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Published: April 27th 2008
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This is a quick set of answers to various questions and requests in no particular order.
My hair is all intact and there are no bells, braids or anything else which would look terrible and warrant immediate airlifting back to Blighty. Headscarf Helen was a momentary abberation due strong sun and the lack of anything less out of character ... in fact I have bought a very lovely barkcloth Indiana Jones hat which I keep failing to have with me when it's needed.
I've attached a picture of some volunteers doing African dancing - with Musa who is our teacher. This is a bit of a cheat as the two guys dancing (Amol and Marcel) normally do drumming while we leap around - will try to remember to ask someone to take photos of us. Actually Musa has started talking about the stage and getting us to practice doing entrances and exits so I think there's some sinister plan for a public performance.
I've also attached a picture of my housemates - the occasion was Duncan's birthday when we all went out for curry at Indian Summer, which is just down the road, and then came home for
my house mates
from left to right - Gemma, Duncan, Amy, Cheryl, Jon, Cath and Asaf. Simon is standing. birthday Cake. Cath made an amazing chocolate fudge cake complete with smarties which made Duncan very happy. A quick lowdown on everybody :-
Duncan is another VSO volunteer who works as a Nurse Tutor at the hospital. He's been in Uganda since June and did an amazing job of making me feel welcome and driving me round Kampala in his lovely blue 4 x 4 (a baby RAV4) which has recently been christened 'Byron' for reasons to complicated to explain now. Duncan and I do a lot of (obviously very contructive) ranting and moaning together and at least equal amounts and cackling and gossiping. He's off back to Blighty for a holiday in June and I know I'll miss him enormously ... or perhaps I'll enjoy the peace and quiet and not being called 'mummy' .....
Joanne isn't in this picture for some reason but on the other one with Duncan. She's head of physiotherapy at the hospital (as a volunteer) and is here until the autumn when she'll be heading back to Glasgow. Jo is nowhere near as bitchy or rude as Duncan and I can be but does some good killer blows on people when necessary.
Which is reasonably frequently.
Jon and Gemma are both volunteer physios who work with Jo - they've both just qualified as physiotherapists in the Uk and this is their first job. Jon has been in Uganda before, having spent his gap year here and has an impressive grasp of Luganda (mine is still pitifully limited) and Uganda as a whole. I think Jon suffers most under the female dominance in the house but does escape to do manly things like play rugby. Gemma is very sporty aswell and runs a lot - including doing a hiedeous form of torture recently which involved seven of Kampala's many hills. Gemma is very keen on seeing as much of Uganda as possible and is working hard at ticking off as much as possible from her Bradt guide. Cath is Jon's wife and is a trained nanny - she works part time home-schooling an Australian boy called Matthew and also works at a local orphanage. Cath is very much a morning person and goes for a run first thing every day ... Jon is most definitely not a morning person and can bearly speak until well after breakfast time. If there's been a
bad night with the howling dogs or a new source of noise, like the bloody cockerel, you can feel the rent up rage radiating out of him in the morning.
Amy (and Lucy who isn't in the picture as she was poorly) are volunteer nurses who stayed at the guest house briefly for orientation and have now gone up north to Gulu and Lira to work for 3 months. Cheryl is another VSO volunteer who works at Nsambya hospital and lives on the compound there - we hang out a lot together as we are the south Kampala contingent (along with Duncan) and also because she is lovely and can always be tempted into having a cheeky glass of wine at the Wine Garage.
Jo and Asaf, who Ian Clarke is sponsoring, have just finished doing the A levels and are waiting to do their next stage of education. They both work at the hospital - Jo as a patient guide and Asaf in the Site department. I think Jo gets fairly frustrated with having to smile and be nice to patients all day - especially as some of them are very grumpy and rude or think that getting their money's worth out of paying for health care includes being unpleasant to staff. Jo developed a hardcore addiction to 'Sex and the City' when she got her hands on my complete box set and one night I found her still watching it at 4am ... 'just one more episode and then I'll go to bed'. I was worried that she and the other Ugandan girls in the house would be corrupted by it ... but on the other hand it does demonstrate complete female empowerment which is sort of VSO goal related. Interestingly they all think Charlotte is the best one with Carrie a distant second. Asaf is very keen on football and supports .... Manchester United I think???? When I told him I supported Newcastle Utd (which I would do if I was forced to show any sort of interest in football before you mockers start) he was dumbfounded and just said 'Why?' (sorry Mel!) Asaf is very keen on ridding our compund of all wildlife - he chases the two cats as they wake him up rummaging in the bin. And Benna told me that he was 'fighting with' a snake that he found. Recently we had a fugitive chicken called Henrietta who took up residence (including wandering upstairs to Jo's bedroom) and started laying eggs in the plant pot outside my room - I've not seen her for a couple of days so she may have moved on .....
Simon, who is the gentleman standing up in the picture, is our nightwatchman and stays awake all night making sure that no one breaks in and letting anyone who's been out on the giddy gad in. Most security people in Uganda are aimed with a gun of some sort but Simon has a bow and arrow which is much nicer. I have no doubt that he's be very effective with it - althought he is so lovely you can't imagine him doing any sort of violent act. Maybe he could just despatch villains by smiling at them.
I've attached a picture of some of the lovely women who work at the hospital dancing at a gangster/gangsta party ... some of them are looking ghetto fabulous and Rose (the Clinical director) who is wearing green looks just downright fabulous. The hospital is different to a lot of organisations in Uganda in that it's run mostly by women - and they are amazing women who are so loving and supportive with each other but tough as boots when necessary. And all have fantastic shoes!
That's all for now. I'm about to go off to my second week of VSO 'In Country Training' which will involve meeting up with all of the people who I arrived with and having a good old gossip. As well as learning more about Uganda (4 hours on history tomorrow yippee) and delivering our 'baseline' reports. This is the official point of no return ......
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rik
non-member comment
I want to see you dancing lady lay. I bet you can lift your leg at right angles to your body no bother. x