Nov 1. Return to Kigali

Once again it was an early morning at Peter and Diane's, but this time Branden and I packed our backpacks so we could leave from the school and head for Kigali.  There were still some things to firm up regarding the next leg of our adventure, traveling to Uganda.

Once again we got to ride in the cool of the day in our short sleeved shirts while Peter and Diane donned clothing fit for fall or early winter. Branden and I didn't find it too cold.  Even the motorcycle drivers had coats and scarves over their faces.

At the school, Peter and I spent some time going over his plans for 'rent to own' sewing machines and how to calculate fair trade value for work the women would be doing, either mending and alterations, or sewing custom clothing.  As the women startup a small business enterprise, some may need a micro loan to get going. We fleshed out a plan that could be taught the women so they could determine a fair value for their services.

We struck out for the bus stop well before lunch.  The first bus was already packed and we would be forced to sit on the uncomfortable fold down aisle seats.  We turned the tickets back in and demanded a refund.  We paid top price for the tickets and we wanted a comfortable seat this time.  We would wait for the next bus.  And a good thing we did.  The next bus was almost empty.  We took the back seat as we would probably be the last ones off.  Finally we had leg room.  This was a little larger bus than the matatu minivans.

We got into Kigali in good time and I followed the route into the city on "Maps" on my phone which showed us where we were.  Instead of getting off at Nyamagogo which is quite a ways from our quarters, we jumped off in unfamiliar territory and asked two mototaxis to take us to CLA/Wellspring Academy.  One of them new where it was and we were off.  Only 5 minutes and we were there.  A lot sooner than the 15 it took us on the day we left.

Now we needed to organize for our Kampala trip.  I went to the office to pay for our guest house lodging and in passing asked the girl about the bus to Kampala.  Wouldn't you know it, turns out Sarah is from Kampala and has taken the same bus many times.  What we didn't know was you had to pre-purchase tickets for the bus.  It meant another trip to Nyamagogo.  But Sarah offered to pick up the tickets for us and bring them on Saturday.  At the Main office, I was trying to arrange for a taxi for 4:30 am Monday morning.  Both those girls were also from Uganda and found an English speaking taxi driver who would come that early in the morning and get us to the bus on time.  Then there was the matter of arriving in Kampala without Ugandan currency, no SIM card for the phone and no phone number for the guest house we will be staying at. I checked my email and Susan from Nairobi office bad contacted her sister in law in Kampala who had already agreed to pick us up.  Amazing!  Everything was set without hardly any effort on my part!  How does that work?  In Kin-rwandan, "Murkoze, Emana".  Thank you, God!

Well, not much else to do now than go for a late lunch/early supper and catch up on posting blogs and Facebook messages for the evening.