The sausage tree: not a joke!

Mr Jam’s home movie of a family trip to Africa

HEY GRANDPA, you asked for some stuff about the wildlife seen on our trip, so here it is, in the video above, which shows lions and giraffes and the Amazing Sausage Tree.

I don’t usually foist my home movies on friends, but I got so many positive comments about our Africa trip via email, my website, Facebook, etc, that I felt prompted to share  this.

Anyway, the point made in the previous posting is clearly a major discovery: hardship holidays are WAY more fun than fun holidays. 

I think this is something that charity-minded groups have known for millennia but modern secular humanity is just discovering. (All ten of the recent books on “how to be happy” list “spend a significant amount of time every week serving others” high on their checklists.)

Recap: a group of Hong Kong families decided to devote their summer holidays to doing charity work in Africa.

One of the kids, Nicholas, designed matching t-shirts for us, and the video shows us building a classroom and then going out looking for exotic wildlife.

Natives showed us the sausage tree, a towering growth which produces large, dangling, edible (but not very tasty) vegetarian sausages. The sausages come ready-stringed, so you can hang them in your kitchen for smoking or whatever. It’s at 2:47 on the video.
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But our other main activity, which was to entertain people in homes for orphans, aids-victims and so on, is not shown very much. We wouldn’t put these folk on the media in developed countries, so we thought it good to extend the same courtesy to those in Africa.

But visiting them caused a lot of soul-searching. What would you do if you were standing in front of a babies’ home, or women’s shelter, or school room known to be filled with people suffering from the world’s deadly diseases?

(Aids is endemic here, and ebola was discovered here, in a forest close to where we were staying.)

Would you turn away? Or would you go in? Would you take your kids with you? Would you wave to victims from a distance or would you pick them up and hug them?

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We found local people to be marvelously welcoming and creative. Below is a shipping container which had been turned into a house:

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The scariest creatures were not the lions, but things like lizards and ants. For example, the above-mentioned Nicholas found an anthill.

Look at the size of it (below). We were convinced that any second a huge ant would climb out, lift his hat, and invite us in for tea.

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One rather comforting sight for those of us getting heavier as we age was the fact that we saw not a single “lose weight now” advertisement.

Instead, posted all over Kampala, was the poster below, urging us to phone a number to make sure we could gain a large butt.

Now that sounds like the sign of a healthy society.

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Technorati Tags: sausage tree,charity,kampala,uganda,Mr Jam

Comments

[grandpa]

Whoa
What a video...
I think that i should go back to my continent of birth.
It looks so nice..
No lift .....
no traffic jam..no noise...
Whoaw

I am so happy that you had such a great time.
I am more so, happy that you were not eaten and you did not eat any wildlife......
Thanks for this nice video , which I watched already 5 times

I am not sure if I should thank you for building a school ( Don't you remember the torture it as when you had to learn to read and write?)

[Nury]

Tell us more about your birth, Grandpa -- what were your parents doing in Africa? How did you come to leave it?
I can see why people fall in love with the place. the people are gentle and the scenery is glorious.
...
One bad thing -- the food is horrible!

[Chubby Checker]

I want a "gain hips and bums" T-Shirt! Please!

[Bianca from protestant background = early bird]

Those sausages remind me of satire about EHEC:

"May I show you my cucumber?!"

What do you mean with smoking them??

(Can't wait to see the video but family is sleeping catholically long.)

[Bianca]

Who answers the phone when you dial get hips?

Hip surgery or MacUganda?

Was there an outbreak of ebola or did someone discover the virus in the water or where? (Aiyeahhh!!!)

[grandpa]

"Tell us more about your birth, Grandpa --"

I am not too happy about it:
It was the first landing of my life and it was in the wrong place at the wrong time,at the beginning of a war.
Since then my landings have improved,.

But each time I hear , read of Africa I feel vibrations...
even if I was born on the North shore of this beautiful, magic continent, which until proven otherwise, saw the birth of Mankind.

Did you know that July 18 has been declared by the United Nations “International Mandela Day,” a day meant for service and outreach across the globe, where people are invited to spend 67 minutes to help those in need , worldwide?
What other continent could have produced such a forceful character?

[tamanna]

that's an amazing video!

[Lift Lurker]

Beatiful video Uncle Nury. I hope you have many more video of your trip coming soon.

Africa is such unbelievably wild and dangerous place!

Imagine putting up brick wall without steel toe shoes or helmets!

