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 19 June 2010

Into the last quarter

Well we are starting to count the weeks (13) until we return home – we are due back in Edinburgh by 18th September. We are assessing what we can achieve before the end of our placements and what more of Uganda we can explore in the next three months.
We have had a frustrating six weeks at work relieved by a most welcome and enjoyable visit from our son, David. We are enjoying our stay here but as the time to return draws near we are increasingly thinking of resuming our lives at home and thinking of the things we have been missing – our friends and family, concerts and theatre, a good power supply and hot showers . We will miss the friendly Ugandan people, the warm temperatures and the bird life but the vulnerable lives, chaotic traffic belching black fumes, and crater-like pot holes we will be glad to leave behind. I think I will need to be careful to modify my driving behaviour – I’ve forgotten what “Give Way” means and learned to push my front bumper into any small gap with the potential to develop. After another encounter with the police last night I will have to avoid inappropriate reactions if stopped in the UK and keep my wallet in my pocket.
Although our placements have been successful and rewarding, the last 6 weeks at work have been hampered by a number frustrations. A computer virus knocked out network connections for a week and I am not sure if all PCs have completely recovered yet. Our power supply at work has been fragile with maybe up to 20 hours lost due to power failures. I don’t fully understand it but invertors (back up battery supply) seemingly require at least 180 volt supply to charge and the main supply seems to fall beneath this frequently. When the main supply fails the invertors can’t meet the demand while the generator kicks in and on one occasion the generator could not kick in until someone fetched the fuel. On top of this I discovered a faction at work who had changed data capture procedures without discussing the implications with me and jeopardising some of the work I was doing. I think this got resolved on Thursday. This all leads to the growing gap in Reach Out’s expectations of me and what I will achieve before September.

David has posted entries in our blog covering his time with us…….. As he remarks our stay at Katara Lodge, just outside Queen Elizabeth National Park, was exceptional.




I think it was the best place we have stayed in Uganda. The food was fantastic and the staff were wonderful - very attentive and fun with their cheeky banter. We can recommend a stay in you are traveling in this part of the world.









 Uganda kob - the country's national antelope.













 An encounter with a 12 foot python causing us to reassess the risk of going behind a bush!



Grey crowned crane - the emblem on Uganda's flag. 









We saw a good selection of game in the park 
but were disappointed with our chimp trekking in Kyambura Gorge. I think we disappointed our guide when we refused a tree trunk crossing over a 30/40 foot river allegedly hosting hippos (some people were eaten by a hippo in Lake Victoria near Kampala a couple of weeks back).
 

 This is the bridge we diverted to when we refused the log crossing!











We traveled down to spend one night at Ishasha Widerness Lodge near the Congo border but failed to find the famous tree climbing lions despite the efforts of our guide/driver.




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1 comment:

  1. Koraput Hilary23 June 2010 at 21:44

    As always, you make the place look idyllic! I sympathise with the desire to escape potholes which make every journey last so much longer than it would back home and can be exhausting (especially when hanging onto the back of a motorbike weaving through them at speed). And the joys of the power cuts and low currents. I was given a toaster while I was in India. Sometimes I would have bread in it for 15 mins and it would still be only just warm. But you will miss it

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