May blog- end of the holidays and going back to the good old village life!

So the start of May we were still on our holidays. At this time we were at Kaihura spending most of our days at home again. I love just chilling with all the people there, especially Adolf (yep they dont know that hitlers first name was adolf!) teaching him how to play splat and peanuts and him beating me so badly at thumb wars! Adolf's english is pretty good as he went to america with others from home again for 6 months. Adolfs history is quite horrific though, he walks with bent legs as when he was little he stole some peanuts from his grandmother. His grandmother then tied up his legs with banana leaves and set them on fire. When the banana plants were untied his legs were so badly burnt that they had fused together. Home again took him and took him to a specialized doctor who luckily managed to unfuse them. however he was in a wheelchair for a good long time and they didnt think he would actually be able to walk again. Now though you wouldnt really have known about it unless you were told as he runs around home again happy as larry! He is such an bubbly and chatty guy, really an inspiration! 

I also thought i was going to have to say goodbye to people like kabito when we were leaving kaihura. Luckily though he has a visitation day at his school at the start of july so we will save goodbyes untill then, its fair to say i am dreading this...

After Kaihura we ventured down to the south of Uganda to a place called Kabale. It took us about 12 hours on a taxi to get there, driving through queen elizabeth national park we saw buffalos bathing in the mud beside the main road! Usually people see elephants crossing the road but unfortunatly we werent so lucky. We made our way to a small village that 2 other volunteers stay. It is much much more colder in kabale than anywhere else in Uganda. I was freezing my butt off most of the time! I found myself not even being able to walk and talk at the same time as my teeth got sensitive to the cold air! (managed to find some sensodyne in a supermarket though woohoo!) im not sure how im going to cope with scotland if im not coping with the cold in Uganda! The south of Uganda is also the most beautiful part of Uganda in my opinion. With so many rolling terraced hills, green foliage everywhere and beautiful lakes it was breathtaking! 

While we were down in Kabale we visited the famous lake Bunyonyi. We got a boda from Kabale town to the lake. The boda ride was one of the most beautiful rides ive ever been on, going up such steep mountains and having the most amazing view of the place. When we got to the lake we went to a lodge/hotel on the bay of the lake. There we went to the jetty that set off into the lake and went swimming. Although it was seriously cold i couldnt face going in! you would have never thought i went swimming in the sea in scotland! we also decided to go gorilla trekking while we were down in the south!! At the time we were there it was low season so everything was half price, we thought if we were going to do it it was now or never! 

We organised it with a company who were so helpful and all travel, accomodation, food, and gorilla trekking was included. The night before gorilla trekking we stayed at 2 volunteers place. They work at a special needs school where i was given a sign name (rubbing your fingers on your chin) 

The next day we headed to Kabale town to set off gorilla trekking! It took us around 3 hours to get from Kabale town to the place we were going to be staying. The road was the worst road ive ever been on, so many pot holes, we were being chucked around in the car! It was also very windy and reminded me of the scenic route from achiltibuie to lochinver! We arrived at the lodge at around 7pm we were pretty nackered from travelling and had an early start in the morning so went straight to bed.

On the 21st of May was gorilla trekking day! We woke up at 6 and had breakfast before setting off in the car to the UWA office to check passports, go over the trek etc. When we got there we met our trekking team, shaba was our leader and we had 2 guys with guns incase the gorillas got vicious and a porter called james who carried one of our bags and helped us on the tricky parts of the trek (he was a life saver!) After having a quick brief on the family of gorillas we were going to track we headed of in the car. Within 5 minutes we were out and ready to start our trek. We were also given sticks to help us which was very very helpful! To get to the gorillas it took us about 2 hours trekking down a seriously steep valley. At some points shaba had to get out his machete and hack down the foilage so we could get through it. We crossed rivers, climbed up rocks and everything else! However it didnt seem like long until we had arrived at the gorillas. 10 meters away we dropped off our bags and headed towards the gorillas. Within seconds i could hear grunting literally cm's away from me. My heart was beating so fast it was unreal! then suddenly i could see 2 gorillas grooming one another from fleas. They were literally a couple of meters away from us! They were not bothered in the slightest by us however. The guys did say not to make eye contact with them, not going to lie sometimes i did catch their eye! haha Then a baby gorilla came out of nowhere and was so playful, rolling around grunting (the guys grunted back which is a way of communicating with them) then suddenly it grabbed my legs to play! His grip was not vicious at all and was merely wanting to play but still my legs were like jelly! Then when i was crouched down he came right up to me grabbed my arms and my legs again and started to roll around the floor beside me! It was unreal! Then if that wasnt enough suddenly out of nowhere i Humungous silver back gorilla came out of the trees and strode right past us. If i had bent my knees they would have touched him! I could not beleive it, he was so big and dominant looking you could tell he was the boss of the group. We were only allowed to be there for 1 hour so we spent most of them time ogling at how human like they are. The silver back would be checking out his nails, relaxing in the shrubbery it was so interesting! It was such an experience knowing that there was literally no boundaries between us and the gorillas. We were able to get so close to them it was fantastic! defintily one of the best things ive done in Uganda! Then once the hour was over (which didnt seem like long) we trekked back up the valley. This was a killer as we were literally climbing up a vertical valley! I dont know how they do it everyday but at the top we were all nackered! It felt like it wasnt going to end! We were releived we didnt have to do that steep walk on the way there as well! Once we got to the top we got a car back to the UWA office and there we were presented with our gorilla trekking ceritifcates which will definitly be getting framed on the wall! 

After gorilla trekking we stayed the night in Kabale town for one night. The next morning we had to wake up ridiculously early to get the post bus back to kampala then a taxi to our village. The bus took about 8 hours, it was such an odd feeling being on a bus after not being on one in 8 months! I was getting flash backs of the bus from inverness to edinburgh! haha 

That evening we had finally made it to our village. It was so exciting being back as it felt like we hadnt seen everyone is so long! Driving past myanzi on the boda we saw everyone and got waves off everyone and "kuli kyo!" (spelling is wrong my bad) We also stopped in myanzi to get a good old ronald rolex which was by far the best one weve had so far! out of all of the rolex's in uganda ronalds is the winner! 

Then we were back on the boda to our small village! When the boda pulled up at our house zaina, nakiwala, benedee, benita, amina, site, sajay and kassuja all came running to us for big hugs! It was soo lovely seeing them all, i had missed them over the holidays! We had also passed charles and fred our teachers on the boda and they were very happy to see us also. We also saw annette at our house another teacher who gave us a big hug and said we had been missed. We also came back to the brick building of the school which had been painted! It was being painted the uniform colours of white, orange and burgundy. It looked alot better than the grey thats for sure. I also went over to marias to see sara and tallemwa and others, as soon as i saw sara she slipped on her butt in a  huge puddle of mud, to try and supress laughter while helping her up was very difficult, man i missed that girl! She also then told me that Deo was sick as when they were putting the windows and doors on the school a spark had hit him in the leg. It then must have gotten infected as now his leg was ginormous! We went to go see him and my god ive never seen a leg so big! He said he was getting injections from myanzi but they werent working. Puss was literally running down his leg, it was pretty gross. Later on that week though he got a boda to mityana (the boda was very late though as he was dropping off a cow in the next village.. only in uganda!) there in mityana he was admitted to a hospital in mityana where he stayed for a week. He is now perfectly better, still hobbling a little, but his leg is now normal size! He said that he cant use his stick anymore because the doctors think he will become dependent on it... 

