The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I realise I’ve been pretty bad at posting any notes or blogs about my time in Uganda – I think the last one I wrote was about my Christmas celebrations. Hopefully the hundreds of photos and status updates have created a bit of a picture of my life in Uganda... but here are some reflections on the good, the bad and the ugly experiences of the past few months:

The Good:

The people are top of this list. I’m so lucky to have made some lovely friends. Everyone here is really interesting and so much fun.  It’s actually pretty easy to make friends as everyone’s in the same boat; away from home, not knowing many people and out here to have an amazing experience and hopefully make a bit of a difference.

It is so nice to go for weekends away with these great friends; I’ve been lucky enough to spend a couple of weekends in Jinja, take a trip to Murchison Falls and had another awesome weekend in Sipi Falls. 

As well as going away with people here I’ve had some visitors too, Alex, Lizz and Kat came to stay last month and we headed off with our ‘trusty’(!) guide to Queen Elizabeth National Park in the West. The amount of animals we saw was incredible; elephants, hippos & crocs on the banks of the Kazinga Channel. Then as we drove through the National Park more elephants, cape buffalo, warthogs, cobs, baboons, and even monkeys with blue balls! We were a bit scared walking back to our bandas one evening in our camp bordering The DRC. (The camp had been shut down until recently because of DRC rebels crossing the border at the river there!) As we walked back with nothing but a head torch and drunken ranger to ‘protect’ us we could hear the hippos and other animals a little too close for comfort. We were lucky enough not to come across any lions that evening but during our morning game drive; from the safety of our vehicle, we saw a male and a female just 15 feet from us. In fact we couldn’t go anywhere even if we had wanted to as they decided to have a drink and a rest right in the middle of the road. Ishasha, is famous for the tree climbing lions and even though we didn’t see them up a tree it was incredible to see them so close up.

Our journey took us further South, climbing up the mountains to Bwindi and then ended in possibly the most beautiful place in Uganda; Lake Bunyonyi. This is the second deepest lake in Africa but with no bilharzia or crocodiles we couldn’t resist going for a swim, even though it was raining and pretty cold!

As well as wonderful people and great holidays there have also been some successes at work. The main one being Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA)’s International Women’s Day celebrations.  The 8th March is a day for the world to recognise and celebrate women’s achievements and highlight important issues facing women today.  This year the Ugandan theme was maternal health and with 16 women dying every day during pregnancy or child birth it is an issue that needs a lot of attention. The run up to the event was a little tense as even though I had secured a few corporate sponsors we didn’t get confirmation that our fundraising proposal to UNFPA had been successful until 5 days before the event. But with lots of last minute decisions and publicity we managed to pull off a great event with around 400 attendees. There was drama from the UMWA drama group and local school children, community dialogue and a health camp with doctors & midwives giving advice to women and men who had questions about maternal health. Mama FM also ran programs for the week leading up to after the event concentrating on maternal health. So hopefully have done, and are continuing to, play our part in supporting women’s health.

The Bad:

It wouldn’t be fair to only concentrate on all of the good things so here’s some of the bad too...

Linked directly with meeting so many lovely people is the negative side of that; saying goodbye to so many lovely people. Like me, most people are only here for short periods while they research for their studies, complete internships or take part in exchanges. So unfortunately saying goodbye is becoming all too regular. But I’m sure we’ll keep in touch and the most important thing is getting to share these experiences with the people around you, even if you do have to say goodbye to them the following week.

I’m not looking forward to having to say goodbye to everyone when I leave in less than two months time. Obviously I can’t wait to see my family and friends (and eat Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps!) but I’m going to be so sad to say goodbye. But let’s not think about that just yet...

“Muzungu.”  It’s not a bad word but sometimes it gets a bit much constantly being referred to as Muzungu.  The kids down my street have now mastered ‘Alyrene-a’ but to everyone else I am just ‘Muzungu’. Most days it is absolutely wonderful to have a chat to everyone on the way to and from work and play with the kids but I must admit some mornings I miss the anonymity of London. I’m sure after a few journeys on the tube I will not feel like that and will miss the friendly smiles of everyone here!

The Ugly:

Me after sitting in the sun too long!  I got such bad sunburn a couple of months ago. Factor 40 and moving into the shade just wasn’t enough to ward off the African sun.  I was so burnt I spent the evening lying face down on Anna’s couch (the most comfortable position..!) with her putting cold towels over me – although they didn’t stay cold for long, within just a couple of minutes my skin had managed to burn them through too. A week of steroid cream and aloe vera sorted me out though.

