To avoid having to chat to eveerryone and letting you know why I was mental last time you saw me I thought I'd say something about the Lariam I had to take before heading out here. It's an anti-malarial a lot of people take when they travel. In Belgium, all the doctors I saw told me it'd be fine to take, first just to test it and see if things were alright. In the UK, most doctors don't prescribe it. Check out the side effects online - mental. I actually went insane! Thanks goes to the mammy for changing my prescription the morning before I left to Uganda! I was pretty depressed, nervous and scared off it but I thought it was just normal given that I was heading on a big trip. I also couldn't sleep much or make any decisions which was extremely irritating!! Some of the other weird and wonderful things it made me do was stress about packing my bag, bring a 90s see-through pink toiletries bag, bring a ski jacket with me (ye never know like, the weather and that...it does make a decent pillow though! ) and I didn't really chat to people because it felt really weird talking to people!
So, sorry about that ! All good since I came off it and changed medication! Oooh, and huuuuuuggggggeee thanks to Alicia, Claire, Laura, Ellie and all of the others who organized my 'leaving party'!! I was a little mental that day but it was reaaaaaaallly fun!! I was super happy to see all of you before leaving and I'll pay back the favour when I'm home! Hows about an African dinner & I can show you my photos n that, aaall 50682412 of them!! And I loved that video you all made..absolute wasters:)!!! byyyyyeee!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Jinja - beer, burgers, psychos and good views
Last weekend was technically our weekend off but given that we worked uuuuuuber hard we all decided to take this weekend off instead. So myself and 5 of the internationals headed to Jinja. I think I wrote a little bit about this place before but basically Jinja is a town an hour away from my placement. It feels like a midwest town in the States. They have craaaazzzy looking birds straight out of Jurrasic Park!! Seriously scary looking things called Maribou Storks. I'll try to get a picture with one. They have big dangly skin that hangs from their necks, they're about a metre and a half tall and have maaasssiiivve beaks!! So we headed to Jinja. We're staying at a hostel, compfy beds, water, electricity, free internet, pool and goooooood food. It's 2euro50 a night for us...and the beer is under a euro...good times:)! I came down on Thursday night and met up with the others. I brought Herbert and Edgar along (the community volunteers in Nawanyago) dso everyone was really happy to see each other again and to chill out after what have been some really intense months in the community! The beer flew like wine ! After Herbert's "only" beer, I offered him a second one. Needless to say he happily accepted the offer and I could see he was loving it chilling with everyone again. He looked pretty upset about leaving so I convinced him to stay over with us!! We went out for a reaaaally good Chinese meal - Herbert's first EVER! The restaurant was really good too. So nice to have good meat again!! Shredded chili beef with veggie fried rice. It was deliiiishhhh. Then we headed back for beers and chats and stayed up for ages, way past our usual 10 o'clock bedtime!!! In Nawanyago once it gets dark there's not that much to do, especially at home without lights and we're usually knackered after a day of work and messing around with the kids so staying up late is pretty exciting! It's like being a kid again!
I had an exciting delivery! I got the package the parentes sent out! Thanks for that! Sun cream, vitamins, rehydrating salts, a few shpops cds, a mini disc & mic to try to record people (which I realized won't work with that particular mini disc player but I'll find someway of getting around it!! ) and sweets!! It was really nice to get a package, felt like a birthday present! Aaaaand I have it on good authority that the oral rehydration salts are killer hangover cures!! Cheers for that one Sims, I think you saved my life!! Which brings me on to last night....what . a . night!
