The Charging Chimp!

While on our game park trip last week, we also went chimpanzee trekking in Kyamburu Gorge, a 100-metre deep gorge cut into the savannah by a river.

  The ecosystem is more like a tropical rainforest and it is a fascinating hike following chimpanzee knuckle prints in the mud and listening for the chimps’ characteristic screams in the trees.  The chimpanzee nests in the trees from the previous night help to locate the animals that move freely along the 16 km length of the gorge.

I (Arleen) have done this trek several times before, but this was definitely the most exciting experience so far.  Unfortunately Karl missed out because he had to escort one of the team members to the clinic when he started to feel ill towards the beginning of the trek.  I have the photos to verify my story, though!  After about an hour of trekking we found one of the 27 year old females, Hatari, up in a tree.

She is not one of the shier ones, so she came down and sat quietly to allow us some good photos.

  

  She then decided she wanted to walk along the path right where I happened to be standing and calmly brushed by me and walked off to see the alpha male, Brutus (who was much more camera shy).

Soon we were in the midst of a group of 14 chimps all walking, climbing, swinging, and screaming around us.  In the midst of this pandemonium one adolescent male, Maji, picked me out as the lone female in the group and started charging at me, apparently to show his prowess and get a good reaction. The guide told me just to   stand still and hold my ground (a bit hard to do under the circumstances!).  I started backwards a bit and nearly knocked another fellow backwards down the slope, but thankfully he was able to steady himself and keep the two of us from rolling down.  Once Maji got his desired reaction, he promptly laid down on his back and gave me a very cheeky look!

Typical teenagers!

Wildlife

This last week we accompanied the team of men from Broadway Church on a safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of our favourite get away spots.  The range of animals we saw this time was amazing and included ten lions…

…and a leopard up in a tree!

Some of the other more rare animals we were able to see this time were the giant forest hog...

…and the monitor lizard.

There was even a small monitor lizard on the back of a cape buffalo!

The display of water birds along the channel is always beautiful to see…

God’s creativity is truly amazing.

   

Oh, Rats!

This has been an eventful week with uninvited ‘guests’ at the Timothy Centre.  It started off with a big rat hunt in our house after we found telltale evidence of rodents (holes chewed through the mosquito screens on the windows, droppings, wood shavings under the door).  We had been using our spare room as a combination office, work room, and storage room so it was an ideal place for a rat to make into a home.  Armed with brooms and boards and with the back up help of our faithful dog, Joey, we went at it!  After a wild time of chasing, bopping and banging we managed to finish it off…and then had to put the room back together (and buy a new broom after demolishing the one we used as a weapon)!  

The next few days were spent dealing with thousands of flying ants who emerged from their underground nests as the rains came.  They are attracted to the security lights on the property at night so the stairways and front porches of the houses were littered with piles of discarded wings and wingless bodies.  Many of them somehow managed to find their way into the houses so there was lots of sweeping up in the morning.  The bright side of this is that many of the local people here love to eat these delicacies as protein snacks!  You often see the school children along the roads crouching over an ant hill with great excitement as the ants fly out…and they pop them in their mouths as if they were eating popcorn!

Here is the view through the windshield of the vehicle as I was starting to head into town….

Wild African Bees - Beekeeping Workshop

Last week we hosted another beekeeping workshop – 6 days of intensive training with Lesster Leow.  Participants came from Kirandongo (near Masindi), Rakai, Lwengo, and Wakiso districts, with 2 others coming from as far as Rwanda. 

Most of the training was done in the field where workshop participants were instructed in the safe handling of bees and proper apiary management.

It didn’t take long for participants to become comfortable in handling the bees.

 

Training also included how to establish a new apiary and baiting of hives.

A mixture of wax and propolis is applied to the hives.

  A spot in the apiary is chosen and the hives are set up.

  

The hives are now ready to be colonized.

Several of the participants, like Mrs. Mutebi had never handled the aggressive African bee prior to the training. 

The workshop concluded on day 6 with everyone having an opportunity to make a traditional Ugandan hive.

Congratulations to all the participants who successfully completed the 6 day course!

Our next workshop will be held in March 2011 at the Timothy Centre near Masaka, Uganda.

Radio Show

Some time ago we received a phone call from a radio show host for one of the radio stations in Kampala.  He wanted to meet to discuss the possibility of hosting us on his Sunday morning education program. 

This morning Lizabee and I (Arleen) went with our director in Kibaale (Peter) as well as our headmistress for Timothy Girls’ College (Evacy) to take part in the show.  The topic for the day was “Girl Child Education”, a very relevant topic in Uganda (and most of Africa), as girls face so many challenges in their studies –- lack of parental support, low expectations from teachers, sexual harassment to name a few.

    

As the show was in Luganda, and Evacy was definitely the most fluent (!), we let her carry the ball and she did an excellent job explaining the need for parents and teachers to give girls the support they need to succeed in their education.  She was able to speak from her years of experience in Kibaale Community Secondary School, and also promote the Timothy Girls’ College which will open in February next year. 

 

Several callers phoned in to add their comments, and the host was very pleased with the interest the show seemed to generate.  We were invited to come another time to discuss the topic of Christian education and biblical integration in the school curriculum, so it appears that God is opening doors for us to share our experiences with a wider audience in Uganda. 

Broadway Team 2

On Sunday the first team of workers from Broadway Church flew home to Canada after helping to construct almost all of the desk and table tops needed for Timothy Girls’ College.  They also did a variety of other handyman tasks, working their way through the list of jobs to be done in both the school and on the guest house compound.  Whew!  We hope they are having a well deserved rest now.  The second team (Pertti, Bruce and David) arrived as team one departed, and are carrying on where they left off -– the list is long!!

The desks will be used in the classroom block that is nearing completion.  Some of the funds for the construction of this classroom block where raised at Broadway Church’s mission convention earlier this year, so it is great to have these men here to help with the finishing tasks.