Day 10 – 22nd June 2007
Next morning, we awoke to damp earth! It had been chucking it down during the night and any clothes that were left out on the washing line was absoultely soaked. This had been the first time it properly rained and it was quite nice to have a fresh morning to wake up to as I was in a bit of a mood as I didn’t get much sleep during the night. Anything that could have gone wrong that morning went wrong! 2 of my blisters burst and then I got bitten twice within the space of 1 minute! Give me breakfast!
After breakfast, we immediately got to work and I finally finished off that 1m squared section of concrete on the veranda and I grinned at the builders. Later on that morning, I managed to knock out a few window frames with a sledgehammer, cleaned out some rubble, made a few wheelbarrow trips to the other field and chiselled more concrete off the floor. One doorframe was really hard to knock out and it really required all the team to get it out. I enjoyed that bit as there was proper team effort and everyone helped each other out even by cheering people on! Amazing!
The sometime, in the morning, the heavens opened and tropical monsoon style rains came down. Immediately, the water table rose and slowly seeped through the surface and create a lake like body. It wasn’t until someone screamed that the water was seeping into our hut through the doorway. Guess whose stuff was right by the door? Mine! So all my stuff got soaked and I was cursing the rain god!
After a long day, we packed up in the early evening and pack a small bag as we will be going to the Red Chilli Rest Camp for the weekend! I was looking forward to this so I can be clean, dry and finally eat meat! Arrived there 10 mins later over the ferry, and whilst discussing Jaimie’s book, we pitched up tents. I was to be sharing with Ade and Phil, the 2 leaders of the Leeds-Uganda Project. I found out Julius would be sharing with us later so another cramped night was on the cards! I had a delicious meal and chatted with peeps until quite late until the lights went out. Ade had too much to drink but he still told a really funny story about his mate hallunicating for 24 hours and was climbing the tiles in his bathroom!
Didn’t sleep much that night to begin with as Ade kept rolling around and hitting me creating a domino effect in which I hit into Phil and he hit into Julius!
I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and I really needed the toilet! But it was far, dark and there were plenty of noises around! We weren’t that far from the River Nile so who knew what slithered out waiting to taste a bit of the Rex! It was certainly really noisy and I was very suspicious that something was hovering around. I stuck on my headlight and poked my head out of the tent opening into the jaws…no I’m kidding! There was nothing around as I swung my head round and nothing got illuminated…but it was still noisy with animal calls! Should I wait til morning? I was really desperate! Should I go to toilet and get eaten on the way in which I would wee anyway? With nothing to lose, I power-walked to the toilet and locked the door. I had a sense of deja-vu and my mind went back to the clip in Jurassic Park when the man got eaten by the T-Rex whilst on the toilet! Surely, dinosaurs are extinct? But never say never. As I did my business, I heard a huge snort outside the door. This greatly made me still as a post and my face whitened! I waited a good while and cracked open the door and peered out…nothing there. I turned on the red light of my headlight and swept around. Nothign to be seen. I walked quietly back to the tent and suddenly the bush nearby shook violently and I dropped to knee height and flickered my light in that direction. There was a shape! I half crawled and half ran back to the tent and kept quiet, listening out. But there was nothing. I don’t know what it was, but after discussing with one of the staff the next morning, it may have been a hippo!
But whatever it was…something did go bump in the night!
