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 5 December 2009

Visit to Jinja on the Nile

30th November 2009 




We had our first trip out of Kampala to somewhere other than Entebbe.We went to Jinja for the weekend to see the source of the Nile 

















and the Bujagali falls. 













Jinja itself is interesting - it’s on Lake Victoria, 80 km east of Kampala.  It was mainly home to Asians who set up businesses but, under the Amin regime, they were expelled and their businesses generally were given to incompetent Ugandans. There are lots of grand buildings, some colonial and some Asian style, but most are in decay and look unsafe although there were obviously African families living in them - sometimes many families in one building. So parts resemble  a ghost town while some parts are well maintained. We stayed in a very nice place, Gately on Nile, with our own lodge 






overlooking the lake in very lush and colourful gardens and there was also a  good restaurant.
The driving was relatively straightforward as Uganda goes. We decided to go a longer scenic route which the Bradt guide (our bible while we are here) said took much the same time as the direct road.  However there were long stretches of speed bumps at frequent intervals (corrugated road) and the road was very quiet. We thought we had taken much longer than the direct route until we met up with others who had come the direct route and had been stuck in traffic jams almost all the way.  
The Nile is the only major river which flows from south to north. It takes four months to flow to the
Med and is 4,000 miles long ( I realise that there are geography teachers reading this who know
it all already -  or may wish to contest this - but we didn’t until Saturday). We met up with some
other VSOers for a boat trip on the Nile 
and then went back for a sundowner sitting on our own verandah overlooking Lake Victoria. It was wonderful and a nice birthday treat for Bobby. 
On the way back on Sunday we stopped at Mabira Forest Reserve and had an interesting walk with a guide seeing and hearing lots of birds. During the Amin years it was given to people who destroyed a lot of the trees which drastically affected the ecology of the area. It is now back in safe hands and boasts over 300 species of birds  and over 300 species of trees and bushes.
The main road back from Jinja was fairly clear until entering the outskirts of Kampala. We were back home about 3 pm. However that night on the stretch in Mabira Forest an MP was killed when his car ran into a tractor towing a sugar cane trailer. Typically these trailers are poorly lit and, since the accident, there has been a proposal in parliament to ban heavy vehicles travelling in the dark.  We also learned that there was a minbus accident at night on the Jinja Road at Nakawa - at the end of the Port Bell road which we live on. Three people were killed and several injured.  Night travel is best avoided. 
Wednesday 2nd December.
Hamish and Morven are setting out today for their African adventure, and coming to us on 22nd
December. We are spending a few days over Christmas on safari at Murchison Falls and Murchison National Park which should be different to our usual Edinburgh festive rituals.

They are meeting up with our niece Becky tomorrow in Nairobi, as she is working there. The three of them are going off travelling together, starting with an overnight train journey to Mombasa. A few years ago Hamish and Becky happened to be in Africa at the same time, and bumped into each other in a shop doorway in Dar es Salaam during a downpour so this time round they are more co-ordinated. The family will be well represented in Africa for the next few weeks. Hamish and Morven are coming to Kampala by bus from West Kenya. It makes sense for them to get off up the road from where we are staying as they will pass along that way and the bus station in central Kampala is chaotic and crime ridden especially just before Christmas. However, I feel we should be meeting them at an international airport with a brass band playing in the background, rather than off a bus opposite where we do our food shopping.
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