Communication

It's always interesting comparing the use of English in different places. In Uganda it is a second language for virtually everyone but it is also the main common language. There are around 50 local languages divided into 2 main groups, the Bantu languages south of the Nile and the Nilotic languages north of the Nile. There are similarities between different languages within the same group so that people can at least understand some of what is said. However, after crossing the Nile my colleagues from the south are as lost as I am with the local languages. We all rely on English to communicate.

All children learn English from a very young age and are taught in English from the fourth year of primary school. How would we cope if we had to learn Geography and History in French? Swahili is widely spoken in Kenya and Tanzania but is not widely spoken in Uganda. It is now the second official language but it is only very recently that learning Swahili has been introduced into schools. The result is that if you don't speak the local language for the area where you are, then you are more likely to be understood in English than any other language.

For a native English speaker there are some interesting differences between the English from home and the English in Uganda. I find I use too many words and confuse people. There was an interesting example of this last week. I asked our Office Administrator if she had managed to arrange for the driver to take me to one of our partner organisations the next day. My reply would have been:
'No I'm sorry, I've tried but he's not answering his phone at the moment' Hers was:
'He's not picking'
No wonder people don't understand me! After the first 4 words I've lost them!

Later in the week I travelled with the driver to the organisation and we were talking about these language differences while stuck in the ubiquitous Kampala traffic jam. He said that he concentrated on the first and last word and tried to guess what was in the middle! I find I can make myself understood face to face but on the phone is much more difficult, although it is much easier now than when I first arrived. It just proves how much we rely on non verbal signals to know whether or not we have been understood and then adapt what we are saying based on these. When the non verbal signals aren't there, as with a phone conversation, then communication is much harder.

There are also many differences in the use of words:

'Picking' is a fairly universal term used for collecting someone or something or answering a phone. I frequently see adverts for University courses encouraging candidates to 'pick' an application form from the office.
'You are lost' means I haven't seen you for a while
'Taxi' is a Matatu (a Swahili word adopted by the Muzungus to differentiate from a 'Special Hire')
'We go' is a useful term for a boda boda either with or without a question mark!

But then York also has it's fair share of unusual word usage:
'Gate' means road, as in Micklegate or Goodramgate and
'Bar' means gate as in Micklegate bar or Monk bar

Overall I've learnt to slow down and simplify my sentences. After all I don't speak a second language as well as most Ugandans speak English and I don't speak a third language at all. In Uganda it is normal to speak around 3 languages nearly fluently!

Bela bulungi (or good day in Lugandan, which is the local language in the Kampala area)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been a really hectic few weeks! I've spent the last 4 weeks travelling to Lira and Gulu. I've been home to Kampala at the weekends but sometimes only for a day. I've also had to work some weekends to get everything ready for the week ahead. Hopefully now things will calm down a bit as I have the next 3 weeks in Kampala.

3 weeks ago we had a Partner Workshop in Lira for representatives from all of our partner organisations. The Programme Officer facilitated sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, allowing the organisations to showcase their work over the grant period, discussing issues around reporting and looking at gender main streaming, both within the organisations and within the programmes.

I took over on Wednesday for a Finance day, aimed at both the finance people and the programme people. We had a very busy interactive day focussing mainly on reconciliations (led by the Finance teams) and coding (led by the Programme teams). I had prepared two case studies, based on experiences at various partner organisations, which everyone tackled with enthusiasm and then we had a lengthy discussion about some of the challenges in coding up expenditure. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and productive day, which I hope I will see put into practice as I travel around to the various partner organisations. I was very pleased when the group agreed a 5/5 score for both of the main sessions of the day during the evaluation at the end.

Break Tea at the Partner Workshop

In Uganda it is common practice to intersperse the day with Energisers, run every time the energy levels drop during the day. We had a designated participant to lead the Energisers so after lunch the whole group could be seen jumping around the room to a well known (by everyone except me) Ugandan action nursery rhyme. That was a first during finance training! I wish I had a picture but I too busy laughing and trying to join in!

