Day 6 Uganda: Monitoring Monitor Lizards

It was nice waking up in the Nile Hotel. I’ve stayed here every year since I started coming to Uganda in 2015. I love sitting under the enormous mango tree having coffee and watching the birds.

We went to visit our tailor Tabitha and were delighted that she had her 6 year old  granddaughter with her who is also named Tabitha. We had met this little girl last year so it was fun to meet up with her again and see how she had grown. We chatted about our lives and then got down to work counting shoelaces for the kits that Tabitha will be making. We counted the ones for our upcoming trip to Palissa too. Sitting on the patio outside seems to me the perfect way to be at work. We’re going to Kenya tomorrow but we’ll be back to go to a school with Tabitha on Friday.

Charlotte was thrilled that we hadn’t completed our craft shopping. She is in heaven looking at this stuff and picking out treasures for sale at MoonCatcher events. We gravitate to different colors and designs so together we’ll probably satisfy more customers in the year ahead.

I had told Charlotte that we had a surprise for her and today was the day to make that happen. We went to the source of the Nile which is in Jinja. Most people think it’s in Egypt but the Nile runs north and starts right here. It also collides with Lake Victoria and that creates a bubbling up of the mixed waters. We took a  blue wooden boat with red trim and green seats  to see this phenomenon. On the way we saw  lots of birds in various sizes and colors and though the guide told us their names I already can’t remember. BUT the most extraordinary creature was a lazy, creepy looking monitor lizard on the bank right next to our boat. I was both fascinated and horrified by it and was pleased that she scampered up the bank instead of into the water. I later heard that many people believe that if a monitor lizard strikes a man he’ll become impotent. Hmmm!

Then after a short rest we met our friend Jackson downstairs for dinner and talked about his program called Ring of Hope. We’ve been doing some work for him for several years but I hadn’t seen him since before Covid so I was happy to have some time with him. Ring of hope helps families that are battling substance abuse. They help send kids to school and give all family members support. Years ago I had asked him if the girls needed menstrual pads. These children are quite poor so having pads takes a bit of the financial  burden off these families. We worked out a plan for when we’d next get a shipment to him.

I am so tired today. Though it was wonderful, I feel like I pushed myself a little too much and I look forward to a good night’s rest. We all do.