Emergency cheese

We are slowly making progress in setting up our lunchroom and cheese factory. The architectural plans for the renovation are finished. We are in the process of selecting a contractor for building the extra floor on top of the house . Under Michel’s supervision improvements are made to the exterior of the gardens. A huge wall of 4 meter high and 25 meter long is being build to make sure the back garden does not end up at the neighbor yard, which is much lower than our place.

At home we are making yoghurt and fresh cheese to try out the milk. Also we try to get goat milk, which is very difficult. In the mean time everyone is asking when the cheese will be available. Specifically the local pizzeria, who now gets all his cheese from Kampala (300 km away). On his specially request we made mozzarella. We tried several times to get it right and proudly we let the pizzeria test it. The Italian owner is very happy with the cheese. We agree we would only start to make big amounts when the cheese factory was finished, but can make 6 kg in our kitchen in case of emergency.

Four days later… the pizzeria has an emergency. The mozzarella, send deep frozen by bus from Kampala, got lost. When found back the next day, it was spoiled. At 13.00 we get a call if we can make 6 kg of mozzarella, otherwise they might not have enough.

Our first order! We are so proud. Eight hours later we are less proud. We are not equipped to handled big amounts in our small kitchen. We are completely exhausted and the kitchen is a mess, whey and curd everywhere. With headlamps on (since the electricity was cut half way) we made in three batches of 20 liters of milk the mozzarella. At 21.30 we drive off to the pizzeria , who is very happy to see us, since the mozzarella just got finished 15 minutes ago. But we tell him we are never going to do this again unless the cheese factory is finished. The rest of the evening we spend at least half of our profit on pizza and drinks.

Very proud we tell everybody, they are eating our cheese. Victory and a big lesson on making larger amounts of cheese. We keep the cheese activities low profile for the time being.

Cranes and heavy containers

Getting the container from Amersfoort to Kampala took us 2.5 month. We have heard many bad stories to get it through customs but managed to do this in a couple of days. Getting the container to be placed next to our house, seemed to be more difficult. The transporter is suddenly being difficult about placing the container on the ground, so we look for a crane in Fort Portal. After 3 days we have found a man who says he can place the container, if it is empty. We get a transporter to bring then container to Fort Portal and arrange some help to unload. The truck with container went to the lunchroom to be. While our caretaker was preparing lunch for the helpers and the truck drivers, Michel tried to find the guy, who was suppose to take the container of the truck. After literally following the bulldozer with the man, it turned out that the proposed solution was not possible. In three days time he would make time, but would place it without a crane. Michel had only to make a special talus en get some poles. (The cheapest solution for this was to just cut a tree). In the meantime the truckdrivers needed to head back to Kampala. The truck luckily had a small crane so he could unload it just on the side of the truck, everybody thought…. It turned out that the container was too heavy. With a lot of patience it took the drivers one and a half hour to put it down by tilting it to it’s back and then move the truck centimeter for centimeter. A weak heart is not recommended for this method.




The next move a couple of days later looked even worse. A bulldozer scoped the container placed it on a special prepared driveway. For 15 meters the container was pulled by a winch rolling on 4 logs. The pictures tell the story.

Boxes and more boxes

The container has arrived, after problems with the work permit, we had some problems with the transporter, which is a weblog story on its own. But finally the container arrived in front of our rental house; not really in front, more against the gate of the house. Damage of one bag of cement... Because the crane was not strong enough to unload a full container, we unloaded it on top of the truck. We had arranged a couple of people to help us. Every item had a sticker and every room had a label. What can go wrong?

Unbelievable, while opening the container, it looked exactly the same as when we closed it. No items where moved, so far nothing is broken. We only have some water damage, since the container roof was hit by large object probably a hook of a big chain. After two hours with 8 people the container was unloaded. some items were placed in the garden, most rooms including the garage were unreachable because of the number of boxes and items laying all around. Michel went off to our house on Mugurusi road, the place where the container needed to be offloaded. Heleen stayed behind to create some order in the house. Boxes labelled kitchen turn up in the master bedroom and so on. But still one week later we have too many items, too little cupboards and continuously essential screws missing to put things together.


