Hello Everyone,

My time in Uganda has sadly ended, so this will be a final word, along with some pictures of my last few weeks and the long-awaited picture of the finished water catchment.


The job ended on a high note, we installed and serviced a total of thirty Biosands Filters in the Kikagati area at schools and locals' houses. People were ecstatic about our work as usual. On Sept. 2, my good friend Read arrived in Uganda, and I met him in Kampala. We then returned to Kikagati for my last four days working there which was fantastic, Read quickly adapted to the laid-back, hard-working pace of the village and enthusiastically helped us install filters in the day, and socializing with the locals in the evening.

On our last night, we were invited to a local wedding, which was a very interesting experience. Once the two families negotiated a bride price, the attendees at the party all stood up to give speeches about how they knew the couple and then offered money or goods to help the groom pay the bride price. After this ceremony, everyone celebrated with waraj (gin distilled from bananas) and danced crazily under an incredibly bright full moon.


Saying goodbye to Kikagati was quite emotional for me. All of our friends were sad to see us go, and prayed for our safety in all our future endeavours. That was a very sad day for me as we left our home and drove back to Mbarara. The next day, Jon, Read and I departed for Queen Elizabeth Park, one of Uganda's famous wildlife reserves. We arrived in the afternoon and enjoyed a dinner at the tourist hotel there. The food was very expensive but delicious, although it shocked my system that had become accustomed to a banana and goat diet. The next morning we left early for a safari. Fifteen minutes down the road, a young male lion was lounging in the sunrise about 15 meters away. Later we would see Elan, Bucks, Impala, Hippos, Warthogs, Buffalo, and Elephants. We were all thrilled. The next day, Read and I went out exploring again while Jon rested to recover from mild illness. We had a great day driving around some ancient volcanic craters and seeing a dozen elephants standing in the shade of trees. We got lost towards the end of the day, almost inadvertantly crossing into the Congo, before getting turned around the right way to our campsite. As we passed through the park, we took in a beautiful sunset, taking pictures until Read's camera battery died. He would regret this later as five minutes down the road, a massive herd of elephants crossed the road.


There must have been over thirty of the graceful beasts, all walking accross a valley up into the hills in a majestical procession. Some mothers were holding trunks with their young, some adolecents were playfighting each other, and the very old trundled slowly behind, watching everything and waving their massive ears. I think they must have been the wisest-looking things I've seen. I was also struck by how silent these huge creature were, the only sounds were of their breathing and the swirling sound of their flanks brushing through the meter-high grass of the savanna. Read and I would later agree that this was the highlight of our trip.


After safariing, we returned to Mbarara and then headed to Kampala to fly out. We flew out uneventfully, arriving in Dubai on Thursday morning. Dubai is the exact opposite of Uganda, and has taken some getting used to. I will be staying here until the 28th, when I will continue on to Korea.

So, I thank you all for being such a kind audience for my attempts to relay my experiences. It has been fun writing these emails, and I hope that they have inspired you in some small way to visit Uganda, or perhaps at least see the world in a slightly different way. The experience certainly changed my attitudes about what humans need to survive and the impacts we make on the world, and I miss the sincerity of the many friends I left behind there.

Jende Nobwesinge (Go with Peace),

Matt