We headed up to the second campsite up at a place called Bujugali Falls. The hostel overlooks the Nile and there are stunning panoramic views everywhere you look...except if you turn your attention to the stage where a Canadian dude whose having his 'leaving gig' is topless, wearing tight red leather trousers fancying himself as God's gift to live performance. God's gift to being an absolute sack! Haha, it was pretty awesome though. You have to understand that we havn't been out in about 3 months so getting to a hostel bar full of white people is really quite a scary experience. Not only is it scary under normal circumstances, but it's made that much more scary given that tonight is rock star themed fancy dress night and the Brits & South Africans have flocked in their dozens and made a huge effort! I chatted to The Edge, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger (the eejit in the red pants), Janice Joplin annnd PETER GRIFFIN!! He wasn't in costume though. He's just a man from North London who IS Peter Griffin off Family Guy. He made my night! Anyway, in keeping with the rockstar theme the singer made an entry on the back of a motorbike driving through the bar to the terrace where the stage was set up.
There were flares going off, bottles being broken in large quantities..mainly by Megan, who was incapable of being near a bottle without it falling and smashing! I brought my new friend along too. He's called Blazeon. I saw him walking around in town with a guitar so I started up a chat about music and where I could get guitars, how much and all of that. He's really nice. A Ugandan rastaman and he writes loads of tunes so I was talking about the Shpops project. He's really up for us recording and gigging if we can! I spent most of the night jamming with him and the other half chatting nonsensically to randomers. I think most of the SPW crew have lost the ability to chat about normal things. We live in the constant company of STIs, rape, teenage pregnancy, reproductive organs, HIV & AIDS. All of us except Christy that is who is a livelihoods volunteer and complains that her topics are boring - Micro Credit, Entrepreneurship, Poultry Keeping etc..to be fair, if I was to choose between a chat about Paedophilia with Peter Griffin or chatting micro credit lending with Tarquin Wilson-Myles I'd be with Griffin every time. What a man! So Christy joined in the STI banter and we were happy to have her! It was great catching up on all the news from other placements and getting a chance to kick back with everyone. We stayed up until 6 with a bunch of mental South Africans. Scarily mental..they didn't sleep, and when we woke at 10 or 11 they were still up drinking just about to start a round of centurion. I didn't feel bad at all though thnaks to my Rehydration magic sachets! Lads (Kiely and the birthday weekend crew), thanks for bringing that one up! They work a treat!!
Today was spent sitting around all day eating and relaxing and I don't think there are many better spots to do it in! We're also planning the white water rafting trip for next month! Should be really really really cooool!! I can't wait!
I swapped my iPod with Anna (a volunteer in Busede) last week so I've been listening to BBC podcasts of 'Just A Minute' and 'I'm sorry I havn't a clue!'. It's been refreshing hearing jokes, wit, sarcasm and well spoken English again. Also, keep the link posts coming on my facebook. Thomas sent the funniest video I've ever seen! 'Gap Yah'. It took me an age to load but it was worth it. I almost wet my pants! Brought back the many memories of Leeds and yahs in general. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU
Not too sure what the plans are for tonight, taking it easier than last night, although that's not too hard to do!! Might watch a film. The girls have bought 'New Moon'. If it's anything as shite as Twilight it might be difficult to watch! Alternatively one of the guys in the hostel said he'd bring us out to town if we want so we'll see what happens. Having an absolute blast anyway!! Keep the texts, emails and video links coming! Tot ziens!!
I had an exciting delivery! I got the package the parentes sent out! Thanks for that! Sun cream, vitamins, rehydrating salts, a few shpops cds, a mini disc & mic to try to record people (which I realized won't work with that particular mini disc player but I'll find someway of getting around it!! ) and sweets!! It was really nice to get a package, felt like a birthday present! Aaaaand I have it on good authority that the oral rehydration salts are killer hangover cures!! Cheers for that one Sims, I think you saved my life!! Which brings me on to last night....what . a . night!