To put as many items in the container as possible everything was taken apart. Even the legs of the sofa’s were taken off. This means a challenge when putting things together. The legs of the sofa’s were separated in three different boxes. The screws for the television cupboard only showed up in one of the boxes after a week unpacking. Now, after a week of unpacking the house is liveable. The kitchen and living room do not contain anyboxes. All the other rooms still have.

But the pleasure of sitting on a sofa, specific your own sofa, drinking espresso, having good kitchen tools is unbeatable. The biggest joy is too see Couda, the oldest dog to wag her tail fanatically, when she discovers her eating bowl somewhere between the boxes and the first week playing with a different toy every day.

Patience and a lot of help

Five days Kampala, what a difference with the quiet Fort Portal. We were suppose to go together and we had already agreed that Michel would drive in Kampala. The traffic is chaotic and Heleen was not looking forward. The evening before leaving, our worries about the concrete slab for the container in Fort Portal were too big. We decided to split up. Heleen was facing a 4,5 hour drive on partly bad roads and traffic chaos in Kampala. Her tasks were, to get a -proof of existence- certificate from tax authority, transfer of the car on our name, getting the work permit, getting the container cleared by customs and to come home with a fridge, gas stove/oven and electrical switch and wiring for the house. To get this done you do not only need to know your way in Kampala , but also know how the Ugandan systems works.

The major item was the work permit, since this is key in getting the container cleared. We had delivered our papers in March to a friend, who would arrange it. But no success, even when Heleen arrived in Kampala she was told, wait till tomorrow. Finally after two days Heleen was given the papers and contacts to follow up herself. After 5 days of running up and down between tax authorities, immigration and banks. Standard procedures are long. Simple tasks normally take hours or days and to separate tasks, different departments and a bank need to be visited. Payments for government or tax fees need to be done at the bank to separate tasks. (Electronic banking is starting to be introduced, but does not fit in the system, sine you need a proof of payment on paper). Efficiency is not high on the list at organizations, with low salaries.

This means that even if you have approval for a special pass (sort of intermediate status, before the work permit is approved), it normally takes two days to pay and get it entered in your passport. Although the procedures are long and we had heard horror stories of containers not being cleared for 3 to 6 months, everybody was willing to co-operate. Heleen told everyone that she could not stay a weekend in Kampala and even government officials were cooperative. A transfer of a car normally takes 4 days, they reduced to 2 days . Approval for special pass normally 4 days, now done 1 day. Receipts at a bank for payment 3 hours, reduced to 45 min. Entry of special pass in passport 1 day, reduced to 4 hours. We know Uganda has entered the top 5 of most corrupt East African countries, but all the help Heleen received was without extra payment! It is interesting to see that in the Netherlands you have to pay for emergency procedures. When you need your passport or driving license quick, it can be arranged but you pay a lot more. Here an explanation was enough. Uganda is a great country!

After living in a empty house with a borrowed bed, a borrowed bread machine, no table, 2 chairs we are looking forward to the container. It also means we can really start to make cheese. So getting the container cleared also very high on our list. When arriving at the container Heleen was almost in tears. The locks were tampered with and many were broken. The seals of Dutch and Kenyan customs however seem to be complete. But to be sure a surveyor was called in to assess the situation. Waiting 1 hour for the surveyor before opening the container was horrible. One hour of visions of a half empty container. After cutting the seals the container was opened and the contents was untouched! Tax authorities were very co-operative and inspection of the goods was finished very quickly. It was time to go home for Heleen with the good feeling that she conquered the bureaucracy and Kampala, and had a car loaded with luxury goods.

Preparing for the container

This week we split up for the arrival of our container. Heleen went to Kampala to arrange clearance of the container (and to do a whole lot of other things) and Michel stayed in Fort Portal to supervise the construction of a simple concrete slab for the final destination of the container. We need to place the container “first time right” because there is not a crane in the vicinity of Fort Portal that can lift it, so we bring a crane from Kampala. But what about the other containers in Fort Portal, you think; well these either do not leave the truck and are emptied on site or are lifted after empting.

