A couple of pics....

Sean the sheep was enjoying a sunny day on the lake, blissfully unaware that he was headed to the market and someone's dinner table later this evening.

(Actually the sheep is an old pal - he graced the dashboard of my wee car in Scotland for about 6 years. The boat is one that I purchased here in Uganda.)

New furniture: yea, I know the design and colour aren't very appealing, but comfort comes first here! Still awaiting the bookcase which is being custom-built for us. It will go where the TV is now.

More about mozzies (skeeters)

Thanks for the tips on my previous post, however, I need to expand on the situation with mozzies here:

Mosquitoes are active between dusk and dawn, although they can be spotted during the day. They don’t bother Danny but are a nuisance to me between 7pm and bedtime.

I generally stay covered in trousers, long sleeves and socks during the evenings, but they usually find a way to bite me—up my sleeves, through my socks, up my trouser legs. I am a mozzie magnet and always have been.

Sometimes I apply Deet – the only effective protection against them. But I really don’t want to use it daily. I am guilty of scratching until I bleed and have many battle scars on my legs, feet and arms. Benadryl antihistamine cream sometimes stops the itching if I apply it as soon as I’m bitten, but it is much less effective against Ugandan mozzies than it is against Scottish midges. Wary of infections from my scratches I keep lots of Dettol or Savlon on hand to wash my injuries.

There are nooks and crannies in the house where they hide during the day and become active at night. They also get into the house through ill-fitting doors and windows.

One reason the mozzies are so bad on our campus is due to its location. It’s out in the countryside where the population is sparse. Most of the people who live in the villages don’t have electricity. So in the midst of darkness, our campus burns like a beacon for mozzies for miles around.

We faithfully take Mefloquine, an anti-malarial drug. We also sleep under a Permethrin-coated mozzie net at night. However, if we do happen to get bitten by an anopheles mosquito which is carrying malaria, we will likely feel like we’ve got the flu for about a week--if we get malaraia at all. It is rare for people taking Mefloquine to get malaria..

When we are going to gone from the house for a few hours we spray with DOOM, an insecticide. The amount of mosquitoes seems to be less for a day or two, but that is all.

Only solution: mosquito electrocutors!

Getting comfortable and other things....

After nearly 5 months we now feel quite comfortable and at home in our house here. Last week we purchased a living room suite – 2 big chairs and a sofa and they are very comfortable. These replace the two horrible chairs which were never really comfortable. A sturdy coffee table was purchased with the suite. We are also having a bookcase built for us. So my long list of items to buy has nearly become cleared.

The vegetables and fruits Danny planted are doing extremely well – they seem to grow before your eyes.

We have resumed language lessons and I love the reaction I get from people when I demonstrate that I know more than a few greetings.

The end of next week we are getting another VSO on our campus! At the present time we are the only ones on campus.

The students have just returned this week after the long holiday. Danny is teaching physics and the students love his teaching style. He lightens up the subject by making jokes and you can hear them roaring with laughter all over campus.

Occasionally it hits me how pleasant the weather is here and how I have taken it for granted. Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in one of our new comfortable chairs in a skirt and tank top with my bare feet propped up on the coffee table. As usual all the windows and the front and kitchen doors were open, it was sunny and there was a very nice breeze blowing. Ahhhhh…….

Now if we’d just get the electricity back during the day!!!

Annual VSO Conference - Entebbe

Note: I've been nearly incommunicado recently due to our internet connection being @#!&%#!!

The annual VSO conference was held in Entebbe February 15-17. Danny and I and a few other volunteers arrived on the 14th and returned home on the 18th. Kampala is fantastic for shopping--you can purchase most things that you will find in Western malls.

The conference hotel was the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel http://www.imperialhotels.co.ug/impbotbeach_overview.htm
which was posh and comfortable, although we noticed a few things that needed upgrading or repairs. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. The location was on Lake Victoria next to the Botanical Gardens and zoo. The hotel had a swimming pool, sauna, bars, gardens, and lots of Vervet Monkeys roaming the grounds. Unfortunately, I did not get any pics of the monkeys.

