A weekend of R and R

---

It's 12.30 and I've finally made it out of the hotel into Masindi. It has been absolutely bucketing it down all morning and nothing happens in the rain. Gradually the other GTs are being picked up and taken back to their villages but I've got a bit more time until my boda-boda arrives.

Oh what bliss to sleep in clean cotton sheets, to have hot showers, sit down toilets and even eat a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate! Having said that though, my stomach has felt less settled this weekend after being fine for the past two weeks! Everyone found the rich, processed food needed an adjustment! It has been great meeting up with everyone again and to share all their experiences. By all accounts I'm very lucky in my host family and in the food I'm eating. Poor Sarah just gets 'white mush'. Other homes have had ants, termites, bats and a rat. These issues have all been overcome with the help from Link, who continue to just be amazing. Barbara literally sleeps with her phone under her pillow in case anyone needs her. A couple of people have had to go back to Kampala for medical treatment - ear problems and a dodgy tummy that didn't clear up. It is reassuring that Barbara will just come and get you!

We arrived back together on Friday and most of the day, indeed the weekend, has been spent swapping stories and experiences. On Friday afternoon a group of us went to the music festival. This was the regional level and was being held in one of the local schools. We sat down at the back but were quickly ushered to some free seat near the front. The MC came over to find out who we were and announced our arrival to everyone. Later on we were asked to make a speech. We all stood up and David said what we were doing here in Uganda, thanked everyone etc. When we sat down the MC said something along the lines of ' In England, the men speak and the women just bow'. So immediately Sarah and I stood up again much to the delight of all the women. We then introduced ourselves, said where we were working etc.

The ' music festival' was actually more an 'Arts festival' and we spent quite a while watching drama sketches which were all about the politics of the East African Community. The first dramatized summit meeting was interesting, but then it got a little tedious. We did see one instrumental group perform who were amazing. They were from the Army Boarding School who welcomed us when we first arrived, so we knew the standard would be good.

Later on that evening we all enjoyed a chinese meal and then Cerys and Olivia arrived with two birthday cakes for myself and Carol, which was really lovely of them. So I had a very enjoyable birthday - hope you did too Mutti!

---