This is the blog for Rhona and Bobby Hogg's VSO experience in Uganda. In August 2008 we applied to do VSO and, following an assessment day in London last October, we were accepted as volunteers . Because of the strong Scottish links, we had set our sights originally on Malawi where we spent a week in June 2008 but joint placements are difficult to find and in February we agreed with VSO to open up the search. At the end of March we were delighted to be offered placements in Kampala, Uganda. We are to work for a HIV and AIDS initiative called Reach Out Mbuya (http://www.reachoutmbuya.org/) where, we hope, Rhona's community nursing experience and Bobby's IT experience will prove useful.

We are due in Kampala on 18th September and have committed to spend a year there. We are very excited about the prospect of living in a very different part of the world and working with Ugandans who, from many reports, are fun to be with. We expect there to be many challenges but our stay in Uganda should be immensely enjoyable.

We are indebted to VSO for giving us this opportunity. Our preparation, including 2 training courses in Birmingham, has been excellent and we are confident about the in-country support that we will get from VSO in Uganda. I understand that it costs VSO around £15,000 to support each volunteer. If you would like to make a donation to support our placements in Uganda please visit the Just Giving site through the link opposite.

Saturday 31 October 2009

Water, water everywhere.............

Bobby -



Thursday 29th October
It's been another interesting week for us. The rainy season has intensified andi ts been cloudier
and cooler. Last Friday night and Saturday we had the heaviest rain we have experienced so far
(have I said  this already?). On Saturday afternoon sheets of rain were falling and suddenly turned to hail stones 3-5 mm in diameter. They were big enough to punch holes in the corrugated plastic roofing over our porch. The Port Bell Road had severe flooding and several trees were brought down adding to the hazards.
Ironically this week has been one a water cuts so we have stocked up with jerry cans and feel a
bit more prepared. As I write the water is off and may not be back for a couple of days as there
are major works on Kampala's water supply and we were warned it would be off for 3 days.
Power cuts are also frequent (3 or 4 a week) although they are short around 2 hours or less.
There is no postal strike as I hear there is in the UK, so there!
 
The great excitement is that we bought a car.
We are the proud owners of Danny and
Annie's old Suzuki Escudo 4x4. Its good fun to drive, makes the shopping easier and opens up many new opportunities for us. We received a lot of good advice through  D&A's blog (see link) before we came out and now we are delighted to have their car.




  




Friday 30th
Well that was a pleasant surprise. We were woken at 2am to the gushing and spluttering of
water as the supply was restored.


 
Next Friday Reach Out has its staff day out -don't know where we are going yet. Each department has a 15 minute slot to portray Positive Living through drama dance and/or song. Not my forte but the Monitoring and Evaluation department (my department) had their first rehearsal this afternoon and I was amazed at how many of the staff could act and ad lib.
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