Jinja Uganda

Jinja was probably my favorite town (or village). It was smaller but not too small. We hired a taxi for the ride and it took almost 2 hours from Kampala to arrive. We stayed at the "Gately on the Nile" bed and breakfast type place. Our room was free standing away from the main part of the home. This was the only place where we had to use mosquito nets over our beds. It was situated right on Lake Victoria which is the Source of the Nile River. We walked to the point where Lake Victoria feeds the Nile. It was really pretty.

I have always wanted to do a whitewater rafting trip so I was really excited that we would be able to do it on the Nile River in Jinja. I was excited leading up to it but once we got to the base camp and started watching video footage of the "carnage" (a word they frequently used), I started thinking I may be too old and have too many kids for this type of extreme sport. Of course there was no way I was backing out so forward we went. I must say, it was fun and I felt like we were in really good hands with the Nile River Explorers crew but I still was really nervous the whole time. We couldn't take our camera so none of these photos are of us but you get the idea. I searched the internet and found that this spot is ranked in the top 10 best places in the world to whitewater raft so I am glad that when I did it, I really did it good. We did two grade 5 drops and a few other 3's and 4's. It was an experience I will not soon forget. the Nile was beautiful and warm (one really good reason to do this in Uganda and not here). When we fell out of the raft it was very comfortable to be in the water.

It was really unique to see the local villagers hanging out on the shore watching us. Many of them were bathing in the water (they didn't seem to mind us invading on their baths), washing dishes (yes, in the Nile river while their friends and family bathed) and doing other misc living activities. There were numerous huts and small villages up the hill from the river with many locals just going about doing their thing. I felt a little weird enjoying this recreational activity knowing these people are impoverished, have no running water, electricity, or any other convenience from the last 100 years that we call a necessity. I loved the scenery and the beauty of it all, it was absolutely GREAT.

In Jinja, we also hooked up with an organization called "Soft Power" from the UK. They are a fairly large non-profit that helps villages to become self sufficient and does repairs on schools. Schools in Uganda and Ethiopia offer very little that is pleasing to the eye. The walls are basically thrown up and the buildings look like they should be condemned. Because it was summer vacation while we were there painting a school was the current project they had going. We spent part of a day painting the back side and then eating a yummy lunch of petunda (fresh passion fruit juice) and matoke. I wish we could have had more time to do this. It was relaxing to just paint along on the project and wonder how many hands, form how many different countries had been there adding their little bits to the project. Amazing how things can get done when alot of people put in a little time.




One memorable experience in Jinja was dinner one night. We stopped at the "food stand" of a boy who looked about 15 years old. He cooked me a chapoti (tortilla type item) and fried an egg for the center. It cost 9,000 shillings which is about 45 cents. After cooking it he opened an old Time or Newsweek magazine, ripped out a page and wrapped my dinner up in it. He even pinched the sides nicely around it. I was really surprised. I figured it was probably more sanitary of many other things I had eaten so I overlooked the magazine and enjoyed one of the most YUMMY dinners I had had there.