Sunday, 10 February 2013

Jinja to Luwero

Woken from our sweet slumbers at 5:30. We found the power was off and we (and presumably everyone else) were in darkness in the middle of our ablutions. Fortunately, the backup generator came to our rescue, and we all arrived for breakfast at 6am. It was still dark outside, dawn coming always at 7am regardless of the season

Calisthenics were as usual conducted in a circle around Henk and, with dawn breaking and the trucks loaded, we were ready to hit the road. Our route took us back through Kayunda Town. It was still quite cool as the sun rose over the banana plantations and smallholdings around us. We had a fine view of the sunrise as we cycled east. The going was relatively smooth and even. On either side of the road were homesteads and smallholdings, with mango and avocado trees, banana palms, pineapple plants growing in the shade of the palms, jack fruit trees and much else. The simple homes all looked neat and tidy, and well cared for.

The road continued across swampland and the neat little smallholdings gave way to acres of papyrus. We observed a fisherman in a dugout canoe make a catch.

After about a dozen kilometres, we came do a small town and turned right off the tarred road onto a dirt track that followed a fairly direct route across country. We were accompanied, as yesterday, by the excited cries of children, rushing outside to wave to us. The sun was beginning to make itself felt.

William used his bicycle bungee to good effect giving Mandy a useful boost that helped her to maintain a good speed, even uphill. (is this the first use of a bicycle bungee in Africa?). The track itself was not of the smoothest quality, marked in places by deep ruts which it was essential to avoid, particularly when hurtling downhill.

We arrived at our first water stop after a few kilometres down the dirt track. We were accommodated in the front garden of the house owned by a friend of Charles, the leader of our Ugandan support team. He gave us an interesting tour of his friend’s small holding, pointing out the avocado trees and the mango trees. He showed us the banana palms and how a fresh plant grew up from the heart of the old one. He explained how the beans from the coffee plant were harvested. Cocoa and jack fruit were also growing in the same plot. And a few farm animals, including some pigs, occupied part of his friends land.

Charles explained that the agricultural potential of the country was undoubted but native Ugandans had insufficient knowledge to exploit it. He said that what was needed was for foreigners to come with expertise to develop the potential of the country. The Bank of Uganda were willing to provide virtually all the finance for the development but he thought western companies were put off by the risks. The Chinese and the Indians initiated projects, and invested in them, but they did little of benefit to the local people. His argument reinforces the need to expand access to education, on a much greater scale than that currently available within the country, an essential step towards preventing the repeated marginalisation of Africans, and all the instability that is capable of bringing.

We headed westwards along a track that was still quite deeply rutted. As we passed through the small hamlets dotted along the way it was notable that the general standard of building and upkeep declined as the track took us further and further away from the main road.

Eventually we arrived at the next water stop, where the shade, water, pineapple, jack fruit, mango and nuts were even more welcome than earlier. The sun was now really hot (up to 42C in the sun) and making our journey increasingly challenging. Still 16km to a stop for lunch.

When eventually we arrived at our lunch stop, we were entertained by an impromptu concert, courtesy of the children of the local village. Our tuna salad tasted all the better for their songs, and helped lift the spirits of team members who had suffered mishaps during the morning’s ride. Those incidents nevertheless showed the importance to all of us of Charles and his back up crew, and of course, Nick, our doctor.

The afternoon ride was split into two sections with one water stop. The temperature was again in the high 30s, and cycling in these temperatures is challenging. We had a total of some 35 kilometres to cover, over the “undulating” ground that was now so close to our hearts. We all found it a struggle and were relieved when at last the dirt track on which we had spent most of the day joined the main road at Luwero, our destination for the night.

We sank into chairs in the hotel garden and never has a cold “Nile Special” tasted so good! The lack of hot water was of little concern as the showers worked well enough.

84 km. Total ascent 680 m. Maximum temperature 42 C.

With thanks to William and Glen for the update

Saturday, 9 February 2013

Jinja to Kayunga Town

Breakfast at 6:30 just before dawn and as the light comes quickly we watch the last feeding and then roosting of a large colony of fruit bats.

