We started early again on this day to avoid traffic on the roads in Kampala. Mim (an English-Ugandan) and Shida (one of the Ugandan leaders from camp) took us on a sight-seeing tour, hitting all the landmarks over a couple of hours. We got out of the van twice, once to see "taxi park" and once to walk through the narrow (and muddy) aisles of a second-hand market. We stopped at a "craft market" that also had a very nice coffee shop, had a cup of proper Ugandan coffee and shopped at both the "fixed-price" craft shops that benefitted the charity which ran them and the coffee shop and also the regular craft market across the road where I had Shida help me with the "bartering".
I had mentioned the evening before that I'd heard that the bananas known as "Tooke" that we had been eating all week in a cooked and mashed form was also available in a flour and that I would like to buy some if we came across it. Well, phone calls were made and the location of the office of the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID) was found. It was a Saturday, so they weren't technically open to the public, but they allowed me in (accompanied by Shida) and after explaining that I wanted to take some Tooke Flour home I was invited into the office of the Project Director! They're in talks with Sainsbury's to try and get it over here. Despite not usually selling it on Saturdays, I was allowed to buy some... I haven't used it yet but look forward to making some more Gluten-Free things for Tyler with it and will also be mentioning it to my local Sainsbury's stores!
After this we said Goodbye to Shida and Hello to Eddy, another of the leaders from camp who was going to take us to the project he works at. We had lunch at a very western cafe called Java's and then headed over to Re-track's Drop-In centre for homeless boys. The boys range in age from 5 to 15 and either hear about it and come in on their own, or are found on the streets and brought in. It is completely their choice to be there and for how long they stay, but those that are willing are moved on to a Halfway House where efforts are made to either re-unite them with their family or to find foster families for them. By US/UK standards, the facilities were less than basic and would probably be deemed unsuitable, but this is the only place for these boys to go, and there they have shelter, food and are kept safe from harm. They also cook a meal every Friday which sees over 100 children come for food... many of them live in the nearby homes but they don't get cooked meals at home so they come to the centre for one once a week.
The next project we visited was called Spring Valley and was supposed to be a Boarding School, except that it was school holidays and there were still children there! These were mostly just not picked up by their parents, perhaps because the school was so much better than what they would have had at home, but the school also had raised a couple of children who had been abandoned and brought to them... one of them at less than 2 years old! Again, by US/UK standards the conditions were dismal, but for most of the children what they have at the school exceeds what they would have at home. The lady who runs the school simply wants to help the children, but it's a constant battle of stretching the money and resources as far as it will go. There is flowing water behind and down one of the sides of the school and they struggle to keep the unclean water out of their premises. It was inspiring to see her dedication but heartbreaking to see how hard it is for her. It was good to know that the same network that ran the camp is doing what they are able to help her.
In the evening we went to a worship event at Kampala Baptist Church and it really was a lovely way to end our week. It was quite modern and western really, but was an uplifting time and it was great singing (when it was in English) and dancing with the Ugandans. They did one English song which myself and the others in the team knew well and we sang our hearts out... then there was another one in Ugandan but I recognised the tune as a song I knew from years ago and managed to remember the words in English after a while.
We were driven back to Entebbe late that evening, battling traffic even at that late time of night to get out of Kampala, and spent a few hours at the hostel in Entebbe, resting and freshening up (as much as one can freshen up in 27 degree heat) before the owner drove us to the airport at 3am.
Our flight home on Sunday went fine. We flew to Nairobi, Kenya and spent an hour in the airport there, then flew 7 hours to Amsterdam and had an hour in the airport there before flying home to London. The "inconvenience" of not having personal TV screens or working headsets for the long leg of the journey was overshadowed by the many "inconveniences" in the everyday lives of the children and people we had met.
I met a young lady on the 2nd leg of the journey who was from Kenya but had gone to college in the US and was still living and working in New York in Investments. We talked about "fitting in" and yet not feeling "at home", which is how she feels right now in New York and how I felt when I lived in California. She had a goal of returning to Kenya and we talked about how perhaps God had her doing a mundane job which she didn't enjoy at the moment because he was going to use the experience and knowledge she was gaining to help her family and her people when she returned to Kenya... it was encouraging to hear how much she wants to help children and people in Kenya when she returns.
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