Only 6 sleeps to go...

Only 6 sleeps to go untill it'll be time for me to get on a plane and head back to my beloved Ireland...

Am I ready to leave?
No

3 months - it seemed like a life time at the out set and now its like I blinked and its over... I mean seriously I had porchiou (this is spelled wrong!)for the first timet tonight - a staple Ugandan dish and I'm only having it now so can you imagine everything else I've missed and will miss. But fear not I'll be back...

Floods in Bwaise

Well we woke up this morning to blue skies and lathered on the sun cream in expectation of a scorching hot day - Oh boy were we wrong!!!

We arrived at Bwaise as usual but shortly after our arrival the ski turned dark and then the heavens opened with the wind pshing the water in on top of us in the centre. Not only rain but hail stones hit the ground with vigour and our squels of surprise and astonishments could be heard down the street. There was a steady fall for most of the rest of the day, we were lucky that the training room didn't flood more as the neighburing houses were flooded and some people living further down the road had to come up to the doors of the center to get refuge with small childern.

It was an breath taking scene - I've seen rain like that before but never have I seen the localises effect so severe and so sudden. There is a lot to be said for good drainage and its something I won't be so quick to take for granted in the future. What was more was the reation of the locals had it been at home we would have seen locals on the 6 o'clock news and talking to Gerry Ryan about insurance cover and losing valued posessions but here people just waited for the rain to subside and then began to bucket/sweep the water out of their houses using saucpans and brushes. Its not a rare occurence in fact its quite common so people just get on with it, and simple say that living conditions in Uganda are not good...
Well you can see the pictures for yourselves - a picture speaks a thousand words after all...

Well it seems this weekend was all about God and family...

Well it seems this weekend was all about God and family...


On Saturday we spent about 3 hours in church at a double wedding in Jinja... It was quite sweet two brothers were getting married and decided to celebrate the occasion together. It was a Catholic ceremony so on the whole it was pretty familiar apart from some of the more African traditions such as;
• A lot of singing and cheering/screaming from the congregation in general
• For the offertory the two couples stood in the centre isle so the congregation could file by and give their offertory which the couples then presented to the priest
• There was no – “you may now kiss the bride” but instead there was a hug...
But on the other side the brides were dressed in white and the rest of the family were in their Sunday best a lot of which were traditional African dresses. The bride was given away by head of her family to much cheer and applause.

It was a very beautiful and enjoyable ceremony and everybody present seemed to enjoy themselves although energy levels dropped noticeable towards the latter end of the 3 hour ceremony!!!

The Reception was a very traditional affair with the choir in attendance to entertain the crowd (and promote their album!) while the wedding party took some time to prepare themselves. We were also treated to the performance of a traditional dance which our friend jumped up to join in the fun and display her immense talent. The cake, again as is the norm with many Ugandan functions, was served before dinner and not a moment too soon as some of us were on the verge of passing out from hunger!!!


Later as the last of us got our dinner, traditional Ugandan style we ate with our fingers which was an interesting challenge as I am a messy eater at the best of times, but I think I pulled it off quite well... Before heading home we all filed up to give the couples their presents where glasses, flasks, wall clocks and generally any household items are typical gifts. It interesting though that the couples had 6 meeting on the lead up to the wedding to seek assistance from family and friends to fund the wedding celebrations. It is common where a family member is a dress maker he/she will offer to make the dresses, or if someone is a photographer they will offer to provide this service or alternatively where the person does not have a particular skill they will pledge XXX USH to the event so it is really a community project. It was a fantastic day and an exhausting day so I was glad to finally get back to my bed at the respectable hour of 11.30pm – Ugandan wedding tend to wrap up around 10pm without any drunk relatives strutting their moves on the dance floor and this is probable the most obvious difference to Irish wedding...




Sunday found us spending another 2hours in church but this time it was a Born Again Christian service which we had been invited to by one of our students. Hi as his mother is the pastor. At the end of a long busy week and having been listening to the sound of heavy rainfall since the early hours of the morning I was less than enthusiastic to drag myself out of bed and face the flooded streets and taxi conductors. None the less we persevered at our students’ insistence and arrived at the service a little early. The setting was in a barn basically in one of the slum areas of Kampala. The seats were a mixture of armchairs, garden chairs and kitchen chairs. The congregation was quite small with the Pastors family (5 adopted children) making up the choir, and bulk of the attendees although to be fair the weather would not intice anybody out of their homes. We were welcomed warmly and repeatedly and even went onto the alter to introduce ourselves and say where we were from...As the rain continued to fall heavily for the duration of the service we found ourselves hostage to the high flood waters when the time came to leave the church and so we had to take off our shoes and walk through the flood waters to the street which was slightly less flooded...