Food and non-alcoholic drinks were provided and the buffets were really quite good. Some of the prices were quite steep - the normal 3,000 shs for a beer at the outdoor bar and 4,000 at the indoor bar which had DSTV and large, flatscreen tv. After one of our meals I asked for another bottle of water - 1/2 litre - and was told that the second drink could be purchased for 2,000 shs! Emmm.... no.

The double room we had normally costs $170 per night. Of course they were discounted for the conference and paid for by VSO. Clinton stayed in this hotel while he was president. The Clinton Suite costs over $500 per night.

We enjoyed meeting volunteers from all over Uganda -many of whom we'd never met. I believe the current number of VSO volunteers in Uganda is 60. I even met someone who is from Michigan, where I'm originally from. She joined through VSO Canada.

Mozzies

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY???

WHY didn't we bring mozzie executioners with us???

Note to self: list of items to purchase in the US when we visit in May:

1. Mozzie killer

2. Spare mozzie killer.

3. ................

The importance of the internet

Our internet connection is a GPRS mobile phone modem which plugs into the USB port. We can use it anywhere there is an MTN mobile phone signal. Of course, it is dead s….l….o….w. After the initial cost of the modem we pay 90,000 shs/month for unlimited access. Kampala, the capital, has MTN Edge technology which is exponentially faster than where we live. However, if Mbarara, the second largest city in Uganda, installs Edge well before we leave then we will be in internet heaven.

A discussion on a forum sparked the idea to list how important the internet has been to me and why I feel so isolated when I don’t have access for a few days or longer.

I began using the internet in the mid-90’s. The benefits of it from my perspective:

• Planned and booked my first trip out of the US (Ireland).
• Meeting friends including my husband!
• Webcam: seeing my granddaughter for the first time on a webcam when she was 2 days old and I was 4,000 miles away. Watching her learn to walk and talk. Staying connected to her in real time. (unfortunately I can't do that in Uganda - need a fast connection).
• Completely planning and booking all travel—airline tickets/hotels/rental cars/sites of interest to tourists/restaurants
• Banking
• Shopping for anything at all!!
• Buying/booking tickets online for concerts, etc.
• Looking up anything I want to know about, no matter what.
• Meeting other Americans living in the UK and being helped/helping others with their adjustment.
• Creating blogs, web pages, photo albums
• Being able to discuss any subject with people who have a similar interest.
• Looking up info on movies/TV—film locations, info on the actors, learning the real story behind a movie based on fact.
• Learning about Uganda before we came. Read blogs written by those who had also been placed here. Getting tips on what to bring, what to expect.
• Visa, passport, citizenship info and application forms
• News anytime
• Learning about anything, learning languages online, studying for UK driving test, studying for UK citizenship test, doing genealogical research.
• Email--staying in touch.

etc. etc. etc...........

Wild animals!

This past weekend Danny and I traveled on his motorbike to the town of Bushenyi, about 60km away, to meet with other volunteers (friends). I'm not crazy about riding on a motorbike, but I'm getting used to it. In order for me to be less stressed about riding on a vehicle with nothing between me and the hard road or big trucks or vans, I stick my Ipod in my pocket and play my favourite music. It helps.

Saturday we had a meeting and afterward indulged in food and beer.

Early Sunday morning a group of us headed to Queen Elizabeth National Park for guided chimp tracking. Unfortunately, we didn't see any chimps but did see black and white colubus monkeys and another type of small primate. We also saw many large red, biting ants....one encounter of which Danny would like to forget. The walk took most of the morning and afterward we drove to Mweya Lodge, spotting elephants, warthogs, antelope, buffalo and baboons on the way.

Mweya Lodge is quite expensive but the location is stunning. It overlooks the channel where Lakes George and Edward meet. From the bar and restaurant we spotted a massive elephant, rhinos, and a buffalo stampede. Boat trips through the lakes give a close-up view of the animals on the shore as well as spotting crocodiles. There was no time on this trip, but we plan to return.
http://www.mweyalodge.com/

Queen Elizabeth National Park.......
http://www.uwa.or.ug/queen.html

..........has savanna, swamp, gorge, 10 crater lakes, forest.

There are 95 mammals there including: 10 primate species, jackal, hyena, lion, leopard, antelope, buffalo, elephant, warthog, crocodile, and 610 species of bird.