Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We spent a fascinating afternoon in The Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid-14^th century by Moorish rulers.  After the re-conquest by Catholic monarchs some parts were used by Christian rulers.  It sits on top of a hill overlooking the city of Granada.

After falling into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was re-discovered in the 19^th century by European scholars and travelers.  The decorations are mostly of foliage, Arabic inscriptions, and geometrical patterns.  Painted tiles are used on the walls.  The Alhambra is made up of gardens, fountains, streams, palace, and a mosque within fortress walls.  The Alhambra has influenced architecture, music, literature, and mathematics.

Thanksgiving Day we headed to the coast, passing through the little town of Restebal.  At the edge of the town was a plaza looking down to a large lake.  The plaza itself was interesting with curious tops to the pillars, large decorated, cement chairs, and small walls made with cement and broken pottery.

In Salobreña we climbed UP STEEP streets to the 10^th century Moorish castle.  Below were the white-washed houses, sugarcane fields, and the Mediterranean Sea.  On the beach we found a small restaurant offering an inexpensive 3-course meal.  Our Thanksgiving dinner was salad, paella, and fried fish.  It was delicious and we were thankful!

We climbed out on the rocky promontory to look back at the castle and city.  We spent some time on the pebbly beach—Lucy’s favorite spot of the whole trip.

Dúrcal is a small town about 45 minutes from Albuñuelas or about 30 minutes from Granada.  We wanted to go to the open air market held on Wednesdays.  All sort of fresh vegetables and fruits as well as everything else one might find at a market.  One stall had all kinds of spices available.  Another stall had many kinds of fresh olives.  We asked for the most typical of that area and bought a kilo of olives.  Do you have any idea how many that is?  A lot—but we ate them all in the next 3 days!  They were quite inexpensive according to U.S. prices.

The setting of the town was beautiful—with mountains in the background.  The town plaza was busy.

In the afternoon we took a 5 km hike through the area hills to the small village of Conchar.  Beautiful scenery reminded us of areas in Arizona that we have hiked but with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

We traveled recently to southern Spain for a short vacation and to reconnect with our now 10 ½ – month old granddaughter. Our itinerary included a connecting flight in Cairo, but due to a 3-hour late departure from Uganda we missed the connection and were rerouted through Vienna. That made for a very long day, arriving at our hotel in Madrid at 1 am, 26 hours after leaving our house in Kampala! After a few hours of sleep we were up bright and early to meet Jessica, Christy, and granddaughter Lucy who arrived from Philadelphia at 8 am. It was a joyous and emotional reunion!

From Madrid we drove 5 ½ hours, including a lunch stop, south to Albuñuelas located at the end of a small road in the mountains between Granada and the Mediterranean coast.  On the way we passed through plains, mountains, and what seemed like endless olive trees. Our rental house in Albuñuelas had a wonderful view of snow-capped mountains in the Sierra Nevada range. The quiet streets of Albuñuelas were a perfect place to relax, and the location was a good jumping off point for day trips to the coast and other nearby communities.

Each year the MCC Uganda team takes time to enjoy a week together in fun, worship, and outside input.  This year the team was invited to gather with the MCC teams from Burundi/Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Gisenyi, Rwanda.  There were 19 adults and 6 children under the age of 6.  The location was at a hotel located on the shores of Lake Kivu, about 0.5 km from the DRC border, with a backdrop of active volcanoes.  Needless to say, it was a beautiful spot. We enjoyed the flowers, green grass, and a resident group of crested cranes, the national bird of Uganda.

Generally, the schedule involved breakfast, worship, Bible Study on a parable, coffee break, some sort of input session, lunch, rest/activities, supper, and worship.  One day a Rwandan pastor joined us for a discussion of facing injustice on a personal level.  He is Hutu, and although he was not involved directly in the mid 1990’s genocide against the Tutsis, he was aware of the killings as they happened. But when the RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) came in he was forced to flee to Congo where he spent several years in a refugee camp and lost many family members.

Afternoon activities included various art projects and one afternoon of yoga.  We spent one morning at another hotel swimming in the lake and generally relaxing.  Lake Kivu is interesting in that there is methane gas at the bottom of this deep lake which today is being harvested for energy.

The MCC Uganda team traveled by road from Kampala to Gisenyi.  It was a 12-hour journey one way.  Southwestern Uganda and northwest Rwanda were beautiful with green hills and mountains in the background.  Rwanda is more densely populated than Uganda.  This was very evident with the terraced hillsides and homes everywhere. On our return journey we had a clear view of two volcanic mountains in the early morning light. Part of our mountainous road was still under construction, but most of the route was beautiful finished blacktop.