The construction of the concrete slab needed a bit more arranging than expected. Since the container will stand on the ground for some time we want to place it above the ground on concrete to prevent rusting. The cheese making requires the container to be place on a level surface. And taking into consideration that the ground has a slope and the rainfall can be extreme, the design of the concrete slab includes a brick wall foundation, reinforced concrete pillars and hard cores (big stones) on a cement base to support the weight of the container. A local architect that draws our ideas about the renovation of the old house made the design.

We hired a contractor, agreed on a price and just before we wanted to start on Monday the Mayor and the Town Clerk including a delegation of politicians were inspecting the road work near our plot. The Mayor saw the building materials and ordered the contractor to abort work that was not even started. Michel spend the rest of the day with the architect writing a proposal letter to the Town Clerk, including drawings of the concrete slab and discussing with the Town Clerk on how to proceed. An approval of the Structures Engineer was needed, but the man was not in town and could not be replaced. Finally the next day we got an informal approval after an on-site inspection of the Structures Engineer.

Materials like sand and the hard cores are bought in the surroundings of Fort Portal and brought by the architect who conveniently owns a small truck (he also has a driving school that is run by his wife from the same office). With the truck most materials were delivered behind the house. To reach there, the truck has to drive down a sloping driveway. The house is approximately 3 meters below road level. With every load, the nicely decorated walls of the driveway moved outwards. The truck holding the container would never be able to pass the house without collapsing the driveway. We decided that the 12 meter driveway needed to be repaired in a permanent way: remove the 1 meter top layer, put in rocks in a particular order, use iron mesh to hold the walls and finish the top layer with small grid. Meaning more truckloads of stones and grid and hiring hard working men.

Buying a house (1)

Looking for a house is not simple in Uganda. Buying a house is even more complicated. After looking around we had several options. Our favourite option is a plot walking distance from the city centre in a posh area of schools, lawyers and NGO’s. Most houses in the area have been renovated, but ‘our’ house has not been maintained for many years and is not occupied, except by some homeless people. Everything of value has been stolen from the house. Electricity wires, sockets, the electricity meter and even the cast iron lit of the septic tank. But the house has pretty outside walls and is big (17 x 11 meter), the plot around it is even large for a place so close to town (24x48 meter).

There are many reason why this house is for empty and still for sale. Not only is the place completely looted, but also a tenant was evicted (a Dutch man, which will we know well) and has claims against the owners about investments done by him and goods stolen from rooms. But the major reason of the state of the house is that the owner died 20 years ago and left behind 6 children, with 6 different mothers. In the age of 0-10 years old. Since the children were minors an uncle became caretaker of the house. To make a long story short 3 years ago the children took charge, hired a family lawyer and went to court to reposes the house. Since then the house is for sale and have had a number of offers and close deals. But the six children (influenced by family) could not agree. We did an offer on the house three weeks ago, but were warned to be very careful with the family. We checked with a Ugandan friend, the land office, their lawyer, etc. The family wanted to meet us, but only Michel was around. The real estate agent, the lawyer and our Uganda friend were not welcome and Michel meet 6 family members representing 3 children. The meeting was not successfully because the family refused to lower their price and we did not hear from them for 2,5 weeks. The rumour circuit was not silent at all. We spread the rumour we were not interested. Their family lawyer presented the family his bill for the last 3 years of his work. Suddenly the family was interested in a negotiation and we settled on the price the same day.

Normally in the Netherlands this means the deal is done and the rest is just administrative. We made another round to the officials Land office, water& electricity company, city council, the local chair person (appointed as guardian of the neighbourhood) and the former Dutch tenant. We hired our own lawyer to protect our interest. In a week’s time the family cleared the property and we transferred money from the Netherlands (which is a story on its own) to a just opened Uganda account. Friday at 8.30 all 6 children would be there to sign the agreement and to do the transfer of money.

