We had so much happen last week that I didn't get it all into my last blog entry! One of the things I didn't mention last week was the car trouble we had while at Queen Elizabeth. As we were driving to catch the 3:00 channel boat, we blew out a tire. We had a spare of course and after some wrangling with the jack and careful incremental movement until it was in the right position we were able to get the tire changed out. Ten minutes later as we are again driving to catch our boat, the spare tire we just put on flies off into the bush! My driver Emma was great and kept the vehicle under control while bringing the vehicle to a stop on the side of the road. We had all watched Emma tighten the lug nuts on the spare and couldn't figure out how the tire could have come off. After trekking through some bushes we finally located the tire and as we walked back down the road were able to locate the lug nuts that had fallen off one by one. We hitched a ride with a family from Germany, but missed the 3:00 boat. Fortunately the Mweya Lodge had a boat the was leaving at 4:30 that actually turned out to be nicer than the Uganda Wildlife Authority boats, and they served drinks during our outing. While we were enjoying the wildlife, Emma collected some other drivers and went back to the car to get the tire back on. When we asked him how in the world they were able to get the car up off the rim and get the tire back on Emma just said "we were many." In addition to the tire difficulties, our Land Cruiser, which we named Besse, started have engine troubles and we had to make our way back from Queen Elizabeth very slowly. On Monday of this week we traded Besse in for a vehicle that is ubiquitous here in Uganda, a 4WD van made by Toyota called a Hiace. I drove us in to Fort Portal on Monday and was very impressed by the way it drives and handles the roads here. On Tuesday we again made the long trek down to Rwimi to give a presentation with soils data from January, in the village of Kajumiro. On the way back the van overheated and started burning oil, we had to stop and let it cool then add water to the radiator, before slowly making our way home. The vehicle was not drivable after that so I decided to just send it back to the leasing agency in Kampala and rent the same vehicle I used in January that belongs to Kato, the assistant director of MUBFS.
Enough about cars, we also had some wonderful experiences this past week. On Sunday, Mike and I attended a special mass and party celebrating the ordination of Emma's brother into the Catholic priesthood. It was an incredible celebration, with at least 3000 people gathered from all over the country, including two choirs and two groups of young girls that danced while the choirs sang. The range of colors in the women's clothing was stunning! I was glad I brought a nice skirt with me so I could dress up a bit. When the service ended, they had 6 different serving stations set up and provided food for everyone there. It was really quite an amazing experience and was I am so happy we were invited.
While we were in Kajumiro on Tuesday, we went to the primary school to meet the children and deliver some school supplies that Stuart had brought over and a couple soccer balls. The children welcomed us wholeheartedly, and sung up a storm for us. When I get back to the states and have a decent internet connection I will upload some movies. They were so happy to get the school supplies and were thrilled to get the soccer balls. Then we gathered everyone for the presentation and they all seemed to hang on every word I had to say, even though they had to wait for the translation from my field assistant Liz.
We are continuing to give presentations to all the villages I visited in January, so more about this in the next entry.
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