Experience Sharing in Ethiopia and Kenya

In the last few weeks of my placement I was asked to travel to the offices of my placement organisation in Addis Ababa and Nairobi to share the experiences gained from the work I've been doing in Uganda. I've developed a good understanding of the work with the partner organisations and lots of training resources and templates that I am only too happy to share. Plus of course it was a wonderful opportunity to travel to two very different African countries and meet the staff teams there. 

I set off from Kampala to Entebbe on Sunday afternoon on my week long round trip. I was to spend 2 full days in each office with a travel day on the Wednesday in the middle. I must confess to being rather nervous with 3 flights and 2 new countries ahead of me. But I needn't have worried everything ran very smoothly with the airport pick up in place each time and hotel accommodation all sorted out. 

First stop was Addis Ababa arriving early evening on Sunday. The hotel shuttle met me in the arrivals hall and we drove right across the city as the office and hotel were on the opposite side from the airport. It was a brilliant introduction to Addis. The hotel was very nice with a comfortable room that reminded me of a travel lodge. Another bonus of Addis is that it is one of the highest capital cities in the world at 2,350 metres, so no mosquitoes, no insect repellent and no need to sleep under a mosquito net. After a good nights sleep and a good breakfast I was ready to meet the team. 

The office was only a short walk from the hotel but the area is under construction so I had to pick my way over the stones in much the same way as in Kampala. Traffic is not quite as crazy as Kampala as there are good wide roads and people are a little more patient. Everywhere you look there are blue taxis, both the larger minibus taxis and small saloon car taxis. 

View from the hotel window

The office team were very welcoming and we had two successful days sharing experiences and discussing the issues arising with the partners in the two offices. Several were similar but there were also different challenges. In Ethiopia the distances are huge compared with Uganda meaning that visits require a flight to the North. But in the south there are no flights so some partners are 2 travelling days away! 

On the first evening we went to Yod Abyssinia, which is a cultural centre with traditional food, music and dancing. Then on the second evening we went for dinner at the Taitu Hotel. The Taitu hotel is named after the empress Taitu, who established the first guesthouse in Addis in the 1890s. 

I've enjoyed discovering Ethiopian food at Fasika restaurant in Kampala but it was even better to be able to try the authentic version. I have to say I'm hooked and I was very disappointed to discover that there are so few Ethiopian restaurants in the UK and that most of them are in London. The food arrives on a large platter which is covered by an injera, a kind of savoury slightly sour pancake. The meat and sauces are served onto the injera and there are more injera around the edge of the platter. To eat you tear off a small portion of injera from in front of you and scoop up some meat and sauce in it. It makes a somewhat messy but very sociable meal. I let my colleagues order the selection of food as much of it is very spicy but we had two wonderful meals. 

On Wednesday morning I had some time before my afternoon flight so the office allowed me to use the vehicle and driver and we went to the Entoto mountain. This is where the first palace in the Addis area was built by the emperor Menelik II. The story goes that his wife, the empress Taitu, found the palace too cold and damp at 3000 metres so moved down into the valley, where the emperor eventually had to follow her, founding the modern day city of Addis Ababa. 

The view from the mountain over the city of Addis Ababa was quite spectacular.

Unfortunately my time in Addis was over far too soon and I had to return to the airport to fly onto Nairobi. 

I had another very successful and interesting visit to the Kenya office before flying back to Entebbe at lunchtime on Saturday. 

Overall a wonderful opportunity, which I hope the country teams found as interesting and as useful as I did. But I would definitely like to return to explore Ethiopia properly. 

Bye Bye Rowena

Last week we were very sad to have to say goodbye to our trusty RAV4, which has taken us around Uganda on so many adventures.

Glen has put a lot of time and effort into keeping her maintained and fixing the numerous things that were wrong when we bought her. However, any hope of increasing the value has been lost in the depreciation of the Uganda Shilling over the past few months. Most importantly she has gone to a good home with another VSO volunteer in the north. No doubt she will have many more adventures to come.

We started the transfer process early and with good reason. Sorting out paperwork here can be tricky and selling the car has proved that to be true. But after 10 days we think we're nearly there and we still have just over 2 weeks to finalise everything.

Looking back we made the right decision to buy a car for the 2 years we've been in Uganda. It has dramatically improved our ability to travel both in and outside Kampala. We've been able to go out around Kampala in the evenings and at weekends without having to worry about how we're going to get back late at night. We've also had some wonderful holidays travelling the length and breadth of Uganda.

