Uganda Volunteer Journals

This is my first entry, I’m not quite sure how to start this so I’ll just giver.
It has been kind of stressful preparing for this trip just because of everything else that has gone on like finishing up my school work, my high school graduation, and preparing for University.  I’m finally done getting everything ready and now all I need to look over what i’ve packed. Tha GVN and The Real Uganda have been such a help to me, I probably would have gone insane if it wasn’t for their help. I’m trying to spend as much time as I can with my friends and [...]

While I have approximately three months before departure for Ethiopia I have a lot more planning to do.  There’s the money for my room and board to be paid, air flights to be purchased, a trip to see if all my shots are up-to-date to be made, insurance to be purchased and paperwork to go to GVN to assure my trip is in order (ah, I forgot the police report.)  So, as you see, it takes some effort to put all these things in order.  No worry, I will and in the time allotted for them.
I’ve already purchased cards, some [...]

So school this past week has been absolutely awesome!  I played tic-tac-toe with my P1 class!  I divided the class into 2 groups (X and O) and I had a list of questions.  If they got the question right, they could put their mark on the # that I put on the blackboard.  The first 2 games they weren’t quite sure about what was going on or how to play it.  By the 3rd game, they got into it, and started blocking the other team and by the 4th and 5th game they were yelling and cheering and trash talking [...]

Oli otya??  How are you??  I am fine! 
(”Kikati” is pronounced chee-ka-tee and its an informal greeting and means hello.)
Things are great here in Uganda!  I am into my second week teaching and have revised some of my lesson planning but I pretty much planned the rest of my time here.  I actually am teaching for only 3 days this week and 3 days next week.  We generally don’t teach on Fridays because we go into Mukono for our Lugandan lessons.  And there is a national holiday this week and next week.  This week we have Martyr’s Day tomorrow.  There [...]

So the school session started yesterday and my fellow volunteer, Kira, and I went up to the school.  We spent the day observing, seeing what the children knew and what we could teach them.  I decided to take the kindergarten class and the P1 class.  The kindergarten class is split into 3 age groups.  Age 3, 4, and 5.  I was very surprised to learn that they start kindergarten at age 3!  The teacher for the kindergarten class I was working with (ages 4 and 5) is Sarah and she is a phenomenal teacher!  She gets the kids energized, she [...]

So it has been an even more crazy time than usual recently, thanks to the arrival of my intrepid parentals, and some serious holidaying. So, as always, the shortened version for those of you short on time or attention span…
I ran (though didn’t exactly conquer) a half marathon (more trail run than anything else!!) on 3 hrs sleep and 2 cereal bars for sustenance; met up with the parentals; went white-water rafting on the Nile; braved the Ugandan roads and Kampala traffic in our own rental car on the drive to Fort Portal (and learnt how to drive an automatic [...]

Well here I am in beautiful Uganda!  I still have trouble believing I am here sometimes…  It’s been almost a week now, and so far so good!  I am not crying for my mom, I am not screaming at every bug I see, and I am eating food that I would normally refuse back home!  I am all together very proud of myself.  :) 
I am working with an organization called Youth Focus Africa Foundation (YOFAFO).  So far I have visited 2 villages.  One of them is (believe it or not) called the Cockroach Village!  The Lugandan name of the village [...]

I can’t believe that in 48 hours, I will be boarding a flight to Amsterdam and then heading to Uganda!  I am so excited!
I feel like I still have a million things to do, when all I really need to do is laundry and finish packing… 
I finished training the person taking over my responsibilities at work, and I know she is going to do amazing.  I now have to make sure that things are ready for her when she steps in.  There is still so much to do!
I received word that I upon my arrival in Uganda, I will be staying [...]

(Actual sign seen at construction site next to the road – hope they were instructing the drivers to go slow, rather than the construction workers!)
Another week down, more adventures under my belt: I celebrated Cinco de Maya with our new Peace Corps volunteer, purely for the joy of having Mexican food and beer!; taught a class on family planning to a room full of mothers (better late than never, right?); had to put mosquito nets over my windows to stop a pair of birds from flying into my room and nesting in my cupboard (who loves duct-tape? I do!); took [...]

So it’s been a busy couple days out this end (in a nice contrast to recent weeks!)
The rundown of events: I ran a (brutal!) 10km race, went to visit some local orphanages, started coaching fitness to local kids, braved the Ugandan public transport system again to get to Mbarara, visited a UNHCR refugee camp at Nakivali, crossed the equator twice, briefly popped into Tanzania (and almost got arrested coming back into Uganda!), visited the Millennium Village project at Nakuyanda, and got abandoned by my roomie Tara, who moved to a new project in Kampala L
So for those of you who [...]