We headed up to the second campsite up at a place called Bujugali Falls. The hostel overlooks the Nile and there are stunning panoramic views everywhere you look...except if you turn your attention to the stage where a Canadian dude whose having his 'leaving gig' is topless, wearing tight red leather trousers fancying himself as God's gift to live performance. God's gift to being an absolute sack! Haha, it was pretty awesome though. You have to understand that we havn't been out in about 3 months so getting to a hostel bar full of white people is really quite a scary experience. Not only is it scary under normal circumstances, but it's made that much more scary given that tonight is rock star themed fancy dress night and the Brits & South Africans have flocked in their dozens and made a huge effort! I chatted to The Edge, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger (the eejit in the red pants), Janice Joplin annnd PETER GRIFFIN!! He wasn't in costume though. He's just a man from North London who IS Peter Griffin off Family Guy. He made my night! Anyway, in keeping with the rockstar theme the singer made an entry on the back of a motorbike driving through the bar to the terrace where the stage was set up.
There were flares going off, bottles being broken in large quantities..mainly by Megan, who was incapable of being near a bottle without it falling and smashing! I brought my new friend along too. He's called Blazeon. I saw him walking around in town with a guitar so I started up a chat about music and where I could get guitars, how much and all of that. He's really nice. A Ugandan rastaman and he writes loads of tunes so I was talking about the Shpops project. He's really up for us recording and gigging if we can! I spent most of the night jamming with him and the other half chatting nonsensically to randomers. I think most of the SPW crew have lost the ability to chat about normal things. We live in the constant company of STIs, rape, teenage pregnancy, reproductive organs, HIV & AIDS. All of us except Christy that is who is a livelihoods volunteer and complains that her topics are boring - Micro Credit, Entrepreneurship, Poultry Keeping etc..to be fair, if I was to choose between a chat about Paedophilia with Peter Griffin or chatting micro credit lending with Tarquin Wilson-Myles I'd be with Griffin every time. What a man! So Christy joined in the STI banter and we were happy to have her! It was great catching up on all the news from other placements and getting a chance to kick back with everyone. We stayed up until 6 with a bunch of mental South Africans. Scarily mental..they didn't sleep, and when we woke at 10 or 11 they were still up drinking just about to start a round of centurion. I didn't feel bad at all though thnaks to my Rehydration magic sachets! Lads (Kiely and the birthday weekend crew), thanks for bringing that one up! They work a treat!!Today was spent sitting around all day eating and relaxing and I don't think there are many better spots to do it in! We're also planning the white water rafting trip for next month! Should be really really really cooool!! I can't wait!
I swapped my iPod with Anna (a volunteer in Busede) last week so I've been listening to BBC podcasts of 'Just A Minute' and 'I'm sorry I havn't a clue!'. It's been refreshing hearing jokes, wit, sarcasm and well spoken English again. Also, keep the link posts coming on my facebook. Thomas sent the funniest video I've ever seen! 'Gap Yah'. It took me an age to load but it was worth it. I almost wet my pants! Brought back the many memories of Leeds and yahs in general. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU
Not too sure what the plans are for tonight, taking it easier than last night, although that's not too hard to do!! Might watch a film. The girls have bought 'New Moon'. If it's anything as shite as Twilight it might be difficult to watch! Alternatively one of the guys in the hostel said he'd bring us out to town if we want so we'll see what happens. Having an absolute blast anyway!! Keep the texts, emails and video links coming! Tot ziens!!
Friday, March 26, 2010
More emails!! Paddy's day & events
Paddy's day wasn't the usual pub ritual I'm used to. I taught four classes on teenage pregnancy and was knee high in work organizing a big free Voluntary Counselling and Testing (HIV) for the community. I did wear green, told people about Paddy & the snakes and finished up having a warm beer from a shack whilst sat on a bench in a small mud road..! The first beer for a good month so needless to say it was well deserved!
I visited the Source of the Nile. It's just outside a town called Jinja, about an hour away from my village - Nawanyago. I don't know why a trip to the source sounds great...when you get there it dawns on you that it's just a load of water in a lake. Beautiful views though and Jinja is a great little town!! It looks like something out of a Clint Eastwood film only the cowboys have been swapped with Africans! Plenty of Indians around, just no cowboys..a few of the lads do walk around in cowboy hats alright though!
