Farmer Chameleon

We leave Soroti at 8.15am after prolonged goodbyes to the lovely hotel staff. Always pleasant and cheerful, they were very helpful with Tom’s strange diet (though he might skip chapatti and tilapia for a while).  I always say Uganda is very beautiful – and it truly is, but as we drive out of Soroti past piles of plastic rubbish glinting in the early morning sunshine, we’re reminded that nothing is straightforward in this country! We pass thick smoke where rubbish is burning, but there is too much rubbish, and inadequate waste disposal systems. We were told they closed down the plastic factories in Uganda, but businesses can buy cheap plastic bags from Kenya – because they’ve banned plastic bags.  Crazy world.

School starts today and there are queues of people outside the banks – presumably many are trying to pay school fees. Universal Primary Education is great – until you have to buy compulsory uniforms, shoes, books, pencils, (a razor blade does for a pencil sharpener), and pay a contribution for ‘school maintenance’.  As we drive out of town, we see children collecting water from pumps –late or absent from school.

Out of town, we drive through wide plains with roadside huts and schools. Narrow paths lead away from the road, disappearing into the distance or the bush. People we spot walking head for villages several miles down these dusty tracks.  Speed bumps herald a succession of roadside villages, brick houses, shelters, and stalls selling vegetables. Then we pass through the swamp. A vast area of grass and water. We see someone standing in the water up to his waist – he’s fishing. Fred told us about fishing for mud fish – hoping your hook doesn’t catch a massive dangerous black snake lurking in the filthy water.

After the swamp we pass acres of apparently uninhabited land – then spot clusters of huts in the distance, or see a child with a stick guarding skeletal cows grazing on dry tufts of grass. Other children play football, sell food, carry bowls of logs and produce on their heads – others are at school.  I fall asleep. Suddenly Tom wakes me, in the distance is a huge mountain range – the Elgon mountains separating Kenya and Uganda. Vast high ridges reach up into the clouds.  The car starts to climb up towards the hills, steep drops making it hard work for Charles. It gets worse when we hit the roadworks – clouds of dust and dirt obscure the view ahead.

Eventually we arrive at Sipi. We find a guide and negotiate a price to see all 3 waterfalls. Tom and I change into walking trainers, and we’re given 3 long walking sticks, we have to take them, no option to opt out. We set off along a dusty track. Our guide, Julius, stops to show us an ‘important’ leaf. It is used as toilet paper,  a hanky, and when eaten, cures worms. Who knew? Not us! We are shown coffee beans, Julius explains the difference between a matooke and a banana plant. After a hot climb, we reach the waterfall. It is beautiful and immense. Water tumbles down, crashing and splashing on the rocks below, creating a shimmering mist in the sun.

A boy appears to show us a chameleon. Photos taken, he asks for money. We pay up – no problem.

Back in the car, we drive up an bumpy, potholed road full of deep ridges. We can’t imagine what it’s like in the rain.  Eventually we arrive at a parking place where families are hoeing and harvesting potatoes. An old lady sits by a sack of tiny potatoes. The harvest is poor this year. Its back-breaking work.  We walk a short distance and start climbing, then clomping through sticky wet mud and rocks. Round a corner are 2 waterfalls – it doesn’t take long before we’re soaked. We’re told this isn’t what it’s usually like – now its hot and dry and there’s hardly any water! Its spectacular to us.

We visit a viewpoint for the last waterfall. Look from above, we can see the vast plains of Karamoja. Julius tells us the Karimojong (cattle raiders) repeatedly came to Sipi, took all the cattle and killed the men. The community decided to help the women and now there’s a widow’s coffee cooperative. He takes us to buy coffee! Then we drive to Mbale and our hotel for the night.  Our room is basic but fine, and oh joy, overlooks the swimming pool. I manage a few lengths – I am incredibly unfit after this trip – and suspect I’ve put on weight.

As we rest by the pool, I realise I haven’t really stopped for 9 days. Up at 6.30 in the week, still writing blogs at 9.30pm with the rubbish Wifi, or preparing for the next day’s meetings and workshops.  Then I remember the hotel staff, the children, the farmers. I wonder if the concept of leisure is a western luxury.  In Uganda you only get a break if you have a professional job, otherwise your family doesn’t eat on the days you don’t work. If you’re not at school or work, you’ll be working in a garden somewhere, or helping your family in another way. Note to self, don’t take holidays for granted.

Tomorrow we travel to Entebbe for our last night.

And.. I broke dry January with a very nice Nile beer this evening....