Ugandans + Me + Boat Fire = Not a Good Morning

I know that I have not written in 2 weeks, so many exciting things and funny stories have happened. The weekend I wanted to blog, there was a minor incident on my boat ride from the Island to the mainland. Thus, I have been spending what time I can in quite time. I know me quite? Sitting still? Wow. It's shocking to me as well. It should be video taped, but that would be a rather dull video.

The boat story:
Now when I say boat, I mean a large canoe with an engine. Lingeria Island is 15 miles from the mainland, Jinja, by public boat it takes about 2 hours.
Also, Ugandans do not like water, and they can not swim. Lake Victoria is also very polluted. In some areas it would be like swimming in diarrhea. Everyone knows how I feel about Diarrheal Diseases.

Friday, February 19th, I was traveling from the island to mainland. The boat from one of the three villages, Kytonga, (Ki-tone-ga) was to leave at 9am. This boat was known to be reliable, on time, and seldom breaks down. I am told that being on a boat when it breaks down in the lake is no fun. I can imagine. We are near the equator, light reflects off the water, there isn't a breeze when you aren't moving.

Of course, I was running a little late this morning. Ruthie, and Shanna walked me down to the shore. We arrived right at 9am. To our luck, the boat was a little late. I was carried onto the boat, and sat. It took time to unload and load people and their stuff. Ruth and Shanna stood there until my boat was out of sight. I later found out they were standing there praying. Shanna had a bad feeling about me but did not know why. The boat was packed. I was sitting on huge bags of grain, as where many other people. Typical Uganda travel, no personal space and very crowded.

Meanwhile the Lingeria boat, also on the same island, is known to be usually late, and break down. This morning it was on time at 9:30am. I know this because I saw it pass where I was waiting. Thinking to myself, go figure. The early boat is late and the late boat is on time. As quickly as the thought came, it left. I went back to working on my tan and reading.

Also this day, I was carrying with me 3 life jackets to bring to the SHIM office for their visitors coming on Saturday, two of which are Ugandans. Life jackets are always carried on the SHIM's private boat, but rarely on the public boat. I was nervous that I might have too much stuff and I may be charged more. Luckily, not a big deal, and I used them to prop my feet on as they were laying onto the bags of grain. There was no room for my feet to touch to bottom of the boat. I had a "window seat" so to speak, so I noticed the boat was riding very low in the water, meaning more of the boat was under the water compared to usually.

Half way through the 2 hour trip, the boat stopped. Boats will do this to coast and save on gas. So I wasn't worried, or concerned. Although I do not really think it saves on gas, we only coast for a few minutes, maybe 10. I kept reading my book.
We are almost to shore, maybe another 8 to 10 minutes. The boat stopped. Hmmmmm. That was a little odd, but this is Uganda, who knows.
All of sudden people start screaming, the boat starts rocking and people are trying to move to the front. I turned around, I saw heavy black smoke. The back of the boat was on fire. Not good. Not good at all. The boat continues to rock and almost tips over several times. The grain/corn bags we were carrying, I believe this helped balance the boat when people were frantic. The flames were even larger. My mind was thinking, when do I jump in the water, not if, but when. But Ugandans cannot swim. If I jumped first, I was worried that they may follow, thus causing several people to drown. Second, I didn't want to blow up, but I am a mzungu (white/foreign person) I do not know how bad the fire was or if this is normal or what.

My first response, I found my cell phone, called Amanda at the office and told her to have people start praying, the boat is on fire. People were screaming in Luganda, I do not know what they were saying. Some people were screaming, we are going to die. My thought was yes, the boat will explode or we we go into the water, they will drown and I may drown. I am still somewhat calm, mentally, even though my body is shaking. I can see things but they are not clear. It was like my adrenaline was running high that my some senses were heightened and others had to decrease. I start untieing the 3 life jackets. I selfishly put on one. A young teenage boy turns to me and say, "madam, help me, please save me." I gave the life jackets.
If we had to jump into the water, I would have to leave everything I brought with me, my laptop, phone, money, all my paperwork, camera, everything from the past 4 weeks would have been lost. My life or things, I would have picked my life. However, I was also nervous that I would have been drown by the people given that I had a life jacket and I could swim. I can only help so many people, and frantic people I don't know how that would have worked out. We were quite a swim away from shore.

What seemed like 20 minutes, may have only been 5 to 10 minutes. When I first thought of jumping into the water, something told me to stay. Be still. Be calm. As if God had his hand on my shoulder telling me to wait. Trust me. Which at first, this may sound odd, but the spiritual growth I have had while I am here
. . . well let's just say God has been blunt with me. He knows me, I need that "Duh, slap in the face," kind of thing.

