Hello again from sunny Jinja.

The BBC weather forecast constantly predicts rain, some sunny intervals and thunderstorms throughout the day for Jinja presumably because it thinks that we are in the rainy season. In reality I don’t think that the rainy season is fully upon us.  In the past week we have had a mixture of lovely sunshine and some cloud with only a few major downpours nearly all of which occurred at night. It’s an extremely pleasant temperature and I have not needed to wear a jumper or coat since I arrived. 

It has been good to receive various emails from friends this week.  We are gradually establishing a daily routine and I feel quite settled here in Uganda.  It’s about a half hour’s walk from home to the office. The quality of roads and pathways is extremely variable.  The main route between Kampala in Jinga is of better quality than most of Cambridge’s roads. However, many of the roads in the ‘city’ centre are heavily rutted dust or mud tracks and are something to behold.  I cannot believe that suspensions last very long. Everything seems to get coated in a browny/orange film of dust or mud.  There appears to be some kind of correlation between the affluence of an area and the quality of the road surface and we’re discovering that some of the residential side roads are much more pleasant to use.  Normally there is some kind of ‘pavement’ or path but it is often easier to walk along the edge of the road.  There are no road markings, signs or traffic lights in Jinja and so it is a free for all and very busy particularly in the centre. Getting around other than by foot is quite problematic.  There are the boda-bodas (motor cycle taxis) or buses (little minibuses).  There are no bus stops as such and the drivers tend to shout their destination out of the window and pull in frequently when they pass potential passengers.  We’ve yet to work out how to determine the bus routes. The boda-bodas have a very poor safety record, which isn’t in the least  bit surprising given the quality of road surfaces and standard of driving.  I did take my first ride on Wednesday evening, as it isn’t really advisable to walk back from town in the pitch black in the company of so many mosquitoes.  To be fair, the drivers will reduce their speed when asked to do so and I arrived home unscathed.  I believe that it is possible to hire bicycles but this would require careful route planning.  We are also trying to establish if it is possible arrange a taxi car as we would like to visit places further afield at the weekends.

We’ve now worked out a good walking route into town, which seems popular with the secondary school children.  We have a couple of maps showing some roads and names although the two maps are not entirely consistent. However, there are no road name signs and so we rely on the occasional information marked on individual buildings to help us navigate. It is very easy to get disorientated.  We haven’t yet been able to establish an address for our apartment, which has made the prospect of getting lost a little alarming.  We’ve tried to use the next-door church as a landmark.  This didn’t seem to mean anything to people.  However, we’ve now discovered that the church is known by a completely different name!

Lots of people say good morning to us particularly young lads but I have to acknowledge that this is often due to presence of my young, blonde companion.  We pass tethered goats, wandering chickens and one day we even spotted a monkey.  Most people stroll at a very leisurely pace even when it isn’t particularly hot.  One day I was walking back on my own at my normal, relatively fast walking speed.  A passing Ugandan woman greeted me and then simply said ’You are hurrying’!

Initially, the shopping experience came as something of a surprise as our office is surrounded by numerous small supermarkets. These are generally run by the Indian community and contain mainly imported foods that we would routinely eat and often come with recognisable brand names. Consequently, prices are quite high and clearly not accessible to the average Ugandan. Products contain lots of sugar and colouring and this is noticeable even when, for example, buying a carton of Del Monte ‘orange juice blend’.  There are several cafes that appear to be frequented and possibly owned by expats and provide fairly indifferent western food although one does make a divine milkshake containing kit kat pieces. 

We have now discovered an amazing indoor market that is packed full of just about everything and where we buy all our fruit and veg. The stall holders seem to find us amusing as they sell by the kilo presumably to feed large families and we often ask for quite small quantities.  I’m beginning to get a better understanding of more traditional Ugandan meals as I chat to people in the market.  Posho (or ugali) is maize flour cooked with water to a porridge or dough-like consistency and is pure white in colour with a fairly bland taste. Yesterday we inadvertently found a little restaurant where I had a great meal of posho, doodo (greens) and tilapia.

On the work front things are quite slow to get going.  I’ve been largely office-based reading through a lot of the charity’s documents and talking to the Ugandan team members. Unfortunately, the primary schools are on holiday for a while and so I cannot yet observe any of the health education sessions. The current model is not one that I would advocate if I were working in the UK but I need to understand the Ugandan education system before I can start to form an opinion.  However, I have been taken out to see the other arm of the charity’s work, which is a fantastic social enterprise based in a more rural area employing local women to produce reusable sanitary pads.  

We are keen to ensure that we get out and about at weekends and during the odd evening too.  Last Sunday night we were able to walk to a local hotel for a pizza(!) and jazz evening with a Kampalan band, which was most enjoyable. Next time I'll tell you about our visit to the Source of the Nile Memorial.