After opening a Ugandan bank account in Fort Portal the other day, we stopped off on the way home for a soda at a crater lake. It is steep-sided with a jetty and is really quiet and beautiful. We will be staying in a lodge near there for Sabrina's birthday at the end of May.

Washing in Kamwenge

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Yes!! done it at last!!

The Englishman abroad!!

Just note that the panama is fairtrade

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!