Feels like I haven’t posted in ages! Maybe I haven’t, and maybe a lot has happened in a short space of time.

It turns out our Compassion child in Tanzania lives over 8 hours away from Arusha on horrible roads, so a visit was not really an option this time around. We were able to put a gift pack together for her though which will get sent with the next person going to her village. I wasn’t particularly disappointed that I didn’t get to see the kids this time; I think it will happen when the time is right. I’m really glad we were able to get gift packs out to them, and feel that the journey was worthwhile.

While we were in Arusha Lyndall Rothery picked us up for church and we got to meet some great people, including one Norwegian girl, Kamilla. The following day Charlie and I were walking to the Compassion office when Kamilla drove up beside us. She saved us a bit of a walk and drove us to the office. After that we were on our way to a special needs school when the radiator pipe burst. If Charlie and I hadn’t been there Kamilla would have been placed in a far more dangerous situation, so we really felt like we were where we were meant to be that day. Four hours later it was fixed, we’d missed the school so we went and had some amazing Indian Chicken down one of the side streets.

Charlie and I decided that we weren’t going to be up to an 18 hour bus ride back to Kampala (especially with my neck not fully recovered from the head hit on the Kampala-Nairobi bus) so we took the bus from Arusha to Nairobi (a much more bearable 4 hours) and then flew (at a very reasonable cost) from Nairobi to Entebbe, Uganda. Back to where we started our East African journey.

Yesterday we took a mutatu from Entebbe to Kampala and spend the night in a backpackers, with yummy food and two little puppies. It made me feel quite happy J

Then early this morning we caught the bus to Gulu, in Uganda’s North, where we will spend some time with one of Charlie’s friends who is doing an internship with Invisible Children. She is going to take us into some of the schools and show us some other NGO’s working in the area.

Tomorrow though we’ll be enjoying our first travel-free day in a while, sleeping in and chilling out.

We’ve just spent a few days in Nairobi trying to organise to go out into the field with Compassion and as that’s still in the process of being sorted out we’ve headed to Tanzania to try our luck there. We were able to put together a gift pack for my family’s sponsor child (backpack, school supplies, towel, soccer ball and balloons among other things) which was sent to him on Friday, we’re hoping to do the same here for our Tanzanian sponsor child if we don’t get to see her. The bus trip here was fantastic! The scenery is breathtaking and there’s something quite breathtaking about the harsh maasai lands. The ride was incident free, with the exception of a rogue goat who tried to get itself killed, but thanks to the skills of our driver the goat lived to cross the road.

A few days ago I tried camel’s milk. It’s saltier than normal milk. I added a heap of drinking chocolate and it was better.

Yesterday we went to the giraffe centre just outside of Nairobi and fed a giraffe. It was fun.

My lungs sure are happy to be out of Central Nairobi! The pollution level there is quite insane, it makes Johannesburg look clear.

Tomorrow we’re going to church with some friends of the Hack’s, which I’m quite looking forward to.

There are photos from Kenya here.

Charlie and I are still in Nairobi, heading to Arusha (Tanzania) on Saturday. I'm a bit pressed for time and brain-space at the moment so hopefully I will write a more in depth post on the weekend.

For now I've put a bunch of photo's from Uganda up here.

Our plane was delayed in Perth for 1.5 hours waiting for a delayed flight from Melbourne. They didn't tell us this until we'd been sitting on the plane for an hour. Then we had to fly around the ash cloud which added another 1.5 hours onto our flight. But we made it to Africa!

We spent the morning waiting in Joburg for our connecting flight to Entebbe, Uganda. We decided that rather than waiting in the airport we'd go to the nearby Emperors Palace for some breakfast, internet and entertainment. We had a bit of time on our hands so we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 to pass the time. The cinema there is quite something! Everyone gets comfy arm chairs :)

From there we flew to Entebbe and spent the night there before catching a bus to Kampala the next morning. We ate some yummy local food (beans and rice) before catching another bus to Jinja (where Sophie and I volunteered at Amani Baby Cottage in 2009). Once we arrived in Jinja we caught boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) to Ekisa, a home for children with special needs. The kids are so sweet and are really thriving with the care they are getting. Then we headed to Amani to visit the babies. Two of the tiny tiny babies who were there in 2009 are still there and are now healthy toddlers. Of course, I had to spend some time cuddling the little ones too!

Today we spent some time showing some Scottish girls we met on the bus around Jinja. We did the touristy thing, looking through all the shops, eating brownies at Flavours and visiting the Source of the Nile.

This afternoon we are going to Our Own Home, a home for children with HIV. We went there last time I was here and I'm looking forward to going back.

Yes it's that time AGAIN.

I'm heading back to Africa (ash clouds permitting) tomorrow night for 6 weeks. Going back to Uganda again and planning to head North to Gulu this time (I've only ever stayed in the very southern part of Uganda before) as well as a trip to Nairobi (Kenya) and Arusha (Tanzania) planned. Who knows? I may even end up back in Rwanda for a bit.

I'm traveling with a friend (a girl from Kalgoorlie who I met the last time I was in Uganda) for the entire journey this time which is a first and I'm quietly excited. We're flying together and everything!

I'd like to spend some time with Compassion and Watoto this time, but as usual we're be playing everything by ear.

I'll be doing my best to keep this blog updated as I travel. So check in and see where I'm at.