Blogs from Kampala, Central Region, Uganda, Africa

Try as I might I have not found anyone who can translate ‘thank you for having me’ into Luganda. People look puzzled. It was eventually explained to me (after it had become quite apparent) that there is no gratitude that you should show your host in Baganda culture. The emphasis is on the host to show gratitude. For a Bugandan, when a visitor first comes to your home you say you are pleased to see them (whatever you think of them), give permission for them to enter and the command them to sit. Command is an important part of Luganda, it has its own tense and forms a large part of everyday speech, which initially comes across to Brits used to asking everything. Then follows the introductions, a series of questions in which you ascertain that ... read more

Kampala was full of ugly birds. They wandered around parks with their long spindly legs and scrawny necks and sometimes even gathered in trees. As well as being ugly they were also massive. Marabou Storks were the biggest birds I had ever seen in my life. Seven of the hideous things were sat in a tree just near my hotel and a couple more were wandering about below it. They looked like they had been living rough for a month and now needed a damned good wash. Their heads were the worst part, bald and covered in red blotches with a dirty great beak at the front. If ever there was a less glamorous bird to be seen, then I would be interested in seeing it. Suddenly one flapped its gigantic wings and it was like ... read more

So we are now in last few days of our time in Kampala and we celebrated with the hope for life Katanga team with a meal in a local restaurant called Sams. It was a meal to mark a good 3 months of friendship and teamwork. Before I talk any more about our evening I will give you an insight into our time in Uganda regarding food. For those who have read previous blogs, you will understand that food is a big part of my life. We came to Uganda for 2 weeks with a group including doctors, Reverends and married people, all things that Ugandans love. Because of this we were treated to full buffets of food almost every lunch and dinner. They heavily indulged our plates with food, specifically a steamed banana called matooke. ... read more

This was a blog i forgot to put up a while back Monday the 31st was the start of a busy month ahead remaining in Kampala. We started the day again at 8 30 in Katanga doing some more planning and organising of paper work before another meeting Monday night. After school in the morning we went to visit a secondary school in kamwempe in which our friend Moses works as a history teacher. This is the same friend who is part of the team to set up ‘hope for life’ project. We wanted to visit a school in Uganda to see how they worked and how they differed to what we experienced in England. Brilliant High School is a secondary school for pupils aged 13-18. It is also a boarding school that houses about 400 ... read more

We now only have a week left in Uganda before flying for South Africa. We have a trip to Entebbe Zoo, a few meetings, and a final meal with the ‘hope for life’ team, see all the kids and say goodbye, a potential marathon, Freedom church and we need to make sure we take time to take in everything we have experienced here in Uganda. Our past few days have been pretty interesting; our time came to an end renting of the place we have called home for the past 2 months. We have had some pretty cool memories of this place but it was time to leave. We left early Tuesday morning at 6am, with all our stuff, and went off to Jinja for 3 and a half days. We still have lots of work ... read more

The capital city, Kampala makes a great introduction of Uganda since it is highly developed and with a warm atmosphere. You’ll walk through the streets and strangers will great you “Hi, how are you?” and you’ll feel that you’re surround by lovely people. Don’t hesitate to ask for help and they will be more than happy to help, and they won’t ask you for money. If you need any help so we have learnt that best to begin the conversation with “Hi, how are you?” and later on ask what kind of information do you need. It has happened many times that we’re just saying “Hi” and asking for the direction but getting answer “I’m fine”. Well they are expecting that you’ll ask how they are doing today. Kampala is a green and hilly city, and ... read more

We got back for our evening meeting in which we celebrated the purchase of the new building and started planning for when we will move into the building and what we can buy to get building and set up. Our original intention was to try move into the school before we left on the 1st of December but what Meg and I didn’t realise is that is Ugandan’s school year runs from January 16th to mid-November. This means that our school will finish mid-November for 2 months! We have plans now to open officially mid-January ready for the new school year. We have lots of work to be getting on with, hopefully now a bit more building and hands on work. We need to put in metal doors, windows, cement out the back for kids to ... read more

Today was the last day of school, as the schools in Uganda break up for 8 weeks for the end of the school year. The kids recapped all that they had learnt in the past month and a half in the first few hours and then we had break and moved outside where they sang songs and made paper hats. Just before the school broke up the children started singing this song for Megan and me about being superheroes. The kids usually make their own way home finding their way through the busy narrow paths, crossing sewage streams past homes that all look the same. This time, however, we all walked the kids home together, the now teachers, Afisha and Teddy with Megan and me also. I had been to see a few of their homes ... read more

All the kids in the class are hilarious. We teach them colours and shapes and fruits as well as other things. We often cover colours with our flash cards. We have just been listening to one of the teachers singing a song about colours in which they repeat the name of the colour a lot in one song e.g. red is my favourite colour, red is the best, whilst waving the flash card. The children are then asked what colour is this? To which one of them shouted out BLUE. Hilarious. We were talking about different fruits and has some laid out on the table in front of them asking what each fruit and veg is e.g. orange, apple, beans, pepper etc etc. when it gets to anything green they generally just call it greeny’s. Knowing ... read more

We have now put a sh1.7million deposit on a new building to run the school from, this is also the same building we are planning to do after school catch up classes from, weekend fun activities and kids church on a Sunday. Just sh3.8million left to get over a couple more withdrawals from the local bank; the building is then ours! The whole team is super excited for the building and the plans that we have in store for the future. The current tenants of the house were already planning to move out by the 1st of November so hopefully the paper work will all go through smoothly. We will then have the prospect of knocking a few windows into the wall to get some more light in, put some secure doors in and then paint ... read more