A man, I may never see again, was brave and wise enough to throw the burning jerry cans (2 or 3) of oil into the lake. Another man starts to slowly paddle the boat away from the flames. We are maybe 2 feet away from the fire. The flames are only getting bigger. I have never been in a situation like this, nor have I seen on "Man verses Wild" so I have no idea is the flames could still reach the boat. In my mind, I am not safe until I am on shore, then with SHIM, then back on a flight home, then back in my own home.

Another larger boat is behind us. At first I thought it might be pirates. Yes there are pirates on Lake Victoria. But it was the lingeria boat! The come closer, they were going to help us! As the boat was trying to get close to us, they ended up hitting our boat, almost tipping it over. The front of our boat scrapped along across their boat. People on both boats starts screaming. I have no clue what. But regardless of language you could hear the fear of the people on both boats. If we were to get on this boat, is there enough room, would it tip? The boat comes back. A man from the other boat, grabs my things, then grabs me onto their boat. I am shaking to much to try to move around the bags of grain, and the wooden seat without being clumsy. They manged to get most people onto their boat. A few men were left on the other boat. We are now several feet from the fire.

As we are riding into shore, the man who threw the cans of oil into the water was standing at the front of the boat. His face turned and our eyes met. The pain and fear in his eyes will forever be burnt into my thoughts. I saw his arms, the majority of his skin, was gone, there was no more black. It was whiter than white. I could see his skin at the edges of his burn peeling back. It was easily 3rd degree burns. I can not even come close to image the pain he was in. The breeze hitting his burns would have to be almost unbearable. Then knowing the kind of care that is in Uganda compared to the States. Even writing this, my heart goes out to him, and I can see him pain-filed eyes, and I am helpless.
This man will forever be my hero. He saved our lives. He prevented the boat from exploding. If he had waited a moment later . . . I do not know what would have happen.


Andy, Keeky's husband, met me at shore. As soon as I saw him, that is when I lost it. I cried hysterically, I shook like i was having a seizure, I'm sure there was some kind of panic attack. After I calmed down, I was told a friend of ours from another organization was on the boat that saved us. He told us that the engine caught fire that led to the jerry cans of oil to catch on fire. The man was taken to the hospital. I was originally told that out friend took him, but I later found out that he took another man to clinic. We are hoping we can find out who he is. We believe we know what island he is from. From his bravery, I do not know the consequences. Regardless if he worked on the boat, i.e. owner or boat driver, he will not be able to work, thus will be earning money, will not have money to feed his wife and children and so forth. The possible efforts are endless.

After arriving at the office, I only stay a few moments. I continued my trip to Kampala. I was suppose to have a meeting Friday with Mr. Lwanga but it was canceled that afternoon and we were going to try to reschedule while I was in town. I am staying with the Golembeski family, resting, having quite time, and joining in their activities to keep my mind occupied.

I am still absorbing everything in, so my thoughts are not clear yet, but I felt I needed to let everyone know. Physically I am okay. Mentally and emotionally I am drained. I am still trying to sort things out, putting myself in their shoes. Feelings their emotions and thinking their thoughts. What I do know, God worked several miracles that Friday morning.

The passage I have been marinating on is: Isaiah 66:13. "As your mothers you, so I will comfort you." I am not very open about my Christianity, but yesterday I truly felt the hand of God on my shoulder when I was on the boat. He kept my mind calm and relaxed. He told me to wait, be patient, do not jump yet. I am my father's daughter, I react over little things not big things. But it was God's hand that kept me from jumping and a level head. He also gave that man the courage to risk his own life to save others.

The other passages that have brought me peace and ability to ride a boat again- not public but SHIM's private boat.

" In my distress I called upon the Lord, to my God, I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears." - Psalm 18:6.

"Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." - 2 Corinthians 1:9


To reemphasize, I am safe. My coping is through avoidance and humor. Which is hard to do, hence why my writing is always better, more honestly and emotionally filled.

update on health

I am feeling much better today. I am just waiting for my energy to return to normal.

On another plus side, I have gained a few pounds! Have to love the carb diet: potatoes, rice, pasta, and posho (a local mushy carb). It's a law to have at least two of these at each meal. Rice and pasta mixed together are my favorite, with some kind of grease sauce. yummmmmm. My favorite street food is a rolex: a greasy chapati (tortilla shell) with an omelet wrapped inside (eggs, cabbage, garlic, tomatoes, and whatever else). It's a deal for 700 shillings. A chapati is only 200 shilings, but do not eat two of them back to back because it will give you a tummy ache.

