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Monday, December 20, 2010 - Kampala

By Shelly Tregembo

Our mornings have all started relatively the same way with varying degrees of jet lag. We all convene in the dining area for eggs, toast, fruit and copious amounts of coffee. This morning our plan was to head out to the Mugwaya Summit College. This school was formerly run by a fellow Rotarian, Martin Kiyaga from Mengo Rotary who passed away about a year ago.

Before going to the school, we went to Martin's home nearby where we were greeted by his wife and family (left), including his adorable 10 month old granddaughter and namesake, Martina. They live in a beautiful home with about 16 family members and an amazing back yard that includes goats and the cutest little piglets I've ever seen!

After visiting with Martin’s family, we went to visit the school. According to Martin’s oldest son, the school has a new head mistress and his son sits on the Board of Directors. We toured the grounds and were able to see the progress that is being made. A French teacher at the school gave us a tour and showed us the new dormitories that are being built. Unfortunately, the children are all on vacation so we weren’t able to see the school in action but our friendly guide explained that there are over 1,000 students attending school at Mugwaya many of whom came because of Martin's influence there. As has been the case throughout our trip, signs of Rotary are everywhere. From seeing billboards and signs to running into Rotarians at lunch, Uganda has a definite Rotary presence. This was also the case in the entryway to the school which was graced with an Interact sign.

From the school, we all went into downtown Kampala to met Tusu who began to explain more about our project. Tusu discussed some of the history that the Rotary Club of Kampala North has had with the villagers in Nkondo and what we hoped to accomplish while we’re here. Kampala North has organized themselves into 7 committees that will address the various needs that have been identified as part of this project. We all agreed that sustainability is of paramount importance in this project and that while our team will only be here for a relatively short time, our commitment to this community extends beyond our 30 days in country. This focus on sustainability and the size of this project has necessarily required a different approach to planning and we have all been excited to be pioneering what we hope will continue to be a lasting relationship with the village and its people.

After some lunch a quick nap, we attended our first Ugandan Rotary meeting. The Rotary Club of Kampala North warmly welcomed us and we all got to experience some of their great senses of humor. Apparently, Rotarians' sense of humor spans all cultures! We did what Rotarians do- we ate, we drank and had some great fellowship which included the local club making fun of our American accents. :-) Specifically, I spent some time over some Guinness trying to address my butchering of Ugandan English. I don’t know how far I actually got, but I can tell you that Nkondo is NOT pronounce Nah-kahn-doh, it’s pronounce Un-cohn-do. Beyond that, I’m still a work in progress!

Tomorrow we head to the village. We can’t wait to get to work!!