Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Its my last week here in Uganda and the reality that i have only 7 days left here is really starting to hit home!

Been trying to cram as much work as possible into this last week as I'm no longer at my office so able to run and take part in community events. Helping with an event at a secondary school today where we'll be educating about STI's and running some games, tug-o-war, cat n mouse, volley ball and dodge ball. Should be fun.

Have another event tomorrow that will encompass HIV testing, family planning, SRH, condom distribution and livelihoods. Again looking forward to that.

Went to Kampala again at the weekend as my Ugandan work colleague, Janet was having her graduation party. It was really good to see how Graduation is celebrated out here and to watch all the tradition - i've got pic and Janet also said she is going to get us a copy of the video.....

Im rushing as Ive only 3 minutes left on the Internet but i'll soon be home to tell you all about everything in person and also to make more updates on here.......

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

So i tried to upload some pictures but it was taking way to long so i uploaded them on facebook instead so for those of you who are reading who are friends with me on facebook you can check them out - (i will upload more onto here when i get home but its just to difficult and time consuming to do from out here).
So i'm currently in Jinja just got back from staying with a friend who's living out in Kamuli in a village 1 hr into the middle of nowhere. I stayed with him in a traditional village home which is basically mud and bricks with a straw roof. No electricity, no running water, no nothing really but i loved it! Last night we went down to The Nile and sat and watched the sun set, not as good as it could of been as it was cloudy, bit it was still an experience watching the fishermen return from a day out on the river and watching the kids collecting water in their jerry cans. Again ive got pics and videos but will have to wait to upload them. We bought fish and chapati from the local trading centre (which is basically a group of huts and shacks that sell essentials) and the Ugandan girls cooked the fish for us on the camp fire and it was delicious. For 7 large fresh fish it only cost around 1pound 50p!! The hut we stayed in was so cool (temperature wise) compared to my bedroom at the apartments in Iganga, kinda wish i'd been placed there the whole time now, even ifi am absolutely filthy so much so that i look like i've been stuck up a chimney, it would be worth being filthy all week to stay in a place like that.
So we're now winding down from work leading up to us leaving in 1 1/2 weeks, i cannot believe how fast the 3 months have gone, at the same time i feel like i've been here forever!
Theres not that much more for me to say really, i'm sure i'll have alot more to tell when i get home and start going through all the pictures i have taken.

Friday, 16 March 2012

The finist result before the wind struck!
The tent we putupfor our HIV testing day which took nearly two hours to build then the wind blew it down!
Sleeping arrangements at Forest Hill Collage when wefirst arrived.

The House

The house- this is the first place we moved to when we got to our community.

My bedroom at the house (with Aimee and Ani)

The apartments where i live now (im in the first apartments)

Monday, 27 February 2012

Round up...............

Okay so lets see - what's been happening.

Things are still all well at the apartments and aside someone being mugged right outside our gate (it was a local person not one of the volunteers) the safety aspects of things is much improved though i do still feel that Iganga is a rather unsafe place particularly for Muzungu's ..

We ran our 2 community events for February, the first which was an SRH event went really well, over 600 high school kids attended and we had a drama group who were educating on SRH issues, the kids absolutely loved it although the content did seem a little inappropriate (even though it was all in local language i could get the jist of what was going on and don't really think it would have gone down well back home, but they loved it). Unfortunately the rain came and everyone left early but the event still ran for well over an hour so all was well. I've some pics and videos i will try to upload but as you can probably tell from the lack of posts on here it is extremely difficult to maintain this blog as i would like to.

For our second event we took a DVD player and TV to one of the remote villages and showed dvds educating about HIV and AIDS at a HIV testing day. Again the weather played its part and after more than an hour of the village people digging holes to put poles for our tent the wind came and blew the whole thing down - epic fail. We salvaged the situation though and instead set the TV under the shade of a big tree and used the tent covers as a blanket for people to sit on. Again got loads of pics so watch this space.

