Musana Camps

Sorry for the late blog post- we have been really busy over the last few days and have the added complication that my laptop has broken so I am having to borrow one from my team member Kate.

We arrived in Nansana on Tuesday afternoon and after spending Wednesday settling in at the Smile house, we set off for Musana camps. It is a Christian retreat centre situated on the shores of Lake Victoria, and we went there in order to spend some time getting to know the local Smile volunteers. After the busy city of Kampala, it was wonderful to get away to somewhere quieter, as those of you who know me, I love the countryside and the tranquillity of it.

To get there, we took a Ugandan taxi which is like a UK minibus licenced to carry 14 passengers, but a lot ricketier. The journey was three hours and whilst my team members weren’t so enthusiastic about this ride, I really enjoyed the chance to see more of the area surrounding Kampala from the window. We drove through different terrains from concreted terrain closer to Kampala to a highway type dust road, which resulted in being spattered with red dust from the window. I closed the window to try to stop myself looking like I’d come out of a desert storm but the taxi conductor promptly opened it again, grinning back at me. It seems like you don’t mess with taxi conductors!

 

Musana was even more beautiful than I imagined. The lake stretches as far as the eye can see with several islands dotted around and the sky reflects in the water like a mirror to make it an azure colour. We were camping in a field above the lake and I would wake up in the morning, come out of our tent and be met with this sight and it was a great time to remind us all of God’s creation and help us to remain connected to Him at a time when we are getting used to the Ugandan culture. I loved stargazing at night and the millions of stars took my breath away as it was so clear and I woke up early to watch the sun rise over the lake.

It reminded me of Isiah 40:26-"Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. The One who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing."

I am so thankful that we had the chance to go there because it gave us a chance to bond with the team before we start working on the projects, which I think is really important because we are going to be working in difficult environments and will encounter challenges that are better faced when you know the strengths and weaknesses of your fellow team members.

As part of this, we participated in team challenges led by the Musana leaders, for example getting everyone over a 9 foot wooden wall with no supporting aids apart from each other. At first I looked at it and said, ‘No way am I doing that,’ because I was still in the English mind set of ‘health and safety first.’ I was reminded of our day at the activity centre Carroty Wood during our training week in Kent when our instructor for the climbing wall told us that we couldn’t go more than four feet above the ground without a helmet and we weren’t allowed in the fenced in area where the climbing wall was located without a hard hat. Needless to say, there were no hard hats or harnesses at Musana! Fortunately, we have some tall people in the Smile team who hauled me over the top and it turned out to be a fun experience.

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a lot of free time to relax and have fun together, for example we played beach games on the lake shore. However, my favourite part of the few days we spent there was the trek in the equatorial forest the camp is surrounded by to a waterfall named Mutunyu Falls. To me, it looked a bit like I imagine a rainforest and it was rather surreal in some ways because I have seen this type of environment a lot on wildlife TV programmes so it felt odd to be somewhere like it in real life. I had great fun standing under the torrent of the waterfall cooling down from the heat of the day and posing for some cheesy photos at the top of it (don’t worry mum, it was freshwater and I didn’t go too close to the edge!!) It also included much hilarity and pain at the same time as although I slipped over several times in the mud, fell into a stream because I broke one of the logs bridging the water, ripped my trousers and got attacked by ants, I really enjoyed the walk. It reminded me of when I hike in the Lake District with my family because of the setting of the lake nearby.

 

On Sunday, we had the privilege of attending the church that the Americans who set up Musana Camps have started. We were joined by children and their families from the surrounding villages, but mostly from the fishing village a short walk away by the lake shore.  The Smile team were leading worship, which was interesting because we had to learn songs in Lugandan ten minutes before we had to stand up the front. Jenny Dobson, all your teaching of songs in African languages over the years definitely came in useful! It was such an amazing experience to be worshipping God in the outside right above the lake.

I found it hard to leave Musana because I love the beautiful natural setting there but I am really excited to start working on the Smile projects. Tomorrow we are going to the slum community of Nabulagala to run a catch up education class for pre-school aged children so I will update you on that soon.

 

Thank you so much to everyone who has said they are praying for me and the team. We appreciate it a lot! Prayer requests:

- For the Smile team as us gappers join the projects in the slums next week

- For us gappers as we start teaching at Ruth Mother Care

-That we will continue to settle in.