Last December I was able to visit in Florence's home village in the east of Uganda near Mbale. Her family were so welcoming and wonderful. While talking with Margaret, her sister-in-law, I learned that Margaret was from Kenya and hadn't been back to her village there in more than 5 years. One thing led to another and now we are all planning to go visit there in August.
The traveling party will be Margaret and her family of 5, Florence and myself. There may be one or two more, as everyone who heard about it wanted to go along. Now I just have to work out the travel arrangements. Margaret and James will handle all the gifts to family, arrangements with her parents for our lodging, meals, etc. I am blessed to be able to experience life in a small village in Kenya thanks to the generosity of this family connected to Florence.
One option, the cheapest, would be for us to take a small bus from Kampala to Mbale, then a special hire (taxi) to their village. The next day we could take the special hire to the border of Kenya and catch a bigger bus to take us near to the village and then a special hire from the junction out to Margaret's family's place. The travel each way would take almost 20 hours. The large buses are not known for their safety on the roads, at least in Uganda. Seats on the small buses are minimally padded and often 4 people sit on seats made for 3.
Another, top of the line, option is to rent a tour vehicle designed to hold 7 plus a driver and leave Kampala, taking the same route as above. We would have lots more comfort and be able to go where ever we chose. The price tag with vehicle, driver, insurance: about $2200!!! Lots more than I was hoping to pay out for the trip.
We are exploring another option of hiring a small bus with driver to take us there. Then getting one in Kenya to take us back to Mbale. Florence and I could take the taxi/small bus back to Kampala.
Don't know exactly what will work out in the end. But just the logistics of planning this simple trip put me in awe of Shanthi and Chad who are working out all the details and options for leaving here, taking a 3 day holiday in England, going to Colorado and driving to CA. Then they have to have a place to live, retrieve the things from storage and get on with finding a job, starting home schooling, etc. All of this with 4 kids, 6-12 check through bags and 6 carry ons. They are truly remarkable people.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Visa Approved
In order to visit or stay in a country not your own, a visa is needed. These are easy to obtain for traveling, holidays, etc. But when one decides to remain in the country, there is a more stringent level of screening and requirements to meet.
In Uganda, there are several classifications or categories of visa applications: student, medical treatment, new business, dependent of someone with an approved visa, and employee. There is no category for “retired and living here”.
Thanks to EMI EA and Semei, the office administrator, I now have in my possession the new 3 year visa that was approved in March. The process began last November after I had updated my US passport. There is no way to begin a visa application with a passport that will expire within the next 12 months, especially since I wanted a 3 year visa. Then, there were the supporting letters from EMI, the application form itself and weekly visits by Semei to the Uganda Immigration Office downtown.
When the application was approved in early March, we paid the fee of 750,000/=UGS and waited. I fully expected the permit to be back dated to last November when the other one expired. But, thanks be to God, the new visa began in March and lasts until March 2012.
Only 6 ½ more years here and I'll qualify for a permanent visa and won't have to go through this nerve wracking process. Now I will be able to go visit other African countries too.
Oh, one of the wonderful things about Uganda: you only pay the fee once the application is approved. Unlike our embassy which charges $100 for someone just to apply and does not refund the money if the application is denied. Go figure....
In Uganda, there are several classifications or categories of visa applications: student, medical treatment, new business, dependent of someone with an approved visa, and employee. There is no category for “retired and living here”.
Thanks to EMI EA and Semei, the office administrator, I now have in my possession the new 3 year visa that was approved in March. The process began last November after I had updated my US passport. There is no way to begin a visa application with a passport that will expire within the next 12 months, especially since I wanted a 3 year visa. Then, there were the supporting letters from EMI, the application form itself and weekly visits by Semei to the Uganda Immigration Office downtown.
When the application was approved in early March, we paid the fee of 750,000/=UGS and waited. I fully expected the permit to be back dated to last November when the other one expired. But, thanks be to God, the new visa began in March and lasts until March 2012.
Only 6 ½ more years here and I'll qualify for a permanent visa and won't have to go through this nerve wracking process. Now I will be able to go visit other African countries too.
Oh, one of the wonderful things about Uganda: you only pay the fee once the application is approved. Unlike our embassy which charges $100 for someone just to apply and does not refund the money if the application is denied. Go figure....
End of farm life
Well, I'll be moving into a new house likely in early July. It is wonderful, about 200 yards from here, but has no compound (yard). So...one of my friends and his wife will be taking all the poultry, goats, flowers and bananas to their property. They will have use of all of that.