Having a well deserved break this weekend in Jinja so I'll get electricity, running water and a hot shower (the first in two months! can't wait! ) Luxury! I've been a slave to the aul bucket and sponge & paraffin lamp up until now. Getting used to it though, and I don't miss too much. I could do with a little bit of variety in food! Can't wait to get my hands on a good steak n vegetables. Doing alright for food but its the all carbs and all the same! Matoke (a banana mash type thing), rice, posho (stodge). We get beans and tomatoes but that's about all we eat.
We've been really busy these past few weeks. All the usual teaching in 3 schools (2 secondary and 1 primary) and some farmers groups, then we had a load of events on top of that. Started with the sports event We had five village football teams battle it out all day for the grand prize....a goat! I've never seen so much excitement over a goat! Screaming & shouting, 2 fights and people too happy to talk, instead they just ran all over the place flapping their arms about screaming! Great craic! I wonder if that'd go down well back home! We then had a video day in a village showing a DVD on HIV, domestic violence and all of that. Terrible, terrible acting but the lads loved it! We brought the TV, DVD and electricity generator for a 3 pm start. The first generator didn't work, nor did the second or third..and we're talking about a little place in the middle of nowhere. 5 hours later we tracked down another generator and got the gig going. 9pm start...African time..no one battered an eyelid! Hundreds of people showed up to our field in the middle of nowhere to watch the video. It went down really well!
We then had a big free HIV testing day. We got 265 people tested and counseled. Headed with our farmers groups to model farms to show them how to get things up and running. That was a great day out! Saw piggeries, poultry projects, banana and coffee plantations, mangoes, passion fruits...you name it! The man leading the visit also fancied himself as a bit of a farming preacher. He had decked out his barn with what can only be described as an alter , complete with fake flowers on it and purple, white and red satin in the backdrop. A makeshift St Anthony's! We didn't quite get the 7 deadly sins but he got a few of them in!! Father Vinny watch your back!
I've started to get to know many more people in the village and I spend my free time relaxing at the videohall watching the footy or Lusoga dubbed versions of Rambo, Snakeman or any other film the guys get their hands on! Power can be scarce but there's great craic to be had sitting in that bin bag lined wooden shack!
No real move on the music as yet - I've been so busy with other things but I should be starting that very soon. I've met a few keen youth and I'm planning to record The Aids Support Organization (TASO) who have a drama group who perform around Uganda. So I should get a few tunes done!!
All in all it's going well. It can drag a little when you're not up for teaching or when you're on time for a meeting and no one shows up at all...or even worse, they show up 5 hours late and all you can do is sit there, smile and wait for the next people to come. But you get used to it all somehow!!
Weather-wise it's been very hot. We're into the wet season now so we get a day or two of rain or a few hours a day but then it's hot again. I'm lucky with our community because they seem pretty welcoming of SPW and the work which is better than in some of the other placements!
Think I'm headed to Madrid when I get back to do a TEFL Course & find some work out there teaching English. Henri and Jeje will be out there too so it should be a great laugh! Don't think I'll make it to South Africa for the World Cup but now that Ireland aren't there I'd rather watch it from here! Looking forward to Dad and Cian coming over for a visit which includes a trip to see gorillas in the wild and a Safari in Tanzania! Got a close friend doing an internship out in Tanzania so I'll be able to meet up with him too!
In the meantime there's a load of teaching and looking forward to playing in the teacher vs. students football match! They're all keen to watch the Muzungu (white man) play!
I visited the Source of the Nile. It's just outside a town called Jinja, about an hour away from my village - Nawanyago. I don't know why a trip to the source sounds great...when you get there it dawns on you that it's just a load of water in a lake. Beautiful views though and Jinja is a great little town!! It looks like something out of a Clint Eastwood film only the cowboys have been swapped with Africans! Plenty of Indians around, just no cowboys..a few of the lads do walk around in cowboy hats alright though!
