It was December in Uganda and the kids at boarding school came home for winter break. The couple running the NGO ­St. Nicholas Uganda Children’s Fund thought it’d be a great idea for me to meet a few of the Ugandan orphans they help put in school. The organization is incredible and they get these kids all the supplies, clothes and money they need for class… but more than that they give them emotional support. They care about these kids like their own. Matter of fact, they left their own families for years to be here taking care of their new kids.

 Three sisters

I had a meeting place and time. 30 minutes late (Ugandans are not known for time keeping. The girls didn’t have watches so they guessed) they girls arrived with a baby boy in tow. Three sisters: Sarah, Michelle, and Alison (FYI, those are fake names…). They handed me the baby, laughing, “white people love our babies!” and told me they were watching him for their neighbor. They did it every day for no pay. Within ten minutes the diaper-less “Prince” peed on me, something I came to get used to as not all can afford diapers here.

I went to their house for lunch. The girls started off as strangers but were like family within a month. Ugandans are incredibly hospitable. In India, people look at me like an ATM. I NEVER had that feeling in Uganda, in fact they insisted upon paying for things and made it very difficult to buy for them.

We ate lunch together often, dinners too. Mostly cabbage, potatoes with g-nut sauce, and rice that we had to sift the rocks out of.

The girls are orphans. The oldest, and caretaker, Michelle, was 17 at the time. She had been raising her sisters for four years. They told me their father died of tuberculosis and their mother then died of a broken heart, which is “very common”

The girls shared a twin size bed and one pillow. The three of them were just too big for that. The NGO was getting bunk beds made for them and my parents and I got them blankets, pillows, and Christmas presents.

I asked the girls what they wanted. “High Heels!” said Sarah and Alison. Michelle said “cooking oil and a new pan”. She truly was the mother of the three. Christmas morning they opened presents from their American sponsors through the NGO as well as a few from my parents and me. 

For less than 100 USD the girls now had brand new outfits for Christmas day church service. I cringed when I saw the shoes they wanted. Did you know that the clothes donated to Salvation Army and Goodwill are sorted through in the U.S. and the unwanted remainders go to Africa? It wasn’t shocking to see people with U.S. football shirts on. The shoes were clear heeled and sparkly aka stripper shoes. If you didn’t know what stripper shoes were and you were 17, I suppose you’d think they were the most gorgeous shoes in the world, like Cinderella’s glass slippers. I talked them into getting some mostly black heels instead.

We got loads of food, a live chicken for Christmas day, and all the cooking supplies they needed. They only eat meat once a year because it’s so expensive. Expensive being *I think * less than 10 dollars for a chicken.

Michelle came to me a few days later and said, “I hate to ask for more from you, but all the girls have their hair done…” Michelle’s head had been shaved at school and she wanted artificial hair put in. It was 10 dollars. She looked great with her new braids.

The girls showed me photos of the dresses they made for a school dance. They made them out of their school bed sheets.

A few days before I left a new girl was there. Their “auntie” had dropped the girl off and said, “she’s yours now, and I’m leaving.” Their “auntie” had found a new man that didn’t want a child. This is apparently common in Uganda. I can’t remember if it was their cousin or sister that they didn’t know about, but Michelle now had another mouth to feed.

One thing about developing and third world countries that I love is how much pride they take in appearance. The girls would wake up at sunrise, wash their clothes each morning, laying it out to quickly dry in the scorching sun, iron everything with a coal iron!, and finish getting ready. By 11 they would have food over the coals outside to slow cook while they ran out to do errands. Lunch was at 3 and tea was for dinner. Once the sun went down it was bedtime.

They gave me a card that played music. It was extremely meaningful because in comparison to how little they have it was such a generous gift. The nurses I worked with gave me cards too. It shows how caring Ugandans are.  They are giving and they appreciate gifts and say thank you over and over. In India, it’s not in the culture to thank people, which is frustrating sometimes.

They wrote a letter to my parents saying that they think of me as their sister now, which makes my mom and dad their mom and dad too. It was touching.

These girls want to be teachers and doctors. They are withstanding all odds. If that doesn’t put things into perspective, I don’t know what does.