On a more serious note though there are ugly things happening all around when people live in poverty. Betty, one of my neighbours is such a lovely woman and is very welcoming to everyone in our little village – all the children congregate at Betty’s house as she is just so warm and kind. I was walking home from work last Thursday and bumped into her – she looked awful and when I asked her if she was okay she just muttered; “I’m hungry.”  I immediately took her home and gave her some food and packed up all the food I had in the house (which wasn’t very much unfortunately) for her to take home. The father of her eldest children (18 and 16) died years ago and she now lives with her husband and Peace her adorable (and mischievous!) 5year old daughter. Her husband had gone to the East for a few weeks to work on a construction site and was due to be home that Monday but he hadn’t returned and thus she had no money and no food. With no way of contacting him she still has no idea when, or if, he will return. She broke down and it was just awful, I’m used to being a shoulder to cry on – but what could I say about this situation that would make it any better...? It’s just so awful and the heart-breaking thing is that Betty is not a one off, with 37% of the population living beneath the poverty line there are too many people in situations like Betty’s in this country....

Well not a cheery note to end on, but a memory that will stick with me forever. Thanks for taking the time to read about my Uganda experiences, it really is a very special country.

First impressions of Kampala

So I’ve been in Uganda a month now. In one way it feels like only yesterday saying all my goodbyes (and recovering from all the hangovers..) and in another it feels like I have been here forever. .  I thought it was about time to jot down some of my first impressions of Kampala.  I also wanted to thank everyone who sponsored me – I reached my target for VSO to continue supporting volunteers to fight poverty – thank you!!

The People:

In just a month I have met so many wonderful people both fellow Muzungus (the term for a ‘white person which you hear about 50 times a day) and locals.

Firstly I met the VSO crew. We spent a week in Kabalagala for our In Country Training. There were volunteers from far and wide; Canada, Scotland, Kenya, Ireland & Holland so we learnt about each other’s cultures as well as the Uganda culture. As everyone went their separate ways to the likes of Kabulasoke, Gulu and Lira there were just a few of us left in Kampala. Yvonne, a lovely Irish girl living the same side of town as me and Yan who we’ve already said goodbye too as he was just on a one month placement (although we’re sure he’ll be back some time soon.) Yvonne was the first person I met in Uganda, at the airport waiting for our luggage and now we’re spending Christmas together in Jinja – I can’t wait!

Then I moved to Kisaasi and met Anne Karie, Anna for short.  Anna is my lovely Norwegian next door neighbour and also works at Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA.) I’m not sure what I would have done without Anna, she has been so kind; shown me round and introduced me to all the people she has met over her past couple of months here. She is also a breath of fresh-air when things get frustrating at work – I’m not sure how many times we’ve turned to each other and said “it doesn’t happen like this at home.”

Walter needs a mention here too, our boda-boda (motorbike taxi) driver. Everyone advises you to find a good boda driver but before I got here I wondered how to do that. Luckily Anna introduced me to Walter. Walter has about 50 Muzungu clients and everyone loves Walter! He is such sweet guy and makes sure he looks after his Muzungus. He’s really interesting to chat to and always puts a smile on our face. He’s currently writing a book, ‘Stories from the back of a boda’ (let’s hope he doesn’t spill too much gossip...)

Then there’s Betty who lives in a tiny house down the road. Betty is so friendly and always wants to chat. Walking home from work to be greeted with a big, toothless, smile “welcome back Alyrene-a” (she’s got the best pronunciation of Alyrene so far – seems it’s a pretty touch name to say out here..) Her first husband has ‘gone away’ and she now lives with the father of her youngest child, Peace. Peace is far from peaceful and has a great mischievous twinkle in her eye. As a family they don’t have much and can barely afford school fees but Betty always offers tea, food or anything she can find as a gift. She sometimes sells avocados from the tree in her yard so I make sure I buy them from her to at least give something back for her kindness. 

There’s so many other lovely people I’ve met – too many to mention here but I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone better and sharing this experience with such great people.

The Food

Always an important subject but unfortunately Ugandan cuisine is not much to write home about! During the VSO training we had traditional Ugandan food most days for lunch and it consisted of carbs, carbs and more carbs... A standard meal would be posho (maize flour dough) matoke (steamed green banana) rice,  cassava and potatoes served with beans and a little fish or meat. Basically lots of carbs and not much flavour!

At first I was pleased to find that I would get lunch provided at work. On the minimal VSO allowance any cost saving is much appreciated. Unfortunately in just a few weeks I am already sick of posho and beans (see lunch pic.) I’ve bought a big jar of chilli sauce but even that doesn’t seem to help.

