Travels of a Giant

Today I am in Kampala soon off to get some breakfast of milk tea and chapati then meet up with Phoebe and Jessie at Owino Market for a spot of SHOPPING!

For the past 2 and a bit weeks I have been on school holiday traveling around Uganda and soaking in every last bit of the culture. Our travels began with my Nativity, those kids made me very proud and I cannot wait to show you all the video of them performing like drama gods. My favorite quote has to be 'LOOK A BIG SHINNING STAR' said by Humphry (or Hampfy to the teachers and pupils). After the performance we had a bonfire where we cooked meat on a stick and matoke with cups of Bushira to wash it all down with mmm.

We then traveled to a little island in the middle of Lake Bunyoni to begin our holidays. We swam from the dock, relaxed, played cards, read our books and Will and I went on an adventure onto the mainland to get knives and spears. Good fun! I stayed there four days and then split of from the larger group and went off in a group of 6 to adventure up North to Murchinson Falls in order to find the sun that we had been missing in Kabale. The Super Six consisted of: Jessie, Pheobe, Elspeth, Caroline, Bex and Me.We hitched a ride in lorries up to Ntungamo from Kabale and stayed there a night, then moved up into Queen Elizabeth National Park. Instead of going into the park, which costs $35 per day we moved to Katwe which is situated on the bank of Lake Edward. There we met with  Norwegian couple, who told us the best things to do around the area without going into the park. This involved showering in the fresh spring near the slat lake, going on a boda boda night ride to see the hippos, a boat safari, a walking safari. All these things we did.

After the ghost town of Katwe we stayed at a gorgeous hotel called Kingfisher, which looked out over the whole of the park. There we rested, ate well and slept with TWO PILLOWS! The next day we carried on to Kasese and the Rwenzori Mountains. We got a boda boda up to the guest house...BAD IDEA. That was the longest 17 km of my life. When we finally arrived, panting, sweating and thanking whoever we needed to thank for keeping us alive, we were in a gorgeous setting. We were surrounded by the Rwenzori Mountain; right in the heart of them. We washed and then ambled down to the river for a paddle. The next day we awoke at 6 am for our hill walk up the 2300 m hill which I forget the name of.. The scenery as we climbed was breath-taking, and the climb was very steep but we made it to the top in good time. In the distance we could see the tops of the higher mountains with snow on the peaks. Yes, snow in Uganda! We trudged back down the hill, well a mixture of trudging and falling and laughing, but we got down.

Our next destination, was Masindi. The last town before Murchinson Falls, the holy grail we had been seeking from the start of our travels. We stayed there one night then with our hired vehicle (including driver) we set off for the waterfall. We reached the falls at 4 pm and stayed there till sunset. The falls were magnificent. Huge bulges of water throwing spray up as they threw themselves over the edge and the sunset just topped off the whole experience. We stayed a night near Red Chilli's Guest house and then made our way to the other side of the river to begin our safari at 7:30 am. The guide was picked up on the other side of the river and then we proceeded into the wilderness of the bush. We were lucky enough to see the majority of the animals that stayed in the park: elephants, giraffes, buck, Jackson (a very stupid looking antelope, which is slow at running, has some of the best meat out of all the antelopes and suffers from STM loss, so sometime forgets it's being chased, basically an all you can eat buffet for lions) and the 'Big Man' as the guide called him, the Lion. The lion we saw was a bit worse for wear though unfortunately as it only had 3 legs. He was still magnificent and proud looking though! From the Safari we traveled back to Masindi, our driver even aloud me to drive some of the way back (harder than you think) and we stayed another night in a guest house there.

That was 2 days ago, and now we are in Kampala and will set off this evening to our next destination of Lugasi, then to Musaka to meet with the other volunteers before we head off to the Ssese Island for Christmas, after Christmas we go to Kampala to New Year, and then onward to Jinja and Mount Elgon. See you soon for another update.

Stay cool, won't you?


Your traveling, bald buddy,

Liam

P.S. Sorry about the lack of detail and pictures involved in this post, I just wanted to give you a quick overview of what I had been doing. I don't want to tell you all the stories before I get back now, do I?

The 1/4 way point...