The post 3 Ugandan Orphans that Changed My Life appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

This post is a little long-winded and touches on probably too many topics to put in one post, but it has been sitting in my draft folder for too long and I know that I’ll never get it just right. I’ve decided to share it with all it’s faults- it’s a little about the variety of lessons I learned while in Uganda.

My Obsession with Africa…

I was willing to do anything to get to Africa. I was a senior in college and had already been to Europe twice but I NEEDED to go to Africa. I didn’t really care which country.

It’d been an obsession of mine since high school when I used my position in a school club to raise money for Darfur after reading about the civil war. At 17, I kept asking my dad, “I don’t get it, it’s like what the Nazis did…. At first we didn’t know about the concentration camps but once we found out we stopped it. We KNOW about these wars! Why aren’t we doing anything?” My dad then informed me of the many genocides that were happening all over the world or had happened recently. I was shocked.

If I could have majored in “Save Africa” in college I would have. It would go along really well with my spy degree.

My interest in Africa was only intensified when I read the book “What is the What”. The book told the tale of the 27,000 lost boys of the Sudan and their intense and traumatic journey to safety. It included so much detail about the government and war criminals, leaving you feeling like something had to be done. I later got to meet the subject of the book at a signing. He is truly a hero.

Valentino Achak Deng, a hero. link to His Foundation. 

When I went to Sarajevo in 2009, I learned more about genocide that had occurred there. I felt like the world was full of monsters. I then went to Auschwitz and Birkenau… how could we continue to let things like this happen? Some of my foreign friends blamed it all on “where the oil was”.

My Village of Lugala

It was 2010 and a girl from class told me a couple from her church live in Uganda and help put kids in school. I was in nursing school and thought maybe I can even get some volunteer hours in.

The FIFA world cup suicide bombings happened in the capital, Kampala, on July 11th. 74 people died from Al-Shabaab’s attacks and 70 more were injured. They are a Somalian group linked to Al-Qaeda and they were mad at Uganda… but I won’t get into all that. They were targeting expats and Christians. Missionaries were killed along with NGO workers.

Al-Shabaab sent a message to Uganda, saying,

“We are sending a message to Uganda and Burundi, if they do not take out their Amisom troops from Somalia, blasts will continue and it will happen.”

In response, Uganda sent more troops.

When I landed at Entebbe airport, I pictured in my head the Air France airplane hijackings during Idi Amin’s reign which landed here. Idi, the cannibal. Which reminds me, if you haven’t seen The Last King of Scotland about Amin’s terrible rule, you really should! It’s actually not based on as many truths as it leads you to believe, but still gets the main point across. I arrived in Uganda almost 5 months after the bombings when the city was recovered.

I stayed in the same compound in Lugala as the couple I was connected with. I had a cute little one-bedroom house, complete with a twin size bed and mosquito net. Chester the German Shepherd was there to keep me safe from people and snakes alike. Although, I never felt unsafe in Lugala. I loved to take walks or hop on a boda-boda for a ride across town.

my neighbors

the police station and a woman in local dress

my dog and my shower…

The water was never hot. The shower was broken. I took cold bucket baths every morning only to get covered in red dust the moment I stepped out of the compound and the village kids started jumping all over me (the best part of the day!). The electricity was set up to the house but maybe due to rainy season, it was sporadic. What I’m so used to now in India, was such a shock to me back then.

Uganda Terrorism and Corruption

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Kampala. Would there be riots? Would people be panicked about more terrorist attacks?

It was on the U.S. “Do Not Travel” list and they expected an attack on a holiday (as they also warn us of. These terrorists like to make a name for themselves… and the U.S. gives warning out for everything to cover their bums). I was there on Christmas and actually out at the bars in Kampala on New Years with some Ugandan women I met. Everything was festive and fine.

I saw maybe 10 westerners in and around Kampala other than the couple I knew and another couple in my compound. I saw a married couple in a market and on NYE a journalist out at a bar. I was there for 5 weeks. Granted, I wasn’t going to the high-end bars and restaurants in town or hanging around the embassy where the other westerners were.

I did go to the pool one time. It used to be Idi Amin’s playground I was told. There were a lot of Middle Eastern businessmen here and a couple expats. I went one day with the woman from my compound and paid the 10 dollars to cool off in a pool. I was just hours from the Equator and it was HOT.

