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Published: September 9th 2013
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First of all, I forgot to add the photos of two celebrities (Cindy and Lillian) we saw in Kampala.
As we left Kampala the rain started, at one point it was so hard you couldn’t see the end of the bonnet of the car, let alone the road in front of us. I took a video of it but oddly enough it was clearer through the iphone than our own eyes. Anyway it was straight to Jinja Hospital for Ness to have a tour, as you can imagine it is smaller than Mulago Hospital in Kampala.
As we were there our landlord William appeared as if he was a patient at the hospital. After the tour we went to our new home, where we’ll be based for the next six months. The house (sorry not a mud hut) is a 9 minute Muzungu walk from the hospital, William went on to say it is a 13 minute walk for a Ugandan (I love the accuracy). As we walked in I was greeted with a huge hug from Zai who will be living with us. We’re told Zai is William’s cousin (I have my doubts), anyway Zai is great and
here to look after the house as William lives away. He is studying medicine in Western Uganda. Also here for our first week is Zai’s daughter, Shakira (Wherever, Whenever?!?) who’s currently on holiday from boarding school in Kampala. Due to the heavy rain the power was off. William informed us Zai had cooked dinner and there was enough time to do the one thing Ness loves doing when arriving somewhere for a length of time… unpacking!
I must confess we have sort of landed on our feet with our accommodation. It is a 3 bedroom house and our room has an en-suite - I noticed a bath and thought there may be hot water?!? We have an open lounge and dining room that has a hatch into the kitchen where I was surprised to see a fridge and kettle. The washing machine is a tap in the backyard, evidently.
As I said it rained the whole journey from Kampala to Jinja, so as we arrived people said we were a blessing from God as we brought the rain. Feeling very holy the following morning I awoke very abruptly at 5:30am to what I thought was a message from
God. It turns out we live very close to a Mosque and it was the morning call for prayer and has been an enjoyable daily event ever since! We decided to have a lie-in as it was the first morning in our new home. By this I mean we stayed in bed awake from 5:30am till about 6:30am as we were fed up listening to next door’s puppy crying, which it had done most of the night and has continues to do most nights. So the moment of truth had arrived, the cold shower awaited us. To be honest they’re not that bad, there is nothing you can do about it, although I sometimes catch myself with my hand under the water waiting for it to warm. After the first 2-3 seconds of being under it feels OK. I’m currently on two showers a day; after my morning run and last thing at night but on hot days, which is most days, I have a third before the Mozzie spray.
We had a lovely, but anaemic looking omelette cooked by Zai for breakfast, Ness thinks these are natural eggs, as opposed to the modified eggs for the British expectation
of yolks having to be bright yellow?!? As William was leaving for University on Sunday he offered to show us Jinja and point out all the necessaries. First stop the Source of the Nile. Not really sure why the BBC felt the need to spend a huge budget to bring Top Gear over here to look for it. There are big signs, boat trips, even market stall after market stall for Muzungus to buy overpriced Ugandan merchandise. It’s all here and has been known about since 1862 when John Hanning Speke found it and named the water fall, “Rippon Falls”, would you believe it? It was good to visit and we had a nice drink with William. The plan is to return for a “Sundowner” (a drink with the sunset) as it points west over looking Lake Victoria… ooh I love a sunset.
We continued the tour and walked the main street of town, conveniently called “Main Street”. We were shown all the good Muzungu cafés and bars and where the market is. William left us to go back home for lunch so we headed somewhere safe… the Muzungu café William had pointed out. Annoyingly first day in Jinja
Ness and I find out they do the most amazing Iced Mocha, not good for the waistline! We then braved what we thought was the market and bought food to cook our host dinner. We decided to do a Bean Chilli. We were told in Kampala that Ugandan’s outside the capital don’t really do spicy food. So we decided to make a mild chilli - on reflection I think a little too much paprika, chilli powder or Tabasco sauce were used as Shakira nearly fell off her chair backwards as she ate her first mouthful. Ness and I didn’t think it was that hot and there were empty plates all round, so it couldn’t have been that bad?!?
We decided as it was a nice day we would do our washing. Turns out washing machines aren’t fashionable here yet and it really was the tap in the back yard. So armed with three large washing up bowls and the outside tap, we where ready to hand wash our clothes. I think Zai thought Ness and I were starting to have a domestic so she came to show us the Ugandan way to wash, rinse and spin, they have a
knack and a very good one!
Once the washing was complete and out to dry we went into Jinja for some urgent necessities, you know the things you can’t really live without...
The bit of plastic that holds the toilet paper in a toilet roll holder. Not having had a toilet roll holder for many years, Ness wanted to take full opportunity of the bracket and utilise the one in our bathroom.A cafetiere - we thought by buying this it would save us money as we wouldn’t need to go to the Muzungu cafés for coffee. Turned out a lady wanted 60,000 Ugandan Shillings for one, I should say its 4,000 Shillings to a £1, so £15, but we thought this was too lavish.Coat hangers, they came in packs of six and the lady was surprised to see Ness carrying 4 packs to the till, the lady thought Christmas had come early.
Sunday night back in the house we had another power cut, this time lasting till Monday evening. Ness and I
were thinking “Is this how it’s going to be… constant power cuts?” As Ness started her first day at work I didn’t really have anything to do apart from relax on Monday - the shopping was done, washing was compete and I had no power to write my blog. Shakira was going to the market and said she would show me exactly where it was. It turns out Vanessa and I hadn’t been to the market before. We had just found a couple of stalls on the edge and not ventured far enough. Despite Shakira’s best efforts, I paid Muzungu prices for a watermelon and pineapple. Everything has a Ugandan price and a higher Muzungu price.
I met with a friend, Andy, from Nottingham Trent Uni on Wednesday who was here on business as he coordinates students to volunteer for the ‘East African Playgrounds’ charity during their holidays. I hope to go on a couple of school visits and see the work they do at first hand. We joined them all for an evening BBQ where I ended up trying goat as the beef was really tough and overcooked.
Our first week in Jinja has been really good
and certainly interesting. Living in Africa is a real experience. Having to go to the market for food, hand washing your clothes and cleaning the floor with a rag are all different to how we do things in the UK. Next week a look at Ugandan life…
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Louise Sumner
non-member comment
Hi!
Come on David where is the next instalment, it is great!