Went to Kampala on Saturday Kampala with one of the local volunteers who was attending a meeting there - the place is completely insane though and i couldn't really handle how chaotic and packed it was and ended up crying about how i miss there being rules to the road and randomly i cried over how i miss cheese! So i decided for the first time to source some home comforts and had Jalepeno Pringles, Cadburys Fruit and Nut and some Haribo! Cher how happy i will be when I'm back and we share our first Magners together!

For the first time since arriving here i have been thinking about home and the people and things i miss. I miss Sally cat so much and just can't imagine how weird yet fantastic it will be to get back and have her waking me up at daft 'o' clock in the morning so i will feed her (cheesy but true).

We're staying in Jinja for 3 days now having some training and i have my own room!!!! All be it a small single room with a single bed but still it will be the first time since leaving the UK that i will get to sleep in a room alone - winner.

The weather is really starting to change and its actually been quite cold a few nights in the past week and ive packed absolutely nothing for cold weather so can feel a justifiable shopping trip approaching - yeay! The rain has come and my god do these people mean rain when they say rain - living in Manchester you'd think i couldn't be surprised by the elements, especially rain, but when it comes down here you honestly feel like you need to get building an Ark! On Saturday on the way to Kampala it was blistering sunshine, easily in the late 20's and then next thing the heavens opened and it started hail stoning! How is that possible - any brain boxes out there who can explain the science behind how it can hail when its hot and sunny....?

Will try my hardest to get some photos uploaded ASAP.

Bye for now...................


Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Living Basic.........

Things are going really great out here - after fears of being unsafe at the house and moving to the other side of the town to the compound things have just gotten better and better. Love the people I'm sharing my house with (one inparticular!) and starting to feel really settled and happy here. Really starting to wish i was out here longer as time has already passed so quickly i just don't feel that there's enough left.

Things got very 'basic' as of today though and we've no electricity or running water - just got back from collecting water in buckets and Jerry cans from a short walk away from our compound - was well worth it though as I'm now all lovely and clean after my bucket wash.

Work is going well and we've some events planned for the coming weeks and our proposals have been passed so we've been issued the money for these events. Our first is on Friday where we will be going to a school in one of the outer villages to conduct a sexual reproductive health session, we've paid for a drama group and a nurse to come and do a talk, our next event will be at the end of the month where we will be running a video screening at our projects HIV testing day - we're currently in the process of trying to find a generator to hire though as there's zero electricity in the villages. We're having a good laugh at work though and my boss is really laid back so we get the afternoon off when its gets too hot (which is pretty much everyday).

So today is Valentines day and I'm one of the lucky few who has a date! Yes that's right it took 3 years and i had to travel all the way to Uganda but I'm finally going on a date on Valentines day! I'm going with a guy called Joseph who's a National and is lovely, Its only to go play pool but still its progress! Everyone at the compound is also doing a secret valentine (like secret Santa), i picked Alex one of the national volunteers and have bought him a hat. Just saw my pressie under the tree on my way outta of the compound - will have to update on what i get!

As far as settling in goes i'm really hooked on Matoke at the minute (thats the mashed banana stuff) and I've found a nice traditional cafe to go get local food which does killer Matoke so i'm happy -

Stayed the weekend before last at a place called Bugagali Falls, Rachel i'm sure its the place where you stayed when you went rafting here. It was completely breath taking. There was a veranda at the back of the bar which looked out on top the most amazing view of the Nile - didnt get any pics as didnt have my camera but i'll definitely be going back so i'll hopefully get to upload some photos.

Well i'm going to have to leave it there for now as only have 10 mins left before my Internet credit goes and seriously need to run a spell check on this.

(Donna if you are reading this congratulations and email me a photo of Tom as soon as you can - love you x)

......................