Gooooooood Morning UGANDDAAA,

            I hope you are all doing well, and have not died from the harsh cold that is the English Winter! It is a lovely temperature out here. I think that’s fair; you have meat and I have good weather. Deal? Good.

So our project is going a bit slower than usual at the moment due to the exams around the corner, which means that there is a good amount of revision of lesson being done. Also David is on Safari until this weekend causing the manual work to pretty much grind to a halt as he is ze boss who tells us where to move the mud and when to do it. Some more music is coming with the Alongside Africa Chairman who will be arriving at the project on the 25^th November in order to share some music with our school. Maybe in the future we will be able to form some sort of musical master piece using our children’s beautiful voices. Talking about utilizing the pupils’ skills the Nativity (or ‘A play about the birth of Jesus’) is coming along nicely; we are up to scene 5 with blocking, so only two more to go and then it rehearsals from then on. The only worry I have is about the costumes…there are none. I think a bit of arts and crafts may have to be introduced into the school timetable! (DRAMA UPDATE 19/11/2011) We have now finished blocking the whole of the play and it is looking good. The songs are being sung nice and loud, the lines are learnt (ish), but they will not stop talking! Lucy and Weens I’m sorry, now I know how you must have felt with the ‘naughty boys’. For the costumes I am going to go for minimalist Brechtian approach with simple headdresses to symbolise the characters < A* drama talk there!



On Wednesday, Sam and I went on a trek up to the top of the hill to transport some Irish potatoes to a plot there. I was expecting a short stroll but it turned out to be a full expedition into the Kabale wilderness. I mean who plants potatoes on top of a hill! We did get a glorious view of the whole county though and our ‘tour guide’, Agaba, seemed to own half the land in the vicinity, so I am struggling to understand why he isn’t a multi millionaire in Kabale instead of shifting potatoes up a hill!           



The Swiss of Africa



We have been doing manual work for the past week now due to the exams, which have now finished with positive results. The majority of the pupils have passed, which means there will be a new Primary 2 class for us to teach and the Baby Class recruits to knock into shape. That also means that next term is a new drama project, I know it is looking ahead as I still haven’t finished the nativity, but I’m still having a little think about what I could. Maybe some small plays based on Ugandan folk stories and some new songs (I have already taught them ‘I like the flowers’ and ‘Little green frog’). Ooo, it’s exciting. If you have any ideas please leave a comment or facebook me to let me know.

Children singing their hearts out

Other things that have been going on at the project include: a newly built trench to divert the pig poo away from the pig sty, an extension on the previous pig sty is being compacted and concreted, the foundation of the three story school is being filled in with Marum (soil and pebbles), and an area has been cleared for a playground and room for tourist accommodation. I have still yet to go and visit the pigs in their new homes, but I’ll try and organise something with David and get some pictures to you. In addition, a couple of Sundays ago we took the children up to the local church so they could sing for the congregation and they were fab, really top draw! They did a couple of their classic numbers such as, ‘There is dancing in the house of the Lord’ and ‘Ambassadors’, many I had heard from their outstanding assemblies. Well done Grace Nursery and Primary School!

The staff and the bananas



Federico leaves on Monday for Italy, so we are showing him Lake Bunyoni today for a swim, a meal and a sleep. He has just returned from a gorilla trek, which he said was fantastic as he got the whole forest to himself. However, he did say it was a bit of a mission through the undergrowth so parents remember those wellies! Talking about food (I know I wasn’t but that’s all I think about out here), Sam and I have found three new places to eat: Amagara café; does a beautiful steak and potato wedges (thank you Mum for the tip off), Café Africa does some good Ugandan food for a cheap price, (3,500 for beef stew and your choice of three out of posho, matokoe, rice, irish and sweet potatoes) and one of my favourites…Fransis’ Joint, which has a limited menu of meat, chips, egg and liver, but by gum the meat, chip and egg combo is phenomenal (chip omelette with beef stew on top) topped off with a mandazi (deep fat fried doe ball) it is the perfect student meal. Bon Appetite! Breakfast and Lunch has been the same since I talked last with the exception of this Friday when sticky Ugandan rice and g-nut sauce was added to our glorious menu of Posho and Beans, and a couple of weeks ago when a bunch of ripen matoke (yellow banana) from the projects Matoke farm was brought in for the children for breakfast. Oh how we ate the breakfast it was a day of great Joy and Happiness! Along with those



The children and the bananas

tasty dishes we have been cooking up some 5* Michelin star food, with carbs being the main element along with a variety of different vegs freshly picked from the project bountiful garden! The dishes consist of Curried Vegetable Stew, Egg fried rice, Stir Fry, Spanish Omelette, Barn Faustic (with out bacon L), G-nut sauce and rice, spaghetti with a variety of different sauces thanks to Fred, and on special occasions…chicken.