The usual calisthenics from Henk, tour leader, were followed by a start at 7.45. Sunny with a few high clouds.

We rode through the outskirts of Jinja as the town was starting to wake up. There were plenty of people on the streets going about their business. A woman stopped to take a picture of us on her iPhone.

A memorable feature of the morning was the number of children, some very small, who would run to the side of the road and greet our team with loud cries of “hello”, “bye” and some times “hello-how-are-you” and grins and waves. Today being Saturday, no-one was at school and it seemed we might be the best entertainment in town. One of the most marked differences in comparison to Zambia four years ago that we noticed is the number of people. Uganda is about a quarter the size of Zambia but has three times the population and so far we have spent much of the time riding through villages that sprawl along the road.

But there is plenty of countryside. It is lush and green with banana and pineapple grown, often on the same plot. Where the land is not cultivated we see a large variety of trees some of which display vivid purple and pink flowers. It is a land of rolling hills (the cycling is what may be termed “undulating”, which means a lot of hills) with green valleys, part cultivated and the rest wild.

Our second stop had us at the Nile again,after a short diversion off the road along a dirt track through a village, busy with its weekly Saturday Market. Here the river is a raging torrent, much changed from the broad, placid river we had seen upstream. Just beside us, the Nile thundered past in a narrow channel between the shore we were on and the bank of a small island, providing the idyllic location for a holiday lodge.

The push north west along the road after we had retraced our steps through the local market sees the team spreading itself out along the way, as the constant undulations begin to take their toll. This is to the apparent amusement of many villagers who shout encouragement as though we are in the Tour de France, not a charity bike ride in Uganda.

Our stop for the night is at the Hotel Katikomi in Kayunga Town, which is an undistinguished, though nonetheless thriving, township, marked for us by the absence of water when we arrive (we learned to use a jerry can to shower) as a result of a power cut affecting the whole town. Power and water were eventually restored using generators. A good exposure for us to life as it is lived in these parts of Africa where power cuts are the norm.

60 km. Total ascent 580m. Maximum temperature 38 C.

With thanks to Willam and Glen for this update

Update from Mandy

After a rather uphill struggle on Sunday in Richmond Park took the day off yesterday to give my legs a day off!  Back on the bike again today and the small little hillock in Teddington is a breeze compared to the undulation of Richmond Park, just bought more Tiger Balm!  See you at the airport on Thursday.  Can’t wait!

Our cyclists are preparing themselves for their adventure which starts on 7 February 2013.

Mandy, our Fundraising Manager (centre), along with Michaela (right) and Jessica (far right) from Allen and Allen Group are training hard, despite adverse weather conditions.

GO GIRLS!!!

Congratulations to Peter Bunn of Dorking, who completed the Berlin Marathon on Sunday 30 September. His endeavours have seen pledges of £1500.  Well Done Peter!

African Revival recently organised a Certificate Award Day for the pupils and teachers at Juba Road. This project is aimed at increasing the motivation for the pupils and teachers by awarding small prizes such as school bags, books, pens maths sets and mattresses for the best performing pupils, the most improved pupil, the best pupil in sports and to honour hard work, academic performances and skills in athletics etc. The day is always a great success and it brings the parents closer to the school as they are invited to join the celebration of the achievements of the pupils.

All the pupils from the school are joining in the celebration and the awarded pupils are called forward in front of the entire school where they receive their small rewards and their certificate of achievement.  It is fantastic to see the pride and joy of the parents when they realise that their child has excelled. In true Ugandan style many of the mothers joined their child in front of the school shouting praises and demonstrating their pride and happiness with their child’s achievement.

The certificate reward day is one of the ways through which African Revival is trying to enhance the parental involvement in the schools and the interest in the individual child’s development and education. Too often the parents are disengaged from their child’s education and the children are not always receiving the needed support from their homes. The certificate reward day brings everyone together and this greatly helps to bridge the gap between the school and the parents.

African Revival are extremely proud of all their gallant riders, cycling for 7 hours through the night on 9th and 10th June 2012.  Well done to all those who took part!

It was a great opportunity to see the city decked out in all its glory for the Jubilee.