New Year and a Short Holiday in Ibanda

We had an enjoyable start to 2014 with a few fellow volunteers joining us for drinks and supper on New Year's Eve and watching the New Year celebrations from our balcony. We could see several fireworks, although the main fireworks in central Kampala were behind Tank Hill. What really surprised us was the noise, with car horns beeping and people shouting to welcome the New Year. Then a quiet New Years day joining friends for a late lunch in Kisementi (a smart area of Kampala where several Embassies and large hotels are based).

With several days holiday left before Trocaire reopened we accepted an invitation to stay for a few days with one of our fellow volunteers at her home in Ibanda in the west of Uganda. Ibanda is beautiful, a little higher than Kampala so cooler and with hills all around. We went for a walk one afternoon through the banana groves and up the hill behind her house.

It was so lovely and peaceful after the hustle and bustle of Kampala. About 10 minutes drive from her house and you're into the little town of Ibanda. We loved the market, tucked away behind the main street with lots of stalls selling fruit and veg, meat and other necessities in open sided market halls with counters displaying all of the produce.

We liked the statue of a cow put up at the crossroads, next to the filling station!

As you drive from Ibanda to Mbarara, the nearest large town, the herds of horned cattle wandering onto the road can be a real hazard.

So this week it's been back to work and starting to put together a workplan for my placement, together with collecting and consolidating the information from the partner organisations on their expenditure in the last quarter.