Email from Uganda Jan 31 04

Jan 31, 2004

Kampala, Uganda

Hi!

Would you believe that we just spent an hour and a half writing an email to you and it got deleted, so here we go again. Hope we can remember what we said. The reasn it got deleted was that Hinda insisted on sending you some photos, and that messed things up. He's always blaming me for his mistakes. He just didn't know how to attach the photos so he deleted the email.

First, some more thoughts about Uganda and East Africa. We find the Ugandan people polite, gentle, kind, tolerant, cheerful, friendly, hospitable, and lots of other good things. We like it here very much and like all of the people that we work with and have met. People here try harder since they don't have very much. We had a flash card adapter for our laptop and it broke, at home we would have just thrown it away and bought a new one, but here we gave it to a friend and he pried it apart, fixed it and glued it back together and guess what, it works.

At work we have done a few things and are doing more. Here is what we have done so far. By this we mean that we have worked side by side with our Ugandan colleagues and have trained or mentored them on these projects:

(Just a note, that we are waiting for word on the money for ARV,s. It is unfortunate that these drugs can be produced for so little but they cost so much. The only people here who can get them are the rich or those in research projects)

- Set up a client registration system;

- Created a client chart and filing system,

- Set us a a client schedule system;

- Set up a data base for Reach Out's Operation School Fee Program and trained a data input person;

- Set up a data base for Reach Out's donors and trained a data input system;

- Set up a filing system for Reach Out's Food, School Fee, Donors, and Proposal files, and developed procedures for filing and trained the staff to use the system;

- And, we are doing lots of little computer training and other types of on the spot mentoring, etc.

In short, is fun, a pleasure and we are helping in whatever way we can.

Yet to do, and this will probably take us until we leave:

- Set up a new client numbering system. The numbers now are all mixed up, "balagan" as we say in Hebrew, and it is a problem as you can imagine. For example, 2 clients having the same number, and having their tests mixed up. Could be disastrous - seriously.

- In concert with that we are going to do client id cards with photos using a digital camera which one of the Reach Out volunteers just donated;

- Redo the food distribution program which is a large and complex program through the UN's World Food Program. At the request of both Reach Out and WFP we have been asked to revise the distribution and reporting system which is in arrears and can jeapordize the program.

We just returned from Jinja Town about 80 km East of Kampala which known in part for being the source of the Nile. The Nile is 4,000 miles along, and starts in Jinja in Lake Victoria and flows NORTH and finally ends up in the Mediterannean. It takes a drop of water 4 months to travel the length of the Nile. By the way, Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water lake in the world, the largest is Lake Superior in the good old US of A. About 10 km from the source of the Nile are Bujagale Falls. This is where the Nile which is move than a mile wide at it source then narrows down to about 25 feet at these falls. WOW!! The road to get there was hardly a road, and more of a track. Somehow, we took the wrong turn and came in the back way which was quite a little trek, but we made it.

The place we stayed in at Jinja was very nice. Right on the East bank of the Nile, at the source. It is set up like an African Village. The rooms are in small round huts and the bed is on a concrete slab about 2 feet high. There is electricity from a generator from 7 pm to 11 pm and you tell the management when you want to have a hot shower and somehow they arrange hot water for that time. For eating, you pick what you want to eat and tell them what time you want to eat and the food is prepared at that time for you. Our overnight stay, including all food and the "misssionary" rate was about $65 or so. The flowers at our "resort" in Jinja, flowering trees and bushes, etc., were beautiful as they are all over this part of the world - the tropics, where anything grows in abundance. The fruits - mangoes, pineapples, papayas, jack fruit, etc. are all tree ripened and delicious. This is considered a 5 star hotel but by our standards it is probably a 3.

On the way to Jinja, we had to cross the Nile on a dam which provides all of Uganda's electricity and most of Kenya's. Peter got a speeding ticket for exceeding the approximately 12 mph speed limit. Ush 40,000, about $20 which has to be paid within the next 28 days. We got a stern, but polite lecture about speeding, etc. Peter now has gotten speeding tickets in Turkey and Uganda, and who knows where next.

We took a break from writing this and went to see "Out of Time" with Denzel Washington. It was our first movie experience here in Kampala and it was good. Sitting in the modern theatre we felt like we were at home.

We will sign off now, since our social life has picked up and tomorrow we are invited to brunch, lunch and then dinner all at different friends homes. Got to get some rest so we can eat all day. Our regards and love to all, keep in touch.

Love, Hinda and Peter

P.S. this is for the women on our email list. this afternoon I had a haircut, manicure and pedicure all for the grand total of $20, which included some good tips. Considering what I pay in the US for a haircut alone, this is quite a bargain. Hinda

P.S. 2 Check out the attached photos. Hope you can open them. Peter