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Published: January 20th 2007
a. Jinja base
The parish where we stayed for a couple of days in Jinja.Hello!
Have finally found an internet cafe remotely faster then a snail so thought it was about time I actually let you all know how I'm getting on! Am adapting to the Ugandan way of life pretty well actually. Everything is so slow here!!!
We arrived here on Wednesday 10th, early morning. There was a whole bunch of us. 3 Americans and 5 English flew together from Heathrow and met up with 3 Australians when we got here. We flew into Entebbe which is right on the shores of Lake Victoria. It was amazing landing in such a mass of green!! From there we were taken to Jinja about an hour away where we met up with the Ugandan volunteers (there's about 14 of them) where we stayed at a parish community centre untill Saturday. We just did a load of team building exercises there, getting accustomed to all the different cultures!
Had our first taste of Ugandan food which was er, bananas, ground maize called pocha and more bananas!! Don't worry I'm not going to starve you should see the amount they try and serve you. About 4 times the amount you can actually eat (thought the
b. Nile source
Source of the Nile, right in by Jinja! Ugandans seem to manage just fine)!! Jinja is really nice. A pretty small city thats really spread out so you soon feel as if your in the countryside.
So Saturday we moved to Mbalala to the Organic Farm where were having our training. Lectures from 8am till 6pm, Monday to Saturday!!! Day off tomorrow, can't wait!!! Though quite a bit of it is out on the farm doing practical stuff which breaks the day up. At the minute were learning basic farming stuff about how to improve the fertility of soil, manage pests and diseases etc. Next week were planting seedlings for our kitchen gardens that were goinjg to be taking with us on placement. How cool is that, my own vegetable plot!!
So aside from lectures we spend most of our time doing beer runs (50p a pint!!), oh and chocolate runs! Which is actually quite easy to get hold of! They even have Cadbury's, but it's made in Kenya and I think they put anti-melting stuff in it cos it doesn't tatse the same! We have lights (at least 1/2 the week) and running water at the mo but think that will all change when I'm
c. Bujagali Falls
Our day off at Bujagali falls, with lots of Nile beers! on placement (which starts February 13th).
Have been to the hospital already! Ok, so I was just visiting, no need to panic! So far 5 of us have had malaria!!! So far I'm doing alright so I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's really not that bad though. Apparently you just feel really rough for a couple of days but the malarial treatments soon sort you out.
Thats my time out so I'd better post this before I loose it. Sorry I can't put any photos up, will take far to long! Will try next time which will probably be in 3 weeks just before I go on placement.
Thanks for all your lovely meassages, miss you all, Hannah xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. Mum and Dad, no need to worry about my safety, we even have our own bodyguard at the farm armed with a full size bow and arrow and spear!!! How romantic!!!
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Charlotte
non-member comment
Missing you
Hi sis, thinking about you and envy the sites your seeing. Hope your enjoying yourself and will keep my fingers crossed you miss that malaria experiance!!!! Sounds like it's a real life time experiance organic farming. Take care, Charlotte xxx