Quick Reminder about Staying Humble

Yesterday after my afternoon bucket bath I was starting to feel a little better. Being clean always helps after being sick. Half an hour later I am walking to get some cups for an afternoon tea, I walked pass the same building as I did thousands of times before. This time, I caught my reflection in the window. My first thought was, wow, I look pretty, I wish Brent could see. I was wearing a light blue flowing skirt and my hair was down and curly. It is the very small things in Africa that makes a girl feel pretty, even less after being in bed for two days. For a moment all I could think was, "If Brent could see me he would tell me that I look pretty today."(He says this to me almost everyday, regardless if he has seen me. It's some of our "sweet talk") After getting cups, I tried to catch my reflection again, having a moment of being vain. Just then, I stepped in freshly laid duck poop. Not on my flip-flops but in between my toes and everywhere. It was just a mess and even more of a mess when I am trying to clean it up.

So this was my reminder on staying humble. You never know when you are going to go from pretty to poop.

On the Island with Malaria

I went back to the island Thursday afternoon. Saturday morning working on practicum stuff: formally being introduced to the local government representative, the head master at the school, other teachers, and some of the older female students; as well as a meeting with Gloria, one of the SHIM staff. Working on Saturday ...
After an hour or so in the meeting, I needed a break and to lie down. After a two nap, it's lunch. I wake up not feeling right, eat quietly, and go back to bed.

The girls came to check on me. Urgh. My head was killing me, my stomach, body pains, fatigue,etc, but I did not have a fever. Keeky, who is a nurse, went ahead and gave me medication for malaria. For 3 days I take 8 yucky tasting pills after dinner. It is better to treat it early then wait and see. Even going to a clinic, if you have the symptoms they treat you. Uganda is a high risk malaria zone. Because I am taking anti-malaria pills, the malaria should be a "mild case". Leave it to me to wait until I am back on the island before symptoms of malaria appear.

Amanda, another volunteer, has malaria too and we were comparing symptoms.These past two days, my body is n complete discomfort. It's hard to fall asleep because I am so uncomfortable and just touching me I hurt, my headache fades in and out, my stomach and back is what hurts the most, I am fatigue, hot to the touch, and pale. However, I am not vomiting. I can handle anything as long as I am not vomiting.
Thankfully, the weather waited for me to get sick before it became cool. It was in the 100's this week but this weekend it was in the 70's, over casted, and rainy. What a blessing! perfect nap weather. I stayed in bed, most of the weekend and today. Today I went walking around on the villages, meeting women, then up to the school, talking with teachers. The hour outing took a lot out of me. But I had a cool bucket bath, and picked up a sprite in the village that I was going to have with dinner.

I just finished my meds tonight. So hopefully tomorrow I am back to my normal laughing curious self. If not, I might have to go to the mainland and get tested for other fun stuff I may have. Fingers crossed.

Adventure to Bujagali Falls

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

As usual it was a hot Wednesday afternoon without a breeze coming into the office. Ruth and I decided to visit the Bujagali Falls, a popular tourist attraction. Wanting to get the best deal for our money we asked the staff the prices of transportation and the ticket costs. Everything in Uganda is negotiable, guess that’s why I like it so much, I love it when locals say it cost this much, you give them a look, and they say, “Did I mention the discount?” It’s like having coupons without having to spend Sunday afternoon clipping them. Back to the story: The directions were to get a van taxi (In Niger they were bush taxi’s) for 500 shillings to the round-about, then a boda-boda to the falls for 3,000 shillings. Ruth and I head out. As we are walking we start discussing the dark rain clouds above us. Both of us are worried that it looked like rain, but it’s not rainy season, so it won’t rain. We are used to the clouds threatening rain but then it never rains. We catch a taxi, tell the conductor where we need to go and we‘re off. A conductor is the guy who opens the door, takes your money, lets you off, etc. We were on of the last people on this packed taxi. Ruth and I are enjoying the ride and the breeze. Then it starts to downpour. The locals do not like getting wet, the windows shut immediately. No more cool breeze. Really? It’s just water and the air was so cool. Really? The taxi instantly becomes hotter, people start sweating and the smell is awful. Thankfully, because of the rain, more people want to get on, so every few minutes the doors would open.

