Ruth and Matthew in Uganda

2007-06-23T19:05:00.000+03:00

Happy Birthday to the Queen!

Last Friday we celebrated the Queen's birthday at the British High Commissioner's residence with several hundred other people of various nationalities.

We were greeted by these rather fine looking gentlemen in the front of the photo who had been flown in especially for the occasion, along with a vast selection of British cheeses and smoked salmon - such a treat!

Waiters carrying trays of Pimm's and glasses of wine circulated the lawns with great frequency - too bad we don't drink alcohol here! In addition to the British cheese and smoked salmon (neither of which you can get here normally), the British theme was extended through the serving of miniature cones of fish and chips.

The British High Commissioner and a Ugandan Minister were piped in to give their speeches by a bagpipe player (also flown in specially) sporting his very best Scottish attire. No doubt there are Ugandans who now have the impression that us Brits parade around in some very strange outfits back in our country!

It was a really enjoyable evening - even more so for us this year as we actually knew a number of the guests- but the evening was topped off rather dramatically with an earth tremor! There we were sipping our drinks and making small talk when the whole earth started shaking beneath our feet.....now that's a good birthday party.

2007-06-17T18:22:00.000+03:00

Coaching it to Kenya

We have just returned from a 5 day trip to Kenya - our final opportunity to spot African wildlife before we leave, with Kenya being a top choice of destination to see a wealth of fine creatures.

We travelled by bus and chose to pay a little more (still only £13!!) to travel 'Royal' class - we were lured by the promises of extra large seats, on-board refreshments, 15" DVD screen and best of all, air-con. The reality was:

whilst the seats were indeed super wide, leg room was a little lacking and Ruth spent 13.5 hours sitting behind a woman who insisted on reclining her chair the whole way

the refreshments that were served as we boarded in the morning consisted of a polystyrene cup of passion fruit juice and a brown paper bag containing either french toast or vegetable samosas. Whilst 'Royal' class breakfasts elsewhere might be more a case of tea served in china cups and silver platters of smoked salmon and hot, flaky croissants, we were very excited about our breakfast effort and indeed felt like VIPs, but we guess that means we have been living in Africa for too long!

the DVD screen was there but didn't work for the whole journey

we think the air-con was actually fresh air coming through windows - all very hi-tec

That aside, travelling by bus is a great way to see more of the African continent. In one journey, we crossed the River Nile, crossed into the southern hemisphere, passed sugar and tea plantations, countryside that could have been in mid Wales, Kenyan mountains, arid, rocky terrain and through busy, colourful trading centres.

The downside of travelling by bus is that the roads and road-side facilities are generally appalling. Never have we dreamed so much of smooth British tarmac-ed roads or a good old Granada service station. Here, the roads are ridiculously potholed and fall away at the edges and the en route toilet stops are often disgustingly smelly and dirty holes in the ground or of course a traditional road-side bush. The bus we travelled on when we returned to Kampala was so old, with apparently no shock absorbers that our bodies were being jolted ferociously every second and we had to shout at each other to be heard.

Travelling aside, we had a great time on safari, visiting the Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Parks, along with our friend and colleague Dave. We joined 3 others - a Russian, a Jew and an Indian, so if you include Matthew's Welshness and Dave's Brumminess, we were quite a diverse bunch.

We stayed in tents (see photo) just outside the Masai Mara and apparently narrowly missed an elephant invasion on our first night. It was amazing how many animals we saw at really close range on the game drives. It was hard to believe we were in Kenya and not in Windsor Safari Park.

Check out the lioness under the safari vehicle!

2007-05-20T21:14:00.000+03:00

Searching for the Shoebill in the Swamp

Whilst many of you would spend your Saturday afternoons traipsing around crowded shopping centres, I (Ruth) spent last Saturday afternoon with my buddy Helen paddling around a papyrus swamp.

We were in search of a 'shoebill stork', which is a bird which is generally accompanied by the descriptions 'shy' and 'elusive'. As such, I wasn't holding out much hope of seeing it and thought I would have to be content with having seen the 'zoobill' (as Helen calls it) - its captive brother at Entebbe Wildlife Centre.

Mabamba Swamp is about an hour and a half outside Kampala and not the easiest place to find. As is the case with many places in Uganda, it's a case of knowing which mango tree to turn off at, bumping along a red, dusty potholed road and asking for assistance (using a mixture of English and Luganda) from smiling, bike-riding villagers along the way until you reach your destination.

