Traveling with Rhona: Ten Hours on A Dirt Road!

Inspecting the 19 Rotary borehole wells.

On Wednesday of this week I accompanied Rotarian President Grace Amono to inspect the 19 borehole wells rehabilitated by Frederick Bese and his company, Frontline Engineering & Inv, Ltd. These borehole wells were rehabilitated as part of a Rotary project sponsored by Rotarians in the Washington state area. The work is complete, and PHF Grace just needed to visually confirm each well and Rotary sign post. Little did I know what I was in for this day, or more specifically, what my body would be going through on this journey into the bushes! We spent over ten hours of grueling and extremely bumpy roads to get to all the 19 well sites. We traveled to Amuru and near Pade in one day, which is quite unbelievable to those who know the places! I saw some incredibly beautiful country, and we were so far in the bush at times that we were no longer on a road, but more like on an animal path deep in the bush.

Inspecting another well with Frederick's team.

This is the Custom Corner borehole. Me, Frederick, & Joseph.

Frederick was driving, and he was in a hurry as he wanted to get to all of the wells in one day. At times it was raining and the roads were very slippery. He was going so fast! There were large potholes in the road and he would hit a puddle of water so hard that it would make a rainstorm of muddy water come down upon the misfortunate people that were walking on the road. It didn’t matter if they were small children, women, grandpas, or grandmas. They would all get soaked! Grace and I would scold him for splashing the walkers, but he insisted that it was better to be splashed with muddy water than to be hit by the truck because if he tried to put on his brakes or if he tried to miss the puddle, he might hit the person because the truck could slide. We passed a man and woman sharing a bike who were unfortunately near a large pothole and as we drove by them, they were covered by an entire sheet of muddy water! Not just splashes, but an entire shower of dirty water soaked them thoroughly! Frederick felt some mercy on them and stopped and gave them some money for soap to wash their clothes. Not everything was safe from his driving. It was sad when he hit the pig, and I am sure there are a few less chicks and chickens alive after we passed through a village. It’s illegal for animals to be on the road, so if they get in your way, you aren’t held liable if you hit them. Somebody will miss their pig tonight when it doesn’t come home……and somebody else is probably eating a good emergency pork or chicken dinner.

We're all in front of the Land Cruiser that takes us ANYWHERE we need to go!

Grace, Frederick, a Student trainee, me, and another guy named Frederick!

My body was extremely sore, bruised and unsettled by the time we returned late at night. We had been jostled and thrown all over the Land Cruiser and against each other. I can’t even begin to imagine the discomfort of Frederick’s crew that rode in the back of his truck for that far and that long! But all in all, it was a wonderful day. I saw some really beautiful country. Amuru District near the mountains of Guruguru Hills is said to be the original place of President Obama’s ancestors before they moved to Kenya. All of Africa loves Obama way so much. They might not know where Hawaii is on a map, but all I have to say is that I am from Hawaii, the birthplace of Obama, and they are all smiles. There is even a song written about Obama celebrating his heroism! It’s a nice song with a good beat.

Here is a very large anaconda snake and bobcats (below) we came across in our travels in the bush.

By the end of the day we had successfully witnessed the completion of all 19 Rotary wells that were rehabilitated. It was a very tiring, but fun day. By the way, the animal pictures were actually taken at the stadium and they were in cages; we didn’t actually see them in the bush!

Another wild animal we crossed paths with in the bush....

On other business, I have been working on a project for the orphanage in the accounting office. It’s not challenging, but at least it is different than just holding babies all day. I also went out dancing with a group of friends, including Kayla, this weekend and we had a wonderful time. It was super crowded, but it was still fun. Kayla and I have a good time when we go out together. I wish we had more good times together like that; it seems we argue more than we laugh these days. Teenage years are so difficult and teenagers think they know so much more than their parents. It is a very frustrating job sometimes.

Her bride price was 7 cows, 8 goats, 5 mill UGX, etc...

Kayla and I went to another wedding/engagement ceremony last night. It’s hard to explain the cultural differences here. To you, it would look like a wedding celebration; wedding cake, exchange of rings, exchange of words, etc; but it was actually an engagement party. Here in Acholi land, a couple lives together and has a child or two before actually getting engaged. After being engaged for a couple of years, they will get married in the church and have another large wedding celebration. The bride price was 7 cows, 8 goats, 5 million UGX ($2500), a Gomez for the mother, a suit for the father, and other things. The wedding was beautiful, the food was delicious, and we all had fun. Today is Palm Sunday, March 28th. Our group is going to a beach this afternoon near a pond for some relaxing. I’ll write more about this next week. I had a busy week; a good week. I want to thank those of you who are following my blog and sending funds for school fees. My goal is to get each of the girls on my list sponsored before I leave in May, and I am well on my way. Thank you everyone for your support!