So back to Kampala leaving at 7.30am on Friday to get into the office for a couple of hours before the end of the day. Then we found out that we needed to leave again on Sunday afternoon in order to take someone else to Soroti for a Monday morning meeting. So Saturday was a rush of washing and shopping.

It was interesting to head eastwards on Sunday afternoon along the Jinja road then to Mbale and Soroti. It made a nice change from the well driven route north via Karuma.

Crossing the Nile at Jinja over the Owen Falls Dam opened in 1954 by Queen Elizabeth

Mbale late afternoon on Sunday - note the interesting road surface at a major roundabout on the entrance to the town and the foothills around Mount Eldon in the background.

On Monday I had the use of the car and driver to get across to Lira, about an hour and a half on a good road. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and I wasn't expected at the organisation's office until Tuesday morning so I settled myself in the hotel garden with my laptop and a cup of coffee to catch up with some e mails and reports. The hotel had even thoughtfully provided electrical sockets in the trees so that laptops could be recharged! I was working, honest!

The rest of the week was spent working with the partner organisation to review their systems and the expenditure charged to the grant. We worked on reconciling from the cashbook to the monitoring information, putting into practice the skills developed at the workshop the previous week.

The weekend back in Kampala was only the second where I didn't have to do any work or travel for 5 weeks. We made good use of it having Facetime and Skype conversations with family and friends, catching up with e mails and sorting out the date for the quarterly Volunteer meeting for the Kampala volunteers. As well as the inevitable washing, ironing and food shopping. On Saturday lunchtime we went to the delicatessen at Quality Hill and bought pate, goats cheese and a French style bagette and had a lovely, if expensive, French style picnic lunch on the balcony!

Saturday night saw a group of about 12 of us gathering at a volunteer's apartment overlooking lake Victoria for an Indian curry. Later in the evening the guitars came out and were passed around and we spent a very happy 3 hours or so sat on the roof terrace (as usual it was a lovely warm evening and we only needed summer clothes to sit out even at midnight) singing all the old songs - American Pie, California Dreaming, Always look on the Bright Side of Life etc. etc. We didn't get home until 1.30 so felt a bit jaded on Sunday!

Bright and early on Monday morning I was back in the office trying to tie up the paperwork from the previous week and plan for the week ahead. We were a bit late leaving so didn't arrive in Gulu until 8.30pm. Both my placement organisation and VSO have policies that we don't travel after dark if it can be avoided except on the Kampala to Entebbe road. As we dodged the potholes, full beam headlights coming straight at us and disappearing bikes and pedestrians on the final section of road I could see why. Luckily we arrived safely at the hotel.

I must stop trying to fit 2 days work into each day, especially when I'm at a partner organisation. It's not doing my stress levels any good! The problem is that with two day's travelling in a week when we visit partners there is always so much to try and fit in while we are there! Anyway I saw 2 partner organisations in Gulu and my colleague visited 3! I left them both with spreadsheets to complete and workplans for the next few weeks until I can visit again. I left myself with half written visit reports to complete and send and promises to review work forwarded to me. I'm not sure where I'm going to fit it all in as I'm visiting 2 more organisations in Kampala this week! So much for being 'only' a volunteer!

Driving back into Kampala from the north.

We spent the day yesterday showing a new volunteer around Kampala and introducing her to some of the other volunteers over pizzas in the evening. Today is a catch up day with a trip to a bar to view the sunset over Kampala this evening. Hence the title of this post - Busy, Busy, Busy!

So, What is it Really Like?

I've now been here 10 months, yes really! Sometimes the time passes very quickly and other times it seems to go very slowly.

Day to Day Living
We've been very lucky and have been given a lovely flat in a pleasant area of Kampala. I've always wanted to have a view and here we've got the most amazing view out over Kampala. We enjoy sitting out in the evening watching the sunset, with a G&T of course!