My village was quaint and friendly. On my walks down the path of boda-bodas I would be stopped for tea, hair braiding (which I would politely decline), or to play soccer- turning my 5-minute walk into 30.

my playmates every day

I was warned that if someone robs me, stealing my purse or phone, I should think twice before yelling for help. Petty theft results in mob mentality. The culprit is sure to be beaten to near-death or death in front of your eyes.

I saw newspapers that had photos of “Wanted Homosexuals” so I am not surprised at all about Uganda being in the news this month in regards to their stance on homosexuality.

The kids told me they didn’t get school uniforms because the teacher kept the money. The teacher kept the money because she wasn’t being paid by the government. They said they didn’t get lunch sometimes either.

There were indeed a couple instances where I wondered if I was actually in a safe environment while in the city of Kampala. Massive Range Rovers (or Land Rovers, I’m not very good at car types) would slowly circle the city, loaded up with armed men- although they look so young I almost typed ‘boys’. They were always yelling or singing along with the booming music coming out of the speakers. The side of these cars would say “Gift from USA” or “UNICEF Vehicle”.

I learned a lot about the donations from abroad and where that money actually goes, which is why I now only donate to NGO’s where I know someone involved or know very detailed information about where the money goes. I want to know that is truly trickles down to the people who need it. I think you’d be surprised to learn where much of the money from UNICEF and US Aid goes.

Uganda is corrupt, like many countries not just in Africa but in the world. I’m sure most of you reading know that already. It’s strange to suddenly be in the thick of something I’d read so much about. It’s not like India, which is secretly hidden corruption that everyone knows about. In Uganda, it’s the type of corruption and propaganda that leave the lowest of classes unaware that corruption is even happening. It leaves them liking the men in control while they starve. It’s the worst kind.

coal, grasshoppers, onions

this was a mini-protest that from what I gathered

the Kampala taxi lot! Takes a while to find the cab, but longer for the car to work it’s way out

The “people” often do not get the money donated. Not only did I see it first hand, but I worked closely with a 15-year old NGO on the ground. The government gets to send a paper back to the Red Cross or whoever saying “we used the money to buy these 4×4 trucks so that we can get out on the village roads to help people” These cars are just for teenage army boys to ride around the city and yell at people from high up. The cars are just one example of mishandled money. This is one reason why I pick a specific NGO.

I was told that before the Queen’s visit, they wanted to clean up the city so they put all the street kids in these 4×4’s and buses and took them so far out of town, by the time they got back to the city the Queen would be gone, believing there were hardly any beggars.

Genocide: A Ugandan Perspective

I know this is a bit controversial, but its my opinion based on observation and I wouldn’t feel right writing about corruption in Uganda without mentioning this. Ugandans I met had a bad opinion of Invisible Children. Keep in mind I was there two years before the viral video, KONY 2012, came out.

I’m sure a couple years ago you saw the FB campaign for KONY in Uganda. He has been wanted for over 3 decades.  Interpol/UN/other forces were already trying to catch this war criminal (who is actually operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo)? Did those FB likes do anything for the kids that are mentally scarred by what happened, and did the people “liking” and “sharing” it even know what happened? Did they realize this Invisible Children campaign was ran by people who took photos with the ­­­­­­SPLA (who have fought against the LRA but are known for looting and rape), guns in their hands? Did they know months later, after speculation of fraud, the man in charge, Jason Russell of I.C. was found naked, masturbating, and rambling in the streets of San Diego? And truly, many Ugandans were very upset about the video, which did not accurately portray the terrible offenses that occurred, and at a 10,000 person gathering to see the video they pelted the organizers with rocks in Gulu.

This really happened. IC with the SPLA.

How about instead of focusing on catching Kony, one of MANY war criminals, who has a reported 50 people in his circle (although over 5,000 troops are in the Congo looking for him), focus on helping the kids dragged into the LRA who are now saved.

What’s done is done. They aren’t kids anymore.  Forced to be child soldiers, these young boys were manipulated into raping and killing their own family members. They were brainwashed and tortured. They are the ones who need the money so they can receive therapy for PTSD, and they are the young adults in Kampala with new lives. Instead, *reportedly, 86 percent of the money donated was put toward publicity/marketing/travel expenses/salaries of Invisible Children’s campaign against Kony. Their goal was to shine light on what happened. They succeeded. They have improved their rankings and stars since the criticism, but other charities are “doing good for the victims”, better. It’s so important to know what money you donate actually goes toward.