Having a well deserved break this weekend in Jinja so I'll get electricity, running water and a hot shower (the first in two months! can't wait! ) Luxury! I've been a slave to the aul bucket and sponge & paraffin lamp up until now. Getting used to it though, and I don't miss too much. I could do with a little bit of variety in food! Can't wait to get my hands on a good steak n vegetables. Doing alright for food but its the all carbs and all the same! Matoke (a banana mash type thing), rice, posho (stodge). We get beans and tomatoes but that's about all we eat.
We've been really busy these past few weeks. All the usual teaching in 3 schools (2 secondary and 1 primary) and some farmers groups, then we had a load of events on top of that. Started with the sports event We had five village football teams battle it out all day for the grand prize....a goat! I've never seen so much excitement over a goat! Screaming & shouting, 2 fights and people too happy to talk, instead they just ran all over the place flapping their arms about screaming! Great craic! I wonder if that'd go down well back home! We then had a video day in a village showing a DVD on HIV, domestic violence and all of that. Terrible, terrible acting but the lads loved it! We brought the TV, DVD and electricity generator for a 3 pm start. The first generator didn't work, nor did the second or third..and we're talking about a little place in the middle of nowhere. 5 hours later we tracked down another generator and got the gig going. 9pm start...African time..no one battered an eyelid! Hundreds of people showed up to our field in the middle of nowhere to watch the video. It went down really well!
We then had a big free HIV testing day. We got 265 people tested and counseled. Headed with our farmers groups to model farms to show them how to get things up and running. That was a great day out! Saw piggeries, poultry projects, banana and coffee plantations, mangoes, passion fruits...you name it! The man leading the visit also fancied himself as a bit of a farming preacher. He had decked out his barn with what can only be described as an alter , complete with fake flowers on it and purple, white and red satin in the backdrop. A makeshift St Anthony's! We didn't quite get the 7 deadly sins but he got a few of them in!! Father Vinny watch your back!
I've started to get to know many more people in the village and I spend my free time relaxing at the videohall watching the footy or Lusoga dubbed versions of Rambo, Snakeman or any other film the guys get their hands on! Power can be scarce but there's great craic to be had sitting in that bin bag lined wooden shack!
No real move on the music as yet - I've been so busy with other things but I should be starting that very soon. I've met a few keen youth and I'm planning to record The Aids Support Organization (TASO) who have a drama group who perform around Uganda. So I should get a few tunes done!!
All in all it's going well. It can drag a little when you're not up for teaching or when you're on time for a meeting and no one shows up at all...or even worse, they show up 5 hours late and all you can do is sit there, smile and wait for the next people to come. But you get used to it all somehow!!
Weather-wise it's been very hot. We're into the wet season now so we get a day or two of rain or a few hours a day but then it's hot again. I'm lucky with our community because they seem pretty welcoming of SPW and the work which is better than in some of the other placements!
Think I'm headed to Madrid when I get back to do a TEFL Course & find some work out there teaching English. Henri and Jeje will be out there too so it should be a great laugh! Don't think I'll make it to South Africa for the World Cup but now that Ireland aren't there I'd rather watch it from here! Looking forward to Dad and Cian coming over for a visit which includes a trip to see gorillas in the wild and a Safari in Tanzania! Got a close friend doing an internship out in Tanzania so I'll be able to meet up with him too!
In the meantime there's a load of teaching and looking forward to playing in the teacher vs. students football match! They're all keen to watch the Muzungu (white man) play!
Catch up emails copied to the blog...
Things are going really well out here . I think I've been out about 5-6 weeks at this stage. Spent the first month in a training centre in a place called Mbalala. Pretty small place on a main road between Kampala & Jinja (big-ish town). The training was pretty hilarious, fun, scary and retarded all at the same time! It was like going back to second year secondary and being taught sex ed all over again. A load of the guys out here had no clue about half of it though ..it would literally take from 9-17h to explain a few basic facts about how AIDS spreads and then the next day after chatting to all their friends the national & community volunteers would be back in square one confused about things like - does aspirin stop girls getting pregnant..can I get AIDS/ get pregnant if I'm standing up while having sex (believing that sperm cant travel upwards...) etc... so yeah, veeery slow but obviously needed for a lot of the Ugandan team and it gave the internationals a chance to chat to everyone and settle in. Had some funny characters out there. Dennis Bob was a particular favourite starting every sentence with eeeeh-yyyeeeesss (like that hotel owner in Little Britain!! ) too good! He'd ask very revealing question such as - is it normal that when I have sex with someone they cry, I mean a friend of mine told me and I once knew a girl who did said it could happen...oh poor Dennis Bob!
