Exciting changes

   The rainy season hit us like a punch in the face mid-March and with it came the calm and cool that I think everyone in Uganda had been waiting for. For Finn and I especially (who'd been rushing home from school everyday, stripping to our boxers and laying on our seats dying of heat exhaustion) the dryness and the heat had simply got too much - there had even been talk of the start of a drought lasting til May. Thankfully though the rains came and we got a beautiful two-hour rainstorm daily - enough to cool down our iron roof (it's like sleeping directly under a radiator you can't turn off) and to get back into the routine of 'gutter-showers' (bathing never has been so easy). And now Uganda, which had become horribly dusty and dead, has started to brim with life again. Everything seems greener, and people are always busy - since rainy season is planting season - and all the unused land has become a field. I woke up one morning and stepped outside the house for 'short-call' (a piss) to find that the extensive downpour had literally driven a giant river through our path to the main road. We now have to leap across a wide ravine (gorge-walking at Lwakhakha coming soon). And because it's become cooler, it's become a lot easier to work and live in the baseness of a rural village. Teaching has been really interesting as now the pupils have started to really show some initiative - plus I've got some more experience and so now try and be more inventive with my teaching as mid-term exams approach ever-closer. I've also been doing some other work to go along with the teaching Finn and I were selected to do and to fill in the slightly empty weekends. Firstly we've been painting sanitation murals in local medical centers (with the help of our friendly painted Ugandan character 'Gloria' who has a love for a good 'fuel-efficient stove') and as a possible project for the following year working with ARDI (African Rural Development Initiative) who, amongst numerous projects, give health talks to locals and train up young school-leaver-girls who have become pregnant - something I hope to update you on, in future blogs.
   While travelling in Uganda, I've always felt that it's one of the safest countries in Africa. This rings true, also for the capital, Kampala, where in comparison to Nairobi (a.k.a. Nai-robbery) I've yet to even be bothered by someone, let alone pick-pocketed or harassed. Even the recent elections went seemingly peacefully in comparison to the likes of Libya and Egypt (where the story really isn't that different, with long-standing leaders). However it seems now, in a backlash, things have started to become hairy in the capital after the opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, had been arrested and then shot in the hand after peaceful protests against the rise of fuel prices got laid into by the trigger-happy army. These sort of occurrences remind me that I'm not safe at home in Turriff, but living in a potentially volatile African country. Even last week I saw some things that really made me realise things here play differently. For instance, while attempting to renew my visa in Mbale town, I had a very awkward realisation I was being asked for a 'bribe', something you simply don't come across in home life. It went something along the lines of 'Can I renew my visa? I realise it doesn't run out until later this month, but...', 'Do you have any Dollars', 'Em, no I'm not American', 'Do you have any Euros', 'Again no, not (really) European', 'You are being too stubborn! People like you come expecting something and not bringing money. This is something that will not be receipted', 'Ah!' (It clicks). I think maybe I'm simply too naive. That same week I was travelling in a coach and as we passed some traffic, everyone on the coach stood up and peered out of the windows. Just a few lanes over some armed-gunmen were shouting as they forced a man out of his car and told him to lay on the pavement - our coach quickly pulled away. Even simple differences separate the safety I feel in Scotland to what I feel sometimes here, such as the road safety record. Recently I met a local Ugandan woman at a school I was visiting, who had burns on her arms and legs. When I called her up on it she explained that she'd fallen off a 100cc motorbike-transport at full speed and carrying her own newly-born baby at the time.
   On a more positive note I had the pleasure of showing around my home in Lwakhakha, Suzie, the project trust Uganda desk officer. Suzie got to meet my neighbours and saw me teaching at the school, while making preparations for possible volunteers coming to Lwakhakha next year. It's really exciting to think that someone could be coming to the same village and experiencing similar things to myself only in a few months time. In the same line as visitors only this Saturday will my mumma and pappa be calling in to see me in slightly (un)sunny Uganda. We've got some touring plans that include a bit of catch-up time, tracking the mountain gorillas, rafting on the nile and seeing my house and the people I've been living with for the past 8 months.
  Til next time,
  A very excited volunteer,
  Benny x