East Africa; Kenya, Uganda, preparing for the move north

So, what has been happening these 3 weeks in east Africa....before moving to the north of Uganda on October 15th ?

*September 25th; arrive from USA, healing from surgery, spend a few days in Kampala, Uganda

* September 28th; Flew to Nairobi, Kenya for a Water Sanitation training with Medair. A collaboration of their program country experts from Darfur, south Sudan, Uganda, Madagascar, Indonesia, Afghanastan, Congo. About 30 people in total, a mix between national staff from those countries, and expat staff; examining current methods for drilling, water sanitation, humanitarian guidelines, Sphere standards, beneficiary accountability, & hygiene promotion. All very interesting, well run, and dynamic with the cross cultural influences.

*Back in Kampala on October 7th, a week long briefing at the Medair base; more information on the programs here, security, structure of the logistics and admin, and driving test (which meant for me, a stick shift on the opposite side of the car, on the opposite side of the road; try a round-a-bout with that !? in Kampala traffic?! ) Independence day was last week and since the office was closed here, I found an orphange to go to and had a splendid time with lovely children. After a busy week of briefings, I decided to escape for a few days of quiet time before the trek to the north. Venturing east of the Kampala to the small town of Jinja, it's at the base of the Nile River where it meets Lake Victoria. I happen upon Amani Baby Orphanage on Saturday, intending to stay for a few hours, but couldn't peel myself away until the sun was setting and I needed to get a boda-boda back the place I was staying. The orphange takes lovely care of the children and the women that work there are just remarkable. There were so many children, some abandoned, parents died, others found in the bottom of pit-latrines and some hiv +. One particular little teeny one, named Matthew, was about 3 months old, but still looked like a premature baby because of his hiv+ status. His eyes are full of life though, and he loves to smile; I wonder how long he'll live and if he'll live long enough to understand that he's sick?

Brian, an Acholi, at the Jordan House Orphanage in Kampala