We knew it would happen but it is very sad to be saying goodbye to so many of the friends we have made over the past 9 months! VSO volunteers tend to be mobile, are on different length contracts and start at different times so arrivals and departures is part of the experience. But we live and work so closely together it is a wrench when someone leaves. Also leaving tends to involve travelling to the other side of the world so there is no popping in for a cup of coffee and a chat!
In June and July there are so many leavers including many close friends, returning to Indonesia, Holland, the UK and India via Barcelona. So life is currently a string of goodbye parties and meals out and will be followed by a gaping hole in August when there will only be a few of us left in Kampala. Time to recruit some more volunteers for Uganda VSO.
Thank you all for your friendship and support and we are going to miss you. Safe travels wherever life takes you and we hope to meet up again sometime. I think we might do some globe-trotting when we get back to York at the end of 2015!
Saturday 28 June 2014
Sunday 22 June 2014
Travels in the South West
This blog has been sadly neglected for the past 3 weeks. Our two sons have been with us for a fortnight and we have been travelling. We had some time in Kampala and a week away to Fort Portal, Queen Elizabeth National Park and Lake Bunyoni in the South West of Uganda.
Fort Portal
Fort Portal town
Fort Portal is a little under 200 miles from Kampala, more or less due west. It is quite a lot higher than Kampala as it is the gateway to the Rwenzori mountain range so cooler especially at night. It was nice to sleep under a blanket again, but a bit cold getting out of bed in the morning!
Heading into the Rwenzori Mountains
We stayed at a lovely guest house with fabulous meals. An advantage of being part of a group of VSO volunteers is that we all share information about the best places to eat and stay around Uganda. This suits us as Smith family travels tend to revolve around the next place for a cup of coffee or something to eat!
Queen Elizabeth National Park
After 2 nights in Fort Portal we headed south to Queen Elizabeth National Park. At 6am on Friday 13th June we were heading into the park in a safari vehicle in the hope of spotting a leopard. However, it was Friday 13th so no lions or leopards were around. We did see some animals but disappointingly few for such an early start. After a late breakfast we went to the Mweya peninsula and joined a launch trip. This was more successful for game viewing with hippos, buffalo, elephants, a crocodile, a monitor lizard and numerous birds on view.
Lake Bunyoni
After two busy days in the Park what better than a relaxing weekend on an island in the middle one of the most beautiful and peaceful lakes anywhere, Lake Bunyoni in the far south west. We arrived tired on the Saturday evening, leaving the car on the mainland and climbing into to a motorboat for our 15 minute journey to the island.
Our cottage for the weekend looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale.
And the view from the restaurant was fantastic
The sunsets were amazing, but beyond the capability of my little point and shoot camera to do them justice, or beyond my photographic skills! On Sunday we had a walk, hired dug out canoes to explore the island from the water, had a family card games tournament, read and chatted.
Back to Kampala
Monday morning and we were on the road again. After a walk around the town and a coffee in Kabale we went onto Mbarara for an overnight stop.
Leaving Lake Bunyoni
We had one more treat on a drive towards Lake Mburo and a close encounter with a zebra.
Back in Kampala we completed our shopping for gifts to send home and our exploration of the various food choices available before the boys caught their flight home early on Saturday.
Fort Portal
Fort Portal is a little under 200 miles from Kampala, more or less due west. It is quite a lot higher than Kampala as it is the gateway to the Rwenzori mountain range so cooler especially at night. It was nice to sleep under a blanket again, but a bit cold getting out of bed in the morning!
Heading into the Rwenzori Mountains
We stayed at a lovely guest house with fabulous meals. An advantage of being part of a group of VSO volunteers is that we all share information about the best places to eat and stay around Uganda. This suits us as Smith family travels tend to revolve around the next place for a cup of coffee or something to eat!