So things have been pottering along in their merry African village way here. Over the past week and a half, I managed to vote in the SA elections (special vote at the SA High Commission last week); our electricity and water got shut off; we ran out of gas and charcoal for cooking (charcoal cooking is a whole special experience I’ll get back to later!); taught a class to the guardians of orphans from one of the schools I do lessons at; ate some awesome Indian food; one of our volunteers had her wallet stolen in a pretty slick move [...]

Hey peepsJ
So I’m about to get to the halfway stage of being here, which is crazy in all kinds of ways!
Compared to all the excitement of our hike and trip out to Kisoro, it’s been a pretty quiet week! Schools are mostly writing exams, so our teaching load is pretty light right now and we’ve mainly been trying to set up some new programmes that’ll keep us busy for now and during the next few weeks of school hols (they last until 25 May, so it’s a whack of time that we’ve gotta keep ourselves entertained!) Apologies if this is [...]

So end of week 5 – time seems to be picking up pace here, and I’m already almost halfway through everything, which is totally crazy!
We went hiking this past weekend in the south-west of Uganda in a place called Kisoro, in the Mgahinga nature reserve (where a lot of people do gorilla tracking) – it’s on the border with both Rwanda and DRC. Because it was just so super-duper amazing, I haven’t even got as far as doing the usual summary, so if you don’t want to hear millions of superlatives and over-the-top adjectives about the hike, you may as [...]

I’ve just been accepted to teach English in the China Program for four months starting September and ending in December (2009).  I’m thrilled to have the position.  I’ve taught English once in Vietnam on a little island known as Cu La Cham and I loved it.  So, here I go again.  I’m going to start preparing myself by learning a little of the language of the people I’m going to be in contact with from day-to-day.  YEAH!  I’m on my way to China in September ………  Sami

Week 4:
 
Hi all J So here I am almost at the end of my first month. In some ways, time has absolutely flown. But on the other hand, I’ve been so aware of every day, that it seems like I’ve been here so much longer (doesn’t everyone always say that!
It also feels like it’s been a crazy busy week so this may be a long one!
 
We did our triathlon (a brief thunderstorm and downpour included) and managed to get medals; learnt how to make some local food (G-nut sauce); 2 of the people in our compound had to [...]

Week 3:
 
OK, our internet’s been down for almost a week now, so you all get a double dose of updates, since I couldn’t put last week’s posting up (lucky you!)
 
So, weekly happenings: I saw a public caning at one of the schools I teach, got asked loads of questions about homosexuality (it’s illegal here, but more on that later on), most of the country’s had no internet for the past week due to “satellite upgrades” by one of the main service providers, someone followed me home (almost 30min walk) to ask for money, I watched a local football tournament, saw [...]

Week 2:
 
Hi all again J
So it’s the end of week two – more crazy times in the Bulenga hood. Again, here’s the shortened version, for those of you in a hurry!
 
This week, I started teaching lifeskills in a couple of local schools, saw an ice-cream bodaboda (like an ice-cream truck, complete with cheesy music playing!), spotted some unknown mzungus which shocked me about as much as the locals, got involved in chicken turf wars, signed up for a triathlon, ate roasted pork (SO good!), had drinks with a government spy, got to watch the Stormers win (booyah!) and had a [...]

Hi all!!
So here I am in Uganda – it’s been a pretty crazy ride already, and I doubt I’ll be able to explain or describe it very well at all! But let’s see what I can do!
For those of you in a hurry, here’s a very condensed version of what I’ve been doing the past week:
Arrived in Entebbe, went to Kampala and then out to my placement in Bulenga (about 8-10km outside of Kampala), went to a burial, crossed the equator twice (did you know I’m in the northern hemisphere in Kampala? I didn’t…), rode boda-bodas (local motorbike taxis) and [...]

I’ve had 7 injections in the past 3 weeks, started taking doxicycline last night, and my room has finally stopped resembling the pre-(and during!)- packing bomb-blast….must be time to hit the road! I fly into Entebbe tomorrow, spend the night in a backpackers there, and head to Kampala on Monday morning to (finally) get a view of the place I’ll be for the next 3 months! In case anyone’s wondering, I spent my last day in Cape Town up the mountain, being blown about in gale-force winds! Aaah, nothing like home…
A couple of people have asked where I’m going and [...]