Much as this swamp is noted for its birdlife, don't think in terms of an RSPB reserve with wooden walkways, children's nature trails and a tea shop. This was more of a case of finding a man with a pair of binoculars, finding a man with a boat and a paddle, negotiating a price and off we go. Even the pit latrines were not in operation and toilet facilities consisted of a bush - I'm sure I had a concealed audience of giggling children when I went to spend a penny. Oh well, whatever makes them happy!

Whether or not you are interested in birds, it is hard not to be impressed by Uganda's birdlife - over 1000 species and very few 'little brown jobbies' - many have the most spectacular colours and others are just plain bizarre - maybe God was trying out his most wacky designs here.

Well, we did indeed eventually spy the shoebill stork (as pictured), a rather large 4 feet tall and so named as its bill looks just like a shoe (I appreciate I may be stating the obvious). It was quite exciting as these birds are notoriously difficult to find.

However, if you are more of a city dweller and find it hard to appreciate such rapture over a bird, at least you can appreciate that your home is probably slightly more substantial than this one - built in the middle of the swamp out of sticks and straw, with a family of at least 5 living in it. Judging by the children we saw, they don't eat too well either.

Uganda continues to challenge us with its immense beauty and abundance on the one hand but with pervasive poverty on the other. It may sound trite but we really have learned to count our blessings and acknowledge that some of the things we take for granted - somewhere safe to live, regular meals, education and access to healthcare - put us in the top 5% of the world's population. Did you realise that?

2007-04-18T15:16:00.000+03:00

Our Bambejja Child Support Project has seen a recent change with all 122 girls now being sponsored to attend schools in the local community. Our younger girls come to the centre for lunch and stay for afternoon activities which give extra educational support as well as help the children learn life skills (self-esteem, listening skills, how to treat other people etc), play games and receive some Christian teaching.

This is a picture of our 'circle time' activity - common in UK schools but very uncommon here. Children have to learn to sit still and quietly and listen to each other as each child expresses herself when she is holding the toy giraffe (so culturally appropriate!) It has worked really well as a way to develop girls' confidence, to help them learn to express themselves and to talk about things which affect them. The girl in the middle also gets full marks for sitting nicely!

Whereas most Ugandan teachers struggle to teach a class of 100 children (alone) we have the benefit of having small classes so the girls can really benefit from a high level of interaction. It is so exciting to see them enjoying learning and making great progress and these are all girls who, if it wasn't for Oasis Uganda, would not be going to school at all.

2007-04-18T14:47:00.000+03:00

Having not written much recently about our work, we thought it was time to update you with some encouraging stories and cute photos.

This is Noel, the son of Letitia, one of our Bambejja Skills Training Project trainees. Noel was born with some brain abnormalities and as such has suffered some serious developmental problems. As a young single mother and unable to cope with the costs of medical care or the challenges of a demanding baby, Letitia almost abandoned him. Fortunately someone came to her aid and now she is training with us and Noel is receiving excellent care in our Bambejja creche.

The Bambejja staff have worked really hard to help Noel. When he first came to us he was unable to sit up, had little control of his limbs and he found it difficult to interact with people and play. Now, thanks to physiotherapy, a standing frame (in picture) and special attention from staff, he can do all of these things. The change in him has been incredible and we are so thankful that he wasn't abandoned and left to die but was given a chance. We pray that he will continue to have such opportunities as he gets older.

Hopefully, as his mum completes her training with us, she will be able to find employment so she can look after herself and Noel more adequately in the future.

2007-03-26T19:13:00.000+03:00

We thought you might like to see a photo of us and some of our colleagues here at Oasis Uganda. It's not quite everyone - we are 46 in total, including volunteers - but it gives you an idea.

Most of our staff are Ugandans, with 6 international staff members (including us) and varying numbers of shorter term UK volunteers here at different times. Recently we have had an accountant, a physiotherapist, a teacher and an engineer, all doing very helpful things either for us at Oasis or partner organisations.

Gill Olaaka, who will be taking over as Country Director when we leave in August, is above Matthew to the right. She is an Irish lass, who has been working for Oasis Uganda for nearly 6 years and has married the most muscular Ugandan man we have ever seen! It's worth keeping on the right side of him!

2007-03-19T22:00:00.000+03:00

We were just about to sit at a picnic bench but changed our minds when we saw this rather lengthy snake just where our feet would have been. Apparently it is harmless but we didn't want to take the risk.

Snakes aside, we had a great weekend recently at a place called 'Hairy Lemon', a small island in the River Nile. We went with a couple of friends who are leaving Uganda this week after 9 months of working with us at Oasis.