After the service we were unexpectantly invited back to the Pastors home to have lunch with her and her family. Although the Pastor had appeared a very strict vocal woman during her service in the home she was very calm and sweet, while her husband was rather quiet and reserved.

After a good meal and a few pictures with the family we headed to town to try and get some of the shopping out of the way but I didn’t last long as exhaustion was setting in once again and so we bought some chocolate and headed for home and enjoyed a cat nap in the afternoon...

It was a great weekend but sadly my time is drawing near to its end and now I’m starting my last week with the beautiful people of Ugandan in particular the ladies in Bwaise and the students of Masoli as well as all the staff of UDYEL.

Every day is a school dog

As everyday is a school day this is what I learned today;

1 - I learned how to prepare grasshoppers to be fried
A local delicacy here in Uganda is fried grasshopper - which I had the pleasure of trying last weekend with Denis... Note if your going to try this at home remember to chew the head really well or else it can cause constipation!
So how to prepare a grasshopper - first remove one from the potato sack of live grasshoppers then remove the legs, wings, tail and antenna (basicly just pull the off, and then throw the still squirming insect into the pot to be fried up laterA ... I walked away from the scene with grasshopper scum and guts under my finer nails not an effective beauty tip!!!

A big thank you to all my teachers in Bwaise who were basicly rolling around laughing at my attempts to de-leg the grasshopper and speak Ugandian...

2 - I learned a traditional African dance
As I arrived at the Masoli centre today the drama group were busy learning a new tribal dance and my attempt to slide in unnoticed and observe the activities were quickly cancelled out as I was invited to join in by both the students and masters. My rhythm is unfortunetly non existent but again there was lots of laughter...

So it seems that although I didn't impress my mentors with natural ability in any of these fields I may have a future in comedy...

Than God everyday is a school day...

Kampala - ya have to love it (",)

First of all let me apologise for the delay in up-dating my blog I know some people have been waiting with bated breaths by the internet!!!;

Kampala has grown on me more and more every day that I’ve been here. When we first arrived I never imagined that I could actually get my bearings in this huge city with its massive and varied population. But today I can get in a taxi (the Ugandian version of a dala dala – all be it more comfortable and less crowded!!!), or on a boda boda (a motorbike taxi – by far my favourite mode of transport) or walk to wherever I need to be.
The people of Uganda are very warm and welcoming – it takes a little longer to be accepted into their world as compared to the Tanzanians but it’s well worth the wait, and really the difference could easily be attributed to the difference between small towns like Moshi compared to big cities like Kampala as opposed to Tanzania hospitality versus that of their near neighbours in Uganda.
Ugandians are fun loving, outgoing people with a lot of enthusiasm for life. It seems no matter how difficult the situation there is always room for humour and this is what I love and respect most about them.

I am pleased to say the organisation we’ve been working with here has blown me away entirely. UYDEL – Ugandan Youth Development Link works with youths between 10 and 24 who have been affected by child trafficking, child labour, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and commercial sex workers. The organisation identifies at risk youths in conjunction with community leaders and local police officers and provides these youths with vocational skills to enable them to be rehabilitated into useful members of society. UYDEL works on every aspect of this process from one to one counselling with the youth, group counselling or BCC (behaviour change communication), resettling the youths back with their family or suitable guardian, educating the community about their experiences and the rehabilitation process they have completed, providing the youth with vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering, electronics, carpentry, welding, motor cycle repairs, tailoring so that the youth can support him or herself once back in the community. UYDEL also provide the youths with start up kits so they are in a position to start working once they have completed their training. The only thing that has impressed me more than the organisation is the people working in the organisation who are hard working, intelligent and dedicated to the work of UYDEL.
Besides the work Uganda has a lot to offer the first trip we took out of Kampala was to Jinja, the second biggest city in Uganda but could not be compared in any way to Kampala. Jinja is located on the banks of the Nile and is a popular place location to go and try out white water rafting... Yes people I got myself a life jacket, helmet and paddle and took to the water!!! We were part of a group of 9 that entered the water as the wild crew – but dispite our guides best efforts we never managed to capsize, however Julie and I did manage to fall out of the raft!!! Dispite having a slightly dull group and only an average guide and dodgy weather we still had a blast and I would go again in the morning (“,)