A Night Game Drive

With a sale hopefully agreed for our RAV4, we decided to have a final weekend away to Lake Mburo National Park. We went there last September to use our park passes for the first time so it seems fitting to have travelled there to use our park passes for the last time.

Lake Mburo Park is one of only 2 places in Uganda to see Zebra, the other one is Kidepo right up in the North Eastern corner.

It's a beautiful park on a smaller scale than Queen Elizabeth or Murchison Falls. We left early on Saturday morning to get to the park for lunch so we had a full 24 hours there. It was incredibly dry as there hasn't been any rain for 3 months! Rain was expected and hoped for at any time and while we were there it did feel like it would rain and there were a few drops.

After lunch we drove into the park with the aim of finding our way to the Kazuma Lookout viewpoint. This is on the south side of the park and gives a wonderful view over the plains stretching towards Tanzania and the 5 lakes along the southern edge of the park.

But en route we saw lots of zebra, impala, warthogs and a few buffalo.

A particularly grumpy impala!

We found the road to the lookout and headed up. And it was up, nearly a 1:2 we thought. Our little RAV struggled a bit on the stony surface but made it safely to the top. We were rewarded with a fabulous panorama over the plains and the lakes. 

The road to the viewpoint - before the steep bit!

We stayed in Rwakobo Rock again and had a lovely banda with a fantastic view across the park. After an early dinner we headed off on the highlight of our trip, a night-time game drive in the park. The Lake Mburo park is one of the few where you can take a night game drive. We decided not to drive ourselves but hired a land rover with a pop up roof and driver from Rwakobo Rock. We also had a UWA guide and a very large powerful spotlight.

We were barely into the park before we saw a spotted hyena on the road ahead. During our 2.5 hour drive we covered most of the park and saw several animals you only see at night, bush-babies with their big eyes glowing in the spotlight, a white tailed mongoose and a marsh mongoose, but sadly not a leopard. It was a beautiful clear night with a full moon so we could see quite clearly. There were many more buffalo around at night and at one point we had to follow a herd as it made its way slowly along the road. All in all a fabulous experience we'll remember for a long time.

Sunday morning was just a lovely quiet lazy morning followed by a good lunch and the drive back to Kampala.

Glen in the restaurant at Rwakobo Rock with the lovely views out over the park.

'I need to go to Acacia Mall!'

It's 5.45 on a Friday evening and I'm having dinner with a volunteer who is about to leave Uganda. The restaurant we've chosen is on the other side of Kampala in the new Acacia Mall and traffic on a Friday night is always very heavy. Glen is not joining me this time so the best means of transport is a boda. The advantage of a motorbike is that they can weave through the traffic to get you there much more quickly than in a car.

I don't use bodas very often at the moment as we have the car so there is no need. But luckily my placement organisation has some boda drivers that they use for work journeys so at least I have a couple of contacts I know are safe and reliable. After a couple of calls Sula arrives more or less at the agreed time. I climb on hanging onto the bag with my wrap in for later in the evening.

The journey across town to Acacia Mall is one of the longest I've taken on a boda. But it's a warm evening and pleasant to be outside rather than inside a car. We head around the back way through the industrial area, avoiding the worst of the pot holes, the cars that just pull out and the other bodas. The many speed bumps are always a little unsettling but unavoidable.

Soon we're into the traffic as we approach the double railway crossing and the lights that control the Jinja Road junction. Sure enough there is plenty of Friday night traffic.

There is always plenty of interest when travelling around Kampala in watching the antics of the drivers. No one has any patience so they overtake or undertake to get to the front of the queue. Then the traffic trying to get out of the junction is 4 or 5 vehicles wide so nothing can turn in. All of the vehicles then push their way across the left hand lane to join the queue going right so nothing can move at all. If that happens at several junctions then the whole thing comes to a complete standstill as no one can go anywhere! The traffic police try to control the traffic at key junctions at busy times but it's a thankless task.

Bodas are fairly immune to all of this as they can just go around. We've seen bodas going the wrong way up a road or even the wrong way around a roundabout! Sula feels safer than most so we move up around the queue but without taking any risks. Soon we are stuck waiting for the lights to change so that we can move.

But it's not long before we're out of the traffic turning off the Jinja road to use a back way to get to the Mall.

I'm very pleased to arrive safely and get off the boda. I never feel very comfortable on a boda so various muscles ache from holding on tight! But we still have the car so Glen is travelling across town to meet me after dinner so at least there is no return boda ride at the end of the evening.

