Wherever you go, go with all your heart

I would like to believe that I did exactly that during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer here in Uganda.  The past few weeks have been full of a lot of changes and differing emotions.  On July 31^st, I moved out of my compound for good.  This was a long process considering I managed to collect a lot of CRAP over the past 2 years.  I ended up giving away A LOT of things to my friends around me as there’s no space for it in my bag - the only thing I am leaving Uganda with is my backpacking backpack!  Leaving my compound was really difficult.  The kids are too young to fully grasp the idea of me leaving, although little Shaima said with a frown “Kyomugisha, you are going?!” after I gave her a big hug and kiss.  On Monday August 1^st,  I headed to Kampala to begin the 3 day COS (Close of Service) process at the PC office.  It was surprisingly less stressful than I was expecting it to be, although a lot of running around getting signatures from different people, going to the bank to close my account, getting my ID card hole punched and last but not least, saying a small speech and “gonging” out.  It is a tradition for a PCV at the end of their service to hit a gong at the office to signify the closing of their service and becoming an RPCV (returned Peace Corps volunteer).  I have to say, hitting this gong didn’t make me feel any different…..as if I was expecting to feel some overwhelming change or difference? Even still, 2 weeks later I still feel as though I am a PCV.  I guess the only difference really is that I can “legally” ride boda-boda motorcycles (don’t worry mom, im trying not to!).  ;)  OH, also, on my last night at my house I dropped my iphone in my toilet and it has refused to turn on even after putting it in rice.  I guess it could only take so much – after dropping it in water 3 times here, I would say it lived a good, long life.

            The evening of gonging out, I hopped on a bus heading to Rwanda with some other PCV’s from my group and made the long 12 hour journey through the night.  We reached Gisenyi, Rwanda in the morning and I mostly spent the day sleeping as I got NO sleep on the bus….of course just my luck, I got the ONE seat in the entire bus that had a broken handle for making the seat recline.   We shopped for snacks and water to pack for our climb the next morning.  We headed out early the next morning to the Rwanda-DRC border where, thank God, everything went smoothly (for once!) and we headed into Goma to the base of the mountain, Mt. Nyiragongo.   Mt. Nyiragongo is an active volcano located in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes with an elevation of 3,470 meters.  It last erupted in 2002, completely wiping out homes at the base of the mountain and reaching the city center of Goma, leaving 200,000 people homeless.  At the base of the mountain you could clearly see the dried up lava rock and as we drove through these communities, there was a dark eerie feeling throughout.  Recently a new vent opened on the eastern side and there is fear of a possible eruption in the near future….Glad it didn’t happen while we were there! It’s basically a ticking time bomb. From Goma, we hopped back over the border to Rwanda…crossing back over wasn’t as easy as leaving was.  We encountered difficulties with the immigration people who were just being jerks.  With our Peace Corps passport and work permit, we have resident status in Uganda which means we can travel freely through Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya via the interstate pass (we don’t have to pay for a visa in these countries).  Well, when we were trying to enter back into Rwanda from the DRC, they wanted us to pay for a visa, even though we are residents of Uganda.  We ended up having to pay $30 each (it could have been worse, I guess) after a LONG time of arguing with these men at immigration who were clearly on a power trip and overcompensating for something (yea, im still a little bitter).  It really sucked for me because I was literally hopping right onto a bus back to the Uganda border and paid 30 bucks just to be able to get to a bus in Rwanda.  They had no option for a transit visa. 

So after all this, I was extremely delayed and ended up reaching the RW-UG border at 6pm.  I felt so bad because I had told my driver who was picking me for gorilla trekking the following day to be at the border by 3pm.  He kept time (very unusual for Uganda) and waited for me at the border for 3 hours….oops!  We immediately made the journey down a very bumpy and windy dirt road.  I asked the driver how far the hostel was and he said 3 hours.  He was FLYING down these roads that had hair pin turns (it’s a miracle we made it there).  I timed it and we ended up reaching the hostel in 1.5 hours (yeah, you can see how fast he was driving!).  I took a refreshing hot shower, which was well needed after two days of hiking and no bathing, ate a yummy vegetable curry and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.  The next morning I was up bright and early to eat breakfast and enjoy the beautiful scenery around me before heading out to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest park entrance.  I joined a group of tourists and we headed out with our guides to find the gorillas. We got lucky and within 1.5 hours we came across our gorilla family, the Bweza group.  I have to say this was honestly the most amazing thing ive ever done and WELL worth the $560 spent.  This group had 2 silverbacks, several regular adult gorillas and many babies.  It was a great family to track.  At one point we were literally only 2 feet from these gorillas and I nearly had a heart attack!  There are only 3 places in the world you can see mountain gorillas – Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC.  I HIGHLY recommend (if you have the money) to step outside of your comfort zone and instead of taking your next vacation in Europe or the Caribbean, you venture out here.  You won’t regret it.  After spending one hour with the gorillas, we climbed back to the entrance and I hopped into the car, heading to Kabale.  I went back to visit my first site, in Kitanga, for one night.  It was nice to see everyone and say my final goodbye.  It helped to bring about a lot of closure and tie up my Peace Corps service. 

After all of this, I returned back to Jinja to spend time with my favorite people and close up my life here in Uganda.  My youth’s chicken project is still going strong (I thought I had blogged about it in the past, but I guess it slipped my mind!).  We are on our second round of chickens,  however, we decided as a group that the original type of chicken (broiler) was too much for the boys to handle while in school and changed to rearing kroilers.  Boy what a difference this has made!  After 2 months, the chickens are fat, happy and healthy…what more could you ask for?!  Tomorrow we are going to open up a savings account at the local savings cooperative in our village so that they have a safe place to keep the money.  Im really proud of how hard these boys are working on this project and how badly they want to be successful.  I have found another PCV living in Jinja who wants to work with my boys for the next year of his service help them with their business.  This has helped relieve a lot of stress on my part, I am happy to know they will have several great mentors to help them continue one when I’m gone. 

As my Peace Corps service has ended and my time here in Uganda is coming to an end, I have mixed feelings.  It is going to be extremely hard to leave a place I call home and people who have become my second family.  I continue to tell everyone that it’s not “goodbye” but “see you later” as I know I will be back to my second home in the future.  I fly out on September 3^rd, head to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria falls for 2 days and then fly down to Cape Town, South Africa for a week before reaching LAX on September 16.  See ya’ll in a month!

Gonging out!

Very hard leaving my compound and these ones!

Mt. Nyiragongo volcano, DRC