In my spare time

Accomplishments
I have: broken a new watch and new flipflops the day I bought them, finished a whole plate of lunch time pocho and beans by myself, climbed a very high mountain, done a mountain of washing by hand, got through my share of 3L of Waragi and cut off all the blonde from my ginger fro.

   Being a volunteers gives you the freedom to do what you want during your free time and to travel the whole of the country if you please. One long weekend recently I met up with six other PT volunteers (plus my partner Finn) at Lake Nabugabo, Sand Beach resort for a well earned respite and some good swimming. The lake was a good 10 hours away from our project by public transport so Finn and I set off on Friday afternoon and then stopped off at Kampala bagpackers for a night of free internet, burgers and cooked breakfast! We finally arrived at the resort to become the attention of the hundred or so Ugandan day visitors from Kampala - not exactly what we'd hope for. But that evening they all left, leaving us to enoy the fantastic views across the lake and the lush grassy resort which we pretty much had all to ourselves. That weekend we spent all our time relaxing, playing cards, eating and swimming in the murky luke-warm waters. Swimming was really good fun - no crocs or dreaded bilharzia! - there were however plent of fish that enjoyed biting my ankles (and only my
ankles for some reason), a few leeches and the others apparently saw a cobra which had gone for a dip, although I'm not so sure. Eating was a bit of a joke simply because you have to prempt your own hunger by about 2 hours when ordering. Orders never came correct either and the delicious full order for breakfast turned out to not be as delish as it sounds, consisting of an tiny omelette, a chapati and two slices of bread (no butter). So for two of the nights that we stayed we got ourselves a roaring campfire and made ourselves some scrumptious camp food - rice and g'nut sauce. On the sunday night it was one of the volunteers 19th birthday plus halloween, so we all sat rond the fire playing 'Kings', singing tunes and drinking til we couldnt remember anything. The nightr ended with a strip and then everyone ran into the lake.
   After that weekend, Finn and I were joined by two PT vols - Molly and Justinem - at our project at Lwakhakha, when we decided to go for a hike and camp up in the hills of the surrounding area. We set off in the heat of midday and walked for nearly five hours (playing 'Ugandan shopping list' to keep us going) towards a nice looking ridge on the mountain that could be seen on the horizon. We walked down footpaths and through farmlands guided by the shocked locals who certainly hadnt expected to see a troupe of whities walking past their houses. We reached our goal and the view that awaited us was simply breath taking - green hills that rolled out as far as the eye could see. We asked a local man (who may or may not have owned the land and also spoke no English) whether we could camp in what seemed to be the only flat ground for miles around. So in pouring rain and under the watch of approx. 30 Ugandan kids we setup our tents. After a bit of an explore we were directed to a dead tree which we pulled apart for firewood. Then without even being asked a local man cut up the wood with an axe and an elderly woman gave us some paraffin so we could cook ourselves sweet potato chips under the stars.
   The kindness of Ugandan people to strangers came as quite a surprise to me at first. When we came back from camping my neighbour Julius greeted me with a worried face telling me that we'd left the windows open and that he'd called the landlord because he was so worried. I frequently come home from a rainy day of school to find our neighbours have taken in my drying. At the bore hole we're given special privelages as visitors from another country and our jerrycans are put right to the front of the huge queue. Quite often after buying a chapati I'll hear the irritate shout as I walk away 'Sir, Balance!' having forgotten to collect my change. Our landlord too is full of the kindness bug often surprising us with a present of some pawpaws or a homegrown pumpkin.
   It was like one of those moments of surprise when the headmaster of 'Seed Time' came to Finn and I, seeking our advice about changing the school's opinion on corporal punishment. We both jumped at the chance, really encouraged by his forward thinking and we followed him up when asked to write a report on the alternatives. We even pushed for a debate with the other teachers on the pros and cons of c.p. and when the teachers were asked their opinions they reverted to act like the naughty school girls that they punished. However these debates seem to have sparked some real progress as plans are made for a pupil reward system next year and it seems like the number of instances where teachers use violence has decreased.
   Teaching at 'Seed Time' has become more exciting on the lead up to exams next week. I felt a great deal of pride watching a P5 as she flicked through her book looking at all the work we'd covered together. I stupidly set myself a mountain of a task by deciding to write a double-paged test for each of my 15 p5s, with each of the tests taking 20min to write (you do the maths). But it was all worth it in the end, seeing their faces, handing back the successful results with sticky gold stars. We're getting on really well with our headmaster, John, who is always very grateful and positive about our teaching. He turned to me one day and told me how someone had asked him 'Why master Benny eats while he is walking' (they call me Master Benny to differentiate to Finn - a tricky task apparently). He said he told him 'His culture is very different and always busy. Marching here marching there...'
   So now we're coming up to the long christmast break where I plan to do some travelling in Kenya as well as volunteer at somewhere outside of the project. I dont want to repeat myself but again I feel like I've changed considerably and I'm quite nervous about coming home in 9 months time. People are going to look at me weird when I shake their hands like someone from the getto, or call fizzy drinks 'sodas', credit 'airtime' and change 'balance'. I just need some contact with the outside world, some form of a physical manefestation of my friends - maybe a letter? (hint hint)
   Until next time.
   Benny x