Une autre monde…

Come with us as we explore the community of Myende, one of the villages sponsored by CSWCT, on Koome Island.

As you approach the village, your guide tells you that the village has no permanent structures. It is made up of people who come here to find work fishing, and sometimes, remain for a very long time.

Reflections on Ngamba Island

The team has just returned from a weekend on Ngamba Island, where CSWCT runs a one-of-a-kind chimpanzee sanctuary. Not only do they take care of 44 orphaned and rescued chimps, but CSWCT builds schools in the local communities around the island, and uses all the resources they have to improve the local area. The four of us had the experience of actually walking with these chimps – playing with them, feeding them, carrying and even talking to them. Having just gotten back to the mainland, here are some of our reflections.

Binders don’t build themselves!

Our fourth day of work in Uganda was spent preparing all of our materials for the workshop. It seems the person who copied the handouts didn’t collate the 45 pages. Here’s a few stats:
Binders assembled: 62
Tracks listened to: about 60
Hours spent: 4
Injuries: 1 (papercut – sorry Courtney!)
Sore backs: 4
Smiles: 86

Our trip to Kampala…

 

Kampala traffic jam

Our trip to Kampala was fast paced much like the city itself.  We were dropped off here and there, to avoid having to park, which seemed presently unobtainable.  Whether gathering our workshop supplies, visiting a local market and stopping in at the post office our surroundings  seemed to embody the same high octant attitude…get it done and get out before the afternoon jam.  The city whirled around us and I strained to take everything in.  It was a great first glance at what, I suspect this historical city can offer.

 

Day Two: Visiting the Schools

Today was spent working on the workshop materials, reviewing movies, and playing frisbee, but by far the highlight of the day was the three hours we spent visiting St. Thereza’s Primary School, just up the road from the JGI Office. This school had seven hundred students, ranging from grades one to seven.

First Day on the Job

After long flights, layovers, and adventures, the four of us spent our first full day in Entebbe, working on the workshop schedule with Aiden from JGI Uganda. I think we all agreed that it was nice to get a better idea of the form of our workshops – what we will be working on, how and when it will happen, and lots of smaller details. Of course, our feelings regarding our workshop were in some cases dwarfed by the splendour of our surroundings!

Learn Bugandan with us!

So Uganda, like many (possibly all) African countries, is a composite of historical kingdoms and territories. It so happens that Entebbe and Masindi, where we will be working, fall in the traditional kingdom of Buganda. Therefore, although English and Swahili are the national official languages, we’re going to try to learn a little bit of Bugandan.

Running for Monkeys!

The single biggest and most fun fund-raising campaign that I “ran” in preparation for this project was “Running for Monkeys”, where I essentially did the Quebec City Half Marathon dressed very oddly (see below):