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.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Collaboration

31st May, 2010
We have had a busy month with more visitors. Two students, Carolyn and Danielle have been over from Edinburgh for four weeks working on Reach Out Studies for their MSc dissertations. They are studying at the Institute of International Health and Development at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and their coming here is the first step towards a collaboration between Reach Out, Makerere School of Public Health here in Kampala and IIHD.
Carolyn and Danielle stayed with us the first weekend so that we could show them round and let them get orientated, and then they moved to Red Chilli, which is  a great place for meeting up with others, including a good few working on research projects. 
We took them to Ndere Cultural Centre and then took them to a dance class so that they could try it out for themselves. They have had an amazing experience here, and it reminds us just how special an organization Reach Out is and what an easy place Uganda is to live in, perfect lush climate, safe and full of lovely gentle people. 

Then Carol and Bregje came, both previously research fellows working on studies with me and now friends of ourselves and of one another. Carol comes from South Africa and Bregje is Dutch and has spent a considerable amount of time in Malawi, so we had lots of comparisons. They stayed with us for a weekend to do Kampala, including a trip by boat on Lake Victoria to a local market. 



Then  they went off on safari including gorilla-tracking at Bwindi and game watching in Queen Elizabeth NP for five days and we all went to Jinja for the weekend before Carol went home. By coincidence at Jinja we met another VSO couple, Renate and Ian who were also staying at Gately on Nile. Renate is originally from South Africa so Carol and Renate had a lot to discuss. They have a people carrier so all six of us were able to go to the Source of the Nile and the Bujagali Falls together, which was fun as usual with lots of birds to see.
(The falls are due to disappear in the next few years when a new dam is constructed down river)
On our return to Kampala on Sunday we made our customary stop at Mabira Forest. We had a 2 hour walk with a great guide. He showed us where we could expect to see snakes basking in  the sun but none put in appearance for us. 
Our most dangerous encounter was with this strangler fig but we moved too fast for it. (I reckon we would have moved too fast for the snakes if we had encountered them!)

 
Bregje stayed on three days to meet people at Makerere School of Public Health and Reach Out, and we had some very productive meetings and made plans for collaborative working and to apply for funding to facilitate the process.
On Sunday after our gym and swim regime, we went for lunch with the same twp VSo ers and also Debs who is a public health doctor working in Lira in the north of the country. VSO have put a good few new volunteers in Lira and Gulu to give support to the people there now that the war is over and there is a need to set up health care etc. It is very different working there and conditions seems more challenging than life in Kampala where we can shop in supermarkets ( and even see Sex and the City 2 on Saturday evening). I think I would have to try it out to see which I prefer for a year. However, recently we have had a lot of power cuts at home and work and our computers at work were affected by a virus which has made the last two weeks very unproductive and frustrating.
Now we are getting extremely excited about the arrival of our son David tomorrow evening. On Friday we go off on safari with him to Queen Elizabeth Park NP for a few days, having done the other big game reserve at Murchison Falls with Hamish and Morven at Christmas.
Looking up the Nile from Bujagali towards Jinja and Lake Victoria
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