Fishing

Sometimes during dinner, when Evan, Jackie and I run out of things to talk about, we play a game called "Desert Island."  The rules of the game are simple – you are stuck, by yourself, on a desert island (hypothetically, of course) and must answer questions such as, "If you could only have 5 books, what would you bring?" or "If you could only have 5 food items, what would you bring?"  We have come up with a wide range of questions, and this week we brought up the question, "If you could only bring 5 people whom you have met in Uganda so far with you to your desert island, who would you bring?"  We didn't have finalized answers yet, but this weekend I can definitely say that I met two of my "Desert Island" people.

The first was Alex, our tour guide through the Bigodi Jungle where we went for an 8 kilometer hike yesterday afternoon.  We wanted to see the Kibale National Forest, but in our guidebook we found a short paragraph about an organization called KAFRED (Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development), and a science center they had started in the Bigodi wetlands.  KAFRED is a community-based organization founded by a Peace Corp volunteer a few years ago, and all proceeds made by the group go directly to supporting the local community and other environmentally sustainable businesses in Bigodi.  Alex was a native to the Bigodi area, and everything he knew on our tour he had learned by experience in the jungle and the village.  He knew more about plants and animals than anyone I have ever met in my life, and it was fascinating to have him lead us quietly through the jungle (completely silent except for our feet on the undergrowth, some bird cries overhead, and possibly a branch moving from a monkey jumping around in the canopy) and then all of a sudden he would stop in his tracks and point into the palms, immediately spotting something that took us twice as long as him to find.  "Over there," he would whisper, "See the eucalyptus tree?  Through the fork in the branches?  The Palm tree behind that?  Two feet to the left?  And then down a yard on the bark?  An African Pigeon!"  And we would squint and laugh at our futile attempt to spot the bird.  "Ummm…what color is it?" I asked, as we all had no idea where to look.  "It is green," he said, which made us laugh even harder.  But he laughed with us and was very patient with us.  In fact, he was probably one of the most patient people in the world.  He could spot exotic bird species, blue-backed lizards on tree branches, Red Colobus monkeys hiding in branches, or Olive Baboons walking across the path in front of us…he knew where everything was located and exactly what they would do.  Probably my favorite part was gazing up into the trees and seeing monkeys jump from branch to branch right before our eyes.

 Monkeys in the tree canopy.  The Red Colobus monkeys are named for the red hair on the tops of their heads...aka this is my monkey!!

I'm also convinced that Alex could save me from any disease or injury that might occur while on my desert island.  He spoke of the Traditional Healer in his village and told us many stories about using the plants and medicinal herbs to cure diseases.  If you are ever bitten by a snake, he said, the Healer will give you a medicinal drink and will then mix a powder to place on the wound.  The powder will not only heal the snake bit but will also form a special union between you and the snake so you will never be bitten again.  There is, of course, a catch – if you are healed but then proceed to kill a snake, all bets are off and you can just as easily be bitten again.  That's what happened to his dad, he said – he had immunity from a former snake bite but soon after he killed another snake, and one night (while chasing elephants, obviously) he was bitten a second time and became very ill.  Hopefully he has learned his lesson by now…don't go killing snakes and chasing elephants, I guess.

We caught these baboons red-handed; stealing corn from a farmer's crops.

Fig tree that reminded me of the tree in the movie "Fern Gully"

My second guest from Uganda on my Desert Island would be Godfrey, a man whom Evan and I met at church this morning.  We have twice attended the Catholic Church in Kasese and it has been a wonderful way to meet community members and feel like part of the village instead of being the visitors.  Today, following Mass, a man called Godfrey introduced himself, and after talking with us for quite some time asked if we would like to visit his hotel and restaurant, just a short ways up the mountain.  We had heard good things about it before, so we joined him and he led us to an absolutely beautiful location where he had established The Central Gardens hotel and restaurant – sixteen hotel rooms and an incredible garden complete with mango trees, orange trees, jackfruit trees, lemongrass, herbs, small ponds with tiny bridges crossing over them…it was incredible; definitely the nicest place we have seen here during our stay.  Godfrey gave us a short tour of his hotel and then insisted we stay for breakfast.  We ended up sitting and talking with him for almost two hours, and (maybe this is the reporter in me) but I wish I would have had a tape-recorder in my pocket to record everything he had to say.  Godfrey was born and raised in Kasese, but has spent time studying in Germany, Australia, and the United States so it was interesting to hear his perspective of Uganda, especially Kasese.

 Downtown Kasese with the Rwenzori Mountains in the background

Uganda has flourished in the past twenty years, and as it has remained a peaceful country it has experienced growth in tourism and the economy.  The problem is that people don't know how to handle the sudden growth  – not out of laziness but out of lack of awareness.  People have money, but they don't know to spend it on their own economy to help themselves in the future.  For example, coffee is one of Uganda's main exports, but in Uganda no one drinks coffee.  They see it only as an export, and not something that they could use and sell themselves.  According to Godfrey, native Ugandans don't eat at the restaurants, don't visit the National Parks, and still just use the money they have to "get by" every day.  It's just a different culture, a different way of life, one that's not necessarily better or worse than other cultures, but something Uganda could improve on if they want to continue to grow.

"What Kasese needs," he told us, "is a good leader.  Someone with a plan and someone with a vision.  Someone who cares about the people and not just the money."  Godfrey said he can always tell when someone truly cares about his or her cause because they always have a Plan B.  "For me, I always have a Plan B because what if Plan A fails?  You can't just stop there!  If you are truly dedicated to something, and you do not receive the funding like you thought you would in your Plan A, you will still find a way," he said.  This shows him that the people are not all about the money, but they have the heart as well.

We told Godfrey at the end of our conversation that it seemed like he would make quite the leader himself, but he just laughed and shook his head.  "Politics are not for me," he said.  He believes in educating people but wants to do it from the ground level – literally the ground level.

Godfrey is dedicated to sustainable agriculture will hopefully help people learn how to grow crops so they can continue living and profiting for years to come.  Kind of like the saying goes, "Give a man a fish, he can eat for a day.  Teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime."

And with that, we finished breakfast, he picked a few mangoes for us from his mango tree, and we were on our way with a promise to return to his gardens, and a promise to teach others to "fish."