This weekend we have been getting ready for Christmas and the arrival of Hamish and Morven, our son and his partner. We can’t wait to see them on Tuesday. So this blog is devoted to life chez Hogg Kampala style. There have been rumours that we are a) living in a mud hut and b) booked into the Serena International Hotel for the year and demands for proof of the true scenario are increasing. Also, we have a fair few visitors booked in over the next few months. While we have offered the true volunteer experience, including bucket showers, to them all, we expected most to come for a cup of tea and make endearing remarks about our quaint lifestyle, before scuttling back to the Serena for power showers, air conditioning and all the mod cons which they (but we no longer) take for granted. However, they are all made of stronger stuff than we thought and it may be reassuring for you who are booked in, to see your accommodation. It doesn’t feature on Trip Advisor yet.
We have a bright and sunny living room, spacious bedroom, now with wardrobe and chest of drawers, a second bedroom for guests, and a kitchen and shower room.
We are lucky to have nice accommodation and particularly to share the compound with a fellow- VSO volunteer, Bernard from Kenya, and the landlord who lives in a recently completed “big hoose” with his three children aged five, three and nearly two years, plus two maids, Florence and Maria. They are all lovely, and have made our experience truly African.
The maids speak very good English, and are very bright young women, they just have not had any education beyond primary level, and even that was very basic.
One maid is more senior, and is very committed to the children since their mother died two weeks after the youngest one was born. They do our housework and washing by hand and are great at coming in to put on our security lights when we are out in the evening etc. Florence works some afternoons as a tailor in the nearby market, and she us always stylishly dressed in her own handiwork.
During our in –country training we were told not to give our underwear to the maids to wash, so here is Bobby washing his smalls of a Saturday morning.
The house is really nice and newly decorated and refurbished and we had to furnish it from scratch which was a hassle at the time but means everything is fresh and clean, and lovely to come home to at night.
We have a nice compound with grass and low hedge and in the evening it is very relaxing sitting on the verandah in the late sun, watching the birds and enjoying a Nile Special. Most compounds are very closed and private, but although we have high walls and barbed wire it is fairly open to the track leading to the village which is very busy with people and cars. We still worry slightly about security, as most of out fellow VSO ers have a guard, but so far we have had no problems at all. We do have quite regular power cuts, which in the evenings means our security lights go off as well. Bobby is very good at playing his fiddle during these slightly uneasy times, somehow I can’t imagine people breaking in to the tune of “Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie” and that’s all that matters. It certainly stops me hearing imaginary footsteps on the gravel outside. His special power-cut party piece is a Shetland tune by the late Tom Anderson, “Da Slockit Light”, slockit meaning extinguished so very apt. We had a spell of water cuts, during which we stock-piled jerry cans, but we have not had any for some time.
Our access road (track) leaves something to be desired - a surface - but its no obstacle to the 4WD.
The view down from our black gate.
All the VSO volunteers we know in Kampala have good accommodation, some with hot water and fitted kitchens. Up country it is different and in other countries I know that houses are much more basic and in poor repair. We have two gas rings which are very efficient and because Ugandan meat is very tender I can cook goulash etc in a very short time without it being tough. VSO does not supply a fridge or electric kettle, and few households have them, although most volunteers buy them and then sell them on. Given the heat, it would be very difficult to manage without a fridge, although most Ugandans eat mainly beans and shop daily in the market. The local supermarkets only have “Blue Band” margarine which does not have to be kept refrigerated and no cheese or milk. When we entertain it is all on a simple scale, with no oven and limited utensils, and no “good china”. I’m sure I will love getting back to my fan oven and microwave and using my granny’s silver teapot for visitors, maybe they will make up for the sunshine I will certainly miss, especially next Christmas.
We have also been very surprised at how few insects we have, there are very few mosquitoes and no cockroaches. We have occasional little lizards running up the walls but they count more as pets.
We hope everyone has a good and peaceful Christmas.
