Easter Weekend

The guesthouse I live in these days is jam-packed at the moment, full of interesting and lovely people. We decided to spend the Easter weekend together in Jinja (which has long been my favourite weekend getaway spot). On a good day, Jinja is about 1-2 hours drive from Kampala, but it took us 6 hours on Good Friday – clearly everyone had the same idea! The town itself hasn’t got much to offer, but the reason all Kampala folk, tourists and overland trucks flock to Jinja is for the Nile, and the sports offered in and around the river. In essence, Jinja is the adventure capital of East Africa – bungee jumps, grade 5 water rafting, kayaking, jet-boating, quad-biking, mountain biking, horse riding etc. – you name it, they got it.

All these activities and more are offered by numerous competing companies; each with equally beautiful campsites overlooking the river, along a stretch of the Nile called ‘Bujagali Falls’. Confusingly though, there are no longer any waterfalls at Bujagali Falls - they were submerged in 2011 with the construction of the new Bujagli Dam. There seems to be real heartache, particularly amongst locals, about the ecological damage and the destruction of what was believed to be their sacred place. Tourism doesn’t seem to have been effected as the companies were quick to adapt... the extreme sports that require rapids have moved downstream, and Bujagli (no)Falls welcomes flat water kayaking, paddle-boarding, fishing, swimming and other chilled out activities.

View of Bujagli (no)Falls from Nile River Explorers Camp

There is real unease once again though (lots of petitions flying about!), as the Ugandan government have already put plans in place to build another dam which, at worst, could flood all the remaining rapids here on the Nile. Whereas the Bujagli Dam did seem to address an ‘acute energy crisis’ in Uganda, there is concern that the construction of another larger dam will do more damage than good. It threatens to ruin Jinja’s tourist industry (and the livelihoods of all who depend on it), harm Lake Victoria (the world’s largest tropical lake), and it is rumoured that the energy created will in no way benefit locals but instead be sold to neighbouring countries, for personal gain.

For now, though, Jinja is still a major holiday destination and we spent the loveliest Easter weekend there. Our group consisted of 2 student teachers, 2 NGO workers, 4 doctors (who were, by the way, probably the least responsible), 1 gap year student, and me. We stayed in Bujagali at Nile River Camp, near enough to the neighbouring party camp of Nile River Explorers for beers and dancing, if the mood took us, but far away enough for us to sleep soundly! Our days were full of sun-bathing, watching monkeys and birds, eating too much, playing on the rope swing, and swimming (although I was more tentative than on previous occasions, given the recent news headlines of a croc killing 5 people in the Nile at Jinja!) Since I’ve only got 6 weeks left in Uganda, I knew this would probably be my last trip to Jinja, so I was particularly sad to leave this time.

A Bujagali sunet (not to be confused with a well known local drink)

In other news:

• One of my favourite outreach programmes – at St Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood – has resumed after a long break, and most exciting of all, KMS has found funding to pay one of my students to shadow my group teaching, so that he can hopefully continue the project when I leave

• Many of my students are working very hard now that ABRSM exams are just around the corner. In the lead up to the examiners arrival (26^th May) we are carrying out weekly string performance evenings, which are proving very useful!

• I went to see the ‘Mackay Troup’ last week, a youth group that perform traditional music and dancing, to raise funds to support their school. My friend Jenny works for the NGO that is running this pilot programme (‘Teach a man to fish’, weirdly based in Finsbury Park!) The group were incredibly talented and put on a brilliant show

• Rainy season is still in full swing and we have been having some spectacularly scary thunderstorms in the nights. Each time, when I am woken in the early hours by the experience of another Ugandan storm, I am genuinely convinced ‘this is it, apocalypse now’. I have resorted to putting my earphones in and listening to loud music, with my hands over my ears, a pillow over my head, and then a blanket tucked over the top... and yet the thunder still seems to roar louder than ever and shake the whole house. After some subtle consulting with fellow foreigners, I am relieved to have discovered I am not the only one who is feeling (and behaving) like a terrified 5-year old in such nights

• I am extremely excited about what’s in store when my chapter at Kampala Music School draws to a close. I recently applied to be a student on an international summer chamber music camp in New Hampshire, USA; a course that has been highly recommended to me on more than one occasion. My application has just been accepted, and they have offered me a scholarship! Although it is only for 2 weeks, I’ve recently developed a real hunger for learning more about music-making, so it will be such a joy to be a student again. I would also love to explore some of Eastern America after the course – since I’ll have already travelled all that way - but I will be on a very tight budget after not earning in such a long while. If anyone can offer budget travel advice, transport, a place to stay, or ‘knows people’ (not in the mafia sense though) in the East coast region, during July, I would be eternally grateful for your help!