Harsh reality

A few nights ago I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of a women screaming. It was a long terrifying scream: the sound of someone in fear for her life. Her screams went on for several minutes and with each passing second I felt her pain, her distress, her fear and my own helplessness to do anything about it, except to pray. I knew that as a 'mzungu' (white person) to get involved would not only put me in danger but also potentially increase her suffering.

The screams were then replaced by shouting: the angry shouting of other women and men. Ugandans are not afraid to get involved when they think a crime has been committed. If a bag is snatched in the street then passers-by will give chase to the perpetrator. If two vehicles collide then a crowd will quickly gather and everyone will have an opinion about who was at fault. My guess is that on hearing the screaming the neighbours did what I did not and got up out of bed and went to her rescue.

As part of my work this week I came across some statistics about gender-based violence in Ugandan and sadly it is all too common. One report suggested that 40% of women experienced violence and abuse at the hands of their partner on a regular basis and another said that 60% of women would experience such violence at some point. That means that out of every five Ugandan women I meet three of them will have been through an experience as terrifying to them as my neighbour went through this week.

Those screams brought home to me the harsh reality of life for many Ugandan women in a way that statistics never can.

Meetings

Part of the work I am doing in Uganda requires me to meet with people from different organisations. Arranging and attending these meetings has its own unique set of challenges so I'm sharing my experiences in this handy 8-point guide in case you ever find yourself in a similar position.

1) Expect it to take several days to actually make contact with the person you want to meet:

a. Your initial e-mail will go unanswered

b. The telephone number you have been given will be incorrect and will only enable you to talk to a random Ugandan man. He will now think that you are his friend and will send you a text message asking you to call him back...

c. When you eventually get the right number you will need to call multiple times before it is answered

d. You will get cut off several times mid-conversation before you find the exact spot in the office car park where you have to stand in order to get a consistent mobile signal

e. After explaining why you are calling you will be told that you need to speak to someone else (now repeat steps b. - d).

2) Ensure you have nothing else planned for that day. The idea of arranging a meeting several days in advance is largely an alien concept to a Ugandan and once you are sure you are speaking to the right person they will inevitably suggest that you meet the same day.

3) Establish that they are currently at their office in Kampala. If they say they are out of town but will be back later do not agree to meet them that day. They genuinely have every intention of getting back to meet you but inevitably they will not make it.

4) Allow plenty of time to get to the meeting. The traffic will be terrible and despite being told that 'you cannot miss' their office you will get lost.

5) Even if you are late you will still have to wait for the person you have come to see but this will give you the opportunity to chat to the other people in the reception area

6) You may think you are just meeting with one person but there could be two or three other people present. Don't be surprised if during the meeting another few people wander in and sit down. You will never know who these people are and they will not say anything until you get up to leave when they will shake you warmly by the hand and thank you for coming

7) This is your best opportunity to communicate so make the most of it. Make sure you get all the information you need before the meeting ends as making contact after the meeting will also be a challenge.

8) If the meeting isn't as successful or fruitful as you had hoped you can still feel a huge sense of achievement that it took place at all...

Sounds of the city

In the UK I live in a small village where the predominant sounds come from birds and sheep, occasionally interspersed with tractors and the neighbour's lawn mower.

In Uganda I am living in the capital city with all its accompanying sounds:

• The dawn chorus - the cockerels crowing, the stray dogs barking, the call to prayer from the local mosque

• The traffic - the revving of engines, the grinding of gears, the hooting of horns

• The neighbours - the random ring tones, the loud talking, the hammering and sawing as they seek to maintain and improve their homes

• The public address systems - the Friday lunchtime preaching from the mosque, the Sunday morning singing from the church, the indecipherable promotion from the back of a pick-up truck

• The nightlife - the music from the nearby bar, the shouting of people out having a good time, the scuttling and scurrying of animals in the ceiling above my bed.

When I wake up in the middle of the night it often takes a moment to realise that it is quiet - no traffic, no one talking, no other sounds of life being lived in the city. For a short time the world is silent. I turn over and go back to sleep knowing that in just a few hours the cockerel will crow and the sounds of the city will return for another day.

Three random things...

...I had forgotten about Uganda:

1. You have to greet everyone (even if they are a total stranger you are walking past in the street but you happen to catch their eye) with: "Hello. How are you today?"

2. If you buy yoghurt the person packing your shopping at the till will give you a straw (even if you are buying thick yoghurt that won't go through a straw).

3. Ugandans like to eat a lot of carbohydrates. To a Ugandan a meal is not complete without the staple food of 'matoke', which is a starchy banana that is steamed and then mashed. However, it is not uncommon to also have 'posho', which is a maize flour porridge also popular in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as rice, potatoes and maybe even a chapati.

And, by way of contrast, in Chad:

1. All the greetings are in French.

2. Yoghurt is hardly ever available to buy and when it is it's ridiculously expensive.

3. Chadians like to eat camel meat...

Ch..ch..ch..changes (or maybe not)

It has been three years since I was last in Kampala working with MAF and as I returned this week I wondered what changes I would find. On my first morning I walked the short distance from the house where I am staying to the MAF office and while it didn't quite feel like 'coming home' it did all seem very familiar.