It is an idyllic place, as long as you are not a 5 star hotel type.... or any star for that matter! But for us intrepid African explorers it was a perfect weekend retreat from the noise, dust and grime of Kampala. Highlights were wallowing in the river, sitting under the vast starry night sky and monkey-watching.

2007-03-13T13:24:00.000+03:00

Another dull day at the office....

Just when you could have been forgiven for thinking that we have nothing more interesting to talk about than Matthew's weird skin condition (see entry below this one), it's been a lively morning at the office for us today.

It all started when we were driving to work and roads were being blocked by local people in order to protest about the state of our road, which in all fairness is appalling - a main road with no tarmac and clouds of orange dust every time a vehicle drives along it. Occasionally the council sprays the road with water to keep the dust down but considering the heat of the sun, the dustlessness lasts all of 5 minutes.

It took us ages to get to the office through the maze of rough, narrow tracks behind the main road. Thankfully we decided to park the car at the Bambejja Project, away from the action - you will see why ....

To start with, it was weird having a normally busy and noisy road empty apart from pedestrians - everyone walking in the same direction trying to get to a point where they could pick up a taxi. All roads in the area were blockaded and fires were burning in the middle of the street. As we worked it was unusally quiet to start with, with the absence of the normal traffic, interrupted by the occasional rumpus outside the office as men targeted those who were riding bikes and forced them off. Then the real excitement began.....

Swarms of people (where on earth do they suddenly emerge from?) started moving up the road chanting, followed by a local official and the police. There was lots of shouting and movement, people waving sticks and general commotion. Eventually the police decided to take action to disperse the crowds and gunshots were fired- quite a lot of them in fact.....and very close to our office. At one point we were ducking down in case bullets came through the windows - one hit the adjacent building.

We locked ourselves in the office, which we were thankful for as at one point, there was a disturbance on the stairs of our office building as a man was chased by the police into our building and was banging on our doors.

This photo, taken from our office window, shows one of the trucks of police arriving. We didn't get the camera out for the shooting - for obvious reasons!

Anyway, things seem to be returning to normal now. Don't worry - we are fine - let's just hope we can get home and don't have to spend the night in the office!

2007-03-11T20:40:00.000+03:00

It's been a long time since our last entry. Two possible reasons:

1. We have been so taken up with exciting things that there has not been a minute to spare to update our blog

2. We have very little excitement to report

We'll let you decide........

One noteworthy incident, however, is Matthew's recent mysterious 'outbreak' on his arms - see photo.....one of the joys of living in Africa where there is an incredible number of beasties that can do nasty things to you.

In case you are worried about what you might catch when and if you come into contact with him, it has mostly cleared up now, all but a few scars. Lovely.

2006-12-11T22:53:00.000+03:00

And you thought British weather was bad!

To say it has been raining recently would be an understatement.

This is the view from the back of our office and as you can see, the rainy season in Uganda gives people a more than adequate reason to complain about the weather. For a start, how do you access the loo (centre of picture) which is surrounded by water?

This may be a briefly amusing thought until you realise that floods like these actually bring serious health implications in the slum areas where we work. Cholera outbreaks are common and some families' homes are literally washed away. People who are already in desperate poverty lose the little they have.

The issue which affects everyone is the state of the roads. In fact, we have noticed that much as the British like to talk about the weather, presumably because it is always changing - or we are incredibly boring and dull- the equivalent topic in Uganda is the state of the roads, seemingly for much the same (former) reason.

The roads here have literally been washed away with the rains. Some roads, including the one to our Bambejja Project, are now impassable and other paved roads are full of potholes, some so deep you could probably catch a fish or two.

One thing we love about Uganda is the entrepreneurship - people using any opportunity to make a living. The best example of this we have come across is a man who has recently bought a boat to ferry people across the floods on one of the worst roads in Kampala, where we have literally seen cyclists disappear under water when they hit a pothole within a flood. We are sure he is now a very happy and wealthy man!

2006-10-28T11:46:00.000+03:00

A Goat's Tale

The Beersheba Project, our work in Mbale in Eastern Uganda, is now branching out to incorporate goats as an income-generating activity for the project, as well as a training tool for local families so that they too will be able to breed and sell goats.

This is the new goat house, a recent construction, which apparently is being admired by the locals as a high class goat home.

Goat meat is quite popular here so though these animals may look cute - and the kids definitely are - the reality is that they are reared with the cooking pot in mind. There's no room for animal sentimentality here. In fact, during a visit to the local zoo, friends of ours overheard a group of Ugandans trying to work out how many meals you would be able to get out of the resident lion. Quite a different perspective from the average Windsor Safari Park go-er.

