Beautiful Islands, Monkeys, and Social Problems

Our visit to the Ssese Islands was a lot of fun, although fun might be the wrong word. It was interesting on many levels. Sometimes I wonder why I can't just go someplace and appreciate the scenery. No, I have to ask questions. I'm curious about people's lives.

First, the easy stuff. I wanted to go to the Ssese Islands because I was told we could see monkeys. I thought it would be cool to see monkeys in the wild. They were cool. We didn't have to go far to see them, just a little walk from our hotel. I'll try to post some pictures later. Picture posting has been a challenge lately. It took several tries to get the papyrus picture posted.

Last Monday, our first full day in Kalangala, the only real town (and I use the term loosely) on the island, Jude arranged for another boda-boda and we took a ride to the local parish church. It's more than just a church. It's a major compound. There's this huge church. Imagine riding through the country side seeing little houses--some brick, some mud, many unpainted clapboard style and suddenly you come into this clearing and there's this church that looks like it belongs in Chicago. The outside at least looks like it belongs in a major city. The inside looks more like other churches in Uganda--benches and some plank pews. It's beautiful, but more rustic looking on the inside. In addition to the church there is a an orphanage for boys, an orphanage for girls, a brand new medical clinic, a grammar school and high school, a large farm (by Ugandan standards), and a post high school technical training center--plus the usual rectory and convent.

On the front porch of what I think was the rectory, there are two European-looking women sewing on treadle sewing machines. Turns out they're German volunteers. One speaks no English, but the other one translates. I should have known by the way they were working that they were German. There's something very familiar about the focus they have on their work. They're making school uniforms for the girls in the orphanage.

The pastor comes out and we get the grand tour. The clinic is new and has just been build by a group of local people and German volunteers. I don't know the German connection, but German Catholics are connected with many projects in Uganda. The clinic is nice. The sister who's in charge comes out to greet us. She's happy to show us around, but she's also busy looking at something under a microscope, so I don't want to keep her from her work.

Next we go to the girls' orphanage. Sister Vincent, the sister in charge, is not going to let me get away without some kind of donation. I don't blame her. She's trying to feed twenty-nine girls on a prayer and a promise. Yes, they have the food on the farm, but that doesn't cover everything. She's got a rich Muzungu (all Muzungus are rich), sister or not, on her hands and she's not going to let me go without extracting something from me. She's actually very gracious about it, but not subtle. If I was trying to feed, clothe and house twenty-nine girls, I wouldn't be subtle either. I gave her some money. If some people don't receive gifts when I come home it's because I'm a sucker for nuns with orphans.

The major industry on the island is fishing. Many boys and young men come to the island to work. They come without any family. The ratio of men to women is two-to-one or even greater. That leads to prostitution. (Bad boys.) Young girls, often orphans, are brought to the island with the promise of jobs. The jobs they are promised don't exist, but they have no money to get back to the mainland, so they're stuck and the men who brought them over make them work as prostitutes. Not pleasant, but true. The cycle begins. Due to the prostitution, there's a high rate of HIV/AIDS. Because of HIV/AIDS, there are a large number of orphans. Because there are many orphans and little work for girls and women, there is a high rate of poverty. The cycle continues.

Sister Vincent is trying to break the cycle. Her girls go to school and learn a trade. They work on the farm so they can become self-sufficient. She's tough, but she has to be. The dorms are clean and neat, but not fancy. The rooms are crammed with bunk beds and the girls hang their clothes on pegs by their beds. There's no need for dressers, the girls don't have that many clothes.

After the parish we went back to town and had lunch. Including pop, I think it cost about a dollar each. Bry'Chell had beans and chapattis. I had matooke and fish. It was good.

Later in the afternoon we went to a fishing village. The men fish at night, so by late afternoon they're starting to get ready to go out. The boats are wooden. They look like they're built on the island. Think biblical. Think Peter and John out fishing on the lake. These are not modern boats. Again, I have some pictures. With any luck I can get them posted, but not tonight.

We walked along the shore for a while. There were fishermen picking hooks out of the nets that washed up on the shore. They lose hooks all the time, but when the wind shifts, stuff washes up on the shore. With luck, they can find hooks.

As we walked, we could see this really nice house. Turns out the guy who owns it is Belgian. He runs a home for girls who have been sexually abused. He has no professional qualifications. There are eight teenage girls living there. The locals don't think he's legit. I think they're right. Enough said. At home I would know what to do. Here I don't, but I'm going to find out.

Later that night we went out to dinner. This time we went to the expensive place. Dinner was five dollars each. We hit the big time. This place had a big-screen television. At first it had on the news, but, since we were the only one's there, we asked and they changed the channel to cartoons. Sponge Bob Square Pants. Bry'Chell was in heaven. She hasn't seen cartoons in five months. The service was slow, so she had lots of time to watch Sponge Bob and companions. That was her favorite part of the trip.

As we were walking back a large truck came barreling down the road. Jude commented that they were smuggling lumber. There's major illegal deforestation going on and they smuggle the lumber out at night. That's one way to avoid taxes.

There's more to these islands than monkeys.