We have a 2 ring calor gas stove for cooking and bought ourselves a fridge. All types of food are readily available in Kampala, but imported foods are very expensive. Eating out is cheap by UK standards but still makes a significant hole in the volunteer's living allowance I get from VSO. The allowance is equivalent to a reasonable local wage and the accommodation is provided on top. But it doesn't go very far and most volunteers supplement their income with savings or pensions etc. It certainly wouldn't be possible to run a car or go on holidays without extra funds.

Power cuts are a part of the experience, as is living without the appliances we are used to at home, such as a dishwasher, washing machine, microwave, oven etc. We have a small freezing compartment in the fridge but with the frequent power cuts we don't cook extra portions and freeze the left overs as we would at home.

Most people agree that it is easier to live without power than without water! We are lucky and have a large tank that is just for our apartment so when the water goes off we can survive several days especially if we are careful. It's amazing how much we rely on running water and it's only when it's taken away that you really appreciate it.

We know we are very lucky and many volunteers, especially those that live in remote rural areas, have a much more difficult experience with day to day living than we do. In some places water is more off than on, power is only available for 7 hours a day, there is very little privacy and no opportunities to go to a supermarket or meet up with other volunteers for a meal out.

Work
I'm in Uganda as an accountant to share my skills and experience, particularly with small, local organisations. Again I'm very lucky and have a very supportive placement where I feel I can make a real contribution. I'm very busy and often work at the weekend preparing for the following week. It can be very frustrating when you go into work with a deadline to finish a piece of work and the power goes off or the internet won't work!

I also get to travel all over Uganda working with local organisations in places like Gulu, Lira and Soroti. This gives me an opportunity to see different parts of the country, meet lots of people, understand different issues in the various areas and meet up with other volunteers who are based away from Kampala.

I enjoy the work and it's great when someone finally understands how to do a bank reconciliation, or I go out to meet people in a village who have been given a water pump and they can grow vegetables even during the dry season. It's amazing to see the outcomes that can be achieved for relatively little input from funders. Although the work I do is not directly benefiting the villages I know that the funding would cease to be available if the funders couldn't see where their money was going and how it was being spent.

And where in the UK do you have a commute to work where there is a better than 50% chance of seeing an elephant!

Weather
Well what can I say! With the lovely summer in the UK before we came out to Uganda I haven't worn winter clothes for about 15 months! It's the 'cold' season here at the moment but that just means it's a very pleasant temperature. I never tire of the outdoor lifestyle where you can eat outside for breakfast, lunch and dinner all year around.

Family and Friends
I think the hardest part is being over 4000 miles away from our family and friends in the UK. It is especially hard when there are special events such as the weekend the Tour de France came to Yorkshire, our son being the best man at a friend's wedding and birthdays. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a transporter to just go home for the weekend!

But we all go through the same emotions and the VSO volunteers become your new family. You help each other through the hard times and celebrate the good times together. It feels very empty in Kampala at the moment as so many people have gone home recently, but we now have friends all over the UK and the world and will meet up again.

High Days and Holidays
The hidden bonus of a VSO placement! There are lots of interesting day trips such as the wildlife park or botanical gardens at Entebbe, the equator, the source of the Nile at Jinja, tropical forest reserves and the Mabamba swamp where we went last Sunday. At least 2 of the National Parks are within reach for a long weekend and there are many more parks, waterfalls, mountains and lakes within the boundaries of Uganda for a longer break. There is no shortage of wildlife and we have already seen most of the big 8, elephants, buffalo, lions, giraffe, hippos and zebra plus rhino in the wildlife park as they are locally extinct in Uganda. We love the warthogs with their endearing habit of trotting away with tails in the air and the strange but also endearing shoebill.

Then there is the rest of Africa! Uganda borders Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya and there are flights from Entebbe to lots of interesting places. Now we both have our visas in order and the car registration documents sorted the whole of Africa is there to be explored.

So overall, despite occasional wobbles and busy patches when I can't seem to escape from work, I'm glad we decided to do something different and worthwhile and I'm sure when we get back to the normal routine of UK life we will look back very fondly on our time in Uganda.