We have a lovely meal and a good chat. We arrived on the same flight and now I'm the last one to leave, with just a month to go.

A Final Visit to Murchison Falls

One of our favourite places to visit in Uganda over the past 2 years has been the Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) Since we bought the annual pass for the parks last September we have been able to get into all of the parks as often as we like. Overall we've visited the MFNP 5 times, with what will almost certainly be our final visit last weekend.

MFNP has everything. A spectacular waterfall, the river Nile, interesting wildlife, both in the park and by the river, and a favourite place to stay at the Red Chilli camp.

The Murchison Falls waterfall is very narrow and therefore very fast flowing with the Nile squeezing through a narrow gorge 7m wide and plummeting down a 43m drop. The water level was very high when we visited this time making it even more spectacular.

The river Nile cuts through the Park with the north bank the place to see the animals and the south bank largely forested. The way across the river is the slightly dodgy Paraa Ferry. However, all was well in both directions and we arrived safely across the river. We rewarded ourselves with a chicken and pineapple salad by the pool at the smart Paraa Lodge on the north bank.

As usual we found plenty of animals to watch and photograph in the savannah area on the northern bank of the Nile. We have never been disappointed with the wildlife viewing in the Murchison Falls Park.

View of Lake Albert 

At the edge of the park we found a large single elephant blocking the road. We just had to bide our time until he decided to wander off!

On the way back through the park we stopped for the night at the Red Chilli camp on the south bank. We always love sitting in their banda over dinner watching the sun set over the Nile and lights coming on in the Paraa Lodge just on the other side of the river.

In the morning we watched some cheeky baboons climbing up on the safari tents!

Sad Goodbyes and Tree Planting

With just over 6 weeks to go I've started visiting places for the last time. In the last 3 weeks I've made what will probably be a final visit to Gulu, a first and last visit to Kitgum and a final visit to West Nile. Each final visit involves a whole lot of goodbyes to people I've worked with over the past 2 years. I going to miss all of the lovely friendly welcoming people I've met during my time here.

We both went to West Nile last week and were very honoured to be invited to plant a tree each in the College grounds. These will provide shade for classes held outside or for cars parked once they've grown. I planted a mango tree and Glen a nut tree. Glen was much more expert at the whole operation than I was!

The Kitgum trip was for a meeting of the Land Platform and was very interesting with a theme of agriculture and land. In the evening we checked out the bars in Kitgum meeting up with a Kitgum based volunteer and various attendees from the Platform.

From Kitgum we drove back south for an hour and a half over another bumpy murram to reach Gulu.

I've developed a days training on organisational level budgets, core cost budgets and cost recovery methods, including a long case study to work through bit by bit which finishes with a role play of a meeting with a funder. I've added another half day including a more complex example of a grant reconciliation to make a final one and a half day training programme to be delivered 3 times in different places. This time I'm training all of the partner organisations from the three programmes.

I delivered the first set in early August in Gulu for the organisations based in and around Gulu. It went very well, although I'll do some tweaks before I do the next set in Kampala at the end of the month. We invited all of the participants, both resident and non residents to stay at the hotel for supper after the first day and I ran a short quiz. This went very well with lots of laughter and jokes. The prize was a large pot of chocolate, which always ensures active participation!!

While in West Nile we finally managed to visit the fantastic fabric market in Arua that all of the volunteers have recommended. We bought 3 long lengths of cloth to make a skirt or two for me and to take home to use in our house in Poppleton.

Shops in Arua

Yorkshire Day

Yesterday (1st August) was Yorkshire Day and we found ourselves thinking back to our life in York and looking forward to going home. I posted a blog 2 years ago about cycling along the river bank and listening to the steam trains. In the evening we went to a pub in the Morris Minor and sat in the garden on a lovely warm evening.

I was also thinking about travelling to Uganda in 2 months time and the wonderful opportunity to live and work here. We are now into our final 2 months here and can look back on an enjoyable and successful placement. We've also had lots of opportunities to sit outside on warm evenings.

This week has seen a flurry of activity as British Airways suspended their flights from Heathrow to Entebbe after 2nd October. They have reviewed their flights and closed uneconomic routes of which Entebbe is one. This means that there will be no direct flights from the UK to Uganda. It has always been good to know that we can be home in 9 hours if we need to.

Unfortunately we were booked on the flight leaving Entebbe on 17th October. Glen moved his flight back and after discussions with my placement I've done the same. So our thoughts are now moving to closing down, finishing work and packing up.

View over Kampala

View of York