Going Home

After being in Kamwenge for almost 20 months, we are preparing to finish our placement here. We are leaving slightly early as we work in schools and the academic year finishes at the end of November. There is then a long break before the new term begins well into February.
It is difficult packing up and saying good bye. Although at times it has been very tough here, we have also had lots of fun and feel very privileged to have been able to share in so many people’s lives.
Lookng back over our work here and writing our final reports, we realise that we have achieved more than we sometimes thought at the time. Progress can be frustratingly slow and life is tough here. It is difficult to have an impact on health and hygiene when parents know from experience that several of their children will die from malaria and where life expectancy is very low. However, small changes do make a difference and, as education improves, so will health.
We will miss
· Smiling children shouting Muzungu.
· Always being greeted warmly.
· Riding our motorbike anywhere we want without bothering with helmets or protective clothes.
· Fresh pineapple every day
· Delicious fruits and vegetables in the market
· Warm weather
· The disabled children with whom we have worked in the special needs unit.
· The ingenious way in which problems can be overcome, eg when there was no fuel in Kamwenge, a phone call resulted in 2 jerry cans being delivered 2 hours later.
· Good Ugandan friends we have made
· The amazing volunteer colleagues from all over the world who have a wide range of skills and knowledge

We will NOT miss
· The rocky, muddy, potholed, mostly non-existent roads.
· Mosquitoes and having to sleep under a net
· The staple diet of matoke, a type of banana, at every meal
· Showering in a bowl with a cup
· Frequent power cuts and water shortages
· Slow internet access

We have both struggled with the Ugandan attitude towards children. In the developed world, we are used to children’s needs being a high priority. Here things are different. Children are used as workers from a very young age. As soon as they can walk they are expected to fetch water and gather firewood every day. During the planting and harvesting season, they are sent out into the fields for long hours. They are often kept home from school when there is work to be done and are frequently beaten with sticks. We have repeatedly challenged teachers on the use of sticks in schools and although many headteachers want their school to be more child friendly, attitudes are slow to change. Many children, especially girls drop out of school very early due to pregnancy and marriage, and child mortality is very high. Due to the devastating affect of HIV/AIDS, many children are orphans and live in ‘child headed families’. Their main priority is finding enough food for themselves and their brothers and sisters.

There are, however, lots of people here, both Ugandan and visitors, who are working hard in difficult circumstances to improve the lives of local people and it is these interventions that give us hope for the future.

Car Fun

At the end of October, we went on a trip to Bushenyi with our colleague Edith, to visit her mum. We had cancelled several times due to petrol shortages, so were very excited when we eventually set off with Edith in her car. In true Ugandan style, we were late leaving Kamwenge and then had to stop on the way to go to the bank and to pick up supplies. As darkness fell Edith said the quickest way to get there was to drive through a swamp near to her home. We felt confident in her car and on the mud road until she mentioned that she had been stuck in a particular part of the swamp before; no sooner had she said that than we ground to a halt surrounded by water!! It was pitch black by this time and we could see nothing but stars. Fortunately Edith was able to call a neighbour on her phone and eventually 9 men with hoes and pangas arrived and tried to dig us out. Four hours later the car was free and we were able to continue to her home.

We had a lovely weekend visiting Kitagata hot springs, meeting her neighbours and enjoying Ugandan hospitality, although the car also had a puncture and the bumper almost fell off on the way home.


In Uganda, everyone comes to help when you break down!


Walking to the hot springs - the river had overflowed after heavy rains!

Sabrina’s brother and sister-in-law, Adrian and Grace, together with their son Owen, then arrived in Kamwenge, having had a whistle stop tour around Uganda first. It was lovely to show them Kamwenge and they visited some of our schools, met our neighbours and fell in love with our muddy, rocky, and occasionally ‘virtual’ roads!!! The 5 of us set off to Masindi where we visited our friend Bollus and then continued to Murchison National Park, where they treated us to a stay at a luxurious safari lodge as well as a trip to the Falls and a game drive before they went home.


The only way to see the animals - although Geoff fell off when the vehicle reached a 45 deg angle!


3 elephants, 3 giraffes and the Nile

This blog update would not be complete without commenting about our electricity - or lack of! Kamwenge will be the proud possessor of a new hydro-electric power plant in early 2011, but in order to connect it to the existing grid, the power has been switched off between 9 am and 7 pm every day except Sunday for the last 6 weeks - and sometimes they forget to put it on again at night! Even though the workmen seem to finish work by 3 pm every day. Still as one of our guides said – 'T I A' – This is Africa.