Silver linings

Much as I dislike the crazy traffic and noise and crowds in Kampala, I am loving the fact that next door to my guesthouse there is a beautiful coffee shop with free wifi and, wait for it, soya milk! No decaff coffee but hey, you can’t have everything. I am really quite enjoying the chance to relax a bit, and pretend that I am not in Uganda, good preparation for actually not being in Uganda. Pretty sure the weather will be a lot colder tomorrow than it is now though. I am actually wearing suncream for the first time in weeks, and sunglasses are a necessity! 

Xx

 

Bye Masaka!

I am into my last quarter of an hour here in Masaka. Hurriedly wolfing down my porridge (coconut, chocolate and cinnamon) so I can throw the last few things into my bag before Fay and Liz come to pick me up. I may or may not be able to get online in Kampala. If not, well, I guess I will see you in England!

xx

 

Thanks

Today has been a weird kind of a day, but I would like to thank God for:

- Power
- Skype
- Exactly the right friends being online at exactly the right time
- Rain (retrospectively)
- Mango season finally arriving in the nick of time
- Helpful strangers
- Friendly faces around town to say hi to
- Bank machines
- Ripe avocado
- Free eggs from my friendly egg lady, just to say goodbye- “A small fish is better than an empty dish”
- Cafe Frikadellen- which incidentally is where I am headed now, byee!

xx

 

Lessons from Ambience, or how to make a spectacle of yourself

Three posts in three day, gosh you are lucky people!

So after the wedding yesterday Zaina finally managed to persuade me to go to Ambience with her, the local nightclub. It is just round the corner from here, and on a clear night we can hear the music. I have been saying I would go for ages, and last night was my last chance, so go we did.

It was interesting comparing the experience of clubbing in Uganda with clubbing in the UK. There were several similarities, like nobody shows up till after midnight, the boys are all in competition with each other for the best moves and the girls are all in competition for the best outfit. I was pleased to learn that the ‘girl code’ exists here too, very useful. There were people getting drunk, though far fewer than back home, most people were just there to dance. There were also fewer short skirts and high heels, even in a club most of the girls were dressed a little more modestly than in the UK.

Not so familiar was the complete lack of smiling. Occasionally I would catch Zaina’s eye, or one of her friends, and we would smile, but apart from that most of the girls are heads down. I soon discovered why. If you so much as make eye contact with a guy they take it as an invitation to come and dance with you, if you smile then they think they have scored and are even more persistent.

The not smiling thing was particularly hard for me as I had just received some ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, VERY EXCITING, HUGE GRIN PRODUCING news. Not only was I looking like the Cheshire cat whilst on the dancefloor, but when I got the news I started jumping up and down squealing in the middle of the street. Got many odd looks from passers by for that! Still, totally necessary behaviour I feel.

It was a fun night, though if I go again I will take ear plugs. When I got home I couldn’t get to sleep for the excessive ringing in my ears. No wonder we can hear it from our house sometimes, it is crazy loud. I am surprised that all of the Ugandan youth aren’t deaf by the time they are 25!

xx

 

Advice for my mother

Whenever we use to watch Casualty or CSI, my mum would give me great career advice, such as “don’t become a doctor at Holby City Hospital”, or “don’t take up pole dancing in Las Vegas”. I thought I would return the favour. So in the future mummy, when conducting a wedding, bear in mind the following:

1. Make sure that the venue of the wedding is as hard to find as possible, and particularly hard to find a way back from in the dark.

2. Ensure that the bride and groom arrive 2 and a half hours after the scheduled start of the service

3. Make sure that you, as the officiating clergy, do not come to the church until over two hours after the scheduled start

4. Always have an African choir to sing, preferably with a keyboard player capable of playing whilst dancing around with the keyboard on his head

5. The order of service should include several humorous spelling mistakes, and bear little relation to the actual order that the service will take

6. The sermon proper should be at least 45 minutes long, and every other clergy member there should be introduced with a potted life history and allowed to say ‘a few words’

7. The bride and groom must at all times look completely happy and content, with attendants always on hand to hitch up their dress or dab away the sweat from their brows

8. All relations and people close to the couple should be given front seats and positively beam with pride

9. The reception area must continue to be prepared and decorated up until the last possible minute, with sound systems in the church and reception area not put into place until the event has started

10. The service itself must under no circumstances last for less than two and a half hours, otherwise the couple will wonder what they have paid for

You are welcome.

xx

 

An act of civil disobedience

I am back in civilisation! I had a great few days up in the hills with Paul and his family, it was nice to escape form Masaka for a bit, and se some more of the country. It was very beautiful, surrounded by impressive hills and banana plantations. We were 2km from the nearest trading centre, and 9km from the nearest ‘town’. I was the only muzungu for miles around. Some children had obviously never seen a white person before, and I made a few babies cry. Oops.