I talked to a few young adults about genocide and corruption.

These aren’t word for word (except the first I vividly remember is) but this is 100% the gist of what the people answered from memory and conversations I wrote in my journal.

“Do you know who Hitler is?”

“Hitler was a great man”

“Why do you think that?”

“He had many followers that would do what he said. I wish I could be as great!”

“What do you think of Joseph Kony?”

“Who is that?” said some. “He was very very bad.” said others.

“Have you ever heard of the child army that was in your country?”

“All countries have children in army. That’s how they get so big and win.”

“What do you think of your president now, Museveni?” (Who gained control by coup, village raids, and murder. Kony wasn’t the only one recruiting children. The UN found over 5,000 kids in Museveni’s army)

“He is a very great man! We like him a lot! If I had more money I would keep it like him.”

“Do you know what happened in Rwanda, just a few hours from here?”

“Yes, of course we know. We had no drinking water because the lake was red.” (I don’t think the lake was actually red in Uganda, but the Hutu dumped the Tutsi bodies in Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world. Ugandan Villagers were told to boil the water before drinking.)

I can’t even get into the conversations about HIV/AIDS aka “dying of a broken heart”.

A complicated trip

I was woken up in the early morning to a nearby drum circle. I also woke up in the middle of the night to my bed shaking: my first earthquake. I met three orphans who became my “sisters” who I’ll never forget. I saw a city recently recovered from terrorist attacks. I learned first hand about corruption on a massive level. I saw people being taken advantage of while they were too naive and uneducated to know the difference. I heard stories that made my toes curl and I heard worse ones that made me want to vomit. I let a hairstylist put a handful of grease in my hair that took two weeks to come out. I did some traveling to the Nile for whitewater rafting and bungee jumping. I gave shots to terrified babies and aided the nurses saving children from malaria. PS: Indian readers- there are many types of malaria and in India although it’s looked at like the flu sometimes, in Uganda it’s much more serious and often found far too late.  I helped almost fainted watching their version of a cesarean section in the OR. I met Maria, who said, “I want you to meet my grandma” and insisted on paying for my bus ticket, taking me to her home. She is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, inside and out. She was always holding my hand and hugging like, like Ugandans do.I met little kiddos that made the days go by faster.

Sweet Maria and her family at their home

left: carrying bananas through Kampala, right: four-year old went to the well all on his own

this is the bed that the 3 girls I met shared.

So much happened in just a month that of all my trips abroad, Uganda holds the most special place in my heart. It’s also the country I talk about the least for some reason. I did spend one weekend doing ‘backpacking’ activities, but because of the tw0 (or maybe more) bus bombings on buses coming into the city (from Kenya) while I was there, I didn’t want to risk getting out of Kampala. I couldn’t go trekking with gorillas in the Bwindi Jungle or check out Nairobi because the terrorists had targeted tourists, which I clearly was. I like taking risks, but even I knew it would be stupid.

the drum players who woke me up in the mornings

this little babe was my favorite! (I pick favorites, which is why I would have been a bad teacher)

Instead, I got the opportunity to really get to know people. I got into a routine. I got homesick for the first time abroad because I wasn’t out distracting myself with partying. I saw real poverty and illness for the first time. Even though when I go to Bombay I see unbearable destitution, it doesn’t hit me as hard as Uganda did.  While I was there, I didn’t appreciate the journey as much as I do now because the limitations on freedom bummed me out a little. I would love to go back now that it’s safer, see the people I met the first time, and travel around their beautiful country.

There are 2 affiliate links in this post that will earn me small percentage on your purchases. Thanks for helping keep my site up!

The post My Daily Life in Uganda: Terrorism, Corruption, and lots of LOVE. appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I spent five awe-inspiring weeks in Lugala, a village near the Capital (Kampala) of Uganda. Other than volunteering at the local hospital and finding adventure rafting the Nile River and bungee jumping, I met three girls who changed my life: Becky, Hilda, and Gladys, and they taught me the skill of cooking Ugandan dishes.

