This just says it all...

Mwana Mugimu - painting weekend

The VSO Kampala cluster spent an industrious & artistic weekend at the Mwana Mugimu (‘healthy child’) unit of Mulago Hospital, painting one of the wards. We hired a local artist to produce the designs & spent two days sanding walls, cleaning windows & brandishing paint-brushes. The result was, erm, bright & colourful… (!) & a much cheerier environment for some very young, sick & vulnerable children.

The next phase of the project is to design a new playground, but we are also still collecting toys & clothes for the unit – so if you would like any info on how to send some over, please do let me know.

Moonlighting

Having recently joined to Iguana 'team' (I will be working there once a week from October), I spent the day with them at the cosy offshore, Lagoon Resort, on Lake Victoria. Beautiful place for a relaxing Sunday, with kayaking, bbq, volleyball & a campfire. Yes please!

USDC field trip

A small series of pit stops 'up-country' for a work field trip. First a dash from Kampala to Soroti in the east, & then north to Lira & Arua, on the Congo border. The purpose of the trip was to visit some of the construction projects we are funding - mainly resource rooms and dormitories for blind & deaf children.

The trip was also a chance to see rural Uganda up close. We drove through several bustling towns – little hubs of traffic & trade; clusters of thatched mud-hut homesteads & farmland. Amongst all of this, life really seems to take place on the roadside. We passed groups of women with their jerry cans at the water pump, men on bicycles, laden with pineapples, sticks & chickens, about to topple over; children being bathed in plastic tubs or running naked through the bush, chasing old tyres & goats; people carrying all manner of things on their heads; women selling heavy bags of charcoal; palm, acacia, & papaya trees on a savannah landscape.

& I even saw an elephant!

Semliki

A recent public holiday allowed the crew to pack up the camping kits & spend a long weekend at the remote Semliki reserve, in the Western Rift Valley. Situated on the shores of Lake Albert (opposite the Congo) & at the base of the Rwenzori mountains, it's a beautiful mosaic of habitats - grassland, savanna, forest & wetlands, a haven for the ornithologist & a revealing snapshot into the daily rural lives of Ugandans.

We whiled away the time wandering through the local villages, haggling with fishermen for fresh tilapia, spotting Ugandan Cob & the occasional elephant, cooking over the campfire & waking up to honey coloured dawns.

Kampala Street Festival

Music /Art Festival, with drumming from the Kika Troupe, up & coming Ugandan artists & lots of beer.

Pedicure Prerogative

Amidst the buzzing of boda-bodas & the heavily laden hawkers, weaving between dawdling cows, goats & pot holes, there are small havens for the vain on the streets of Kampala. Hair-braiding, shoe-shining, manicures and pedicures are all on offer – just about everywhere in fact. On Saturday morning, Marlies, Elena & I decided to splash out with 1,000 shillings (about 30p) & give our toes some treatment. Everything started out well – our feet were cleaned with an old toothbrush & the polish of our choice was applied… that is, until the chap decided to get creative. Step forward, 30 sparkly & luminous toes; add some wind swept dust & you have quite the speckled effect. Just as well we had late night dancing on the agenda!