Monday, 30 January 2012

Muzungu Muzungu Muzungu

So we all went into Jinja at the weekend for a little reunion as everyone has been split into different groups and placed in separate districts for work. Was really great to see everyone, really strange how close we've all become so quickly and really feeling like I've made some friends for life already.
We stayed in a hostel called to explorer backpacker for two nights and it had hot showers and pillows! Its incredible how amazing a hot shower can feel after 3 weeks of 2/3 cold showers a day.
The clubs in Jinja are small and they seem to allow as many as possible in so they are all crammed but the music out here is great and the focus on a night out seems to be more about the music and dancing than in the UK where its more about drinking alcohol. In saying that though the local brew here is actually quite nice, its banana gin called Waraji, its really strong though so can't have too much as this place is pretty scary as it is without adding intoxication to the mix.
So my house is very basic, actually that's a complete understatement......its infact just walls, floors and ceilings! We've been having to tie the windows shut with rope which isn't ideal but as yet we've not had any attempted break ins. The local girls have bought things to make the place a little more homely and yesterday one of the girls came back with a TV! Ive put up some photos and the cards you guys gave me before i left. We still have nothing to sit on and have to cook outside on the porch but we're getting by and this morning i actually felt quite at home getting ready for work and eating my peanut butter on stale bread. The tea here is really nice aswell, a proper treat in the mornings. I'll definitely bring some Ugandan Tea back to the UK for you all to try.
Was my first day at work today, we were sent to look for things around the town to get ourselves better acquainted with the place, it was far too hot though so we just ended up sitting in the shade and getting something to eat. Went back to work and were told to go home as it was too hot for working so went home to bed for a few hours ‘Siesta’. Back in tomorrow @ 9am and reckon we should get properly stuck in.
I’m already tiring of being called 'Muzungo'' and being started at. Also some of the children here are really quite mean and think its funny to shout Muzungo and then when you wave they give you the finger! Was really shocked the first time but thinking im just getting used to it now and hoping that the longer i am here the more used to it the community will become and things should start to calm a bit.
We cooked dinner at the house tonight – was actually quite nice, potato's, cabbage, Posho, peas and some hot chilli sauce.Seem to be putting chilli sauce on everything just to give it some taste – the food is really quite bland here. Will try to upload some photos of the house soon, its funny because it actually looks quite nice on the pictures!

Sunday, 29 January 2012





Anybody for some chicken on a stick! This was crazy, pulled into a layby in a bus and got mobbed by people selling meat, drinks and fried bananna. It was a little similar to a scene from 28 days later!
Some of the National girls - the two on the left are my house mates Janet and Grace.
View from going 'strolling' (hiking) around the school.
Our welcometo Uganda
Flying over Africa

All the international volunteers

Thursday, 26 January 2012

first day in 'the field'

Moved to my house yesterday....living in Iganga but set back deep within the local community. We were dropped.off yesterday the 8 of us and left with only our luggage and 6 foam matresses between 8 people. There was a alot of stress and tears as we were all pretty concerned that we werent going to be safe. I cant say that im over confident that we will definately be safe as all the other volunteers have been placed within compounds and we dont even have a fence / gate but we ve been reassured that it should be fine so just going with the flow at the minute. Weve spent this morning budgetting and the ugandan volnteers have gone off now to the market to get our houses months supply of rice and beans and posho etc. They didnt want us to go with them as the prices were being hiked up when the shop owners saw 'muzungos' (aka white people).
Its super super hot in this district....good to be in the sunshine though.
So we re off work now till next monday....plan to travel into Jinga tomorrow and meet up with the volunteers there and stay over in a youth hostel.
Bloggin off my mobile so cant upload any pics but i will do soon as i can.

Saturday, 21 January 2012

2 weeks in.................

So 2 weeks in and this is the first time i have had an opportunity to get onto the internet! Communication to the uk seems a bit of an impossible means at the moment - if its not that theres no electricity in order to charge my phone i'm just kept sooooo busy every day i don't get chance! Things should calm down by the middle of next week though as i will moving to my work placement where i should hopefully have regular access to electricity and power.