Thanks to two awesome Americans at the St. Nicholas’ Uganda Childrens’ Fund, I was introduced to these girls so I could selfishly get a feel of what life was like for them growing up in a Ugandan village as orphans. We spent many days together, and most of them were meal-time. I helped them purchase cooking necessities and in turn they fed me. Although, as anyone who has been to Uganda would know, even if I hadn’t offered to buy food, they would have begged me to eat- they love to feed! They are genuinely selfless people, and I am lucky to have met these girls.  We only ate meat once, on Christmas when we got a live chicken.  I want to share some of the dishes we ate and the ways they cooked.

“My auntie would beat you, you are so bad!” was the response to my chopping matooke skills. The knife was next given to this four year old who was “much better” than I. And he really was. 

Unlike the U.S. where I’m from, the entire non-school day for these girls is wake up, iron, market, cook, eat, chill for a little, then bed. Repeat. Most of their day is cooking over a small coal fire outside their front door. It takes all day for something to cook, so a late lunch is the ONE large meal of their day; they’ll have tea for dinner.

Typical Ugandan Dishes

every day, every dish starts in the market. Eat Fresh! Pictured here is matooke, sort of a green banana (plantain), a daily staple. 

after chopping, they put the matooke inside leaves and tie it up. It’s sat on top of wooden blocks in a pan of water over coals to steam cook all day

everyone in the villages helps out either with cooking or babysitting

The next most common food: irish potato. Almost everything from potato, matoke, rice, and cabbage is cooked the same way. Added is salt, water, tomato, and sometimes onion, carrot, or paprika

a cabbage dish that will be cooked the same way

YUM. rice and shredded cabbage was my second favorite dish. Somehow, even using the same ingredients daily, it always tasted great

we munched on fried grasshoppers while the food simmered

Becky is prepared ‘g nut sauce’- my FAVORITE!  (ground nut sauce) which is usually served over matoke but I liked it on literally everything. It’s made with water, salt, pepper, paprika, tomato and onion.

for something sweet just gnaw on some sugar cane :)

The post Cooking Ugandan Dishes appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Although I didn’t go to Uganda for the purpose of hospital volunteering, while I was there, I spent a few days a week volunteering at the local hospital Holy Cross Orthodox, in a nearby village, Namugoona.

Early in the morning, I’d ride a bota bota there, sidesaddle, for about a dollar. It was a unique experience to see the hospital there compared to American ones. I am a registered nurse, specializing in cardiac care, and although I’m not working as a nurse now, I’ll always have an interest in the medical field and I love the adrenaline rush of taking care of really sick people.

I have mixed feelings about volunteering abroad, but I think that if you have a true skill set that can help people, you pay your own way, and you benefit a group of people in an unselfish way then there’s no harm done. I was in Uganda for “tourism” and did some volunteer work on the side- which I think is something anyone could look into on their travels. What I don’t believe in is having no skill set, asking people to pay for your trip for you, going for the wrong reasons, and not truly benefitting the people you visit, because actually short-term volunteers can bring instability. In the future I’ll be posting more about controversially dubbed “voluntourism” abroad. But back to Uganda…

Whenever anything went wrong at the hospital in the states, like the computer charting system was down, I would remind myself at least we have patient charts. It would take ages to explain the differences between hospitals in Uganda and America, so I’m just going to stick to the biggest most noticeable ones. I know that these employees do their best with what supplies they have and I don’t judge them at all; I just want to share my experience.

Differences between hospitals in America and Uganda

Doctors are trained a lot less hands on in Uganda than in the states. They learn mostly from a book then get straight to work. Sometimes I didn’t think they were careful enough with stitches, and weren’t doing basic tasks like checking vital signs or listening to the heartbeat of a child who’s mother said “his heart seems too big”.

The lack of supplies. Gloves weren’t always used, needles were left in IV  fluid bags and reused to flush IV’s, and in general supplies were very different from the states.

The lack of empathy. If a patient couldn’t afford treatment they weren’t getting treatment. This includes a teenager who wrecked on a bike. It includes a twenty something year old who came in for a circumcision and couldn’t afford the oral pain medicine, and came back crying asking for help. It was also hard to watch parents hit a child that cried getting IV’s placed or getting stitches.

When sedated from pain medication, in order to get stitches or whatever else, the doctor doesn’t wait for the patient to wake up and take vitals to make sure it all went okay- the patient is sent out immediately after, being carried in the mothers’ arms. This is because they can’t stay or they’d have to pay inpatient care.

