One month in...

Well - I've completed a month in Uganda - and besides the repeated waiting, it's been quite interesting!

From where I left off 2 weeks ago - I spent 4 days walking around Kampala - and it was great fun. It is a very interesting city with various areas within the centre of town that breath a unique environment... There's some areas with mass markets and street vendors, and other areas completely built up with shopping malls and a golf course. There's also a multitude of eateries serving all types of cuisine (though I've been mainly going eating local way which has been much fun).

In Ruhamma, my activity has been stunted slightly as key meetings were delayed, but when the team meeting finally did take place last Wednesday, it was quite fruitful. The staff will all be participating in developing plans and activities to improve the way the health centre operates, improve the patient numbers, and understand better the potential of self-sustainability for the core operations of the organisation. I'm hoping to get people really moving on this - but it's a battle :o). The meeting itself was very interesting as it was in a mix of English and the local language, with a bit of French thrown in as well!

Besides this, I've also had the opportunity to learn about various medical techniques - although I was being explained in French - so although I think I understood quite a bit, I did struggle to ask clarification questions! I've also got used the heavily motokee (aka plantain) and beans diet.

In the afternoons, we are often visited by a group of local kids... who like to sing and dance for us... which is really kewl. We've been trying to get them to speak English, and also trying to make them understand some of the English songs they sing... Much fun! Also - people are mad about the football here... During the big Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool games, over 100 people watch a 32 inch tv running on a generator and they cheer so loudly it can be heard for quite a distance!

A fellow volunteer who was working with FUGA since December is leaving for the UK tomo - it's been quite refreshing to have someone to bounce ideas off etc... I'll be spending the majority of June in the village, but apparently we're still on target to receive electricity in the 1st week of July - which will completely change the dynamics of the village. One more month of untainted night sky!