Volunteer support

Dorota's farewell party with volunteers and friends in Kamwenge

For those of you who may have wondered about the repeated jumble of photos last week - the group around the table were not animals in Lake Mburu National Park but our family in Pinner!!
One of the great things about being a volunteer in Uganda is meeting other volunteers. In the 14 months that we have been here (is it really that long?) we have met some truly amazing people. We have many volunteer friends in Kampala and other large towns, but the ones that make a huge difference to our lives on a daily basis are those few in Kamwenge.
When we first came here we were the only volunteers in this District. Within a few weeks we were joined by Dorota, a delightful Polish girl who had spent many years in Spain and was volunteering with a Spanish organisation called Africa Directo. Dorota’s organisation are building a much needed health centre in Kamwenge and her job was co-ordinating the project. Dorota quickly became a good friend and we shared scarce books and enjoyed many an evening drinking Nile beer and chatting. Sarah and Stuart came here from Canada just before Christmas and Rakel joined Dorota from Spain in January. Suddenly we were six and have been able to support each other, far from home, and also have fun together. Sarah and Stuart are a young Christian couple and have really made a difference to our lives at our local church.
Sadly Dorota’s time in Kamwenge came to an end in late May and she has now returned to Spain. We really miss her. Although Rakel, Sarah and Stuart will be leaving in August, we are fortunate that Goiko, a guy from Spain who has been a volunteer in Malawi for 2½ years, is coming to Kamwenge to move the health centre project on to its next phase. All of these (much younger than us) people have taught us so much and have made being a volunteer in remote Kamwege much more fun.

Long overdue update

Lake Mburo boat trip






Impala in Lake Mburohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Sorry about the double pictures but decided we have better things to do than work out how to get rid of them!!!!

There has been a rather large gap between blog entries for many reasons, the main one being that Sabrina has been at home for 4 weeks and Geoff has been doing all his usual work, plus all the other jobs on his own that are usually shared.
Most of May was school holiday here, so we took the opportunity to visit other volunteer friends and do some sightseeing. We visited Lake Mburo National Park which is a small but delightful park and the only accesible location in Uganda where Zebra are found. As well as hippos and waterbucks, there are 315 species of birds. It is the best place in the country to see the ‘Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird’ so called because it has a bare face and the noise it makes sounds like it is saying ‘go away’!!! Although quite how it managed to speak English when the locals speak Ankole is a mystery? Lake Mburo is also the only reserve in the country to support a population of Impala, an antelope for which Kampala is named.
Sabrina had a wonderful time at home visiting family and friends and managed to catch some very good weather as well.
Geoff held more ‘Guidance not Violence’ workshops, which give teachers ideas of how to manage behaviour without resorting to corporal punishment. He also has prepared a 2 day training manual on numeracy for early years teachers, which he will trial with a small group of friendly teachers an make any necessary adjustments so it can be rolled out across other districts.
Kamwenge, like England and the rest of Africa, is currently in the grip of world cup fever. All the bars have big crowds, although sometimes support can be esoteric. The other day Geoff met a local supporting Japan instead of their African opponents because he owned a Japanese car! Anyway the cross of St George is hung in the bar next door for England games and Geoff has managed to gather a small goup of Ugandan England supporters around him who cheer England on – with more success in the future we hope.