South Africa, here we go...

Dear Reader,
If you get the chance, please travel to Cape Town one day. It's beautiful.

-Timothy

People had given us some really great reviews of Cape Town, and it really is everything it's cracked up to be. I'm getting ahead of myself; please excuse me for taking so long to write this, I've been distracted by my surroudings recently. We arrived on May 1st, after some complications getting into the country (long-ish story), and we met our friend Pete (Miller) at the airport. It was the Pete Miller that we met at OPC last summer, the one with flowing blond locks of hair like that of a Swedish diety, and the one who invited us to stay at his house in South Africa should we ever be in the neighbourhood. Well here we were, in the neighbourhood, being warmly welcomed by Pete (with his flowing locks sadly chopped off), Katie (his wife, and fellow leader at OPC), and Hannah Miller (a VERY new addition - just 8 weeks old!). The Miller family welcomed us in, introduced us to Somerset West (their stunning town about 50 km east of Cape Town), and showed us the way things go in South Africa: Mountain biking, Ocean views, and of course, a "Braai" on our first night. A Braai is like a souped up barbeque where you normally eat this amazing sausage roll called "Boerwors" (pronounced something like "boorvorsh", sort of).

First impressions: "Do people here realize how incredible this place is?"

For our first few days we hung out with the Miller family, saw Kurstenbosch (largest botanical Gardens in Africa?...possibly the world?), hiked Table Mountain, Mountain biked near Stallenbosch (beautiful, if you were wondering), saw vineyards, and played Ultimate Frisbee! Pete has friends on the South African national team, so this was GOOD Ulti...and I was shocked at how rusty I was at first. Yikes.

After those first few days, we met up with old family friends of ours (the Gammon's), and we've now spent the last week at their house, which is right in Cape Town itself (so we could see more of the city via the Metro system). I hadn't seen The Gammon's for a few years, so it was crazy to reconnect here in Africa and see them again. This week Remy and I have seen Robben Island (where Mandela, and many others, were imprisoned), the Cape Town waterfront, downtown, and we've also been introduced to some awesome music (and been to two local shows!) thanks to Jessica Gammon, who is currently in second year at UCT (University of Cape Town). There is a lot to be done in Cape Town, and there is no way we will do it all. However, I did have the goal of seeing a Giraffe, and I'm pumped to say that it has been accomplished! Glorious. I signed up for a day trip Safari to a (relatively) small wildlife reserve just 3 hours outside of Cape Town, because I didn't have time to travel across the country to Kruger National Park or something...but it was breathtaking. All you could see stretching around in every direction were open plains and the Cape Fold Mountains rising up everywhere. I was actually fourtunate enough to see a lot of amazing wildlife on the Safari, and the highlight was definetly the two Giraffe's we saw hanging out together on a hillside.

Also, today I went down to the Cape Town waterfront where the "Tour D'Afrique" bike race was finishing. It is a bike race that takes place over 4 month's and stretches over 12,000 km from Cairo to Cape Town. I was there at the finish line to cheer on a teacher from Crescent School - Mr. (Jamie) Macrae! It was awesome. For you Crescent boys reading this: Mr. Macrae definitely had a solid cheering squad of students from the GAP (Get Ahead Project) School from Queenstown, South Africa (who Mr. Macrae has been raising money for by doing this bike race - about $40,000 at this point I was told!). It was awesome to be there for the finish of this amazing race, and it was crazy and unreal to meet up with a Crescent Teacher in the middle of Cape Town. I didn't see that one coming when I planned this trip.

So that has been South Africa so far. On Monday we're meeting back up with Pete to get involved with volunteering in some of the townships for our final week here. Pete is really involved in serving in some of the poor communities around the Cape, and we're hoping to help out for a few days with some AIDS patients, children and families in 2 of the townships around Cape Town. So the tourist stint is coming to an end.

Hopefully I'll be able to update soon about how the volunteering goes, and on May 18th we are off to Amsterdam, where we spend 4 days chilling (and meeting up with Remy's dad), before heading back to Canada all together. I can't believe all that we've experienced, and I'm bracing myself for a bit of culture shock in a couple of weeks. Time to try and process everything.

Peace.