Whilst there I got to visit the tailoring project that Paul set up, and see the roof going up on his school. His project does have a website, but it isn’t quite accessible yet, so google Revolution Uganda in a few days and you should find it.

The journey back to Masaka today was a real highlight. I paid a small fortune for my ticket (20,000Ushs!) and didn’t even get a seat. I was stood with about five others in the central aisle of the coach. For someone who gets travel sick quite easily, particularly on hot days and in coaches, this was less than ideal. I eventually gave up and sat on my backpack. Thankfully an hour into the journey a lady had to get off (she had gone too far, so they chucked her off in the middle of nowhere) and I got her seat.

Before this though, whilst I was still standing, we ran into the traffic police. A female officer climbed on board, took one look at me, and then this happened:

Officer: ‘Madam, do you not have a seat?’
Me: ‘No’ (rather stating the obvious there!)
O: ‘Get off the bus, you are staying here’
Me: ‘What?!?!?!’ (There was no way I was getting off after only 30 mins having paid so much, I didn’t move)
O: ugeoh yehkfbkajb kfho alkhfhe akjhf eofj kaghfkgbhak (some language I don’t understand)

At this point everyone else on the bus looks at me and laughs. I am wondering what on earth she just said and why I am the only one she told to get off when there were blatantly at least four others also without seats. Deciding that she was just after the muzungu’s money I stayed put and stared her down. Eventually she gave up and got off the bus. People laughed again. I turned around and found out why she hadn’t asked anyone else to get off; they were all crouched down on the floor behind me. Brilliant. The translation of what she had said was probably something like ‘stupid Muzungu, why doesn’t she sit down like everyone else’.

Gotta love Ugandan public transport. Still at least everyone else got a bit of a giggle out of it. And don’t panic Grandma, I was never in danger, she couldn’t exactly shoot me in front of a whole busload of people!

Xx

(Thanks to Mr. Skett for the title of this post )

 

The visit, part three

Probably should finish this mini series before I head off to the village.

Jand, Liz and Pat left yesterday morning to head back home. It wasn’t nearly as bad saying goodbye as I thought it would be, I will be following them in a week and a half!

The BBQ on Friday was very good, I actualy nbew most of the others there so it was fun to have lots of people to chat to. Saturday was a blissfully lazy morning, and then a management committee meeting later on. The meeting was very god, lots of important things were discussed and plans were made for the future of the school. Term starts back up in February, and there is a lot to do before then, just a shame I won’t be around really.

For Liz, Pat and Jan Saturday morning was a cultural experience as they went shopping with Mary for matresses, blankets and sheets. They had a lot of fun, and bought some lovely new things. On Sunday we all headed to Kakunyu to see the remaining children and have a bit of a tea party. Lots of cake was eaten and games were played. It was a lot of fun. It was great to see the lady who looks after Monica aand be able to thank her. Imagine looking after a stranger with all of the problems that Monica has, great lady.

The last meal us four muzungus had together was of course typical Masaka fare- Frikadeller burgers. Soooo good.

So now they have gone, after a whilrwind of a visit. The last two days have felt very quiet so far, but Iam off to visit Paaul’s village for a few days later today, then before you know it, I will be back home!

See you very soon!

xx

 

Firsts

Before I left Mozambique I wrote a post called ‘lasts’. With less than two weeks left here in Masaka I considered writing something similar but I think I would rather write about the opposite. There have been a lot of lasts already, and no doing there are many more to come, bit there are still plenty of firsts to enjoy.

Friday was my first ‘speech day’ to end the term, the first time to be presented with a beautiful basket, the first time to meet Owens grandma and watch he face light up with pride when he gave her his rainbow picture.

Today was the first time I had attended a tea party in Africa, the first tine I did the hokey cokey barefooted on the mud, the first time I met Monica’s guardian and got to thank her for looking after a disabled child she isn’t even related to.

This coming week will be the first time I travel to Mbarara, the first time I get to stay in a village, the first time I attend an African wedding.

An of course over the next two weeks I will be saying goodbye to my new friends for the first time. I rather suspect that it won’t be the last time though!

Xx

*also the first time I have blogged from my iPod!*

 

The visit, part two

(Thursday night)

As I mentioned earlier, it was raining this morning. By nine we realised it was not going to stop anytime soon, so an alternative way of getting to Kakunyu had to be found. Cue Bruce. He heroically offered to drop us at the end of the road through the village, so we could walk the rest of the way to school and avoid having to push the car out of the ditches it would inevitably slide into. We got dropped off and there was much amusement
at Jan’s expense, but I am afraid it was a ‘you had to be there’ moment, or maybe a ‘you have to see the photo’ moment, so I will endeavour to show you when I get back!

We rocked up to school some time after ten and launched straight into planning and then taking a lesson on teeth cleaning. I had a fantastic time laughing at, uh I mean, giving moral support to, Liz and Jan as they hammed their way through the lesson. It was great, and I am sure the children enjoyed it as much as I did, as well as learning how to look after their teeth.