Since training I've moved to a place called Nawanyago which is where my placement is. We've been meeting all the people in the community we're going to work with and setting up different projects & all that jazz. Unfortunately the music project doesn't look too good. We've got so much work that we have to cover for SPW and also they're not too keen on buying instruments & bringing them into schools because it basically means that when other volunteers come they're expected to buy things for the kids etc and SPW are pretty big on their minimum cost, investing in people & skills and sustainability...but we'll see how we fare! I've had a cool few weeks setting up here though. We've been doing tests at the schools checking out how much the kids already know and what last years volunteers achieved. We also meet with in-school clubs&Groups like environmental club, AIDS Action lcub & Dance 4 Life so we'll be working with them helping them out and giving them tutoring n stuff. We work in a primary and a secondary school and the moment and this week we've to find two more schools to work with. Then outside school there are two main farmers groups, Nalimawa & Igumyamoyo. We meet with them and help them forming business plans, checking what type of crops they should focus on growing, bring them to visit model farms etc..it's really good fun. Those places are far off the beaten track. Had the first meeting in a little mud hut with 30 typs crammed in and chickens running about. Good fun! Then there's other groups around the place and we have to have a minimum of two more farmers groups so we're just finding out which ones we'll pick & checking how that all goes.
On top of that we're organizing a big sports event sometime in March. Should be sweet, footy tournament just getting the whole community together to introduce ourselves to them and get them motivated about our work. They play footsy with platsic bags all rolled up n tied together, been practicing my skills! Looking forward to that man..and we're also organizing a big Voluntary Counselling&Testing day (HIV testing)..aparently over 400 people showed up last year so got a lot of work for that and looking forward to it too.
As far as the place is concerned I was put in one of the less rural placements which basically means I'm around an hour away from town. It's pretty cool actually because it means that where I live has a few shops selling food & necessities but then go 5 mins off and you're in really rural "villages"..basically a hut with a few people around. So I'm pretty lucky! The house the community lets us live in is pretty sweet. Clean and quite big, I got my own room which is cool. No electricity but there is some in the town so there's a place you can charge your phone and I got my solar charger so it's all good!
All in all I really like it so far and I'm looking forward to really starting up work in March! Had malaria which sucks a bit but hope I won't get it again too soon!! Then the one thing I reaaaally miss is music. I need to find a guitar but they're really hard to come by and very expensive when you do..sucks! BUT, Edgar ( the community volunteer i work with) said that one of the priest around has a few instruments in a school somewhere so I might be able to get access to them that way! Fingers crossed!!!
New blog
Hey hey,
I've decided to start up a blog because every time I get to internet I can't be arsed writing a thousand emails or sending around a massive facebook message...so here it is - Cathal's blog. Joining a select crew of traveling bloggers, arty farty writers and eejits with nothing better to do than to write really long blog posts - feel pretty at home here then! So here it goes, I'll post a load of emails that I wrote in the last few months so that you can catch up on what's been going on and i'll just edit them a little so they make sense. Hope you're all well!!
I've decided to start up a blog because every time I get to internet I can't be arsed writing a thousand emails or sending around a massive facebook message...so here it is - Cathal's blog. Joining a select crew of traveling bloggers, arty farty writers and eejits with nothing better to do than to write really long blog posts - feel pretty at home here then! So here it goes, I'll post a load of emails that I wrote in the last few months so that you can catch up on what's been going on and i'll just edit them a little so they make sense. Hope you're all well!!
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