This was a day to remember and I shall always remember the day as ‘The Life and Death of Flappy the Chicken’. She was a good hen, a great layer of eggs and would have been world class in the egg laying championship of 2012, but fate had a cruel trick up it’s sleeve: My stomach! We took her from the comfortable security of her home, carried her down to our house and chopped her head off. NOTE: If you are not the best with blood please scroll past these next few photos; they are pretty graphic, but if you are interested in the process do have a good browse maybe even print them off and stick them on your wall for a closer inspection…

Flappy



Is this a knife I see before me?



Extra protein for Fred

The gutting process

Legs, wings, breast and beak, breast and beak

Chickan fwy whar

 



Us and Nick at Bunyoni



Our Desk Officer, Nick, came to visit over a week ago now to check up on how we were doing. It was fantastic to see him and simply talk to someone, not about problems exactly but simply about what has been going on. So we spent a meal with him on the Thursday and then on the Friday he came to visit the project. He got a full on dance from the children (WHERE WAS MY DANCE!) and they didn’t show me up when they performed our play. Well Done Grace Drama school! We showed Nick around the project and then followed him up to Lake Bunyoni and enjoyed a gorgeous Garlic crayfish dish with rice! Puka! We were sad to see him go as that would be the last time we see him or anyone from Project Trust until debriefing…nearly 7 months away!



I played my first real match last Sunday. WHAT LIAM PLAYING FOOTY!? Yes it is true and yes I was terrible at it, so I’m not doing that again! I’ll keep on training with Sam and having a kick about but no more matches like that, I don’t think Uganda is ready for me just yet!

Unfortunately, this may be my last blog entry before I go off on my travels around Uganda with the other volunteers for the Christmas hols. I will try and get to an internet café and upload pictures (which I still need to do now actually) and do a little blogging. But I’ll definitely tell you all about it when I get back from my wild adventures.

Two photos to brighten your day:

Grumpy baby Liam

Uganda's finest cougette - Read it and weep Mum and Dad

Stay cool, won’t you…

Liam and Sam





Blog numero two in Uganda.

A shot from a cramped Mutatu onto a
cramped Kampala road.

Take Kabale, get rid of the rolling, green hills and put in there place low lying grey buildings, cover them in dust, smog and petrol fumes, times the population by 20, drive in endless amounts of boda bodas, mutatu and private hires that are constantly driving at break neck speeds, which dodge pot-holes, pedestrians, and other drivers. Finally add cheating, stealing, and extortion to depending on your skin colour and there you have Kampala. What a mad city.  Welcome to the hub of Uganda, if you want something you get it from Kampala. Yes, it has stealing and high prices but what city doesn't. Okay it may not be the cleanest place and the roads are simply terrifying. However, you must remember this simple phrase 'TIU'- 'THIS IS UGANDA'.

Kampala was our rendezvous point fro the 1 month induction meeting where we got to reunite with all the other volunteers in order to catch up, see our reps, Finn and Lucy again and have the health talk from Dr Dick Stockley. It was great to see all the other Mzungu again, as it felt like a link back to home, a little taste of Western life in Uganda, and with Western life comes Western NIGHTLIFE. Yes we partied it up Ugandan style to celebrate the Uganda vs., Kenya match that was happening the following day.



Kanoeing on Lake Bunyoni



It was a big game for Uganda because if they won it would be the first time in 33 years that the team has qualified for the African Cup of Nations. So off we went to Club Iguana to have a bit of a dance. I think most of the girls had a hard time with the locals who had a slightly animalistic attraction towards them. So the whole night was a constant battle with the strong willed Mzungu girls coming out on top (pardon the pun) and not leaving with a husband...TIU! So yeah Kampala is a LOVELY place. At least we satisfied our cravings for meat. I had the most amazing double beef burger and cheese with fries in a cafe, just to the right of Garden City Shopping centre, called Cafe Javas. I even shed a tear after my gorgeous meal, which was top off with 3 scoops of ice cream with brownies stuck in it. How much did it cost, you ask? A mere five pounds and fifty English sterling. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Me and Sam stayed in Kampala till Monday and left with David (our host) early morning on Tuesday.

