Equator

This is a picture of us at the equator. The team is Rachel, Marina, Tim, me and Simon Peter. We cross the equator on the way between Kamplala and Rukungiri (which is im the SW of Uganda) - this is a trip we do every couple of weeks. They do this clever thing where you watch water go down the drain in one direction in the northern hemisphere and in the other direction in the southern hemisphere. If you stand on the equator it goes straight down. You need a cleverer person then me to expain why or how..... over to you.

R & R

This weekend we have been at Bunyonyi Resort for some well deserved R & R. This is a lovely spot in the very south of Uganda. Unfortunately I have spent 24hours with a fever and diarrhoea, so I didn't see the resort at its' best - (thanks Tim for the picture!). We have all had a bout of this at some point in the last 2 weeks - please pray that we stay healthy, especially while the teams are here.

Exercise

Today we climbed Mt Itemba - the highest in the district. I am reliably informed that on a clear day you can see the Dem. Rep of Congo border. - Those of you who are geography students will therefore realise that we are in the West of Uganda, infact we are in the South West in Rukungiri district at the Modern Primary School and the teams are staying at Rondavels Guest House (I beleive both of these have websites).

Entertainment

This picture is of the Mpororo Drama group. All of these dancers have been affected by AIDS in some way or another - many are orphans. The group provides entertainment in order to raise money for their medical and education fees. Some of the dances and drama are moral stories - in Uganda there is a lot of education designed to stop the spread of AIDS and other disease.

Foundations

It is the end of week 1. As you can see the project has started and there are foundations laid - we will be ready for the teams to build the walls in a couple of weeks.

We have visited most of the projects that the team will see when they are here. We have got a UK team of 18 coming on 22nd July. Before then Rachael, Marina and I will visit some more projects, finalise the programme and generally get organised for the teams to come - we seem to have quite a long shopping list - we are girls after all!! We will also have a couple of days r & r.
Our initial challenges are tiredness (Tim has worked us very hard), adjusting to the team dynamics and getting used to the country and culture. We will never get lost - the urban grapevine always seems to know where the white girls are!!

Landed

Well we seem to have landed with a bang. The last 36 hours has been physically and mentally exhasting and we are all shattered. It was quite hard to lock up my house and leave it in the hands of the agent - I still haven't got a tennant. We changed flights, landed in Uganda, lost 2 hours in the time change and had some small hiccups with plane and luggage delays; all in the middle of the night. We arrived at the Guest House in time to hear the very noisy dawn chorus.... so much for 3 hours sleep!! Kampala is hot, busy, dirty and noisy - typically African. We went to church this morning and then spent the day trying (in a very African way) to organise things for the teams who start to arrive in 3 weeks. Things take so much longer and seem so much more complicated here although the hospitality that we have been shown is supurb. We are all shattered but having said all that, beginning to understand a bit about Uganda and the way things tick. Tomorrow; more appointments..............