Leaving the Pearl

Zanzibar was a good time. We ended up making friends with a group from a study abroad program, and it was awesome to have a new group to travel around with. They were from Canada/U.S. Three of them also happened to be taking the same bus to Moshi (where we flew back to Uganda from...the town beside kilimanjaro), so we had some good times hanging out. Also, 3 of the guys were on their college Ultimate teams, so we had some good frisbee talk, and we shared in missing that great game (none of us had the frisbee's we had brought with us to throw on the beach, sadly). They also helped us out a lot, and we might not have made it back without their help...from getting our bus tickets for us, to allowing us to stay at the same places (we had no idea where to go for our nights in Dar es Salaam and Moshi)...so that was really cool.

So we're now back in the Pearl of Africa. But we leave tomorrow for Cape Town. Isn't that wild? My hope is that I see a Giraffe before I leave this continent. That's the dream, because Giraffe's are the greatest animals. I read recently that they have the same amount of neck vertebrae as us, but that each one is 8 inches long! Isn't THAT wild!?

So today we have to say our goodbyes to everyone from KiBO, Abraham and Judith (and the twins: Edna and Maria), and this wonderful country. We both agreed that the people in Uganda are much more welcoming and friendly than those of Tanzania (I'm sure there are nice people in both countries...but that was our impression). I suppose we'll see if South Africa measures up to East Africa. Time has flown way too fast.

Werinkup Uganda.
Peace

Kalangala, Zanzibar - Island Chillin.

Last Thursday I said goodbye to all the amazing students and teachers of the two Kisugu schools. My time there was way too short, but I'm so thankful I made the connections I did. I managed to talk to them about potential pen pals type things between students from my grade 5 classes, and the grade 5's of Crescent. I told them I'd check with Crescent...so if anyone from Crescent is reading this: Is that cool? That sort of thing would be really valuable for the students on both sides of the world.

Friday morning we left with our friend Gerald (from the KiBO foundation) for Kalangala, which is a beautiful island on Lake Victoria. We took a ferry over the equator with some borrowed bikes, and camped out by a beach on the island. We had some sweet bike rides around the island through the think jungles and down some awesome hills. Uganda has the largest number of species of birds in the world (I believe...at least in Africa), and even Kampala has a lot of cool birds. But the wildlife on the island was beautiful and even more plentiful.

On Monday, we hopped on a flight over to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We took a public bus, where we discovered that everyone in Tanzania speaks Swahili, and no one really knows any English. (Despite the presence of regional languages in Uganda - namely Lugandan in central areas - most people can understand English). After a crowded bus ride, we were dropped off at the fish market, where a man we met (who called himself "Starfish") directed us to the ferry docks. We got a ferry after some intense bargaining wars, and got ourselves over to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is one of the most unique places I've been this year! We've just had a day or so of exploring and taking many pictures of the old Zanzibar town, Stonetown. It is as though we have gone back in time. Very beautiful and very surreal.

We've got a week in Tanzania before we head back to Uganda, then catch our flight to South Africa for the last leg of our adventure. I'm pumped.

Two New Friends: Mark and Chris

Mark is Probably my biggest fan. Sorry Mom. He's about 4 years old, and he attends the Nursery School part of Kisugu St. Stephen's. There are a group of the nursery children that yell "Mzungu!" (white man), and run at me whenever I arrive at school. I am normally escorted by a group of 3 or 4, grabbing my arms or just hugging my waist, all the way to the office, where I wait for my lessons to start. But the best part is when I'm waiting in the office reading or reviewing my lesson plans. Mark just comes in and stands next to me. He is silent. He just admires my arms/hands and pats them with his hands, or just stares up at my face. The other teachers find it really funny, and they always laugh as they try to convince Mark to go back to the class he's supposed to be sitting in. But today was an important day in our relationship, as Mark finally opened his mouth! I decided I would start off today with a question he might know the answer to...and this is how our conversation went:

Me: So what's your name?
Mark (pausing, focused on my arm): "...(Something in Lugandan)...Mark"
Me: We've met before haven't we Mark?"
Mark: Yes.
Me: "So do you remember my name?"
Mark: "Yes."
Me: "What's my name?"
Mark (pausing): "...Mzungu."

Oh man. he's hilarious. Really shy, but apparently fascinated with me.

