End of placement: Vital Statistics

Name: Anna, Anika, Anita, Nangobi (my given Lusoga name), Nygaga (another random Lusoga name), Mutisi (last year's volunteer's Lusoga name), Ruth (last year's volunteer's first name) and Naanaa (sounds a little like Anna so some of the kids call me it.....means tomato).

Age: 23/24 (Ugandans will often say that, because I turn 24 this year, I already count as 24. I dislike this.)

Height: The same; though people in Uganda are all so small that even short arse here is medium.

Weight: Anything between the rather hefty 11 stone I was when I arrived to the far too skinny 9 stone 3lb I dropped to in March due to homesickness, actual sickness, no food and walking three hours a day in a sauna. Since then my weight had fluctuated in direct correlation to my access to beer.

Skin colour: Neapolitan (red, white or brown depending on where you look)

Profession: Volunteer: teacher, health adviser, condom demonstrator/distributor, myth buster, agony aunt and general dogsbody

Key placement achievements: As a team of 5:

• Teaching well over 120 school lessons on sexual reproductive health, livelihoods and life skills.
• Forming a club in the secondary school which is now performing dramas and songs about sexual health issues for the other students.
• As well as teaching them Sexual Health issues every week we have managed to get our Out Of School Youth Group registered at the Sub-county and they are now receiving seeds and tools from the government.
• In March me and a fellow volunteer co-authored and submitted a proposal for funding to the Sub-county. We assumed it had been lost in the mire of local government but we found out last week it had been accepted! Our Youth Group is going to receive 2 million Shillings (about $1000) to buy a cow and start a dairy farming project. Out of all the things I've done here I think this will have the longest lasting effect.

As well as all that I have learned to deal with a completely different way of daily life. I think the reverse culture shock will really hit me when I see my first washing machine in over eight months.....

Me and Megs with some of the kids at Cathal's placement.