Samson, our German Shepherd-cross dog, also has a taste for goats it seems. Last week when he was being taken for a walk, he came across a group of goats innocently grazing, when he suddenly lurched at the big butch male and took a bite....... at his testicles!!

Unsurprisingly, the goat leapt forward (away from Samson) with Samson still very much hanging on, which resulted in a very torn testicle; so torn in fact that it fell out. Robert, our guard who was taking him for a walk, had to pop it back in and bind it up with banana leaves (they have so many uses).

Unfortunately this goat was being reared for someone's Christmas dinner who wasn't happy about the idea of a 'spoiled' goat, so we had to sell it to a local butcher and buy a new one.

How's that for a day in the life of Ruth and Matthew?

2006-10-21T18:16:00.000+03:00

Living in a menagerie

Living in Uganda and being slightly 'in the village' (ie on the edge of Kampala), we live amongst various members of the animal kingdom. Ambient sounds generally include dogs barking, goats bleating, cows mooing, cockerels crowing, frogs croaking, cicadas chirring and a variety of weird and wonderful bird sounds.

Our favourite animal neighbours, however, are a troop of about 15 monkeys, presumably from old grandads to cheeky young scamps who often greet us on our way to work or accost Ruth as she goes jogging in the morning.

Slightly more worrying are the snakes which you have to look out for. So far (to our knowledge at least!) we have had around 6 snakes in our garden and one that got into the house! Fortunately they are usually dead by the time we see them as our dogs are pretty mean snake-killers, as is Robert our night guard. He tends to hang them up for us to inspect for some reason.

To be honest we had become rather relaxed about this whole snake issue as most are no more than a foot long (although the one in the photo is about 3 ft long) and we figured they probably couldn't do much harm. However, when we asked Robert how dangerous they were, he said that back in his village he saw one like that that killed a cow!

Other familiar reptiles are the geckos (see right)that reside in our house. They are harmless and they eat mosquitoes, so that's a good thing, but they can give you a fright when they run across the wall when you are not expecting it. Matthew also had a shock one night whilst lying in bed - a gecko on the ceiling decided to pee on him. Very amusing (for Ruth).

For those of you who are worried, we have never seen a lion, apart from in a national park, and leopards generally only come out at night.......

2006-09-21T15:11:00.000+03:00

Well done to Will and Ema Makower who correctly guessed the answer to the photo competition - the difference, of course, is due to the ongoing power shortages which continue to make working in Uganda somewhat frustrating!

We read a headline in the newspaper earlier this week that said that the shortages are going to get worse because the water levels in Lake Victoria are still reducing....... and we only get power every other day as it is!

So, if you find yourself with some loose change that you don't know what to do with or you feel like switching your lights and TV off for a month and sending us the money you saved on electricity (!), let us know so we can put it towards a battery inverter that will power our internet cafe and office on 'power off' days. This will be stage 1 of our power solution. Powering all the PCs in the Net2work classrooms is a whole other challenge!

If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, please send your money to Oasis UK, 115 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 0AX and clearly mark that it is for Oasis Uganda's battery inverter.

2006-09-07T14:02:00.000+03:00

Photo Competition!

Below are 2 photos, almost the same but not quite. Same place (Net2Work internet cafe) but different times.

The reason for the difference? .........Well, that's for you to work out.

Suggestions in the comments section please!

2006-08-15T18:07:00.000+03:00

Give us a kiss!

You might have thought you’d seen it all with Matthew in a dress but this one tops it all! Kissing a Kenyan giraffe is certainly an interesting choice and it just goes to show the deep impact that culture shock can have……..

Ruth gives the idea a whirl but decides that giraffes aren’t really her thing. She’ll stick to kissing Matthew.

In case you’re wondering why this strange behaviour, this is a photo of the time when we visited a giraffe sanctuary in Nairobi. The giraffes were very keen to be fed, either by hand or by mouth. By the way, have you seen how long their tongues are…….?

2006-08-04T11:19:00.000+03:00

Would you like Jesus with your diesel?

Uganda is a very Christian country where it is very normal to be open about your faith in ways that you just wouldn't get away with in the UK.

A great example of this was last week when we stopped at a petrol station. The attendant who served us happily filled us up with diesel, washed our windscreen and then stood by the driver's window and said,

"And another thing.... my name is Annet and I select Jesus as my Saviour. What about you?"

As it happens, she was preaching to the converted, but I was challenged by her boldness to use her fairly mundane role as a way of sharing her faith - a good reminder that everyday we are surrounded by opportunities, if only we will look for them.