As I walked along the side of the road (no pavements here) I had to watch out for on-coming boda-boda (the local motorcycle taxis) as they weaved around the road trying to avoid the pot holes and speed bumps. It would probably be safer for me to walk on the other side of the road but getting across the non-stop traffic seemed like it would be more dangerous!

I was pleased to see that Coffee at Last - the local coffee shop and cafe - is still in business. It's a great place to get coffee or something to eat. I'll obviously need to check that they still sell their delicious brownies...

The American Recreation Association - a popular place with ex-pats where you can play tennis, swim, go to the gym, get a drink or a meal or enjoy one of their regular social events - has changed hands and is now the Makindye Country Club. The entrance has had a colourful makeover and now that it is no longer affiliated to the US Embassy the large concrete slabs that were placed in front of the building for increased security have disappeared. From the outside it looks like a friendlier, more welcoming place.

The boda-boda riders still wait at their usual spot, hoping someone will come by who is looking for a ride. As a mzungu (white person) you can't walk by without at least one of them calling out to you 'Madam, you want to go somewhere?'.

The collection of little shops that are on both sides of the road look pretty much the same. As before I wonder how they manage to make a living as they compete for customers to buy their eclectic collection of goods - essential groceries like bread, Nido milk powder, Blue Band margarine, Omo washing powder, sodas, phone credit, bananas, tomatoes, onions.

It's good to see that the 'Jesus is the Alpha and Omega Delicious Chapatis' stall is still in the same place, making and selling their wares from their small white and blue painted stand.

The abandoned and partially derelict petrol station on the corner looks largely unchanged from three years ago and there has been no progress on the building site behind it. The concrete shell still stands as a reminder to someone's dream before they had to give up the project for reasons unknown but probably due to a lack of money or the right permissions.

And then I arrive at the office where there are many familiar faces and also some new ones who have joined the team as it has grown and changed over the last three years.

As I start work I experience a real sense of deja vu as I am again working on improving access to the remote communities who live on the many islands in Lake Victoria. They are some of the poorest and most under-served people in Uganda with very limited access to healthcare, clean water, sanitation and education. Rather than building airstrips on the islands (something, that despite my efforts three years ago to get all the required permissions, just proved too complex) we are now looking at the possibilities of introducing an amphibian aircraft to the fleet. Landing on water gives the potential to reach many more villages more quickly than traditional airstrips and also opens up access to other bodies of water in the region.

It's a project that is not going to be without challenges but it is good to be back.

Time in Tunisia

I've just returned from a two-week holiday in Tunisia. It was my first visit to a country that I'd describe as Greece meeting the Arabic world, with a bit of French thrown in for good measure!

It was a lovely relaxing time, mostly spent on the beach enjoying the warm Mediterranean sea or reading and sleeping in the sun. We did take a coach tour; travelling over 1,000 km in two-days. It wouldn't normally be my first choice of how to travel but it was a great way to learn a bit about the history and geography of the country from a very knowledgeable local guide who seemed to speak multiple languages (Arabic, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian) with ease!

We went to El Jem, the 3rd largest remaining Roman Coliseum in the world and also where scenes from the movie 'Gladiator' were filmed.

We drove through the harsh mountainous landscape, where scenes from 'Star Wars' were filmed.

We visited the home of a Berber family, carved out of the mountainside. Although many families have relocated to more conventional homes in towns or villages about 600 families still live in these cave homes, which remain cool during the daytime and provide warmth at night.

The first day ended with a camel ride in the Sahara Desert to watch the sun set.

The second day started at 5.00 a.m. with a sunrise drive across a huge salt lake.

We visited a desert date palm oasis before travelling on to the edge of the Atlas Mountains to see a mountain oasis fed by water springing up from underground and bringing life to an incredibly hot and dry place.

The tour ended with a visit to Kairouan; the fourth most holy city in the Muslim world, with a mosque dating back to the 7th century.

And then it was back to the beach.

I really should do this holiday thing more often...

Different Worlds

I have just returned from another short assignment in Tanzania, working again with the Finance Team of the German-funded development project.

Despite the number of times I have done it I am still amazed at how quickly modern air travel enables us to move between different worlds. On Friday morning I woke up in a remote region of southern Tanzania to the sounds of the cockerel crowing and the mullah's early morning call to prayer. Within a few hours I was at the nearby airstrip waiting for the MAF plane that was to take me on the first leg of my journey.

After a two hour flight in the small 12-seater light aircraft (a journey that would have taken at least 12 hours by road) we landed in Dar Es Salaam, where the warm sunny weather of the south had been replaced by the heat and humidity of this busy coastal city. Two hours after arriving in Dar I was boarding a Boeing 777, with 200+ other people and heading for Dubai.

For me Dubai Airport epitomizes opulence and excess with its modern architecture and endless shops. It is all designed to lure us into buying things we could easily live without  and as I walked through the airport to catch my next flight I wondered what the folk I have left behind in Tanzania would make of it all. I think it is a world they could barely imagine.

Seven hours later I arrived in Newcastle, where it was dull and drizzly and for the first time in nearly three weeks I needed to wear several layers of clothing to keep warm. In less than 24 hours I had been in three continents and encountered fellow travellers from many countries. Even after only a short time away, and despite its familiarity, it still takes a while to adjust to being home: to get used to living in this very different world.