9

So in the past few days I have painted some chairs and had the odd near death experience. Painting chairs was nice, you can see the result of your efforts pretty quickly which suits my small attention span. Hopefully the container with stuff for the new paeds unit is coming this week so we’ll be able to help setting stuff out.

On Friday we found ourselves hitching a lift to Kampala with the lovely Palestinian surgeon and one of the Ugandan o&g docs. Heard about the dark side of the hospital – money laundering etc. Standard stuff unfortunately.

On Saturday we boarded a bus to Jinga – the source of the Nile. Wow it was beautiful. Massive fast flowing river. So wide and deep. So peaceful there with birds and monkeys. That is until we got in a white water raft!!

First thing was to jump out the raft to test the lifejacket; gorgeous warm swirling water, carried you downstream so you hardly had to swim. I jumped out a lot in that trip, couldn’t get enough of the Nile. Then we practised the boat capsizing. Then came the rapids. Awesome fun, massive crashing waves and waterfalls and tipping and ducking and holding on. So far so good and no capsizing but we thought it might be fun to capsize and then we did. I saw the boat tilting to one side and the rest of the team falling off – the holding onto the boat and your paddle went out the window – people and water and paddles everywhere and then I went in. At first I could just see brown swirling water and I was dragged under, I ran out of breath and had to come up for air but I couldn’t, tried to push up and could only see dark blue – the side of the boat so had to duck again then pushed up again and hit the boat again, by this point I thought I was way past the point of needing air but then the water got lighter and I popped up and took a massive breath before being hit in the face with a wave. Then a kayaker came to rescue me which was nice. Scary!!!! Thought we would try not to capsize after that.

Then we headed back to camp on a bus which started smoking half-way and the driver kept revving but it kept smoking so we had to leg it off the bus and into the surrounding bushes. Back at camp we were so tired from our days rafting but it was beautiful eating overlooking the dark Nile waters and loads of stars were out. Had the first warm shower in 3 weeks – total bliss. Woke up in our lovely safari tent with beds and duvets and window flaps that overlooked the Nile. So peaceful.

But that peace didn’t last long either. Soon I found myself climbing up and up to platform 145ft above the river. Never wanted to do a bungee jump, always thought it would be terrifying. That’s why I thought I better do it. Absolutely terrifying. One guy put a towel round my feet then a strap then attached the bungee cord with a caribina, then I had to hop towards the edge. It was crazy because the only thing holding you on is the rope around your feet. Then I saw the edge and it was horrific. I couldn’t do it. I had to sit back down. Then the guy did the usual no money back, regrets for the rest of your life etc. so I thought I better do it. As I stood up the onlookers in the cafe cheered me on as I shuffled to the edge. You have to get so close to the edge that your toes are over. Then they shout “One, two, three BUNGEE!” and you dive gracefully off the platform. Except I think mine was the least graceful bungee jump ever as I jumped off the platform in a pretty feeble manner and found myself hurtling feet first into mid-air. Absolutely horrific. I knew what was coming because I’d just watched someone jump feet first and with a crack you flip upside down and descend to the Nile. Face full of water then sprang back up. I could see trees and rocks whizzing past and was absolutely terrified. I swung from side to side for what seemed like ages then saw a paddle sticking up in the air which I was supposed to grab. Actually quite difficult when upside down and hurtling through the air. But in the end made it into the boat and thought I was going to pass out. Absolutely the scariest thing I’ve ever done. Terrifying. Never again. Awesome feeling afterwards though. Was just laughing a lot.

Took 7 hours to get back home. 6 people on 3 seats made for a comfortable journey. My shoulder spent most of the trip out of the window. Not good for the sunburn. Kampala is mental. Totally in love with Masaka in comparison. It seems so chilled out here. Nice to be back and looking forward to another week of paeds - the consultant showed up on Friday and will be around this week (we hope!!).

Lots of love,

Christine

PS. Actually don’t have skype because it wouldn’t download!! But have worked out my laptop has a memory card reader in built so may post some photos :)