Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Queen Elizabeth Parik

The holiday part of this trip came at the beginning, rather than the end. Sort of like eating the icing before having the cake. But no less enjoyable for that. We came to Queen Elizabeth Park for two days, before heading down to Mbarara, where we will be located when we teach this year's workshop. We've had a fabulous day - sighting 11 lions, a leopard, guinea fowl, warthogs, various kinds of antelope, hippos, Cape buffalo, and so on. But the best experience of all was an up-close-and-personal encounter with a dozen elephants - both mamas and babies. We only left when the mamas began flapping their ears in earnest and with the other elephants,
attempted to ambush us. We finished the day with a tour on the channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake George, and drinking cold drinks on the veranda of Mweya Lodge, looking out over the Rwenzori Mountains and the Rift Valley. A wonderful day in so many ways. Tomorrow we will be driving down to Mbarara for the "working" portion of our time here. The rest has been good for all of us - regenerating our batteries before we face the challenges of our continuing work with the Bitengye Designers. We will begin by visiting the ladies in the three different geographical areas in which they live, meeting with them and with other widows and
grandmothers to assess what kind of impact the Kitambaa Sewing Project has had on them. Then it will be back to Mbarara to set up for the workshop itself. We are all in good health, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and warm air, and gradually slowing our pace to mesh with African time. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes. So good to hear your comments (I don't know how to answer them!), and to receive your emails. Warm wishes and big hugs from all of us.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, wow! that was some icing on the cake.
    I'm so glad all is going well for you, and it was good to see that picture of all your smiling faces poking out of the van roof. May your work keep you smiling, too. Looking forward to hearing more.

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  2. This is such an incredible image of all of you!! So wonderful to picture. And all the women you've introduced here, how wonderful it is to "meet" them! And to see the work progress. Thank you so much for sharing!

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