Queen Elizabeth National Park
After 2 nights in Fort Portal we headed south to Queen Elizabeth National Park. At 6am on Friday 13th June we were heading into the park in a safari vehicle in the hope of spotting a leopard. However, it was Friday 13th so no lions or leopards were around. We did see some animals but disappointingly few for such an early start. After a late breakfast we went to the Mweya peninsula and joined a launch trip. This was more successful for game viewing with hippos, buffalo, elephants, a crocodile, a monitor lizard and numerous birds on view.
Lake Bunyoni
After two busy days in the Park what better than a relaxing weekend on an island in the middle one of the most beautiful and peaceful lakes anywhere, Lake Bunyoni in the far south west. We arrived tired on the Saturday evening, leaving the car on the mainland and climbing into to a motorboat for our 15 minute journey to the island.
Our cottage for the weekend looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale.
And the view from the restaurant was fantastic
The sunsets were amazing, but beyond the capability of my little point and shoot camera to do them justice, or beyond my photographic skills! On Sunday we had a walk, hired dug out canoes to explore the island from the water, had a family card games tournament, read and chatted.
Back to Kampala
Monday morning and we were on the road again. After a walk around the town and a coffee in Kabale we went onto Mbarara for an overnight stop.
Leaving Lake Bunyoni
We had one more treat on a drive towards Lake Mburo and a close encounter with a zebra.
Back in Kampala we completed our shopping for gifts to send home and our exploration of the various food choices available before the boys caught their flight home early on Saturday.
Tuesday 3 June 2014
Contrasts!
In the UK we are used to an easy lifestyle with a nice house, a reliable supply of electricity, gas and water and lots of labour saving devices. Here we miss the dishwasher, washing machine, freezer, microwave, coffee maker, television, our comfortable armchairs etc. We really miss the oven as we only have two calor gas rings here so that limits our cooking abilities. Most of these things are available in Kampala but at a price, which is usually higher than they would be in the UK. For a two year period on a volunteers allowance it is just not worthwhile.
But we are so lucky, we have been able to get a fridge, the furniture we need and most importantly a car! We have a volunteers allowance, which feels very small compared with a UK income, but is actually a good wage for Uganda, especially when you add on the rent for the apartment. We have savings available we can use for the extras, like the car and holidays and those expensive treats that are available in Kampala when you feel the need for them.
We sign when the electricity suddenly disappears, usually just when you need something to charge up, or when we get home to no water, but here in Kampala the supply is reliable when you compare it to more rural areas. One of the volunteers is based in an area where the electricity is only on for 7 hours out of every 24. His fridge is simply a sealed cupboard to keep out the cockroaches!
Compared with the lot of most Ugandan citizens we are very comfortable indeed. In the villages I visited I saw their way of life. Their huts look reasonably comfortable and cool in the heat of the day but there are none of the things we take for granted. Approximately 80% have access to a radio, either their own or a neighbours and generally listen to the local radio stations. Televisions are only available in bars in the nearest town, assuming there is power! Football is really popular, particularly the UK premier league and the champions league. In the winter the matches are screened between 11pm and 1am or even later but there is still a large following.
Most cooking is done using charcoal or wood burners. Our projects are teaching the construction of energy efficient stoves, made of mud at coffee table height with a fire in one side and two bowl shaped areas at the top to put the pans onto.
Water has to be fetched, if you're lucky from a borehole in the village, if you're not so lucky from the nearest river or stream, which can be several kilometres away. Whenever we are travelling we see so many people, generally children, walking along the road carrying large yellow jerrycans with water, either on bikes or on their heads. We've been quite shocked to find two villages who have been provided with boreholes but these have now broken and they are back to trekking miles to get water from a stream. This water is not clean so the incidence of illness rises in the village when this happens.