The day went slightly different than expected. At 11.00 only 4 children were there. One would not come at all, but send the grandmother, which had not arrived yet. Another one probably on the way, but could not be reached. The original proof of ownership had to be taken from court by our and their lawyer. Finally grandma arrived. At 12.30 we were at the bank to do the transfer. As if we were not allowed to buy the property there was a power-cut and the automatic generator failed. At 14.30 finally the last child arrived signed and the bank transferred the money. Then the whole family moved to the house. We expected a handover of the keys and we even took a camera to capture this wonderful moment. But nothing goes as expected:

• 3 of the 4 locks had to be cut, because the keys could not be found.


• Suddenly the small shed on the property was not included in the sale and they wanted to take it away. And the only piece of value in the house, some kitchen cupboards was claimed by one family member. I asked if there were also planning to take the trees and the roof of the house, which they almost took seriously.


• The family is not used to bank transfers and were suddenly afraid they handed over the house without receiving the money. It took us and the bank a long talk to convince the transaction was definite, even though the money had not arrived on their bank account.

At 17.00 we came home exhausted, too tired to celebrate. The next quest is getting the house on our name. This is taken up by our lawyer.
To be continued...

House hunting (3)

After 2 months of house hunting we know which questions to ask if a house or plot is worth visiting, even though the answer is often: “You just have to see”. When Heleen came back Michel knew about a special plot 15 km out of town, but on the foot of the Ruwenzori mountains (5000 m high!). No water and electricity, but near. The site was also close to a campsite. The man travelled specially to Fort Portal and by car we went to his plot.

When we parked the car and wanted to leave he asked us if we do not have boots. This should have made all the alarm bells go off, but it was a rainy morning and we were still too polite. When we started walking on a footpath I ask innocently if the car cannot reach the plot. The owner nods and says when the area is more developed. During the walk we get explanations about all muzungu’s (whites) who have lived in the area; 2 people, and how the sometimes take a motorcycle to climb the steep hill. A future neighbour (woman with child) is following us to work up in the fields. After 30 minutes steep walking we reach the campsite. Completely out of breath Heleen asks Michel if he is serious about this place. For courtesy Heleen decides to look at the plot and politely mention this is not what we are looking for. But after another 15 minutes Heleen decides that hurting her knees is not worth the courtesy. Heleen explains we do not want to live in a place where we have to climb the mountain for 45 minutes. He says surprised:”But madam you will get used”. By the way the nearest electricity pole is 1 km, if the hospital gets connected in the future.

Michel decides to continue and after 15 more minutes he reaches the plot. The owner has two wives and lives with one wife in a mud house on this plot (called semi-permanent house). He now mentions that he would like to keep the house, but is selling the rest of the plot. The house is on the only not-completely-vertical part of the plot. The rest is too step to do anything except growing beans and potatoes. We add to the list of questions: Is the house/plot accessible by car? Anyway, the view was breathtaking, despite the damp morning we can see as far as lake Albert and lake Edward.

House hunting (2)

The house hunting resulted in moving to a different rental house on the 10th of August. Finally a house with running water. The house has three bedrooms, two showers, a real kitchen a hot water. It is a big improvement compared to where we camp now. However the new garden is only 1/3 of the current size and has no banana plantation. One of our dogs (Kito) will dislike the new place, no more hunting and chasing animals in the garden. The house also has boys quarters; separate smaller buildings in the garden. We have employed a lady named Hope, who will life there. Initially she will work half days in the household for us and when the cheese making starts, she will help with all the cleaning involved with the cheese making. The biggest advantage is that we will be able to travel since we have now someone who can take care of the dogs.

Even after moving we still will be camping. The house we rent now is fully furnished. Although I would argue if plastic plates can be considered as fully furnished. We are moving to a house without furniture. The moving will not take long, although we have now have 4 dog baskets en two dog pillows (yes we only have 3 dogs). We will borrow a bed and a bread making machine. In the mean time we have acquired 4 plates, 4 mugs, 4 glasses, cutlery, a set of pans and 2 chairs. This means we will just survive. Although we still have to find a solution for the fridge and the stove.

