Saturday was a day filled with the beauties of Uganda. We attended a short lecture, the beautiful botanical center in Entebbe, and the extravagent country home of the Chairman of the Board of MUBS.
After taking our amazingly small bus on an unimaginable road, we made it to the dinner. Many people attended the banquet outside of Kampala. University officials, board members, deans, and staff joined our group in a delicious layout of African cuisine. Students all sat on mats made out of leaves - picnic style. The highlight of the evening for me was when the Collin, the Chairman, invited us to each plant a tree - replacing ones that he has cut down. Collin was adding on a beautiful addition to his home (with a view.) The "scaffolding" used in Uganda consists of cutting down trees, using them once, and disposing of it. Collin believes his area will boom with houses in the near future and wanted to create a boulevard of trees. Twenty trees were planted, with each of the Drake names on them.
The chairman was extremely welcoming and genuine. He was proud of what he had and I believe he truly enjoyed having us enjoy ourselves. He even let each of us pick an avacado from his garden to take with us. This was definately a part of the trip that will be cherished forever.
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This night was very special and it was this night that it dawned on me that the trip was quickly coming to an end--- cherish each moment that we had left in Uganda. It was very fun to spend a night with the MUBS students, something that I wish we could of done more of.
ReplyDeleteI thought the idea of planting trees was a great one. It was a symbol of his (and our) commitment to sustainable developement through environmentally friendly policies and practices (like the cut-one plant-two saying). He also used it as a ploy to get us to return to Uganda (one of the themes of the trip). By naming a tree after us, it was incentive to return in time and witnes our contribution to the cause. I enjoyed it.
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