You are told by travelers’ books, novels on Africa, friends, family, and the internet that travel (especially by bus) is frustrating, tiring and long. I was constantly warned that African Time causes buses to stand and wait until full capacity (and a little extra) is reached and then they set off at breakneck speed down the unkempt roads of Uganda. I have yes to experience this (I have now though - read on to Fort Portal journey HA!). All we found was that the bus would stop at lots of different places for a while to pick up more passengers, but nothing a quick blare of the iPod, or read of a good novel can't handle.

Shopping in the local market

Even if you are privileged enough to own either of these items (my kindle broke in the first week leaving me bookless for a while- thank you Kampala for Aristoc bookstore you saved my bacon) you can easily entertain yourself by looking out

the window at the markets and people in the different villages and trading towns you stop at. Sellers of cooked meat on sticks, which look like they could give you Malaria (the meat I mean) come to the window to sell you their produce, you can see it bobbing past your window in a comic fashion. You also get bbq maize-on-the-cob, biscuit and soda and whole chicken legs (feet included) jumping about in the same way creating a some sort of serial puppet show!

As you are driving the scenery can change quite dramatically in a matter of seconds; from the mountainous region of Kabale into the flats of Mbarara, then as you approach Kampala you see huge expanses of tall crops (still don't what of, but they look like something out of Jurassic Park where the raptors lie "STAY OUT OF THE LONG GRASS"). Along with the scenery the language also changes. At one moment you can be happily bartering in Rukiga ('Agandi sebo...Nigay') in my stupid accent I seem to acquire when talking to people out here, the next moment you are floundering and struggling even to say 'hello' in Lugandan. Even Muzeveni, the President of Uganda, struggles to talk some of the more Northern dialects and he has to make speeches there! Tough life, ay Muz my old chum!

26/10/2011

The cozy bed

Sam and I are now back in our 'hometown' of Kabale after returning from our journey to Fort Portal, North-West of Kabale, in order to visit four volunteers who live there and meet up with the rest of them. Travelling up to their project was simple enough as we travelled by 3 buses: one to Mbarara, onwards to Kisese and finally to Kihura. On the way from Kisese you pass masses of tea plantations; a sea of lush, green leaves following the contours of the hills creating 'wave-lie' structures. When we arrived in Kihura it was late so we decided to get a Rolex (omelet wrapped up in a chapatti with cabbage and tomato). Very nice indeed - I'll cook it for you lads when I get back. On Saturday we spent the morning and afternoon in Fort Portal spending time at the swimming pool and hanging around with the crew. We headed back in a colossal thunder storm back to Kihura. Will and I had the excellent idea of taking a Rolex and adding a tasty piece of bacon to it. It was heaven! Bacon at last!

The Italian arrived three days ago. His name is Fredrico and he will be staying at the project for around a month. He is a really pleasant guy, but there is one small problem about the language as he speaks scattered English so it is hard for us to communicate with him and it is even harder for him to talk to the locals. I’m sure he’ll get by though.

In about a month we shall be setting off on our Christmas travels around Uganda. The final plans are being made next weekend, so I will tell you of the plan on the next blog.

Keep reading and Stay cool, won’t you

Liam and Sam

The pigs being 'Bagged and Tagged' to be given around selected families
will be brought back to the project for mating or selling. (Literally pigs in blankets)

Hello and greetings from the glorious, green country of UGANDA,

I am presently sitting in the Cafe Royal (an Indian owned cafe in the centre of Kabale). It has taken me around 1 hour to get onto the blog site to start typing due to the ridiculously slow internet, let’s hope it doesn't cut out on me.