The knee knocking, hand shaking, nerve racking experience that really boosted the trip was a 44m bungee jump into the Nile below... Surprisingly enough an activity I previously had no intention of doing having heard stories of eye balls popping out and backs being sprained, whip lash and a list of unpleasant ailments but for some reason the allure of bungee jumping over the Nile was a opportunity I couldn’t turn my back on and oh boy am I glad I didn’t. As I was being tied into the leg straps my guide, Jack, explained that if I just jump straight out I’ll miss the water but if I dive straight down I’ll go straight into the water before the cord rebounds to pull me out again. I was clear that I wanted to just touch the water with my finger tips and so I stood up at the edge poised and ready to jump straight out and try and fly like a bird... but somehow my brain didn’t relay the instructions correctly and so I actually dove straight down like a child diving into a pool!!! My brain obviously registered what had had happened when I was at about 20m as I began screaming uncontrollable and then hit the water unexpectantly... Luckily I must have been in a good diving position as I didn’t come out with the black eye which Jack said was a risk of diving straight down if you adapt a poor position! Getting out of the raft back onto solid ground all I wanted to do was run back up and jump again... It is definitely in my top three best things I have done while in Africa, maybe even ever... I loved it loved it loved and would go again right now not to mention recommend it to everyone(“,)
We ended off our visit to Jinja with a speedy boda ride to the source of the Nile. A beautiful setting, where we got some nice pictures but not a whole lot to do unless you want to buy souvenirs from the many vendors...
And one final treasure we found in Jinja was a little cafe with a garden seating area and the best veggie burgers any of us had had in some time – a great way to end our excursion to Jinja: with good food...

Apart from this trip to Jinja our time has mainly been taken up with the inter house competition in Masoli. This had a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it where all the students were divided up into four houses the green tigers, blue zebras, yellow lions and my own team the red leopards... Points were awarded to each house based on results of sports including netball, football and volley ball but each house also had to prepare a presentation on the role of youths in the prevention of child trafficking. The Harry Potter feel was further enhanced when my team unfortunately were deducted points for playing someone who was not on the red team and another team was awarded additional points on the bases that they were the most disciplined and dedicated where other teams had failed to be. At the end of the two week long games prizes were awarded to individuals on the basis of their performance and trophies were awarded to the overall winners of each sport. The overall winning team, in this case the Green Tigers, were awarded a football strip which was to be held in trust by their house master. The games sparked a lot of rivalry between teams but by and large was all taken in good spirit, all the same I’m glad I won’t have to deal with any competition this summer in camp as emotions do run high, and where there is a winner there is also a loser!!!

I must admit the most memorable and heart warming visit we’ve had the entire time here in Africa has been to visit Denis’ family and friends in his home village just outside Masoki. I don’t believe I have ever been welcomed so warmly anywhere, we were brought in and given freshly squeezed juice and biscuits but more than that we were given a guided tour of the neighbourhood. In that we were guided around the local area and given its history but more than that we were introduced to the people of the area and given their stories. I don’t think I known people to open the doors to their hearts and share the contents so easily, with love and honesty and humour, the good times the hard times and all the times in between. It was an absolute pleasure and I sincerely hope I can return to visit them again some day soon. The funny thing was that all day people thanked us for coming to visit when it was us who were grateful not only for the refreshments and delicious food but the warmth and meaning behind every kindness they showed us.

The most recent excursion we have had was to Entebble where we had to say a sad farewell to Julie as she boarded a plane back to Dublin which will later take her home to the States. On the up side she is a lot more vocally patriotic now after having spent three months living with me – God Bless America!!! – so I’m sure she’ll be welcomed home with open arms...
Before we said our sad good byes though we spent a lovely day in the botanical gardens where Julie whipped off her top to do a spot of sun bathing, and received some questionable looks from the locals in the process. Eunice one of our newest and dearest friends here in Kamapala accompanied us for the day and kept our spirits high and our minds off Julies eminent departure with interesting stories about life in Uganda and romance and the like. We also met Denis later for dinner and more laughter and debates over the best soda’s etc...
We do miss you Julie if you are reading this...

Kampala, Uganda

Well it was back to the bus station to find our way to Kampala, but on this occasion the kind Mr Bertin came with us and needless to say we were in and out in 5 mins and didn’t pay Mzungu prises!!! We were also pleasantly surprised that we actually arrived in Kampala ahead of our estimated arrival time: wonders will never cease...
Believe it or not but the countryside of Uganda reminded me of home, green fields that seemed to go on forever, marked out by stone walls and ditches lining the road, it was a little surreal but very enjoyable.