Work hours are 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever there is daylight. Today is a bank holiday but there are still lots of builders working on the new flats behind us and the road construction in front. Live in guards and maids can be on duty for 24/7, 365 days a year. The same is true in the villages where the ground needs digging (by hand using a long handled tool a bit like a large hoe), crops need weeding, animals need to be attended to, bee hives need looking after, fruits need harvesting etc. etc. Then there are children, often 6, 8 or more in a family, the sick and the elderly to look after, washing and cooking to do. There's no opening a tin of soup or putting some cheese on toast under the grill!
But everyone is so cheerful and friendly. They support each other and often farm collectively so they share the chores. They don't understand the concept of being alone, if you're on your own they will come and sit in the house so that you are not lonely. The welcome they have given to refugees coming over the border from South Sudan puts Europe and the US to shame.
Suddenly life seems very rosy. Even if we do get 'Muzungu, muzungu, hello' shouted after us wherever we go. Usually followed by 'Give me money!'. At least in Uganda with a simple 'no' or 'not today' you will be left alone, not true in other African countries I hear. Today I will really enjoy our trip out in the car and the coffee and cake we've promised ourselves as a treat and give thanks that I was born a UK citizen.
But we are so lucky, we have been able to get a fridge, the furniture we need and most importantly a car! We have a volunteers allowance, which feels very small compared with a UK income, but is actually a good wage for Uganda, especially when you add on the rent for the apartment. We have savings available we can use for the extras, like the car and holidays and those expensive treats that are available in Kampala when you feel the need for them.
We sign when the electricity suddenly disappears, usually just when you need something to charge up, or when we get home to no water, but here in Kampala the supply is reliable when you compare it to more rural areas. One of the volunteers is based in an area where the electricity is only on for 7 hours out of every 24. His fridge is simply a sealed cupboard to keep out the cockroaches!
Compared with the lot of most Ugandan citizens we are very comfortable indeed. In the villages I visited I saw their way of life. Their huts look reasonably comfortable and cool in the heat of the day but there are none of the things we take for granted. Approximately 80% have access to a radio, either their own or a neighbours and generally listen to the local radio stations. Televisions are only available in bars in the nearest town, assuming there is power! Football is really popular, particularly the UK premier league and the champions league. In the winter the matches are screened between 11pm and 1am or even later but there is still a large following.
Most cooking is done using charcoal or wood burners. Our projects are teaching the construction of energy efficient stoves, made of mud at coffee table height with a fire in one side and two bowl shaped areas at the top to put the pans onto.
Water has to be fetched, if you're lucky from a borehole in the village, if you're not so lucky from the nearest river or stream, which can be several kilometres away. Whenever we are travelling we see so many people, generally children, walking along the road carrying large yellow jerrycans with water, either on bikes or on their heads. We've been quite shocked to find two villages who have been provided with boreholes but these have now broken and they are back to trekking miles to get water from a stream. This water is not clean so the incidence of illness rises in the village when this happens.
Work hours are 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever there is daylight. Today is a bank holiday but there are still lots of builders working on the new flats behind us and the road construction in front. Live in guards and maids can be on duty for 24/7, 365 days a year. The same is true in the villages where the ground needs digging (by hand using a long handled tool a bit like a large hoe), crops need weeding, animals need to be attended to, bee hives need looking after, fruits need harvesting etc. etc. Then there are children, often 6, 8 or more in a family, the sick and the elderly to look after, washing and cooking to do. There's no opening a tin of soup or putting some cheese on toast under the grill!
But everyone is so cheerful and friendly. They support each other and often farm collectively so they share the chores. They don't understand the concept of being alone, if you're on your own they will come and sit in the house so that you are not lonely. The welcome they have given to refugees coming over the border from South Sudan puts Europe and the US to shame.
Suddenly life seems very rosy. Even if we do get 'Muzungu, muzungu, hello' shouted after us wherever we go. Usually followed by 'Give me money!'. At least in Uganda with a simple 'no' or 'not today' you will be left alone, not true in other African countries I hear. Today I will really enjoy our trip out in the car and the coffee and cake we've promised ourselves as a treat and give thanks that I was born a UK citizen.
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