The “theatre” or OR was a very unique experience! I worked for 2 years in OB/GYN taking care of moms and babies after delivery. I have seen cesarean’s and women give birth…no problems. Here, I almost fainted and had to leave. It was done much quicker. The scrubs were ironed to sterilize, and as for your sterile feet, you can either wear boots or go barefoot.  Did I mention instead of scrubs I would wear a skirt and flip-flops, which is the appropriate wear for females.

Malaria treatment was frustrating. Patients were given antibiotics sometimes and that is not how you treat malaria. Antibiotics were given for anything- and that’s really bad for your body. These patients will build up a resistance, which will cause problems later in life.

There was no real assessment of patients. It was word of mouth. If the mother said “my baby is not eating, seems tired, cries a lot, and I think she had a fever last night” the baby is diagnosed then and there with usually malaria. They will do a test sometimes with an old school microscope, after they dry the blood smear with a light bulb. They don’t check blood pressure or heart rate, and most didn’t have a stethoscope on them.

The nurses don’t have to do as much. Families take care of the patients and bring them food. Nurses will give medication and do trauma care/wound dressings. Many times, the doctor did that. Not to say the nurses aren’t educated, because they are. But there was a lot of sitting around and tea breaks because they didn’t have as much delegated to them by the doctors. Sometimes one just wouldn’t show up, maybe because it was raining. They nurses I met were all very smart and could have done more if they were instructed to. I was there as a student and was still learning at the time, so it seemed very hands-on. But now, looking back in comparison to working in the critical care units, it was not hands-on.

For emergencies the patients were sent to the capital of Kampala, Uganda, because this local hospital was very small and didn’t have the test equipment. It’s a little scary to have to get an hour to the nearest hospital for a heart attack or snakebite. I had a green mamba waiting for me at my front door one day when I came home. All the neighborhood kids who usually love snakes ran! That’s how I knew it was bad. Luckily, the groundskeeper shooed it off… therefore, I got no sleep for days thinking it would come back. My daily life in Uganda was really quite calm but by immersing myself into “work” and culture, I got to learn so much more.

It was incredible how one doctor was there at a time, 2 or 3 nurses, pharmacist, lab tech, an accountant, manager, and cooks ran the whole hospital. Granted, it was small but in comparison to say, India, where it takes 30 people to change a light bulb, it was like magic that they worked everything out.

There was less responsibility and liability on the staff. No one is going to sue, there is no charting, and they can refuse care if they want to without paperwork. Strange! They don’t ask detailed histories on the patients or do in-depth discharge teaching.

IV fluids treat everything from electrocution to malaria, the flu, a small cute, a rash… you name it! Fluids for everyone!

I loved my time at the hospital and really loved all the nurses I met especially kind pregnant Lucy. I think what they do is remarkable with so little support and supplies. It’s truly amazing.

The post An American Nurse in a Ugandan Hospital appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

To continue my post about whitewater rafting grade 5 rapids in the Nile River, the next day, we woke up hungover and tired. Krista and Matt were staying, and Tom and I had to catch the ‘adventure bus’ back to Kamapala about 2 hours. I was so happy to meet them, as I’d come from Kampala on my own and had been a bit lonely in my little village, Lugala, even though I got to see these cute faces everyday. The whitewater rafting rush was the adventure I needed. At breakfast, we heard that the hostel down the road offered bungee jumping. Uh-oh.  Doing a complete 180 from “I just want to curl up on the bus and sleep” to “yeah, lets jump off a platform 47 m (154 feet) in the air and hope the rope tied to my ankles doesn’t break!” None of us had ever done a bungee jump, and where better to go than the Nile? One more adventure never hurt anyone (except for 1% of jumpers).

To recap, I had taken a free shuttle bus offered from Kampala Backpackers Hostel to Explorers River Camp in Jinja, the source of the Nile River (arguably). The hostel was amazing, whitewater rafting was amazing… but they didn’t personally offer the bungee jumping. The company, Adrift, does. We took a bota bota from our hostels to the Adrift launch site and had some drinks while we organized the payment.