On the 26th of May was our first day of teaching! Its hard to beleive that we are now in our third and final term of teaching. Literally have no idea where the time has gone... This term we are again helping out in baby class and doing p1 drawing and shading. We also still have the roles of secretaries of the school so we are spending alot of this term organising behind the scenes of the school. As there are no other volunteers coming after us we want to try and make the school as sustainable as it can be. At the start of school as the brick building was being painted the p2 and p3 couldnt be in the brick building, so both of the baby classes had to be crammed into one classroom. This meant that there wasnt enough desks for all of the babies. So work had to be done in rounds. One group would do their work on the table, then once they were finnished they would move to the floor and the next group would do their work on the table. It was pretty hectic thats for sure! Baby green class have this term started to practice writing "Today is _____, my name is _______ i am in baby class" so we have been spending time helping them write letters, and try guide them on how to space out their letters etc. I spent alot of time with a kid called Nsamba. He was so determined to finnish writing the sentences and when he finnished he had the proudest smile on his face! It was priceless.

Our baby blue teacher Edith is heavily pregnant at the moment. Literally think shes going to pop any day now! So Jess and I took a couple of her lessons which as always was mental. If your in baby class on your own you walk out of there feeling a little emotionally fragile! haha

Edith has now left finally for maternity leave. We told her that she has to take her baby in as soon as shes given birth  so we can help look after him/her! We are very excited for her to come back! The woman who lives up the road from us gave birth to twins, Nakato and Babirye. They are adorable and i held Nakato one afternoon and sent him to sleep with some classic lullabies! He was adorable. 

30th May alot of the volunteers decided to go to Kampala to go to the Uganda cranes vs Madagascar match! We all had our Uganda cranes tshirts on and as we walked past people, they would thank us for supporting the cranes. We got bodas from the safari lodge to the stadium. It was crazy! the whole place had such an amazing atmosphere! as we were driving the bodas were honking their horns. Other supporters came past with vuvuzelas and whistles shouting and singing their heads off it was brilliant! 

When we pulled up to the stadium, straight away people came running up to us painting our faces and arms! I had just stepped of the boda and i was covered in the uganda flag! Then we walked up to the stadium on route to the stadium we had so many photos of us taken and were even in a tv shot where some guy was presenting the football game! once we were in the stadium we got our seats and waited for the game to begin. People were dancing round in conga lines singing and chanting and then when the cranes ran out onto the pitch there was a huge uproar and everyone was cheering and going crazy for the cranes! It was so much fun! Soon enough the game started and within 10 minutes the cranes had scored a goal! As you can imagine the whole uganda side were jumping up and down and going crazy! it was hillarious! Then throughout the game they would all get so into it, im not really into football back in the uk but i was loving this game! Soon enough it was the end of the game Uganda cranes had won!!! the whole place was ecstatic! everyone was hugging jumping up and down people were running around the crowd beating drums it was brilliant! We left the stadium on such a high! The boda ride back was brilliant as all ugandans were ontop of the world, including us!

After this weekend we came back to the village and deo had told us he and everyone else in the village had seen us on the tv! It also turned out we were on the newspaper the caption being "foreigners, in love with the cranes support their team!"

So that has been May! Its been a fun month full of weird and fun experiences! Now we are into June and time is slipping away from us! less than 2 months now i will be back in the uk freezing my butt off, so for now i will enjoy the sun and make the most of every minute I have left here!

April blog

I'm currently writing this blog from jinja as we're now on our 2 month Easter holidays. This April however we have been teaching since the 10th. 

As each month goes its coming closer to our leaving date so nowadays I try to savour every day here as I know a week or month being at home ill miss my home here like nothing else!  It's also the little things that I'm going to really miss for example lunchtime as school, usually sometimes weird/funny happens like once tonny from p5 was chasing girls around the school I asked tonny what on earth are you doing to make those girls so scared which he showed me proudly a big wart coming out of his hand, that boy has no shame! Being here for this long you also begin to notice little things that you wouldn't notice otherwise like deo in p3 his English has gotten soo much better than it was when we first arrived its such a good improvement. Deo and stevie are also our school time keepers and after a hundred times I had to fix their falling apart watches I decided to buy them both a watch for next term so hopefully next term the school will actually be on time for once! 

This month we've had some rain, it's quite a light rainy season so our tank has ran out during this month once. Which meant a trip to the bore hole! I went at the same time as school was finishing so I went with the kids that live en route to the bore hole. Ronald roped me into carrying his books home but repayed me by buying me a banana pancake which I shared with the gang of kids walking with me (a banana pancake does not go far with 9 kids!) I also bumped into Brian who wasn't at school that day and asked him why he wasn't at school which he simply answered with "debate" I was like you know what Brian I don't blame you there as debate is horrible, I would have hated it if I was them as they have to stand up I front of the whole school and argue a point that they don't even know much about all in English. Last time they had to debate about which one was better water or fire...... 

This month we also celebrated international health day on the 7th. 

It was all based on preventions and treatments for malaria which was very relevant for the kids at our school.  We first of all did a brief talk to them all and asked them questions to see if they knew ways to prevent malaria and got them to read out some facts. Then we had invited Phiona a nurse from the health clinic who we are good friends with to do a more in depth talk with the kids. They were all so interested and really got into it as it does affect all of them somehow. 

So after the 10th jess and I made our way to Kampala for jess' 19th birthday. Pretty much all of the volunteers came to Kampala for it. It was such a nice weekend. I had my first ever proper massage which was amazing although it wasn't as relaxing as we were talking about Uganda and she was literally in hysterics while pummelling my legs because I told her we cooked on a charcoal stove! That night we also went out for a nice meal and ordered a surprise birthday pudding which she loved! It was brilliant when the waters came out singing happy birthday which a huge sparkly decorated cake. 

As this month is the month that a lot of volunteers families come out to visit. It's quite strange seeing them here. It makes you realise so much about Uganda that we have forgotten about. It's like seeing the country through fresh eyes. Things like how little the kids have, as at home again the orphanage the babies literally only have a pot that used to contain pills and they spend their days peeling the paint off the wall and putting it in the pot. It's quite easy to forget this as no one has a lot so it just seems normal but then you actually think wait kids in the uk have toys, arts and crafts, books and a lot more. Yet the kids here are happy with a pot full of peeled off paint... 

Also violence and beating, when we talked to them about it they were pretty hottified about it all as jess and I wake up to kids being beaten in the morning which happens right outside our house.. We have become so hard being out here it's quite sad but if you were to let every single bad thing get to you you would not want to get out of bed in the morning. 

Another thing they pointed out was what do the kids do once they have finished school? Education here is such a vital part in life here, the country is literally covered in primary schools. But once the kids are finished with primary school they are pretty much dropped and left stranded on their own. Which sadly usually results in them not going on to further education and getting a poor paid job their parents had. It's sad as there is so much potential in so many kids but they just don't know what to do with it. 

