Can I publish photos on this blog?

Hoping this text will accompany some photos of us doing the washing - if not the internet connection is too slow to do photos properly - it is a voyage of discovery!!

!st week at Kamwenge

We have now been for one week in Kamwenge and have started to settle in. Most of this week seems to have been about meeting all the important people in the district and building up relationships. The workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday were very useful in giving us an insight into the issues faced in schools. One interesting possibility for the health part of our work is a link up between the agricultural advisory group and schools to promote the growing of fruit and veg in school grounds. This allows pupils to learn how to grow in a better way, gives the opportunity to teach about nutrition and enables surplus food to be given to the poorest children.

On Friday we went to a wedding introduction, which is a traditional African ceremony where the boy is introduced to the bride's-to-be family in a long ceremony. We got there at 2 and it was still going when we left at 7.30pm. The funniest bit is where lots of different aged children, then teenage girls then older girls are paraded in front of the boy and he has to pick out his wife-to-be. All of the rest of the girls are given a small gift.

We also ate with our hands - the local way - for the first time. Halfway through there was a massive thunderstorm, but we were in the tent for honoured guests so managed to keep quite dry.

Today we did our washing by hand. Sabrina washed and I rinsed - it was really hard work. It was not helped by putting too much washing powder in the water so we had to rinse twice as much as is usual. Value your washing machine!

The weather is generally around 25-27 degrees every day so were pleased to see that it was 16 deg in Chelmsford!

1st day at work

We went into the district offices today to meet with our new colleagues. We were introduced to all the education and health officials together with the local politicians who are responsible for health and education. We then had a meeting with our colleagues from Link Community Development to discuss their action plan. There is lots to do in terms of school improvement and we need to be very focussed. Resources are very scarce and we need to ensure that we make the most effective use of the little money that we have. Tomorrow we will be attending a workshop for all the non-governmental organisations working in the district where we will be able to see if any of them can help us with our work.

Our accomodation is basic but comfortable. There is electricity through a generator which is on from approximately 7 in the evening until about 11, so we can use the laptop then. We have also been given a mobile modem which plugs into the laptop and allows us to access the internet at any time we have a charged laptop - which is how I am typing this update. For a person of my technical expertise, it is amazing to just access the internet sitting on the verandah of our house. The generator is also used by the hotel next door and so during premiership games it is on until the games finish - 12 midnight for mid week games. We are looking forward to lots of power during the Euro semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday!

We have tried to make our accomodation as homely as possible and have got lots of family pictures on the wall. It is lovely to see all the wonderful times we have had, but also sometimes makes us a little homesick. We are looking forward to getting on with the job of improving children's learning and getting into schools, when the new term starts at the end of this month.

1st Day of induction training

We arrived in Kampala this morning following a very smooth flight and taxi ride from Heathrow. We are staying at a very nice guesthouse, the Shalom, next to the VSO office. We slept in the morning and, feeling refreshed, had an afternoon of induction training with VSO staff. This involved admin - subsistence, ID and Household -, a health briefing, and security advice. We were introduced to all the programme staff and will be back tomorrow for the next sessions.

The VSO staff were all very welcoming and had even put our photos up on the board in reception. The weather is hot and sunny although there are some threatening rain clouds gathering in the distance as it is the start of the wet season.

There were also 5 motor bikes in the courtyard - brand new and ready to be written - we didn't like to ask if they were for us!

last day at home

All the farewell parties are finished, the bags are packed, the garden is low-maintenance and we've started taking the anti-malarials. We leave for the airport in 3 hours and are really looking forward to getting on the plane and starting. Next post from Uganda!

Get on your bike! - motorbike training

Sabrina and I started our motorbike training on Saturday and finished the third day today. Only two more days to go. Saturday was a crisp, clear, bright and sunny day and we spent the whole day going around cones in the Civic Centre staff car park in Southend. Sunday was a bit overcast and we went out on the road at 2.30pm to complete the basic training. It started raining and we had to do emergency stops and turning in the road on the front at Thorpe Bay in rain and with a strong wind coming off the sea. This went on for about 2 1/2 hours and was really exhausting. By the time we got home at after 6 we were nearly too tired to even cook a meal and crashed into bed very early.
We were not really looking forward to today very much but actually it was very good. It was very mild - the warmest day of the year so far. The driving was much more relaxed as there was no testing to be done - just more familiarisation. We got used to our instructor, Richard, and he took us to a brilliant Italian cafe for lunch, where we had home made cannelloni with ricotta and spinach inside. We drove all round Southend from Shoeburyness at one end to Leigh at the other. Unfortunately we had to concentrate so hard on mirror - signal - lifesaver - move (don't ask) that we couldn't take in the views.
Heard from Natasha at VSO that we were OK for an end of April start and that flight tickets would be ordered by Margaret English. Soon be in Kamwenge.

Well we did the SKWIDS course at Harborne Hall last week - 5 days of intensive work, although not quite as intensive as the prepare to volunteer course. The trainers were all very good and kept things moving along and the rest of the participants were all great fun. The trainers remarked that it was a group with a lot of overseas experience - more than they ever remember training. There was lots of role play and some very long sessions on facilitating participative workshops - slipping into the jargon too easily.
No-one else was going to Uganda, although there was one going to Kenya - near Mombasa - and three to Zambia. Cambodia was also very popular. After 5 days of 9 to 9 work and some sessions down the Bell - the local pub - you build up some very good relationships and we all vowed to keep in touch as much as we can given the nature of the places we are going. Kevin was the only one who was on the P2V course and he was off to Ethiopia yesterday with Tyrone.
We both feel that we have moved on a lot in terms of our impact in Uganda and are both eager to get out there. But first the motorbike training in 2 weeks time - ordered some gloves today and the helmet is getting easier to put on each time.
Spoke about what we are doing at church this morning and got lots of positive feedback for everyone. All good so far :-)