As Malcolm was walking under a tree across the open land in the centre of Kisoro town centre he felt something land on his head and drop to the ground. He looked down and seeing some kind of seed he breathed a sigh of relief – it could have been a lot messier!!!
The open land has what remains of what must have been a substantial wood. Over the years many trees have been cut down to make way for shops and roads, and what remains is at risk – several have already gone in our few months here and there are plans to build a new bank on part of the site.
For the time being the trees are the home for a flock of large cranes. These are fairly common here, and whilst the crested crane is a protected species, being the emblem of Uganda, these birds are not so lucky as one by one their homes are cut down.
The open land has what remains of what must have been a substantial wood. Over the years many trees have been cut down to make way for shops and roads, and what remains is at risk – several have already gone in our few months here and there are plans to build a new bank on part of the site.
For the time being the trees are the home for a flock of large cranes. These are fairly common here, and whilst the crested crane is a protected species, being the emblem of Uganda, these birds are not so lucky as one by one their homes are cut down.
The open land is also used for a range of rallies and events. It is just one week until the national and president elections. Some weeks ago the long standing President, Museveni, held a rally here. Today the supporters of the main opposition candidate, Busigye, also held a rally. Unfortunately in previous years there has been violent demonstrations in parts of the country during the elections – we don’t expect such problems here.
The open space is also the site of the only communal waste skip we are aware of. There is no collection of waste in Uganda, and we burn our own rubbish. However there is one skip in the town centre which gets emptied occasionally. It is also used by some cattle owners as an additional source of nutrients for their herd. Maybe this is a recycling scheme that could be adopted in Britain, although we are not sure this would
be welcome in many towns?
In town you can also see other sights not usual to the UK. On his way back from buying chips from our favourite chip shop Malcolm almost tripped over a new coffin left on the pavement outsider a joiners. He could tell it was new – in the lid is a window for viewing purposes and the coffin was unoccupied!!
There are a number of visitors from the UK at Potter’s Village this week. One, Chris, is a retired Community Health nurse. The coincidence is that she lives in Chesham, and 2 weeks ago when we were being sent off by our church, Emmanuel, she was being sent off by her church, Kings. And she lives just round the corner from where we were staying in Chesham. She is most welcome at Jenny’s house helping to care for the two pre-mature orphans, Joshua and Esther.
No comments:
Post a Comment