Uganda does have many flaws and numerous problems and corruption, it is so clear to see that Ugandans live for the day, they don't think or worry about the future- yes we will spend all our money on building half a house, yes we will eat all that bread now as who knows what will happen tomorrow. It's quite a contrast to the way we are used to, saving is such s huge part of life in the uk whereas saving here is not really existent... 

April also meant Easter! Easter is celebrated hugely here as its such a Christian based country. So for Easter Day we went to home again the orphanage where we did some arts and crafts with them, making flowery headbands for the girls and bandanas for the boys. They loved them and wore them to church that day as well! We also did an Easter egg hunt with all the kids. We split everyone into teams and we had previously hidden their colour of eggs all over home again. They then had to find their colour of egg then bring them back to us as we were the team leaders. At the end we then handed out each child a package of mini eggs that a volunteers mum had brought out. They were amazed that they looked like eggs but were chocolate! Even the older teenagers at home again were getting very into it! 

There was also a Easter football tournament going on between all the villages. We watched the final on Easter Day as well as it was kaihura who our friends play in from home again against another village. It was such a good game and to top of Easter Day kaihura won!! They were soooo happy and were running around the pitch crazily! We even got an excitable hug from the captain sundae who was over the moon! 

It was such a good day, by far the best Easter I've had in my life! 

In the holidays we also went to visit  a guy called Everest who is 21 but is paralysed from the waist down. It's such a shame as he is such a friendly person and loved playing uno with us! The people he lives with are very helpful and kind to him and people who have visited him before have decorated his room to make it very homely which is lovely! 

This month I've also been trying to improve my volleyball skills, the boys at home again are ridiculously good at it, David even wears a glove on one of his hands so he can properly smack the ball down. I'm getting better though! 

Recently however home again has started to go down hill after the supervisor went crazy and joined a cult and called us white demonds.. But ever since the babies house especially has gotten so disorganised and saddening. For some reason the tv was moved into the baby house so now the babies are shut in a room while the house mothers watch tv and braid one another's hair. It's so frustrating and when the kids do watch the tv it's not even appropriate stuff for them to be watching. The other day we took them all outside and it was like they were on a whole new world! They never get let out and the house mothers rarely interact with them. I feel so sorry for them, it's not about how poor thy are and the lack of money they have it's the lack of love their giving which is the problem. It's so sad but faith the owner is joing to talk to them do hopefully there is a change soon! 

So that has been April here, next month we will be on holidays got most co it but will be going back to school at the end of the month! 

Jess managed to get Lubega to finally fall asleep! 

Nakiwala skipping then our route to our nearest village Myanzi! 

March- a month spent teaching baby class...

Well March has been a month in Uganda spent fully teaching. Although at the start of this term we were teaching PE to all the classes "MAKE A CIRCLE!" they reply "A BIG CIRCLE!!" After a parents afternoon it was decided that it would be better for us to be more focused on the younger classes to improve their english from the start. Jess and I were happy to help in any way we could so agreed to it, its also nice to have a change every now and again, we have now taught all classes in the school at some point in our time here!
As the kids in baby class' english is not very good at all we have to use our luganda phrases in the classroom like "Tulla wansi"- sit down and "silika!"- keep quiet and "Webake" which means go to sleep, you would be suprised on how helpful that phrase is when they are running riot! Usually however we have the class teacher in with us to help and we act as class room assistants. The baby classes are split into two because there were so many of them, baby blue and baby green. Baby blue is definitly a lot younger and arent as good at the work as baby green. Vivian teaches baby green so i usually help Edith with baby blue as they are the ones that need it the most. I either fill in work into all the kids books the day before as before edith would do it during class time which would take away time from her teaching them and all the kids would just get really restless. So now classes tend to run more smoother as the work is allready filled in ready to be completed. I spent my afternoons drawing a billion cows, mud huts, old people, razor blades, etc for them to match, colour in, or comlete. I will defintily be a pro at drawing dangerous objects by the end of this year! Last week i was drawing insects like cockroaches, mosquitoes etc for them to colour in!
I also help dish out the books and pencils to the kids and then help the ones struggling with the work. Most of the kids understand what to do when i do an example for them and go over it with them but there are some that just seem too young to even be at school! There is one girl called nabakooza who is way too young to be in school let alone matching insects to one another! 
Some days edith or vivian either need to go to the hospital or do some errands so Jess and I are left to teach the class on our own. This is the most hectic thing I've ever had to do! Obviously because we dont beat and verbal warnings dont exactly work with babies who dont know much english they have the tendancy to go absaloutly crazy! I find myself thinking back to nanny 901 and think what did she do with all those mental spoilt kids?! We have kids like Wasswa climbing up the walls (weve realized now that when we peel them off the wall they treat it like some game so we have to ignore them) we have a sea of kids sticking to you when you ask one person to come and draw something on the board. We have 2 girls called Peace in our class and you find yourself shouting "PEACE STOP!" when shes clambering all over everything and everyone (it feels quite wrong shouting the word peace angrily) We also have Lubega who is soo cheeky, the other day he was biting other kids and going mental in general but jess luckily managed to put him to sleep by stroking his forehead (works a treat that one) we also have tamale who is constantly running out of the classroom, as the classroom doesnt actually have a door its pretty hard to control who comes in or out!
Once we have finnished the days work we have "webake time" where the majority of them fall asleep due to exhaustion of running riot, im not going to lie a couple of times i have joined them in this sleep time as your usually shattered by the end of it!
There was one time when Edith and Vivian had gone to do something so jess and i took one classroom each. Usually when there is two of us one of us can be at the front while the other is at the back stopping them from beating each other up but when your on your own it can be extremly difficult to do both things! While i was in one classroom i heard jess shout "WHO PUT THE SEED IN CONGO'S MOUTH?!" i had to ask her about this afterwards, the story goes that one kid had shoved a huge mangoe seed into congo's mouth, to which it got trapped and he started panicking and jess had to fish it out and comfort him! That is just some of the eventful things that happen in baby class!
In baby class when edith is teaching she does beat the kids when they get something wrong several times or arent listening or fighting. It can be quite hard to sit there while she does it and i find myself going up to comfort them afterwards. Teachers here know we think its wrong and that they shouldnt do it, we do make it plainly obvious but because theyve grown up with it and its such a common thing they dont see it as a big deal. It breaks my heart though when she beats a kid for getting something wrong as i think thats not going to make them understand! Like a girl called sanyu the other day was crying so much after getting beat that she couldnt even hold her pencil, after calming her down she was still shaking so she couldnt draw a straight line so i helped guide her pencil and finnish the work so she could go outside for break. Jess and I have told other teachers and the head teachers our opinions and that there are other ways of punishment but because everyone does it here and its just a fact of education here its hard to get them to change their ways sadly.

