Well here I am in Uganda. After a long flight with the knee of an extremely tall man behind me jammed into my spine I was happy to see the ground approaching.
Uganda from the sky is breathtakingly beautiful. Endless hills, rainforests and lakes entered my vision and got me really excited.
Myself and 2 other volunteers were collected on time (amazing and totally unexpected). Getting a visa was no hassle. After scanning every single one of my fingerprints, the guard tossed my 50USD casually on to a pile of cash in an open drawer beside him and sent me on my way.
Security in the city is really tight. Everywhere you look there are guards with rifles and metal detectors. We had our bags searched going in to the supermarket and had a metal detector passed over us. This is a by product of the terrorism that Uganda has experienced in the past.
From the airport, we went to Kampala, Uganda's capital city, and experienced African road chaos. The really scary thing is that women are expected to ride side saddle on motorbikes here! I'm all for adapting to culture, but that's one thing this Muzungu (white person) won't be doing!!
I also noticed that all the manikins outside the shops have especially large hips and bums. For once I can look at clothes on the manikin and know what they'll look like on me!!
Overall though, the initial impression is much like Ghana. People and animals sitting/standing.lying around in the oddest of places. The really notable difference is that the Ugandan people seem much more reserved.
After Kampala we went on to the volunteer house. I'm sharing a room with another girl from London. It's very basic but clean adn comfortable enough.
We had a thinderstorm this afternoon. IT was amazing to wake from a nap to the sound of rain pelting down on the tin roof.
The water in the house doesn't run so that long awaited shower turned into freezing buckets of water over my head.
I am also not in the same volunteer house I had thought I would be. I am now 10km north of Kampala rather than the planned SW location. But hey, this is Africa.
I've had the chance to have a little walk around the local area today and there's not a lot around here. There are a few shops with out of date merchandise, a couple of local restaurants (I use the term loosely) and a couple of places you can drink beer.
I have managed to get a local SIM, but apparently the network has been down for a few days. My UK line isn't receiving texts either, so apologies if anyone is trying to reach me.
The day finished up with meeting some more of the volunteers. 5 girls in total now, all living in England. They had some interesting stories about their time here.
Really excited to find out more about the project tomorrow.
Uganda from the sky is breathtakingly beautiful. Endless hills, rainforests and lakes entered my vision and got me really excited.
Myself and 2 other volunteers were collected on time (amazing and totally unexpected). Getting a visa was no hassle. After scanning every single one of my fingerprints, the guard tossed my 50USD casually on to a pile of cash in an open drawer beside him and sent me on my way.
Security in the city is really tight. Everywhere you look there are guards with rifles and metal detectors. We had our bags searched going in to the supermarket and had a metal detector passed over us. This is a by product of the terrorism that Uganda has experienced in the past.
From the airport, we went to Kampala, Uganda's capital city, and experienced African road chaos. The really scary thing is that women are expected to ride side saddle on motorbikes here! I'm all for adapting to culture, but that's one thing this Muzungu (white person) won't be doing!!
I also noticed that all the manikins outside the shops have especially large hips and bums. For once I can look at clothes on the manikin and know what they'll look like on me!!
Overall though, the initial impression is much like Ghana. People and animals sitting/standing.lying around in the oddest of places. The really notable difference is that the Ugandan people seem much more reserved.
After Kampala we went on to the volunteer house. I'm sharing a room with another girl from London. It's very basic but clean adn comfortable enough.
We had a thinderstorm this afternoon. IT was amazing to wake from a nap to the sound of rain pelting down on the tin roof.
The water in the house doesn't run so that long awaited shower turned into freezing buckets of water over my head.
I am also not in the same volunteer house I had thought I would be. I am now 10km north of Kampala rather than the planned SW location. But hey, this is Africa.
I've had the chance to have a little walk around the local area today and there's not a lot around here. There are a few shops with out of date merchandise, a couple of local restaurants (I use the term loosely) and a couple of places you can drink beer.
I have managed to get a local SIM, but apparently the network has been down for a few days. My UK line isn't receiving texts either, so apologies if anyone is trying to reach me.
The day finished up with meeting some more of the volunteers. 5 girls in total now, all living in England. They had some interesting stories about their time here.
Really excited to find out more about the project tomorrow.
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