Hello, Goodbye (Wednesday, Feb 4)

Well, it’s February, that’s the final confirmation that our time’s really, so quickly, coming to a close. Count, three days left of work. Two, actually, since this workday’s over, and really, just one and a half days because Saturday’s a half day. Then, we'll be heading to Lake Bunyoni, billed by the Lonely Planet as the most beautiful lake in Uganda, for three days at one of the camps that was also an ACTS project a few years ago. Three days of debriefing and wrapping up and, that’ll be it. Our contracts with ACTS officially end on the fifteenth, but, as far as we know, we’re completely done once debrief is over, less than a week from today. Crazy…

And the past week’s been just that as well, crazy. After everyone over the age of 25 had left Kasese, it was back to work as normal, except not really normal at all. It was the first time that I’d been roving without either Mike, who returned home two weeks ago, or Asaph, who was home for the monthly OFF. It was just me and Chris, who was along for the ride to get a better grasp of the process of developing a design and project proposal. He’ll also be here until May and will hopefully have the chance to tie up some of the loose ends that I just haven’t had the time to do myself. Yona, crucial piece to the roving team’s success, was not able to accompany us either because his youngest son was sick in the hospital with a serious bout of malaria (he’s since left the hospital and is recovering well). Add on the fact that, despite it officially being the dry season, it rained for three days straight, and we weren’t able to get as much done as we’d hoped for. Nevertheless, we are a respectable step closer to completing the Bughendero design, and hopefully, Chris is now well equipped enough to finish it off without too much difficulty. So, we left Kasese Saturday morning, probably for the final time for me. We first came to Kasese to do a quick one day survey for a small project back in September and proceeded to spend the majority of the following three months there. It was a lot longer than the one month that we’d originally allocated, and not surprisingly, leaving Kasese was a little harder too.

So, many thanks, to Mimi, for having us, I believe the longest stay that she’s had to deal with, and for making sure that there’s always hot water for the shower in the evenings; to Peter, for your unceasingly delicious cooking that was waiting for us no matter what time we got home; to the Bowers, for opening up your place to check email and just to chill whenever work found us near Kagando; to Yona, without whom we might still be wandering the hills looking for a project; and to the rest of the South Rwenzori Diocese team, for your hospitality, for your interest in our work, for your warm encouragement and exceeding gratefulness, and, haha, even for your unexpected appearances at the guesthouse, just to say hello. =D