This month we have stayed mostly in our village, one of the main bits of news from our village was that there was a guy going round stealing peoples boda bodas by killing the drivers then taking the bikes. So a bunch of boda boda drivers found him and hunted him down it was so close to our house that they killed the guy and jess and I were on a boda boda and asked ashlav what is that they're burning? as we drove through the smoke he replied thats the man they killed... we couldnt beleive we had just driven past a burning body and he seemed so casual about it!!
I also mentioned in my last blog about how we have a new head master called Fred who is our neighbour. We chill with him most nights the other night i was outside waiting for the kettle to boil under the stars and he came over to sit beside me and sang me christian songs until it was boiled! It was very relaxing! Its very strange thinking that Jess and I helped him a Ugandan settle in, showed him round, told him about things here and what to do , where to get stuff etc. I think that there shows just how long weve been here! It feels good though to not be the new ones were seen as the regulars which i love! Fred and Charles another teacher say whenever they go to myanzi its like were famous as everyone knows us! a couple of weeks ago the water ran out of the tank so i went to the bore hole. It was the time of kids going back home from school so I walked there with kids that lived on route to the bore hole or further. Tonny one of the kids gave me his books to carry and in return he bought me a banana pancake which i shared with everyone else. I love walking to the bore hole, its so nice when the kids shout "HEllo madame abiiii!" and parents recognise you and greet you, you feel really at home!

This month we also went to go and visit our friend Kabiito Robert who goes to a boarding school in Fort Portal. We know him from the home again orphanage that we visit in the holidays. We told him we were coming to see him but i dont think he actually knew that we would be coming so it was a bit of a suprise!
The boarding school is situated in such a beautiful place, right beside the crater lakes! The best bit of it all though is that the school was founded by a scottish man so all the boys have to wear kilts! (although theyre not tartan they still have a sporan!) it was amazing!
We arrived there and all the pupils were like whhaaat who are the mzunugus coming for?! we then managed to find robert and the smile on his face was priceless when he saw us! It was sooo nice to see him and just chill with him for the afternoon on the grass. We brought sodas and chocolate for him and his friends as well which they loved. Unfortunatly the time went by soo quickly and we soon had to leave to get back home. It was so sad saying goodbye, although we promised we would visit him in the holidays at home again. It was so sad walking away as he looked close to tears! It hit me then how unbearably sad its going to be to say bye for real to everyone here. Im dreading the day...

As I've said in previous blogs that weve been helping out at the medical centre in Myanzi. Beforehand we had been talking to Deo about whether he knew if many of the kids were HIV positive. He had no idea and was saying how it would be so good to get them tested but its things like funds, organising it, who to ask etc that never made it come about. Jess and I then decided to take it into our own hands as we now have good friends at the health center. We asked phiona there and she said no problem it would cost 80,000 for the whole school to be tested , 267 kids! that is only 20 pounds!! so 10 pounds each jess and i were happy to spend. On the 27th of March Phiona and matovu came to the school and set up a little desk in the office. Beforehand jess and i had wrote down all the kids names so that we could just call them out of class to be tested. The test was a simple prick of the finger which was then dabbed onto a testing paper to indicate whether they were positive or not. If they were, they then did another test and if that 2nd test counteracted the first one then a 3rd one would take place to be the tiebreaker.
We started off in baby class. Of course there was a lot of crying and freak outs but soon enough they were finnished we then moved onto Top and then p1, 2, 3,4, and 5. As the classes got older it got easier as we knew everyones names and they were more cooperative! It took the whole day and all the teachers were very suprised and happy we had gotten everyone tested in one day. We even had time for some of the teachers to be tested. There were even people from the village wandering over and asking if they could be tested (we had to draw the line at that one)
Overall the results turned out to be extremly good with only one child being positive from baby class, The health centre knew of her all ready and she is getting treatment for it and her parents are also aware of it.
However this was still such good news with only 1 out of 267 kids being positive. We were thrilled with the results as everyone thought it was going to be alot higher.
Over the next couple of days phiona brought soap for Jess and I to hand out to each child that got tested. As part of the package. Each child got half a bar of soap. You would be quite suprisied on how excited the kids got over a half bar of soap!

More news of the village was that there was a graduation for our neighbour Gita's son and daughter. RIght outside our house was transformed into a venue for it with marques, chairs, an alter(?) and more! We had 3 volunteers from masaka over for the weekend so we thought we would join the celebrations! of course because we are white we got front row seats (im going to find it odd not getting special treatment like that when i get back home!) We also had to dance up infront of everyone to the graduates to congratualte them (kids from our school that were there found this hillarious) and stand in the baking heat while Gita gave a speach about each graduate i was like come onnnn gita rap it up! After we dashed back into the shade and it was time for food! Function food is the best with meat, rice, matoke, soda etc
That night the music was soo loud that parts of our wall crumbled off!

In mityana where we go for nice vegetables etc there is an indian run supermarket that we go to which is so good. We have made friends with Palel who runs it, she made us these really tasty spicy prawn crackers and said she wants to cook us a dinner which we are looking forward too!
Also fred and charles after school were sitting to us chatting and we found out that charles has 2 wives!! Hes only 21 as well! We were gobsmacked, we didnt even know he had one let alone two! We were telling him how he would be called a "ladies man" back in the uk. Fred then told us how his wife in myanzi was very dangerous and if she saw us walking with him she would get very angry and chase after us... so ive declined every offer charles gives to come and meet his wife! I asked him do they not get jealous? he was like no because i love them equally! allright then charlie..
There is also this woman called Patricia who i randomly met outside our house. She asked for my number so i gave it to her, i now get daily phonecalls from her telling me to have a good lunch,dinner etc. She is very sweet though as when we were walking back from the health centre she came running out her house to meet me and asked "abi do you like fruit?" "yeah i do! why?" she runs off and comes back out of her house with a jackfruit for me! so kind of her. We were walking back with edith that day as she was at the health centre getting treatment for malaria so i gave it to her to take back to alice and her family along with my water so she could take her pills, she was very happy and told me she has a present for me in return, who knows what it will be!

So thats been my march here in Uganda. I usually leave this place realizing ive forgotten to put something in!
A few weeks ago we got an email confirming our flights home for the 9th of August...... this means we only have 4 months left!!! its crazy! i keep on having nightmares about saying bye to people here , im trying not to think about it too much though and just enjoy the time i have left here and make the most of everything that comes my way.

So i guess ill see you all in 4 months time!
Nansamba Abi.

pictures!

                                        
                                                 Juliet, Joseph and tony under the salvation community family tree

                                                                   Benedee

                                                                  zaina "abi take a picture of meeee!"

                                                            Told our headmaster fred to smile when a photo is taken
                                                           he is very excited about the fact all my family and friends
                                                           in scotland will see a picture of him so fred says hi!

                                                                    benita looking cute and innocent and not mischievous!

                                                                zaina and I

                                                        drawing cows and goats for baby class!

February - School and rainy season begin hallelujah!!

Once again we have found ourselves coming to the end of another fantastic month in Uganda. We are now actually half way through our year which is a very sad and scary thought.. they always say the next half goes the quickest this worries me as the first half went so quickly already!

