ISLAND IN THE SUN - Kalangala, The District Capital

Welcome to KALANGALA, the main town of Bugala Island and also the administrative centre of Kalangala District which is geographically the 84 Ssese islands. The population of Kalangala Parish (Kalangala Town, Lutoboka, Mweena and a few surrounding villages in the north-east of the island) is probably not much more than 15,000 but it is hard to assess as the official statistics for the whole of the islands vary from 35,000 to 55,000. Kalangala Town is really one long main street, Main Road, which extends for about one mile with several tracks leading off to settlements or villages. The photo above is taken looking due east.

Buildings along both sides of Main Road are predominantly commercial so let's have a look at some of the businesses....

Typical shops on the side of Main Road Kalangala. There's a grass verge between the road and the shops in most places.

When we arrived in July 2012 this monstrosity had been erected on Main Road

The two local take-aways!

Main Road Kalangala looking west and showing the small mosque tower on the right.

One of the two Electrical Stores

Mr Mukibi the "Super Butcher"

Water World where I'll be staying when I'm not at the Project

The Kalangala District Offices - a strange contrast to all the other buildings

Kalangala Market Place, through a small gap off Main Road

Matooke (pronounced "ma-tow-kay"), green banana, the main staple vegetable of Uganda

Most fruit and vegetables here are recognisable (but the fruit is fresher!)

The Covered Market

Tilapia - the beautiful Lake Victoria fish

Another view of the shops on Main Road

The tailor/dressmaker. He makes most of his garments inside the detached building although some ladies' dresses are bought in. This photo was taken in January 2013 just before the new school year started so you see the local school uniforms hanging on the wall.

...and my final Kalangala retail photo - another form of take-away!

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As you've already seen the islands are very green. This is part of the Equatorial strip that goes right round the earth that has a lot of forestation. Thus the verdant scenery can take you by surprise if your first African travels bring you here. Also Uganda (and thus Lake Victoria) is about 1,000 metres above sea level so you don't get the heat extremes. Here are a few general scenes taken in and around Kalangala Town...

...and this is what makes it green! Heavy rain on our first day here in January - THE DRY SEASON!

But what it did produce for us was this amazing and totally natural puddle we saw on the way back from church that morning! Africa, Oh Africa!

In the Luganda language consonants are rarely put together thus English words are sometimes given the same treatment!!!

The view down to the lake from Main Road Kalangala which runs along a ridge about 200 metres above Lake level.

View across Main Road from Water World

The road from Kalangala towards the fishing village of Mweena and our project at Sozi

Another view of the lake from Main Road Kalangala

Next time I'll introduce you to some of the schools of Kalangala.

ISLAND IN THE SUN - Lutoboka and the Resorts

So here we are...

We've taken the ship over from the mainland to Lutoboka so now it's time to show you our end of the island. Although the main road (red soil track) to the main town of Kalangala goes straight ahead we're first of all going to walk left and right from the landing stage.

To the right (west) there are several "beach resorts". Whatever your experiences of resorts in Europe or America it is probably better to wipe them out of your mind. Although a little up-market compared with the basic guesthouses and hostels of the inland towns and villages most Europeans will still find these "a little basic". However accommodation can be reasonably comfortable, they have bars and decent restaurants. As far as the "beach" element is concerned it may be getting to the point where the "trade descriptions" people get our their red pencils because the beaches are disappearing....

The levels of Lake Victoria are rising steadily. Generally in Uganda rainfall has increased over the last few years (even in the dry season) and the River Nile is flowing at dangerously high levels along its route so the big sluice gates near the lake are not being opened as often. This has caused Lake Victoria to rise to unprecedented levels. Higher water level = disappearing beaches! Apparently we have a beach on our land at Sozi but I haven't seen it yet! Nevertheless most of the resorts have got recreational areas and lakeside walks.

This is the bar at Pearl Gardens Beach Resort. In the distance you can just make out the restaurant.

What's left of the beach at Pearl Gardens Beach

Looking towards the Landing Site from Pearl Gardens

Following the Olympics Beach Volleyball seems to gained popularity

Water's edge at Pearl Gardens

Sue and John with the melancholy donkey that hangs around the landing site - Eeyore!

And so to Lutoboka, the little fishing village. As with most of the little coastal villages this settlement is very impoverished. Apart from fishing there is little or no income and fishing is becoming harder due to water pollution and rules on "illegal fishing". Here are some photos of Lutoboka and its people. I don't think there's need for any other description....

So there's an insight into one of the poorest villages on Bugala Island. Despite being surrounded by the resorts there is abstract poverty here. The shops (shown in the bottom photo) only survive because they are on the main road up to the resorts and Kalangala.

Next time we're going to climb the hill up to the district main town of Kalangala. See you there!

JOURNEY TO BUGALA ISLAND

One of the things that seems to surprise people most about where our project is based is the fact that there are islands in Uganda - it's a landlocked country!

Well, part of Uganda's borders with Kenya and Tanzania are in the middle of Lake Victoria and the lake (in common with many other lakes) has islands. In fact Lake Victoria has well over 100 islands and is the world's largest tropical lake and the world's second largest freshwater lake (second to Lake Superior between the USA and Canada).

The Ssese Islands are about 60km south of Entebbe on Uganda's mainland coast and are accessible via several boat services. The ships to the main island, Bugala, go from two landing sites on the mainland. The shortest is between Bukakata (40km east of Masaka on the mainland) and Luku (30km west of Kalangala on the island).