The safety standards are operated equal to New Zealand’s. While I was there, it was only Ugandans running the jump, but a kiwi sold us our ticket. In the end, the price was around 50 dollars, but upon checking their updated prices, it looks like it is now 115 USD. Also, you must be at least 13 to jump and there is a discounted price if you can prove you are Ugandan. I wish they had a photographer set up that you could buy photos from, but they didn’t- so these will have to do!

blurry, but wanted to show that girls sit side saddle on bota bota’s (taxi) in Uganda. And it was only appropriate that I wore a skirt everyday. No pants. 

the terrified jumpers: Nick, Krista & Tom, who I met the day before

They have a great balcony similar to Explorer’s to chill while everyone jumps. If you have a group of 4 like me, give at least 2-3 hours to be there. It takes a while to fill out paperwork, and gain the courage to jump! I think Tom was the funniest, he took 4 almost jumps and swung his arms in backwards circles to steady himself. I was watching from below ready to take the photo of his jump, dying laughing, wondering is he really going to do it this time!? Eventually, the employee gave him a little tap to help him tumble forward. His jump looked the best from below!

Tom looks peaceful, while Krista looks a little tangled, which was her biggest fear!

So the worst part of all, are the instincts in your body saying “whatever you do, don’t jump.” and jumping anyways. Your heart basically goes into SVT (for all my nursing friends out there) and finally it’s over. The fall actually doesn’t go by in 2 seconds like you’d think- just the initial descent. You will bounce back up and down a few times, and the first few bounces are just as scary as the first fall. Your heart is still beating uncontrollably. When it’s all over I felt like i hung upside down for 3 minutes. I couldn’t even help them untie me because I was shaking so badly. Laughing and shaking.. for like 10 minutes once it was over. Nothing I’ve ever done since has been as exhilarating! But just a month later, on a different river in Africa, a girl’s rope broke and she went plop into the river- AHH! I don’t know if I’ll bungee again or not. I probably will.

   I was pretty proud of my swimmer’s dive off the ledge. Swim team was good for something in the end! 

I absolutely would tell anyone to go bungeeing whether it’s in Jinja or not. I think that it’s insanely scary fun. It’s worth paying a little extra to do it somewhere beautiful and memorable. I think even with the increase in price to 115 USD, it’s quite fair, and cheaper than any price I saw in Europe- and look at that jumping view! Incredible. Make sure the place you go has safety requirements in place and don’t look down! Adventure awaits you all over the world, go find it!

Adrift did not ask me for a favorable review, nor was I discounted for my bungee jump.Have you bungeed before? How important do you think location is? I hope that anyone reading this finds an adventure soon!

The post Bungee Jump over the Nile in Uganda appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

When I am on a backpacking trip, there is one expensive thing I don’t even question spending money on: ADVENTURE. It’s always a little costly, it’s always worth it. I budget an extra 400 bucks/ month so that I can bungee, whitewater raft, or canyon. It seems like each area has their “adventure niche” and I’m always determined to find it.

Originally in Uganda, my main adventure was going to be trekking the Bwindi Jungle near the Congo border in the hopes of stumbling across the great silverback gorillas. Because of safety issues, I didn’t make it at that time (but will definitely go back one day). Instead, I headed North to the source of the Nile: Jinja.

Views from the hostel porch were stunning

The Backpackers Hostel in Kampala was the meeting place where a free shuttle took me to a sister hostel outside Jinja 8km, right on the river bank. The adventure shuttle bus was full of tourists. Just kidding. Because of Kampala being unsafe at the time I was there, I only ever saw a couple other tourists in 5 weeks.

Explorers River Camp (Jinja)

Within the hostel group “Nile River Explorers” which has various hostels, this location was the only one located on the River with access to a small beach area. I was promised multiple times that I would not get eaten by a crocodile or hippo. In the middle of the green jungle, down a red dirt path, armed guards met us for our arrival.

