Power outages, Sketchy internet and a dead computer...just some of the reasons nothing has been posted in a while. The last blog post left off on our way to Kampala during which we explored the city, walking countless miles a day and got to just about every corner of it. Quite a place, big, smoggy, and loud. I'm very glad that I went but its nothing too amazing and don't have much desire to go back. The best part about exploring the city was going to a Muslim mosque on a hill overlooking the city and while there being invited to go to the top of the minaret and getting to see the entire view of the city from one of the highest points and in full 360 degrees. While we were up there the soundsystem kicked on and the call to prayer went out and we were able to gaze out on the city while a beautiful Islamic prayer/song echoed through the city...it really was quite amazing. The third day we went river rafting down the nile river, in the stretch that was recently rated the best rapids in the world. It was almost exclusively class 4 and 5 for those of you who know anything about rafting and what I noticed most was how many rapids there were, they just kept coming. Our boat managed to only flip twice, but every other boat got tossed much more. The last rapid tossed me immediately and I spent quite a bit of time under water, first time I can remember relying more on my life jacket than my swimming prowess. It was amazingly fun and brutal and epic and something I can say I did that no one else I know has. And our guide for navigating the Nile was named Moses...I found that rather humorous, even if we weren't in Egypt.
We got back to Lira Monday and last week got quite a bit done on the business end of everything, continuing to set up the infrastructure for everything that we are doing as well as making great business connections with some of the higher ups in the town. We are moving along on the business plan and exactly what we are hoping to offer to the community.
Today our advisor left and Doug and I have 4 weeks left which will be spent almost entirely on the business end of setting things up. I had a great time and it was incredibly valuable to get to the villages and learn the culture but the way my brain is wired I'm geared up to get rolling on accounts and business proposals. There will obviously be a lot of culture left to experience but productivity should become a little more measurable from here on out.
I have started to shoot and hope to continue to film some of our activities as well as more generic footage around Lira to hopefully make some sort of video about both my trip and with some re-editing a marketing tool for MAPLE. So start getting ready for all the awesomeness that that will encompass. That is about all that is going on and of pressing concern. I do appreciate the e-mails and am sorry for any delay in response, the computer issues call for great prioritizing of the time here but its working a bit better now so I would love to hear from all of you. Till then good luck all.
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2 comments:
Hello, son. Great to see an update. We all enjoy these. Far away yet far out - Daddy-O
Whit water rafting down the NILE...HOW cool is THAT?!!
Glad you get to have some fun while you're there--work hard, play hard! :)
Good luck with everything, Derek! It's so awesome to read what you guys are up to--very insightful for someone who's never been outside the country!
What was the water like? Was it semi clean, or disgustingly dirty, or...? and were there bugs/snakes at all?
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