Ten Days in Lugazi

---

I am finally here. I think in most senses, it took a while for me to settle into life here, it is so very different to England. I have been here ten days and a couple of hours as I am writing this, but it feels so much longer maybe because things are very different here. I am staying in a village called Namengo which is about fifteen minutes walk outside Lugazi,but at the pace English people walk probably around 5 minutes. Ugandans walk very slowly. No one is in a rush here. I am working in a Nursery school in a village called Kikawula, which is also not very far from Lugazi. The school is very basic and they have hardly any resources. However, the children are so keen to learn, a little girl called Olivia arrived in her uniform on Friday but she will have to wait until Monday for the School to open.

When I am walking to and from school, the children wave and chant ‘bye mzungu, bye mzungu’ (mzungu means white person). They are very interested in the alien that has arrived in their town, when I was washing my clothes (in my bucket) some children came over to me and kept touching my skin. Unfortunately, there is one little girl who cries everytime she sees me, the other children keep carrying her over to me but when they get close she hides her face and clings to them, maybe she’ll get used to the mzungu in Namengo.

Yesterday I made the mistake of putting some pencils and a pad on the side for the children to share rather than giving them out. This was a big mistake, everyone was crying and screaming and shouting! I just stood there,in the midst of the chaos, apologising to Mamma, until a nice man came over and asked what the problem was and starting giving the paper out. I then decided it was probably best for me to skip off to the internet café and let him deal with it. I was, more than a little, concerned that I would get back to hoards of children demanding pencils. I escaped this fate but when I got home, there was a group of children shouting ‘mzungu, mzungu’ until someone told them my name and then they started chanting ‘Jessie, Jessie,’ I decided it was probably best for me to just ignore them rather than cause even more chaos.

People are very friendly here, they greet me in the street and ask me how I am and where I am from, when I have told them I am from England they ask whereabouts, I am not sure whether they will know where Maldon is. The family are very welcoming, when I return home they always say ‘Welcome back Jessie,’ even Mama who cannot speak English talks to me, I feel so rude when I can’t reply but I am slowly picking up some words. Mulalu is one word that I know, it means mad person, but I think it is the Ugandan version of ‘wally.’

A few days ago I was very excited when I was reading my guide book and saw the name ‘Lugazi.’ It was talking about Griffin Falls, so I thought I should go, little did I know tht Bradt tell lies! It turned out to be 50000 shilling for a boda there and back but we ended up hiking for another hour to get to the falls, the book quotes 3000 shillings to get to Waswa and says nothing of a jungle hike. The falls were very good, but not quite as spectacular as I would have liked after the impromptu hike!

I went into Jinja at the weekend, which is a big town where there are lots of tourists around to see the Source of the River Nile. I went to the Source, and at first I was taking pictures from the bank but a man came over and said that you have to get a boat to see the actual source. This I did, and it cost 30000 shillings to do but considering that is only £7.50 I didn’t mind to much, the guide was very good and even pointed out the ‘bird poo poo on the rocks.’ There a few craft shops on the island close to the underground springs that feed the Nile so I couldn’t resist buying a little bag as a memento. There was also a man at the bank trying to sell me another memento, a map of Africa made from leaves and bark, it was expensive but his inclusion of South Sudan swayed me.

The hotel I stayed in was called ‘2 friends’ and was lovely, if not a little above my price range, but the wifi and the pool convinced me. I went into the centre of Jinja and had a look around, there were more craft shops and more mzungus too. I went into a place called the Source Café and enjoyed tilapia and chips, they even have a library which I might have to use if I run out of books whilst I am here. All the people in Jinja are just as friendly as the people in Lugazi, a man called John interrupted my hunt for a bank that accepted Visa cards to ask where I was from and how I was.

I have also mastered the art of getting a Matatu (a small bus) on my way home from Jinja. I am very proud, as I was very confused as to what was going on when I first got one on my way from the airport to Lugazi, there is lots of poking and pointing but I managed to master it. My host family keep saying that I am now an African.


I think that sums up my first ten days in the ‘Pearl of Africa,’ well at least the main events, there seems to be too much to explain and if I try to I fear it will take me forever.

---