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.

Back to School

One evening last week as I was walking back from the office I stopped to talk to a man who was walking in the opposite direction (it is very important here that you stop and greet people as you meet them - shaking them by the hand and asking them how they are). He spoke very good English and I quickly found out that he is one of the English teachers at the secondary school here.

A few days later I met him again and he asked me if I would be willing to come and talk to some of his students. He was keen for them to hear English spoken ‘properly’ by someone for whom it is their mother-tongue. I agreed to help out and we arranged that I would go to the school on Monday morning.

I arrived just as they were starting their week. All the pupils were gathered around the flag pole, standing in neat blocks and rows according to which year and form they are in. They were lead through a short piece of ‘drill’ by one of the older boys, which involved standing to attention, being at ease and doing some about-turns. Then three boys marched forward to the flag pole and as they reached their designated places some of the girls started the singing of the National Anthem of Tanzania, accompanied by some very determined drumming. As the singing continued the Tanzanian flag was raised and everyone then started singing the school song. Once this ceremony was completed the Head Master stepped forward and greeted the students and encouraged them to work hard in their studies this week.

The students were then sent off to their lessons and I was taken to one of the classrooms to meet my class. There were about 40 pupils, sitting in rows of desks facing the blackboard, and they all stood up and said ‘Good Morning Madam’ as I entered the room. Prior to meeting them I really wasn’t sure what their level of English would be. For most of them it is their third language after their local language and the national language of Kiswahili and although all secondary education in Tanzania is conducted in English in reality they have little opportunity to practice it and hear it outside of the classroom.

I told them a little bit about myself – where I come from and why I am in Tanzania – and we played a short game in which I gave them some simple instructions to follow. I also wanted to try and encourage them to speak English and so I asked them if they had any questions they wanted to ask me. After a hesitant start the questions came thick and fast (each one prefaced very politely with ‘Yes Madam. I have a question for you’):

What sort of lifestyle do people in Britain lead?

How many chairs do I have in my house?

What is the weather like in Britain?

Are there any Muslims in Britain?

Do people shop in markets or supermarkets?

How do you elect your leaders?

Is their political instability in your country?

Do tourists come to Britain and what do they come to see?

How does the education system compare to Tanzania?

How can I become a British citizen?

Is the cost of living more expensive than in Tanzania?

As in any class some of the children were more vocal and confident than others and some just sat looking totally bewildered. I think they could have gone on asking questions all morning if the teacher hadn’t intervened and pointed out that the first lesson of the day was due to end.

I don’t think my short time with them will have dramatically transformed their understanding of spoken English but maybe it encouraged some of them in their studies and gave them a new enthusiasm for the language. I guess I’ll never know…

Meal Times

I am often asked what I eat when I am in Africa. The answer to that depends on where I am living and whether I am cooking for myself.

In most of the capital cities I have lived in there is sufficient variety in the shops that you can almost eat like you do at home, provided you are prepared to pay the sometimes exorbitant prices for some of the imported goods (and mostly I’m not!). There are always things you can’t get but with some adaptation you can eat pretty well.

When I am living in a situation where someone else prepares the meals then my diet is usually a lot more limited. I am is such a situation at the moment and what the food lacks in imagination it makes up for in quantity.

Breakfast is bread, which is freshly baked and served occasionally with eggs but mostly with jam. Flavours of jam on offer have included apricot, mango, strawberry and banana.

Lunch and the evening meal are always a variation on three main ingredients: 

• a carbohydrate of either rice, spaghetti or potatoes (usually boiled but occasionally there have been chips),
• meat, which is either beef, chicken, goat or fish and it is either boiled, stewed fried or minced, and
• a vegetable, which is either beans (think baked beans but without the tomato sauce) or an unidentifiable green vegetable (that was probably originally some sort of leaf), which has been boiled to a pulp but somehow still seems to have bits of grit in it…

Occasionally there is a banana for dessert but only when the person responsible remembers to go to the market.

Although it cannot be described as the most varied diet I have ever had it is generally quite tasty and I am grateful that someone else is doing all the hard work for me. The only place to buy anything in the surrounding area is in the village market and if I had to shop and cook for myself then I think I would be living on a diet of tomatoes, onions and bananas.

Sunday Morning

I asked what time church started on Sunday and with a shrug of the shoulders I was told that I would know when it was starting because I would hear it. First of all I heard the church bell being chimed and as I looked out of my window I could see small groups of people starting to make their way towards the church. Then the singing began and so, not wanting to be late, I headed off to join the service. I need not have worried as the large church was practically empty.

As the choir continued to sing and dance at the front of the church more and more people arrived. The youngest children sat in the front pews, dressed in their smartest clothes and behind them sat the older children from the school and the adults. Four different choirs came up to the stage, one after the other, to sing the songs they had been practising all week. The choirs had between 5 and 10 members each and as they sang they also danced and the congregation joined in.

These songs were interspersed with Bible readings and prayers and with different people coming to the front to speak. Wherever in the world you go to church there is always a collection and in this church that involves people walking up the aisle to a table at the front and placing their offering in a plastic bowl that is covered by a piece of material. This was followed by the sermon and, like the rest of the service, it was in Swahili so I have no idea what was said…

The service had lasted for nearly three hours and after a final prayer, and accompanied by one of the choirs singing a final song, the leader of the service and the preacher got up to walk to the main door of the church. Several of the adults sitting around me got up from their seats and beckoned for me to follow them. As we got to the door we shook hands with the leader and preacher and then before I knew what was happening I found myself as part of a growing line of people shaking hands with everyone as they left the church – it was a lot of hands to shake!

One of the choirs

The congregation