As I was beginning to think, “Wow, for 500 shillings the taxi bus sure does take you a long way,“ the conductor turns to us and asks, “Where are you going?” We replied, “To the round about.” He shakes his head and states, “ You don’t know where you are going.” Sure we do, we are going to the Round-About. Looking around the taxi bus, we were the last people on the bus from the original starting place, there was maybe a few other people on the bus. The taxi is only 5 rows, with space for 3 or 4 people across. Well apparently the round-about was one of the first stops! Thankfully, he did not make us get out of the taxi in the pouring rain. We were to ride the rest of his route, then on the way back he would tell us where the round about was. After the lovely 45 minute to an hour extra on the taxi, the rain let up, and we reached the round-about. The taxi drive was supposed to be about a 5 minute drive, from where we got on to the round-about. Whoops. Mistake number one.

Now it’s time to find some boda-bodas. Ruth had to ride side saddle because of the skirt she was wearing so we flagged down two boda-bodas, negotiated the price, told them that we needed to stick together. No problem. Well as soon as we start moving, my boda-boda takes a sharp right turn while Ruth and her boda-boda continue straight. Now I do not know if my overreaction that is about to come happened because of the sexual violence work I am doing and I know about the horror stories of girls on boda-boda’s that occur late at night or if it was just because I was not the one driving therefore I wasn’t in control. Could have been a little of both. As soon as the man turned right, and I saw Ruth going straight, I flipped. I started screaming at the man, “What are you doing?!, No! You were suppose to follow my friend, What are you doing, I am getting off, go back!” I am pretty sure that with me being Italian and a spit in image of my mother and grandmother that my hands were flaring all around as I was yelling. We pull into a gas station, and I am still yelling, telling him that I am getting off and pointing in the direction that we came from. He calmly says me to, “Mzungu, look they are waiting.” I turn my head and sure enough Ruth and her boda-boda man are waiting. He then tell me, “The ride to Bujagali Falls is a long one, I needed to get some gas.” My only response was, “Well you should have told me first. You scared me. Don’t do that again!” Embarrassing crazy mzungu mistake number two.

As we get to the entrance of the falls we just keep walking in. The security guard stopped us to see if we paid. Whoops. Mistake number three. We never saw where we were suppose to pay. Well the guard was kind enough to walk us there; we had walked right passed the wooden booth. Since we are not Ugandans, we had to pay 3,000 shillings. I saved the recipe.

The Bujagali Falls were breathtaking. Luckily, since the rain Ruth and I were the only people there. Eventually more people showed up from a tour group but we had already finished. After we got the pictures we wanted and the video recordings we sat at the restaurant on the property, drank a Pepsi, sat in comfy chairs and watch and listened to the falls. It would be a great place to just sit and read a book, or have a date. Since Ruth and I had neither, we just talked about how great it would be. Haha.

On our way back, we flagged down a boda-boda man who wanted to charge us 4,000 shillings from the falls to the Jinja office, we were trying to bypass the whole taxi ride. His friend came up, who was very old grizzled man (for a boda-boda driver), who was said he would do it for 3,300 shillings. His friend, unhappily agreed. During the ride back, I was finally brave enough to use the video camera. I do not think my driver was very thrilled. I tried to do it unsuspectingly, so we will see how to video comes out.

My boda-boda man tried to charge me 4,000. Well I had a quick talk with him about honestly, how that wasn’t nice to try to overcharge me after he agreed to a lower price, and taking advantage of mzungus was not a nice thing to do.

All in all, the 3 hour adventure was a lot of fun filled with care-free laughs.

Background on the falls:

Bujagali Falls (the seven falls) are created by a huge rocky ledge, rising in places to forested islands, where the River Nile drops 3 meters, taking it’s first big step on a 6,500 kilometer journey from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean sea. The flow here averages 800,000 liters per second (Equator Rafts Uganda Pamphlet).

Jinja, Islands, and Random Updates

After some confusion with meeting up with the SHIM bus, I was finally with some of the team heading to the Entebbe to pick up Andy and Keeky, along with their son David. They arrived Sunday night after being gone for 4 or so months. This is at 11am Monday. We reach Entebbe at around noon. Then we head off to pick up Shannon, this amazingly strong and courageous 16 year old from Oregon who knows team members from back home. Shannon will be here for two months, she has volunteered at the local orphanage and is now joining the SHIM team after her friends had left. (Her friends stayed for about 2 weeks). The ride to Jinja from Kampala is roughly an hour and a half. We stop for some fast food at Mr. Tasty, a little hamburger/chicken joint at Lugogo shopping plaza. For 6,500 shillings for a burger, chips (fries), and a soda, it wasn’t bad.