This is free and takes the larger lorries but it's about 150km from the country's capital of Kampala thus making the journey expensive and time consuming.

The shorter crossing is from Nakiwogo Fishing Site near Entebbe to Lutoboka Landing Site about 3km from Kalangala. The vessel on this trip is normally the MV Kalangala...

...which carries passengers and smaller vehicles. There is a charge. For instance seating is first class (padded seats) and second class (wooden benches) and the single first class fare is 14,000 Ugandan Shillings (about £3.50). The crossing is about three and a half hours and the ship leaves on time (about the only thing in Uganda that does) - 8 a.m. from the island and 2 p.m. from the mainland every day.

However there are times when the ship needs to be serviced and the vessel of choice (or should I say necessity) changes to this....

Yes, on the way back to the mainland at the end of January this year we spent three-and-a-half hours on this wooden boat. No loo! But experienced amazing views of some of the other islands the larger vessel can't get near.

This is a view of MV Kalangala taken from the bridge as it approaches Lutoboka Landing Site on the island....

Lutoboka is a very poor fishing village on the shore of Lake Victoria. In my next blog I'll start a journey around the east of the island with you and we'll discover Lutoboka, the capital town of Kalangala and their neighbouring villages.

MARANATHA GATEWAY PROJECT

So what's Maranatha Gateway all about?

For over 25 years the Ugandan government, under President Yoweri Museveni, has been gradually putting back together its country following the devastating regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. It's a long hard struggle. These dictators decimated the commercial backbone of Uganda and (particularly Amin) virtually destroyed the infrastructure of hospitals and schools and it has taken until now for the country to be able to claim that about 65% of children are able to attend school - the percentage would be a lot lower were it not for the monetary support and hard work of foreign organisations.

However there is a beautiful archipelago in north-west Lake Victoria called the Ssese Islands - 84 islands of which 53 are inhabited - where still only about 30% of children are able to get to a school. This is primarily because of its isolation from the mainland, thus it costs a little more for anything that needs doing, but also because of the historical non-reliance of the Bassese peoples on the rest of the country. Even though the majority of the population of the islands are now Baganda (from mainland southern Uganda and who support the Kabaka - king of Buganda) and other Ugandan tribes there seems to be a great pride in being Bassese (people of Ssese).

Because even now so few children are able to be educated it means that most adults on the islands have little or no formal education. That means they may have neither literacy nor numeracy. Asking a man how many children he has an getting the answer Bitono (a few) or Bingi (many) doesn't mean they've lost count - it simply means that they've never been taught numbers so only know Emu (one) so you can imagine the problems of handling money or operating a mobile phone. It seems so basic but we sit with our children and repeat "One apple, two oranges, three pears, etc." If no-one has ever done that for you how would you know your numbers? Thus at Maranatha Gateway we will be teaching basic numeracy. It would be so easy to align uneducated with "thick" yet the majority of these people are intelligent, friendly and communicative (as far as they are able.

That brings me to the next point - English! Why on earth would we want to teach English to rural Ugandan islanders? Well simply because English is the official language of the country - although you will sometimes see Luganda (the language of the Baganda) written it is far more normal to see English. Luganda, like most tribal languages, does not easily lend itself to reading and writing. Forms are in English and most communications in business are in English. All schools teach only in English from Primary 1 (7 year olds) upwards. To get a decent job you need at least some English.

At Maranatha Gateway we will be training adults in brickmaking, building and basic carpentry. Most live in wood huts, often with roofs of wood, straw or even plastic sheeting. Their floors are normally soil. This means that not only is keeping clean awkward but diseases are more easily contracted. During the rainy seasons - and on the island the rains may often come during the dry seasons - everything gets not only damp but very wet and muddy with more chance of illness. Even being able to modernise your own home, even if you're unable to build a new one, could make all the difference. These skills can also be used to bring work as our students are able to build basic structures for others.

Then there's crop growing and animal rearing. Both fairly basic to the subsistence of Ugandans but skills that have, in many cases, been ignored as people have had little incentive to sort themselves out. And, of course, as a Christian team we will ensure that biblical teaching is never far away from what we're doing. Maranatha means "Come, Lord" so we believe that Maranatha Gateway will be a place where people will come to know salvation in Jesus and be nurtured in Him.

We hope to start the first courses in January 2014.

 

Lawrence is in charge of our building team and will be instructing students

This was the first classroom/dormitory under construction in January. It's now virtually complete.

Some of these blogs will not just be about updating my journey over the next months and years but will be about introducing you to the Ssese Islands, Uganda and the people there. I encourage you to keep following the journey.

Mike

IT'S GETTING CLOSER

It's less than a year since I first went to Uganda and yet I was there in January again for a month and in August I'll be heading there at the start of a period of time when I'll be spending more time there than in the UK.

This Saturday (8th June) I'll be slightly belatedly celebrating my birthday and my going out to Africa by holding a party. Yes, it's costing me but it gives me a chance to thank family and friends for being part of my life. It will also provide an opportunity for people to contribute towards the project I'm going out to Uganda to be part of.

This is the first building of the Maranatha Gateway vocational training centre Project in the beautiful Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria. Situated on the east coast of Bugala Island - on a small, rocky, jungle peninsula called Sozi (rocky hill) - we are developing a centre where we intend to teach basic life skills to people who have never had the chance of an education.

In my future blogs I want to fully introduce you to the Maranatha Gateway Project, to Bugala Island and its people, to Uganda (the Pearl of Africa) and to my thoughts and adventures during the next months and years.