Another Week, Another Risky Behavior

In SIC we say that "risky behavior" is anything that can potentially lead to the transmission of HIV. So it's a term we kind of throw around a lot. If you've engaged in risky behavior, you need to get tested. If you've engaged in any risky behavior in the last 3 months, you need to get tested in 3 months. Blah blah blah.

But lately, risky behavior has taken on a new meaning. A few weeks ago we hitchhiked. Then I climbed Mt. Meru (let's not talk about what could have happened with a few false steps on those craggy slopes). And this weekend 14 SICer's made the decision to risk our lives once again by bussing to Uganda to raft The Nile, the world's biggest river. It's an SIC tradition. And (so far), everyone has come back in one piece.

Rapids in the Nile range from class 1 to class 6. The highest we did was class 5, which is illegal in most places around the world. But with strict instructions from Canadian and Ugandan guides, heavy life jackets, and gnarly helmets, we felt surprisingly safe during our two day trip.

Each rapid has a name, and strict instructions on how to or not to flip over, surf the wave, stay inside the boat, jump outside the boat, ride the current, avoid the current, etc... I felt like I was going to die, but knew for sure I wasn't going to die. We practiced flipping over, abandoning the raft, paddling of all types. During the low currents, we swam in the mildly warm water and the hotter than hot sun of the river Nile. We were prepared for anything. But honestly, I can't put most of these feelings into words in the few short minutes I have to sit here and describe my weekend's experience.

We left Friday, crossed into Kenya and hit a giraffe with our bus along the way (bus drivers here are INSANE). Then we stopped in Nairobi for a few hours, an incredibly surreal city. Kind of like New York City, everything is in English, with more people selling items on the streets. And more well-dressed drunkards assuming that we all know the scores of the most recent English football games.

From Nairobi into Uganda we were stopped in the middle of the road by a turned over bus. The people were calmly exiting the bus, and as we approached in the slight rain, half-groggy, we realized that this was the same bus company as we were riding, and this bus in front of us could have so easily been us. Instead, we rushed off to try to take another road so we would reach our destination on time. Of course, however, the driver's door wouldn't close after he had jumped out to see what was going on, so I was charged with tying a rope to keep the door shut as we flew in the opposite direction at 80km/hr.

So the bus rides to and from Uganda (destination: Kampala, but we were dropped off in Jinja), were most certainly the most dangerous parts of the journey. Who knew?

Uganda is a beautiful, green country (the Nile - duh!), with beautiful people. Sort of like with climbing Meru, it was just nice to get away for a while. Clearly, we were in Africa. But, even more clear, we sure weren't in Tanzania any more.

Oh yea, I also bungee jumped into the Nile, 145 ft. up, touching the river during my first downward spiral. Nile High Bungee is the only Bungee into the Nile, probably the only in East Africa, and one of the lowest in the world...meaning one of the few where you can touch the water. And it's safe. I mean, a towel and a heavy duty rubber band around the ankles sounds pretty safe, doesn't it? The money is worth the first half second of free fall. Indescribable.

Also, I know pictures have been sporadic, incomplete, and randomly ordered, but I'm doing my best to work with the internet connection to give you a glimpse of my experience. Hopefully it's working out. I promise to have my complete collection online by January.

Back to the village for a short week. Last week, we finished up with the school year with some more frustrations (end of the year festivities are obviously more important than learning about HIV/AIDS), and start with training our Peer Educators and working in the seminar settings next week. I taught a group of over 150 at a subvillage teaching earlier this week, which was AWESOME - Shujaa and I taught 76 men, and Joyce, Nelea and Gaby taught 78 women. We have a testing day in that area tomorrow, so hopefully the number of people at the teaching bodes well for our testing numbers.

The SIC malaria count has reached something like 10, with several teaching partners also getting typhoid, and the chance for amoebas and bacterial infections increasing by the day as the rainy season creeps toward us (it rains almost every day now). But in general my experience remains amazing, there's so much more I want to say, but don't have time to think through...which just gives us more to talk about when I get back. Less than a month until I'm home!

Peace and love,
Devon