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9/22/09: Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

A few of the members in our tour group decided to go on a “village walk” today. There have been village walks offered at a few of the places we’ve stayed at – you get a tour of the village, visiting one or two homes and generally seeing how the people there live. Since Kevin and I had been just hanging around camp for the last day, we decided it would be good for us to get out and get some exercise and see the village.

The guide came and picked us up at camp around ten this morning. We were told we would be back around one in the afternoon. Kevin and I both assumed the village would be a short walk up the main road. First mistake. We walked for over an hour on a dusty trail to the top of a hill. When we finally did get to the top of the hill and saw some houses, we assumed that we would be visiting the houses in the village. Second mistake. They took us to a school for orphans. (Side note: the orphans sang a song that went, and I am not making this up, “Welcome visitors, you are so good. We will never forget you…” and again, I kid you not, the English tourist sitting next to me sang this song along with the kids. It was hard not to laugh.)

After we were done playing with the kids, we then thought we would be taken to see the village and then back to camp. Third mistake. We were actually taken back to the main room of the school where we were asked to sponsor a child or donate money. By this time it was already one in the afternoon and Kevin and I were both getting pretty hungry. We decided to leave early and find our own way back to the campsite.

On the way back down the hill, we kept running into groups of school kids walking up the hill. A lot of them stopped to say hello. Some of them asked our names and where we were going, so we would stop and chat for a minute and then move on. Every now and then we would get a kid who would tug at one of our sleeves and say, “Give me money.” (Today we also heard “Give me sweetie,” and “Give me banana.”) It’s something we’ve sort of gotten used to over the past few days. I am much more heartless than Kevin as I always just shake my head and then move on, but he always stops and says something like, “We didn’t bring any money. We were just taking a walk. Sorry, sorry.” And then we just go along on our way. Except for today – when Kevin turned his back to continue walking after saying his usual “sorry, sorry,” the kid decided that response wasn’t acceptable. So he ran after us and hit Kevin’s bag. And I guess that wasn’t enough to relieve his feelings because a few seconds later, Kevin and I both heard a rock bounce past our heads. We turned around and saw the kid looking at us before scampering back up the hill.

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