There is so much to say, but I have to put it down so I better start straight away:

Grace Children's Village (GCV)

Our project is so unique in its ideas and self-sustainment qualities brought to the table by David Bakeine, our host, who is very experienced in tourism and similar aspects. For example, the dreaded long-drop, we have five in total used by the children and the staff of GCV, so you can imagine there is a good amount of waste! The David's however, has had the idea of separating the urine and the faeces. The urine goes to a jerry-can connected to the toilets and when full is poured on the crops as fertilizer. The faeces drops down into pits which can be opened from the back of the block, ash is thrown in and in 6 months time it is ready to spread on the farm. We were involved in the construction of toilet covers, so a cover is placed over one of the two toilets in a cubicle therefore giving the project a constant supply of fresh fertilizer all year round! How very clever.

Wilfred (standing left) teaching the families who want to
raise the pigs.

Other interesting things happening at GCV is the pig project. GCV (luckily for me) is the proud owner of around 4 sows, 2 boars and 10 piglets (there is one more piglet who always runs around outside the pen, very amusing to chase it around for a bit). The pig project is a scheme that sends one pig to a family to raise and breed piglets. After piglets are born (around 12 in a litter) they are given back to GCV therefore increasing the amount of pigs for sale. Each pig in Uganda would sell for about 10,000 UGS. The pigs that \David breeds sell for around 50,000 UGS! So in order for good rearing practices to take place, Wilfred, and contact of David's who knows a good deal about pigs gave a talk to the families wanting to look after a pig.

This allows proper rearing practices to take place, which in turn produces better pigs leading to more money for the project. It also allows for those who cannot pay for the fees for schooling at the nursery and primary school to use the piglet as payment seeing it is around 40,000 UGS to pay for the child’s education. In addition, it teaches the family some important skills in order to produce their own food as the project is going to develop so that the family is also taught the importance of pig waste to produce good quality vegetables and fruit.

Sam and I completed a goat shed last week, just waiting for the goats now. David has made sure there is enough feed and water for the goats to survive. So we are excited to have another addition to the cow, many pigs, and the mass of chickens that already reside at the project.

Children receiving letters
from sponsers.

Sponsors: Letters have been distributed to the children. Some letters and pictures are returning to us so as soon as we have then all back we shall send then off to Sue and David.

Yesterday was the beginning of the Saturday lessons. Sam is conducting football and other sport activity lessons, while I shall teach the children drama and acting. I hope to put on a nativity at Christmas. I have around 20/22 children to control and I will find out who exactly will be my little drama Queens and Kings tomorrow after a meeting with Mr Ronald the Head teacher at the school.

Accommodation

This is the big moving in week. The finishing touches are being added now, such as the plaster around the windows, doors and vents. Cleaning the floors was a breeze due to our Top Class (the age group just below Primary 1 who I teach) team of sweepers and scrubbers kindly put together by Mr Innocent teacher of P1, assisted by Sam and Miss Sarah, who I assist in lessons. This made the job much faster and gave us a great feeling; that we were part of the community and they were lending a hand to make the job easier for us. We are just one big Basigi family (the local clan, the biggest in Uganda). Tomorrow we hope to go down to Kabale to collect materials to hang on the walls and some more furniture to make the grey rooms a bit more homely. Photos of the friends, lovely Sophie and family will be blue tacked to my wall. The Arsenal flag will go up for Sam (sorry for the present league position), he is still a strong supporter!!! Sam and I have had the idea of the ‘Volunteer’s Wall’ so any person who stays at GCV can right on the wall there name and a small comment. Then when we return in years to come we can see the huge number of helpers that have added to the project.

Kabale

Sam playing for Kabale football team.
Getting stuck in there every Sunday!

What a fantastic setting we have been placed in. The scenery is phenomenal, with lush rolling hills as the back drop and a busy high street, which holds surprises in all the back alleys and markets snuggled away down small alleyways (perfectly safe by the way). The fruit and veg market shopping was so exciting as it was the first step towards independence; trying to work out how many kilos we needed for the week (it is all done in 1/2s and kilos), which vegetables to buy for the tasty stew Mama taught me. The sounds of the market are wonderful. It is a battle field of bartering, buying, selling, conversations between locals and the fruit sellers or the mumblings of the terrified volunteers trying franticly to work out the conversion rate and avoid the sellers seeing how much they have in their wallets. There are internet cafes but the internet and electricity is so unreliable that updating this blog has even taken me around 3 days! Skype has worked (JUST) around about twice but this weekend has been particularly bad. Really annoying when I can’t speak to the people I want and when I do it is crackly. But we must deal with it. At least we have internet sometimes!

