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)