When/if I buy land and have the space, I will get some of the animals and plants back to begin again. Don't know when that will be as I want to buy a couple of acres out of Kampala and maybe even build a house too.
When/if I buy land and have the space, I will get some of the animals and plants back to begin again. Don't know when that will be as I want to buy a couple of acres out of Kampala and maybe even build a house too.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Childrens "Sevices" part 2
I went with another gal from church to meet Natalie and catch the van that would drive us the 1 ½ hours to the “camp”. This week, thanks to donations from church members and other resources, all the kids had at least a pair of trousers. Many had shirt, albeit torn ones, and some had sandles.
There was no electricity since Wednesday and therefore water had to be dipped from a pond to fill large barrels to use for cooking and cleaning. This was the only water for the 200 + kids who were there this week. Although the kids had not eaten for 3 days, some benefactor had brought posho and rice last night and the kids had two meals today. One meal was hot porridge, about 1 ½ cups of water cooked with posho flour. The second meal was simply rice. No beverage, no fruit, vegetables, seasonings, just plain food.
Thank goodness, Natalie and others of her friends will serve one real, big meal tomorrow, rice, potatoes, beef in gravy with other vegetables and milk to drink. What a feast!
The 20 girls are kept separated from the boys. In fact we saw only 3 of the 20 girls today. None of them are in school. There are scholarships for 4 boys so far, with 16 more who want to go and learn. The school is only a 2 mile walk away.
The physical plant has many buildings including a large multiunit dormitory for the boys, a cafeteria with two kitchens, an assembly hall, administration building, a carpentry workshop, girls residence house and several other buildings whose function I didn't know. There are large yards and some fields around that could support gardens, if anyone knew how to dig and plant. (Ali told me the place was originally built in the 1980's for teen-age criminals to rehabilitate them rather than put them into the adult prison.)
There are just 3 or 4 paid staff to operate the entire place, covering all shifts. Or maybe the kids are simply locked into their dorms for the night. I don't know. Speaking of dorms, there were about 34 sets of double bunk beds to accommodate the 180 boys, ages 3 to 18. the bottom bunks had mosquito nets, but the top ones didn't.
This is a government run facility, in the middle of nowhere with kids who are seen as problems. There is currently no attempt to reunite the kids with family members, although each week some of the kids run away in an attempt to find their mom or dad. But Kampala is a city of almost 3 million people and the neighborhoods and areas change rapidly with all the building that is going on. It is common for the escapee to be picked up and returned in a month or so.
It is hard to know if life here in the camp is better than the one they had begging on the street.
More later.....
There was no electricity since Wednesday and therefore water had to be dipped from a pond to fill large barrels to use for cooking and cleaning. This was the only water for the 200 + kids who were there this week. Although the kids had not eaten for 3 days, some benefactor had brought posho and rice last night and the kids had two meals today. One meal was hot porridge, about 1 ½ cups of water cooked with posho flour. The second meal was simply rice. No beverage, no fruit, vegetables, seasonings, just plain food.
Thank goodness, Natalie and others of her friends will serve one real, big meal tomorrow, rice, potatoes, beef in gravy with other vegetables and milk to drink. What a feast!
The 20 girls are kept separated from the boys. In fact we saw only 3 of the 20 girls today. None of them are in school. There are scholarships for 4 boys so far, with 16 more who want to go and learn. The school is only a 2 mile walk away.
The physical plant has many buildings including a large multiunit dormitory for the boys, a cafeteria with two kitchens, an assembly hall, administration building, a carpentry workshop, girls residence house and several other buildings whose function I didn't know. There are large yards and some fields around that could support gardens, if anyone knew how to dig and plant. (Ali told me the place was originally built in the 1980's for teen-age criminals to rehabilitate them rather than put them into the adult prison.)
There are just 3 or 4 paid staff to operate the entire place, covering all shifts. Or maybe the kids are simply locked into their dorms for the night. I don't know. Speaking of dorms, there were about 34 sets of double bunk beds to accommodate the 180 boys, ages 3 to 18. the bottom bunks had mosquito nets, but the top ones didn't.
This is a government run facility, in the middle of nowhere with kids who are seen as problems. There is currently no attempt to reunite the kids with family members, although each week some of the kids run away in an attempt to find their mom or dad. But Kampala is a city of almost 3 million people and the neighborhoods and areas change rapidly with all the building that is going on. It is common for the escapee to be picked up and returned in a month or so.
It is hard to know if life here in the camp is better than the one they had begging on the street.
More later.....
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