Bubaare

This is the trading centre just down the road from GCV and our first place to go for small supplies. Big amounts of money attract a lot of attention so we are wary of how much we buy down there so we are not seen as the rich Muzungu only here to bring in wealth and not here to help the community in terms of education and physical work. The first day was a bit daunting for everyone simply stared at us as we walked through the town together, it was the weirdest feeling.

Now it is better as we have shown our faces a bit more, the local language is become more understandable and fluent with us, we are getting to know the prices for things and starting to learn names of people around the community. Such as Bishop, who calls himself ‘School Truck’ as he is the one who walks some of the children down to the centre at the end of school.

Me and our friend Ronald, we are the
warriors of Bubaare. Picture was taken
while we were working on reducing the
slope (left of picture).

Arod and Andrew are the two boys who have befriended us and show us around sometimes, teaching us Rohega (the local language) and taking us fishing with Dan, another friend who has been so warm and welcoming like so many others in Uganda. Of course, we still get the calls of ‘Muzungu, Muzungu! I see a Muzungu!’ from the children in the houses or on top of the hill leading down to the centre, but we just call back ‘How are you?’ prompting the reply ‘I AM FINE! HOW ARE YOU?’ in the rehearsed way that all the children seem to speak in.

So I hope you have enjoyed reading the first of many installments to come. Please keep reading and be patient with how long the posts take. Internet is a funny thing!

Stay Cool, won't you


Liam and Sam

P.S. Please have a look at the Grace Children's Village website at http://www.gracechildrensvillage.org/ and browse there newsletters, one shall be update soon.

Liam and Sam

Sam and Me

This wonderful picture was taken on the gorgeous beach just 5 minutes away from the Project Trust centre in Coll. The taller of the two is me (Liam) and the energetic fellow in the little yellow number is Sam, who will be my partner for the whole year. A wise Project trust volunteer once said "A Project Trust partnership is like a marrage, but without the sex", so I am looking forward to the times when Sam and I sit down with a meal for two (consisting of beans, beans and more beans) to enjoy a glorious 2 second sunset in the rolling hills of Kabale.

I am also looking forward to the difficult times as well; the arguments, the tears and the fighting over who has the last of the bean stew. We will have to learn how to help each other (or put up with each other), making us better people overall!

We hope to see many wonderful things in Uganda (Gorilla tracking in Bwindi National Park) and doing even more exciting things (White-water rafting down the Nile river). More importantly I am looking forward to contributing to this wonderful charity by teaching the children at the primary school and getting my hands dirty on the farm.  I'll keep you informed about every adventure we have together, along with the heart aches and disagreements.

Stay tuned and  keep reading


Liam

In the beginning...

Hello,

Welcome to my first post. I'm Liam Scarth and I have been given the oppotunity to work in Uganda for a whole year with Project Trust.

Project Trust is an educational charitable organisation that specialises in sending school leavers overseas. It is a wonderful charity which gives young adults a oppotunity to immerse themselves in a completely different culture for a year allowing them to develop skills that will help them throughout life while providing a service for the community in which they are working.

I have been chosen for a brand new project in the South-West of Uganda close to the town of Kabale. The project is called Grace Children's Village and was set up in 2009 by two volunteers Dave Rutherford from the UK and David Bakeine from Uganda. It sounds like a fantasic project with huge amount for me to get my teeth into. I will be teaching 2-5 year old Ugandan children English, numeracy, drama, arts and crafts in the newly built primary school situated at the project along with helping out on the farm, which is one of the project's attempts to become fully self-sufficient.

I am unbelievably excited to get started after my 1 week training course that I have just completed. Now I need to get kitted up for my year away (boots, sun cream and mozzy spray) and then I'll be off to experience Uganda for myself. CANNOT WAIT!

I hope you have enjoyed the post. Below you can find the Grace Children's Village website along with a 30 minute documentary about the Project and how it got started. For more information about Project Trust go to http://www.projecttrust.org.uk/ .

Thank you

Liam

http://www.andireiss.com/AmazGraceindex.htm
http://gracechildrensvillage.org/