I can see children riding shotgun on top of vehicle without seat belts! I almost faint.

When I saw the colorful lizard I was expect that one of the Asians would chop it up with cleaver and stir fry it, but it did not happen (in the video anyway).

So I have question: what do you see is similar and different between asians and africans? They both look like warm and sincere and friendly people.

[grandpa]

Ll
I am shocked and surprised that you see danger in this video.
Riding shotgun on a car without seatbelt is the most natural way to ride a car .
The same applies to the lack of steel shoes
I am wondering why I did not see that as a danger...

Maybe you should travel out of your elevator , more often ,like riding an airplane as an example.
You would enjoy the freedom and the so simple pleasure of
Eating exotic fruits, in a wet market
Eating food in a make shift eatery on the roadside , in the middle of nowhere
Walking on a beach, in Adam's clothing,
Skinny dipping in warm waters , on a moonlit night,
Sailing across an ocean without a GPS,
Meeting a beautiful stranger in a foreign coutry
Riding a motorbike with her, sitting in the back seat, her head gently leaning against yours, in the warm winds of a sunny day, without helmet.
And spending the night , the old way, without having to use any rubber accessory.

AAAAAah the good old days of dangerous travel in "dangerous countries"
I am so sorry for the generation who not dare to enjoy those simplest pleasures..

[grandpa]

talking about good old days:
What happened to this blog , so quiet without grandma, Farah ,Majhudja ,Ram ,Christy, ts and the others

Guys and girls!
We miss you

[farah]

hey grandpa of course i go thru this blog everyday and sit back and enjoy reading all the comments. it's much more fun than writing.

sharing the latest on me: i got married last month :)

[Ram]

@Granda: am reading the blog everyday too :)) jus a bit busy in the crazy world of science these days...

@Farah: Congrats!!! nd Wish U A Happy Married Life :))

[Bianca Schlimm]

Farah:
All the best from me too!!!
May we see the dress?
:-)
Ot the guy? Or both?

[Bianca Schlimm]

Farah:
All the best from me too!!!
May we see the dress?
:-)
Or the guy? Or both?

[grandpa]

@ Farah

I am so happy for you.
I wish you all the best, first that you found a good, understanding and caring husband, or is it the way around?

We (at least I ) still would be happy to hear from you once in a while...
As bianca said , we (I) would like to see you in wedding dress..

Who is getting married next?
Grandma , who is so quiet , running ( oops , flying) around the world?!

[farah]

thank you, thank you all :)

fardel...it's always the other way around. wife's tend to be a bit more caring than the husband.

nevertheless here's one picture of me and hubby.
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/eks5k4.jpg[/IMG]

[Bianca Schlimm]

Farah:
I am at loss of words!!
:-)
He looks like a nice guy.

[grandpa]

"wife's tend to be a bit more caring than the husband."
things are changing.
If they are not changing fast enough, it may be worth giving it a help.

Congratulations
You make a beautiful couple.
Be happy... but do not forget us..

[Lift Lurker]

Congratulations farah!

Such beautiful couple. Was the photo taken in Lift?

Tell us about the wedding outfit and the wedding ceremony too.

[Ram]

@Farah: Wow!!! Nice :)) Wish U A Very Happy Married Life...

@Liftie: Indian marriage ceremonies (or in general, the Indian Subcontinent, which has similar practice) are very complex and long... In my place, its about 3 days (used to be 5 or even 7 days of ceremonies).... We have to take part in a lot of rituals along with other family members... Its all about rituals, being with people, food and off-course a lot of fun...

[farah]

thanks everyone for your wishes :)

@Liftie...it was not inside a lift but a place much worse since it was really hot that day and the dress i wore, which is a traditional saree, was very heavy and had no ventilation.

@Ram...unlike others i just opted for only 2 functions, the haldi and the wedding ceremony/reception. i am much too lazy to play dress up and sit like a doll for countless hours on a stage and meet oodles of unknown people. the original wedding and all was done at home with family only.

[Lift Lurker]

@Liftie...it was not inside a lift but a place much worse

There is something that feel not right in this sentence but I am not sure what.

[rafanjr]

....hahaha Liftie it probably meant elevator....

[Ram]

@Farah: Good that both your families are nice to let you choose what ceremonies you want to include and skip during ur wedding... Not too many give this choice to the bride and groom... haha...

and from my understanding, many of the ceremonies are not necessary for the current era... Just waste of resources...!!!