Dear All,

Here we are in Uganda. We left Nairobi on Friday and got to Naivasha that afternoon (January 23rd). We visited a very large flower farm. Flower farming is a major industry in Naivasha. The roses are beautiful colors and very fragrant.  They export primarily to Holland. We went for a drink on a floating restaurant and visited with some of the local Rotarians.  We all went back to one house to shower and change for dinner.  Dinner was donated at a restaurant/bar, by one of the local Rotarians.   There was no formal Rotary meeting, and we gave brief introductions.  The following morning we were all invited to the home of one of the Rotarians for breakfast.  It was wonderful.  The fruits here are delicious. Off to Kisumu.  It was a 6 hour drive on very bad roads.  Long, hot and bumpy, but we arrived for a late lunch with a few local Rotarians.  Kelli and I stayed in the home of Patty and Dan Schmelzer, an American couple from California.  they have been in Kenya about 7 or 8 years and are doing some wonderful things in the Kisumu community.  Dan is a Lutheran minister, but in addition to his church work, he and Patty have founded a program for children who are in the streets.  They give them meals, get them counseling, clean clothes and lots of love.  The plan is to send these children back to their families when they are ready to go.  They work with the families as well.  These are two very special people.  One of “their boys” needed heart valve surgery.  They raised the money to provide this surgery and St. Jude’s donated the actual valves.  Patty stayed with this boy and his father in Nairobi while the surgery was being done and while this boy recovered.  They have quite amazing stories. The next morning we left for Busia, our point of entry into Uganda.  It was about a 2 hour drive again with very bad and bumpy roads.  When we crossed the border, we transferred our luggage to the cars of waiting Rotarians.  We said goodbye to our driver, Kevin.  We drove another 1  1/2 or 2 hours to get to Jinja.  We all had lunch at the home of John Kirkpatrick, a Rotarian who is originally from England.  We all met later that night at the home of Peter and Ruth Kalibbala for a wonderful dinner.  Their home overlooks Lake Victoria.  It is a beautiful view.  It was a delightful evening and we all enjoyed the company of new friends.  John is very concerned for the comfort of all of us and wants to make sure everything goes well.

I am staying at the home of Petronella Lujwala.  She is the headmistriss of a secondary girls’ school and the Vice President of the Rotary Club of Jinja.  Next year she will be PE, and the following year she will be President.

Today we met at John’s house and went from there to see several sites.   School is not in session right now, but we visited the Wansimba Private School.  The Rotary club here has been involved with providing desks and other support.  We were able to meet with the headmaster.  We saw a water project that was a matching grant with the Torrey Pines Rotary Club.  Everyone here seems to know Philippe Lamoise!  Also, John has mentioned Steve Brown and Fary Moini several times.  The water project serves about 500 people, and we watched children filling their large containers with clean water to take home.  We then went to the Adopt a Village Project.  There are many small villages in the surrounding areas.  In the village we visited, Kiranga, Rotary has provided cows.  The cows provide milk, thus a source of income for these people.  They have also given them seeds to plant fruit trees.  We then had a picnic lunch at Bujagali Falls.  This is on the River Nile.  White water rafting looked awfully tempting, but not for this trip!

We then went to the Nalufenya Childrens’ Hospital that is part of the Jinja Hospital. We each planted a tree on the premises.  Mine was an avocado tree.  They have been initially planted in pots, then transferred to the soil when they are big enough.  The trees are avocado, mango and some citrus.  The idea is that this will provide fresh fruit eventually, for the children that are hospitalized.  We did walk through the hospital, and it is quite sad.  Many children on each ward.  The hospital serves no food at all, so parents have to provide the food.  If the parents want to stay there with their children, they sleep on the floor underneath their child’s bed.  They now also have a new wing they have opened for treatment of AIDS.  The hospital also does not provide medication.  The physician orders the medication then brings it from his/her own clinic.

Tonight we are making a presentation at a community Rotaract club (they seem to have a lot of these in Africa).  From there we are having dinner with our hosts.

I wish we could upload more pictures for all of you to see, but we have just not been able to do that.  Hopefully soon, from Kampala.

Best to all of you,

Dale