Camping in Uganda!

We’ve spent the past three days camping out in a church in the Katunda area, about two hours from Kasese, in search of water sources in the region. It was quite the experience for both Yona and Asaph, as neither of them had used tents, or even sleeping bags, before! The view here, at about 1800 meters above sea level, is amazing, the people are even friendlier than usual, the hospitality has been wonderful, AND we’ve found a few decent sources that have potential for projects! The roads, on the other hand, are less than stellar, even by Ugandan standards. In fact, as you can see in the picture, they are more like small footpaths than anything meant for a truck to drive on (Notice the amazing view in the background, though my camera totally doesn't do it justice.)

So, here in Uganda, it seems that there is a chairman/person for everything. Accordingly, there is a water chairman for the two sub-county’s where we were working. We met him on our way up to the site on the first day, and after hiking up and down hills all day in pursuit of water, he walked another thirteen kilometers back home. Even more incredibly, he was back at 7:30 the next morning, and the morning after that as well. To top it off, the chairman is in his sixties, and he always wears dress clothes, complete with a blazer! Hahaha, yes, it is a little bit embarrassing, and inspiring though, as I struggle to pull myself up yet another hill, to look back and see him with no sign of sweat or fatigue.
There is a definite sense of hope and excitement from the chairman and the other community leaders whenever they meet with us and it is obvious they have expectations for us to help their communities. And with that comes a degree of responsibility to produce, which is why it is all the more rewarding when we do find an adequate source with which we can put forth a proposal for.


On that note, we had a very encouraging meeting with the Kasese District Water Office today. We had hoped to get some information regarding possible sources and they were able to do one better, by providing completed designs for potential projects. It turns out that both organizations share the same goal, which is to bring clean water to as many people as possible. The office has already identified many priorities in the district and developed plans for these communities, but has no funding to carry out the projects. ACTS, on the other hand, is looking for projects for which we can construct with funding from the Canadian government. So it appears that our two organizations may be a perfect compliment to each other and I really pray that we will be able to work together, for the benefit of the Ugandan people.