This month included the end of holidays and going back to school! I was actually really looking forward to going back as I missed all the kids so much! I was also looking forward to getting back into a teaching routine and helping out at the health clinic again. We had our holidays and now it was time to get back to work!
The 2nd of February was the day before school started. You would think everything would be getting very organized for the main day tomorrow but in Uganda this is not how it works. People here can be pretty good at postponing things until the verrrry last minute so all questions Jess and I asked about the start of school were answered with "we shall see on Monday" at first this got a bit stressful as Jess and I felt like the only semi-organized people in the school! But we sat back and let it be and were ready to help out when they realized infact they did need a bit of organization!
They Sunday before school was eerily calm.. the calm before the storm! we spent that day sorting out books, teaching resources that we thought we may need for the new term (bare in mind at this point we didn't even know who or what subjects we would be teaching!) It was only at 11pm that night that it was decided it would probably be a good idea to put the desks into each classrooms. So there we were in the pitch black night using phone torches and moving desks back with Herbert, sara, tallemwa, site, sajay and deo. The compound was also swept so we were all being chocked by the dust up in the air and were having to dodge burning piles of leaves while moving the desks. Finally we had finished and went to bed to prepare ourselves for the storm the next day.

3rd February - the storm had hit! Well actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be maybe a fource 4 gale? Anyway we got up bright and early and were greeted by lots and lots of new pupils to be interviewed to deterimine which classes they went into. Jess and I carried out a few of these. Some were so nervous and I sympathized so much with them as I remember I used to hate on the spot tests and ended up failing them so it was quite heartbreaking when I interviewed one kid, I tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible but he really was not getting any of the questions I asked him even with a lot of help so he had to go into p2 when he was previously in p3. It was such a shame as the tears started to roll down his face, I just wanted to give him a big hug and slip him into the p3 class! Although I know its for the best to put him in a class he can manage. He is doing really well now and is a very happy guy (I kept a check on him throughout the week)
Not only did we have new pupils we also had a bunch of new teachers! We now have a new teacher for the new p5 class and a teacher for p4, top and baby. The teacher for p4 sounds identical to Marty zebra in Madagascar (nearly called him marty a number of times) We also have a new head teacher! His name is fred and he is 19 years old.... i was very surprised when he came out with that sentence!
Jess and I also took the responisbilty of registering each kid in the school and giving out jotters to each pupil and pens and pencils. They were all so excited to get new pens and pencils! Then for the rest of the day the kids were left to rome around the school so jess and i decided to make there time worth while and play games with them like tig, sticky willow, british bulldogs etc fair to say we tired them out! We also had a minor awkward situation when joyce the previous p4 teacher came back. Noone was expecting her to come back well actually i don't think they knew if she was or not and the new head teacher fred had moved into her room. It was verrrry awkward when she asked me where fred stayed i was like errr over there somewhere i think! I ended up having to clear out her stuff with her and phone up a boda boda to take her and belongings back to kampala! I have also come to the conclusion that people here are very bad at confrontations and hope that the person will just eventually get the idea!
So now our new neighbor is Fred not Joyce!
The first day at school once the school day had finished we had a teachers meeting to allocated classes/subjects/roles. Jess and I are now the designated P.E teachers, we do P.E with p1,2,3,4 and 5. We also do reading and writing with p2 and 3 and drawing with p1 and this term we are also more involved with the lower classes baby and top as we now do shading and drawing with them.
P.E is so much fun as the kids love to get out of the classroom for once and run around! Its so different to what they are used to and its so rewarding to teach them new games that they love and have so much fun doing! (thankyou mr fraser and jane for all the games in pe they have been very useful!)
In the meeting Vivian one of the teachers then volunteered me to be the secretary of the school. So now i am a secretary! following my mothers footsteps here! Jess and I have also been put in charge of debate and quiz afternoons on a Friday and we also asked if we could start up an art club on a weekly afternoon which they were happy with. So now the teachers include, Jess, me, fred, erinah, moreen, Vivian, Annette, edith, rose and Charles. A very good team i think!

Also in the previous blog i mentioned how we came back to the school being built with bricks! I can now say that it is pretty much completed! With builders coming from Kampala it was finished within a week! All we need now is doors and windows and paint and it will be done! (windows and doors aren't a necessity at the moment with the heat)


Also this month weve had Herbert and Sara who are my age and a bit younger living here ( i think i mentioned them in the previous blog) anyway they are still here and i don't want them to go! I love just sitting outside with them chatting my luganda is getting a lot better with them as Herbert is always teaching me new words. Some nights i will be sitting out with them under the stars playing snake on my phone and learning new words like "sara ofuyay"(v. bad spelling but basically means sara is gassing) which she replys "oh limba!" (your lieing!) "slimba!" (im not lieing!)  its pretty fun to wind her up but i can always reassure her that she my mukwano! (friend)
I've also been taught a word "enyoko" which is apparently a bad word that i cannot say around people under the age of 15.. still don't know what it means though!
In return of Herbert teaching me luganda i decided to teach him Scottish words! So far I've taught him och aye, nae, wee, ta, weisht, bairn, etc the words sound hilarious in his Ugandan accent but he loves Scottish words! I also told him that supercalafragalisticexpealadocious meant great in Scottish... it was a form of torture for him trying to learn it but was so funny, i should probably tell him its not actually true!

This month we also were invited to a wedding in Kampala with Deo! It was very exciting as Deo thought it would be a good idea for us to go and get Gomez's made for the wedding. A gomez is the Buganda traditional dress. I will try explain how to wear one.
First you put on the kichou (not kichoo as i learnt this means a bed bug!) You have this material up to your shoulders like a box then you tie it around you waist and fold the top over itself.
Then you get the gomez and put it on like a coat, button it at the front side and gather the left over material to the side.
This material is then folded in and you tie another bit of material around your waist and let that left over material hand down over it.
Then you get the sash type thing, wrap it around your waist and tie it at the front and voila! you have your gomez!
So for the gomez Jess and I made our way to Mityana to see caroline, deos sister at the market. She then took us to a material shop where we picked out the material we wanted, then we went to go get our kichou and she began to make it! In the next couple of days we came back to find our gomez's had been finished! She then took us into a room and showed us how to put it on (ill tell you its not easy!) everyone at the market said we looked very smart and were very happy to see mzunugus in a gomez!

Before the wedding however we had valentines day! it wasn't that special as we spent the day going to mityana to pick up school uniforms. However i did get proposed to at the rolex stand and invited to go to a mans parents house to be introduced to them, most romantic valentines day ive had. I also got given a branch of a tree for a valentines present..

