First Week in Uganda

Been a roughly a week since my last update and lots has happened since then. Me, Ben and Bob left Mityana in a taxi van. Was a fairly crowded van when we left Mityana however en route to Mubende there ended up being 21 people in a 14 person van. The African attitude being that if there's space for people they will use it, and use it they did. We arrived in Mudende at around 12 and went to a hotel for lunch. Bob asked if they had a dish there that he liked, they said yes and told us it will take 20 minutes. 2 and a half hours later the dish arrived and it was delicious. Roasted chicken with potatoes, vegetables and a tomato sauce steamed in a banana leaf served with rice and makote (a banana dish made with steamed and mashed makote bananas). After meeting Rev James Adeeyi (the director of Kibbuse) for lunch we proceeded to the local market to buy supplies and then to Nyamarwa. Nyamarwa was around 26 km away from Mubende down a proper African road (Dirt track with massive ruts and holes). We arrived just as it was getting dark to a very loud and happy celebration of our arrival. The entire school and many other people were there to celebrate mine and Ben's arrival with song and dance. They got us singing and dancing with them. Following the singing me and Ben gave a little talk about ourselves. Following that dinner and bed.

There's a lot to tell about the next few days so I'll try and be brief. The general routine for the day is assembly for the school at 7.30 where they sing the national anthem and have readings etc. The students then go to lessons and we have breakfast. The students have breakfast at around 9.30 and then have more lessons. Lunch is at around 12.30 followed by more lessons with a break at around 3. Dinner for the students is at around 7.

Me and Ben have been kept busy with a range of activities. We have helped to clear out a house that is in construction. This involved picking up all the debris and sorting it into metal wood and brick. This was followed by digging around the house to find a huge amount of bricks that had been left around the house and had been overgrown. We have also helped with the preparation of a new playground. An area of land was put aside for the playground and had to be levelled. This involved a lot of digging in very hard soil. We have provided a lot of amusement for the locals with our inability to use a hoe (apparent inability me and Ben thought we were doing ok).

Our first Sunday meant our first experience of African worship. The church we went to was a mud hut a short walk from the school. The entire service was conducted in the local dialect (Runyoro) although I was lucky enough to have Rev. James translate for me. Ben wasn't so lucky. The way they conduct the offering is a little different. People who don't have money will contribute fruit which is then auctioned at the end of the service. Me and Ben bought a 7 ft long cane of sugar for 3000 shillings (around 1 pound) which is the local equivalent to sweets. In the afternoon me and Ben wandered around the local area and met some of the locals.

Monday me and Ben sat in a few lessons. One was a theory class for the technology students. The lesson was going through a past paper (It's exam time for the students) the entire paper was similar to GCSE science questions. The afternoon was a practical metalworking lesson. Where me and Ben joined in sanding metal brackets and drilling holes in the brackets (metal drilling is surprisingly tiring especially when you have to hold down the metal with your foot).

We have met several people out here. Ranging from the teachers at the school to the local Peace Corps worker and her boyfriend (Mandy and Spencer) both from Salt Lake City. Everyone is generally friendly although the language barrier is quite large. I have been giving some guitar lessons to one of the teachers and have giving a few talks to the students trying to encourage them with their exams.

Anyway I've written loads here and haven't told everything that there is to tell. Hopefully you've found this interesting.

Till next time

Arriving in Uganda

After 23 hours of travelling me and Ben made it to our destination for our first night in Africa. We left Gatwick at around 9.15 on Monday evening and via Dubai got to Entebbe airport at around 2.00 local time. After a bit of fun at immigration where we first forgot to fill in the landing cards and then were told that as we'd gotten our visas before we left we were considered residents of Uganda we got through (this resulted in us waiting in 3 separate lines). Thankfully our bags were on the carousel (seeing as it had taken 40 mins to got through immigration) we walked through arrivals to be greeted by Bob (my main contact and the person through which this trip was arranged) and Idah (the wife of the school's adminstrator). We then caught a taxi into Entebbe itself followed by a taxi van into Kampala. After changing some money ($400 equals a little over 800,000 Ugandan shilling lots of notes) we got another taxi to a taxi rank in Kampala followed by another taxi van to a town called Mityana around an hour out of Kampala. I've been really enjoying the local colour and vibe. Driving in Kampala is an interesting experience and I will always be amazed at how close people, cars, vans, bikes and motorcycles can get without actually touching. I'm also really enjoying getting around how the locals do. We stayed in a hotel in Mityana last night (1600 shillings for a night which is around $8). We are heading to Kibbuse today.

Hope you are all well and til next time.

University's Final Step

Dear all,

Friday was the last stage of my University career. It feels great to know I've completed formal education and am now qualified to enter the real world (academically at least). Now I have the certificate to prove it. I do reckon that the certificate should say survivor on it somewhere but I guess humour doesn't have much of a place on a degree certificate. It was a little odd seeing people that I'd been learning, working, laughing, crying and in one case living with over the past 4 years getting dressed up in all the fancy graduation clothing. I remember the first lecture and it doesn't seem that long ago. Still I'm glad to have made it through university, and am looking forward to the life that having the degree has allowed me to have.

I'm now about to embark on the biggest trip of my life so far. Have to say that I've been looking forward to this day for quite some time now. Flying to Uganda tonight with Ben to start on 3 weeks of volunteer work at a vocational school somewhere in the sticks. Following that a 2 week overland tour that will take us from Kampala to Nairobi via various different sites in Uganda and Kenya. Will attempt to update when I can.

Greetings

Welcome all to my blog.

The idea of this blog is to keep you all updated with my travels without clogging up your email. Initially I'll be spending a month in Uganda and Kenya followed by my move to Chicago and then wherever the fates and UOP decide to send me.

Enjoy