My Favourite Place in Uganda plus True Friendship (18th July)

Today was a very very good day. As you could probably tell from my entry a few days ago, I’ve been feeling a little down and discontented with my trip here. But today made my whole trip seem worthwhile.

Yesterday we travelled to the east, one of my favourite parts of the country. When I lived in Uganda, I worked on a project here and travelled here quite regularly. We (Mum and I) arrived in Mbale, the major town in the evening and came to the motel that I always stayed at. Although the price had gone up a whopping 50%, the 35 USD a night for a twin room with bathroom, tv and the biggest breakfast in all of Uganda was worth it but the bonus is the staff all remembered me and rushed to me with hugs and “welcome to your home away from home”. To add to the excitement, I discovered that they’d painted the Australian flag in their patio area that has many other flags from around the world (on my last visit I had brought them the paint as I always would complain that my flag was missing). It was a very nice welcome.

This morning we drove through Sironko (the district where my project was based) and up the mountain to my favourite place in Uganda – Sipi Falls. It has changed a lot since I left, with new campsites and hotels, plus many more tourists (in the 7 times I had been here before I had never seen any other groups of tourists). But the falls are still as beautiful as ever and we went to the most magical place I’ve ever been – a cave behind the waterfall. The visit brought back lots of good memories of times I visited before, including the time Cheryl, Russ and I camped in the cave, trekked up the mountain and abseiled beside the 97m main waterfall. I also bumped into Fred, the guide who had trekked with us on my first proper trip there and he remembered me. The views were amazing and the beauty totally reinvigorated my spirits.

The day got even better when we travelled back down to Sironko to meet with one of my closest friends here, Lillian. Lillian was the lady I supported as she coordinated the Sironko project and is one of the most selfless people I know and a constant inspiration to me. We went to visit her at her school (she is a teacher) and found that they had a whole program prepared for us, with singing, speeches and a football game. The contact with the kids further lifted my spirits and afterwards we went with Lillian to visit some of her relatives and then back to her place for a cup of tea. Spending time talking with Lillian completed the wonderful day. She recently travelled to Morocco to attend a conference on gender equity in sport and together we brainstormed some ideas on how she could implement some initiatives in Sironko. She kept expressing her gratitude for all I had done for her while I was in Uganda, while I tried to explain that I was the one who was grateful to her.

While the above may sound simple enough, when I left Lillian’s place I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Today made this whole trip. Again, the combination of magical scenery and the friendliness of people here had lifted my spirits. It was also nice to again experience true friendship, as this trip has helped me decipher who my true friends are and those who just sees a mzungu and sees dollar sign. Lillian is one such true friend. Her friendship is not forced and it is unconditional – and it is mutual.