We have good news on the movement of the container. I has arrived in Mombasa and the transporter is expecting it in Kampala in a weeks’ time. How long customs will take is not clear. In the best case we will have our goods mid August. Worse case I do not want to think about. It means more camping.

No news good news

It has been silent from our side. Heleen has been working outside Fort Portal as tourleader. Nine Dutch tourists came for 23 days to Uganda and Gorilla trekking in Rwanda. At the start it was difficult to leave behind all the new exiting things in Fort Portal. But the very pleasant group made it easier. Also the visit to Rwanda was new to me, which was impressive. The country was very poor in the eighties and the genocide in 1994 has left the country devastated. A lot of donor money and a strong government has brought Rwanda further than most African countries today. Good roads, clean country, even plastic bags have been banned. The visit to the genocide memorial was something not to forget. The government planned the genocide a long time ahead. In 3 months time almost 15% of the population was killed.
The rest of the trip was more cheerful. Visiting the chimpanzees and gorilla’s is always a highlight. Trying to find a working television with satellite to be able to follow the world cup was a challenge. During the most important games we were in the most remote places. In the East (where we visited beautiful waterfalls) we had to travel 20 minutes to a big hotel in the next town. During the finals we were in a National Park and had to visit the staff canteen to watch the game.

In the meantime Michel was holding the Fort at home. Walking the dogs, making dog food, doing the dishes, cooking , fetching the water, doing the laundry is much more work on your own. Also the house hunting continued, which resulted in a number of good opportunities. Michel has also found a few jobs. He is repairing PC’s in two guesthouse, mainly cleaning the computers from viruses, and gives private science lessons to the son of a friend.

The internet connection is also a continuing story. We were using a dongle, but connection was very bad an maximum speed was 40 kbps. Downloading pictures or any software was a nightmare. But during one of our searches we met a technician of Uganda Telecom , who was testing the new wireless internet network. The new network is uses the wireless WiMax protocol that has a range of 5 to 8 km from the central base station. Michel did the configuration himself, since the service centre had not been trained yet. Since two weeks we are the first user in Fort Portal. When the connection is working it is very stabile at 128kbps (even with the outdoor modem attached to a stick in the house near the window at 6 km from the base station). For us this speed is acceptable, but as soon as we open up a internet cafe we will upgrade the speed. Unfortunately the network after the WiMax is down every other day, it takes some time before they discover there are real users behind it.

Hunting for a house

Our first goal is to find a new place to life. Preferably a place to life and to put the container to start making cheese. To get the container installed with electricity, water supply, drainage, a roof with the solar panels for electricity and hot water is quite a big investment and sets quite some demands to a house. Just being able to get there with a truck and being able to place the container is in most cases a challenge due to the hilly dirt roads. We are looking for rental places and places to buy. The easiest would be to rent a place in “Boma” the administrative centre of town, with colonial houses. Rent is between 300-400 euro a month. Most mzungu -white people- stay there. But our preference is to stay in a place more out of town, where we can grow our own vegetables and live in a more mixed environment.

I miss funda.nl, the internet site which is very clear in the availability of properties in the area. We have several contacts, some via reference, one real estate agent, some just people knocking on our door, who know we are looking for a house. At first we depending on boda-boda (moped), which make it quite difficult to travel, but since a week we have a car, so we now drive around town with normally 2-3 people in the back giving terrible directions to where we should be going.

We see on average 5 houses a day, most of them are not really suitable. To get a picture or idea of a house before we go to visit is quite difficult. Our demands on a house are very non-Ugandan. We prefer a veranda to overlook a garden, preferably with a view. A standard Uganda house has a veranda directed to the road side. Most of the life around a Ugandan house is around the backyard of the house. Which, if finished, has a wall around it with an outdoor kitchen and a number of small rooms, which are used as storage or staff rooms. Sometimes we are asked an inspection fee, sometimes a house turns out not to be for sale. The last 1,5 week we are exhausted when we go to bed, trying to match our ideas with the houses we have seen.