Recently we travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for EARM (East Africa Representatives Meeting).  These semi-annual meetings bring together MCC reps from Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, as well as our Associate Directors for East Africa.  Two administrators from Akron, PA  also joined us.  The meetings were good and productive.  It’s always good to hear what is happening in the other countries and know that we are not alone in our joys and frustrations.  (And Sally Jo got to hold the “newest” member of the EARM family – 6 weeks old.)

With meetings for two-and-half days we did not see much of Addis or the surroundings.  However, the view from our hotel room on the 5^th floor did give us a small view of the city and our immediate neighborhood—including cattle and sheep passing by in the morning.  And did you know that Addis is at an altitude of 7,600 feet?  Our hearts got a good exercise every time we climbed the stairs.

Our final afternoon was free so we joined a group that took a short trip up the mountain behind the hotel.  On the way we stopped to see an MCC project in jewelry making.  This is an income-generating project for women living with AIDS.  It was a Saturday so the women were not there but we saw the beautiful jewelry which is sold through Ten Thousand Villages and also through some high-end U.S. stores.  The beads are made from melted-down bullet casings.  We then visited one of these women who made tea for us and spoke about her struggles.  We had a short hike up the hill and looked out over the city.

In the evening we went to an Ethiopian Restaurant with that wonderful spicy food served with injera, a thin light bread, for which Ethiopia is known. The food was accompanied by drinks that included Ethiopian honey wine and delicious Ethiopian coffee. It was all tops!  For our entertainment and enjoyment there was traditional dancing and singing.

We spent a wonderful afternoon  in the Entebbe Botanical Gardens recently with the MCC SALTer who was spending the weekend with us.  The beautiful landscaped gardens were established about 1900 and include many native and imported trees and plants.  It is located on the shores of Lake Victoria.  We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who explained the various trees and fruits, identified numerous birds, and showed us a variety of plants used for medicinal purposes.  There are two types of resident monkeys—the black and white colobus and the black faced vervet monkey.

We did not have a pencil and paper so, of course, we don’t remember the information—even though we found it fascinating!  So this blog will just have many photos with little explanation.  Also the photos do not do justice to the beauty.  (And we don’t have photos of the beautiful birds we saw — kingfishers and hornbills for example — black-and-white-casqued hornbill and  pied kingfisher.)

We had heard from a number of people about the small (less than 4-acre) organic farm near Masaka.  We finally had a chance to visit; it is truly an amazing place.  The land is flourishing with vegetables and other produce as well as farm animals.

The farm was begun by a couple in the early 1990’s when the wife attended an intensive organic farming course in U.K.  They developed their farm to demonstrate how to improve subsistence agriculture using sustainable organic methods. They introduced courses for small-scale farmers and the project has grown over the years in response to the need for sustainable livelihoods for farmers and for those living in urban areas.  Participants learn about organic farming, improving impoverished soils, distribution of good breeding livestock, and tree seedlings and plant nurseries.

Several surprises–remember that house built with water bottles we saw earlier?  Another use for used water bottles is irrigation.  Mint tea can be made into an herbicide.  (Many other plants are grown for herbicides and for medicinal purposes.  The bio-gas system was more mature here than what we saw before; so we could see the results more readily.

We finally got a chance to travel south-west of Kampala.   One of our advisors invited us to visit him and his parish—south of Masaka.  To get there we crossed the equator and took the obligatory photo!  The parish is located in green rolling hills and was an absolutely beautiful and peaceful spot.

Father P-P was sent to this area in 1999 to begin the parish.  At that time he found only a small church.  Since then he has built a home/office for himself and two other priests, started a school and is in the process of building a large church..

We spent some time at the primary school.  The school started about 2002 with only about 40 children;  there are now over 400 children.  Classes include primary 1 through 7 plus nursery and kindergarten.  This year they will graduate their third P7 class—the final P7 leaving exam begins in three weeks.

The students wanted to present a short program for us.  There was a great welcome song, followed by the national anthem, school anthem, Lord’s Prayer, and Hail Mary.  The choir sang, a small group danced, and a group of boys accompanied very well on the drums.  There were a few speeches and a gift to us. We then had opportunity to visit several classes.

We go.., we go..

Uganda Cranes we go

For 3 ½ hrs we heard the chant — and the vuvuzelas, whistles, horns, drums.  The stadium was a continuous roar.  Many people had been there all day but we arrived about 1:30 for the 5:00 kick-off.  We have attended Big Ten football and basketball games and we don’t think those are any match for the noise at this game!

This was a “must” win game for the Uganda Cranes to be in the 2012 African Nations Cup.  They played Kenya Harambee Stars.  The Cranes were oh so close to scoring several times but it ended in a very disappointing 0-0 score. So nobody challenged the heavy security nor tried to rush the field at the end.

While we waited before the game, a number of different groups took to the track to encourage the cheering and noise, including cheerleaders and a “witchdoctor” performing his magical rites.  It was also a time to watch people with their decorated hats, painted bodies. A memorable and fun time for all!