Martin and Paul's East Africa Bike Blog: Mbale 'Veeeseets'

P.S from Kitale leg. This is the outside of the Tusker beer bar we used opposite Jehovah Jire.

Mount Elgon has been a great resting place and base from which to make our various ‘veeeseets’ to the people Martha was working and living with whilst here in Mbale earlier this year. We also have a visit scheduled with a Love Africa partner UWCM led by Edith Wakumire.

Mnt Elgon Hotel

Prior to our visit to ACET we have some domestic issues to attend to. Martin has run out of underpants and so arranged for some (2) to be washed using the hotel laundry service. Interestingly underpant cleaning is not included on the laundry price list but Martin expects it to be the same price as washing a pair of socks.

In the meantime my crash helmet has accumulated so much dust and dirt over the past few days that it needs to be disassembled and cleaned as the visor no longer opens. I have no rags to do this but do have a surfeit of boxers so a pair are pressed into service for cleaning duties after which I rinse them through and hang them on the curtain pole to dry before setting off to Mbale.

We arrive at the ACET Mbale offices (Martha’s work) in the morning (Tuesday) in time for ‘break-tea’which was a great opportunity to meet with them, hear their many emotional reminiscences about Martha (some tears shed) and to see the set up. We had maize chips and some other deep fried high carb snack with some African tea and fresh ginger while we chatted and they read out the card from Martha and looked at the photos she had sent with Martin. They are such a great bunch and we had a good time with them.

After a short break back at the hotel we set off to Naomi’s house (head of ACET Mbale) to meet her husband Robert and two daughters Joanna (3) and Jethra (1 ½ and also Martha’s God daughter!). We arrived at 5.00 and had fresh warm ground nuts and tea with the family then we chatted until supper at 8.00. It was a long but enjoyable evening and a real insight into how the family lives. The two little ones spent much of the evening with Grandad Paul who was quite a hit!

Joanna - strong personality shall we say!

During the evening we each make observations on each others cultural differences. Martin explains how he found it amusing when he asked for his pants to be washed the laundry lady did not refer to them directly but instead as his “item”. Naomi explained that in Uganda underpants were never referred to nor was anyone but the owner expected to wash them. Martin and I immediately exchanged glances; him because the laundry lady may be on for a shock when she opened his laundry bag, me because the cleaner may have had a surprise when she pulled open the curtains!

A quiet beer on our return to the hotel and then up this morning to be at UWCM with Edith for their office staff devotions. I enjoyed sitting next to Paul singing ‘Rock Of Ages’ from the little hymn book and was asked to ‘shear a wud’ from the Bible which I did.

(Paul – No Comment.)

We both had a private audience with Edith who wanted to pick our brains about interviews she was conducting for a successor to her tomorrow (Thursday). She gave us the sense that she was helped by our chat.

Martin, Edith and Bananas. For those who know her she always buys bananas!

We then bundled into the Land Cruiser to go up to Wanale a remote community on mount Elgon. UWCM seeks to reach remote communities and to especially support women and vulnerable families impacted by HIV AIDS. We visited one of their teams who we have met before on previous visits and they were right in the middle of building an new house on the mountainside for a family where the father was recovering from near death infection caused by HIV and was now on ARV’s and improving. This is what these people do week in week out and we were able to see it all going on. They were working hard and with great enthusiasm for the task in hand.