So after a 40 hr journey we arrived at the Forest Hill College in Mokono (google earth it!), this has been our base for the past 2 weeks and we'll be here untill 25th when we all split of into our different communities and work placements.
There approx 70 of us (an even mix of UK and Ugandan volunteers). We've been training everyday 9-5 then have to stay within the school gates at night so cabin fever is now starting to set in! I'm with a great group of people though so managing it well. We're finding all kinds of ways to entertain ourselves (none involving alcohol). Last night we set up a bowling ally using our empty water bottles and had a bowling comp. - was a good laugh.
I've been allocated my work and living placement this week and will be working for an organisation called Ugandan Village Project (again google it), I'll be based in a place called Iganga - I'll be sharing a house with 7 other people - 3 uk girls and 4 Ugandan boys and girls. Theres going to be 6 girls sharing one room and all 8 of us sharing 1 bathroom / toilet - should be fun. TBH I've been staying the past 2 weeks in a room with bats / rats / mice and approx 40 girls though so sharing with 5 will feel like a luxury! Sleeping in a mosquito net is a little tricky as i am used to sleeping in a double bed and every so often in th night i try to 'sprawl' out and end up having a panic attack in my sleep as i think im trapped! Cold showers have been standard since we arrived but its so hot here it really isn't a problem - this is not going to anything like Nepal in the sense of basic living as i;ve been told that our house has 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen and apparently has a tiled bathroom! Winner.......the rest of the group in Iganga are going to be staying in 3 flats within an apartment's block and again its going to be a high standard of accommodation in relation to where we are. I'm getting on well with one of the Uganda lads who i will be working and staying with and we have agreed to have language lessons and cooking time at the house so wait till i get back and i'll be knocking up some delicious traditional recipes for you all.

We've been fully submerged into the local cuisine of Motoke (not sure if thats the correct spelling but is basically mashed up banana) and Posho which is a wheat based type of thing - tasty tho......lots of potato's and rice and the other day we had the luxury of buying chicken on sticks from our bus window. Breakfast consists of bread and jam and there's absolutely no access to any form of snacking or brews etc in between so my 'weight loss plan' is going really well!

Got loads of photos already - will have to wait till next week though when i will hopefully be able to log my note book onto the wifi at my office and upload some of them.

Last weekend we went to the source of he Nile - was a really great day, a group of us decided to try to cross from the island we were on to another (will make more sense when i upload the pics)quite a few fell in and today we had our health talk and learnt that it is highly likely we will have all contracted some kind of bug that lives in the Nile (lovely), its nothing to worry about thought and can be treated very easily.

There's has been some bad news as i lost / had my purse stolen on the way back - have been to 2 Uganda police stations and really hope i don't have to ever go to one again as they are really quite scary places (especially with the machine guns and wooden sticks the officers all carry).

Anyway for now hope this has filled you all in and I'll hopefully get updating on the regular as of next week.

Thursday, 5 January 2012

2 more sleeps!

So only two more sleeps till the big day.....not looking forward to dragging my huge suitcase around the London underground! Really holding out that i will be as lucky as last time and a nice man or two will offer to help me!

Pretty much prepared and organised now i think - just need to pack everything into my case tomorrow and I'm pretty much set to go!

Haven't remembered to buy string or 'gaffer tape' or powdered milk but sure i will survive! Cannot stand the thought of going inside another Manchester retail store so if Ive not got it now I'm not getting it!

Skirts are still M.I.A - hoping i will be able to buy some whilst i am over there (or that i will be given special permission to be the first woman in Uganda to wear trousers to work!) Maybe i could start up a petition for females to wear trousers.......it worked at my primary school!! Anyway if not having enough skirts is the most of my worries then I'm doing pretty well i think!

Looking forward to finding out exactly what it is i will be doing whilst on my placement......its been really difficult saying to people ''yeah I'm going to Uganda'' then they say ''wow, what will you be doing'' to which my response has been ''I don't actually know yet!'' - i will keep you posted though and as soon as i get any info i will share.

Really hopeful that i will have access to the net out there though so i can keep this updated and get loads of piccies on here too.

Please follow me and please comment - just to remind me Im gone but not forgotten :) xx