15th of February- was wedding day! Deo, Jess Site and I headed off early to catch a taxi to Kampala. Deo got off before us to go and collect his suit so we were left with site who had never been to kampala before and ill tell you for a fact it is a lot crazier than the village life we live in kisweera! So we had site grasping onto our hands for dear life while we weaved our way through the hustle and bustle of kampala. We then stopped at a café and we all had a soda and chapatti while waiting for Deo. Deo then finally arrived and we made our way to the old taxi park to get a taxi to the church. Made it to the taxi park after at least 2 close hits by taxis and soon enough we were at the church and under a tree with my top off infront of a busy road and a group of people i had no idea were while an old woman that was one of deos relatives dressed me in my gomez... taxis that drove past were a tad shocked!
We then had some pictures taken with people that wanted a picture and then made our way into the most beautiful church! There were long mosaic windows, huge chandaleirs, flowers everywhere and the bride looked so beautiful! She kinda looked like Janet Jackson! I also saw Julie who was deos neice i think. It was so nice to see her! Then we got piled into a car to make our way to the reception. The reception was very fancily decorated with the colour scheme of gold and red. There were sooo many lights and a huge centre piece. The more tacky the better! We had to wait a while for the bride and groom to come but that was no problem as we were thoroughly entertained by the traditional Buganda dancing and music. It was amazing! I've never seen bums shake so much in my life. It looked seriously tireing though!
Once the bride and groom arrived some speeches and dancing and singing were done. Then it was time for dinner! There was chicken, rice, gnut sauce, and more and of course soda! Once everyone had finished dinner it was time for giving the presents to the bride and groom. We all had our presents and had to dance towards the bride and groom where we were then given a huge hug by them and thanked and we then proceeded to dance to our seats.
Once the wedding was over Jess and I made our way to backpackers where we entered in our gomez's and got a lot of positive comments and shocked expressions!

As i said earlier because we are back at school we are now helping at the medical centre again every market monady (every fortnight) It was so good to be back and see everyone again. We set up our work station once again and started to register new babies and what immunisations they had received that day in the records. Once we had finished this job we asked mercyline if she needed anymore help. To which she replied yes and we were then led through into the injection room. Very oblivious to it all we watched her do an injection upwards into a babies arm. I thought we would probably just help her clean the babies arm before she did the next one but nope. She handed a needle to me i was like "wait your wanting me to inject the baby?!" she was like "yes! you saw me to do it, you know now, you learn from trieing".... i felt my hands start to shake as i walked over to the baby oblivious to what i was about to do to it. Merycline kind of talked me through it by saying now pinch the arm and put the needle into the indent. I pinched it and went for it and stabbed the needle upwards into its arm and quickly injected the liquid to prevent measles before i had registered what i was actually doing! I then stepped back and was like what on earth have i just done?! I then had to dispose of the needle without pricking myself. I then also gave mouth drops to babies to prevent polio which was a hell of a lot less nerve wracking! Then Mercyline did an injection into the babies upper thigh to prevent diphtheria. Once again i found myself with a needle in my hand about to stab a baby in the thigh. That one i found easier and soon i was injecting a few more babies. Bare in mind throughout this Ugandan mothers were watching me doing the injections which did not make it any more easier! Once the injections had finished Jess and I walked out of the clinic and only then did it truly dawn on us what we had just done. I'm not sure how i was trusted with it but mercyline had said next time we could try the bcg one... i think im going to have to draw the line at that one!
After that health clinic session we went back to school where i helped edith draw a billion mud huts into the baby classes books for them to copy.

25th February - first day of rain!!! Rainy season has begun!
you have no idea how happy i was to walk out of the p2 classroom i had just taught and feel the water droplets on my bare arms! I saw deo and shouted "Its raining!!" then i saw Vivian who had an ongoing joke that it would never rain ever so i smugly said "eh Vivian what do you call this?" she laughed a lot then assured me it would stop very soon! Herbert was freezing sheltering under the rain and thought i was crazy for standing in it. I was going to try and put a basin out for water but the water was so dirty as it was washing the roofs from dust and was falling off the gutter brown.

So this month has been pretty hard with it being dry season and having very limited water. Bore hole trips are fun though when its not baking heat. yesterday Herbert, sara and i made our way to the bore hole on the bikes and when we got to the bore hole Herbert was like you are not like any other mzunug ive met! i guess that is a compliment maybe, but he did say this after i showed him my party trick or rolling my eyes so its just white eyeball staring at him. Sara said she was going to have nightmares so now whenever i see them i just flash them my white eyeball and they freak out, its hilarious! Now i think times are going to get easier with the rain, you don't realize how much you love it until its gone!

However with the rain i have today developed a cold.. i did miss the rain but not a classic cold!

ps very sorry i didn't put photos in this one as i forgot my camera but will post another blog sometime with photos of new school etc!

January the second month of our holidays and preparing for going back to school!

Okay so I stupidly forgot to bring my diary into Mityana today so I'm going to try write this blog from memory!
We decided that the best way to get around Uganda without being seriously delayed and more importantly a more safer option would be to rent out a car and make our way round the places we wanted to see in Uganda. We started off in Kampala, trying to describe what driving is like in Kampala would be hard! Its crazy, hectic is an understatement for it! Steph who was the driver out of the group hadnt driven in 4 months and got plunged straight into the deep end! Getting out of Kampala was a releif and we were soon making our way to Sipi falls through Jinja. It took us around about a day to get there. It was such a beautiful drive though as we got higher up and at points could see right to the border of Uganda to Kenya! We finally arrived at crows nest where we would be staying at sipi falls which had cute wooden shacks perched on a hill facing the falls. The next morning george who worked at crows nest took us on a day walk to the 4 falls. It was so cool getting able to go under and behind the waterfalls and in the caves. It was boiling hot that day so the water from the falls was bliss! George was a very good guide and told us all about the history of the village and all about the falls.
After Sipi falls we set off early again to make our way to murchison falls via Gulu. As it took the whole day we had to stop that night in packwach (dont know how to spell it i arrived their in the dark and left early in the dark so didnt see any signs!) Anyway this turned out to be a night of hell as two girls got taken down by the sipi water we drank yes i know very stupid of us but dehydration took its toll on the walk and the water looked so clean! very deceiving though and i thank achiltibuie for my cast iron stomach as i didnt get any side effects...yet. Anyway the next morning we set off earlyish to get to the national park in Murchison. Just driving to Red Chili where we were going to be staying we saw so many animals including elephants! It was surreal as we got so close to them! I kept on forgetting that they were infact in the wild! After nearly hitting a waterbuck (a big hairy deer like thing) we made it to red chili. I made the very very very stupid mistake of only taking 8,000 in to a national park with me which is 2 pounds... so 2 of the girls went on the boat safari trip while Lauren and I stayed at the red chili chatting with the staff who were super friendly and gave us free bananas and shared their biscuits with us (may have been out of pity since we couldnt afford anything) They then took Lauren and I on a drive to the village in the national park. They told us about how many people had been eaten by lions by going to the toilet at night etc. It was an eventful drive!
The next day we did a game drive. We first had to cross a river with the car as more animals were on the other side of the river. We then charles who was our guide for the day. He first took us down many tracks, i think it would have been impossible to do it without a guide! We saw so many animals so close up like warthogs, kobs, herds of buffalo, waterbucks, elephants, we actually saw a huge elephant with ginormous tusks, it was so close to us and just stared straight at us! We also saw girraffes which were incredible! I knew they were always big but you dont realize just how big they are when they are right beside you! When they run they look like they are running in slow motion it was the best thing i had ever seen. We also saw wildabeasts bathing in the mud, it all felt like david attenborough should have been speaking over it all!
After the game drive we headed back to the campsite and had dinner. When it got dark we then went out on a night game drive with one of the staff members Ivan and a guy from zimbabwe. we didnt see much and im quite suprised we didnt get lost! I got quite a few scratches on me though from haning out the window while we drove past thorn bushes. When we got back Backa one of the staff memebers came up to us and said wanna see a hippo? bare in mind this is the most dangerous animal in Uganda we decided why not? He then took us to the humungous hippo that was actually taller than me! It was happily munching away and didnt seem to dangerous! although backa said do not shine your torch in its eyes and dont stand between it and the river as you will get flattened.. also turns out the hippo was right outside mine and Laurens tent! We also werent aloud any toothpaste, shampoo, facewipes anything that had a scent in our tents otherwise the warthogs would rip open our tent! So that night we went to sleep to the sound of the hippo munching grass right beside me! best night sleep yet.