We did not arrive to the Jinja office until almost 6pm. The traffic was horrible. An hour and half drive lasting more than twice the normal drive. We did have some great conversations, but with no air conditioning and a cool breeze only occurs when the vehicle is moving, you can imagine how hot it was. David, who is 8 months, was a very good sport. I have never met such a patient, perfect, calm, go with the flow baby.

That night, Ruth, Shannon, and I were tried of sitting, so we went on a walk around Jinja. Ruth was very generous and bought us ice cream from the local coffee and internet shop: The Source. I had the most amazing ice cream, covered in white chocolate with strawberry chucks and shortcake pieces in it. I am not ashamed to admit that when chocolate broke off and fell to the ground, I picked it up and ate it. I am not wasting precious chocolate. So far, I have not gotten sick.

Jinga is the city where the SHIM office is located. It is also the city where one would catch a boat to head to the Buvuma Islands. The front part of the house is the office, with two desks, computer, and shelves. This is also where we eat, work, and have meetings. So there is large kitchen table, a couch, and another small chair. In the back of the house there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and the kitchen. At the SHIM office there is something called Table Ministry. I have fallen in love with Table Ministry, “reaching people, connecting people to people with food.”

We are staying here until maybe Thursday. This allows time for Andy and Keeky to visit friends in Jinja, as well as for the staff to get together for progress reports, and new directions for current and new projects. This is perfect time for me to continue to build relationships with the staff, get to know Andy and Keeky, type of my journals for my practicum, read materials from Raising Voices, and adjust. Today Keeky and Andy are going to try to meet to discuss my work: what they need, what I need to do for my requirements, what is feasible, how long it will take, background information, etc. So getting on common ground, setting the next steps, and begin the “actual” work. However, these past two weeks have been work, just not work in the American sense.

Yesterday was a very quite, relaxed day for me and most of the staff. Today will be as well. As you will be able to tell I have had time to type and post. I figured that you guys needed an update and since I am journaling for my practicum and blogging, some might overlap. There will be some very long entries. I do what I can, when I can.

I did do laundry today. That was fun. I do not hand wash things at home, so to hand wash everything, without running water mind you, it’s a big change. I am becoming very appreciative of the stuff I have at home, and the moments here that may seem little but are small joyful blessings. On a non-work related note, a group of us might try to go see the Source of the Nile or the Bujagali Falls here in Jinja.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we should be heading off to the Islands!


Update about Mr. Lwanga: He could not meet with me when I was in Kampala . We are going to try to meet next time I am in the city, with hopefully a few days heads-up.

Update on the Dobson Volunteer Service Program: I am still waiting to hear about my application. The Dobson program provides funding for students and faculty for their volunteer service projects. They will fund up to half of your trip in exchange for ten lectures about your projects with certain requirements on what to include. My application was to be reviewed earlier but they have decided to wait to review it with the other applications. Since I will not be in town when the Board meets, they have requested an update of my project with possible pictures. Keep your fingers crossed. Not only would the money be more than helpful (I am funding this trip, paying out of state tuition, and wanting to try to fund this myself since my family and friends have already given me so much in the past, that their support and encouragement was more than I needed this time) I enjoyed sharing my Peace Corps experience with people that I want this opportunity again to share my experience and hopefully inspire other people.
Part of any experience is to share it...Maybe that’s why my blog posts are so long.

15 Day Personal Reflection

I cannot believe I have been away from home for 15 days. At moments it seems so much shorter than that but the emotional side it seems so much longer. (Emotional side meaning home sick, missing love ones, adjusting, learning the ways, making new friends, finding new “comforts” and letting go of my normal routine and comforts.)
My total trip is about 65 days; 50 more days to go seems like a lifetime. Well not that extreme but a long time compared to two months in the States. Everyday things gets easier and more enjoyable, like my second nature. Before you know it, I will be on the plane home. Then I will be thinking the opposite, where did the time go, I just got here!

As many of you know, I am very hard on myself, always thinking what else do I need to get done, to cross of my never ending to-do list. I am learning, to give myself credit on what I HAVE accomplished and not worry about what I have not or how much more I have left to do. This new mindset is helping me become less of a stress ball and more relaxed. In my perfectionist ways, I am learning that failure is NOT taking the first step. It’s the NOT trying that is failure. My grandfather used to say, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

Thank you everyone for your support, encouragement, and prayers.
Feel free to email me at Buell.Katherine@gmail.com. I will try to respond when I can, but know that it is nice to receive emails, to keep that little connection with friends and family.

Something I read on a card Ruth received that I am marinating on:

Contentment: "When you think of yesterday with pride and tomorrow with hope, you can live peacefully with today."