I'm fine....

Walking through my local area in Busede at least fifty children will shout greetings to me every few hundred yards. I assumed that this would become less frequent as they got used to my presence but current evidence suggests this is untrue. As the English in Busede is pretty limited the only greeting they know is "Muzungu how are you?" Unfortunately any response other than "I'm fine" including I'm happy, sad, good, bad, hungry, tired, wistful or ecstatic, meets with blank stares. So I am fine. Perpetually! Though it is a terrible word to describe how I feel being here I do spend most of my time with an odd feeling of contentment. There is something about pumping your own water from the bore hole, cooking a meal for five on a tiny charcoal stove (which I am quite bad at but improving steadily) and hand washing your own clothes that makes you feel satisfied with life! As if, somehow, you've earned it.

My house

The first day I arrived me and the boys decided to go for a walk to the trading center, a 40 minute stroll through the fields. However, 10 minutes in, the rain began. It was like a wall of water which totally drenched us to the point that we looked as if we had jumped in a swimming pool fully clothed. We managed to shelter on someone's front porch; they bought us chairs and a tiny baby wrapped in cloth to coo over. When the rain stopped we continued, dripping, towards our destination. Past a school. At home time. I felt like the bloody Pied Piper. Over two hundred children in bright blue uniforms followed us, staring at me as if they had seen an alien.

The neighbors

I'm settling in well in the village. Our house has two rooms with bed frames - rather a luxury. The only issue is that there is no real place to wash. We have taken to washing out on the back porch by moonlight so the people from the road can't see us! The scenery is beautiful, rolling hills covered in tropical vegetation and sugar cane which dominates the agricultural industry here. My target schools are a good 45 minute walk away and I have lessons from eight in the morning. Those of you who know me will appreciate that I am not a morning person so I will just have to grin and bare it! Though when this is your morning commute it is not quite so bad...

My lessons begin on Monday morning in the primary school where we are going to attempt a session on puberty then on to the secondary where STIs are the order of the day. Most of the events mentioned in the last post are on the verge of being organised but the proof will be in the pudding! Reports and photos when I get back on here in late March.

Thank you to all of you who read and comment on what I am doing. Though I love living here it has really made me appreciate little things about home, especially how important a good group of friends are to your survival. Love to you all,

Anna

p.s. Dad you were right, the little torch you forced me to bring has been the single most useful item since I arrived! I bow to your obviously vastly superior wisdom.

The end of training.

Today marks the last day of training in Kasenge where we have been staying for the last month. On Tuesday - a month after I arrived in Uganda - I'm off to Busede where I will be living until August. I will be really sad to leave all the people at training. I have become close to both national and international volunteers who I will now see very rarely and some never again. Parts of training have been very frustrating an enormously challenging but overall it has been very positive experience.

The Road

Yesterday we had a film evening and, after living like veritable hermit nuns and monks for the last month, we decided to go down to the trading center and buy a crate of beer to share over the next couple of days. One of the male staff members went down to negotiate for us as muzungus (white people) are always charged double as a matter of course. It then took three of us working in shifts twenty minutes to walk up the above hill. This wouldn't have been so bad except the sight of three red faced, wheezing white girls carrying a 25 beers in a country where women don't drink in public was too much for the residence of this trading center. Squeals of laughter followed us the whole way with men, women and children coming out of their houses to fall about giggling at us. We ourselves were in fits which made the whole situation some kind of vicious, cross cultural laughter spiral which only ended when two of the boys we train with came to our rescue and carried it the last 300 yards.

Training

Tonight we have a "culture" night where all the volunteers are supposed to do a small presentation on their country or show something traditional from their home land. After going through all of the sensible options and drawing a blank we have decided to dress up as the spice girls and sing Wannabe. To make this more interesting one of our number is a guy called max for whom I have just finished preparing a ginger wig made out of red wool tied to a hair band. He is currently busy making his own Union Jack dress. I am playing Mel B.....hummmm. Pictures soon I promise.

Sharron and Nora making friendship bracelets after asking me to teach them.

Wherever we go here we are celebrities. Big crowds of children follow us shouting "bye muzungu bye muzungu" wherever we go and many of the children now know me by name because I sit down to talk to them. Its all very strange and is only going to get more so as I will be the only muzugu in a thirty mile radius in Busede! I may have to invest in huge sunglasses.

That's about it for now and I'm not sure when I will get the chance to get on here again. Stay tuned for an account of how me and my team are going to organise, run, monitor, fund and evaluate a sports tournament, an exposure visit to a farm, a trigger video workshop, over fifty sexual reproductive health and livelihood sessions, a parent concern session, meetings with local leaders and a VCT (voluntary testing and counciling for HIV and AIDS) event, which last year drew 600 people, ALL before 25th March! I'm going to need all the luck you can wish me.

All my love as always,
Anna xxx