Chris is a few decades older than Mark. He's been a teacher here for 20 years, and he is one of the grade 5 teachers (the grade I'm helping with at both schools) at the government school. After classes, he normally comes to help me with the sports and games with the students. He is a very calm, serious man, but you can tell he has a passion for teaching and I often catch him stifling a laugh at the many hilarious moments that happen during the games time.

I mention him also because he is trying to accomplish something that I want to help him with. He wants to build a fully operational school in his home village, Mbale, in Eastern Uganda. We have talked about his idea, and he has recently given me a full proposal of all the costs for his potential school. I really respect him, and I have told him I'll do what I can to help, and he was so thankful that he told me he would dedicate the school to me or name it after me...which I told him was a ridiculous idea. The point is, the best long term solution to poverty is the education of children and I have seen the truth of that as I have travelled this year. So this is the first plug for Chris Wanyakala's school. He has estimated the total cost (including teachers salaries, buying land, building the school, and buying materials) to be about the equivalent of $40,000 dollars (60 million Ugandan Shillings sounds much more intense). Just a heads up about that.

School is going really well. Exams started today at Kisugu St. Stephen's, and they start on Wednesday for Kisugu Church of Uganda (Gov't School). Exams basically mean less lessons and more sports and games outside in the breaks between papers! Frisbee with the kids at Kisugu St. Stephen's today was incredibly chaotic and hectic, and I don't think I stopped laughing the whole time. I think they were extra excited after being cooped up for their exams. Awesome.

A quick lesson in Ugandan slang: "Werinkup." (literally: "We link up", as in, I'll see you later, we'll link up and hang out soon - said with a strong Ugandan accent that Remy and I can't fully imitate yet).
Lesson #2: "T.I.A." -> This is Africa. (In case you hadn't heard that one)

Werinkup.
PS - Pictures: The boy on the far right is Mark. The man next to me is Chris.

I have to make this quick.

This week has been incredible! My teaching schedule looks like this:
11 am: A beautiful time for a first class...I teach about 20 students at the smaller of the two school for a Ugandan 40 minutes (closer to an hour) at "Kisugu St. Stephen's Primary".
After lunch: I have two official classes at the government school (Kisugu Church of Uganda). The smaller one has 100 students...the bigger one has 110. It is equally as fun!
After school I take one of the government school classes out for sports and games! (FRISBEE!). SO MUCH FUN.

So school has been a blast! I've been teaching english, as well as general knowledge about the world, because most students don't know anything about the world outside of Uganda/East Africa. (Someone told me that Ethiopia was the continent North of Africa).

Also, Yesterday I went kayaking on the Nile River in Jinja! (where the Nile starts!) It was awesome. Remy went Bungee jumping, and I decided that wasn't for me. He had fun though.

Things are good.
Peace.

Back to Primary school

Through the KiBO foundation I have met many interesting people. Last Thursday Abraham introduced me to the head teacher of Kisugu Church of Uganda Primary School, a very impoverished school that KiBO students have recently helped support. They invited me to come and teach, so on Friday I went to meet with them to discuss where/how I could be used. This is where things get interesting...I feel like I say that a lot. For the record, this year has been interesting.

Anyhow, so we drove past a few school buildings and up to a set of gates that said "Kisugu Primary School"...or something like that. I went in with Remy and we asked for the head teacher. They said he was away, but they gave us his mobile number. I had forgotten his name, but I called anyways and told him who I was, and that I wanted to talk to him about volunteering at his school. He seemed surprised and just said: "I'll be there in 2 minutes!" In non-Ugandan style, he came flying up the hill on a motorbike (or "bodaboda") within about 2 minutes!

He greeted me with a big smile, and I couldn't understand why I didn't really recognize him...He brought me to the office and asked me how I heard of his school, and how I got his number. Hmm...well...does KiBO foundation ring a bell? ....Nope. He proceeded to tell me that his school was called "Kisugu St. Stephen's primary school", and that the school I was looking for was probably "Kisugu Church of Uganda primary school". This was true. But he went on to say that he was so excited when he got my call because their school has a great need for teachers, and they have been looking ever since they started for any sort of partnerships with teachers from overseas! He told me he understood if I wanted to teach at the other school, but that he welcomed any commitment I could give to their school, as he considered my (completely random) showing up a total blessing. Long story short, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to drive just past the other Kisugu school in order to meet this awesome man. As of tomorrow, I'm meeting an english teacher from their school and I'm gonna help out with grade 5!