It’s raining

It is strange how quick you adapt to new situation like little supply of water. Before we flush the toilet we first check if the water is running. If not we don’t flush, but use a bucket. If it is raining we put a bucket under the gutter to collect water for flushing the toilet. We now have 200 litres of containers in the house and a drum under the gutter for roofwater. Also the new container with a tab and a small bucket underneath, simulating a kitchen sink is a huge improvement. The water comes on and off every other day, so we do not have to be paranoid about the water being on or off, like the first week. The first time the water was on it took us 2 hours to fill all containers. We are looking forward to implement roof water harvesting and getting our water filter system (in the container ) operational. This would mean we do not have to buy drinking water or cook our water any more. A great improvement environmentally seen!

It ‘s a dog’s life

Couda and Kito had to adjust to their new life quite a lot. Food wise we have to adjust their diet. Michel allowed only 1 kg of dog food in the luggage to bring to Uganda, which is almost finished now. Heleen tried to adjust them to the food her dog in Zambia just to get: Nshima (maize porridge) with dried fish, but Kito refused. A -not so quick- search on the internet indicated that this is also the wrong food. So we have changed to bones with some meat and raw vegetables and sometimes leftovers from us. Couda already loves vegetables and but even ate the Nshima. To get Kito adjust to the vegetables some dried fish/sauce is added. He approves the new diet and finishes his bowl. We also will buy some organs meat, but also Michel has to get used to meat in the fridge and freezer. Bones with some meat we can buy for just over 1 euro per kg, probably the vegetables are more expensive! The dogs have adapted well and are chewing away their meat/bones in the garden every day.
Couda and Kito are suppose to guard the house, they still have to get used. They primarily bark at children and noisy chickens around the gate. Knocking on the metal fence or hooting from a car at the entrance is not recognised as a doorbell yet. But non accompanied visitors in the garden get shocked about how vicious small dogs can be. All Ugandans think our dogs are puppies, so on the street this is their name. The neighbourhood is getting used to our walks with the dogs. Every Sunday we take the dogs down to market day, which attracts a lot of attention and requests to buy the dogs.
The flight was quite stressful for the dogs, but they have seemed to forgotten this. Their next shock will be a third dog in the family. A English couple (really Zimbabwean) is returning to the UK. We have bought their car. They are looking for a good home for the 10 year old fox terrier. I know how difficult it is to leave your dog behind. So we have agreed to take the dog and do a trial run. Today we will receive the car and the dog. I hope the dogs get along!

Village life

Our home is on a small hill 3 km out of town. With a boda boda (just a moped) we get a lift for 1 euro to town (this means 3 people on the moped!). The hill we live has only dirt roads leading to the houses on this hill. Checked with the neighbour what our official address is. Only Kihembo Hill. No street name, no number. The neighbour :”This is a village, no street names”. Luckily we opened a Postal Box (PO box 772, Fort Portal, Uganda)!

Because off the little number of houses not much attention is given on the water supply. The families living in the mudbrick houses are used to having to carry their water. The rich houses have a water container of 500-1000 litre to make sure they always have water and enough water pressure. Sadly our house is not finished. No container, only 3 jerry cans of 25 litre. On our request a container of 125 litre with a small tab was installed in the kitchen. We have lived here now for almost one week and have had twice water from the tab. Each time between 01.00 and 06.00 so far, we never woke up ontime to fill our jerry cans. So we have filled them at the closest water vending point. The cost of this is 8 cent, but transport is the biggest issue. Also the jerry cans are off course not water tight.

Will we get used to this?

Meeting the neighbours

We bought a huge Jackfruit. After peeling for half an hour (I miss my good kitchen knives!) we decided it is a good time to meet and greet the neighbours and give a big piece of Jackfruit to share.

On the right hand side our neighbours live in a mudhouse and hardly speak any English, but we get big smile for the Jack fruit. On the left hand side our neighbour live in a similar house like ours. Kevin and David speak good English and both work in the hospital (on walking distance).

We get invited for a drink and realise we cannot return the favour. We cater only for tea, coffee and water at this moment. No glasses and only two mugs and the some plastic jugs. We cannot wait until the container arrives. But having seen the roads I am not sure everything will arrive in one piece.