Luckily Kampala has lots of restaurants with most cuisines you could wish for; Ethiopian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian, etc, etc (but unfortunately no Vietnamese – gutted!) So far I’ve tucked into some great dishes. The ‘East African mixed grill’ (see pic) and steaks are the best so far. Unfortunately I shouldn’t get too used to the lovely food as the VSO allowance doesn’t stretch to eating in all those lovely places. We did find a great cheap place though; very local and you have to be sure to request a table as far away from the toilets as possible but they do 2 sticks of BBQ pork served with avocado, cassava, salad and chilli for just 5,000 shillings and it’s absolutely lovely. I think I need to go back there again soon....

The Drink

Of course there had to be a drinking section... It’s mainly beer and Club is my brand of choice, it’s only served in big bottles – no complaints there! Whenever you order a beer the bar man/waitress asks if you would like it warm or iced, I’m not sure why warm beer would be appealing in this weather but the cold beer goes down very well!

Unfortunately there are no bars near where I live but a call to the trusty Walter and there are lots of places to choose from in town. (I say ‘in town’ to refer to anywhere past the Northern by-pass as my awful sense of direction is not helped by living in a city full of hills!)

Luckily Captain Morgan is also widely available here too for when we’ve had too much beer!

The Work

Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) has been running for 27 years, in fact it was set up in the same summer I was born. They run community outreach programmes, a newspaper and a radio station. Mama FM was the first women owned and run radio station in Africa and uses its programmes to promote gender equality. My main role is fundraising for the radio and to be honest it looks like I have a tough job ahead of me – but hey I wanted a challenge!!

The working culture is very different here in Uganda – as is the time keeping (but I actually quite like African time because with African time you can never be late!) It is however  a little frustrating when you book a meeting at 10am and it doesn’t  happen till 5pm!

It was the UMWA Christmas party last week and although not the best Christmas party I’ve ever been to, the staff loved it. Nearly all of the 45 staff members are volunteers and often have to use their own money to pay for work phone calls or for transport to the field. The Christmas party was a way for the organisation to show how much they appreciated everyone’s commitment. There was a gift for everyone and never have I seen anyone so excited to open a parcel of bed sheets (although to be fair it was quite a handy gift – even though mine are bright pink.) There were certificates for the best presenter, technician, editor, etc and again people were so proud to receive this recognition.

Arriving here in November was really good timing because I’ve had chance to get to grips with work and life in Kampala. I’ve been able to input into (and write) the 2011 work plan and now have some time to reflect over the Christmas break.  I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me in the New Year but I’m ready for the challenge. It’s also a really interesting time to be working in Kampala and especially in the media industry with the elections coming up.

The Place

When I found out my placement was in Uganda  and I’d be living in Kampala I was really excited. I’d heard Kampala was a really safe and reasonably developed city. I must admit I got a bit of a shock driving to my new home! I’m living in an area called Kisaasi which is about 8km North of Kampala but it may as well be 80km out of town.  The shock quickly wore off and now I feel I have the best of both worlds – I get to live in what feels like a rural Ugandan village but can hop on a boda and be in ‘civilisation’ in 20mins.

I only have a 5min walk to work which is great and can even pop home for lunch if the posho and beans get too much.

It’s a really lovely and reasonably safe area. The neighbours are all very friendly and even though it’s not exactly a Waitrose I can buy all the essentials from the local shops. There are also a few little stalls at the end of people’s gardens selling fresh fruit and vegetables and at a fraction of the price they sell for in the supermarkets in town.

The only bad thing about Kisaasi is the dust. Because none of the roads are tarmaced it gets so dusty.  It’s actually quite nice when it rains just to get rid of the dust for a few hours – I’m not sure I’ll be saying that in full monsoon season though as I’m guessing the track to my house may turn into a bit of a river!

The Transport

Never again will I complain about the British transport system! There are three transport options in Kampala:

Option One: Special hire, which is a private taxi and not affordable on the VSO allowance.

Option Two: Bodaboda, the motorbike taxi which I think is the best option, but maybe that’s because after spending time on a bike in India any road system seems to make sense. It does seem strange being on a bike without full on motor-cross gear but the must have accessory in Kampala is a helmet. Back home everyone carries a nice handbag on their arm; here all the Muzungus walk around with our helmets.  Walter – our lovely Boda driver is very proud of his Bajaj Boxer but dreams of one day upgrading to a BMW.

Option Three: Matatu; a shared minibus taxi and the cheapest way to get around but I hate those things! Not because of all the reports of accidents or stranding passengers in the middle of nowhere but because I have no idea where to get on or off. As you all know my sense of direction leaves a lot to be desired and attempting to figure out my way round the taxi parks is a bit of a challenge (check out the pic to see what I mean.)

Well I think that’s it for now – a longer report than I meant to write but I hope you found it interesting. Thank you again to everyone who has supported me. And lots of Christmas love and wishes to you all. xxx