Camp Pa La Dee Da

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

Throughout this blog I have lazily used ‘Ugandan’ to refer to everything and everyone. I do it because it is easier but it ignores the rich diversity of cultures and customs across the country. Of the many tribes in Uganda (I have never got the same answer as to how many) I could only really claim to know the culture and customs of one of these moderately well. I started my stay in Buganda with a Baganda family and was quickly rechristened David Katumba Cousins of the Nkima (monkey) clan. There are around 75 clans amongst the Baganda, mostly named after things in nature and a sexual interclan relationship would be viewed in much the same way incest would be in England. The clans can be traced back to the beginnings of the Baganda kingdom and ... read more

When I was asked recently, “What is the status of women like here? I’ve heard it’s quite bad,” by some Irish visitors we were hosting I was pretty taken aback, and not just because I had always thought that as I was born with something hanging between my legs I was unqualified to answer such a question. My response probably made her realise that she should never ask a man such a question again, “ermm…..yes it’s bad....but then it’s a bit more complicated because they have lots of women MPs.” Hardly the cutting insight she was looking for into the position of women in Ugandan society. What I was trying to get at, however, was that gender relations can be looked at in many different ways. In the home and the community the position of women ... read more

Having now been in paid work for months I am starting to look back with some fond nostalgia on my time volunteering. I can, however, still remember the feelings of frustration, boredom and confusion that seem to affect volunteers in Uganda. I was reminded of this was when I was helping to run a debrief for the International Citizenship service programme. This programme, a brainchild of David Cameron, aims to make young Britons ‘globally active citizens’ and reduce poverty. Our organisation had decided to run this programme by pairing our young UK volunteers with a Ugandan volunteer, train them, and then place them in a civil society organisation (CSO) to build the organisation’s capacity in organisational management. In brief, it was a small disaster due to a myriad of factors which left some very disgruntled volunteers. ... read more

Though I do not have any comparison, Uganda is a good place to train for a marathon. For one, the reservoir of sweat that I produce running any time before 9am means that is has forced me to see some wonderful sunrises, very underrated in the African sun movement ratings. You get a wonderful mist over the rough green patches of Jinja and look out to the Nile. I often run down to the Source of the Nile where you can avoid the entrance fee if your there before 7am. It is there, just five minutes from the gym, that the hardcore of Jinja’s fitness community hang out. I struggle to get down to the river side and back up again as an assortment of sweat-banded people do press-ups, sit-ups, star jumps running up and down ... read more

Moving to Jinja I sometimes feel I have been taken to the world that I heard about in stories from my parents and grandparents as well as the one I left nearly a year ago. Surrounding me are remnants from a Britain of 50, 70 or 100 years ago, and now. A traditional Britain is in the classroom, where a teacher stands at the front and dictates to children parroting what is said and are caned if they fall out of line; the courtroom, where judiciary have wigs that look just as ridiculous here as they always have done in England; in fashion, with the impeccably pressed trousers and shirts and bowler hats (which I’m sure are worn with more style than pre-war Britain but still evoke that image); society at large, overtly moralistic and deeply ... read more

Despite now having been in Uganda for eight months I still struggle to understand, or adjust to, the completely different concept of time here. In my early days I remember being completely exasperated attending community meetings and waiting for the obligatory couple of hours for people to turn up. It is not like I had not been prepared, I had been warned that it was one of the hardest things to adjust to but nothing can quite prepare you. Thinking that I may one day want to be employed in a 'developed' country again, I vowed not to lose the improvements I had made in timekeeping from days where I would head the class for being late to school. I came prepared for any meeting with a few hours work or language books. It helped. I ... read more

So we move to my own organisation, UYWEFA, which was set up by a loose collection of people after an HIV/AIDS counselling course. Some of this original group have moved on; of those remaining many have spurts of enthusiasm for projects or activities but it is only really the director, Ronald, who devotes himself to the organisation on a regular basis. One of the most repeated words I have heard since I have been here has been ‘mobilising’ but the hardest part for UYWEFA is to mobilise volunteers to run any activity that is planned. The frustration is that there are plenty of funding streams out there for ‘grassroots’ organisations but the paradox is that most ‘grassroots’ organisations, set up and run by people that come from the community, do not have the capacity to apply ... read more

The charity sector in Uganda has attracted a number of innovative thinkers spurred on to make a difference by the plight of so many disadvantaged, vulnerable people within different communities. It also attracted a number of people spurred by the chance to become 'somebody' in their community, in Uganda and even internationally. Often these people will be the same. The evident wealth and success of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the UN and even successful homegrown charities such as TASO also provides motivation as a way of making a decent living. There are few positions in Ugandan society where you have access to the resources we take for granted in the West and working for a large NGO or development agency is one of them. During my first weeks in Uganda I commented on the large number ... read more