Hanging out with movie stars

February 23 - Day 9

A bittersweet day for all, since the kids are leaving us.  Brenda gives a speech at breakfast, thanking the Kulikayo Organization, Jackie, and the sponsors for all their support.  Alan reiterates how proud we are of the fine people these kids are developing to be, and reminds them of the need to make the most of the opportunities they have presented to them and to be ever mindful of their moral code when making life choices.

 

The young people leave in small groups to take public transit back to their various schools or homes near their workplaces.  Jackie escorts her son, Jonathan, to his school and the Canadians do their best to relax by the pool and calm their emotions.

Kulikayo kids love posing

Fond farewells

 

Jackie returns just in time for dinner, and everyone retires early to bed.

 

February 24 – Day 10

We opt for a later breakfast and Carly and Scott opt for a quiet pool day, while the rest of us keep busy.

Jackie takes us to the Jinja school of nursing and midwifery, where we meet with the administrator to explore the possibility of an early entry for Shakira, rather than waiting for the start of the next term in July.  We learn that the admissions process is quite rigid, starting with advertisements for applications in March, then interviews beginning in April.  If applicants are successful in qualifying for government bursaries, approximately 1/3 of the tuition may be covered.  Others will need to pay full fees.

Statue in the entry courtyard of the nursing school

 Since Shakira will be off school until at least July, we are keen to see her make good use of her time.  We move on to a textbook book store in downtown Jinja, but find the general nursing manual suggested by Rose is not available.  Jackie will need to try and secure it in Kampala.  We will also look into free first year online nursing lectures.  We have provided Shakira with Sue’s old android phone, and Jackie will set her up with airtime.

We then head to the Source of the Nile, a tourist attraction at the mouth of the longest river in the world, where it leaves Lake Victoria.  We’re disappointed to find there is a fairly stiff admission fee (which we are able to negotiate down a little bit), and even more discouraged to find that most of the site is now taken over by a construction project with 2 large hotel resorts going up and the quaint stone stairway to the water lined with market stalls is gone.

Large spiders await in the trees.  Our guide assures us they are a seasonal phenomenon and harmless.  Ronald Weasley, beware!!

 

We take in views of the water then grab some refreshment at the remaining restaurant before heading back to 30 Wilson for some quiet time before dinner.

Our afternoon reverie is disrupted by a guy in his 40’s who introduces himself to Scott as “Tom from Belgium – not to be confused with Tom Cruise”.  He is with a Ugandan girl in her 20’s and he seems to be constantly drinking and becoming more demonstrative in his childish antics – such as doing belly flops and cannonballs in the pool, making “snow angels” in the sand then jumping back in the water, and eventually loudly spitting in the pool. 

Disgusted, we induce the pool caretaker to do a good cleaning after Tom leaves, and accept that our swimming activities are over for today.

For dinner, we’ve agreed to try out a nearby venue called The Hangout which is a collection of about 7 kitchens offering a variety of cuisines, including Japanese, Mexican, pizza, burgers, etc.  Alicia is thrilled to find some tasty vegan offerings, and those who opt for pizza are quite satisfied with their meals.