August 14- Jinja

Hello from Jinja! Shavi, Marisa, Tess, Emmanuel, and Michael are all in Jinja, while Bryan is back in the US and Angela and Alan are in Kampala.

This past week the whole group got a lot done. We were sorry to see Bryan leave, but we kept busy washing and sieving sand and even starting to dig test holes for boreholes. We finished the sand and attached the PVC pipe for the filter, so when we get back from Jinja we can actually construct our filter! Very exciting. We also started digging a test hole after buying 3 steel pipes in Masaka (the pipes we bought in the US are currently stuck in customs). It is very tiring work as the ground is apparently entirely made of clay in Ddegeya, but so far we've dug 9 feet into a pre-existing shallow hole, so our test hole reaches 13 feet into the ground. No water yet, but when we met with Uganda Village Project (another NGO in the area), they told us that the harder it is to find the water, the cleaner and more abundant the water ends up being. So we're going with that theory for now.

Then on Thursday the group headed to Kampala and shopped for metal to make a drill bit so our digging is easier. Angela and Alan then went home and Michael went to meetings regarding other NGO's that he's a part of, and Emmanuel, Shavi, Marisa, and Tess went shopping for gifts for people back home. Emmanuel was a great tour guide, and we saw more mzungus than we had in a while. We met up with Michael for dinner and (after some searching) found a restaurant that many of Michael's friends had suggested. When we got there the place was full of mzungus, but we figured that was normal. Apparently, it was not normal. We got drinks immediately, but ended up waiting an hour before they asked us what food we wanted. It then took another 2 hours before we got any food at all. All the mzungus ordered steak and were very excited about it. However, we were less excited when it was 10 pm and we still hadn't even been given bread. Anyways, the food finally came (after Tess went down and talked quite angrily to the manager) but the food was a much smaller portion than they usually give, they didn't have soup or dessert and they didn't have half of the sides that the meal was supposed to come with. Obviously, we were a little annoyed, but the food that we did get was delicious, and we ended up paying the equivalent of $3.50 for quite a lot of steak. So it kind of worked out in the end. We then went to the hostel (except for Emmanuel who went to his Kampala home) and slept very well.

The next day, Shavi, Michael, Marisa, Emmanuel, and Tess went to Jinja to meet with an NGO called the Uganda Village Project (UVP) and have a vacation. Meeting with UVP was very interesting- they made us think more about water storage, which we hadn't considered much before, and they showed us a successful shallow well that a village dug, which made us hopeful that we could do that in Ddegeya. We also got to try a rolex (not the watch- its chapatti and omelet wrapped up) which was yummy, but could have used some spicy curry or peppers or something. We then went with that NGO to the Mabira forest outside of Jinja, where they were having a goodbye goat roast for one of their members. We walked around the rain forest and saw a ton of monkeys, and then got to eat delicious goat meat and popcorn. Everyone but Emmanuel then headed to a hostel in Jinja, while Emmanuel went to his house near Jinja. When we got to the hostel, we were hungry because we hadn't had that much goat meat, so Marisa and I ordered burgers and french fries (it's been so nice getting mzungu food!!), Shavi got a tuna sandwich, and Michael got a salad. It was really yummy and we topped it off with smoothies. We then were really full, and headed to bed very happily.

Today, Michael went white water rafting on the Nile, while Shavi, Marisa, and Tess wandered around the Jinja area. We don't know yet how rafting was, but we're sure he had a good time. The rest of us had pancakes this morning (I have actually been craving pancakes for a week) and then went to Bujagali Falls, which were beautiful. We spent some time there and took lots of pictures, and then headed into Jinja town. We got some money and then wandered around for a while. We ended up finding a mzungu place to eat and got sandwiches and hummus and salads and even ice cream! We're really spoiling ourselves while we can. It was awesome. We then headed to the source of the Nile where we saw lots of cormorants and went on a boat ride around the source and a little bit of Lake Victoria. We then did a little more gift shopping (we've become experts at bargaining) and then headed back to the hostel. We are now relaxing and getting ready for a birthday dinner for Shavi, who turns 21 on Monday. We've been having a really good time, and I think we all feel much more energetic heading towards our last two weeks.

In official news, we got a TIN!! Wooooooooo! John put a lot of work into it on Friday (he's been great) so now our customs clearance agent should be able to get one of our crates through before we leave! We're very excited about that.

Tomorrow we head back to Kampala and then Ddegeya to get back to work, but we've had a great weekend off. I'm sure our new found energy (both from rest and from finally eating protein!) will allow us to get a lot done our last two weeks. Hard to believe only 2 weeks left!