Kampala and Entebbe photos

Hello guys,

I just wanted to show you more photos of Uganda. This are from Kampala, the capital, and Entebbe. We are really thankful with our friend Lucy Ann and her family for letting us stay at their house for a few days and taking us to Entebbe, we had an amazing time there.

We don't actually have a to many photos of Kampala (actually only the first three where taken there) because we didn't stay in the city for to much. In Entebbe we stayed a hole day and we saw many animals that we didn't see in the Masai Mara.

Check the photos in picasa or in facebook.

Kampala and Entebbe

Rafting in the Nile - Photos

Hello guys,

Here are the photos of the rafting in the Nile. One of the most exiting experiences we had in Africa! Check them out in full resolution here:

Jinja

Photos Sipi Falls (Uganda)

Here are the photos of one of the most beautiful places we visited in Uganda!
Soon I will write about the experience, now you can see the photos:

Sipi Falls

Football 1

When working in slums you see many situations that shock you. The people that suffer the most in those cases are the kids. Kids are usually taken and taught the easy way of life, the gangster way. The way they do not have to work or respect others, as well as the path into constant drugs and alcohol.

East Lands center tries to keep them from entering that life through football, soccer as they call it. They organize every Saturday training sessions, as well as games on Sunday. You may think this is little but kids here spend long hours at school nurturing their minds and then going back home to continue with homework. Education is important in slum areas, as it is the way out of low class life. This is good so kids spend their time better instead of approaching these gangs.

I have been training every Saturday a group of around 50 kids. There are three age groups, the under 10, under 12 and under 15. The practice starts around 2:30 PM with a chat by Moses a university student that explains them concepts about life and education. I can say I barely understand what he says as he talks in Swahili, but he looks quite convincing and captures the attention of the kids.After an instructive talk, we head to the pitch. If you were in Europe you would not call it like that, you would call it a mud field. Here we train the kids for two hours dividing them according to their age. Nick and Morris help me while training, as kids do not understand well English, they help me in translation. I have learnt some words of the language but still have lots to go. Kids like playing games, to compete between them and they love when a muzungu plays with them so they comment with their friends at school. After practices the three coaches, me included, talk tactics and what we expect from them.

When I leave these kids behind I will miss them, as they are part of my family here.

Ni tarrudi

Some videos

Hello everyone!

We are now in Madrid after being in Kenya for two months. The experience that we had was incredible and we learned so much from so many people. Now that we are in Spain again, it is time to share with you guys photos, videos, experiences, feelings and most importantly it is time to start working for Kenya from Spain. We are really thankful with all the Africans that received us in their countries like brothers and we will never forget all the kindness showed. Of course we had some bad experiences as well, that is part of life, the bottom line is that we took the bad experiences as lessons to grow. We hope to go back to Africa some day.

Now that we are back we really want to show to the world the real work we did and the real environment in which we were living. We already showed a little about this with the video about Kawanguare. The problem is that we couldn't show all what we saw because it's hard to record in this kind of places. That is why I have been looking on internet for some videos. This is the real need in Kenya:



As you can see in this video, the slum area usually is full of garbage and waste from animals an humans. Some slums are not healthy at all to live on.

I also found an interesting video made by the Spanish TV channel Cuatro. It shows a slum area that we could not identify but looks really similar to all the poor places that we visited. Here is the video (is in Spanish):


This is the reality of Kenya. Out of its 34 million citizens, more than half are thought to be living on less than 1$ per day.

KENYA IN THE EYES OF A UGANDAN

This is an article that our dear friend Martin Karungi wrote:

The entire thought of having to leave my motherland to go and study in a foreign land was no joke. I guess your wondering who I am. My name is Karungi Martin, I am from Uganda (Pearl of Africa) and am pursuing my degree in Business Information Technology at Strathmore University, its one of the best and most recognized business universities in Africa.            From the books and journals it has gained its name, as the most crime filled city in East Africa and that was the notion with which I came with from Uganda.
I had never been to Nairobi in my life and all I was praying for was not to get mugged as I got off the bus to get to my place of residence. But I wish to proudly denounce that this notion of Nairobi is wrong. I have been here one month now in company of
Lucas, Francisco and Daniel, and I can only say that it’s been a wonderful experience. The whole idea of having three different societies Europe, Central America and South America is awesome. The diversity in culture, language, customs, way of life, food, mode of transport, and most of all the people.
            Life in Nairobi is rather faster than where I come from. The pace at which people move early in the morning to work is unbelievable it’s been a complete switch in all aspects and I am enjoying it.           Rather it has been challenging when it comes to spending money because when they realize that you can’t speak there language they use all sort of tricks to make you pay more than the actual fee. It happens in shops, matatus, bars, and kiosks. I have lost quite a lot of money but I was ‘consoled’ when these three lads from I.E university arrived coz I think these lads have lost close to a ‘billion dollars’. But as I have advanced with time I can now tell who wants to rip me off.
All in all I have no regrets being here, it has taught me to appreciate the value of the little we have back in Uganda. I guess I still have a lot to learn coz I am here for a long time (4 yrs), yes fours years and stop rising your eyebrows, its a short time.I guess that’s all for now and if you ever come to visit Nairobi please do make it a point to visit Uganda (Pearl of Africa).

Thank you Martin for your article!
See you around guys.

Hell’s Gate Experience

The second smallest national park in Kenya, but small we can’t call it. It’s

probably bigger than any of the national parks back where you are from and I can assure you it has nothing in common with the ones you are used to.

We got to visit this fantastic park thanks to our friend Jotham, who invited us and took us by car. As always you are charged here as a tourist, so you pay at least 4 or 5 times more than a local to enter, but in the end it is worth what you pay. The best thing is to hire a mountain

bike so you can get closer to the animals. While you pedal you have animals all around you, from the usual giraffe and zebra to the dangerous buffalo. This last animal is the scariest for locals, you may ask yourself why this is, since there are a lot scarier animals than these like lions and cheetahs. But the truth about these last ones is that they rarely attack humans as they are seen as normal by there eyes, buffalos are animals that protect their space and can attack you in any moment.

The most shocking thing about this park is that you have, after a few hundred meters, cliffs on both sides, which make the scenery even more spectacular. On these cliffs you can also see monkeys in their caves or hanging from trees.

After a long time cycling, you reach to what they call the Hodge, that is where you do a two-hour trekking through a dried up river. The trekking is sort of technical having to climb and even jump long distances. You do not know what you can find while doing this; we found two young kids that came out of nowhere and guided us during the trekking. They were two very nice Masai kids, with whom we took various photos without problems. They thought they were guiding us, but we knew exactly where to go.

After cycling back to the park entrance, we drove back to the city in exhaustion due to the long and tiring day.

Keep connected for more stories on this wonderful country.

ASANTI SANA (Thank you very much)