Road to Gulu and SAFARI!

So I am weeks behind, but all this downtime in airports has to be good for something... so after throwing the event of the year, we had to leave our little safe haven in bujagali and headed up to gulu, making a few stops for some "pitch" investigations along the way. The drive is somewhere between 4 and 7 hours.. depending on who you talk to and who is driving. The weaves between boda bodas and bikes full of bananas is nothing short of an adventure.. or slamming the brakes so we dont fly into the truck full of cows with the longest horns you've ever seen. The countryside drive is so different, and relatively so inhabited compared to ourss.. obviously on a different level. How far are these people willing to walk to the market or the water well everyday? And aren't they bored yet of watching the cars drive by? Apparently the road is in wayyyy better condition as it has mostly been paved since the FUNDaFIELD group travelled up here last year when the entire drive was still dirt. This is like the only highway, and it was only paved last year.

Heading to Gulu didn't mean much to me at first.. I didn't completely understand what had happened in the area. I've heard there was some type of war going on not too long ago and there was a crazy man name idia yamin.. im sure thats not even close to the correct spelling. and the invisible children were these child soliders that were killing everyone. thats about all i know.. and definitely couldn't put the pieces together until the long trek up there..But it was worth it. When we finally arrived at night to our hotel after turning down a handful in sketchy allies and streets, our waiter Alfred told us he could take us around tomorrow. We had some meetings with other groups that wanted to work together for our first field up in Gulu, one being some connection to the Buried Life. But we decided to go with Alfred in the morning. First we went to the camp where his family and community had been moved. As long as you ask questions, they will answer, but its hard to ask the right ones so that the information pieces together. There were many orphans running around, being the children of killed parents and such. Someone in the village just takes them in as their kids. It was around 2006 when Alfred's family was forced to move to the camp for protection. Not even 4 years ago. None of the villages in Northern Uganda were safe as soliders of the bad guys crew were kidnapping kids in the night, and shooting anyone they saw. The camps were smaller confined areas that were protected by UN soldiers. After tourning through the camp, many people have now made that their homes, and many will not move back to the villages out of fear.. even though it is now completely safe. Alfred moved into the city because he still has nightmares of being captured from the village. So next we went to his village, where basically his mother and probably 3 others had just moved back to. The lifestyle was similar, just with much more space. they had a hut (made of hardened poo) for the kitchen as well as another one nearby as the house.

As we drove back into Gulu, we asked Alfred if he had ever seam yamin. And he told us stories of others seeing the man and his apparent red eyes. hes like a ghost that haunts the area. Alfred, we learned, had been kidnapped from his village before his family was moved to teh camp. He was a child solider for a year and half, although he never shot his gun. He didn't know how, and he was too afraid. But he went with the system, and eventually escaped one night with his brother.. they ran and ran. And he moved to the city, which is not a city like you are thinking. it still has dirt roads, chickens everywhere... garbage on the streets.. and this town has had soo much attention from the UN and USA since the invisible children movies that showed what life was like here. It was crazy how much this affected everyone up here. So we went back to the hotel and rested.. caught up on sleep, i tried for a little tan, and then come nightfall we had a few meetings and drove around to see some more 'pitches' .. the soccer field locations.

The trip to Gulu was short, but well worth it. And on the way home, we were able to stop through the Matchison (sp) Falls National Park where we went on a SAFARI! ... in our minivan.. everrrrryoneeee tries to charge the muzungus for everything... after bartering our way in with a soccer ball, and being able to pass for 14, we went in the back old janky gate that we could've driven around if we wanted to just drive through the tall grass.. maybe they would try to shoot us down though... you never know around here..

