It is only just over two weeks since I arrived in Jinja and yet it seems a very long time since I boarded the plane at Heathrow.  Chloe and I had only ever exchanged a couple of emails and skyped on one occasion before we arrived in Uganda. Now we spend all of our leisure time and most of the working week together, and it’s going extremely well.  Chloe had to get up very early on Tuesday morning in order to get to a meeting in Kampala and it felt quite strange being alone in the apartment and walking to work on my own.

We have a relatively simple lifestyle although we are no means devoid of modern comforts, and having twenty-four hour access to emails/Internet makes a huge difference.  Despite the minimalist facilities here in the apartment and the limitations of the airline’s baggage allowance, there are relatively few things that we’ve found it frustrating to be without.  I guess that’s a lesson in itself.  I’m really enjoying the uncluttered more leisurely pace of life although we still often seem to have to rush to get out of the house in the morning and into the office on time.  However, we really cannot work out Ugandan time.  On some occasions when we have arrived punctually for prearranged meetings the other members of the team have trailed in considerably later with no explanation or apology.  Then when we have adopted a more relaxed approach, they have been waiting for us!

Yesterday I finally had an opportunity to observe a menstrual health education session in a primary school run by two of Irise’s educators. We set off after lunch by boda for Help Primary School situated in a poor area just outside Jinja. I should just mention that Chloe and I appear to be the only two women who do not ride side-saddle. It is clear that the Ugandans view some of our behaviour as odd but, fortunately, they seem to find it amusing rather than offensive.

The first thing that struck me on arrival was that we were able to walk straight through a gate into the school grounds where children were playing, which is so unlike the tight security in English schools these days. I was a little surprised by that as the Ugandan police force recently issued a security alert referring to a specific threat to schools and educational institutions along the Kampala-Jinja highway.  Maybe we weren’t apprehended as perhaps they recognised the uniform worn by the educators. We paid our respects to the principal, who was most welcoming.

As I now understand it, the children have been doing exams and are shortly to begin the school holidays.  Pupils do not automatically progress to the next year group as in England but only move on when they have achieved a certain academic standard.  Many children may not have attended school consistently particularly if they come from poorer backgrounds.  Therefore, although we might have expected to find girls aged no more than eleven or twelve, a lot of them were clearly older. Part of my brief is to identify the training needs of the educators and to look generally to see how well the programme is working as I work with the director of the charity to develop a broader strategy for the next two years. It felt amazing to be sitting in a Ugandan classroom.  All the desks had been removed so that the girls could sit on chairs in a horseshoe. It was quite a challenging environment for the educators to work in, as there seemed to be a lot of noise from the adjoining classroom and surrounding field. There were no windows in the classroom as such, only holes in the wall with vertical bars through which other curious children peered. The girls were largely attentive and confident enough to ask plenty of questions. The session was very informative and has given me lots of ideas for going forward.

Other members of the team have been busy organising a five-day training course in Entebbe, largely for university students, which starts on Monday week.  I have found myself gradually being drawn into the planning and it has now been agreed that I should go across for the duration of the course too.  On Tuesday I am going to the Ministry of Education building in Kampala for some national steering group meeting and so I am certainly getting to see menstrual health education from all angles.

We are gradually mastering some of the practical skills required for everyday living, one of which is dealing with bolts and padlocks.  Initially, getting into our apartment took some time.  We have an outside padlock on the front door, which opens a little circular panel in the door.  The next stage requires putting a hand through the hole and feeling for a second larger padlock, trying to persuade a slightly bent key to undo it and then pulling across a rather stiff bolt.  The challenge is not to drop the keys inside before managing to remove the padlock.  We were getting much faster at it but now there is the added dimension of a cat that has befriended us. So I often have to try and open the door whilst hanging on to two bags of shopping and having my feet rubbed.  The last time I put the shopping down, the cat managed to bite his way into a loaf of bread and started scoffing it.  Our apartment is one of six and we are at the top of the three floors.  A high concrete wall surrounds the building and there is a large metal gate that also has a little circular hole and two stiff bolts to be negotiated.  We have a twenty-four hour security guard not that we feel that we need it.  In reality the guards are young lads who just sit around looking fairly bored.

I don’t have any particular interest in seeking out the expat community or trying to maintain my normal lifestyle whilst I’m here, although we are undoubtedly eating a mainly Western-style diet. However, Wednesday has been designated our ‘evening out’ and takes the form of a free film night in the garden of one of the local cafes frequented by expats.   So we cover up as far as possible, apply lots of insect repellant and sit ourselves in the front row.  I’m told that they show an eclectic mix of films but we’re happy to take whatever comes. So far I wouldn’t have contemplated viewing either film on the TV at home let alone watching them at the cinema.  However, we did laugh a lot at ‘The Wedding Ringer’. Last week they had to move us indoors as it started to rain but this week conditions were perfect.  There just happens to be a fantastic Indian restaurant situated between our office and the café.  The food is delicious, they keep topping up the naan, pilau rice and dal and they provide a free ice cream. The whole thing comes to 25,000 Ugandan shillings, which is about £6.  Incidentally, a lot of Jinja's architecture is Indian-influenced and the Mandhvani Building on Main Street is a grand affair.

Last weekend we were planning our first trip out on Sunday.  However, on Saturday whilst exploring a different route into town we realised that we were a stone’s throw from Jinja’s main attraction.  The town is located on the northern shore of Lake Victoria above the Ripon Falls, which were submerged following the construction of the Owen Falls Dam in the 1950s.  Its fame lies in the fact that Speke identified Ripon Falls as the source of the Nile back in 1862. There are tourist spots on both sides of the river.  We were able to walk to the Source of the Nile site on the eastern bank.  It’s a very pleasant area. In the absence of the Falls, there is a plaque marking the area’s significance, a monument to Ghandi, as some of his ashes were scattered in the Nile, stalls and a couple of restaurants.  At some point we will return for a boat trip and also visit the site on the other bank.

Tomorrow we are heading to Mabira Forest to celebrate my birthday.  I shall be posting a few photos soon although so far I haven’t taken many snaps as I gather that it isn’t really the done thing to go around photographing everybody and everything.

Thank you for all the appreciative comments and emails.   Until next week......