Pros of the hostel:

• other tourists to hang out with (finally!)
• free shuttle from Kampala
• fabulous free BBQ while you overlook an unbelievable view
• one night free stay if you book an adventure
• very decent prices- 7 to camp, 12 for dorm, 30 for a room, and 35 for a jungle tent
• hot shower, mosquito net, free WIFI, clean
• tons of adventure options: rafting, bungee, kayak, quads, bikes

Cons of the hostel:

• a little loud from music and monkeys on the tip roof

the path out of the hostel, women selling handicrafts

beach & view credit: Nile River Explorers website

Rafting Grade 5’s on the Nile

The day I arrived I went on the Full Day Grade 5 rafting tour option. They have other varieties like half day and less intense rapids. I had rafted before in whitewater as well as drunken trips like in Cesky Krumlov but this was SERIOUS whitewater! The cost for full day was $125 which was very fair! Lunch was included… half a pineapple. Afterward, we had the option to buy a CD with the photos (another 20 bucks I always end up spending) and they fed us until we were stuffed. Most backpackers stayed up late with us drinking on the porch overlooking the river. We still managed to wake up early the next AM for some spontaneous bungee jumping.

Nothing I’ve done so far compares to rafting on grade 5’s. Bungee is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and canyoning in Interlaken was exhilarating, but this is because you have to do things yourself and it’s all in your own hands. It goes against every instinct in my body to jump of a cliff. With rafting, there is no control. Unless your a pro kayaker, you’re just in a raft with a paddle you barely know how to use- it’s the current that has control, and hopefully your guide! I can’t explain it properly in words so here are the photographs!

our guide was fantastic and purposely flipped us often!

There were guys on rocks around the rapids and in kayaks ready to save lives!

guide: “Keep your heads down or you’ll get hurt!” me: ignoring everything

you can see here the guide helped to flip us

my awesome rafting buds!

Rafting was incredible and lasted for about 6 hours. I would recommend it anyone and would do it again! I’d love to try kayaking but I don’t want to die. At the end of our trip, everyone was getting ready to walk back and the guide said there was an ungraded rapid just down the river that we could try if we didn’t tell anyone. So I’m only telling the whole internet. Only me and one other guy went down, Tom, who you can see pictured above. The guide was goofing around and ended up falling off unable to catch up and Tom and I went through the rapid alone. It was huge and terrifying and awesome! I flew out of the raft almost immediately and went through the rapid with just my vest on! Awesome!!

I was not asked to write a review by Explorers River Camp, nor did they discount my rafting. Have you rafted grade 5’s anywhere? What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done? Tell me about it! 

The post Grade 5 Whitewater Rafting the Nile River in Uganda appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I spent a little over a month living in a village about an hour outside Kampala, the capital of Uganda. I spent most of my time volunteering at the local hospital, but my favorite thing to do was play with the children. There is this stereotype of children in Africa that leaves people picturing them as sad, lonely, and poor. They don’t show the positive often. Especially in the children of Uganda, where Kony destroyed and killed families many years ago.

Although the kids I met were sometimes dirty (because they play so much) and some were orphans, they were HAPPY. You cannot have desire for things you don’t know exist. Some people call it blissful ignorance and it’s intensified in children anywhere in the world.

Don’t you wish you could have a little of that back? Hope you enjoy these cute kids’ photos!

my favorite photo of all my Ugandan ones. All these boys fought and yelled over being in the photo, and the only little girl stood on a bucket to be taller (girls really are smarter!)

this sort of makes me want to steal one of them. (they both were dirty from playing in soot and coal)

My little neighbors, always ready for a photoshoot and to play with the camera

Reason # 123984 why I can’t be a teacher: I pick favorites. THIS one was my favorite. Do you notice the chicken (it’s blending in), he was not afraid at all! Every day the babysitter would hand him over to me and walk away and he’d be mine for a few hours

ignore me in this picture, this little girl was so cute she took me home to meet her mom and have tea!

These two were the youngest I would see around with no parents. Not because of lack of parents, but because kids play a lot more freely in Uganda that parents would be cool with in America

She was smiling until I came closer. Pretty skeptical of me…

It never failed- as soon as I bathed and came outside for the day, these kids would come and jump all over me covering me in red dirt again

Like mother like daughter- these two look so much alike!

Do you think this kid knows he’s wearing a snow suit? nope!

Shopping with these happy girls for new school clothes

“In America, there are two types of travel: first class and with children” -Robert Benchley.

Ok, so that’s not spot-on, but it does make a good point. I see loads of families traveling with kids, even here in India, and I don’t know how they do it! I could not do this “glamorous travel” with a kid, so for now (and the next ten years), I will live vicariously through all the adorable kiddos of the world.

The post Children of Uganda – Photo Gallery appeared first on Hippie In Heels.