On Tuesday, November 13th, Anja and I arrived with the nightbus at 4:30AM from Udaipur to Jodhpur. The bus ride had been quite all right, but we still hadn’t been able to sleep much (it’s always the same with these night buses...). There were some tuk tuks waiting at the bus stop and we didn’t hesitate to take one to our hostel, the Madpackers hostel. Arriving there, they tuk tuk driver told us that they don’t have 24h reception and, indeed, they front door was closed... We were very tired and not thinking clearly, so, instead of just checking and knocking on the door, we accepted to driver’s suggestion to drive us to the city center where it would be easier and safer to wait for morning. That turned out to be a big mistake : ... read more

Montag, den 5. November, bin ich nach einer Woche Weltkongress der Junior Chamber International in Goa in Mumbai angekommen. Meine Freundin Anja aus Belgien hat sich mir dort für 3 Wochen Backpacking durch Indien angeschlossen. Sie kam allerdings erst sehr spät nachts an, da sie Probleme mit dem Flieger hatte. In Mumbai hatten wir das Basti - Backpackers Hostel gebucht. Im Allgemeinen war dieses Hostel ganz ok, aber das Personal war absolut nicht hilfreich : nur 1 Person konnte English und sie haben uns absolut nicht geholfen unsere Reise durch Indien zu planen. Das war einer der Gründe für unsere spätere Entscheidung und alle Probleme die diese mit sich brachte... Den nächsten Morgen verbrachten wir damit unsere Reise zu planen, wobei wir feststellen mussten, dass unser zweiter Stop, in Aurangabad, etwas schwierig werden würde. Diese Stadt ... read more

I left Kima on Thursday, October 25th, with a bus to Nairobi where I arrived at 6PM. My friend Nathalie from Manchester was in Nairobi and I had booked a room in the same hostel as she and her friend Kate, so that I would be able to spend one evening with her. I was very happy to see her and I had been looking forward to this for a long time. The only thing I regretted in Kima was not having any friends. Most adults were friendly, but nobody really talked to me or tried to befriend me ; so, I mostly stayed alone and I was a bit lonely sometimes. This enhanced my wish to see Nathalie a lot! ^_^ We stayed at the Wildebeest Hostel, close to the Nairobi national park. It was ... read more

For more details, cf. entries "4 weeks in Uganda" and "10 days of farming in Gulu"... read more

On Sunday, September 9th, I was picked up at my hostel by Sam, the director of UPA (Uganda Pioneers’ Association), where I would volunteer for the next 3 weeks. UPA is an NGO that started in 1989 and that organizes lots of community projects, work camps and international exchanges. Their motto is “Together we shape the future” and they have lots of local branches all throughout Uganda. They do lots of projects to sensitize people about HIV, gender equality, democracy and peace building.I had applied for a project called “International work camp on farming and life skill training in Gulu district”, organized by the local UPA branch of Gulu. Gulu is the biggest city in northern Uganda and it’s an area that had been highly affected by the rebels in Uganda until 2002. The ... read more