And now it is late and I am tired, so I will finish and post this at a later date!

(It is now Friday afternoon)

So yesterday afternoon Nasser picked us up from the school and drove us all the way to Tekera. Jan, Liz and Pat were all suitably impressed by the place and Jess gave us a great tour. I took the opportunity to go shopping at the craft store. It was great that when we got here all of the craft ladies were sat around doing their thing, so we got to see just how much work goes into one basket.

We spent a good few hours up there, and then came back to attempt to meet up with Mary. She is incredibly hard to pin down so instead we ending up eating dinner at the Brovad and chatting between ourselves, giggling over more pictures from the day.

And then there was today. The last day of term. Liz and I went over first thing this morning to finish off the rainbow project and follow up the teeth brushing, whilst Jan and Pat stayed in town to finally meet with Mary and Michael (amazing guy on the management committee). It was a strange morning, all the time knowing that this was the last time I would get to be in lessons with the children.

By the time enough parents had gathered and we had been joined by Mary and Jan I was on the verge of tears. As soon as we sat down for the end of term speeches and songs I started crying, and barely stopped long enough to smile and thank them for the beautiful basket they gave me. The hardest part was a bit later, down at the house, when Vianey’s aunt came to pick him up to go home for the holidays. Vianey is my baby, and it was heartbreaking to have to say goodbye. At least I got the chance though, if she had arrived ten minutes later then I wouldn’t have been able to. Even so, just thinking about it is blurring my keyboard!now school is over and I have two weeks to fill seeing everybody that I need to see, and possibly exploring a bit more of the country. I am very glad that Jan, Liz and Pat are around for a few more days to distract me from feeling all sad. We are off to the Frikadellen BBQ tonight with a whole bunch of people, some of whom I have never met, so I WILL NOT CRY!

xx

 

The visit, part one

I am going to have so much to write about this week that I figured I should start now so you get it in easily readable chunks, rather than having to plough through a great long essay.

JAN IS HERE! It is quite ridiculous how excited I was about this event. We have been emailing for so long now, and I had heard so much about her, and of course she was bringing goodies from my parents, so I got home from a very good morning at school on Monday, unable to sit still with anticipation.

However, the first email that I read when I got in was bad news. My insurance company send me daily updates about the travel trouble spots around the world. For the Europe section on Monday, all three of the problems were in the UK. One of them was the disruption on Sunday night at Heathrow caused by fog. Heathrow. I went into super sleuth mode and worked out the flight number of their connection from Dohar to Entebbe, then tried to track it to see if it had made it, if it had then I expected to hear that they had made it too. It said it was en route. It continued to say it was en route for the next four hours. The plane that was supposed to have landed at half one was still in the air at half five, when I lost power. At half six we decided to ring Nasser, the guy picking them up from the airport, to find out if he knew anything. He did. They were all here, and only 20 minutes outside of Masaka! So I gobbled some dinner and headed on up to the Brovad to meet Jan, Pat and Liz. It was great, a bit like gaining three new mums.

Tuesday morning we grabbed a couple of Bodas (a new and ‘exciting’ experience for some) and sped off to Kakunyu. The morning was great, we sat in on lessons and chatted to children, drank tea, took photos and videos, played, talked to everyone. At one point there was another visiting group appear from nowhere, including two muzungus. This was the second day in a row that people have suddenly appeared, with no explanation, and then left almost as quickly as they came. I assume someone (Mary?) knows who they were, maybe. For dinner we up to town to Bananah Chick, for the second time that day, for some Matoke, Rice, Chips, G-nuts and Beans. Yummmmmmm.

Yesterday we got ANsser to drive us to school, with massive bags full of things that had been donated for the school. There was everything you could possibly want, it was amazing. Makes me want to come back in January for the next term so I can use it all with them! After a little sorting, and some time for the nursery class to do a few more exam things, we took over. Liz, a teacher, gave a fantastic little weather lesson, beautifully assisted by myself and Jan. Then we split so Jan wrote letters back to the UK with most of them, and Liz and I went with little groups to do some painting, which will be turned into a rainbow, hopefully today, if it stops raining! Pat flitted about taking some great photos and videos. It was a lot of fun. Especially the painting, some of the children had never had the opportunity to do it before so they enjoyed it muchly too. And they didn’t half look cute in their mahusive painting shirts.

The afternoon was spent either at the hospital with Mary (Jan and Liz) or cutting out the painted hands (me and Pat). Lack of power meant a forced candelit dinner at my place, complete with fried grasshoppers, and the chance to giggle at some of the photos that had been taken. And now it is Thursday. This is Africa so who knows what will happen!

A couple of little added extras for you. I have managed to get ringworm on my face from the kids. Brigitte told me it showed I was doing my job. I also have lots of lovliness from my mummy which is great. However, I now have too many choices for breakfast and I spent ages agonising over the decision this morning!

xx