so within minutes of entering the gates of the park, we saw giraffes grazing on trees, kobs and all types of deer like animals hoping around... warthogs (pumbas), and eventually a few elephants. Our driver, Hassan, was definitely no safari driver, but he got excited seeing some animals because this was his first time on safari too.. ugandans just dont go on safaris all the time... let alone never. So he would randomly speed off after talking to other drivers and slam on the breaks looking for more water buffalo and such. It was pretty awesome. we also made it to the falls just in time before the sunset... spending hours driving in the wrong direction looking for them. they were sooo cool. so big . loud. powerful... and almost better than niagra.. because we were like the only ones there.. watching the sun set on the nile once again :) rough life i know. So we headed back to the red chili where we tried to sleep in our mossy nets and failed quite a bit. im sure if i got malaria on the trip, it was from that night.. sweating profusely without electricity for the fan.. and waking a lot to see if the hippos were coming up to graze on the grass.. too bad the lady told us the next morning they dont show up til 7:30 in the morning... not at 2:00 am.. back on safari across the nile...we headed to waterhole where we were certain to see many animals in for their morning drink.. We got stuck waiting for a WALL of waterbuffalo- i have no idea how many were there.. 300? 500? 700? they strectched for like a quarter of mile across the road... and we eventually shoved them aside. i was excited to drive through, and the boys were freaking... they must've really known the power of those guys or something else i didn't.. so we saw the hippos moving things in teh water from a distance because the van couldn't get too close... and i was forbidden to leave the car, understandably.. but there were people outside and i wanted to get closer!.. always. just as we were heading out, we caught word of a lion..and so the hunt began as we drove illegally off the path and through the tall grass looking for the lion.. we found her, all but asleep under a tree.. safari mission complete. only thing left wouldve been a panther! that would've been reallly cool.. o and of course we saw 392045u713235u2 babboons allll over the road. we were stoked for the first few driving up to gulu..and we were completely board with them by the time we were done on the second day.

Jinjas event if the year

The next morning began bright and early as we prepared for our tournament. I walked the distance with kyle and Greg to kybirwa primary school where the funda-field had been built and our tournament would take place. The 30+ minute walk was awesome, slipping in the muddy trails that wined through trees, crops, and mud huts. I was excited to see the field, to finally be able to grasp what it is fundafield is doing and what we are doing here in Uganda... Not that i needed an excuse.. Anyway, One side had been dug to level the field and made a nice lip for the spectators to sit on and overlook the field. The concept of building the field at a school is great for a few reasons. First, the kids at the school take pride in the field, because fields are few and far to come by. They plant the grass seeds and take care of the field to make sure it stays maintained/ the admin is supposed to regulate it. It also allows kids from multiple villages to take advantage of the futbol field that is so sacred to every one of these kids.

So, as African time goes, the tourney "started"'at 8, we showed up about 9, and the first team showed up at 10ish. Having the field at a school encourages also gives the kids a good reason to hang around the school and learn.

So the plan of the tournament: 2 days, single elimination, with 8 teams to start. Day 1 is youth/ under 14 and day 2 is 14 and up. Every team gets 13 jerseys for it's 13 players and the tournament winner for each day gets a goat. Yes a live goat tied to a short rope. I'm not sure what the value on a goat is in the states, but here it's around 100,000 Ugandan shillings and is a symbol of your status. So the goat is a great prize, and defnitely worth putting your best team together for. We payed extra for the loud speaker system, not sure if it was a good investment, but thought it would make the tournament more official and bring more people in... The thing is, all you need is a soccer ball under your arm and in about 73 seconds you will have a swarm of kids following you. Soccer is a way of life here, and it is amazing the power a sport can have.. I'm not just saying this, I have now witnessed it first hand, two days in a row. Although the second team wasn't able to check in until close to 11 because they only had 3 kids, by noon we were turning away teams and the tournament was officially underway. (and for some reason not 1 player out of the 104 (or maybe it was closer to 200 after we saw kids swaping jerseys and such to play) participating could even pass for 14.... We rolled with it. This is Africa, and there is only so much you can control.

