50 down 950 to go!
Yesterday after Godfrey had showed me his farm we started delivering the first mosquito 🦟 nets in Nyenga. People had come back from digging their fields early as there was a storm on the way! We hoped we would beat it but the clouds burst and we both got soaked. I did bring a waterproof but of course that was still in my case!! I actually enjoyed the rain as it broke the humidity but wasn’t so keen on what it did to the ground! Almost immediately the path became very slippery clay mud and nowhere was flat! Many times I only just managed to stay upright! Eventually we stayed put in the car and the people receiving came out to us! Some of the donors names became rather soggy too but I’m sure they won’t mind!

Resting under a tree after Godfrey walked me round his farm. Feeling rather warm today as very humid. Rain is on its way! Godfrey employs several workers from the local community and provides houses for them and their families as well as a salary. I’m sat with two of the farm of the workers wives as they prepare banana fronds to use in making matoki, an ingredient you have with every meal in Uganda. It’s delicious once you get used to it, and even better with g-nut sauce over the top! X

Will add videos when internet is better or when I get home!

Charles reappeared at the allotted time on Saturday and took me into Kampala to meet Godfrey and Abi not far from the MTN Service Centre to update my WiFi box. We were in there for over two hours to do the simplest of jobs. Ugandan’s like to take their time and make mountains out of molehills! I admit that one was because my signature didn’t match the one in my passport, but does anybody’s? Trouble is I do have a bit of a ‘shake’ these days but that was not taken into consideration. Anyway as you can see I’m now online and you can’t get rid of me!🤣
We then moved to one of the big bookshops risking our lives crossing the roads full of mad traffic! You feel the traffic almost brushing you and it doesn’t help being a Mzungu either! It took a while to find the correct primary books I was after for Good Luck Junior School for their new library. I spent a bit more than I had intended too but that’s the trouble with bookshops! I think the staff and children at GLJS will be very pleased when they receive them. 🤗 Thanks to those who donated for the books, even though it didn’t quite pay for them, but that’s my fault! Photos later when they’re installed in their new home!

I was happy when Godfrey pointed out that I could use the western ‘facility’ at none other than the Ministry of Energy! I soon accepted his idea! I was amused by the instructions on the door? Understandable though as most people in Uganda still use long drop latrines.

I was very glad to get out of Kampala and on the road to my first home in Jinja with Godfrey’s family. It’s always a continuous jam to get out of the city but yesterday was the worst I’ve ever been in. Hundreds of boda boda motorcycles taxis that weave in and out of the traffic loaded with many people or produce, while others on foot make their way round trying to sell their wares through car windows! I saw one little boy sat in front of the boda driver with his hands over his eyes. Not sure if it was because of the dust or he was scared stiff! The boda bodas often bump their front wheels against other boda or vehicles. No one cares! Actually the last time I was in Uganda Godfrey and I took bodas to do the banking in the heart of the city, it’s always a heart in mouth experience but also funnily enough quite enjoyable! I had left my helmet back at Innocents place the previous year but these particular boda drivers had helmets for their passengers plus bright orange hairnets to protect your heads from any unsavoury bugs from the passengers previously!

Once out of the city the traffic didn’t ease as it usually did. I tried to sleep but only my young friend Abi managed it! We passed tall expensive looking partly built hotels surrounded by poor housing and damp rubbish filled river beds with the enormous bald vulture-like marabou stalks scavenging off it. Of course we should be grateful for them as they do clear up human mess!
We stopped at the street BBQ as we were all hungry. The only down side of this is when the sellers compete for sales, through the window in front of my face! I usually close my windows before I get there but completely forgot! The chicken and ice cold cola was much appreciated though!

Once we got to Jinja Charles turned straight round and went back to his work at the airport. I don’t know how he manages! I do give him a good tip!

Slept very well last night, I needed it!
X

Dear friends, well Friday and my final 😢 trip to Uganda is fast approaching! I still can’t believe I’m saying that but I know in my heart, (and a few other bits of my body!) that this is the right time to call it a day.
I’ve been so so lucky with the amazing support I’ve received from you all over the years, 23 years in total, and you’ve not let me down on this occasion either!
Mosquito nets
I was hoping that we would supply 600 more mosquito 🦟 nets to the most vulnerable members of the communities I visit, but no, you have donated almost enough for me to order another 400, so I have! Yes, we will provide 1000, one thousand, more mosquito nets to 1000 more people! And 1000 more will be protected from the bite of the dreaded Malarian mosquito as they sleep! Phew! 🫶😅😀😇🤗😵‍💫😘🙃🙏🫂⭐️ 👍 not sure which emoji is appropriate to the way I feel!

Now other news!
I have a driver! Yes, a wonderful young lady called Abi who I first met when I was living and working at Maria’s Care children’s home in Kamuli. She was 3 years old! Her dad Godfrey had a little cafe not far away called, if I remember correctly, Home From Home! He wasn’t open in the evenings but would still cook meals just for us and deliver them! One memory stands out particularly when we were having the heaviest of tropical rains and we thought there was no way we were eating that night! But against all the odds, freshly cooked pizzas and bottles of ice cold Nile Beer were delivered, and more or less on time! Godfrey was on foot and the walk from his cafe was down a steep unmade muddy track which would have been very very slippery! The dear man was soaked through but the food was hot and delicious! We persuaded him to stay a while hoping the weather would improve, which it didn’t! He wouldn’t let us share our food with him, but did sit and help with preparation for school the following day, cutting out shapes I think! What a man, and what a wonderful friend he became and continues to be right up to the present day. He is the one who has guided me in so many ways over the years, from helping find schools for children we have sponsored, including Paul who recently left uni. He searches out and orders books and educational charts amongst other things, for the schools I get involved with, and he even sources the mosquito nets at cost for me!! I’m looking forward to spending time with Godfrey and his lovely family during my stay and of course delivering some of the nets with him.
Abi, as well as being a delightful young lady, is a fully qualified driver! She is just completing a course which will enable her to work at Entebbe airport. The only possible spanner in the works is that she doesn’t quite know when she will be free from uni, but her cousin Peter who is also a qualified driver is able to help out if there is a problem. Hopefully this will all be sorted before I arrive in Uganda! X

Good Luck Junior School – I’m looking forward to spending a few days at the school. It will look very different to the last time I was there!! It now has classrooms, latrines, a ‘kitchen’, an office and a library! And of course many happy children! Can’t wait to meet them all! The school had nothing in January 2020 when I was there before Covid. Well done everyone!
We will again be basing one of our mosquito net deliveries at the school, giving to many families of the children who attend.

Assistance!
I am being provided with wheelchair assistance throughout my journey to and from Uganda! With the pain and being unable to lift my left arm very well (due to a tear in my the shoulders’ rotator cuff!) I asked Brussels Airlines if I could have assistance with my luggage, including hand luggage. A wheelchair, and I assume a ‘pusher’, was what they’re giving me! I feel a bit of a fraud but have accepted gratefully, though I will be walking most of the time for exercise with the a long-haul flight ahead of me, the luggage can use the wheelchair! 🙃

And lastly my schedule. I’m not sure yet what my schedule is to be once I get to Uganda, except that Charles the taxi 🚖 man, will pick me up from Entebbe at midnight and take me to Banana Village for an overnight stay. After that is still to be decided! It will either be going to Godfrey’s where I will visit Nurse Bosco at his clinic, or straight to Innocents. I’ll let you know when I know! 🤗
Thank you once again for being beside me on my ‘adventures’ in Africa since I turned 50. I’m looking forward to having you ‘with me’ in Uganda this one last time.
Love to you all 🤗