Please welcome Jacqui, from ‘EverydayCook‘.

Before her trip to Europe, Jacqui wrote for us and,then on her way to Paris, she stopped of in

Africa

The most amazing part of Uganda is the people. They have so little and yet they are seem happy. I will treasure the memories of the children I met,with their big eyes looking up at me.

You don’t hear children in Uganda having tantrums nearly as often as you hear it here. Children are given a job to help their family as soon as they can walk. It may be carrying a bucket to fill with water or taking the goat to a new piece of grass. They are made to feel an important part of the family.

Many of the people we met asked us to please tell Australians to come to Uganda and visit. They want their economy to grow and they know that tourism will help. When we visited the Gorillas many of the guides asked us to encourage others to come. What an amazing experience it is too. Climbing and slipping up the mountain, surrounded my untouched forest. The local people work as guides and porters. If it wasn’t for the porters that we hired many of us would not have made it to the place where we found the group of gorillas.  They are a very gentle animal. They live peacefully in family groups and spend most the day eating. We were lucky enough to find a large group of fifteen or so gorillas. There was the silver back and several females and lots of juvenile gorillas. One of the females decided that she wanted to walk right past me and in the process gave me a bit of a shove. I thought it was amazing and I have kept the pants I wore as a reminder.

When we returned to Kampala our two boys took us to their home and introduced us to their friends. They have started a youth group that is trying to help the youth find employment and it provides support to the community. They spoke to us about their hopes for a more prosperous life, with more work for everyone. There is very high unemployment and the living conditions are very basic, however the boys always met us looking clean and showered with ironed clothes. How they manage this is a mystery to me.

This is a photo of me with my two boys Ivan on the left and Aaron on the right.
Ivan studies Computer engineering and Aaron is involved in the blossoming Ugandan film industry.

©Jacqueline Guglielmino All images and text.

NEXT WEEK: PARIS 

I love food. I find the history, the recipes, the presentation, just everything about it interesting. I was born in Canada and spent the first twenty years of my life travelling the world.  My father’s job took us to lots of interesting places.  I married an Italian and I really enjoy the Italian culture. I have three grown up children.

I ran a graphic design business with my husband for 16 years and then decided to move onto another one of my passions. Cooking. I am currently doing a little catering and assisting with styling on some food projects.

It gives me great joy when someone makes something from the blog and tells me they are happy with the result. I believe in cooking with love and passion.

I hope you enjoy my blog.

Happy eating and cooking.

Jacqui G