Report of
Our First Delegation to Kasese, August 24 - Sept 6, 2015
Our first historic Sister City delegation from Santa Cruz visited Kasese, Western Uganda, for 10 days to determine suitability for becoming permanent Sister Cities with Santa Cruz-term with cultural, educational, and/or economic exchanges.
Our 13 delegates represented a variety of Santa Cruz groups: Rotary, Red Cross, UCSC, Renee’s Garden, Patchumama, Santa Cruz city staff, Santa Cruz news media, Cyclists for Cultural exchange, Cabrillo Engineering and H20 water engineering Christian ministry.
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
We were greeted at Entebbe airport by Godfrey Kasozi and Mayor Godfrey Kabbyanga. Despite being in the midst of his re-election campaigns, Mayor Kabbyanga spent two days escorting us to Kasese, and visited us several times during the week.
Our delegation was welcomed with many receptions by Kasese government leaders, CETRUD, Rotary, Schools, nonprofits. We were seated in the front row of events and treated like royalty with speeches, songs, dances and Ugandan meals featuring matooke (bananas). Our visit was a media event in local and regional news. several reporters interviewed us during the week.
Our biggest welcome celebration was at CETRUD sustainable farming education center, in Karusandara village, deep in the countryside. Several hundred people from nearby farms welcomed us, singing and dancing their hearts out, including performance of “Jubilani” a song composed especially for our delegation.
The CETRUD celebration was followed by a youth soccer game, featuring teams wearing our newly gifted soccer team uniforms, attended by about 600 locals, where our delegation shook hands to formally congratulate all players at halftime.
We also experienced-
· A 3-hour hike in Rwenzori Mountains National Park
· Visits to churches
· Two weddings, one at a very wealthy tea plantation owner’s home, with 10 tribal dance performance teams and the national Minister of Security seated next to us! The other was a Muslim wedding of a CETRUD sponsored student alumni.
· Overnight tours in nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park (“The Best Managed Park in Africa”) viewing lions at 2 areas on the savannah, and an amazing boat ride viewing a herd of elephants next to herds of hippos, water buffalos, crocodiles and flocks of birds.
· Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park.
No serious illnesses occurred during the trip, but delegate Kenny was injured, when he accidently fell in a 15-foot deep ditch. He was treated in the local clinic and hospital, then returned home 2 days later to Santa Cruz, for dental surgery and resuming his engineering classes at Cabrillo. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery Kenny!
Mwasingya! Many thanks to all hosts, delegates and our supporters and donors who made our trip a great success in forging many new friendships with Kasese leaders!
We came bearing gifts --
Look for more reports from Kasese delegates in our next issues.
Next Dates:
· September 28 report of trip highlights to Santa Cruz Sister Cities Committee
· October 25 Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support presentation of Kasese delegation
· November 9 Santa Cruz Sister Cities Meeting: probable vote on Kasese Sister City Status
Our 13 delegates represented a variety of Santa Cruz groups: Rotary, Red Cross, UCSC, Renee’s Garden, Patchumama, Santa Cruz city staff, Santa Cruz news media, Cyclists for Cultural exchange, Cabrillo Engineering and H20 water engineering Christian ministry.
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
We were greeted at Entebbe airport by Godfrey Kasozi and Mayor Godfrey Kabbyanga. Despite being in the midst of his re-election campaigns, Mayor Kabbyanga spent two days escorting us to Kasese, and visited us several times during the week.
Our delegation was welcomed with many receptions by Kasese government leaders, CETRUD, Rotary, Schools, nonprofits. We were seated in the front row of events and treated like royalty with speeches, songs, dances and Ugandan meals featuring matooke (bananas). Our visit was a media event in local and regional news. several reporters interviewed us during the week.
Our biggest welcome celebration was at CETRUD sustainable farming education center, in Karusandara village, deep in the countryside. Several hundred people from nearby farms welcomed us, singing and dancing their hearts out, including performance of “Jubilani” a song composed especially for our delegation.
The CETRUD celebration was followed by a youth soccer game, featuring teams wearing our newly gifted soccer team uniforms, attended by about 600 locals, where our delegation shook hands to formally congratulate all players at halftime.
We also experienced-
· A 3-hour hike in Rwenzori Mountains National Park
· Visits to churches
· Two weddings, one at a very wealthy tea plantation owner’s home, with 10 tribal dance performance teams and the national Minister of Security seated next to us! The other was a Muslim wedding of a CETRUD sponsored student alumni.
· Overnight tours in nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park (“The Best Managed Park in Africa”) viewing lions at 2 areas on the savannah, and an amazing boat ride viewing a herd of elephants next to herds of hippos, water buffalos, crocodiles and flocks of birds.
· Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park.
No serious illnesses occurred during the trip, but delegate Kenny was injured, when he accidently fell in a 15-foot deep ditch. He was treated in the local clinic and hospital, then returned home 2 days later to Santa Cruz, for dental surgery and resuming his engineering classes at Cabrillo. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery Kenny!
Mwasingya! Many thanks to all hosts, delegates and our supporters and donors who made our trip a great success in forging many new friendships with Kasese leaders!
We came bearing gifts --
- Horticultural seeds and tools for CETRUD from Renee's Garden
- Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary donated 6 used laptops, 1 to CETRUD and the others to Kasese Rotary, plus a bunch of good, used cell phones with digital cameras for the youth and adults of Kasese to record their culture and stories
- Art supplies for elementary school art exchanges, from Roxi Goin
- Four sets of Soccer uniforms, generously donated by Santa Cruz City Youth Soccer Club and Sports Design print shop
- Sister Cities pins, Santa Cruz hats & tee-shirts and, most importantly, ourselves for 10 days of building relationships with Kasese leaders.
- And most importantly, we brought ourselves, spending two weeks of our time to make many new friends!
Look for more reports from Kasese delegates in our next issues.
Next Dates:
· September 28 report of trip highlights to Santa Cruz Sister Cities Committee
· October 25 Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support presentation of Kasese delegation
· November 9 Santa Cruz Sister Cities Meeting: probable vote on Kasese Sister City Status