Thursday, October 23, 2008

Bujagali Dam Update, and a rock with a penny glued to it...

Hey All- just got this bit of news from Jamie Simpson at Kayak the Nile:

Dam Update
Hey all just to let you know i met with dam people a few days ago and it looks like we will have access to Silverback up untill the end of 2009 beginning of 2010. A bit longer than we expected. When it does go ahead we will loose the top 10km but will still have over 40km of whitewater, including Itanda and all the major playwaves.

Sweet! This is exciting news, as we were expecting to loose access to this section almost a full year earlier. This means that there is even more reason for you all- even if you don't kayak to get over there, sooner rather than later. I know i am going to do my best to figure out a way to get back...

Don't know if i mentioned it, but Morgan got Annie's job- and is going to be the next volunteer coordinator for Soft Power. She will be there at least until this next summer- so good for Morgan, and congrats, i hope it will be a great experiance. Morgan heads over at the end of the month, where she will be all trained up for at least another month before taking over. She is continuing her blog, www.morgankoons.blogspot.com so be sure to check there for updates on Soft Power and Uganda if you are interested.

all is good on the western front, ive been busy packing up for Nepal, trying to figure out how many pairs of pants i am reasonably allowed to take with me. I don't know how cold its going to get, so its hard to decide what i want to bring. Which equals me trying on everything i own, and packing and repacking my bag several times.

I think the hardest thing is because i do own so much here- i had almost gotten used to it, and now i think that i just have too many choices. As anyone who knows me well can attest too- i am one of the most indecisive people ever.

I was up at my grandmothers yesterday helping my aunt to go through all of her stuff. She is 93, and is moving into a mildly assisted living community this fall. I was amazed at the sheer volume of junk (okay, things of value to no-one but her) and other items she had. Patty and I were laughing our way through some it, partly because of the absurdity of it. After emptying out 2 shelfs of cookbooks and recipe clippings, we opened a cabinet to find 4 more shelves of them. Everywhere we looked were more restaurant clippings. It was unreal. After that, we tried to empty shelf after shelf after windowsill of trinkets- you know the type: the snowglobe from california, the model of "David" from Rome, the stuff we collect from god knows where, and that some of us keep and display prominently in our homes. An then I came upon a plastic bag that contained a rock with a penny glued to it, and a glass monkey. Needless to say, i was a little confused. After about ten minutes of laughter, Patty finally figured out that it was a slightly broken souvenir from the Rock of Gibraltar. Who knew?


Rock of Gibraltar and the Rock Apes that live there...

It was a bit shocking to see the materialism of Western culture in this fashion. The amount of stuff we threw out in one day doesn't even begin to rival the material belongings of an average family in bujagali. It put into perspective the contrast between the items that we need, and the items that we think we need. I am in no way saying that we should all live as they do in Kybirwa village, but simply that sometimes it is a good idea to take a step back and re-evaluate what we have and what we use. Humans by nature, i think, hoard things, souvenirs non-withstanding. But, if we were to move homes, or be forced to leave at the last minute, what things would we take with us, and why those items?

just something to think about...

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