater. My dad called Kira an ‘icicle’. We did have some sun, but it's sunshine without ‘real’ heat, and it’s a world away from the horse ride along the Nile we’d had only a week beforehand.
We are getting used to things here, and getting ourselves settled. It’s very much Consumer Land, and having come from Jinja where there is so little, here there is so much and the children went into overdrive the first week, wanting everything they saw, and going onto e-bay to find out what they could buy.
‘It’s only £98, Mum’ Kira would say.
I had a haircut the day after I arrived. Haven’t had it cut in Uganda for two years. I feel I look less like a witch now!
The next step was to sort out internet connection and a sim card for my phone.
My Dad’s mechanic had found a good car for us which was great. I then had to work my way through the maze of car insurances. All very confusing when you are not used to having to make choices.
We moved up to Blackpool after several days and are now staying with my Mum.
Have managed to sort out schools for the children. Kira will be going to the local school for a year (http://www.st-john-vianney.blackpool.sch.uk/), until she moves to secondary school.
School starts tomorrow (6th September) for both of them. It’s the first time they have had to wear a uniform. Kira loves hers and has tried it on about 47 times!
Jordan is going to an international school (http://www.rossall.co.uk/). It’s quite amazing. It’s not like a ‘school’ it’s like a ‘world’ you enter into. Looks like Hogwarts. In fact J K Rowling visited the school and modelled Hogwarts dining hall on the school’s dining hall!
Have found a nice house to rent, not far from my Mum’s so am going through the steps we need to, to be able to secure it.
One of the nice things about being here, is not only being able to see family and friends, but also that we don’t have to say goodbye whenever we leave their house!
I emailed people in Uganda a few days after I left, to say au revoir.
Shortly afterwards I received a reply from Vicky: Am so excited to hear from you and the children. I will really miss you people because sincerely speaking you, Jon and the children were the first whites I have met who treated me as a human being and considered me too, despite the colour I have, and this attitude helped other whites I am working with change, and are now trying to behave the same way. I thank God for having met you and your family.
I was absolutely stunned when I received this and had to read it many times to try and get my head around it.
If you’ve been following the blogs you will know that I mention Vicky a lot, as she’s the person I spend the most time with outside of my family. She has been great, and the fact that she is black never really figured, other than I could learn a lot about the Ugandan culture from her. It’s been an honour to know her.
The email truly amazed me.
Vicky is one of 8 children, six of whom have died. This means there are a lot of orphans in her family, or children with only one parent. Many of the parents are struggling to make ends meet, and some have had to put their children into an orphanage as they cannot afford to look after them. The orphanages aren’t always a good environment for the children to be in.
We have offered to sponsor one of Vicky’s relatives - her dead sister’s granddaughter, who is called Favour. She calls Vicky ‘grandma’. Favour does have a mother, but the mother’s wages are so low (they will be very low) - and she has two children - that she cannot afford to feed or educate them and so has had to put them in an orphanage. Vicky is upset at the level of care the children are receiving and wants them to have a better life.
There are a few other children in her family who need support.
If you or anyone else you know would be interested in sponsoring these children, please let me know.
One of the benefits of sponsoring children direct, rather than through an organisation, is that we know that 100% of our money is going to the children. We have sponsored John Bosco’s three nephews and nieces for almost two years, and know exactly how the money is spent. The money we pay is very little in Western terms, but for Ugandans, makes a huge difference.
I’ve been looking back over the many photos we have of our two years in Uganda, and I can see all the amazing experiences it’s allowed us to have. I am so glad we came. It has been a very special period in my life.
It’s been hard writing this last blog, I will miss Uganda very much.
Thanks for coming on this Blog Journey with us. It’s been great hearing from you and receiving your feedback. Please keep in touch.
Au revoir Uganda, and let’s see what the next two years in the UK brings us.
Kim, Jon, Jordan, Kira x
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