While in Rwanda I received an emergency phone call from one of my daughters telling me my oldest son is in the hosptial and will be undergoing an operation to have his right leg amputated.  I made my way back to Uganda, called the airlines, packed my bags and my wonderful host Jennifer and her boyfriend Dan drove me to Kapala to catch my plane.  I could not have done it so quickly without their assistance.  I took three planes and finally made it to Philadelphia (USA).  
I thank you GVN for the placement and I can only say I’m [...]

Today is Tuesday, November 4 and it’s election day in the USA.  I’ve already placed my vote for Obama before I left on absentee ballot.  Also, today is the second day I’ve come to Masaka to do Internet.  I came yesterday but there were four accidents on the way here so it took so long and once at the Internet I could not get on-line - so here I am today trying once again.  Hopefully, this will go through and more hopefully Obama will come out a winner in the US Elections today.
 
Now, here is what I wrote on my [...]

Cell phone service is really better outside the house, so on Monday evening I headed outside and I really couldn’t believe what was going on.
There was a group of girls that live in the same compound as myself, all huddled around a tree, heads down. I thought at first they were Muslim as many people are here and since I don’t know much about the religion I thought they were praying because I do know most Muslims pray many times a day. I asked one of the girls who wasn’t involved what was going on and she said “Satan [...]

Well a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks and now im on my way home. Just had a giant feast with the family and all packed and ready to go. Had a great last day at school, the kids put on a big assembly for me. Our head teacher asked them ‘who wants aunt Rachael to stay?’ and they all put up their hands….then she asked ‘who want to go with aunt Rachael?’ and they got even more excited. One kid said they wanted to come on the bus back home with me later today.
 
Just before I [...]

I’m sorry I haven’t updated in so long, I never had a chance after the Safari on Sunday and when I headed back out to Ntenjeru on Monday morning.
Safari was amazing! I really enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would, the guide let us get out and walk with a heard of 50 giraffes, I counted. We also got out near the river and saw hippos bathing and got really close to elephants, the Ugandan crane which is such a pretty bird and antelope and warthogs and the pictures are just great.
This week in the [...]

I arrived on Tuesday night and was picked up (as promised) by a driver and taken to a youth hostel which was very nice.  Lee picked me up this morning and now I’m getting familiar with the scene around the guest house.  On Saturday I’ll be driven to my assignment.  I haven’t learned the names of everything yet so I’ll not try and write them but will clue you in with my next email which hopefully will be tomorrow.  I need to take advantage of this while I’m where they have emails cause where I’m going they’re ain’t no such [...]

The village is just gorgeous! Its quiet no trucks going by all night and the project I have switched into is just amazing! I live at “The White House” and it is really cute it was built completely by donated money and volunteers. In the same complex there are about 15 sponsored orphans, who are all in high school so they are all really interesting to talk to and a peace core volunteer named Zach He is really cool and it’s nice to have someone from the west to live with way out in the village. There are also some [...]

These last two days have been nice and a good way to finish working with the Youth League. Yesterday I headed out to Seeta (Say-Tah) where Maria lives, I have paid for all the materials in which to finish her latrine and kitchen and as I left the latrine was finished and the roof was all that needed to be put into place. I also brought out some clothes, my sleeping bag and shoes for the family which they were so grateful for. I will be back to visit her I think one more time before I leave. She told [...]

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This weekend was so fun. On Friday, Ara, Sarah and I headed into Kampala for a volleyball match, Mukono vs. Kampala. We really thought it would just be a fun, non-competitive day but we were wrong. It rained really hard right before the game so we were playing in half a [...]

Hey all, everything is well here in Uganda….same old same old and then some crazy on top!
Went to Rwanda last week for a couple of days which was alot of fun. It is known as the land of a thousand hills….and u just cant argue with that. for some strange weekend we walked ALOT….and also got lost quite a bit but sure it was all part of the adventure.

After our 10hr bus journey there we stayed in the capital, Kigali, for two nights. On the way in we obviously crossed the border and I was nay impressed to have to [...]

Today I headed out with Julia one of the other volunteers that lives in the guesthouse to the outskirts of Mukono Town to the project she is working at. The Elizabeth House is just the most amazing project. It is a home and school for mentally and physically disabled kids; it was started by David and Val who both came to visit the school today. They I think are from Australia and raised the money to build the run the school through their church.
Each kid has quite the story and I took tons of pictures that I can’t wait to [...]