The first day was hot, veryy long and tiring but so wonderful. I couldn't believe the number of people that came from far and wide to watch. By early afternoon, I roughly guessed there to be 1,000 people of all sizes and ages and English speaking abilities surrounding the field, cheering ever so crazily and loudly everytime their team scored a goal. Most of the women had sleeping babies just tied all over them.. The ladies jumping around didn't seem to care they were there and the babies didn't seem to mind their heads bobbing up and down. the teams followed our brackets well it seemed, knowing who was on the field next.. I was sure this would be the toughest part if the organization. Seeing soo many happy, thankful people was the best part.. Next to handing off a goat and medals to the winners. We never did get to sleep that night because once you rent out the loud speakers for 24 hours... They dont stop bumping til it's time to wrap them up. So yes, the high energy African music was the life of bujagali until 6:45 when it moved back to the field. I don't think anyone slept a wink.

The second morning started much more promptly with the "u14" teams we had to turn away lining up at the school at 8. If nothing else, we taught 26 kids the importance of showing up early and on time... A concept non existent in the rest of the country. These kids wanted to play. 6 of the 8 teams came to play before the first game even started. Now that's what I'm talkin about. Today is gonna be better. Well everything was going soo smoothly apart from peeing in the school hole and getting the annoying kids off of me. My personal space bubble popped at somepoint and it was hard to hear another muzungu cry. Both semi games went into pks, and the thousands of fan crowded ever so closely around the penalty box...forget standing on the sideline. There were kids in trees trying to get a better look. All was good, goal for goal, until one guy kicked before the whistle. On his re-kick he missed and sent the crowd hooting and hollering. The next guy just had to make it to seal the deal to the championship.. After the whistle, the ball hit the left then right post and bounced out. It got wildddd and crazy. Half the people yelling goal, and he other half not. The refs had no idea, so us muzungus, in our futbol knowledge, explained that if it hit both posts and bounced out, there is no way it couldve been a goal. The ball didn't cross the line. someone claimed it hit the back right post and bounced out.. And so the debate continued for a while. The defending team decided to lead a squat in the middle of the field, refusing to budge until we agreed that their goal counted. Moses, the school principal was on the soundsystem. He managed to get the squatting crowd off the field while I made my debut to Ugandan soccer. I kept hearing muzungu, all the way from USA, muzungu missed.. It was crazy. I think that was the moment I've been waiting for since a child to be the star of the field, but I never expected it to be so awkward, nonetheless starring on the Ugandan field. Basically, I was the only one of the 21 girls who knew all the rules or about field poisitioning. All I know is that I played position 10, which is a striker... There are no wings, centers, attackers.. Just numbers. And to make the show better, I scored the first goal for our SOUL team. I've never been pounced on by so many (stinky) people. The other team got two lucky goals as I ran out of steam playing 10 different positions and my girls stood and watched, but they had fun... And for the rest of the visit, I was the local celebrity among the girls. Hahahaha. They'd point and say futbol muzungu.

So it was time to finishhe pks for the other semi, but the one team ran out a squatted the field as soon as we were done again. In true Ugandan reasoning and style, the squatting team refused to move, and the other team in the semi settled for second place, leaving the winner of the first semi as the goat winners of the day. I think that's what happened. We were all so tired and drained from the hot sun that we gave up fighting the stubborn locals. I can't believe that we didn't play the final game! They just agreed on a winner, and once they got their medal, they'd hand off the jersey to a friend to get him a medal too.. We thought ahead and only brought 13 medals, debating with each one who actually played. Wow. No American kid would let someone else get a medal if he didn't play on the team.. Maybe were selfish?

So tired from booming music and 2 straight days of hot sun (that made us muzungus peel like a snake) we tried to sleep again... But as always there's Something else we didnt think of.. An earthquake and heavy rain. The rain pellets sounded like golf balls on the tin roof and I sat wondering how long it would be before the roof caved in. I guess I got lucky it never did. I've never felt such a big earthquake before, an well never know how big it was because of course they are very uncommon here and they don't have the tools for measuring. Every mud hut looked untouched the next morning so maybe all that rolling wasn't as big as I thought... Even though I felt like I was surfin on my bed.