2006-08-02T13:37:00.000+03:00

Is that Matthew in a dress?!

Last Friday we were privileged to attend an 'Introduction' ceremony. An Introduction in Uganda is the official engagement of a couple, where the groom-to-be is formally introduced to the bride's family. It is a grand and expensive occasion where the groom is expected to present numerous gifts to the bride's family in recognition of the investment they have put into her, as well as to show that he is capable of looking after her properly. So, the more educated the lady, the more gifts you offer.

In the West of Uganda, where cattle rearing is the order of the day, cows would be presented as gifts but here in the central region of Buganda, gifts could be anything from pineapples, salt, cooking oil, clothes and rice to live goats and even not-so-live goats - in our case a huge piece of meat ready for roasting was carried in by a few strong men! There was also a lone cow offered but I suspect they won't be calling her Daisy and letting her graze in a grassy meadow....

The dress code at introduction ceremonies is fairly strict and men are expected to wear 'kanzus' - these white dresses - underneath a smart jacket. Matthew certainly won lots of approval points for making the effort to be Ugandan! You might just be wondering if he is going to make a habit of it......

Women wear a 'gomesi' which is a traditional dress with lots of shiny fabric, a wide waist tie and funny pointy sleeves (see photo) but Ruth couldn't quite bring herself to do that so she opted for a more modern Ugandan outfit - the 'kitenge' , which was made for her by our Bambejja tailoring teacher.

So there you have it, you have seen us dressing as locals. Maybe we will need a bit of fashion advice when we come back to the UK again in case male dresses aren't en vogue!

2006-07-25T09:00:00.000+03:00

Work update

We are really encouraged that we have seen some amazing breakthroughs in our work recently. It feels like many of the prayers we have prayed are now being answered, particularly regarding funding opportunities but also in terms of the unity and capability of our staff team, planning for the future when we leave here and partnership opportunities. Most importantly though, we continue to see lives being changed.

Last week Ruth handed out certificates to our Bambejja trainees at their graduation. Many have overcome huge emotional and personal obstacles to get this far and we notice such a change in them over the year - in terms of their self-confidence, their attitides and behaviour, the pride they begin to take in themselves and of course their increased skills. We pray that, like many of the previous graduates, they manage to find suitable employment and put into practice many of the things they have learned over the year. Above is a photo of some of our trainees putting their catering training into practice.

Our younger Bambejja girls are doing well.
Our nurse has just completed a course in HIV counselling and has now started the long process of testing all the girls for HIV. This involves counselling the parents/carers as to why it is important to get tested and then taking the girl to a specialist clinic at the local hospital. Thankfully, although she is testing the priority cases first (those who have an HIV infected parent or who are often ill), no girl has tested positive yet. As a result of the counselling even some of the carers have decided to get themselves tested.

The girls who were tested previously and were found to be HIV positive are doing really well now that they are receiving the right treatment and care. They are back at school and joining in with all the noraml activities a child enjoys.

The Beersheba Project in Mbale is going from strength to strength. The girls who have been part of the project have undergone some serious change, in terms of increased self-esteem and confidence, as well as developing lots of new skills.

The father of one of our girls described how his wife had got involved in witchcraft and had then left (as the man is a Christian) taking his youngest child with her and leaving the other three. He was very happy with what the Beersheba Project was doing with his youngest daughter:

"At home she is without a mother, but there at the project she has a mother. She is a big encouragement to me and is challenging her older brother and sister in how to behave. Often the older ones can be nasty to her but she shows them love saying that at the project they are taught to forgive and be nice to each other. This can often reduce the older ones to tears. She is also helping them with Maths and English (despite the fact they are in formal education!)"

2006-07-20T18:22:00.000+03:00

Hello from Kampala!

We are slowly discovering new technology and thought we'd try and set up a blog so we can post photos and give you a few more updates in between our regular newsletters.

This is Sipi Falls on Mount Elgon - a truly beautiful and breathtaking place. We stayed in the eco-friendly lodge that you can just about see to the right of the falls. From there were spectacular views all down the Sipi valley to the plains of north and eastern Uganda.

A memorable moment was sitting on the terrace and watching a huge thunderstorm brewing way into the distance, followed by an immense downpour and both fork and sheet lightning - very dramatic. It's at those times that you can feel very small, insignificant and fragile in light of the power of nature!

Here is Ruth doing a flying leap off a rope swing into Lake Bunyonyi, down in the south west of Uganda, where we took some other friends who visited us recently. I'd like to have waved for the camera but I was too scared!