Today's adventure: Jinja, Kampala and a Chinese Restaurant

We awoke this morning to have eggs and cinnamon roles for breakfast. We left to visit Richard and Generous Turinawe and their family. Generous is the Director of ACT Muko. Today we celebrated her daughter's fifth birthday with cake and cookies.

Sue went to Kampala with Generous while the four of us (with Charles Tuhaise, Generous's son Jesse and our driver Christopher) drove two hours to Jinja. We first saw the Bugali Falls on the Nile River. The rapids were very impressive and we spent considerable time there. We had a nice lunch at a resort nearby then drove to the source of the Nile where the river meets Lake Victoria. Both places were beautiful. Unfortunately I cannot upload pictures at this time but will do so in the future.

We returned to the Adonai House (our hotel) and regrouped. The five of us plus Charles, Christopher, Richard, Generous and Jesse went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Fang Fang. The food was excellent. We ate dinner with Daniel Karibwije (from the Uganda Export Promotion Board) and Rev. Canon James E. Karibwije (academic registrar at Kabale University). We spoke about various ways to increase the scope and sustainability of our projects. Holly and I spoke to Daniel about exporting to China. Daniel explained to us the importance of selling the story behind the baskets and not just the baskets.

The first full day in Uganda was great. I also tried two new sodas: Marimba (which I recommend) and Crest (which is bitter lemon and not as good). Tomorrow we are leaving at 6 am to set up at the Kampala market. We will spend a few hours there until we leave for Mbarara, about a four hour drive from Kampala. We will spend the night there and then participate in a traditional wedding ceremony the next day before departing for Kabale where we will be staying for the next few days.

By the way, the time stamp for the blogs are Eastern Time. Uganda is eight hours ahead - it is just after 10 pm here. Stay posted!