The next day we left red chili reluctantly and made our way down to Fort Portal where we would first stop of at Kihura where some of the girls lived then go jungle treking in a park in Fort Portal. After the worst roads known in history we stepped out of the car in Kihura looking like we had a bad fake tan from the orange dust we got washed up at the girls house and went back out to the car to find that it wouldnt start! We got robert who studied mechanics to look at it and it turned out to be some techincal plug thing that had come away. Although it was very annoying that we had to cut our trip short it was still soo lucky that it broke down then as if it had broken down when we took a wrong turn and came over the horizon to find lake albert and broke down there we would have been screwed!

So that was our road trip! It was so much fun and definitely an experience to remember!
After our roadtrip we then spent a few more days in Kihura which were also eventful as when we were at Home again the Roberts casually mentioned to us that they had 2 puppies! They took us to a ditch where they had put a metal sheet over them and under were the 2 cutest little puppies ive ever seen! they were petrified of us at first and you could see that they were crawling with fleas. We decided the best thing for them would be for us to take them back to villa maria and get them cleaned up and healthy again.
Walking through Kihura village with two puppies seemed to attract alot of attention! But soon we were at villla maria where we gave them some eggs and bread and tried to shave/cut off as much fur as possible. After this whole ordeal they were not scared of us at all and were so happy to see us each morning! i dont think Home again will be getting them back anytime soon....

After Kihura Jess and I decided it was time to go to home sweet home! It was soo nice to go back to our little old village. We got alot of "kuli kyo's" to which we reply "nvoodayo!" not how you spell it at all but basically meanning welcome back then im back! We also got greeted by lots of hugs from our crew of kids that play outside our house.
We also came back home to the biggest suprise ever, the foundations of a brick school!! I got such a suprise when i went around the corner to find this! It is such an amazing step for the school as it actually looks like one now and looks so smart and propper compared to the broken papyrus school building. Everyone in the village is so happy about it as well and as they are passing by they come to take a look at it. So it is very big news not only for us but the whole village! Me and the head nursery teacher Annette would just stand and stare at it in disbeleif that it was actually happening! So all is very exciting here with builders coming in from Kampala to finnish it all up. Jess and I have also been very busy with painting the outside of the new tin school. Its looking really good so far although were still in the process of finishing it. People walking past stop and watch us so we usually have a good sized audience while we do it!
We have also been helping with the building of the school by measuring, cutting and holding the tin for another part of the school and loading bricks into wheelbarrows for the brick building.

It is also dry season at the moment so it is hotter than usual and it also means that the water tanks are empty! This means that we have to once again go and fetch our water from the bore hole in the blistering heat! Except it is alot easier when we manage to get hold of a bike to tie the jerry cans to. Also because of the building even more water is needed to be fetched to help make the cement. So i spent a few of my days helping sara and tallemwa go and fetch water from the bore hole. Sara and I mastered the technique of me cycling with the jerry cans tied on the back then she would run along beside me then jump onto the back! You would hardly feel her jump on so it worked very well! I only fell off once! (appologies to sara)
However now unfortunately the closest bore hole has broken so we now have to travel to the further away one which is also harder to pump so there has to be 2 of us pumping it at the same time! very tireing. There is also usually a huge que of jerry cans waiting to be filled as everyone now has to go to this one to get water! You usually get some interesting conversations while waiting though.

Sara also asked me to "escort her to the garden" so after collecting water we headed down to their garden which is even further away than the 2nd bore hole. There they have coffee trees, pumpkin, casava, sugar cane and more. We then filled huge bags of pumpkins and loaded them onto the bike to take them back home. I did get a pumpkin out of it though!

This month we also met a mzunug in the posta in Mityana. It was such a suprise as Jess and I literally thought we were the only ones! I think they must hide in the daytime... Anyway they very kindly invited us over for lunch at their house. Of course Jess and I did not refuse a lunch date where American food would be made! She picked us up in her air conditioned car ( i have not felt cold air for a while!) and we headed to her beautiful house (even nicer than my house in scotland!) It was so strange being there they had 2 sausage dogs.They cooked us chicken fajitas which were amazing!! I have not had chicken in 5 months and it was so good having meat that didnt have bones sticking out of it! They were so nice and it was lovely to be invited to their house.

Before school started we also decided to show rose herbert and edith and everyone else how to make mzunugu pancakes! In return they showed us how to make banana pancakes which were suprisingly easy! We made pancakes for everyone including all the builders who all enjoyed them very much as well! I think the end vote was that mzunug pancakes won! Before we started cooking Herbert had said that i couldnt cook but by the end his mind was changed, he said "I'm never eating banana pancakes again!"

So the first month of 2014 has been pretty hectic but so much fun! I cant wait to start teaching in the new buildings and everything else that will come in the next month! Including another wedding we have been invited to with Deo. We are getting gomez's made for us as well for the wedding which is going to be fun! (they are the traditional dress for the women here with huge pointy shoulders lots of material hanging everywhere, it will be interesting to say the least!)

                                                                    Murchison falls national park

Crater lake in Fort Portal

                                                             Christmas tree decorating at home again

Crater lake

                                                                  The puppies!

sorry tried to upload more photos but internet is extremely slow!

A not so wintery December in Uganda

I think I should start this blog with merry Christmas and a happy new year! Sorry I'm a little late, it's currently holiday time so it's harder to get time to sit down and write a bog entry. 

As I said were in holiday time and what better way to kick of the holidays by water rafting down the Nile! (Sorry mum) but it was seriously the funnest thing I've done! We first got picked up by the rafting organisation and taken to their centre where we signed some forms and afterwards had breakfast there. After breakfast it was time to head to the Nile! We were all suited with life jackets and helmets and put into the back of an open top truck. Soon enough we had made it to the Nile and were separated into our two groups. Our team leader was Ashlav who was brilliant. We first went over the safety tips and soon enough we were paddling towards our first rapid which was a force 5 (grade 6 is the highest!) I was second from the front so got a pretty good view of the humongous rapid we were paddling towards! With Ashlav shouting over the waves "hard forward!" We literally had to paddle straight into the waves then "get down!" We all had to crouch down while the waves crashed over us! It was sooo much fun!! Our boat was close to tipping over several times. We could not stop laughing when we emerged from the rapid, it was brilliant. The next rapid was like a waterfall so the boat dropped from a ledge and smashed into the water rapid, that was a good one! After a few more rapids we reached a long stetch if calm water where Ashlav decided to push some of us in which I did not complain about as it was so hot and was amazing to just float around in the cool water. We also got chatti g to some of the safety kayakers, turned out one was called Moses, what a coincidence!  After a nice swim we went for lunch in a really beautiful spot over looking the Nile. After a few more smaller rapids we got back onto dry land and had some beers on the way home in the open top truck. It was such a fun day and who knows I may do it again since I've got my next time half price...