A regular day

Today the quest of getting a tax id, which you need for buying a car and a postal box, for receiving mail. Getting a tax id is best done via internet! In shock we leave the tax office. This afternoon is the soccer game Netherlands - Denmark, we go and watch this in a newly opened Danish Bar! We never watch soccer, but abroad you become more Dutch.

Again we see more houses. We are looking in renting and buying. The house we currently renting is for sale, for a low price, since it needs a lot of work. Are we in for another challenge?

Finally feels like home

Today the first full day we stay at home, without a full program of visits, quests of new cars or houses. We clean the house thoroughly, prepare for the first time a meal. The dogs chaise all day long lizards in the garden and have a blast (they killed a rat in the house).

We finally feel at home.

Landed (2)

We welcome our temporarily house in Fort Portal with mixed feelings. The neighbourhood is nice. A few brick houses, but most mud houses in the middle of banana fields on a hill. But the house has water problems. No running water at the moment, no water/sink in kitchen and no hot water at all. Some rooms are dirty. We should have brought more practical things, like linnen, towels, etc. But the dogs are enjoying themselves and running around. They feel more at home than in Kampala.

After a night sleep full of worries, we relax on the spacious veranda, the beautiful view and the housing situation looks much better. Friends are inviting us for lunch and dinner. During lunch we buy a Toyota Landcruiser and we will probably get a dog with it (a small fox terrier). Both car and dog we will get in a week’s time.

Landed (1)

Landed in Entebbe. While waiting for our luggage. We suddenly hear a vicious dog barking. They have also landed! A bit stressed , don’t even want to drink.

A new life has started. To get our life in order we focus on getting a car, change money and get mobile access to internet. We have two mechanics (one from Kampala and one from Fort Portal) supporting us finding a car. We look at several Toyota pickup Hilux, double cap. We see second hand cars from Japan, third hand (same vehicle, but used for some time on Ugandan roads). We decided that the third hand cars are to problematic, the second hand are too expensive.

We flee from Kampala to Fort Portal. Away from the heat, the traffic jams, but without a car.

And... we have a lift off (2)

Container gone, finally. We “only” need to leave ourselves. Fitting the last things in the luggage seems to take more time; towel, router, modem and resetting the alarm. Just a tip, changing the user code to 0000 gives a lot of problems! Internet was needed to find the solution. Finally we arrive in the hotel close to Schiphol at 21.00, repacking takes till 01.00. Consequences are a lost collar of the dog and the keys of Michel’s flight bag wrongly packed...

Next morning the dogs have their last chaise of rabbits which appear to have overtaken the Schiphol area. We say goodbye to our family and friends, with some sadness. The dogs are handed over to special luggage, are we going to see them in Entebbe?

Exhausted we finally relax in the plane.

And... we have a lift off (1)

Friday morning the 4rd of June (3 days left to finish the packing).
Heleen left for work and Michel has a two-page list of unfinished business.
New renters of the house decided not to take the furniture, i.e. all needs to be packed in the container. Transport of container is not arranged. Dogs still need physical exams and some formal paperwork.

With the help of family and friends we managed to fill up the container, emptied the house and get all unfinished business sorted.

Many thanks to all for:
- packing numerous boxes with all kind of stuff and fitting it tightly in the container
- carrying extreme heavy walnut furniture into a horse trailer
- painting pipes that were hidden unpainted behind cupboards with only the use of one arm
- doing repairs to the house with a shrinking tool-set
- taking a complete home cinema centre plus TV apart and not getting frustrated when we discovered that it did not fit into the container
- cleaning places in the house that did not see daylight for many years
- many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many other things...

The container was fully packed and lifted on schedule on Monday afternoon.

Packing the container

Not yet ready to leave, still packing to do. Today we received notice that the house will be rented out as of the first of July, not furnished. Good news! Now we start packing the remaining content of the house.

The white sea container is now for 4/5 full and we hope we will be able to fit the last but not the least items in: three beds, couch, two lounge chairs, two cabinets and desks. I have to go and start measuring...