The Adventure Begins

Agandi!

Welcome to my first Uganda blog! Sorry for not sharing sooner about my travels, it has been a busy (but good) first week or so. Thank you for your support and prayers, I hope you enjoy hearing a bit about what I get up to here in the ‘Pearl of Africa’ :)

I arrived on the 13^th September into Entebbe, after enjoying a brief changeover in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia (which was surprisingly green, hilly and beautiful!), and travelled towards Uganda’s capital, Kampala. I have come to love the initial drive from the airport as you see the roads lined with colourful small buildings, (companies offer to paint your house/shop with their adverts!) and the busyness of many small businesses trying to make and sell things by the road side. It felt nice to be back in Africa, and familiar here in Uganda as I visited for 3 weeks back in 2010 with my family.

Paint the town (with advertising)

A little bit of context first - I am volunteering with a large Christian international development charity called Tearfund (www.tearfund.org) whose vision is to enable holistic development – that’s physical, spiritual and social (and maybe a few other things…) and here’s how they describe their work: “Tearfund’s call is to follow Jesus where the need is greatest. We long for new life and a new sense of worth for people. We do whatever it takes to end poverty and rebuild poor communities. We work through local churches, because they're Jesus’ body on earth, ready to care for the whole person - and the whole community - inside and out.” So I’m going to be working with some of their partner organisations in SW Uganda; mostly with North Kigezi and Kinkiizi Diocese (part of the Anglican Church of Uganda), and then with Kigezi Diocese. I’ll be part of their WATSAN (water and sanitation) teams, who undertake projects to provide clean water and safe sanitation as well as promote good hygiene practices in the poor communities in which they work. They are known across Uganda for their work in this field, so I’m excited to learn from them as some of you will know that this is the kind of work I have been eager to be involved with for a long time!

Lweza conference centre

Room at Lweza conference centre

For my first week I stayed just outside Kampala at Lweza Training and Conference Centre, and attended a Micah Network conference for 2 days, which saw around 80 people from various Christian charities in Uganda gather together to explore the topic of social justice and our role within it as the Church. Tearfund then gathered its Ugandan partners together for a further two days, reviewing their work over the last few years and exploring how to continue to bring holistic development to communities across Uganda through the work of their partners on the ground. It was encouraging to see the impact Tearfund is making through their partnership with local charities and churches, helping local churches to understand their role in the community, enabling access to safe water and sanitation, raising awareness and building understanding around HIV/AIDS and much more. After the last day of the conference a few of us adventured out for a meal, was so good to eat something other than rice/beans/matoke that we'd been having twice a day since I arrived (which I enjoyed but a change was very welcome!!).

Micah Network Conference

Tearfund partners workshop

See-before-you-buy meal out

On Friday I attended a Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET) event, which turned out to be their AGM, which wasn’t the most thrilling but interesting to see a large number of organisations who work in the wider sector come together. The most interesting part was the local dance/singing group who performed afterwards (as you do)! The journey through Kampala is always an experience as the roads cannot cope with the number of cars trying to use them, let alone the vast vast numbers of bodabodas (motorbikes used as taxis) that swarm the roads, and seem to make up their own rules, including weaving through traffic (sometimes on the wrong side of the road), onto footpaths and essentially anywhere that gets them there that little bit faster. When you reach a big crossroads it's probably best just to close your eyes for fear of seeing an accident as bodabodas cut across eachother... Not the most relaxing of journeys shall we say!

UWASNET conference dance performance

On Saturday I had the privilege of attending a Ugandan wedding! It was in an Anglican church and so parts of the ceremony was familiar, however the prompt 10 minute turnaround between finishing one wedding and starting the next was quite a surprise! The reception involved a couple of hundred people, a big meal and some more dancing/music performances by a group of Ugandans performing a traditional style of dance from Northern Uganda which was brilliant! I then stayed in a place called Namirembe for the night, closer to the centre of Kampala, with a good view over part of the city.

Ugandan wedding ceremony

Wedding reception

Namirembe accommodation

On Sunday, after an 8 hour drive, I arrived in Rukungiri in the South West, which is where I will be based for the next 6 weeks. I have been warmly welcomed and have a nice guest house to stay in for my time here, and a local lady called Apophia will be cooking for me this week, whilst I find my feet/the shops/how to choose a good chicken in the market ;) It is a beautiful area with green hills and interesting birds and, except for the mosquitos, a very nice place to stay!

That’s all for now, hope you enjoyed reading :)

Thanks again for your support and prayers!

Matt