I also went on to meet the head teacher from the other Kisugu School (whom I had met), and they also assigned me to two grade 5 classes (English), as well as a joint grade 5 class doing sports and games (ie - Ultimate frisbee) after school. I'm pretty pumped for tomorrow. The only problem is that it really won't be much of a commitment because they go into exams in 2 weeks...but I'll have a couple of weeks to make a connection with 2 very needy schools, possibly improve some english and teach them about the world, and play some sweet ultimate games. Hopefully I can help out in such a short time.

Remy is in the process of getting involved in some very interesting and creative ways, and will possibly be going outside the city to help with arts n' crafts sorta stuff in a village nearby, so he won't be joining me at school.

So it seems that anywhere I go this year, I always get pulled back into teaching at good ol' Primary school. Hooray for maturity! The crowd I've been hanging around this year might be slightly different to the first year university crowd this september. We'll see if I fit in...

Uganda. (Chapter 3 begins)

Peter Crysdale was right. The sky in Sub-Saharan Africa during the rainy season is breathtaking.

I have learned a lot in my first week in Africa. The people are warm, like the weather, and Ugandans have a lot to teach me. Having said that, so did Honduran's...and Nepali's. The geography, vegetation and poverty here remind me more of Honduras. Nepal has one of the lowest GDP's in the world, and yet many more people are living above the poverty line, whereas country's like Honduras and Uganda may generate more wealth, and yet have more people living below the poverty line. Kampala (the capital of Uganda - where we are living), is a nice city. It has a distinct CBD, some nice malls, and quite a few suave businessmen. Nepal had little or none of the above. The lush vegetation, rolling green hills, humidity, and hot sun remind me of Honduras. Ok...comparison over.

KiBO:

See "Kibo Peak" - one of the peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

See “KiBO foundation” – an organization based in Kampala, Uganda. Created and directed by Abraham and Judith Temu, with the aim of educating and empowering Ugandan/African youth, and teaching them that they can make a difference in their communities. Awesome. Not to be confused with the “Kybo”. (I’m not being insulting, Abraham said it!)

We are staying in Kampala with our Ugandan family: Abraham and Judith (our parents), and Maria and Edna (our 5 year old twin sisters).

At this moment the KiBO program is finishing its third class, and starting it’s fourth. When we arrived the third class of students was running its final project, which was a series of fundraisers to raise money for a nearby orphanage/primary school, to improve their learning environment. “Ugandan youth helping other young Ugandans, that’s what it’s all about. Not taking handouts from North Americans, but realizing they can make a difference themselves to solve the ‘Africa problem’.” (The above is a paraphrased version of something Abraham said.) One thing I noticed right away about the KiBO youth, and the teachers, is their passion. It pumps you up when you listen to them. There are 4 associates/teachers working with KiBO: Gerald, Jonathan, Michael, and Anis. They all have very distinct personalities, and they are all hilarious. Remy and I have had the chance to hang out with them a bit and learn some Ugandan slang and eat some Ugandan food (Metoke – a banana/water mix mashed up and wrapped in banana leaves…tasty!).

Anyhow, so it’s a bit of a transition period here at KiBO (between class 3 ending and class 4 starting). Remy and I were able to help out at the final fundraiser for class 3, which was a huge car wash event last Saturday. It was intense! I’ve never seen cars washed with so much vigour. It is now “KiBO week”, so there are various intro events for class 4, and people can come into the centre and get a peak at what KiBO is all about.

In the past few days (due to the hectic organization stuff going on at KiBO centre, Remy and I were given a chance to explore the city (and get out of everyone’s hair). It has been really fun to just discover all that Kampala has, figure out how to get around and where to go, and how not to get lost. We are now pretty solid at finding our way around the city and we’ve seen a lot!

So we’re in Africa, and I’m still processing everything. I can’t believe I’m here and I’m really excited about what’s to come. Also, my great Uncle Arthur arrived here last night to take part in KiBO week and see how the KiBO foundation is doing. (He is on the board for the foundation, and he is the reason I met Abraham in Toronto last fall). It’s nice to have some family here in Uganda!

I really will try to get pictures up soon. Really, I will.

Peace.