As we were early our dear friend Denis was not yet there to pick us up but the bus conductors were genuinely really helpful and let us use their phone to call Denis and let him know we had arrived a far cry from the nightmare that was Dar Es Salamn. Denis arrived a couple of mins later and like a true gentleman helped carry our bags to the white jeep where his friend was waiting to drive us to our hostel. We had finally arrived in Uganda, Kampala and were again reunited with our good friend Denis. We were grining like Cheshire cats as we drove through Kampala and the boys pointed out the various places of interest such as McKerere University (the biggest and best university in East Africa) and the many slums... We arrived at our hostel a short time later and were gob smacked to find Denis had organised a triple room with 3 double beds, a full size mirror, wardrobes, desks and tables and lets not forget the hot showers with actual pressure just down the hall... Oh and facilities where we could get to hand washing our clothes – life was good, no life was great (”,)
We arranged with Denis to meet early the next morning to go and visit UYDEL the NGO that we were going to be working with and we couldn’t wait to get stuck into a new project – after nearly 2 weeks of being idle we were more than ready to start working...

UYDEL – Ugandian Youth Developement Link is a really well organised NGO dealing with youths between 10 and 24 who have been involved in Commercial Sex Work, child trafficking, chil labour drug and substance abuse. The organisation focuses on given these young people vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering skills, mechanic’s, capentry, engineering in order to empower them to be able to support themselves and become productive members of society, while also providing them with councilling and BCC (Behaviour Change Communication). In many cases UYDEL also resettle the kids with their families and speak to community leaders to facilitate a positive response from the community when they return rehabilitated especially in the case of CSW’s.

Kigali

Well we stayed in the St Famille hostel as recommended by Mr. Bertin. It was very basic, owned by the nuns and well felt like a convent to be honest but there was hot water so we decided to stay... To be fare it was also in a great location and it was really cheap.

Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills... It is green and hilly and gorgeous but it has a harsh history...

The centre of Kigalii is very Western, 24 hour shopping markets, cafes with Wi-Fi
modern conveniences, to be honest it didn’t even feel much like Africa but a 30 min walk down the hill and the contrast was stark. The poverty was apparent and it was really the first place where I was always conscious of where I had my bag/ valuables...

As we arrived on the Thursday of Easter weekend everything was closed from Friday to Sunday so we spent quite a bit of time just arsing around. There was a lot of time spent in Bourbon coffee eating, drinking and surfing the web. On Sunday we went to Mass in St Famille church just beside the hostel, it’s a Catholic church filled to the rafters for 3 services in a row each no less than 2 hours long. It was an interesting experience, with some familiarity and some aspects a little alien like the language, the mass baptism in the middle of mass, more singing and clapping than we would be used to but altogether quite enjoyable, or at least it didn’t feel like 2 hours 15mins...

On Monday Bertin picked us up and brought us to the main genocide museum and then a church which was the sight of a mass murder and had since been made into a memorial site. The museum was very well set up with a really informative insight into the history of the genocide: when and how it started and the true atrocities that were carried out during that time. The reality of the horror was palpable in the museum especially as a group of Rwandans’ from outside of Kigali passed through while we were there and a number of the women were visible and audible very upset by the very vivid illustrations of what they and they families had experienced during the genocide.

Some of the most horrifying facts I learned about the genocide were;
People seeking refuge in their churchs were welcomed into the church but then the church leaders invited the perpetrators of the genocide to come and find their victims. In many cases the clergy were witnessed to aid the perpetrators in beating, killing and raping those who had sought refuge.

Another form of torture was where men known to be HIV positive were specifically chosen to rape women and this is one way in which people are continuing to suffer today.

In many cases were told how the victims would be attacked and have a limb chopped off and then they would be left to suffer and then their torturer would return a few hours later and cut off another limb – this slow agonizing approach to torturing their victims was stomach turning. In fact some victims paid their killers to use a bullet, effectively paying to be killed in a more humane manner and still it was not guaranteed.

Those who refused to take part in the bloodshed were made victims and so the blood shed continued.
1million men, women and children were killed in 100 days while the rest of the world did nothing.
There were some brave souls who hide people in their houses but they were few and far between and when caught they suffered the same faiths as those they were trying to protect.

The most impressive part of my visit was to learn that there is no residual hatred between the people of Rwanda - everyone is Rwandan and that is how they are rebuilding their country. But the bloodshed has left a lot of orphans 6 of whom Bertin is supporting through school, along with his own 4 children and 1 grand child.