We have also been travelling around each others projects in Uganda which is such a fun way of travelling as you get to meet so many people and see places tourists wouldn't usually get to see. We went to a place called Mukono where there are two volunteers. Their host cooked for us all which we ate around a bonfire. I got chatting to a boy called Marvin who asked me to tell him stories and In return sang me songs he was hilarious and told me "abi you look like your father" I was like how do you know what my dad looks like? He then replied "I've dreamt of him" all right Marvin! 

As we had been in Uganda for 3 months we decided to treat ourselves to a spontaneous trip to the ssese islands! We got a ferry from entebbe to the biggest island on lake Victoria. The ferry trip was 3 hours long but didn't feel like too long as soon we had stepped of the ferry and were making our way to the hornbill campsite where we would be staying. We walked alongside a beautiful white sand beach and reached the campsite which was so hippy with wooden cabins with all sorts of colourful paintings all over them. So that night we decided to have a relaxing night around the bonfire (we seem to chill around a bonfire alot!) 

The next morning we were awoken by the German woman who owned the campsite banging on our door. We answered it to her hysterically telling us that her husband had been arrested and that 30 men were standing outside with sledge hammers and crow bars waiting to bulldoze the whole place down!! Half asleep and so confused we all packed out bags on a mad rush and sure enough when we went outside were greeted by 30 men about to demolish the campsite. Without hesitation they smashed down where we had just come out of and within 10minutes where we had slept that night was now piles of wood and rubble. It was so shocking to see as they moved on to the next building destroying the artwork the German lady and her husband had spent 20 years on. What was even worse was they were laughing while doing it while the German lady was crying beside us. We then cleared out the woman's house and put all her belongings outside to then stand beside her and watch her watch her own home being destroyed. It was heartbreaking. We then decided to save at least one of the pieces of artwork from the cabin so we each took a plank of wood and took it to the neighbouring campsite. They were so appreciative of the small gesture we could manage to do. 

Then within a couple of hours the whole campsite was destroyed, it was so shocking to see and after staying with the German woman for a while we then had to move to the next campsite. This whole day was also one of the girls birthday so we decided to make it better by going out for dinner that night.  The next couple if days on the ssese islands was otherwise very relaxing, lying on the beach, and even bathing in lake Victoria (not sure how clean I would have actually gotten but desperate times call for desperate measures!) 

So that was our trip to the ssese islands! Not what we expected but I guess nothing is here! 

In the holidays we also ent back to our project as after being on the phone to deo we realized just how much we missed it! while we were there we visited an orphanage in the next village to mityana. We met up with Ian who is the manager of it who then showed us around the village, including some crazy old woman who claimed us as our daughters and dragged us to her house and kept on doing the Simba thing with get thumb on our heads.. After finally being released from her grips we went to the speach day the orphans were performing at,again we got front row seats and pictures taken of us with all the staff, we then got shown around the orphanage and shown the coffee project they have started to help the kids get jobs as coffee farmers in the future. 

At our project there were also a lot of new people about as family relatives come for the festive period. 

We also handed out everyone's Christmas presents. We got deo a diary, pen and chocolate bar which he loved! It was also so lovely watching tallemwa opening her present as we had gotten her trousers which she had told me how much she wanted, she was do excited it was adorable! We also got benedee, yibula, benita and others toy cars which they didn't stop playing with, we also had a bag of mars bars which we dished out to everyone in the village, they all live mars bars now! It was so nice to see everyone again even though we had only been away for a couple of weeks. 

After being home for a couple of days we went kihura for Christmas! While we were in kihura we decided to go to one of the crater lakes in fort portal. We got quite a long boda ride on a dirt track road to the most beautiful wooden lodge on stilts overlooking an amazing blue crater lake. It was like something out if a movie! After looking around and feeling very scruffy and out of place we decided to walk down to the crater lake for a swim. After hundreds and hundreds of steps through tropical foliage we made it to the jetty going into the lake. It was the best swim I've had in Uganda to date! Definitely will be going back there. 

In kihura we've also been spending a lot of time at home again. We've got a lot of friends there now so me and Lauren one morning went to see the boys digging which did not involve us digging but us being the dj for them, they are surprisingly good at dancing while digging! It also envolved us throwing balls of dirt at Robert (don't worry we missed a lot of the times!) we also went tree climbing with them where I relived the days of climbing up grampas tree! 

Christmas Day!! - this day really did creep up on us all as its getting hotter it really does not feel like Christmas time! We woke up and opened the presents we had given to each other and put into our home made stockings made out of a ripped bed sheet.(Cheers dad and Jen for the hilarious Scottish presents!) deo did enjoy the shortbread! I think he may think that that's all Scottish people eat.. After opening our presents we started on the breakfast. We managed to find bacon from fort portal which was amazing! Man I've missed it. We also had scrambled eggs and tomatoes! It was brilliant. Then we headed over to home again to start sports day. On the way I phoned home and kept up the tradition of waking up everyone in the house! 

When we arrived at home again they were eating lunch so we ate with them which included rice, millet, spaghetti, pork, chapatis, cabbage and potatoes. The toddlers were loving it! After lunch we began to set up the games, we had sacks so we did a sack race around the baby house they went crazy for it! Whoever won got a sweet which they also loved. We also did a tug of war until the rope snapped, think we underestimated their strength! That morning we had also prepared many water balloons do we did a balloon toss that ended in a water fight in the baking heat! How Christmassy! 

After the games we went to faiths for dinner, we managed to make an amazing meal of meatballs, beans and carrots, potatoes, bread sauce (courtesy of mum) stuffing (courtesy of jess mum) and gravy it was sooo good! I was so full afterwards. Overall it was such a nice day we even managed to watch elf on Kate's laptop! It was so different but so much fun spent with the best people in the sun playing games definitely a Christmas to remember!

Boxing Day was then spent up a mango tree! 

On New Year's Eve there was a football match in the village so we watched it with the Roberts and enok. After the game we went to Kate's for lunch and then got some drinks and fruit to make a punch for New Year's Eve after a seriously good but spicy curry made by Jodie we counted down to New Years and midnight mass next door went crazy with the drums it was hilarious! It was So sad to think we will be going home this year, Tried very hard  to block that thought out of my head! 

So now it's officially 2014! How crazy I've been in Uganda for four months now, we spent our first day of 2014 at the football pitch for the final where me and steph and Lauren got asked to be in the winning teams picture with the trophies! So funny. We then went to faiths house for dinner and after dinner me jodie and steph went to the village "club" which is basically just people dancing outside under the stars! It was so fun , we found the Roberts and enok as well who had sneaked out of home again to dance! It was so much fun and such a brilliant way to spend our first night in 2014!  

So 2013 was awesome with finishing school, having a good summer with friends, flyin out to Uganda and being here for 4 months but I think 2014 will be a lot better and I'm soo excited for it! 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year as well.

Oh I also got myself a ritoro pet name, abwoli! It means forever young and I got a Luganda name nsamba!